"Kaori, you are truly a genius!" Eiji Hayamizu exclaimed, wrapping his arms around Onitsuka Kaori and spinning in place.

"Hey, hey, let me down! What are you doing?" Caught off guard by the sudden action, Onitsuka Kaori was part frightened and part embarrassed, frantically patting Eiji's back to make him let go.

"Ah, sorry, got carried away for a moment." Eiji laughed awkwardly, slowly releasing Onitsuka Kaori back to the ground, but his attention was clearly not on his girlfriend.

"Thank goodness you were here, you were a great help!"

"I'll go take care of things first. How about we have dinner, watch a movie, and go shopping this weekend?" Eiji said, already starting to move his feet.

"Hmph...so you're just going to leave me here now?" Onitsuka Kaori, who saw everything, stared at Eiji Hayamizu without any intention of getting physical.

"Fine, let's settle for Sunday then. If you stand me up, I'm coming to your house."

"As you wish, my lady." Eiji responded, and in an instant, he disappeared into the baseball field.

In all honesty, leaving your girlfriend alone on the roadside at night would lead most couples to break up. But Onitsuka Kaori was different. She was a strong-willed and independent girl, two years older than Eiji Hayamizu. She simply stood there, staring at the baseball field for a while, seemingly lost in thought, before turning and walking away.

Returning his focus to the baseball field, Eiji's cheerful mood transformed into light footsteps as he quickly found Chongzong and Yuki waiting outside the gate.

"Uesugi-san, I have an idea that I believe will bring us a breakthrough."

Straight to the point, Eiji's face was radiant with confidence, as if he could go and apply to be a streetlamp on the roadside, a lifetime of job security.

"Um...Yuki, could you do us a favor and go buy three...no, four bottles of water?" Not knowing what Eiji was about to say, Chongzong shooed Yuki away to a vending machine not far away where he could keep her in sight.

Chongzong didn't want Yuki to hear anything inappropriate for her age.

Hold on a moment, why should there be anything inappropriate here?

But obviously, anything said by Eiji Hayamizu could potentially be rated R.

"Spit it out." Chongzong took a step closer to Eiji.

"Hahaha, look at how nervous you are. Don't worry, even though I can be a bit wild, I wouldn't say anything inappropriate in front of Yuki. I still have some common sense, you know~" Eiji Hayamizu laughed with a wide grin, patting Chongzong's shoulder to ease the tension.

"Here's what I'm thinking..."

"I think when we were communicating with Ayaki Yuriko, assuming she is actually using this name, and when we were questioning her, we always approached it with the mindset of treating her like a prisoner, even though that's the reality..."

"I believed she should comply with all our requests, but in reality, our approach, based on the actual situation, is not very reasonable."

"It is obvious that she has no intention of obeying us, even if we threaten her life," Hayamizu said, lowering his voice as Yuki approached with the drinks.

"I believe we should not treat each other as prisoners, but rather communicate as ordinary people, exchanging the information we want with what the other side desires," he continued.

"As for whether what she said is true or false, I trust that the little sister you brought today, Yuki, can effectively discern that."

"Isn't that right, little sister Yuki?" Eiji Hayamizu said, smilingly, to Yuki who had just returned.

Startled by being called, Yuki immediately hid behind Chongzong.

Chongzong was still pondering over what Hayamizu had just said.

"That does make sense, Hayamizu. I really need to take a closer look at you," Chongzong said, taking the water that Yuki had bought and handing a bottle to Hayamizu.

"Let's begin, shall we?"