Lonely Me And The Lonely Caring Goddess - Chapter 144: Information Gathering.

Information Gathering.

The day after hearing everything from Sara and others,
I decided that before speaking with my father, it would be wise to conduct as much investigation as possible on my own.
To that end, I reached out to a secretary I personally knew and trusted.

We often shared private conversations, and since they were aware of my deep aversion to Yamazaki, it made consulting them much easier.

When I explained that I had heard disturbing rumors from an acquaintance, they immediately agreed to gather information from contacts who had dealings with Yamazaki’s company.

Just two days later, the secretary got back to me.

“Is this about a mixer?”

“Yes. One of our new employees was invited to a ‘social gathering’ by a friend working at Yamazaki’s company. Apparently, the son is the one organizing these events. Between you and me, though, the son hardly remembers the faces of the participants, and it seems he even allows a few outsiders to slip in. From what I hear, it’s less of a professional meeting and more of a casual party — practically a mixer — so they aren’t exactly keeping track.”

What on earth are they thinking, organizing something so reckless?
Allowing company employees to attend, barely remembering who’s who… That company isn’t going to last long, one way or another.

“There’s something else that caught my attention,” the secretary continued. “It’s possible that minors are participating… and, Eri-san, are you familiar with the term ‘taking someone home’?”

Taking someone home?
If it’s about leftovers or souvenirs, I understand… but if that’s all it was, they wouldn’t have phrased it like that.

It’s a difficult subject… taking someone home… mixer… bringing someone back with you… wait, could it be—

“You mean… women?” I asked hesitantly.

The secretary nodded solemnly. I had guessed correctly.

“It seems the son isn’t forcing anyone, but if the participants naturally drift toward that outcome, he turns a blind eye—or rather, it’s as though he’s giving implicit permission to the men. It appears he even goes out of his way to gather women for them.”

In other words, he’s using women as bait for some ulterior motive…
What a disgusting excuse for a human being.
…Careful, Eri, mind your language.

“They aren’t charging any money, and they present it as being up to the individuals’ free will. However, if there’s a tacit understanding involved, it could easily cross into the gray area of illicit solicitation.”

“Thank you. That’s enough for now. Listening to this is making my skin crawl.”

Even though I had no way of knowing, the thought that I had once been approached by such a vile, worthless man sends chills down my spine.

Given the situation, I now want to uncover what the true purpose is and how they’re recruiting these women.

No matter how you look at it, even as the son of a company president, it seems unlikely that a high schooler could gather so many women on his own.
That can only mean someone is backing him.

The most probable person? His father.
And if the father is involved, then he’s not just turning a blind eye—he’s likely encouraging it.

“Would it be possible to ask that new employee if they could participate once more? Perhaps under the guise of a confidential internal investigation on behalf of a client company? Of course, under strict conditions—no risks must be taken.”

“Understood. I’ll sound them out along those lines. If framed as an investigation, we may be able to uncover more, including their true objectives. It might also be wise to equip them with a voice recorder and a discreet camera.”

Now all that’s left is to hope everything goes smoothly.

From what Sara told me, I expected something bad… but this is even worse than I imagined.

Fortunately—or perhaps unfortunately—the next gathering happened quite soon.
It didn’t take long at all.

And once the report came back…

This wasn’t just shady—it was outright revolting.

Right now, the TV in front of me is playing footage of what they called a “social gathering”—but it’s nothing more than a chaotic drunken party.

The participants were clearly linked to Yamazaki’s company, almost all of them young.

It seems that someone from a partner company also attended, and there was even footage of Yamazaki entertaining them.

“If you see someone you like, as long as it’s not forced, feel free to take them home. Actually, we’ve gathered girls who are easy to bring along, so please enjoy yourselves.”

That… is a critical statement.
I won’t let them wriggle out of this.

In short, it wasn’t just any gathering—it was an illicit, unethical form of “hospitality” toward their business partners.

Moreover, in the conversations recorded with the voice recorder, there were indirect but undeniable hints that Yamazaki’s father was involved in facilitating all this.

Meaning: Kazuma Yamazaki was either acting under his father’s direct orders or with his full support.

There were even mentions of the sexual assault case we’d heard about earlier.
While it seems Kazuma himself didn’t commit the act, it’s highly likely he introduced the victim to the perpetrator.

But the most horrifying discovery—

Among the women attending… were minors.
High school girls.
Clear testimony was recorded, stating they were personally invited by Kazuma Yamazaki.

They were likely invited under the pretense of a simple mixer, but do they even realize they were being offered to men like commodities?

I don’t know what their connection to Yamazaki is, but if they’re being used like this, I want to save them—somehow.

“Thank you. I’d love to reward the employee who accomplished this with a special bonus or something.
Ah, but surely they didn’t ‘bring someone home’ themselves, right?”

“Not to worry. After the gathering, they immediately got into a pickup car and went straight home. We’ll take care of arranging the bonus.”

Sigh…
It seems I’ll need to report this to everyone quickly.

I also need to inform my father.
But I’ll have to explain the source of the information carefully.

Maybe I’ll consult with everyone about that during the meeting.

Of course, this time, I’ll go in person.

I want to see Sara and the others again.
Even over the phone, they sounded like they were having such a good time.

No way I’m letting myself be left out.

“Kazunari-san, we’ve received a message from Eri.
It seems she’s uncovered a lot and wants us to gather as soon as possible.
What would you like to do?”

Sara’s voice echoed from the kitchen where she was cleaning up.
The RAIN app notification had just chimed.

Dinner had just ended, and I was tidying up the table.

“Ah, Kazunari-san… I always tell you, that’s my job.”

Turning around, Sara looked at me with a mix of sternness and worry.

Still, standing around idly feels wrong, and dumping all the work on her isn’t any better.
I figure that if I just keep doing it, she’ll eventually get used to it and let me help more.

But that aside—
The fact that Eri said she “uncovered a lot” means we finally have something to corner Yamazaki with.

Which also means it’s time to decide our next move.

Luckily, the weekend is right around the corner.

“Since it’s the weekend, let’s ask everyone about their availability. Ideally, Sunday would be best if we can have the whole day.”

“Understood. I’ll confirm with Natsumi and Eri.”

All right, I should also reach out to Yuuji, and contact Hayato and Toudou-san.
I’ll ask Toudou-san to coordinate with Hanako-san and Tachikawa-san, too.