Business Association Management Consultant 24: The Future Entrusted in an Envelope [#CreativeAwards2025 #WorkNovelCategory]

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At night, Yuto, Akiyama, Miura, and Saeki were inside the old Chamber of Commerce office.

Saeki renewed his determination.

“Using the letter of the law to twist justice... If that’s the case, we have no choice but to correct it with ‘human conviction.’”

His voice did not waver.

Saeki gently picked up the two envelopes placed on the desk.

One contained the meeting minutes and resolution records that could be legally disclosed. The other was a sworn statement clearly stating that he had attended and spoken.

“Morita-kun, I am entrusting these to you. I don’t intend to hand them to anyone else again. I am giving them to you because it is you.”

There was a slight tremor in the hand that held out the envelopes. That was the proof of his resolve.
That was the proof of his resolve.

Yuto bowed deeply and accepted the envelopes with both hands.

“Saeki-san... because you left this much behind, we are able to act now.”
“There are many people who have the right to know what was happening in this town.”
“That is why—if we stop, everything will return to the darkness again.”

Just as Yuto accepted the envelopes and bowed deeply—

a modest knocking sound suddenly echoed.

The door opened, and a middle-aged man who looked unfamiliar stepped into the room.

He had the collar of his thick coat turned up and his face showed signs of fatigue, but there was a sharp light in his eyes.

“Excuse me. I am Fujishima, a reporter. Morita Yuto-kun... I heard you were here.”

“...Reporter Fujishima...!”

Yuto raised his voice, and Akiyama stood up instinctively.

“The documents I received from you a while ago. After seeing them—I couldn’t help but take action.”

Fujishima said, and placed an old notebook he was holding onto the desk.

“This is the material for the ‘initial redevelopment plan’ I was chasing when I was still young, over a decade ago.
It was crushed once, but it seems the ‘roots’ are connected to the current matter.”

Saeki asks quietly.

“...Are you, by any chance, the one who wrote that ‘Sakuragawa article’?”

“You remembered? I’ve been waiting for the ‘next’ step ever since then.”

Their gazes meet.

Their positions and backgrounds are different.

But the reason ‘why they couldn’t stay silent’ was the same.

Saeki smiles faintly.

“...It’s ironic. That people who were in the corners of journalism and administration, respectively, are now in the same room, looking at the same ‘festering wound.’”

Fujishima shrugs.

“We adults have no choice but to give up and act before it’s too late. ...That’s all I thought.”

Yuto stares at the two of them.
“Then... together?”

Miura shakes his head.

“No. From here on, it’s the Business Association’s turn.
Reporter Fujishima is the ‘one who conveys,’ and Mr. Saeki is the ‘one who reveals the past.’”
“But we are the only ones who can create a ‘future where people who live honestly are rewarded.’”

In his eyes, a quiet determination resided.

“Mr. Miura...”

Saeki also nods quietly.
“I’m entrusting it to you, Morita. What this town needs isn’t the past, but the ‘future.’”

Akiyama smiles beside him and nods slightly.

The air in the silent room had definitely changed.

The ‘lost voices’ and the ‘future will’ had truly connected.

Yuto grips the envelope tightly.

"...I'm not going to expose it. I'm going to prove it. To repaint a town ruled by lies with the truth."

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