I Am an Emperor in a World of Mixed Anime

"Let's shower together."

Having shed her aloof and unapproachable facade, Kawasaki Saki, her eyes misty with tears, pursed her lips but did not refuse.

Then, the soft, murmuring sound of splashing water gradually rose from the bathroom.

Outside the bathroom, Toyokawa Shoko, who had thought the torment was finally over but then came again, completely broke down.

As night deepened, Kawasaki Saki prepared to go home. She gathered her wrinkled and tattered clothes and put them back on. When she touched something in her skirt pocket, her expression changed drastically, and she hesitated to speak.

"what happened?"

Upon seeing this, Higashino Akira immediately inquired.

Kawasaki Saki hesitated for a moment, then took the item out of her pocket. It was a ring-shaped object vacuum-sealed in a square plastic package.

"Taking medicine frequently is bad for your health. Can you use this next time?"

She handed the item over somewhat shyly. Higashino Akira took it, glanced at it, and instead of answering the question, he stood up and gently pulled the nervous girl into his arms.

"You don't need to be afraid of this. If it really happens, I will take responsibility for supporting you."

Kawasaki Saki shook her head firmly upon hearing this.

“I don’t want to be a mother so early,” she said, her expression somewhat forlorn. “Besides, I don’t know how I’ll explain my relationship with you to my child after we have one.”

In this relationship, she and the man could only be described as mutually benefiting; the pleasant experience of the process could not mask the fact that the relationship was abnormal.

If one day he no longer needs you, or you are capable of supporting yourself and your family, then you should ask for his consent to break up.

At most, their breakup will be peaceful, and they'll be strangers from now on. No one will be hurt by it.

But if you have a child, regardless of whether you will stay together with him in the future, the relationship between the two of you will be unclear, and in the end, the child will be the one who suffers the most.

Born into an ordinary family, Saki Kawasaki was unaware of the extravagant lifestyles of the powerful and wealthy. Even after compromising herself amidst the prevailing superficiality in her home country, she tried her best to maintain her principles and never wavered in her fundamentally family-oriented nature.

Higashino Akira didn't force her. He didn't care if there would be another child, but he knew that the system encouraged having a harem. Since he was the emperor, he would definitely receive a reward from the system after having offspring. Even if there were many children, his assets would at least guarantee that each child would have enough to live a life of comfort and wealth. But since Kawasaki Saki was unwilling now, it didn't matter.

We'll deal with the future later; people's thoughts and ideas always change with the passage of time.

Even if she persists.

Anyway, Akira Higashino isn't a pure love god. As a seasoned pragmatist, he doesn't think he'll die and still be faithful to one person for life.

What a joke, he never even considered that before he died.

"Then I'll buy them myself from now on. It's not very convenient for a girl like you to go shopping alone."

"Moreover, the model is wrong, it's too small."

Higashino Akira smiled as he looked at the girl whose face suddenly turned bright red and whose expression was embarrassed.

"It's getting late, would you like me to take you home?"

Saki Kawasaki shook her head in refusal and chose to leave alone.

For the next month or so, Higashino Akira maintained a routine of meeting with Kawasaki Saki every few days. Occasionally, when their feelings were so intense that they forgot the time and the station was closed, she would stay and rest.

On weekdays, he would go out to buy houses, take out mortgages on the new houses, and continue to buy houses in full until the value of the haunted houses, which were already low and had mortgage loan amounts lower than normal properties, was completely squeezed dry, and he could no longer borrow enough money to continue this process. Only then did Higashino Akira gradually stop.

Chapter Seventeen, though late, arrived beneath the snow.

Having already experienced being cursed once, Higashino Akira only acquired subsequent haunted houses after thorough investigation, ensuring that he wouldn't be haunted by curses simply because the property was registered in his name.

Moreover, thanks to his generosity when consulting with professionals, he received a full million yen as a thank-you gift. Later, the professional even compiled a list of high-risk locations in the Tokyo metropolitan area and sent it to him.

[Emperor: Akira Higashino]

[Spirit: 9]

[Constitution: 6]

[Fortune: Red (149.1k)]

[Authority: Astrological observation, imperial decree]

[Land area: 1352 square meters]

[Harem: 2]

To be honest, this area isn't very large; it's smaller than many wealthy businessmen's mansions, let alone those of the truly powerful and wealthy.

