chapter3 · 036-ep36

Episode 36: Eavesdropping

West Exit Office Plaza.

Mibu and I followed Takatsuki Ryōsuke inside a little after he did.

Takatsuki took the stairs instead of the elevator.

We went up the stairs too, keeping our distance.

Still, though.

This inconspicuous outfit Mibu had picked for me.

Maybe it was suited for tailing someone.

No one had spoken to us all the way here, actually.

That was good.

It was, but.

Was I really the one who stood out?

Wouldn't Mibu, the daughter of a politician and someone who normally drew eyes, be the one?

Why was I the only one getting built entirely toward the plain direction?

Well, we'd made it here without getting found out, so it was fine in the end.

No, was it fine?

And somehow or other, we reached the fourth floor.

The rental meeting-room floor.

Several doors lined the hallway.

Takatsuki headed straight for the far end.

Then he stopped in front of the room marked 【Meeting Room Six】.

After briefly checking his surroundings, he opened the door.

He went inside.

The door closed.

"What do we do?"

When I asked quietly, Mibu looked toward the end of the hallway.

There was another room beside Meeting Room Six.

Its plaque read 【Meeting Room Seven】.

The occupancy sign beside the door said vacant.

Mibu checked the area once.

There was little foot traffic.

A vending machine stood at the end of the hall.

Stairs beyond that.

A counter that seemed to be reception was visible, but nobody was there.

"We'll go next door."

"Huh, go in?"

"Wouldn't standing here look more suspicious?"

"That's true, but."

No, it was, but.

Two high schoolers entering an empty room next to another one on a rental meeting-room floor also felt suspicious in its own way.

But Mibu opened the door to Meeting Room Seven without hesitation.

I reluctantly followed her in.

Meeting Room Seven was bigger than I expected.

Long tables.

Folding chairs.

A whiteboard against the wall.

A small storage space at the back for equipment.

An ordinary rental meeting room.

Nothing suspicious about it.

The suspicious part was us sneaking in there.

No, calling it sneaking in made it sound bad.

Well, it actually wasn't very good.

"Can we hear them next door from here?"

I asked while looking at the wall.

The wall between the meeting rooms didn't seem particularly thin.

I tried putting my ear to it, but apparently it wasn't conveniently thin enough that I could hear every word.

"Not normally."

"Then what do we do?"

The moment I asked, Mibu opened her bag.

Then she took out a small black device.

It was about small enough to fit in her palm.

A small earphone was attached to the end of a cord.

I froze without thinking when I saw it.

"...What's that?"

"A sound amplifier."

"Why do you have something that crime-coded?"

"Because we're tailing someone."

"Does tailing someone require that much prep?"

"It does. It has recording capability too, of course."

"Why 'of course'? That wasn't even what I was worried about!?"

Still, a world where a high school girl brought a sound amplifier on a holiday date was normally scary.

It was pretty different from the dates I knew.

Well, I didn't know normal dates.

Without seeming to care about my reaction, Mibu held the sound amplifier to the wall.

She put the earphone in one ear and narrowed her eyes.

Her profile was serious.

She didn't seem like the same person who had been drinking tea at a café a little while ago.

"So, can you hear them?"

"Quiet."

"Yes."

I shut up immediately.

Naturally, I couldn't hear anything.

The hum of the hallway's air conditioning.

Footsteps in the distance.

That was about it.

Then a few seconds passed.

Ten seconds.

Mibu's brow moved slightly.

"...I can hear them."

"Seriously?"

"There are several people."

"Several?"

"Yes."

Takatsuki was meeting with several people.

Maybe the person from the school Mibu had heard yesterday was there too.

But I didn't know.

At least, there was no way I could see the faces on the other side of the wall right now.

What in the world could they be discussing in a meeting room this sketchy?

I had that thought, and then.

Mibu's expression changed.

"Mibu?"

"This is bad."

"What is?"

"They're coming here."

"Huh?"

A stupid sound came out of me.

Right after that, I heard voices from beyond the wall.

Not through the sound amplifier this time.

Muffled voices reached us along with footsteps approaching from the hallway.

"It seems the room over here is vacant."

"Meeting Room Seven?"

No.

Meeting Room Seven was this one, wasn't it?

"This is bad."

Footsteps approached from the hallway.

If they opened the door, we'd run straight into them.

There was nowhere to escape.

Just as I froze for a moment, Mibu pulled my sleeve.

"This way."

"This way—"

Mibu headed for the storage space at the back of the room.

Folding chairs.

Spare long tables.

Cleaning supplies.

Cardboard boxes.

It was plainly not a place for two people to fit.

But there was no time to think.

I was shoved in first.

I went inside almost on reflex.

Mibu slipped in after me.

The door closed.

Dark.

Narrow.

And close.

No, more than close.

I was facing the back of the storage space.

Folding chairs and a wall were in front of me.

There was no room to shift my body sideways.

Mibu was pressed close behind me.

Her body heat came through my back.

Even through our clothes, I could make it out strangely clearly.

I heard her small breaths near my shoulder.

Her hair touched the back of my neck, carrying a faint soap-like smell.

Close.

Way too close.

If I moved even a little, I'd bump into Mibu behind me.

Or rather, a soft feeling was already bouncing against my back.

What romcom was this?

We'd been tailing a politician's assistant policy secretary until just now, right?

Why was I pressed against a girl in a rental meeting-room storage closet now?

"Be quiet, okay?"

Mibu whispered into my ear.

Her voice was close.

Too close.

I reflexively held my breath and nodded several times.

