I Was Transported to Another World with a Male-to-Female Ratio of 1:3000 and Made into a Breeding Pet for the Demon Lord’s Army - 50

Chapter 50: Secret Chapter 2:  The Pursuers

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20XX, Tokyo, inside a certain office…

Click!

“Ryuudou-senpai! I bought the duct tape!”

“Hey, Satou! I keep telling you, don’t call me by name, call me ‘Editor-in-Chief’!”

“No way! To me, Ryuudou-senpai is Ryuudou-senpai! Besides… That title is going away soon anyway, so what’s the big deal!”

“…That’s true.”

This place was the office of a publishing company that dug up and spread dark rumors and incidents swirling through society. Mainly, they investigated cases firsthand and wrote articles based on confirmed facts. I’d admired those kinds of people—sort of dirty, living in the underworld—since I was a kid, and eight years ago, I joined this company without much thought.

“Don’t buy snacks with company money… Huh!? You even bought meat buns, didn’t you?!”

“Wow, you noticed even if there aren’t any meat buns left in the office! As expected of Ryuudou-senpai!”

“Even if they’re gone, the receipt says it clearly, you idiot!”

The one yelling at me right now was the Editor-in-Chief and my senior—Ryuudou-senpai.

Back when I joined after graduating high school, this company was still big, and he took me around as his assistant or rather, I was taken around by him.

I remembered that to hear a story that didn’t even take ten minutes, we had to travel back and forth from Okinawa to Hokkaido. Every time I complained, “Can’t you just ask on the phone?” he’d lecture me: “Eyewitness interviews rely on eyes, breathing and the attitude of the person being interviewed. You can’t tell if someone’s lying just by their voice. We have the responsibility to convey the truth to the world. If you cut corners, the flaws will definitely show.”

I got scolded by him so much my ears were practically calloused, but now that I thought I couldn’t hear his lecture anymore, I felt a little lonely and couldn’t stop myself from teasing him a bit.  

“In the end… I couldn’t protect this company entrusted to me by my seniors.”

“Again with that? When Ryuudou-senpai became Editor-in-Chief, it was only a matter of time before this company collapsed. None of this is your fault, Senpai!”

Yes. Pushed by the spread of the internet, the company had been shrinking gradually, and sadly, this publisher was finally going bankrupt.

“Alright! Let’s sort through everything fast and get to dinner early!”

Now, as preparation for shutting down the department, I was organizing all the magazines and various materials published so far. Every time my fingers touched a sheet, the memories embedded in it quietly spilled out, and an inevitable sadness spread all over me.

“Hey… Are you okay with this? You could still get introduced to another publisher like the others, you know?”

“Is Senpai at that publisher?”

“No, I’m tired… I’m going to laze around at my parents’ place for a while.”

“Then I’m not going!”

The reason I was able to work hard at this company was because Ryuudou-senpai was always by my side. As long as I could be with him, honestly, the work didn’t matter.

“…Still, Senpai is going home, huh…? Well, that actually works out better for me (murmur).”

“Hm? Did you say something?”

“Nothing~”

I believed Senpai’s hometown was Aomori. I was going to surprise him by showing up out of the blue! And then…

“Hehe~♪… Huh? Was this article here before?”

While packing boxes with materials from three years ago, my hand suddenly stopped. What caught my eye was a photo of a boy lying on a hospital’s white sheets, showing a somewhat lonely smile.

“Hmm, I should have bought every magazine this company published, but this is the first time I’m seeing this…”

Curious, I looked through the materials gathered along with the photo. It seemed the final check was already done, so it was hard to think this magazine was scrapped from being published.

“Ah…This one? I think it was originally an article about a boy continuing to fight a mysterious disease.”

“A typical fundraising kind of thing, huh!”

“Yeah, but unfortunately, this article was shelved right before publication. We called the boy’s mother for final confirmation, but it turned out they were still grieving right after his funeral. That moment felt awkward for sure.”

“I see… So it got scrapped because he died.”

Hmm, that was an awkward reason. I sincerely prayed for the boy’s soul.

“No… That’s not the real reason it was scrapped.”

“Huh?”

“For some unknown reason, the article about this boy was prohibited from being published.”

“Wh-why?”

“I don’t know for sure. But according to what the boy’s mother said, he was treated horribly at the hospital. They gave no satisfactory explanation about the cause of his worsening condition, and in the end, she couldn’t even be with him when he died.”

“She couldn’t even be at his deathbed… Was it some kind of contagious disease?”

“No, I spoke with the boy a bit. It was an unknown heart disease. They said it wasn’t contagious.”

“Then there has to be some shady behind-the-scenes stuff going on!”

“Probably… And here’s the problem. The parents, dissatisfied with the hospital’s response, contacted us later and requested to change the article from a fundraising piece to an exposé on the hospital.”

“So someone fearing the hospital’s bad reputation made their move and pressured you to stop the article?”

“Probably… Well, I wasn’t Editor-in-Chief yet then, so I didn’t know the full story. I investigated but found no evidence. Frustratingly, it remained as just a suspicion.”

“I see…”

“Well… There’s no use thinking about this now. When you’re stuck, the best thing is to forget fast.”

Senpai said that with a light laugh, but his expression was a little sad, as if regret was oozing out. I couldn’t stop thinking about this case and read the materials again.

Flip

Next to the photo of the boy was another—probably his mother—collapsed in tears. Facing the death of her beloved son, a part of me wondered what must she have been feeling… Surely, she regretted not being able to do anything and was clinging to us, hoping to get some sort of salvation. 

And yet the article was…

“Ryuudou-senpai! I’m going to investigate this!”

“…Don’t. This thing obviously reeks of trouble. Besides, there’s nothing we can do now. . Don’t stir up the bereaved unnecessarily.”

“But… I can’t just leave this case alone! Besides, since the company’s going under anyway, let’s make one big splash before the end!”

“…Are you serious?”

“Yes!”

Ryuudou-senpai stared at me with his usual strict gaze.

“Haah… You with those eyes… You just won’t stop, huh? I’m planning to relax for my retirement, but what about you? You’re still young. If you get noticed by the higher-ups and get in trouble because of this article, don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

“You say young… But there’s only an eight-year gap between us! Besides, if I can’t work anymore, I’ll have you support me, so it’s fine!”

“Hah! Come back when you’re a better woman. Also, I prefer someone with big breasts.”

“Ahhh! That’s sexual harassment! Enough! I’m going to write such an amazing article that you’ll never say that again!”

Bang!

I declared war on Senpai. Then, I grabbed the materials, and left the office.

“I guess I’ll start by questioning the parents! Kento Aizawa’s house is… Yeah, pretty close.”

My high heels pounded the ground as I walked with momentum. I silently vowed to myself that at least the start of this big task would go smoothly.

*****

“Haaah… If I were my old self, could I have pursued this case with such pure feelings like her…? Ouch!!!”

Just as I tried to stand from my chair, a sharp pain shot through my lower back, making me grimace in pain.

“Getting old really sucks…”

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