It has been a few days since Taylor left the hospital and Chifuyu took the week off, he returned to his home and took Maru with him, leaving the room he used to use in the Andersons' residence empty.
"Surely is quiet without Tsuguha-kun around, huh?" Taylor broke the silence of his office.
"Huh?" Eve turned to her father, pausing from sorting the books on the shelf.
"Don't worry, he'll start coming again tomorrow." Taylor smiled as he continued to read the file he was reading.
"Right," Eve turned back to the pile of books, "I'm excited... I don't see him out on the streets, it really has been a full week since I last saw him." She thought, unconsciously smiling.
"I'm going to investigate, make sure you lock all windows and doors, okay?" Taylor stood up from his chair, "Stay awake until I get home, is that okay?" he asked as he wore his coat.
"Oh, okay." Eve didn't question and simply nodded, allowing her father to leave.
Eve went to her room after an hour in Taylor's office, and she somehow has an urge to open her bedroom window, with hopes that Chifuyu would magically appear sitting on the roof outside her window. She did exactly that and to her surprise, Chifuyu was sitting on the roof outside her window with his ferret, moving his ferret to hold in his hands to stop Maru from biting his chain earring.
"I already told you, didn't I? My earring's not a toy," Chifuyu told Maru, holding him in his hands in front of his face then lowering his pet to his lap before spacing out, the wind blowing his earring and black hair. But his peace and quiet was broken when he felt a paper ball hit his head, Maru jumped to sit on his shoulder when Chifuyu picked up the ball, then turning his head to see Eve from the opened bedroom window waving to him. "This girl..." Chifuyu sighed as he stood up, then jumped to her window with his ferret.
"It's been a while, Chifuyu-kun." Eve seemed happy to see him.
"It's only been a week, what are you talking about?" Chifuyu furrowed his brows, and Maru squeaked as Eve's face turned red.
"I-I... I-It's, uh..." Eve was flustered, she had no idea what to respond.
"Hey, you shouldn't randomly open your window anymore." Chifuyu changed the topic, "Haven't you heard of the recent kidnapper, Simon Dills? Isn't your old man taking care of that case right now?" he asked Eve.
"Yeah, I've heard. I feel so bad for the girls who got assaulted by that despicable man," Eve nodded, "Are you not going to investigate too?" she asked him.
"It's my week off, why would I?" Chifuyu rolled his eyes, "And it's not like my help is necessary, Simon Dills is only on the run and the police are trying to catch him, that's it." He sighed.
"I see," Eve couldn't really disagree.
"Remember, keep your windows locked, chill out when he's already caught." Chifuyu told her the same thing her father told her, "You can't keep your window opened like you always do for the time being, better make sure creepers like him don't get in." Chifuyu added with an annoyed tone.
"But you're the only one who can come up here," Eve said.
"Get your head out of the clouds, idiot." Chifuyu flicked his finger to Eve's forehead, "Have you ever heard of ladders before? They could easily get up here through the alley on this side if they want to, don't underestimate kidnappers these days. Besides, I might not be the only one who can jump up here." He sounded somewhat irritated, which made Eve pause in confusion.
"A-Are you mad...?" Eve was hesitant to ask, "You're as grumpy as you are a week ago, what's up with that?" she pouted, filling her voice with confidence.
"Who, me?" Chifuyu gave her an annoyed look, before relaxing his face a second later and looked out the window. "You just let your guard down easily..." he spoke with a relaxed tone.
"There's that tone again... His tone of speech when he's suppressing his real thoughts..." was the thought that went into Eve's head after he spoke.
"I have to go now, au revoir, Eve." Chifuyu stood up and jumped to the roof outside with Maru in his hands, and Eve watched Chifuyu run out of sight on the roofs before she closed and locks the window.
"Chifuyu-kun is a mystery himself," Eve laid down on her bed in sudden exhaustion, slowly closing her eyes to sleep. "I have to 'solve' it, can I though...?" she mumbled before she fell asleep on her bed. Just a few moments later, a man climbed up to Eve's window and managed to unlock it from the outside, quietly pushing them open to step into the room and approach Eve. The man smirked as he pulled out a small folded cloth from his pocket, rapidly covering Eve's nose and mouth with it before she could react, putting her unconscious with the drug on the cloth.
