Chapter 101: More debt

Reading Settings

Translator: Soafp

---

After hearing the detective’s interim report, I ended the call.

A sigh escaped my lips.

Kokoa-san… why did she have to end up at a talent agency like that of all places?

“Ren-kun, was that the detective?”

“Yeah.”

“It was about Miyoko-san, right? What did they say?”

“It seems that agency has borrowed money from a predatory loan shark.”

Apparently, even before launching Jirai-chan Syndrome, the agency had poured large sums of money into several other business ventures.

Every single one of them had failed.

Desperate to keep the company from going under, the president had apparently borrowed money from people who weren’t exactly legitimate lenders.

“Threats and violence are apparently an everyday occurrence. If you can’t repay them, they sell you into the sex industry. That kind of crowd.”

“…That’s awful. They’re even worse than my father’s creditors.”

Hideki-san’s case had merely involved personal debts.

At the very least, they hadn’t been illegal loan sharks.

Though honestly, there wasn’t much difference in practice.

Nodoka, who had been listening from the kitchen, widened her eyes and hurried over.

“T-Then doesn’t that mean the yakuza are probably involved too!?”

“There’s a good chance.”

“R-Ren, you’re not thinking of doing anything stupid, are you!? You absolutely can’t get involved with yakuza!”

“I know.”

…Though in truth, I’d already gotten involved once because of Airi’s situation.

For now, I pulled the pale-faced Nodoka into my arms and gently stroked her head to calm her down.

Still, this situation was definitely more dangerous than Airi’s had been.

In Hideki-san’s case, the gambling den had merely been connected to organized crime.

This time, the lender itself was organized crime.

(Laws don’t mean much to people who don’t care about laws.)

The private lenders who had lent money to Hideki-san never expected to recover the full amount anyway.

That’s why I could buy up those debts cheaply.

But loan sharks like these operated differently.

They piled on interest under every excuse imaginable.

Their entire business model was squeezing every last yen out of people.

(…This is seriously troublesome.)

Convincing Kokoa-san to quit being an idol wouldn’t be easy.

And because contracts were involved, even transferring to another agency wouldn’t be straightforward.

While I was holding my head in frustration, Airi spoke up.

“But Ren-kun, the loan shark issue and Miyoko-san’s drug case aren’t necessarily connected, are they?”

“…That’s true.”

Still, an unpleasant possibility crossed my mind.

What if they deliberately got girls addicted to drugs and then forced them to sell their bodies to repay debts?

But the more I thought about it, the less it fit.

If that were true, why had the police concluded there was no criminal involvement?

Unless the yakuza and the detective assigned to the case had been working together…

“Yui, Kokoa-san hasn’t been acting strange lately, right?”

“N-No. When I cleaned her room, I didn’t find anything suspicious. And she hasn’t been going out to meet any suspicious people either…”

For now, I decided to rule out the idea that the police were intentionally covering something up.

If I started suspecting conspiracies like that, there’d be no end to it.

If someone had deliberately injected Kokoa-san with drugs, there should be traces of it somewhere.

Even if Kokoa-san had purchased and used them herself, there should have been evidence of contact with a dealer.

Yet the police hadn’t found anyone connected to such activity.

“…Could it be someone nobody would find suspicious being around Kokoa-san?”

That would explain why she’d let her guard down.

Perhaps someone had handed her a syringe while claiming it was some kind of beauty treatment.

If that happened, it would technically look as though she’d injected herself.

There would be no signs of forced administration.

And if she hadn’t personally bought the drugs, there would be no connection to a dealer for investigators to find.

Airi nodded.

“I see. Ren-kun, are you suspecting the other members?”

“…Yeah, maybe. I can’t think of any reason the manager would intentionally set Kokoa-san up.”

“Especially that shoe woman?”

“She has a name, you know. It’s Ayano-san.”

“I don’t even want to remember the names of people that unimportant.”

I couldn’t entirely blame her.

“Come to think of it, Miyoko-san said Ayano-san got a boyfriend, right?”

“That’s only Miyoko-san’s guess.”

The whole thing bothered me.

An idol getting a boyfriend was risky enough.

