Akira was in a poor mood for the next few days after the altercation with Ayumi, but she did not give up her search for the person Kaito was meeting. She hacked into the local ride apps and even checked the call logs made by taxi services. She narrowed down the search before getting a few possible hits.

After a thorough check of the backgrounds of the potential suspects, she found the culprit. The person did not have a per se suspicious background, but he was listed as a worker for a shipping company. It did not seem like the same as the port that mysteriously disappeared.

However, she had the gut feeling that he was the one Kaito had met on that night. She did not waste time after making this progress. Her current fear was letting the trail run cold.

The next morning, she drove the red car to the residential area where that man lived. She was surprised to find that the neighbourhood was quite exceptional. Even though she had seen the details on paper, she did not expect an overly nice place like the one before her.

The locale seemed to be a gentrified old neighbourhood with renovated houses and great infrastructure. While it was not a highly affluent estate, it was not the kind of place that a simple worker in a shipping yard could afford.

Akira's eyes hardened as she drove slowly, looking for the right address. If she could hazard a guess, she would say that the man had sold out corporate secrets or even merchandise from the shipping port several times to afford his current home.

The alternative would be that he was not who he claimed to be. That would explain why his home did not match his reported income. Regardless, Akira did not intend to be polite with him. She intended to find him and deal with him.

Her heartbeat became a little faster at the prospect of seeing the person who could lead her to Kaito. She was happy, but also anxious. The words spoken by Ayumi were obviously meant to hurt her, but she had to admit that they affected her.

She could not take it if things were as Ayumi had said.

She found the house with the address she had noted and the name Yasuke at the gate. The place was not large, but it had the modern charm of refurbished old-style homes. She parked outside the gate and stepped out of the car.

She looked around with some curiosity before ringing the doorbell. She did not know if it was because it was mid-morning that she did not get a response. However, she persisted in ringing the bell with frustration.

"No one will answer the door." A middle-aged woman spoke up from behind Akira.

Akira turned to face the speaker with distressed eyes. The woman was wearing ordinary clothes and looked like a next-door housewife. She looked like the kind of person who liked gossip and knew everything about the whole neighbourhood.

"Auntie, what do you mean?" Akira asked.

"There is no one at home if you are looking for the owner." The woman said.

"Where did Mr Yasuke go? I have been trying to get in touch with him without success." Akira lied with moist eyes.

She knew her appearance was adorable, and most people could not resist her helpless look. Therefore, she would not shy away from crying if it got her answers.

"Don't cry, child. Was he your boyfriend?" The middle-aged woman asked sympathetically.

"No. He is my boyfriend's co-worker. I haven't heard from my boyfriend for a while either. I thought that they would be together." Akira responded with a sniff.

"Let us hope not, considering what happened." The person turned to look at the house behind the security gate with a strange look in her eyes.

"What happened?" Akira asked, raising her rosy face.

"Well, it is not a long story. From what I heard, Mr Yasuke committed suicide almost three weeks ago. Unfortunately, he is a loner, and he did not interact with other people in the community. His body was not found until yesterday night." The woman shook her head.

"This matter is a major blow for our neighbourhood. It is uncertain what led him to such a bad decision. If it was not for a dog running into the yard barking like crazy, no one would have suspected anything until he was completely decomposed."

Akira felt her heart sink. "That is so terrible."

"I know. The property value in this area had just started to rise again, so this is a major setback." The woman paused after she noticed the strange gaze from Akira. "Oh, you mean about his death? I didn't know him well, so it is hard for me to sympathise."

"Did he have any family?" Akira asked.

"Didn't you say that he and your boyfriend were friends? Shouldn't you know these details?" The woman asked suspiciously.

Akira's eyes watered again. "I have seen him once or twice, but I did not know they were so close. I was asking around about my boyfriend at his workplace, and I was told they were close friends. I came here directly."

The suspicion in the woman's eyes was dispelled. "As far as I know, he lived alone. But you know how some of these guys can be. They might claim that they are single, but they are hiding an entire family in some suburb."

Akira nodded before she realised that the woman was suspecting that she was looking for Yasuke because he was her missing boyfriend. She felt too tired to correct the suspicions. It would not make a difference anyway.

What mattered was that her only lead was dead. She did not have the strength to care about anything else. She did not know how to proceed from this point. She would be an idiot if she did not realise that someone was covering the tracks behind Kaito's disappearance.

If she was not wrong, this would be the end of her track. Of course, she would go to the police station and check the medical report for the autopsy. However, she did not expect to find anything else. It would be a dead end.

She felt like her soul was drifting as this reality hit her.

"Young lady, are you alright? Do not worry. Life always finds a way to work out. Do not give up on yourself or your baby." The woman said in a low voice.

Akira did not even think to respond to the words from the nosy woman. She blindly walked to her car and drove off, leaving the housewife shaking her head. historical