Chapter 15: Miss Ikezawa, You Don’t Want To Either

Looking at the earring in Fujino's hand, Ikazawa Yuko's expression showed a hint of astonishment.

But after a moment, she regained her composure. "So what if it's mine?"

"As long as it's yours."

Fujino smiled playfully and asked, "Aren't you at all curious how your earring ended up in my hand?"

"Who would be curious about something like that?"

Ikazawa Yuko frowned slightly at his words, took out a cigarette case from her pocket, and lit one. "Perfect timing—I was just worried I couldn't find it. Since you found it, give it back to me."

"Care to guess where I found it?"

Fujino fixed his gaze on Ikazawa Yuko. After taking a deep breath, he continued slowly, "In Yoko Okino's house—the very scene of that murder case."

"Just your word for it!"

Ikazawa Yuko's face suddenly turned pale, and the cigarette hanging from her lips slipped to the floor.

Crap, my floor!

Fujino's lips twitched slightly as he looked at the cigarette butt on the floor, coughing lightly.

Ikazawa Yuko came back to her senses and picked up the cigarette, putting it back between her lips.

"Who's going to believe just your word alone?"

She bit the cigarette, trying to argue back, "Maybe I just accidentally dropped it at your place!"

Fujino glanced sorrowfully at the blackened burn mark on his floor and sighed.

Then he turned his gaze to Ikazawa Yuko and said solemnly, "I don't know how you got Yoko Okino's house key, but if I'm not mistaken after you hired me to investigate her yesterday, you went to her house again to dig up some dirt on her…"

"And if I'm right, last night while you were at Yoko Okino's place, someone attacked you, didn't they?"

Fujino continued, "You managed to fight back and escape in the chaos, but… you left your earring at the scene."

"That's just your guess! Where's your proof?"

Ikazawa Yuko retorted with a guilty expression, "As a detective, you should know better than anyone—without evidence, you can't accuse someone of a crime!"

"Proof? Of course, I have it."

Fujino chuckled softly, then slowly stood up. "You probably don't know this, but at the crime scene, the deceased was clutching a strand of hair in their hand. After some reasoning, it was presumed to be Yoko Okino's…"

"But that hair didn't look like hers at all. It looked much more like yours."

As he spoke, Fujino gave her a playful smile and said lightly, "If the police were to run a DNA test…"

"Are you threatening me?!"

Ikazawa Yuko's expression gradually darkened as she sprang up from the sofa, her sharp gaze fixed on Fujino.

"No, no, no! I'm a professional detective, how could I possibly threaten my client?"

Fujino waved his hand with an innocent look. "It's just that… Miss Ikazawa, I had already dug up some dirt on Yoko Okino's boyfriend for you, but now that you've dragged yourself into this mess, I've been working hard to keep you out of it… If this gets exposed, it won't be good for either of us. Me? I'd at most suffer a blow to my reputation. But you, Miss Ikazawa… that's a whole different story…"

Then, a sly, fox-like smile appeared on his face. "Miss Ikazawa, you don't want to be dragged into this, do you?"

"Fine! What do you want?!"

Ikazawa Yuko let out a long sigh, regretting her choices.

If she had known, she wouldn't have hired a detective to investigate Yoko Okino in the first place.

Now look—she'd lost the child and burned the fox's tail.

This guy was threatening her!

"I want…"

Seeing Fujino's deliberately mysterious expression, Ikazawa Yuko couldn't help but swallow nervously.

Could it be that this guy…

But she was still…

"I want… my commission fee."

"…Huh?"

Ikazawa Yuko froze. "That's it?"

"That's it."

Fujino scratched the back of his head awkwardly and said, "After all, in a way, I've technically completed the commission. The commission fee—you should at least give me that, right? That way, you're officially my client, and as your detective… I'll keep this secret safe."

"You should've just said that earlier!"

Ikezawa Yuko's mouth twitched uncontrollably.

So it was just about the commission fee—she thought… Forget it, not worth bringing up!

This guy… is annoying.

Although Ikezawa Yuko was still a little reluctant in her heart, she let out a sigh of relief and pulled a credit card out of her pocket. "Do you have a mobile POS machine?"

"Nope."

Fujino shook his head. "I usually only take cash. Bank transfer works too."

"You're seriously unprofessional—not even a mobile POS?"

Ikezawa Yuko sighed and said, "I don't have that much cash on me right now. Come with me to the bank to withdraw it."

"Alright then."

It was the 90s, right when POS machines were starting to become popular—pretty much the equivalent of WeChat Pay or Alipay in the future.

Not having one was indeed Fujino's oversight.

Mainly because… he'd never handled commissions this large before.

Looks like he'd have to get one sooner or later.

Late at night, at the pedestrian bridge in front of Suzuki Bank.

"Here—540,000 yen. No need to count it, right?"

Ikezawa Yuko handed him a paper bag, with the Suzuki Bank logo printed on it.

Fujino casually took the bag and didn't bother counting. "I trust you, Miss Ikezawa."

"Hmph."

Ikezawa Yuko snorted softly. By now, she had a pretty good read on Fujino's personality.

An unscrupulous detective who would stop at nothing for money.

But on the flip side—while a bit unscrupulous, he did have some principles.

He'd even helped her fend off police questioning… saving her a lot of trouble.

And that kind of trouble wasn't something money could fix.

"If there's nothing else, I'll be going."

With that, Ikezawa Yuko turned and prepared to leave.

Right now, she just wanted to go home, take a nice hot bath, and wash away all the annoyances of reality.

"Wait a second!"

Just then, Fujino called out to her.

Ikezawa Yuko frowned and turned around. "What now? Don't tell me you want more money?"

"Come on—I'm not that kind of guy."

Fujino chuckled softly, lighting a cigarette between his fingers. "I just wanted to give you a bit of advice: You might want to stop playing those underhanded games… because when you try to ruin others, you usually end up burning yourself."

"None of your business."

Ikezawa Yuko replied coldly, obviously annoyed.

Fujino sneered faintly and turned away, lifting the kraft paper bag. "Honestly, Miss Ikezawa, you're not a bad person—just a bit fake… Occupational hazard from being an idol, I guess."

"Pretending to be some mature, sophisticated woman all the time… Must be exhausting."

Facing the round, bright moon, he continued walking forward without looking back. "Show a little more of your true self. With your talent, it's only a matter of time before you and Yoko Okino both become national-level idols."

Bathed in moonlight, Ikezawa Yuko's pupils slowly dilated as she watched his retreating. That silhouette burned itself into her eyes.

It wasn't until that figure completely disappeared into the distance that she finally snapped out of it.

The moonlight shimmered down, turning the pedestrian bridge into a field of pure white.

Looking in the direction where he had gone, a faint smile curved on her lips as she softly muttered—

"I already knew that… without you telling me."

(End of this chapter