● Illusory ●

Chapter 22

"Great to see you too, Mr. Powell. How is your wife doing?" I asked, folding my hands behind my back. Mr. Powell grinned once more.

"She's doing splendid, thank you. She just decided to take care of our semi-new niece, since the poor girl has a hearing issue," he replied, before Marika pulled on his sleeve.

"Ah, Father, Rosie likes to go by 'the-" she started to remind her father, until he waved her away. I think I've met this 'Rosie' before during a previous meeting.

"Not right now, Marika. We shall discuss this later," Mr. Powell finally told her, before looking back at Yuuko and I, "So sorry, Marika's studies have been messing with her head to the point where she thinks of something wrongly."

I raised an eyebrow in question, finding Mr. Powell's explanation odd. "Not to intrude on your own decisions, Mr. Powell, but shouldn't you change Marika's tutors if you feel they aren't doing justice for her?" I suggested, watching Yuuko nod out of the corner of my eye. Mr. Powell shrugged.

"It's more of that she just keeps reading her lessons wrong, right sis?" Kalle spoke up then, wrapping an arm around his little sister's shoulders. Marika paused for a moment before nodding in agreement, almost as if she were hesitant.

"Well, anyways, shall we get to the meeting room?" Mr. Powell offered, before leading us all down the hallways of Agloe. Though, as we walked, Mr. Powell struck up a conversation as always. "So, Miss Kobayashi, have you ever thought of retiring from the guard position? I'm pretty sure you've been doing it for more than twenty years now."

"I feel no desire to retire," Yuuko replied in a flash.

"Are you sure? I mean, don't you want to settle down and find yourself a husband at some point?" Mr. Powell questioned. I thought I heard Yuuko snicker.

"I don't have a desire for a husband, honestly, and settling down doesn't really seem all that glamorous to me. I like feel of my cybernetic armor and protecting everyone I love," she replied, "Besides, there's no chance I'm going to settle down with the current situation with my sister right now."

"I see," Mr. Powell replied, before silence returned. Kalle then turned to glance back at us.

"Miss Neverland, you really didn't have to bring a bodyguard. We can provide you with protection if you want, you know," he told me. I sighed.

"I appreciate the offer, but no thank you. I feel comfortable enough having Yuuko at my side. I think she's the only one who'd be fit for the job," I responded, smiling at Yuuko. I heard Mr. Powell chuckle.

"You two ladies must be great friends."

I felt myself snort absentmindedly. "Yeah," I replied, despite knowing that it really wasn't the case. In fact, I'd almost say Yuuko and I were more than friends, but I didn't want to say anything like that aloud without her permission. I'll let her be open about it when she wants to.

We soon entered the meeting room, the currently ending renovations to Agloe being discussed first before anything, since Mr. Powell's pride in his company prevents him from letting anyone put it at second during discussions like this. Then came the discussion of the murder investigations, a topic that tires me to no end, but there's no ending to this ongoing issue in sight, considering Seiko is still nowhere to be found and is our only suspect. I could almost sense Yuuko's mood drop at the discussion of this subject, knowing that she didn't like this topic either. We couldn't avoid it though. It's going to be here as long as we have no present suspect.

Though, things took a turn when Kalle sat forward, slicking back his platinum hair. "You know, Miss Neverland, I don't mean to come off as rude, but maybe you should do more thourogh investigations with the police. I feel like your investigations are lacking quite much," he told me, before taking a sip from the cool gray mug that sat in front of him. I suppose he was right in some way, my investigations haven't been deep, but it's mostly because I know none of the members of my society could have possibly committed atrocities like the murders! I've studied how they use their powers and how they act well enough to know!