RH Chapter 9

Chapter 9 – Unwanted Partner

Resonance 2, Part 1

Novel Title: 共鳴発情 オメガバース (Resonance Heat: Omegaverse)

Author：岩本薫 (Iwamoto Kaoru)

Illustrator: 蓮川愛 (Hasukawa Ai)

Translator: K (@kin0monogatari)

Protagonists: 本浄天音 (Honjou Amane) & 苅谷煌騎 (Kariya Kouki) / 首藤煌騎 (Shutou Kouki)

*Please read at Novels Space.space, the original site of translation. TQ*

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Kouki, having been struck dumb by the overwhelming presence of a man who, despite being incredibly beautiful, had the worst personality. He even littered his cigarette butt. Kouki stood dazed for a while before coming to his senses.

He had already looked around the station. Iit was probably about time that Seo was available. He decided to return to the Criminal Investigation Department floor.

With that thought, he pulled himself together and headed towards the entrance of the rooftop. He opened the door the littering man had slammed shut and began descending the stairs. Even as he descended, his thoughts drifted back to that man. The impact the man had left on Kouki was that powerful.

Although neither his appearance, attitude, nor manner of speech matched the part, there was no way an outsider could access the rooftop. So that man must be a police officer. This conclusion left Kouki with a sinking feeling.

Is it really okay for a police officer, who should be a role model for citizens, to be that unscrupulous?

As he immediately answered his own question with a definitive ‘no’, a strange memory from earlier resurfaced.

At that moment—when the man’s fingertip lightly poked Kouki’s chest, a current seemed to run through his entire body. It all started from that point.

It wasn’t a real electric shock. Because if it were, he would have been electrocuted, of course.

But really, it was like lightning had struck him, sending a tingling sensation from the top of his head to the tips of his toes.

He had never experienced anything like that before.

At first, he thought it was just him. But the man who had poked him also seemed to have noticed something unusual.

The image of the man staring at his fingertip with a stern expression flashed back into Kouki’s mind.

His thin, furrowed eyebrows. His narrow, almond-shaped eyes gazed at his fair fingertip. The combination of his thin, reddish lips with a cigarette in them had a strangely seductive allure…

“…Cut it out.”

Kouki shook his head, trying to dispel the lingering image of the man’s crude yet strangely alluring figure.

No matter how much he thought about it, he couldn’t figure out what that electric shock had been about. For now, he decided to forget about the man. The priority was to get used to the workplace as quickly as possible.

Telling himself this, Kouki returned to the second-floor Criminal Investigation Department. But he froze in shock at the entrance. The man he had just tried to banish from his mind was standing inside.

(He’s with the Criminal Investigation Department?)

The man was dressed exactly as before—still in his mod coat. His long legs, clad in sneakers, were thrown onto the desk, and the back of his office chair creaked under the weight of his casual posture.

Because all the other officers were wearing suits, his bad manners and casual attire made him stand out even more.

The fact that the man who littered was a member of the Criminal Investigation Department was shocking enough. But Kouki was in for yet another surprise.

The man’s desk was right next to his own.

The blood drained from Kouki’s face at the thought of having to sit next to the man he wanted to avoid at all costs. Just as he was feeling the bad luck of it all, someone called out his name: “Kariya.” When he sluggishly turned toward the voice, his eyes met with the stern face of the Squad Commander, Onizuka. When Kouki had gone to explore the station, Onizuka had been called away by the superintendent. But it seemed he had returned in the meantime.

“Where’ve you been?”

“…Exploring the station.”

“Exploring? On your own?” Onizuka muttered suspiciously but then said, “Well, whatever.”

He gestured for Kouki to come over. Still feeling the aftershocks of his earlier encounter, Kouki walked toward Onizuka’s desk, trying to appear as calm as possible despite the tingling sensation at the back of his neck.

“Honjou, you come too,” Onizuka called to someone else just before Kouki reached the desk. Kouki froze at the mention of the name.

Honjou—that was the name of his potential partner.

Following Onizuka’s gaze, Kouki saw the man who littered lazily lowered his feet from the desk and stood up. Hands still stuffed into his mod coat pockets, he casually walked over and stood next to Kouki. His hands remained in his pockets the entire time. Kouki thought the man’s insolence in front of a superior was appalling. But Onizuka didn’t seem to mind, as he calmly stood up and approached them.

“This is Kariya, who’s been assigned to the Criminal Investigation Department starting today.”

The man responded to Onizuka’s introduction with a casual, “Yeah, I know. He’s the rookie, right?” His tone was equally as insolent as his mannerisms, which irritated Kouki even more.

“What? You two already know each other?” Onizuka asked in a surprised tone. Kouki, careful not to make eye contact with the man beside him, answered while looking straight ahead.

“We met… on the rooftop earlier.”

“I see. That makes things easier. From today on, Honjou Amane and Kariya Kouki, I’m assigning you two to be partners.”

“…!”

Kouki spun around, staring at the man who was all looks but no manners.

(This guy is Honjou?!?!)

Up until this point, Kouki’s brain hadn’t connected the dots between the rude man standing beside him and the Honjou he had been expecting. Perhaps he had been unwilling to accept the harsh reality and had subconsciously refused to make the connection.

However, at this point, escaping from reality was no longer an option.

“……”

As Kouki stood speechless in shock, the man let out a displeased “Huh?” in front of him.

“What the hell is this? You know I don’t want to partner with anyone, right?”

Hearing the man’s intimidating low voice as he spoke to the superior, Kouki’s disbelief only deepened.

(Same here—I absolutely refuse to team up with someone so rude, foul-mouthed, and completely oblivious to his position. The thought of having someone who can’t even speak politely as my mentor is absurd. Please, spare me!)

“This is an order from the higher-ups. You, as a mere detective, don’t have the authority to refuse.”

Whether intentionally or not, the Squad Commander declared this expressionlessly.

“You’ve got to be kidding me.”

The man—Honjou Amane—changed his expression and took a step forward. As he closed in on the Squad Commander, the latter pushed him back with one hand. Despite Honjou’s resistance to move forward again, the Squad Commander jabbed a thick finger right at his nose.

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*Translator’s Note: Honjou-san is such a gangster hahaha. -K

Next update: 2024.11.27

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