c41-c60 · 042-ch42
- Searching for People
Chapter 42: Bling-Bling Silver
The hands of my watch still pointed to before 5 PM. I wonder how long it's been since I've returned to the office this early. I definitely haven't finished today's work, but I did most of the middle-layer processing while I was with Negomin-san, so I guess you could say it's about 80% done... I think, probably.
"I'm back~. Hmm?"
When I opened the entrance door, Maika-chan was sitting in the middle of the room. And not just sitting—she was seiza-style on the floor.
I had told Maika-chan she could go home once she finished operating, but... Wait, why is she in seiza?
"Maika-chan? Why are you doing something like that?"
"Sh, Shibasaki-san..."
When Maika-chan noticed me, she turned her tear-filled eyes toward me. For a moment, I wondered what was wrong, but I immediately realized the cause.
Standing beside her was a woman wearing a perfectly clean suit and glasses. There was no mistaking her—it was the office worker, Sanada-san.
"Ichiro-san, welcome back."
"Eh, Sanada-san!? Weren't you taking paid leave today...?"
"I couldn't just stay on leave, so I flew back here."
Sanada-san, who was supposed to be in Atami, handed me a box of local manjuu pastries as a souvenir, then took out a gaudy smartphone decorated with blinged-out beads and showed me the screen.
"Please take a look at this."
"That's a quite lovely smartphone, isn't it..."
"Not that. Do you have any idea what this call history is?"
Just as Sanada-san said, the call history on her smartphone was filled with phone numbers lined up minute by minute. It felt like some kind of supernatural phenomenon and gave me the creeps. However, I didn't recognize any of the phone numbers.
"...My apologies, I don't understand at all."
"These are calls that came into Shibasaki Cleaning today."
"Eh, why so many? Did something happen?"
"Did something happen? Because you went and dropped the name Shibasaki Cleaning, all sorts of random people have been calling the phone number listed on the company website. This happened because you selfishly appeared on someone's stream without permission."
"...?"
When I heard the word "stream," I looked toward Maika-chan. But Maika-chan quickly averted her eyes.
"...Um, by 'stream,' you don't mean a normal interview, right? It takes quite a while for things to appear in magazines and all..."
"Sigh, so you really only had that level of understanding."
"I, it's not like that, Sanada-san! This is my fault for forcing Shibasaki-san to...!"
"Yes, I suppose so. Maika-chan, unless you were tempting Shibasaki-san into doing something like this, he would never get involved with such trendy things. Unless you were the one tempting him, that is."
"...Uguu! That's exactly right..."
Maika-chan was being fiercely scolded and was bursting into tears. Hmm~, the thing with Negomin-san earlier today, maybe that was actually a pretty bad idea?
Sanada-san was probably completely right, but I had to protect Maika-chan here.
"Now, now, it's also my fault for agreeing to it so hastily."
"Naturally. You need to have more awareness as the person in charge. You know it's bad to remain ignorant, don't you?"
"Yesss..."
She really scolded me good... Getting scolded for something so reasonable really hits you in the heart...
Sanada-san, exasperated by the sight of a tearful high school girl sitting seiza-style and the sullen middle-aged man standing next to her, let out a heavy sigh she'd been holding deep in her chest.
"...Since you're reflecting, I suppose that's enough. Anticipating something like this might happen, I bought this smartphone yesterday and already changed the phone number listed on the company website. The office phone can still be used normally, so important calls from business partners won't be lost."
Whoa, amazing! What efficiency... But still, I think making that smartphone look so trashy in just one day is questionable.
The tears Maika-chan had been shedding until moments ago had disappeared, and she now wore an expression as if everything had been resolved perfectly.
"As expected of Sanada-san! That skill of yours that cleans up our messes!"
"Maika-chan, a young lady shouldn't use words like 'mess' or 'ass'."
"Sanada-san... thank you for always helping us."
"There's no time to be grateful. Regarding those work clothes, and I have a mountain of things I want to say to you about what happened while I was on leave."
"No, really, in just these past few days, I've truly come to understand how this company keeps running thanks to you, Sanada-san. Thank you so much."
"I don't want to hear such insincere flattery that you don't even mean."
Even though I was actually being sincere...
Stuck between the pathetic us, Sanada-san adjusted her glasses as if to change the atmosphere.
"But I'll save the lecture for another time. Right now, there's a separate matter I need you to attend to immediately, Ichiro-san."
"A separate matter?"
While maintaining her usual cold expression, Sanada-san gestured with her hand toward the reception room.
"Rindou-sama from the Management Bureau is here. She's waiting in that room, so please attend to her immediately."
Rindou-san? Why would Rindou-san come all the way to our office? If she had some business, I would think an email would be fine... No, this might be...
"Understood, I'll attend to it right away."
Perhaps I sensed something unusual even at that moment. I put down my belongings and headed straight to the reception room.
When I opened the door, Rindou-san, who had been sitting inside, noticed me and stood up. Not with her usual gentle expression, but with a solemn look on her face.
"Shibasaki-san, I'm terribly sorry for coming at this hour."
"No, that's quite alright... But is this an urgent matter?"
"Yes—"
After replying, Rindou-san stated nothing but the conclusion, without any preface.
"—Today, there was a report that someone committed murder in the Shinjuku Dungeon."
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