"You don't have to worry; he remained calm."
That is even scarier!
There is no way Yuhi calmly reacted to the news of her being missing. If he did, then that must mean he plans to do something crazy later on.
"When you come back, tell me."
Sumire rolled her eyes. So can he dispose of the evidence? Like she would do that, she will catch him off guard.
Then again, she doesn't want to see Sano sleeping with another woman, not because she is jealous but something else. She no longer wants to recall the painful memories from back then.
"Take care of yourself." Those were the last words she said before she ended the call.
Hino was looking at her curiously. "You know this might not be the best time, but you two act like a couple."
Sumire glared at him, and Hino shrugged. "I am just saying. Maybe it is a habit from the past."
A habit, huh? It can't be, because back then, they could not speak to each other naturally. There were a lot of moments where they didn't know what to say to each other. During those moments, she would think, ah, what is she even doing? But she would never get a chance to finish that thought since Sano would switch to do something intimate with her.
They did not communicate with words but physically.
So, in other words, a sexual—
Sumire frantically shook her head. It wasn't like that at all, but anybody who heard her thoughts would think so. Make note never to tell anybody- she paused again when she realized something. Yuhi already knows, and his reaction was the normal one.
"Anyhow, do you want to eat? This is fresh." He points to several takeout boxes, and Sumire blinks. "Just so you know, I was planning on revealing myself eventually. It is inconvenient for me to just bring random stuff, so tell me if you specifically want anything."
"Should I get your brother too?"
"No need, he won't eat with me."
So Hino must have at least tried; well, that makes sense. She noticed something was off from just a few days of staying here. That kid has been here longer than her and most likely noticed such things much sooner.
Sumire quickly joined him at the dining table. "Sano told me something odd, Yuhi is voluntarily staying in prison?"
Hino sighed. "Yeah. The transfer to Hyou4 prison was so they could get him out since none of the officers in the normal station could get him to leave. Of course, this news was already released, so nobody is blaming Yuhi and the mess about your involvement-"
"Eli cleared it up." Sumire finished for him.
"Yes. If I knew he was going to do that sooner, I wouldn't have asked Yuhi that favor about convincing you to stay with Sano."
Convince? Yuhi did not have to convince her; she just naturally listened to him and did not question him.
"Is that person dead?"
For the past two weeks, she has not inquired about the person she shot since her mind was not in a good state. But now that she has calmed down, Sumire realized the gravity of the situation. What was she thinking picking up that gun and shooting on the spot? She could have easily dodged that attack and knocked them out, but instead, she picked up that gun.
Hino shook his head. "No, but they may as well be." He took out some documents from his bag. "Here, photos of the victim."
Sumire realized quickly that it was a police report and carefully browsed through it. The moment she saw the images, her eyes widened, horrified. "This-?"
"After you left, somebody else caused life-threatening damage."
But who could have done this in such a short amount of time? It would have to be somebody who was already at sight.
"This is the reason why the whole thing blew up because the victim received wounds other than the gun injury. The media tried to find evidence that you physically hurt and tortured the victim. But when Eli stepped up to assist, he provided forensic evidence that the hands of the person who caused those injuries belong to a man, not a woman."
"Did they also pick up the gun?" Then, Sumire recalled something else Sano told her.
Yuhi could get arrested in the first place because they found a man's handprint on the gun. So when Yuhi said he was at the scene too, they must have assumed that he could have done it.
"Yes, it seems so. Nakara discovered that they tampered with the gun. Flick through the next page."
Sumire did so, and it showed photos of the gun's original state and then the tampered version of the gun. "Doesn't it look the same?"
"Take a closer look."
She did so and still didn't see anything, but the moment she picked up the sheet of paper- she saw black swirls. In the next second dark energy pours out. Hino immediately pulled her back, and she let go of the image. But that didn't matter since the sheet of paper floating in mid-air.
What?
"I didn't think it would react negatively to you like this," Hino mumbled. "When Nakara and I looked at the photo, all it showed was the dark energy around the photo; it didn't do this-"
So it was only with her? How come?
You should know the answer.
A voice echoed in her head. Sumire placed her hands on her eye. What is this voice?
She hears laughter.
How stupid for you not to notice. Hey, it's me-
It's us-
How can our Queen be so stupid?
Hey, I know what we should do-
Hino turned to her. "Hey? What's wrong? you look pale?"
She didn't reply as she felt an intense throbbing pain in her chest. Is it that again? Will her hanyou side go out of control, and she will start lusting for blood again? But no, there is something different about this. Why is the throbbing pain much worse? Her insides felt like they were on fire.
Her throat felt so dry, and her vision is getting blurrier.
Before anything could happen, however, a flash of black appeared in front of her. A man who wore a white lab coat stood there. He looked at her with a pained expression. "Even now, it is too painful for you. When the day comes where you can't hide it anymore, what will happen?"
"Eli." She mumbled weakly.
"For now, you must get some rest."
Despite her blurred vision, she could make out his sad expression. Why does he look so lonely?