Chapter 8: Exposed?
Aqua concentrated intently, continuing the monotonous and tedious attempts at the password. His fingers mechanically repeated the same motions on the numeric keypad. An hour passed, and when he entered the sequence "9364," the phone screen suddenly lit up, displaying the home interface.
He had succeeded.
It was already very late. To avoid discovery, Aqua had long since turned off the room lights and had been working silently in the dark. In the still shadows, only his small face was illuminated by the faint blue glow of the screen, making him look exceptionally focused and mysterious.
Although Aqua was usually emotionally stable and rarely showed obvious joy or sorrow, a slight smile tugged at the corners of his mouth after such an arduous ordeal. The stars in his eyes seemed brighter than usual, betraying a rare flicker of excitement and satisfaction.
Opening the Line messaging app on the phone, he found the friend list nearly empty, but the account of Hikaru Kamiki loomed large among them, alongside several fan groups dedicated to Ai.
*That guy, Hikaru Hoshino... how did he get mixed up with Ishigami?*
Aqua grabbed his own hair with one hand and unconsciously began to pull, biting his lip hard. He felt a wave of irritability.
In the chat history with Hikaru Kamiki, Aqua discovered a massive amount of messages sent unilaterally by Ishigami. The content mostly consisted of reporting his "work results" and expressing deep admiration, but there wasn't a single reply.
It was merely a one-sided outpouring.
*This doesn't prove Hikaru Hoshino was involved in Ishigami's plans,* Aqua thought. *It's very possible he was just another victim targeted by Ishigami.*
Continuing to scroll, Aqua found the chat logs between Ishigami and Ryosuke.
At this, Aqua's expression turned grim. He pursed his lips, staring at the text on the screen with such focus that even his breathing became cautious.
However, to Aqua's shock, the dialogue between Ishigami and Ryosuke was also pitifully sparse—barely a few sentences in total.
*He wasn't the one who instigated Ryosuke at all!*
These old-fashioned phones lacked complex features or interfaces; once the password was cracked, all files could be accessed with ease. Aqua browsed quickly and soon discovered disturbing content.
The phone contained a hoard of criminal records and evidence: several blurry photos showing vagrants being beaten, accompanied by detailed text logs; short videos recording the abuse of small animals, the footage bloody and cruel; and notes detailing the specific steps and schedules for planned arson and other criminal activities.
Aqua frowned, the content nauseating him, but he forced himself to continue.
There were also many audio files. Aqua clicked through them one by one. Most were blood-curdling screams of animals mixed with muffled human voices, or mundane conversations about dock unloading and warehouse moving.
*Useless information,* Aqua thought, his finger tapping the desk expressionlessly as he clicked the next audio clip.
A familiar voice came through the phone's speaker.
"Hey, Ryosuke-kun, do you think I'm a total failure of a person?"
Aqua's finger froze. His entire body seemed to lock up.
—It was the voice of Hikaru Hoshino.
Background noise typical of an *izakaya* drifted through—the clinking of plates and the chatter of other patrons, creating an atmosphere of private intimacy.
"Why the sudden talk?" Ryosuke's voice sounded confused. "Did you drink too much, Mr. Kamiki?"
"No, it's just... some things happened recently." Hikaru's voice sounded dejected, trembling with a hint of intoxication. After a long silence, he suddenly dropped a bombshell: "Ai and I broke up."
"You're a fan of Ai's; you're probably the last person who wants to see her in a relationship, right? Well, there you go. She dumped me. It's all over."
Ryosuke didn't speak. There was a long silence in the recording before Hikaru continued.
"I know I'm not good enough for her, but my feelings for this relationship were real. I didn't expect to be dumped in the end. Last month, at the Ueharas' funeral... you know about that, right? Actors Seijuro Uehara and Airi Himekawa. After the funeral ended, she found me and told me she wanted to break up."
"It's a pathetic love story, isn't it? Even I feel sorry for myself."
Ryosuke finally spoke: "...Mr. Kamiki, you'll find a girl better suited for you. Ai is an idol; it's only normal that she can't be in a relationship, right?"
"That makes sense. Maybe she was just playing around from the start and never took it seriously. Thinking about it that way just makes me angrier."
After Hikaru finished, the sound of drinking and a glass hitting the table followed.
The recording ended.
Aqua stared at the now-dark screen, expressionless.
From the recording, Hikaru Hoshino and Ryosuke definitely knew each other, and their relationship seemed quite good—good enough to drink together in private. Based on the content, it sounded like Hikaru was simply sharing a miserable breakup story; on the surface, there seemed to be no issue.
*No,* Aqua narrowed his eyes.
*There's a huge problem.* Hikaru clearly knew Ryosuke was Ai's fan—why would he share something like this with him? If Ryosuke was impulsive, wouldn't that put Ai in danger?
But he couldn't be certain. Hikaru might not have known Ryosuke's true nature. Not every fan is a fanatical obsessive; in fact, normal fans are the majority. Ryosuke likely hid his true self, and perhaps he was the one who approached Hikaru in the first place.
If it was just two friends sharing a failed romance, this recording alone wasn't enough to judge Hikaru's true stance in the whole affair.
What Aqua found strange was that Hikaru had never mentioned knowing Ryosuke. That wasn't exactly a forbidden topic, was it? If they were friends, why did Hikaru show zero reaction after Ryosuke died?
Aqua frowned in thought, then a realization hit him.
*Right... that guy has amnesia.* From their time together, it didn't seem faked. If so, he probably didn't even know what his relationship with Ryosuke had been.
While there were many suspicious points, it didn't seem likely that Hikaru was the one instigating Ryosuke. On the day of the attempted assassination, it was Hikaru who arrived early and stopped Ryosuke. If he wanted to harm Ai, why would he stop it? If Hikaru hadn't made it in time, given Ai's lack of precautions, Ryosuke might have actually succeeded. No matter what, it was a fact that Hikaru saved Ai's life.
Information was still missing. There was definitely something he didn't know.
The matter with Ryosuke wasn't that simple. Others might have been involved, playing roles he wasn't aware of yet.
Perhaps he needed to dig deeper to find the truth of the event.
If he asked Hikaru directly, would he tell him? No, he has amnesia... Though he couldn't rule out the possibility of it being fake, Aqua decided to trust Hikaru for the time being.
In the darkness, Aqua gripped the phone tightly. Only two blue stars glowed brilliantly in the shadows, but soon, those two stars were gradually stained with the color of pitch black.
The deep, quiet night swallowed everything.
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