Set after season 1, episode 9.

The block of apartments where Inspector Ginoza lived looked unexpectedly cheerful from the outside, even in the dying evening light: canary yellow walls, brown shutters and plants all over.

Akane had expected something greyer, that's why she double-checked Ginoza's personal file on her wristwatch computer before heading towards the entrance. It was indeed the right place.

She took a deep breath and entered the elevator – 19th floor – she tapped the button.

You're doing the right thing, Akane. Come on.

She took a glimpse of her reflection in the mirrored wall of the elevator: a small figure, dressed with a plain pink jumper and jeans. Maybe she should have kept her black suit on? It was too late now to wonder about outfits, anyway. She felt anxiety grow from the pit of her stomach while the elevator approached its destination.

She walked the long corridor that laid behind the sliding doors, her steps the only sound breaking the silence. Oh, and her heart too, but that was only inside her chest, and in her ears, climbing up her throat…

Taking one last deep breath to calm down she positioned herself in front of the door, the familiar buzzing of the door scan assured her that her presence was being notified inside.

Ginoza raised a puzzled look towards the screen showing Tsunemori's tiny figure standing on his doorstep and burst the door open.

Akane took a quick fearful look at her partner: she was glad he wasn't dressed in his work suit. He looked different, less intimidating, with these oversized joggers and tee he was wearing and… what else? In a matter of seconds a new awareness struck her: he was young. They've been working together for a pretty long time now but – as impossible ad it may seem – she was realizing it just now, for the first time.

– Now, what? – he barked, before even realizing that it wasn't a very polite way to welcome a guest, though unexpected.

His brusque manners shook her out of her reverie.

– I'm sorry to bother you, Inspector Ginoza, but… – she ventured to raise her gaze again slightly, but, as soon as she met his stern look, she immediately repented and went back to look somewhere between her fidgeting hands and his chest. – but… I needed to talk to you, so I looked for your address in your personal files and…

– And you couldn't wait until tomorrow? Or call me? – he was barking again, how could it come so natural to him?

– No. – she answered firmly.– Can I come in?

– Oh… yes, sure… – he hadn't even realized she was still standing on his doorstep, so he clumsily gestured her inside.

– So, what is all about? – he asked.

She was determined to make up for the quarrel they had had in the morning and to make things clear. She had gone through each and every sentence she wanted to say so many times that she practically knew the words by heart, but still…

She stood there in front of him, eyes cast down to the floor, still trying to find the courage to utter the first word, when she noticed a dog bowl in a corner of the living room.

– YOU GOT A DOG?

Totally taken aback by this sudden change in her spirit, Ginoza stared at her in bewilderment.

– Yes, I got a dog. You came here for that?

– What? NOOO! – She answered earnestly, before realizing the he was scorning her.

He rolled his eyes and breathed deeply. How could he even start to put some sense in this girl?

– So, inspector, what…

He couldn't finish the sentence: he saw her eyes growing big with astonishment, staring somewhere behind his shoulders. He didn't need to turn to understand that his dog, attracted by the unfamiliar voice, was scampering in their direction.

– OH! BUT IT'S SUCH A BIG DOG!

She had completely lost control of the tone in her voice and now she really sounded like that child he had accused her of being not many hours ago.

– Can I pet him, Mister Ginoza?

– I guess you must, you know. That's why he came in the first place.

Akane detected a softness in his voice she had never heard before. She kneeled down and approached the big orange husky, letting him sniff her hands. He enthusiastically jumped towards the newcomer and in no time she was lying on the floor, the dog all over her, licking her face and wagging its tail. She was almost choking in her laugh.

– Hey! Hey! Dime! None of that! Get off her, DIME! LISTEN-TO-ME! NOW!

And indeed he listened to his owner's command, reassuming a polite and elegant sitting position. Evidently Ginoza's talent in reprimanding worked not only with humans.

– So you're Dime. Nice to meet you, Dime. My name is Tsunemori Akane.

– Forgive him, he has not yet learnt how to control his enthusiasm.

– Oh, he doesn't have to. It's so nice. – she answered while stroking the dog's head.

It was such a Tsunemori-like statement. He thought.

– Now go back to your place, Dime. Be a good dog – Ginoza said with a double smack of his tongue and snapping his fingers towards the room next door.

Dime wailed a little and slowly went where he was told to.

– Now, – he continued towards her – can we go back to the reason why you came here?

– Yes, sure. – she answered, as if coming back to reality after some daydream.

– I just wanted to apologize for my behaviour this morning. I…

– Never mind. Really, I was wrong too… – he interrupted her.

– I'm not saying I was wrong – she clarified immediately. She was looking at him in the eyes now and at these very words she saw all the softness Dime had brought to his features vanish and leave behind his usual stern and pointed expression.

– I wanted to apologize – she started once again, hoping to get better chances of explaining herself this time – because I had no right to yell at you like that. I was angered because you scolded me in front of the enforcers… but I did the same to you. So, I'm sorry. Really…

– It's ok. It's ok. Don't worry. The enforcers already hate me enough, I don't think your words will make the situation worse than what it already is.

– They DO NOT hate you, Mister Ginoza!

He snorted bitterly in response to her passionate statement. – Don't they?

– Of course NOT! It's easily seen that you and Mister Kogami are still good friends, that you trust and respect each other, and Kagari… do you really believe he could hate someone? Yayoi is even somewhat protective when it comes to you. Let alone Mister Masaoka… he's fond of you and he genuinely cares for you, in spite of… well… everything.

– In spite of everything… – he echoed her last words bitterly.

– You don't know who Enforcer Masaoka is, do you? – he asked her unexpectedly and she was sure she saw some of the softness coming back to his dark green eyes.

She shook her head. The candor and honesty he saw in her eyes almost moved him.

They hadn't told her. He still wasn't sure whether they hated him or not, but at least they respected him.

– Come with me.

She followed him silently. He opened the drawer of a writing desk in the room next door. Dime looked attentively at them and moved out, like some sort of respect had come over him too.

Ginoza pulled out an old photo frame and handed it to her.

All the thoughts and memories that had been spinning in her head suddenly came to a halt and each and everyone found its right place, like in a big jigsaw puzzle. The glass of the frame was broken, but the picture could be seen clearly enough: a younger and thinner Masaoka and a child of 7 or 8, with a quantity of black, lank hair and green, soft eyes.

– I… – she tried to utter some meaningful words but all she really wanted to do was to sit down and cry.

– You don't have to say anything. It was high time you knew, but I didn't know how to tell you.

She nodded and looked at the picture again, before handing it back to him.

– Thank you – she said and she really meant it. She had come here full of doubts and awe, she thought he'd be mad at her… and now he was entrusting her with this revelation, accepting to show her the most vulnerable side of his whole self.

– I am glad you came here tonight.

– I'm glad I did the right thing for once…

She smiled at him and – as if she needed something else to make this night even more memorable than what it was already – he smiled back at her. A tiny smile, rather rusty from long disuse, but still a smile.

The last sentence, about Ginoza's smile, comes from Lucy Maud Montgomery's 'Anne of Green Gables'. When describing Marilla's smile, she writes: «Something like a reluctant smile, rather rusty from long disuse, mellowed Marilla's grim expression». It made me think of his stiff composure in season 1 and so I borrowed it.