Normally, this kind of task should have been hersher duty as the personal maid.
Since when did oujou-sama personally attend to someone like this?
However, as an exceptional maid, Kimishima Ayano quietly suppressed her doubts.
Once her oujou-sama was about to enter the car, she immediately stepped forward to take the umbrella from her.
Yukima Azuma and Suou Yuki both sat in the back seat.
Kimishima Ayano took her place in the front passenger seat.
The Suou family's driver started the car, then looked into the rearview mirror and asked:
"Ojou-sama, where we to?"
Suou Yuki turned to look at Yukima Azuma.
So, he gave his home address.
"Go to this place." Suou Yuki immediately ordered, a satisfied smile spreading across her face.
Keikaku Doori! ( )
With this, she had successfully learned onii-sama's home address.
And knowing his addresswhat could she do with that?
Well, since they were Brother-sister, dropping by for a visit from time to time was completely normal!
The distance from Shuchiin to Yukima's house wasn't far, so the car quickly arrived outside his house.
Suou Yuki opened the car door first and unfolded the umbrella.
Once Yukima Azuma got out, she held the umbrella and walked beside him.
The two of them walked side by side toward the front door, almost reaching the porch when
A sudden autumn breeze swept through.
"Ah..."
Along with the girl's soft exclamation
The umbrella tilted as the wind blew it aside.
The canopy, already too small to fully shield both of them, now shifted further, making it even less effective against the rain.
Both of them got a little wet.
Under the porch
Yukima Azuma glanced at Suou Yuki.
The hair on her forehead was drenched, strands sticking to her cheeks.
She looked a little pitiful.
Seeing Yukima Azuma looking at her, Suou Yuki immediately put on a miserable expression.
Like a small puppy abandoned in the rain.
(ЇЇ)
"Alright, alright, I get it. Take a shower before you go."
Yukima Azuma shook his head and chuckled.
Hearing that, Suou Yuki immediately raised her hands: "Yay~!"
He took out his keys and unlocked the front door.
After stepping inside, Yukima Azuma switched to indoor slippers, then bent down to the bottom compartment of the shoe rack to retrieve a pair of disposable guest slippers.
Suou Yuki, however, let her gaze linger on the shoe rack.
It had multiple shelves, containing both women's leather shoes and high heels.
She immediately turned to Yukima Azuma with a suspicious look.
As far as she knew, Yukima Azuma had no older sister or female relatives living with him.
"Onii-sama, is there a girl living here?"
She asked curiously while changing into the slippers.
"Umu, there are a few close girls renting rooms here."
Yukima Azuma answered matter-of-factly.
Hearing that, Suou Yuki pouted.
"They must have all moved in within the last three years, right?"
In just a split second, she vaguely understood something.
Why Yukima Azuma had told her to wait three years before coming to find him.
If she had appeared earlier
It might have triggered a butterfly effect and changed the number of tenants living here.
Yukima Azuma nodded, confirming Suou Yuki's guess.
"Ugh, so unfair! It should've been me!!" Suou Yuki blurted out in frustration.
ЊЌ‹Ќ
But she quickly put on a nonchalant expression: "It's fine. Even if onii-sama gets momentarily captivated by other girls, as long as he ultimately comes back to me, it's all good!"
"Which badass CEO romance novel female lead did you just step out of?" Yukima Azuma was speechless, casually opening the cabinet to take out a towel.
He handed the towel to Suou Yuki, then led her to the bathroom on the first floor.
"As for clothes..." Yukima Azuma glanced around the house.
There were plenty of girls' clothes here.
From small, petite sizes to mature onee-san styleshe had them all.
But today, the girls hadn't returned home yet.
Even though he had the keys to their rooms,
Yukima Azuma still preferred to ask for permission before touching their personal belongings.
"Would you be okay with one of my white dress shirts?" he finally asked.
"Hum Hum!" Suou Yuki eagerly nodded her head.
( )
So, Yukima Azuma went to his room and took out a fresh, clean white dress shirt.
Then, the sound of rushing water echoed from the bathroom.
Yukima Azuma also returned to his room.
Each bedroom had its own private bathroom, so he took the opportunity to shower as well.
By the time he finished changing and stepped out
It just so happened that Suou Yuki was also opening the bathroom door to step out.
"You shower really fast Put on your shirt!!"
Yukima Azuma was in the middle of speaking when he suddenly changed to a complaining tone.
