Tokyo Wingman King

Instead of taking the car arranged by the Kujo family, Asama walked for 15 minutes along the narrow paths between the temples towards Gotokuji Temple, and then took a tram to Jimbocho.

The father-daughter duo of Kujo Minaru and Yuuki Yuria once again demystified Asama's view of elite family education among top aristocrats.

The problem is, they don't even care about raising their own children. Is the reason they are so concerned about themselves really just to work together to groom Konoe Takuma's illegitimate son?

Those who would believe such an excuse are probably mostly brainless. But these family heads didn't test him further. They weren't even interested in how he obtained evidence from KKIS's higher-ups or how he created campus ghost stories within KKIS.

Thinking about it this way, why is Konoe Chiyo still keeping his extraordinary abilities a secret?

Or is it that making Konoe Takuma uncomfortable and stripping him of his dignity as a [father] was truly the driving force behind their contact with [Asama Shizumizu]?

Asama stood on the street, looking at the sign of Ichiseido Bookstore, and made a phone call to his father.

He wanted to ask about the Miyukiin family's investment, but the other party hung up on him directly.

I called my mom and found out that my dad was dealing with the farm expansion contract with Yoshida Reiko's father.

My mom seemed busy too. She asked a couple of questions about Boqi, told him to take good care of Boqi, and then hung up.

Asama suddenly realized that supporting middle-aged and elderly people to start businesses wasn't a good decision. Sending them to retirement homes earlier might bring back paternal and maternal love. With this thought, he felt more at ease about the low educational level of the five regent family's children.

With plenty of time before the make-up class and the materials prepared in advance, Asama wandered around for a while, changed his clothes in the subway station restroom, randomly found a deserted bookstore/coffee shop, ordered a low-roast Geisha pour-over, sat in a corner, and randomly picked a book from the philosophy section of the bookshelf.

Before I could even turn two pages, my phone beeped with a message notification.

Asama then picked up his phone to deal with the text messages that had accumulated over half a day before reading.

The first one is more eye-catching.

Suddenly, 20 billion yen appeared in my bank account—transferred by Haruma Togami.

The cross-border e-commerce store that Asama initially entrusted to Izayoi was turned into an e-commerce company by the Izayoi family at the end of July, and then acquired by the Togami family at a premium less than two months later.

I called and confirmed with Togami. They said that according to the advice of their investment advisor, they have recently acquired four small cross-border e-commerce companies in Japan. They plan to integrate and package these companies for listing, with Asama's store [BuyMyJoy] as the main entity.

Asama had already sold his original shares in this cross-border e-commerce company during Izayoi's management period, transferring them all to the Shinazugawa Foundation. Therefore, the 20 billion yen given by Togami was unrelated to equity; it was merely a naming fee. In his words, "[The name alone, given by Hachiman, encapsulates the wisdom of ten thousand love letters]."

Asama called the bank to say that the remitter had sent the wrong amount and that 1.9998 billion yen would be returned to Togami's account.

The second message is from Nijo Rena.

The banquet was completely ruined by the interference of her father and second sister, wasting his time; the Asama faction's actions against KKIS were also closely watched by her father, who not only failed to help him but also caused him a lot of trouble.

There's really no need to dwell on feelings of guilt, self-blame, apologies, or "I've let you down."

In Asama's view, whether it's adjusting the plan or forcibly intervening from the partner's superiors, it's all perfectly normal and not worth getting upset about.

He called Nijo Rena directly to comfort her, and casually asked about the student council election. He also subtly inquired about Takishima, which made her blush and hang up the phone.

Asama sighed – Nijo-san was too naive and too slow to realize things.

She seems oblivious to the news of Konoe Chiyo and Kujo Alice's impending transfer, and still hasn't questioned the true identity of her boyfriend. One wonders if her shrewd father, like his daughter, remains oblivious to the situation regarding Takishima. Is the fact that he's grooming Takishima as a son-in-law a testament to the magnanimity of the head of the Five Household Regiments, or does even the mighty Five Household Regiments have blind spots in their intelligence gathering?

