Okaeya, Hirohiko’s counterpart; Misae’s father, Nagano Egara.
A few days later, Nagano found himself in Malaysia, an island nation in Southeast Asia.
It was known for its scorching sun and blue sea.
“Hot… why the hell am I stuck here…”
Nagano was in Kuala Lumpur, the capital of Malaysia.
It was a modern city characterized by a skyline lined with skyscrapers.
“I was supposed to go to my new office… Damn it! That taxi driver ripped me off and just dumped me here…”
So, why was Nagano in this place?
Originally, Nagano had been working for a well-known foreign corporation.
But one day, out of the blue, he was handed an order to be transferred.
“Mr. Nagano, I’m sorry, but we need you to fly to Malaysia starting tomorrow. We’ve arranged a managerial post for you at our subsidiary in Kuala Lumpur.”
Flustered by the sudden transfer order, Nagano nonetheless obediently complied with the directive from above.
Even though it was a subsidiary, the parent company was massive, so both the pay and the benefits were excellent.
“Fuck… I guess it’s fine. Work starts tomorrow anyway, so I might as well take it easy today…”
Walking along the beach under the blazing sun in Nagano, he checked a news site on his phone.
“What…!? The hell!?” The smartphone in his hand began to tremble.
The website reported that the subsidiary he was about to be transferred to had gone bankrupt.
“Nooo…! Bankrupt!? What does that mean!”
But no matter how many times he read it over, it was still the name of the Kuala Lumpur subsidiary where he was supposed to be posted.
“Fuck! How the hell is this happening!”
Nagano hurriedly called his original workplace. The other party picked up after a few rings.
“Section Chief! What the hell is going on!?” The person on the line was his former boss. The Section Chief replied nonchalantly, “What do you mean, what’s going on?”
“The subsidiary went under, didn’t it!” “Oh yeah, I figured as much.”
“You ‘figured as much’? You knew it was going bankrupt and still transferred me!?”
That was no longer a dismissal in any meaningful sense; it had become nothing more than a termination.
“Put me back in my original position right now!” “I’m afraid that’s impossible.” “Why?!”
“It seems you’ve been having an affair with one of our young employees?”
…For a moment, it felt as though the world had frozen.
The blue sky and the sun shone down on him with an almost hateful intensity.
“W-Why… are you saying that…”
“Does that concern you? The important point is that you were carrying on an affair with a young woman. It damages our company’s image. Therefore, you’re fired.”
“N-No, no way…! This is unreasonable!”
“What makes it unreasonable? Isn’t this the consequence of your actions?”
“Gh…! Y-You can’t be serious, other people cheat all the time, too! How can you judge me for just one slip…”
“Haa~… You see, affairs are illegal, you know? Did you not even know that?” “B-But…”
“In any case, we have no intention of changing our decision regarding your status. Ah, yes, and aside from the affair, your general attitude had been quite terrible as well. Yelling at the young staff, bullying them. We kept you around only because you were competent enough to get the job done.”
“That’s… that’s not fair! Everyone else is doing the same thing! Why do I have to be the one to suffer this treatment!?”
“Well. All I can say is that your behavior usually has been rotten, and this is just the karmic consequence of that. Bye.”
Click. The line went dead, a unilateral disconnect. “Karmic consequence…?” Brrring! Brrring!
The next call came from Nagano’s wife. “Listen, let’s get a divorce.”
“W-What?! A divorce?!”
“Heard you were cheating with someone at work. Apparently that’s why you got fired.” ”!? How did you…?” The woman’s voice was icy cold.
Her fierce anger toward her husband bled through her words.
“I’ve already prepared to fight it in court, so once you’re back in Japan, remember that.”
“H-Hold on! Wait! Give me a break!” “What?”
“My husband has lost his job and he’s in trouble! Isn’t supporting him the wife’s duty? Don’t couples help each other out?”
But what came back from the wife was… “Well, that was quite something to say.”
Misae’s mother spoke with a voice colder than absolute zero.
