The Gemini Princess wants me to confess my feelings!

Kirihara Akira said, "My starting point was to frame someone and sow discord, but after the incident, my actions were mistakenly seen by Hino Harufumi as helping him. In return, he told me some things."

He said the reason the Shan Rong Association targeted my parents was because of a document.

"The file?" Shiori Kisaragi asked.

"Yes, a document. I suspect it contains some important secret... or rather, I'm certain it's the Mishima Group that started making moves after that."

Kisaragi Shiori fell into deep thought. As if she had thought of something, she got up and walked towards her desk.

She rummaged through many documents and found a bag at the bottom of a drawer containing documents that her partner had sent over.

"I've got it," Shiori Kisaragi said. "This is the information my partner found when I was investigating your background. There's a note in it that I found suspicious from the start."

As she spoke, she handed the document to Kirihara Akira, pointing to a line on a page: "On XX month XX day, the deceased Kirihara Fujitaka made a call to the police, claiming that he wanted to see the Metropolitan Police Department's chief, but he did not explain why in the call."

Initially, the call was dismissed as a nuisance and went unnoticed. After all, it was a completely random call, with no explanation given, yet the caller wanted to see the highest-ranking officer in the Metropolitan Police Department – ​​clearly taking himself too seriously.

Only after the incident did people begin to trace the lives of the Kirihara couple and discover this phone call.

Even so, normally speaking, such a phone call wouldn't attract much attention, since the Kirihara couple are too insignificant, and they want to meet a big shot.

Watanabe, who was in charge of investigating the case, was a stubborn man, and his intuition as a veteran detective told him that there was definitely something going on.

So he investigated further and discovered that the call had actually been reported to higher authorities and was on file in the secretariat.

Of course, it's impossible to ask the head of the Metropolitan Police Department in person, but the secretary said that the higher-ups had sent someone to verify the situation.

It turns out that the Kirihara couple wanted to anonymously report some matters involving gangsters, but after investigation, it was found that they actually had no evidence at all, and were ultimately judged to be making trouble out of gambling debts.

"What if they actually had some evidence?" Shiori Kisaragi frowned in thought. "Was it precisely because they possessed concrete evidence that they were murdered to silence them?"

"It's really possible," Kirihara Akira chimed in.

"Following this line of reasoning, if the premise holds true, then the Kirihara couple must have dirt on the Yamaei-kai."

"Which group is it? Or is it the head family of the Shanrong Association?"

"But if they really have something in their possession and even filed a police report first, why are they being accused of making trouble unreasonably...?"

......

Shiori Kisaragi pondered for a long time, completely focused.

Kirihara Akira called out to her, "Kisaragi-sensei."

"Um?"

"ah--"

Kisaragi Shiori instinctively opened her small mouth, and a piece of sushi was stuffed into it. Before she could react, she licked the fingers holding the sushi with her tongue.

By the time she realized what had happened, it was too late.

Kisaragi Shiori finally looked up from the documents, her round eyes glaring at Kirihara Akira: "You little rascal, you're being a pervert again!"

"What do you mean 'again'?" Kirihara Akira protested, feeling wronged.

"I'm thinking about something important... chewing... can you be serious for once?" Kisaragi Shiori said.

Kirihara Akira shook his head and said, "I can't figure it out. We have too little information right now. Even if we rack our brains, it's just subjective speculation and will only cause us more trouble."

"That's true." Kisaragi Shiori sighed and went back to the table to continue her struggle with the sushi platter.

As she ate, that overpowering corporate mentality crept over her again, and she said sarcastically, "They can't even protect the person who reports the crime. They just pass the buck whenever they can. That's typical of them."

Kirihara Akira asked with concern, "Teacher, what happened?"

"It's nothing, I just gained a better understanding of how dirty the adult world is."

It's clear that Shiori Kisaragi doesn't want to vent her anger, but adults have alcohol as a catalyst.

After a few drinks, Shiori Kisaragi blushed and her heart was in turmoil. Without anyone asking, she started yelling, "Those stinky men have never respected me. Do you know how my partner, that old geezer, sees me? He treats me like a child who needs to be taken care of."

"So what if I get a commendation? On this path, at best I've reached the starting point that some people have. It's called moving up, but it's really just exile."

"Xiao, are you listening!?"

What is Akatsuki's nickname...? Kirihara Akatsuki said, "I'm listening, I'm listening."

"They won't let me continue to work in this position, won't let me fulfill my duties as a police officer, and won't let me go back. They keep me here, saying I'm of great use, but everyone knows they just want me to act as a political bridge connecting the Sen family."

"Isn't this good too?" Kirihara Akatsuki said leisurely, sipping her barley tea. "It's a more relaxed and carefree life."

"If I wanted an easy life, I wouldn't be doing this."

Shiori Kisaragi lay face down on the table, arms outstretched, head resting on her arms, her enormous figure squeezed and deformed into an astonishing arc.

Kirihara Akira subtly shifted her gaze and said, "How did you end up doing this job?"

"The only reason a young girl would embark on such a perilous journey is because she has a noisy old man at home."

"A girl?" Kirihara Akira opened her mouth, and Shiori shuddered. Her face, which had been buried in her arms, suddenly turned around, looking like a female ghost: "Dare to talk nonsense or I'll kill you."

"I was a young girl when I decided to take this path, and I still am now."

"……good."

Alcoholics are prone to getting high-pitched and then going low on their own. She whispered, "That old geezer, he'll be a lowly patrolman until retirement, but he loves to spout big, empty words."

He often said, "The progress of society is driven by those who don't care about personal gains or losses. He wanted me to be that kind of person."

Kirihara Akira's smile slowly faded, replaced by respect. He said, "This is very respectable."

"You don't need to tell me," Shiori Kisaragi muttered.

She verbally dismissed the statement as grandiose and empty, but in reality, it was because of that statement that she embarked on this path.

He said that although he hadn't done any particularly remarkable work, he was proud to be like the most durable candle, illuminating a small world for decades.

Kisaragi Shiori said, "But I don't want to be a small candle; I want to burn brighter."

As Kirihara Akira listened, for some reason, a line from a movie came to mind: "The more radiant a person is, the more easily they exhaust their life energy."

"I'm going to return those words to you, Xiao."

"Why do you say that?" Kirihara Akira shrugged and said, "I've never considered myself to be exceptionally brilliant."

His questions went unanswered; all he heard was the sound of calm, gentle breathing.

This guy is asleep.

She poured out her heart, stirring up Kirihara Akatsuki's memories and sorrows, and then she just dumped everything on herself. What a scumbag woman.

Kirihara Akira saw a reflection of her younger self.

He felt a resonance of soul with this "girl".

However, Shiori Kisaragi is still on the path to her ideals, while her hometown, which she can strive for, is separated from her by a distance of soul and time.