Liar Liar

It was an unspoken rule among killers.

Have no regrets.

Regrets got you caught, apprehended. Killed, sometimes.

If you had regrets, you opted towards putting a bullet in your skull, towards dangling from a makeshift noose, towards slitting your throat. More often than not.

Adachi had no regrets, until now.

He's standing at Nanako's side. His expression is flat, lifeless even as he stands beside the dead body of his partner's daughter. His face, his mood, is a perfect foil of what Nanako once was. Where he was lifeless, Nanako brimmed with jovial life. Where he was empty, she was whole.

Adachi's fingers inch towards the holster of his pistol. A single bullet, a single shot, was all he would need. His fingertips brush against the icy cold barrel. Adachi shivers.

There were many things he now regretted.

This transgression, the one that got such a kind, pure girl killed, neared the top of his list.

He blamed that idiot Namatame.

It was Namatame's fault for listening! Namatame's fault that Yamano and Konishi were dead! Namatame's fault for acting on Adachi's sly words!

Surely it wasn't his fault…

Adachi found the handle of his pistol blindly. He caressed it, his eyes narrowing in slight irritation.

It would take a single shot to the temple. One bullet was all Adachi would need.

Suicide may have been the coward's way out but he was no coward.

"Regrets can kill the most hardened criminals, Tohru-kun," His senpai had told him, long ago. "Police officers too, though for different reasons."

Ironic then, that Adachi had come to blur the two together. Detective and criminal, justice and chaos, good and evil, black and white.

His long, bone-like fingers curled around the handle of his pistol.

Nanako looked as if she were sleeping.

She reminds Adachi of an angel.

There were many things Adachi now regrets.

Being a decisive factor in Nanako's death topped the list. Took the icing off the cake.

His senpai had told him he was a good shot too. A real gunslinger.

It was silent, so very painfully silent as Adachi slowly pulls out his pistol from its holster. There was a golden tinge in his eyes, a crack in his depressing frown. A dopey, drunk smile tugged at the corners of his mouth.

Killers killed killers.

Adachi would kill Adachi.

'Course, he was already dead. Hollow. Rotting. Decomposing from the inside out.

There were many things Adachi now regretted.

The barrel of the pistol is cold against his skull. The smirk on Adachi's face grows. His eyes turn gold, evil… malicious.

Funnily enough, the bear's Shadow had proven to be true. Those brats sought the truth, only to find death. A different kind of death.

The door across the room scrapes open.

The kids shuffle in.

They haven't noticed.

They're all staring at the floor, refusing to look at Nanako, refusing to acknowledge the suicidal detective across the room, on the other side of Nanako's hospital bed.

Everyone looks up at the same time.

It's like a stupid soap opera, one second they're expressionless, the next, their eyes are the size of dinner plates. Adachi almost giggles, almost mocks them. Shirogane even looks surprised, frightened.

He tries to imagine what it must be like for them. They must see the golden tinge in his eyes, the inhuman smirk across his face. They're all frozen. Shocked to the core.

Adachi's lips move on their own, his voice doesn't sound like his voice,

"I HAVE NO REGRETS!"

BANG!