This was a psychological blindspot that Agent Nicolas was taking advantage of. Being on guard against suspicious individuals was one thing; being on guard against those who seemed to fit in was another altogether. If there was someone who was constantly on guard thinking “what if the person in front of me is actually a spy wearing Hollywood-level make-up?”, then in all likelihood that person either had a mental illness or was an overeager Hollywood movie fanatic.
Thankfully, it seemed like there were no overeager Hollywood movie fanatics in Kaneyama Tech, as Agent Nicolas successfully managed to reach the storeroom in question without any trouble at all. From here on was going to be the real challenge.
The storeroom where the research materials were kept was under especially tight security. More specifically, the door was locked with the latest keycard entry lock. However, the CIA was also using equally state-of-the-art security. Therefore, Agent Nicolas knew exactly what tool to use to disengage this lock.
Agent Nicolas attached the disengage tool, which was about as big as a 750 ml plastic bottle, to the card reader terminal, then leaned against it so as to hide it with his own body. During the next 3 minutes that the tool needed to do its thing, he kept his phone to his ear and pretended to be occupied with a call. Normally, this series of actions would be caught on the security camera directed at the door of the storeroom and consequently trigger a flood of guards, but in a stroke of luck, it had been out of service since a few days ago.
Just when Agent Nicolas was praying to God that no one come along, a young woman appeared at the end of the corridor and started walking his way. While silently cursing God with every scrap of abusive language he knew, Agent Nicolas continued his fake phone call and tried to remain calm.
Just when Agent Nicolas was praying to the Devil that the woman would ignore him and walk on, she stopped right in front of him and stared closely into his face. Agent Nicolas ripped the Devil’s wings and tail off inside his mind. Apparently he couldn’t rely on God or the Devil, and his only source of salvation was himself.
A faint sound coming from behind his back informed Agent Nicolas that the lock had been successfully disengaged. However, the woman was still standing in front of him. She had her arms crossed, and was apparently waiting for him to finish his call. With no other choice, Agent Nicolas pretended to finish up his call.
“You still haven’t recovered fully from your cold? Your voice still sounds a bit funny.”
The very first line from the woman jabbed Agent Nicolas precisely where it hurt most. Although she wasn’t Agent Nicolas’ type, she was a beauty with foxy eyes and a cool demeanor. And her normal question somehow sounded like a cross examination.
“Just taking care of some business. I’ll get back soon.”
“Yeah......?” The woman brought her face closer and closer until their noses were almost touching. The steady eyes that seem trained on his face sent Agent Nicolas’ heart pumping. In fact, his heart was going so fast that he almost felt like puking. If his disguise was seen through at this moment, then all would have been for naught.
Or so Agent Nicolas thought when instead, the woman continued approaching until finally joining her lips with his.
It was a deep, intense kiss with plenty of tongue. Almost immediately, Agent Nicolas understood what was going on. Apparently the employee whose face he was borrowing was in a secret relationship with this woman. There had been no mention of this in the man’s background check. May all office relationships be cursed for all eternity.
Noticing that the woman had circled her hands around his hip in the heat of the moment, after a brief moment of hesitation, Agent Nicolas firmly pushed the woman away. When she looked at him with a hurt expression, he dealt her a follow up blow.
“How about we stop this already?”
“Even though you’re usually the one who initiates it?”
Agent Nicolas mentally smashed a wine bottle over the head of the employee whose face he was borrowing. Don’t mess up the public morals at your workplace! It was true that Agent Nicolas had come to uncover secrets at Kaneyama Tech, but he felt like he could have gone without learning this dirty secret.
“I don’t feel like it anymore.”
“......Are you drunk? I faintly smell alcohol on your breath.”
“It’s just a bit, who cares? In any case, no more kissing.”
“Why?”
Agent Nicolas was quickly getting tired of this exchange. The longer he wasted time here, the greater danger he was in. Therefore, he had to end it as quickly as possible. “Do I have to spell it out for you? Let’s break up.”
“What?”
“Our relationship is over. I’m sick and tired of your pushiness.”
The woman looked completely shell-shocked. Then her face quickly turned stiff and her lips curled up.
“DIE!!” she roared while delivering a powerful slap to his cheek.
