"You sure you are wearing this?"
"Yeah."
I stare at her as we walked down the streets, a maid dress, hell yeah. I still remember that she wore it the day I met her. When she is still working at the café before getting hers. I didn't say that outfit didn't fit her though, but… It is just a small shopping, not a date, right? With those thoughts in mind, we headed into a shopping centre nearby, in between her house and mine.
"This one?" Yui pulled out a pink colour dress from the digital garage and show it to me. "Eh…" The image of Kasumi wearing this Kawai clothing appears in my mind, I immediately shook it off, she would kill me for that. "How about, the kind of clothe you like?" I asked Yui. "From what I know, she isn't much of a girl…"
"This one?" She pulled out a Yankee outfit, with a pure dark jacket and royal blue shorts. Alongside some dark red kicks, handy gloves and a cap with a star symbol on it. "Yeah." I nodded; this would look fine for her. "This one." I took out my credit card and handed to the virtual assistant. "No, I will pay for her, as an apologize for Kasumi." She snatched my card and tossed it back to me before handing the assistant her platinum credit card, hell yeah, the rich and the poor.
"Thank you for today, really." The two of us walk towards the entrance of the mall, exiting the shopping centre. "Having to pay for my stuff." I rub my head, fucking embarrassed. "It is nothing." She smiled with huge bags of clothes and items in her hand and also in mine. "You are my friend, right?" Friend? I hope you could add a "boy", in front of it, that would be really great for me…
"Excuse me, sir." The moment we step out of the building, we were greeted by a man. "You are?" I stare at him. He is heck of a buff guy. Wearing a gigantic winter coat, with a top hat and sunglasses, giving people an ice high posh feel. "I am the lead investigator of the bombing event that happened a few days ago at the Trade Co Headquarter." He introduced himself as he took off his top hat. He is an old, wrinkle man, with a huge scar down one of his eyes. "I wanted to ask some details regarding the event that happened, according to my investigation, you are one of the tenets living at the apartment nearby, right?"
"That is a bombing event?" I asked, confused. Isn't the building destroyed because of weak infrastructure and chemical substance's reaction they kept in the garage? "Upon further investigation, I appear that yes, it is." The old man put his top hat back and answered. "And according to us, the criminal had escaped into one of the nearby apartments to hide out, so for the safety of the people…" "I had no idea actually." I spoke. "I had no one at my house right now. And when the event occurred, I am sleeping, so…"
Yui stare at me in confusion, I grab her hand squeezed, using my eyes to tell her to keep calm and avoid asking. Luckily three years of working together built up quite a trust in between us, because she didn't spill any beans regarding Kasumi. "Is that so" He smiled. "Then sorry for interrupting your date." He walked off. I stare at him; I had a bad feeling regarding this old man. "Eyes, follow him." The moment he makes sure that I am out of his sight, he placed his finger on the wireless earbud and spoke. "Track him down, I read his mind, he is the one."
"You lied to me, again!" The moment the old man left, Yui turn to me and screamed. "I can explain." I tried to calm her down, people beside us started to shoot dirty looks. Some even took out their phone to capture all these actions. "I can explain, I can explain, I can explain." She repeated my words sarcastically. "How many times do you want me to lie? How many times do you want me to put my trust on you, and let you spat on my face!"
"This is very complicated. I can't explain to you now." I grab her shoulder. "Let go!" She pushed me away, I stumble for a bit before falling to the ground. "Take your own stuff and gave it to her!" She tossed those big bags of clothes to me. "Who am I to you!? Someone that you can't even trust?" She screamed, tears drip onto her maid dress. Yeah, she saved me, she gave me a job, she showed me love, and yet, I hide from her, and yet I couldn't trust her.
"You don't understand!" with my desperate attempt, I am still trying to explain, what a fucking pathetic guy. "I am trying to protect you!" And yet she didn't listen as she storm away. The mumbling and criticizations of the crowd was eerily loud in my ears today, filling up my mind. Slowly I stood up and collected the scattered clothes on the ground before placing them back into packages. The crowd started to leave one by one, as I stood alone in the winter, it was cold, but inside me, it was raging hot.
Ten years of hiding my true self, I had enough.
They thought I am just a sick cat, what a mistake.
I am a tiger.
"Here." I handed the bags to the girl working at the locker room in the mall. "How long did you wanted us to keep these items, sir?" The girl asked, smiling politely. "Half an hour is free, right?" I asked, taking out a packet of cigarette and light it up. "Yes, it is free for the first half hour." She nodded. "Then half an hour it is then." I take a deep sip out of the cigarette before letting out a huff of smoke.
"More than enough to get those rats."