After leaving the airport, Kiyotaka and Komatsu first took a taxi to Kowloon in central Hong Kong, where they would be meeting with Yilin at a hotel. When the cab stopped at the entrance, hotel staff immediately came to greet them and take them to the top floor.
“Going places with you messes with my values,” Komatsu muttered as the elevator ascended.
The elevator had glass walls that provided a view of the Hong Kong cityscape. The buildings were glowing orange from the setting sun, and the dense sea of neon signs was already lit up. It was a strange sight—chaotic yet beautiful, new yet nostalgic.
Ding! The elevator doors opened.
“Oh!” a young lady exclaimed, running up to them.
Komatsu had been expecting Yilin, but it was someone else. This woman had straight hair trimmed neatly at the jawline, a small, egg-shaped face, and a headstrong look in her eyes. Her outfit consisted of a simple tank top and jeans, but she also wore a luxury wristwatch and expensive jewelry. Her name was Zixuan Zhou, and she was the only daughter of Hua Ya Corporation representative Haoyu Zhou. It was a Hong Kong-based company that did business worldwide. In other words, she was a rich lady like Yilin. She had a Japanese mother, so she was fluent in the language and went by “Azusa” in Japan.
“It’s been so long, Kiyotaka!” she said, hugging the young man.
Komatsu was taken aback, but Kiyotaka merely smiled down at her and said, “Yes, it has. I’ll admit I wasn’t expecting this reaction. I thought you despised me.”
“I was furious at the time, but after a while, I started missing your callous yet flawless handling.” When Azusa had last visited Kyoto, the Komatsu Detective Agency—mainly Kiyotaka—had been in charge of showing her around the city.
Standing right behind her was her attendant and lover, Eiji Kimishima. He bowed to Kiyotaka and Komatsu, who returned the gesture.
“Hey, where’s Aoi?” Azusa asked, looking around excitedly.
“She isn’t with us,” said Kiyotaka.
“Oh.” She grimaced and stepped back. “I shouldn’t have bothered coming all this way, then. I was thinking that if I hugged you first, I could see her jealous face and say, ‘Oh, I’m so sorry. I’ll return your darling’s warmth right now.’ It’d be an excuse to hug her,” she muttered, annoyed.
“Ah, so that was your scheme. Well, even if she was here, I would have stopped you from hugging her.”
“Your personality is as horrible as ever.”
“I don’t want to hear that from you...”
As the two of them were bantering, Yilin appeared. “Thank you for coming, Kiyotaka and Komatsu.”
“There’s no need for thanks.” Kiyotaka shook his head. “I merely showed up uninvited.”
“What he said,” Komatsu agreed.
“For now, let’s talk over dinner,” Yilin said, leading them to a room in the back.
“I looked into it, but I haven’t the slightest idea who Ensho’s agent is,” Yilin said, slumping her shoulders as she sipped from her glass of white wine.
Kiyotaka, Komatsu, Yilin, Azusa, and Kimishima were sitting around a circular table of French-Chinese fusion cuisine. The fancy dishes included roasted duck breast, prawns and abalone stir-fried in shrimp sauce, and dim sum.
“An ordinary restaurant would’ve been fine,” Komatsu grumbled as he took a bite of the stir-fry. “Whoa, this is good.”
Azusa widened her eyes at Yilin. “There are things even you can’t find?”
“It’s because of the project’s emphasis on anonymity,” Yilin explained. “They want to keep the artists’ identities secret at all costs until the deals are made, so even the agents’ names are being concealed. I was surprised by how thorough they’ve been.”
Kiyotaka hummed and folded his arms. “‘Until a deal is made’... In other words, when a painting is purchased, the artist’s identity will be made public?”
“Correct. Naturally, I plan on buying that painting.”
“Is the business meeting different from an auction?” Azusa asked.
“Yes. It’s a negotiation system where the sale only goes through if the artist agrees to the prospective buyer’s terms. Even if someone offers an extremely high price, the artist doesn’t have to sell it to them if they don’t want to.”
“But there’s still bidding involved, huh?” Komatsu took a swig of his beer.
“By the way...” Kiyotaka looked at Yilin. “Do you have any predictions about the agent’s identity?”
Yilin furrowed her brow. “Countless people come to mind, but I’m really not sure. It’s no secret that my father is fond of Ensho’s work. There are many who would wish to get in his good graces, but I can’t imagine Ensho liking any of them.”
Komatsu concurred. There were probably tons of people who wanted Ensho on their side, but Ensho wouldn’t agree to that. What kind of sweet words had the agent used to persuade him?
“How can you be sure that the anonymous painting really was by that Ensho guy?” Azusa asked.
Yilin frowned. “I...think it has to be.”
“You think?”
“I mean, I’m not a professional, so I can’t say for sure. That’s why I’m glad Kiyotaka is here.”
“So Kiyotaka would be able to tell?” Azusa gave the young man a skeptical look.
“Yes, leave it to me,” Kiyotaka said with absolute confidence, startling the lady.
“I’ll take you to M+ tomorrow,” said Yilin. “Oh, right. Where’s your hotel, Kiyotaka?”
“It’s about a ten-minute walk from here.”
“I was planning on reserving a room for you, but...”
“I came on a whim, so don’t worry about it.”
It seemed that Kiyotaka had booked a hotel himself instead of leaving it to Yilin. Komatsu felt relieved yet disappointed as he ate his dim sum.
“Hey, why don’t you come to our hotel, then?” Azusa asked with open arms. “I’ll let you use our amazing suite.”
“Thank you for the offer,” said Kiyotaka. “I’ll take you up on that next time, when I come with Aoi.”
“That works too. Actually, I want to stay with Aoi! Then I can take a bath with her.”
“I’d drown you in Victoria Harbor.” Kiyotaka chuckled and sipped his red wine.
“Hey, could you not make malicious jokes like that?”
“You’re the malicious one here.”
“How am I malicious?!”
Yilin widened her eyes and looked at Komatsu. “Are those two friends? Or enemies?”
“None of the above, I guess,” the detective replied with a laugh.