The R.H Case

Chapter 8

Nakamura leaned back at his chair, still eyeing the piece of paper in front of him. He might look calm, but in reality he was very close to ripping his hair off. The higher ups were happy with their recent achievements but the constant pressure to catch RH was getting heavier too.

Again sighing he looked up and eyed the two gentlemen sitting opposite to him. They were the best two he had at hand, and they have never let him down before. So, he wondered what happened with this case.

"Say-" He spoke grabbing attention of both, "-both of you understand how important this case is right?"

He noticed that both gentlemen sitting in front of him nodded wordlessly. Sighing he looked at one of his best detectives,U Takumi. Nakamura actually took pride in guiding Takumi through his early days, he taught Takumi and was quite surprised at how good Takumi was at handling everything. Nakamura trusted him and his abilities. That's why he had handed him the most tough case.

"Usui, do you really have no lead?" The old chief sighed, the wrinkles on his forehead indicated how stressed he was.

"I'm sorry to let you down sir."

That morning when he was suddenly called to the chief's office, Takumi was mentally prepared that he was going to be questioned. Then again, he expected to be alone, which wasn't not the case apparently. It annoyed him that he had sit beside Igarashi Tora while going through this.

Takumi's thoughts were interrupted by a mocking chuckle.

"He's failing sir." Tora looked over at Takumi, smirking, "I think I can do better than this guy."

Takumi held his gaze, and raised a brow at the audacity, "Well it didn't go to you in the first place. I guess that already explains a lot."

Tora felt his face hardening. Yes, he knew that the chief favored that jerk over him. Honestly, he couldn't even understand what was so special about him anyway. Both of them graduated from the same academy, they both were the top from their batch, they both have had great achievements in their short career yet still the chief favored Takumi over him. It was starting to get on his nerves.

Nakamura slammed his hands, startling the younger ones, "Stop."

"I'll do better, sir." Takumi felt bad that he was lying to the face of his boss like this. In fact he didn't understand why he was doing this. He was risking his job, his position everything for his curiosity. Even though he was curious to know more about her, for sure, he was still determined to complete his task. He admired his boss a lot, and he couldn't bear to let him down.

Much to his surprise, his boos shook his head as he leaned back, "No." Nakamura shifted his focus from Takumi to Tora, who was sitting there patiently, and then back to Takumi, "I want both of you to work on this one." Before anyone could protest, he quickly added, "No arguments will be tolerated."

Tora had a smug look while the chief announced that. He was quite sure that sooner or later this case was coming to his hands. Too bad that the chief didn't hand it completely to him, and instead wanted him to work with that guy. But he didn't mind it too much as he was sure that they wouldn't be working together anyways. He knew Takumi's way of handling things, and his way were vastly different and both of them despised each other's method. So it was given that they would run their investigations separately.

He looked over at Takumi. As usual, that guy had an expressionless face. Tora scoffed. He found it hard to believe that Usui Takumi hadn't got any leads in two weeks. That was just absurd. Now, that he thought about that maybe Takumi was hiding something. Tora's eyes glistened at the possibility. If that was true then he could easily throw Takumi out of the way and then nobody would be there to oppose him. His smirk only grew wider.

"Then again Tora what about the other case you are handling?"

Tora closed his eyes and softly sighed before looking over to his boss. He was furious at how Takumi was given to handle such a big case while his was given a minor kidnapping one. Not that he was belittling someone's life, but these cases didn't thrilled him enough to work hard. "We got the kid sir but he didn't see the kidnapper. I'll go and question him once the boy calms down."

Nakamura smiled, proud. Just as he had expected Igarashi was a great choice and could be a worthy partner of Takumi. "Okay, great work." He looked over the other guy he was expecting a lot from, "Take a break if you need it but you need to fresh your mind and find a lead."

"I'm afraid that won't be necessary sir." Takumi replied, without wasting a second.

"Okay. You two are dismissed."

Takumi stood up, followed by Tora. Both gave a salute to the chief and left the room without a word. As soon as they were out Tora walked past without throwing a single glance behind. Takumi frowned, not that he expected him to be talking buddy. He knew Tora hated him and the feeling was mutual. Takumi hated him too. Tora was a great detective but was too arrogant to think about the wellbeing of people and that guy was starting to work on his case too. That only meant, he should be careful from now on as Tora wasn't someone who would listen to him. That guy only cared about himself and his ranks, nothing else.

