Chapter 300 - If you want to play detective

Things don't go as she has been expecting them to be. AD Foundation has refused to divulge any personal information about its employees. The receptionist has denied seeing Sawano Shusui in the vicinity.

"If you want to play detective, do it somewhere else. We are already busy." 

The receptionist shows her the door. 

Kinoshita Iori has never been this frustrated. She stomps her feet outside the AD Foundation's building. Senpai is dead. She knows that he would never commit suicide. His boyfriend must know something about AD foundation.

Leaning against the car, Takeshi waves his hand. She slumps her shoulder, shaking her head in dismay. 

"Don't say it." She raises her finger. "You just can't say it."

Takeshi shrugs. He told her so. No organization would reveal the employee's information like this. Iori is still inexperienced when it comes to a few things.

"How will we find out?" She puts her head on his shoulder. "Takeshi, I can't let them rule out Senpai's death as a suicide. He didn't do it."

"I know." He pats her shoulder. "Trust me, okay? I will find the answer for you."

"But I don't want --"

He puts his index finger on her lips. "You are my girlfriend. Well, you are almost my fiancee. When you say yes, you will be my wife. Let me worry about my wife then."

She gawks at him. Girlfriend. Almost fiancee. Future wife. But he's calling her his wife.

"Get used to it." 

He gives her a small smile. 

"It will take some time." Iori sighs. "Let's go on a date after this mess is over."

"After you bring justice to your Senpai." He nods. "I understand. But can I get something in return for this wait?"

"What do you want?" She narrows her eyes on him. 

"Don't wander anywhere alone." He tells her sternly, "Tell me where you need to go. Either I or someone I trust will go with you. Sawano Shushi died like that. Your cousin's apartment was on fire. Your life is also in danger."

It's not like she doesn't understand. She has a lot to lose -- Takeshi, her family, and her friends. But she can't ignore something like this either. Sawano Shusui was wrongly killed. All the evidence is gone except. Her emails? She must have a copy of emails. "I remembered something."

She checks her mails. Not-so- surprisingly, her mails are deleted. There's nothing in the trash bin either. 

These people are powerful.

"Can Umezaki-san recover the data that I lost?" She asks Takeshi. "My mail account was hacked."

"She might be able to." Takeshi doesn't promise her. "Let's go home and ask her together."

He also needs to talk to his brother.

Iori, finally seeing a ray of hope, gets into the car. A person like Umezaki Rie might be able to find out all the information -- even the information that was deleted from Sawano Shusui's laptop. Her laptop is burned in the apartment fire.

When he's about to get into the car, Takeshi sees a flicker of shadow hiding behind the wall. Someone has been observing her. He's been feeling that they are being watched for a while. Are these people from the Consortium? His sister-in-law spoke about it in the interview that she gave to Iori.

***

The atmosphere in the Kamiyama Household is heavy, dark, and stifling. 

Kamiyama Aerie is dressed up for school while Yuta is lying on the ground on his belly.

"I thought that we already talked about this." Kamiyama Kiyohira looks at his son who has suddenly started throwing a tantrum about going to school. "Why don't you want to go?"

"I want to be homeschooled." Yuta raises his arms as if he's surrendering. "I can't… I just can't… I am an a.d.u.l.t."

As usual, Aerie doesn't understand what is going on. Her brother is always acting strange. She is so excited to go to school and make new friends. Her friend, Imamura Honoka, will also be there. She hasn't met her yet. But her father told her that Mika will be her playmate and classmate from now on. 

Her lips curl down sullenly. When can she go to school already?

"If you don't go, who will protect your sister from the bullies?" Sitting on the couch, Rie soothes Sho by patting his back. "Should I make her go alone?"

Why isn't Sho her elder brother? 

"But…" Yuta raises his head and meets her mother's thoughtful gaze. "Kids."

One kid had given him a certain trauma. He was almost turned into a eunuch by one. Well, Mira was never a normal kid. She was a crazy sociopath who showed signs since she was a child. He was literally bullied by his ex-girlfriend.

"They are nice." Carrying Sho in her left arm, she goes to Yuta. "Look at your brother. Isn't he nice?"

Yuta furrows his brows together, eyeing his brother who squeals and tries to reach for his face. He recalls how he had been cleaning his brother's poop. This poop machine isn't nice at all.

"I will just go to school," Yuta says dejectedly as he gets up. It's better than cleaning his brother's poop. He would rather suffer with kids who can go to the bathroom than a baby who isn't trained to use the toilet bowl yet. "Mother, if I don't come back…"

Rie smacks the back of his head. "Don't be dramatic. If you behave, the kids won't bully you."

"Mother, kids are so scary. Why do you like them so much?" Yuta puckers his lips, looking at her with wet eyes. The idea of going to school is similar to the idea of going to war with uncontrollable little beasts. He's such a well-behaved kid. Why can't everyone be like him? 

"What's there not to like about them?" Rie kisses Yuta's forehead, then she pecks Sho's cheek. She beckons her daughter. "Aerie, come."

Aerie rushes to her mother and kisses Rie's cheek. They laugh together. 

Yuta sighs. Maybe kids aren't that bad.