My Childhood Friend, Who I Made a Promise To Spend the Future With, Dumped Me... But Ever Since I Started Dating a Beautiful Girl From School, My Childhood Friend Has Been Acting Strange - Episode 36

“Why… Why is it like this…? We’re not convinced at all.”

Suzuha Kamiya let out a deep sigh.

Just moments ago, a man who introduced himself as Azusa had made a one-sided statement, abruptly ending the conversation in a forceful manner.

Suzuha was fuming over his selfish attitude.

She couldn’t accept the outcome at all, and her distrust toward CyberTask, the company involved, had only intensified.

The three of them stood in a small circle outside the conference room, lost in thought about what to do next. A heavy, gloomy aura surrounded them.

“So, what do we do now?”

Tsubaki Sakurada asked the two older members.

“Well… even if we talk about what to do… there’s really nothing we can do. I can’t think of a single countermeasure right now.”

Suzuha clutched her head in frustration, her posture slumping slightly.

“Senpai, what do you think? Should we try to persuade him for another conversation?”

“Persuade him? How? We’re just regular people—we’re not part of the industry. Even if we did manage to talk to him again, there’s no way we’d be able to negotiate on equal footing.”

Tōma Suzuki admitted his helplessness.

Even though they knew a lot about 2D streamers, they had no real connection to industry professionals.

They were stuck, unable to see a clear next move.

“By the way, Tsubaki, do you have any ideas?”

Tōma asked in return.

“…Actually, I do have something in mind.”

“Wait, really? What is it?”

Sensing a glimmer of hope, Tōma pressed for an answer.

Hearing this exchange, Suzuha also perked up and joined the conversation.

“Here, take a look at this.”

Tsubaki held up her smartphone, showing them the screen.

Displayed on it was what appeared to be an image, but the entire screen was black.

“What’s this?”

Suzuha stared at it, confused.

“This… is an audio recording. I started recording with my phone before Azusa entered the conference room. The screen is black because I placed my phone face-down under the table.”

“A recording? So that means… we have evidence?”

“Yes. That’s exactly what it means.”

Suzuha’s voice grew more excited.

Now that they had found even a sliver of hope, her expression began to brighten.

“With this, we can use it in negotiations with Azusa-san! But if we time it wrong, he might demand that we delete it, so we’ll need to handle this carefully.”

“Y-Yeah, but still! If we have this evidence, then maybe…!”

For the first time in a while, Suzuha felt optimistic.

“Still… even if we have evidence, we have to think carefully about how we use it.”

“Yeah. Just trying to pressure him won’t get us anywhere. We need to come up with a solid plan.”

Tōma fell into deep thought alongside them.

But at a time like this, overthinking might be more harmful than helpful.

If they got caught up in overanalyzing, they might end up running in circles and wasting precious time.

They needed to act carefully, but they also couldn’t afford to delay too long.

They had to find the right moment to use the recording.

“So, what’s the plan? Should we move to a different place to think, or should we stay here and gather more information?”

Tsubaki looked between the two of them, gauging their reactions.

“Hmm… But even if we gather more information, I don’t think we’ll find anything that’ll help us fix this situation.”

“Yeah, but then what do we do?”

Tōma frowned.

“In that case, should we step outside for now? If I’m with you, I can get us back in anytime. As long as it’s within the event time, we’re free to come and go.”

“Oh, really? In that case… yeah, let’s step out for a bit.”

Just as Suzuha made her decision, the sound of approaching footsteps echoed from ahead.

For a split second, they panicked—had Azusa overheard their conversation?

But when they turned to see who it was, they found Yoshizaki standing before them.

The three of them, who had been talking in a huddle, quickly turned to face him.

“Huh? Did the meeting already end?”

“Ah… yeah, it just did,” Tōma muttered.

“I see. Sorry about that. I told you I’d be back before the meeting started, but I couldn’t keep my promise.”

“No, it’s fine. A lot happened on our end too.”

If Yoshizaki had been in the room with them, Azusa probably would have been more guarded.

In a way, it might have been a stroke of luck that he wasn’t there.

“I was planning to return quickly, but I got caught up in a work request. It was an important discussion, so it took longer than expected.”

Yoshizaki explained with a slightly apologetic expression.

“That’s understandable. Since you’re working, these things happen. By the way, did everything go well with the request? No issues?”

Suzuha asked out of concern for his work.

“No issues. Actually, it was a good opportunity for me. But since I’m in the middle of running this event, I told them I’d think about it first. I’ll probably give them my answer tomorrow or the day after.”

“I see. Well, good luck, Yoshizaki-san!”

“Thanks, I appreciate that. By the way… where are you three headed? You all look pretty down.”

Noticing their troubled expressions, Yoshizaki asked in concern.

“We… weren’t able to resolve anything at all, so we were trying to figure out what to do next.”

Tsubaki answered calmly.

Suzuha was still visibly shaken from the conference room discussion, so Tsubaki took the initiative to explain for her.

“I see. That’s really unfortunate. I’ve worked at this company for about a year, but I’ve never heard of them handling a situation this badly. If that’s really how it went, I might need to bring this up with CyberTask myself.”

Yoshizaki’s face turned serious as he processed the situation.

“Also… I recorded the entire conversation in the conference room on my phone.”

“A recording?”

“Yes.”

“By the way, who was the person you spoke with?”

“It was someone with the last name Azusa. He was the company president, right?”

Tsubaki glanced at the other two, confirming with them.

Tōma and Suzuha both nodded in agreement.

“…Wait, Azusa? No way. Him?

Yoshizaki looked shocked.

“If you listen to this, you’ll understand.”

Tsubaki handed him her phone, plugging in earphones so the audio wouldn’t leak.

After listening for a moment, Yoshizaki exhaled deeply.

“I see. I understand the situation now. This is serious. I always thought highly of Azusa-san, but I can’t just ignore this. Let’s find a place where we can discuss our next move. If we talk here, someone might overhear us.”

As soon as Yoshizaki suggested it, the three of them nodded in perfect agreement.