restaurant girl | t. muichiro

chapter 28: the final clue she needs?

You spun playfully on the rooftop, staring overhead at every element of the sky.

Muichiro softly smiled.

Not at the sky or breath taking view.

Rather, at you. He smiled at you.

His heart raced wildly just looking at you, he couldn't even bare the thought of you not liking him back.

—

Muichiro stared at the contract, reading the last term on the back over and over again before grumbling.

Each word he wrote could not go to waste. He wouldn't allow it.

Tracing his finger across your signature and smiling to himself, he hugged the contract close to his body and flipped the switch to his small desk light.

It was settled.

Tomorrow was the day.

—

Touya stared at the photo of you and Muichiro, gently running his hand across the pinned picture. What a waste...

His usually cheery expression gone and now replaced with a thoughtless one, he stared back at his manager. "So... what's your plan with this grade school presentation?"

"I'm so close to finding out the culprit. I know it." Lady Hitogoroshi bit her long, nude manicured nail. "After all this investigation, I realized that the answer was in front of my eyes this entire time."

"And?"

"The culprit is the victim himself." She spoke.

"Tokito Muichiro."

Touya nearly choked on his own spit at this, hurling over the table to breathe. "You sure?"

She remained silent for awhile before smirking. "Nope. I haven't a clue, to be honest. Each of the culprit's tracks seemed to be covered so intricately, it seems nearly possible to locate them based on clues."

"You can give it up then." Touya shrugged.

But she shook her head. "Nope. I have a better idea."

"People crack under pressure, Touya. That is the fault of a human. They fall apart and ruin themselves." She began. "So, what if I put them all in a room and forced them to either give me the culprit, or face severe punishment?"

"To put them all under pressure, including the culprit."

He stared blankly at her. He knew that this could possibly mean the end of your career and your spiral back into poverty. This secret wasn't the only fragile thing about your life, was it? There was also that contract and your debt.

He knew that you'd crack under pressure easily, but yet the only words he spoke were: "Where'd you think of this elaborate shit?"

To which she replied: "Just now. I'm a creative one, aren't I?"

Touya remained silent after this. She was right. This plan, knowing the impulsiveness belonging to you, was doomed to work. A death sentence, if you may.