Chapter 193: Crawling

In the office, which is quiet and still.

 

I, Ryoko Terashima, was sitting at an old steel desk whose color is somewhere between gray and moss green, writing an investigation report.

 

It is just after ten o’clock in the evening.

What I am working on is a report about a minor incident that was reported this evening.

It is about a dead cat thrown into the yard of a house. The report was made by a family who had been suffering from daily harassment.

They are a young couple with a small baby in the house, and the wife seemed to be a bit paranoid.

In the past, I would have been indignant at the despicable criminal and would have felt sorry for the wife.

Now, however, I have no interest in her.

Solving this case would not benefit Master, nor would it bring him any praise.

For now, everything except Master is nothing but a noise.

But it’s also true that I’m able to be of service to Master because of this job.

After all, if I were to be dismissed for neglecting my work, I would no longer be a detective and I would have no value to my master, which makes me uneasy.

（I wonder when he will call me to bed next… ）

When I think of last night’s affair, the piercing through my nipple comes vividly to my mind.

Proof of Master’s possession.

This piercing is a form of happiness.

「Oh, you’re still here? 」

His voice was coarse and vulgar.

I was in a happy mood, but he was such a tactless ape.

Still, he was a senior detective, after all. So, I couldn’t just treat him like that.

I forced a smile and replied.

「Yes, it’s about the investigation report… are you on duty, Inomoto-senpai? 」

「Yes, but just in time 」

「What’s happening? 」

「Actually, “Nakamura… has disappeared” 」

He stared at my face as if he was trying to figure out what was going on. Stop it! What if your gorilla’s eyes infect me?

Nakamura–Takehiko Nakamura is my former fiancee.

But the fact that I was engaged to such a man is now nothing more than black history I don’t want to remember.

I feel as if I would shoot him if I saw his face.

In the investigation of the kidnapping of the track and field club, he had committed a breach of trust, but his confession was overturned and he was not prosecuted. I had heard that he was currently under house arrest awaiting punishment, showing his tendency to be lenient to his own people.

Well, Now I’m more concerned with remembering the tips of my Master’s pubic hair rather than that.

「…I see 」

「What? You don’t react well 」

「He’s already a stranger 」

As I looked down at my papers again, I felt my senior cower.

「Don’t be so formal. After all, we’re on the same boat. Oh right, my junior colleague at the main office took the trouble to contact me… but the problem is, he didn’t just disappear 」

「What do you mean? 」

「A woman was seen visiting Nakamura’s room just before he disappeared 」

「A woman? That’s not a problem. He’s a single man 」

「No, it’s not that… it’s just that the woman’s face was very similar to that “Anna-Kamishima” 」

「Anna Kamishima? 」

「Yes, that’s right 」

The wife of the Kamishima clan leader. She escaped from prison and disappeared. She’s the one the Master blamed for the track and field club kidnapping.

And I remembered that she was an arrogant woman when I’d confronted her in the interrogation room.

As Inomoto-senpai sat down in his seat across from me and opened up a convenience store lunch box, he continued to speak.

「The fact that Anna Kamishima was in Tokyo raises the possibility that she was involved in the kidnapping case. You know, the kidnapping at the entertainment company. It was treated as a copycat of the kidnapping of the track and field club, but now that it’s come to this, it wouldn’t be surprising if that woman was actually behind the wanted model Hikami 」

I couldn’t help my mouth from dropping open.

It’s not strange…? That woman really is a good scapegoat, that’s all I can say. She’s willing to take the fall for my Master again.

「However… it’s not like we can do anything about a case under the jurisdiction of the main office, is there? 」

「Yeah, but if Anna Kamishima is involved, the kidnapping of the track & field club and the kidnapping of the entertainment company will become a series of kidnappings that are connected to each other. We can’t just ignore it 」

◇ ◇ ◇

Street lights, neon signs, apartment lighting.

The lights of the city are drifting away at great speed.

As I was looking out the window, Yui-chan who was sitting in the opposite seat turned her head to me and opened her mouth.

「Mai-sama, we should be arriving soon 」

「Yes, it looks like it. The scenery looks familiar 」

Currently, we were on our way back from Tokyo. And the last bullet train is about to arrive at the terminal station closest to my place.

Even though it’s close, it takes about an hour to get to my house after switching to car. After all, Tokyo is far away. I was again impressed by the hard work of Misuzu, who often travels back and forth between Tokyo and her home, even for work.

