“Okhayasi-san,” I was getting sick of all these suffixes in one day, “It's nice to see you again.”
“Oh, hello, Sakurai-kun,” pronounced as elegantly and sophisticated as ever. “Today is truly a wonderful day. The only thing that makes it even better is Kagami-san's food. Her food will turn any day into a celebration.”
“I can't argue with that, Okhayasi-san. Her daughters deserve to take credit as well. They're slowly getting to be just as good.”
“Yes, especially the youngest,” he nodded. “Fish dishes are her strong point. I'd like to have a sister that can cook like that. Yeah. Actually, I shouldn't complain—Aniko makes pretty good fish too.”
It sounds like in assessing people, he relies solely on their ability to cook. I don't believe this, but it sure seems so. A mask?
“Your sister is a wonderful girl. I'm pretty sure she cooks even better than you describe.”
“You absolutely must try her bento, Sakurai-kun. I can assure you, you will be impressed.”
How does he imagine that? As if I can come up to her and say, 'Aniko, your elder brother told me to try your bento?'
“I think I can convince her to make an extra batch to take to school. Even better, join us for dinner. That sounds like a better idea. I hope you won't refuse the invitation to have dinner with us, Sakurai-kun?”
He must have been sent to me. The Koyama owe me more and more. Of course, I could refuse, but I don't think it's worth it. What I need to do is set the time for this dinner myself.
“I'd love to, Okhayasi-san, but not anytime soon. I've got too much work. How about closer to next weekend?”
“That sounds good,” Sean nodded with a smile. “Whenever it's most convenient for you, just let Aniko know. I'm sure she'll be happy.”
What? What was that supposed to mean? “Happy?” I'm getting worried. No, that's impossible—the Okhayashi will not marry off their oldest daughter to ME. It's nonsense. I must be paranoid, and Sean meant something else. There are a ton of options. Yes, absolutely. It can't be any other way.
“Certainly, Ohayashi-san. I apologize, Nakata-san and I have to leave now. I still have to find my subordinate,” I smiled apologetically.
“Have a great night, Sakurai-kun, I hope to see you again soon.”
We spent half an hour looking for Taro. I almost started to think that he had had too much to drink and was now sleeping it off somewhere inside the house. The territory was huge and it wouldn't be hard to hide here, but that's the last thing he would do when he needed more exposure to people. These people wouldn't be hanging out in the alleys that he frequents, so he should take advantage of the situation.
We found Taro when he was walking out of the corner of the building, talking to a tall and stately man. When they reached the crowd, they exchanged bows and parted. That's when we got him.
“Where the hell have you been?” My partner attacked him right away. “Don't you think that disappearing out of sight of your boss is crossing the line?”
“Akemi,” I uttered accusingly. “He's my man, and only I can tell him what he should and shouldn’t do. At least in my presence.”
“Sorry,” she muttered. “But half an hour!”
“He must have had his reasons,” I said, trying to pacify her. “Let's go, legless drunk. We're leaving.”
I was exaggerating again. Despite the fact that Taro was clearly a little tipsy, he held up strong.
“Who was that anyway?” I nodded to the man that Taro had been talking to.
“Aketi Yudsuki, boss. The head of the Aketi clan.”
“I thought they had a tea business. How is that useful for Shidotamoru?”
“Who cares what they do, boss. We can advertise and promote them in our network so well that it'll be mind-blowing! Besides money, we'll get fame and reputation from it. Aristocrats, as I have noticed, neglect advertising. It's weird but works in our favor.”
“Yeah, advertising. I haven't thought of that. Okay, let's go now.”
In the car, Taro looked like a deflated balloon. It turned out that he had drunk quite a bit, and because he had to look decent, he had done his best at the reception. After he got into the car it seemed that the sound of the closing door behind him was his signal to pass out.
“He looks like he's been put to torture there,” Rymov commented, glancing at his body.
“I don't want to know,” I replied, looking back at Taro. “Hey, legless, you hear me? How many fingers do you see?”
