The Public Disclosure of Evidence Footage, as the screening was officially dubbed, came to an end. The lights flickered on, illuminating a room filled with a low, restless buzzing.
Nishikawa-san picked up her microphone and began her announcement.
"I hope you all enjoyed the show. I suspect quite a few of you in this room were actual participants. I don’t know how much you realized at the time, but this is Prostitution Procurement. Furthermore, as the footage clearly showed, high school students were involved. This is a very serious criminal matter."
The murmuring in the venue reached a fever pitch.
Some shouted that it had nothing to do with them; others pointed fingers and blamed those visible in the footage. Some claimed they had been deceived, while others tried to casually slip toward the exit… but, of course, the doors remained locked.
Every last one of them was a pathetic sight.
"I have a question for you. You there."
Nishikawa-san singled out one individual.
A staff member approached the man and held out a microphone. This man was someone with ties to an employee at Nishikawa-san’s company. Apparently, once he was told his own company would be ruined by this scandal, he was easily bought off.
In short, he was the plant.
"Did you participate?"
"Uh, well… yeah."
He looked more ordinary than I expected. His performance didn’t feel forced at all, so this was going to work.
"Let me rephrase the question. Were you coerced into participating or acting as a scout for these events?"
"……"
"I’m not sure what will happen to your companies or your personal lives when this is made public," Nishikawa-san continued. "Being so disconnected from such matters, I can’t say for sure, but I imagine you all have a very good idea. However, I have received reports that the vast majority of you were coerced—that you are, in a sense, victims. Is that not the case? You were forced, weren't you?"
"It was coercion! We were forced!!"
Faced with Nishikawa-san’s leading question, which provided an obvious escape route, the man jumped on it as if there were no other choice. It was a complete farce.
However, group psychology is a fascinating thing. Sympathizers immediately began to emerge.
"I was coerced too!"
"Me too! So was I!"
"We were threatened and told to do what we were told!!"
Voices rose in unison from every corner of the room. The idiots scrambled desperately toward the exit Nishikawa-san had provided. It was easy to imagine what would happen to their careers, and since none of them had any real loyalty to Yamasaki, they naturally chose self-preservation.
Of course… none of them are actually going to get away with this in the end.
A Detailed Participant List for the mixers has already been compiled. They’ll find out what that means soon enough.
"Don't you dare mess with me!! I never coerced anyone into anything!!!" Yamasaki screamed, his face a mask of desperation. "Don't you start pinning this on me!! I've been looking after you lot this whole time!"
He was panicking because he realized he was about to be left to take the fall for everything. But did he even realize that by arguing, he was admitting that the footage was real?
"All of you—"
"Shall we put it to a vote, then?" Nishikawa-san interrupted, cutting him off. "Those who were coerced, please raise your hands."
As if on cue, every single hand in the room went up. It was a magnificent sight. I have no idea how it looked to Yamasaki, though.
"Hey now, Yamasaki. You were the one who gave the orders," I said. "Trying to lie your way out of it now is just cruel to these poor people."
"Shut up, Takanashi!!"
Driven to the edge, Yamasaki snapped at my provocation.
To further incite the crowd into believing they were victims, another lifeline was tossed into the room.
"I had no idea there were high schoolers there!" the plant shouted at the perfect moment. "Yamasaki-san forced us to make sure we took someone home. Right, guys? We didn't know!"
The others immediately followed suit, confirming with one another that they had been coerced and were completely unaware of the illegalities. They were desperate to validate each other's innocence so they could feel safe.
"Stop lying, you bastards—"
"Hey, Yamasaki. How does it feel to be the one isolated?"
Yamasaki’s total isolation was also proceeding exactly as planned. This was the moment I had been waiting for—the chance to deliver the lines I’d been holding in.
It wasn't just Yamasaki who reacted to my words. Yuzuha, who had been staring blankly at the chaos like a hollow shell, gave a sudden, sharp shiver.
"How does it feel to be in the exact same position I was in? Remember how I felt back then? No matter how much you scream, nobody helps you. Nobody trusts you. You can recall how pathetic I looked, can’t you? You look exactly like that right now, King of the Hill. Fun, isn't it?"
