My roommate turns out to be the heiress of a triad!

Chapter 139, Section 135: The Chihiro Residence of the Kujo Family

Under the cover of night, a black Toyota Vellfire smoothly drove into the last checkpoint.

An inconspicuous iron gate stood in the middle of the road, next to which stood two young men in black suits, their ears plugged with earpieces, and the walkie-talkies on their waists flashing a faint red light in the night.

This unassuming checkpoint exudes an oppressive atmosphere whose origins are unclear.

Because truly high-level security won't make you feel like "security is very tight here".

Everything was silent, restrained, and just right.

Yuriko Ogiso pressed the button, and the vehicle's electric motor automatically rolled down the window.

The car window slowly rolled down, making a soft humming sound.

The guard in charge of the inspection recognized her at a glance.

"Ms. Ogiso, thank you for your hard work today."

His voice wasn't loud, but it was clear and carried a familiar quality.

He glanced around the car; everyone else was a familiar face, and he moved on quickly.

The gaze lingered on Sugawara Ryoichi's face for less than a second.

"Is this the child you mentioned, Madam?"

"Yes."

Yuriko Ogiso replied simply.

The guard then nodded slightly and directed the security team to lift the gate to let them pass.

After driving up a tree-lined path that kept going uphill for about five or six minutes, the faint lights of human settlements began to appear in the distance.

The light shone through the gaps in the tree shadows, bit by bit, like scattered diamonds on a black velvet cloth.

This villa area, consisting of dozens of Japanese-style gardens, is situated on a hilltop, dozens of meters higher than the surrounding terrain.

Any one of the dozens of Japanese gardens offers an excellent view, allowing you to enjoy panoramic views of Tokyo.

During the day, you can see the entire Tokyo skyline, and at night, you can see a sea of ​​lights.

The real estate developer responsible for developing these courtyards is a subsidiary of Dongyun Company.

These houses are ostensibly purchased and inhabited by elites from all walks of life, but in reality, the vast majority of the residents are high-ranking officials of the Dongyun Society.

Of course, Sugawara Ryoichi was unaware of this information.

He just felt that every house here was big and beautiful.

And it will be very expensive.

The Kujo family's residence is nestled among these courtyards.

Yuriko Ogiso drove past these houses with practiced ease, without slowing down at any of them, until she stopped in front of a door that looked no different from the others.

Several people were already waiting in front of the door.

Their eyes were already locked on the Vellfire as the vehicle approached, but they looked away after seeing the license plate.

"We've arrived."

Yuriko Ogiso spoke softly, as if reminding someone who was about to fall asleep.

She needs to drop off the people in the car at the main entrance and then drive to the garage to park herself.

This is her duty as a driver.

"oh oh."

Sugawara Ryoichi was somewhat taken aback when he responded in this way.

As the car drove along, Sugawara Ryoichi clearly saw the length of the walls surrounding these mansions.

The distance between the beginning and end of the wall was much longer than any house he had ever seen in Tokyo.

He estimated in his mind that each household would occupy several hundred to a thousand square meters of land.

Although this size of land is quite common for a Japanese garden.

Because Japanese gardens emphasize "borrowed scenery" and "leaving blank space".

The land is several hundred square meters, but the buildings only occupy a small portion.

The rest consists of a courtyard, trees, rock formations, and a pond.

But that was the countryside, the suburbs, a place where land was cheap.

You have to consider that this is in Tokyo, where land is incredibly valuable!

Each of these households must be worth at least tens or hundreds of billions of yen.

Ryoichi Sugawara recalled seeing news reports about the most expensive residences in Tokyo.

An apartment costs billions, and a detached villa costs tens of billions.

But that's the price you can buy it at on the open market.

The houses here are not sold on the open market.

Only the truly wealthy can afford to live here.

An ordinary person would never even have the chance to work as a security guard here in their entire life.

Ryoichi Sugawara knew that Mayu Kujo's family was probably very wealthy.

But I never expected him to be so rich.

He was about to open the car door and get out when, unexpectedly, the door was gently opened from the outside.

The outside air rushed in, carrying the scent of earth, the smell of grass, and a faint fragrance of some unknown flower.

The other person was a woman I didn't know.

She was wearing a simple tomeso.

It has a dark navy blue background with fine white stripes, and a wide brocade belt tied around the waist.

The hair is pinned up at the back of the head and secured with a simple hairpin.

She wore light makeup, had a gentle smile, and maintained a dignified posture.