Chifuyu just finished putting Maru back into his cage after feeding him, and Chifuyu walked a few roofs to stop on the roof of a house across an electronic store, where the televisions were showing the live news.
"Another bank robbery? Geez..." Chifuyu sat down on the roof to watch the news, but his eyes widen in shock when he saw a small movement in the live news, an act Chifuyu saw occur far behind the reporter on camera. "It's so far, I'm not going to make it in time!" he thought as he sprints as fast as he could to the location in hopes to catch up, but he jumped down to a telephone booth and speedily dialled Taylor's number.
Eve was rebelling in the man's arms, throwing her limbs everywhere to free herself. But the man showed no sign of stopping and continued his run, while tears dripped from Eve's emerald eyes.
"Chifuyu-kun, someone, help me." Eve was hoping in her head someone would save her, fearing what might happen to her.
"This is Taylor Anderson, Senior Investigator of the Investigation Department, Paris Police." Taylor picked up the call, he was out of breath.
"Old man! Are you close to the cigarette factory at south?!" Chifuyu was also out of breath.
"T-Tsuguha-kun?" Taylor didn't expect a call from him, "Wait, isn't that where Simon Dills held his last victims? Yeah, I'm only a mile away from there," he realized.
"He's got Eve!! You have to hurry!" Chifuyu was panicking for the first time, and it was quickly transferred to Taylor.
"To the cigarette factory! Move and hurry!!" Taylor commanded his men to change directions, and they all head towards the cigarette factory. "Thanks," Taylor thanked Chifuyu before he ended the call, and Chifuyu jumped back onto a roof to continue his marathon to the cigarette factory.
Simon Dills was quickly upper-handed by the police, thanks to Chifuyu's immediate report, they were able to arrest him before he did anything to Eve.
"Eve, are you okay?!" Taylor ran to hug his daughter.
"I-I'm alright, Dad." Eve stayed strong as she hugged her father back.
"Detective Anderson, we must continue fast. Let the medical team help her get home," A police officer said, as Simon Dills was put into an armour police car.
"B-But," Taylor still wanted time with his daughter.
"It's okay, Dad. Please go, I can go with the medics." Eve gave her father a smile, showing how strong she is.
"A-Alright, please stay at the hospital and wait for me there." Taylor sighed and patted Eve's head, reluctantly leaving with the criminal. Eve was checked by the medic in the ambulance, checking her arms and mental state.
"You're very strong, Miss Anderson." The nurse smiled in relieve, "We will take you to the hospital, you can wait for Detective Anderson there." She added.
"Okay," Eve nodded, the nurse was about to close the back doors of the ambulance when Chifuyu appeared from an alley a few metres away, Eve could see he was heavily breathing and quickly knew he had run quite a distance to get there. "Wait," Eve stopped the nurse from closing the doors.
"What's wrong?" the nurse turned to Eve.
"Can I get off? Someone came to pick me up already," Eve said with a convincing smile, and the nurse turned to Chifuyu to see him out of breath from a distance. "He's with me," Eve added.
"Very well, please be careful." The nurse moved away to let Eve jump off.
"Merci," Eve thanked the nurse before the nurse closed the doors, and the ambulance left the area. Eve turned around to face Chifuyu, who remained on his spot until the ambulance was out of sight. "Chifuyu-kun, over here!" Eve waved to him as Chifuyu managed to control his breathing, but he sprinted to her and threw his hands around her, surprising her.
"Idiot," his voice was frail and coarse, another tone of his voice Eve has never heard from him before.
"C-Chifuyu-kun??" Eve was confused why he was holding her to tightly in his arms, but it was silent for a few moments. Eve could feel his body tremble as she slowly wrapped her arms around his body, "It's okay, Chifuyu-kun. There, there..." Eve patted his back, where his shiver slowly fades away.
"Why did that have to happen...? Why that out of everything else?" Chifuyu was mumbling, but the distance between them made Eve able to hear his mumbles. "I was so scared, I couldn't stop running until I see you, I'm so relieved you're alright." His voice was shaking, showing how genuine his fear was.
