Officer Takagi's mind kept replaying the intoxicating words, "I really admire you" and "I like you more than Shiratori." He was starting to feel lightheaded when he suddenly heard the next sentence.
"A curse?" He froze. "What curse?"
—Two people walked side by side down the street, opening their hearts to each other. In a wonderful, heartwarming moment like this, no matter how you looked at it, it should have led into a beautiful confession scene... So why had it suddenly switched to the fantasy channel?
Seeing his blank expression, Sato Miwako sighed and had no choice but to explain in detail. "Actually, ever since I was little, every man who was somewhat special to me ended up disappearing from my life."
Counting on her fingers, she said, "For example, my father, who died in the line of duty—you all know about him. Then there was my elementary school gym teacher, that senior from the baseball club, and..."
"And him."
Sato Miwako's casual tone finally grew heavy.
Compared to those earlier tragedies, the wound from three years ago was still too fresh. Besides, she had only learned of the others' deaths afterward. But Matsuda Jinpei had been right in front of her, close enough to touch, when he went from a spirited police officer to a piece of charred flesh roasted inside a ferris wheel.
...Even now, her legs went weak whenever she saw a ferris wheel.
Sato Miwako shook her head, looked back at Takagi, and sighed. "I really don't want to see anything like that happen again—so whether it's you or Shiratori, let's all just be ordinary colleagues from now on! It doesn't matter whether we date or not. As long as we're good police officers and stay alive, life is the only thing that matters."
Officer Takagi: