Kings On The Horizon (Vol. 4-6) ✓

157 | Entangled

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MAX STARES AT THE buildings outside his car window with a blank expression. It was raining so the mood was a bit gloomy. It wasn't his favorite weather, but he wouldn't deny that it's a lot more calming than it is when it's sunny.

     "You seem to have something on your mind master," Étienne suddenly says, looking back at Max through the rearview mirror.

     Max continues to stare out of the window, the buildings slowly disappearing as trees started to take over, indicating that they were getting closer to the hidden campus of J.S High. "It's nothing," Max replies, but then he realizes something and looks back at Étienne. "You know what, there's something that you can actually help me with," he then says instead.

     "And what could that be?"

     "You're good at looking at people's backgrounds, right?" Max then asks, and Étienne didn't even ask or question it when he replied, "Who do you want me to look into?"

     Max couldn't help but smile in satisfaction after hearing his butler's answer. "Your loyalty can sometimes be terrifying, Étienne," Max says, looking directly at Étienne's eyes through the rearview mirror. The two didn't say anything for a while, but after a couple of seconds, Max broke the silence and finally asks, "Kawanishi Keigo. Does the name sound familiar?"

     "Kawanishi? Well he might be connected to Kawanishi Technologies, but I believe the company went bankrupt and the chairman was sentenced to prison," Étienne answers, and Max couldn't help but be impressed because he never thought that Étienne would even know of such a thing.

     "I'm glad you're already aware of that because Keigo is, in fact, the son of that chairman. He was the one who hacked a company's account so he could steal their money to save them from bankruptcy. They almost got away with it, but I think his father fucked up and so he used Keigo as an escape. Jokes on him though because Keigo was bailed out and he was sent to prison instead," Max explains, surprising his butler.

     "How do you know of such a man?"

     "He's, unfortunately, my classmate," Max casually says, making it sound like having a convicted hacker as a classmate was normal.

     "So this Kawanishi Keigo boy, you want me to check on him?" Étienne then asks.

     "Yes, I want you to check everything you can check. I want to know what he does, what his activities are, anything. I don't care how you'll get it, just make sure to get the job done. Do you understand?" Max asks.

     Étienne thinks about it for a couple of seconds, but after that, he looks at his master and nods his head, "Understood, master Leigh."

     "Good."

     "But master, if I may, what would you want me to specifically look for?" Étienne then asks.

     "I want you to find out if I could trust him," Max answers, and Étienne furrows his brows in confusion. "Trust can be subjective master, but if based on what I can see, this Keigo boy tried to help his father with what he knew best. He had good intentions, but unfortunately, it fired back on his father, who didn't trust his own son enough, which is why he sold him to the police. Of course, I'll still look into it, but I just wanted to share with you my insight into this as it might help."

     Max doesn't say anything, but he carefully listened to what Étienne just told him.

     "He had good intentions?" Max thought to himself before looking back out of the window.

     The two of them eventually arrive at the House of Kings, the rain still falling hard on them as Étienne parked the car in front of the main building. Étienne rushes out of the car, holding an umbrella as he opened the door for Max. He was about to cover Max from the rain by using his umbrella, but then a white uniform arrives and uses his umbrella instead.