「After Misae got caught by the police, was released, and came home… do you remember what you said to that girl afterwards?»
It had been the day after Misae stayed at a hotel without paying her bill…
The police contacted Nagano, who was her family.
Nagano felt his career as an office worker had been tainted by his daughter.
In a fit of rage, he let loose with insults, driven purely by emotion.
【Cheating is something humans don’t do! It’s the lowest of the low!】
『I’m giving that exact phrase right back to you…』 「Ah, no… I mean…」 As Nagano faltered in his agitation, his wife continued.
『Having a wife and kids, yet committing adultery? That is not human behavior. It is despicable.』 “Guh… ugh…”
『Let me make this clear: I am not as naive as Mitsuhiko-kun. I will file for divorce. And I have already secured irrefutable evidence.」
“E-Evidence…? Where did you…?”
『Wouldn’t that be none of your business?… Your behavior has ended our family. Goodbye.』 Click! She hung up unilaterally.
After that, she received a LINE message from her affair partner: 【So sorry, I’m leaving you★】. A very casual exit.
All Naoka ever got was a one-sided yelling match, followed by the declaration that she was no longer part of their family, before the phone went dead. “H-hah… it’s over…”
On the white sand beach, with a squelch, she crumpled to her knees.
“I’m fired… my home life is in ruins… it’s all done for~…” Flipping onto her back, Naoka collapsed onto the sand.
In stark contrast to the dark clouds gathering over Naoka’s future, the sky stretched out endlessly, not a cloud in sight. ★25.5 The Niwagawa Family At a beach in Malaysia.
There was someone watching Naoka’s despair from afar.
“Kōtaka-sama. Yes, everything has been completed. Sanctions against Ena Naoka are finished.” Niwagawa Ichika.
She was an undeniable beauty with black hair tied in a ponytail.
She had been ordered by Kōtaka to surveil the target of these sanctions, Missae’s father.
Okaya is a favorite of Kōtaka and her granddaughter Rushia.
The two of them simply could not forgive the fact that Missae’s father had attacked him with punches and hurled insults at him.
Ichika was now on the beach, displaying her swimsuit attire. She had a slender figure.
Free of any unnecessary flesh, with long legs.
Moreover, she boasted a stunning pair, a beauty so striking that one would believe her to be a gravure idol or model if told.
For a beauty like her, dressed in a black bikini and sunglasses, to stand alone was inconceivable.
『Hey there, beautiful! Want to swim together?』
Young men approached Ichika, hitting on her in their foreign tongue.
Ignoring them, Ichika held up her smartphone and reported back to Kogen.
“Yes. I’ll stay the night and return home tomorrow. Yes. And yes, don’t worry, I won’t forget to buy souvenirs for the young mistress either. Understood.”
『C’mon, sis, come on, let’s have some fun together~』
Ichika wrinkled her nose in annoyance.
Just then, a colossal figure appeared behind one of the flirts. “Exk-yoo-z me!” The men turned around…
『「T-that’s a Terminator!?”』
“How do you do, I am Mr. Terminator”
A hulking, muscular man stood there, looking as if he had burst straight out of the movie screen. Jiro Goshikawa.
He was the third son of the Hachigawa family and Ichika’s younger brother.
“Aaah, you guys are dangerous. Don’t play with your lives. Hey, female gorilla over there. This is super scary. I suggest you run away.” It was perfect Japanese.
Furious, Ichika walked over to her little brother and…
“You say who’s a female lion? Hnn?”
Gripping Saburo’s hand, she hurled him toward the sea.
With a violent splash, Saburo sank beneath the waves.
”…So? Did you need something from me?”
“Whiiiii! Female gorilllllAAAAAAA!”
The pick-up artists fled from Ichika. “Big sis is mean~”
Saburo, who had been thrown away, climbed back out of the sea. He was also wearing nothing but board shorts.
Passing tourists looked at Saburo and seemed to think fifty percent he was a bodybuilder, forty percent Arnold Schwarzenegger, and the remaining ten percent a hitman on vacation.
