The premise of breaking up in Tokyo

Qin Ye had no idea what kind of person Sheng Yan was, who was determined to push her sister-in-law into a pit of fire.

Actually, Kotoha has a very good impression of Katsuhiko now.

Shengyan already knew more or less about the situation at her family's factory. If they weren't really close, he would have kept his distance long ago.

Now, all of Kenta's relatives have either run away or gone into hiding, and all contact has been severed. The gates are locked, and no one answers when they call out.

As for Katsuhiko, he's just a classmate, yet he came all the way to help and even fought with a gang of thugs collecting debts... he can't be that bad.

"Just now I touched her chin with my finger to show that I liked her, and guess what she did? She's going to sue me for sexual harassment."

Katsuhiko shouted at the bathroom door, complaining loudly.

Kotoha almost covered Katsuhiko's mouth, waving her hand anxiously and whispering, "Girls should always be a little reserved. After all, you're not familiar with each other yet. What did you say?"

Judging from Yingdai's shy demeanor just now, she definitely wasn't serious.

"I said, I'll never do it again," Sheng Yan lied through his teeth.

"No, you can't do this," Qin Ye said, exasperated. "You need to be bolder, you need to be brave."

"Then how do I do it?" Sheng Yan asked humbly, seeking guidance.

"I'll ask her to have dinner with me later, and after dinner I'll take her to see a movie in Shibuya. There's a new animated film called 'Ocean Waves' that just came out..."

"Oh?"

Katsuhiko raised an eyebrow, recalling that he had seen that novel at Yuma Kanzaki's place before.

I subconsciously wondered how much money a novel adapted into a movie could make? How much in royalties?

Further, my thoughts drifted to the manga industry within the broader anime and manga sector, given that the Japanese anime and manga industry is poised for its most glorious period over the next twenty-odd years…

Could I snatch it away? The thought suddenly popped into my head, but before I could feel any joy, I immediately sighed with regret.

Katsuhiko had only watched Dragon Ball, One Piece, Bleach, and Naruto. He knew nothing about the others, and had even finished watching only Naruto out of the four anime. As for the author... was it Yamagishi? Kishiyama? Yamamoto? Yamafumi...? He couldn't remember for a moment.

I think you'd instantly remember someone just by seeing the original author's name!

As for novels, he simply couldn't get into them.

Among the female celebrities in the entertainment industry, I only remember a few that left a deep impression, such as the currently popular Ai Iijima and the pitiful Akina Nakamori. Of course, there are definitely other female celebrities, but I can only remember them after seeing their names and faces.

"My sister Yingdai really loves that novel, I'm sure she'll love the movie adaptation too..."

Kotoha tried her best to teach Katsuhiko how to date, but Katsuhiko only gave her perfunctory replies.

He had saved up five 100-yuan coins in his pocket, one of which had fine gold threads on its surface.

It wasn't that Katsuhiko was particularly observant, but rather that the moment it appeared in his palm, its function automatically came to mind.

When you directly touch the locked target, gold will be generated. After an hour, you will receive one gold coin.

The items that can be exchanged with gold coins are all artistic works such as comics, novels, songs, and movie scripts that will appear in the future but have not yet appeared and are not copyrighted. However, they are all random and do not yet have the original author's name credited.

The newly discovered gold-threaded coin is considered scrap.

You can no longer exchange for [Focus Potion] and [Recovery Potion]; you can only exchange for half a page of the Naruto manga artwork.

The reason I could only exchange for half a card was because the time I spent touching Kotoha's fingers was too short.

Katsuhiko didn't care about the wasted coins, since once he got a new person, the gold coins would keep coming.

"Kotoha-chan, please pass me my clothes in..."

After taking a shower, Yingdai put on her work clothes from the food processing plant.

The work clothes had a zipper, and she pulled the zipper up to the collar, which covered half of her fair neck.

With each step she took, leaning on her cane, the hem of her high-rising dress seemed to be struck by something inside.

After Eiyo came out, Katsuhiko also washed up in the bathroom and changed into his work clothes from Watanabe Food Processing Factory.

"Wow~ You two look so well-matched, like you're wearing matching outfits," Qinye exclaimed playfully.

Yingdai glanced at Qinye, frowned slightly as if warning, then turned her flushed face to the window and said, "It's time to go home."

