chapter3 · 034-ep34
Episode 34: It Is Also a Date
Today's a tail, so don't let them notice.
Thanks.
Leaving those words behind, Mibu Iroha lined up for the café as if nothing had happened.
No.
Not as if nothing had happened.
Something had happened.
A whole lot had happened.
A tail.
She said tail just now.
Mibu called me out with the word date, picked out clothes, then said tailing someone right before we entered the café.
Her way of giving information was way too sloppy.
A few seconds late, I lined up next to Mibu.
“Mibu-san.”
“What?”
“What do you mean, tailing?”
“Exactly what it sounds like.”
“Wasn't this a date?”
“It is also a date.”
“Can those coexist?”
“They are, aren't they?”
Mibu said it as though it were only natural.
No, not “they are, aren't they.”
I was currently being made to buy clothes thinking this was a holiday date, then immediately getting hit with a phrase that was one step from criminal.
My emotions couldn't keep up.
The part of me in charge of common sense looked ready to run to the Labor Standards Office any second now.
The line moved, and we placed our orders at the counter.
Mibu got tea and a small cake.
I got iced coffee.
After paying, Mibu headed without hesitation toward a table by the windows.
Third floor of the station building.
Beyond the large windows, we could see the plaza before the station and the walkway leading to the commercial complex.
There was lots of foot traffic.
Of course there was. It was a holiday.
But even I could tell that the reason Mibu picked this seat wasn't the nice view.
“...This seat gives us a good view.”
“Yes.”
“I won't ask of what.”
“You can ask.”
“...Then I'll ask. What does this seat give us a view of?”
Reaching for her cup of tea, Mibu said flatly.
“There's someone who might pass through here.”
“Here?”
“Yes.”
“So we're tailing that person?”
“That's right.”
“And who is this someone?”
When I asked, Mibu paused.
Her eyes shifted outside for only a moment.
Then, in her usual even voice, she answered.
“My father's assistant policy secretary.”
“Huh, that's pretty close to home.”
“Yes.”
“Can you just brush that off with ‘yes’?”
“I can't, which is why I'm doing this.”
Mibu put her fork into her cake.
Her movements were calm.
Too calm, which made me worried instead.
Her father's assistant policy secretary.
In other words, someone who worked close to Mibu's father.
She was trying to tail that person.
And it was two high schoolers doing it.
At this point alone, it was weird enough.
“What's his name?”
“Takatsuki Ryōsuke.”
“Someone you know?”
“I've met him a few times through my father's work.”
“So what did he do?”
When I asked that, Mibu quietly took out her phone.
“I don't know whether he did anything.”
“You're tailing him without knowing?”
“That's why I'm confirming it.”
Mibu operated her phone a little, then turned it toward me.
An SNS screen was displayed there.
The trends section.
Several terms were lined up.
【Awakener Development Program: Phase Two】
【On-Site Accompaniment】
【Underage Awakeners】
【The Mibu Plan】
I looked at the screen and couldn't help frowning.
“...What's this?”
“It's causing a bit of an uproar.”
“A bit?”
Mibu said that, but from the screen, it looked like enough of a hassle already.
Some posts used pretty strong words.
“Taking minors into dungeons? Are they out of their minds?”
“Was the Awakener Development Program a system for turning kids into fighting power after all?”
“Is it true that Representative Mibu came up with this program? Just because his own daughter is an Awakener, is he using a national system for personal gain?”
“Are they doing human experiments with their own family?”
“Awakeners get special treatment, and helping victims gets pushed back?”
But it wasn't all criticism.
“Isn't it more dangerous to leave underage Awakeners alone to enter Gates on their own?”
“Doesn't on-site accompaniment just mean observation or assistance, normally? I don't think they'd make them fight right away.”
“I think the Awakener Development Program itself is necessary. The problem is the lack of explanation and how the information got out.”
“I get criticizing Representative Mibu, but it's dangerous to stir things up with nothing but out-of-context clips too.”
Approval and disapproval were mixed together.
But the heat behind the words clearly felt stronger on the critical side.
Just following the posts made the pit of my stomach grow a little heavy.
The Awakener Development Program.
The one we were participating in.
For me, it had already become a pretty familiar system.
But from the outside, it probably wasn't.
The country was gathering underage Awakeners.
Training them.
And now it was even going to make them accompany people on site.
If you framed it that way, there'd be people who felt uneasy.
Especially now that Awakener-related incidents were increasing.
