3 Father versus Son

The sea breeze calmed Kei as he breathed in and out, taking in the tranquility of the surroundings. On the balcony of his beach house, he could hear seagulls and boat engines in the distance, his thoughts wandering back to the girl he'd saved.

"It's been a while since you've been out here," Mrs. Noguchi said, walking into the room and dropping a platter of fruit on the side table before taking a seat next to Kei.

"Your dad left a message." Kei looked at his mum, also popping some grapes into his mouth.

He's never really seen eye to eye with his dad, and their relationship has been kind of weird. "What does he want?" he asked, popping some grapes into his mouth.

"He wants you at the station soon, for some meeting of some sort," she replied, relaxing further in the chair. The atmosphere was calm, the sound of the seagulls was the only thing piercing through the silence. Kei got up after a while of thinking things through.

"Where are you heading?" his mum asked, puzzled.

"Station."

***

Kei had taken the train to the station. He didn't want to drive; he wanted somewhere that had noise and distraction to get his mind off the girl he'd saved, and being in a car alone, stuck in traffic, wouldn't do his mind any good. The teenagers across from him looked like a couple. He was taken back to his younger years when love was rampant in high school; he'd never been in a relationship, and did not consider them a priority in his life.

'They look nice,' he thought, looking out the window of the train...

The train stopped at the mall station. This is the station that passes through the biggest mall in ShichijoNakamachi. He stopped at the mall, taking a bit of a detour to calm down before facing his dad at the station....

In the bright sun, the words 'Shichijo police station' gleam wide, the tall building appearing endless. Taking a deep breath, Kei Brace himself for what's coming next.....

It looked like everything was busy as usual, with some suspects being interrogated, some guys being dragged to jail, with the usual police filling out reports. Meanwhile, some other officers had headed out for their break.

"Hey, Kei is alive, welcome back, omae (dude)," someone said, tapping Kei's back, before walking off. Kei has always been quite reserved and cold to his peers at the office that he got the nickname okami (cold dragon).

"Hey okami, I always knew you'd make it back from the dead," someone else shouted from a corner. When the others heard this, they all laughed, but they truly missed his icy presence in the office.

"Well, you really have a presence," came a female voice from behind. He turned around to see who it was even if he knew the voice, he just wanted to be sure of who it was.

"Nice to have you back," said the person. Kei smiled slightly at the person.

"Where's the commander?" he asked.

"In his office."

He walked towards the commander's office when someone else commented, "aye, Jichiro, your boyfriend is back."

"Come on boys, that's not the way to welcome okami here," she said out loud. The men around the station laughed again, in a more jovial mood since Kei walked in.

Kei knocked on the door before stepping in. There sat his father, signing some documents. "Conference room," he ordered, not looking up to see who walked in. Their relationship as a father and son had grown sour when Kei followed in his footsteps to become an officer instead of a scholar. This was because Kei chose a life of danger, wanting to feel the thrill he never felt during his high-school days and he's always had a strong sense of protecting his country.

The meeting began as they took their seats at the conference table. A bald looking officer spoke up first. "It's come to our notice that trafficking activities have increased in our city and it's something we need to look at and it's linked to an old file that was closed and the officer that was in charge of that case disappeared and vanished off the grid and we believe she has something to do with these traffickers," he explained all in one breath.

"What does this case have to do with me?" Kei inquired out of context, knowing full well that the more serious cases are assigned to the more experienced officers in the field. Not that he wasn't experienced, but he's only had 5 cases like these. His dad secretly made sure he kept him out of the most dangerous cases. This one right now screamed complicated, with lots of strings tied in somewhere. This is because where there are traffickers, there's sure to be stronger powers connected to the government behind them.

Baldy presented the file to Kei and said, "Your skills are more precise than anyone else's and you have a record of success in all the cases you've been involved in, so you have been chosen to head this case." He opened the folder to read through, looking at the files of the suspects and the information written under them. There he saw her picture, a younger version of her with fear in her eyes.

He was surprised, but couldn't say anything. He quietly closed the file, knowing that this was wrong and couldn't get himself to accept this case. Despite his moral conflict, he was curious as to why and how she was involved in this case.

He murmured an apology, then rose from his chair and left the conference room, as he was not the right person for this case.

Apologizing profusely, his father promised to convince his son to accept the case, even though the boy had recently been in the hospital and was still healing from the experience. Bowing as he spoke, he then left the conference room, planning to confront his son when they were back home. All the other leaders were enraged by his actions, especially his father.

Later at home...

"Where's your son?" Mr. Noguchi snapped angrily as he walked into the house, without taking the time to sit down and drink a glass of water before changing into clean clothes.

"Darin, ochitsuitekudasai (darling please calm down)," Mrs. Noguchi hurriedly said, trying to calm her husband down. Although it is Kei's choice that causes her husband to quarrel with him, she has never appreciated it.

Kei got home a little later than his dad, knowing fully well that there was almost certain to be an argument if he met him at home. Therefore, he decided to take a detour before heading home. On turning the doorknob, the door flew open. He stared at his dad, who stared back at him. "Get in." he retorted.

He didn't say anything, but walked in. He saw his mum through the corner of his eyes sitting on the sofa; she looked so worried. Upon hearing the door close, she looked up at Kei, "what happened this time?" she whispered, not wanting her husband to hear her.

"Don't worry, go inside," he replied, not wanting her to see them argue and get stressed out. Understanding his message, she left the living room to let them sort things out for themselves. Kei had already resolved within himself that he had no choice but to take up this case. He knew fully well that his dad must've brought the file home promising the officials that he'd promised to make it happen.

Taking a deep breath, he puts his hands on his waist before facing his father. "hand over the file," he says calmly, not wanting another argument, since the last one they had was at the hospital.

"You ask for the folder now, when you humiliated me before my mates?" his father said furiously, his face flushed and red from anger. Kei was taller than his father, almost toppling over him by an inch.

"I never had that in mind and I'm sorry if I humiliated you," he replied sincerely, hoping his father would let this pass and they'd just move on with the remaining day.

His dad looked at him for a long time. 'I always wanted you to be a scholar. Instead, you walked down the same path as I did,' he whispered, throwing the file on the coffee table. He then walked out, wondering where he'd erred in parenting.