As Takumi was lost in his thoughts he walked to his office. He quietly sat down on his chair, eyeing dart board which hung on his wall. He stared at it for some minutes, wondering what he should do next. His superiors were disappointed, he could already guess that much from chief's tone. But he couldn't bring himself to confess the truth also. His thoughts were all jumbled, and for the first time in his life, he had no idea what to do.

If Igarashi found her real identity...

Takumi's face immediately hardened at the thought and he didn't want to imagine the rest. He liked how it was like a secret, his secret to be exact, and the thought of anyone else knowing his secret threw him off. He sighed, "I've become weird."

Soon, his thoughts wandered to the lady in question, for whom he was struggling so much. It had been two days since he had met her at the party. He couldn't understand why he loved her company so much. She was an interesting person and she was beautiful too, but what made her her was her pride. He had already admitted before, but her pride was her weakness. He remembered how her foot was all bruised because of the heels she wore, and how her pride prevented her to admit that it was painful. She couldn't walk properly, yet she was ready to walk home rather asking for him to help. Honestly, he was fascinated by her strong will.

A chuckle escaped his lips as a smile made it's way up to his lips. It didn't stay there long though as a phone call interrupted him.

Gerald Wallker

Takumi frowned. What did this guy want him now? At first he wanted to let the phone ring, but then decided against it.

"Stop contacting me."

"Hiii"

Takumi scrunched his nose hearing the fake cheery voice. He wanted to cut the phone.

"Before you disconnect the line, I want to meet you. I need your help."

Takumi couldn't help but chuckle, "You thought I'll help you? By-"

"What if I tell you that I'm with Ayuzawa right now and-"

"What?" He sat up straight, "Why is she with you?" Much to his annoyance he heard Gerald chuckle at the other end.

"Calm down my brother, she's all yours."

"Quit your game Gerald. What are you planning?"

"Nothing. I'm texting you the address. Meet us there in a hour."

"Wai-"

The line was disconnected.

"Great. One after another." Takumi muttered as he rubbed his face with his hands. He had noticed before that Ayuzawa was close with Gerald. He had guessed that they've helped each other before. Still, why was she meeting him? Why did Gerald even called him? Was he scheming something?

Takumi looked up from his hands, and ran his hands through his locks. There was only one way to know those answers.

"You do understand that your disguises aren't serving their purpose right?"

"Can you tell me who I am?"

"No but I can tell that we are close to being thrown out because you look very suspicious."

Gerald chuckled at her remark. Surely he had noticed some nervous glances thrown towards them, but it was not that bad. He was sure that he had read somewhere that leopard print was in trend nowadays, and so he chose leopard printed pants, coat, and a hat. In fact, if he had to comment on his disguise, he would say he looked quite…wild.

"Maybe it's you who don't have a sense of fashion." Gerald added, smiling.

"Agreed." Misaki shrugged, "But you do look hideous."

Misaki eyed him as he tried his best not to burst into laughter. She could tell that he was having fun. Way too much actually. Shaking her head, she took a look around her. They were meeting at a cat café, as ridiculous as it may sound Gerald chose this place and showed up looking very questionable. Not understanding what was wrong with his head, Misaki decided to indulge herself in the deserts and orange juice in front of her. Better to eat the embarrassment away.

"For someone with no sense of fashion-" Gerald grinned wider, "-you did dress up a lot at that party. Was it to impress someone?"

"What do you mean? It was all because Aoi forced me to."

He raised an eyebrow, "I think I saw you and Takumi leaving together leaning against each other. Is there something going on?"

For the first time, he got the reaction he wanted. Gerald finally got to see infamous Ayuzawa-stotic-face-Misaki choke on her juice.

"T-that was n-nothing." By the hot she felt, she was sure Misaki was blushing by now. She closed her eyes and tried to calm her nerves down as she was giving Gerald Walker exactly what he wanted- pure entertainment.

"I will walk you home."

"What makes you think I'll let you do that?"

"Either you let me or I'll call cops on you."

"You are the cop."

"I'll call others. They will listen anything I say without a question."

"Are you threatening me?"

"What if I am?"

"You are going to regret it."

He had only smiled at her words, "I think I'm regretting it enough."