In the past, food factories would have workers working overtime to produce food, even during holidays, and would also have customer service personnel to answer after-sales calls.

But now there's no need for that anymore. The reason the two of them are still staying in the factory is mostly because they are unwilling to give up.

It's almost seven o'clock, and the sky is getting dusky.

The western sun outside the window had sunk more than halfway behind the mountains, and the dark clouds with their golden edges stretched out in the shape of a dragon.

To avoid being harassed by debt collectors, Eiyo, Kotoha, and Kenta didn't live at home. Instead, they secretly rented the cheapest guesthouse in the suburbs, far from the city center.

I've already sold my car and don't dare take the company shuttle bus anymore. I commute by bicycle, which takes more than an hour each way.

The three of them went down the stairs. Qinye walked in front, holding a cane in her hand, with an aunt-like smile on her face.

Katsuhiko continued to hold Eiyo.

Eiyo wrapped her arms around Katsuhiko's neck, no longer tilting her head away, but when she occasionally looked at Katsuhiko, there was a hint of hesitation in her eyes, as if she wanted to say something but couldn't.

Katsuhiko said, "Speak your mind."

"Qinye is wrong. She...she doesn't understand me," Yingdai seemed to grit her teeth, then whispered, "My ex-husband isn't gay. That was something I told my mother."

"and then?"

"I have no children and I have three million yen in debt."

"continue."

"You, you still want me to go to the movies with you?" Eiyo said, looking up at Katsuhiko with a slightly dazed expression.

"We need to finish our meal first, and then we can help heal our leg injury."

Eiyo pursed her lips, still looking at Katsuhiko, and said, "Aren't you going to ask me why I got a divorce?"

"What's there to ask? It's always the same old story: your ex-husband is a jerk, cheated, committed crimes, involved in prostitution, gambling, drugs, neglected you, didn't love you, abused you, was unambitious, his family made things difficult for you, he's drowning in debt, you two were incompatible, your values ​​clashed—in short, whether it's your ex-husband or ex-boyfriend, it's all their fault. Do you expect me to hear you listing your own mistakes? Even if you cheated, it was because he was always away on business trips and never came home, and you had no choice. I've seen many divorce cases; judges are very understanding of women."

Yingdai stared in disbelief, then said hesitantly, "It's because he committed a crime that I divorced him."

"See, I wasn't wrong. And what about you?"

"I did nothing wrong."

"I was right again."

Yingdai looked annoyed and said, "I'm having a serious conversation with you, but the way you're acting makes me feel like you're very casual."

"Dating isn't like marriage, so it's more relaxed to be casual. Keep talking, I'm listening."

Eiyo gritted her teeth and said, "Sato Hiroji suspects I have evidence of his crimes and forbids me from associating with other people..."

Katsuhiko was taken aback and asked, "Who?"

Eiyo was stunned for a moment, then said, "My ex-husband, Sato Hiroji."

Do you have any evidence of his crimes?

"No." Yingdai seemed a little annoyed, then tilted her head and asked, "Do you know him?"

If there were evidence of his crimes, it would have been possible to blackmail him for a large sum of compensation, and his bank loans could also be used to blackmail him into postponing the repayment deadline.

"There's a bit of a grudge between us," Katsuhiko said, lifting Eiyo, whom he was carrying horizontally, a little higher, and then asked, "What did he do wrong?"

"He embezzled customer savings, misappropriated bank assets, colluded with a violent gang, and caused the death of a customer..."

Yingdai couldn't remember clearly either, after all, more than three years had passed.

Katsuhiko was not surprised by Sato Hiroji's criminal activities. No banker is immune to some form of financial crime.

As for the issue of colluding with yakuza groups, at that time, many of the bank's senior executives were actually yakuza members working part-time.

When we went down to the first floor, the seven people who had been tied to the machine had already run away.

The police officer who said he would "arrive on time in two hours" did not come.

Qinye pushed in two bicycles: a blue women's bicycle with a curved crossbar and a black men's bicycle with a crossbar.

Katsuhiko tied a long plank to the back of the black bicycle and had Eiyo sit across it with her legs outstretched.

Kotoha was going to ride her bicycle home alone, and she secretly winked at Katsuhiko, signaling him to keep going.

