Chapter 29

Rina straightened her clothes, looked at the curry on the table, and sighed helplessly.

It might just have been an impulsive act; after all, he's still just a child.

With some hopeful thoughts in mind, Rina finished dinner and took a shower.

But when she came out and saw the person in the mirror, her heart felt as if it were being tightly gripped by something.

Those ambiguous traces haven't been washed away.

Rina's lowered eyelashes trembled slightly, and she remained stunned for a long time until the phone on the dressing table rang a few times.

Arisu Kazumi sent a message.

Ms. Yui hopes you can come to the gallery.

Why aren't you replying to my messages?

Didn't you promise them?

Kimura is in a very bad mood; he wants a divorce. You need to come and talk to him!

[Ms. Yui is really pitiful, please have some compassion!]

Rina smiled slightly, turned off her phone, and didn't reply to any messages.

The next day at noon, it started to drizzle.

Mrs. Kasuga opened the apartment door and was startled. "Oh my goodness, why are there so many men?"

Damian had just cleaned her boyfriend's terrarium and was playing video games in the living room. She didn't even look up when she heard the noise.

Shimono Gen stood there, staring at the strange, wicked creature in the restaurant.

Mrs. Kasuga changed into slippers, carefully bypassed the burly-looking man, and whispered to Kurosawa Shiran, "Hoshino, why are there so many strange men in Rina's house? They look dangerous."

Shimono Gen said in a deep voice, "The one next to you is the most dangerous, old lady."

"Old lady?" Mrs. Kasuga trembled slightly, looking at the man with disbelief.

Kurosawa Shiran smiled slightly, in stark contrast to the other woman, "Mrs. Kasuga, these are all Rina's friends from foreign affairs, here on vacation."

He washed the strawberries, chopped them, and put them in the juicer, leaving one in her hand.

“Good boy, you’re so sensible,” Mrs. Kasuga ruffled the fluffy head, took the strawberry, and walked around the man again, asking, “Where is Miss Rina?”

Kurosawa Shiran continued with her work, "He's still not awake."

“She’s always been like this,” Mrs. Kasuga said, lifting her skirt as she went upstairs. “She turns off the lights at ten o’clock sharp every night, but when she wakes up at noon, she has dark circles under her eyes. Her sleep quality is terrible. We really need to think of something to do.”

Ten minutes later.

Rina was woken up by Mrs. Kasuga. She sat blankly in a chair in the restaurant, feeling as if her soul had left her body.

"Bread, fried eggs, bacon, ham," Kurosawa Shiran noticed the hickey on her neck had been covered with a band-aid and raised an eyebrow. "Would you like some baked with tomatoes, sis?"

“Hoshino is so thoughtful. Compared to some people, I have to tell him to mop the floor a dozen times, and he will complain that I am nagging,” Mrs. Kasuga said to Kurosawa Shiran like a loving mother. “There are not many people as hardworking as him.”

Kurosawa Shiran silently placed the chopped tomatoes on the grill. "I really enjoy cooking."

Of course, it's only for my older sister.

"You're so sensible," Mrs. Kasuga couldn't help but sigh. "How old are you?"

Kurosawa Tokiran: "Eighteen."

Mrs. Kasuga shifted her body slightly. "Then the wedding is still a while away."

Rina continued to drift off into thought, and half a minute later, her phone suddenly rang.

Damian was checking the data on the phone and also making sure no one had installed viruses or location tracking software.

Ultimately, he was still somewhat worried about that girl named Hoshino Rin.

Something was off about him, even though his curry was delicious.

After the call connected, he handed the phone to Rina.

Rina took a sip of her coffee. "What is it?"

Arisu Kazumi: "Didn't you see the message I sent?"

Rina casually sipped her hand-drip coffee and made a slight gesture with her hand, "I've seen it."

Kurosawa Shirani sensibly removed the roasted tomato.

Arisu Kazumi was somewhat indignant: "Why didn't you reply after reading it?"

Rina: "Busy."

Arisu Kazumi: "Then come over here right away, Yui-san wants to see you—"

Before she could finish speaking, Kurosawa Shiran took the phone, cautiously observing her reaction before hanging up.

"Sister, have breakfast first."

Shimono Gen asked, "Won't something bad happen if we just leave it like this?"

Rina: "The greatest humiliation and contempt you can show to someone is to ignore them, especially someone with a histrionic personality. She will boast about it repeatedly to prove my incompetence."

Kurosawa Shiran: "Who is my sister talking about?"

Rina enjoyed her lunch without saying a word.

Damian answered for her: "The murderer who killed Ishikawa Ryoko."

Although Kurosawa Shiran didn't know who she was talking about, she nodded silently.

During their conversation, Rina's phone rang again, but this time it only rang for a few seconds before she hung up.

It was a call from an unknown number.

Rina glanced at it but didn't retaliate.

Naoki Kimura stood in the abandoned port, facing the sea breeze, his body trembling slightly, as if he had been seized by a demon.

He thought about it for a long time, and finally threw his phone into the sea.

If I say it out loud, it will definitely be discovered...

We must not let this tragedy repeat itself.

Yui stood not far away, watching her retreating figure with a satisfied yet sarcastic smile. "Are you standing here reminiscing about her?"

