"The entrance to the underground room, I've figured it out", Ren said cheerfully, like a child who just won a prize in one of the hardest games in the arcade.
He had a reason to be that happy. Cracking one of the genius mysteries of the man Tomo Ogawa himself was a hard feat itself.
Any person who was able to figure out or solve one of his secrets would indeed be very proud of himself or herself. After all, Tomo Ogawa had a reputation - a man of brains and deep mysteries.
Akira couldn't say a single word for a moment. She was shocked at how Ren could say those words confidently.
Did he really figure it out?
"How did you do figure it out? And how sure are you?" she asked, doubting what Ren said.
A weak chuckle escaped Ren's mouth at her reluctance. Not only she was a stubborn a woman, but she also had some major trust issues.
"Have you forgotten what I told you before? Tomo Ogawa is a very smart man. The way he does things and the way he thinks is very different than how normal people do. You thought that he would have kept the entrance somewhere that is hidden, right?"
Akira couldn't answer right away. She knew the answer but she was hesitating because she was getting the feeling that he was going to her wrong.
Not very long after, she decided to just tell the truth, realizing that there was no point for her to lie to him.
"Yes, and what's the problem with that?" she answered with one of her eyebrows raised.
"Then I'm sorry to say, you were wrong."
Just as she thought.
"Hiding it somewhere that is very hidden is the most typical and expected assumption of people, don't you agree? Say for example, your friend is keeping a gun in his room and you want to find it. Where would you look first? Isn't it in the hidden corners or places in his room? Like under the bed? Under a carpet? Behind a painting? Behind a bookshelf?"
Akira pondered on what Ren was saying. She was starting to understand where he was going at.
For a man like Tomo Ogawa, doing the obvious was definitely not one of his ways. If he was truly an intelligent man, he wouldn't consider putting the entrance in a very predictable place. Instead, he would place it somewhere that was the least expected.
"You're starting to get it now, don't you?" Ren asked.
Akira nodded. Normally, she would already be complaining with the unnecessary explanation and cognitive processing that Ren was doing. However, there was a part of her that was intrigued to how Ren was able to crack the secret step by step.
She had never thought of herself as someone stupid, yet, she also knew that she wasn't a genius. It would be a great opportunity to learn how genius people think and do things.
If Ren was indeed correct to his claim, then that meant that he was a genius himself. Only a genius could understand another genius.
"He will not keep it in the most expected place. It's the opposite. He will put it where you least expect it. Like a piano. After all, who would suspect someone to hide their precious thing behind a piano, right?"
She didn't wait for the remainder of Ren's explanation as she believed that she already figured out where exactly he was going at.
Taking a few quick steps towards Ren, she kneeled beside him, imitating what he exactly did minutes ago.
She lowered her head and leveled her eyes to the keys of the piano, and there it was, the answer to the mystery!
All the keys of the piano were dusty, except for only one key: the middle C.
Akira didn't realize it, but a huge smile immediately formed on her face. There was a different excitement and joy that were starting to build up in her chest.
In her entire life, she had never encountered a man as clever as Tomo Ogawa yet. Dealing with him and his genius crafty ways was surely a pain in the ass.
Never had her mind and intellectual prowess been more challenged. It was honestly frustrating and infuriating. But she also couldn't deny the fact that once you finally cracked his methods, she felt so thrilled and proud.
It was like those feelings you get when in you're Math class. Sometimes, trying to understand and solve Math problems could really be troublesome and challenging.
You'd go through the same equation over and over again, and still get it wrong for God knows how long.
Sometimes you'd want go just give or even pull your hair or hit your head against the wall because of how frustrating it was. Yet when you finally solve the problem and get the correct answer, the feeling of fulfillment is unexplainable.
You'd feel very proud of yourself for having such a very hard and almost impossible task.
That's how Akira felt at the moment. It was a fantastic feeling.
"You're right. He is really a very smart man", she uttered, still wearing the smile on her face.
Ren was caught off guard at her reaction. The way she was grinning from ear to ear and the glint in her eyes were the last thing that Ren would expect to see from her.
He knew how much she took their mission seriously. But he didn't really expect her to be the type to express such joy when she cracked one of the 'puzzles' of Tomo Ogawa.
Additionally, for the days that he'd been with her at their estate, he had only seen basically two expressions from her: a glare and a blank face. Who knew she was actually capable of smiling genuinely and freely like a child!
"Right? If he is indeed using this piano regularly, it wouldn't be this dusty. But it's so weird that only one key is not dusty. It's because the key to the entrance, is one of the keys of the piano itself. The middle C note."
With that, Ren pressed the only key that wasn't dusty on the piano. Almost instantly, they felt the piano started to move.
The two quickly got up from their knees and moved back as they watched intently what was going to happen.
The upright piano was raised a few inches from where it was originally. After that, it started to move to the right. It gradually revealed the sight of stairs that were leading to the underground.
Akira and Ren stood on their spots patiently, as they watched the show in front of them unfold and waited for it to finish.
When the piano halted, they knew it was time to move. They gave each other a side glance.
"This is it", Akira said.
Ren nodded, "Yup. Let's get moving. We still have a diary to recover."
He raised his right hand forward, directing it to the stairs, like a gentleman from the Victorian era saying, 'Lady's first.'
Getting the signal, Akira moved towards the underground stairs, with Ren following her from behind.