A Silent Killer

Chapter 1-1

Chapter 1

We didn’t do anything much other than spending most of our summer break working in the coffee shop. It was only during the Obon holiday that we decided to take a break. We headed to Tochigi prefecture to clean up mom’s grave. It was a must-thing to do during the Obon holiday. We didn’t do it because mom’s spirit would come here to revisit her altar. It was more like our way to express how much we missed her. So, cleaning up her grave was the least we could do to her.

Everyone began to offer a silent prayer after we were done with the cleanup. Hayato also offered a silent prayer to mom’s grave as well. He could do the same to his own family grave if he wanted to. But he told us before that he didn’t feel like doing it. He didn’t want anyone to know that he was the only descendant of Kusanagi clan. And it didn’t help that his silver hair stood out. It was a physical trait to indicate that his strength and intelligence was equal to the demon. That was according to the legend that was passed down from one generation to another.

To be honest, heading back to Tochigi was the most relaxing period I ever had. Sure, it was tiring since we had to clean up mom’s grave. But it was still far better than spending most of our time working in the coffee shop. Well, it wasn’t anything new to me that the coffee shop would have more customers than usual. It wasn’t the workload that drained me. It was the Incognito video that drained me instead.

Due to the uproar, it became a hot topic everywhere. Throughout our summer break, that was the only conversation we heard in the coffee shop all the time. I wished that I could do something to tune out their conversation. I already made peace with what the top-secret project did to me and people around me. But I felt annoyed whenever I heard about it being mentioned for countless time.

The uproar also put the pressure on the ministry to issue a public confession about it. At this point, it would be hard for the ministry to deny the top-secret project’s existence. After all, one of the Incognito’s members did hold a physical copy of the document. Even the ministry’s spokesperson admitted that the document they had was the actual one.

The only thing that the ministry wasn’t so sure was how Incognito managed to get a hold of the complete document. Not only that, it was a physical document too. He believed that Incognito might get a hold of the document from someone from the ministry. He also suspected that this person did it to make Kawakami looked bad to the public. Because of that, he urged the Public Security Bureau to investigate this case.

To be honest, I wasn’t so sure if the claim was true or not. None of us had seen the document. “I’ve seen the document once before,” dad told us, “Azuma and I infiltrated the ministry to steal the document. We did it under Kagami’s direct order. We already suspected the ministry way before your mother admitted to me about it.” Yuuto and I looked at dad. “Are you sure about that?” I asked him. He nodded his head. He was sure that the document Incognito had was indeed the same one he stole under the PSIA director’s order.

Due to the public pressure, Kawakami had no choice but to issue a public confession. Judging from his expression, I could tell that he had to do it. If he didn’t comply, Incognito would reveal a dark secret about him. He knew well enough that his dark secret would jeopardize his political career. I had no idea what Incognito discovered about him. It could be secrets like a s*x scandal or political donation scandal. Any of these scandals could cause him to resign if they leaked Kawakami’s secret to the public.

It took a while for the issue to die down. I thought that it would take a few months or so for the people to stop talking about it. I felt relieved that the issue died down when the summer break was about to end. I don’t want this issue to ruin my mood. It’s not that the issue will affect my study. And I’m not the kind of person who is easy to slip into a foul mood either. But it’s still not easy for me to move on if this issue keeps popping out over and over again.

As we’re inside the school building, I notice that some of the students look refreshed. But there’s also a handful of them who dreaded coming back to school. I bet that most of them were having a good time during the summer break. Despite my ordinary summer break, I do enjoy every single moment I have. That is if I put the Transhuman Development Project leak aside.

“Morning, Touka,” Ayumi greets me when we’re inside. Ayumi Miyazaki is another close friend of mine. And she’s also my classmate too. She smiles as I greet her back. “How’s your summer break? Were you having fun?” She asks me. I can only chuckle when she asks me that question. “I doubt that you want to hear about how I spend my summer break. We didn’t do anything fun during the summer break other than tending to the coffee shop. Summer tends to be the busiest in our business.”

Ayumi only smiles when she hears my answer. “Well, at least you were spending your summer break with your father and Yuuto. It’s much better that way.” For some reason, I can sense her sorrow deep beneath her word. “You sound like you weren’t enjoying your summer break. You feel that what we’ve been doing during the summer break seems more fun than what you did,” Yuuto says to Ayumi. He doesn’t seem to mince his words when it comes to expressing his thought.

Ayumi nods slightly. It looks like Yuuto is right. I always assume that someone like Ayumi will go somewhere exotic during the summer break. After all, her father, Akito Miyazaki is a Diet member. And he’s also a Minister of Foreign Affairs. Many people love him because of how much he cares about Japan. Unlike most politicians, he proves his sincerity through his action instead of words. It’s because of that reason that gets a lot of people to support him.

When I think about it, I doubt that Akito Miyazaki will bring Ayumi with him when he has an oversea trip. But I’m pretty sure that he may have brought her along once in a while. Even until now, I still find it a miracle that someone like her is in a school like ours. I always assume that someone like her will rather go to the prestigious school.

