"???" Ema Shiraishi thought he must have heard wrong.
"Sonoko! Get a grip!" Ran turned to look at her best friend.
Seeing her expression, Ran's heart sank. Oh no, she thought, she's having one of her swooning fits again!
She quickly reminded her, "This is not the time to be infatuated!"
"I'm not infatuated! He wanted to kidnap me, which means I'm in his heart!" Sonoko replied to Ran with a grin. "He must be interested in me. Otherwise, why would he specifically kidnap me when there are so many other rich people?"
Hearing this, Ran felt her world collapsing. She shook Sonoko, trying to wake her up. "Snap out of it! That's not what he meant! Right, Ema-san?"
With that, Ran turned to Ema Shiraishi, seeking his confirmation.
Ema nodded in agreement.
"Even so, this classmate still needs my help!" Sonoko said, grinning as she pushed Ran aside, walked up, and whispered, "Classmate, how much ransom do you need?"
"..." This was Ema's first time witnessing Sonoko's boy-crazy nature firsthand.
No wonder she was so easily tricked by a love letter.
"No, thank you. I don't want to continue making mistakes," he said, shaking his head to refuse.
"But don't you still owe money to the loan sharks?" Sonoko asked with concern. "If you don't pay it back, they'll probably keep bothering you, right?"
"..." Ema couldn't refute that. The situation was giving him a headache.
He had just transmigrated, and not only was he stuck taking the blame for a kidnapping, but he was also saddled with a huge debt!
And it was to loan sharks!
Just hearing the name, you knew those guys wouldn't let you go until they had squeezed you dry!
"Oh, don't feel too burdened by it," Sonoko gently persuaded. "I can tell you're a good person. Otherwise, you wouldn't have kidnapped us and then just let us go... right, Ran?"
She glanced back at her best friend.
"...Yes," Ran hesitated for a moment before nodding.
She could also see that the boy in front of them wasn't completely bad.
He could still be saved!
"How about this? I'll give you a sum for the ransom first, and you can pay back the loan sharks. When you make money in the future, you can pay me back," Sonoko proposed.
The proposal was very tempting to Ema.
He could pay off the loan sharks first. Once he became a famous detective, making money would be much easier.
Then he could just pay Sonoko back with interest, right?
Besides... maybe he could even exploit a loophole and complete the system's mission.
Thinking this, Ema said, "I owe 100 million yen to the loan sharks. It's a lot of money. If I can't pay it all at once, the interest will just keep piling up!"
"One... one hundred million yen?" Ran couldn't help but exclaim when she heard the amount.
"One hundred million yen?" Sonoko also exclaimed.
"It wasn't originally a hundred million, but with the compounding interest..." Ema made a helpless expression.
"Oh, I was wondering how much it was," Sonoko said, patting her chest with a smile. "I can afford that much."
At these words, Ema was stunned.
He admitted he was ignorant and didn't know how rich a chaebol's daughter could be.
But now, he had a preliminary understanding.
One hundred million yen, and she could take it out herself?
Just how much money do you have?
This is inhumanly rich!
"Hold on, I'll have my butler bring it over right now," Sonoko said as she took out her phone and made a call. "Butler, could you please get one hundred million yen from my safe?"
"Then bring it to Beika Park."
"Thirty minutes? Uh-huh... call me when you arrive."
After hanging up, Sonoko put her phone away and smiled. "Alright! The butler will deliver it in thirty minutes."
"...Thank you," Ema didn't know what to say. He could only silently rebuild his worldview.
So this is the world of the rich?
One hundred million yen, just like that?
It was truly enviable!
Sonoko said enthusiastically, "Oh, you're welcome! We're friends, right?"
A rich woman's smile is always so infectious.
This is a friend I'm determined to make!
Half an hour later, at the entrance of Beika Park.
Ema Shiraishi took the heavy briefcase from the butler. This wasn't just money; it was Sonoko's trust in him.
"Thank you, Suzuki-san," he said, turning to the smiling Sonoko. "I will pay you back as soon as possible."
"You're welcome, Shiraishi-san," Sonoko waved her hand and smiled. "Use this money to start a new life!"
"Yes, you must not make any more mistakes," Ran added.
"I won't!" Ema gave a firm reply.
"Alright, you should go pay off your debt now! We'll see you at school tomorrow," Sonoko said, waving goodbye.
"Okay, see you at school tomorrow!" Ema didn't waste any more words, took the briefcase, and left.
Sonoko felt that she had used a trivial amount of money to save a classmate who had gone astray.
This gave her immense satisfaction; her very soul felt elevated!
Sonoko turned to Ran and said, "It's still early, how about we go shopping?"
"Okay!" Ran happily agreed.
Sonoko sent the butler home and continued shopping with Ran.
While shopping, they unexpectedly ran into Shinichi.
"Oh? Just the two of you?" Shinichi was quite surprised. He knew Sonoko had received a love letter.
A thought struck him, and he teased, "Sonoko, don't tell me you got stood up? No one showed up!"
"Who says? He showed up! And he's handsome!" Sonoko was annoyed by Shinichi's "I've-seen-through-everything" expression.
"Huh? Someone really came?" Shinichi was shocked. He kindly warned her, "You should be careful. That guy might be after your money!"
"By the way, what's his name? I'll do a background check for you!"
"He's probably up to his ears in debt and wants to get money from you to pay it off!"
As he spoke, he suddenly noticed that the expressions on Ran and Sonoko's faces weren't looking too good.
This stunned Shinichi for a moment. He guessed, "Don't tell me... I hit the nail on the head?"
"Shiraishi-san is not that kind of person! He had his reasons for doing it!" Sonoko quickly retorted.
"That's right! Shiraishi-san was just impulsive and made a mistake!" The kind-hearted Ran was also willing to believe in Ema.
"...You... you two!" Seeing their reaction, Shinichi's heart sank. He realized something was wrong!
These two might have been scammed!
He quickly said, "Tell me exactly what happened!"
-------
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