Misaki cringed at the memory. After their so-called duel, she remembered, how she stumbled due to her bruised feet and that guy literally proposed to give her a piggyback ride. Now, Misaki wasn't sure, at first, if he was kidding or not but when she confirmed that he was actually very serious, Misaki could only gape at him. Like hell, she was not going to do something as embarrassing as that, in fact, she was ready to walk barefoot all the way to her house.

But if she was stubborn, then Usui Takumi was one step ahead of her. After arguing for a while both of them settled on Takumi lending her his shoulder which was the least embarrassing option for Misaki. And that's how they got out, her leaning against his shoulder. Yes, she was dying of humiliation inside but she was also thankful. She didn't admit it to his face but her feet were really killing her.

What she didn't understand was why that affected her as much as it did? It was a harmless proposal, in fact knowing that guy he would have done the same to any other person. So why the lingering conscious feeling was eating her up as if her whole being was about to explode? As she had concluded previously, Usui Takumi was dangerous and she should stay away as much as she could. She couldn't forget, no matter how kind he acted, his actual aim was to catch her.

"Just so you know, there is absolutely nothing going on between us." Misaki added when she was back to her calmer logical self.

"Really?" Gerald drawled, in a teasing manner, hoping to get more reaction out of her. But sadly, he had noticed that the girl was back to her usual self.

"Really." Misaki nodded in affirmation, more remind herself that what she was feeling was perfectly normal and not an anomaly, "Now will you please tell me why you called me here?"

As soon as the words left her mouth, Gerald turned serious. Of course he remembered why they were here. "As per our deal, I did look into it."

"What did you find?" Misaki leaned in as her borrows furrowed. She was curious to learn more yet scared. Her fear only grew when Gerald walker sighed, leaned back on his chair and handed her a file.

Misaki wordlessly grabbed it; no words were spoken for a while as she quickly scanned through the materials. The more she read, the more confused she grew.

"Are you sure this is legit?"

Gerald raised a brow in amusement. Did she just question his sources? He chuckled, "Have I ever questioned your ability?"

Misaki knew that he was best at his work, and who was she to judge his sources? After all, he was one of the Walkers, one of if not the most influential families of Japan. There was no way that Gerald could be wrong. But still she refused to believe what she was seeing, "I need confirm it myself."

"And how are you going to do that?"

Misaki tilted her head and looked at him as if she had been asked the most obvious thing in the world, "What do you mean how? I'll go and check it o-"

"No."

"Wha-"

"I said no."

Gerald let out an exasperated sigh when he watched her dumbstruck expression. She looked like a kid whose parents had just refused to buy her chocolates. If he wasn't being so serious then he might've laughed at her face, too bad he couldn't. Instead, he wondered how someone could be so smart, yet dumb at the same time.

To punch some senses into the stubborn woman sitting opposite to him, he decided to take the matter into his hands, "This is too dangerous. Your family was murdered for this."

Misaki nodded, "Exactly the reason why I should go and see it myself."

Gerald sighed, again, "Don't you understand that your father was killed for this? This was the last case he was working on, and all files regarding the case were highly protected. Everything he researched, the data entries all of them are protected. And-" He took a look at Misaki, she had a blank expression on her face, but he could tell that she was listening very closely to his rant. Deciding that it was too late to stop, Gerald continued, "There's a high chance that some influential person is involved in this and your father found out more than he should. You can probably guess the rest."

Misaki nodded, and looked down. Whatever Gerald told her was nothing new, she had thought of those possibilities already a million times before. She was no naïve girl, and had done her research before she started all this. She studied properly, researched names, established proper connections with people who will come in handy – one of them sitting opposite to her – and while doing so she had come to know the reality. That no one was truly 'innocent', even the most saint people also had dirtied their hands at some point in their lives. Take Gerald for example, he was helping her right now, but he had also taken her help previously to get his enemy out of his way. That's how most of people were.

It would be no wonder if her father, in any way, had seen something he shouldn't see, or came to know something he shouldn't. Misaki wouldn't be surprised if her father was offered to keep his mouth close in the past which due to his stubbornness he refused.

Deep inside, Misaki knew all this, she knew how dangerous everything was and this was exactly why she needed to do it alone. She didn't want to put anyone else in danger. Her whole family was wiped out without a single trace because of a single mistake by her father, and this was exactly why Misaki never thought of establishing any deep relationship with anyone. She couldn't bear to loose anyone else. Also, if she was to go down, she wanted go alone.