"What is this reaction? Chifuyu-kun was scared...?" Eve patiently pats his back, calming him down. There was another long silence, where it was just the two of them in each other's arms sharing warmth.
"Chiyaki died a few days after my parents..." Chifuyu started telling his story, with the same sorrowful frail voice. "She survived the serial killer's attack with me, but she was assaulted and murdered by a different group of men a day after, while keeping me tied up to witness her death right in front of my eyes." He ended with the same tone.
"C-Chiyaki-san was assaulted and murdered...?" Eve was speechless, she could only have thoughts. "No wonder he was so scared, it must've scarred him to this day." She continued to pat his back.
"I'm glad you were saved in time..." Chifuyu slowly started to tremble again, Eve could feel his warmth quickly morphing into the freezing cold of his sorrows.
"No, no. He's cold!" Eve panicked in her head, hugging him tighter. "It's okay, Chifuyu-kun, it's okay. I'm unscathed as you can see, please don't let the past get to you. Your sister wouldn't want to see you scared, would she?" she patted his back, and Chifuyu paused from her statement, reminded of his little sister's smile again.
"Oh, right... Chiyaki would scold me if she sees me like this..." Chifuyu thought as he finally smiled, instantly calmed down but kept Eve in his arms. "Don't let your guard down too much next time, got it?" he whispered to her.
"Understood," Eve nodded as she smiled.
***
The next day, Chifuyu pushed open the door of the Andersons' residence dressed in his usual black trousers, brown boots, and brown jacket worn over his white dress-shirt.
"Bonjour, Fuyuchi~" Lucas greeted him with a grin.
"Morning, Lucas." Chifuyu smiled as he responded.
"Mister Victor's here right now and he's with Eve in the living room, best not disturb them." Lucas approached him to whisper.
"Entendu," Chifuyu nodded, then walked into Taylor's office to meet with the detective. "Morning, old man. What do you have for me today?" he gave Taylor his big grin, but Taylor paused in confusion.
"You're back to your normal self, did something happen?" he asked the 17-year-old, making him pause.
"Mm? I don't know what you're talking about," Chifuyu had his mischievous smile on his face as he approached the desk, and Taylor sighed in surrender, knowing he won't get answers.
"Have you heard about letter send to the office signed by Vinz Carlson?" Taylor took a folder from his desk drawer.
"I have, but the police didn't release details of the letter." Chifuyu nodded and shrugged his shoulders.
"I have it right here, do you want to read it?" Taylor handed an envelope to Chifuyu, and Chifuyu took out the folded paper inside to unfold and read the contents of the letter. "Yes, this letter is meant for you." Taylor said when he saw Chifuyu furrowed his brows.
'To the prodigy investigator; Tsuguha Chifuyu,
I discovered you are the one finishing the recently solved cases, I am intrigued and impressed by your abilities as an investigator. I knew there are more to your abilities, so why don't you help me? I want you to give justice to my father, who was framed for murder and sent to the death penalty by your mentor. I have no grudges against him, I simply wished for the police to notice their mistake and that my father is innocent.
If you don't help me, let's just say the most precious to you will perish.
Vinz Carlson'
"What the heck...?" Chifuyu has a doubtful look on his face, "Am I supposed to take this seriously?" he turned to Taylor.
"I suppose you can, because what he wrote is true; I sent Janus Carlson to the death penalty two years ago for the murder of Minato Amane, it was a very gruesome murder." Taylor sighed as he leaned against his chair, "It makes me wonder, did I really make a mistake...?" he began to rethink every detail of the case.
"You're horrible..." Chifuyu gave Taylor a mocking expression that made the detective irritated in an instant.
"Anyway, what exactly is the most precious to you?" Taylor changed the topic, "We'll have to secure it for you just to be safe, is it your pet ferret or some sort of item?" he asked Chifuyu, but his question left Chifuyu in a daze.
"I never really thought about that, but thinking about it now, it is Maru." Chifuyu looked away a he thinks, but the coolly oblivious expression on his face didn't convince Taylor.
