It was the afternoon. As soon as Fujii Mikako entered the kendo dojo of the school, she was stopped by Daimon Goro. "Fujii, why isn't Kiryuu here today?"
"I don't know. I went to their class during lunch break. He was absent today."
"I know that he's absent today. I am asking why he was absent." Daimon looked fierce even when he was not angry. He raised his voice, which made Fujii flinch slightly.
Having realized that he was being too fierce, Daimon quickly lowered his voice and repeated the question, "Why didn't he come to school?"
"How would I know?" Fujii replied.
"Aren't you his girlfriend?" Daimon's question was straightforward.
"I'm not!" Fujii quickly denied. "I didn't break any school rules! Don't punish me to clean the swimming pool!"
"Calm down! The school rules state that boys and girls can't be too intimate in school. There's no rule that forbids you from dating."
"Huh?" Fujii looked at Daimon in surprise, wondering if she had heard wrongly.
"What do you mean 'huh'?" Daimon bonked Fujii's head. "I only chase after those who don't know how to restrain themselves. If I had reported all the couples, you and Kiryuu would have been suspended from school long ago! Now, tell me, why isn't he here? The qualifiers will start immediately after the short holiday!"
Fujii looked helpless. "I really don't know, because I'm really not his girlfriend."
Daimon was stunned. He stared at Fujii suspiciously, as if she had just said something ridiculous—like that there's a Martian invasion.
Fujii looked embarrassed and did not know what to say.
After holding back for a few seconds, Daimon asked in confusion, "Why not? Aren't you guys always together?"
"Well… I don't know why we are not dating yet, but I'm just… not his girlfriend. Anyway, I don't know why he didn't come. Didn't the school call his home number?"
"There's only him and his sister in his house. There won't be anyone around during the day. If he's sick and bedridden at home, he might not be able to get up and answer the call." Daimon sighed. "How about this? I'll exempt you from training in the afternoon. Go to his house and check on him in case something bad has happened.
"When you reach his house, call the school with his home telephone and tell me what's going on.
"Do you know where he lives?"
Fujii nodded.
Daimon teased, "It seems like you've even been to his house before. Are you sure you are not his girlfriend?"
Fujii could not answer that question, so she dodged it completely. "Well then, I'll get going."
"Okay, off you go. Remember to buy some fruits in case he's sick." Daimon waved his hand at Fujii as he spoke. Then, he walked toward the Kendo Club students who were doing warm-up exercises in the dojo.
Fujii secretly made a V sign and ran away with her bamboo sword, which she had not taken out from the bag today.
Watching as she left, Daimon muttered to himself, "They are definitely dating. Youngsters nowadays. Sigh."
***
Meanwhile, not long after Kazuma met Executive Director Ohara, he had realized that this executive director did not want to get involved in this matter at all.
The executive director surely knew how to speak. Kazuma had tried all kinds of ways to persuade him, but in the end, Ohara didn't say anything useful. It was all empty words.
However, Kazuma couldn't show his anger. He was talking to an executive director, after all. In any case, Ohara was willing to spend so much time listening to the complaints of a high school student while maintaining a kind and polite attitude throughout. Hence, Kazuma would be the one in the wrong if he got upset.
After an hour and a half, Kazuma decided to back off. He was afraid that if he continued, he would not be able to hold himself back from hitting this "Smiling
'F*ck, I can beat the yakuza members in terms of martial strength. But who would've thought that I'd lose to a cunning Japanese old man?'
The more Kazuma thought about it, the angrier he became. He really wanted to slap this fellow.
Chiyoko could tell that Kazuma was about to explode in rage. She held Kazuma's right hand tightly, not letting him use violence on the executive director's smiling face.
Chiyoko did not let go of Kazuma's wrist until the siblings had been sent out of the office.
"F*ck, those bastards." Kazuma gritted his teeth and said, "I bet this executive director takes credit from the work of the Relocation Department too."
Ogasawara came up to them. Hearing this, he lowered his voice and said, "The Relocation Department is not in the same group as Executive Director Ohara. Don't talk nonsense. However, there's really not much we can do about this matter. Our department will definitely not be able to fork out the tens of millions of funds needed for the acquisition of the dojo. We will have to go through the Finance Department. But they will definitely not approve this transaction for us."
