I went inside the bathroom and was appalled by the gorgeous tiling and functionality of the facilities. They had a jacuzzi and a separate standing shower with body spray system. The sink had an interactive mirror display and adjustable lighting. I was in awe of the technology and aesthetic they had incorporated into a guest bathroom. My amazement didn't stop there. Everything was equipped with an automated dispenser and the product sounded too fancy for me to even use.
I had a brisk shower and changed into the clothes that Hiro had given me. I brushed my hair and looked at myself in one of the full-body mirrors in the room. The shirt swallowed half of my body and covered the shorts almost completely. I picked up my laptop and files before going to Hiro's room. His room was just across from mine. I knocked on the door and waited for a respond from within.
"Come in!" a muffled voice answered.
I opened his bedroom door to find him huddled on his computer chair eating a bar of Toblerone as he scrolled through his files. The long strands of his hair were still wet as a residue from his shower. He was wearing a salmon colored hoodie and space pants. I closed the door and sat on his bed with my laptop.
"Oh, that shirt looks good on you," he finally looked up.
"You don't look too bad yourself," I teased.
"They're comfortable," he pinched his clothes.
"So, what were you worrying about," I opened my laptop.
"How did you know that my father was sick?" he asked.
"I think we were talking about it the night you kidnapped me to that drive-in theater."
"Yeah, but who told you about it?"
"Um… must've been one of your friends."
"Who mentioned it in a conversation first? This is crucial, I'm putting pieces together. But I can't be fully sure yet."
"Hm… now that I think about it, I think Suze mentioned it during the Alpha debate competition. Does that mean anything?"
"Of course, it was her! I have a hypothesis. You'll think I'm crazy and making this up. But I have reasons to suspect that Suze is a double agent somehow. She suddenly got so involved in my life."
"I thought Michael said that you guys have been friends for a year or so."
"I'm in the same class as Michael, that's true. I've only known Suze since I joined Team Alpha. That was about seven months ago. My dad's health had been on a decline after a month of me joining. I know it sounds far-fetched, but please hear me out."
"Okay, go on," I crossed my arm.
"So, I've never been too open around her. But she has her ways with people and I'm afraid that there's a possibility that she cracked Michael. He knew the severity of knowing private information about me. I doubt he'd spill it on purpose,' he took a bite of his chocolate as he continued his passionate rant, 'I've gotten more careful with what I say around them ever since. I don't trust people easily."
Now that I thought about it, I barely knew anything about him other than what he showed me in his file. I had spent the last month with him and I didn't know about his real personality nor past any better. And he could find out anything he wanted about me. I wondered what Michael might have known about him that would be fatal to the case.
"Let's say she had nothing to do with my father's initial health problem, it was still a very suspicious move for her to date your friend."
"Clause? What's wrong with that?"
"She told Michael and I once, that she was into girls. She was drunk out of her mind, but what are the chances that she was lying? One of the statements must be false."
"What if she just finds him special? Michael didn't question her sexuality either. Maybe you misremembered."
"Are you doubting my credibility? I wasn't drunk. And furthermore, I saw her typing in something in her phone after I revealed that I was allergic to citrus."
"That was a decoy?"
"Yeah, I love orange! If she was really my friend, she would've known. She took the first bait, and that's when I knew something was off," he took another bite of the chocolate.
"The phone call!" I sat up straight.
"I needed to know what she would want to ask you. I assumed that she was clueless of your involvement with the case. She thought she might be able to dig some dirt on me with the help of your friends' peer pressure.
"Immediately after I came back, she asked me about my family, and you knew that I lied. I noticed how her facial expression showed a slight annoyance at the fact that they were doing well. And she glanced at you for confirmation regarding my statement."
"Even though I didn't say anything. You know what? At this point I'm believing everything. Have you told your brothers?"
"No, that's why I needed your help tonight. I need to finish a report about this new discovery. Tadashi is flying off to New York tomorrow for a business meeting. I'm having a meeting with him this morning. Can you try and see if she had asked weird things in your group chat? Any evidence at all can boost our argument."
"I'll see what I can get."
"Thank you so much. Having you here really helped us. I know the whole recruitment was so sudden and absurd. But we needed a fresh perspective and someone with minimum social presence."
"I still couldn't believe I agreed," I smiled as I started on a new document.
Makoto knocked on the door and placed a tray of cookies, a box of cereal, a bowl of milk, and two cups of warm tea on an empty coffee table. Hiro walked over and broke off crumbs of the cookies into the milk and ate them like cereals. I grabbed a cup of warm tea and continued with my report. He was typing away on his PC when he reached for the cereal and started to eat them straight from the box.
"Are you hungry?"
"Oh, it's just a thing I do when I needed to rush over a task. I induce a sugar high to stay productive," he offered the box to me, "want some?"
"I'm good, thanks," I raised my cup of tea.
We continued to compile recordings and pictures that we thought would provide further correlation to support the hypothesis. Makoto rolled in with a chocolate fondue plate for Hiro at 3 A.M. and gave me another cup of warm tea. It was a good thing that my friend was blessed with fast metabolism. He seemed to be burning all the calories he had just consumed.