"You", Akira said to Ren, nudging his oblique with her elbow, "Where is Tomo Ogawa's room?"
"Over there", Ren replied, pointing at the hallway in their opposite direction.
"Lead the way. I'm after you", Akira responded as she lightly pushed Ren.
Ren nodded with a blank expression, but deep inside, he was perplexed and astounded at how she had been consecutively physically touchy with him.
'Does she not hate me? Why suddenly act like this?'
Shaking his thoughts away, he followed Akira's command and ran towards the direction leading to Tomo Ogawa's room. Akira followed him from behind.
"See you later guys! Don't mess up!", Akira yelled at the brothers as she and Ren disappeared in the hallway.
They had already passed by six doors, and Akira just realized that the hallway stretched longer than she expected.
Just how huge was Tomo Ogawa's house?!
"There it is!" Ren declared as he caught a small glimpse of the door to Tomo Ogawa's bedroom. "It's the last room in this hallway!"
Akira let out a sigh of relief at his announcement.
"Good! Now, out of my way", Akira said impatiently as she ran past Ren in lightning speed, eager to reach the door.
"No, wait!" Ren exclaimed as he tried to catch up to her, but to no avail.
Her feet were like that of a cheetah's as of the moment. When Akira was in the zone, there was no stopping her. Everyone in their clan was aware of that.
She was already standing in front of the door. Her right hand held the cold silver knob of the door, about to turn it.
"Dodge!" Ren shouted desperately, his face clouded with fear and worry.
Instantly, an ear-splitting explosion came. Ren held onto the white wall to brace himself from the strong impact, with one arm covering his eyes.
He coughed and called for Akira incoherently as he inhaled some of the debris and smoke caused by the explosion.
"Oh crap. Please don't tell me she's dead", he muttered under his breath, the beating of his heart blasting over his ears.
If Akira died, there would be no saving for him. Everyone in the Genjis would certainly conclude that he killed her. There were no witnesses and even if Ren tried his best defending himself or proving his innocence, he was sure they wouldn't listen to him. They would straightway send him to his death.
That's how it usually is with the death of a family member or relative that is related to murder. The grief of losing someone precious to them creates hatred, and hatred among all emotions is one of the most dangerous. If not careful, it will control you. It will cloud your mind, your eyes, and your heart, to the point that you are no longer thinking straight. You will seek for revenge, taking down anyone who could possibly be a suspect without even properly assessing and judging if that person is really the culprit or not.
As messed up as it sounds, but Ren actually couldn't entirely blame them if that's how they would feel. Besides, he also knew that they would really have a valid reason to implicate him.
As the smoke started to diffuse, his eyes frantically assessed the scene, waiting to see Akira's motionless body on the floor. However, to his surprise, there was no one there.
"What the hell dude!" an infuriated and furious female voice roared out of nowhere. "Why didn't you warn me that there was actually a hidden explosive by the door! You really wanted me dead, didn't you?! I thought I was a goner there!"
Ren averted his eyes from the floor and turned it to the ceiling.
There, hanging like the female version of Spiderman was Akira - her hands and her feet frozen against the ceiling.
The anxiety and heavy feeling in Ren's chest were quickly washed away and was replaced by the feeling of relief at the sight of her.
'Thank goodness, she's safe. I wouldn't expect less from such a feisty woman. She's not one to die easily', he thought to himself. 'And what a handy gift she has there.'
"I did warn you!" he replied to Akira's complaint and accusation.
"Too late man! Too late!" Akira pulled her feet first, cracking the ice that were holding them against the ceiling. Then followed her two hands. She landed elegantly and effortlessly on the floor.
Ren raised his hands in defeat as he witnessed the pissed expression on Akira's face. "Fine, I'm sorry. It's my fault. I should have mentioned it earlier."
The truth was, Ren only realized that there was actually a hidden explosive by the door when they were just near to it. However, he decided not to explain it and defend himself anymore as he understood that it would only prolong a useless and unwanted argument between them.
Obviously, he knew very little of Akira, but if there was one thing that he had learned about her, it's that the silver-haired woman was stubborn. Not to mention, she totally despised him. The man Kaito and her held the most hostility against him.
He was convinced that if he tried to explain his side, Akira would just question it, thus an endless squabble between the two.
Therefore, Ren would rather take all the blame. He thought that it was just a small price to pay if it was for the success of their mission. The last thing he wanted was for him and Akira to get distracted while on a mission.
Akira heaved a heavy and irritated sigh as she approached Ren. The red string holding her hair was loosening and almost instantly, it fell on the ground, causing her long silver hair to cascade down to her waist.
"What the crap", she grumbled. "Seriously, can things get a lot worse for me?"
