Chapter 53: Dead-end

Chapter 53: Chapter 53: Dead-end

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For a while, I let the conversation stay this way. There was no reason to rush, but had already successfully invited him out. Though he has been cautious a through.

If I started asking questions the moment he sat down, he’d notice. I needed him comfortable first, not careless. Since Kazuki didn’t seem like the kind of person who became careless.

For now, i goal should be for him to remain comfortable enough to stop treating every question like a question.

"So," he said eventually, "why did you actually want to meet?"

I took a drink. "I told you."

"Coffee." He asked, sounding unsure.

"Yes." I approved, I didn’t actually lie, not like I can anyways. But I just answered the ungoing activity or it seem like to both of us and others watching us.

"You could’ve had coffee with anyone." He said, pointing out a issue in my reasoning.

"I don’t have many friends who are stupid enough to meet strangers from Discord." I answered. ℯ𝔴ℯ

He stared at me, then smiled. "That’s fair." ℯ

He didn’t ask again, which sort of bothered me. Most people would have, instead, he picked up his phone and started scrolling.

"What?" He looked up.

"Nothing serious for now...you’re smiling." I pointed out.

"So?"

"You don’t smile at nothing." I relied immediately.

"I was reading something." He said, his eyes shifted for a moment to the phone screen.

"Show me." I politely demanded.

He turned the phone toward me. A meme, wasn’t this one of those foreign funny trending meme about a muscular man with a sigma face feature, one finger to his side jaw length. Sliding it down with grace.

"That’s terrible." I laughed. Loke what the hell is that? This shit was so funny.

"Exactly." Kazuki added, we went back to talking. I waited another fifteen minutes before bringing it up.

"You know what’s weird?" I began, initiating the topic.

Kazuki looked at me. "Several things."

"The original message." I mentioned it.

His expression changed slightly.

"What original message?" He asked, curious and confused. Is bro trying to play dumb?

"The one you sent me." I shrugged

"Which one?" He frowned.

"The first one." I added specifying what I meant but bro had to reply with.

"I’ve sent you a lot."

"The one about Shion." I explained further.

There, a pause. I don’t know what he was thinking but it shows he was thinking.

"What about it?" He suddenly ask but it was uncertain if he actually knew what I meant.

"You remembered it." I asked to clarify.

"You brought it up."

"I mean before." I specified again.

He stared at me for a second, then leaned back. The people of the café were all busy and living. Kinda hard to pay all my attention to just Kazuki.

"I don’t remember sending anything about Shion." He finally replied.

"You don’t?" I gave him a confused look.

"No."

"You definitely did." I pushed further.

"Then show me." He uttered.

I blinked. "What?"

"The message...show me" He repeated. He seemed serious about not knowing.

"You don’t remember it?" I asked again.

"Apparently not." He held out his hand. "Show me."

I pulled out my phone, a quickly fingerprint scan on the front screen to unlock. Then opened Discord, i scrolled through the conversation.

Then handed it to him. He read the message, for a moment his expression became more serious.

"This is from me?" He asked, he seemed genuinely confused but serious.

"Your account." I inserted.

He looked at the username before scrolling through the message.

Then his eyes shifted to me. "I didn’t write this."

"You don’t have to pretend." I laughed.

"I’m not." He claimed, defending himself immediately.

"You expect me to believe someone else used your account?" I shrugged.

"Apparently." He handed the phone back to me

"You said you wanted to meet me because of coffee." I muttered. He must already be suspecting that I’m hiding something from him.

"I did."

"Did you?" He asked his voice seemed a but lower than usual.

I looked at him, He wasn’t smiling, it was nerve-wracking which made me subconsciously leaned back. But the nerves remained non-existent on my expression.

"You’re making this sound more serious than it is." I said in response.

"Maybe." He picked up his drink. "You brought up a message I supposedly sent two minutes after asking why I wanted to meet you."

"I was curious." I replied

"About me?" He seemed to thinking I am suspecting him of something bad.

"About the message." I muttered.

"Why?"

"Because it was weird." I shrugged

"What was weird about it?" He asked, I’m I the one getting interrogated here?

"It mentioned Shion." I replied.

"So?"

"You know Shion." I pointed out.

"So do you."

"Exactly." I murmured. This conversation was starting to feels off. I should just change the topic for now.

