Airi vented indignantly, the sweet wine in her glass swaying with her emotions.
At Gen'ichiro's request, Airi was not allowed to show her true personal emotions in public. A leader had to remain inscrutable to earn the awe and respect of her subordinates.
But Airi really was furious about this. She felt she had done nothing wrong, so why was she being targeted?
Kiyoharu did not find it strange. "As long as there's a conflict of interest, they can target you. Who's right and who's wrong doesn't really matter."
"Hmph... honestly. Every last one of them only cares about their own petty gains. How are we supposed to run Chihaya Conglomerate properly with a bunch of vermin like this?"
"Hardly anyone wanted to run Chihaya Conglomerate properly in the first place. They only formed a temporary community for their own interests," Kiyoharu quipped. "After all, it's called 'Chihaya Conglomerate,' not 'The People's Conglomerate.' By the way, who was Department Head Kuroda again? I kind of forgot. Was he the one who looked like a sea bass?"
"Hahaha, sea bass!" Airi laughed loudly. "That was him."
"A mere department head, and one in production management at that—if nobody was backing him, how would he dare run his mouth at you during a meeting about assigning responsibility for an accident? Chances were, one of your 'loving and devoted' relatives was stirring things up behind the scenes."
"Tch."
The more Airi thought about it, the more likely it seemed that this was exactly what had happened.
She glanced sideways at Kiyoharu. He had found a chair, sat down with his milk, and leisurely narrowed his eyes at the night view outside the window.
Airi suddenly realized that she rarely saw Kiyoharu looking irritated or anxious. Whenever she was in a bad mood, staying near him seemed to make her negative feelings naturally fade away.
"It's getting late. We can investigate Mr. Sea Bass tomorrow. Tonight, just drink well and sleep well." As Kiyoharu spoke, he leaned near Airi's glass and fanned the air toward his nose, confirming by scent that the sweet wine had a low alcohol content before relaxing.
If Airi recklessly drank some hard liquor and threw a drunken tantrum, Mira's sleep-aid audio would have been for nothing.
"What, are you tired of me already? Starting to rush me off?" Airi was somewhat displeased. "Would it kill you to talk with me a little longer?"
"Talk, talk, we can talk about anything. What does the Young Lady want to talk about?"
"You took the money, so naturally you should be the one finding topics."
Ah, the Red-Eyed Devil was such a pain!
Kiyoharu suddenly realized that when he had accepted the paid companionship gig, he had not clearly negotiated how long they would be talking.
It seemed his guard against the Red-Eyed Devil had dropped lately. Or perhaps Ayano's harassment had distracted him, making it impossible to maintain clear boundaries with Airi in every matter.
With that in mind, Kiyoharu brought up a topic that would benefit him. "I heard Miss Kitahara's father has an illegitimate son outside the family..."
Kiyoharu's sentence came to an abrupt stop, cut off by Airi's suddenly sharp gaze. She glared at him, then put on her classic narrowed-eyed, scrutinizing expression.
"That's information very few people know. I hope Kiyoharu-kun will seriously answer me: where did you hear that?"
"Of course Miss Kitahara told me herself. This week... oh, it's already past midnight, so that means last week. When I modeled for her sketch last week, she mentioned some things about her family while we were chatting."
"What else did you talk about?"
"I don't remember very clearly. Probably some gossip about Chihaya Academy, my views on contemporary art, and the impact of artificial intelligence technology on the painting industry."
Kiyoharu spoke without hesitation, fabricating an ordinary and uneventful midday conversation and pushing all suspicion onto Ayano.
The moment he realized how confidential the news about the "illegitimate son" was, he knew his opportunity had arrived!
To begin with, the cheating business was not Kiyoharu's fault at all. Ayano had been the one messing around. If he could make Airi wary of Ayano without making her suspect that anything was wrong with him, he could use Airi's suspicions to fend off Ayano's harassment.
Kiyoharu had used this move several times already, and it had never failed him.
Back at Chihaya Academy, female distant relatives and even company employees under Airi had once shown ulterior motives toward Kiyoharu. Every time, he had used Airi as a weapon to nip the trouble in the bud.
