บท 17: Who is Tomo Ogawa?
Akira couldn't remember the last time her team had looked this disappointed and defeated. When their group was formed years ago, they sure did encounter a few failures at the beginning. But after that, they became undoubtedly formidable and unvanquished. They were so used to always getting a successful result from their missions that today's outcome had completely taken them by surprise.
All of them had the same thought in mind: Who on earth is Tomo Ogawa?
Not only all their efforts were rendered useless because they didn't get any positive result from their mission, but they also allowed themselves to be played by the hands of Tomo Ogawa.
They had realized that Tomo knew of their plan to infiltrate his property. He was more than prepared for their coming. It wasn't him who was fooled by them. It was them who was fooled by him.
"So, what are we going to do now?" Haru took the courage to be the first to break the silence in the room.
It was so unusual for him to see his team be this silent and downcast. However, it's not like he could blame them. Even for him who was considered to be the most high-spirited and most positive among the group, he couldn't deny that he was just as shocked and disheartened by how things turned out today.
"Obviously, we're back to zero", Kaito replied, the bitterness in his voice was so evident. "Not only that, but we had also given away our identities to that man. There were hidden cameras all over his property. He had been watching us all this time."
Now that Tomo Ogawa had seen their faces, it wasn't impossible and hard for the man to dig information about them, which made him more dangerous and threatening.
They didn't really know anything about him - not even his face. Who knew what else he might do. They were obviously at a disadvantage.
"But seriously, how did he find out that we were coming?" Sato finally raised one of the questions that had been bugging him since they left Tomo Ogawa's property. He understood that the mysterious man was indeed smart and crafty. But he was not convinced that Tomo predicting their plans was merely because of his intelligence. It must be more than that.
"He is very smart", Haru said.
Sato shook his head to disagree, "I find that hard to believe. No matter how clever a person is, it is impossible for a normal human being to predict the future or plans of others, especially if he had not even seen nor known who these people are."
"That is unless he had sent and planted a mole to spy on his behalf so that he wouldn't be noticed", Kaito suddenly remarked. Everyone could tell the intention behind his words. He was referring to someone in the room.
All eyes turned to Ren who was sitting at the other end of the table with his two hands intertwined behind his head. He also caught the accusing and distrustful tone in Kaito's statement.
"Are you trying to say then that I am Tomo Ogawa's dog?" he replied, his voice with a hint of taunting.
Kaito glared at him, "Are you offended? That is not far from possible. You are the only one who actually knows Tomo Ogawa here. You kept telling us how mysterious and secretive he is yet it's so ironic that you know quite a lot about him. Don't you think that's suspicious. After all, we also do not know you. You are just as mysterious as Tomo Ogawa."
The other people in the room could feel the tension between the two. They waited intently for Ren's response, expecting that he would defend himself. However, they got an unexpected reaction from him.
Ren suddenly guffawed, earning himself either a confused or displeased look from the people he was with.
"And what if I am really Tomo Ogawa's intelligencer? What will you do?" he flashed a lopsided grin. It was hard to tell whether he was just messing with them or not.
Akira, who had been silently listening to their exchange finally broke her silence.
"Don't go around messing with us. Just because we've been a little nice to you doesn't mean you can whatever you want. Don't get too comfortable. I told you before, if you do anything funny, I'll kill you right away", she said in a serious and threatening tone to Ren. She could tell that he was only toying with them with his statement.
Though she admitted that Ren still remained as an enigma to her, she was also starting to understand the patterns of his behavior. He was not the type to defend himself when he knew he was innocent.
Akira still didn't know many things about him, but she could somehow sense when he was telling the truth. When he knew that he was telling the truth, had no desire of really spending time bickering just to prove his innocence. Instead, he would rather taunt and toy the people around him.
Even Akira couldn't really comprehend the reason behind his actions and behavior. Was it a habit? Did he perhaps really have a childish side? She wasn't sure. However, she was almost certain that that's just how he really was.
In addition to that, she doubted that Ren was really an informant of Tomo Ogawa. He had been with them the whole time, and though he was transferred from his cell to a decent room, he was still guarded. He had nothing with him in his room but his bed, one table, one chair, a bathroom, and the small flatscreen TV that was hanging on the wall.
Ren let out a defeated sigh, "Fine. I'm sorry. I'll behave now." He raised his hands and shut his mouth.
Akira was as disappointed as her group. But that wasn't the main reason why she had been quiet since they came back to their headquarters. They might have not found and gotten back the diary, but she realized that their labor was not actually entirely wasted. She kept thinking about the message that was left for them.
YOU CANNOT FIND ME UNLESS I LET YOU FIND ME.
The last six words from the sentence was what bothered her the most: UNLESS I LET YOU FIND ME.
Tomo Ogawa could have just written the words 'YOU CANNOT FIND ME', but why did he put the phrase 'UNLESS I LET YOU FIND ME'? What was the meaning and reason behind it?
"Everyone, listen", Akira caught the attention of everyone in the room. "Tomo Ogawa left a message for us. Ren and I found the following words in the underground room: YOU CANNOT FIND ME UNLESS I LET YOU FIND ME. I don't know about you, but I feel like Tomo Ogawa is trying to tell us something. He clearly doesn't want us to know where he is, but what if that is just for the time being. What if he actually intends to meet us?"
The room was once again filled with silence as her companions dwelled on what she said.
"What if it's just a trap?" Kaito commented.
Akira was not surprised. Apart from her, Kaito was probably the most distrusting person in the group, and she understood why. He was by nature a very careful, calculated and objectivist person.
"That could be possible. Either way, we can at least say that he intends to meet us, but as to when and how, we still cannot tell. He clearly said that we cannot find him unless he allows us to meet him. So, I guess, the next step is to wait and see. If what he wrote was true, he will clearly send us a clue. When that happens, we'll deliberate what to do next."
She paused for a moment as there was something else that she wanted to tell them.
The runes that she and Ren had seen was also bothering her. The markings were still fresh in her mind, and it was as if she could still feel them on her skin. She couldn't wrap her head around why they looked and felt so familiar to her. Had she really seen them before already? And if she did, where and when was it?
After a few seconds of internal deliberation, she decided not to disclose it to the group. She concluded that she would only tell them about it if she finally found out what it was exactly.
สถานะพลังงานรายสัปดาห์
-- การจัดอันดับด้วยพลัง 
-- หินพลัง