T.A series Volume 2: The Illegitimate Extra

Chapter 8 - Tainted blood

By 9 am Thursday, everyone had arrived at headquarters situated in their school. Ranran's text message had told them nothing, except to meet at headquarters in the morning.

Emiko held three mysterious sheets of sketch paper in one hand.

"When we were upstairs, remember when all of us wonder how is it that Mr Muniko has no idea, let alone, choose not to inform any of us that the scammer was seen in the movie leaving out of the building he owned." she began. "About everything being right under Muniko-san's nose."

"That's right," confirmed Michio as reminiscences of his thoughts came back to him, as he placed a hand across his chin. "That did get me thinking for a second, but I didn't think anything of it..."

"You should have," Junko replied, unrolling the first sketch and placing it on the table. Everyone stared at her drawing of Namba Katsumi's face.

Then Emiko unrolled her sketch of Muniko-san, the one she'd drawn from memory, and placed it alongside.

Ran stared at them blankly. "So...?"

"Hang on a minute," Shinichi continued the explanation, as he stared in comparison while Ranran reposition the sketches, "Both of their noses..."Emiko unrolled the third sketch. "Hey! Why is it their noses are the same!?"

The third sketch was Emiko's masterpiece. She had drawn the nose, long and curved. The rest of the face combined the features of both men. Namba's bald head, with Muniko's mouth and chin.

She pushed the first two sketches aside and laid the third sketch between them.

Ran leapt up and could have almost hugged her. "Emiko, you're a genius!"

Shinichi simply grinned at the sketches, while his heart was racing with excitement inside."No way...what are the odds they both are born with the same kind of nose!?"

"I guess your intel you got from your mother is true after all." Ranran mumbled, her eyes were blinking rapidly at their answer before them.

Even Michio was taken aback, "It kinda explains why Namba looked familiar."

"Why didn't we see it before?" Junko demanded.

Takuma laughed. "It's brilliant! It's like they're the same person!" Then, he looked from one sketch to another. "But," he began breathlessly, "What does this mean!?"

Emiko's eyes gleamed with triumph. "I think they're related somehow."

"You are right," Ranran nodded. "What are the odds that they both shared the same nose? I mean Muniko-san could be Namba's father, or his uncle, or even his brother!"

"But don't you think it's odd? That they don't share the same surname?"Ran couldn't help but noted.

"Maybe they are a distant relative?"Michio offered."Which probably explain why they shared different surname."

"You know in the entertainment industry, if one wants to make it big without being overshadowed by a famous family member, one would change their surname without hesitation."Ran noted.

"What I don't understand is...if they are related, why Muniko didn't say anything?"Emiko couldn't help but frown.

Shinichi sat on the edge of the table."Do you recall what Genzo said about Muniko-san?" he asked. "About him having another reason for wanting to find Namba?" He stared at the sketches. "I think it's got nothing to do with stealing a million yen."

Ranran nodded. "Muniko-san and Namba are related. Imagining a family member stealing from Muniko is bad enough, perhaps their bad blood within their family was brewing from the get-go. Maybe some kind of family rivalry, something we don't even know about..."