Chapter 59: Love and a Change of Plans

Urawa City, Yamagami Residence.

“Where’s Saori? Weren’t we supposed to study together?”

“I don’t know. She’s been so secretive lately.”

On the last Sunday before final exams, Miyazaki, intending to make a final struggle, came to the Yamagami residence to study with Seiko.

“She’s not up to no good again, is she?” Miyazaki asked suspiciously.

“You should worry more about yourself.
If Saori doesn’t study, the worst that can happen is she won’t get first place in the year.
If you don’t study, you’re going to fail.”
Seiko tapped on Miyazaki’s textbook.

“Hmph…”

Miyazaki muttered something like “I won’t fail” under her breath, opened her almost brand-new math textbook, and after glancing at a few problems, she couldn’t help but look up at Seiko, who was placing snacks on the table.
The pencil between her fingers spun lightly.

“What’s wrong?” Seiko noticed Miyazaki’s expression and asked, “Are you happy that Saori’s not here?”

“Not really,” Miyazaki wriggled on the tatami mat, gesturing with her fingers, and explained with some embarrassment, “Hey, don’t you think, studying together like this after school is something high school couples would do?”

“Hmm?” Seiko asked strangely, “Why would you suddenly think that? The three of us used to do homework together all the time, didn’t we?”

“Three people is just too weird. It doesn’t feel like we’re in a relationship at all!
Although two girls together is also weird.”
Miyazaki suddenly slumped onto the table in despair.
“Ever since I was little and read manga, I’ve looked forward to having a super beautiful romance in high school.
But in the end… I got stuck with you two…”

“Don’t you dare blame us,” Seiko tilted her head.
“You were the one who approached us first back then.
I still remember what you said…”

“Ahhh! Alright, alright,” Miyazaki shouted, interrupting Seiko’s attempt to dig up her dark past, then wriggled around like a mollusk, wiping the table.

Suddenly, she reached out, hooked Seiko’s little finger, and whispered in Seiko’s ear, “Hey, Seiko, let’s date?”

Seiko was stunned at first, then blinked and asked, “Eh? What about Saori then?”

“Saori?” Miyazaki thought for a moment and decided, “We’ll date in secret and not tell her.”

“Alright,” Seiko laughed, turned her hand over, and pressed down on Miyazaki’s small hand, their fingers intertwining.
She blew softly in Miyazaki’s ear, “So, what should we do when we’re dating?
I’ve never dated before.
Teach me, Yu-chan…”

A shiver ran through Miyazaki’s heart, and her ears inexplicably started to get hot.
“I, I…”

Miyazaki had no dating experience either.
Her entire understanding of dating came from shoujo manga and youth romance novels.
Forget about practical experience; she had just reached the age of budding romance when she met these two rascals.
She hadn’t even had a normal crush to have a wet dream about.

“L-let’s try feeding each other first… couples in manga always do that.”
Miyazaki’s gaze fell on the snacks Seiko had prepared.

“What do you want to eat?” Seiko asked.

“A marshmallow,” Miyazaki chose one.

Seiko picked up a marshmallow, but instead of feeding it directly to Miyazaki, she placed it between her own lips and pointed to herself with a smile, “Mmm.”

Miyazaki looked at Seiko’s smiling eyes, her pink lips, the snow-white marshmallow, and felt her heart beating so fast.

‘What’s going on!’

‘Seiko and I have tried everything together.
Now it’s just a small marshmallow, why is my heart suddenly beating so fast?’

Seiko simply closed her eyes, holding the marshmallow between her lips, her face tilted up, waiting for Miyazaki to eat it.

Miyazaki felt her heart pounding, her lips moving closer and closer to the marshmallow, as if the sweet romance she had dreamed of as a child was right in front of her…

Ding-dong!

“Hmm? Someone’s here.”

Hearing the bell from the entrance, Seiko opened her eyes, got up to check on the situation, and swallowed the marshmallow in one gulp.

“Ah…”

Miyazaki watched Seiko walk out of the room, frozen in place.

Seiko went out for a moment, then peeked her head back in and said with a smile, “I have something to do.
Yu-chan, you can ask me to date again later.”

“Go away! I’ll kill you!”

Miyazaki also finally snapped out of her daze, threw herself onto the tatami mat, and covered her face with a cushion.

After a long time, Miyazaki removed the pillow and carefully confirmed that Seiko had indeed left.

“Ahhhhh…”

Miyazaki hugged the pillow and rolled around on the tatami mat.

“What do you mean you don’t know how to date?
You’re a total pro!”

In the reception room, Seiko met an old acquaintance, Yoshida Shoichi.

“I’m very sorry, Mr. Councilor,” Seiko poured a cup of tea for Yoshida Shoichi.
“My grandfather went to the hospital for a check-up.
I will have to receive you on his behalf today.”

Ever since being interrogated overnight by Investigation Section One, Yamagami Nobuo had been feeling dizzy from time to time.
This had happened before, but not as severely as it was now.
Considering Yamagami Nobuo’s pre-existing severe high blood pressure, Murakami Eishi had prudently taken him to the hospital for a check-up.

“Uh…” Yoshida Shoichi hesitated.

