Chapter 2
Spying on a past Lover
Kohaku bit her lips and felt her hand shake as she read the letter again and again.
Senku Ishigami called on Mr. Tanaka on Monday morning. It was also reported that he was found dead a day after that, on a Tuesday morning by his secretary in his office. The cause of death is a gunshot wound on the head that was later ruled as an assault. A fact only discovered upon a forensic investigation of the body. The CCTV showed a man was entering his office the night before the incident.
That very same night, Senku Ishigami was expected to attend an event hosted by Dr. Xeno, one of the scientists that pioneered the rocket engineering department, but he never arrived. He left his office that afternoon and his whereabouts are yet to be determined.
The organization has taken on this investigation of the CEO's death from the police as it involves a highly profiled underworld criminal. Our investigation is ongoing, but Dr. Senku Ishigami is at the top of our list of potential suspects.
You will monitor and report to us immediately once he returns to Tokyo. I am also assigning you the task to observe his movements for the time being, but be sure not to speak to him about it. He cannot leave Tokyo or Japan while proceeding with the investigation.
Please keep in mind that he is a genius man and a highly logical individual on par with Dr. Xeno. He was also the head scientist of our nation's reputable forensic laboratory, which means he has connections, and he was often backed up by a vast underlying knowledge of science to outsmart us all.
I ensure that all future letters will be delivered directly to your home and mine, and no other parties will be involved.
Send out weekly reports on time. The method of delivering urgent notes will be the same.
-SS
She was shaking so hard that the paper fell out of her grasp. She picked it up from the floor and re-read it in an instant. That wasn't what she was hoping for, but it was clear as anything Stanley had ever written to her when she had urgent missions like this before.
It was already winter, and Kohaku stood in front of the fireplace. She dipped the edge of the letter on the fire to light it up before she dropped it in a small iron box made for that very purpose so no other person shall see her secret letters for her missions.
Kohaku absentmindedly watched as the fire consumed the paper until it turned into fragile pieces of ash. She closed the ironed lid of the box of ashes of letters from her organization and walked to the window that overlooked her mother's garden, hugging herself and feeling chilly despite the warmth of the room.
Senku Ishigami. For some reason, his name was tattooed in her mind for as long as she can remember.
She had not seen him after what happened four years ago. She had never expected him to do something such as when his men strode into their house unattended to arrest her father. Kokuyo was falsely accused of killing Senku's father, Byakuya Ishigami, in a vehicular accident when her father was a trusted friend to Senku's father all these years. Senku coldly told her his men found pieces of evidence in her father's email ordering someone to kill his father.
Her father was arrested, and she could do nothing about it. Many events have transpired that day, such as her mother's death from a heart attack that Kohaku didn't have time to think about Senku. She was also preoccupied with Ruri's medical treatment, which was immediately followed by her problem of getting a husband because their father left her the company to inherit. She had no doubt that many bachelors would soon ask for her sister's hand, but she would never think one of them would be persistent to the point that he'd threaten her sister's life.
Senku Ishigami. There is so much to remember about him, but all of those weren't good.
Ruri had once said she should hate him for what he had done to her and their family, but Kohaku was still naive and stupid back then because she couldn't bring herself to feel hate for Senku. After all, her feelings for him had not changed. He had left her incapable of loving anyone else.
Kohaku's lip quivers, and she wraps her arms around herself as another thought enters her mind. Her sister was correct- she should despise him, and she may have been mistaking the feeling of hatred for love all these years. Senku had ruined her for anyone else who would try to approach her, and she knew, deep inside, that he was the reason for the darkest years of her life.
These feelings won't matter anymore as things have changed, and so did she. The organization and her family were her utmost priority. A spy's duty to the organization was more important than anything else. As long as Senku was the sole suspect in the murder, she would do whatever she could to force him to admit his sin, no matter how much she despises or loves him.
She was surprised to have seen him arrive at the party since Senku was not fond of attending such vanities.
Kohaku took a sip from her champagne as she watched him. She had never seen him around since they last saw each other when her father was arrested and to see him again - to see him looking so handsome from across the room talking and laughing with a few of their friends. Yuzuriha and Taiju, as well as Ryusui and Gen that had gathered around him. Kohaku can't help but wonder why he was suddenly making appearances when he said to her before that he was not fond of attending such events.
