How is he?" The soft voice pulled K

How is he?" The soft voice pulled Kirishima back from his own thought.

"Asami-sama is well," he answered absentmindedly.

The boy laughed resentfully. "I am so angry at him these last two days that I can't think of anything else. And he isn't affected at all."

Oh. He gave the wrong answer, did he not? "Well, now that I think about it, Asami-sama looked distracted and he made mistakes in his works," he quickly fixed his answer.

Takaba-sama chuckled dryly, knowing his obvious attempt to save his boss' ass from the boy's anger. "Ryu doesn't make mistake in his works. Ever. But you will do anything for him, even lying, won't you, Kirishima?"

He shrugged. There was no use to pretend anymore. "I will but I didn't lie to you when I told you about my sister."

The boy didn't say anything to that.

"Asami-sama can be very difficult to understand. But he is a good person in his own way. Whatever he did, he did it for you. I know it is hard for you to believe at the moment. I..."

Shit. What was he doing now, trying to defend Asami-sama in front of his boss' lover? Didn't he tell Haruka to stay away from this affair? Why can't he do the same?

The boy's easy laugh stopped his remorse. For the first time that evening, Takaba-sama didn't sound so bitter.

"No one will devote his or her life so willingly to a person who is bad, Kirishima. But Ryu has at least two persons who will die for him willingly. I believe that he can't be all that bad to be able to gain Suoh's and your trust. Don't worry. I love him way too much to hate him forever. But I need more time to calm down, okay?"

Too speechless to answer, Kirishima merely nodded.

"And stop ringing the bell, you jerk. Use your own key!"

Shaking his head, he explained, "I can't. Asami-sama told us to respect your space for now and-"

"Yeah. Yeah. And you will do whatever he said exactly to the last letter."

"He also told me to tell you that he will have a business trip for a few days. He will leave in a few hours but he will be back soon. He wanted me to remind you that you can always call him anytime. Anytime, he said. Of course, you can also call me if you prefer. But I need to strongly emphasize that when he said anytime it meant that you-"

"Fine. Fine. I got what he meant. He wanted me to call him as soon as I calm down. Actually, It will be easier for both of us if he just come and tell me himself. Nevermind. I promise I will do it, okay? Now, get out!" The smile softened the harsh words. "I am so tired. I want to clean the house a bit then go to sleep."

He was at the door when the boy called him softly, "Kirishima?"

He stopped and turned around.

"Thank you. You are a good friend."

The simple appreciation was enough for him. Kirishima felt something intangible choking his throat and he couldn't say anything without sounding like he was going to cry. So he bowed low in respect to Asami Ryuichi's partner and left the penthouse without another words.

8.12 PM, around 6 hours before Akihito met Emi

"Urghh," Kou grumbled while rubbing the back of his head.

What was going on? He was lying on a hard, cold concrete floor. His head hurt like hell. And his entire body ached.

Kou remembered walking behind Arata into a building, one that was specified in the text message. It was so quiet inside that he could hear the sound of cockroaches and rats scattering away from them. The air was damp and the foul smell of urine and something rotten instantly invaded his nerves. He moved carefully, trying as much as he could to not touching anything that looked suspiciously disgusting.

Then everything went blank.

"Kou. Kou. Are you okay?" Arata's voice sounded far and worried. Where was he?

"Arata?" He tried to talk but his own voice was rasp and hoarse. "What happened?"

"You were hit. Don't you remember?" Arata whispered in concern.

Hit? By who...?

The image of Arata's sister, unconscious and chained into a column in the middle of the vast empty warehouse, came to Kou. He recalled seeing Arata run to his sister. Then...nothing. He couldn't remember a thing.

"Ah, you finally woke up. Kou, isn't it? Arata told me your name. In fact, he told me everything. He is such a nice guy, isn't he?"

Slowly, Kou's eyes adjusted to the dimmed lighting. He could see Arata sitting on the floor, holding the unconscious Mariko tightly in his arms as if to protect her from any harm. Another person sat on a chair beside him, stroking his friend's hair gently.

Blinking, he asked, "Who are you? You looked like Akihito, but you are not him."

The laugh was girly and sweet. It turned Kou's stomach until he felt like puking. Well, Kou had never like candies and sweets since he was young. So, he believed it was understandable that this girl's way-too-sweet voice freaked him out instead of calming him down.

When he tried to bring himself up so he could face whoever this person was with more dignity, he realized that his ankles were chained to another column, separating him a few meters away from his friends. He yanked it and his heart sank. The chain was solid steel. There was no way he could get out of it without proper tools.

"Finally, someone who can differentiate me from that boy. You are the first, you know," the compliment brought his attention back to the girl sitting on the chair.

Ignoring that stupid chain for now, Kou snorted. "Akihito and I have known each other since we were in elementary school. Even if I want to, I won't be able to mistaken someone else for him. Who on earth are you? Why am I chained to this stupid thing?"

Kou couldn't miss the way Arata flinched at his rude tone. Whatever happened while he was unconscious, it made his friend afraid of this girl. Arata didn't even dare to get away from her casual-but-not-too-casual touches. Kou noticed dark bruise below Arata's left eye and a trace of blood at the corner of his lips.

"I told Arata to come here alone. But now that you were here uninvited, Kou, I need to do something about it, don't I?