A/N: I found out something really interesting the other day: Neuro's mangaka, until the last minute, couldn't decided whether to make Neuro a detective story (like he did) or a love story with Neuro being a cupid or something. XD And thanks to my reviewers for making feel like someone's actually reading this.

Disclaimer: I do not own Majin Tantei Nougami Neuro, I couldn't even find it after searching for an hour in the Chinese manga rent place.

--…Are Criminals?--

The next day, Katsuragi Yako was ready for Neuro. She had set her alarm clock to 7 in the morning and dressed and cleaned up in about 15 minutes. Which then allowed her eat to her heart's content for the rest of the 45 minutes.

Exactly when Neuro would pop out, Yako wasn't sure. Actually, thinking back on it, Yako had never told him where she lived…and she had no means of contacting him either. Not even a phone number or something. Basically, Yako was a sitting duck, just forced to wait in 'fear' until the monster pops up.

Yako decided to position herself in the living room, where there was a good view of the door and most of the windows so she could at least try to keep track of when he showed up. However, after waiting for an hour, a restless hour, with fruitless results no less, Yako gave in to her boredom and picked up a newspaper that had been pushed through her mail slot.

She regretted reading it almost immediately. On the front page was a picture of her father and her when they had gone to see the university last summer. The headlines read in bold: Money over family? Girl believed to have murdered her own father! Yako winced and skimmed through the lines. Coldhearted…in need of money…mutilated body…a room dyed red…alone in the house; they all stung. But, it was the final sentence in which the writer gave her own opinion of the murder that got to Yako the most: To have killed in such a manner, such a way, the daughter must have murdered her father with no hesitation.

Yako dropped the newspaper far from her as though it was poison, and to her mind, it was. The article had made her sound like some sort of demented girl who needed to be locked up. It made her sound like a true killer. She had read many of these types of articles before, but to read one about herself?

With a sigh, Yako drooped back into the couch and hung her head over the backing. People would believe the article, there was no doubt about that. It made her wonder: Did all those criminals they say had killed in cold blood really do it? Just last year, Yako had read an article about this kid with cancer who killed his own grandmother. Up until that point, the family had considered the boy's mentality stable, he was a recluse, but stable.

"Are criminals really criminals? Or are they only criminals because we make them out to be, even if they're innocent?," she contemplated, "I wonder, what were going through their heads as they were sent to jail, a life that they might not have even deserved. Is that my future as well? To kill, what motive could be strong enough for that? Maybe, a lot of criminals aren't what they appear to be. Maybe they're like me; guilty because of hard evidence against them. Maybe—'' RING!

Yako jumped, snapped out of her thoughts. The ringing continued. After searching for a few seconds, Yako found her cellphone under a pile of magazines. "H-hello?"

"Yako! Finally I got through! Sheesh, what have been doing? I called at least 8 times yesterday," the voice on the phone told her.

"Kanae? Sorry, I was…out a lot." Mentally, Yako reminded herself to bring her phone with her this time when Neuro would come and drag her off to who knows where.

"Do you have any idea how lucky you are to miss Professor Harukawa's lectures right now? The guy's talking about making intelligence from nothing!" her friend complained, "My head hurts like crazy."

A smile crossed Yako's face. Leave it to Kanae to take your mind off things. "Hey, remember that I'll have a lot of make-up work to do though!"

Even from her phone, Yako could already imagine Kanae rolling her eyes. "Yeah, but by then, who knows if Professor Harukawa will be around anymore!"

"Huh?" Yako sat up, "Is he dying or something?"

"Nah, nothing like that," Kanae reassured, "It's just that he's becoming such a recluse! Why, just the other day, one of his lab assistants told me that the moment he's done with lectures, Professor Harukawa goes straight down into his research area."

"Seriously? Are you sure that the assistant wasn't just exaggerating?"

"Nope, cause the other two assistants told me the same thing. One of them even said that they heard him talking to someone down there!"

"Sounds like I should get back and listen while I can to get my money's worth out of college," said Yako.

