"There's surveillance over my head, and coworkers beside me who say a few words to me every so often... In this law office, my alibi is perfect—even if it's Uzo, he won't be able to drag me onto the stage that easily."
Curacao leaned back in her not-very-comfortable office chair, but she felt far more at ease than usual as she thought to herself:
"The appointment at seven tonight was pushed back to eight by me. If he calls again at eight, I'll push it to nine... and keep postponing it all the way until tomorrow."
Although in that case, the client would probably fly into a rage. But Curacao had only been dealing with him in this guise in the first place to save trouble—and if the price of "saving trouble" was having to step onto Uzo's stage... then she would rather tear up the contract immediately and switch to the most, most, most troublesome method possible.
"Running into Uzo on the commercial street this afternoon probably wasn't some simple coincidence. If President Nakamoto is still alive after tonight, I might as well hand this target over to someone else."
As for who exactly that "someone else" would be...
Bourbon was a pretty good choice.
Curacao poured herself a cup of coffee and silently prepared herself to work through the night. Then she closed her eyes and began thinking about what terms she should propose to Bourbon for a task exchange if President Nakamoto really stayed alive.
Just thinking, suddenly, the sound of high heels came from upstairs.
That footstep sound came down the stairs, hesitated for a moment, then stopped beside her.
"?" Curacao opened her eyes and was surprised to find that the person who had come was actually Kisaki Eri.
She immediately sat up a little