She kept him within her range of vision, and she also had no problem moving around, for she could observe him with her keen eye. It was also one of the reasons why she was recruited as a spy by her organization. Her stellar vision is a product of attention to detail and deep focus for her target because what one cannot see with the naked eye, she can see with her exceptional eyesight. Gen kept eyeing her from afar to tease her, but she didn't mind him.
Her friends knew only a few about her family's history with Senku's father's murder. Still, she chose not to be seen with him, not by Chrome, not by her aunt who attended this event and paid some kind of grudge to her and her sister because their father was falsely accused of the murder of her husband-which is Senku's father, and most especially her sister.
Ruri was dancing with Chrome, delighting herself for the success of her plan, when she remembered how she stopped Magma from intruding on her sister and Chrome earlier, as well as amusing herself from his reaction when she introduced they are already engaged.
Chrome was indeed charming as he looked at Ruri with interest as she looked more elegant than her that night. Kohaku smiled to herself as she watched their curiosity turn to interest. Ruri was finally given a chance to change her future, not letting anyone threaten her life, and marry her for money.
As for her, she should focus on her mission to observe her target.
She left Kirisame, who had been blushing since earlier with Kinro to give them some time for themselves. Senku's spikey greenish-white hair is getting nearer. It was as if Kohaku's heart was beating faster in her chest as she pushed herself to keep going and do what she had to do.
How hard could it be to talk to the man who used to be your entire world?
"Surely it's not that hard.", she thought sardonically.
A bitter voice whispered in her head, "But he had already destroyed that world in one single night."
Senku was merely three meters away from her, just a few steps, and she'd be face to face with him. She was surprised he walked past her, and she turned her back only to stand frozen on her spot.
Her knees turned weak as the image of an angry-looking Senku in the middle of her father's office flashed before her eyes - him holding and pointing a gun at her father then Senku pulled its trigger. She wanted to tell her father to move so he wouldn't be killed, but she remained speechless, only to find out Senku was attempting to scare her father, and the bullet passed a hairs breath from her father's face. Hatred filled Senku's eyes, and his face contorted into a twisted expression of pain. That night, he simply didn't scar her father's face. He ripped her heart as well.
Kohaku shook her head from thinking of an old memory, and she let out an exaggerated sigh, but before she realized it, Senku was gone. Her target had walked off to the other side of the room with another man she didn't know.
The music on the dance floor was coming to an end, and she could hear Tsukasa and Minami bickering behind her and was now joined with a teasing Nikki. A single tear had fallen unnoticed down Kohaku's cheek, and she quickly wiped it away out of irritation.
The beat of her heart had slowed down, but she could still feel a faint throb of pain, a sensation to which she had become accustomed over the years. She tried hard to forget him all those years, but it was harder like knowing someone she never met.
I will make sure to observe him at the satellites' launch afterparty. She told herself as she slowly turned back to where Chrome and Ruri were happily conversing.
Senku had made it back to Tokyo, and it was good enough. She wasn't supposed to make any kind of physical contact with him. Instead, she was supposed to observe him silently.
She reminded herself that there was no need to make contact.
Senku opened the letter sent to his office earlier inside his car before he left for the party. He knows he is risking himself, but he had to do it so the media and the police won't suspect so much about him.
It's time for him to stop eluding invitations from investors in his company because the media is constantly making wild speculations about his personal life, and he didn't like it when someone dug so deeply into his life. He knew he left pieces of evidence behind that show he was the suspect in Mr. Tanaka's murder, so he couldn't do it now when everything was still fresh and extremely sensitive.
He proceeds to read the letter.
The murder is just a theory at this time. They have no evidence to support the theory that he was killed for a horrible crime or an assault. Make good on your promise, and I'll keep my end of the bargain as well. Don't worry about anything because you're still in the clear for the time being.
It was not signed for it was urgent, and he knew who sent it.
He crumpled the paper in his fist and placed it in his pocket to burn later. His jaw tightened as he looked out his car's window.
She was there at the party. He inhaled deeply and then exhaled slowly.
Kohaku.
She had never changed. She was still gorgeous, even more so than the last time he had seen her standing in the middle of her father's office, defending her father from him and his men.
He was glad she's been doing good all those years.
That was good enough to know, he thought, as he ignited his car to drive out of that venue where the party was held.
She's been good, he whispered in his mind.