Since I'm going to visit Kenjiro Nijo tomorrow morning anyway, I might as well chat with him about Takishima's marriage prospects.

The third item was sent to him by Ma Jiyan this morning.

Regarding [Hermes Shopping Street].

Previously, Asama sponsored some event funds for the shopping street frequented by the Arima family. Now, thanks to the celebrity effect of Rise Shinazugawa, the opening of Mugen-sha's shops, the traffic generated by the Mugen Festival, and the support of the Kisaragi family, the shopping street has broken its historical sales record for two consecutive weeks. Even many tourists who come to Tokyo to be special forces soldiers will take half a day to visit Adachi Ward.

At this point, the chairman of the shopping street finally confessed to all the merchants that he had received tens of millions of yen in investment from Asama. Everyone unanimously decided to return the money in full and give away shopping cards worth 1000 million yen (mainly provided by the merchants of Mugensha) to show the gratitude of all the shop owners in the shopping street.

Asama never considered asking for any return on investment from the shopping street. He left a message for Arima, politely declining the money, and asked Arima to urge his two younger sisters, who were in junior high school, to report on their study progress (they had asked him for more than 20 gigabytes of study materials last week).

The fourth item is the voice of Minister Fujiwara.

"Asama, Asama~~~ You know what? That little follower I mentioned to you before, she told me she suspects her mom and her cousin are having an affair!"

Ignore all the messy news.

Article 5 is from Ryūzō-ji Temple.

She told me to inform her as soon as possible if I had any new information about Shinichiro Kondo. She added that Shinichiro Kondo was not a good person and that I had to stop him before he caused big trouble.

Asama expressed regret over Ryuzoji's prejudice and replied with "still under investigation" to get by.

So all that talk about how his impression of her had changed in the park was a lie? These young ladies are natural liars; they actually fooled him.

Article 6 is by Pochi.
Hmm, I'll check it before bed. Anyway, this guy will call me before I go to sleep.

It's probably about the script. I finished writing the first draft last night, checked it several times, and then sent it to the relationship counseling department group.

The rest were greeting messages from the girls.
Information about Futami Tsukimi—

"Luminary: Jing Shui-kun, you must be seeing this message tonight, right? You've been working hard on the script, don't keep pushing yourself to stay up all night, it's bad for your health. I've read the movie script, and I didn't expect it to be a sad comedy. Jing Shui-kun really likes dark humor. Anyway, it's a great script. If it were me, I probably wouldn't finish the first act even by graduation (panda tears.jpg). I won't bother you any longer, Jing Shui-kun. Let's discuss the script this weekend~ PS: I've already prepared the payment for the script~~~"

Erjian posted a few more pictures after the message. A Morandi gray knitted cardigan with white floral patterns, a navy blue knitted cardigan, and two pairs of wool socks suitable for autumn and winter. His name was embroidered in Roman script on the chest and cuffs of these fabrics with extremely dense stitches.

A line inexplicably flashed through my mind: "[A loving mother's thread in her hand, a traveler's clothes on his back]".

My mom has never knitted so many sweaters for me. Heaven knows how many nights she stayed up to finish them, Asama thought.

The night before last, Erjian, like a pastry chef, touched, patted, kneaded, and rubbed him before hugging him sadly and saying, "I'm sorry I couldn't help you. Jingshui-kun."

In fact, the Great God of Light has been of great help at every point in time and in every dimension. It's just that I'm so useless that the Great God of Light is so worried about me.

A message from Masumi—

[imok: Hero-kun is coming to my house on Thursday, right? What would you like to eat? So I can ask my family to prepare. Also, please tell me the tracks in the music book as soon as possible.]
Asama has not yet given I-san a second reply regarding the tracks in the second volume of "A Musical Book for Hero-kun".

In his first reply, he simply selected two Chopin preludes and told her that the first volume was sufficient. Asama wasn't lying; he had already listened to that 2GB audio volume on repeat no less than 100 times. Schubert's Impressions, Chopin's Waltzes, and Saint-Saëns' Etudes—Saëns' interpretations were simply divine. Asama had developed a habit of unconsciously playing this album while doing practice problems or reading.