"Well when are you coming back? You're missing more and more each—gah!" Kanae cursed silently, "I got to go now. Another one of Professor Harukawa's brain-eating lectures is about to begin. I'll call you back once it's over, Yako!"

"Bye, have fun."

"Sure, sure." Yako heard a click as Kanae hung up. She considered herself very lucky to have met Kanae in the first place. While quite a few of Yako's friends stopped talking to her after the murder, Kanae never even once considered Yako to be the murderer. The first words Kanae said to her the day after Yako told her she was being tried: How pointless, going through a trial just to prove someone innocent.

Yako slipped her cellphone into her pocket and stretched. What a waste; she got up early and Neuro wasn't even here to scare the life out of her yet. Oh well, at least she wasn't about to waste anymore time. Yako stood and headed for the kitchen. "Let see," she mumbled, "Maybe I'll take some more of that fish from yesterday and—aaAH!"

A hand clasped the top of Yako's head extremely tightly and began to drag her towards the door. "Good," the owner of the hand said, "You're already up."

"Wh-what the heck!" she stammered in surprise. What is this guy? A freaking ninja or something? I didn't even hear him come in! Aloud, Yako said, "How long have you been here?"

"Oh, I just got here," Neuro said cheerfully, "I was planning to wake you up with my own means, but you were already up! Good job! Although," he tightened his grasp even more, "I did want to try out those methods."

"Guess getting up early helps." Oh, dear deceased parents, I may see sooner then previously anticipated.

--x--x--x--x--x--

Never before had he seen a man like this. The taxi driver gave the pair strange looks as the man tossed the girl into his back seat as though she were baggage. His confusion was deepened when the strange man actually spoke to him with the utmost politeness. "Ah, yes! Thank you very much, sir, for being so kind as to take us!"

"Talk about multiple personalities," thought the driver. "Yeah, sure. Where to?" He glanced at the mirror to study them more closely. Decidedly, the man was strange. He had to be less than thirty, and he was wearing a full blue suit with a fancy scarf. Not to mention the kid got highlights on his bangs or something. Did this kid have a fetish for triangles to? They were everywhere! Was this a fashion nowadays? Ugh! The driver shivered, good thing the style in his day was more tasteful. Had to be uncomfortable though, it's 80 degrees out and he was still wearing gloves. The driver shrugged. Well, he was just a retired man still trying to make a living, no need to question them. Darn pensions, getting less and less these days. This was not the retirement he had had in mind.

"Miss Yako! Where did you say his address was again?" Blue-suit (he was going to call the kid that) asked the girl next to him.

"Wh-what?" The girl had her hand on her head, swaying, and trying to find balance. "Gah!"

Blue-suit's hand flew out, grabbed the girl's head, and spun it in circles. "Why Mr. Sasazuka's house, Miss Yako. Have you forgotten already?" Strange indeed. The driver couldn't tell what to make of Blue-suit.

"You look familiar, girl. Have I seen you somewhere before?"

Even from her reflection, the driver could see the girl tense. "No, I don't think so."

No, no. The driver shook his head. He knew he had seen the girl somewhere. She was dressed normally, had the sense to wear short sleeves and no jackets or scarves. Had weird clips in her hair too though. Only, it was shaped like a monster grinning a razor toothed smile instead of triangles. Fashion these days. "Well, where to?"

"Huh? Oh, right," Smile-clips (as he was going to call her) gave the driver the directions and pulled out of the curb.

Blue-suit stayed quiet, a strange smile on his face. Smile-clips did not smile. How ironic. She was familiar, no doubt about it. Now just where had he seen her before? Smile-clips was 'pretty' he supposed, but nothing spectacular that would have made an impression on him if they had just passed each other on the street.

Maybe on TV or something? Naw, Smile-clips couldn't be famous, otherwise she'd be riding in those fancy cars that all kids wanted nowadays. Hmm, perhaps—oh no. The driver groaned and put his head on the steering wheel. "Wondrous. Well kiddos, welcome to the parking lot that is traffic." Stupid main street with its over-congestedness.