Because Suou Yuki wasn't wearing the dress shirt he had given her.
She had only wrapped herself in a single bath towel.
"Doesn't it feel more real this way?" Suou Yuki, still wrapped in the towel, struck a pose.
"Put some damn clothes on!"
"Aww, don't be like that! Look, in all those siscon anime, isn't there always a scene like this? The two of them chat while only wearing towels, then whoops the towel falls, serving up some super deluxe fanservice!"
"That's just a cheap trick to sell light novels with extra illustrations, not a serious plot point."
"Either way, this is fanservice now! Yada!"
"Just who exactly are you talking to?"
"Eh? Obviously, it's directed at the audience perspectivethe unemployed, chubby otaku watching from the sidelines!"
"Onii-sama, don't worry, they can only read this, not actually see it. Ehe~"
In the end, Yukima Azuma grabbed the white dress shirt.
And directly threw it over both Suou Yuki and her towel.
Thankfully, his shirt was oversized enough.
After putting it on, all she had to do was pull the towel out from underneath.
With the chaos settled
Suou Yuki sat on Yukima Azuma's bed.
Holding his hairdryer, she carefully dried her hair.
"Onii-sama, so what do you think about President Shinomiya's NTR move?"
Suou Yuki asked curiously.
It was obvious to anyone that Shinomiya Kaguya treated Yukima Azuma differently.
And with her sharp intuition, Suou Yuki saw even more than that.
She could tell that Shinomiya Kaguya was actively trying to draw Yukima Azuma to her side.
Moreover, it seemed like even Kaguya herself hadn't realized
That this wasn't just a simple recruitment tactic.
There were feelings mixed in.
"NTR? What are you even talking about..." Yukima Azuma twitched the corner of his mouth. "I don't have any special thoughts about it."
Regarding Shinomiya Kaguya's attempts to pull him in
Yukima Azuma remained completely unmoved.
If he really wanted to live off a rich girl,
then marrying Eriri or Hinatsuru Ai wouldn't be any different from marrying Shinomiya Kaguya.
In fact, the first two even offered slightly better benefits.
Although the Shinomiya Group held immense power
Shinomiya Kaguya was still just the youngest daughter in her family.
Meanwhile, Eriri and Hinatsuru Ai were the sole heirs of their respective families.
Chapter 209: Personally Pushing a Senator into Office
Leeching off Eriri and Hinatsuru Ai,
not only brings great benefits,
but also allows for "hardcore leeching."
As for Shinomiya Kaguya,
if one were to truly leech off her,
they would eventually have to engage in internal conflicts within the Shinomiya family.
The Shinomiya family has three older brothers.
If one wants to leech in peace,
ultimately, they would have to eliminate all of them.
But then, would it even be called leeching anymore? That would be more like plundering the family fortune.
After understanding Yukima Azuma's attitude,
Suou Yuki finally spoke:
"So, are you aware that Shinomiya Oko is preparing to run for a seat in the National Diet?"
Hearing this, Yukima Azuma raised an eyebrow.
Shinomiya Oko, the eldest son of the Shinomiya family.
Also the eldest brother of Shinomiya Kaguya.
The Shinomiya family has a total of four legitimate children.
Shinomiya Kaguya's mother, Nayotake Shimizu, came from an ordinary background.
As a result, despite being a legitimate child, her status within the Shinomiya family was extremely precarious.
In reality, she had no real authority at all.
Shinomiya Kaguya's third brother was in a similar situation.
His mother was a concubine.
His faction within the Shinomiya family was the weakest.
His stance was simplewavering between factions, struggling to survive in the gaps.
Meanwhile, the eldest and second sons of the Shinomiya family were both born from the official wife.
These two controlled most of the power within the Shinomiya family.
Especially the eldest son, Shinomiya Oko.
Among all the siblings, he was the most powerful.
At the same time, he was also the most ruthless.
In Yukima Azuma's memory, this man could be considered the final boss of Love Is War.
Born under the shadow of male dominance, he was a staunch conservative of feudal ideology.
He viewed women as mere tools, and his behavior and speech were once mocked by Kaguya as "the remnants of Showa-era feudalism."
So, why did Suou Yuki bring up this man?
What was so significant about his candidacy for the National Diet that it warranted special mention?
Of course, it was because there was a conflict between Shinomiya Oko and Yukima Azuma.
And the reason behind it was quite long-winded.
One of Shinomiya Oko's most ruthless actions
was treating the Hayasaka family as nothing more than a pawn in his power struggle.