With a smile on her face and a friendly manner, she asked, "You must be Sugawara-sama, right?"

This title sent a slight shiver down Sugawara Ryoichi's spine.

"...Yes. I am Ryoichi Sugawara."

His voice was a little dry.

Being addressed as "sama" for the first time by someone outside the service industry made Sugawara Ryoichi feel somewhat unreal.

It's as if they've really become some kind of amazing person.

He was just an ordinary high school student.

It's just a matter of having good grades, good luck, and a system that allows you to live a life of ease without working.

That's it.

Ryoichi Sugawara moved his body out of the car and stepped onto the asphalt road.

He straightened up and looked towards the main gate of the mansion.

Like the Japanese garden entrances I've seen before, it uses traditional wooden doors and tiles, giving it a very rustic and elegant feel.

The door is dark brown, and the wood grain is clearly visible.

Above the lintel are dark gray tiles, layered upon layered, with the eaves slightly upturned.

Then, the other party continued, "I am Nagahori, a servant in the mansion."

Lady Mao instructed me to guide you into the residence here.

Chief Attendant.

Ryoichi Sugawara silently repeated the word to himself.

He had only seen this title in TV dramas and novels.

In reality, he thought that such positions, which were only available in the homes of the old aristocracy, had long since disappeared.

"Please follow my lead from now on."

After saying this, Horie crossed her arms in front of her and bowed slightly to Sugawara Ryoichi.

The angle of the bow was just right.

Appropriate manners make people feel comfortable.

Then she turned and struck.

With palms facing up, fingers together, arm outstretched, pointing towards the door, she invited him to follow her.

The movement was so precise, it was as if it were a performance of some kind of etiquette.

Sugawara Ryoichi glanced at the two maids standing to the side, the two burly men in black, and the Toyota Vellfire that had already driven away.

In the darkness of the distance, Yuriko Ogiso's taillights turned into two small red dots, growing smaller and smaller until they finally disappeared around the corner of the road.

There is absolutely no way out now.

From the moment Mao Kujo called, he was like a bullet loaded into a chamber, destined to fly along a predetermined path toward a predetermined target.

"Yes, thank you."

Ryoichi Sugawara also bowed and responded politely.

His bow was slightly shallower than Horie's.

As a guest, he did not need to bow more deeply than the chief attendant.

"Not at all, you're too kind."

Horie exchanged a polite greeting with him, then turned and walked ahead to lead the way for Sugawara Ryoichi.

Her pace was neither fast nor slow, each step covering roughly the same distance, as if she were stepping on some kind of invisible metronome.

Her back was very straight, but not stiff; it was a natural posture that she had developed since childhood.

It wasn't until he saw her pull a magnetic card from the wide belt around her waist and stick it to the access control system next to the door that Sugawara Ryoichi realized that the old wooden door had been modernized.

The access control system is hidden on the side of the doorpost, covered by a piece of wood of the same material as the doorpost, and cannot be noticed at all without careful observation.

Horie gently pressed her finger on the piece of wood, and the wood bounced back, revealing the card reader underneath.

With a ding of the electronic unlocking sound, the wooden door clicked open.

That sound was amazing.

It has the crisp sound of an electronic lock and the weight of a mechanical lock.

"Excuse me."

After saying that, Horie pushed open the wooden door and led Sugawara Ryoichi inside.

She pushed the door very gently, but the seemingly heavy wooden door opened silently inward under her hand, as if blown open by the wind.

Ryoichi Sugawara followed her across the threshold and into the walled compound, where a magnificent Japanese-style mansion came into view.

Horie slowed his pace, allowing him enough time to observe his surroundings.

The mansion stood in the night, its roof outline clearly visible against the sky, its eaves layered like several large birds spreading their wings in the darkness.

The walls were white, but not the kind of glaring white.

The wooden beams and pillars are dark in color, outlining regular geometric patterns on the white walls.

Because it was nighttime and visibility was low, Sugawara Ryo could not see the details of the mansion.

The carvings on the rafters and the patterns on the shoji paper are not clearly visible.

Low visibility is the main reason why Ryoichi Sugawara cannot describe this Japanese house accurately.

However, just from the perspective of this mansion, one can tell that the people living there are definitely not ordinary.

This extraordinary quality is not achieved through lavish decorations.

Rather, it is a holistic, natural whole that permeates from every stone, every piece of wood, and every aspect of the layout.

of.

Just like a person.

