Chapter 37 – Vicious Interrogation
Chapter 6, Part 4
Novel Title: 融愛~Melt Down~ (Melted Love ~Melt Down~)
Author：風結子 沙野 (Fuyuko Sano)
Illustrator：雅良 水名瀬 (Masara Minase)
Translator: K (@kin0monogatari)
Protagonists: 葉越海理 (Yougoshi Kairi -MC), 葉越翼久 (Yougoshi Tasuku -ML)
*Please read at Novels Space.space, the original site of translation. TQ*
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Suddenly, a shock runs through his left cheek. A sharp pain as the inside of his cheek is cut by his teeth. The taste of iron spreads in his mouth.
“Oops, my hand slipped.”
The detective carves a malicious smile at the corner of his eye.
“Hey there, host boy, if you just spill it you can make it easy on yourself, you know? I mean, you won’t get off scot-free. But if you’re a good boy, I won’t tack on any extra charges when I indict you.”
This detective is determined to convict him, and seems to have plans to tack on additional crimes as well, to boost his arrest rate.
Kairi doesn’t want to falsely confess to things he didn’t do.
But if he doesn’t confess, they’ll add on extra crimes and increase his sentence.
――Kairi…
Even if it means serving time for a crime he didn’t commit, he wants the sentence to be as short as possible. He wants to return to Kairi’s side as soon as he can, even if it’s just by an hour or a minute.
As Tasuku lifts his face, blood beading at the corner of his mouth, the detective’s hand slips again.
***
At a cafe near Kairi’s company’s nearest train station, Kairi sits with furrowed eyebrows. He does not even take a sip of the iced coffee he ordered.
Five minutes earlier, Tajima Aiko appears, taking the seat Kairi had left open for her. Her expression is one of concern.
“I was shocked about Tsubasa. That must be really tough.”
“Ah, I’m sorry for calling so early this morning.”
“Don’t worry about it.”
On his way back home from Kabukicho this morning, Kairi had thought that Aiko, who had been a customer at Blossom, might have the contact information for Tasuku’s host friends. He had called her right then and asked if she had any of the hosts’ business cards, since those would likely have their phone numbers.
Aiko said she had gotten a few from different people, so she should be able to find them. Sensing something off about Kairi’s demeanour even over the phone, she asked what had happened.
After Kairi told her about the events of yesterday, Aiko seemed to have fully woken up.
They agreed to meet before she went to work, as she would bring the business cards she found.
Aiko asks seriously,
“Hey, what do you think, Yougoshi? Do you believe your brother was dealing drugs?”
“I want to believe in my brother.”
“I see. Yeah, that makes sense. But isn’t it weird that the drugs only came from Tsubasa’s locker? None of them came from the host who tried to sell me drugs.”
“What was the name of the host who tried to sell you drugs?”
“Hmm, let’s see. Tatsuya… yeah, Tatsuya. He was really boring to talk to, y’know? His looks weren’t great either. Oh, I found Tatsuya’s business card too, so I brought that.”
As she speaks, Aiko lays out three business cards on the table.
“This one’s Tatsuya’s. The other two are Kazuki and Youhei.”
“Youhei?”
Kairi quickly picks up Youhei’s business card.
“There’s only one Youhei at ‘Blossom’, right? They usually don’t use the same stage name.”
“Yeah, that’s probably it.”
Kairi feels a ray of hope.
“I’m glad this is helpful. If you want, I can go tell the police about how Tatsuya tried to sell me drugs – just let me know.”
“Thank you, Tajima.”
“No problem… Ah, I should get going. What about you, Yougoshi?”
“I’m leaving too. I have an unavoidable meeting, so I’m just taking a half-day.”
Kairi would have preferred to take a full day off to search for evidence of Tasuku’s innocence. But honouring Tasuku’s wish for him to continue his job at Sakuraba Foods is also something Kairi needs to do.
Kairi hurries to the company with Aiko.
Though Kairi tried calling Youhei, he couldn’t directly speak to him. He left a message on the voicemail, saying he’d like to meet at ‘Blossom’ at 3pm today.
“Taking a half-day, huh? Heading out already?”
Naofumi asks as Kairi exits the conference room.
“Yes, I’m leaving now.”
Naofumi gives a faint, wry smile.
“That excuse about a family emergency – that’s not the real reason, is it? You won’t tell me the truth?”
“…”
“You look so haggard, it’s like you’re a different person from Saturday.”
The dark circles under his eyes are severe. He hasn’t slept at all, and barely eaten. The last proper meal he had was dinner the day before yesterday, when he and Tasuku had stayed in bed all day.
“I can’t hide anything from your eyes, Tokiya-san.”
“Of course not. You can rely on me, after all.”
“…Thank you.”
But he can’t burden Naofumi with Tasuku’s troubles. Having rejected Naofumi’s feelings, it wouldn’t be right for Kairi to suddenly start leaning on him now.
Since he decided to continue working at Sakuraba Foods, he wanted to become a person like Naofumi. Despite the series of personal events that occurred, his trust and respect for him had not been damaged, but had rather grown even stronger.
After getting off the train at Shinjuku Station, Kairi exited through the East Gate and crossed Shinjuku Street and Yasukuni Street, heading into Kabukicho.
He descended the stairs leading to ‘Blossom’ on the basement floor, where the walls on both sides were lined with mirrors.
The ‘Temporarily Closed’ sign was still up today. He grabbed the doorknob and tried turning it. The door wasn’t locked. With a bit of force, it opened inward.
The inside of the store was deserted. Just as he thought it was empty, a young man suddenly stood up from the sofa at the nearest table. He was tall and lanky, with his left arm in a sling as if he were injured. He looked to be about twenty years old.
“Are you Youhei?”
“Yeah. You’re Tsubasa’s brother, right?”
“Yes. Yesterday afternoon, a detective came to my house, and my brother was taken away by the police.”
“…”
Youhei kept his elongated face downcast. Looking closely, there was a dark bruise around his right eye.
Kairi was prompted to sit down on the sofa meant for customers as Youhei sat across from him.
“You’re the one who called my brother and told him to run away, right?”
Youhei nodded and pointed to his left arm.
“I owe Tsubasa a huge debt. When I got this injury, I was in some trouble at the batting centre, but Tsubasa happened to pass by and helped me out.”
“A fight? Could it have been about a month ago?”
“Yes.”
Kairi recalled going to pick up Tasuku from the police station around midnight about a month ago.
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*Translator’s Note: Stupid detective! You must be corrupted!!!! Argh!! -K
*GLOSSARY:
- Onii-san / Onii-chan / Nii-san / Nii-chan / Aniki = (Big/Elder) Brother
☝🏻I’ll be using these throughout my translation.
Next update: 2025.02.01
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