This reply only brought her a smile, but it didn't satisfy her. She stubbornly insisted that Asama select at least 32 pieces. At the dinner party after the Infinite Festival, Masumi Ichijo told Asama that she only needed to take one hour out of her 10 hours of daily piano practice to finish recording the second album before the end of October.

I had planned to go to Ichijo's house the day after tomorrow, and I'll have a good chat with I-san then. I need to properly repay both Ichijo's kindness and I-san's kindness.

Information about Mai Majima —

"Mai Majima: Shizumizu, sorry to bother you, but which pattern in this picture do you like? I don't mean anything by it, I just wanted to ask. Shizumizu, if you see this message, please reply to me when you're done with your work."

The image below the message clearly shows a pattern commonly used in sweaters. In other words, Majima was also influenced by Futami. Even though she was already incredibly busy with the band, she still squeezed in time to knit him a sweater. Majima is indeed someone who likes to constantly put pressure on herself.

Asama chose two of the simplest needlework patterns and replied, "Asama Shizumizu: I think the top left and bottom right are both very beautiful. I watched all of your performances last week, they were fantastic, please take care of yourself."

Phoenix Academy sent a message at noon—

"PhoeNyx: Teacher Da, I've read the script. The dilemma of mutual harm among the lower classes, the hypocrisy of high-level indicator-based charity, and the irony of good intentions failing to achieve their goals are all excellent angles. In short, I will take on the filming work commissioned by the Love Counseling Department and won't let them use this to distract you. I hope you can give me authorization in the department group."

Having Phoenix Institute was a huge help, but direct authorization is probably not an option; the Love Counseling Department also operates on a democratic process. Asama replied that they would discuss this further when revisiting the script this weekend.

Asama replied to six girls' messages in a row, then lost all motivation to reply. That forced insensitivity he had to maintain would cause him ongoing harm from guilt and pressure.

Maintaining distance from them through the KKIS incident was the right thing to do, but it wasn't a long-term solution. He was dreaming about them more and more frequently, and the number of people in his dreams was slowly increasing. This made Asama realize his own scumbag nature; he was convinced that he had no right to respond positively to these feelings that went beyond friendship.

He will try his best to maintain limited, positive interactions, free from any ambiguity. Because he doesn't want to lose his precious friends; even if they drift apart, it's better than breaking off the friendship after causing harm.

He had already gained this awareness while at Mount Omuro. He would not intentionally harm them, and would take responsibility for any harm he inflicted upon them.

Incidentally, his recent dreams haven't been erotic dreams, but rather dreams of various romantic encounters and chaotic scenarios. So far, no real romantic encounters have occurred, which is truly a cause for celebration.

"Hello, would you like me to clean up your desktop?"

The young employee, holding a tray, looked at the two empty cups on the table in the dining room.

"Well, I'm done."

After finishing another cup of black tea, Asama put down his leisurely book, *Nazis and Philosophers*. As one of Heidegger's most rebellious students, Karl Löwith spent five years in Japan, yet not only did he fail to learn Japanese, he couldn't even adapt to Zen meditation. His Eurocentric arrogance and the bewilderment of an exile made him ill-suited for scholarship. However, if Löwith had been born 70 years later, perhaps his dualistic and secular perspective on the history of philosophy would have been more popular, and his Jewish identity would no longer have been a political burden but rather a plus in his social activism.

It was already dark outside the window, and there was still an hour and a half before tutoring.

Asama got up, intending to find a place to satisfy his hunger.

The secondhand book stalls in front of the bookstore street had just been set up, and the numerous signs were enough to dazzle any bookworm. Asama checked out a few highly-rated shops on Tabelog and discovered that there were quite a few hidden gems among the curry restaurants. However, Asama didn't want to be led by the nose by popular choices, but instead chose to use her own nose and become a food hunter.

Curry with a strong garlic flavor? PASS.

