My love index is at its maximum.

"Because I'm happy."

"Great excuse!" Tsukasa Tazaki gave a thumbs up and ate her ice cream in silence. When she looked up again, she saw those blue eyes staring straight at her.

Awe-inspiring, beautiful, and magnificent blue pupils, like the stars and the sea.

"Uh... is something the matter?"

"fraud!"

The girl's eyes suddenly reddened, and glistening tears streamed down her face.

A fleeting flutter of excitement.

With a heavy feeling in his chest, Tsukasa Tazaki took a deep breath to suppress the bitter emotions in his heart.

Kikawa Yui crawled toward him and pressed his face down.

Unrequited love, through her intoxicating fragrance, flowed over Tsukasa Tazaki's entire body.

The summer sun slowly sank in the west, and the two stayed until dusk before leaving Jiyugaoka. They didn't ask for a driver, but instead took the state-run tram back.

Tsukasa Tazaki led her by the hand toward the tram stop. As they turned a corner of an elegant street lined with shops and low-rise houses, the setting sun shone directly on them through the gaps in the buildings, like a spotlight.

Their intertwined shadows were vividly imprinted on the asphalt road, stretching endlessly.

As they boarded the train back to Chiyoda, Kikawa stared intently at him. The clear, orange sunlight streamed through the train window, making his resolute profile shine with an unforgettable brilliance.

I wish time could slow down...

I hope I can shine as brightly as him, and I also hope to always be as happy as I am today.

Unfortunately, the setting sun ignored the girl's prayers, disappearing behind the building without a trace, and the sky was quickly replaced by a cold, dark blue.

The speeding tram showed no mercy, clanging and clattering as it headed toward its destination.

I only hope that we can reach the future in his carriage.

They wouldn't let go even if the car was wrecked.

Tazaki Tsukasa hummed a song as he walked, stopping on the slope in front of the Kikawa family mansion. He waved and watched Kikawa Yui walk alone into the quaint mansion.

He resolutely turned around, took out the blond-haired man's phone, and sent a message.

[Let's get started.]

Chapter 224 Tazaki-san, please be my courage to rebel against reality!

At 7 p.m., Tsukasa Tazaki walked out of Ikebukuro Station and headed towards the home of the president of the Bank of Tokyo.

After passing through a narrow underground passage, the walls on both sides are covered with all kinds of posters, from jewelry stores and movie advertisements to erotic illustrations drawn in a comic book style.

Taking the escalator back to the ground, the atmosphere of dense crowds remained, and the colorful neon signs overhead gave him a feeling of being back in Higashi-Shinjuku.

The diverse mix of passersby is similar to that of Higashi-Shinjuku.

Couples, drunkards, thugs, hot girls in short skirts, lounge hostesses, and violent gang members who patrol the territory like bloodthirsty sharks.

Tazaki Tsukasa patted his pockets. As someone who preferred quiet reading, he didn't really like this kind of place.

Once I put on my headphones, I don't care about anyone else.

After walking through the mysterious yaoi-loving street and inhaling the exhaust fumes of large trucks along National Route 7, the buildings on both sides of the road gradually became sparser, and the number of people also decreased. Tazaki bought a bento at a convenience store and turned from the main road into a residential area.

White walls enclose courtyards, all of which are European-style buildings with red tiles and white walls.

Three minutes later, he nimbly scaled a wall and entered the lobby of a villa.

"Young Master Tazaki~"

"Waaah~"

Tazaki Tsukasa nodded, sat down on the soft sofa that almost made him sink in, and looked around. The hall was clean and spacious, with a comfortable feel. There were several potted foliage plants by the floor-to-ceiling windows, and some interesting and wholesome abstract paintings hung on the walls. The floor was polished to a shine.

"Not bad at all." He turned his head to look at the Tokyo Bank's son sitting on the ground, scrutinizing him from head to toe for a long time, his eyes like those of a carpenter who had spotted good timber.

Higashino Yuichi was really worried that as he watched, he would take out a measuring tape from his pocket and start measuring the dimensions of various parts of his body.

"These are your sister and parents?" Tsukasa Tazaki pointed to the three people next to him.

"Yes," Yuichi Higashino answered honestly.

Tazaki Tsukasa instructed the man with the airplane-shaped hairpin, "Take these three upstairs. I need to speak with this young master."

"What are you going to do..."

"boom!"

The man with the airplane head smashed the butt of his rifle into Yuichi Higashino's head, knocking him to the ground where he rolled around clutching his head before urging the other three upstairs.

Tsukasa Tazaki opened the plastic bento box and began to eat dinner.

The simple bento boxes contained meatballs, potato salad, and boiled fish rolls, but neither the taste nor the ingredients were impressive; they were greasy and salty.

Fortunately, he was preoccupied with thinking and didn't pay much attention to the taste of the food.

Tazaki Tsukasa was quite sensitive to malice. If there had been any prior indication, he would have noticed it most likely, but this time... it really came as a complete surprise.

Yuichi Higashino, the Black Dragon Group, the Governor of Tokyo, the Kikawa family...

As I mentally connected the various threads one by one, a slight sense of anxiety and restlessness welled up inside me.

After finishing his meal, Tazaki Tsukasa stood up, stretched and waved his arms a few times, and turned his neck a few times. Then he looked back at Higashino Yuichi, who had recovered, and asked, "Do you know who the Black Dragon Group's backer is?"

