12 We won't laugh

"It's impossible. That thing was imprisoned inside that room for 18 years." Wakana tells herself, "He can't be freed. He can't come to me."

Last night, she didn't have a second of sleep. She was scared all night that the phantom artist would come.

What if he leaves the apartment in the future?

In front of the station, she laughs alone. "That is impossible. Definitely impossible."

Minami Sei pats her shoulder. "What's impossible?"

She jumps back, raises her arms in defense. "Don't come closer... Oh, it's you."

He snorts when he sees her clumsy pose for the defense.

She glowers at him. Why is she seeing him the first thing in the morning? "Tsk!"

"Wait." He jogs ahead and blocks her way. "I have a serious question to ask."

Last night, he couldn't sleep because he kept thinking about whether she has a boyfriend or not.

"What do you want to know?" She makes a distance between them.

Minami Sei notices her action. He steps closer and asks, "Do you have a boyfriend?"

"That's a personal question to ask a colleague whom you barely know." She looks at him questionably. "Why are you asking me that question?"

"If you have a boyfriend, I would be less worried about you." Minami Sei crosses his arms, irritated that she's asking a question back. Can't she just simply say yes or no? "So, tell me whether you do have one or not."

She blinks at him awkwardly. "I didn't ask you to worry about me."

"I am still worried." More annoyed, he asks. "Why don't you just tell me whether you are in a relationship or not?"

Is he worried that she will stay single because of him? She frowns deeply. He still doesn't think that she likes him, right? This assumption making bot! "I do have one."

"Really?" He looks at her skeptically. When did this girl get a boyfriend? Who would dare to go out with her? "Why doesn't he come to pick you up?"

Why does her boyfriend have to come and pick her up?

"It's a long-distance relationship." It's a long-distance relationship because he is in the future and they haven't met yet. When they meet, it will become short-distance. "That's why he can't come and pick me up."

"Oh." He's a bit disappoined. "When did you meet him?"

She scratches her chin. The ghost man from the cemetery pops up in her mind. "I met him during the last year of high school."

"High school?" He nearly shouts. "Is he a classmate?"

But she used to stare at him during the police training too. If she had a boyfriend, why did she look at him that way back then?

She shakes her head. "He's not."

"Then, how did you meet him?" He's suspicious of her again.

"I met him in the cemetery at night. He saved me from bad people. Since then, he's my hero and lover." The corner of her lips tilts up into a sneer. "Do you have a girlfriend?"

Sei looks into her eyes. She seems to be telling the truth. But how can she go out with someone she met in the cemetery? Why would she even go to the cemetery at night? Her boyfriend sounds like a shady person. "I have a girlfriend. She also lives in another city."

"Oh." Wakana tries her best to keep her face straight.

He pauses before he adds, "When your boyfriend visits, we should have a double date."

"If my boyfriend agrees, we will have one." She puts her handbag on her shoulder and rushes into the station.

Sei stares at her with a complicated gaze. What is this agony in his chest? He runs his fingers through his hair in frustration. It must be indigestion. He huffs and follows after her.

***

In the basement, Nishimura Soichiro eyes them lazily. When none of them speaks, he asks with a sleepy voice, "What did you learn from the visit at the last victim's apartment?"

"The victims must have known the culprit and let him inside willingly," Sei speaks first. There's been an only one-way path to the apartment. There's not even a balcony. The window has iron bars. Unless the culprit can walk through walls, there's no other way to enter the apartment. "I am guessing that the victims locked the door by themselves. It might be a case of hypnotism."

"What about you?" Nishimura Soichiro asks Wakana.

Wakana avoids meeting Soichiro's penetrating gaze. "I don't know."

"You know something." Soichiro can see that she's being fidgety. "Speak up or go back to the apartment and observe again."

"Don't send me back there." Wakana's calm exterior breaks down in an instant. "I would rather resign than go back there."

"I won't accept your resignation letter." Soichiro snaps. Why are rookies acting like kindergarteners these days? "Speak up your thoughts about the case, Nakashima Wakana. This is a command from your superior."

Sei is wondering why Wakana is being this way. Is this way she didn't get promoted for years? What's she hiding?

Wakana looks at Sei. She turns her gaze to Soichiro. "Don't laugh at me, okay?"

"We won't laugh." Nishimura Soichiro has heard stuff about this girl. There's a reason why she isn't kicked out yet. The girl often said things that came out as truth about the case. But she's not bold. She often refused her superior's command to visit certain crime sites. She would never tell why she could come up with a piece of certain information about the case. That's why her team members often laughed or found her unreliable.

They say that geniuses often have quirks. This basement is a place for these quirky ones.

"I think that it's the culprit who was under the spell," Nakashima Wakana's voice is clear and straightforward when she speaks, "It's not the victims who were hypnotized. The last victim knows who the culprit is. She's the one who dealt with him."