"I guess we don't have a choice, then?" Kazuma asked, unwilling to give up.
Ogasawara took out his handkerchief and wiped his sweat. As they were an established company, Sumitomo Construction's headquarters was unsurprisingly equipped with central air conditioning. There were not many drops of sweat on Ogasawara's forehead, so Kazuma speculated that he had probably done it out of anxiety.
"Not anymore," Ogasawara said. "At least on my side, there's really no other way. But I think you can find a lawyer. An excellent lawyer should be able to force the Relocation Department to offer a price that is not lower than the market price. An especially capable lawyer can even make them offer a higher price."
Kazuma was about to answer when Ogasawara added, "But you have to be careful. The Relocation Department seems to be working with the Yanaka Law Firm. It's a newly-established firm, very resourceful, but also…"
Ogasawara did not continue, but Kazuma could roughly guess what he had wanted to say from his expression.
An unscrupulous company, an immoral lawyer, hand-in-hand with the yakuza. The evil people had colluded to bully the isolated orphan siblings.
This opening was enough for online literature.
A few options flashed through Kazuma's mind. For example, he could take bank loans. In this era, the Japanese banks were giving out loans freely. They did not care about the requesters' credit score or whether they would be able to pay back.
However, the problem was that Kazuma was still a high school student. No matter how casual the banks were at giving loans, it was impossible for them to loan money to a high school student.
Even if Kazuma were to come up with a lucrative entrepreneurial project, he had to get the security guards at the bank to let him in.
Even if the security guards were willing to let him in, the investment managers of the banks would definitely not be willing to waste time listening to a high school student.
Executive Director Ohara must be a real weirdo to be willing to meet a high school student.
Kazuma sighed and said goodbye to Ogasawara. "We'll take our leave. Sorry for troubling you today."
"You're welcome. Goodbye." Ogasawara bowed to the siblings and watched them leave.
Right after Kazuma and Chiyoko had left, the executive director opened his door. Ohara stuck his head out to look outside, and then gestured for Ogasawara to come in.
Ogasawara went into his office immediately.
"What were you thinking about?" Executive Director Ohara bellowed. "That's the delinquent who has just beaten up Ito-kun from the Relocation Department! You shouldn't have asked him to come to the company. What if he got angry and destroyed our company? You should have brought him to a cafe!"
Ogasawara lowered his head so that Executive Director Ohara could not see his face. He replied loudly, "I'm very sorry!"
Fortunately, the executive director could not see his expression. Otherwise, if he found out that Ogasawara was "sympathetic" to the delinquent, he would definitely reprimand him.
***
Without a word, Kazuma took the elevator downstairs. The entire elevator ride, he thought about how to earn his starting fund.
If he could neither get a loan nor sell the dojo, must he really start hiring students and managing the dojo from scratch?
But he did not even have a license. He wouldn't be able to recruit any students.
Or perhaps he could try to get a kendo scholarship from a famous school, finish a four-year university program, and then enter society as a successful person?
Social mobility was a huge issue in Japanese society because it was difficult to climb up the social strata. But correspondingly, everyone had an equal opportunity to be admitted to a top university, which could pull up the students' social status immediately.
However, not all universities in Japan could allow you to make that leap in status. Most second- and third-tier universities were completely useless.
Moreover, some Japanese universities had questionable education quality. Even schools equivalent to polytechnics or vocational institutes in China were considered universities in Japan.
Therefore, in Japan, one could only climb up to a higher class if they had entered a prestigious university.
For example, those who wanted to become an elite politician or enter the police system should apply to Tokyo University.
As for those who wanted to be a diplomat or a foreign language professional, they should choose Sophia University.
And so on and so forth.
Kazuma thought that it would be a good idea to apply to Tokyo University and then enter the Metropolitan Police Department since he knew kendo and was gifted with the kendo cheat.
He could also teach those yakuza members who had offended him a lesson and find an opportunity to make trouble for Ito Yuusaku.
As he was deep in thought, someone walked over and greeted the Kiryuu siblings, "Hello. May I ask you some questions?"
Kazuma looked up and saw that it was a middle-aged man—he looked like a detective or a criminal investigator.
Then, the man really took out a police warrant card and showed Kazuma the Japanese police's sakura badge.