She was convinced that Ren was a bad luck to her, fueling more her already deep-rooted aversion for the guy.
She picked up the red string that fell on the floor and carelessly tied her hair back to the way it was earlier - only this time, it was messier.
"That will do it for now", she said as she gave her head a one last pat.
"What?" she then asked Ren as she noticed him staring at her. "What are you looking at? Do you have a problem?" the tone of her voice reminded Ren of a gangster asking for a fight.
Ren quickly shook his head and removed his stare from her. "Nothing", he replied weakly.
"There are two men behind that door", he continued, changing the subject of the conversation.
Akira raised one of her eyebrows in question, "How sure are you?"
"I'm very certain. If we open that door, they'll surely get us right away."
"Then we just have to take them down with the door."
Ren had a confused look on his face, "How?"
A mischievous grin suddenly appeared on Akira's face.
"You'll see", she answered as she rubbed her palms together smugly, ready to make a move.
She whispered something that only herself heard. Then in a split second, a huge mountain-shaped ice appeared out of nowhere, crashing the door and taking the two men waiting behind the door with it. The two men ended up like two frozen human statues.
Ren stood baffled and amazed at the display in front of him.
"Don't worry. They're not dead", Akira reassured him. "Now, what to do?"
"Now, we look for the passageway leading to the underground room."
"So, where is it?"
Ren shrugged both of his shoulders, "That is something that I don't know."
"WHAT?!" Akira responded in shock and disappointment. "I thought you know where it is located?"
Ren shook his head, "That is what you assumed, but I never really claimed that I know exactly where it is. I just said that I know that the entrance to the underground room is found in Tomo Ogawa's bedroom."
"Well..." Akira trailed off.
She gave what Ren said a thought and realized that he actually had a point. He never really said that he knew where exactly the passage to the undergound room was.
"Fine. You're right", said Akira in defeat, knowing and accepting that she was the wrong one. She gave herself a mental note to ask and confirm things first rather than just assuming next time.
Ren stood frozen for a moment, surprised at her admitting that she was wrong.
"So, how do we find this hidden passage then?"
"Think. We need to think like Tomo Ogawa. If you are a person as smart as Tomo Ogawa, where would you hide it?"
Akira zipped her mouth close as she started thinking where would a man like Tomo Ogawa could had possibly hidden it.
'He would surely at least put it in a place that is concealed enough. Somewhere that is out of sight or somewhere that doesn't meet the eye when you enter the room.'
She pondered upon the thought intently. After a short while, it was like a light bulb suddenly lit up above her head.
"Under the bed", she mumbled to herself as she immediately walked up to the king-sized bed in the room. She kneeled down and bent over as she reached out under the bed, hoping and expecting to feel a dent, a button, or something that might indicate that there was a hidden entrance there.
To her dismay, there was none. All she felt was the flat surface of the cold floor.
Letting out a heavy sigh of disappointment to herself, she pulled herself back and stood up.
'Where else could it be? Under the mat? Behind a bookshelf?'
"Hey Ren, have you checked the carpet yet?" she asked as she turned around. She was a bit taken aback when she found Ren studying an upright piano that was located at the corner of the room. It had appeared to her that she didn't actually notice the piano there until now.
"What are you doing?" she asked as she walked to Ren.
"Do you know how to play the piano?"
She scowled at him dodging her question and instead answering with question.
"NO", Akira didn't bother hiding the distaste and iritation in her voice. She wondered where Ren could possibly be going at with the question.
"I was just thinking, for someone who has a very expansive house, why would Tomo Ogawa choose to place a piano in his bedroom? If I were him, putting it in the lounge is a better choice. Instruments like piano are better played indoors when they are in display or a wide space."
"Perhaps he likes playing for himself only?" Akira remarked.
"Perhaps", Ren replied as he traced his fingers around the piano's edges. "Or perhaps he has another reason."
All of a sudden, he dropped on his knees, causing Akira to be taken aback.
'WHAT ON EARTH IS HE DOING?! Is he having one of his psychotic episodes again?' Akira thought to herself as she was weirded out by Ren's unexpected actions and remembered how he actually had tendencies of just being crazy sometimes.
'Cringe. Why am I even working with this guy?'
Ren suddenly leveled his eyes with the piano's keys, earning himself more glare from Akira, but he was oblivious of it. He was only focused on what's in front of him. Then out of nowhere, he started laughing.
Akira hugged herself in disgust and moved a few inches backwards from him. She was very certain to herself that Ren was losing it.
'Yup. A total nutjob.'
"I've figured it out", Ren suddenly declared.
Akira's eyes widened at his unexpected statement.
"What do you mean?"