Interrogation

Chapter 106: S2 Episode 7 - Interrogation

*CRACKKK!*

Shards of glass being dropped reverberated throughout the large cooking room.

It was the sound of the word "murder" that caused Keiko to lose grip of her plate. Her dessert splattered onto the floor and she was in a daze after his admission.

"M-murdered?" Keiko asked faintly to which Henri Lucas responded with a slight nod.

"Yes, I believe that's the case."

He didn't waste a second in responding and he didn't try to mask his words with sweet smiles or hesitation. He was giving it to her straight which was all the more shocking to her.

What was this man saying?

"N-no, that couldn't be… I witnessed her get hit by a car! I saw it happen!" Keiko was now raising her voice at the man but he tried to calm her down.

"Miss Keiko, please listen to what I have to say first before responding, please. I do not doubt that you saw what you saw, but there seems to be a lot more going on in your mother's death than you're aware of," Henri Lucas began but Keiko wasn't hearing any of it.

"I know how my mother died! There is no way that she was murdered!" Keiko denied with gritted teeth, which made Henri Lucas put out his hand to stop her from talking.

"Do you know if the person who'd hit your mother was arrested at the scene?" Henri Lucas asked which made Keiko backtrack her thoughts.

'Was the person who hit mom arrested by the police? It was 6 years ago but I-I don't remember… Did that happen?' Keiko asked herself with apparent doubt.

"I-I'm sure something like that happened," Keiko spoke with hesitance but Henri Lucas didn't give up on interrogating her.

"Did you see who that person was? Their gender? What did they look like? What kind of sentence did they get? Do you know if there was a trial held for them, Michiko Keiko?" Henri Lucas bombarded her with questions without end but all Keiko could do was act frazzled.

For some reason, it was the first time she ever considered those questions after the incident. She never recalled there being an arrest and she never got to see who had run over her mother.

The sad thing was… she never even got to see her mother again after that incident.

'Why can't I remember anything?!' Keiko thought in frustration, fiercely biting her bottom lip.

"I must've been very traumatized by the event that I don't recall those details," Keiko responded.

"Though I understand that seeing your mother die in front of you is an undoubtedly traumatizing event, I can see in your eyes that this is the first time you've ever thought about this before," Henri Lucas noted and Keiko flinched in response.

He hit the nail right on the head.

"Your mother was claimed to have died by a speeding car but there was no arrest for the person who'd hit her. Not only that, but your father, Michiko Kenji, seems to be hiding some things from you, Miss Keiko."

"Are you trying to say that my father is purposefully hiding something from me—his own daughter?" Keiko asked with some aggression in her voice but Henri Lucas shook his head.

"I don't doubt that he doesn't trust you, it's just… I believe that your father knows more about your mother's death than you do yourself, Miss Keiko. Didn't you know that there was no trial held for your mother's death?" Henri Lucas asked which made Keiko tilt her head in confusion.

"There was no trial held? But there should've been!" She responded and Henri Lucas looked at her with a smirk.

"Yes, in normal circumstances, there would be a trial held. But if you think about it again, your father is a prosecutor so he must have ties to the police department and the investigation. So, if he was in charge of the prosecution of the trial, why was there no trial held for your mother's death?" Henri Lucas asked her but she didn't know how to respond.

"Not to mention, the body of your mother was never shown to anyone besides the people involved in the investigation," Henri claimed, which made Keiko even more startled.

He was right and she hated it. There was no doubt that even Keiko herself, who witnessed her mother's death, never even got to see her dead mother after that traumatic event. She believed that her father was shielding her from seeing how torn up her mother's body was since Keiko was only 8, but he didn't even allow her to say one last goodbye.

She was completely left out of her mother's funeral. Actually, was there even a formal funeral held for her mother at all?

"I-I-I don't—"

"—If you still doubt my words, then I think the person you should be seeking answers from is your very own father. He must know about the cause behind your mother's death more than anyone," Henri Lucas ended and Keiko was completely speechless. It was as if she'd lost her voice after hearing his mind-boggling words.

There was more to her mother's case than just a car accident? Her father... was hiding things from her?