But it is the biggest asset that Akira Higashino can currently leverage in one fell swoop.

With his current territory size, his daily income from the territory alone is 13.5 yen. Add to that the 3 yen daily from the bestowed title of Kawasaki Saki, and the 5 yen daily from the unknown Blue Hakimi, and his daily income has reached 21.5 yen.

That's about 6.5 million a month.

This is almost twice the total income of an ordinary wage earner who works for a year without eating or drinking.

Even if about half of it is used to pay off various mortgage loans and give Saki Kawasaki pocket money, there will still be about four million left.

With so much money, it's impossible to expect the system to forcibly and reasonably send him money through various channels and coincidences. That would be too much of a coincidence. So, Higashino Akira took the initiative to buy a lottery betting shop, mainly to acquire its operating license, and then sent a Jinyiwei (Imperial Guard) who had already integrated into the local community and established himself to manage it.

After that, every day, other Jinyiwei (Imperial Guards) who happened to be passing by would be sent to buy various types of lottery tickets. Relying on the guaranteed winning rate of the system rewards, the winning probability was distributed among them to obtain the prize money, which was then collected. Because the prize money was distributed, the amount was small enough that even paying taxes to the Japanese government was saved.

After a series of clever moves, the lottery shop's revenue increased. In fact, because many people won the lottery every day, the shop became a promised land in the eyes of lottery enthusiasts. They would go there every day to buy a few tickets and try their luck, which made the lottery shop, which originally had average revenue, become very popular. As a result, in addition to the system rewards, Higashino Akira could also share a portion of the profits earned from normal business operations.

Higashino Akira did not withdraw the profits from this normal operation. Instead, he left them to the Jinyiwei (Imperial Guards) responsible for operations to pay their salaries, and any excess was turned over to the public treasury to cover the overall operations and expansion needs of the Jinyiwei.

The infiltration plan on the side of the Embroidered Uniform Guard was also going smoothly. After all, there were only a hundred of them in total, which was nothing to Japan with hundreds of millions of people. With the professional capabilities of the elite Embroidered Uniform Guard, it was too easy for them to obtain a respectable identity here. They even divided into different forces to infiltrate. Some worked and ran normal businesses like ordinary people, some became firefighters and prepared to take the police exam, some went to join the underworld, and the furthest one even went to Hokkaido to fish. Only a dozen or so people were left to be fully on standby and ready to be deployed at any time. They were secretly protecting Higashino Akira and important people related to him, as well as carrying out the investigation missions assigned by Higashino Akira.

It's fair to say that even if he stopped at the present and never tried again, as long as he didn't think about the ultimate luxury or research satellites and rockets, Akira Higashino would already be financially independent.

Unfortunately, ever since I learned about the existence of supernatural elements in this world, money alone can hardly provide much of a sense of security.

One day, as usual, Akira Higashino invited Saki Kawasaki out. They indulged in pleasure for a while and missed their way home.

Kawasaki Saki, who had gradually gotten used to the situation, also planned to stay here overnight, as long as she could go home earlier the next day.

In the early hours of the morning, Akira Higashino's phone suddenly rang.

He fumbled around the bed for a while to get his phone, checked the caller ID, and then answered the call.

"what's up?"

"Your Majesty, Miss Kawasaki's classmates are here with her younger brother and they have arrived downstairs at the hotel."

Kawasaki Saki's classmate?

Are you still staying with her?

Akira Higashino frowned, realizing that this was another episode of the original Oregairu storyline. Although he had given Kawasaki Saki enough money to stop her from working all night, her frequent visits to him often caused her to miss the train home and stay out all night. As a result, her younger brother went to the Service Club and asked Yukino Yukinoshita and the others to investigate Kawasaki Saki's situation.

If this were discovered, it wouldn't matter much to Higashino Akira; at most, he'd just get a scolding from Shizuka. But it would be different for Kawasaki Saki, who appears strong on the outside but is actually cold on the outside but warm on the inside, soft, sensitive, and cares deeply about her family.

