Chapter 52: Negotiations Begin
Amano Shizuka stood at the entrance for a long time before calling out softly.
"I'm back..."
"Oh... Sister is back!"
Hearing the voice, younger sister Amano Ryi came forward to greet her.
With a sneaky smile, she walked up to Amano Shizuka and whispered, "Sister, do you know that there have been mice in the attic above your room recently!"
"Oh..." Amano Shizuka casually responded and went straight upstairs.
Watching her lonely figure, Amano Ryi was somewhat puzzled.
Isn't sister the most afraid of mice? Why did she react like this...
Did she have a fight with her boyfriend?
After entering her room, Amano Shizuka took off her coat. She heard scurrying sounds coming from the ceiling, mixed with squeaks.
"How annoying!"
Setting aside her sadness for the moment, Amano Shizuka picked up a ruler and knocked on the source of the noise.
"Pay the rent!"
She angrily shouted and knocked at the direction of the sound until there was silence.
"Sister, did you chase away the mouse?" Amano Ryi asked, pushing the door open.
Amano Shizuka wiped the sweat from her forehead and nodded.
"By the way, remember to ask Dad to set up the mouse trap."
"I already did, sister, but these mice nowadays are just too clever."
It was late at night, after the sisters had a chat, the tired Amano Ryi had to go back to her room and sleep.
Amano Shizuka, feeling sad, burned the photos of her ex-boyfriend, then lay on her bed thinking about the sweet old days, tears streaming down her face until she fell asleep.
Amano Shizuka woke up to a strong smell of blood and decay.
Following the smell, she was shocked to find a large dead rat tangled in her long hair.
The rat, entangled in her hair, was already dead, cut into pieces. Amano Shizuka's once thick black hair was now covered in blood and bits of internal organs.
"A rat? How did it..."
Feeling disgusted and surprised, Amano Shizuka called Amano Ryi over.
Even with her sister's help, it took them a long time to clean her hair. Yet, the gross smell seemed to linger no matter what.
Well, after today, she would say goodbye to her long hair anyway!
Thinking about this, she couldn't help but chuckle self-deprecatingly.
"Little Lily..."
"*Bang!*"
Just then, there was a loud noise from downstairs. Amano Shizuka peeked downstairs and saw that the front door had been smashed open, with numerous strangers pouring into the house.
They were wearing airtight bomb suits, holding bomb shields with the logo "ISE" on them.
The leader, upon spotting Amano Shizuka, compared her to a photo in his hand, visibly relieved. He signaled the others to pause and took out a walkie-talkie.
"Target is currently not dangerous, please advise."
......
After Uesugi Kiyoshi walked in, the Amano family was still in a state of distress.
They have always been honest and decent, never bothered anyone, and their family is somewhat wealthy. But judging from the other party's demeanor, it doesn't seem like they would go to war over this amount of money.
Amano's father had secretly called the police, but the officer who answered the phone just told him not to worry and quickly hung up.
How could he not worry!
"Uesugi, why are you here?" Seeing the familiar figure, Amano Shizuka felt like she had caught a lifeline and quickly asked.
Uesugi Kiyoshi smiled at her.
"I'm here to seek knowledge."
After Amano Shizuka got out of the car, they watched the video footage frame by frame and only then did they realize that Amano Shizuka's hair was the one causing harm.
Hoshimi Rie's ability was not so much about detecting the strange, but more about sensing malicious entities.
Amano Shizuka's hair, unlike other strange things, had a more symbiotic relationship with its owner, even making gestures to please in order not to be driven away.
Peeling apples and catching mice is like this.
But if things really can't be fixed, the strange creature won't willingly be cut off for safety reasons. It might have to take action first.
In the original story, when the female protagonist made up her mind, before cutting her hair, her hair cut off the owner's head in advance, then hid in the attic.
And it also knows the principle of who is responsible for the wrongs. After being discovered, it decisively went straight to the root of the problem - that heartless man to settle scores.
Thankfully, when Uesugi Kiyoshi arrived, nothing had happened yet.
"Amano, didn't you graduate from the math department of Chiba University? I have an advanced math test paper here, and I would like to ask you for help."
Uesugi Kiyoshi took out the test paper from his pocket and handed it over.
"After solving the answers, translate them according to the 50 sounds table, and you'll know why we're here."
This time, the connection between the strange creature and the people is too close. One small mistake could lead to accidental harm.
But he couldn't avoid Amano Shizuka's long hair, so he had to tell her the situation in private, and had to take encryption measures.
According to the information received, Amano Shizuka had short hair during her school days, and her job after entering society had nothing to do with mathematics at all.
If he can still understand advanced mathematics with such strange behavior, then didn't he study science in vain at the beginning?
Uesugi Kiyoshi's questions were very simple, Amano Shizuka just glanced at them, wrote down a few formulas, and easily got the results. However, after finishing all of them, her face was even worse than before.
"You are..."
Uesugi Kiyoshi nodded.
"Is it really like this?"
Uesugi Kiyoshi nodded again.
"Alright." Amano Shizuka's eyes filled with tears, her face turning pale. "Why didn't you say earlier, was it just a health check?"
"You're right, Sister Amano."
Uesugi Kiyoshi signaled his subordinates to bring in the equipment.
"Please come in, only this way we can see if you are healthy."
"...I understand!"
With the help of others, Amano Shizuka nervously lay down in Uesugi Kiyoshi's specially designed equipment, her whole body tightly wrapped in insulating alloy, with only her long hair exposed.
After this step was completed, everyone else from the Amano family was asked to leave, leaving only the operatives from the Special Event Research Institute.
Their blast-resistant suits could withstand ordinary weapons, each person carried a machete, and two others had flamethrowers slung on their backs, jets aimed skywards.
"Give it a try!"
A hot flame surged out, Uesugi Kiyoshi watched with satisfaction as her long hair trembled intensely.
"Okay, now we can start negotiating."
