Never Not
Ch. 34: Strong Opponent

The man whose real name is Matsui Rai looked straight ahead, looking at the magnificent city of Tokyo from the top of the tallest tower. He regressed his memory when he went to the Hospital where Shohei was being treated.

At that time, he passed by several policemen who seemed to be leaving the Hospital. They were telling me about the stabbing case that Shohei had.

"I heard from the investigation team lead Yamazaki-san had written a message on the sidewalk floor where it was sprawled" said one of the police.

Rai who accidentally eavesdropped on their conversation suddenly jumped with widened eyes. He stopped his steps and sharpened the auditory Indra to capture more information from the police.

"really? What did chairman Yamazaki-san write?" ask some surprised cops.

"L L O D" one of the police officers answered, spelling out every letter he saw on the scene.

"Whatis that? Is it a secret code?" The other policemen seemed to think.

"Eitherway. But even Shu's classmate did not understand and said it was not a code or a password. He wrote it using his own blood. And it appears to be wearing the left hand because the right hand is clean of blood" the police said.

"Is it an initial of the perpetrator who attacked him? Or something to do with the case in that viral video?" thought one of the cops.

"If you should have known, Yamazaki-san just had to write his name directly" the police said.

"Wait on! Don't you feel this stabbing is too coincidental? Although the scene of the crime was deserted and the surrounding shops were dead, no criminal record had occurred at the site before. That is, it is not a vulnerable place for crime rates to occur" said one critically-minded police officer.

After recalling the thing he heard last night, Black Shadow also started his live broadcast without any Mr. White was controlling everything as usual.

Seina was still in the same tower cupping her hands together, begging to be reunited with Black Shadow. Suddenly he gets a message from Kei informing him that Black Shadow is holding a live broadcast right now. Suddenly, the girl who was in a relationship with Shohei rushed to pick up her phone and open one of the live streaming applications.

All public eyes were on Black Shadow's current live broadcast. This broadcast looks different than before. If the video usually begins with the presence of Black Shadow who appears like a reporter with its flagship jargon, then now there is only a text that contains a kind of quiz. The masked man asked the audience to participate by answering the questions he was making on his current live channel.

On the dark screen was written a question containing:

Is it true that the missing hostess girl is running away the casino owner's money?

Is it true that the stabbing experienced by the Metropolitan police chief investigator was carried out by robbers?

People seemed to be frowning in confusion reading the question posed by Black Shadow. Yuriko, who was initially disinterested, became serious about watching the show when Black Shadow mentioned about the stabbing of the Metropolitan Police Investigator. As he recalled, this morning Rai reported that Shohei had not been aware.

At work, Kei who had just finished his show program seemed to think of something even though his eyes were still fixed on the laptop screen.

"Did he get a different fact finding from the police investigation? It's very interesting" Kei said with a faint smile as he plucked a finger.

Next, the writing changed again. On the screen it says that Black Shadow will provide a clue that makes it easier for the audience to answer questions. The screen instantly switched to a hospital room where Shohei was treated. On the recording also seen Shohei who is still lying and not yet awake.

Seina's eyes widened for a moment. "When did Black Shadow enter Shohei-kun's room and take the tape? When I go home? Or when I'm heading here?" he murmured while trying to remember.

After giving a hint of the recording featuring Shohei, the screen went back black and there was only a text.

"If you don't understand where the clue is, I'll let you know. Police investigators lying there are clues from the two cases above that are actually related. The investigator keeps evidence from the main culprit for the viral video case."

People were stunned when they read the message of Black Shadow on the screen.

The police in the Metro police building were also excited. They wondered what evidence Shohei had kept. Detective Shu looked at the abstract row of letters while squinting. He tried hard to interpret the meaning of the row of letters written by Shohei.

"Don't, the evidence that chief Yamazaki-san got was on his phone. So the prick smashed his phone!" said one of the police officers who made detective Shu's eyes wide open.

