Chapter 117: Negotiation ②

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Translator: Soafp

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“W-what are you talking about, President…?!”

The first to react was the manager.

While the manager had known about the company’s debt, it seemed they hadn’t been told anything about Ayano.

The president hurriedly shouted,

“Th-That’s not true! Don’t make up lies!”

“Would you like to see the evidence? Airi.”

“Yes.”

Airi immediately took a photograph out of her bag and placed it on the table.

The moment the president and the manager saw it, the color drained from their faces.

The photo showed Ayano being escorted by two muscular men covered in tattoos near the rehearsal studio and getting into a van.

“We followed that vehicle. It eventually arrived at a villa deep in the mountains. Do I really need to tell you what kinds of sounds were coming from inside?”

“…”

“Furthermore, we’ve confirmed that both of those men have ties to organized crime.”

Of course, I couldn’t completely rule out the possibility that Ayano herself had been involved with shady people, or that she’d already known those men beforehand.

But the suspicious circumstances didn’t end there.

“Several hours after entering the villa, one of the men was also seen burying garbage in the ground.”

According to the detective, he’d been terrified.

The men were connected to the yakuza, and the location was private property deep in the mountains.

Even so, considering how serious the situation was, he’d somehow managed to gather the courage to continue watching.

I signaled to Airi, who produced a second photograph.

“Among the trash buried in the ground was what appears to be this syringe.”

“…!!”

The detective was keeping the actual syringe securely stored to prevent it from being destroyed or tampered with.

“If this syringe undergoes DNA testing, it won’t take long to determine who it was used on. And, of course, what substance it contained.”

That alone would have been more than enough to create a massive scandal.

Yet there was a reason I hadn’t made it public sooner.

“I find it impossible to believe the president knew nothing about something this serious.”

I was afraid Ayano alone would end up being sacrificed.

The agency could simply claim ignorance, immediately terminate her contract, and publicly announce only that she’d used methamphetamine.

I couldn’t allow the president to paint himself as the victim.

“I-I had absolutely no idea! I swear it before heaven! Those bastards… when did they get their hands on my Ayano…?”

Just as I expected.

His response was so predictable it almost made me laugh.

Then, however, the manager spoke through trembling hands.

“…Please stop lying, President.”

There was unmistakable anger on the manager’s face.

“I know the truth! One day you suddenly said you had an important client and took Ayano with you!”

“Wh-What are you talking about all of a sudden?!”

“And I saw it! I saw you kissing Ayano!”

“…”

I see.

So that was it.

My eyes drifted to the wedding ring on the president’s left hand.

So he’d been having an affair with Ayano.

Then, after being pressured by the yakuza, he’d sacrificed her to save himself.

(And from there, she became addicted to meth and couldn’t escape.)

Once the yakuza controlled her drug supply, she had no choice but to obey them.

From what I’d researched, one side effect of methamphetamine was the intensification of paranoid delusions.

And there was one more thing.

“Manager… do you remember when the heel of the shoe Ayano brought broke, and Kokoa…”

“Yes… of course.”

“I’ve read that immediately after methamphetamine is administered, severe trembling in the hands can occur.”

“…!”

In other words, it was entirely possible she’d genuinely dropped the shoes while carrying them because her hands had started shaking, causing the heel to crack.

Of course, it was still possible she’d done it deliberately.

But even if she had, the meth-induced paranoia had likely played a major role.

Either way, the drugs had clearly influenced her actions.

“Then… all this time, the reason Ayano had been acting so strangely was…”

At last, tears spilled from the manager’s eyes.

“I had no idea… I just kept scolding her, thinking she’d changed…”

Since the manager also served as the group’s producer, the burden they’d carried must have been enormous.

Kokoa’s popularity far surpassed everyone else’s, so naturally most of the work centered around her.

That steadily eroded the morale of the other members.

And the president only cared about Kokoa because she made money.

Caught between both sides, the manager had little choice but to give Kokoa preferential treatment.

But to the other members, that looked blatantly unfair.

For Ayano especially, whose meth-induced paranoia distorted everything even further, it became unbearable.

In the end, those feelings manifested as bullying toward Kokoa.

“President… this is… this is absolutely unforgivable…!! How could you do something like that to her?! She trusted only you and me!!”

“Shut up!! Do you think I wanted any of this?!”

Now he was lashing out in anger.

The president looked uglier with every passing second.

I was beginning to understand why he’d managed to run every business into the ground.

The manager shouted back just as fiercely.

“I’m quitting! How do you expect anyone to keep working for a company like this?!”

“If you quit, what happens to Jirai-chan Syndrome?! Are you really going to abandon them like that?!”

“Who’s the irresponsible one here?! You sold off the agency’s most valuable assets without hesitation! If you could make money selling your employees too, you’d probably do that as well!”

It was a perfectly natural reaction.

I wouldn’t want to work for a company tied to the yakuza either.

In fact, the only reason the manager had endured this long was almost certainly because she cared about Kokoa and the other girls.

I deliberately cleared my throat.

“So then, Mr. President.”

Now we were finally getting to the real issue.

To be honest, after everything I’d heard, whatever trust I’d had in him was almost completely gone.

No…

I’d become convinced that I couldn’t leave Kokoa in this man’s hands.

(The problem is that this company owns every right related to Jirai-chan Syndrome.)

A few days ago, Kokoa had told me she wouldn’t mind quitting being an idol.

But that didn’t mean she wanted to quit.

Besides, I genuinely thought Kokoa looked beautiful standing on stage, giving everything she had.

(If she was going to escape this company and continue being an idol…)

Only one solution came to mind.

In fact, it was essentially the only option available to me.

Looking the president straight in the eye, I continued.

“Would you be willing to sell all rights to Jirai-chan Syndrome to our company?”

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TL: From this point onward it will be released every other day (we caught up with the raw)