“What is this? How could you do this to me?”
“Do what to you?”
“You know all too well about my bad history with mafias, why would you be so cruel as to bring me to their home of all things?”
“Oh hush, don’t compare common street thugs and loan sharks to the Yakuza. It’s offensive.”
“Is this… human trafficking? Are you selling me off? Have I become useless to you now?”
“Please stop being so dramatic. They have a policy not to touch people affiliated with their family, so as long as you stick close to me, you’ll be fine.”
– a hushed conversation outside the Arakawagumi residence.
***
Itsuki stares at her. This has got to be some kind of joke.
“Young Master, is everything okay?” one of his father’s subordinates asks when he sees the perplexed expression on the Young Master’s face. Having worked for the Arakawagumi for over thirty years, he has learnt to take note of even the tiniest changes in expressions. Especially in the second Young Master’s whose face usually remains expressionless.
“Mastuda.”
“Yes, sir?”
“Who is that woman hugging my father right now?”
“That girl would be your cousin, Young Master. Did you somehow miss the preparations for her arrival and forgot she was coming? Though I wouldn’t understand how exactly you managed that when the Boss was making such a big deal out of it.”
“I know that. But how is that my cousin? No matter how I look at it, she looks like an American tourist.” And the thief who supposedly stole Kazuya’s Dad’s most prized diamond. “The foreigner next to her looks more familiar than she does.”
“Well I doubt you’ve met her secretary before. But you have met her before, when you were younger. Young Master, before your aunt’s death, you visited them several times in America. Do you not remember her at all?”
“I do remember, but… so basically you’re telling me that … that girl there is …Sayu-chan.”
Come to think of it, she did mention a japanese name to call her by, when Itsuki and Kazuya had gone to her hotel room. What it was, however, he couldn't remember.
“Yes, sir.”
“Cry-baby Sayu-chan, that Rhinehart Empire ojou?”
“Yes, sir. Although I am unsure about any crying tendencies.”
“She’s definitely not an impostor or a fraud?”
“I doubt it. The Boss went to her father's funeral several months ago, remember. He would be able to differentiate between the real thing from a fraud.”
“Can you trust that though? Father has a surprisingly bad memory.”
“He wouldn’t forget his own niece, right?”
“Sometimes he calls me Ichirou and goes on about inheriting the organization.”
“That’s because… you do look very similar to your older brother. It’s probably hard for him to remember the right face to the name. Even after my thirty years of service he still calls me Katsuda sometimes.”
“And you still think my father’s memory can be trusted? Matsuda?”
“Before anything else, Young Master, it seems I must thank you for remembering my name.” Matsuda says humbly with a bow.
YOU ARE READING
Running into her
General Fiction"I just want to see if this will teach me how to feel again. And since you seem to want to die anyhow, will you please let me kill you?” Dubbed as the Walking Disaster Magnet, Leonara Rhinehart, the Rhinehart conglomerate's sole heir, only goes to T...
