Chifuyu was dazed reading the file containing about Minato Amane's murder, that sent Janus Carlson to the death penalty. Chifuyu's dumbfounded expression made Taylor concerned, waiting and remaining silent as he watched him until Chifuyu closes and puts down the folder next to him on the sofa.
"So?" Taylor asked him as Chifuyu leaned his back on the sofa and rested his right elbow on top of the backrest while crossing his legs.
"'So' what?" Chifuyu responded with a deliberate stupid face.
"What do you mean 'so what'?!" Taylor grumbled, "Aren't you going to do something about it? An investigation? Or do you not understand anything?" he begins to question Chifuyu.
"The unfortunate thing is, this closed case is two years old and I honestly don't see anything wrong with it." Chifuyu said in his usual lounge and carefree tone, "I might need to question Vinz himself; do you know where he lives?" he asked Taylor, before sinking into his own thoughts once more.
"The letter was sent from an address; do you want to try going there?" Taylor suggested, but Chifuyu remained silent and his eyes were lost to the direction of the floor. "Hey, are you listening?" Taylor slaps him back to reality.
"Oh, yeah." Chifuyu responded in a somewhat hurried tone, making Taylor curious.
"Were you thinking about something?" Taylor asked him.
"The fact that the victim is Japanese bothered me," Chifuyu turned somewhat serious abruptly, confusing the detective across the room. "But I also have a plan, will you listen to me?" Chifuyu's mischievous smirk rose on his face.
"I have a bad feeling about this..." Taylor mumbled.
Chifuyu went to the address where the letter originated from unaccompanied, it was an abandoned house at the edge of Paris and the neighbourhood was empty. Silence filled the atmosphere as Chifuyu stepped into the building, then continued by scanning his surroundings with his blue eyes without making much movements of his head, just glancing around as he walks further into the building.
"I knew you'd come to question me," a voice made Chifuyu turn his head around, and a figure of a boy around the same age as him approached him. "I'm Vinz Carlson, nice to meet you, Tsuguha." The young man extending his hand, expecting to shake hands with the 17-year-old.
"Nice to meet you," Chifuyu bowed politely, ignoring Vinz's extended hand. "You are precise, I did arrive here expecting to ask you a few questions regarding your claims about the case, I wanted to know your perspective of the issue." A sly smirk was on Chifuyu's face, a mysterious smile that made Vinz pause for a few seconds.
"He's... He's really hard to read..." was the thought in Vinz's head as he looked into Chifuyu's furtive blue eyes, "Surely a prodigy investigator such as you would like an explanation from me to understand the situation better, very expected though. Should we find somewhere to sit to discuss?" a small smile rose on his face, while Chifuyu's eyes twitched slightly as his eyes switched into a sharp gaze.
"Sure, I'll follow you." Chifuyu's eyes returned to normal instantly as he smiled, and he began following Vinz into the backyard of the building. Vinz sat down on a wooden bench and Chifuyu sat down on another across Vinz, "Is it okay if I record our discussion? I would like to present it to my mentor," Chifuyu asked him as he reached into his jacket for a small voice recorder.
"That won't be needed, my explanation is short and it would be easy for you to remember it entirely." Vinz had a dark smile on his face.
"Alright, I'm listening." Chifuyu folded his arms as he leaned his back on the backrest of the bench, his eyes locked to Vinz's face.
"Minato Amane, a woman my father was framed to kidnap, pleasure himself and murder. In the end, he was sent to the death penalty for a crime he didn't commit." Vinz starts talking, "Do you have any clues of who the real criminal is so far?" he asked Chifuyu with an eerie smile, but Chifuyu simply raised a brow.
"All you just told me; I already knew." he responded, "Continue," he added with a small gesture.
"I don't remember the details anymore, but it was certainly an experience. Her screams and cries of agony, begging for mercy was fun." Vinz continued, Chifuyu's eyes twitched once more as his hand lightly clenched his sleeve. "Minato Amane was taken by a car and into my own home, she was tortured to death and my father ended up finding out. He decided to take the blame himself, hoping that I could redeem myself." Vinz added.
"So, you've decided to come clean and surrender for your crimes that your father took the blame for?" Chifuyu was cool, but he was hiding his annoyance.
"I want you to help me, Tsuguha. It doesn't require investigation or use of your intelligence; I just need your courage for this." Vinz reached into his pocket and took out a pistol, extending it to Chifuyu with his eerie smile. "I want you to kill me," he said to the 17-year-old, Chifuyu couldn't hide his surprise and his eyes widened.
"Kill you?" Chifuyu wanted to know if he heard it right, and Vinz assured him with a nod. "I'm just an unpaid investigation consultant for Taylor Anderson, I'm afraid I'm not allowed to perform actions such as assassinating. But since you've come clean and admitted to your crimes, I can take you to the police for them to handle it further." Chifuyu explained.
"Why are you holding back?" Vinz's question made Chifuyu flinch, "Don't you have hatred towards Parisians for what happened to your family?" his smirk made Chifuyu clench his fists.
