Kaaya Ruchia, having just finished a meeting with Okaya Mitsuhiko.
Ruchia returned to her room. ”…”
Though it was a Japanese-style room terrifyingly spacious, the furniture inside was Western.
She approached the bed with its canopy and dove in with a boing.
“Mmmh~”
Slap slap, Ruchia flapped her arms and legs.
Something had been eating away at her mind immensely.
“It’s weird, Okaya. What does living together even mean? Living with a woman as pretty as that?”
That was what the beautiful girl working at the cafe had said on their way out today.
Ruchia had wanted to ask for more details, but since they were in front of the store, she hadn’t been able to press the subject any further.
“It’s bugging me! Is that woman really living with him? What is she to Okaya? Mmh~!” Just then… “Excuse me, miss.”
From behind the shoji screen, a man’s voice was heard.
Rushia sprang up with a jolt, straightening her disheveled hair and clothes before perching on the edge of the bed. “Nekogawa, huh. Come in.”
The shoji slid open to admit a giant man resembling a Terminator.
It was a burly, muscular man wearing sunglasses.
“Miss, I went and did some digging!” “You… looked into it?”
Rushia only turned her head to look at the large man.
With a beaming, joyful expression, he approached Rushia.
From a case in his hands, he pulled out a thick folder. 【Okaya, Michihiko - Background Investigation Results】 “W-Wait, this is…”
“Thinking you were curious about him, I went ahead and investigated this [Nekogawa, Saburo] after that!”
“N-No way… I mean no! Absolutely not!”
Thwack. Rushia swatted the file away from Nekogawa’s hand.
“Why, Miss? Aren’t you curious? About what happened to that girl…” “Mmm… it’s just that…”
Saburo picked up the folder and sat down next to Rushia.
“I, Sarō Gaishikawa, have investigated with a single-minded devotion to supporting Ruskō-jojō’s love.”
”……Are you not enjoying this a bit?”
“Nonsense! Well, Lady, take a look. It’s written here—his address and everything about that girl, ya~?”
“Mmm……mhm-uh……no, but……that is……I don’t want it”
Rushia sat up and shook her head vigorously.
“Reading this would be a violation of privacy. You know that too, don’t you? I don’t want to use the power of the Akita house against him.”
“Eh~. But you’re curious, aren’t you—? Is it okay for me to say that?”
Sarō flipped through the documents with a rapid para-para. “Hee! Such facts!” ”…………” A twitch.
“What’s this! He really is living together……yes, and moreover such things…!” ”…………” Twitchy-twitch.
As she had stated previously, Rushia did not want to wield the strength of her family.
But under Sarō’s coaxing, she could barely contain her desire to see what was in the documents.
“Well, Lady, what you want is right there?” “Mmm……” And just then—
«Sanzo, what the hell are you doing?» «Gah…! Sis!»
The sliding door opened to reveal a tall woman in a suit.
She was a model-sized woman with long hair tied up in a ponytail.
It was Ichika Ninikawa, Sanso’s older sister.
At Ichika’s appearance, Sanso turned pale, realizing, “Oh no…”
«No, I mean! I wasn’t doing anything, Ichika-neesan!» «Oh, really?»
Ichika approached him, grabbed his arm, and lifted him up with ease.
She elegantly slammed him down in a single-leg throw and applied a joint lock on the floor to her struggling younger brother.
«Your Highness, she’s clearly resisting, isn’t she?»
«It hurts, it hurts, it hurts! Stop it, Sis!»
«I’m so sorry, Your Highness. My stupid little brother went ahead and did something on his own.»
«Ah, well… uh-huh! Unilateral decisions were not the right move, but I suppose he acted out of concern for me. I shall forgive him.» Ichika released her brother.
“Yes… so? What are you going to do with that file?” Ichi-hana asked, pointing at the survey form. “I’ve been… hesitating.”
“Why don’t you just look at it? What are you nervous about, Sis?”
“Saburo. You have absolutely no understanding of a girl’s heart. That’s why no one likes you.” “Mphh…”
Glancing at the Inugawa siblings, Lucia fell into thought.
The information she needed was contained within it.
But looking at it felt like forcibly prying into a man she liked’s privacy. “What should I do…?”
“That is not something servants such as us should have a say in,” Ichi-hana said. She was right.
It would be a mistake to leave such a critical decision to others.
“However, one thing is certain: if you hesitate any longer, that young lady will steal your beloved away. You wouldn’t want that, would you?” ”…No.”
“Then take action. The target is currently available. Isn’t now the perfect time to make a move?”
“That’s right, Miss. Unlike harem novels, there’s only one man a woman can marry. I suppose if Miss wished for a reverse harem scenario, that would be easy enough… Gahhh!”
Ichi-hana stomped on Saburo’s back as he lay crumpled on the floor.
「How about this? I could drive the young lady to Okaya’s house myself.” “? What do you mean?”
“See, didn’t your manuscript get revised during today’s meeting? So, the young lady just takes the revised draft over to Okaya’s place.”
“I see. Wait, but sis, we’re supposed to fax the files, right?”
“We can make up some excuse like the fax machine broke. I heard the address from our boss, so we can just say that and it’ll work out fine.” “Ah, I see now…”
Saburo and Rushia nodded in admiration.
“To be precise: the young lady doesn’t look at the contents of the background investigation report. I know the address, so I take her to Okaya’s home. Once there, she can just ask the people involved anything she wants.”
“Oh right! Then it doesn’t count as a privacy violation for the girl, since we’re not looking at the docs. Just like you, sis!”
Ika’s proposal was both reasonable and practical.
But even so, Rushia hesitated.
Basically, it meant going to a guy she liked’s house alone.
Besides feeling embarrassed, she worried it might be too sudden and annoying for him. “Miss.” Ika took Rushia’s hand.
“Please make a choice you won’t regret.”
“Exactly, miss! If we run away now, you’ll regret it big time later!” …They had a point.
If they fled now and someone else took her beloved Okaya from her… she would regret it for the rest of her life.
“Ichika, Saburō. I am… going to the Okaya house.”
The Yabushita siblings smiled and nodded in agreement.
“Ayuhay! Then let me go smash that fax machine to bits!”
“Really, there’s no need to actually break it, you idiot.”
Lusia sat down at her study desk and took out a sheet of manuscript paper.
With a soft shhh… Ichika placed a fresh stack of manuscript paper on the desk.
“Shall we have dinner served here? I can bring over some sandwiches later.”
“Oh, that’s a lifesaver. Ah… right. Grandpa is coming over for dinner today… We need to eat together…”
I’ll handle the dinner arrangements on my end as well, so Miss, please focus on finishing your manuscript.”
Lusia looked up at the Yabushita sister and offered her a smile.
「Thanks, Ichika. And Sanro too」
“Don’t mention it! It’s all for your sake!”
“Please don’t worry about it. Now then, Miss, good luck.” The Nusawa siblings left the room.
“Sis is beautiful and so thoughtful, so why can’t she get married? Oh, wait, is it because she’s some kind of muscle gorilla… huff!”
“What did you call me? A female Bob Sapp? Huh?” “I… I didn’t say anything.”
After landing a solid punch to the gut, Ichika grabbed her brother by the scruff of the neck and dragged him out of the room.
In the now-quiet room, Lushia closed her eyes.
Slapping her own cheek, she steeled herself.
“Alright! Just you wait, Okaya!”
…After that, Lushia finished the manuscript in an astonishingly fast three days.
With it in hand, she went straight to Okaya’s house.