“I'm not lgless.”
“Lgless? Okay then. Come on, Vas, take me to my new mansion.”
I had given my address to both drivers and I hoped they had figured it out because I had no clue. The addresses in this Japan are just as confusing as my former one. It doesn't shock me that we have to draw maps everywhere we go.
“New mansion?” Akemi asked. “I don't mind taking a look at it, but why now?”
“Because we have time. So why not? We can drop this half-corpse there and look around.”
We arrived at the mansion by evening. On the way, Taro took a nap, but getting out of the car he was still a bit tipsy. I gave Akemi my hand, helping her out of the car and glanced at the gate. Given the length of the stone fence, the mansion had to be rather big.
“Interesting. What do you think?”
“I'm tired,” Taro said.
“Not sure what the house is like, but the territory is huge,” said Akemi and that made me feel warm on the inside. “How did Chesuje not have a heart attack the night he lost this?”
“When I realized that I had won, I thought about that myself,” I chuckled. “Okay, let's go in.”
Clicking the intercom located to the right of the gate, I waited for a response.
“Wonderful,” Akemi noted. “What if no one is there?”
“I doubt it,” I replied, not quite sure myself.
“Yes,” we heard from the speaker after two minutes.
“Sakurai Shinji is here. Could you open the gate?”
“Of course, Sakurai-san. I'm on my way.”
In a few minutes, the seven-foot-tall gates were opened, and we saw a stalky old man in front of us.
“Good evening, Sakurai-san. Let me introduce myself: Yoshioka Minoru,” he bowed. “Welcome home, Sir.”
Amazing. For a moment there, I really felt as if I had returned home after many years of studying abroad.
“Hm. Well, Yoshioka-san, let me introduce my friends. Nakata Akemi,” I nodded toward the woman. “Please make her feel welcome. Nemoto Taro, a legless drunk.”
“I'm not... legless,” he was able to pronounce.
“That's it. Anyway, let's see... what's changed in the time of my absence,” I said jokingly.
“Please,” the old man bowed and gestured towards the house.
The house, or the main building, was a huge square with a small courtyard inside. The mansion was designed in the same style as Koyama's palace, but without a lake with islets. It was also smaller, of course. It wasn't a palace, but it had many bedrooms, rooms for servants, pavilions, and galleries. Everything was smaller. Against the backdrop of the old style stood out quite a modern garage, located somewhere on the periphery of the territory.
In general, even in spite of the fact that Chesuje had taken everything that he could, except the surveillance system, I liked it here. I was thrilled, actually. After all, all of it belonged to me now.
“Unfortunately, Chesuje-san ordered all household articles taken out of here,” Yosioka pursed his lips, showing us another empty room. “I tried to keep at least the desks and futons, but his order was more than clear. All the staff of the mansion were servants of the bloodline; therefore, as you can see, they left with their master. I advise hiring more people as soon as possible as my family physically can't take care of the entire territory.”
“Yes, Yoshioka-san, could you tell us how it happened that you stayed when everyone else left?”
“My family has worked here for the last thre
e hundred years,” the old man exhaled. “Regardless of who the boss was. You are the fourth owner of the mansion, and we are hoping to serve you now. Unfortunately, as evidence of our commitment, I can offer you only accounting and other papers for all the three hundred years of our employment.”
Geez! They're nuts. They started recording all finances three hundred years ago and were able to preserve them? It's not even an official organization or anything—I mean they're just servants, even if hereditary. Geez.
“H-ha. That's a shocker. I'll definitely take a look. Um... Where is Taro?”
“My son took him to bed in one of the guest rooms.”
“Good timing. I didn't even notice. Yeah. What about Akemi?”
“Miss Akemi stayed in the surveillance room. I think she was intrigued by the security system there.”
I had gotten too relaxed and hadn’t noticed anything, it seemed.