"Then bring Maru back to your room here, so we can watch him better instead of leaving him at your home." He decided to not question Chifuyu about it, "But if you're not sure it's your ferret, it must be something young Carlson knows, it's probably something only others than yourself can notice." Taylor continued.
"Huh...? What are you talking about?" Chifuyu doesn't understand, rolling his eyes. "If it is like that, what do you think it is then?" he moved his focus to Taylor from the edge of his eyes.
"I'm not sure I know it for sure, you're full of mysteries and pretty hard to read..." Taylor sighed as Chifuyu went to sit down on the sofa, knowing the mysterious nature of the 17-year-old. "But I have a guess, is it my daughter?" he gave Chifuyu a sharp look, Eve outside the door overheard her father mentioning her and paused from pushing the door open.
"Eve...?" Chifuyu rolled his eyes and looked away, "She's just a good friend, that's all." He said with a tone tinted with shyness and complaint at the same time.
"Hmm?" Taylor raised a brow at Chifuyu, Chifuyu noticed Taylor's unconvinced look and his eyes slightly squinted as his lips pursed.
"Seriously, old man, she's not more than that to me." Chifuyu let out a complaint-filled sigh, "Besides, she's already engaged to Victor, he's a nice guy." He didn't look back to Taylor, and Eve remained standing in front of the door, looking down to the ring worn on her finger.
"I'm a good friend to him... and I'm already engaged, he's right..." was the thoughts entering Eve's head, "But... I don't love Victor that way..." she clenched her fist, before shaking her head to get the bad thoughts out. She was so deep in her own mind that she paid no heed to her surroundings, then Chifuyu unexpectedly opened the door when she lifted her head.
"Oh, hey, Eve." Chifuyu greeted her, before passing by her as Lucas left the restroom.
"Ah, Fuyuchi!" Lucas ran to Chifuyu, "Are you busy right now?" he asked him.
"Not quite, do you need anything?" Chifuyu asked cluelessly.
"Do you want to come to my home for once?" Lucas asked him.
"The orphanage...?" Chifuyu tilted his head to one direction as Lucas opened the door to leave the house.
"That's right, come on." Lucas grabbed his wrist and pulled him out of the house, "Bonne soirée, Miss Evening." He waved at Eve standing at the doorway.
"H-Hey, attendez-!" Chifuyu had no choice but to follow Lucas's excitement, letting him drag him to the orphanage.
Chifuyu spent the entire way dragged by Lucas, who was jogging excitedly to the orphanage and stopped in front of an old gated house a few miles away from where they started their trip.
"Lucas, you really are something else when you're excited..." Chifuyu was at a loss for words, lightly out of breath as Lucas released his wrist and opened the gate to the orphanage.
"Come on, the kids are usually at the backyard at this hour." Lucas smiled to Chifuyu, who was wondering why he wasn't out of breath and just stayed silent, following Lucas to the backyard of the orphanage. Young children were seen playing on the grass, playing chase but all stopped to turn to Lucas and Chifuyu. "Oi~, I'm home." Lucas waved to the kids, who all gleamed to see him.
"Big brother Lucas~!" the six children ran to Lucas, who squatted to their level to greet them.
"Sammy, did you fall again? Your knee is plastered," Lucas noticed a young girl among them was injured.
"It's alright, it doesn't hurt." The little girl responded.
"Menteur, you cried." A boy the same age sneered.
"Shut up!" Sammy pouted.
"Jake, did you bump into the door when you're running out to play again?" Lucas noticed a small bruise on the little boy's forehead, gently rubbing it.
"Heheh..." the little boy just scratched his hair.
"I'm amazed you have the patients take care of kids, Lucas..." Chifuyu said in his head, watching Lucas surrounded by the six kids from a distance.
"Ng? Who is that, big brother Lucas?" Sammy turned to Chifuyu; her eyes met with his deep blue eyes.
"Oh, he's big brother's friend." Lucas stood up from his squat, "Sorry, Fuyuchi." He was ashamed for forgetting about his friend.
