Puzzle VI

If Mariko, Kiyomaro, or any of Suzume's old classmates from middle school had seen her so surly right now, she knew damn well they would either back off in fear or ask her questions. Zen, Nebula, and Reyson talked trash about the police officers and detectives while she had to endure their crap in the car ride.

She had kept her nasty words to herself. Should she have growled at the mention of detectives from their trash-talking, they would have gotten a hint that she has a police connection, which she never once used because she did not want to be known as the daughter who cried to her detective daddy every time she got into deep shit. 

Or maybe Suzume just lied to herself. She had used her father's police connection once, and it did not end well. 

Never again will she rely on the police or anyone with police connections. 

Luke had given her the vibe of a kid playing detective with police connections. One more reason for her to keep her distance from him.

"We're here, girlie. Get the fuck out." Zen demanded, sneering at her.  

"Whatever," Suzume grumbled and stepped out of the car.

They stood before an abandoned pub in a vacant lot. Zen, Nebula, and Reyson led her inside, keeping her enmeshed with their handguns. They entered the pub. Since the windows were covered with plywood boards, it was so dark inside, and the front door was closed behind her. 

A beautiful woman with long, wavy chestnut-brown hair and grayish-violet eyes sat at a table, cross-legged, shaping her nails. The only light source in the pub was a handheld lantern on the table. The woman wore a black top hat with a feather and a western-style vest underneath a long-sleeved white dress blouse and black leather pants. She wore black high-heeled boots. Suzume frowned in confusion. So, this woman was the one who sent those men after her? Why would a beautiful woman target someone like her? 

"Hmph," The woman locked her gray-violet eyes at Suzume. Then, at Zen. "So, you finally got the girl? I thought those Serpent Phantoms and Inferno Shadows fools would succeed you morons in the job." 

"Damn right, we did, Lenna," Zen spat at the woman. "Now, where is our money so we can leave the city!" 

"Hold up," Lenna said, standing up. "Let me check out this girl." She approached Suzume and lifted her chin with her fingers. "I smell Oriental out of you." 

"Wow, what a foolish way to use such an outdated term for an Asian..." Suzume frowned in disgust at Lenna 

"I doubt your eye and hair color are natural, honey." Lenna mockingly smiled at Suzume. Japanese girls are born with natural black hair and brown eyes. It is so clear that you are wearing colored eye contacts and have dyed your hair to look more American."

"My hair and eye color are natural, believe me or not, for your information. You do not hear me saying that your hair and eye color are fake."

"Ooooooh," Zen and Nebula said while Reyson whistled at Suzume's comeback to Lenna's comment impressively. 

"I see why Roger and Zackery had failed to capture you, dearie." Lenna's beautiful face twisted in ugliness. "Because of your know-it-all attitude, and I've also heard you've beaten the crap out of their men!" Lenna tightened her grip on Suzume's chin. "Nothing does not pissed me off more than a prettier and younger female standing before me. How much I really want to tear your pretty face off, I will let my friend's brother handle you, come along with me, sweetie." 

The moment Suzume heard a metallic clicking sound from Lenna, she acted on instinct. Zen, Nebula, and Reyson had backed away in shock. Lenna widened her eyes in amazement, pointing her semi-automatic handgun at Suzume. 

The thugs and their client did NOT expect their target to have a handgun of her own.

Suzume has such aggression in her eyes. Her hands held a small pistol that she had brought off someone from the Black Market last night. Everyone was so quiet. The air in the bar thinned. Lenna slowly smirked excitedly. She left out a snicker. 

"Ho! Ho! You are indeed Tetsuya Mizuno's daughter!" 

Suzume gasped. Her heart skipped a beat in trepidation. 

"Aww, how adorable! Daddy must have taught you so well to use a handgun~," Lenna giggled sickeningly. "He is a police detective, after all~"

"How did you know my father?!" Suzume demanded angrily. "Answer me!" 

"Oooh! I've almost forgotten! Just give me your family heirloom, and I shall tell you about the details of your father's presence in Steam Bison~" Lenna offered a deal. 

"Not on my watch!" Coindar's voice called out. 

Everyone froze as he popped out of Suzume's pocket skirt. He landed on his knees. 

Suzume slowly turned her head and scowled down at him. 

"Triton is coming here, is he?" 

"....Yes," Coindar answered. 

When the front door opened, Suzume took out a smoke bomb and threw it onto the floor, causing a HUGE smoke storm in the pub. 

"What in the world?!" Layton's voice called out. 

"Oh, come on! This smoke tactic is getting too old!" Luke's voice yelled.

"Miss Suzume! Are you in here?!" Shion's voice called out in distress. 

'What the hell is Shion doing here?!' Suzume panicked. 'Did she bring Triton and Mr. Layton with her?!' 

