"???" Ren Kuroda blinked in utter disbelief. Had he just misheard something?
"Sonoko! Snap out of it!" Ran Mouri spun around to look at her best friend.
Seeing Sonoko's dreamy expression, her heart skipped a beat. Oh no… she's falling for him again! Ran muttered internally.
She quickly warned, "Now is not the time to be daydreaming!"
"I'm not daydreaming!" Sonoko protested, grinning. "If he tried to kidnap me, that just means he likes me! Right? He clearly has a thing for me. Why else would he pick me instead of all the other rich people out there?"
Hearing this, Ran felt as if the sky had fallen. She grabbed Sonoko, shaking her, desperate to wake her up. "Wake up!! He doesn't mean it like that!! Right… classmate?!"
Ran turned to Ren Kuroda, seeking confirmation.
Ren nodded obediently, playing along.
"Even so… this classmate still needs my help!" Sonoko giggled, pushing Ran aside and stepping closer. Her voice softened, almost teasing. "Classmate, how much ransom do you want?"
Ren froze, experiencing Sonoko's infatuation firsthand for the first time.
No wonder she had been so easily lured here by a love letter.
"I don't need it," he shook his head firmly. "I don't want to make any more mistakes."
"But… you still owe the loan sharks, right?" Sonoko's concern surfaced, her smile softening. "If you don't pay them back, they're probably going to keep harassing you, aren't they?"
Ren had no words. This was giving him a headache.
He had just transmigrated here, inexplicably ended up as a kidnapper, and on top of that, he owed an insane amount of debt—and to loan sharks!
Just hearing the name made it clear: these people wouldn't let you go without squeezing every last yen out of you.
"Oh, don't be so hard on yourself," Sonoko said softly. "I can tell you're a good person. Otherwise, you wouldn't have kidnapped us… and then let us go, right, Ran?"
She glanced at her friend.
"…Yeah." Ran hesitated, then nodded. She could see it too—the boy in front of them wasn't some irredeemable villain.
He still had hope.
"How about this," Sonoko continued, an idea forming. "I can give you a portion of the ransom now to pay off the loan sharks. You can pay me back later when you earn some money."
Ren's heart skipped a beat.
Pay off the loan sharks first… then, once he became a famous detective, earning money would be easy. He could even pay back Sonoko in full later.
And… maybe he could even use this to game the system and complete his mission.
"I owe 100 million yen to the loan sharks," Ren explained. "It's a lot of money. If I can't pay it all at once, the interest just keeps piling up."
"100 million yen?!" Ran gasped.
"100 million yen?!" Sonoko echoed, equally stunned.
"It wasn't originally that much," Ren made a helpless face. "But the interest keeps accumulating…"
"Oh, I thought it would be more than that," Sonoko patted her chest with a laugh. "This much I can handle."
Ren froze.
He had underestimated the daughter of a conglomerate.
She could just… hand over 100 million yen?
How much money does she even have?
Unbelievable… outrageous!
"Wait a moment. I'll have my butler bring it over right now." Sonoko pulled out her phone and dialed. "Butler, please retrieve 100 million yen from my safe and bring it to Beika Park. Thirty minutes? Okay… call me when you arrive."
After hanging up, she smiled. "There! In thirty minutes, the butler will deliver it."
"…Thank you," Ren muttered, still reconstructing his understanding of the world.
This was the life of the ultra-wealthy?
100 million yen, just like that?Unbelievably enviable!
"You're welcome!" Sonoko said warmly. "We're friends, after all!"
The smile of a rich heiress was infectious.
A friend like this… I'm keeping her! Ren thought.
Half an hour later, at the Beika Park entrance.
Ren received the heavy money box from the butler. This wasn't just cash—it was a symbol of Sonoko's trust.
"Thank you, Sonoko," he said, glancing at her cheerful face. "I'll repay this as soon as possible."
"You're welcome, Ren," she waved off his thanks. "Use it to start fresh!"
"Mm-hmm. And no more mistakes," Ran added firmly.
"Absolutely!" Ren nodded.
"Alright, take care of your debts first! See you at school tomorrow," Sonoko waved goodbye.
"Got it! See you tomorrow!" Ren grabbed the money box and left without further delay.
Sonoko felt she had done something small but meaningful—saved a classmate who had gone astray. It filled her with satisfaction, a sense of personal fulfillment.
Turning to Ran, she said, "It's still early. How about we go shopping a little?"
"Sure!" Ran agreed cheerfully.
They had the butler head back first and continued shopping together.
During their stroll, they unexpectedly ran into Shinichi Kudo.
"Oh? Just the two of you?" he remarked, surprised. He knew about the love letter Sonoko had received.
He smirked teasingly. "Sonoko, you weren't tricked, were you? Nobody showed up?!"
"Who says? Someone did! And he's handsome too!" Sonoko replied, annoyed at Shinichi's 'I know everything' expression.
"Ah? There really was someone?" Shinichi's eyes widened. "You have to be careful. Maybe he was after your money!"
"By the way, what's his name? I can do a background check for you!"
"Who knows? Maybe he's drowning in debt and wants to hit your family fortune to pay it off!"
But then he noticed the expressions on Ran and Sonoko's faces—serious and unsmiling.
He froze. Could it be… I was right?
"Ren isn't that kind of person! He had his reasons for what he did!" Sonoko quickly defended him.
"Yeah! He just acted impulsively and made a mistake!" Ran added, trusting Ren's intentions.
"…You… you two!!" Shinichi's heart sank. Something was wrong. They might have been deceived!
"Tell me what happened, now!" he demanded urgently.