~ Author's Note ~
Hi!
Kana: Nice to meet ya' all~!
Rikuo: Whatever *eye roll.*
Huh?! How did YOU both get in here?!
Kana: The front door was open, so we thought-
Ah, never mind. *eye twitch* How many times have I told mom not to leave it open . . . .
Rikuo: Just get on with the disclaimer already.
Kana: Can I please do it? *puppy eyes*
Sure, Kana-chan! *glomps*
Kana: Special thanks to Zhane 17, Rose Rain 7, Fede 194, Marchioness Scarlet, Vampire Princess, Nakumare, Silver Gold Moonlight, Nayrael, Kuro Shiro Neko-Chan, Dark Lord 5198, The Crest of Anubis, Dennou Writer, Night Dreamer, Night Star 09, , Micar, Sakura Tsukiyomi Lefey and Skylar-Midnight for the support! :) Oh, and thanks to the anonymous readers too!
Rikuo: Though I still don't realize why you guys are reading such a sucky story . . . .
*eye twitch* Cause you guys love me, right? :D
Everyone: YES!
TT_TT I LOVE YOU GUYS TOO!
Rikuo: Can we just get on with the story?
Ch. 7 – New Developments
"In the history of atomic structure, various theories of atomic structure and models of structure of atom have been suggested. In 1898-'' Kana let a soft sigh escape her pale lips as she decided to stare out of the window, her mind drifting away from Thomson's atomic theory. Autumn had begun to envelope their city in its blanket as her brown eyes settled upon a dry, brown leaf which fluttered away with the help of a soft but sudden gust of wind.
As much as she tried, the brunette just couldn't get the young and cocky Nura heir out of her mind. His compelling red orbs, that arrogant smirk, his untidy but suitable white hair with its uncanny black highlights and the confidence which he carried himself with, all registered in the mind of the brunette.
Folding her arms on the table and laying her head down, she absentmindedly twirled a strand of her long brown hair, continuing to be lost in her thoughts. She still thought about their conversation three days ago:
"Hikage Daito Ryu, the underworld assassin, works for us."
That sentence kept on repeating over and over – a thousand times by now – in her vaguely unstable mind. Whenever she recapped to that tiny moment between them, that intimacy between their bodies, she couldn't help turning into a bright shade of red.
Do I . . . . . love him?
Of course, what a silly question to ask. Fresh in high school, 15-year old Kana had been so obsessed with the dynamic male – who'd recently made his mark in the media – that she'd endeavored to even find out what brand of underwear he wore (she felt deeply ashamed to accept the fact now).
Whenever his name had appeared in the newspapers, she felt an increased curiosity to know the news. Whenever his young, handsome face, radiating with confidence and intellect, was shown on T.V, she immediately brightened up.
Ah, the typical 'high school-girl-in-love.'
But as time went by, she'd begun realizing how futile it was; Rikuo Nura wasn't even aware of her existence. This wasn't a shoujo manga; where a hot and popular celebrity just randomly picked out the main heroine in a small-scale T.V contest.
This was the brutal reality of life, one she was forced to accept.
However, all her hard work of not falling in love with Rikuo Nura had gone down the drain in a mere three days. Just those five minutes had completely changed the condition of her young and amiable heart. She was now back to the stage of the 'typical-school-girl-in-love.'
The only difference was she was in college now.
What's the use of even trying to control my feelings? Kana thought, propping her head up on one elbow, chin placed on the right palm. I'm just gonna get even stronger feelings for him. Saori, advised by her 'totally trustworthy teenage magazine – Gossip Girl', had told her and Natsumi one day "The more you try to control your feelings for someone, the more you're attracted to them."
And this, unlike most of the things in the trashy magazine, was totally true – from Kana's own experience.
So as the boring lecture droned on – one can never decide which is more boring, Chemistry or Physics – Kana found herself continuously glancing at her wristwatch, hoping for the dismal period to end soon.
Stupid Kana; why can't you be more strong-willed?
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The hammering of keyboards echoed throughout the busy office, accompanied by the noisy 'peeps' of telephones. Bored and dull voices answered the phones as people rushed here and there, files, documents and coffee cups in hand.
Deeper in the corridor, inside an office titled "Executive Manager", sat Mr. Sodemogi, the manager of the call centre. Across him, sat a blonde-haired youth with a muscular police officer of about fifty. Besides them, there was another man in the room, flanked by two policemen in uniform, who held each side of his cuffed wrists.
The blonde, offering a fleeting glance to the convict, pointed his thumb towards the caught man. "As promised, Mr. Sodemogi, here is your thief." And then, he took out a pouch from his blazer pocket and placed it on the table. "And here are your pearls."
The short and stout Sodemogi took the pouch with such haste that it almost clanked to the floor. Then, carefully taking out four pearls in his hand, he gave an excited gasp. "Bless Kami sama!" his eyes almost popped out "These are my pearls!"
