Fujino's hand holding his cigarette trembled slightly. His expression was undoubtedly confused at first, then surprised, followed by bewilderment, and finally turned into a blank stare of utter disbelief.
"No, Old Auntie, what did you just say?"
"As long as you're bold enough, the police belle goes on maternity leave?"
"And this police belle is still Big Sister Sato?"
"No, who on earth did this... You're saying I did it?"
"Impossible, absolutely impossible. I haven't even touched Big Sister Sato, so how could I be bold enough to get her pregnant?"
"Stop spreading random rumors, alright? I happen to still be a purebred foodie-chef!"
"What kind of outrageous theory is this even?"
Fujino raised a hand and took a deep breath to ease the shock in his heart, feeling as though his worldview had suffered some kind of absurd impact.
As everyone knows, you reap what you sow; without a seed, where is there any talk of flowering and bearing fruit?
However, Fujino gave it a second thought: Vermouth, that old auntie, heard these gossips at the Metropolitan Police Department, which means they originated inside the MPD.
How could the MPD possibly spread such an outrageous rumor?
Wait, maternity leave... Could it be that the few days of leave I helped Big Sister Sato take were misunderstood?
Fujino thought about it and felt it was entirely possible. After all, rumors are just like that—the more they get passed along, the more outrageous they become.
Who knows, as people talked, it might have gone from him helping her ask for leave to him being the one who caused her leave, and finally ended up as Sato taking maternity leave because of him.
"This situation is a bit troublesome, though..."
"How is one supposed to explain this?"
"I reckon the folks over