But he could not casually use the same move on Ayano, because she was Airi's best friend and hid herself well. She had never revealed her predatory nature in front of Airi. Airi had even asked Kiyoharu to take good care of her!
Now, using a slight information gap and a little social maneuvering, Kiyoharu subtly nudged the course of events.
Airi's fair, delicate hands tightened around her wineglass as she bit her lip and silently considered it.
"Maybe she thought I'd already told you, so she didn't think she needed to keep it from you."
"Oh, that made sense." Kiyoharu smiled. "In her eyes, we're a loving couple inseparable as glue."
"Get lost. Who's inseparable as glue with you?"
"It's just an expression. And we really are deeply involved partners, right? Though the nature of it is a little different from how it looks to outsiders." Kiyoharu finished the warm milk in his cup. "It's pretty absurd. I think Ayano is more than capable of inheriting the family business."
"When Ayano and her younger brother were little, their father took them for IQ tests. The results showed that her brother had far greater potential than Ayano. I suppose that was when Ayano's father decided on the principles for dividing the family assets."
Good grief, he decided that with an IQ test?
Kiyoharu found that rather absurd. So-called IQ tests only reflected limited logical ability; a high score did not mean someone could definitely lead a family to prosperity.
He was more inclined to think it was an excuse. In reality, the old bastard from the Kitahara Family simply favored his illegitimate son.
"And Ayano really isn't suited for it, is she? She's genuinely excellent at painting, but she knows nothing about running a business. She especially lacks sensitivity to numbers in finance and actuarial work. Tch... put simply, she's just a very artistic little girl. Managing a gallery with the help of professional managers would suit her perfectly."
"Then is it appropriate for her family to use her for a political marriage?"
"Oh my, does Kiyoharu-kun feel sorry for her? Or do you think it's a pity?" Airi teased.
"What's there to pity? You said yourself that she doesn't have the ability. I think it's perfectly fine for her to obediently listen to her parents. Put another way, if she were as capable as the Young Lady, she could completely control her own destiny."
Kiyoharu's string of flattery made Airi feel quite pleased. Normally, she found it annoying when subordinates buttered her up, so why did those same sorts of words sound so pleasant coming from Kiyoharu-kun?
What Kiyoharu actually thought was that the Red-Eyed Devil suffered from a physiological aversion to men. If Gen'ichiro could catch any living man and get him engaged to her, he would probably burn incense in gratitude. Why would he care about political marriages?
Like Mr. Lu Xun's "window-opening theory," precisely because Airi's situation was so extreme, Gen'ichiro had lowered his standards for a son-in-law without limit.
But...
Would Ayano really obey her family's arrangements?
From the signs known so far, things probably would not be that simple.
A well-behaved, unattainable beauty suddenly started secretly making moves on her best friend's fiancé. Clearly, her rebellious phase had arrived, and with her supernatural ability adding fuel to the fire... Ugh, he didn't dare think about it!
Forget it. He would take things one step at a time.
At that moment, a notification sounded from Airi's phone. She picked it up for a look, and an expression of disgust immediately appeared on her face.
Kiyoharu leaned over to watch the show. It turned out to be Takagi Akane's social media account, which had posted a photo tagged at Narita International Airport, with the caption:
A journey home for redemption, for those I once hurt through my immaturity.
At first glance, it was the classic late-night melodramatic post of a high school girl. But on closer inspection, it seemed to point at the mess she had caused while pursuing Kiyoharu back then.
"You hypocritical little bitch!" Airi's eyes blazed as she clearly recalled Takagi Akane's many shocking, campus-shaking acts of insanity from those days.
"Exactly," Kiyoharu echoed.
"It looks like she'll be reporting to Chihaya Academy tomorrow. Kiyoharu-kun, I'll have someone keep an eye on you, so behave yourself."
"Got it. Don't worry."
Kiyoharu stifled a yawn and went upstairs to sleep.
Airi remained downstairs a while longer. Her beautiful eyes glimmered in the darkness as she repeatedly edited and revised a message in her chat with Shimaura Hitomi. In the end, aside from the part about Takagi Akane, she added an extra instruction.
Also, keep an eye on Ayano. If she does anything strange, notify me immediately.
There shouldn't... be any problem, right?
Hopefully there would be no problem.
After all, Airi did not have many friends.
Before you continue