...chapter 1...

"So, you know she started to ignore him because.... Hey! Aoi!! Are you even listening to me?" "No, I'm not and I don't plan on doing so. Let me finish my work and DON'T bother me. Now, get out." "Now, is this anyway to treat your brother?" "You getting out or what?" "Alright, I'm going."

That was my brother. We don't live together. he'd just came over to visit me. Not to mention he's older than me but still tells me every stupid thing that happens in his friend circle. Can't blame him though. He's trying to make me understand that I need to make more friends. But not having many friends is not a bad thing now, is it? I have one friend and he's more than enough for me.

After a few hours I sat in my car and drove to the café where I was supposed to meet the detective. I got out of my car and entered the café. It seems he wasn't here yet. I sat on a chair and decided to wait for him. We were supposed to meet at 2:30 but I was very nervous. That's the reason why I arrived 30 minutes early. To my amazement there was no one else in the café. I found it wierd. usually the café would be crowded at this moment.

He arrived exactly at 2:30 neither a second early nor a second late. I tried to get up to greet him but my body just seemed to freeze. I felt as if I had met him somewhere. He wore a suit. His suit was so beautiful that I couldn't take my eyes off it. The suit he wore appeared to look like the one royal people would wear in the olden times. He wore glasses. Now I couldn't take my eyes off his glasses. You see, I have a thing for old things. However, he removed them when he came closer to where I was sitting.

He paid no attention to my bewildered self. He sat opposite to me and said, "I hope I wasn't too late?" I tried to sound as confident as I could, "Oh, no you were on time." He instantly said, "So shall we start discussing about the case, Miss Aoi?" At the mention of the case I got alert. I replied "yes" in a low voice. "Very well", he said in a stern voice.

I slowly passed the file to him which I kept close to me like it was some kind of souvenir.

He took the files and said that he would take a look at them later. He gave me his address and asked for mine too, in case I wasn't reachable or if there was some important information regarding the case. I don't know why he did that. If he wanted to meet me regarding the case, we could have met at the café again. I decided not to question him as it would seem wierd maybe? I don't know.

Anyway, he left saying he had some work to do and said that he would get back to me. After 5 minutes the café actually looked like a café. People began to enter, talk and whatever a person would do in a café. Then I decided to leave as I don't enjoy being around become that much.

When I reached home it was already late, too late. I washed up and was thinking about what to eat when there was knock on the door. I was very much annoyed but then too, I had to open the door after all. I was relieved to find just Alex outside the door.

He had bought something to eat. My favourite ramen. He didn't like it that I almost everyday ate ramen. But tonight was different. He knew I was gonna meet the detective today. Whenever we're happy we eat ramen to celebrate. Even though it's just my favourite not his :)

He aksed me to spill everything and so I did. "I don't even know his name. All I know is that he is some detective. Alright, let's call him

Mr. Detective. So, I handed the files, you know which files, don't you?" "I most certainly do not know", he replied in a humorous tone.

"The files regarding the case, our investigation which we were forced to leave halfway because we were not detectives?"

"Oh yeah?"

"I think you shouldn't drink more, Alex."

"Well, I'm not drunk. I'm just acting drunk."

"That's right, you should stop acting like you're drunk. My neighbours might think I'm forcing you to listen to me."

"Righttt, sorry."

I then told him every single detail about Mr. Detective. He was listening and staring at me like some child would. I liked that.

"Are you sure that's a living man? cuz I find it wierd. Why would he wear that type of clothes?"

"Maybe he's just like me, into old things"

"Maybe", he said clearly not convinced.

To be honest I, too, wasn't convinced about it. But decided not to pay attention to it.

Alex left around 12:00 am. His house was far but not too far. He had his motorcycle with him so I estimated he'd reach in 30-40 minutes. After 1 hour, I received a text from an unknown number, it said:

"Meet me at 10 am, tomorrow, at the address I gave you today. This is important."