Takashi set his utensils down, watching Kenta push the food around his plate.

  “Why aren’t you eating?”

  He tilted his head slightly.

  “You’re not hungry?"

  Kenta stopped and lifted his gaze.

  “I don’t know…” he said quietly.

  “I’m still thinking about what you just said.”

  He pushed the plate away and rested his elbows on the table, fingers interlaced.

  “If your father knew he was in danger…”

  He frowned.

  “Why didn’t he pull back? It doesn’t make sense.”

  Takashi stared at the steam rising from his coffee.

  “That doesn’t make sense to me either,” Takashi said quietly.

  “Maybe he wasn’t sure yet. Or maybe he didn’t get the chance to pull back later.”

  He exhaled slowly.

  “I think after all these years… I’ll never really find the answer to that question.”

  Takashi nudged his plate toward Kenta.

  “Let’s eat,”

  he said, trying to sound lighter than he felt.

  “I took the day off.

  After breakfast, I’m going home to get some proper sleep.”

  He leaned back slightly.

  “I can’t think straight like this.”

  “For the Hotel Shion,” Kenta said, chewing his food, completely unfazed as he spoke.

  “I think I know the right man for an inside job.”

  Takashi lifted his head, surprise flashing across his face.

  “Who?”

  Kenta swallowed and leaned back slightly in his chair.

  “My stepbrother,” he said.

  “Ryo?”

  Takashi lifted his voice instinctively, then lowered it at once.

  “What are you talking about?

  “Just think about it,"

  Kenta said, leaning closer, his voice dropping.

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  “He’s an attorney.”

  “I know,”

  Takashi said, hesitating.

  “But I don’t want to put him in danger.”

  “We wouldn’t force him,” Kenta replied immediately.

  “Just think about it. Who would be better for this than him?”

  Takashi stayed silent.

  “He lives for stories like this,” Kenta continued, determined now.

  “Corruption, power, people who think they’re untouchable, it wouldn’t be his first time facing danger.”

  He leaned forward slightly.

  “And he has money. Enough to fake being corrupt.”

  His voice dropped.

  “He could get access fast. Without raising suspicion.”

  “I’m not sure about this, Kenta.”

  Takashi’s voice was serious now.

  “It’s already wrong enough that we’re doing this… and now involving someone else in this mess...”

  His face tightened, but Kenta didn’t let him finish.

  “I know Ryo,” Kenta said firmly.

  “He’ll accept right away.”

  Takashi frowned.

  “Just think about it properly,”

  Kenta continued, calmer now.

  “If you still don’t want to go through with it later, I won’t say a word to him. I promise.”

  “We’ll talk about it later,” Takashi said, picking up his utensils again.

  “I told you… I’m not thinking straight right now.”

  He took another bite, forcing himself to focus.

  “Let’s just finish breakfast.”

  “I’m just trying to help… you know?”

  Kenta took a bite of his food.

  “It’s not like we’re sending him into a battlefield. We just need him to see what’s going on in there. That’s all.”

  “I know,” Takashi said quietly.

  “And what you’re saying makes sense. It’s a good plan."

  He paused, his expression tightening.

  “But what if something goes wrong? What if something happens to him?”

  He hesitated for a moment before continuing.

  “Could you live with knowing you pushed him into danger?”

  Kenta thought about it for a second.

  “Nothing’s going to happen,” he said finally.

  “Why are you suddenly so serious?”

  He leaned back in his chair, crossing his arms.

  “If you want to do this, Takashi… you have to do it somehow.”

  They continued eating in silence, both of them lost in their thoughts.

  “I think the Chief is starting to suspect something,”

  Takashi said quietly.

  His eyes stayed on his plate. His voice gave nothing away.

  “Why do you think that?”

  Kenta asked.

  They were both still eating, neither of them looking at the other.

  “On my way out of his office,” Takashi said,

  “he told me I could trust him with anything

  “You’re right,”

  Kenta said after a moment

  “It sounds like he’s already suspecting something.”

  Takashi finished his meal. He wiped his mouth with a napkin, then leaned back in his chair, crossing his arms.

  “We need to find out who the mole in our department is,” he said,

  “It has to be someone senior. Someone who worked with my father.”

  Kenta leaned back as well, crossing his arms.

  “You’re right,” he said quietly.

  “I’ll start working on that as soon as I get back to the office today,” Kenta said.

  “Money should be our first lead. Someone with more money than they should have.”

  Takashi nodded, giving him direction

  “When do you think Sota will come again?”

  Kenta asked suddenly.

  “I’d really like to meet him.”

  “No,”

  Takashi cut him off.

  “He doesn’t know anything about you. I promised him no one would know.”

  He turned toward the window, his expression distant.

  “I’d like to see him again soon."

  The words slipped out before Takashi realized he’d said them out loud.

  “What are you thinking?”

  Kenta asked.

  Takashi turned toward him, caught off guard, as if he’d been exposed.

  “I don’t know…” he said quietly.

  “His presence calms me. Maybe because he knew my father.”

  He paused, choosing his words carefully.

  “If eyes could speak, his would tell a thousand stories.”

  His voice lowered.

  “And knowing all that… putting him in danger anyway…”

  He dropped his gaze,

  “It makes me hate myself.”

  “Listen to me.”

  Kenta’s tone turned serious.

  “You didn’t force him to do anything,” he said firmly.

  “Don’t let your emotions lead you.”

  He leaned closer.

  “Think about it this way, if everything goes well, we’ll give him a way out.”

  He paused.

  “We’ll help him.”

  Takashi slowly lifted his head.

  “Yes…” Takashi said quietly.

  “If everything goes well."

  He stood up and stretched slightly.

  “I think it’s time to go. The Chief is going to be furious with you for staying out of the office this long.”

  Kenta glanced at his wristwatch and let out a short laugh.

  “Oh, he definitely will be.”

  He smiled sheepishly.

  “Actually… he’s probably already mad at me.”

  “What did you do this time?”

  Takashi asked, tired but amused.

  “I didn’t finish my report,”

  Kenta admitted, lowering his shoulders and head like a scolded child.

  “You know how much I hate paperwork.”

  “Everyone knows that,”

  Takashi replied, smiling more openly now.

  “I joined the police for action,”

  Kenta grumbled as he stood up and followed Takashi toward the door.

  “No one warned me there’d be this many boring reports.”

  Just before they left, Kenta added, refusing to let it go,

  “Think about what I said about Ryo.”

  Takashi paused for a moment.

  Then he nodded.

  “I think…”

  he said quietly,

  “we should go with that.”