My body jolted in surprise at the loud sound of a gunshot that echoed throughout the house, and I reflexively retracted my hands from Nishimoto’s face to cover my ears. I stayed still for a moment with widened eyes, and my body froze from the shock that I even forgot how to breathe, then suddenly, I heard someone groaned not far from us. It was a groan filled with so much pain and struggling.
I absently lifted my head and turned in the direction of the sound with a frightening expression on my face, then a figure of a man wearing a suit filled my vision. The man was weakly leaning his whole weight on the frame of the living room’s entrance with his head down, not allowing me to see his face. But even without raising his head, I knew that it was someone I did not know and familiar with.