The light outlined his body, and Yuichi Higashino cautiously replied, "I don't know."

"No wonder then, it was just a little bug." Tazaki Tsukasa sat back on the sofa, crossing his legs. "You and the Black Dragon Group have a cooperative relationship. Using your position at the Bank of Tokyo, you provide the Black Dragon Group with information on high-quality depositors, and by deliberately guiding depositors to invest, you help them defraud depositors of their money, and then you get a share of the profits. Am I right?"

"That's a joke!" Higashino Yuichi glared at him angrily. "I don't understand a word you're saying!"

"You met Ms. Tono in early June," Tsukasa Tazaki said earnestly, cracking his knuckles. "At that time, she was obsessed with making money, so you used the same method to lure her into the Black Dragon Group's investment scam. When she planned to increase her investment in August, instead of approving her loan through normal procedures, you lured her into taking out high-interest loans, successfully putting her in debt. Am I right?"

"What nonsense!"

"Ms. Tono told me herself."

How could you possibly know where she is?

"Yes, where is she?" Tazaki Tsukasa's gaze was cold and deep as he lightly tapped his knee with his fingertips. "After it was all over, Miss Tono disappeared. You thought the Black Dragon Group took her away, so you had a conflict with them. The reason I'm here is because they sent me to deal with this trouble you're in!"

"impossible!"

Tazaki Tsukasa gave a sinister smile: "Actually, I'm an undercover agent. You know what an undercover agent is, right? It's the kind of thing where the governor has long had his eye on Miss Tono and sent me to infiltrate her and gather information, you know? You're trying to steal the governor's woman, aren't you just asking for death?"

"You're absolutely lying!" Higashino Yuichi's voice instantly turned shrill, instinctively using the most compelling evidence to refute Tazaki Tsukasa, "He's gay, how could he possibly be interested in a woman!!!"

Tazaki Tsukasa nodded and showed the two messages to Higashino Yu.

"You even know he's gay? Looks like you two are pretty close. So, he used you to test me because he was planning to deal with you later even if I didn't succeed?"

Higashino Yuichi stared intently at the words on the screen, his face terribly grim.

[Yuichi Higashino was involved.]

Once you've dealt with him, we'll begin the second phase of our conversation.

For 30 seconds, no one spoke. Afterward, Tsukasa Tazaki took the phone back, took out a tissue, wiped his mouth, and said, "First: return to Ms. Tono how much money she was cheated out of and all the profits she made from her investments, not a penny more or less. Second: hold a press conference tomorrow and tell everyone about the shady things between you, the Black Dragon Group, and the governor."

"You're trying to kill me..." Higashino Yuichi shook his head silently and said in a dry voice.

“Those who do bad things should always be punished.” Tazaki Tsukasa glanced at the wall clock, the hour hand lazily pointing to eight o’clock in the evening, and he suddenly remembered that he hadn’t been to Shimamoto Kana’s place for a long time.

"The Black Dragon Group, while the governor is indeed powerful, Sakura's family and the Kikawa family are not kind people either."

As he spoke, Tsukasa Tazaki stood up. "Do as I say, and one side will protect you. You'll only have to serve a few years in prison and then come out. If you don't do as I say, both sides will want you dead. Think about the consequences yourself."

The sounds faded into the distance with the footsteps, and the villa returned to silence.

……

On his way back to Ikebukuro, Tsukasa Tazaki made a phone call to Kana Shimamoto.

"Are you free tomorrow, teacher?" he asked.

"What's the matter?"

"I want to go on a date with my teacher."

"Don't talk nonsense." Shimamoto Kana sighed almost inaudibly. "Tomorrow, the family is holding an ancestral worship ceremony for the Ghost Festival, and I have to entertain guests."

"Family?"

"Um……"

Which family?

There was a long silence on the other end of the line, and Tsukasa Tazaki didn't rush to ask any further questions.

Kana Shimamoto is a very gentle woman. Every time I am with her, I can feel a sense of comfort and a touch of nostalgic warmth.

If they had met under normal circumstances, he would definitely have considered this woman as his first choice for marriage.

Of course, it's not bad that your marriage partner becomes your perfect lover these days.

"Teacher is going to sleep now, I'll hang up now."

Kana Shimamoto ultimately couldn't say anything and hurriedly hung up the phone.

I put my phone back in my bag, took out my keys to open the door, and dragged my heavy steps into the entryway.

She pulled her high heels off her swollen and painful feet, tossed her stockings aside, and walked into the room in the dim light from outside, while simultaneously reaching behind her back to unhook her bra through her shirt.

Maybe I should take the clothes out of the washing machine to hang them out to dry on the balcony, or water the potted plants. Even if I don't care about those things, I should at least take off my makeup first...

But she did nothing. She groped her way into the room, took off her glasses and put them away, then collapsed onto the bed. Outside the window, the sound of a tram rushing by could be heard, and the faint aroma of someone's dinner wafted on the breeze. A few stars twinkled in the vast, dark sky.

A typhoon is coming tomorrow night, there should be thunder...

Kana Shimamoto thought with some unease, but a strong sense of sleepiness overwhelmed her, and soon the room was filled with soft snoring.

Where does he want to meet me tomorrow?

The boy's handsome and refined face emerged from the darkness.

His increasingly robust physique, his confident stride on the field, his captivating and affectionate smile...

In the darkness, Shimamoto Kana squeezed her legs together, rolled over, and grabbed a pillow haphazardly, hugging it to her chest.