Even though it was Obon, the train was sparsely crowded at this hour.

Even so, diagonally behind me, Tamine-san, the head of the security department, was keeping a watchful eye on the people around me with a stiff face.

I don’t think there’s any need to be so cautious, but I guess it’s his job.

This trip to Tokyo was quite enjoyable.

After the shocking press conference, I took Yui-chan and Tamine-san to Tokyo the next day to relax and enjoy myself.

Although the people at my stepfather’s company were busy dealing with the police and the mass media right after the press conference, it had nothing to do with me.

So, the following day, I went shopping in Harajuku, Omotesando and Shibuya.

I got my nails done in the same color as Yui-chan’s, and looked for a new swimsuit, hoping to spend the rest of the summer at the night pool with Fu~min.

Tamine-san, who couldn’t stay away from me, seemed to be in a tight spot in the swimsuit shop.

And the next day, I enjoyed myself at a theme park in Chiba.

I don’t need to tell anything about it, but it’s not Tokyo Doitsumura.

While Yui-chan and I were having fun at the attractions, Tamine-san was following us at a distance.

He seemed to be trying to be inconspicuous, but he was a big guy in a dark suit and sunglasses. So he was very conspicuous.

If he had been in a movie theme park in Kansai, people would have thought he was a member of the Men-in-Black cosplay staff.

It may seem surprising, but Yui-chan and I are very compatible.

When I talk about Fu~min, she listens to me with great interest and agrees with my assertion that Fu~min is handsome.

There was no way I could not get along with her. I feel like I’ve been talking about Fu~min for the whole trip.

Once we got to know each other, I was a little bit happy because she was two years younger than me, and I felt like I had a younger sister ( tinntl ) .

I’m an only child, and I’ve always had a longing for a sibling.

As I was smiling thinking about this, Yui-chan tilted her head slightly.

「Mai-sama, what’s wrong~? 」

「Oh, nothing really, but… 」

Even though I was called a young lady, I was wearing an off-the-shoulder summer knit that showed my belly button and denim shorts.

Yui-chan, on the other hand, is wearing a white blouse with frills and a high-waisted tight skirt, as well as her hair in a ringlet.

No matter how I look at it, Yui-chan is the more ladylike one.

In fact, Yui-chan is a real lady. After all, until three years ago, I was a mere young girl from a single-mother family, so our behavior is completely different.

Fu~min once called me a disgrace to the young lady’s world.

…Huh? Isn’t Fu~min being a bit harsh?

「By the way, Yui-chan. Are you sure you want to come back here with me? You could have stayed in Tokyo with Aoi-san, you know 」

「No, it’s fine~. When Mother said she was going to live alone~, I was too worried about her, but she said the company would take care of her in the dormitory…or maybe they would hire her? 」

「No, that’s not the case. In fact, if it’s Yui-chan, my stepfather would probably want to adopt you… 」

While we were talking, the train arrived at the platform, and an announcement announced its arrival.

「Well… we’re here, I think I’m pretty tired 」

「Yes, then let’s go home quickly, Mai-sama 」

I got up from the seat and went down from the aisle towards the exit.

Then, following the empty-handed me was Yui-chan, who was dragging her carry-on case, and Tamine-san who was quietly following  behind her.

Most of the passengers seemed to get off here, and there was a short line in the aisle.

In front of me, a tired-looking businessman was picking up an empty beer can with his fingertips.

And when I looked back, I saw a pregnant woman in a bright red evening dress wearing a hat with her eyes wide open, following behind Tamine-san.

（Wow… a flashy pregnant woman with a big belly in a dress! ）

She was wearing an evening dress, which was not a maternity dress, and her waist looked quite painful because of the tightness of her large belly.

（Well, there are people who think fashion is more important than practicality. Speaking of which… ）

I chuckled when I remembered Misuzu’s appearance at the meeting place in a tight skirt with bare legs under the cold weather.

At that time, she said “I want to look the cutest in front of Jun-kun”, but honestly speaking, I didn’t sympathize with her.

If anything, I’d like to have such a natural relationship with Fu~min that even if I’m dressed sloppily in a nightwear and a teddy bear, we can sit next to each other with our feet in the kotatsu and rub shoulders while saying to each other, “It’s too small, go away!”.