Chapter 43 - The Deal
Maybe I went a little too far.
I mull over my own words as I carry a spoonful of curry to my mouth.
Ah, it's fine. The producer's reaction was good, so I don't need to worry so much.
I tell myself this as I crunch on some fukujinzuke pickles.
It's currently lunch break, and I'm in the cafeteria.
The Sumire TV building has a cafeteria open to the public, and an employees' cafeteria off-limits to outsiders. Staff and talent use the latter.
Of course, the one I'm using is the employees' cafeteria too.
You can eat your fill for a mere three hundred to five hundred yen, so I'm grateful for it.
The taste is good too. Quite delicious. For starters, the meat is huge.
I hear advertising revenue has been declining these past few years, but I can't help thinking they're using expensive ingredients.
Don't they get nagged about cost-cutting?
How extravagant, I think, half-exasperated, as I take out my smartphone.
I launch the app and send a message to King Leo.
'Among your junior high classmates, there should have been a boy named Saeki. The one who stopped coming to school from second year. If you know his address, tell me. Even a rough block number is fine. If you don't know, could you ask some old classmates?'
It should be lunch break over there too, so a reply ought to come quickly.
As I'm drinking water while vacantly gazing at the hallway, a notification sound rings out right away.
'Saeki? You lookin' for that guy?'
'That's right. Do you know his address and given name?'
'Yuta Saeki, I think. Dunno his address. Never hung out with him either. Ah, but I remember now, this guy had a little sister the same age as Rio. And that girl, maybe there was a time she hung around with Rio too.'
'The younger sister generation just interacts normally, huh.'
'Wouldn't Rio know the address? I'll ask her now.'
He's still bad at using polite speech as ever, I think with a wry smile as I wait.
He's a delinquent and his language is rough, but I get the feeling he's not a bad kid at heart.
If Gondo is in a realm of no return, King Leo is still just slightly off the path.
He can still turn back as much as he wants.
Being young is a wonderful thing.
Just as I'm thinking such old-man thoughts, a new message arrives. It's King Leo.
'Sorry, Nakamoto-san. Rio's sayin' she won't tell you for free.'
'What do you mean?'
'She's in a bad mood, sayin' you made her look for someone yesterday too. She's whinin' that she wants something in return soon.'
'Can you persuade her?'
'No way. Her brat mode is seriously insane. I can't go against her. That's the kind of creature a Big Brother is, y'know. You get it, right?'
'Sorry, I'm an only child so I don't really understand.'
'Then just imagine it with an imaginary little sister or somethin'. Anyway, what's impossible is impossible.'
For the time being, I understood perfectly well that King Leo is useless right now.
I type out, 'You did well,' and then contact Rio this time.
'You heard from King Leo, right? Why won't you help me? I just want to know the address. Tell me the location of the Saeki house.'
'Not for free.'
A curt, blunt short message.
I imagine Rio typing with a sulking face.
'This is two days in a row. You think of me as some kind of handyman, don't you? I think it's about time I got some thanks.'
I could just give her forceful orders and make her obey again, but even I feel somewhat apologetic.
'I do feel bad about it.'
'Really?'
'I'll repay the debt someday. So let me rely on you one more time. Saeki might be involved in the incident where people are multiplying. I want to meet him no matter what.'
'Depends on the thanks.'
What a troublesome person.
'What do you want?'
'I want to go to Nakamoto-san's house.'
Absolutely not, I reply.
'Why? If I don't tell anyone, it's fine, right?'
'Are you planning to do something that would be bad if you told someone? I'm definitely not telling you my address.'
'Then I won't tell you Saeki's address either.'
Not bad, Rio.
But you're weak to pressure, aren't you. That's the kind of person you are.
'You just need to do as I say. Spit out what you know, quickly.'
'You think you can say that? I won't tell you.'
Huh? It's not working...
Did she build up an immunity? Did she get a vaccination or something?
What kind of vaccine works against a masochistic daddy-con?
As I'm staring at the screen with incomprehensible questions, Rio sends new messages one after another, bluntly.
'Yesterday, you sent me to look for that girl, Ayako Otsuki, right? That girl likes you, doesn't she, Nakamoto-san?'
'Huh?'
'I can tell. We're the same type.'