The next instant, I heard the door to Meeting Room Seven open.

Multiple sets of footsteps entered the room.

Not one person.

Not two either.

At least three.

No, maybe four.

The sound of chairs being pulled.

Documents placed on the table.

Someone clearing their throat softly.

All of it came through the single storage-space door between us.

This was bad.

Normally bad.

If they found us, there would be no explaining our way out of it.

Mibu didn't move at all behind me.

Her calmness was impressive in the opposite way.

I was the only one freaking out inside the whole time.

"Well, it was a relief that this room was vacant."

The first voice I heard was a calm man's voice.

I didn't know whose it was.

"Meeting Room Six is having its air conditioning repaired. I never thought the room itself would become unusable."

Another voice replied.

This one was gentle.

"It was sudden."

"Well, the room next door was empty, so it's fine."

This time, a rough man's voice.

Somehow, his personality sounded sloppy from his voice alone.

"Then shall we begin again?"

The gentle voice said.

"And today's matter, Representative Mibu doesn't know?"

The calm voice asked.

"Of course it's confidential."

The gentle voice replied evenly.

Representative Mibu.

In other words, Mibu Iroha's father.

And it was confidential.

At this point, it was already pretty black.

"Takatsuki-san. The information on Representative Mibu that you leaked has spread considerably."

"Yes. Public opinion made more of a fuss than I expected."

The calm voice said that.

Takatsuki-san.

The moment that name came up, the voice and name connected in my mind.

The person being addressed.

In other words, the man with the gentle voice who had been speaking evenly this whole time.

That was Takatsuki Ryōsuke.

"So we've managed to damage the Awakener Development Program itself."

The rough voice said happily.

"Representative Mibu must be panicking."

"Our purpose isn't Representative Mibu himself."

Takatsuki's voice was calm.

"He was simply easy to use as a symbol."

"What a cruel way to put it."

"It's true. The proposer of the Awakener Development Program. The advocate for Phase Two, on-site accompaniment into dungeons. If that name catches fire, suspicion will turn toward the system itself too."

"Protect minors. Don't turn children into fighting power. Don't give preferential treatment only to Awakeners. If more voices like that grow, it will be harder for schools to act too."

"Parents will make a fuss too."

"That's fine."

Takatsuki continued evenly.

"The Awakener Development Program is the entrance for the country to manage Awakeners. Only Awakeners who obey the country are right. Only Awakeners under the country's control are safe. We need to stop it before that kind of atmosphere takes shape."

I listened while holding my breath.

What was this?

Did they hate Awakeners?

The country?

Awakeners being managed by the country?

I couldn't tell that much.

But I understood one thing.

These guys were trying to stop the Awakener Development Program.

And to do it, they'd deliberately gotten Mibu's father dragged online.

"However, I don't think the country will stop over online backlash alone."

The calm voice said.

"It won't."

Takatsuki admitted it readily.

"If it would stop over something like this, the Awakener Development Program would never have begun in the first place."

"Then is this buying time?"

"No. This is merely the preliminary stage. We've already planted new sparks."

"Heh. So we're in the second stage too?"

"Yes. Exactly."

The SNS uproar was only the opening act.

That was what Takatsuki was saying.

And the word sparks.

It was certain they were planning something.

"What's the next spark?"

The rough voice asked.

"It's proceeding as scheduled."

Takatsuki answered.

"Company name?"

"Next Works Co., Ltd."

"Hah. Sounds like an ordinary company, all right."

"There would be no point if it didn't look ordinary."

"Applicants?"

"Several already, from participants in the Awakener Development Program."

Paper rustled.

"These are the vetted candidates."

"You brought them?"

"We can't leave it as data."

"Minors too?"

"There are some. In fact, that works better."

"Because it'll cause backlash?"

"Yes. If underage Awakeners who participated in the national program get involved in high-paying private-sector job listings and cause trouble, it will look sufficient."

Takatsuki's voice was calm.

"But backlash is only the preliminary stage. The real aim is to create distrust in the system itself."

"Nice."

The rough voice laughed happily.

Next Works Co., Ltd.

What was that?

A company name, right?

From the flow of the conversation, it didn't sound like an ordinary company.

Then a small silence fell over the room.

I held my breath.

What we'd just heard went way beyond an information leak.

They had leaked information to get Representative Mibu attacked online, and were trying to stop the Awakener Development Program.

And apparently they didn't intend to stop there either.

The conversation broke there.

Chairs moved.

Documents were gathered.

Someone stood.

"Let's not stay long."

"Right."

Footsteps headed toward the door.

One person.

Then another.

The door to Meeting Room Seven opened.

It closed.

A little later, footsteps in the hall grew distant.

I still didn't move.

Neither did Mibu.

We waited for a while.

One minute.

Two.

No, in reality it might have been shorter.

But being silent inside that narrow storage space made the time feel absurdly long.

"...Shall we go out?"

Mibu finally said from behind me.

We came out of the storage space.

No one was in the meeting room.

Mibu had her usual calm expression.

Or she seemed to.

But somehow, she was hard to speak to.

Still, it was bad to remain here too.

"...Yeah."

At least we'd avoided being found.

All that was left was to get out of here.

That was what I thought, when.

"...So someone really was here."

At the meeting room's entrance.

No, from our perspective, the exit.

One man stood there.

The man with the rough voice I'd heard in the meeting room just now.

He looked at Mibu and me, twisting his mouth into an amused smile.

"Don't know who you are,"

his gaze slowly moved over Mibu and me.

"but eavesdropping's a pretty nice hobby."