— — — — — —
Ten minutes later.
The door to the private booth opened from the inside.
Standing outside, Haruno Yukinoshita saw the three of them coming out. She shook the sugar jar in her hand. "Not having coffee anymore?"
"It's fine with me," Shizuka Hiratsuka said, "but your mom asked you to give Veyron a ride to the Yukinoshita house."
She lit up her phone screen, showing the call log from a conversation she'd just finished with Yukiko.
Haruno's eyelid twitched, and she immediately changed her tune. "…Then let's save it for next time."
She casually set the sugar jar down on a nearby table. "So, you're all heading straight to my place?"
"You go ahead. I have something to do." Shizuka shook her head. 'At least now I know exactly where to find him…'
In those ten minutes inside the booth, aside from talking about Yukiko and her two daughters, she'd also learned something else—Veyron was the chairman of Excellent Girls' Academy.
And Excellent was only a few streets away from her own school, Sobu High. Less than twenty minutes on foot.
And that was at a normal walking pace.
"I'm skipping too," Kaguya Houraisan said lazily. "Chika just messaged me—she's already nearby."
The group stepped out of the café. They'd barely walked a few steps when a girl with long, cherry-pink hair and a killer figure came jogging toward them.
"Daddy, I won't hang around and get in the way of your 'business' any longer."
Chika Fujiwara tugged Kaguya away, and Kaguya gave Veyron a sly wink as she passed, sending a quick voice transmission to say goodbye—making sure to put heavy emphasis on the word business.
Unlike Busujima Saeko and the other five women whose very presence screamed their special connection to Veyron, and without even hearing what was said earlier in the booth between him and Shizuka, Kaguya still found something fishy.
After all, according to Veyron, this world didn't have a mature power system.
Yet Haruno Yukinoshita, who supposedly had never met him before today, possessed the same shiny complete power that Shizuka—someone who had met him—now had.
Which begged the question…
Who was this "mother" Haruno kept talking about, the one Veyron was about to meet? And who was eagerly waiting to see him again, as Shizuka said? What exactly was her relationship with him? When did that happen? How did that happen?
The princess decided… this was getting complicated.
She felt it was more complicated than when Veyron had been bragging about his Ki using math.
Now, she didn't think math was all that hard compared to this. At least math is mathing.
Kaguya then shook her head, muttering, 'No… my head isn't made for this shit.'
"That's just a misunderstanding," Veyron said innocently. "We only met twice, back when she was a kid."
"Uha."
Kaguya waved a hand over her shoulder without even looking back, signaling she'd heard his explanation but wasn't commenting on it.
Veyron: "…"
After Kaguya and Chika disappeared from sight, Haruno finally tore her gaze away from where they'd gone.
"You know her?"
Shizuka arched an eyebrow at her expression.
"The second daughter of the Fujiwara main house, a thousand-year-old lineage… and the heir to the Fujiwara name in this generation," Haruno said slowly. "You probably don't keep up with that sort of thing, so you haven't heard the news yet."
"Remember the mercenary invasion and the mysterious deaths of political leaders around the world not too long ago?"
"Of course I do," Shizuka replied. "Even here in Japan, half the cabinet was wiped out, and the prime minister didn't survive. Something that big? No way I'd forget it this soon."
"That's the woman the Fujiwara family is backing as the next prime minister," Haruno said.
"…What?!" Shizuka whipped her head toward the direction Chika Fujiwara had gone. "Are the Fujiwaras serious? And the other families are just going to let them run wild?"
It wasn't Chika's gender that shocked her—Japan's political scene might be male-dominated, but there was no rule against a female prime minister. What she couldn't wrap her head around was Chika's age. By all appearances, she was barely high-school age at most.
"No idea," Haruno said with a shrug. "You know the Yukinoshita family's standing. Even with my mother running things in recent years, we don't have enough weight to meddle in decisions at that level. All we know is that the Fujiwaras have basically convinced everyone with the right to have a say in the matter. Now it's just about building momentum for her."
"…This world's getting harder and harder to make sense of." Shizuka shook her head in disbelief.
They lingered on the sidewalk a few minutes longer before a sleek sedan pulled up in front of them.
"Then I'll take this gentleman to meet my mother. We'll make plans to hang out another time, okay?"
Climbing into the car with Veyron, Haruno waved to Shizuka outside.
"Go on, don't keep Yukiko waiting," Shizuka replied, waving them off.
Once the farewells were done, Haruno turned to the driver—a middle-aged woman in a sharp suit who looked every bit the professional. "Home. As quickly as possible."
"Yes, ma'am."
The driver nodded and hit the gas.
...
Before long, a small yet sprawling estate on the outskirts of the city came into view.
By the time they arrived at the Yukinoshita residence, Yukiko was already waiting at the door.
She ushered Veyron into the reception room but stopped her daughter from following. "Do you have something else to take care of?"
"Uh…" Haruno blinked, then asked tentatively, "I just remembered I might have left something at Yukino's place. Mind if I swing by her apartment first?"
"…Fine, go ahead." Yukiko frowned slightly but gave her permission.
"Also… since Yukino moved out for high school and I've been in university, I feel like I barely spend any time with her anymore. Could I… maybe stay over tonight?"
"That's fine. You two should spend more time together as sisters."
Her mother's expression softened into a faint smile as she waved her off.
"…Right."
Haruno watched her mother's unusually light steps, recalling how, whether at home or in public, she had always been the picture of unshakable authority—yet just moments ago, in front of Veyron, she'd shown a hint of awkwardness and restraint.
Back at the café, when Shizuka had mentioned that Veyron was the source of those martial arts manuals, Haruno had already started to suspect that he was a lot older than he looked.
Now, a bold thought took shape in her mind.
"No way… Could it be him??"
.
.
.