Maybe my domineering commands aren't working because her brain has switched into interrogation mode.
Terrifying.
'Is it something like a woman's intuition?'
'I just looked at that girl's phone and her wallpaper was a sneak shot of Nakamoto-san, so I thought so.'
The truly terrifying one was Ayako-chan.
When did she take that...?
'How many girls are you leading on? You were all touchy-feely with that foreign girl too, right?'
'That's something like a homestay situation.'
'And that Otsuki girl, you've known her for quite a while, right? I asked her myself.'
What is this feeling of being slowly encroached upon from the outer perimeter?
I feel like I'm surrounded in a circle by an army of orcs right now.
'I'm the only one with a gap compared to the other girls, right? That's unfair. Tell me the address of Nakamoto-san's house. Then I'll tell you the Saeki house's address.'
A sixteen-year-old high school girl coming to an apartment where I'm likewise hiding a teenage girl.
It's far too dangerous.
'Impossible. What's impossible is impossible.'
'Why? Even though I'm asking this much, it's no good?'
'Forget it. I won't ask you. I'll look into it myself.'
'Eh. You're giving up?'
'I can't deal with you any longer.'
This isn't a game, I think irritably as I type.
'Are you angry?'
'You made me waste my precious lunch break. Later.'
'Wait, you're ending the conversation here? You're angry, right?'
I know where Ayako-chan's house is. If it's within the same school district as that place, Saeki shouldn't live too far away.
Today I have work scheduled until late, so it's impossible, but tomorrow I have the whole day off.
If I spend my day off searching around, I'll probably find it easily.
After all, it's just a matter of asking the neighbors.
In fact, if I ask the shop owner who is Ayako-chan's guardian, he might tell me the location easily.
There's even a possibility he met Saeki's parents at a PTA meeting.
Going all the way to the station front to ask is a hassle, though.
Annoyed that my day off will be spent playing detective, I place my smartphone on the table.
Immediately after, a notification sound rings out.
'You have a new message.'
It's Rio, anyway.
I long-press the screen, wondering if she still hasn't complained enough.
The white window switches to a colorful SNS screen.
Now then, what kind of abuse will come out?
As I look at the screen with a somewhat detached feeling, an unexpected text appears.
'I'm sorry.'
A humble and simple apology.
At the bottom, a link is attached.
Thinking it's probably a selfie again, I tap it, and just as expected, a photo appears.
Rio, having pulled up her dress shirt in the bathroom, exposing her white stomach. There are tear stains on her cheeks.
'You should stop doing this kind of thing. Even if I receive it, I'm not happy.'
Receiving something like this just because of a little argument only makes me feel guilty.
This should be resolved with words.
'Will you forgive me?'
'I wasn't that angry from the start. I was in the wrong too, maybe I was irritable because I was hungry. My way of speaking got a little too harsh.'
'Really?'
'Really. So stop this. I won't abandon you even if you don't go out of your way to show skin.'
'I don't get it.'
What don't you get? I can't help but tilt my head.
'Guys all like this kind of picture stuff, right? Is that wrong? Why don't you want it?'
'There's no way that's true. Even if it were, I don't think you'd want it in any situation. Especially when things are hostile like just now.'
'When Mom fights with her boyfriend, she gets his attention like this.'
'And does your mother's partner forgive her for that?'
'Yeah.'
...Could it be that this girl's home environment is so bad that her approach to the opposite sex has become a little warped?
Is this the result of imitating her parent?
It's a cruel thing.
'It seems like I'll need to meet and talk with you once. There are various things I have to say.'
'You'll meet me?'
'Eventually.'
I type in my home address.
'Listen, okay? You absolutely must contact me before coming. And absolutely do not come alone. Come with your Big Brother. If it's like this, you can come hang out.'
'Okay. I promise. Thanks.'
'...So, you'll tell me Saeki's address, right?'
'Wait a sec. I'll ask Kana now.'
'Kana is Saeki's little sister?'
'Yeah, yeah.'
A few minutes later, I obtained the location information of the Saeki house through Rio's reply.
Checking on the map, it's about eight hundred meters east of Ayako-chan's home.
Even though they live this close, Ayako-chan didn't know Saeki's given name, and had no clue about his address.
Is Yuta Saeki really that much of an invisible boy?