Noticing that Gerald was monitoring her every expression and was probably waiting for her to agree with him, Misaki opened her mouth. That cunning man must've guessed that she was about to disagree with him, so he cut her before she could've voiced out her thoughts, "I will not let you step into this messy case alone."

Misaki chuckled, amused, "Who are you to stop me?"

Gerald shrugged, "You can say I'm someone who doesn't want to see you die so soon."

She mused, leaned back and made herself comfortable in the tiny chair. She looked down, a little black creature had made it's way towards them and was rubbing it's cheek against her leg. Unknowingly, a small smile touched her lips as she bent down to pull the little black creature onto her lap. "Are you looking down on me Mr. Walker?" Misaki spoke in a low venomous voice, while petting the cat on her lap.

Even if she didn't look up, or met his eyes, Gerald knew that he was starting to get on her negative side. "Never." He replied instantly before stopping for a moment. How can he doubt her when he knew that nobody could compare to her in hand to hand combat or quick thinking? He had known her for nearly two years; hence he knew that she excelled in everything she did.

"What will you do if you encounter someone with a gun?" Gerald couldn't help but speak out his worry.

Misaki finally looked up, "What do you think?"

"I don't know." He shrugged, "That's why I'm telling you go with someone who can help you."

"Do you have anyone in mind?"

"Of course I do."

Gerald smiled.

This was not good. Misaki felt like she was being deliberately pushed into a corner. Knowing the man sitting there, and how manipulative he was, there must be some other hidden intentions behind his words. She felt like she already knew where this was going, but a small part of her was still hoping that it would not end the way she was expecting it to. "Who?"

Gerald's smile widened, "Oh you know this guy very well."

Before she can protest and get out of there, the door of the café opened with a chime meaning a new individual had stepped inside the place. Misaki didn't need to look to know who it was, she could already guess. It was obvious that Gerald had such tricks in his sleeves.

"Why?" She whispered, through gritted teeth.

"Well he is the one I trust the most." Gerald shrugged as he motioned the other to come closer to the table they were sitting.

"Don't you know that he is literally after me?"

Gerald frowned visibly, confusion was written all over his face, "What do you mean? I thought you guys got along just fine. I thought-"

"I just told you-" Misaki took a deep breath to calm herself down, as her voice was starting to rise, "-there's nothing going on."

Before Gerald could mutter a reply, Misaki whipped her neck to look back, startling the innocent cat resting on her lap and causing it to jump off but she could care less. She was about to open her mouth to lecture but stopped when her eyes couldn't find the familiar orbs she was expecting to see. Instead, she was met with tired looking yet sharp greyish eyes and a mob of faded blond hair.

Misaki didn't even notice when a wave of disappointment hit her face. It was not the case for Gerald though. His eyes sparkled as he saw Misaki blinking at Cedric with a dumbfounded expression. Maybe she was expecting someone else to show up. Gerald smirked and cleared his throat catching both their attention, "Please go with Cedric. He is the best when it comes to handling such things."

Misaki shifted her focus to Gerald, feeling a little relieved and also a bit strange. Now why did she even think of that guy? There must be something wrong with her mind. Misaki concluded that she needed meditation as soon as possible in order to make her mind work properly.

"I trust him and you will be safe with him." Gerald spoke as Cedric quietly took a sit beside him. Cedric already knew some of the details and dared not to ask other details, so he quietly listened to what his master was saying, making no comment on his master's ridiculous choice of clothing.

Misaki only nodded.

Gerald bit his lips to stop himself from opening his smart mouth, but in the end gave in to the urge to tease her, "Are you not happy with my dear butler though? Should I arrange someone else?"

Misaki glared at Gerald for his suggestive tone. She could see that he was playing with her. Bastard. She cursed both brothers in her mind for playing with her innocent head.

"Now-" Gerald clapped his hands together in glee, "I suggest we ask someone else who knows the area very well."

Misaki was exhausted by now, not physically but emotionally, so she decided not to protest and just go with the flow. If anything, she could always ditch others and do things other way but for now she decided to cooperate.

Again she heard the bell chime, she sighed. Great, now she had to tolerate another individual. But this time she made no effort to look who it was, because judging from Gerald's smile, she concluded that it was someone Gerald deeply favoured.