His words seemed unbelievable that she began to doubt again but she continued asking herself more of the questions he'd interrogated her with.

The event of her mother dying was vivid but just barely lingering. She didn't know who was arrested or if they were arrested at all, and she didn't know that there was no trial held for the case of her mother.

For some reason, it all seemed a bit too strange.

'Does Dad… does he know something about this?' Keiko asked herself with uncertainty until Henri Lucas shrugged his shoulders.

"After all, it's just speculation. I don't really know what happened, but I think that you should look more into this—"

—THUD!!!

The cooking lab's doors slammed wide open, and at a distance, a handsome boy with dirty blonde hair and brown eyes, along with a tiny fairy with milk chocolate-colored hair, came through the door at a serious moment in this conversation.

It was none other than Kashino and Chocolat.

"Michiko! What was with that sound? Did you break something?!" Kashino said in a panic which caused both Keiko and Henri Lucas to look at the panting boy who barged into the kitchen.

For some strange reason, a tear was forming in Michiko Keiko's eye but she quickly brushed it away as if it was nothing.

That's right, crying showed weakness and she didn't want to do it in front of anybody.

She clenched her hands into a fist and gritted her teeth after the conversation with Henri Lucas. She didn't know how to respond to his words but she let it go after Kashino stormed into the kitchen. The question on her mind now was:

'What's Kashino doing here?'

She saw the breathless boy walk up to her.

"Did a dish fall? Did you get hurt?" Kashino bombarded her with questions as he walked up to her to analyze her hands to see if she was injured.

He was so abrupt in his movements that she didn't know how to respond as he held her thin, frail hands. She could clearly see that on his handsome face there was concern and worry. This was the first time she'd ever seen Kashino show any emotion of worry in the time that she'd spent in St. Marie Academy. And at this strange spectacle, she was taken aback.

Unsure of what to do, she gently pulled her hands away in hesitation but Kashino remained close to her.

"Michiko, are you all right?!" Andou and Hanabusa came shortly after, appearing breathless as if they'd just ran a marathon.

'Andou and Hanabusa as well? Why are they so tired coming over here?'

"I'm fine. A plate fell as I was trying to try my dessert. I was just about to clean it up," Keiko quickly covered up as she hurriedly went down to pick up the broken shards of the plate.

"Wait! Don't pick it up with your bare hands or you'll get hurt!" Kashino warned, preventing her from cleaning up the remains of the plate. She hadn't even realized what she was about to do.

"O-oh. I guess I wasn't thinking straight," Keiko said faintly until she stood up again.

"Ah! Mr. Henri Lucas is here as well!" Hanabusa, Andou, and Kashino noticed shortly after in unison. By Keiko's side stood the tall and handsome French man, Henri Lucas.

As she stood up again, she lowered her head at Henri Lucas and muttered quietly to him so that they were the only two who could hear each other.

"*Do not speak a word of today's conversation to my teammates or to anybody else. Do I make myself clear?*" Keiko spoke silently and Henri Lucas gave a slight nod at the girl's scary request.

"I wasn't planning on it," he responded as quietly as a mouse.

In the boys' heads, they wondered what Henri Lucas was doing here in the middle school division's cooking lab. He wasn't supposed to be there, but when did he and Keiko get that close?

"Bonjour, everyone," Henri Lucas spoke up with a sweet and charismatic smile as if nothing happened. The boys turned their heads to see Keiko who seemed slightly perturbed but she acted as if nothing was out of the ordinary.

"Once you guys had left, Mr. Henri Lucas came in to drop by to see how we were doing," Keiko explained calmly but Henri Lucas was in shock by her words and calm actions.

How could she quickly change her emotions to act as if nothing had affected her during their conversation? She clearly seemed at a loss not too long ago, but it was as if she'd put up a mask.

In his mind, his vision of Michiko Keiko had completely changed. Although he still saw her as a highly talented and capable student, she was someone who was quick to put a mask on. Not only that, but she was a very secretive and headstrong young girl who wouldn't expose her secrets or weaknesses to anyone; including her teammates.

'How interesting…' Henri Lucas thought to himself.