A Book Can't Be Judged By The Cover

Chapter 125: A Treasured Secret

For someone who’s an open book when it comes to expressing his emotions, Hajime did a fine job pretending to be asleep. Even Jiro (the muscular man out of the three debt collectors) didn’t even notice Hajime’s pretense when he slung him on the shoulder.

An exhale left Shelly and Tamotsu’s mouths as they tagged along with Jiro toward the back garage of the place. Hajime briefly opened his eyes so he could get a glimpse of the place but just as he had thought, he had no idea where they were. The debt collectors, on the other hand, were quite familiar with the place since they’d been here a couple of times in the past. This is none other than the one and only hideout of Ricardo Basilio, their boss, and he had been living herein ever since he escaped his home country. For many years, he had been on the run, but thanks to a certain incident, he now found his undeserved peace.

"How about the girl?" Shelly asked out of nowhere, much to Hajime’s surprise.

"She’s being kept inside the abandoned warehouse. The boss will see to her shortly." Tamotsu casually responded as if what he just said wasn’t alarming. But then again, Tamotsu didn’t even consider what it meant when the boss said he’ll see Megumi shortly. He just assumed that their boss wanted to take a look at her since she’d been kidnapped for ransom.

Hajime waited until he was locked inside the garage. There was no way he’d be able to fend off the three debt collectors with how beat up he was. His head still rang due to the throbbing headache and every muscle in his being ached all over. That’s why he couldn’t risk attacking the three debt collectors right now. freёwebnovel.com

Besides, he still got his phone with him. If worse comes to worst, he could contact Franz or Akamine-sensei, and they could contact the authorities and in turn, they’ll send in some help. Hajime would rather prefer contacting either Franz or Akamine-sensei, not because they were the only ones he knew and trusted... but because they were more trustworthy than calling the police directly. As far as Hajime knows, there’s a chance that the authorities are involved in the kidnapping.

After a couple of seconds, Hajime heard the clanking of chains and he realized that they were finally by the garage. He opened his eyes for the second time while he was being carried, and he noticed the abandoned garage wherein Megumi was kept. Fury welled up within Hajime but he maintained his composure. Nothing will happen if he were to lose his calmness.

Clang!

A resounding clang was heard when Jiro finally opened the door to the garage. He prompted Hajime to the chair, and then tied him as tightly as he could. Hajime kept it in his mind to tense up so his body would appear bigger than normal. Once the tying up was over, he was confident that he’ll be able to slip past it once he relaxes his body.

This was one of the few tricks he learned from his dad growing up. Whenever someone’s about to tie a person, that person just needs to tighten his muscles. No matter how tight the bounds were, the person will be able to escape once he relaxes his entire body. Hajime had never done this before however, and back when he was cornered by the park, he was knocked unconscious so he couldn’t really do anything back then.

"All right, he’s all tied up. I guess we’re done for the day." Jiro muttered to himself. It had been an exhausting day, running around and trying to provide a major cover-up before they could kidnap Hajime safely. While they had no idea what their boss’s intentions were, they still followed through with his orders. Their boss could get pretty spartan, after all, and the only thing that separated the three debt collectors from life and death was a bullet to the head.

"Now, where were we?" Hajime asked. The ropes tied all over his body became loose when he let out an exhale. The plan worked, and he slipped past his binds without great difficulty. However, his hands were still tied tightly on the wrist.

That’s where the shard of glass came in.

..... fɾēewebnσveℓ.com

Meanwhile, back at Mizunari Masaru’s office.

For the second time, Kikuchi Koji heaved a sigh. It had already been a year since the two died in a suspicious car accident, but Koji still couldn’t believe that it happened. He was still in his grieving stage. "Seiji and Mizuki? They were good friends of mine... we’ve been best friends since high school."

"He helped me out a lot... and they were the reason why my company is what it is today." Kikuchi Koji continued. "I was working as a construction company manager back then but something happened and I lost my job. And then I received the news that my wife, Saori, was pregnant. I was backed into a corner by then, with no money and no job to support my family."

"But Seiji and Mizuki, they came to our rescue. They lent me some money so I could start a construction company. They said I have more than enough experience to handle one. That’s how I started out. They didn’t want me to pay back the money, but I told them that I’m going to work hard and once I built my company, I’ll give them half the company."

"I was in the middle of processing the papers when I heard about the news..." Kikuchi Koji muttered to himself as his eyes began to water. "And as secretive as they were, I couldn’t even locate their son and daughter. It’s only recently that I get to meet their son... and as for their daughter, apparently, she was admitted into Mikadzuki General Hospital. She fell into a coma right after the incident."

This time, it was Masaru’s turn to sigh as he looked down at his desk. "After everything that’s happened, I’d have done the same thing. They weren’t able to catch Ricardo Basilio... he’s still on the loose until now. What’s stopping him from targeting their son and daughter?"

"..."

"..."

There was a pause, followed by Koji leaning in to ask a serious question towards Masaru.

"I’m sorry? What do you mean they weren’t able to catch Ricardo Basilio?" Koji asked as his brows furrowed. There was something about Masaru’s implications that confused him a little bit, that’s why he just had to confirm.

"You do know that Ricardo Basilio was involved in the Sasajima Incident, right?" Masaru asked back, surprised that Koji had no idea about it.

"Right? And?"

"You really didn’t know?!"

"What do you mean? I didn’t know what?"

"Sasajima Seiji and Mizuki... they are... they were secret agents, you know. They had ties with the Secret Service... and they were responsible for tracking down that wanted criminal, Ricardo Basilio." Masaru let out a whisper as if he was divulging a treasured secret of his.