The blonde and his companion shared a quick glance. "But we're sorry for your niece" he said, a somewhat disheartened expression coming on his face. "Like most women, she was swayed by the sweet talk of-''
"Oh, never mind!" Sodemogi butted in, hugging his pearls to his chest happily. The blonde frowned at the rude interruption but decided not to say anything. Reaching into his pocket, the short executive manager held out an envelope. "This is for all your hard work" he said, handing the thick roll of notes to him.
Taking the notes quickly, the blonde and his companion bowed low, muttered their goodbyes and quickly walked outside the building towards a waiting police car. Pushing the convict roughly in, the two policemen too sat inside. Looking out, one of the policemen asked "You won't accompany us, sir?"
"Nah" the man shook his head. Patting the blonde on his back, he grinned "I think I'll accompany our budding detective on a walk here."
The policemen saluted him and soon drove away in the car. After the blinking red lights were out of eyesight, the old man asked "Really, Kubinashi. How DO you solve such inexplicable cases so easily?"
The blonde just shrugged and smirked. "Everything just needs observation, Kidomaru-san. Everyone sees but they do not observe."
Kidomaru scratched his beard and asked "But, really. I saw what you saw, I heard what you heard and yet you were able to arrive to a conclusion with those barest of clues."
As the two men continued walking in the windy streets of Kyushu, Kubinashi replied "As I said, sir, the answers often lie right in front of us. They're just so simple that we overlook them and search for clues in complex places."
But when the young man realized that his senior was instead lost in his own thought, chin upon chest and brows knitted together in concentration, Kubinashi's curiosity was ruffled. "Say, Kubinashi?" his senior asked, not even glancing at the addressed person.
"Yes, sir?" the blonde asked, alert.
"Have you heard about Hikage Daito Ryu?" his senior was now fully staring at him in the face. The detective was a bit surprised at the question.
Nonetheless, he asked in his calm voice "Yes sir, I have. I think probably the whole of Japan knows him." Since the anonymous underworld assassin had made a splash in complicated murders leaving almost no traces to his perpetrators, there was barely a day he was out of the newspapers.
"We have information he's somehow connected to the Nura family" whispered Kidomaru, making Kubinashi stop dead in his tracks. The detective's blood ran cold as he gaped at his senior, looking at the man unbelievably.
"The Nura family?" he asked in a low tone, keenly avoiding all interested ears around them. "But sir, that's one of the most important families in Japan." But most of the time, his brain answered back, it's the important families who're the criminals in many crime novels. "But this is not a crime novel!" he whispered aloud.
"Come again?" Officer Kidomaru asked with a confused expression.
"Nothing, sir" Kubinashi shook his head, a bit embarrassed "Please continue."
The officer looked unconvinced but spoke on anyway. "We've got some anonymous informants who tipped us off though the identity of the informants has not been found yet. At first, we thought that they were playing a childish prank on us but when we got a note, we were dumbstruck."
Kubinashi's eyes narrowed into red slits. "Can I have a look at the note?"
Kidomaru nodded and taking a small note from his pocket, he gave it to Kubinashi. "Read it. It's been written in Rikuo Nura's own handwriting."
As the blonde detective clutched the note in his hands, a feeling of excitement and lustful curiosity went through him. He swiftly opened the neatly folded piece of paper and ran his red eyes over the rather short note.
Job's over. Meet you at the usual place. – Rikuo
"And then there's the name" the senior officer continued. "Despite there being over a thousand Rikuo's in Japan, I'm sure no two have the same handwriting."
Kubinashi subconsciously nodded, inspecting the note to the core. "This note" he said, returning it to his senior officer who quickly slipped it in his pocket. "If you don't mind me asking, was this given to you by a woman?"
"A woman?" Kidomaru asked. "Precisely, it was left on the Police Desk of our station. But why do you inquire about a woman?"
"There's a smudge of nail paint on the backside" he shrugged and indeed, to Kidomaru's surprise, it was there. A light mark of coral nail polish was there.
"You've proved your incredibility once again, Kubinashi!" the man said, thumping the youth on his back. Passing people offered them weird glances.
Kubinashi blushed a bit at the praise. "It was kinda obvious, sir" he replied "It was just a matter of observation."
"Now I'm sure you're the perfect man for this case" said Kidomaru. Kubinashi stopped in his tracks and stared at the senior officer.
"Are you sure, sir?"
"Yes" the man nodded "All we need to do is find more clues which link the assassin and the wealthy family. Will you be ready for a flight to Hokkaido tomorrow?"
A smirk plastered on the detective's face. "Gladly."
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"These Hikage Daito Ryu killings are getting out of hand" Saori sighed, leaning back into her chair. The group of five was at the cafeteria for lunch break where the boys were deeply engaged in the newspaper. Glancing over Jiro's shoulders, Kana noticed and shivered when she noticed the headlines: "Hikage Daito Ryu, the connoisseur assassin makes a splash again. Chairman of Hitoba Company killed."
"Yeah" Natsumi shivered "I wonder who this man is actually."
Rikuo Nura's face immediately flitted into the brunette's mind. Hikage Daito Ryu, the underworld assassin, works for us, the same sentence repeated in her mind like a cassette. No, no, NO! Kana shook her head, Stop thinking about it!