The Hayasaka family was originally a subordinate clan under the Shinomiya family.
However, in reality, behind the scenes, it had been completely taken over by Shinomiya Oko.
Hayasaka Nao, who was considered the heir to the Hayasaka family,
was forced by Shinomiya Oko to monitor the Shinomiya family's third son.
Initially, Hayasaka Nao and Shinomiya Un'yo had a very good relationship.
But due to Shinomiya Oko's interference,
their relationship ultimately fell apart completely.
Hayasaka Nao was resented by Shinomiya Un'yo and was expelled from the inner circle of the Shinomiya family.
She was exiled abroad, reduced to a mere errand runner for the Shinomiya family.
Additionally, Hayasaka Ai, the daughter of Hayasaka Nao, was also a pawn under Shinomiya Oko's threats.
She was tasked with monitoring Shinomiya Kaguya.
This, Shinomiya Kaguya was completely unaware of.
As for Hayasaka Ai, who saw Kaguya as her own sister, she lived every day tormented by the fact that she was a spy.
Such actions, from an omniscient perspective, might be difficult to judge.
But from Yukima Azuma's point of view
this man was undoubtedly an enemy.
After being expelled from the Shinomiya family, Hayasaka Nao not only severed ties with Shinomiya Un'yo.
In reality, she also completely cut ties with Shinomiya Oko.
One was the exploiter, and the other was the discarded pawn.
Naturally, the exploiter would want to completely bury the pawn,
to prevent it from ever biting back.
Under normal circumstances, Hayasaka Nao, who had been exiled overseas to handle menial tasks for the Shinomiya family,
would have no chance at making a comeback.
But there are always exceptions.
The exception for Hayasaka Nao
was that she met Yukima Azuma.
After joining Yukima Azuma's ranks,
Hayasaka Nao was like a demon crawling up from the abyss.
Even though she hadn't done anything to threaten Shinomiya Oko yet,
the moment Shinomiya Oko found out about this, he clearly couldn't accept it.
Now, the existence of Hayasaka Nao could no longer be tolerated.
The Shinomiya family could dominate Japan,
but extending their reach overseas was a difficult matter.
Taking direct action against Hayasaka Nao was unrealistic.
Therefore, Shinomiya Oko could only target Laplace Corporation.
Fortunately, Hayasaka Nao was extremely discreet.
By the time Shinomiya Oko realized she had joined Laplace,
Laplace was already unstoppable in its rise.
The launch of Laplace's smart furniture product line was delayed.
Behind this, without a doubt, was the shadow of Shinomiya Oko.
Yukima Azuma was, of course, aware of this.
He simply hadn't taken action yet.
First, what Shinomiya Oko could do was still limited.
Currently, within the Shinomiya family, the final authority still rested with Shinomiya Gan'an.
Second, if retaliation against Shinomiya Oko was the goal,
then with Laplace Corporation's current strength, it was still quite difficult.
Although the Shinomiya family did not belong to Shinomiya Oko,
going after him would basically mean declaring war on the entire Shinomiya family.
However, the National Diet election was a different matter.
This election was a critical opportunity for Shinomiya Oko to expand his influence within the family.
Striking at this moment,
the target would be solely Shinomiya Oko himself,
without dragging the entire Shinomiya family into the conflict.
After all, the Shinomiya family already had several members in the current parliament.
Moreover, if Shinomiya Oko were to gain power,
it was obvious that he wouldn't do anything good.
There was a high chance he would propose policies that would make things difficult for Laplace Corporation.
Yukima Azuma quickly analyzed Japan's current political landscape in his mind.
The election would begin in early spring next year.
Shinomiya Oko had to be hindered.
The only question was to what extent
Should they merely reduce his vote count, or go all in and directly support his opponent?
After thinking carefully for a moment, Yukima Azuma suddenly froze.
"Hmm... wait a minute."
Right now, it seemed like there was an even better option.
The two previous approaches wouldn't bring much benefit to Laplace.
At most, they would just help Shinomiya Oko's opponent.
Then, when that person took office, Laplace might gain a friend in the Diet.
But friends were often unreliable.
However, now it seemed that Yukima Azuma could push a senator into office himself.
The Hinatsuru family, the Sawamura familythese were both families that would support Yukima Azuma's decision.
The Yukinoshita family, in theory, could also be persuaded through benefits, since they were already cooperating.
