章節 15: Hold on tight

"Something happened to Mr. Akira and now, everybody is trying to cover it up, isn't that right?" Akira tilted his head and asked with a small smirk.

"I don't understand what you're trying to say," Mr. Watanabe feigned ignorance and spoke.

Akira suddenly chuckled dryly, "Well, I guess there's nothing I can do if you say that."

Mr. Watanabe's eyes narrowed down on the man as he heard this but he refrained from giving a response.

"But the truth will eventually come out," Akira added with a thin smile as he looked at the man, "And I hope you know that as well."

"Are you threatening me?"

"Of course, not. How can I possibly threaten you when you've done nothing wrong?"

Mr. Watanabe frowned as he heard this, not looking to be pleased by Akira's response.

"I only came here to ask something and you have already answered my question."

"So there's nothing else?"

Akira shook his head as he confirmed it, "I will be taking my leave now. Ayami-san told me that you were very busy today and I would not want to take any more of your time."

Mr. Watanabe nodded his head as he heard this and let Akira leave his office.

Once Akira opened the door and stepped out, he came face-to-face with Zaelek who had been waiting outside for him.

"When did you get here?" Akira enthusiastically asked, looking to be a little excited to see the man.

Zaelek did not answer his question and instead, looked at Akira with a small frown as he asked, "What are you planning?"

Akira smiled as he heard this question and glanced around once to make sure that no one could hear them, "I'm laying out a bait. Let's see if the fish bites it."

Zaelek tilted his head in confusion, unable to understand what was going on inside Akira's mind.

Seeing Ayami approaching from afar, Akira quickly hooked his arm around Zaelek's arm and smiled brightly as he greeted the woman, "We meet again. Thank you for your help today."

Ayami gulped as she saw their interlocked arms and looked as if she wanted to say something, but she refrained from voicing out her thoughts and tried to sound polite as she questioned, "How come you two are together?"

Akira grinned as he spoke, "I have changed my mind."

The polite smile on Ayami's face immediately dropped.

"I have realized that no one will treat me better than Mr. Kaito!~ Look, he even came here to pick me up."

Ayami looked as if somebody had thrown a glass of cold water on her face. She was so stunned that she didn't even say anything in response and only stared at Akira.

Akira pulled Zaelek's arm as he spoke, "Kaito, let's go back~"

This time, Ayami couldn't help but roll her eyes with a scoff. She had simply run out of patience. Not only was she dealing with her fiance's murder and trying her best to keep his body hidden, but now, she also had to deal with this sh*t.

Akira pulled Zaelek along and bumped against Ayami's shoulder on purpose, shoving the woman away as he made his way back.

"What are you doing?" Zaelek whispered worriedly as they left, "You need them to trust you if you want any information. Making an enemy out of them would do you no good."

Akira smiled as he heard this and spoke, "They are human. Out of the two of us, as a fellow human, one would expect me to know more about humans than a grim reaper."

Zaelek unhappily pursed his lips into a thin line but said nothing.

"I want them to hate me. Only if they hate me can I drive a wedge between them and Asahi."

"Huh?" Zaelek did not understand Akira's plan and the more he listened, the more confused he got.

The two men got inside the car and Akira spoke, "Let's go meet Asahi now."

Zaelek couldn't help but feel a little uneasy as he saw the serious expression on the man's face.

With a bit of worry, he asked, "Would you be okay?"

Akira forced out a smile as he asked, "Why wouldn't I be okay?"

"Because, yesterday, he killed you."

"..."

"And I'm guessing you would experience some sort of trauma when you see him again. Isn't it normal for you humans to be overly emotional about such things?"

"Well, that is, 'if' we get to meet him."

"What do you mean?"

"You'll see," Akira spoke with a smirk, not bothering to specify what he had in mind.

After about ten minutes, Zaelek noticed a white car with tinted windows following them from close behind.

He opened his mouth to say something but immediately shut his mouth when he realized something.

With a shocked expression, Zaelek snapped his head towards Akira and stared at the man in pure disbelief, "You planned this...?!"

Akira smirked but said nothing as he stepped on the accelerator and increased the speed of their car.

The car tailing them from behind also caught up to their speed and didn't even bother hiding.

"Hold on tight!" Akira warned as he swiftly swerved the car toward the right.

For a second there, the grim reaper ironically feared for his life.

"Have you done this before?" Zaelek gulped as he worriedly questioned.

"Never!" Akira shouted with vigor, "I was afraid of dying."

"..."

"But now that I'm already dead, I might as well live life to the fullest!"

Zaelek didn't know if he wanted to laugh or not as he heard this.

Akira had a lot of chances to shake off the car following them, but he didn't do it. In fact, when he almost got away, he slowed down his speed and waited for the car to catch up. It almost seemed as if he was teasing them.

Zaelek tightly grabbed onto the handlebar and closed his eyes as he silently prayed for the lives of Kaito and Yuzu.

All of a sudden, without any warning, Akira stepped on the brakes and their car harshly came to a stop.

The car behind them could not react fast enough and ended up hitting their rear bumper with full force.

Police and Ambulance were immediately called to the scene and the paramedics checked on everyone who was involved in the crash.

Akira and Zaelek got away with minor injuries but the same could not be said about the two men that were following them.

The accident was clearly Akira's fault, however, when questioned, Akira stated that he was being followed and had stepped on the brakes out of fear.

When the police checked the dashcam of the car, it was pretty clear to them that Akira had been telling the truth and this complicated the situation.

Akira knew that the case would soon be closed if he didn't do anything so he immediately took to social media and posted a message to all his followers about what had happened to him.

For the next two days, Akira stayed at home with Zaelek and didn't bother clarifying or stating anything more. He simply let the wildfire do its work.

However, on the third day, somebody on one of the online forums asked the question that Akira had been waiting for: [The car looks expensive and the ones tailing him were two men. This cannot be a simple stalking case. Was he being targeted by a gangster?]

Munching on popcorn, not even bothering to wipe the residue off his fingers, Akira enthusiastically typed a response, "I apologize for having worried all my fans. I made a big deal out of a small misunderstanding. The car belonged to the KS Fashion group. I was not stalked and the two men who followed me did not mean any harm."

This message from him made it seem as if he was trying to clear KS Fashion group's name, but in reality, he was fanning the flames.

To many, who knew the way Yuzu talked and approached the public, this response of his was considered unnatural and forced.

Akira knew exactly what he had done and when he saw the public suddenly become suspicious of the KS fashion group, he couldn't help but sit back and laugh like a true villain.

Zaelek, who saw this side of the man, was both a little scared and intrigued.

On the fourth day, the KS fashion group came out and denied all accusations, even going as far as to claim that the car was not theirs. On the same day, the news of Ayami marrying Asahi was once again making headlines, this was a deliberate move done to distract the public and bury the car accident. However, this only worsened the situation even more.

The more KS tried to hide it, the more suspicious it seemed.