40 Penalty
Ryugo, who had obtained the information, returned to the living room, intending to exchange the information he had obtained with Madoka…
“…”
“…”
It was fair to say that they were both cautiously trying to figure out “how much the other person knows.”
“You can talk first.”
“No, no, Tanuki-kun, you go ahead.”
“No, no, no, no.”
“No, no, no, no.”
A perfectly natural consequence.
Both of them wanted to talk on their own terms, so they wanted to know what information the other person had first.
However, neither of them had any reason to talk first. They didn’t have any bargaining chips to make the other person talk.
So, this is what happens.
Ryugo was regretting not eavesdropping on Madoka’s conversation, even if it meant pushing himself a little.
Everyone around them was looking at them with complete exasperation.
“Okay! Okay, okay.”
Ryugo waved his hands as if to calm them down and said.
“We’re not getting anywhere, so I’ll talk. Is that okay?”
“Of course.”
Ryugo felt a slight irritation at Madoka, who smiled triumphantly for a moment, and then told her what he had seen on his smartphone.
That said, there was only so much he could say.
That Aimi seemed to be having an affair. That the other person was an idol.
Madoka groaned when she heard the story.
“I’ve got about the same thing. All I can tell you is that the affair started about a year ago.”
A lie.
The hypnosis that Madoka had put on Aimi was probably ‘attitude’.
And the question would definitely be an answer to the question, “Why does Aimi want to put Aira in the entertainment world?”
She would have learned about the affair in the process, but it couldn’t have been the same as Ryugo’s. The information about a year ago was also dubious.
She definitely knew something deeper.
“Hmm… I see…”
Even though Ryugo looked at her suspiciously, Madoka remained calm.
She’s an outrageous woman to be so brazenly treacherous.
“Well then, I guess I’ll be going since there’s nothing else.”
Madoka stood up with her things, not caring about the atmosphere in the room.
She didn’t seem to care about hiding the fact that she was withholding information.
Aira, who was furious, was being held back by Koki and Misato.
“…Ah”
When Ryugo nodded, Enka looked back at him with a puzzled expression.
Perhaps she had expected him to bite back a little. But there was no need to seriously pick a fight with her.
He had a plan of his own.
◇
Of course, Enka had lied.
Since she was now a villain, her true purpose was to kick righteousness to the curb and become an obstacle to the forces of good.
Besides, she hadn’t been told that not sharing the information she had obtained would be a violation of the rules.
“The answer was quite simple. She has a crush on a guy, so she’s trying to use her daughter as a bribe to get close to him. What a pathetic parent.”
To offer up her own daughter like that, what a despicable piece of trash.
In that case, she would obtain something from that man that she could use to blackmail him with Ai.
That would be game over.
Three days after gathering information at the Aira mansion.
“Now then.”
Enka had taken several trains and arrived in front of the photo studio she was looking for.
Apparently, James was having a photoshoot for a photobook here. It seemed to be an individual shoot, not a group shoot with his idol unit. That was convenient for her.
Pinpointing the location had been easy.
All she had to do was go to the office he belonged to and select the ‘Attitude: Fan’ app for everyone she met. They would automatically recognize Enka as a celebrity and readily give her the information.
She could cast hypnosis on ten people at once, so there were no problems.
She intended to infiltrate the photo studio using the same method.
She looked up at the five-story building she was about to enter.
Its exterior was milky white, with a simple logo and a large surrounding grounds. It gave the impression of a remote island, cut off from the rest of the world.
As expected of a place where celebrities frequented. She couldn’t help but hesitate slightly as she was about to step inside.
“A-are you really going to go in?”
Misato, who was standing next to her, knitted her brows and spoke with a pained expression.
She must have been feeling just as nervous as Enka, if not more so.
Just to be safe, she had been continuously casting a ‘Friend’ spell on her to prevent Ryugo from extracting any information.
“Yes. Well, if you don’t want to go, you can wait here.”
“Don’t be ridiculous. If you were serious about that, you wouldn’t have brought me here in the first place.”
“That’s true. It would be unnatural for me to walk in alone, and I need an escort to deal with any unexpected situations.”
She had asked Misato to choose a semi-formal outfit in advance.
A colored jacket and matching tapered pants. Her hair was tied back to give her a more mature look. To top it off, she had made her wear non-prescription glasses.
With this, she should be able to pass as a new manager.
“Excuse us.”
She walked past the security guard with ease and entered the building.
At the reception desk, she asked for James’ whereabouts and took the elevator to the third floor.
Once she was inside, no one suspected that Enka was anything other than a member of the entertainment industry, so she didn’t need to use the app, which made things easier.
“Is this it?”
She found a room with a nameplate that read ‘Bond James’ next to the door.
Apparently, he was still in the middle of the shoot.
Misato peeked inside briefly and sighed as she turned back.
“It seems like they’re still shooting.”
“How many people were there?”
“About ten, maybe? But there might be staff members behind the scenes we can’t see…”
“Then we have no choice but to wait.”
“How long do these shoots usually take?”
“Two hours at most. They’ll also be shooting outside, so they’ll probably spread it out over several days.”
“We can’t really approach them outside, for various reasons…”
“That’s why today is our only chance.”
It was good that they were shooting individually.
If they were shooting as a group, there wouldn’t be enough people who could be hypnotized, and we wouldn’t be able to get close to them at all.
It seemed a little too convenient that the perfect opportunity would arise just three days after the game started, but we couldn’t have asked for a better chance.
