The strongest high school student in Japan

"Since you know that my father was serving a prison sentence before, you should know that he was involved in a new religious sect." Sagihara Shion looked up at the ceiling blankly. She was lost in her memories and her voice became ethereal. "But you probably don't know that the sect was founded by my father and another person. That person was the leader and he was responsible for being the priest."

"That means he is a senior official of the cult?" asked Jun Mogami.

"Rather than saying he's a senior cadre, it's better to say he's the soul of the organization..." Sagihara Shion continued with a wry smile, "I...I'll tell you in detail from beginning to end."

Then, she closed her eyes slightly and began to recount her memories. "Before founding the sect, my father was an elementary school teacher. He had been a teacher for more than ten years, but his income was not high. He always felt that his talent was not appreciated and that he should be respected more by society. Of course, even so, in the first ten years of my life, I felt that I was a happy child. Although my family was not rich, it was at least a normal family, until... until that day. My father decided to get involved in religious work - or to put it bluntly, he wanted to make money from the sect. I have forgotten what the opportunity was that made him make this decision, but I must admit that my father has a talent for grasping people's hearts, and he eventually used this talent in the most terrible place...

He knew how to manipulate people, but he had no personal charm, so he found a liar who was good at speaking and packaged that person as the leader of the cult, and then started activities in the name of the cult. "

When she said this, her breathing became slightly faster and she seemed a little excited. "Do you know how he recruited the first group of believers? He used his identity as an elementary school teacher to deliberately lure parents to participate in the activities of the sect. Many parents who trusted him fell into this trap and were eventually defrauded of everything they had."

"You're using your own students as tools? How despicable." Mogami Jun frowned. "As a teacher, you're vile in your responsibilities."

There are quite a lot of similar groups in Japan that deceive people in the name of new religions and exploit the property of believers. Sometimes it is really strange why so many people are willing to stubbornly believe in doctrines that seem completely absurd.

Perhaps it is because many people are willing to let themselves be deceived. They want to find a sense of belonging and illusory happiness in the cult they have been deceived into, and find their place in this world.

"Yes, despicable and shameless." Sagihara Shion nodded, not refuting the other party's evaluation of her father at all. "But my father has such a talent. He used the cult to coax those people around and tricked them into handing over their income and property. They thought they were saved... In short, using this method, they amassed a huge amount of wealth in a short period of time. My father more or less achieved his goal. During that period of time, he used the money to let me live a very luxurious life. Thinking about it now, it seems like a dream... But when I think that the money is ill-gotten gains, I feel very guilty and very regretful... If only I knew it at that time!"

"So what happened after that?" Seeing that the senior was a little excited, Mogami Jun asked hurriedly, "Since they had successfully collected money, why did the murder happen?"

"Because of my mother." Sagihara Shion answered in a low voice, "She...she knew the truth. Dad didn't trust outsiders, so he asked her to manage the cult's property. The dirty money that was fished out of other people's blood and tears...was in my mother's hands, but my mother never believed in the cult's teachings for a second. On the contrary, she still had a conscience, so she always advised my father to stop - of course, my father never listened to her, but just asked her to keep the secret."

After a pause, she bit her lips lightly.

"My mother had been suffering from the torment of her conscience until one day she could no longer bear it. A family member of a believer was seriously ill and needed a large amount of medical expenses. However, the cult told him that as long as he believed in religion, his family would be blessed, and coaxed him to continue donating his remaining family property to the cult... At that moment, she finally broke down. She told that person that the damn cult, doctrine, and leader were all fake. They were all illusions and lies made up by my father. She asked that person to leave the cult as soon as possible, and she also took money out of the cult's account and secretly gave it to him so that he could take his family to treat the illness..."

"It was discovered later?" Mogami Jun seemed to understand something.

"Yes, I was discovered..." Sagihara Shion smiled bitterly, then tightly grasped the quilt, her hands turned white, "But you would never have thought that the person who informed on me was the one she helped! After my mother told him the truth, he turned around and told my father and the leader, and then my mother was arrested... I hate him. Even though he was deceived, I still hate him, I hate him! I hate him!"

The long-lost anger and hatred surged into the girl's heart again. Over the past few years, every time she thought of this incident, she would fall into an uncontrollable rage.

