Chapter 254: Clue
I filled out the form with whatever I could write. To be honest, the only things I could actually fill in were my name and age. There was no address or phone number, and since I had no parents in this world, I couldn’t provide any parental consent that a minor would typically need.
“Alright, thank you. I’ll fill in the blank spaces here as I see fit… Wait, are you two siblings?”
As Mr. Jinpei checked the completed form, he muttered to himself. Both of them had the surname Mizumoto. They were both sixteen, but thinking of them as siblings seemed more natural.
“Big brother and big sister are newlyweds, you know?”
I thought there was no need to correct her, but Phonia tilted her head in confusion.
“Is that so? I was surprised to see you were both sixteen… That’s wonderful!”
“Uh, thank you?”
I couldn’t quite understand why Mr. Jinpei was so enthusiastic, so I could only respond ambiguously.
“To be able to decide to marry at such a young age is truly remarkable. The average marriage age keeps rising each year.”
He sighed deeply, but I wondered if he had any unmarried relatives. I decided not to pry too deeply. After finishing the paperwork, Mr. Jinpei made a phone call, and shortly after, there was a knock at the conference room door. He handed over the smartphone we chose and the completed documents to the person who had come to visit, who then left without a word.
“I’ll have them set up the smartphone for you, so please wait a moment. It shouldn’t take more than an hour.”
“Understood.”
“Once again, thank you for accepting the request to search for Kaede. I truly appreciate it.”
Straightening his posture, Mr. Jinpei sat back down and bowed his head again.
“No, it’s fine. Please raise your head.”
“Ah… Well then, let me give you this first.”
He said, offering a photo of a girl flashing a peace sign and grinning widely. She had shoulder-length black hair with a hint of brown, wearing denim overalls that reached her thighs and a long-sleeved shirt with white and pink stripes, giving off a lively impression.
“This girl is…”
“Yes, my granddaughter Kaede.”
As Mr. Jinpei spoke, his expression turned rather disheveled. I had received other bits of information, like how cute Kaede looked when she puffed up her cheeks in anger or how adorable she was when she blushed from embarrassment, but I decided to leave those out.
“This is about all I have, but is there any other information you might need?”
“Hmm… Let’s see…”
“Have you checked the photos or videos taken with Kaede-chan’s smartphone?”
As I pondered, Rio chimed in with a question for Mr. Jinpei.
“Well… I haven’t checked those, but…”
“There’s a chance that the scenery from where she went missing is captured in them. That could provide a clue as to where she was.”
“R-Right!”
Mr. Jinpei’s expression lit up as he suddenly realized, pulling out Kaede’s smartphone from his inner pocket and starting to search through the photos.
“W-What is this?!”
“Did you find something?”
“There are photos dated after Kaede went missing!”
Excitedly, Mr. Jinpei showed us the smartphone screen. The image depicted a woman with a suspicious expression and sharp eyes. Her wine-red hair was gathered to one side, cascading down her chest, and her plump figure and heavy makeup made her appear somewhat unhealthy. The lavish jewelry she wore led me to suspect she might have an unhealthy lifestyle.
In the background, there was a stone wall visible—perhaps it was the interior of some building. As he flipped through the pages, there were images of a barren patch of earth and part of what looked like a magic circle drawn on the ground. Could this be the magic circle that summoned Kaede?
“Kaede!”
The next image showed a girl sitting on the floor, her expression one of fear. There was a resemblance to the girl in the photo I had just seen, but now she looked frightened. It felt like the person who had taken the photo had captured her in that moment. In that world, a camera would seem like true “magic.”
After that, there were just a few more images of lavishly decorated rooms in a mansion.
“By the way… Do you recognize the woman who was in the photo earlier?”
Mr. Jinpei, who had been frowning in thought, suddenly asked. Of course, I had no recollection of her, so I could only shake my head.
“I see…”
“But with these photos, we might still have a chance to search for her.”
I spoke up to encourage Mr. Jinpei, who looked disappointed. Considering we had no clues at all before, this was actually quite a good outcome. Besides, I had some ideas about organizations suited for this kind of search.
“Yes… Perhaps I should be happy that we’ve found more clues.”
“Exactly. And I have a request. I would like you to print a large number of photos of Kaede and the ones from the other world that are on the smartphone.”
“O-Okay, understood. I’ll have that prepared right away.”
Mr. Jinpei immediately grasped what I wanted without any hesitation, agreeing without question. This would certainly help expedite our search. We could create missing person posters in the language of that world or submit requests to the Adventurer’s Guilds in various towns. And then—
“I see… Then let’s take a look at what we have. —Let’s see what the Information Guild ‘Hinomaru’ can do in terms of search capabilities.”
As I was lost in thought, Rio murmured something that sounded eerily familiar, as if she had heard it somewhere before.