Even though he was standing there in ordinary clothes, you could tell he wasn't an ordinary person.

Because the aura he exudes is different from that of ordinary people.

However, besides the low visibility that Sugawara Ryoichi couldn't describe, there was another reason.

That is.

From his perspective, the mansion appeared to be facing him from the side.

In other words.

The wooden door I just came through was not the main entrance to this Japanese garden.

This is a side door.

Also.

A guest like him has no right to enter through the main entrance.

"Sugawara-sama, you don't seem surprised at all."

Horie's voice came from ahead, tinged with curiosity.

"Did Miss Mayu mention this mansion to you before?"

As the head servant of the Kujo family's residence, Horie believed that the size of this Japanese-style garden was among the best in all of Tokyo.

The size of the mansions of many high-ranking officials and world-class social celebrities cannot even compare to that of the Kujo family.

She was very proud to serve the Kujo family.

She felt a sense of satisfaction whenever a guest visited for the first time and looked at the mansion with a shocked expression.

But Ryoichi Sugawara did not.

The noise from behind her told her that Sugawara Ryoichi's expression was calm, even somewhat indifferent.

This surprised Horie a bit.

"That guy didn't mention any of this to me."

Sugawara Ryoichi replied.

"It's probably because I've seen similar Japanese gardens in Okayama before."

He paused, his gaze sweeping around the courtyard.

"But to be honest, it's still quite astonishing to have a Japanese garden like this in Tokyo."

He was telling the truth.

Okayama does indeed have many old Japanese gardens, some of which date back to the Edo period and are no smaller than this place, or even larger.

But those are in Okayama, in the countryside, in places where land is cheap.

In Tokyo, where land is incredibly valuable, owning a garden like this carries a completely different meaning.

As he spoke, he also looked around at the contents inside the Japanese garden wall.

This Japanese garden can basically be described as "traditional".

It's not the kind of fake tradition that's deliberately made outdated, but the kind of genuine tradition that has been like this for hundreds of years.

Every element is just right.

No more, no less, neither increasing nor decreasing.

Stone formations, dry landscape gardens, stone lanterns, and servant stones.

Pond, bridge, startled deer, water harp cave, hand-held water bowl.

Main plants (pine trees, bamboo), finishing touch plants (maple trees, cherry trees), mosses.

Garden gate, fence, stepping stones.

It can be said that it has everything you need.

By the dim light of the streetlights outside the courtyard and the stone lanterns inside, Sugawara Ryoichi estimated that the Japanese-style garden was about seventy meters wide from east to west.

Seventy meters, which is equivalent to the width of a standard football field.

The north-south distance cannot be measured because it is blocked by many buildings, but it is estimated to be about 45 meters.

Such a Japanese garden and its supporting buildings would cost tens of billions of yen in Tokyo.

Sugawara Ryoichi was shocked.

He suddenly felt that the general public might have been deceived by the television station.

The TV always broadcasts news like "Important members of the Dongyun Society have been arrested," "Yakuza organizations are declining," and "The younger generation is unwilling to join," as if the Dongyun Society is about to collapse.

However, judging from the Kujo family's mansion, the Shinonome Society does not seem to be in decline at all.

How could a declining organization own such a mansion in Tokyo?

How can a declining organization afford such a large courtyard, so many servants, and such a sophisticated security system?

impossible.

Ryoichi Sugawara thought to himself.

He was beginning to understand why Kujo Mao's aura when she appeared at his doorstep with a group of people that night wasn't feigned.

That's something that grew from childhood, something that comes from the very core of one's being.

"Sugawara-sama, this way please."

Horie's voice came from ahead, pulling Sugawara Ryoichi back to reality.

She had reached the eaves of the mansion and was standing beside the steps, waiting for him.

"Oh well."

Ryoichi Sugawara quickened his pace and followed.

His shoes made a soft clattering sound as they stepped on the stepping stones.

The gaps between the stepping stones are covered with white gravel, which makes a rustling sound when you step on it, but the stepping stones themselves are very stable and do not wobble.

Take off your shoes, walk up the steps, and stand under the eaves.

The roof is covered with dark gray tiles, layer upon layer, and a small copper bell hangs from the eaves, making a soft tinkling sound in the night breeze.

Horie opened the shoji door, and the light from inside spilled out, casting a warm yellow glow on Sugawara Ryoichi's face.

"Please come in."

Horie bowed slightly.

Ryoichi Sugawara took a deep breath and stepped inside.