"Oh?" Blue-suit stirred, "Is it that bad?" Smile-clips stayed quiet.

"Yeah, it usually takes 10 minutes to get to your destination in a car. This traffic will turn that into an hour at least.

Blue-suit smiled. The smile resembled Smile-clips' clips. Razor sharp. "That so?"

Somehow, the traffic cleared very soon, much sooner than the driver had anticipated. In fact, the traffic had only slowed them down 12 minutes! Amazing, looks like today was a lucky day. The driver pulled over in front of a row of shabby looking apartments. Blue-suit gave another smile. "Well then, thank you! Come, Miss Yako." Smile-clips paid him the fee and followed Blue-suit.

Razor sharp smiles. How creepy, smiles are suppose to happy! Happy…Yako? The driver went rigid; a picture of a father and daughter smiling in front of Sakuba University placed itself in his mind. With a jerky movement, he called out to Smile-clips. "Oi! Aren't you that girl on the newspapers? The one who killed—?" Smile-clips ran into the building before the driver could finish his sentence.

Blue-suit stood at the doorway of the building and smiled again. Somehow, this felt…threatening. The driver quickly drove away.

--x--x--x--x--x--

"You didn't have to run in, cockroach," said Neuro.

Yako sighed. "It's just a sensitive subject for me. For people to just assume that what the newspapers say is true, that I really did kill, it's…just not fair."

Neuro gave a laugh, a diminishing laugh. "Once again, your mind surprises me! Of course it's not fair, since when has life ever been fair? Those who are called criminals, real convicted criminals are still only criminals because of the laws society set. Not them."

"But killing can't be right," Yako protested.

"In your eyes, perhaps, but in those minds that makes all that wonderful murderous intent!" Neuro gave a sigh as though he were in his 'happy place'. "Whatever the reason, I'm happy!"

A twitch found its way to Yako's face. "And this is coming from a lawyer?" A criminal's motive, eh?

--x--x--x--x--x--

"Yako, are you sure…um, this guy can be trusted?" Sasazuka said. The three of them were now sitting across from each other in Sasazuka's small apartment.

Despite having been asked this question many times before already, Yako still hesitated before answering. "Err, it should be okay?"

"Yako, you just answered me with a question."

"I mean, it'll be fine," repeated Yako, more confident this time.

Sasazuka drew from his cigarette. "How'd you meet Yako anyways, Neuro you said your name was?"

Neuro smiled. "I had been at her trial, and was shocked at the fact that she was considered guilty! So, I asked Miss Yako after the trial if she would let me take her case, and Miss Yako kindly agreed." He gave a sigh. "I was so happy! This is my first time doing a case, so I'm very touched that Miss Yako would actually trust me enough to do this!"

"The heck? What's with this guy?" Yako peered at him suspiciously. She had to ask him about this whole, 'multiple personality' thing sometime.

"I see. Well, I can't say I think that it was too smart of you," Sasazuka put his cigarette in the ash tray. "I guess I'll help though, if it means it'll get you out of jail, Yako. But," he glared at Neuro, "You better not do anything to jeopardize her."

Neuro laughed nervously. Yako could tell it was just for show. "I-I'll try my best. Anyways, what did you do that day?"

"Starting from the morning?"

"Yes, please." Please? The sky is falling.

"Well," Sasazuka paused, thinking. He stayed silent for minutes.

More silence.

"Err, Mr. Sasazuka," Yako said, trying to snap him out of it.

"Huh?"

"Can't you remember?"

"Sorry, can't recall."

Neuro waved his hand dismissively. "Don't worry; the most important thing is what you did that night. Where were you?"

Sasazuka narrowed his eyes. "Ah, yes. I was with some of the other police, guarding some rich family. They were holding some party, and worried about having a thief sneak in." He shook his head disapprovingly. "If you ask me, the police should have better things to do."

"Well, they must've been quite rich to actually hire police! It would've been a very good place for thieves, no?"

He shrugged. "I suppose so."