After purposely standing still and taking it, Agent Nicolas then watched her run off. Things just happened to end up with a break-up, but surely the guy wouldn’t mind. Even at that very moment, he was lying in bed down with a cold while a different girlfriend was lovingly taking care of him. In fact, depending on the perspective, Agent Nicolas had just did the guy a favor by helping him resolve his adultery problem.
With the unexpected affair out of the way, Agent Nicolas refocused himself as he turned to retrieve the disengagement tool and slip into the storeroom.
The inside of the storeroom was so quiet that it hurt his ears. However, the ventilation was working hard, and the air humidity was low. On the shelves lay cardboard boxes of varying sizes, all sealed with packing tape.
To start with, Agent Nicolas reached out for the smallest box. He put on gloves, then slowly peeled back the packing tape while taking extra care to not leave any traces. With nervousness and a slight bit of expectation running through his veins, he opened the box to find————
————Rocks.
A sigh fell involuntarily from Agent Nicolas’ lips. Apparently there was no lead to the espers to be found here after all.
Kaneyama Tech was a company whose main business lay in the processing of rare metal. Chances were that these rocks were samples that contained traces of rare metal or something like that. As someone who had absolutely no knowledge regarding rocks, in Agent Nicolas’ eyes they looked like mere lumps of rock.
This was the very illustration of the saying “a wild goose chase.” Completely disappointed, Agent Nicolas occupied himself with sticking the packing tape back on. They were less sticky for having been peeled back once, but several other boxes also had traces of the packing tape being peeled and re-stuck, so one more shouldn’t make a difference.
Agent Nicolas left the storeroom casually and went straight home after that. That was it for his investigation. End result: all investigations into the organizations suspected of supporting espers had ended up bearing no fruit. He should probably also arrange for the subordinate infiltrating as a janitor to get out of there so that he could be assigned somewhere else. Agent Nicolas himself would have already been demoted by then, though.
Agent Nicolas started making preparations for his impending resignation. Even if another post was arranged for him, it would probably be a bed of nails. He had already done his part. Having been the commander over the first batch of agents working on the unprecedented investigation of espers should be more than enough honor to console him the rest of his life. Repeating this to himself was the only way that he managed to hold onto a modicum of sanity.
As Agent Nicolas spent day after day clearing his office with a dark face, he felt like his subordinates were treating him rather coldly. Maybe some of them hated him for always keeping a stash of vodka in the company fridge. Maybe some of them were holding a grudge against him for that time he tried fire-breathing with the vodka and ended up setting documents on fire and triggering the sprinklers.
Everyone knew the anxiety and depression that the cornered Agent Nicolas was going through, but no one offered a helping hand. Carrying on as if everything was normal would be one thing; there were those who even egged him on with something along the lines of “You’re the famous Agent Nicolas, so I’m sure you’ll reveal some important and ground-breaking clue really soon! The cases of beer bought through company expenses are all part of your big plan, right?”
Agent Nicolas replied with “Of course!” But that was mere bravado.
As Japan in general got more and more excited about the approaching Golden Week, Agent Nicolas become more and more depressed in contrast.
But then suddenly, a ray of light shined upon his wretched self in the form of his daughter Emma, his angel and the apple of his eye. A letter had come from her. Apparently, she wanted to take advantage of the coming break to come visit Toh-kyo, the “city of the supernatural.” Although it would be but a stay of only 2 days, she wanted her Papa to be her guide.
The actual Tokyo was not so much a city of the supernatural but rather a city of the eccentric, but Agent Nicolas made up his mind to put all his dignity on the line to give his daughter the best experience ever. Public order in Tokyo of late had worsened noticeably due to the abrupt influx of foreign tourists and significant numbers of illegal overstayers, which was a cause for concern. However, Emma said that she wanted to sightsee Tokyo, and so she will get to sightsee Tokyo. Papa could just protect her, then there would be no problem whatsoever.
This opportunity to show a good side of himself to his daughter during the last two days when he still held his honorable title was a complete stroke of good fortune. He wouldn’t think about what was waiting for him afterward. He had honestly already done everything he could, after all.
The day Emma was going to arrive, Agent Nicolas assigned the remainder of his duties to his subordinates and headed to Haneda Airport to pick her up. As he waited near the luggage pick-up area while holding a “Welcome Emma!” placard, soon a beaming Emma dashed over to glomp onto him in a bear hug. Although it had only been 9 months since he saw her last, Emma in her beige-colored one piece dress with all its fluffy decorations seemed to have shot up to a hundred times in height.