When it came to telling whether someone was a virgin, Shizuka Hiratsuka felt she had plenty of authority to speak on the matter. After all, as a woman nearly thirty who still had not married herself off, whose romantic history consisted of one—and only one—relationship, and that one had ended with her being swindled out of money... well, yes, she was a virgin too...
Of course, just because she was still a virgin did not mean she did not understand how men thought. In fact, she understood them very well. Take that scammer, for instance. If the Hiratsuka Group had not stood behind Shizuka Hiratsuka, if she had merely been an ordinary woman, then he would not have stopped at stealing her money. At the very least, he would have wanted both her and her money!
Then again, perhaps it was precisely because he knew he could not have her that the scammer had run off with the money?
In short, that terrible romantic experience had made Shizuka Hiratsuka believe she had seen through men. Otherwise, she would not have gone on so many arranged dates without successfully selling herself off. Perhaps others thought no one wanted her, but from another perspective, was she not demonstrating—
Heh, look at this. These were the so-called men. Some had come right up and tried to grope her, only to get punched. Others had been somewhat more restrained, but their looks were just as naked. After all, even in this country where old-fashioned male supremacy still prevailed, not every man was incapable of accepting women going out to work.
In fact, there were quite a few men who could accept Shizuka Hiratsuka working in public. All one had to do was think of the Yukinoshita Family. Unfortunately, Shizuka Hiratsuka was not interested in