"Miss Yako said she called you, and you would come right over. What were doing before that?"

"Hmm," Sasazuka paused again, but this time only for a few seconds. "Well, the party thankfully ended pretty early, at 9:30 actually, so I managed to go home. I had fallen asleep for awhile, don't know exactly how long, when Yako woke me up with her phone call," he clenched his fist, "That room. It wasn't meant to be like that."

A small smile twisted itself onto Neuro's face. Apparently, he had gotten something he wanted. "I see. Did you join the police in the investigations?"

Sasazuka nodded. "Yeah, after I questioned Shirota, Usui told me to stop the inquiries and help with the investigation of the room," Yako saw a quick flash of some emotion she had not seen before, "Truly dyed red."

The smile twisted even further. Barely audible, Neuro mumbled, "Shirota, you've been caught." Louder, he said to Sasazuka, "I just remembered! I have to pick something up from an acquaintance, so can I borrow a phone to check if it's ready?"

"Sure." Sasazuka reached into his pocket and pulled out a black cellphone and tossed it to Neuro. "Here."

"Uhh, are you sure it's okay for me to waste minutes on this?"

Sasazuka gave Neuro a strange look. "Alright, look. Stop being so polite, it's starting to get a bit weird. It's just a cellphone. Besides," Sasazuka looked around, "I don't think I ever got around to installing a normal phone in here. I'm hardly ever around anyways."

"If you're sure then!" Neuro turned and walked into the hallway. A few seconds later, a muffled, "Ah! You!" was heard from over the phone.

"Well," Yako thought, "He must've stopped his 'nice guy' thing."

"So, Yako," said Sasazuka, relighting his cigarette, "How is everything?"

"Well," she gave a weak smile, "This case is actually working out better than I ever hoped, I guess."

"That so?" He cast a skeptical look at Neuro's back. Apparently, Sasazuka found it dissatisfying. "There's something strange about him."

Yako laughed nervously. "R-really? Well, anyways," she thought of something to change the subject, "Um…did you know that even the vase you gave my father was broken?"

"Vase?"

"Yeah, the red one that I always got me scared me. The one by that…um, Eshiya Tougo, you know," Yako persisted, "The one you gave father for his birthday a couple of years back."

"Oh," his expression did not change, "What happened to it?"

"It was broken, just like the yellow and blue ones," she smiled bitterly, "I don't think you ever knew how much dad loved that vase. He really did admire Eshiya's works."

"No, I think I do," Sasazuka gave a short laugh, "You should've heard all the times he said thanks to me. It was kind of…scary actually."

"Ahem," Neuro drew attention to himself, "If you don't mind me cutting in. Miss Yako, it's time to go."

"Huh? Oh sure." Yako stood and waved to Sasazuka. "I guess I'll see you soon, Mr. Sasazuka."

"Just remember, Yako, if you ever run into problems," he cast a quick glance at Neuro, "Just tell me."

--x--x--x--x--

"Who were you calling anyways?" asked Yako as they stepped out of the taxi.

"Just an acquaintance of mine, whom I asked to acquire some information."

"Did they get it?"

"He said it'd be ready in an hour," said Neuro.

"So," Yako stopped at the step leading up to her apartment, "Why are we back at my apartment again? Are we done already?"

"Not at all," Neuro pushed Yako off the step. She landed on her elbows.

"What was that for!?" she said angrily.

"You're not going back up to your apartment, I am."

Yako gaped. Was he going to steal her property now? "Y-you can't do that! I don't agree to it! It's my home, not yours! So…so you can't have it!"

"Cockroach, what are talking about? I'm not trying to take your house. I just want you to go over to Shirota's again," he pointed a finger towards the top floor of the apartment complex next door.

"Why?"

"I need to run a little experiment."

"Well," Yako shifted uncomfortably, "What am I suppose to tell him? It's not like we're particularly good friends. Actually," a dark look crossed her face, "I hate him. I'd rather never step foot in that apartment again."

