Chapter Prologue
Prologue
“Now then . . . ”
She lowered her voice to speak confidentially . The woman, who was wearing a navy blue outfit, leaned forward, causing the sofa to creak . ‘Now then,’ she repeated once again,
“Please report the contents of the investigation . ”
“Yes . —Full name: Shibuya Kazuya . Occupation: Head of ‘Shibuya Psychic Research’ . According to the information found through the best efforts of this investigator, his birthday is September 19th . Currently, he is seventeen years old . ”
“You don’t need to say ‘best efforts’ and so forth . Please report only the facts, investigator . —If he’s seventeen, then he must be a student?”
“He doesn’t seem to go to school . ”
The woman crossed her legs . After briefly looking up to the ceiling in thought, she said,
“Virgo, huh? Virgo is the worst personality . ”
For some reason, she decisively declared that .
“It is, isn’t it? According to my observations, his blood type seems to be either A or O type . ”
“Seems like it, right?”
When the woman nodded, the man, who had been silently listening to the conversation, cut in .
“I heard A . But, that’s sort of . . . unrelated, isn’t it?”
The woman glared at the man .
“Observers do not speak . —Investigator, please continue . ”
“Yes . His address is unknown and his home phone number is also unknown . ”
“Complete secrecy, huh? Family?”
“It’s unknown . But, it seems there’s no doubt he has parents, right? His father is a university professor . ”
“Hometown?”
“That’s also unknown . However, since he doesn’t know a lot of detail about Tokyo’s geography, he doesn’t seem to have been born and raised in Tokyo . ”
“I see… How is the financial health of the office?”
“I don’t exactly know, but… I don’t think it’s profitable . There isn’t a large amount of work, and the request fee also isn’t a large sum . ”
“In spite of there not being work, there’s a lot of staff . An assistant and… two part-timers . What the heck, where does that much money come from?”
“I don’t know . It’s strange, right? So to speak . . . isn’t it that, ‘There is where there is . ’”
The man, who had been listening to the conversation in indifference, lightly laughed . The woman glared at the man a second time . After that, she leaned forward once more .
“The amount of work isn’t a lot, right? Well then, what does he do on a daily basis?”
“He reads books, looks at maps, etc . He’s gone traveling at present . ”
“Ah . He’s traveling now, huh? Where did he go?”
“If I remember correctly, Tōhoku . ”
“He didn’t go for . . . hot springs, did he?”
“What? Absolutely not . ”
“What else? What about the assistant? Did you find out his real name?”
“Lin Koujo seems to be his real name . He’s originally from Hong Kong . Other than that, his profile is unknown . His address is also unknown, but Shibuya Kazuya seems to live within a distance where you can hear if you knock on the wall . ”
The woman grew silent . Before long, she raised her voice hysterically .
“Then, what?! In short, nothing I don’t know, isn’t that what you’re saying?!”
“I know, but I can’t do anything about that . . . ”
“This good for nothing . ”
“It can’t be helped—! It’s not my fault! You guys… ”
I unintentionally yelled in earnest .
“You guys, Naru’s secrecy is bad!”
Tokyo, Shibuya, Dōgenzaka . ‘Shibuya Psychic Research . ’
I, aka Taniyama Mai, stood firmly in the middle of the fashionable office, breathing heavily . I was coldly scrutinized by the man (Takigawa Houshou, originally a monk from Mt . Koya) and woman (Matsuzaki Ayako, a miko) . And in spite of me being a sixteen year old girl who out blooms even a flower, too .
Yes! Naru is bad, you guys .
Shibuya Kazuya, head of ‘Shibuya Psychic Research’ . His appearance is exceptionally good while his personality is exceptionally bad . Haughty, arrogant and narcissistic, no question about it . He’s called ‘Naru’ because of his narcissistic personality .
Why is he so eager to conceal everything!
My shoulders trembled angrily . Taka (Takahashi Youko, work colleague), having watched from afar, patted me on the back .
“Whoa, whoa . The director’s secrecy probably isn’t something recent . ”
“But—”
Well, just remembering makes me angry .
Originally, what started all of this was a woman who came in the Spring . That person, Mori Madoka, was acquainted with Naru and Lin-san . That is to say, an acquaintance . In other words, isn’t it true that she knows everything we don’t know? Although I wanted to ask a mountain of questions, she returned home without telling almost anything .
