Chapter 37: Frog Bento (Part 1)

Oshin-ya signed two hundred and sixty long-term rental contracts on its first day of business, simultaneously “gifting” away two hundred and sixty video recorders.

Assuming the profit margin on each video recorder was thirty thousand yen, then on the first day, Oshin-ya’s gross profit from “gifting” video recorders alone was as high as seven million eight hundred thousand yen.

Of course, there was still over ten million yen in payments for goods that hadn’t been made, but Seiko had already instructed Ishiwatari Takashi to deduct the first four installments of the long-term rental contracts as profit.
As for the supplier’s payments, they could be paid slowly after Oshin-ya had collected enough profit.

Of course, such impressive sales results were also due to the opening being set on a weekend.
When the weekdays came, Oshin-ya’s performance would definitely decline.

“Eh?
It’s actually true!”

“That’s so shameless.”

“Yeah, didn’t she say she would only love Hiromi Go in this life?
It’s only been a few days since she broke up with him, and now she’s marrying someone else.”

“Mhm, mhm, this woman is so disgusting!”

“…”

In the new week, the hottest topic on the high school campus was undoubtedly “the marriage of Matsuda Seiko and Kanda Masaki.”
Just as Oshin-ya was opening, these two had spent two hundred million yen to hold a “wedding of the century” that caused a sensation in Japan.
The wedding was broadcast live on television, with a viewership rating as high as 34.9%.

Matsuda Seiko’s wedding was clearly met with not just blessings, but also a lot of doubt from the Japanese public.
This was because she had only just broken up with her boyfriend of five years, Hiromi Go, in January of this year.
At the time of the breakup, Matsuda Seiko had cried and said, “If there is a next life, I hope to be with Hiromi Go-kun,” which had moved many Japanese viewers.

As it turned out, in February, she was photographed by paparazzi traveling hand in hand with Kanda Masaki in the United States.
They got engaged in April and married in June.

Oh, so you really meant it literally, you’ve already thrown your feelings into the next life.

Therefore, labels such as hypocritical, pretentious, fickle, and cheating were attached to Matsuda Seiko.
As fans of her rival, Nakamori Akina, the “Akina faction” of course couldn’t let go of such a good opportunity to kick a dog when it’s down.
It was inevitable that they would take the opportunity to attack the “Seiko faction.”

The few girls who were currently discussing this in the classroom were obviously from the “Akina faction.”
While they were gleefully talking about Matsuda Seiko’s scandals, they would also glance at Seiko’s side from time to time.

“Was Aiko very sad last night?”

Saori asked Seiko while eating her bento.

“Yeah.”

Seiko also opened her own bento box.
She naturally had no interest in the gossip about that Matsuda Seiko, but unfortunately, she had a little “Seiko faction” member at home.

“That little devil was crying her eyes out yesterday, begging Matsuda Seiko on the TV not to marry a grandpa.
She insisted on squeezing into the same bed with me at night before she would go to sleep.”

Seiko said helplessly.
Kanda Masaki was indeed several years older than Matsuda Seiko, but not to the extent of being a “grandpa.”
Her little sister’s comment was a bit of a personal attack.

“Forget it, let’s not talk about this.
Didn’t you say you have important news to tell me?”

“Mhm,” Saori smiled and changed the subject.
“I heard some news at the bar last night.
I’m not actually sure if it’s important.”

“Tell me first,” Seiko said casually, taking out her chopsticks and wiping them.

“The new chief of the Urawa Police Department was sent down from the Saitama Prefectural Police Headquarters.
His surname is Ito,” Saori said.

“Mhm,” Seiko frowned slightly.
“Is there a problem?”

The Japanese police system adopted a local autonomy system.
The police system of a prefecture was under the jurisdiction of the prefectural police headquarters, so it was a matter of course for a leader to be sent down from the police headquarters to the Urawa City Police Department.
Seiko didn’t understand Saori’s meaning at first.

“Our prefectural governor is named Ito Eishiro,” Saori reminded her with a smile.

Seiko’s hand paused, and she raised her eyebrows slightly.
“What is the relationship between our Chief Ito and that Governor Ito?”

“Not sure,” Saori shook her head.
“The civil servants who came to drink said it was an uncle-nephew relationship, and some said it was an older brother-younger brother relationship, but neither may be accurate.”

“But there is a relationship?”

“That’s right.
All the civil servants say so.”

Seiko was thoughtful and said, “It seems our Mayor Kiuchi has received the full support of the prefectural governor.
By the way, what party does our Governor Ito Eishiro belong to?”

“Independent,” Saori had clearly already investigated and blurted out immediately.

“Heh…” Seiko chuckled lightly.
“Then it’s not surprising.”

The mayor of Urawa City, Kiuchi Shigezawa, was also an independent.

When most people belonged to a party, the few independents would naturally form a party called “Independents.”

Ito Eishiro and Kiuchi Shigezawa had clearly formed an alliance.
The first task before this alliance should be to deal with the mastermind hiding behind the Takada-gumi who was targeting Kiuchi Shigezawa.

But on what grounds could Kiuchi Shigezawa persuade Ito Eishiro to form an alliance with him?
And Ito Eishiro was even willing to use his relatives in the police system to help Kiuchi Shigezawa take control of the Urawa Police Department?

Seiko pondered for a long time and could only think of one possibility—the mastermind who wanted to target Kiuchi Shigezawa was also Ito Eishiro’s enemy.

What kind of enemy could actually take on both a mayor and a prefectural governor at the same time?

As Seiko was deep in thought, she casually stuck her chopsticks into her bento.
Suddenly, she felt that the texture was a bit off.

“Wait a moment…”

Saori also noticed something was wrong and quickly called out to Seiko.

Seiko’s chopsticks rummaged through the food a couple of times, then turned over a severed, raw frog leg.
Saori also helped to turn over half of a frog’s body, then another frog leg, a frog’s head…

Finally, there was a piece of paper that had been soaked by steam and frog blood.

Looking at the complete frog corpse pieced together on the table, and the words on the note: “Whore Seiko”

Seiko didn’t feel very angry in her heart, but rather a sense of absurdity.

Saori looked at the content of the note, then looked up at Seiko, her expression also a bit strange.

Seiko shook her head and said with a laugh, “To think they’re bullying me.
These guys, don’t they know what my surname is?”

“Of course they know,” Saori also laughed.
“But there are some things they might not believe.
After all, your biggest breach of discipline is usually not wearing the school uniform and not participating in after-school activities.
Your grades aren’t bad either.
At most, you can only be considered a rebellious girl, right?”

“Oh, that seems to make sense,” Seiko felt that might indeed be the case.

“So what are you going to do?
Tell the teacher?” Saori asked.

Seiko thought of their homeroom teacher, Ms. Totsuka’s, petite figure, which didn’t seem to have any deterrent effect at all, so she shook her head and said, “Forget it, let’s not bother her…”