After rebirth, I became Tokyo Sentimental

Chapter 25 25. Do you want to come up and sit?
Just north of Ikebukuro, Itabashi District, Daitoyamacho.

Yuko Shimizu lives here.

Compared to the bustling and noisy Ikebukuro, Daisen-cho, adjacent to the Tobu Line, is actually more suitable for living. Not only are the surrounding facilities complete, but the apartment rents are cheap and there are relatively few people, giving you an indescribable sense of relaxation.

But it's far from the city center.

Harano Tsukasa paid the bill, called a designated driver through the mobile app, and after much persuasion, he found out Shimizu Yuko's address, and then started his way back.

The sky was gradually getting dark.

The crimson evening glow in the distant sky was suppressed by the thick and overlapping clouds, and it was estimated that it would soon be submerged.

He turned his head to look at Yuko Shimizu beside him.

The other party had returned to the drowsy look he had just had when he was sitting at the bar, but the difference from before was that because they both sat in the back row, Shimizu Yuko's body unconsciously leaned towards him, with her head resting lightly on his shoulder.

In addition to her body leaning against him almost in a couple's posture, her legs covered with a thin layer of stockings were also turned over, with her knees pressing against his thighs.

In addition, it is now the evening rush hour, and the driver's occasional brakes will cause the car to jerk, and their ambiguous posture will cause friction between their bodies.

Although he was wearing trousers, which didn't really make much of a difference, the visual impact was quite significant.

This couldn't help but make Yuanye Si raise his eyebrows slightly.

Yuanye Si knew in his heart that their wishes were not necessarily really stubborn, not to mention that there was a lot of impulsiveness in them. If he held on to one point, it would be like using a magnifying glass to magnify other people's wishes.

Putting all this aside, she hadn't figured out what the trouble was with Aunt Qingshui next to her, and her original plan to become a gold-digger hadn't made any progress.

Thinking of this, Yuanye Si fell into deep thought.

The first time he laid the hook, it was very successful, and Hoshino Rika was willing to take the bait, but because of Suzumiya Saka's interference, there was no follow-up. Hoshino Rika had no intention of contacting him in the past two days, so it seems that there is no suspense.

Komatsubara Shun's party was an opportunity.

But we can't put all our hopes on it.

After all, it is better to rely on yourself than on others, and the unknown is always worse than the known, so we have to work together online and offline.

"Sir, we are here."

Just as Yuanye Si was thinking about the scent of alcohol mixed with an inexplicable aroma that kept pouring into his nose, the car had already stopped steadily. The bald middle-aged man who was driving in the front seat turned half of his body and reminded him softly.

"Trouble." Yuanye Si came back to his senses.

"You're welcome." The bald driver smiled politely at the rearview mirror, unbuckled his seat belt and got out of the car.

As if she had realized the place, Yuko Shimizu, who seemed to have fallen asleep after being drunk, woke up at the right time. After getting out of the car, she rubbed her forehead, stood up straight, and looked around as if she had just woken up.

"Would you like to come up and sit down?"

"Does it fit?"

"You kid, I was just being polite to you, I didn't expect you to actually come up here?"

"Then I'll take my leave."

"Don't leave." Seeing that he couldn't stand the joke, Shimizu Yuko touched her forehead with a helpless look and said, "Come up, don't you want to know about your aunt? It seems that you can't complete the task if you don't find out. If you want to listen, come up and sit for a while before leaving."

"Then I will..."

Just when the two of them tacitly agreed not to mention the ambiguous action that had just taken place in the car and were planning to go upstairs to discuss it in detail, a voice interrupted from behind.

"Yuko!"

The moment the voice appeared, Harano Tsukasa clearly saw that the expression of Shimizu Yuko, who was standing next to him, suddenly changed. The drowsiness and drunkenness she had originally shown disappeared in an instant, and even a hint of obvious disgust and resistance appeared in her beautiful eyes which were gradually becoming clearer.

So Yuanye Si followed the voice and saw a middle-aged man in a suit and silver-framed glasses standing not far away, looking at this side with a smile.

The man looked to be in his forties, with a silver Lexus parked next to him. His black leather shoes were polished to a shine, and the cuffs and collar of his shirt looked extremely smooth, making him look like a business elite in a TV drama.

