In this traditional residence I live with only my mother, Kazusima Yukiko. I haven't been home in weeks. The work at the police station has piled up, not to mention that recently there have been many cases that I have to solve. Ah yes, my name is Akiyama Takeyuki. A handsome man aged 25 years who works as an investigator in one of the police stations in this city.
On an afternoon like this, usually my mother always relaxes on the tatami which is in my father's dojo. Even though she is more than 50 years old, her beauty still shines through. I miss her so much. I'm walking towards the Dojo at this time.
I slide this brown wooden door. I could see her cleaning her katana using a white cloth, the katana that belonged to my late father. For a moment the beautiful woman stopped what she was doing when I came. Her smile grew. She patted the tatami on her right and smiled at me.
"Sit here, Takeyuki!"
I who just entered this room nodded. I took a position on the right side of the beautiful woman earlier, my mother.
"What did mom call me?" I asked.
"After more than a week of you not coming home, is that all you want to say, heum? You're so rude, Son!"
I smile. I know exactly what you mean right now. I approached my mother and hugged her. Put your head in the crook of the mother's neck. I really miss this woman. Working as a detective has taken up a lot of my time so far.
After being satisfied enough to let go of longing with mother, now I realize that mother will start to talk seriously.
"You must have guessed why you called mother."
I exhaled roughly. I'm tired of always having to discuss matchmaking with my mother. Irritating.
"I'm an adult, Mother. I can find my own mate."
"You can never! And you never will! All the girls you took out, there wasn't a single one that I liked. Especially the one named Nanami Nanomi or whatever."
"Naomi, Mother. Her name is Inoe Naomi." I corrected.
"Yes, he is. He is very rude, ignorant, his clothes are disgusting. I will never let you go out with him again!" mother snapped at me.
I was silent for a moment. I will not be able to argue with the words of the only family I have.
"Then what do you want me to do?"
"I've arranged your blind date for next week," Mom said with a smirk.
"Huh? Next week?!" I screamed in disbelief. How did you plan all of this? I'm not ready to go on that blind date yet. But, I can't refuse mother's wish. How about this?
***
"You're collecting a debt on a little girl on a night like this, huh?" I snapped at them. I glared at the three men I believed to be loan sharks. They just ransacked the house of a girl named Zenkyo. They were reported by Mrs. Minama, who was none other than the neighbor of the girl around the age of 18.
"We just want to take our money, Sir," replied the man in neat clothes. From the data I got his name is Ryohei.
In front of me, Detective Takeru was typing all their reports.
"Can we see the loan receipt contract?" he said.
"What are you looking for? It's the same anyway," answered Ryohei. I immediately gave him a death glare. How dare he.
Ryohei took out a piece of paper from under the suit he was wearing.
My partner, Takeru, read the contract agreement. It was true that Mr. Akira had borrowed a large amount of money, and he was using the house that Zenkyo was currently living in as collateral. However, there was something Takeru realized.
"Wait! You're asking for 40% interest? That's against the law. You could get in trouble for this!" snapped Takeru.
The man sitting next to Ryohei glanced briefly at Zenkyo who was on their left. He tugged at the girl's hair roughly.
"We only collect the principal loan. Hey! Give us back our money quickly!"
Thwack!!
I directly punched the man who grabbed the innocent girl.
"KEEP YOUR ATTITUDE AT THE POLICE STATION, FUCK!"
"Takeyuki-kun!" called the figure of the woman who had just entered our police station.
I turned my head. I had no idea that my mother would come here unannounced.
Mother's eyes are now focused on Zenkyo, the girl who reported earlier. She had been sitting quietly. Her eyes were blank. I don't know what's wrong with her.
"Oh God! I finally found you, Honey! I was told by the neighbors that you were at the police station. Oh, no! My honey, why did you have to go through all this, Honey?" Mother said while hugging Zenkyo. Does my mother know her?
I saw that Zenkyo was still frozen. Maybe she's still in shock. I heard from Takeru that this morning she had just buried her father's body, that night her house was ransacked by loan sharks. What a poor girl.
"I want you to severely punish those who hurt my future daughter-in-law, Takeyuki!"
"WHAT??!" I and Zenkyo shouted at the same time. We looked at each other.
Mother patted me and Zenkyo on the shoulder.
"Yes, Son. Mother has been planning this matchmaking with Ryota, Zenkyo's father, for a long time. Yesterday we discussed it again, but I was so shocked to hear the news of his death this afternoon. I had no idea that yesterday was our last meeting."
Mother said. Her eyes filled with tears as he remembered her first love, who would soon become a Family.
Zenkyo frowned. She was confused and shocked at the same time. So am I.
"Sir! How long are we going to watch this family drama, huh? Can we go home?" interrupted Ryohei in the middle of my and Zenkyo's confusion.
I kissed mother's forehead. It's really hard to argue with my parents' wishes, so I prefer to surrender.
"Mother, instead of making a fuss all night here, you'd better take this girl home first, okay?"
My mother agreed, she invited Zenkyo to go with her. My business with me, later later. I want to settle things with these three damn loan sharks.
Ryohei and his two companions left
"We have to go too!"
However, I immediately grabbed their shoulders. "Where are you guys going, huh? Sit down!" I pat Ryohei's shoulder roughly. "I need your data first."