“I was thinking I’d save those pick-up artists,”
“In a situation like that, isn’t it standard protocol to help the woman who’s being taken advantage of?”
“W-wait, but if we just leave them there, those people’s lives… Ah, sorry, I was lying! Don’t be mad, Sister!” Ichika let out a sigh.
“Sister, is our mission finished?”
“Yes. The rest is just to get back here.”
“Yay! Then it’s vacation time! Let’s go rent that banana boat!”
“This isn’t a game, you know. We’re still on the clock.”
“Tch. It’d be fine, though. Nobody would even notice if we slacked off for a little while.”
“Maintain some self-control befitting those who serve Koushuu-sama.”
”…You stingy old hag… Owwww!” Ichika had Sanmaro caught in a joint-locks submission. “Did you say something, Mr. Sanmaro?”
“I’m sorry, Sister! And that thing hitting my back is unnecessarily huge!”
“Aren’t you honored to have your hands on a beauty’s chest?”
“Gorillas just have hard pecs… Yipee!” A little while later.
Ika and Saburo had changed out of their swimwear and were finishing up a late lunch in the hotel lounge.
“You… already bought souvenirs?”
Taking a sip of her after-dinner coffee, Ika remarked with a tone of exasperation.
Large numbers of souvenir bags were piled on both sides of Saburo.
“Yeah. For [Jirota-nii], [Yotsuba], and [Gowa]. Plus parts for Dad and Mom. And this stuff is for Ojou-sama and Kousan-san, and…”
“I told you to focus on work. You’re just getting all giddy…”
Ika let out a weary sigh.
“But the mistress’s father from earlier… he must be having a rough time of it. He’s been socially erased.”
“He brought that on himself, a man like that. …Honestly, cheating is the absolute worst.”
Tension built in her hand, and a crack formed in the cup she was holding. Her beautiful face was twisted with rage.
”? Have you ever been cheated on, Neesan? You didn’t have a boyfriend back in college either… Ah, wait, I’m not dissing you, stay calm, Neesan, just keep it cool!”
Ika had seized Saburo’s face with one hand and was trying to crush it, so he calmed her down.
“In college, I didn’t have a boyfriend, but there was someone I had a crush on.”
“Oh! First time hearing that! So, what happened with him?”
“Nothing ever came of it. We ended up in the same seminar, but after graduation, that was it. Recently found out he got married.”
“Hmm… Why didn’t you ask him out?”
“He already had a girlfriend back then. From another university, no less. I had no room to step in.” “But you did like him, right?” ”…It’s in the past.” Sipped my coffee slowly.
“Big sister is all gorilla, but you’re still beautiful enough for the big screen. If you’d asked him out, he’d have said yes, wouldn’t he?” “That was one comment too many. I’m gonna crush you.”
“What! You think I would do that!”
“I’m joking… No, not really. I did want to ask him out. Many times. But he wasn’t in a headspace for it.” “Was something wrong?”
“Since his freshman year, he had this thing he was obsessed with. In his final year, he finally started seeing some fruit from his efforts, and just as I thought ‘here we go,’ he suddenly started panicking over job hunting…”
Recalling the past, Ichika spoke with a distant look in her eyes.
“I was too polite to intrude on him chasing his dreams, and before I knew it, I had graduated.”
“Oh dear, so it was just bad timing.”
“Yes, I suppose it was bad luck… [This time too].” Ichika drained her coffee.
The two of them stood up and paid at the register.
“So, what is that guy your big sister had a crush on in college doing these days?”
At Saburo’s question, Ichika replied:
“He seems to be working as an editor at a light novel publishing house.”
“Oh! Wait, I remember! Okaya-sama also worked as a light novel editor, right? Maybe they know each other. Man, the world is small!”
Watching her younger brother, who was clearly oblivious to the subtext, Ichika let out a small sigh.
”…’Okaya-sama.’ Really, you always had terrible timing, Okakun.”