The parking area in the courtyard.
Curacao wore a flawless black bob, adjusted the plain glasses on her nose, and straightened her sharp business suit.
After one last glance at the vanity mirror in the sun visor, she gave a slight nod at her impeccable lawyer's outfit, pushed open the door, and stepped out.
She had barely found her footing when a middle-aged woman in a kimono came out of the house to greet her. Curacao closed the car door behind her and offered a professional smile.
The things the higher-ups wanted were always bizarre. Rum, for example, had set his sights on a set of antique black-glazed tea ware collected by this family—it was said that someone he wanted to recruit happened to enjoy such things, so Rum planned to use it as a gift to win their favor.
It should not have been a major matter. After Curacao investigated the family's financial situation, she allocated sufficient funding and casually sent an underling to make the purchase. Unexpectedly, however, the head of the Ogata Family had refused to sell.
Since it was meant as a gift, simply snatching it would have been risky. After some thought, Curacao assumed the identity of a lawyer and devised a complete plan.
Now, it was time to reel that plan in.
As she thought, she shook hands with Mrs. Ogata. "Hello, I'm Shirai Akiko, the lawyer Mr. Ogata hired before his death. You may call me..."
"Miss Akiko!"
A delighted female voice suddenly came from behind the door, interrupting Curacao's introduction.
"?" It took Curacao 0.5 seconds to identify the voice, then another 0.5 seconds to look up in disbelief.
When she looked past Mrs. Ogata's shoulder and saw the speaker's face clearly, her heart skipped a beat, and the smile on her