"Haha! Is that so?" Neuro reached out, and grabbed her head. Then, miraculously without killing her, he snapped her neck around 180 degrees. Yako yelped. It would've been louder had her neck not been so stifled that she already couldn't make much noise. "I don't care you have to tell him. Just, get. In. That. Apartment." Neuro grinned sadistically, "Unless of course, you wish to stop your life here."

"Yow!" Yako rubbed at the painful spots on her neck. She felt lucky to be alive. "What the heck," she fumed with a choked voice, "You're supposed to be helping me!"

"Huh?" Neuro's face knotted into a thoughtful state. "Oh right!" he snapped his fingers and his face cleared, "I'm supposed to be proving you innocent, aren't I?"

Her eyes nearly popped out. "You FORGOT? What do you think you've been doing?!"

His grin turned pleasant again. "I have other incentives for doing this. But," he said as if there would be no more discussion on the matter, "That's not the point right now. Just go tell Shirota something. Anything."

--x--x--x--x--x--

"That jerk. What am I suppose to say to that…pompous food insulter!" Yako bit at her nails, trying to think of something. Nope, nothing. She looked up at the flashing lights overhead, only one more floor. "Come on. Anything!" The elevator continued to go up. Still nothing. Ding! The elevator stopped and the stainless steel doors slid open. Steel? "That's it!"

As Yako walked over to door of Shirota's apartment, her legs felt heavy. It was sign that even her own body said, "Heck no!" to another visit to Shirota. But if she didn't, who knew what Neuro would do? To Yako, it was obvious now that he had no problems damaging her in any way. Yako took in a deep breath, preparing for the coming onslaught, and knocked.

A few thuds of hurried footsteps and the door opened a crack. Shirota's eye peeked through, and Yako saw it roll. "Fantastic." He opened the door fully, "And to what do I owe the…pleasure of having you here?" Shirota said disdainfully.

"The knives," she replied coldly.

"Oh? You wish to commit a second murder now?"

Yako drew herself up, trying to look him in the eye. Rather hard since she was only of the average height and Shirota was nearly the same height as Neuro (AKA towering). "I meant the knives my father let you borrow. You never gave them back."

For some reason, Shirota seemed to pale slightly. "Yes, yes." He turned and walked back to his kitchen.

Yako followed him in and stared out the window, across to the murder room. She saw a flash of bright blue. "Here," Shirota thrust a bag towards Yako, "They're all in there. Now if you please leave," he pulled on gloves, "I have cooking to do."

"With gloves on?!" Yako said incredulously, "But how are you suppose to pour your feelings into the dish if you have gloves on! It blocks out that special touch to it!"

"Please," Shirota said in a superior tone, "Do you realize how dirty hands are? Amateur."

--x--x--x--x--x--

"Just when I thought I couldn't hate that guy any more!" Yako fumed, tossing the bag onto a counter, "He goes and makes more comments that makes me want to go and kill him!"

"Ooh! Please do!" Neuro said cheerfully, "It'll be wonderful, I'm sure!"

Yako shot a completely ignored glare. "Do you want me to get jailed?"

"I wouldn't mind it," he replied, face drawn in a blank look.

"Forget it!" She turned back to the bag and began to take the utensils out. "Why did you need me to go over anyways?"

Neuro's face shifted back to normal. "That? I was trying to see if dear Mr. Shirota's reason for coming over that night was legitimate."

"Strange," Yako commented, giving the bag another dig.

"What?"

"I can't find them," she furrowed her brow and turned the bag upside-down, "I'm sure this set of knives is a set of a dozen, but there's only 4 knives in here. Maybe it's in the drawers?" Yako pulled open a drawer and shook her head, "Nope. Where could they be?"

"Can't find them?"

" Nope. Anyways, why wouldn't his reason be legitimate? It was the same as Miss AyaAAHH!" Two fingers poked at her eyes, making her chorus 'ows' every few seconds.

"You still can't see?" Neuro poked even harder, "Perhaps you need to get eye surgery? Here, I'll do it for you! Just cut off this part…"

"No! No!"