Suzume ever felt so betrayed and angry. Zen, Nebula, Reyson, and Lenna sneeched furiously. Everyone was coughing in the smoke. 

'Fuck this idiotic shit! I'm out!'  

Suzume made her way to the backroom and shot the doorknob off after she quickly noticed the back door was locked from the outside. She kicked it open and ran out. 

"Damn you, Luke Triton!" Zen angrily shouted at Luke 

"Stupid ass kid!" Nebula added, also angry. 

"You've ruined the fun!" Reyson whined like a child. 

"YOU FUCKIN' SHITTY GODDAMN NOSY BRAT!!" Lenna was very furious with Luke. 

The four criminals had escaped the moment the smoke had disappeared in the pub. 

"A young lady should not have such an uncolorful language..." Layton commented on Lenna's insult to Luke. He sounded so confused and disappointed. 

"I do not care about that woman and how she talks, Mr. Layton."  Shion looked at Layton, annoyed with his first expression of a lady using such foul language." I only care about Miss Suzume."

"Suzume was the one who threw the smoke ball," Coindar reported.

"Are you serious?!" Luke widened his eyes in shock at his robot. 

"I am indeed serious, master. She panicked the moment I informed her of your arrival." 

"Damn it...this isn't good..." Shion expressed in worry. "Only if Mariko were here..." 

Layton and Luke looked at Shion in wonder.

"Umm..." Shion was feeling discomfited now. "Mariko is Miss Suzume's best friend...She would know more about Miss Suzume's mental state...But, for now, we need to find her and calm her down before she does something stupid."

"The woman named Lenna had mentioned a man named Tetsuya Mizuno," Coindar reported once again. "Miss Mizuno had confirmed the man as her father. Miss Lenna offered an exchange of information on Mr. Mizuno for Miss Mizuno's family heirloom." 

"Why....?" Luke sounded so disappointed. "Why would Miss Mizuno keep all of this information from me?"

"Luke..." Layton gazed at him in sympathy. 

"Honestly, Triton." Shion spoke to Luke in a soft tone. "I do not really know why Miss Suzume would want to handle things on her own."

"Do you think you can get in contact with Miss Mizuno's best friend?" Luke requested.

Shion stared at Luke. The younger boy looked so concerned about Suzume. His eyes showed the longing to help her. Shion knew Suzume might become angrier with her if she were to accept Luke's request, but today was a close call. 

Next time, Suzume may not leave the American soil alive. 

Shion does not want to lose her friend. 

"Yes, Triton. Also, there is one more person I would like to contact." Shion accepted his request. 

"One more person?" Luke looked at Shion in curiosity. 

"Yes. We do not even know how many creeps are targeting Miss Suzume. We're so going to need all the help we get, right?"

"I agree with Miss Hibiki." Layton nodded. 

"Okay. That is a good plan. Let us keep searching for Miss Mizuno. She has to run off somewhere." 

"Tee hee hee." Shion giggled. "Knowing Miss Suzume, I bet she is back at her hotel, throwing a tantrum." 

"UGHHHHHHHH!!!!" 

Suzume was muffling into her pillow in frustration, wriggling her legs up and down. Then, she stopped. She took her face off her pillow, wondering why she was acting like a child as the first thing to do after she returned to her hotel room in Hotel Picarat.

'Still....' Suzume hugged her knees. 'I know Miss Shion was just looking out for me, but she did not need to involve those two.' As Luke flashed in her mind, Suzume frowned. 'That damn Triton kid ruined everything! Again, he is just a kid. He does not know better. What gives?' 

Suzume got off her bed and went to the desk. She sat down and took out the ingredients to make a smoke ball. Suzume's maternal family was more resourceful and skilled in crafting things. When she and her maternal cousins were children, they were taught to create various things from scratch.

Suzume needed a distraction from earlier. This was her third time that she had escaped from the dangers in Steam Bison. First, Zen and his gang, the Serpent Phantoms and Inferno Shadows, and now that Lenna woman, her friend, and the supposed brother of her friend. 

Lenna knew the identity of her father. Could this woman have been responsible for his disappearance? 

Suzume needed to track down Lenna for answers. 

There was a knock on the door. Suzume froze and glanced at the door. Hopefully, it was just a room service person. 

"Miss Suzume! Please open the door! We know you are in there!" Shion's voice called out.

Suzume took a deep breath. She knew eventually she would have to interact with Luke and Layton; she had a gut feeling they were standing behind that damn door with Shion. Suzume quickly gathered the smoke ball ingredients and hid them from sight. 

"Coming..." Suzume muttered as she stood and approached the door. 

