chapter3 · 035-ep35
Episode 35: My Father's Policy Secretary
Takatsuki Ryōsuke walked naturally through the crowd.
He didn't look like he was in a hurry.
Nor did he look wary of anyone.
Just an adult walking through the station area on a day off.
That was all he looked like from the outside.
But I didn't take my eyes off his back.
My father's assistant policy secretary.
Takatsuki Ryōsuke.
I had seen him a few times at my father's workplace.
He was gentle, soft-mannered, and polite to everyone.
At least, he didn't look like a suspicious person.
Which was exactly why he was troublesome.
If he looked plainly suspicious, I could be on guard from the beginning.
But Takatsuki-san was different.
He was a person close to my father, one who supported his work.
He was involved in materials on the Awakener Development Program and in coordinating with schools and local governments.
He was close to family.
So I needed evidence to suspect him.
Without evidence, it would only mean I had arbitrarily suspected someone around my father.
That would be troublesome.
Very troublesome.
But I couldn't pretend I hadn't seen it.
As I followed Takatsuki-san's back, I remembered yesterday.
The first thing that caught in my mind was SNS.
【Awakener Development Program: Phase Two】
【On-Site Accompaniment】
【Underage Awakeners】
【The Mibu Plan】
Several such phrases were lined up.
When I opened the posts, my father's name was there.
Representative Mibu.
The proposer of the Awakener Development Program.
The person advancing a plan to send underage Awakeners into dungeons.
Those words entered my eyes again and again.
My father was being criticized.
It wasn't that I was deeply shocked by that itself.
If anything, a small part of me thought,
Serves him right.
I didn't particularly like my father.
If you asked whether I hated him, it wasn't that simple either.
I just couldn't say I liked him.
My father was always busy.
Even when he was home, he was somehow wearing the face of a politician.
Sometimes when he looked at me, I felt he saw me less as his daughter and more as one student participating in the Awakener Development Program.
I felt that tendency had become stronger still after my mother died.
The atmosphere of family thinned out in our home, and the time Father spent being a politician before being a father increased overwhelmingly.
I hated that.
Probably for a long time.
So when I saw my father being criticized by the public, my chest didn't hurt.
He chose this himself, didn't he?
He's a politician. He should be able to take that much.
I even thought such cold things.
But.
That was separate from the value of the Awakener Development Program.
It wasn't that I wanted to defend my father.
I simply thought that system was necessary.
If awakened Awakeners were left alone, dangerous things would happen.
There would be people left with power they didn't know what to do with.
There would be people who hurt someone without understanding their own power correctly.
There would be people used by shady adults.
There were already signs of that, in fact.
You could tell just by looking inside the school.
Awakeners increased, and concepts like Levels and Skills became real.
That didn't mean everyone suddenly became smart.
If anything, the opposite.
The moment people learned they had power, there really were people who went in the wrong direction.
That was why there needed to be, at minimum, a place to teach them.
How to use that power.
Its dangers.
The law.
The reality of Gates and dungeons.
Letting them out into the world without knowing those things was much more dangerous.
Which was why the system was necessary.
And then Phase Two, on-site accompaniment.
It sounded risky if you only looked at the words.
But originally, this wasn't a proposal to make Awakeners fight immediately.
It would gradually have them accompany surveys into dungeons the country was investigating.
Show them the field, have them assist, and teach them safety confirmation.
At least as far as I knew, that was what it was supposed to be.
It was being cut out in a negative way.
Send Awakeners into dungeons.
Turn children into fighting power.
Representative Mibu made it happen.
It was spreading in that form.
And among the words going around were things that shouldn't have been public yet.
Phase Two.
On-site accompaniment.
They were terms that weren't supposed to have been officially announced.
That meant someone had leaked them.
At least someone around my father, or someone in a position to access those materials.
The day after I began thinking that,
I saw Takatsuki-san at school.
At the end of the hallway.
Near the staff room.
Takatsuki-san, dressed in a suit, was speaking with my homeroom teacher.
I hadn't heard he was coming.
There was nothing particularly strange about someone connected to my father coming to school.
Takatsuki-san had come to the school in my father's place several times before.
Adjusting the schedule for parent-teacher conferences.
Receiving materials concerning further education.
Explanations from the school.
My father was busy, so it wasn't unusual for Takatsuki-san to come hear those minor communications for him.
Of course, my father handled anything needing final confirmation or a signature.
But Takatsuki-san sometimes came to hear about matters in the preliminary stage.
So Takatsuki-san being at school itself wasn't unnatural.
But normally, I would be informed beforehand too.
Sometimes directly from my father, and sometimes Takatsuki-san would contact me.
At the very least, I had never run into someone associated with my father inside the school without knowing anything on the day they came.
That was why it felt off.
At this timing.
And without telling me anything.
Takatsuki-san was at school.
“Takatsuki-san.”
I called out.
Takatsuki-san looked a little surprised to see me.
But he immediately put on his usual gentle expression.
“Iroha-san. Hello.”
“What brings you here today?”
“I'm checking in with the school. Hearing about how the students have been since the Awakener Development Program began.”
“I hadn't heard anything from Father.”
“It was decided suddenly. I'll give Mibu-sensei a full report afterward as well.”
