Reincarnated Into A Dead Woman's Body In Another World-Chapter 351: Arc 5, - 45: When the Law Doesn’t Go Your Way
While they had gone up the stairs, the redhead made her way about the company, surveying the ground floor. No Alicia in sight, but no Mrs Aetherton either—same went for the secretary bird at her command.
She waltzed down the floor and through the sofas with the scents of coffee drifting about the building, only making her lips want a simple cup of tea instead.
Her footsteps stopped at the door of an office, only to see the lights were off and the door shut and locked. It seemed Peter Werner was out somewhere.
It was truly something to behold, this entire company. The ten best detectives... and only them? No cleaning staff, no accountants, no consultants, no secretaries, no guards—was it truly that autonomous around here?
She pondered in the quiet surroundings as she walked and surveyed around. Her eyes trailed along the brown wallpaper with diamond-shaped floral patterns, till they stopped at the door of an office—K. Namora.
He had suspiciously disappeared... In Hotaru’s mind, perhaps she understood Alicia’s sentiment to know the goings-on within said office.
She kept her tail down and ears folded as she kept her footfalls light towards the side of the door. Her eyes darted left and right, before her ears bristled.
The redhead pressed her ear against the door window where a small blind had been shut. Keeping her shoes away from the door seal, she tried to overhear anything going on—perhaps that’s where Morgana went?
Not much other than silence and the low buzzing of a radiator from inside... She heard maybe a few papers shuffling and then- "Click, creak..."
Hotaru stumbled to the side of the door and stood upright, as the towering figure of the office’s occupant stepped out... The wolf-girl’s ears folded and tail hid as Kazuo glanced to her. 𝐟𝐫𝕖𝗲𝘄𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝕧𝐞𝚕.𝕔𝕠𝐦
Her ears spiked up and let her tail wave; she cleared her throat to say, "I was looking around for Mrs Aetherton, I thought she might be in your office." How did she fail to hear his footsteps approaching the door!?
His eyes darted up, "Well, her office is right above mine, so I’d maybe start looking there."
"That makes sense. They’re all upstairs with Mr Nunley looking through some files so, I’m just on the lookout for Alicia," Hotaru walked around to face him proper.
"Right, how’d things go with her?" Kazuo stepped aside from his door. The light peeked through the open blinds of his office, "Care to explain inside, instead of snooping outside of my door Ms Kinoshita?"
Hotaru smiled, "Snooping’s a strong word, I was just mildly curious. You might’ve been busy for all I knew," she gracefully stepped in.
"Noted..." he went back in and shut the door behind him.
"Things with Alicia went as, smoothly as they could... For now, she’s agreed to keep everything we discussed a secret. However, she sort of guessed about the cult’s involvement?" a concerned redhead turned.
"Of course she did," Kazuo held the bridge of his nose.
"She just made a guess and we tried to lie, but she saw through it. She started asking a lot of questions too," Hotaru stood in the middle of the room.
Kazuo walked past her towards his desk, "That’s her job. But if she agreed to keep her mouth shut, she’ll keep her mouth shut—for now at least."
"Good to know she’ll keep her word there," Hotaru sighed.
Kazuo piled up the documents into a stack.
"What’re those?"
"Work related."
Hotaru’s ears flickered, "I know we don’t exactly have a formal agreement with you about all of this—our involvement in it being the main point. But you are trying to get us to help, that much is obvious."
"What are you trying to get at Hotaru?" he looked up from his desk.
"I’ve complied thus far with several arrangements, including to hand details of our investigation over—this extends to the rest of us. If this impromptu deal is to be continued, some continued information and updates would be greatly appreciated.
The whens, whys and hows of anything related to that night can lead us to perchance getting more information. What the police did, what happened to the warehouse and the company related to it, such and such," her voice lowered.
Kazuo stood upright and crossed his arms, "Given everything that’s happened... I’ll be happy to comply with that. The details about the runes you found are still being studied.
It’s taking longer to dig for information about it, but that in and of itself is a lot to go off of; it’s not easily obtained information. As for Marksman’s Wholefoods, it couldn’t really be investigated by the authorities.
I’m afraid that ’the nails lead to a location’ is hardly evidence for the police and detectives in the police force as opposed to proper detectives. They’re not desperate enough to take that leap yet for a supposed serial killer," he admitted.
Hotaru’s crimson brows furrowed, "But the police would know about the cult, yes?"
"Knowing something and acting on said thing are two different things. You’d know that difference well Ms ex-lawyer," he eyed.
"That I do..." she pursed her lips and grumbled.
"Regardless, I investigated the warehouse myself."
"Alone...?"
"With an air of stealth obviously." He held a hand to his chin, "I tried to piece together anything I could find, but they’ve cleaned it up well—barely even a footprint."
Hotaru squinted, "Apologies for what I’m about to say, but that’s insanely reckless," she shook her head.
"Kid, I’ve been at it for a lot longer. And there’s not really a step I take that Morgana doesn’t know about.
With no warrant and illegally proven suspicion, there’s only so much I can do procedurally. This information doesn’t leave here, if that was ever a question."
"It wasn’t... What about Meko?"
Kazuo thought about it for a moment. "I don’t really wanna let that be an example for her... but I leave that information for you to do with what you will with your party."
Her eyes glazed over. "Well, surely you’ve looked into the company itself by now? Do you think this would be something orchestrated by someone up the chain of command or the owner themselves?"