He looked at me for a moment, then he smiled. "You’re investigating something."

"....." My stomach tightened but I smiled back.

"Okay." Kazuki immediately said not letting me come up with a answer.

"Okay?" I asked from confusion. What did he mean okay?

"Yeah." He took another drink.

"That’s it?" I watched him. What the actual fuck is happening?

"That’s it." He muttered in reply.

"You don’t believe me." I uttered, to continue the conversation. I haven’t gotten what I came for so there was no point in backing down now.

"I didn’t say that." He replied calmly.

"You’re allowed to investigate something." He shrugged.

"You’re not going to ask what?" I raised an eyebrow.

"If you wanted me to know, you’d tell me."

That answer caught me off guard. He wasn’t suspicious but simply refusing to play the game I was trying to start.

So I changed the rules.

"I thought maybe someone was messing with your account."

He looked at me. "Why?"

Got him.

"Because you don’t remember sending the message." I added, explaining further.

"That’s one possibility." He noted.

"You think there’s another?" I asked.

"Several."

"Like?" I questioned.

"Someone used my account." He counted them on his fingers.

"That’s one." I noted.

"Someone edited the message."

"Possible." I noted again. There were all possibilities but yeah, possible.

"Someone sent it and deleted whatever evidence would normally explain it." He added.

"Also possible."

"Or..." He stopped.

"Or?" I repeated.

He looked directly at me. "You’re lying. Brochacho"

There is it again.

I laughed. "About what?"

"About why you’re asking." He said it lightly. I wasn’t serious since there wasn’t any hostility behind it.

"Maybe." I leaned back, taking the cup from the table to take in the last drop remaining.

He smiled. "At least you’re honest."

"Sometimes." I immediately inserted. I mean, since it’s the truth.

"That’s dangerous." He commented.

"So I’ve heard."

The conversation moved on. I didn’t mention the message again. Not for another twenty minutes. Instead, I let Kazuki talk. He told me about a senior he couldn’t stand. I told him about one I hated back then He showed me a stupid video then I showed him one that was worse and similar.

At one point, he nearly spilled his drink laughing. The more normal the conversation became, the easier it was to forget why I had come. That was exactly what I needed. People reveal more when they stop feeling like they’re answering questions. I waited until he had almost finished his drink.

Then I said,

"Can I ask you something?"

"You already are." He in turn replied.

"About Discord."

"Here we go." He sighed dramatically. Bro I know I’m bothering you, just chill okay. Besides if we are doing this I’m going to start thinking you are gay.

You can’t tell me you enjoy been with a guy for this long, just us. Nah, that’s gay as fuck. So let finish with you so we could be on our separate ways.

"You use it on your phone mostly?" I asked.

"Mostly."

"Computer too?"

"Sometimes."

"Do you have Discord logged in anywhere else?" I questioned. Cause it seemed he has it almost everywhere.

He considered it. "My laptop."

"That’s it?" I asked.

"Pretty much."

"No tablet?" I asked again.

"No."

"Old phone?"

"No."

"School computer?"

"Why would I log into Discord on a school computer?" He laughed.

"People do strange things."

"You’ve apparently met strange people." He teased.

"Fair." I smiled in response. Apparently he was right with that one.

He looked at me. "Why?"

"What?"

"Why are you asking where I’m logged in?" He asked . He seemed curious to know. His eyes scanning my face for any hints.

"I’m curious." I shrugged.

"About my Discord habits?"

"Yeah." I replied.

"That’s a strangely specific curiosity."

"I was wondering how easy it would be for someone to use your account." I took another drink from the set Kazuki had order earlier.

"There it is." His eyebrows lifted.

"What?" I muttered.

"The real question."

"Maybe." I smiled faintly

He didn’t answer, but pulled his phone toward himself. Unlocked it and pened Discord. He tapped through several menus.

"Happy?" He looked at me.

"Sorry." I muttered. I had already confirmed he wasn’t ’x’ behind ’Yyxx’, somehow his acoustic had been used by another third party.

"No, you’re not." I added turning the screen slightly.

"Two sessions." He muttered.

"Phone and laptop?" I asked.

"Yeah."

"Any unfamiliar device?" I asked. There has to be at least one other device there.

He scrolled. "No."

Huh??

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"In a game of chess, you don’t speak. You just act. The only time that you ever speak when playing chess is to say checkmate."

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