However, when Harano Tsukasa saw that the other person's eyes were fixed on Shimizu Yuko beside him, and the disgust revealed on the latter's face just now, he had a rough guess in his mind, especially when the man in front of him glanced at him intentionally or unintentionally, with his eyebrows slightly wrinkled as if he was on guard.

"Mr. Hiramasa, I've already told you, please don't come to my house and harass me at will." The effects of Shimizu Yuko's drunkenness seemed to disappear without a trace in an instant. She looked at the approaching man with an expressionless face and spoke in a very impolite tone.

However, the other party seemed to have gotten used to it.

Ping Zhengsheng pushed his glasses down on his nose, walked closer and asked with concern, "Drinking again?"

He was like a husband waiting for his wife to come home from a social event. He took out two oral medicines from the bag with the pharmacy logo on it in his left hand and reminded her with a gentle smile, "I knew you would drink, so I prepared some alcohol-relief medicine. Take two first."

"Do I look drunk to you?"

Yuko Shimizu didn't even look at him and didn't buy his talk at all. Instead, she continued to choke him in a nonchalant manner.

"It's better to be prepared."

Ping Zhengsheng continued with a smile.

However, Yuko Shimizu did not give him any face at all.

Even if there were passers-by around who took a curious look at him, he didn't care whether Ping Zhengsheng would be embarrassed at the moment.

After making sure that she would not answer, Taira Masamori did not continue to make himself look bad. He put down his hand holding the oral medication as if nothing had happened. After a brief silence with nothing to discuss, he shifted his gaze to the face of Harano Tsukasa, who had acted as a transparent person during this period.

"Speaking of which, this person is..."

"My nephew."

Yuko Shimizu said calmly.

Taira Masamori's eyes flashed with a strange look when he heard that, but then it quickly disappeared, and he returned to his previous appearance of a successful and dignified person. He looked at Harano Tsukasa and smiled, "Oh, so it's your nephew. No wonder he looks so much like you, Yuko. He's very handsome."

After saying the compliments, Taira Masamori followed the usual practice and took out a very high-end business card and handed it in the direction of Harano Tsukasa:

"My name is Taira Masamori. I currently work at the Financial Services Agency's Supervisory Bureau. I'm a good friend of your aunt Yuko. Since you are Yuko's nephew, you are also my nephew. If you run into any trouble in Tokyo, you can call me. I will definitely help if I can."

Yuan Ye Si raised his eyebrows when he heard this.

The Financial Services Agency is no ordinary institution.

As a department that separated its regulatory functions from the former Ministry of Finance, now the Ministry of Finance, it is extremely powerful.

After the bubble economy crisis, the Financial Services Agency was established to conduct comprehensive supervision of the banking, securities, insurance and non-financial institutions. To put it simply, this agency has almost become the highest leader of the country's finance.

When I think about what my mother said about Aunt Qingshui being an entrepreneur, if the individual’s business is very small, it is inevitable that she will be involved in loans, that is, banks.

The Financial Services Agency has a very strong say over banks.

Looking at the current situation, Yuanye Si can almost guess what the other party is doing, but he just can't figure out the other party's position.

And the other party is a civil servant.

If this happened before Harano Tsukasa got the wish list, even if he really wanted to help, as a local civil servant who was no different from a corporate slave, he really couldn't help much, let alone solve the problem.

But now...

At least I have the confidence to refuse.

"That's not necessary." Yuan Ye Si did not reach out to take his business card, but replied with a smile.

Taira Masamori was surprised to see this, as if he didn't expect that he wouldn't even take the business card. After all, this is extremely impolite in Japan. However, he suppressed his inner dissatisfaction by putting on a good front: "Haha, there's really no need for a business card. After all, Yuko can always contact me if she wants to."

"Hiramasa-san, are you done? I'm going home to rest now. If you have nothing else to do, we can go upstairs." "Nothing much. I just remembered your matter, Yuko, and wanted to come and discuss with you how to solve it. After all, it's not good to keep dragging it on. I don't know what you think of the last proposal?"

“I never considered it.”

"You haven't thought about it? Don't say such angry words now. After all, your situation is quite urgent."

Shimizu Yuko waved her hands, having no desire to listen any further. She said with a slightly sarcastic tone, "So I have to sell my body in exchange for a career?"