"Tch. Can't even appreciate all the nice things I do."

This time, Yako's eyes really did pop out. "Nice?! In hell maybe!"

"Indeed, it is nice there!" he replied, completely unfazed.

"Just stop avoiding the question already!"

Neuro sighed and put on a (fake) look of defeat. "Miss Yako you are so demanding! But, I shall be kind and tell you anyways!" The look of defeat disappeared and Neuro turned serious again. "You commented that his reason for coming over was the same as Miss Aizawa's; noises and crashes. For Miss Aizawa it would've been acceptable, since she's directly below the murder room, and thus should be able to hear. However, I found it strange for Mr. Shirota's case. These apartments are extremely expensive, correct? Well then, shouldn't the walls give you extra privacy? By that I mean, shouldn't the walls cancel out most sounds?"

"Well, it is pretty quite here, especially compared to Sakuba's dorms," Yako admitted.

"Exactly," he continued, "Not only were there at least two walls to cancel out the sound of crashes (the murder room's and the walls of Shirota's apartment), but there was a 3 meter distance between the walls. While you went into Mr. Shirota's apartment, I went into the murder room. After I saw you from the window, I began to throw things all over the floor…"

"You messed up my father's room again?!"

"As I was saying, yes, I began to mess up your father's room again. I got the desired result. Miss Aizawa came up to inspect the noises (she had been reading in her room). However," Neuro smirked, "You didn't hear anything from Shirota's apartment, did you?"

Yako shook her head. "No, not a sound. I think I might've seen you though."

"Just as I thought. And that was from the kitchen, the closest point to the room. So, if Mr. Shirota really had been sleeping, as he claimed to have been, he wouldn't have woken up from noises. Mr. Shirota heard nothing, Yako. That was not the reason he came over," Neuro said.

"Wait, but if he didn't come over because of that, then what other reason could he have to be—!" Realization spread through her face.

"I see you've noticed, cockroach," Neuro said with a pleased look, "Mr. Shirota is the one who seems the most likely to have murdered your father at this point."

"I know that guy's a jerk, but what reason—?"

"No time to explain further!" Neuro looked at the grandfather clock, "The hour is up, and I'm eager to see what that dog dug up."

"Dog…?"

--x--x--x--x--x--

There was only one emotion going through Yako's head at the moment: shock. Why? Because Neuro had taken (dragged) her into the skyscraper that was the Mochizuki Corporations Headquarters. The company was a very large one, to say the least, and it didn't deal electronics or anything of that kind. No, it dealt information. Rumors even said once you asked for a piece of information, the corporation would get it, regardless of what they had to do. Of course, this all came with a skyrocketing price that everyday people could seldom afford.

"W-wow," Yako said in an awed voice as she looked around, "I never thought that you'd go to such lengths to help with this case! This really makes me look at you in a new perspective!" The interior was spick-span to a point even the most fastidious of people would be pleased. Everywhere, there was a low hum of talk among the workers saying who-knows-what. It seemed just as professional as the rumors made it out to be.

"What are you talking about? Is your underdeveloped brain so easily pleased by just walking through this building?"

"No, no," she continued to turn, looking this way and that way, "It's just that I never thought you'd spend so much money just to help me!" Yako flashed him a smile, "So, thanks!"

Neuro chuckled. "Spending a vast amount of money to help you? I would never do that."

"What?!" Yako stopped midstep, "Th-then are you just going to get the information and not pay them?!"

"That's the basic idea."

"B-but, you can't do that!" she protested, "It's not legal! This company is huge; they'll come after you for sure if you don't pay them the amount they ask for!"

The laugh got even louder. "It would seem that you've misunderstood me. I don't need to pay, because the acquaintance I asked it from is the vice president of the company."

If physically possible, Yako's jaw would've dropped all the way to the floor. "Y-you have connections like that?!" she said in amazement. The elevator ringed and the door slid open. When they had gotten inside, Neuro pressed the button to the top floor.

"Of course I do. Why wouldn't I?"

