Chapter 45 The First Player

The call was slow to connect, and was finally connected just when it was about to be hung up.

The huge sense of shame turned into uncontrollable anger. Miyano Shiho held the phone and did not wait for the other party to speak. For the first time, she could not hold back her emotions and said: "I am Shirley. Throw away the sign in your hand. Do you want to be seen by everyone?!"

Anyone could hear the underlying anger in her cold and tough words.

There was silence for two seconds on the other end of the phone, and then a casual, lazy male voice, as if he had just woken up, came from it, with a hint of coldness: "Sherry? Ah, you're here. What's wrong? Don't you like this brand?"

The voice was actually very pleasant and gentle. The tone of voice was slow and a bit confused. Anyone would think that he was a good-tempered person.

But Miyano Shiho could not ignore the chill in his words that penetrated deep into her heart. She froze almost immediately, as if her anger had been completely extinguished by a bucket of water. There was no mistake. Even though the voice coming from the phone was a little distorted, the tone of voice, the voice, and the person who represented that voice, left such a deep impression on her at the time that it was firmly engraved in her memory. Therefore, even after three years, she could not forget it.

She held up her phone and turned stiffly to look at the man wearing sunglasses and holding a sign. She managed to keep her expression unchanged, but her voice still trembled slightly: "...Cointreau?"

"Ah, it's me, sister. It's been a long time. I didn't expect you to still remember me. It's really surprising. I thought you had forgotten me."

There was obvious joy in Cointreau's voice, and the hint of coldness she had heard before seemed to be just an illusion.

The man in black clothes and white hair pulled down his sunglasses, revealing a handsome and pale face that was unfamiliar yet familiar to Miyano Shiho. He looked around, then quickly locked onto her direction and waved at her with a smile.

"Ah, I found you." He narrowed his eyes and smiled.

This action seemed friendly and kind in the eyes of others, but in the eyes of Miyano Shiho, his every look and action revealed carelessness, and the indifference and arrogance hidden deep inside could not be concealed at all.

She felt like a hawk's locked prey.

It was actually him. Why was it him? Miyano Shiho couldn't help but feel a little scared.

Cointreau looked no different from the last time she saw him three years ago. The look in his eyes, the tone of his voice, and even the way he waved his hand hadn't changed at all. For a moment, Miyano Shiho felt as if she had dreamt back to three years ago.

——No, he was even more extreme and worse three years ago.

It was just an ordinary night. When Shiho Miyano finished her experiment and walked out of the laboratory building on her way home, a black car at a very fast speed suddenly stopped in front of her at the corner of the street, no more than one meter away from her. Although it turned out that he stopped very steadily, at such a fast speed and such a close distance, Shiho Miyano truly felt what it meant to be "only one step away from death" at that moment.

When she was so scared that her face turned pale and she thought she was about to die or be kidnapped, he suddenly opened the car door and appeared in front of her. He looked at her with a light and sharp look, then suddenly smiled, lowered his head and waved to her, and said to her in an especially brisk and intimate tone: "Finally found you, Miyano family's sister? I am Cointreau, and I am here to give you a small gift at the request of your sister."

A completely fake smile.

An attitude that seems gentle and intimate but is actually careless and cold.

The young man with long, soft white hair was so arrogant that he didn't even want to disguise himself completely in front of her.

The hem of his coat was stained with a few obvious red marks, and the pungent smell of blood and cigarettes mixed together went straight into her sense of smell. Miyano Shiho couldn't even hear what he said. The only thought that filled her mind was "danger, danger, danger, danger, danger."

Miyano Shiho couldn't help but cover her nose and took two steps back, but she didn't dare to run - locked by those overly sharp eyes, cold sweat ran down her back, but she couldn't even turn around. Her body was so stiff as if it was not her own, and even her thinking became slow.

At that moment, the handsome young man was no different from a "devil" in her eyes. She doubted for a moment that she would really be killed by the man in front of her.

"What's wrong? You're a genius, but why do you look a little silly? Or did you fail to react? Or did I drive too fast and startle you? I don't have any smell, do I?"

The young man who called himself "Coindo" raised his eyebrows, took another step forward, waved his hand in front of her eyes, and asked her with a smile: "Hey, are you Miyano Shiho? The one with a sister named Miyano Akemi?"

elder sister!

Hearing her sister's name was like holding her own anchor. Miyano Shiho forced herself to calm down, grabbed her collar and took a few deep breaths, so that she would not go weak and show obvious fear. She calmed down and asked him in a cold voice, "It's me! What's wrong with my sister?"

- To be honest, she admired herself for not only not showing her fear at the age of eleven, but also being able to speak and move normally. At least on the surface, she seemed to be as calm and indifferent as usual.

"I'm living a good life, but I miss you very much. So when the organization asked me to come find you, I asked her if there was anything she needed me to bring to you."

Cointreau said as he casually took out a small light pink gift box from his coat pocket and shook it in his hand: "Here, this is it - a gift from Miyano Santo. But don't worry, I haven't opened it to see what's inside - after all, it's a secret gift between you two sisters, right?"

He smiled at her, but Miyano Shiho's face turned even paler. She pinched the flesh of her palm with her nails to prevent herself from showing anger or fear. She frantically thought about his intentions in her mind - why did he threaten her with her sister? Was it because her recent learning progress was too slow? Or was there something wrong with her sister?