“You can tell me anything first.
If it’s beyond my authority to decide, I will inform my grandfather,” Seiko added.
“My grandfather will also call you back as soon as possible.”

“Alright.”

Yoshida Shoichi had originally doubted whether Seiko had the ability to make decisions on Yamagami Nobuo’s behalf.
But now, on second thought, he realized that for something that required bowing one’s head, like suing for peace, it might be better to deal with Seiko than Yamagami Nobuo.
After all, Yamagami Nobuo was a slippery old fox.

“It’s like this.
Perhaps due to some distortion or error in communication or execution, some of the mayor’s decisions have caused some unnecessary misunderstandings for the Yamagami-gumi during their implementation.
I am here today to clear up these misunderstandings.
Miss Yamagami, you… understand, right?”

“Oh?” Seiko raised an eyebrow, her interest piqued.
“I can understand.”

“So…” Yoshida Shoichi spread his hands.
“The mayor will retract his previous decisions, and he also hopes that the Yamagami-gumi can stop those overly… overly enthusiastic promotions.”

“Now I don’t understand.”

“What… what don’t you understand?”

“What were the mayor’s previous decisions?”

“Well…” Yoshida Shoichi scratched his head.
“You can relay the original message to Mr. Yamagami Nobuo.”

“But if I don’t understand at all, I don’t know how to relay it,” Seiko said.

“It’s that…”

“What is it?”

“It’s that… it’s about the police station investigating the Yamagami-gumi.”

“The police station is always investigating the Yamagami-gumi.”

“It’s…” Yoshida Shoichi had to explain in more detail.
“It’s about the police station raiding the Yamagami residence for the Kumagaya City robbery case.”

“Was it the mayor’s decision to frame the Yamagami-gumi for the Kumagaya City armored car robbery?” Seiko asked.

‘Frame my ass!’

‘You dare say your father didn’t do it!’

Yoshida Shoichi almost cursed out loud, but his mission this time was to sue for peace.
To achieve his goal, he hesitated again and again, but still forced himself to say, “Yes.”

“Now I understand.”
Seiko nodded calmly.
“The mayor made a decision that harmed the Yamagami-gumi, and now he’s only stopped the harm, and he wants to order the Yamagami-gumi to do something again?
Even in a traffic accident, the driver can’t just say, ‘I’ve driven the car away, it’s not on top of you anymore,’ and that settles the matter, right?”

“Well… what does Miss Yamagami think should be done?”

“I don’t understand.”

“What don’t you understand?”

Yoshida Shoichi’s scalp tingled whenever he heard the word “understand” now.

“Generally speaking, shouldn’t someone who comes to apologize in person prepare some gifts?” Seiko pressed.
“Is His Excellency the Mayor’s apology just empty words?”

“Of-of course there’s compensation,” Yoshida Shoichi racked his brains.
In fact, Kiuchi Shigezawa hadn’t mentioned compensation to him, because the mayor was not comfortable with bowing his head to gangsters.
“Perhaps, perhaps, we can give some government projects to the Yamagami-gumi…”

“Government projects?
That’s a good idea.”
Seiko finally smiled.
“So, what government projects are we talking about?”

“Well, that still needs to be discussed…”

Yoshida Shoichi tried to stall again, but Seiko immediately interjected, “How about the Katakura Danchi project?”

“What?”

“The Yamagami-gumi has a construction company.
I hope the municipal government can contract the redevelopment project of the Katakura Danchi to the Yamagami-gumi.”

“But, the Katakura Danchi project has already been contracted to a company.”

“You can subcontract it again, or just switch contractors.”

“This kind of large-scale project has high qualification requirements for the contracting company.
As far as I know, the Yamagami-gumi’s construction company only has a few dozen workers…”

But Seiko shook her head and suddenly changed the subject to something completely unrelated.
“Councilor Yoshida, do you want to be the mayor?”

“What?” Yoshida Shoichi didn’t react for a moment.

Seiko explained calmly, “As you can see, the cooperation between the Yamagami-gumi and Kiuchi Shigezawa has not been pleasant.
In all this time, he hasn’t even met with my grandfather in person once.
But we don’t want an LDP mayor at the moment.
So, who should our Yamagami-gumi’s at least ten thousand votes go to…
Councilor Yoshida, you are eligible to run for mayor, right?
I don’t think your abilities are any worse than Kiuchi Shigezawa’s.”

Yoshida Shoichi’s heart leaped violently.
An unprecedented emotion began to grow in his heart.

That emotion was called “Are kings and nobles born to their station?”, “A true man should be like this!”, “The emperor’s throne is taken in turns…”

“I, I, I need to think about it…” Yoshida Shoichi forcefully suppressed his restless thoughts.

“You can,” Seiko nodded, then said, “So, the Katakura Danchi project?”

Yoshida Shoichi finally realized how wrong he had been.
Yamagami Nobuo was certainly an old fox, but this Miss Yamagami was no pushover either.
Or rather, she might be an even more terrifying little demon.

The person before him was trying to trade a government project like the Katakura Danchi for a mere verbal promise, not even a promise, but…

For that little glimmer of a thought in his heart, Yoshida Shoichi still relented.

“I can do my best to fight for the Yamagami-gumi’s construction company.”