章 61: Chapter 61: A big reveal
The young man, with a pale face, hesitated for some moments before answering the call.
He switched the sight between the girls in front and the screen of his phone.
Everyone looked at him in a curious way as Hina tilted her head to the side after seeing his reaction.
A small drop of cold sweat fell from his forehead to his chin before falling on the floor.
"Are you okay, Kai-Kun? Who is it? Why are you not answering the phone?" Hina asked with a low voice, while placing her index finger on her mouth.
Kai didn't reply to her.
Instead, he kept looking the name of Detective Saito on his phone several times before letting out a sigh.
Akira and Sakura were also curious, wondering why Kai was hesitating.
"Come on, Kai. Answer the call." Sakura said with a wide but fake smile on her face.
"I think that you should, Kai." Akira said.
Meanwhile, Yuna was still saying silent after becoming Hina's first friend.
The fact that Detective Saito called him in such a delicate moment made him scared for his life.
If Hina would've discovered that her boyfriend was "working" with the same man who was observing her since a lot of time, Kai would've been in very big troubles.
Deep down, he promised to never lie to Hina ever again, but nobody could cancel past and undercovered lies.
Every single one of them will come to the surface.
"Oh, and please, put the speaker on~" Sakura said.
Then, with a wave of fear embracing his soul, he finally answered the phone.
"Y...y-yes, Saito-San?" He whispered after taking some steps back from the girls.
Then, the eyes of Hina and Akira widened but they were in silence, listenining carefully.
Sakura didn't seem to be surprised since she already knew the relationship between Kai and Detective Saito.
"Hey, boy. How are you?" He asked, with a worried tone of voice.
"I'm... fine..." Kai replied, with a low tone of voice.
Hina looked like she was about to explode, but that was probably in Kai's imagination.
Kai's heart skipped a beat when Detective Saito's voice came through the phone.
But the Detective said something unexpected.
"Than goodness... now hand your telephone to Sakura." He said, with a firm voice.
"What...? How do you kn-" He tried to ask, but he was stopped by him.
"Don't ask anything more, just hand the telephone to Sakura." He said.
A wave of relief wrapped his soul after noticing that Saito didn't mention Hina at all.
Hina and Akira then seemed to relax their bodies.
For a moment, everything seemed to blur around him as he fought to keep his expression neutral, hiding the rising tide of concern.
He stepped back slightly, discreetly holding the phone, while every pair of eyes in the room shifted to Sakura.
Without missing a beat, Sakura gestured for Kai to hand over the phone.
"Ah, Saito-san, I wasn't expecting your call," she replied, her voice as smooth and controlled as ever.
The tension in the bunker thickened as Akira and Hina watched closely. Kai remained silent, suppressing the urge to ask questions.
Whatever was about to unfold in the next few moments could change everything he thought he knew.
Sakura raised the phone to her ear, pacing slowly around the cramped room as if considering her next move. "We're fine," she said, answering Saito's question. "But why in the world did you just decide to contact me right now? And why trough Kai's phone ? How do you have his number?" She asked, with a bothered tone of voice.
After hearing her words, Hina walked close to Kai and then clung to his right arm with a guilty expression, like she wanted to say "I'm sorry for doubting you..."
Saito's voice was low, almost a whisper, as it came through the receiver. "I had to ensure everything was progressing according to plan. The police are under control, just as we agreed. I'm keeping any potential interference at bay, but we have to be careful since there are a lot eyes on us. We can't afford any mistakes, Sakura." Saito said, with a very firm whisper.
Kai felt a chill run down his spine.
Saito was on Sakura's side?
The revelation was almost too much to process.
The detective, whom he had always believed was committed to justice by bringing Hina to the arrest, was secretly collaborating with Sakura to bring down the Kobayashi Dragons.
That revelation made Kai think about every single word that Saito spoke to him.
He always asked about Hina, but there was something strange.
He didn't investigate further, considering the fact that he had a big suspect on Hina.
Saito could literally stalk and control every single movement of them, but he never did something like this...
And every single question that Kai was asking to himself had an unique answer: He knew about Hina and never did anything.
That would've made sense if he was really working with Sakura.
Considering his fame, popularity and the fact that he was a strict collegue of Yuki Nakamura, they never investigated more.
In that moment, Kai realized that he had a lot of things to learn.
"I see," Sakura replied, her voice as calm as ever. "I appreciate your assistance, Saito. Without your help, the police would've been impossible to control... especially considering that little snake..." She sighed and then spoke again: "How exactly are you keeping them in check?" She asked.
Saito sighed, and Kai could almost picture the weary expression on the detective's face as he spoke.
"I've been falsifying reports, redirecting my superiors with low-priority investigations. Whenever someone gets too close to uncovering what we're doing, I steer them in another direction. But I can't guarantee this will work forever... If Yuki Nakamura finds even a single distorted thing in my informations, she'll have doubts. And if she has doubts, she'll be an infernal creature. You should know that much better than me."
A slight smile tugged at Sakura's lips. "I understand. Your efforts won't go unrecognized, Saito." She said, with a grateful tone of voice.
"It's okay. Is everyone okay there?" Saito then asked.
"Yeah. Everyone's safe, and we have another ally. A special one." Sakura said, while shifting her gaze to Akira.
"Oh? Who is it?" Saito asked, with a curious voice.
"It's Akira Furukawa, the genius sniper who got fired from the army many years ago. Can you give her some recommendations to be back in the army after all this is over?" She asked, while leaning her back on the wall.
