201 Who is prettier than you in this world?

"you're telling me that you've only known her for a few days." the officer slams his hands on the table. "you followed her around because you started to like her."

"yes." ren frowns at the officer, "she was a beautiful woman. i am a man in my prime. things happen. there was no special reason. i am telling you. out of nowhere, someone started shooting. the two men also started shooting back. there was no time for us to run. one of the bullets hit her. you should focus on the person who killed an innocent person."

in the hidden room, yamashina chiyo narrows her eyes. the man is lying. it's funny that he is trying to lie with that kind of face. even a kid can tell that he's lying. why is she here anyway when she should be smacking her cousin's head? she rubbed her neck. the man is telling the same lie and the officer is on the verge of bashing his head. 

"she's not from this country. we found out that you stayed in a motel room. she was attacked by someone on the day before yesterday." the officer presses ren for an answer. "why did she get attacked?" 

"she told me that he was her stalker." ren wipes his sweaty palms on his jeans. "she didn't want to go to the hospital. she was hiding from the stalker. so, she asked me to take her to a safe place."

if he's going to lie, at least he should do a good job. yamashina chiyo wonders why would that woman has that kind of smile for this kind of man? she has seen a fair share of corpses. she has seen no corpse with that kind of smile. this man is trying to protect that dead woman. what's the point of protecting someone who is already dead? if he's honest, he can actually help that dead woman find justice sooner.

"we know her identity now." she hears the officer reporting to the inspector. "her name is nina vasiliev. she's a convict who killed her uncle, cousin brother, and her aunt before she disappeared. her other identity is nano, a notorious blackhat hacker who became part of a cyber-underground organization dark hackers five years ago. yesterday, the dark hackers organization was attacked by an unknown hacker. she could have been on a run after that happened. these kinds of organizations often take care of loose ends."

she stares at the redheaded man. under the intense gruelling interrogation by the officer, the man doesn't get swayed. like a parrot, he keeps repeating the same word. 

oh, he's trying to protect someone else. but, who? this man is pretty ordinary. 

"his name is kawamoto ren. he was a grey-hat hacker who was caught a few years ago and he did his time in prison. he is now working as a cybercrime consultant in the cybercrime division in m-district station." the officer continues his report, "he lives alone in an apartment in the m-district. we didn't find anything suspicious in his apartment."

"who are those two men?" yamashina chiyo asks. the officers glance at her. it's rare to see her out of her laboratory. she usually never shows any interest in interrogations. 

"we looked into them. they are highly-trained chaperones who escort people from one location to another. that's precisely their jobs. they previously worked for the military." the officer sighs, "the victim might have contacted them for protection. it seems that she was already aware of the danger. we couldn't find anything about the assassin. it seems like the woman was his target."

there's no way that this guy didn't know unless he's an idiot. but then, he does seem like an idiot. yamashina chiyo lets out an exasperated sigh. this case is another cold case. she walks out of the room and heads toward the cell where she locked iori. she sees takeshi leaning against the door with his eyes closed. 

she stares at him. why did iori take ren to this guy's place? how is he related? iori wanted to call someone. then, was it this person? is he somehow related to this assassination? the redheaded idiotic man is protecting someone for sure. how is kamiyama family related to this assassination?

takeshi opens his eyes. he smiles at her. "are you going to let her out now?"

"will you leave if i let her out?" she raises her brow. 

"not without her." takeshi replies, "i am also waiting for kawamoto-san to finish."

"how is he related to the kamiyama family?" she tilts her head and observes him. his posture is quite relaxed as if he's at his home. 

"he's my elder brother's close friend," takeshi replies. "my brother is busy with some other matters at the moment. he couldn't be here for his friend. i am here in his place. how long are you going to interrogate him? he's not the culprit, that's for sure. isn't this just wasting someone's time?"

is that why iori called him? what are these people hiding? she exhales. "someone is dead. it's natural that he is being interrogated thoroughly." 

"you don't care about someone's life," takeshi states. he steps out of her way. "please let my childhood friend out. she's not your prisoner."

"they will let him go soon." she unlocks the cell. "you take your package and go. i will drop her at her home."

she pushes the door open and finds iori dozing on the chair. why did she even bother punishing her? this girl can sleep anywhere. takeshi walks into the cell and lifts her in his arms. he gives her a smile. "if you see the other package, tell him to find me outside."

"hey, you!" she calls after him. he takes long strides away from her. iori clutches the fabric of his shirt in her sleep. in her dream, she's riding a warm and comfortable cloud in the sky. 

he lays her down on the seat of the car. he stares at her sleeping face. it's been a while. this girl came to the city many times, but she never met him. he was surprised that she called him today. 

he won't be able to show his face to his nephew if he fails to make this woman belong to him. he cannot fail this time. in any case, he can't hold himself back from stealing a kiss right now. he presses his lips on her lips once. her eyes flutter. he sighs. she sleeps like a log. at this rate, he will end up doing a lot of things to her right here. 

he needs to hold back for now. he brushes a stray hair behind her ear. "you will fall for me this time. my nephew is waiting for a pretty aunt. who is prettier than you in this world, hm?"