"Hey, hey, no need to be so nervous and scared, little girls," Watanabe Gengo, sharp as ever, immediately noticed the small actions on Yuki and Mizuo's hands, as well as their change in expression and mindset. He tried to smile in order to ease their tension. However, the smile Watanabe Gengo displayed was still that arrogant, sneering kind of smile.

As a result, the two little girls became even more nervous, shaking like a sieve.

"I, I'll get straight to the point!" Yuki deliberately raised her voice to not be overshadowed by the other side. That approach was indeed correct. Unfortunately, due to the sudden increase in volume, she ended up breaking several notes at once and amplifying the trembling in her voice.

Such clumsiness, such cuteness, made Watanabe Gengo unable to help but laugh, revealing a "smile" – at least that's what Watanabe Gengo thought. In reality, however, it appeared as a mocking, sinister smile to the two little girls.

"Go ahead and ask."

Watanabe Gengo used what he believed to be his gentlest voice, which Yuki and Mizuo perceived as a blatant provocation.

"You're... the bad guy from the kidnapping incident, right?"

Yuki raised her voice even louder, asking indignantly.

"Bad guy?"

Watanabe Gengo paused for a moment, even halting that mocking expression.

"Oh, a bad guy, huh? Hahaha, if you say so, then I guess I am indeed a bad guy. But in reality, the reason I was there was simply because I was working."

"Working?"

Curious little friend Koga Mizuo popped out from behind Yuki once again.

"Yes, I saw a recruitment poster for work attached to the office building, so I went in to apply."

"A criminal organization actually openly recruits people to work for them, it's ridiculous!"

Misunderstanding the situation, Mizuo pounded the table with her hand while gritting her teeth.

"It's not like that, little girl. They are only recruiting movers and security personnel, without openly admitting they are a criminal organization."

Watanabe Gengo explained helplessly. However, his well-intentioned explanation was still misunderstood by Mizuo due to his inherently arrogant face and dismissive tone of voice, seen as mocking her ignorance.

"Oh, really? It's just a little trick, nothing special. You, who got tricked into working for such an organization, have nothing to boast about..."

Feeling as if her ignorance was being ridiculed, Mizuo muttered quietly, venting her dissatisfaction.

"So, you didn't actually know they were engaged in criminal activities, right?"

"That's right, I was just unknowingly doing manual labor and security work. So after being arrested, I wasn't sentenced to a long prison term. Plus, there was an incident in prison. As a victim, my attitude and behavior were good, so I got a certain degree of reduction in sentence and was released early."

Watanabe Gengo was quite happy when talking about this matter. Although he often got detained for brawling and had plenty of encounters with the police, he looked down on being arrested for human trafficking.

Hence, being able to clear his name and be released early made him ecstatic.

Such joy, however, appeared on Watanabe Gengo's face as exaggerated self-satisfaction, as if everything was planned beforehand. To others, it seemed like he was gloating.

Despite his happiness, Watanabe Gengo was still a capable adult with some thinking abilities. He quickly shifted his focus from himself to the two little girls.

He was well aware that these two children were not here to play.