Tokyoites don't have martial virtue

To be honest, your father did run away, and we can't catch him at all, but your mother is still living in the same old place.

If you don't help pay this money back, we'll have to go after your mother, and then...

"Damn it, you bunch of bastards! What do you want to do to her?!" Upon hearing this, Suzumiya Momiji was so anxious that she almost threw her phone away.

Admittedly, she had a very bad impression of her parents. One was a violent maniac, and the other a coward; she couldn't feel any sympathy for either of them.

She remembered that when she was in middle school, she had angrily called her mother a "coward" a few times. Each time, her mother would just turn away in grievance and remain silent.

But when she actually heard that her mother was in danger, she felt as if her heart was being torn apart.

Whenever her father hit her, her mother would always hold her in her arms; even though her father had taken all the money in the house, her mother would still secretly pull out a few dirty coins from somewhere and use them to buy her a discounted bento box.

Suzumiya Momiji immediately made a video call to confirm the situation with her mother.

She saw that her mother looked even more haggard than before, and the already impoverished home was now completely bare, with most of their belongings sold off to pay off gambling debts.

The mother still had the same cowardly look and tone. She said that several groups of debt collectors had indeed come to the house, and they looked a lot like gangsters. Every time, they terrified her and even said they would sell her organs to pay off the debt.

Ultimately, blood is thicker than water, and Liang Gonghua couldn't bear it. On a whim, she signed a usurious loan contract with those "underground banks" and agreed to help her father pay off his debts.

However, she only had a little over one million yen in savings, which she had saved up little by little over the past two years. She was already one of the few female public relations staff who were aware of saving money, while her colleagues were basically spenders who earned as much as they could spend each month.

She originally dreamed of saving enough money so that she could leave Kamurocho and live a normal life when she could no longer work.

But with this mountain of "five million" high-interest loans, her future became incredibly bleak.

She might not earn enough money before being forced to leave the industry due to health reasons or other unforeseen circumstances.

What could she do then? Watch helplessly as people from underground banks harassed her mother and harvested her organs?

She thought her life would continue in a daze until two months ago when she met that boy.

That day, she happened to be harassed by a drunk customer who wanted to make "further deals" with her.

The bald, smelly drunkard boasted that he was a politician and that if Suzumiya Kame listened to him, he could make her his mistress and let her enjoy wealth and luxury.

"If I give in to him, I'll have money in the future, and my mother will be safe."

Even though the other person was most likely bragging, she inexplicably started to fantasize about it.

The crazy idea felt like it was tearing her brain apart, leaving her at a loss for what to do.

She even felt that suicide was a good ending.

Just then, a young man suddenly barged into her life, knocking the drunken bastard to the ground with a single punch, shattering her unrealistic fantasies in the process.

When Suzumiya Momiji worked in the service industry, she met all sorts of people.

They either openly unleash their malice and desires, or hypocritically conceal their desires and play the role of a charlatan.

She had never seen this boy before.

The boy possesses a kindness that comes from the bottom of his heart, not as pure and innocent as an angel; rather, he is like a coal stove lamp, which can be burned if used improperly, but can bring light and warmth if treated well.

Or perhaps, the boy's greatest desire was to become kind.

"I can't believe there's such an interesting person as Harukawa in this world. I wish I could live a little longer."

The boy acted like an inhibitor, making her abandon the idea of ​​self-destruction, so she decided to continue working hard to earn money and pay off her debts.

This continued until last week, when she had already helped her father pay off one million. But then the underground money lender called her again:

Your father is begging us on his knees again to lend him another million. This money needs to be put on the books. For your poor mother's sake, you'll help pay it back, won't you?

"What do you mean you borrowed another million...?" Suzumiya Kame was struck dumb, and her phone fell to the ground with a "thud".

At that moment, she finally understood. She had fallen into the trap of this "underground bank," and they intended to exploit her without limit.

If she grits her teeth and accepts this debt, the underground money lender will definitely lend her father another "million," or even three million, five million, or ten million.

This is simply a bottomless pit!

But if she doesn't acknowledge the debt, what if those people really attack her mother? Wouldn't all the debts she paid before be meaningless?

Call the police? The police in this country are a bunch of incompetent fools who "treat murders as suicides in an effort to reduce the crime rate." Calling the police will probably do no good and will only anger the underground money lenders.

She could only get herself completely drunk, and in despair, she squatted at the entrance of "Kyushu Ichibanboshi" and cried. In the end, Kyushu Makoto took her home.

Inside the room, Suzumiya Kame covered her face with her hands and broke down in tears, as if doing so would bring her relief.

"Waaah... There's so much money, we can't possibly pay it all back. If this continues, Mom will be in danger; they'll kill her."

"That damned father of mine... Waaah... If you owe me gambling debts, take responsibility for them and don't let Mom suffer!"

"Help! Anyone please help me. I can't hold on any longer!"