And according to Kokoa-san, Ayano-san took her work very seriously.

Would she really do something that could destroy her career?

The pieces didn’t fit together.

“So we don’t even know whether the person she’s meeting so often is actually a boyfriend.”

“Ren-kun, why don’t we ask the detective to investigate who that person is?”

“Good idea. And while they’re at it, I’ll have them investigate anyone suspicious around Kokoa-san.”

My instincts said the manager wasn’t responsible either, but I couldn’t rule it out.

After all, a manager was exactly the kind of person whose presence wouldn’t seem suspicious.

And considering how unusually strict she’d been with the idols, it wasn’t impossible she’d forced something on Kokoa-san.

As Nodoka placed the finished dinner on the table, she spoke up.

“Hey, Ren. Don’t you think you should tell Kokoa-san about the detective’s findings?”

“But would that actually make her want to leave the agency?”

“That’s ultimately her decision. But shouldn’t you at least give her the information she needs to make that decision?”

She had a point.

Kokoa-san was still in middle school and occasionally made mistakes, but she was capable of distinguishing right from wrong.

For someone like her, presenting objective facts might work better than trying to forcefully persuade her.

“And I think you should tell her about that piece of trash too.”

“…Nagasawa-senpai?”

“Yeah. There’s a saying that ignorance is bliss, but she’s already met her. In that case, she deserves to know. Besides, Kokoa-san is pretty sharp. She might’ve already figured it out.”

That was true.

Before Nagasawa-senpai interrupted that day, Kokoa-san had already heard Yui arguing with them.

At the very least, she knew something serious had happened.

And by now, it was in the news.

“Alright. I’ll explain everything to her myself.”

“And another thing. What about putting pressure on the agency regarding those debts?”

“Pressure?”

“Yeah. You have a legitimate reason. If they’re connected to organized crime, you can’t continue sponsoring them. Tell them you want an explanation.”

“Ah… that’s true.”

As agency president, he probably didn’t want to remain tied to loan sharks forever either.

This would be a good opportunity to push him toward cutting those ties.

At least according to the detective’s report, the agency itself didn’t seem to be actively working with organized crime.

“Ren-kun, why not offer them a carrot too?”

“A carrot?”

“Sure. Tell them that if they resolve the debt issue, you’d be willing to invest in the agency.”

Like when I’d invested in Nodoka’s father’s startup.

It wasn’t a bad idea.

“Alright. Airi, can you handle that?”

“Of course. I’ll get started tomorrow.”

Being with these two made me feel like we could solve any problem, no matter how difficult.

◇

Several days passed.

Life at school wasn’t very different from the first semester.

The biggest changes were in our relationships.

“Say ahh.”

“Ahh.”

Lunch break.

On the emergency staircase, with Yui watching nearby, Nodoka and Airi each held out food with their chopsticks toward my mouth.

“…Can I ask why both of you always offer food at exactly the same time?”

It made choosing impossible.

“Obviously, Ren-kun. It makes things feel more harem-like.”

“T-That’s right! Do you have a problem with that!?”

“Not exactly…”

“You don’t have to think about which one to choose, Ren-kun. Just like in bed, you can take whichever—”

Before Airi could finish—

Bang!

The door burst open.

“Fukagawa! I need your help!”

It was Takagi.

How did he even know I was here?

…Wait, had this location become common knowledge already?

“What is it?”

“Please! Can you take over as a guide for Saturday’s open school event?”

“That came out of nowhere.”

And Saturday was literally tomorrow.

“Start from the beginning.”

“Well… the guy assigned to my group injured his leg.”

“Wait. You’re working as an open school guide?”

“It just sort of happened.”

Takagi clasped his hands together as though praying.

“Please! You’re the only person I could think of! I’ll buy you food afterward!”

It was rare for him to beg me this desperately.

He must have been in a really tough spot.

“Fine. But tell me anything important I need to know first.”

“As expected of Fukagawa! You’re the best!”

Then Takagi grinned.

“Oh yeah. Apparently a middle school idol is coming too.”

“Who?”

Takagi’s grin widened.

“Kokoa-chan from Jirai-chan Syndrome!”