"After the truth was revealed, my mother was severely punished in public. She was forced to admit in front of the believers that she was seduced by the devil and that's why she spoke nonsense. She was also forced to eat a spell that was burned to ashes and mixed with water. Finally, she was punished by electric current... In the end, she died of heart failure."

Not only because the victim of this incident was her mother, but also because this incident almost destroyed her faith in the world.

Those who do evil are worshipped and believed in, while those who do good are suspected and rejected, and eventually end up being tortured to death. So what is good and evil? What is the meaning of doing good? She still can't think of the answer.

Sagihara Shion was breathing rapidly and her hands were shaking violently.

She didn't know when another hand grabbed her hand.

"Senior, it's all in the past." A calm greeting came to my ears.

How could it be okay? How could this be okay? She screamed in her heart.

But even so, she controlled herself.

Yes, it’s all in the past. No matter what, life goes on.

She slowly evened out her breathing and spoke again.

"You know what happened next. After my mother died, the matter was exposed, the police intervened, the cult ceased operations, and the main figures involved were arrested and imprisoned. However... they were only convicted of manslaughter, and my father cleverly minimized his responsibility. He was so smart that he hid himself behind the scenes when he founded the cult. So the charges of murder and fraud were assigned to other people, so he was only sentenced to four years in prison. Now, the sentence has expired."

"So he came out and started looking for you?" Jun Mogami finally understood the whole picture.

"Yes, he wants to find me, but... not for the father-daughter relationship, but for something else." Sagihara Shion showed a strange smile.

"…What do you mean?" Mogami Jun was confused again.

"I told you, my mother was the accountant of the cult at the time." Sagihara Shion replied, "After knowing that the cult was going to arrest her, she took advantage of the last chance to transfer most of the cult's funds. The cult's punishment on her was probably partly to torture her to find out where the funds went."

Jun Mogami was stunned for a moment, then he raised his head suspiciously and looked at Sagihara Shion.

"You?" he asked finally.

"I." Sagihara Shion nodded slightly.

After a moment, she looked up at Mogami Jun again, "If I tell you that I later transferred all the funds and donated them, would you believe it?"

"If it's a senior... I'd believe it..." Mogami Jun replied, "After all, the senior doesn't look very rich."

"Thank you for your trust." Sagihara Shion smiled bitterly, "I'm not that great, but when I think about the blood of my mother and others in that money, I... I can't muster up the courage to use it for myself. If I do that, then what's the difference between me, my father, and those people? So I donated it all."

"about how much?"

"Probably a few hundred million. I didn't count the exact number, there are a lot of accounts." Sagihara Shion smiled bitterly, "Do you think I'm a little stupid?"

"No, I don't think so." Mogami Jun shook his head, "But... your father won't believe you, right?"

"So he wanted to find me and ask me where I had hidden all his hard work." Sagihara Shion replied. "And I never want to see him again in my life."

There was another moment of silence.

"He can't hurt you." After a long time, Jun Mogami replied.

Then, he let go of the senior sister's hand and covered her face with the quilt. "Okay, senior sister, it's already late, have a good rest, get up early tomorrow morning, and let's go to school before my father gets up."

21. Unwelcome Request

Perhaps because she had completely vented her emotions and felt relaxed, Senior Sagihara fell asleep quickly.

Under Mogami Jun's gaze, the senior student closed her eyes slightly. Although there were still some residual tears hanging on her eyelashes, the quilt on her chest was already rising and falling rhythmically. Coupled with her slightly red face, she looked peaceful and elegant.

It has been so long since she had a good communication with anyone. At school, everyone avoided her because her father was a high-ranking member of a cult. She had been living alone for several years, and the loneliness accumulated in her heart was probably incalculable.

But even so, she did not hate her classmates at school. On the contrary, she took the initiative to avoid causing trouble for everyone. This kind of mentality is really not easy to come by.

If I put myself in his shoes, if Jun Mogami had fallen into this situation, I'm afraid he would have developed some antisocial thoughts a long time ago...

There is one question that Jun Mogami has never asked the senior, which is "How did the senior transfer hundreds of millions of yen and donate them?"

He could figure this problem out if he thought about it carefully.

According to the senior student's account, at the last moment of her life, her mother took advantage of her accounting skills to transfer all the funds of believers recruited from within the cult to other external accounts, and the number was as high as a dozen.