"That has nothing to do with this," Chifuyu's eyes turned cold, his presence turned into a menacing one as Vinz stood up.
"Well, I'm sure you're aware that hatred between the Japanese and the Parisians have a role in his case." Vinz's eerie smile distracted Chifuyu, he was caught off guard when two men grabbed him from behind and secured him to prevent him from escaping.
"I knew from the start, the fact that your victim is Japanese bothered me." Chifuyu was calm, giving Vinz a smirk as Vinz pushed the muzzle of the gun against his forehead.
"Truthfully, I despise the Japanese. You all are disgusting," Vinz's eerie smile widened, "As soon as I knew you're Japanese, I need to kill you." He added, shoving the gun against Chifuyu's forehead.
"I guess your father's sacrifice was a complete waste, he was too kind to sacrifice himself for a despicable creature like you." Chifuyu's confident smirk made Vinz annoyed, added with Chifuyu's cold gaze made Vinz even eager to trigger the pistol. A gun shot overpowered the tension, but the pistol in Vinz's hand was thrown out of his grip and his hand began to bleed.
"Don't move!" Taylor shouted and Chifuyu took the shock of the three men to his advantage, rapidly freeing himself and knocking them unconscious on the ground by striking their abdomens.
"Whew," Chifuyu released a light sigh as he lowered his leg after striking Vinz.
"Tsuguha-kun, are you alright?" Taylor ran to him as he puts his gun away.
"Luckily your shot was accurate, old man." Chifuyu gave him a somewhat complaint look.
"I took lessons for over seven years," Taylor noticed he sounded ungrateful.
"That's why I trust you," Chifuyu smiled and winked, surprising Taylor again with his rapid emotion changes.
"Everything went as you predicted, again." Taylor couldn't help but express his admiration, "Jeffrey is already outside with the cars, I'll call him to take them in." he took his small flip phone to dial his junior detective.
Jeffrey and his men took Vinz and the other two men to the cars and prepared to bring them to face justice, while Taylor and Chifuyu watched from outside the building.
"You can read right through people's intentions easily, can you?" Taylor was still proud of the 17-year-old next to him, "Tell me, how do you do it?" curiosity was written on the detective's face, which Chifuyu responded with his smirk as he slightly lowered his head, his chain earring swaying.
"You're overthinking it, old man." Chifuyu smiled to him, patting the detective on the shoulder before walking down the sidewalk. "Let me handle the thinking, okay? Don't give it too much thought," he turned his head to give Taylor a grin, and Taylor couldn't help but smile before following Chifuyu while the police cars and Jeffrey left the area.
"You never ask for payment despite the amount of work you do for me; can you tell me about that?" Taylor asked him as they walked down the quiet road.
"Why are you interested about me? I'm seriously not fascinating," Chifuyu rolled his eyes.
"Answer my question," Taylor nudged him.
"Fine, fine..." Chifuyu surrendered as he placed his hands in his trouser pocket, "I don't need it," his response was short.
"Huh??" Taylor was confused why his response was short, "You don't need it?? What about daily life importance?" he asked him again.
"I have my own ways, stop asking already." Chifuyu kept his eyes away from Taylor, but he meant what he said.
"How could I? Don't tell me you're keeping some of your theft to yourself," Taylor doesn't care and continued to question him.
"I'm sure you know that I don't do that, old man." Chifuyu groaned, "Enough of questions," he added in a tone hinted with coldness, and Taylor decided to remain silent the rest of the way back to the Anderson residence. Taylor understood Chifuyu refuses to talk about himself, his cool-hushed attitude screams he doesn't need anyone's concern or empathy in the silence.
"Tsuguha-kun," Taylor decided to break the silence, and Chifuyu simply glanced to him from the corner of his eye to show Taylor got his attention. "Do you think it's about time to take on Ian Heir? It's been a few months and Jeffrey reported to me that his guards had worn down," he suggested.
"I'm ready whenever you are, old man." Chifuyu took a deep breath as he lifted his head up, looking away and up.
"What do you say if I treat you to a nice dinner tonight before we continue our investigation tomorrow?" Taylor offered with a smile.
"Suit yourself," Chifuyu shrugged, his careless responses made Taylor annoyed and hit his head. "Ow!" Chifuyu suspired as he gave Taylor a playful sharp gaze.
"I'm being serious, I want to reward you for once." Taylor grumbled, "The numbers of solved cases have increased drastically since you've started working for me, you've been a major help for me." He turned sentimental all of a sudden, which lightly surprised Chifuyu.
"I'll let you pay me just this once, old man. I don't need more afterwards," Chifuyu made Taylor look up to him, and Chifuyu gave him a sincere grin that made Taylor smile also.
"Suit yourself," Taylor pretended to not care.
"Hey, I'm being serious." Chifuyu pursed his lips in playful annoyance.
"Take that, runt!" Taylor playfully punched Chifuyu's arm, and the two of them shared a laugh as the afternoon sun began to fall.
***