"Ding-dong—" After crying for who knows how long, the doorbell rang outside the entrance.

"Huh?" Suzumiya Momiji looked up in surprise.

It's already past midnight, who would come to visit at this hour? Could it be an NHK debt collector?

"Excuse me, Sister Huazi."

Outside the door, Chuncheon's voice could be heard shouting:

I left something at your house, could you please let me in to get it?

100. Why don't you bite back?

Suzumiya Momiji opened the door and stared in astonishment at the boy standing in the doorway.

"Didn't I tell you to go back?" She couldn't help but reveal a hint of resentment in her eyes.

"Sorry, I left something at your house." Kyushu Makoto barged into Suzumiya Momiji's room and pulled a metallic ballpoint pen from under the bed.

"This is the latest generation of voice recorder, which was given to me by a senior student. I've linked it to my phone so I can use it to remotely monitor others."

"A voice recorder?" Suzumiya Momiji was initially confused, then angrily put her hands on her hips and frowned.

"Chuncheon, what are you trying to do?! This is illegal, isn't it?!"

Kyushu Makoto stroked his chin, thought for a moment, and then replied, "It is indeed illegal."

"So...you heard everything I said in the room just now?" Suzumiya Momiji looked troubled.

"Yes, I heard everything." Kyushu Makoto nodded. "It sounds like something urgent. Is Momiji's mother in danger?"

"Oh, please stop asking. I beg you, please spare me." Suzumiya Momiji ran her fingers through the roots of her hair on her forehead and slumped wearily to the ground.

"Go back to sleep now, you have class tomorrow."

"We're friends, right?" Kyushu Makoto retorted. "I've already gone this far, and you still won't tell me?"

"How incredibly rude of you, Harukawa!" Suzumiya Kame shook her head, trying to recover from the effects of the alcohol.

"I've already told you I don't need you to worry about this, but you still insist on it. Even as friends, that's going too far!"

"You're the one who's being rude!" Kyushu Makoto retorted, arms crossed, his gaze intense.

“Since we’re friends, you should tell me about your troubles. Even if I can’t help, I can at least cheer you on! Is making your friends worry about you considered ‘not being impolite’?”

"Harukawa, are you an idiot?" In the end, Suzumiya Momiji couldn't persuade him, so she could only chuckle and tell him the whole story.

After she finished speaking, she added coldly, "Are you satisfied now? Go back to sleep early after hearing the story."

Kyushu Makoto found a chair and sat down, quickly scrolling through his phone with one hand while resting his chin on his other hand in thought.

After a moment, he calmly said, "Are you an idiot, Momiji-nee?"

"Huh? What do you mean?!" Suzumiya Momiji straightened up and asked, puzzled, "Why should I be called an idiot by you?!"

Kyushu Makoto gave her a thumbs up and said casually, "Your problem might be easy to solve. I'll take you to see a lawyer tomorrow."

The next afternoon, at the Yugami Detective Agency

“Kyushu-kun’s idea is correct,” Yuugami Ken said, sitting in his faded leather office chair and pulling out a copy of the Wano Country Penal Code from the mountain of books on his desk.

"First of all, personal debts are not directly related to the debtor's family, so the family cannot be held responsible. In other words, the money lender has no right to make your family repay your father's private debts."

"Secondly, children have no obligation to repay their parents' debts. In other words, you have no legal obligation to repay your father's debts."

"Finally, the debt contract you showed me shows an annual interest rate exceeding 20%, which is the maximum limit under the Interest Rate Restriction Act. Do you know what that means?"

Makoto Kyushu sat on the sofa in the office's living room, leaning back in his chair as he answered:

"Borrowing money at exorbitant interest rates is illegal. Debtors can not only refuse to repay the money, but also retaliate by suing the creditor and subjecting them to hefty fines and imprisonment."

"Bingo~! Kyushu guy gets ten points!" Yushin Ken snapped his fingers, his tone unusually relaxed:

"If such a simple question doesn't even qualify as legal advice, I'm almost embarrassed to charge you for it!"

Yugami Ken spun around in his office chair, then nervously reminded him:

"If you decide to go to court, please make sure I can recommend a reliable lawyer. At least let me earn some commission."

Kyushu Makoto looked at Ryoumiya Momiji sitting next to him, who looked completely bewildered, and laughed, "I already told you, you don't need to pay back the money at all. Just sue them directly. They're in the wrong."

"But..." Suzumiya Momiji closed her eyes and pondered for half a minute before finally processing this information, then asked uncertainly:

"They threatened to kill Mom. Is she in danger?"

“Yes, that’s a problem.” Yugami Ken thought for a moment and asked, “Did you keep any relevant chat logs or other evidence? You can sue them again for ‘intimidation’ and ‘extortion’.”

"As for the proceedings, you just need to bring your mother to live with you." Yugami Ken then spread his hands, extending an invitation to her: