"I once thought that if you truly loved Naoko and put her before those bloodsucking businesses of yours, I'd let you off. But now... heh."
Secretary Hanai hurled the last stack of counterfeit bills at Takei Katsuhiko, then gritted her teeth, lifted the gasoline can, and splashed its contents all over him. "Go to hell!"
After dousing Takei Katsuhiko in gasoline, she tossed aside the empty can and took out a lighter.
The door suddenly creaked, and the half-open door was pushed fully open.
Kinoshita Yoko held a video camera and froze after glancing inside. She had never seen anything like this.
Jiang Xia pulled her farther outside, then passed her and entered the warehouse.
Seeing this, he called out, "Wait!"
Secretary Hanai froze, then abruptly turned around—despite all her precautions, this detective had still found his way here. Had that little boy tipped him off?
There was no time to think. She raised the lighter high, poised to press it. "Don't come any closer!"
Jiang Xia smelled the gasoline spreading through the air and sighed. "I don't know why you want to kill him, but based on my experience, there must be a deep grudge between you two. If I told you to stop now, would you give up on killing him?"
Secretary Hanai had never heard such a halfhearted way of trying to talk someone down, and she paused.
Fortunately, he had phrased it as a question, and it was only a simple choice of whether she would give up killing someone. She instinctively answered, "Of course not. I have to kill him!"
Jiang Xia hesitated before suggesting, "Then... how about doing it a little later?"
Secretary Hanai: "?"
Jiang Xia said, "I just saw a cat slip into the warehouse through the window. You splashed so much