So, this had sparked my curiosity . No one knew anything about Naru until Mori-san came . However, when the person who knows everything comes and no information can be gained from them, it results in frustration .
—Thus, in order to satisfy my curiosity, I began working to gather information . Knowing Ayako planned the same process of information gathering, the two of us have been collaborating since the rainy season, however, summer had come without us discovering a single thing .
If you ask questions and are refused answers, they can be discovered through tailing, but in the end, the answers were few .
“Are you also interested in me?”
That— guy—!
Yeah right, why would I? I mean… I mean… It was merely genuine, intellectual curiosity about what kind of secrets Naru has hidden since he’s so keen to hide everything, not because of any particular romantic feelings or emotions . “Interested”? Don’t be ridiculous . You’re completely conceited .
. . . No, to tell the truth, I was a little interested (blush), but when it comes to this, I have no intention of admitting it at any cost . Taniyama Mai is not so straight-forward as to admit, “Yes, that’s right,” when, “are you also interested in me?” is asked .
“But, I think Mai is bad, too . ”
After Taka said that, I turned to look at her .
“Why?”
“Do you think the boss will simply tell you what he’s hiding?”
. . oh .
“Doesn’t that mean trying to figure it out is unreasonable? Even ordinary people have one complaint about another party . Let alone, since you’re dealing with the boss, don’t you think the obvious response to a hundred complaints is a hundred sarcasms?”
“ . . . That—that’s true, but . . . ”
*depressed*
“Well, I also understand Matsuzaki-san’s and Mai’s feelings . But, if not done in moderation, it may result in regret . ”
“There would be regret . ”
Taka looked in Senpai’s direction . Senpai (Kasai Chiaki, a psychic girl in a slump) lightly shrugged her shoulders,
“He’s hiding, so doesn’t that mean don’t look?”
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“ . . . Yeah . ”
“The story says, if you forcibly look at the one who said, ‘Don’t look’, they might return to the mountain . ”
“What… is that?”
“The Crane Wife . It means the other cannot help here anymore if their identity is discovered . Don’t you think that’s it?”
“No way . . . ”
“But, you mustn’t declare things, right? For example, the boss is a wealthy heir and his parents oppose, so he hides and runs the office secretly . I think it’s quite possible that, after Mai finds his house and carelessly visits, everything will be leaked to his parents and he will have to close the office . ”
“Madoksan had said they don’t particularly oppose . ”
Chiaki-senpai lightly sighed .
“As an example of the story . Is it okay for the boss to be gone?”
“Well . . . it’s what he wanted . ”
When I said this, senpai sternly pointed .
“If nothing else, such a good part-time job won’t come again . ”
. . . ugh .
“Wouldn’t you be worried?”
“ . . . I’d be worried . ”
After all, I am a self-supporting student . If I were to lose this outside the norm part-time pay, it would be terribly painful .
Bou-san, who was listening to our conversation with interest, cut in .
“Is the part-time pay here good?”
Taka nodded .
“Yeah . Better than the general public . Even I, as the secretary . Mai is better because she’s sort of an investigator . On average, an office lady gets much less . ”
Yeah . When I go on an investigation, the hourly wage is for twenty-four hours, and in addition to that, I receive a risk allowance .
Bou-san tilted his head in confusion .
“Something wrong?”
“No . Before, when I asked why he hired Mai, Naru-bou said, ‘I hear she’s hard working and it’s cheap . ’”
Taka also tilted her head in confusion .
“It isn’t cheap, right?”
“Yeah . I’m free to increase my part-time hours . And since the salary is hourly, when I don’t have enough money, all I have to do is increase my hours . ”
Actually, I’m trying to increase my income, so I work in the office as much as possible when there’s not an investigation .
Ayako made a disgruntled noise .
“What’s this? You have such a sweet part-time job? Will you also get paid for talking to this idiot?”
“I mean, even though I want to, there’s currently no work . ”
Looking at Taka as I said this, Taka nodded .
Bou-san tilted his head even more .
“It doesn’t seem like such difficult work . ”
“It’s difficult when we go on investigations . ”
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If you’re not careful, your life is cut short .
“What about ordinarily?”
Hearing Bou-san, Taka and I looked at each other . Taka pointed at me .
“If a client comes to the office, Mai keeps them occupied . ”
I also pointed towards Taka .