"Guh……"
Yamasaki clenched his fists and fell silent. He remembered it all too well to offer a rebuttal. His face was twisted with pure, impotent rage.
Thud!!
Suddenly, the doors to the venue swung open with a bang, and a man came rushing in. He hurried over to Yamasaki and began whispering frantically in his ear.
Seeing that the signal had been given, Nishikawa-san nodded to her staff. They began distributing DVDs to all the participants. The packaging was a shock—the covers listed their real names, addresses, phone numbers, portrait photos, and even their family structures.
"Thank you all for coming today," Nishikawa-san announced. "Those are DVDs containing the footage you saw earlier. Since a Detailed Participant List has already been prepared… I wish you all the best of luck."
The participants, realizing they were being told they wouldn't be allowed to escape, began to panic as they saw their own personal information printed on the DVDs. However, the staff efficiently herded them out of the room.
Meanwhile, Yamasaki stood frozen, listening to the report with a look of utter disbelief.
"……What? That’s a lie, right? ……Hey, tell me you’re joking."
"The call just came in… it’s the truth…"
Yamasaki seemed unable to process the news, staring into empty space as he spoke. It seemed the final blow had been dealt to his father's company.
For a long while, he stood there in a daze. Then, his body began to shake violently, and he finally turned a look of pure hatred toward Nishikawa-san.
"…So this was all according to plan?"
"Did you enjoy the entertainment?"
Realizing that the conclusion had been decided from the very beginning and that he had merely been toyed with, Yamasaki’s face distorted with fury.
"Hahahaha! I see! So the ending is that the company goes under because of me?! I only did what my Dad taught me! Why am I the only one who's bad?!!!"
Yamasaki raged, trying to shift the blame. I wondered if he planned to use that same excuse for what he did to our schoolmates.
"Yamasaki, you dragged our schoolmates into this too, didn't you? You brought our classmates to those parties. Are you going to claim that wasn't your fault either?"
"Huh?"
The footage had been edited to cut the mention of the high schoolers being Yamasaki’s classmates, so he likely thought that part was still a secret. Caught off guard, he stared at me blankly.
Yuzuha, who had been staring into the distance with a vacant expression, also widened her eyes in shock at my words.
"We know everything," Sara-san interjected. "You had Yuzuha Sasagawa's friend participate in that Prostitution Procurement Party, didn't you?"
"……"
Yamasaki remained silent in the face of Sara-san's question. He was either searching for a lie or simply too panicked to speak.
"…What an utterly trivial man you are," she said. "Given the flow of the conversation thus far, is your crude logic unable to comprehend that we are questioning you because we already have all the evidence?"
"Guh……"
"Ka-Kazuma-kun, what does she mean?" Yuzuha asked, her face turning deathly pale as she turned to Yamasaki. "You said you just needed to fill the numbers for a mixer…"
"Oh, is that what he told you?" Sara-san said, showing no intention of softening the blow. "Your friends were being used as take-home staff for the men there."
She spoke the truth with surgical precision. Hearing it, Yuzuha wobbled forward and clung to Yamasaki’s arm.
"Kazuma-kun! That’s not true, is it?! You wouldn’t do something that horrible, would you?! They’re my friends!!"
"……"
"Can’t you answer? Well, with the evidence right there, I suppose silence is the only option left for someone who can't make an excuse," Sara-san added, dealing the final blow.
I had intended to be the one to tell Yuzuha this, knowing how much it would break her… but Sara-san had likely taken the burden upon herself.
"Why……" Yuzuha began to sob, tears streaming down her face. "What am I supposed to tell everyone…? This is horrible. How could you do that?"
Seeing that his silence was her answer, she broke down. But Yamasaki seemed to find her presence nothing more than an irritant. He violently shoved Yuzuha away, shaking her hand off his arm.
"……Shut up already."
He spat the words out in a low mutter, then began to vent his true feelings in a fit of self-destruction.
"The only reason I put up with dating a stupid woman like you was because you had so many hangers-on. I figured I could use them eventually. Otherwise, why would I ever choose to be with you?"
"!?"
Completely desperate, he continued to vomit out his hidden malice. Yuzuha could only stare at him through her tears, speechless.
