𝐒𝐏𝐔𝐑𝐈𝐎𝐔𝐒 - ★彡[ᴀʟʜᴀɪᴛʜᴀᴍ]彡★

𝟐𝟒 - 𝐃𝐄𝐓𝐄𝐂𝐓𝐈𝐕𝐄(?)

"Good afternoon! It's nice to meet you," a crimson-headed boy who looked around my age greeted me with a smile. "The name's Shikanoin Heizou, and I'm in charge of this case."

    "Ah, it's nice to meet you," I smiled awkwardly, a bit put-off by his enthusiasm.

    Alhaitham, who was standing a few centimeters away from me, repeated my sentiments.

    "This is my assistant, Yeong-su," Heizou gestured to the generic blonde-haired male who was standing at his side, "he'll be taking notes during the questioning."

"Alright, come this way please."

    Alhaitham led us to his office on the second floor. Compared to its normal casual feel, there were now three extra chairs set up for the guests.

"Let's get started then, shall we?" the detective's lips curled into a smile.

"I'm ready," Alhaitham cast a glance over to me as if checking to make sure this was alright with me.

    I took a deep breath and adjusted my posture so that I could appear as mentally prepared as possible. "I'm ready as well."

    "As you've been informed, it is highly suspected that this case was a break-in and abduction," Heizou began speaking, "as well as the victim being presumed dead due to the amount of blood at the scene. The main reason I'm here today is to ask Miss (Y/n) about her relationship with her father, as well as remind you both of the fact that there is a possibility that he is still alive due to the lack of a corpse on the scene."

    Despite his somewhat unprofessional approach, I swallowed my emerging emotions and spoke. "My father and I weren't particularly close. My mother was given custody over me and the two of them didn't have a peaceful divorce. Due to this, meetings with my father grew less frequent over time, and the last time I saw him in person was around ten months ago."

    "I see," Heizou's gaze flickered over me if to assess my body language as Yeong-us was writing down what I had said. "Could you describe the relationship between your parents? Only share the details you're comfortable with disclosing."

    "While I don't know the reason for their divorce, I don't think that they were entirely miserable as a couple in the beginning... All I know is that something happened with my father which caused their relationship to rapidly deteriorate." Remembering my pitiful childhood caused emotions to well up inside me. "My mother truly loathes him... she makes that no secret."

    "What is your relationship with her parents?" Heizou turned his gaze to Alhaitham.

    Alhaitham seamlessly made up a narrative about our relationship before I could even process the question Heizou had asked. "To be honest, they didn't approve of our marriage, and thus I have not been able to meet them. Due to the nature of my wife's identity being kept a complete secret, they believed that I was being disingenuous."

    "I see," Heizou adjusted the tie he was wearing and stood up. "What were you two doing on the day of the crime?"

    "The day of the crime was the day my wife was admitted into the hospital after a severe panic attack," Alhaitham replied, completely devoid of any emotion, "I was at work for a good portion of the day. I attended a meeting with the department heads to discuss the overall business and then headed home after filling out some paperwork."

    "What time did you arrive home?"

    "Eleven."

    "What time did you leave for work that morning?"

    "I left at nine in the morning due to working late the previous night."

    Heizou cast a sideways glance at Yeong-su before continuing his questioning. "And when did you go to sleep the previous night?"

    "At around four in the morning."

    "And what were you doing during the daytime, Miss (Y/n)?"

    "Kamisato Ayato visited me around noon, and disclosed the news of my father's passing to me. After this, I went into shock for several hours, and didn't move from the couch." Thinking back to that day, I was embarrassed at how pathetic I had acted in front of both of them.

    "I see." Heizou rose to his feet and glanced towards his assistant. "Yeong-su, I believe we've reached the same consensus, correct?"

    He nodded and stood up along with him.

    "As of right now, you two are in the clear as far as further questioning goes," he informed us as a strand of his hair fell in front of his face. He hurriedly brushed it aside and continued on. "However, depending on the conclusion that is reached in terms of the nature of the break-in, we may have to investigate you two further—especially you, Miss (Y/n). Is that understood?"

    After we escorted them out, Alhaitham turned to me, his gaze appearing conflicted.

    "That was rather short for an interrogation... I worry that the detective may not avail this investigation," Alhaitham spoke hesitantly, "I hope that he will be able to successfully get to the bottom of this."

    I understood why he would say such a thing, but I wanted to have faith in the detective and avoid judging a book by its cover.

    "Let's give it a bit more time," I murmured, "so long as the case is getting investigated, it's better than nothing."

    "It's nice to remain optimistic, but I hope that you don't let it blind you," he replied. "I should be off to work, then."

    "Alright," I nodded. Getting on my tippy-toes, I leaned forward and kissed him on the cheek. I felt a smile grow on my lips seeing his ears turn red. "Have a good day, honey."

    I was grateful for his presence–after all, it allowed me to find some solace in these rough times.

    "...You too." He returned my sentiments in an adorable manner.  Then, to my surprise, he reached out hesitantly and patted my head. "I'll be home in a few hours. Take care until then."

Hope you all have been well and have a great Thanksgiving(if you celebrate it). Recently I've kinda realized that I lie way too much about stuff in general, so I've been taking time off writing to focus more on fixing that lol (along with the really tough news). I think it genuinely may get people's opinions of me to lessen, and I don't want to seem like a dishonest person completely yk. Thank you all for all the support on this book! I will be writing more starting from now on, so hopefully I can get 2 chapters out per week.

Much love to you all,
Wasabi