Akemi's Old Acquaintance

Miss Asai.

Okiya Subaru immediately thought of that unforgettable figure.

The first thing that came to mind was her temperament, so similar to Akemi's, and her voice, seventy percent alike.

Then there was the scene of Lin Xinyi dating her that day: holding hands, embracing, kissing, standing by each other through life and death atop Tokyo Tower, flying together like a pair of lovebirds.

Without a doubt, that woman, whose voice and temperament both resembled Miyano Akemi's, could never possibly be Miyano Akemi.

Absolutely impossible.

For some reason, as he hurried to the crime scene, Okiya Subaru kept thinking about these things the entire way.

"What's wrong with me?"

"Why do I think of Akemi whenever she comes up?"

Okiya Subaru felt that something was wrong with his state of mind.

"Ugh..." He let out a long breath, rubbed his eyes, and then suddenly realized—

Lin Xinyi had been right.

His hands still weren't clean.

"..."

Damn it! (╯‵□′)╯︵┻━┻!!

Well, that did it. He truly had no mood left to think about Akemi.

But then another voice pulled at his thoughts again:

"Mr. Lin~!"

There was thirty percent anxiety, thirty percent panic, and forty percent instinctive reliance in it.

It was Akemi's voice.

No. It was Asai Kana's voice.

By then, they had already driven to the scene.

The scene was an ordinary little road, the kind commonly found inside residential neighborhoods. It was two lanes wide and connected in all directions, with private yards and detached houses on both sides.

The surroundings were roughly like the little road outside the Kudo residence—the kind of neighborhood street where utility poles often got damaged for no apparent reason.

It was not too far from the Kudo residence either.

In other words, it was not too far from the Asai Family's villa,