"...What do you want to do?" she asked, not even noticing how dry her voice sounded.

"You're sweating and your face is pale. Do you have a cold? Or did I just run too fast and scared you?"

Instead of answering, Jun Du asked, and pointed at her forehead affectionately: "My matter is not urgent, but sister, do you want to wipe the sweat first?"

"Sorry, sorry, but I had to act in a hurry. I just encountered a small accident and was delayed for a while, so I drove a little faster. And don't be afraid, I am a good driver, nothing will happen. Don't be afraid, you are very important to the organization, I will not do anything to you." He said.

Miyano Shiho wiped the sweat off her face - she usually wouldn't do this kind of thing, but now she did it without any hesitation.

"I'm fine. I just had a fever. I'm fine now." She lied to herself, even though she didn't believe it. She said stiffly, "Okay, now you can tell me what you want to do?"

However, Cointreau seemed to believe it. He looked at her in surprise and nodded seriously, and casually ignored the question: "I came to you to update the experimental data of the organization. Sister, is it convenient for you to draw blood for me today?"

"Now? But... the lab door is closed."

If he were taken there now, they would be the only two people on the entire laboratory floor—Myano Shiho subconsciously resisted being in the same place as Cointreau.

"Yes, that's right, right now, there is only this one thing." He said with a smile, as if he had seen through her: "Sister, don't you have the key to the laboratory? In fact, I can also open the lock, but if I can't do it today, then I can only sleep in the car today and come again tomorrow. Can you bear it?"

Sleep in the car? Did he mean to follow her downstairs of her current residence and keep watch on her outside until tomorrow? !

"...I understand. I'll take you to the laboratory."

Although, as Cointreau said, he went to see her for such a small matter, and after drawing blood, he gave her his sister's gift and left. But the deep impression he left on Miyano Shiho has not faded until now, and she is unwilling to believe that there is no other intention in his words.

The week after she met Cointreau, she had nightmares of all kinds for a week straight, and even felt a secret and tiny fear when she saw someone with white hair smiling.

It was not until Cointreau never showed up again that she gradually forgot about the incident and got better.

However, Shiho Miyano did not expect that three years later, on the first day she returned to Japan, the first person from the organization she met was Cointreau.

The familiar movements and expressions aroused the fear hidden deep in her mind, but she had grown up a lot since three years ago, and became smarter, and her fear of Cointreau had subsided a lot. At least she knew that as long as she was still useful to the organization, Cointreau would never do anything to her, just like he said three years ago.

Calm down... She shouldn't have done anything out of the ordinary just now, right? She couldn't live with the fear of Cointreau forever.

Miyano Shiho took a deep breath, pursed her lips, pulled the handle of the suitcase, and walked towards the direction of Saikai Haruto with a fearless expression.

Xi Haiqingdou pressed a few times on a certain spot on the sign in his hand, and the neon light went out. Only a few "click" sounds were heard, and the sign automatically folded up and immediately turned into a small three-dimensional box that was neither big nor small and looked ordinary.

He took off his sunglasses, rubbed his eyes, and then checked the time on his phone - 9:10, which meant he had slept for about half an hour.

Light sleep is still effective. At least he is in a much better mood now and is not so sleepy anymore.

Putting the sunglasses into his pocket, Xi Haiqingdou took the luggage from Miyano Shiho's hand, but Miyano Shiho quickly retracted her hand before he touched her.

"Sister... Oh no, I'll call you Shirley from now on." Xi Haiqingdou glanced at her without paying any attention. He yawned and asked her casually, "Don't you like this sign? I spent two hours making it just for you. I was afraid you'd forgotten me and wouldn't recognize me. The effect is pretty good, right?"

There was a hint of depression in his voice.

This is a special airport pick-up sign that he made based on the opinions of netizens. In order to avoid being inconspicuous and for the sake of innovation, he also installed neon lights and the portrait of Ai in his memory. It is the only one of its kind in the world.

"It's too conspicuous." Miyano Shiho replied stiffly, "Do you want everyone to know about the organization?"

"It only says Dr. Miyano," Saikai Haruto consoled her. "And this avatar can only be recognized by people who know you. Don't worry, there won't be any problems, and it won't affect me in any way."

…She was obviously worried about herself. He was wearing such a big pair of sunglasses, no one would be able to tell who he was, right? Miyano Shiho took a deep breath, but didn't dare to curse at him, so she could only be angry silently.

Angry again...Does she really hate him? It seems that she had always had this attitude towards him three years ago. The 11 or 12-year-old girl had a tense face and stared at him warily. She was extremely repulsive to even the slightest unintentional touch, as if she was afraid of touching some virus.

Xi Haiqing Dou felt a little headache and puzzled, even a little aggrieved.

It's a bit difficult... I don't know why she treats him like this. He was quite nice to her at that time, right? He was even kind enough to help her and Akemi Miyano deliver express mail.

It's really hard to guess what the little girl is thinking.

Xihai Qingdou sighed silently in his heart.

He had to find a way to ease her rejection of him...otherwise, if the boss changed her guardian, he would be in trouble.

What should he do? Xi Haiqing Dou thought about it. He couldn't just take her to the amusement park, right?

Another thing is that he'd better take the lead and destroy Miyano Shiho's good impression of other members, so that she won't think that others are better than him and want to change the guardian.

It's decided. How about starting by discrediting Gin?