Kinos.h.i.+ta Iori looks at the tower and releases her breath. She will find out for sure. How long will they hide it? She takes her phone out of her pocket. She didn"t record anything good today. She taps a name on her phone. "It failed. He"s too tight-lipped."
[Come back for now. We will find out next time.] She hears her senior"s voice.
She hangs up the call. Even her attempt at flirting with that man failed. The man"s heart won"t move at all. How is there such a cold-hearted and selfish man in the world? He"s almost like…
She shuts her eyes. Why is she thinking about that moron right now? She slaps her cheeks. "Focus, Kinos.h.i.+ta Iori, Focus."
She already made a choice. She won"t turn back. Kamiyama Takes.h.i.+ can go to h.e.l.l. Love can also go to h.e.l.l. What is important right now is to find out how that accident happened. The company isn"t taking responsibility. "It should be police doing this."
The sky is filling up with the clouds. It"s no wonder that it was windy a while ago. She didn"t even get to see the view from that height. She has come so far. She doesn"t want to return without something.
"Where"s this man"s house?" She has been waiting outside the tower for a while, but she has never seen him come out. "Does he live in there?"
That"s unlikely. If she hasn"t seen him leave, it only means one thing. Either he can become invisible or he leaves in those cars with black screens. Then, that Engineer-sama"s ident.i.ty can"t be simple. She hides at her usual spot and searches Adachi Kase"s name on the internet.
"Eh?" She blinks her eyes. "None of the profiles matches that face. Is he using a fake name? Who doesn"t have a social media account in this era? Does he have no friends?"
She sits down cross-legged and squints her eyes. She can smell that something isn"t right about that Adachi Kase. Her reporter intuition… well… nevermind. That man grabbed the belt of her pants. So, she"s going to rely on her womanly intuition. One way or another, that man will speak.
At the same time, her phone rings again. She picks up the call.
[Don"t think of doing anything stupid. Come back.] She hears her senior"s anxious voice. [You already got threats last time. If they get rid of you, I am sure that I won"t even find your body.]
She replies with a smirk. "Don"t worry. I will come back with something good. I am Kinos.h.i.+ta Iori, Senpai. We are doing something worthy."
[I know, but can"t you find a scoop on some celebrity? They are always up to something. People want to read about scandals, not about some tragedy.]
That"s against her principles. "Senpai, we started this because we wanted to become someone people could trust. We will only reveal the facts. Besides, those celebrities are humans too. Why should we reveal someone"s dirty linens?"
[World is interested in dirty linens.] Her senior tells her on the call. [It"s been months. I am tired of getting threats.]
"If you are tired, then leave." Iori glances at the clouds. "I left a job that paid me ten times more than what I earn now. I can barely pay my monthly bills. My family hates me. I am cras.h.i.+ng at my cousin"s place who loves corpses more than living human beings. Still, I am satisfied with this life because I am supporting the truth. When I go to sleep at night, I am happy that I did my best to bring out the truth to the world. I don"t want to live a life where I have to sell my integrity. I am fine eating ramen for dinner as long as I can live the way I want."
There"s a long pause. [Kinos.h.i.+ta Iori, I hate you. You always say something when I am about to waver.]
"Senpai, if you also leave, it will be only me." Iori chuckles. "It will be lonely without you."
[Now, don"t try to make my heart waver. My boyfriend will get mad at me if he eve finds out what"s going inside my head.] Her senior laughs. [All right. Don"t do anything dangerous. If Adachi Kase doesn"t speak, we will find someone else who knows about this matter.]
"Let me try one more time." Iori looks in the direction of the gate and sees a black car coming out. "Senpai, I need to go."
[Iori, don"t --]
She puts her phone in her pocket and gets into a cab. "Follow that car, but don"t make it too obvious."
"Miss, I charge extra for things like this." The cab driver looks into the rearview mirror.
"Just go," Iori shouts at him. "I will pay."
Half of her money is spent on stuff like this. It can"t be helped. It"s a life she chose. A year ago, she took the opportunity and came back to T City. Takes.h.i.+ ended everything that was between them. She thought that she could be happy doing what she wanted to do, but it was messy. While working at the top broadcasting company, she found out that she could never speak the things that she wanted to say. The truth was manipulated. Facts were twisted. The media could easily control the public"s opinions. She left the job in the end with a senior who was also suffering the repercussions of opposing when he saw wrong. With all the savings, they started their own digital media company.
They are on the brink of bankruptcy. If she can find out the truth behind the death of thirty workers, she"s sure that people will listen to them more. She never regretted taking Umezaki Rie"s interview. She regretted not telling Takes.h.i.+ before she did it. She had failed as a friend, but she won"t be failing as a reporter.
The car stops near an apartment building. Adachi Kase gets out of the car and adjusts his collar. He bows to the person in the car once and shuts the door. The car leaves. He watches it until it disappears from his sight and then, he lets out a curse.
"d.a.m.n that woman." He walks toward his apartment building. "Why did she pull that stunt? I already know why. Why me? There are other engineers too. I am already under the chief"s radar. Thanks to her, I will be watched all the time. I might not even get a bonus."
"Adachi Kase!"
He clutches his chest when the woman jumps out of the cab and runs toward him, screaming.
"What the h.e.l.l is…" He looks to the right and left. Then, he takes off his coat and puts it over her head before dragging her behind the wall. "What are you doing here?"
"Adachi Kase, what are you hiding?" Iori stares at him. "You are hiding something. No boss loves his employee so much that he would drop him home in his car every day."
"Every day…" He steps away from her and gives her a look over. "How long have you been following me?"
Iori purses her lips. Tailing someone is not legal. "That"s not what is important right now."
"It"s important to me." He looks around again. "Look, all of us are trying to live in this G.o.dforsaken world. I am just a human who is not ambitious or greedy. I didn"t see anything. I don"t know anything. If you are curious, find the boss and ask him why he"s being like this."
He didn"t see anything. He doesn"t know anything. Iori smiles at him. "What did you not see? What do you not know?"
c.r.a.p! Adachi Kase lets out an exasperated sigh. "Kinos.h.i.+ta Iori, do you want to die that much? Don"t you think that the police would have done something if they saw something odd? If they did see it, then why didn"t they do anything? I don"t understand why are you trying to get me killed. Do anything, but don"t get me involved. Don"t speak my name anywhere."
He turns away from her and walks into the building. Iori runs after him with his coat. He stops near the elevator and looks back at her with rage in his eyes. She stops right away. He takes long strides toward her. "What? Did you not hear the words I said? You might as well put my head inside a noose and hang me by yourself."
"Your coat…" Iori returns his coat and gives him a deep bow. "I won"t trouble you again. I will not say your name. I will find it out using my own strength. If you see me again, please ignore me."
Ignore her? Why… Before he could ask, Iori runs away from him. He watches her get into the cab and leave.
Why is she sure that he will see her again and where"s she going? He looks at the coat again. It"s none of his business anyway.
His phone vibrates. He checks the text. [But if you change your mind, you know how to contact me.]
Darn! How did she get his number? He"s never going to contact her.
Then, his inbox starts getting spammed with pictures of the sites, 30 workers, and their family members. He turns his phone off and goes to his apartment. He has no interest in getting involved in something that might ruin his whole life. He won"t become a whistleblower.