Falling for my best friend [OFFICIAL]

Chapter 42: Rumors and the Truth V

"Here you go. I'm sorry for my outburst earlier."

"That's alright, ma'am, we understand." The two kids were running around us playing with their toys. "These are yours and Byakuya's right?" She nodded smiling softly, but it faded quickly. One boy sat on top of her lap then glared at us.

"He's definitely got that look from Byakuya," Rantaro said lightheartedly. The lady laughed and nodded.

"He really does. Don't worry, honey, these gentlemen are helping us." We looked at each other guiltily, but that caused the boy to smile.

"Ma'am-"

"Touko, call me Touko."

"Touko... We can't guarantee anything, but if you tell us the truth that this isn't what we think it is then we could help you shorten his sentence." She gave me a doubtful look.

"Why would you help us? No matter what I say, he still did what he did."

"For our friend, Kaede, whom you seem to know as well. We just want what's right." I nodded at Rantaro's statement. She was easing up to the idea, but still seemed to have her doubts.

"That's sweet, but what can a few boys do? This is the law and it already had its say." We smiled confidently.

"We've got more power than you think," Kokichi said.

"Even if we walk out of this door with the information you give us, it'll only help Byakuya." After a few seconds of contemplation, she nodded and sat back in her seat.

"Ever since we had these two, we've been strapped for cash. My job could barely put food on our table and Byakuya only had a high school degree. He dropped out of college for me, for us." All of us turned towards the giggling children. "He started working as soon as I told him I was pregnant. Yet, it still wasn't enough to take care of these kids. That's when this girl came up to us." We all leaned forward in our chairs. "She was a skinny, high school girl. She had blue hair and wore glasses."

Our eyes widened and Rantaro immediately murmured, "Tsumugi".

"I don't remember her name, but she was like an angel sent from heaven. She knew we needed the money and offered us so much for one simple job. We didn't want it at first because we knew what was at stake, but she offered so much." When she told us the amount, our eyes widened.

"Typical, Junko. She has that kind of money to throw away..." Kokichi swung his arms behind his head stretching. "I just can't believe she's got a puppet to do it for her instead."

"So, how did you hear about Kaede?" Rantaro asked the lady.

"After Byakuya accepted the job, she gave us all of the details. Every time she mentioned Kaede, her expression was filled with more anger. I mean, the girl seems terrible from what she said."

"What did she say?" I asked.

"Well, that she cheated her way through life. In her competitions and even with her boyfriend." My eyes widened. "She said Kaede took her boyfriend from her."

"Alrighty, that's all the information we needed. Thank you so much for your cooperation." Kokichi stood up and turned towards the door with Rantaro following behind him. The lady looked at me with desperate eyes.

"We couldn't refuse. We needed it, please help us." I bit my lip and stood up.

"Byakuya will get what he deserves." I walked towards the door, but turned around to see her kids running up to her. Although her eyes were weighed down by the bags under them, she still held a genuine smile with them. She looked up at me with that same smile.

"I believe in you." I closed the door and walked towards Kokichi and Rantaro. The purple-haired boy held his phone in front of us.

"Didn't I tell you guys it would work?" We got into the car and headed towards Kokichi's place.

"So, all we need is that sample, right?" Rantaro asked. My phone started ringing and Kaede's name appeared on the phone.

"Hey, Kaede."

"Shuichi! Hey, I'm sorry if you're busy right now." I covered my mouth so the others wouldn't see the huge smile on my lips.

"No, I just finished actually."

"That's good. So I was wondering..." My eyebrow raised in confusion. "When will you be back, again?"

"I'm not sure, Kaede, why?"

"Well, you know, it's in a week." I bit my lip. It is. There's no way we can catch them before the competition. "Shuichi?"

"Sorry, yeah, of course, Kaede. How are you feeling for the competition?" She didn't answer at first.

"Everything's alright, just a little difficult."

"What do you me-"

"Anyways, is everything okay?" She cut me off. Maybe she's just nervous.

"Yeah! Don't worry about me, just focus on your competition, okay?"

"O-okay, Shuichi... Bye." I hung up and sighed. Her tone was off, I hope she's okay.

"Hey, we should be done before the competition, right?" I asked nervously.

"Yeah, isn't it in a couple weeks?" Rantaro asked.

"No, it's in a week." Kokichi and Rantaro turned to me surprised.

"We've been gone for so long, I didn't even realize."

"It's fine, guys. There's no reason to panic," Kokichi reassured.

"Are you kidding? We don't have all the evidence, nonetheless, the location of Junko or anything. How can we do this in a week?" Rantaro is right. What do we do? We sat in the car in silence and the hope we had was being broken apart.