"No big deal, pal." Chifuyu lightly swayed his right hand in front of his chest, as Sammy and the other two girls ran to Chifuyu.
"It's a handsome big brother~" Sammy gleamed.
"My name's Carrie," another introduced herself.
"And I'm Kate," the other asked excitedly, "Is Fuyuchi big brother's name?" her eyes were filled with curiosity.
"No, that's just a nickname your stupid brother over there gave me." Chifuyu said that with a smile as he kneeled down to the girls.
"Hey," Lucas heard what he said.
"My name is Tsuguha Chifuyu, calling me Chifuyu is fine." Chifuyu gave the girls his warm smile, making the girls blush.
"You're so handsome, big brother Chifuyu." Carrie hopped in excitement.
"Look at you, popular already~" Lucas gave Chifuyu a teasing smirk, that Chifuyu replied with a doubtful small smile.
"Are you not from Paris? You look very different from us..." Sammy reached her hand to touch his cheek.
"I'm Japanese," Chifuyu held her small hand.
"Japanese?" Sammy tilted her head.
"No wonder, your name is also weird sounding..." Kate nodded her head.
"You're Japanese? That's so cool~" Jake ran to join the girls, followed by the other two boys.
"Nice to meet you, mister, I'm Jose." Another boy extended his hand to Chifuyu.
"Nice to meet you, Jose." Chifuyu smiled as he shook the boy's hand.
"I'm Thomas," the last one added.
"What is all this excitement?" a woman walked out of the back door.
"Oh, Madame Lucy." Lucas turned to the woman, who turned to the children surrounding a teenager familiar to her.
"Oh, it's you." The woman approached Chifuyu, who stood up when he saw her. "You're the one who donated 10.000 euros a few days ago," her words shocked Lucas.
"It was you???!!!" Lucas ran to Chifuyu and grabbed his shoulders.
"Y-Yeah, but it's no big deal-"
"No big deal?!" Lucas was repeating his words in disbelieve, before toning his voice down to say "You don't know how much that donation helped us..." he loosened his grip on Chifuyu's shoulders.
"Lucas...?" Chifuyu was bewildered, why Lucas was abruptly silent. "W-Whoa, there." Chifuyu was caught off guard when Lucas hugged him tightly.
"Thank you, Fuyuchi..." Lucas sounded extremely grateful, making the Japanese 17-year-old smile.
"There, there. Where did the cheerful Lucas go?" Chifuyu patted his friend's back, before Lucas released him.
"Ha-ha, sorry." Lucas was embarrassed, "You're the best, Fuyuchi." He gave Chifuyu his usual joyful grin, yet it still has the hint of gratitude.
"Hey, it's what I like to do as the Alabaster." Chifuyu whispered to Lucas, then gave him a wink. "It was nice meeting you all, I have to take my leave now." He bowed to everyone.
"Huh~? Leaving already...?" Sammy pouted.
"I have a pet at home that I have to take care of and I'm an investigator as well, I have duties that can't wait." Chifuyu petted the girl's head.
"Investigator? You must be very smart, big brother Chifuyu." Carrie was amazed.
"Enough compliments now, I really have to get going." Chifuyu's smile was somewhat playfully arrogant, that made Lucas chuckle as he shook his head while Chifuyu started walking to building behind the back yard.
"Come again, big brother Chifuyu~!" Kate waved, followed by the other kids and Madame Lucy.
"Thanks for coming, Fuyuchi." Lucas's smile was still painted with gratitude, his endless appreciation making Chifuyu smile before jumping to the roof of the building behind the back yard, surprising the children and the woman.
"Au revoir," Chifuyu bowed Alabaster style and winked as he smiled, before jumping over a taller house and out of sight.
"Big brother Chifuyu is so nice," Jose began to admire the 17-year-old.
"You must be really good friends with him, big brother Lucas." Jake smiled to Lucas, "He's a really nice person," he grinned.
"He definitely is, I owe him a lot." Lucas agreed with a nod, then looked back where Chifuyu had disappeared out of sight and smiled once again. "He saved my life..." his eyes were sparkling with the same gratitude on his smile, as the mild afternoon wind blew his copper hair.
***