Noticing Kana's vigorous head shaking, Natsumi asked worriedly "Is something wrong, Kana-chan?"
The girl immediately stopped and blushed. "E-Everything's okay" she lied, awkwardly smiling. Everything's wrong, actually.
"You've been acting a bit strange lately. You always seem to be lost in thought after yesterday" Saori stated, throwing a suspicious gaze to Kana which almost sent her panicking. But the blonde wiggled her eyebrows suggestively and slyly smirking, asked "Could it be something happened between you both after we left? Something you're not telling us?"
Kana spat out her coffee after Saori's statement. Now all her friends were staring at her questioningly, the paper lying on the table, forgotten. D-Do they know? Her mind hyperventilated. This is bad, this is bad, this bad, this is- "Did you both do something, Kana-chan?" Natsumi asked in a low voice, blushing.
Kana remained silent for a while, which her friends mistook for acceptance. "So you both really did something, then!" Saori exclaimed, both her hands smacking the table in excitement.
"Woah, Kana-chan! Congrats!" Jiro vigorously shook her hand.
"I-I never knew Kana-chan would do it!" Natsumi said, her face as red as a cherry.
"I'm proud of you, Kana-chan" Kiyotsugu proclaimed, patting the girl on her shoulder.
For a moment, she was thoroughly confused. Why was everyone congratulating her? After thinking for a few seconds, she finally understood what everyone was implying at. They thought she and Rikuo Nura had . . . . . .
"No, it's nothing like that!" Kana burst into a hundred shades of red, waving her hands to and fro. "WE DID NOTHING!" The whole cafeteria was staring at the group weirdly.
"Come, come, you don't have to lie to us" Saori had a Cheshire-grin on her face as she nudged the brunette next to her.
"Kana-chan, you can trust us!" Jiro said, placing his palm on his chest.
"N-No, I swear we didn't do anything!" she replied in a lower voice, conscious of all the weird stares they were getting.
"Then why were you silent when we asked you?" Kiyotsugu crossed his arms over his chest, staring at her doubtfully.
"I-I thought you were suggesting something else!" Kana retorted in reply, on the brink of death from embarrassment.
"For one of the top students in College, you sure are naïve when it comes to romance" the blonde girl remarked, sipping on her lime tea.
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In the Nura mansion, the young heir sat in the dining room, intensely absorbed in the day's newspaper. "Hikage Daito Ryu, the connoisseur assassin makes a splash again. Chairman of Hitoba Company killed." He stared at the article below, reading every single word with the utmost interest.
"This morning, Chairman of Hitoba Company, Mr. Daisuke Niwa was found dead by his housemaid when she entered the house at the usual 9:00 a.m. Hitoba Company, the well known electronics company and one of the leading companies of Japan was rumored to have connections with the Japanese yakuza. Mr. Daisuke Niwa was a solitary man and lived alone, with only a housemaid who came in the morning and returned in the afternoon, an elderly housekeeper and a valet. The night before, his housekeeper, Mrs. Misaka Mikoto was away visiting her children in Kyushu and returned only after hearing the dreadful news. His valet, a young man known as Yusuke Fujisaki claims he'd been out all night drinking with his friends and has alibi for it. Mr. Niwa had been stabbed in the heart at the precise, central position, one which could've only been committed by a professional assassin. Police reports . . . . . ."
There was more but Rikuo knew that the rest of the article would be of no value. Taking a finishing sip of his tea, he rose from his chair and walked towards outside the house. However, a gentle voice stopped him. "Going somewhere, Rikuo?"
Without turning back, the red-eyed youth replied "To work, mother."
"Ah" Wakana Nura gently smiled at him. "Be careful, alright? And come back soon."
"Yes, mother" he turned around and bowed, walking away. Staring after her son, Wakana gave an anxious sigh and walked inside the house.
Getting into his Porsche, Rikuo put the black suitcase beside him and ordered in a clear voice "Hitoba Central Office."
Kuro, who was in the driving seat, smirked as he started the car. "Another success, my lord" he said as the beautiful car drove out of the garage.
"You're right" said Rikuo, loosening his tie. "It sure is a hot day today." The A.C was switched on cue. "Thanks. Does Kappa bring any latest news?"
"Nothing very intriguing my lord" said Kuro, eyes blaring into his cell phone. "Tamazuki has returned and there are no signs of the traitor." But the big man's eyes suddenly widened as realization set in. A grin on his face, he said "Although, there is one interesting development."
"Oh?" asked Rikuo, red eyes glinting with a little excitement. Placing his chin on his entangled fingers, he asked "And what may that be?"
"Precisely, a promising young detective is being flown from Kyushu to investigate on Hikage Daito Ryu." A picture of a shabby blonde-haired, red-eyed young man appeared on Ao's phone. Showing it to Rikuo, he informed "Name: Kubinashi. Last name: Unknown. Age: 24. Occupation: Private Detective. Police Status: Brilliant. Hmm. Not much is known about him or is past."
"Oh" said Rikuo, taking his bodyguard's phone into his own hands. Looking carefully at the photo, he let a smirk form on his face. "We'll see how far he goes."