Hisaki’s pupils contracted when she heard the last few words.
In an instant, her mind pieced together an entire thread.
Father wouldn’t use that word without reason.
The word “unreasonable” coming from her father’s mouth immediately conjured up an image of provocative, public hostility that incites conflict.
And Hisaki knew that her father’s intelligence network was pervasive—from the secretly filmed video on the train, to the photos spreading wildly in group chats, to every pixel left on the screen.
As long as Father wanted to investigate, most things in this world couldn’t be hidden from him.
He must have seen that video from the train.
“Father.”
Hisaki’s voice was very soft, but her tone held not a hint of hesitation.
She lifted her head, her deep brown eyes meeting Kurose’s equally unfathomable eyes.
“But Rinna didn’t do anything wrong. She just saw someone being bullied and needed help.”
These words had been stuck in her throat for quite a while.
Ever since she saw that video from a dead angle on the second floor yesterday afternoon, she had been wondering if Father would hold Rinna accountable.
She knew how much her father valued the family’s reputation, and she also knew he wouldn’t casually use an inappropriate adjective to criticize a girl who was practically like a half-daughter to him.
But she had to say this to his face.
Putting the words out in the open for Rinna was more important than any rational argument.
Kurose didn’t speak.
He looked at his daughter, at Hisaki’s eyes—identical to her mother’s—filled with a seriousness that wouldn’t back down.
Then he let his gaze fall back to Hisaki’s face.
He reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone.
The screen lit up.
His thumb quickly swiped across the screen, opened an archived file, and then flipped the screen toward Hisaki.
It was also a video.
In the background, there was the sound of a fountain, and intermittent soft music from a mall’s PA system.
In the center of the frame was a girl with white hair and red eyes…
Kurose put the phone back into his pocket, clasped his hands behind his back, and looked at Hisaki.
He waited for his daughter to speak.
Hisaki looked at her father, lips parting slightly, closing, and parting again.
She wanted to say, “Rinna must have had a reason and a hardship.”
Wanted to say, “This video you saw doesn’t represent the whole picture.”
Wanted to say, “You don’t know what kind of person Rinna is in the fuller context.”
She wanted to explain for Rinna.
This thought had been running back and forth in her mind for several cycles.
She knew there were unreasonable aspects to what Rinna did, that it couldn’t be simply summed up as “acting out of justice,” but she knew even more that Rinna meant no harm.
She couldn’t clearly explain why Rinna did it, but she trusted Rinna.
“Father, I…”
Hisaki’s voice had already begun to tremble slightly.
Even though she knew she had a lot to say, she was overwhelmed by her father’s silence and the video frame still playing in her mind.
She didn’t want to put Rinna in a wrong position in front of her father.
Even if it were just temporarily hypothetical, she didn’t want it for even a second.
But Kurose interrupted her.
He didn’t raise his voice either, just lifted his left hand—that same gesture of pressing down lightly.
Hisaki’s voice stopped instantly at the appearance of that gesture.
Then Kurose stepped forward two paces, standing in front of Hisaki.
He was tall, and standing so close now, he enveloped Hisaki entirely in his shadow.
Between the tip of his leather shoe and Hisaki’s bare foot, there was probably less than fifteen centimeters.
He reached out and gently placed it on Hisaki’s shoulder.
“That’s enough.”
He didn’t say, “This ends here,” nor did he say, “Don’t explain.”
He paused.
His fingers lifted from Hisaki’s shoulder, dropped to his side, then clasped behind his back again.
His gaze lingered on Hisaki’s face for a long time.
“But.”
Kurose spoke again.
“If Little Bai Lai continues like this, then bad things will just keep coming one after another.”
He paused, then said that sentence.
That voice was lighter than usual when he issued administrative orders to all the executives in the Main Reception Hall, yet also heavier.
“Hisaki, you like Little Bai Lai, don’t you? If I’m not mistaken.”
Hisaki’s pupils dilated in that instant.
Her eyelashes trembled slightly, her lips parted a little, but no sound came out.
Those deep brown eyes, with a panic that had never been seen by her father before, were fixed on the man standing quietly still in front of her.
Her heart pounded violently twice in her chest, then suddenly accelerated.
The pulse at her wrist throbbed, making her feel like even her ears were burning.
This was her most secret, deepest heart matter—the nights she softly murmured to Rinna’s sleeping face, the gaze she concealed flawlessly in front of her father and the executives, a complex feeling she dared not speak to anyone, not even fully express to Rinna herself.
Now, it was exposed by her father in a plain tone.
Kurose looked at his daughter’s shocked expression, and a sense of helplessness slowly rose in his heart like moss in a courtyard.
His daughter—the eldest daughter of the Kurose clan—in matters regarding Little Bai Lai, she was so slow that it made others anxious just to watch.
She had probably never held up a mirror to carefully examine the look in her own eyes when she looked at Little Bai Lai.
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