Suzume stood in front of the door, her hand on the doorknob. She bit her bottom lip. Her heart raced. She quavered with apprehension. Familiar voices from her past came back to haunt her. 

"It is your fault." 

"You should have endured it." 

"You are worthless."

"You are such a pathetic little girl." 

"Miss Mizuno!" 

Suzume gasped. Luke's voice had snapped her out of her dreadful thoughts.  

Why does he sound so soft to someone like her? 

"Please open the door. We need to talk."

Suzume flusteringly stared at the door. She stepped away from the door. She clasped her hands together. Why was she feeling so damn nervous in Luke's presence? Did he see her with the handgun from earlier? Did he come here to report her to the police for having a gun, although this was the USA, and the USA was known for legally owning a handgun for self-defense? 

"Breathe." 

Her father once told her when she was in a distressing situation.

"Calm. A panic would show you are vulnerable to someone." 

Suzume took a deep breath. She placed her hand on the doorknob and glanced at the door chain next to the door on the wall. 

'That is right. Shion is concerned about me. Triton and Mr. Layton want to help me.' 

Suzume opened the door, but it wasn't fully open because the door chain was still attached to it. She glanced at Luke and Layton standing behind Shion before she finally looked at her friend. 

"Is there something you need, Miss Shion?" Suzume asked, pretending she was ignorant of the reason for their visit. 

"Oh, don't be playing dumb, Miss Mizuno," Shion sighed. "We all know what happened at that abandoned pub." She added quietly, darting her eyes left and right to ensure no one else but her, Luke, and Layton were in the hallway. 

"I would rather not talk about it," Suzume said in a nervous tone, trying to give a hint to that Triton boy about how she felt in his presence. 

Suzume locked eyes with Luke again, and she saw him blinking at her in confusion. Layton stood by Luke with his arms crossed, also observing her with a wondering expression. Suzume turned her eyes away from Luke and Layton and looked back at Shion. 

"Please just give me more time, Miss Shion." She pleaded, still feeling guilty for getting Shion involved in her personal issues. 

"Please let me in at least, Miss Suzume. Triton and Mr. Layton can wait for us in the lobby." 

Good enough for Suzume, as she didn't want that nosy British boy and his mentor eavesdropping on her talk with Shion anyway.

"You two do not mind, right?" Shion asked Luke and Layton.

"Sure," Luke smiled politely at her, tilting his blue cup. "It is a gentleman's duty to respect a lady's privacy." 

"Well said, my boy." Layton smiled proudly at Luke and also tilted his top hat at Shion. 

"Please just leave..." Suzume narrowed her eyes at Luke, showing she wasn't still fond of his presence. 

"Sorry..." Luke sadly glanced at her and walked away. 

Layton smiled at Suzume before he followed Luke. Suzume finally let Shion in and closed the door behind, locking it. 

"What gives, Miss Suzume? Why are you so cold to the boy?" Shion has a frown on her face. "All he wants is to help you."

"I have my reasons..." Suzume said in a quiet, distressing tone. 

"Please tell me your reasons, Miss Suzume. I feared there was a miscommunication between us." 

Suzume knew too damn well that Shion was right. She was the one who kept distancing herself from the people who genuinely wanted to help her. She did not want to admit that she had trust issues. 

Suzume Mizuno, the once fourteen-year-old cheerful, ditzy, clumsy, and absentminded girl, has trust issues? 

It would be hard for her middle school classmates to believe if they knew about her distrust of people. 

Not even Kiyomaro or Mariko would know the truth about why she felt so damn anxious around that British playing detective boy and his mentor. At just one glance, Suzume knew Layton was an intelligent man.

Just like her father. 

Any intelligent male always reminded Suzume of her police detective father and her daddy issues. 

'Of course...it is my fault for what happened....I tried to harm myself a few times.' 

Suzume stared at her wrist, which was covered by her long sleeves. She growled, biting her bottom lip in revulsion. 

'I am disgusting. I hate myself so much. I should have been the one who-'

"Miss Suzume...." 

"I'm sorry, Shion. I would rather not tell you..yet." Suzume turned around and walked by Shion, heading towards the door.

"Where are you going?" Shion asked. 

"I will be looking for that woman. She knows something about my father."

"Are you serious?!" Shion exclaimed in alarm. "After what the hell just happened at that pub?!" 

"Time does not wait, Miss Shion." Suzume tossed her a stern look before she left her hotel room. 

And Coindar happened to be waiting for her outside.

Suzume just stared down at him with an annoyed look. 

Seconds later, Luke, Layton, and Shion would find Coindar taped against the wall with small tape on his mouth. The poor robot was swinging his arms and legs, trying to free himself. Layton and Shion sighed. 

"She disappeared on us again," Luke muttered, his expression full of annoyance.