Chapter 14: Aoi-san’s Family Home

“Eh!?”

When I showed her the next screenshot, it contained exactly what I had just said in an online news article.

“…What do you mean? Didn’t Aoi collapse from illness brought on by overwork and stress?”

“M-My chest suddenly started hurting while I was on the stairs, and I collapsed. When I woke up, I was in this form and in this other world. M-Maybe I suffered some injuries if I fell down the stairs, but I absolutely did not commit suicide!”

Aoi was clearly shaken.

Naturally so. Anyone would be confused if they were falsely accused of crimes they never committed and then told they had taken their own life.

Of course, I didn’t doubt her.

If she had truly wanted to die, she wouldn’t have spent all this time in another world desperately searching for a way back home.

“We won’t know for sure until we investigate further, but perhaps someone manipulated the information. Saying that Aoi-san died from stress and overwork would have reflected badly on the company, so they may have presented it as suicide instead.”

“…!”

From a company’s perspective, having an employee die from stress or overwork would be disastrous for its public image.

And she was an employee who had been preparing to fight the company in court.

If they could make it seem as though she embezzled company funds and then killed herself, all the negative attention would be directed entirely at Aoi.

Naturally, her superior alone probably didn’t possess the influence necessary to accomplish something like that.

It was more likely the work of the company itself.

From what we knew, it was a fairly large corporation, so a cover-up of this scale wouldn’t be unthinkable.

In the worst case, even the police or the hospital might have been involved.

Or perhaps it was as simple as sensational headlines like, “Embezzles Company Money and Commits Suicide!?” manipulating public opinion.

Of course, there was also the possibility that false rumors had simply spread on their own.

“Grrr…!”

Clenching both fists tightly, her entire body trembling, Aoi’s face flushed red with anger.

Of course.

No one could remain calm after hearing something like that.

We waited until she settled down before discussing what to do next.

“Alright, I’m off. Yuuka, I’m counting on you to look after Aoi-san.”

“Of course. You be careful too, Kakeru.”

“K-Kakeru-san… please, I’m begging you!”

“Yeah. Leave it to me.”

I entrusted Aoi to Yuuka.

Using Return to Japan, I traveled back once more and headed to my usual local station.

From there, I took a train to a major station.

I purchased several things I would need, transferred lines again, and bought a Shinkansen ticket to Aichi Prefecture.

The reason was simple:

Aoi’s family home was in Aichi.

Naturally, the Blessed Ones who arrived in this other world came from all over Japan.

I was fortunate that Aoi’s family lived in Aichi, which wasn’t terribly far from the Kanto region.

And thanks to the money I had earned at the flea market, paying for the Shinkansen ticket wasn’t much of a problem.

Those tickets are expensive even for a one-way trip…

“I can see Mount Fuji, but I don’t feel happy about it at all…”

The words slipped quietly from my mouth.

Outside the Shinkansen window stood the magnificent mountain, its summit covered in white snow.

It had been a long time since I had traveled to another prefecture.

Years of corporate drudgery had left little opportunity for such things.

Normally, seeing Mount Fuji would have filled me with excitement and helped me forget about work.

But under these circumstances, that was impossible.

Using my smartphone during the trip, I dug deeper into the details.

What I found was appalling.

Online, people mocked Aoi mercilessly.

Baseless rumors claimed that she had spent the embezzled money on male hosts and had even worked in the sex industry.

The slander was endless.

…Worse still, her family home’s address had been posted online.

Fortunately, I found no reports suggesting that her parents had become victims because of the incident.

That was a relief.

But there was still the possibility that they had moved away.

And if they had, finding them afterward would be nearly impossible.

Please… just don’t have moved away.

“Alright! The nameplate still says Kurosaki!”

After arriving at Nagoya Station via the Shinkansen, I transferred to another train and eventually reached my destination.

Using the map application on my smartphone, I made my way to Aoi’s family home.

The nameplate still read Kurosaki.

Compared to searching for Yuuka’s house, having the internet and navigation apps made everything much easier.

Ding-dong.

“Yes?”

A woman’s voice came through the intercom.

It was probably Aoi’s mother.

“Nice to meet you. My name is Kakeru Suzuki. I apologize for arriving without warning. I used to play a game called KenSta with Aoi-san while she was alive. I know it’s terribly late, but would it be possible for me to offer incense in her memory?”

“…Very well. Please wait a moment.”

There was a brief pause of hesitation, but it seemed they were willing to let me inside.

I was wearing the business shirt and slacks I had bought on the way here, so even if my features looked somewhat foreign, I probably appeared respectable enough.

Apparently, KenSta was a game that Aoi had been deeply obsessed with while she was alive.

Her parents knew that she used to buy merchandise related to it, so I had mentioned it to earn their trust.

Thankfully, it seemed to have worked.

The purpose of coming all the way here this time was threefold: to confirm that Aoi-san’s parents were safe, to learn about their current situation and what had happened back then, and to recover a certain item.