Chapter 2 | I'm Worried | Remake our Life!
Part 11
"Hihi, what's wrong, Hashiba, suddenly calling me out?"
Despite the sudden call, Kuroda came right away.
"Is this a continuation of the production story we had the other day? If that's the case, I've got plenty of material. Anyway, I'm talking about staff who don't listen and"
"Sorry, that's not what I was talking about today."
"Haa? Is it different?"
"Yes. And it's hard for me to talk about it in public places."
When I was thinking about going to Spade, which I used for my meeting with Kakihara-san,
"This sounds serious. Let's go to the old second meal then."
"The old second meal?"
"You don’t know? There's a lawn there that's a great place to lie down and think, but it's hard to get to and no one comes, so we can use it for secret talks. But sometimes you run into a confession scene!"
He said, and Kuroda laughed again.
There are several cafeterias at the University of the Arts, and they are all named with sequential numbers. Of these, only the second cafeteria, commonly known as the second meal, was moved when the new gymnasium was built, so the original two meals were closed and called the old two meals, a strange name.
Just as Kuroda had said, there was a space above the old second meal where the grass had been planted. It was a place where we could enjoy a little picnic, but again, as he said, there was no sign of anyone.
"How do you know this place."
"I used to use it a lot at the Kuroda team meetings last year. So, what's the talk?"
I told Kuroda what had happened. As a precaution, I didn't tell him Saikawa's name and referred to her as "a new student from another department".
I told him about it, including the fact that my classmates in the Department of Visual Arts were being suspected,
"...You know, Hashiba"
Kuroda's expression changed to one of the most grim I had ever seen.
"I don't care what anyone does, and I hate it when people suspect someone without any proof."
He scratched his head and said as if to spit it out.
Perhaps he is also involved in the case of the quitted girls in the theatrical arts? I guess that's one of those things you can't talk about unless you're a part of it.
"But when you're making things together, you start to get a feel for the members' personalities and thoughts."
"I guess I'm just observing."
When you are in the position of a production manager or producer, you start to observe the actions and statements of your team members. This is because you want to be aware of any changes in their minds, worries, and other potentially dangerous things that could affect the production.
But I think it's an unpleasant thing. It's hard to be friends with people who have roots in you, and if you keep your distance, it could lead to a big accident. In fact, I lost an important team member because of it.
"Well, listen to me on that."
Kuroda took a light breath and let it out all at once.
"Shibata Arihiro ―― you know him too, right, Hashiba"
"……Yes"
I have been experiencing a strange feeling of uneasiness and weirdness in my mind for a while now. It was related to two major incidents.
One is the case of Saikawa.
The other case is that a theatrical arts student quit the university.
In both cases, the key words involved "someone who is a second-year student in the Department of Visual Arts".
But the story originated from a completely different place, and the content was not similar.
However, I had suspected that these coincidences would someday be connected by some kind of mysterious common factor. And now, they are connected.
"He's the director of your team, isn't he? What's wrong with him?"
"Shibata... He hasn't been to the university since he was a second year student."
That's what I heard from Kakihara-san. However, since he was a second year student, it meant that he hadn't come out for almost three months. Naturally, it was getting harder and harder to get credits for the required classes.
"But he's still living near the university. He's in an apartment building at the north exit of the station, and I've seen him a few times with team members who live near there."
Kuroda took a deep breath there.
"One of the members of the group called out to him because he didn't show up at the university at all. Then he said he didn't want to go to the university anymore and went into a nearby store. That's..."
"Is that the Moon Rabbits?"
Kuroda nodded at my words.
"If that was all, it could have been a coincidence. Well, Shibata... is a bit of a troublesome..."
His expression clouded.
"The way he treats the girls, or rather... his attitude is a little strange. So some of the guys on our team were having trouble with it."
The words came to mind.
"And by any chance, the other day when you said you had something to do."
"Yeah, a girl who was pressured during production got sick, and I was her counselor."
"Pressured... as in?"
"Yeah. It just so happened that the two of them were alone. They got into a dispute, and I just happened to come into the room to settle it, but I don't know what would have happened if I hadn't?"
Kuroda ruffled his hair with one hand,
"He's a seriously troublesome guy, that one! Well, I can only tell you what happened, the rest is for Hashiba to judge."
Perhaps he must have wanted to say. "I think he did it". But that is indeed a violation of human rights. It is foolish to treat people as criminals just based on their usual behavior and circumstances without any solid evidence.
But now that they were all here, it was also inevitable that he had to be suspicious of this Shibata person. Spreading rumors was out of the question, but it would be better to at least make it a point of caution.
"I'm sorry. I know it was hard to say, but it was helpful."
When I told him, Kuroda nodded,
"Well, I'm just telling you the facts."
There was one more thing I wanted to confirm.
Probably, with this much information, it was almost certain, but I still wanted to ask about the truth of the matter because Kuroda was the one who saw the situation closest.
"The one about the theatrical actress who quit college, that was because of him, too?"
Kuroda's expression became distorted again. Both of his eyes, which had been wide open, became thin and his eyebrows wrinkled.
"...Even I didn’t say it, you understand, right?"
"Sorry, thank you"
I learned a lot of things. But it wasn't anything that would make me feel better.
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