True Love, Sweet Lies

Chapter 1 pt 2

-Lounge-

When they call up that breakfast is ready I head down to the agency.

Nozomu: "Good morning, y/n."

Y/N: "Good morning."

Nozomu: "Did you sleep well?"

Y/N: "...Yeah, more or less."

Nozomu: "That was quite the telling pause before you answered."

Y/N: "I-It was?"

Nozomu: "Well, we'll get to that eventually..."

The chief hands me a picture. Its subject is a white-haired gentleman, grinning as if he's up to no good.

Nozomu: "Would you mind comparing the man in this picture with the one you took?"

Y/N: "...?"

I pull over a newspaper with a copy of my picture and look closely...

Y/N: "It's the same person...?"

Nozomu: "Bingo!"

Kiyoharu: "Jack Attenboro."

Y/N: "What!? That's him?"

Nozomu: "Wait, you know about him?

Y/N: "More or less...He was features not too long ago in a medical magazine I read."

Kiyoharu: "He's well-known in the pharmaceutical industry as a researcher."

Y/N: "But... What's he doing in this photo? He's a misanthrope who hates having his picture taken and hardly ever shows his face...Or at least that's what I read in the magazine..."

Rui: "Apparently the criminal underworld wants him dead."

Y/N: "What...?"

Rui tells me this in a sleepy voice... thoroughly at odds with the shocking nature of the information.

Y/N: "But why would anyone want him dead...?"

Naomasa: "To take over an organisation and gain power....Its pretty typical."

Nozomu: "He's been in a dangerous position for years now, and had been under the protection of a specific organisation from a certain country...but perhaps things were too strict for him there, because now he's run away."

Y/N: "He ran away!? But what does that have to do with me...?"

Nozomu: "Thanks to your picture, we know that too. This right here is the worst part."

The chief points to a man next to Jack.

Nozomu: "It looks like he's attacking Jack, doesn't it?"

Y/N: "It really does..."

Nozomu: "Though you may not have realised it until now, you were at the scene of a crime. That makes you a witness, besides which, you also have the picture data. Proving not only that the crime happened, but who did it. That's why the thugs who attacked Jack are after you. As well as Jack."

(As well as...Does that mean they want me dead...?)

Y/N: "But that's... Wait, I don't remember these people at all!"

Kiyoharu: "Which means nothing to the lowlifes who are after you."

Y/N: "But..."

Kiyoharu's reply is so matter-of-fact, I ant think of anything to say in response.

Nozomu: "And...that brings us to the real issue. We've been hired by that one country's little organisation. they want us to find and protect Jack, while at the same time...we're supposed to collect all of the photos you took..."

Y/N: "They even want my pictures..."

Nozomu: "And when we've done that you'll be safe, y/n."

Y/N: "..."

(He says that like its nothing, but I don't think it will be that easy...)

The chief flashes me a big smile as I struggle to take it all in.

Nozomu: "And if we succeed, they've agreed to pay a million pounds!"

Y/N: "A million pounds!?"

Nozomu: "With that much money being thrown around, who could say no?"

The chief gives me a thumbs-up as he says this, striking a somewhat dated pose.

(Th-That's it? He just took the job as soon as he heard about the money...? Still, if he's getting requests from national organisations, these guys must be really good detectives...right?)

Kiyoharu: "Hey, how old is this coffee?"

Rui: "I don't know. I've never seen any here that wasn't long past its expiration date."

Sakuya: "...It's two years old."

Kiyoharu: "Blargh!!"

Rui: "Ugh, that's gross."

Y/N: "..."

(They don't seem all that talented... but they must be...)