It's Neither Illegal Nor Immoral!

Both of them were taken aback upon hearing this, and their expressions became somewhat strange.

Ai Haibara glanced at Fujino, then at Akemi, her little head racing as she thought. She felt like her house had been raided, but she wasn't panicked at all.

Considering Fujino's personality, the calm and collected little girl saw through the truth behind it all at a glance.

This guy is up to something again!

Akemi blinked, her mouth slightly agape in surprise, thinking to herself: This kid is finally going to make a move on me?!

I never expected this!

I treated you like a younger brother, and you actually lusted after my body!

This is neither legal nor ethical, and I'm your older sister!

Wait, this looks like Japan... never mind then.

In Japan, the marriage law is not as strict as in China regarding marriage between close relatives. As long as the blood relatives are within four generations outside of the Japan bloodline counting system, they can get married.

For example, parents are considered as one generation, grandparents as another, uncles and aunts as yet another, and then cousins as yet another.

In Japan, first cousins can indeed apply for marriage as a form of kinship...

Even cousins getting married in Japan is not uncommon.

That's outrageous!

Thinking about it this way, it seems neither illegal nor moral!

Akemi felt a little ashamed, a little immoral, and even a little excited.

Fujino glanced at their expressions and, seeing the effectiveness of his attack, continued his pursuit, asking, "How about it? Can you land a hit?"

"Ah, this..."

Akemi blushed and said shyly, "Little brother, you can't joke like that!"

Fujino pouted. "Isn't this what you wanted to help me with? I was just talking about the type, what were you joking about?"

"That's true, but could you please stop using me as an example..."

Akemi whispered, "What do you mean by 'completely based on my type'? What kind of suggestive language is that? It's easy for people to misunderstand, isn't it?"

"What's wrong with that? My older sister is invincible."

"That's... not right!"

Akemi nodded, agreeing with her younger brother, but then shook her head, feeling a bit confused. "Anyway, don't make jokes like that!"

"Alright, enough joking around."

Seeing that he had successfully countered his older sister's offensive, Fujino stopped teasing her and explained seriously, "Kinugawa's mother might be among the waitresses here. I think the waitress I saw earlier had a similar demeanor to him, so I wanted to ask for her name."

"So that's how it is..."

Akemi immediately understood the intention, and then said with a hint of resentment, "Then weren't you just teasing me?"

Ai Haibara: "..."

So that's why you noticed?

Sister Akemi great in every way, except that she's a little slow to react.

A bit simple-minded.

The group consisted of two men and two women, and they booked two rooms. Naturally, the women stayed together, and the men stayed with each other.

Fujino and Kinukawa live in 308, Haibara and Akemi live in 309. The two rooms are right next to each other, so they can look out for each other if anything happens.

"Fujino..."

Kinukawa put down the bag she was carrying. "Is that woman really in this hotel?"

"This shouldn't be wrong."

After Fujino went to the closet in the room and took out a yukata. "If you look around, you should be able to find it. It would be even better if you could provide some other clues."

"This..."

Kinukawa hesitated for a moment. "I can't remember."

"Isn't this normal?"

Fujino casually took out a small yukata and tossed it over. "Speaking of which, it's already quite good that you can vaguely remember it, which means you still care about that woman."

"Who cares about her..."

Kinukawa took the small yukata. "I don't care about that kind of woman who dumped me at the church entrance and treated me like trash."

"Yeah?"

Fujino chuckled softly, "If you didn't care, you wouldn't have contacted her. The letters stopped coming in last winter, which means she hasn't written to you for a long time. If you really don't care, then whether she writes or not is irrelevant to you."

"Your initial reason was to talk things out with that guy, and you should have achieved your goal by now."

"But now that you've come to see her, you must be worried about 'why she hasn't kept writing,' 'whether something happened,' 'whether she's completely abandoned me,' even if it's just speculation, you must have thought about these things, right?"

"I never thought of that!"