"Take a sit please."

Misaki had worked part-time before, in a café, where she had learned how to manage a café and how to serve customers. Misaki loved working there. The place was pleasant, clean, the pay was good, and it had a fun atmosphere to work in. Even the other workers were very nice to her and loved her like their sister. But what really stood out in that place was their manager- Satsuki, Aoi's relative. Satsuki was a bubbly, cheerful, hardworking middle-aged lady who hated to mention her age. One of her greatest characteristics was that everyone could visibly see her happiness. Whenever she was overly excited over something, a grin would be plastered on her face and people could sense a brighter aura surrounding her. Her co-workers usually named it as her 'moe-overflowing'. It was very odd at first but later on Misaki got used to the overenthusiastic 'moe-overflowing' manager.

Now Gerald had the same look on his face and aura surrounding him was also starting to brighten. It may sound weird but she could sense it. And she didn't like it. Before she could pass a comment on this, Misaki felt someone sit beside her. Annoyed that the newcomer chose to sit beside her, Misaki looked up.

This time she stopped for good and was met with the familiar orbs she had expected to see before. It was nothing she hadn't foreseen, in fact the moment Gerald announced that he would help her, Misaki expected that in any way he would bring this guy into the picture, still she found herself unable to speak for a good amount of time. But she controlled herself well, before any of thoughts of previous day's embarrassing incidents could come and mess her up, Misaki looked away.

Takumi was, at first, surprised when Misaki looked away without saying anything. At least, he had expected her to throw a fuss or at least let out a disapproving sigh, but she did none. He noticed a ghost smile was trying to break on his face, but before it could do so- he suppressed it.

Gerald cleared his voice, intentionally, catching the attention of both people sitting opposite. He looked over his little brother and smiled his well-practised-businessman-smile, "I hope you had no inconvenience coming here."

Takumi scoffed and visibly frowned taking a good look at his attire. Cringing at the sight, he could only admire Ayuzawa Misaki for sitting there with that guy for a long time and not flipping the table on his face. He could've done exactly that for sure.

"Are you not going to ask how I know Misaki?"

Takumi's face hardened. Yes, he wanted to ask why she was hanging out with a guy like Gerald. Judging by the way he called her first name – without any protest from her side – Takumi confirmed that they were quite close.

"I don't care." He lied, shaking his head, "Just tell me why you called me here. I don't have time to chit-chat."

Misaki stilled for a moment. Takumi's voice was cold and he spoke in a tone she hadn't heard before. Not being able to resist the urge, Misaki sneaked a glance towards him. He had his jaw clenched, the usual playfulness she was used to was gone from his face. Misaki wondered, why was she even acting like she knew him? They've only met a few times before and she certainly didn't know his personality well enough to judge what was usual and unusual about this guy. One thing for sure though, he hated sitting there. Now the question was, if he really hated Gerald so much why was he even there sitting beside her confronting Gerald?

"Please go over that file there and-" Gerald noticed no matter how hard his little brother was trying to control the sides of his lips were starting to rise very slowly. He also noticed that Misaki was secretly throwing glances, sitting rigidly, maintaining a good amount of distance among them. Gerald could guess that his little brother was well aware of that and was only acting oblivious. Gerald bit his lips, trying hard not to smile and keep a poker face, he continued his previous statement, "-tell us if you know the owner."

Takumi sighed. Indeed there was a file sitting there on the table. Misaki was also there, so he guessed that the file was about something concerning her. Without speaking a word, he pulled the papers towards him and quickly skimmed over it. From what he could gather, it was about a villa, situated in outskirts of the city. Apparently it was one of the biggest, and was quite famous. There was nothing out of ordinary about it though. It was just a villa owned by a richman.

In a minute, when he was done with reading, He closed it and looked at others, "What about it?"

This time it was Misaki who answered, "Have you ever heard anything about that place?"

Takumi was amused at how Misaki was talking to him as if she was not sneaking glances at him seconds ago. He wanted to know what was going on Inside her head but for now he decided to let it pass, "No, nothing out of ordinary." He replied, keeping the poker face on.

"Can you help us Interviewing the owner of the house? We just want to ask a few questions?" Gerald shrugged.

"No need for that." Misaki protested, gathering the file in her hand. To her the meeting was over as she didn't want to take any kind of help from the guy sitting beside her.