“Well, I spent my whole summer break in our vacation home in Karuizawa. You may think that it’s not as bad as it seems. But it feels lonely when you have to spend your whole summer all by yourself. Sure, I was able to reconnect with my other friends who were there. But it was suffocating to be with people like them. All they’ve been talking about was their lavish lifestyle. It was hard to be on the same page when it wasn’t even my thing,” says Ayumi.

Ayumi isn’t like those rich, snobbish kids who think they’re all high and mighty only because their family holds an important position in the Japanese government. Judging from her upbringing, it looks to me that her father wants her to be humble despite her status. Ayumi doesn't like to boast about her father. So, only the school and a few of us know that she’s the daughter of Akito Miyazaki.

Yuuto then heads to his class after our brief conversation. Ayumi’s gaze is fixated on Yuuto as he’s heading to his class next door. I can tell that Ayumi is having a huge crush on Yuuto. But I can’t tell whether Yuuto has a feeling for her or not. Even if he does, he may feel that he can’t be together with her. He doubts that Ayumi’s dad will allow them to be together. It’s a different story if Yuuto is officially joining PSIA as an officer. At least her father doesn’t have to worry about Ayumi’s safety since she’s in Yuuto’s good hand.

“Ayumi, the class is about to start. We’d better go inside before the teacher comes,” I say to her. Ayumi blushes as she heads inside and takes her seat not far from where I am. She probably realizes that I caught her red-handed by staring at Yuuto. “Ayumi, just admit it that you have a huge crush on Yuuto. Don’t worry, I won’t tell him about how you feel,” I whisper to her. Ayumi ends up burying her face in her bag, trying to cover her embarrassment.

I can’t help but chuckle at her reaction. Not long after that, Akie and Manabe come to our seat. They’re also close to Ayumi as well. Akie decides to drop by before she heads to her class. Manabe sighs when he sees what I did to Ayumi. “You seem to be as energetic as ever. I thought that you were so exhausted because you have to serve a lot of customers during the summer break. If you’re this energetic, I bet that Yuuto is the same as well.”

Ayumi doesn’t even lift her head. She still feels embarrassed by what I say to her. Akie only laughs when she sees that Ayumi refuses to look at her. “Ayumi, we already know that you have a huge crush on Yuuto. Even the i***t Manabe already knew about it too,” Akie says to her. It looks like Ayumi doesn’t even have any choice but to admit her feeling. “It’s true that I like Yuuto,” she says as she lifts her head, “But please don’t tell him about it. Just let it be the secret between us, okay?”

We nod at her, agreeing not to tell Yuuto about it. I feel bad that I can’t tell Yuuto about Ayumi’s feeling towards him. But at the same time, I don’t want to butt into their relationship. Just because Yuuto is my twin brother, it doesn’t mean that I have the right to meddle in their relationship. I guess that I should let the time decides when is the right time for Yuuto to know Ayumi’s true feeling.

The rest of us head back to our seat as our homeroom teacher comes in. Akie returns to her class after that. To be honest, I’m not in the mood to get back to school yet. But somehow, my brief interaction with Ayumi, Akie, and Manabe seems to lift up my mood. Now I can’t wait for the break to come. I want to catch up with what the others have been doing during their summer break. I’m pretty sure that Akie and Manabe have a good time too despite not knowing what to do during the summer break.

During the break, Yuuto and Akie will come to our class and eat together with us. Ayumi can’t seem to see Yuuto straight to his face. I try to decode if Yuuto notices anything. But he doesn’t seem to realize anything at all. Is Yuuto that dense when it comes to love? I have a feeling that dad will put him on a love crash course if he finds out that Yuuto is clueless about love.

As we’re eating our bento, we begin to share about what we do during the summer break. Akie is the first one to share her summer break story with us. “Since I didn’t go anywhere, my dad signed me up for the cryptocurrencies investing online course. So, I spent the whole summer learning about investing in cryptocurrencies with him.”

Everyone seems in awe when Akie tells us about what she did during the summer break. “Wow, that’s amazing. There’s nothing new about investing in cryptocurrencies. But you can strike gold in cryptocurrencies if you do your due diligence,” Manabe says to us. Akie agrees with him. “That’s right. I was hesitating at first. I thought that it was difficult. But after doing a few trades, I realized that it wasn’t as hard as I thought. I admit that there will always be a price dip. But I didn’t lose my shirt since I only allocated a small amount of money in it.”

Ayumi seems in awe when she hears about Akie’s experience. She then turns to Manabe. “What about you, Manabe? Did you go somewhere during the summer break?” Manabe seems high and mighty when Ayumi is asking him about his summer activity. It looks to me that Manabe did go somewhere during the summer break. And I bet that it must be far better than where Ayumi spends most of her summer break.

Manabe begins to pull something from his bag and puts it on the table. It’s a hardcover photobook of a gravure idol. And not to mention, it’s thick too. There’s also a signature on the book cover. I bet that this book is Manabe’s prized possession because it’s a signed copy. “I got this book a few days ago before the summer break was over. I had to get up early in the morning to get it. I wanted to be the first few lucky people to get Marisa Kuroki to sign the book,” he says to us.