Kinukawa retorted, dissatisfied, "What does her life or death have to do with me?"

"I'm better at understanding human nature than reasoning."

Fujino took off his suit jacket and put on a yukata as he spoke, "With your tsundere personality, you actually still care about your mother deep down, it's just that a resentment is still bottled up inside you... Come to think of it, who wouldn't be angry in your situation?"

"But actually, when you think about it, your mom is quite helpless..."

"What are you saying? Why should you abandon me out of helplessness?"

"I know you're in a hurry, but don't rush."

Fujino said calmly, "Society is not as simple as you think. Japan society is a distorted society. Judging from the fact that that woman is working as a waitress in a hotel like this, she is probably not living a very good life right now."

"From this perspective, she is still single, meaning she is still single, yet she gave birth to you, which is what is known as premarital pregnancy. It's hard to say what your father's situation is..."

Although Kinukawa was still young, he could still understand what she was saying, "You mean, my father abandoned that woman, and then that woman abandoned me?"

That's about it.

Fujino nodded. "In Japan, it is very difficult for women who are pregnant out of wedlock and raising children. They not only have to endure gossip from those around them, but also have to take care of their children in addition to their work."

"Besides, without a father, it will be even more difficult for you to enroll in school in the future. If your classmates find out, you will be ridiculed and called a bastard without a father... Thinking about it this way, sending you to the church has spared you some gossip, and it will also make things much easier for her."

"But in the end, that's not a reason for her to abandon you. You're right to be angry, and I'd support you unconditionally even if you beat her up."

Kinukawa paused for a moment, unsure of what to say.

Fujino didn't think about what the kid was thinking. After changing into a yukata, he urged, "Don't think too much, kid. Hurry up and change into your yukata and go eat. I'm getting hungry because I haven't eaten for almost a day."

"Yes..."

Kinukawa responded, and suddenly, as if he had remembered something because of the silence, he said abruptly, "Oh right, I just remembered something about that woman!"

"What's up?"

"I remember it was when I saw that mole, and there was the sound of chopping vegetables!"

"Really? How did you cut vegetables while holding you? Did you cut yourself up like a vegetable?"

Kinukawa: "..."

Is this how you speak human language?

Why does what you said sound a bit like something from the local government?

"Okay, I mean your memory is faulty."

Fujino saw Kinukawa's expression and thought he had just eaten something strange. He then explained, "If she was holding you at the time, she wouldn't have had a free hand to chop vegetables. There's only one possibility for this, and that is that she was carrying you on her back."

"So the mole you see isn't on your collarbone, but on your shoulder, which is similar to your collarbone."

Kinukawa pondered for a moment upon hearing this, then seemed somewhat eager. "Then if we just find someone with a mole on their shoulder, wouldn't we be able to find that woman?"

"You shouldn't get involved in this."

Fujino straightened his bathrobe and said, "Leave this to me. You just enjoy your vacation, otherwise it would seem like I've wasted my time as a detective."

"Oh well..."

Kinukawa was a little helpless, but she was still quite at ease with the detective, since it was the detective himself who was able to find this place.

Moreover, this detective always gave him a sense of security, much like the feeling of a father he had heard about before.

After changing his clothes, Fujino went out and met Akemi and Ai, who had changed into yukatas. They then went to the restaurant together.

Just as they came down from the third floor, they ran into the waitress named Bessho and the man named Kamoshita.

At this moment, Kamoshita had also changed into a yukata and stopped Bessho, whispering something to him.

Fujino's ears were very sharp; with the amplification, he immediately heard what Kamoshita said, "If you remember anything about the 20 million yen, come to my room, otherwise I'll spill everything..."

His words were full of threats, and coupled with that lewd face of the guy, he actually had a bit of a villainous vibe.

"Sir, I have no idea what you're talking about."

Bessho, with his short black hair, noticed the group approaching and looked slightly alarmed. "If there's nothing else, I'll be leaving now."

"Hehe, why are you so agitated?"

