Miss Ikezawa, You Wouldn't Want To...

Yuko Ikezawa looked somewhat stunned as she stared at the earring in Fujino's hand.

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

"As long as it's yours."

Fujino smiled meaningfully. "Aren't you curious how your earring ended up in my hands?"

"Who would be curious about something like that?"

Yuko Ikezawa frowned slightly, pulled out a cigarette case from her pocket, and lit a cigarette. "Perfect. I was worried I wouldn't be able to find it. Since you found it, give it back."

"Guess where I found it?"

Fujino fixed his gaze on Yuko Ikezawa, took a deep breath, and continued calmly, "At Yoko Okino's home—the scene of that murder."

"You have no proof!"

Yuko Ikezawa's face suddenly turned pale, and the cigarette hanging from her lips slipped free.

Damn it, my floor!

Fujino's mouth twitched as he looked at the cigarette butt that had fallen onto the floor. He gave a light cough.

Having come back to her senses, Yuko Ikezawa picked up the cigarette butt and put it back between her lips.

"Who would believe your word alone?"

She bit down on the cigarette filter and tried to argue, "Maybe I just accidentally left it here with you!"

Fujino looked mournfully at the black scorch mark on the floor and sighed.

He turned his gaze toward Yuko Ikezawa and said in a deep voice, "I don't know how you got the key to Yoko Okino's home, but if I'm not mistaken, after hiring me to investigate her yesterday, you went back to her home and searched around, trying to dig up some kind of scandal on her..."

"And if I'm not mistaken, when you went to Yoko Okino's home last night, someone attacked you, didn't they?"

Fujino continued, "You fought back in a panic and managed to escape, but you left your earring behind at the crime scene."

"That's just your speculation. Where's the evidence?"

Yuko Ikezawa looked somewhat guilty as she retorted, "As a detective, you should know that you can't accuse someone without evidence!"

"Evidence? Of course I have some."

Fujino chuckled, then slowly rose to his feet. "You may not know this, but at the crime scene, the victim had a strand of hair clenched in his hand. Based on my deductions, that strand of hair became Yoko Okino's..."

"But that hair doesn't look like Yoko Okino's at all. It looks more like yours."

With that, Fujino gave a teasing smile and said flatly, "If the police were to conduct a DNA test..."

"Are you threatening me?!"

Yuko Ikezawa's expression gradually darkened. She sprang up from the sofa with furrowed brows and stared into Fujino's eyes.

"No, no, no! I'm a detective with professional ethics. How could I threaten a client?"

Fujino waved his hands with an innocent look. "It's just that... Miss Ikezawa, I had already uncovered dirt on Yoko Okino's boyfriend, but after you pulled this stunt, you got dragged into it too. I put in a lot of effort to keep you out of it... If this gets exposed, it won't do either of us any good. It wouldn't matter much for me—at worst, my reputation would take a hit. But you're different, Miss Ikezawa..."

Then, a smile like that of an old fox appeared on his face. "Miss Ikezawa, you wouldn't want to get dragged into this too, would you?"

"Tell me! What exactly do you want?"

Yuko Ikezawa let out a long sigh, filled with regret.

If I'd known this would happen, I never would have hired a detective to investigate Yoko Okino.

Now I'd gotten nothing and exposed myself in the process.

This guy was definitely threatening me!

"I want..."

Seeing Fujino beat around the bush, Yuko Ikezawa could not help swallowing.

This guy, he wouldn't...

I'm still...

"I want my commission fee."

"Huh?"

Yuko Ikezawa froze. "That's it?"

"That's it."

Fujino scratched the back of his head awkwardly. "After all, in a sense, I did complete the commission. At the very least, you should pay me the commission fee, right? That way, you'll count as my client, and I'll keep this secret."

"You should've said so earlier!"

Yuko Ikezawa's mouth twitched.

So he only wanted the commission fee. I thought he... Forget it. Better not think about it!

This guy really was awful.

Though Yuko Ikezawa was reluctant, she still breathed a sigh of relief and pulled out a credit card. "Do you have a mobile POS machine?"

"No."

Fujino shook his head. "I usually only accept cash. You can transfer it to my account too."

"You really are unprofessional. You don't even have a mobile POS machine."

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

"Sure!"

In the nineties, POS machines were all the rage. You could pay for anything with a card; in this era, they were comparable to WeChat Pay and Alipay in the future.

Not having one really was an oversight on Fujino's part.

The main thing was that he'd never taken on such a large commission before...

Looks like he needed to get one someday.

Late at night, on the overpass outside Suzuki Bank.

"Here. Five hundred and forty thousand yen. You don't need to count it, right?"

Yuko Ikezawa handed Fujino a paper bag bearing the Suzuki Bank logo.

Fujino casually took the bag without counting the money. "I trust you, Miss Ikezawa."

"Hmph."

Yuko Ikezawa snorted. By now, she had figured out Fujino's character.

He was nothing more than a shady detective who would do anything for money.

But on second thought, while he was shady, he did follow the rules.

He had even helped block the police investigation for her... That had indeed saved her quite a bit of trouble.

That kind of trouble could not be measured in money.

"If there's nothing else, I'm leaving."

Yuko Ikezawa said this and turned to leave.

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

"Wait!"

At that moment, Fujino called out to her.

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

"Of course not. I'm not that kind of person."

Fujino chuckled and slowly lit a cigarette. "I just want to advise you to stop scheming against others in the future... In the end, smearing others usually only brings trouble upon yourself."

"None of your business."

Yuko Ikezawa replied unhappily.

Fujino scoffed, turned around with the kraft paper bag in hand, and said, "Actually, Miss Ikezawa, you're not bad yourself. You're just a little fake... Is it the burden of being an idol?"

"Constantly pretending to be a mature woman must be exhausting too."

Facing the full moon, he continued without looking back, "Show more of your true self. With your talent, one day, you'll be able to become a national idol alongside Yoko Okino."

Staring intently at his moonlit silhouette, Yuko Ikezawa's pupils slowly lost focus as that figure settled into her eyes.

Only after his figure gradually faded into the distance did she come back to her senses.

Specks of moonlight shimmered, turning the overpass snow-white.

Looking in the direction he had gone, a faint smile appeared on her face. She murmured, "I know that without you telling me."