“Taka does office work . She organizes purchased books, does odd jobs, and makes tea . ”
“What about right now?”
“Mai is supervising while Lin-san is on lunch break . Even though she wants to keep occupied, she can’t since there currently isn’t a client . ”
“Taka is doing the morning cleaning of the office . And since both Lin-san and Naru are gone, no chores have been requested, and there also aren’t any purchased books to organize today . Our psychic colleagues have come to visit, so she made tea . ”
Bou-san rested his chin on his hand with a serious expression .
“The phone rang repeatedly for some time . ”
“But the answering machine got it, didn’t it?”
“An answering machine does the job, but you don’t answer the phone?”
“Actually, yeah—”
“That’s right—”
Taka and I nodded .
“We’re not supposed to answer the phone . That’s what we were told . ”
“That’s right . We’re also not supposed to touch the post . The mail-box downstairs requires a key, and only the boss and Lin-san have the key . ”
“Speaking of which, were not even supposed to clean the boss’ office . It shouldn’t be entered without permission . ”
“Furthermore, the financial matters are also no-touch . ”
Bou-san and Ayako amicably held their heads between their hands .
“What kind of financial sense is Naru using?”
“Right? If it was me, I wouldn’t pay for such part-time work . ”
“What—”
“Naturally . The point is, right now, aren’t you just drinking cups of tea in an air-conditioned office?”
That— that might be so .
Taka puffed her cheeks .
“Because the boss said it was okay . ”
“Right . He said that . ”
“In exchange for a comfortable job, we also face difficulties with human relations . ”
“Right . Even the child before me certainly didn’t last with it . ”
When I said that, Taka and Chiaki-senpai looked at me blankly .
“? What?”
“Child before?”
“Yeah . Naru said that when he invited me to work part-time . He said, ‘The child before quit . ’”
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“But, didn’t Madoksan say, ‘That the pair even hired someone is surprising . ’”
Huh? Now that you mention it, she had said something like that…
Ayako tilted her head .
“Was there really a ‘child before?’ You usually wouldn’t quit such a sweet and comfortable part-time job . No matter how bad the pair’s personalities, don’t they practically hole themselves up in the boss’ office and resource room respectively and not come out?”
“That… that’s right . ”
Bou-san crossed his arms .
“Worse is the management of his money . There aren’t that many clients and most are declined . How could he set up this lavish office and the like in this prime location with that work style? On top of that, he has two part-timers for hardly any work . And in addition, the part-time pay is good . ”
“But, doesn’t Naru think it’s inexpensive hard work? It’s like I thought, his family is definitely wealthy . So isn’t his sense of money different from ours?”
“Although there are also rich university professors, it’s still not as lucrative a business as to say, ‘definitely . ’ ”
“Well, it could be a family originally from a wealthy house . Surely, the son’s upbringing is the cause of such an arrogant personality . Uh-huh . ”
“The truly rich are gentle and calm . ”
“You know, that’s a case of to each his own . . . ”
As that was being said, the door opened and Lin-san returned .
Overlooking the inside of the office, Lin-san seemed to very lightly nod in the direction of Bou-san and Ayako .
“Sorry to bother you . ”
Ayako said as she leaned forward .
“So, Lin-san . Was there a part-time worker before Mai?”
“No, none . ”
Lin-san said this as he pulled two envelopes, which seemed to contain journals, from the mail he held in his arm and handed them to Taka . It’s Taka’s job to collect the cards removed from the table of contents of the journals .
. . . but, there was no one?
“No one?”
“Yes . ”
Said expressionlessly, Lin-san went towards the resource room . On the way, he signaled to Chiaki-senpai with his eyes . For now, Senpai is PK training with Lin-san . For a long time it had passed, but recently, there are visible signs of a revival of spoon bending .
Bou-san muttered quietly .
“What is Naru-bou thinking?”
Right, right .
Taka spoke uncertainly .
“I wonder if it’s possibly like this . He acts bad, but at his core he’s a nice guy . ”
“N-No way!”
No, to be honest, it’s not that I don’t think so, but like . . .
‘Anyway,’ Ayako issued in a sharp tone .
“Maii . Didn’t you, in fact, say that he was actually really kind?”
I glanced at her coldly .
“No way . . . ”
. . . No, not at all .
Hmmm . These circumstances only deepen the confusion . . .
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