Kamoshita glanced back, left a meaningful remark, and then turned to leave. "Then I'll go ask someone else first; maybe I'm mistaken."

"That person is the same guy from before."

Akemi looked at the two people who had noticed her and then left one after the other, looking somewhat puzzled. "And Miss Bessho, what were those two talking about?"

"I don't know, maybe they're asking about something."

Fujino naturally knew what the two of them were talking about; it was about Kinukawa.

It seems that this guy has somehow learned that the person who impersonated Kinukawa's mother to extort money from the agency works here.

Kamoshita's purpose in coming here now is quite obvious.

It's probably to fight extortion, or to find some sensational news.

Twenty million yen may not seem like much to a hardworking and successful young man like Fujino, but it's an enormous fortune for those paparazzi.

That's just how paparazzi are.

The moment they smelled the meat, they pounced on it like hunting dogs, trying to bite off a piece or get a share of the meat.

The hotel reception.

Toshiko Bessho glanced around furtively, and seeing that no one was around, she picked up the phone at the front desk and made a call.

A moment later, the call was answered, and Kamoshita's voice came from the other end. "Oh, you didn't dare to admit it just now, but now you're secretly calling... This lady who abandoned Kinukawa."

"I am not Kinukawa's mother."

Bessho lowered her voice, as if she didn't want to be recognized. "I was just jealous of that woman who abandoned her child and then kept pestering me after she became famous, that's why I said I was Kazuki Kinugawa's biological mother, but it's all a lie, and his father wasn't a murderer..."

"Ha ha ha ha!"

A burst of laughter came from the other end of the phone. "I understand wanting to protect your son, but do you think you can just say it isn't true?"

"If I say it's true, then it's true. Since the agency is willing to offer 20 million to settle this, then even if it's not true, it's become true..."

Kamoshita scoffed lightly and said in a deep voice, "Since you can use this trick to threaten your agency, then it's my turn to use it to threaten you this time... Think about it, if this gets exposed, won't you be arrested?"

"You..."

Bie Suo's face suddenly turned pale, devoid of any color.

"Don't worry, I wouldn't want you, this treasure trove, to be destroyed. I'll squeeze every last drop of value out of you. You have no choice now..."

A lewd laugh came from the other end of the phone, "You should know my room. Come to my room right now, and we'll talk about how we're going to drain you dry when we meet."

"Beep..."

The call was disconnected, Toshiko Bessho held the phone in a daze for a moment.

Once she regained her senses, her face darkened, and a hint of murderous intent flashed in her eyes.

Room 205.

Toshiko Bessho knocked on the door.

Soon, Yasuhiro Kamoshita opened the door, looking at her with some surprise. His gaze swept over her, and his eyes gradually became strange.

"I never imagined that the mastermind behind all this would be you, my lovely wife..."

A wicked smile crept across Yamashita's lips as he reached for her short hair. She instinctively raised her hand to block him, but Yamashita's face immediately darkened. "You think you still have a choice?"

Toshiko Bessho's face turned deathly pale, and she weakly lowered her hand.

"Hmph, no rush, no rush, come in and let's chat."

"What will it take for you to let me go?"

"I'll let you go..."

Sitting at the low table, Kamoshita's gaze kept sweeping over Toshiko Bessho.

Although she is nearly thirty, Bessho looks very young, and her figure is also very slender, accentuated by her work kimono. With her short hair, she can be considered a graceful woman.

The sight made the duck feel uncomfortable all over.

Looking away, Yamashita chuckled wickedly, "Letting you go is fine, but you'll need to hand over all twenty million."

"No problem!" Bessho Noboru immediately agreed.

Now she's genuinely regretting it. It was because she couldn't have children that she was jealous of that woman, and threatened the agency with what she considered a high price of 20 million yen to force Kazuki Kinugawa to break off contact with that woman.

To her utter surprise, her agency actually agreed to her request and transferred 20 million yen...

"Besides the twenty million, there's another personal need I need your help with, Madam..."