"You were so easy to manipulate, it was almost funny. Even in Middle School, you were the one who publicly cornered Takanashi. Because you did that, I was able to move freely behind the scenes. Poor Takanashi. He was always looking out for you. He even got angry and punched me for your sake, only to have the very person he cared about mock him and call him a criminal."
After finishing his tirade against Yuzuha, Yamasaki slowly turned his eyes toward me. It seemed it was my turn.
"It was painful, wasn't it, Takanashi? You've been all alone ever since. You still think about it, don't you? Right, Takanashi?"
He gave me a nasty, provocative smirk. It was true that those days were painful, but…
Thanks to Sara-san, my perspective has already changed. I now see those hardships as the price I had to pay to meet her. In other words, they were entirely worth it.
I didn't let my expression change. I simply looked at Sara-san. She seemed to understand exactly what I was thinking and gave me a smile so tender it was completely out of place in this room.
She squeezed my hand and turned back to Yamasaki.
"Oh, right. There is one thing I forgot to thank you two for."
The sharp, biting edge of her voice vanished, replaced by a dignified, ringing tone. She linked her arm with mine and smiled at the two of them.
"Because you were both so profoundly stupid, I was able to meet my destined one, Kazunari-san… so, thank you. Watching Yamasaki-san scramble in a panic was a truly amusing comedy skit. Was this celebratory entertainment for us? If so, I’m bored of it now. Please finish your role and disappear… socially."
Sara-san's cold words echoed through the silent venue, a sharp contrast to her smile. This part hadn't been in the plan, and even I was caught off guard.
"Kazunari-san, why don't you offer your gratitude as well?"
Sara-san turned to me, inviting me into the mockery. She was right; it was only fair to say thanks.
"You're right. Yamasaki, Yuzuha—I want to thank you both too. To be honest, when I realize that everything you did to me led me to Sara-san, I actually feel like I owe you. Your childish bullying was the reason I moved to my current school, and as a result, I met this wonderful woman and became her lover. Sometimes, I still can't believe how lucky I am."
As I offered my thanks with a smile, both Yamasaki and Yuzuha stared at me in stunned silence, unable to comprehend what they were hearing.
"She’s cute, she’s kind, she’s perfect at everything at home, she excels at school and sports… she makes me delicious meals every single day. Even when I end up acting like a spoiled child, she just holds me tight…"
Once I started praising her, I couldn't stop. As I kept talking while looking at Sara-san, her cheeks turned a deep, beautiful red. She was so cute.
"M-More than that, Kazunari-san… that’s enough. It’s embarrassing. Besides, the same goes for you. You can’t ignore people in trouble, you’re so gentle with children… and more than anything, you cherish me. Even the story about Yuzuha Sasagawa the other day—when you showed me that kind of kindness, I couldn't help but fall in love with you all over again."
She was probably talking about when I told the group what I wanted to do with Yuzuha. At the time, I thought I’d be scolded for being too soft. But Sara-san had accepted it as my kindness. That’s why everyone else accepted it too.
"When I finished that talk, I was so happy that you just accepted me and held me, Sara-san. I really thought everyone would be angry… but your kindness meant the world to me."
When I spoke my honest feelings, Sara-san gave a gentle smile and reached out to stroke my head. She pulled me close, drawing me against her chest, and I let myself be enveloped by her.
"Kazunari-san, the most important thing to me is to respect your will and support it. Of course, if you’re about to wander onto the wrong path, it’s my duty to stop you… but as long as that isn't the case, your will is my will. Whatever you think, whatever you wish for… I will be there to support you, always."
Sara-san has always accepted my wishes and affirmed my thoughts. She has stayed by my side and prioritized me above all else. Both in the past and during this entire ordeal, she has literally been my support.
I think the odds of meeting a woman like her are practically zero. And yet, I… we found each other.
"Sara-san… I’m so glad I met you. I feel like I used up a lifetime’s worth of luck just to find you."
"…I believe it was destiny. Even if our schools had been different, or if your circumstances had changed, I am certain we would have met and been joined together…"
Sara-san pulled my head a little closer, and I felt her face rest against the top of my head. It felt as if she were wrapping her entire being around me, so gently…
"………………D-D-D-Don't you dare screw with me, you bastards!!!!!!"
!?
Wait… what’s the situation right now…?