“It might be safest to target him when he comes out.”
We waited for the shoot to end, killing time as best we could.
The door opened, and a man with a wolf cut came out, accompanied by his manager.
That must be James.
As expected from an idol, he was handsome.
However, the way gave he looked down on his manager him the impression of nothing more than a common hoodlum.
As they walked down the hallway, they seemed to be confirming their schedule.
“Our next job is…”
The manager spoke, holding a memo in his hand, but James interrupted him with a petulant,
“I’m thirsty~”
The manager ran off in a panic, saying, “Understood! I’ll get something right away.”
He glanced at a nearby vending machine, but it probably didn’t have what he usually drank, because he quickly headed down the stairs.
James, who had been left behind, sat down on a bench in an empty space and began fiddling with his phone, crossing his legs. He looked like he was about to light a cigarette.
“He’s surprisingly vulgar for this day and age…”
Enka nodded in agreement at Misato’s mutter.
If a senior celebrity saw him acting like that, it would leave a bad impression.
“But now’s our chance. Misato-chan, could you go somewhere far away so you can’t hear the conversation?”
From Noble mtl dot com
“Eh, why…?”
“Later, Tanuki-kun will ‘order’ you to extract information. We can’t be too careful.”
“Hmph… Oh, I see… Do as you like.”
Misato clicked her tongue in annoyance and turned away.
But then,
“No, on second thought, I’ll cancel ‘friend’ and ‘order’ you instead. ‘Move to a place where you can’t hear voices until Minamoto Enka’s conversation is over.’ And while you’re at it, detain that manager for a bit.”
I still didn’t trust her.
I had bound Misato with the condition that I wouldn’t return Ryugo’s memories if she betrayed me, but if she acted in a way that I didn’t notice as betrayal, it would be over.
I couldn’t afford to take any chances.
I had to choose hypnosis so that the manager wouldn’t be suspicious if he came back. If he got too scared, he’d get suspicious.
If I were to choose the type of hypnosis that would make him behave haughtily, I might not be able to get the information I need.
And an “order” is dangerous. If he becomes suspicious, he might call the police.
“Hello~”
When Enka appeared him cheerfully, James looked up with dazed eyes.
“Huh…? Who are you?”
“Nice to meet you. I’m Motomiya Enka. I recently became an idol… Oh, I’m with the same agency as James-san. I came here for a photoshoot, and I thought I’d say hello since I saw you…”
“Oh, really?”
“I’ve been a fan of yours for a long time. You’re my favorite James Bond.”
“Oh… Thank you…”
I felt like I was being a bit robotic, but he seemed to accept it without question.
I cast “Attitude: Trance” on him.
This is a spell that can be acquired at level 150 or so, and it puts the target in a trance-like state.
In other words, they become dazed.
With his thinking ability impaired, he believed Enka’s lie without hesitation. He was in a state where he didn’t question any information from outside.
“Since we’re here, can I ask you a few questions?”
When Enka asked, James nodded, his gaze slightly unfocused.
“Yeah… Sure.”
“So, what have been some of the challenges of being an idol lately…?”
First, I need to break down his mental barriers.
Hypnosis makes it easier to draw out information from the target, but it’s also easy to lie.
It’s like a truth serum. It’s a drug that paralyzes the brain and draws out answers, but in reality, you can lie as much as you want, and it’s far from practical because you fall asleep right away.
This hypnosis is almost the same, except that you don’t fall asleep.
But if the target doesn’t realize that they’ve been given a “truth serum,” the effect is tremendous.
After some conversation, the target seemed to warm up.
“Wow, I’ve never heard that James-san is good at guitar.”
“Well… The other members are all useless because they can’t play any instruments…”
“Well, why don’t you put out a short video of yourself playing guitar? I’m sure your fans would love to hear it, and I’d love to hear it too!”
“Oh, yeah… If you put it like that… I’ll think about it… hahahaha.”
After some small talk and gauging his reactions, three minutes had passed.
His manager would be back soon.
A faint smile was starting to appear on his face. It was a sign that he was starting to trust me.
It’s time to make my move.
“By the way, James-san, I’ve heard that you’ve been close with Aimi Matsubara lately.”
At Enka’s question, James frowned and looked stern.
–Did I go too far?
Just when I thought that,
“Well, yeah.”
He smiled broadly.
Did he decide to go with the flow because he realized he couldn’t hide it?
Or was he just not smart enough to lie convincingly?
“We message each other… and we’ve met up in private a few times.”
“In private? What do you do, if you don’t mind me asking?”
“Hmm… well, okay.”
Despite his reluctance, James smirked. Even though he’s supposed to be an idol, he has a vulgar expression.
He then took out his smartphone from his pocket and showed me the screen.
“This, this is it.”
The screen showed the back of Aimi Matsubara.
And… she was in her underwear. It looked like she was about to take them off.
It looked like a hotel room. The bed was visible in the dimly lit space.
But that doesn’t matter.
“Let me see it… now!”
Enka practically snatched his smartphone from him and sent the photo to her own phone with lightning speed.
With this, I can convince… no, blackmail Aira’s mother.
I’ve won.
With this, Raccoon-kun is my hero.
–Click
Suddenly, the sound of a shutter came from behind, and Enka turned around in surprise.
“Wha… what the…?”
“You’ve lost.”
“W-why…?”
It was Kouki, holding his smartphone.
The light from the photo she had just taken was reflected in his glasses.