Akira's expression was a mix of surprise and confusion, like she was saying "Is that really possible?".
"Oh? Really? The deadliest sniper of the world is with us? That's actually a great news... I can give her everything she needs like weapons and also a big reccomendations once this is over..." He said, with a formal tone of voice.
Akira's eyes widened and then she moved close to the phone and grabbed Sakura's arm to speak with the detective.
"C-Can you really do it??? Am I not considered a criminal?!" Akira asked, with a very hopeful tone.
"Hahaha..." Saito giggled proudly. "Yes, of course I can, and yes... you're considere a higly wanted criminal, but worry not. I can cancel every single proof or accuse against you and give you a totally new identity." He said.
Akira's eyes widened, probably happy about what she heard.
"T-Thank you..." She said , after letting go Sakura's arm.
Meanwhile, Hina was still clinging to Kai's arm, still staying in silence.
But Kai's mind lingered with a question: Sakura only said that Akira was her new ally.
She didn't consider Hina...That would've meant only a thing: Sakura perfectly knew that Hina was under Kai's control.
He decided to stay silent and just clenched his fists after realizing that.
He had no other choice.
Hina noticed Kai's agitation and grabbed his hand to calm him down, and looked inside his eyes with a very soft expression.
She even gave him a soft smile.
Her actions were speaking for her.
She literally said "I'm doing all of this for you. I want you to be safe. I love you."
Her eyes were sparkling while looking at her boyfriend who gave her a glimpse of humanity.
Kai then relaxed his hands and sighed.
"You're welcome... But now we gotta talk about serious issues." Detective Saito said.
"Yes, Saito?" Sakura said, with a serious tone of voice.
"Our next step is to find Haruto. A source told me that he's going to his leaders to seek protection. If he gets there, we won't find him ever again. We gotta act really fast now... Any idea on where he's going?" Saito asked.
Sakura hummed something, thinking about any possible location, before Akira spoke.
"He's heading to the north-east of Harunaga District, in a hideen bunker near the excavation site." She said.
"Oh? I'll send a special troop to investigate. Yuki Nakamura has already blocked most of the possible highways. I think that they won't get far." Saito said.
"There's a connection of hidden subterranean galleries connecting most of the cities. But you can't go with a car, only by feet. They're going to meet someone at an extraction point, but I don't know where. Haruto didn't told me." Akira said with a firm tone.
"Understood. I'll take note. But for you, I suggest to remain in that place since Yuki Nakamura is searching for both Kai and Hina after seeing the massacre in that building. I'll call you once the situation is gonna be more calm." Saito said.
Kai's mind raced with a lot of quesations.
What did all of this mean? If Saito was aligned with Sakura, who else could be involved? And why hadn't Saito ever mentioned this to him? He fought to stay composed, but he could feel Hina's eyes on him, as if she could sense the turmoil brewing inside him.
Sakura, on the other hand, remained entirely in control. "Good. Keep things stable on your end. I'll make sure this ends swiftly. Don't worry about us."
"Just be careful," Saito's voice took on a darker tone. "We can't afford any slip-ups."
Sakura ended the call and handed the phone back to Kai, a mysterious smile playing on her lips.
"It seems we have a little more time than expected," she remarked, turning her gaze back to Akira and Hina. "But we can't afford to let our guard down."
Kai took a deep breath, trying to sort through the flood of thoughts in his mind.
He needed to understand more about what was really going on, but for now, the only thing he could do was play along with Sakura and hope that, somehow, he and Hina could make it out of this alive.
Akira, who had been observing, seemed to be grappling with her own thoughts. "Sakura," she said slowly, her voice tinged with uncertainty, "if Saito is with us... how much can we really trust him?"
Sakura shot her a sharp look. "Enough to get us to the end of this. But not enough to let him in on everything. He's a useful ally, but nothing more."
Hina, still unsure of everything that was happening, moved even more closer to Kai, seeking the comfort of his presence.
Kai offered her a reassuring smile, though inside he was wrestling with the complexity of their situation, now more tangled than ever.
Sakura turned her attention to the bunker's entrance. "We still have a lot to do. And now that we know we have Saito's support, we can't waste this opportunity. Akira, Hina, get ready. We need to move soon."
Kai nodded, though a deep sense of unease was settling within him.
The revelation about Saito had shifted the ground beneath his feet.
He didn't have all the answers yet, but one thing was clear: the stakes had just gotten a lot higher, and he was now entangled in a game far more dangerous than he had ever imagined.
As he looked at Hina, he realized that her fate, and his own, were more uncertain than ever. He couldn't afford to make a wrong move not with so many lives on the line.
"What's our next step now?" Kai asked.
"Didn't you hear Saito's words?" Sakura asked.
"We gotta stay here? For how much time?" Kai asked.
Sakura's lips curved into a smile.
"Oh well... We gotta hope that the living snake called Yuki Nakamura is gonna calm her hormones soon." Sakura said, with a sigh. "That's what happens if you become sexually frustrated after a long time." She added, while opening a small cabinet above her head and grabbing a beer.
After her words, evryone slightly blushed and looked at her.
"What? That's actually true. It's the same reason of why I'm always angry." Sakura said, while starting to drink her beer.
"What are you staring at?" She said, with a bothered tone of voice.
"Make yourself at home, we've gotta a lot of time to know each other better~" Sakura said, while sitting on a sofa.
Everyone remained silent, wondering how much time they were gonna spend in that bunker...
週次パワーステータス
-- 推薦
ランキング 
-- 推薦
チケット