She will either have to admit that she is his girlfriend or be accused of selling her body. Either way, her image as a good older sister in the family will be shattered.

This situation must be difficult for her to accept.

It might even lead to a complete break with oneself.

As an experienced driver, Higashino Akira couldn't accept losing control of a car he had just bought and hadn't even used it for long, just after it was broken in.

Moreover, he neither has the habit of driving used cars nor likes to give away his own car.

Thinking of this, Higashino Akira instructed them to continue keeping watch and report back as soon as they went upstairs, and then hung up the phone.

He turned around and patted Kawasaki Saki on the shoulder, shaking her awake.

"Um... I'm not ready anymore. I have to catch the early train home tomorrow. Can we come again next time...?"

Kawasaki Saki, still a little groggy from being shaken awake, rested her head against his chest and begged for mercy, clearly not wanting to fight another battle with Higashino Akira at this hour.

The idea that there are only exhausted oxen but no fields that are worn out from plowing is a lie.

It's obvious that doing that kind of thing would tire the woman out too. She's still young and tender, with no prior experience in this area. As a girl, her stamina is generally average, and she's been up against this energetic man. At best, they've managed to tie; she's never won.

"Wake up, your brother is here, he's downstairs right now."

Akira Higashino's voice rang out, startling Saki Kawasaki, who was still somewhat sleepy, awake.

Seeing that Kawasaki Saki suddenly froze after hearing this, looking completely bewildered, Higashino Akira helplessly pinched her pert buttocks to bring her back to her senses.

"Get dressed, and I'll take you somewhere else."

"Ah."

After Kawasaki Saki responded, she silently got to work. Once everything was ready and she was dressed, the intelligence from the Imperial Guard's spies arrived. Yukinoshita and her group did not directly obtain information about Kawasaki Saki from the front desk, but instead took a roundabout approach, opening a suite at the front desk and waiting quietly in the lobby downstairs.

Higashino Akira casually led the now-out-of-control Kawasaki Saki away, pressed the down elevator button, easily avoiding running into Yukino Yukinoshita and the others, and left the hotel directly.

After all, it's common knowledge that hotels don't have just one entrance.

Akira Higashino neither liked nor disliked Yukino Yukinoshita, and had never thought of taking the initiative to approach her before.

Unexpectedly, I ended up having some interaction with her.

Chapter Eighteen: A Bet is a Bet

Yukino Yukinoshita sat in the lobby lounge area with Yui Yuigahama, who was still excitedly looking around at the bright and grand decor, unaware of the seriousness of the situation. As she listened to Yui's soft exclamations of surprise, Yukino's heart gradually sank.

According to information gathered at the school, the girl named Kawasaki Saki has been acting strangely for a long time.

She used to always look exhausted, often arriving late or leaving early, and even when she did arrive at school, she would often doze off in class.

As a result, around this month, Kawasaki Saki, who was originally a cold and aloof delinquent girl who dared not speak in the eyes of her classmates, suddenly became a good student. Although she was still not very talkative, she never slept in class again, listened attentively in class and completed her homework very seriously, and even her lunch became much more substantial.

According to Saki Kawasaki's younger brother, his family's financial situation has not improved much, his father's career has not progressed, and his mother has to work part-time to supplement the family income.

In addition, a girl from an ordinary family suddenly stayed out all night, entering and leaving high-end hotels, but the front desk could not find any room booking records.

There shouldn't be any other possibility.

Given Japan's unique national circumstances, it's not uncommon for some students to engage in prostitution; it's hardly surprising.

From Yukino Yukinoshita's perspective, this kind of thing is undoubtedly wrong. It will lead people astray, causing them to sink deeper and deeper into the abyss, making it difficult for them to extricate themselves. It is a completely personified act.

Not to mention, the Service Department also accepted a request from Saki Kawasaki's younger brother.

However, considering the positive feedback from teachers and students at school about Kawasaki Saki's noticeably improved reputation and her genuinely better grades, she couldn't help but think about it.

Has she truly fallen from grace?

She later became a diligent student again, and a good older sister who spent more time with her family.

She has a very good reputation among her family and friends. If this is considered a downfall, then what caused all of this?

Could it be that Saki Kawasaki simply enjoys doing this kind of thing?