"Wow," she muttered, "To be the vice president of the company, that guy must've worked hard and be something!"

"Not really," Neuro cut in, "He's a former yakuza member who only had education up to sixth grade, can't read all kanji, and one of his greatest fears is math!"

"What the heck?!" Yako did a double-take, "How'd he get the position then?!"

Neuro mouth twisted into a nasty smile. "I'll admit; I helped him quite a bit."

"What is this guy?" Yako wondered as the doors slid open. In front of them was another pair of wooden doors. The two men in front of them gave Neuro a glance and pulled the doors open. "First he tells me he's solved many mysteries, and now he tells me he has connections even within the Mochizuki Corporation!"

The office was roomy, but rather disorganized. Files lay piled on top of each other on top of the president's desk. Behind the pile, Yako caught a glimpse of a man working. Nearby, in front of a flat-screen TV, a plump man with a shiny head was…playing video games? Yako rubbed her eyes, trying to make sure she wasn't dreaming. Nope, the guy was really playing video games. "Is that the vice president? I wonder what Neuro did to convince the president to keep that guy?!"

The plump man giggled. Yes, giggled, and called over to the man behind the pile of papers. "Hey, hey! Godai! Come over here and play! I need a second-in-command for this level! You can be the bunny knight!"

Yako heard an exasperated scream from behind the papers. A man with short, yellow hair stood up, his face contorted in fury. "SHUT UP! I'm doing work here Mochizuki!" Wait…if that's Mochizuki…

"Ah, dog, there you are. Did you get what I asked for yet?" Neuro smiled a razor's smile, "If you didn't, perhaps I should give you all the time you need in the afterlife?"

"What? How come he isn't being all polite to him?" she thought confusedly.

The man's face turned to Neuro, giving him a full glare. Yako gulped and backed up instinctively; this man was violent. "You ingrate! I'm already doing this without charging a monster like you, and you're still giving me sh—!" The man gave Neuro the 'f— you' sign with his finger. Waves of murderous intent rolled off of the man.

Neuro wasn't even fazed. He was either use to this, or he was sure that the man could do no damage to him. "Quit the barking, Godai. You said you had it."

"Yeah, yeah," the dangerous aura was dissipating, "It's in here somewhere."

"W-wait," Yako managed to stammer out, "Do you mean, that guy," she jabbed a finger towards the happy Mochizuki, "Is the head of the company? And he's," the finger shifted over to Godai, "The vice president you're getting the information from?!" And there went all of Yako's admiration for this company.

"Shocking, huh?" Godai replied, still digging through the piles of paperwork, "You'd think that a company as large as—!" His head shot up, "Who the hell is she?!"

"My client, maybe you've seen her on the cover of newspapers?"

Yako wanted to hit him for bringing that up.

"Nope," Godai went back to looking through the papers, "Don't have time to read newspapers anymore because a certain LAZY BUM won't do HIS F—'N WORK!"

Mochizuki continued to giggle at the screen.

"I see you're showing your true colors though, going to make this poor girl work to?"

Neuro shrugged. "If I find her useful." Useful?

"Here," Godai tossed a file folder to Neuro, "Everything I could dig up is in there."

Neuro was already skimming through the papers. A grin spread across his face as he read more and more. Eventually, Neuro started to laugh. "Criminals! Both of them! This is just too perfect!"

"What? Criminals? Who?" Yako walked closer, trying to get a view of the folder. She nearly choked at what she saw. On one side of the folder, was picture of Mr. Shirota, no surprise there. However, on the other, was a picture of Aya Aizawa. "No way," she murmured.

"It's true," Neuro said, getting more and more delighted with each flip of the page, "Both of those neighbors of yours are hiding something."

--x--x--x--x--

A/N: Yay! I'm finally done! Whoo! And it's my longest chapter yet! And, I've never used so much profanity in my life…

Already have another idea for a fic, going to be based on Ten Little Indians (AKA And Then There Were None) by Agatha Christie if I go through with it. Thanks for reading, and drop a review if you have time! :)