“Hello, I want to drink something here… or buy something to take back. Any recommendations? Best if the alcohol content is a bit low. I do not like overly strong liquor.”
Inside the bar, Igris did not choose to leave.
Instead, she came to the counter and greeted the bartender.
“Sorry, I cannot sell alcoholic beverages to minors. That is the rule.”
The bartender was a woman who looked very mature, only she seemed listless, possibly because she had not slept well, with thick dark circles still hanging under her eyes.
Perhaps the bartender’s job was indeed very hard?
Even though there were not many customers here.
“Do I look like a minor?”
“Do you not?” Facing Igris’s question, she instead raised her eyebrows and asked back.
Igris indeed could not refute her.
First, she indeed looked very much like a minor.
Second…
she also had no evidence to prove that she was indeed an adult.
Igris sighed and said somewhat disappointedly.
“Then… non-alcoholic drinks? This should be no problem, right.”
Although it was a bar, this kind of place indeed sold non-alcoholic drinks, including low-alcohol and strong liquor, and some shops might even have the owner’s private recipes and such.
But this place seemed not to, so this place instead seemed somewhat deserted.
“Fine… What flavor? How sweet?”
She really looked very impatient, seemingly completely lacking the professional qualities of a bartender and mixologist, even though what Igris wanted to buy was not even a glass of alcohol.
“A bit refreshing. I do not really like things that are too sweet.”
“As you wish…”
She yawned and turned her head to start looking for ingredients.
Before long, she stood up frowning, first glanced at Igris, who was waiting eagerly, and only then said somewhat hesitantly.
“Here… there may not be what you want.”
“?”
“I mean… sorry, I cannot sell you drinks either.”
Igris was stunned for a moment, then somewhat angrily raised her eyebrows.
“You are wasting my time. Besides, this is a bar. If you cannot sell, why open this shop at all?”
“This is exactly the problem… Sorry, we are closing.”
“Hah?”
Igris still wanted to say something, but this bartender had already started shooing people away, completely ignoring Igris’s complaints and confusion.
“Wait… At least you have to tell me why you are suddenly closing?”
The bartender stopped, turned her head to look at Igris, and said with a somewhat odd expression.
“Because… business hours are over.”
“What kind of joke are you playing? It is only…”
Igris looked out the window, and the words that had just been in her mouth suddenly stuck in her throat, unable to continue.
At this moment, the sun outside the window had already long since set. Follow the newest chapters on g.com.
“As you can see… we have to close.”
She glanced at Igris and slowly said under her puzzled gaze.
“You should be glad you did not drink anything… Go out, get some air… Getting some air will do you good…”
She took off the uniform in the shop, turned to leave, but was called back by Igris again.
“Who are you?”
“…”
She undid the long hair tied behind her back, led Igris out of the shop, and said in a low voice.
“I am just a temporary worker. I will not tell you my name… But we should still have a chance to meet again… And, someone has come looking for you.”
“What?”
She locked the main door and left without looking back, but said nothing more.
At this moment, crisp footsteps came, pulling Igris’s attention back from her departing figure and placing it on the person before her.
It was Pasa.
He walked toward Igris and at the same time took out his credentials.
“Igris, you are accused of being the prime suspect in Chrisuna’s disappearance. We need to take you back to the station for investigation.”
“Wait? Chrisuna disappeared? No… How could that be, we just met…”
Pasa was in no mood to refute her, and only said lightly.
“At noon, your boss discovered that the flower shop’s door was wide open, and the shop owner Chrisuna was nowhere to be found. But on the counter, a letter written with your name was found. After investigation, we can also confirm that the only person she came into contact with before her final disappearance was you.”
After saying this, Pasa took out his handcuffs.
“You can put them on yourself.”
“But everyone here can prove my alibi. I could not possibly be the killer. You yourself clearly know that too.”
“Do you still remember what you last said to her?”
Igris was stunned for a moment, and the words Chrisuna had said to her also surfaced in her mind again.
“She had something… that she needed my help with…”
“It seems you know something. Do not be too nervous. You can clear yourself of suspicion.”
Pasa no longer hesitated and directly stepped forward to grab Igris’s arm, but Igris flung him off in one motion.
“Sorry, I do not really like physical contact. I will walk by myself.”
Igris’s expression became somewhat displeased, but she still actively put the handcuffs on her own hands.
Her time seemed to have some…
problem?
She did not understand, but at this moment there did not seem to be many choices.
After all, strictly speaking…
she had been arrested?
Igris sighed silently and followed his footsteps slowly toward the unfamiliar main road.
“Has anyone ever told you that you are annoying?”
“Many. You are not the first.”
“I guessed as much. No one would like you.”
“Everyone who hated me is dead.”
Igris was stunned for a moment, and her expression became somewhat odd.
“Can I take that as a personal attack? Officer?”
“Whatever. Even if I really attacked you, nothing would happen.”
“I give up… You are like a stone.”
Pasa directly tossed a gun backhanded to Igris.
While she was still dazed, he stared fixedly at the road directly ahead, at a motionless shadow.
“It seems there is no time for idle chat.”
“Is this place always so dangerous at night?”
Igris instinctively gripped the gun and raised it skillfully.
Her skill was such that even Pasa was somewhat surprised.
“You look like you use guns often?”
“Now is probably not the time to care about that.”
The moment their words fell, that shadow suddenly disappeared from before the two of them.
Very abruptly, as if a frame had been removed from the picture.
Neither had reacted.
But Igris had probably also guessed what this was.
“Close your eyes.”
Bang!
The instant Pasa closed his eyes, Igris’s gun muzzle instantly turned behind her, and she unhesitatingly pulled the trigger.
The bullet did not produce any sound of hitting something, but this precisely proved that she had hit.
After all, even if a bullet hit a building, there would still be a sound.
“Open them.”
Pasa slowly opened his eyes, and Igris also tossed the gun in her hand back, turning her head to look behind her.
On the ground behind her, a large expanse of deep darkness covered the road surface, like a shadow, but darker than a shadow.
“You are very good at dealing with this kind of thing?”
“I would be even better if you undid my handcuffs.”
Igris raised her hands, cuffed by the handcuffs, before her and said somewhat helplessly.
“This is regulation.”
“I hope you will still say that before you die in front of me, Officer.”
+++
T/N: That’s an interesting twist.