“So what's this Phase Two?”
“The next proposal for the Awakener Development Program.”
“The next proposal?”
“It would gradually have Intermediate-tier participants and above accompany surveys into dungeons the country is investigating. Observe the field, assist, confirm safety. That kind of thing.”
“So that's what on-site accompaniment means.”
“Yes. But that isn't how it's being read outside.”
Mibu set her phone face down.
“It's spreading as a plan to send minors into dungeons.”
“...Well, it isn't only minors.”
There were ordinary adult women and guys among the Awakener Development Program participants.
If anything, there were about more of them.
“But minors participate too. That's a fact.”
Mibu's voice was even.
When she put it that way, she was right.
If you picked out part of the truth, it did fall under “taking minors into dungeons.”
It was a selfish interpretation.
Well, that's just what SNS was like.
“So is it true that Mibu's father came up with the Awakener Development Program?”
“Yes. He's one of the central figures who created the Awakener Development Program. The Phase Two proposal is something my father is advancing too.”
“So that's the Mibu Plan.”
“Yes.”
“In other words, it's spreading like Mibu's father is planning to take underage Awakeners into dungeons.”
“Yes.”
Mibu nodded shortly.
I looked at the table where the phone screen lay face down.
Even that alone was a pretty troublesome situation.
The Awakener Development Program itself didn't seem like it was welcomed by everyone to begin with.
The country was corralling Awakeners.
Giving only Awakeners special treatment.
Making minors undergo combat training.
I could understand that there'd be people who saw it that way.
On top of that came Phase Two.
On-site accompaniment.
And its proposer was a particular politician.
The ingredients for an uproar were there in an unpleasantly complete set.
“So this Takatsuki guy might be involved?”
“I haven't concluded that.”
“You haven't concluded that, and you're going to tail him?”
“That's why I'm confirming it.”
“The police? Or your father?”
“I don't have evidence.”
“Well, yeah.”
“And if I tell my father, adults will move. Then Takatsuki-san will notice too.”
“Would it be bad if he noticed?”
“If there's nothing, it will only mean I suspected someone around my father. If there's something, I can obtain evidence.”
I see.
An unpleasant choice between two options.
If she suspected him, it would become a big deal.
If she didn't, she might overlook something.
Mibu was trying to take the middle road and confirm it herself.
The more calmly I listened, the more normally dangerous what she was doing sounded.
“So that's why we're tailing him.”
“Yes.”
“You called me because you'd stand out alone?”
“Yes. If I'm walking with a boy my age on a holiday, at least it won't look like I'm alone investigating something, will it?”
“Camouflage, then.”
“A date.”
Mibu said that without a care.
Apparently it was both.
My potential first date was camouflage for tailing her father's assistant policy secretary.
Should I be sad?
Should I make a comeback?
Honestly, it was hard to judge.
“You said two o'clock, right?”
“Yes.”
“What time is it now?”
I checked the time on my phone.
1:47 p.m.
More time had passed than I thought while we looked at clothes, entered the café, and talked.
Thirteen minutes until two.
“Are we heading out soon?”
“Yes. It's a little early, but we'll move.”
Mibu said that and put down her cup.
That was when it happened.
Mibu's gaze suddenly turned out the window.
Her eyes were different from before.
Quietly, they focused.
“...There.”
“Huh?”
I looked outside reflexively too.
One man was walking through the corridor outside the café.
Maybe late thirties to around forty.
A jacket in a subdued color.
A shoulder bag.
His features were well proportioned, but he left little impression.
An adult who could be anywhere.
From my perspective, that was all the information there was.
But Mibu didn't take her eyes off him.
“That guy?”
“Yes.”
Mibu stood up.
Her movements were fast.
She was completely different from when she'd been drinking tea a moment ago.
“Takatsuki Ryōsuke. My father's assistant policy secretary.”
“H-hey, wait. We're leaving now?”
“Earlier than planned. We'll lose him.”
Saying that, Mibu headed for the exit.
I hurriedly grabbed the bag with the clothes I'd bought.
There was still some iced coffee left.
...What a waste.
There was normally still about half left.
But this wasn't the time to worry about that.
Outside, Takatsuki Ryōsuke was about to blend into the crowd.
Mibu followed after him without hesitation.
I let out a small breath.
Honestly.
What date?
What café?
What holiday outing?
I never thought my potential first date would start with following a politician's secretary's assistant.
Where did my high school life go down the wrong branch?
Thinking that, I followed Mibu.