Yingdai noticed all her little actions.

Yingdai glanced at her sideways, pretended not to see her, and turned her head away.

It wasn't because she was shy; it was mainly because, as the older sister, she had always been the one ordering her around, and now that she was being asked to worry about her own marriage, she felt embarrassed.

Katsuhiko didn't let Kotoha go back alone. It was already dark, and the rented house was quite far from the factory. They had to cross a deserted farmland area, and several of the streetlights were broken, so it wasn't safe at all.

So, Kotoha sent a notification message to Kenta's pager, and then the three of them headed to the nearest shopping street.

Katsuhiko got on the bicycle, and Eiyo sat across the wooden board on the back seat, with one arm around Katsuhiko's waist.

Katsuhiko freed his right hand, patted Eiya's hand, and asked, "Now can you tell me where Kenta went?"

Eiyo didn't dodge; instead, she tightened her grip on Katsuhiko's stomach and said, "I'm going to see the president of the First Industrial Bank..."

Because the bank was pressing for repayment, Kenta had no choice but to visit them in person to request an extension...

Twenty minutes later, we chose a small private room at an affordable izakaya and took our seats.

Katsuhiko and Eiyo sat side by side, with Kotoha across the low table.

While pouring water, Sheng Yan secretly exchanged for a bottle of [Recovery Potion] and poured half of it into a 1L water bottle.

The ratio is approximately 5 ml to 1 liter of water. Try it on a leg injury treated with Yingdai. If it doesn't produce any incredible results and is still effective, then we can proceed with the energy drink plan.

Before the food was served, Katsuhiko held up a white porcelain water glass to Eiyo's face.

Yingdai paused for a moment, then took the water cup from her hands.

Kotoha, sitting opposite her, smiled and looked like she hadn't seen anything.

"I'm quite familiar with the owner of a convenience store; we're good friends. I saw that there are a lot of miso soup packets and oden sets in their factory warehouse. Should I send some to their store to sell?"

"Of course!" Kotoha, still wearing a motherly smile, suddenly turned to look at Katsuhiko, her eyes filled with surprise and delight. "Was the bill paid on time?"

Those inventories were originally intended for convenience stores, but unfortunately, orders have plummeted. Now we're selling as much as we can, and we've been eating meager meals lately.

"With me here, it'll definitely be on time," Katsuhiko turned his head and saw Eiyo staring blankly at her water glass. He held the bottom of the glass and touched her lips to it, then said, "If Eiyo-chan has the chance, she can get to know the owner of that place."

Eiyo tilted her head back and drank the water. Katsuhiko placed his hand on her knee and asked, "Does your leg still hurt?"

Yingdai looked down in bewilderment, her lips twitching slightly. She removed his hand and said, "It doesn't hurt."

Katsuhiko switched hands, patted her knee, and squeezed it slightly, asking, "Does it hurt now?"

"Hiss—!" Eiyo gasped, then yanked Katsuhiko's hand away, giving him a look as if he were an "idiot," and said, "You, do you have some kind of perverted fetish?"

"Just kidding," Sheng Yan said dismissively, refilling her cup. "Have another one."

"This isn't fun at all!" Yingdai said, lifting her skirt to look at her knee. The white gauze was already stained red with blood. "If you keep acting like this, I'll have to think about it..."

Qin Ye burst out laughing.

The meal lasted for half an hour, and no alcohol was consumed.

When Katsuhiko left the izakaya, he had more than ten coins in his pocket, which jingled as he walked.

If this continues, I'll need to prepare a bag.

Katsuhiko put Eiyo on the back of the bicycle again, and Eiyo seemed completely at ease with it.

"I wonder how Kenta would feel if he knew..."

Katsuhiko said, "From now on, Kenta will definitely bow to me first when he sees me."

Yingdai seemed to have thought of something funny, and the corners of her mouth curved slightly before she pursed them back.

Kotoha was covering her mouth and laughing when her pager beeped. She picked it up with a smile, her expression stiffening slightly. She looked up and asked, "Kenta said 'I'm sorry' to me. What does that mean?"

The pager on the British side also beeped, with the same "sorry" number.

"Holy crap!" Katsuhiko's expression changed. "Get Kenta right now!"