"Yui, they're not wrong, it's my fault..." Naoki Kimura gazed at the surging waves, tears streaming down his face without him realizing it. "I'm no longer worthy to love you."

“You were just tempted by them. I’ve already forgiven you for this. We don’t need to get a divorce. I still love you,” Yui stepped forward, hugged him, and kissed him calmly. “Come back with me. We can make up.”

Naoki Kimura held her tightly, his shoulders trembling more and more violently. "...You are a very good person. I don't deserve to be forgiven, Yui, Yui, I'm sorry."

Yui shook her head and deepened the kiss.

The rain intensified, and the two returned to the gallery.

Yui dried his hair and then changed him into clean clothes. "Get some rest, you'll feel better after a good night's sleep."

She pulled the blanket up, gently patted Naoki, and left.

Afterwards, she returned to her room, slowly untied her skirt, and changed into a clean set of clothes.

Arisu Kazumi strolled around the garden and then came to the greenhouse to observe the potted plants there.

The flowers here are blooming beautifully.

The ivy climbing on the wooden frame hangs down from the top of the support, its leaves glistening with water droplets, clearly showing the care its owner has for them.

However, why are there no blooming flowers in the cement-built pool there?

Hearing footsteps behind her, Arisu Kazumi turned around and looked at Yui, asking, "Miss Yui, why is this place filled with green plants?"

“Here,” Yui Sakurai smiled gently, her expression calm and tender, “this is green, the color reserved for lovers.”

Arisu Kazumi was stunned, not understanding what she meant.

Sakurai Yui took a deep breath and said softly, "By the way, did Rina say when she's coming?"

"She hung up on me, saying she was busy with experiments and I'd probably have to wait," Arisu Kazumi complained in frustration.

“Doing experiments? That’s true. Everyone has their own work and their own things to deal with. It’s really too much of a stretch,” Yui Sakurai said softly, her voice as gentle as cotton soaked in water. “Kazumi, please tell her that it’s okay if she can’t come. Perhaps our marriage really should come to an end.”

Arisu Kazumi noticed a small, moist red blush under her eyelids and immediately comforted her, "Miss Yui, please don't think like that. If you want to be with someone, you should boldly pursue them, and if you're together, you should cherish each other!"

Sakurai Yui looked down at her intertwined fingers and stammered, "I just felt that this was taking up too much of her time."

“No, she’s not. She’s not that busy. Since her brother passed away, she’s rarely come back to the detective agency. She just stays alone and doesn’t know where she goes,” Arisu Kazumi hesitated for a moment before expressing her concerns. “My brother once said that someone like her can’t go very far on her own.”

Being alone will lead you into the abyss.

Sakurai Yui's eyelashes trembled. "Do you need someone to take care of you?"

“No,” Arisu Kazumi shook her head, “it’s because she always does dangerous things.”

The rain subsided, and the streets were shrouded in a white mist.

Rina sneezed and picked up a tissue from the table to wipe the tip of her nose.

Kurosawa Shiran placed the hot cocoa in her hand and asked, "Sister, what are we doing here?"

Rina took a small sip, found the taste good, and took another sip. "Gather information about Kimura Naoki and Ishikawa Ryoko."

“This tea shop is the closest to Kimura’s company, and the taste is pretty good. At lunchtime, the company’s employees come here to relax,” Rina said, sipping her hot cocoa and glancing at the milk tea beside him. “Pretend to read the newspaper.”

Kurosawa Shiran said "Oh," and pretended to be reading attentively.

After a while, employees in uniform came to buy tea and snacks, and in less than ten minutes, the tea shop was almost full.

"Handsome, what are you looking at?" Because Kurosawa Shiran's appearance was too eye-catching, the woman secretly glanced at him several times and finally couldn't help but strike up a conversation.

Kurosawa Shiran smiled at her, her eyes as calm as a still lake, devoid of any emotion. "I was reading the news about that murder case."

The woman glanced at his clothes, raised an eyebrow slightly, then looked at the newspaper and smiled, "You're looking at this? Ishikawa Ryoko is my colleague; we're in the same department."

Kurosawa Toki's voice was full of sympathy, "That's truly heartbreaking."

The woman's eyes were slightly closed, and she looked thoughtful: "It's alright. I don't have a very good relationship with her. Well, actually, no one in our department likes her very much."

Kurosawa Shiran: "Is it because you don't fit in?"

"Being disliked by one person might be due to a clash of personalities, but being disliked by a group of people suggests you should reflect on yourself." The woman raised an eyebrow. "Are handsome guys interested in her?"

Kurosawa Shiran: "His death was quite gruesome."

The woman suddenly leaned back in her chair, drew closer to him, and whispered, "To tell you the truth, we're in the sales department, and she's the top salesperson, but we all know how she closes those deals. She steals orders from many other people."

An outsider added, "She's a really awful person. Her private life is a mess. Once at a party, a man slapped her in public and said she was shameless."

Kurosawa Shiran pretended to listen.

But under the table, he secretly stretched out his long leg and rubbed it against Rina's calf, trying to attract her attention.

Rina stepped on it and secretly observed the work schedule of the opposite workshop.

The woman blinked and said, "Handsome, let's exchange contact information."

Kurosawa Shiran gave a polite smile: "No need, the person I like is sitting right across from me, and she's already a little jealous."