Chapter 25: 25
I leaned back, exhaling hard. "Great. You didn’t know you were supposed to fill the truck’s fuel tank, and now it’s empty. We are stuck in the middle of nowhere."
For a second, silence filled the car, then Okada suddenly straightened a little, like a switch had flipped."Hold on," he said, voice lighter now, almost annoyingly calm. "Let’s bet on something."
I turned slowly to look at him. "What now?"
"100 dollars,"
I squinted. "Bet on what exactly? The fact you forgot to fill the fuel tank, or the fact you might’ve driven past our destination twice?"
Okada finally looked at me properly now, and I swear he looked insulted by my lack of faith.
"I bet 100 dollars," he said confidently, tapping the steering wheel once, "that we are at our location."
I blinked."...You’re betting money on being right while we’re literally stranded on the road?"
He nodded once. "Yes."
I leaned forward, pointing slightly out the window at the completely unfamiliar surroundings. "Okada, this doesn’t even look like the place on the map."
He shrugged. "Maps are suggestions."
I stared at him.
He stared back.
Then I let out a long sigh, sinking deeper into my seat. "Fine. I’ll take your bet."
Okada’s lips twitched slightly. "Good."
I tilted my head. "But when I win—and I will win—you’re paying for fuel, directions, AND lunch."
Then, without even glancing at me properly, he added casually, like it was the most obvious thing in the world, "Look to your left, Kaito. You are always wrong. That there is the building."
I frowned immediately."...What?" My head snapped toward the left window before my brain even caught up. At first, all I saw was a stretch of road, a rusty fence, and an overgrown lot that looked like it had given up on life years ago.
Then I saw it.
A structure.
Half-standing, abandoned, and definitely the kind of place that screamed "do not enter unless you have a questionable life decision."
I leaned forward slowly, squinting. "No. No way."
Okada didn’t even look at me. He just kept his eyes on the road, way too calm for someone who had been driving around like a lost tourist ten minutes ago.
"That’s it," he said simply.
I turned back to him sharply. "That’s NOT ’it’. That looks like a horror movie location with a real estate problem."
He finally glanced at me, expression smug now. "You said I was wrong."
I stared at him for a second.
Then back at the building.
Then at him again.
"...You were guessing," I said slowly.
"I was driving," he corrected.
I let out a breath, leaning back into the seat again. "So let me get this straight... we weren’t lost. We were just... aggressively exploring the wrong direction before arriving accidentally at the correct one?"
Okada’s smirk widened slightly. "Exactly."
I shook my head in disbelief, looking out at the building again as it slowly came into clearer view.
"Yeah," I muttered. "I already regret this bet."
"I will be expecting my 100 bucks by the time we are through with today’s meeting okay?"
"..."
I got down from the truck, taking baby steps towards the abandoned house. I wasn’t expecting it to look like this either. "Why pick this house of all buildings we could have checked out?"
Okada came down from the driver’s seat, banging the door into it’s jam and rolled the keys between his fingers. "It is a widow’s house. She long left it after her husband died. It would be easy to convince her to give it up. We walk in there, act like we the government agency and get her to sell the house to us for 10,000 dollars."
I pointed toward the house. "If we’re buying it, we do it properly. Talk to her, make an offer, legal process, normal human things. Not... impersonating anything."
"I’m the only sane one here," I shot back.
"Fine," he said, holding up a hand like he was surrendering. "No government agency act."
I narrowed my eyes. "Good."
He nodded toward the house as we started walking. "We’ll just convince her normally."
I paused. "That better be true."
Okada glanced at me sideways. "Relax. Worst case, I just talk."
I muttered under my breath as we stepped closer to the gate, "That sentence is never comforting when it comes from you."
"Shall we go in?"
I rolled my eyes but followed anyway. "You wish." He reached the front door first and pressed the doorbell. I coughed, waving the air. "This is truly the best you could find?"
Okada looked at his fingers, now lightly covered in dust, then at me.
"Kaito, can you just give me a break? I’m trying." He wiped his hand on his trousers without hesitation and pressed the bell again, harder this time. Before anything else could happen, a voice suddenly called out from the neighboring shop.
"How goes you two?"
We both turned only to meet an older man who stood by a small kiosk next door, watching us with mild curiosity. He pointed lazily at the house. "The lady who stays here moved a long time ago. Go away, she is not interested in selling it."
I frowned. "Moved?"
Okada didn’t look surprised at all. Instead, he stepped closer to the man, completely unfazed. "Old man," he said calmly, "tell us where the woman stays."
The man blinked slowly. "...I just told you she moved."
Okada nodded once like he heard him, but didn’t accept it. "Yes. Where."
I immediately pinched the bridge of my nose. "Oh my God..."
The old man stared at him for a second longer, then let out a tired sigh, shaking his head as if he had seen this kind of stubbornness before. "I don’t know," he replied simply. "And even if I did, I wouldn’t tell you people who show up acting like this."
I leaned slightly toward Okada. "Yeah... I think we’re officially the suspicious ones now."
"I give you three minutes to tell us wheere she stays or I will beat you to death!"
"Okada... Chill, you want to beat an old man?"
"I’m going to ask one more time," Okada pushed my hands away and said calmly. "Where does she stay now?"
The old man immediately frowned. "I already told you, I don’t know—"
"Kaito," he muttered without looking at me, "these people really like testing patience."
I rubbed my face. "We are not helping our case right now, you know that? This is violence and we could be charged."
Okada ignored me and turned back to the man, expression still composed but clearly done playing around. "Let’s try this properly," he said. "If you don’t know where she moved to, who does?"
The old man hesitated this time, shifting his weight slightly. "...Maybe the landlord records," he finally said. "Town office. But I’m not involved in that."
Okada straightened immediately, like that was all he needed. "See?" he said, glancing at me briefly. "That wasn’t hard. How do we locate that place?"
"It’s abandoned. It was invaded by ghost and everyone ran away."
"....."
"..."