"Is your foot okay?" Takumi asked her, who looked like she was about to get up and leave.

Misaki stopped and stared at the guy beside her as if he had two heads.

Noticing her dumbstruck expression, Takumi raised a brow as he let out his true concern, "I mean, it was bruised pretty bad the other night."

"That is none of your business."

"It is. I took you home that night. I also offered you my shoulder."

"So?"

"So I can ask about your well-being."

"No you can't."

"So will you tell me or not?"

"I won't."

Gerald, who was quite enjoying the show, tapped on table hoping to end their bickering. Now, as much as he would love to sit there and watch them, he still had a company to manage. Even Cedric had his eyes closed, looked like it was too much for him to bear. Gerald felt bad for the poor butler. When him tapping the table didn't work, he cleared his voice loud enough for the whole restaurant to hear. Thankfully, it caught the attention of the bickering couple.

"Can we please talk about the work in hand?" Gerald grinned, but this time impatience was written all over his face.

Thanks to the interruption, Takumi noticed that by that time he had a full-fledged smile playing on his lips. He couldn't help it, everytime he was with her he would smile automatically. He didn't even understood the reason behind it. But since, he was sitting there with two unwanted persons – Ayuzawa excluded – he quickly hid his smile behind his expressionless face. He didn't even bother to hide that he was very displeased to talk with those two certain people.

It was nothing new, Gerald knew how Takumi hated him. In fact, he thought, despised should be the right word, as what Takumi felt was something stronger than mere hatred. It felt good though- to watch Takumi finally getting loose in front of him, to see him lower his guard and to smile. Sadly, it also hurt to see him loose his smile every time he faced Gerald.

Gerald actually called him there to be able to talk with him a bit. From their past experiences, Gerald was sure that Takumi wouldn't ever show his face no matter how much he called him. But for now, Gerald was a bit happy because Takumi came, even if it was only because Ayuzawa was in question. Gerald smiled sadly, it was unfortunate that his only remaining family hated him so much, but then again he also believed that he deserved it.

"I will not help you, Gerald." Takumi spoke, catching everyone off-guard with his statement, but before anyone could make a comment he continued, "But I can help Ayuzawa." He shifted his focus to the lady beside him, who had her brows furrowed and looked very puzzled, "If Ayuzawa asks me, I'm willing to help."

Misaki, on the other hand, felt her brow twitch at the absurd things coming out from this person's mouth, "Why do you think I'll need help? I'm fine alone."

"Um sorry to interrupt-" Cedric made his presence known, for the first time since he had arrived, partly because he felt that his master was tired, and mostly because he couldn't take anymore stubbornness. "-I was the one who researched the papers, so I know that the owner is one of the richest person in Tokyo. I feel sorry to say Ms. Ayuzawa it will not be a easy task to ask him questions. He can easily deny your request. But as you see Takumi-sama here can use his authority and arrange a meeting between you too."

"Well I can just barge in and threaten that guy right?"

A chuckle escaped Takumi's lips but he stopped as soon as he sensed a glare directed at him.

Cedric wanted to sigh but he couldn't let go of his professionalism, "I would suggest you to not do that Ms. Ayuzawa. It would be the best if he didn't suspect our actions."

Misaki let out a deep breath. When she woke up that day she didn't expect that it would turn out to be such an exhausting day for her. She understood both Gerald and Cedric's point but that other bastard- she hated his guts. Takumi could've just helped her if he wanted to but that guy had to put a condition.

Misaki felt her ego bubbling up inside her, and it stopped her from asking Takumi to help. But she also understood that she wasn't in a situation where she could be picky. She was already lucky enough to have Gerald looking into things, but somehow asking Takumi for help just didn't sit right. Then Misaki remembered, how in the previous night Takumi had helped her. He had his ways to get on her nerves but still helped her.

Misaki took a deep breath before letting it out. She knew that eventually she would go down because of him, but Misaki didn't care. All she cared about was getting the truth of what happened.

"Help me Takumi." She opened her mouth after what felt like eternity, "But you need to promise me something."

Takumi nodded, it didn't show on his face but he was quite happy because she had asked for his help. It felt good to know she didn't only depend on Gerald but on him too. "What?"

