Eternal Melody

"Correct. Hyou4 shared her records the other day, and it turns out she only awoken those abilities a year ago."

She shuddered when she saw the date on the sheet.

'Is this not the time frame where I started dating Ru, and then the kidnapping-?'

It could just be a coincidence, but Sumire got a bad feeling.

"Investigate this day and what she was doing then."

It was a simple order, but she knew it would confuse Shin.

"There are many others who could cause you more harm. Is there a reason why you are so fixated on her?"

Sumire did not see the reason why she had to hide it and immediately voiced out her thoughts. "What do you think?

"It is true that it is far too much of a coincidence. There might be a link somewhere. But whatever lead this is will be faint. Do you still want me to look into it?"

Indeed if this woman was hell-bent on entering the entertainment industry, she would eventually learn it. People who go against her tend to become agitated and reveal the reason for their hate. When a person is angry, it is easier to pry away any safely guarded information with a bit of provocation.

Moreover, there are other things she wants Shin to look into.

"Multiply."

Shin exhaled, and Sumire sighed too. "It would be nice if you could."

"I'm not the only one who can look into things for you. I am indeed part of the police force and the SF, but the SF is making things difficult for me lately."

"I don't have any other options. However, you are right. Many people would follow my orders. How many of those do I trust? How many of them do I want to risk getting involved? Asking someone to investigate is the same as endangering their lives. I cannot risk that."

"So it's okay to endanger my life?"

Sumire wore a complicated expression on her face when she heard those words. The last time Shin went on that dangerous mission and came back severely hurt, she had many regrets.

Her thoughts broke off when Shin flicked her forehead.

"I can see why Yuhi does that to you."

"Hey-!"

"I understand that I am the only one in the best place to help you. That researcher guy was too occupied with his research. Narasaki Hino is the president of an entertainment company, and he prioritizes Yuhi's safety. This type of snooping around and investigating could potentially get him in trouble. Nagawa Sano, well, if you ask him for a favor, it is the same as surrendering yourself to him, no?"

Sumire sighed when she heard that last part. Right, she also has to deal with that person on the second of January. Unfortunately, no matter how much she wanted to occupy herself with work that day, there were no jobs that day.

Sure, people have national days off; however, it was different for the entertainment industry. There were a lot of things they could do during the holiday season. She found it weird how there was no music-related job during that day until she heard Hino cursing the other day.

'Your saying Sano contacted you and canceled everything?'

That guy, even though he said he would not force her, doing something like this means forcing her to accept.

"You look troubled whenever anybody mentions him. Is it that hard to just let him go?"

"It is; even if you tell him directly, he still doesn't understand."

She honestly had difficulty dealing with him despite what she made it look like. She intended to use him at the start, no matter what methods she used. But after all those honest conversations with Yuhi, she realized how much her actions hurt him, so she rethought her plans.

"I am still deciding what I will do with him. But until then, I will leave things the way they are. This also benefits the media. If I continue acting ambiguous with San, it will distract them."

If they focus on the so-called love triangle, then they won't find out about her snooping around investigating Ru's case.

It will distract them for a while. There was a time when she first debuted that the reporters followed her to the Holy knight's headquarters. Fortunately, Aki was waiting for her at the gate that day and spotted them. She did not know how he dealt with them, but there was no report of it on the news.

"I see Atsuro is not a candidate."

"It is more believable with San."

Actually, since there were previous rumors about Atsuro and her, it would be easy to use Atsuro.

Sumire suddenly sensed him turning quiet. "What's wrong?"

"Nickname." Shin pointed out.

"Oh, are you jealous? Do you want me to call you a nickname too?" Sumire trailed off. "Shin-ch-" Her sentence fell short when he flicked her forehead again.

"Fool, merry Christmas."

However, before she could say anything else, Shin was already riding away on his bike.

'I wonder what that was all about; the guys around me are all so strange.'

Sumire did not think much of it and walked in the direction where she last saw Yuhi. She waited there for a few minutes before realizing something. They didn't exactly say they would meet up here after she finished talking to Shin. Did Yuhi think Shin would take her back?

As she thought this, she saw a trail of blood on the ground. It was faint and not very large, but how could she miss it with her sharp senses?

She recalled what Shin had just called her a few minutes ago. Who is the fool here?

Sumire followed the blood trail and saw a man leaning against the walls by the neighborhood dumpster area. Even from a distance, she could tell he was injured. This is strange; how did he get this hurt when he only had to fight off a mere reporter? According to her memory, the guy she briefly looked at was not strong at all. How did they catch Yuhi off guard?

She quickly approached him and found him gripping a watch on his hands. She unfolded his hands as she bent down and identified the watch.

'Sano's watch? To be exact, this is the watch I made for him.'

It was her first time making something like that, and she was unsure how well it would turn out. But surprisingly enough, Sano liked it enough to wear it every day. When they reunited, she did not realize that she had made the watch for him since he covered the strap.

Sumire exhaled deeply, understanding the situation. "San chased that reporter, and you two got into a fight?"