A curry with a hint of milk and the aroma of cocoa butter? PASS.

A strong ramen with a slightly pungent pork smell? PASS.

It smells good, but a dumpling shop with a long queue? PASS.

Hmm? The aroma of fruits and vegetables carries a hint of medicinal herbs, like a Hokkaido-style curry soup?

Although there was no queue at the store entrance, Asama still chose to believe his nose.

Upon entering the store, Asama noticed that the aroma of the soup curry was even stronger, and the store was not as deserted as he had imagined.

Asama sat in a corner, glanced at the price list, and realized why there was no queue at this shop. The most basic soup curry cost 1450 yen a serving, and if you wanted to try the shop's famous 15 kinds of fried vegetables in the curry, it would cost an extra 400 yen. Compared to the many affordable curry shops with an average price of 1000 yen, this Hokkaido curry truly showed the utmost respect for Tokyoites.

Perhaps due to its medicinal properties and abundance of vegetables, female customers make up 7% of the clientele at this curry restaurant.

The seating is also very friendly. Unlike some popular curry restaurants in Jimbocho, where you can only stand and eat, and the long queues and death stares compress your dining time to less than 10 minutes.

Asama ordered a chicken leg curry with vegetables and level 20 chili, plus a mango-flavored lasi (an Indian yogurt-flavored drink), for a total of 2350 yen.

Basically, if you successfully complete the spiciness challenge, your meal is free. The restaurant even said you could drink latte while taking the challenge, clearly very confident in their chili peppers.

Asama also stated that if he couldn't finish the soup, he would consider the challenge a failure.

"Would someone with an annual income of 200 million really put their health through the trouble of getting a free meal?"

A familiar voice suddenly came from the other side.

Ryuzoji Chanwa sat opposite him and took off his hoodie hood.

How come we run into each other again?
Ryuzoji seemed to understand Asama's expression and sneered.

"You came in last this time, so I hope you can have some self-awareness, you stalker teacher."

Asama quickly attracted the attention of almost all the women in the store.

Although it was Ryuzoji who initiated the conversation both times, Asama didn't want to hold it against her.

"I didn't mean that. By the way, why isn't the class monitor going to Yoshinoya anymore? Isn't the Yoshinoya around here closer to where you live?"

"What I eat is my own business, but Mr. Kondo is a busybody who even investigates other people's addresses."

Asama once again received attention.

"Hey, you're the one who sent me the address. Is it okay to say something so embarrassing in public?"

"Anyway, Kondo-sensei doesn't seem to have many friends. He doesn't go on trips with anyone during long school holidays. It's okay if he's socially awkward, since he doesn't really have any social skills."

"Why does it sound like I'm even worse than a solitary male animal?"

Ryuzoji Seiha believed that Asama was saying that male solitary animals also have good social communication abilities during the mating season.

She subconsciously put on a stern expression and wrinkled her nose at Asama.
"That's disgusting."

Suddenly realizing something, Ryuzoji immediately lowered his head and started drinking the grapefruit green tea with ice cubes in his cup.

"By the way, why is the class monitor dressed so simply today?"

Asama said unexpectedly.

Ryuzoji cleared his throat and said calmly,
"Because the people I was meeting yesterday needed that outfit to remind them who I am. What? Do you think the Ryuzoji family must live in luxury and have the blood of filthy exploiters flowing through their veins?"

Considering the message Ryuzoji sent yesterday morning, could it be that she went to the Yamagata family's house instead of the Matsueda Masamune family's?

Asama felt ashamed of his past self for reacting so strongly to Ryuzoji Seiha's outfit yesterday; he was still too prone to judging people based on preconceived notions.

But there was no remorse on his face; he simply smiled and said...
"Of course not. I think our class monitor has a kind heart that can understand everyone's difficulties. After all, in our class, you are the only one whose clothes cost hundreds of millions. In that case, KKIS is quite undeserving of its reputation as a prestigious school."

"Your extra-spicy curry soup has arrived, sir!"

Let's eat first. (End of Chapter)