Chapter 18: What If I Had a Meeting with My Friend After Coming Home?

「I'm home.」

Even though my old man isn't back from his business assignment, I say my usual greeting.

I can't seem to shake a habit once it's formed.

I pour hot water from the pot to make the cup soup I bought at the convenience store on the way home.

At my house, we always keep water hot in the thermos, since you can drink it as plain hot water and it's useful for various things.

After setting the kitchen timer, I headed to my room to put my things down.

It was a roller coaster of a day, part fun, part hateful, but I made some progress.

I look at the voice recorder and my smartphone.

I've secured definitive proof of their affair. With this, I can drive them to ruin without any worries. From now on, it's my time. I've been led around by the nose for long enough.

They've messed up someone else's life. So, I have the right. ...The right to get revenge.

I activate my smartphone and touch a registered name.

The call connects after a few rings. The person I'm calling is──

『Yo, what's up? Sunday's almost over, what's with the call at this hour?』

It's my best friend, and the greatest collaborator in my revenge, Yuu.

「Were you playing games again without doing your homework? Sorry about that. But hey, there was one thing I really had to report to you.」

『If you're saying you have something to report, I can probably guess... but go ahead and tell me.』

「You might think I've got too much time on my hands, but I spent half the day tailing those two and finally managed to get some pretty good evidence. I figured I should thank you for the voice recorder you lent me and give you a proper report.」

『I see, that's great. It was worth borrowing it from the guys in the drama club. The club president has a scary face, but he's a nice guy. When I explained the situation, he lent it to me right away. Well, that president is a pretty passionate guy, despite his looks. Still, I can't believe it actually worked out so well. I thought it would take at least another week.』

「I was the same. I said I wanted to get it over with quickly, but I had estimated it would take a little longer. Turns out they were unexpectedly stupid, which helped. Now it's just a matter of how to use this data effectively...」

Even if I just presented it to them straight, we're talking about that Kiyama. He'd probably be a little shaken, but he might still use the trust he's built up to try and make me the bad guy. I need to create a situation where he can't talk his way out of it. To do that, I need to properly solidify the ground around him, not just confront him directly.

The problem is the means to do that... an effective method.

『Should we make a flyer with all of Kiyama's dirty deeds and their affair and plaster it all over the school? Or maybe put it on the front page of the school newspaper? But that's a little weak.』

On the other end of the line, Yuu cheerfully made a suggestion.

But just as he says, that's not enough to settle this.

Because──

「You remember the data you copied from Kiyama's smartphone, right?」

『Of course I do. It's important evidence, no way I'd forget. I have it right here with me now.』

「Using the contact list that was in there──how about we send the data to every single one of them?」

『...! Hou, to all of his acquaintances?』

「That's right. Not just people at school, like students and teachers. His parents, relatives, friends. And on top of that, we'll drag in all the women he's preyed on. If you think about it, there must be a lot of women who were preyed on without knowing anything. Which means?」

『...A vendetta. That's great, man! I like it! That's right, it'd be a waste for just the two of us to finish this. Let's shoulder the grudges of all the victims!』

Because──I'm not the only victim.

Until now, I'd only been thinking about my own revenge.

What made me reconsider was hearing Meari's true feelings firsthand. That cooled my head.

Then I started to see things differently. When I think about it, I'm not the only victim. I'm probably not the only guy whose girl was stolen, and there must be poor, single women who were just deceived. If we're going to punish that son of a bitch, this is definitely something we have to do.

His parents' money, his good looks, and his acting skills. We have to make him pay for using all of that to toy with others as he pleases.