IT'S ALL starting to come together to form a big picture, just like puzzle pieces. Still, there were pieces that were still lacking. While some of the picture's parts were complete, the connecting pieces that would have shown their connection were still missing.
'Ugh, why am I getting so worked up with this?'
Mizuki realized it when he talked about her connection to Andrei's wife's death. Clearly, all can tell that she really isn't the one to blame. What happened to his wife was an accident. However…
"How's the driver?" Niccolo continued to ask Andrei.
"He's dead. He crashed into a metal-loaded truck and was struck to death."
Niccolo became silent for a moment. "I see. And it's okay with you to involve someone innoce—"
"I said it's not me!" Andrei slammed his hands on the table, the chains creating a loud clang.
Niccolo nodded. "It was the voice."
"Yes," he nodded frantically, "the voice… the voice is one at fault here… not me," he shook his head hysterically, "not me, not me, not me!"
MIZUKI'S ARMS were crossed while waiting for Niccolo outside the interrogation room. For some reason, the old guy told her to wait outside, telling her he would talk with Andrei alone.
Niccolo said he'll need her for the case but she didn't really do anything other than stand there and make incomplete conclusions with herself. There were a few things Mizuki learned though.
First, she wasn't the murderer of Andrei's wife. It was an accident and she was barely even connected with it, it was just a matter of time and coincidence. Second, because of that accident, Andrei wanted to take revenge but wasn't able to do so as the driver was already dead. That maybe made him feel that his wife's death is unjustified. So he took the matter into his own hands by attacking the closest possible culprit of the incident, which is her.
That said, as Andrei implied, there's this 'voice' that ordered him. The questions are: who's the owner of the voice? Is it from another person, or did it come from Andrei's mind itself? If it's from another person, it's possible that it was from an ability user. If it's Andrei himself, the latter maybe just have a few mental problems. Both made sense.
The door in front of Mizuki swung open.
Niccolo stepped outside, umbrella in his hand. Before the door close completely, Mizuki had a one-second glimpse at Andrei, which was just quietly sitting with his head looking down.
"Sorry to keep you waiting."
Mizuki looked at Niccolo. "We aren't done yet?"
Niccolo smiled. "Follow me."
They walked towards another room beside Andrei's. As they entered, Mizuki saw it looked completely identical to the one earlier. The scene also became similar, as they both sat across each other. The only expectation is that Mizuki's wrists aren't handcuffed.
"Before you heard the conversation earlier, what do you know about the incident?"
"Nothing," Mizuki said flatly.
"Can you describe what happened back then?"
"My friend and I were talking when he just barged inside, throwing a fit. He was talking about how it was my fault that his wife died."
"He didn't say it was you who killed her?"
Mizuki stared at the table for a moment, her brows burrowing."You're right, he didn't." So there's a possibility he knows I didn't kill her.
"I see, please continue."
"Then he left and we thought he wasn't coming back. But he broke into the cafe again—literally." Mizuki practically rolled her eyes. "And he started attacking us, and I ran away since I was the one he was aiming at since the beginning. The rest is history."
Niccolo stared at her. "Knowing that your friend's gravely injured, why are you so confident he'll manage to take care of himself alone?"
Strange, but as Mizuki heard the question, her senses sharpened to her surroundings. The room extremely brightened, her ability nowhere to be felt, and there was the wide lengthy mirror on the side. Her eyes lingered on her reflection in the mirror for a while.
"Mizuki?"
Mizuki's head snapped at Niccolo. "He's not stupid," she replied, at last, her lips forming into a smirk. "As well as I."
Before Niccolo could say anything, Mizuki spoke again.
"Who's behind that mirror?"
Niccolo went silent for a moment before he let out a chuckle. "I don't know why, but I'm not surprised you found out someone's been listening to us since earlier."
She leaned back on the chair, crossing her arms. "Only the idiots wouldn't notice." She eyed her reflection again.
General Kingston Abueva was standing in the direction Mizuki was staring at.
There were two men standing behind the one-way mirror. Wearing gray uniforms similar to those of the officers in Carcerem, the shorter officer's shoulders jumped as he looked over to Mizuki and to the taller man beside him.
"General… is she looking at you? Can she see us?" His innocent, youthful face expressed nervousness. A silver insignia with four stars shone on the left chest of his uniform, while on the right, a name was sewed in all caps: LT. GEN. WILSTON.
The said general stood proudly, in a straight posture with his hands behind his back. He has a golden insignia with five stars on his chest, and a name stitched on his right: GEN. ABUEVA. His expression stoic and calm as he stared back at Mizuki.
Mizuki wasn't really directly looking at him, meaning she can't see through the mirror at all.
"Don't be naive. She can't see us," Kingston answered without glancing at his colleague.
"You'll meet him later." Niccolo smiled. "Let's continue with our discussion, shall we?"
"I already told you everything, what else do you want to know?"
"Mizuki," Niccolo started. "There have been strange occurrences happening in Central City."
Mizuki didn't reply, staring blankly at the table and letting Niccolo continue talking.
"We all know that deaths are common in daily life, and Central City is not an exception. However, lately, the forensic department of Carcerem noticed some similar patterns in the deaths of a few citizens. Eventually, they found out that the deaths must have connected with each other." Niccolo observed Mizuki. "The investigation is still ongoing and we do not have final conclusion about the whole case, whether it is all planned and done by a single ability user, or just a whole coincidence. That's why it wasn't announced in the mass."
Uh-oh. Mizuki knows where this is going.
"Apparently, your friend knows about this case. " Niccolo paused, watching her reaction.
Mizuki's face gave nothing away. "How can you be so sure he knows about it?"
"Your friend almost perfected the act of stealing. It's as if he knows his way around to hide in the blind spots of the CCTVs. But he wasn't keen enough when he exited in the fire exit as he was seen by officers patrolling the area. Fortunately for him, he was able to lose them, but not too fortunate because we found out his information."
Mizuki's expression was deadpan, but in her mind, she was constantly cursing Karl. How did that jerk comes and steal something and be caught?! Surely he wasn't the one in the jail, but these guys found out his info anyway. It's only a matter of time before he'll get punished.
"The information he had is highly confidential that only Carcerem has it. At some point, we can let it pass. But if he had told anyone about it, it can cause a problem."
Mizuki blew a sharp breath. "All right quit it."
"Pardon?"
"I'm not talking to you. " She pointed from Niccolo, then to the mirror. "I'm talking to you, 'Uncle'."