He focused back, "Unclear till proven. But my best guess would be that this is at the top."
"Hmm... Reaching people like that’s a nightmare legally..." Hotaru replied.
"Unless there’s some damning proof; and to do that, we need to be off the books."
"So, that’s the reason you’re still letting us help?"
"I’m letting you help cause the more hands the better and as much as Morgana berated you for it, you keenly figured out what went on.
It’s just how you tackled it was a bit..." he winced an eye. "Well, let’s say it’s good that you’re willing to work outside of the law and can deal with powerful magics."
Hotaru’s fangs glistened, "Point of adventurers really. We’ve done plenty of sticking our noses where they don’t belong before."
Kazuo took in her statement and seemingly contemplated to himself. His expression wilted somewhat, "As much as I don’t like my little kid being- Never mind," he shook his head.
The wolf-woman’s brilliant blue eyes softened, "I’ll keep her in one piece to the best of my ability. For me and the rest of us, but for you as well."
He gave a half-hearted nod; then steeled himself.
"Working outside of the law..." Hotaru muttered. Oh what a turn—from a lawyer to this... "Is that why you keep Alicia around? I’d think it’d be easy to get a restraining order for nosy reporters," her face rested.
"Alicia," Kazuo raised his voice a little before he let out a faint groan. "A restraining order is mostly unnecessary. She has her uses, yes."
"What’s your history with her? You seem," Hotaru tilted her head and smiled a smidgen, "almost afraid of her."
"Afraid? No, I’m not scared of Alicia," he affirmed louder than he needed to. "Regardless, I met her six years ago, around when she started working for Phoenix News.
She was new to her job and somehow, got wrapped up in a case I was investigating at the time. It was a murder case between to rival gangs up in Erigeron Borough.
Long story short, she ended up digging in too deep and got caught by one of the gangs. I was already in pursuit and had to take more drastic measures and got her out of it.
After getting her back to the company to make sure she was alright, she seemed, enthralled? When I asked why, she answered, ’That was an exciting case! I got into the thick of it and got the makings of the story of the month!’
She was very nervous and energetic at the time, but she had a knack for the job. Pretty much solved the case for me with all the evidence and photographs she got. Apparently, she already knew who I was.
After that, she’d often send in photographs or intel that came from, frankly questionable sources. With what she could glean from me and the company, she could easily write up a report and made her way up in the business.
And at times, I’ve called for help getting some information. In exchange, all she asks for is to be the first one to put it in the papers. She’s very unpredictable in a lot of regards and as I said days ago, very enthusiastic."
The redhead smiled, "Sounds like you two make quite the duo then. It’s just that she’s in your blind spot."
"Please don’t think that."
"I’m serious, it seems you two have a good relationship. Otherwise, why would you even stay in contact with her and trust her so much over the years?" she reasoned.
He crossed his arms, "Listen, Alicia’s a very capable and talented person. She thinks and acts in a way that yeah, could be my blind spot, but she always manages to get to the matter at hand.
She’s extremely intelligent and resourceful—she’s very brave and admirable; she has no problem going undercover and putting her life in danger for the truth. She’s persistent and-" his eyes scanned the wall and door behind Hotaru.
There was some slight form of a shade on the brown wallpaper—in the shape of a- "She’s right behind me, isn’t she."
Out the window was a woman with pink eyes and her camera up. She beamed brightly and waved. Hotaru looked past the detective to see Alicia and the redhead couldn’t help but grin.
Kazuo swivelled his head around with his arms still crossed. "I retract everything I said," Kazuo blinked a few times to confirm if she was actually there or not.
"Hellooo detective~!" through the window her voice muffled through. "I only caught the tail end’a that, could you repeat?"
Before any other replies, Alicia spun her head to the right and her eyes bubbled before she scrambled to her left and out of view of the window.
Both Hotaru and Kazuo watched as a large pearly white bird chased right after from left to right with her wings tucked in. Kazuo walked to the blinds and shut them, unamused. "As I was saying."
"Hotaru!!"
The redhead’s ears flickered to the sound of Asobi’s voice, "They must be done."
"I’m sure you’ll have plenty of time to figure things out while Alicia does her work."
"Well," Hotaru looked to him, "I’m sure Fumeko and us will be staying just a bit longer. But if she still wants to leave..."
"I know," he gave a nod. "I’ll see you all at home."
Hotaru twisted her lips to the side and turned for the door. She walked out, meeting back up with the others, while Kazuo caught a glimpse of his daughter out the door, seeming to already be pondering and hypothesizing about her findings...
The door shut. He looked to his crossed arms and let out a breath. Was it relief? Was it further tension? Was it normal to feel so lost as to what to do with their own child?
As the slow headache creeped in and panged in his head, he went back to his work, hoping perhaps some small case could clear his head.
Outside, the fateful four relayed what information both sides had gathered. With evidence to fill up a board at the ready and red strings to connect, they departed the company and headed back home.
It would be a few days before anything else happened. While the adventuring detective’s mind pondered and fixated on possibilities—as well as her new love? Crush?—she awaited more leads to confirm.
Barely speaking another word between father and eldest daughter, the days passed. Jotou found herself in boredom, to which Hotaru would take her out of the house at times with the rest in tow.
Any other hour, the redhead would be teaching Asobi to pass her first official exam. It wouldn’t be till the 9th of February before the doorbell of 22 Fleur Boulevard rang...