Misaki gulped, "You already know about my family, and for the first time I'm very close to finding out the truth." She bit her lips, uncertainty was evident in her voice before a sudden wave of determination hit her as she spoke the next words, "I'll turn myself in after all these."

From childhood, Takumi was good at hiding his emotions due to his circumstances, but after hearing her even he couldn't hide the shock. His eyes widened for a second or two, before they went back to their previous shape. Out of all the things he had expected for her to say, certainly that was not it.

"So promise me that you won't do anything behind my back against me."

This was good. That was what Takumi intended to do from first day. That was his aim. So, he didn't understand why he didn't feel particularly happy in this position. Maybe because she surrendering herself meant that in a way he had lost. But this was no battle. Even if she failed in knowing the truth she was determined to find out, he could always use that previous recording against her. Even though he felt frustrated, no matter what, it all would be working in his favour at the last.

"Deal." Takumi spoke with his eyes, which usually had a glint in them, as hard as his face, "You have my word."

Taking a deep breath, Misaki nodded. Good. Her decision was right, she believed. Everything would work out that way. She hadn't gotten his words, there was no way she could've trusted him enough to ask for a help. Misaki was glad that Gerald and Cedric both sat there without a word. She was thankful that none interrupted, meaning that they respected her choice, no matter what it was.

"Okay then. Let's go."

Misaki frowned, raised her brow at Takumi, urging him to continue.

"To talk with that person." Takumi smiled and stood up.

"Now?!" Misaki was flabbergasted, she needed time to think about what she needed to ask.

"Yes tigress. Now." Thinking that the air was too thick to his likening, he decided to lighten the mood. Before Misaki could get up, he leaned in, and smiled charmingly at her, "What are you so afraid of when you have me beside you?"

Misaki blinked a few times, completely caught off guard with his charms. She hated to admit but there was something in his smile which always made her insides go tingly. They were just having a serious conversation, and now this guy was smiling at her in a way as if they weren't someone from opposite worlds.

Dangerous. Misaki quickly shook her head, bothered by her thoughts, and got up. "I would have done just fine even without you." She huffed.

Seeing them getting ready to leave Cedric also got up, while Gerald remained seated, lost in thoughts.

Gerald heard everything but no matter what it was her decision. So he couldn't really stop her. He was surprised to see that Takumi agreed so easily. Gerald thought, no he was quite sure, that Takumi would refuse. But now that he thought about it Takumi had no reason to refuse. Misaki just made his job easier so why would he refuse? But still he was sure Takumi favoured her. Even if a little. Gerald sighed, he felt like his head was about to burst thinking about those two.

Gerald badly wanted both of them to be happy. Was it really not possible?

"You don't need to come."

Gerald looked up at Takumi's voice. He understood that the previous remark was meant for his butler, Cedric. "He'll protect you two."

"We don't need any protection." Takumi spoke in a voice which proved that he wouldn't listen to any arguments, "Plus as long as I'm there, no one can touch a single strand of her hair. I will make sure of it."

Misaki, was by now, had her jaw slightly opened as she looked at the blonde. What the hell? She could only blink, standing there, like a fish out of water. She could sense the sincerity in his voice and knowing Takumi he probably meant every word he said. Misaki felt her face getting hotter as she listened more.

"I don't need anyone's protection." Misaki spoke as soon as she got her voice back, emphasizing a word, hoping to get her point across. It got on her nerves that those brothers were looking down on her so much.

"I know you don't." Takumi looked directly at her fiery determined eyes, "But if you ever need me. I'm there."

Gerald sighed and looked at Cedric. The butler understood his masters intention and quietly sat back down. He watched as the other two made their way out, bickering. He had seen that boy since he was a child, and it was the first time he actually saw Takumi lowering his guards. Now, Cedric understood why his master was so bent on meeting both him and Ms. Ayuzawa together.

"I hope they end up together."

Gerald sighed at his butler's words and took a sip of the juice sitting on their table, "I hope so too."

Bless you Gerald for playing the cupid!

I hope you all liked this one. It's been a while since the last chapter so I tried my best to make this one as long as possible. Also, Tora is now in the game so I'm super excited to write the next chapters. Things are gonna get more intense from here on. :D

Reviews, favs, follows are very very appreciated. They make my heart melt. TT

Stay safe you all, wear your masks, the pandemic is still going on.

Thanks for dropping by!