Obviously, this is a common method used by underground social organizations to launder and transfer funds. Japan does not have a national identity card, and it is not difficult to forge an identity. Many law firms even make profits in this way, so her mother only needs to transfer the funds into these forged accounts, and then secretly give the accounts to Sagihara Shion.

Similarly, the Japanese are notoriously obsessed with cash, and ATMs are everywhere, so all Sagihara Shion has to do is go to the ATM from time to time to slowly withdraw cash from a dozen accounts, and no one will notice it at all.

Donations can also be made anonymously in cash, and no one will track them.

Therefore, she was able to transfer hundreds of millions of dollars when she was still a teenager, and no one in the school noticed that she was once so rich.

What is even more unbelievable is that these hundreds of millions of funds were donated by Sagihara Shion, and she did not keep any of it personally - if he had not witnessed Sagihara's poor living conditions with his own eyes, Mogami Jun himself would not have believed it.

Her mother left her so much money before she died, with the intention of allowing her to live a wealthy life in the future. However, she was unwilling to use the money because of her mother's death, so she would rather donate it all.

There are really not many people who can do this. Too many people squander the money earned by their parents' crimes, and they never feel any guilt.

Should we say that Sagihara-senpai is too kind or too stubborn?

Either way, it's fun.

If such an interesting person had to disappear from the world because of cruel malice, then the world would be too boring.

So I decided to let you continue to live, and if possible, live more happily, senior. Mogami Jun said to Sagihara Shion who was sleeping.

Then, he was already very sleepy, and finally he lay down on the ground and fell asleep.

============================================

In a daze, Jun Mogami had a dream. He dreamed that he floated in the sky, overlooking the huge city of Tokyo, and all living beings were hurrying around under his feet. Just as he was still admiring this spectacular sight, a gust of wind suddenly hit him. Although he tried hard to keep his balance, the wind was too strong, and his shoulders were shaking. In the end, he couldn't control himself and fell down, and then fell to the ground...

"what……"

With a slight scream, he suddenly opened his eyes.

Then, Senior Sagihara's pale and delicate face appeared in his eyes.

It turned out that she was the one who shook his arm... Jun Mogami breathed a long sigh of relief.

"Did Jun-kun have a nightmare?" Seeing Jun Mogami's big reaction, Sagihara Shion asked with a half-smile, "Why do you look like you've seen a ghost?"

"Yes, I dreamed that my senior ran away, so I hurried to chase her, but she ran too fast and I couldn't catch up with her, so I felt very painful." Mogami Jun answered without thinking.

This answer made Sagihara Shion suddenly feel a little embarrassed and her face turned slightly red.

"You obviously run faster than me..." After a moment, she answered with her head down.

While the senior was feeling embarrassed, Mogami Jun raised his head and looked out the window. It was still very early, and the sky was not yet bright. There was only a faint hint of white in the eastern sky.

It was probably around six o'clock.

"I'm sorry to wake you up so early, Jun-kun. Let's go early. It would be bad if your father found out..." Senior Sagihara said a little embarrassedly.

"Well, it's okay." Jun Mogami shook his head, then slowly stood up, stretched, and then quickly put on his school uniform.

"Please give me a few minutes." He opened the door first and walked towards the bathroom.

A few minutes later, after quickly washing up, Jun Mogami made sure that his father had not yet gotten up, and then sneaked out of the house with senior sister Sagihara.

The elevator quickly took them downstairs, and then they stepped into a world swept by cold wind.

As usual, Mogami Jun walked towards the light rail station along the familiar route with senior sister Sagihara. There were not many people on the street at the moment, and the two walked side by side, crossing green spaces and past tall buildings. Although they had only met each other a few times up to this point, their pace was unexpectedly in sync, as if they had met each other many times before.

No one spoke, they just walked quietly.

It was not until he arrived at the station entrance that Jun Mogami finally stopped.

"Senior, can you promise me one thing?" He looked straight ahead.

"Sure, Jun-kun, just tell me, as long as I can do it..." Sagihara Shion next to her nodded slightly.

"Don't run away, okay?" Mogami Jun whispered, "Go to school today, and tomorrow... and the day after tomorrow, until the day you graduate."

