Side: Horii Asuka's Father

I had gone to the school, and now, in the chairman's office, I was demanding an explanation about this whole affair… but his answer left me disappointed.

"This is preposterous. You won't permit an inspection of the basement. You won't show me any footage to confirm it. You have no documentation proving what era it was built in, or for what purpose. Do you really think that flies, Chairman?"

It wasn't as though I'd expected him to come clean about everything, but this was simply too much. And to have such an attitude taken with me by the chairman, a man who had once been my teacher — it made my blood boil.

"I didn't decide this, mind you. The police and the officials from the Ministry of Education¹merely asked me to handle it this way for the time being, nothing more. If you've a complaint, take it up with the Ministry."

"I won't fall for that. To think a man of your standing would try to bounce me from one bureau to the next, waste my time and energy, and throw up a smokescreen. My daughter's safety has been threatened. Depending on how this goes, I am prepared to fight you to the bitter end."

When you run a company, you meet all sorts of people, and you get to know other executives. Did he really think I wouldn't see through such a cheap stalling tactic?

I didn't know what was going on, but if he meant to cover it up, then I had my own ideas about how to proceed.

"Don't rush me so. I'm in a tight spot myself, I am. It's no lie that this matter cannot be settled by my say-so alone. But if you truly insist on the truth, I'll do what I can to push for an appropriate response from above."

This wily old goblin. So he was finally starting to give up the truth.

The man was a master at slipping and sliding out of a corner, but he wasn't the type to line his own pockets by feeding on children, either. Which meant…

"About that basement — my daughter's told me a fair bit. Some of it doesn't sit right, and I have my questions. Just tell me what you can."

"Truly, I didn't know about it myself. It gave me quite a fright, I can tell you. I reported it to the police and fire department, and the next thing I knew, officials from the Cabinet Office came calling."

The Cabinet Office?! Then the school really hadn't known? Someone had covered it up, and the state had known about it?

I couldn't make sense of it. What in the world was down in that basement? A bomb shelter, you could find anywhere. As long as it was dealt with in a way that didn't affect the surface, that would be the end of it.

Which meant… the one thing that came to mind was that.

"And as for the matter of being attacked by a creature down there?"

"I've heard the account, but I've no proof of it myself. On top of that, a gag order has been laid down. What's true and what's false, I couldn't tell you… You're a former student of mine, and that's the only reason I've said this much. Honestly, I think you're better off not knowing. The judgment that the students are safe was also handed down from above."

Sir… this was where I should bow out.

"Understood. I'm sorry for pressing you so hard."

"Go home and think it over for a spell. I'll keep today's conversation close to my chest as well. And even if you do decide to fight — don't you forget that this could be a troublesome opponent, even for you."

"Yes. Thank you."

If the state was getting involved, this was more than I could handle alone. And it might well affect the company. I'd need to brace myself and put a proper structure in place to match.

But before that…

Side: Amahashi Kakeru

Class let out for the day, same as ever.

The earthquake, the ground splitting open and my falling in, the basement room that turned out to be down there — it was all the talk of the class, but, well, that was the extent of it.

It wasn't enough to disrupt lessons. Though the first schoolyard, where it had all happened, was off-limits for the time being.

"Amahashi-kun, do you have time after this?"

I was thinking I'd pick up some ingredients for dinner on the way home when Horii-san called out to me, and my classmates' eyes all turned our way.

She was a beauty and the center of the class, after all. Naturally, her calling out to a guy like me drew attention.

"As long as it's not too late…"

"My father said he wanted to thank you. Would Kitamura-kun and Aizawa-san like to come too?"

At those words, the eyes around us drifted away. When it's not some sweet little love affair, that's how it goes.

"It's not like I did anything worth thanking me for. But, well, it'd be rude to refuse. Sure."

So her father had taken it up with the school — or maybe before that, there'd been a summons. Well, either way, they'd want to hear from a third party.

I figured I'd better let everyone at home know I'd be a little late.

"I'm in too."

"Horii-san's dad?! I'm gonna be so nervous…"

Aizawa-san seemed to waver a little, but in the end, the four of us wound up heading to Horii-san's house — except…

"It's huge…"

Kitamura's mouth had fallen open and stayed that way.

Horii-san's house was about a thirty-minute bus ride from school. In a quiet residential neighborhood stood a house that was bigger than any other — no, "estate" was the word for it.

Apparently it had once been a local lord's secondary residence, and Horii-san's great-grandfather had acquired it and lived there. How did I know that? It's a famous story.

The estate was registered as a cultural property, if I recalled right, and people who were into castles and historic sites sometimes came to see it.

"Welcome home."

"Yoshinaga-san, I'm home."

The one who came out to greet us must have been a housekeeper.

The estate was purely traditional Japanese in appearance. The entryway was spacious, and the ceilings over the hallways and such felt low. Horii-san went off to change, and the rest of us were shown to a different room.

"So this is a Western-style room."

"Awesome."

We were shown into an old-fashioned Western-style room, the kind you might have found back in the Taishou era². Aizawa-san looked a little tense, but Kitamura didn't seem especially nervous, glancing all around the place.

The chairs of the parlor set were soft, the kind your body sank right into. The look and design were different, but they were no less fine than the furniture in the royal castle or the nobles' manors of that other world.

"I've brought your drinks."

Tea was poured into what were obviously expensive-looking teacups, and the soft, pleasant aroma of black tea spread through the room.

Out of place as I felt, it made me remember my days in that other world. The atmosphere of the upper class, I suppose you'd call it.

"Sorry to keep you. Make yourselves comfortable. My father will be here soon."

Horii-san's outfit was, well, ordinary. Not a sweatshirt and track pants, but the sort of thing an ordinary person might wear when dressing up a little to go out.

"This is amazing. It's like somewhere we went on a school field trip."

"Hehe. People who come for the first time mostly get that impression."

Watching Kitamura sip the tea he'd been served and stuff his face with the cookies set out alongside it, I figured he was kind of a big shot.

There was an element of ignorance to it, sure, but not shrinking before this atmosphere was no small feat. Horii-san seemed to sense it too, and looked a little pleased.

While we were sitting there, I sensed someone approaching. The one who came must have been Horii-san's old man.

"Amahashi?"

I sprang to my feet on reflex to greet him, and Aizawa-san followed my lead with a startled look on her face, but Kitamura just made a slightly odd face and stayed seated.

I'd stood up out of the habit I'd picked up living over there, but thinking about it normally, when you've come to a friend's house, you wouldn't go that far. I might've messed up.

The manners for meeting someone of rank or authority — I'd had all that drilled into me over there.