006

I never thought that the day of me visiting a girl's house would ever come, let alone it being the house of Akibara Yako. The train ride didn't take us longer than 20 minutes, but it was enough time for me to dig some info on her family background.

I'd have always known she wasn't a regular old woman since no one could easily attend Waseda University without being one of the smartest students in the country or having a powerful family back them up.

It turns out that Akibara had both of those aspects within her as she was not only the top 2 student of our last year together but she was also the daughter of the world famous painter Akibara Kazuki, a legend in the artistry world for creating pieces of art that were full of life that told the story of a fleeting life and how we should cherish it.

"Can you stop reading the Wikipedia page of my dad in front of me?" Akibara-san sighed as she swipes her keycard at the automatic gates of the apartment complex she was currently living in.

"It's not much, but welcome to my home."

As I entered through the front doors of her apartment, I couldn't help but feel a sense of intrigue. Despite only knowing her name for a day, I have already known her for four years already, and now I was finally getting a chance to see where she lived.

The space was neat and tidy, with a minimalist aesthetic. The furniture was simple but elegant, with a few well-placed art pieces adorning the walls.

"Did your dad make those paintings for you?"

"Hmm? Oh yeah, those, " She giggled as he pointed to one of the paintings that looked like a bed of roses in the form of a hand that reached out to a nearby tree.

"He said that one was a failure, so he gave it to me. What a father am I, right?"

Despite her saying it was a failure, I couldn't really see it any less of a masterpiece with how each stroke of the brush seemed like it knew the meaning of what the theme supposedly was.

I continued to look around her apartment. The furniture themselves were truly simple and were made out of sustainable materials such as bamboo or plastic that seemed to be made out of recyclable materials.

In fact, almost every piece of furniture was made of the same material. Even the bookshelves that were filled with the brim of thick books that tackled about social sciences, laws, and how they were made, ending with a row of books about equality.

The life of a lawyer must be pretty exciting then.

"Sorry if the place is a bit dirty, I haven't cleaned. But feel free to make yourself at home." Akibara-san giggled with a sheepish yet warm smile before disappearing into the hallway with a towel and other beauty products in hand.

Seeing as I was already inside, I closed the door and took a seat on the couch in the middle of the entire apartment. It wasn't that big, but it wasn't that small that j could call it cramped either.

The only thing separating the living room from the kitchen was the counter, where I assumed she usually ate at as there was no space for a dining room table.

I couldn't help but notice the plastic sculptures and colorful masks that decorated her shelves and walls. They were all intricate and beautifully crafted, with a hint of mystery and intrigue hidden behind their eccentric facade.

When people said that a person's house would reflect their personality, they were right. Just from being here, I could begin to grasp what kind of person Akibara-san was, which made me wonder why she never left a strong impact on me when she would easily have done so.

I could hear the sound of the shower turning on, which brought me back to the reality that I was inside the apartment of a woman and that I was alone with her for the entire night.

Not like it had any effect, I was only here because I had no other choice. Desperate times called for desperate measures, and I was no idiot to continue struggling when she already dragged me inside of the train and paid for my ticket.

Seeing that I had the time, I simply stared at the failures that Akibara-san's father gifted her. It was a waste to just call them like that, seeing as how beautiful each one was, but if it was what the artist called them, then there must be something I couldn't see.

The paintings in simpler terms were very beautiful. Even though I was a professional artist, I could still figure out how much detail was poured into each one of them. There were four paintings in total that decorated the walls

One of the paintings featured a circle that started out with vibrant colors that slowly turned into grey hues until it reached the end, where a skull was cleverly hidden at the cloth that covered a newborn baby.

At the middle of it was a beautiful woman with red hair, pointing at a specific point at the circle where rose petals seemed to fall from her fingertips as she wore a melancholic smile of happiness.

The other featured a balding man who laid peacefully asleep at a valley of lilies in front of a cozy little home that seemed to be resting in the middle of the woods. It was painting with colors that were soft and soothing to the eyes, giving me this feeling of serenity just by looking at it.

The last one was the only one that I could agree was a failure. It was a blank, dark canvas with nothing painted on it except for hour glasses and a calendar that had its pages ripped off, leaving only the month of November on it.

In the middle was the faint silhouette of a woman. Perhaps it was never finished, but it felt like the piece was yearning for something more. Maybe the father had given it to the daughter in hopes she could finish what he had started.

"Are you seriously staring at those paintings?" Akibara-san groaned as she sat down at the free chair beside the couch that I was currently laying down on.

"I'm not staring at the painting, I'm interrogating it. It's not talking, but I'm sure it knows something." I deadpanned at her question and sat up to look at her at the eyes better.

"Oh haha, very funny, Mr. Detective."

For some reason, she got more irritated than usual, shooting me a harsher glare than her previous ones whole she was drying her red locks of hair.

I never had noticed it, but she had kept her hair long, leaving it a long time to dry, yet it was short and stylish at bangs.

"What? You look like you have something to say about my hair."

"Oh nothing, I suddenly remembered what you were like during college" I answered her and thought back to the memories that suddenly resurfaced

She got into trouble most of the time with her innovative yet challenging ways of doing things that the professors would suspend her just to stop their class from being taken over with her little antics.

"I thought you were supposed to be the rebel, but with that long hair, you look more like a Gyaru. Did you forget to rebel against haircuts?"

"Ugh, how rude can you get?" She rolled her eyes at my joke, but she couldn't hide the slight tug on the edge of her lips.

"As rude as a seagull stealing your french fries on a Sunday morning. Trust me, I've had plenty of experience"

I heard another audible groan escaped her lips, causing me to chuckle a little, "Anyway, didn't you tell me you had to get up early tomorrow?"

"Yeah? Why?"

I couldn't resist a smirk that tugged on my lips as I pointed to the clock at the top of the TV. Her eyes followed my index finger and immediately widened in shock at how late it was.

"Crap! It's 11pm already?" she cursed out loud, which honestly surprised me even more how quickly time had gone by.

"Yeah, time sure flies by when you kidnapped someone." I shrugged and comfortably laid down on the couch, not even bothering to remove my shoes.

"Sleep well, and thanks for letting me stay for the night." I turned my back towards her, indicating that I didn't want to hear anything that she wanted to say.

It wasn't long until I heard the sound of her bedroom door closing and it being locked soon after.

"at least she has the decency to suspect." I muttered underneath my breath and tried my best to get some sleep through the sweet aroma that was doninating my senses.

"damn girls, smell too good."