“Let's talk about the problems,” I looked around, trying to find a chair or a pillow to sit on, but as expected, I didn't see anything suitable. “What do you need to... What is everything you need?”
“To keep it short, I need money and permission to hire servants,” the old man said without hesitation. “I was going to buy all necessary things myself, but the money of my family wouldn't cover everything that this place needs. And I can't hire the servants without your permission.”
“Do you have a big family?”
“There are four of us. My son and I and our wives. My grandson and granddaughter live in their university dorms. They will come back after they graduate, but my granddaughter... Sooner or later, she'll get married and will be living with her own family. I have another daughter, but she married years ago. One of her sons wants to follow in the family's footsteps. That will be after he graduates university, too. Our family has a custom that one gets a job only after acquiring a university degree. In fact, I was the first one with a degree, and as the head of the family, I established this rule. I think it's fair. Another thing, that's optional but highly desirable, is for men to have a rank of Warrior. There is also a possibility that someone might break into the house.”
Heh, “break into”. Perhaps, someone from a different bloodline.
“I see. Any other requests?”
“We have to change the security systems. Right now, my family isn't trusted enough to undertake this responsibility.”
I like him. Really.
“You're right. They need to be replaced. I thought about that already. I also thought about the security guards. I can't promise true experts, but I'll send people fairly soon.”
“I'd like to clarify something else. Not long ago, some people came here to put up new coats of arms, so I figured that the lands had been leased for several decades to come,” he said carefully. “I was told that in any case, you remain the owner of the mansion. Is that right?”
“Don't you worry, Yoshioka-san, the lands have been leased to my company. Despite my age, I am the King and God in the company.”
“That's... great, Sakurai-san. Thank you for giving me peace of mind and clarifying everything,” he bowed, seemingly happy.
“Good. I'll talk to my accountant today. Actually, why don't you give me your phone number and he'll contact you, so you and he can figure out how much and for what you should be receiving.”
“As you say, Sakurai-san.”
“Don't worry, my accountant does not suffer from greed, so you won't have any problems with him.”
We found Akemi just where we had left her. She was sitting in the security guard's chair, reading something on the monitor.
“They cleaned everything up,” she said, turning to us. “Nothing interesting.”
After giving it some thought, we decided to stay at the mansion overnight, so we wouldn't have to drive through the whole city. While Yoshioki's son ran to the closest store to buy futon beds, his father, Akemi, and I went to take a look at the 300-year-old accounting books.
While Tadao, aka Yoshioka Jr., was doing his thing, we had time to look through the books. Factually, there was nothing interesting there, as expected. The interest basically was not in the financial reports themselves but in the pieces of history they contained.
It turned out that the first owner's name was also some Sakurai. He was a minor nobleman, samurai, and a vassal to another vassal. His family owned the lands for about 50 years, and then all of a sudden a different owner was listed in the papers. About a hundred years ago, the Chesuje bloodline acquired ownership of the mansion and the surrounding lands. We weren't able to find out how it happened, which wasn't crucial anyway.
We had dinner and then Akemi and I parted ways to our rooms to check out our new sleeping accommodations. As I began to undress, I remembered that I had not called Taro's bodyguard. Sitting down on the futon, I picked up the mobile phone that was lying next to me.
“Good evening, Sugishima,” I said after hearing the standard “Hello”. “I'm calling to let you know that everything is fine. Taro will be back tomorrow in the afternoon.”
“Got it, Sakurai-san. Allow me to report?”
“Go ahead,” I answered with caution.
“Tonight, a little after 6, I noticed two strangers by the house. The guards of Nemoto Sr. did not know them. An hour ago, I lost sight of them.”
“Interesting,” I was preoccupied with my thoughts. “Go to the main office tomorrow morning. I'll let the Chief of security know and order them to give you a bulletproof vest and something heavier than your pistol. Dismiss everyone at the office. Remember I told you how to get to the Swallow club? Do you remember the address?”
“Yes, I do, sir. I went there this afternoon to make sure I knew.”
