A Book Can't Be Judged By The Cover

Chapter 99: The Basilio Case

’Why’s she still here?’ Hajime said to himself, drooping his shoulders as he turned around. He was expecting to see Megumi running towards him before tackling him with a tight hug. He shook his head and silently berated himself for thinking such ridiculous thoughts.

His cloud of a breath came out, mixing with the air as he exhaled a sigh. As soon as he completely turned around, though, he realized that the person in front of him was none other than Akamine-sensei.

’What?! When did she get here?!’ Hajime screamed inwardly. He was kind of expecting Megumi to give him the ’I’m worried’ hug but instead, it was Akamine-sensei who offered it. Hajime was in no condition to move out of the way and decline the offer, not because he was too exhausted, but because he was too shocked to believe that Akamine-sensei got there in record time.

"Are you all right? We’ve seen the news." Akamine-sensei muttered, rubbing Hajime’s back and checking both his cheeks like a concerned mother. "What happened?"

"Um... sensei? Everyone’s watching." Hajime’s cheeks flushed red as she muttered. Akamine-sensei was too close for comfort... and her hair somewhat smelled nice. Hajime reluctantly turned his head away so their homeroom teacher wouldn’t get a glimpse of his flustered expression.

"You’re done with the interview, right? Let’s talk later," Akamine-sensei continued, grabbing Hajime by the arm and dragging him towards her car.

’That explains how she got here this fast.’ Hajime then said to himself after seeing Akamine-sensei’s car parked beside the police cars right outside Ameyoko.

Still, no matter how urgent Akamine-sensei was when it came to picking up Hajime, the reporters were still faster than her. Akamine-sensei already went through the trouble of dragging Hajime to her car but the reporters still cornered them before Akamine-sensei could shove Hajime’s rear side inside the car.

Bombarded by reporters, Akamine-sensei and Hajime had no choice but to stay a little longer. After all, it will be quite disrespectful to the reporters and it would look bad if Hajime declined the interviews. Some of the reporters were on live news so it was unavoidable that Hajime had to appease them.

.....

The cafe was then featured a couple of minutes later in the news. The owner, a man in his late thirties along with his daughter, was then interviewed by one of the reporters who were covering the news.

"You couldn’t do anything?

"That’s right, we couldn’t do anything." The owner responded despondently, shaking his head.

"But there was this high school student, I think he’s the same age as me. He took them down." The owner’s daughter excitedly narrated punching her pudgy fists in the air while trying to recall what happened back then. She was enthused as she went along with the interview, and her continual excitement rubbed off on the reporters as well.

Despite the incident almost turning into a tragedy, the reporters didn’t sound that discouraged just like the owner, thanks to the young girl’s cheerful demeanor.

"Hajime, was it?" The girl repeated as the reporters told her his name. "If you ever come by, we’ll serve you some coffee on the house! Thank you so much," She said.

As if on cue, the father-daughter duo bowed their heads towards the camera, marking the end of the interview.

.....

Meanwhile, Sapporo Convention Center

"Did you see the drama last night?"

"Yeah, I even recorded it for my daughter. It was pretty intense for a plot twist."

"Of course, it’s a thriller drama."

"Can you get me my lotion, I’m shriveling up over here."

"Sigh~ what’s taking the chairman so long?"

The door to the conference room slid open and in came a figure with a domineering presence. A dark and heavy atmosphere suddenly proliferated in the room, getting thicker and thicker as the pressure piled up. The man, indifferent about the drastic change he brought in the room, proceeded to his chair— which was conveniently located at the end of the long conference table.

He didn’t blink once, and as soon as he sat down, he clamped his hands together while eyeing the people in the room. His pupils were of crimson red color, naturally giving off that bloodthirsty aura that seemingly leaked out from them. Ruffling his starkly black hair, he cleared his throat before rummaging through the piles of documents that littered his section of the table.

"How’s our partnership deal with K Inc., Koji’s company?" The man didn’t dilly dally and immediately asked the question. "I heard that their daughter canceled the meeting with my son, is that true?"

Everyone suddenly stiffened while some of them nervously drooped their head down, trying to dodge the man’s stares that bore down on them. They knew that the topic would be brought up during the meeting but they weren’t expecting it to be so soon.

No one answered.

"Ma ii~" The man shrugged off after a sigh left his mouth. "Is it safe to assume that the partnership deal is still on its way despite what happened?"

Without saying a word, the entire group nodded.

"All right, onto the next agenda. I’d like to hear if there are any updates on the Basilio Case." The man then continued.

One of them finally mustered the courage to speak up. With a light shakiness in his voice, he responded. "As of right now, sir, there are no leads regarding the case whatsoever, but the police are working with some of our men. It won’t take long before we crack them down."

BAM!

"I need solid leads, Yamada Yasuhiro-san," The man continued, slamming his fist against the table while his face contorted into pure rage. "Solid leads." He repeated.

"My company is an honest company. I have no idea how we got linked to that bastard Basilio but I’m going to get to the bottom of this." The man growled, his red pupils flashing even brighter as he expressed his utter disappointment and anger.

"And as for the person who smuggled the goods within our crates, I’ll find you soon, and I’ll have you locked up. Let that be a reminder for everyone here."

The meeting wasn’t even halfway over, but the man already got up, storming out of the conference hall. Then again, there was no way he could proceed with the meeting after being reminded of the incident— all those policemen raiding the company building just because of a small misunderstanding. The image was burned and etched in his mind. It wouldn’t be easy to forget such a commotion.

"Minagawa-san?" The man then leaned to his shoulder just when his secretary caught up to him.

"Yes, Sir Mizunari?" She urgently responded, dipping her head down in a formal manner.

"How’s the transfer coming along? Are there any problems? Repercussions? How about our shares? Were there any changes?"

"None so far, sir," The secretary promptly answered.

"Then good," freewebnovёl.ƈom

As the man walked out of the convention center, the secretary could’ve sworn that her employer briefly smiled— which was a rare occurrence in and of itself.