Sagihara Shion froze.

"Chunjun...what does this mean?" After a moment, she forced a smile.

"Senior... I'm not particularly smart, but I do have some basic observation skills." Mogami Jun smiled bitterly. "You came running to see me last night, but you were actually ready to run away, right? It was just because you couldn't let go of the promise you made to me, so you planned to see me one last time before running away. That's also why you said you gave up writing, because you were ready to run away and you would never have the chance to write well again. Am I right?"

Sagihara Shion lowered her head and remained silent for a moment.

"...Jun-kun is really smart. Don't be so modest."

"I'm very touched that you kept your promise even to the end and gave me such a big honor." Mogami Jun slowly turned his head and looked at Sagihara Shion, "But I still have to shamelessly continue to make this request. I'm not a police officer, and I have no right to detain you or restrict your freedom... So I'm asking you to please don't run away for the sake of my previous help."

"But he's looking for me, and I...I don't want to be found by him." Sagihara Shion shook her head sadly, "I don't want to have anything to do with him in my life."

"Are you going to run away just for this reason? But senior, have you ever thought that if you run away like this, you will be giving up your entire future. Your studies will be interrupted, your dream of writing novels will end, and everything you have left will be lost... How is this different from being caught by your father?" Mogami Jun stared at Sagihara Shion, not giving her any room to escape. "And from my personal point of view... I don't want to see you run away like this and end up in poverty. This is not the life you should live."

Sagihara Shion stared blankly at Mogami Jun's sincere eyes, then lowered her head again.

"I...what else can I do? Do you think I want this? Even if I lose everything I have left, it's better than meeting that person again! He has already found this school and found out where I live, so what else can I do if I don't run away? Should I call the police? Will the police protect me? I almost fell into his hands last night, and at that moment I even thought about death...I don't want to experience it again."

Then she sighed again, raised her hands, and grabbed Jun Mogami's right hand.

"Chun-kun, thank you for helping me and thank you for what you said to me... I will always remember it."

Although it's a pity to say this, what Sagihara-senpai said does make sense. Calling the police will not be of much use.

The main role of the police all over the world is to arrest criminals who have already committed crimes (sometimes they don't even do this well), but they are of little use in preventing crimes. Since Sagihara Shion's father has been released from prison, he is already a normal citizen to the police, and they can't catch him even if they call the police - they can't not allow the father to inquire about his daughter's whereabouts.

The police will definitely not send anyone to protect Sagihara Shion's safety. After all, she is not that important.

So it seems that we can only let that person wander around the world and wait until he actually commits a crime before arresting him. But when tragedy strikes, it will be too late.

So I can only rely on myself for now.

"Senior, even if you run, it may not be of any use, right? Don't forget, you are not yet an adult, and your father is a professional criminal who knows a lot of people who do unorthodox things. He must be more informed than you. And you don't have much money, so how far can you run? You may not even be able to escape to Tokyo." Mogami Jun shook his head, not agreeing with the senior's words, "Senior, I think if you just run away, it might be easier for him to catch you, because then there will be no one to help you."

Mogami Jun's analysis was logical and made Sagihara Shion hesitate again.

She thought about it over and over again, but she felt that she was at a dead end.

Is fate really so cruel to me?

There was a roar coming from the railroad tracks not far away, as if the god of fate was mercilessly mocking her powerlessness.

"Then what do you think I should do?" she asked in a trembling voice, "Does Chunjun have any other ideas?"

"My opinion is, continue to go to school. Only by going to school can you have a future." Mogami Jun expressed his opinion, "Then you can live in the school. Our school is quite safe."

If it were an ordinary school, there would certainly be no safety at all. However, the school they are attending now is different, because many children from wealthy families study here, and rich people pay special attention to safety and privacy, so the school is heavily guarded and has complete security forces. With the power of Sagihara Shion's father alone, it would be impossible to invade.

"I've considered this approach before." Sagihara Shion gave a bitter smile, obviously a little disappointed with Mogami Jun's proposal, "But our school doesn't allow students to live on campus."

"School rules are school rules, but there is always something we can do about it." Mogami Jun replied. "Senior, can you give me a day or two?"

22. Request

"School rules are school rules, but there is always something we can do. Senior, can you give me a day or two?"