“Great job. If not for these two, you would have wasted your day off. Anyway, go to the club right now. Ask Nemoto-san's guards to give you a car. I think they should have one. Actually, I know you have one too. Find the old man named Funtik at the club—ask the guards, they’ll point you to the right guy. Ask for Ghost: that's the nickname he goes by for them. Whatever Funtik gives you, take it. You're a military man, and I'm sure you can figure out everything. We'll come back by noon, so you should have enough time to try everything out. You won't be able to take it all without a car, so if the guards don't give you one, go to Nemoto-san and explain everything to him. I don't think you'll encounter any problems. Text me when you start leaving. Understood?”
“Yes, sir. I'm on it.”
Next, I called the club guards and explained to them what they needed to do. Funtik, however, took his sweet time answering.
“What's up?” I finally heard his grumpy voice.
“Stop grumbling, Funtik. Judging by your voice you weren't sleeping.”
“I was working.”
“Meaning you're still at the club?”
“Where else would I be?”
“Gotta ask you. You're the one who's never around. Okay, here's the thing. In an hour and a half, one of my guys will come by. Give him one of my overalls and the third bundle. Help him to get it fitted and, possibly, tested.”
“Stop. Let me think straight about this,” judging by the sounds from the phone, he was rubbing his face. “Does your person have a standard size?”
“That's right, all suits are made to fit me. Damn it, find something suitable for him. The good thing is that we have enough weapons and ammunition.”
As soon as I had registered Shidotamoru, I started buying up all kinds of ammunition, and when my inner horder had finally settled down, I changed my excessive ways. I could now equip a ton of people, if necessary.
“Okay, will do. You're lucky I'm at the club.”
“Where else could you be?” I chuckled.
“Joker,” I heard grumbling in response.
Ten minutes later, Sugishima texted me that everything was alright and that he was on his way to the place. Another five minutes later, Akemi entered my room. She looked half-dressed. She had that same yukata on, but the obi, the belt, was relaxed, a
nd her shoulders and a part of her chest were exposed. The slit in her skirt flashed parts of her seductive leg.
“What... what are you doing?” I asked when she slowly lowered down to her knees and started taking off the belt.
“We're alone,” she started languidly. “It’s nighttime and no one will interrupt us. How hard is it to guess?”
“We've talked about the child multiple times.”
“The child... That can wait. You're gonna keep your promise, aren't you?” To be honest, I didn't remember giving any specific promises. “Right now, all I want is a pleasurable night.”
“Khm.”
What the hell? If I tell her to go away now, she'll definitely get offended. Any woman would.
“You're devious creatures, you women,” I said, taking my clothes off.
***
Waking up was terrific. Lifting up my blanket and glancing at the cause of my pleasure, I realized why owning a home away from any clan neighborhoods had undeniable advantages. Emerging from under the blanket, Akemi was clear evidence of this.
“Well, how was your night?” She purred.
“Mmm... Just as good as my morning, beautiful.”
“I'm glad to hear that.”
I wonder if she'll still try to wrap me around her little finger now?
I helped her get dressed. What did you think? A yukata only looks like a tiny robe, but in fact, just putting on the obi takes some skill. Then I sent her to the kitchen to monitor the breakfast cooking process.
Before going to the kitchen, I wanted to see Taro, but that didn't happen. I wasn't quite sure where everything was in the house, especially where he had slept, so I just walked around for about ten minutes and then headed to the kitchen—one location I knew for sure how to get to.
Just like the rest of the house, the kitchen was done in an old Japanese style. Modern cupboards, counters with two sinks, a big electric stove, and two refrigerators blended in surprisingly well. In the middle of the premises stood little Japanese tables that could seat a couple of people.
In the “cooking” corner, two women were busy making food while Akemi was standing next to them with a pouty face. The rest of the people, including Taro and Rymov, were sitting at the tables. As soon as Akemi saw me, she walked towards me, her face getting even poutier.
Losing Masks Page 9