Black Shadow then opened the poll to ask the audience to answer his question just now. There are only two answers the audience needs to choose from, Yes or No. He also explained that the polling limit ends until tomorrow night. No doubt, the audience also flocked to follow the poll in accordance with their respective assumptions.

Black Shadow stopped broadcasting after promising to announce the results of tomorrow night's poll.

Seina still continued to focus her gaze onto the phone screen. He was suddenly stunned when he thought that maybe Black Shadow would come to this place. Right, when he was about to enter the elevator, his head reflexively looked up and saw Black Shadow using the elevator. The girl rushed to push the button. The elevator carrying Black Shadow suddenly opened right on the floor where Seina was currently.

"You again! Truly a persistent stalker," said Black Shadow smiling obliquely. He began to think that Seina was an ordinary girl who idolized him so much, but pretended to sell expensive.

Seina got into the same elevator, then faced each other with Black Shadow. "Whatever you say. But, to be honest since yesterday I've been dying to see you."

"Sorry, but I'm very busy" Black Shadow replied. He pulled quickly the nape of Seina's neck to make her approach. "If you want service as usual, then I can't now" he whispered in a charming voice and accompanied by a teasing glance.

Seina's eyes rounded for a moment. To coincide with that, the elevator door opened again. When the mysterious man was about to come out, Seina immediately held him back by holding the tip of the man's robe. His current position was behind the masked man.

"I just want to beg you to help the police investigator uncover the viral video. I beg!" pinta Seina while looking down deeply.

Black Shadow turned his head slowly, staring flat at Seina's hardened face at him. "Why did you ask me to do that?"

Seina was silent for a moment. Where might he say if the policeman lying down was his girlfriend. In addition, his instinct said if the prospective fiancee would face greater danger if he continued to investigate the case of the missing host girl video. Therefore, he begged Black Shadow to replace Shohei's duty in investigating the case before his lover realized.

"Because I'm sure only you can help them. The woman in the video and also the police investigator. Only you can!" said Seina with a pair of eyes stuck in Black Shadow's black bead.

"What reward would you give me if I did it?" said Black Shadow while turning his body to face each other again with Seina.

Seina pecked and could only gulp her bitter saliva. Black Shadow let out a frail laugh then turned around to decide to come out.

Just as the elevator door was about to close, Seina again shouted, "Let's meet again here tomorrow night! I'll wait for you here and you can ask me anything as long as you can solve the case."

Hearing that, Black Shadow could only murmur coldly. "D-can!" (Stupid)

Funny, everyone was expecting him. Until now, he did not know who was behind the chaos of all this. What he did just now was just to buy time while waiting for Shohei to wake up. In addition, the poll he held with his statement tonight to make the parties concerned become tight-fisted. He needs to read what actions the main actor will take on his live broadcast tonight.

In a different place, a high-ranking official looked panicked after watching the live broadcast of Black Shadow. Apparently he was influenced by Black Shadow's remarks which said that Shohei held a proof.

"What evidence does the police investigator keep?" thought with a furious face. "If it's like this, there's no other choice. He mustn't be conscious. Finish him off tonight, somehow! He must die tonight!" the official ordered a thunderous voice as he thrust out a bottle of arsenic, a dangerous substance known as a deadly weapon because it is difficult to detect and can coalesce in any liquid. "You know what you have to do with this, right?" ask his men.

The tall man nodded. "Good, Sir. I'll finish tonight without arousing any suspicion."

"You are always reliable" the official praised, laughing out loud.

He looked towards the young girl who was sitting on the iron chair. His hands and feet were wrapped around the rope while his mouth was smothered.

"You saw for yourself, right? I'm not afraid to take someone's life even if it's a cop. It's all because of your brother! If only he hadn't made that viral video, you would still be my darling" said the man, clutching the young girl's chin firmly as if to crush her jaw.

The frightened-looking girl could only shake her head. There was a puddle of water in the corner of his eye.

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