I played the next video.
The screen showed a young blonde wearing a hoodie over a bikini bathing suit. She was sitting on the sofa with a languid expression. The video appears to have been taken in the mansion’s lounge, and the tattoo girl could also be partly seen on the screen.
“What’s the matter?” The bearded man’s voice resounded. “Making a face like that…”
The screen zoomed in on the blonde, and she looked into the camera. Her blonde hair was fashioned into a bob style that perfectly suited the meticulously groomed white skin of her face. The way she sharply glared into the camera, however, gave off an oppressive image.
“Who let you take my video?” The blonde girl narrowed her brows in displeasure. “You need to get permission first, you know.”
“Eh? Isn’t it fine? It’s such a waste not to make memories while we can.”
“Make memories?” Her brows rose. “Must be nice being so carefree. I came here hoping to meet someone, but the whole place was reserved. What’s with that? There’s no good men anywhere.”
“There’s one right here.”
“Not funny,” the blonde girl laughed scornfully. “You’re obviously not in my strike zone. In the first place, that beard of yours just looks unhygienic.”
“Oh yeah? Well, I don’t want a woman who dyes her hair blonde either. Makes the girl look dumb, and I prefer them smart.”
“The heck? That’s so prejudiced.”
“How are you any different? In the first place, you——”
“Enough,” the tattoo girl said. “At this rate, you’ll start bickering again.”
“We’re not bickering,” the blonde turned to her side. “We’re adults already. There’s no way we’d do something so childish.”
The camera zoomed out, and both the blonde and the tattoo girl appeared inside the frame.
“Oh, really?” The tattoo girl said. “You looked scary, so I thought for sure you were angry.”
“Ouch,” the blonde frowned. “I just have bad eyes, I’m not actually angry, you know that.”
“Oh, right. It’s been awhile, so I forgot.”
“Sheesh,” the blonde sighed as she sat cross-legged and rested her chin in her hands.
“You’ll scare the men away if you make a scary face like that,” the bearded man said with amusement. “You have to smile more.”
“Shut it. I’m not going to be baited by that cheap provocation.”
The blonde made a shooing gesture with her hands, and the screen turned to the side. The two women vanished from the screen, and in their place appeared a new person. It was a short, petite woman reading a textbook of some kind. She was dressed in a pair of chinos pants and a polo shirt.
“Hello, young lady,” the bearded man called out. “Are you really studying at a time like this?”
But the short-statured woman didn’t seem to have noticed him.
The camera zoomed in and took a large shot of her thoughtful face. She had long hair and bangs cut in a straight line. From beneath her cropped bangs could be seen a pair of slender eyebrows drawn to each other, forming a crease in her forehead. I remember that face. That’s the dead woman lying on the bed I saw just now.
“You listening?”
The bearded man called out again, startling the short woman as she turned to the screen.
“You scared me,” the girl said. “What are you doing?”
“That’s my question. What are you doing?”
“I’m obviously studying,” the short woman said as she showed him the textbook. “There’s a test at the university next week.”
“Studying after coming all the way out here? Live a little and play a bit.”
“I’ve played plenty before you two came. I was swimming in the sea until just awhile ago, so now I’m studying.”
“But there’s no need to study so hard, is there? Can’t you just cheat?”
“What an unbecoming thing to say as a full-fledged member of society,” the blonde woman said with reproach. “Aren’t you embarrassed?”
“It’s not like I’m talking to you right now. Don’t get in the way.”
“Sure, sure, whatever. Sorry for getting in the way.”
The camera zoomed out again and captured the whole body of the short woman. Perhaps it was because of her stature, but she gave off a frail impression.
“Right, continuing from where we left off,” the bearded man said. “Don’t students nowadays just use their phones to tell each other the answer during exam?”
“That won’t do,” the short woman shrugged her shoulders.
“Why?”
“Ever heard of a GPS Jammer?”
“GPS Jammer?” The bearded man repeated back. “What is that?”
“I’m not that familiar with it, but apparently, it’s a device that can interfere with radio signals. A professor at the university uses that to block the signals of phones to prevent cheating.”
“Wow,” the bearded man said out of admiration. “Universities these days go that far?”
“Of course not,” the short woman shook her head. “It’s just one professor who did it, and he got in trouble with the university. Apparently, there are laws regarding that, so things got complicated.”
“Yeah, figures. Deciding something like that on your own is bound to cause issues. Regardless, that GPS Jammer sure is amazing.”
“Yes. Apparently, even the army uses it. It’s quite the powerful thing. They use it in conflict areas to cut off large parts of the communication network of the enemy.”
“I see. That’s neat. Still, you sure know a lot.”
“I just heard it from others. I don’t know even know how much of it is true.”
It was then. That the boy called Akira passed behind the short woman, and the tattoo woman called out to him.
“Akira, where’s Yui?”
Akira stopped. “If you mean my mom, then she’s helping make supper with Sakura-san.”
“Helping?”
“Oh, there’s no need for you to help. You just came so please just rest.”
After saying that, Akira walked away from the camera, and the video camera turned to the blonde woman.
“If you’re free, then go help——”
“Now then,” the blonde woman interrupted the bearded man. “I think I’ll go take a shower,” she said before standing up and also leaving.
“Darn, she’s quick to run.”
The screen moved, and this time it showed the short woman, but she too stood up.
“I can’t focus on my studies here, so I’ll be going back to my room.”
Then she walked away as though she were running away.
“Damn, don’t you think these guys are too quick to run?”
The camera looked for the tattoo girl, but she was nowhere to be seen already.
“Huh? Suddenly, I’m the only one left…”
The bearded man mumbled that sadly, then the video ended.
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