Chapter 22 – Refusal and Disconnection

Third person POV

 A few days had passed after the easy case has been solved, there is a catch in the aftermath: Kuchisake-Onna is now in love with Valentino, a human. Then, one Wednesday morning, Akira came to Valentino's department with some papers saying, "Sir, here's the papers you asked me to copy them out-" 

But, he saw Hachi being very surprised, with his eyes being a bit big. 

 "Um, are you okay?" he asked him. Hearing that, Hachi pointed his finger at someone. "This entity..." 

 "Wait, what do you mean that entity is-" 

Akira's sentence was cut off when he saw Kuchisake-Onna hugging and snuggling on Valentino, who was working in his computer as if it was nothing, while his coworkers and subordinates are terrified of her. 

 "What the...?" Akira commented in shock, before dropping the papers.

 "Don't even be bothered by it, guys," Valentino told him while kept on typing and typing. "She's in love with me." 

 "Do you think I'm pretty?" Kuchisake-Onna asked him. 

 "Can you stop asking that? We're at work." 

To that Akira questioned in his mind, "Are humans and supernatural entities like yokais allowed to be into a relationship? This is weird!" 

He is now questioning this insane crossover between the supernatural world and the overworld. 

Then, he snapped out when Valentino asked him to hand over the papers he just dropped moments ago. 

Akira did so, gathered the papers, and gave them to Valentino.

 But then, out of the blue, Valentino's smartphone rang. Upon hearing that, Valentino picked it up and saw that it was his former manager from his old agency in Milan. 

 "Ugh, what he wants now?" he asked, being annoyed by it. "Was it someone from your old agency?" one of his coworkers asked. 

 "Yeah, but I don't want to answer him. I'll just redirected it to the president." 

He then redirected the call to Masashi by forwarding it to him via his landline number. 

(In this timeline, mobile numbers and landline numbers can be connected with a strange communication technology that allows them to be connected via a call.) 

Because of this, Hachi said to Valentino, "Good for you, sir." 

 "I think they will get a disciplinary dismissal, or something," another of Valentino's coworkers in his department added. 

 "Yes, I'm over it," agreed Valentino.

 And so, Masashi receives the call via Valentino, and picks it up. "Hello? This is the Shibata Supernatural Agency. How can I help you?' Then, at the other end of the line, Valentino's manager said, "Hi, I really need Valentino now. He's actually good at everything. Can you send him back to us? We'll pay up." 

That manager had the audacity to bribe the agency to do that. 

So, Masashi, having known the reason why Valentino joined his agency in the first place, snapped. "Don't bribe us, you selfish brat! I won't let you have him! He's better off with us than with you and your rotting agency!" 

 "But, I wanted a promotion! I needed him!" 

 "You want a promotion? Then speak it to your boss!" 

Masashi then slammed the mouthpiece to its receiver angrily. "Never call us again!" 

Witnessing this, Akira commented, "Wow, is he that scary when he is angry?" 

Then, Masashi's female secretary responded with, "Yeah, that's why you don't want to make him mad." 

 "Yeah, true." Akira then left the office with some documents, saying to himself, "Don't make him mad. Don't make him mad." 

He would repeat that to himself throughout the day at work.