Chapter 285 - Lunch with a dead man?

The day is unusually bright, not suiting the dark clouds surrounding his heart. He paces outside the mediocre grey building nervously. How is he going to get inside and apologize? 

Kawamoto Ren has two close brushes with women. The number of women he has kissed is three -- Rie, Nina, and now, Chiyo. He's not proud of kissing three women though. 

Rie was his first love. Nina was someone who has left an impact on him. He felt something for Nina, but he's sure that it wasn't 'love' for sure. Still, he thinks of her fondly, though Nina kidnapped him once. 

Where is Chiyo in all this?

He doesn't like her. The woman is colder than the glaciers on the north pole. She knows no respect or morals. Of course, why would she come to his apartment in a drunken state? When he's drunk, he goes to Kamiyama's house sometimes. 

But Kamiyama Kiyohira and Rie are his closest friends. It's natural to raid one's best friend's place occasionally. 

He can't call her a friend. If she's an enemy, then he slept with an enemy. If he hadn't seen the bright red dots on the bedsheet in his bedroom, he would have thought that she was an expert in bed.

Kawamoto Ren puts his left hand on his hip and runs his right hand through his hair in exasperation. "Why did I mistake her for Princess Maria?"

The question can never be answered. He has fantasies for sure, but he swears that he has never fantasized about Yamashina Chiyo.

"Excuse me?"

He looks at the person before him -- a man was wearing a white lab coat and big round glasses. The man is carrying cups of coffees in his one hand and the other hand has a file. 

"Who are you?" The man curves his brows and asks him, "Do you know that this is a forensic lab and you can't stand here like this?"

"Actually, someone I know works there." Kawamoto Ren smiles at the man politely. Surely, this man works in this building. "I was wondering if it was fine to see her."

"That depends on who the person is." The man c.o.c.ks his head and squints his eyes on Ren suspiciously. "Who are you looking for?"

"Her name is…" Kawamoto Ren pauses. He didn't want to call her by her name, but he's been doing it already. "Yamashina Chiyo."

"Her?" The man wrinkles his nose and gives him a look over. "Who are you?"

"I am--" Ren doesn't know what to say. What is their relationship? They aren't friends, but they have already spent a night together. "A friend." 

"She has friends?" The man lets out a mocking laugh. "Come with me then."

Though Kawamoto Ren understands why the man is laughing like that, he doesn't like it for some reason. Then again, hasn't he also been too judgmental toward her? One can't measure everyone's sanity on the same scale. Why is Chiyo like that? How does she see the world? Why does she insist on calling someone a corpse?

It's not that he has any interest in that woman. He just wants to know why the heck she's the way she is. Did she fall down when she was a child and broke her skull? Then, they wouldn't have let her work in this institution.

In any case, he doesn't want to laugh at her. He finds nothing funny about her now. It's wrong to underestimate that woman. He won't drink at home now. If he does, he will make sure to lock himself in his room and throw the key in some secret place.

He has been here a few times before. The walls are the same -- white and lifeless. There's a distinct scent of chemicals. As they make their way toward the lab, he sees the employees rushing out of the rooms. 

"Take this to the seniors." The man hands the coffees and the file to a woman who was passing by. "I need to take this man to Yamashina-san."

"Why?" The woman takes a glance at him and widens her eyes. "You! Aren't you the man who dropped her here a few days ago?"

Actually, it's only been two days. Kawamoto Ren gives her a friendly smile and nods, not wanting to say much.

"Sugoii!" The woman tilts her head and scans him from his head to his toes. "Are you her boyfriend?"

The corners of his lips twitch when he hears the question. Boyfriend? It would never happen in his lifetime.

"Don't gossip." The man pats the woman's back, urging her to leave. "The seniors are waiting."

The woman keeps giving him curious glances as she passes by him. He trails after the man who is heading to the last lab room. 

"Yamashina-san doesn't like to mingle with other people. So, there are many rumours about her." The man sighs as he stops in front of the metallic door. "She's inside… probably having lunch with a dead man. You can go in."

Lunch with a dead man? Kawamoto Ren doesn't know what to say. The man leaves in a hurry, leaving him alone in front of the metallic door. He's here to apologize only. If she doesn't accept his apology, he will leave. There's nothing much but an apology. 

He pushes the door open and walks in. Yamashina Chiyo is hunched over a n.a.k.e.d dead man on the table. When the rotten smell enters his nose, he retches as he leans against the wall to support himself. Does he need to do this?

"Why are you here?" Yamashina Chiyo's voice is cold and emotionless. "You should be having lunch with other women. I already told you that I have no interest in you."

What? But he doesn't have any interest in her either. Either way, she shouldn't be telling him to have lunch with other women. He watches her grab a scalpel from the table. Thankfully, her back is toward him. So, he can't see what she's doing. Kawamoto Ren looks toward the dead man's head.

"Why is he dead?" He screams when he sees the man's face.