What he said was natural.
Too natural, if anything.
There was nothing suspicious about it.
Takatsuki-san's voice and expression were no different from usual.
So I nodded.
“I see.”
“Yes. And make sure you're not late for your afternoon classes either, Iroha-san.”
“Yes.”
That was supposed to be the end.
Perhaps I should have let it end.
Takatsuki-san lightly bowed to the homeroom teacher and walked toward the end of the hall.
As I watched his back, the words I'd seen on SNS passed through my mind.
Awakener Development Program: Phase Two.
On-site accompaniment.
The Mibu Plan.
Words that shouldn't have been circulating yet.
Information someone had leaked.
And one person who could access those materials was here right now.
Once it had caught my attention, that was it.
I hesitated for only a few seconds.
Then I followed him.
Keeping my distance, quieting my footsteps.
Takatsuki-san didn't head for the school building's exit.
He went down a deserted hallway and stopped in front of a small meeting room at the end of the building.
Takatsuki-san entered the room.
I stopped by the wall and listened closely.
I heard restrained, low voices.
Takatsuki-san's voice, and one other.
Probably a teacher at this school.
I felt I had heard it before.
But I couldn't picture the face.
“...Next Sunday at two o'clock won't be a problem, correct?”
“Yes. The location is the same as before.”
“The rental meeting-room floor at West Exit Office Plaza.”
“Meeting Room Six, correct?”
“Yes.”
I held my breath.
West Exit Office Plaza.
A rental meeting-room floor.
Meeting Room Six.
Not my father's office, a ministry, or the school.
Takatsuki-san continued.
“I'm reviewing the materials on our side.”
“Then please tell them that.”
“Yes. And of course, keep this matter confidential from Representative Mibu.”
With those words, the thing caught in my mind disappeared.
Something else remained in its place.
Suspicion.
Materials that hadn't gone through my father.
Someone on the school's side.
Next Sunday, two o'clock.
Meeting Room Six at West Exit Office Plaza.
What were they meeting for?
What materials were they talking about?
I still didn't know.
But I couldn't pretend I hadn't heard it.
I left the spot.
Before Takatsuki-san and the other person came out, I turned the corner in the hallway.
I considered contacting my father immediately.
But I decided against it.
There was no evidence.
Takatsuki-san had been speaking with someone from the school.
Apparently he would go to Meeting Room Six at West Exit Office Plaza next Sunday at two.
He had said to keep it confidential from Representative Mibu.
That was all.
If I told Father, adults would move.
Everyone around him would become suspicious of each other.
Takatsuki-san might hear about it too.
If there was nothing, it would only mean I had suspected someone who worked close to my father, and someone at the school.
So I decided to confirm it.
What Takatsuki Ryōsuke would do, and with whom.
I would see with my own eyes.
That was what I decided.
Takatsuki-san made his way through the crowd before the station.
I walked a little ways behind him.
Not too close.
Not too far.
A distance where I could immediately look away if he turned around.
That sense was harder than I expected.
And Himura-kun was farther behind me.
There were several reasons I brought Himura-kun along.
First, I would stand out alone.
Takatsuki-san knew my face.
If Mibu Iroha was wandering through the station building alone on a holiday, it might not pass as coincidence.
But if I was together with a boy my age, at least we would look like high schoolers going out on a day off from the outside.
That was why, date.
As a word, it wasn't wrong.
Also, Himura-kun didn't stand out too much yet.
At first, there was also the option of bringing Fujigaya Rio.
But Rio was already known on the national side as a powerful Awakener.
If he moved, he would stand out.
There was a high chance the other person would grow wary.
Himura-kun was different in that respect.
From the outside, he was just a high school boy.
But I knew.
He wasn't just a high school boy.
What happened with Sakagami-kun.
How he moved on the recent dungeon expedition.
His Job as an Enchanter.
He was still unfinished, and probably didn't understand many things himself yet.
Even so, he could move when necessary.
He probably wouldn't run away.
If something happened in front of him, he would make his own judgment and step forward.
He was an Awakener with a strong core like that.
That was what I thought.
On my own.
I hadn't asked him.
We hadn't promised anything either.
But I expected that of him.
I knew that was selfish too.
Still, I chose Himura-kun.
There had been many dangerous Awakener-related incidents lately.
And there were even rumors that there were Awakeners the country hadn't grasped.
It should be better to have fighting strength than not.
Then Takatsuki-san passed through the busy station plaza and headed toward the west exit.
As we got farther from the station building's bustle, the air around us gradually changed.
There were fewer signs for restaurants and variety shops, replaced by more signs for real estate agencies, clinics, and professional offices.
A somewhat old office building lay ahead.
West Exit Office Plaza.
Takatsuki-san entered it without hesitation.
I stopped a little distance away.
Several seconds later, Himura-kun came up beside me.
“Here?” he asked quietly.
I nodded.
“Yes.”
The words I heard yesterday.
Today, two o'clock.
The rental meeting-room floor at West Exit Office Plaza.
Meeting Room Six.
All of it connected here now.
Who was in there?
What would be discussed?
I still didn't know.
But after following him this far, there was no way I could stop now.
Keeping my eyes on the building entrance Takatsuki-san had entered, I quietly let out a breath.