"I did not mean that…"

"And don't think I don't know that without your words behind my back, Section Chief Kondo of Dai-ichi Kangyo Bank would not have rejected my loan. You're trying to force me to agree to be with you in this way. Your method is really despicable and disgusting."

"Yuko, I think you may have misunderstood. The qualifications are reviewed by professionals at the bank. I told you that before just out of kindness, not to make a deal, and to express my feelings for you."

"Then take your kindness and go away."

"Yuko..."

"roll!"

The last layer of face was torn off, coupled with such undisguised insults, no matter how hard Ping Zhengsheng tried to put in a lot of effort on the surface, he finally couldn't hold it anymore.

Taira Masamori looked at Shimizu Yuko's face with gloomy eyes and said in a deep voice: "I hope you don't regret it."

Shimizu Yuko simply ignored him.

He turned around and walked into the apartment building.

Yuanye Si also followed and noticed that the middle-aged man not far away also looked in his direction without saying a word, with a terribly gloomy expression.

Yuko Shimizu's apartment is not big either.

And it's a little messy compared to my own arrangement.

But there were just some things scattered around, like the purple lace underwear on the sofa, some black stockings, and the professional hip skirt draped over the chair. Other places didn't look dirty, it was just that her living habits were rather messy.

Compared to her hedgehog-like defensive state after she sobered up just now, Yuko Shimizu's momentum was undoubtedly much weaker when she returned home, and she also became silent.

It seemed that she caught a glimpse of personal items thrown casually on the sofa and chairs out of the corner of her eye. After taking off her shoes, Yuko Shimizu walked over barefoot without putting them on again, and put away the things with her back to him.

"The house is a bit messy, please wait a moment."

After saying this, she didn't even turn around to look at Yuan Ye Si's expression, and just started to clean up on her own.

Seeing this, Yuanye Si also came to help.

However, he did not touch any of Aunt Qingshui's personal belongings. He simply cleaned up the garbage on the coffee table and put the rest of the things back in place. He did not do anything else out of the ordinary.

After everything was packed up, Yuko Shimizu stood in front of the refrigerator in the living room, turned her head and forced a smile and said:
"Xiao Si, I'm sorry to have embarrassed you."

"It's okay. You'll encounter similar people and things no matter where you are. All the female colleagues in our district office have been sexually exploited by their superiors before." Upon hearing this, Harano Tsukasa spoke out to comfort her with the words he had prepared long ago.

"Really..." Yuko Shimizu was not surprised by his comfort, but just sighed.

After all, unspoken rules are prevalent in the workplace.

Especially working women.

It can be said that in Japan, as long as a female subordinate without a background wants to climb up, she will definitely be subject to all kinds of unspoken rules. Even so, it is still not as useful as being a man.

"Do you want to drink more?" Yuan Ye Si asked in surprise when he saw her take out two more bottles of shochu from the refrigerator.

"I can never enjoy life without wine." When the wine was mentioned, Shimizu Yuko seemed to regain some energy. The depression she had just felt disappeared a lot. She raised her hand holding the ice cup and smiled at him and said, "Would you like some more?"

"No." Yuanye Si refused decisively.

"A little bit, please."

"I really don't want to drink anymore."

"Give aunt some face."

“You drink this way for your health…”

"It's better if it's broken. Once people die, they will have no worries, right?" Shimizu Yuko didn't care whether he agreed or not, and still walked over with two ice cups.

Yuanye Si was speechless.

But in the end, under the half-hearted persuasion of Yuko Shimizu, who had no airs of an elder, he still started drinking.

And also learned more information.

It seemed that because she happened to run into the troublemaker when she was sending her home, Shimizu Yuko, who had been playing Tai Chi with him, answered all of Harano Tsukasa's questions this time, and let him understand the general situation.

The middle-aged man named Ping Zhengsheng did work for the Financial Services Agency's Supervisory Bureau, but he was not the director or deputy director, but rather an assistant to the section chief of a subordinate department.

But this position is not low.

After all, it is a national civil service system, and the Financial Services Agency has a high administrative level and is only responsible to the cabinet.

And just as he expected, Shimizu Yuko was being held hostage over bank loans. She ran a small precision machinery company and had bought a number of patented inventions in recent years, intending to produce experimental machines with potential and then have them acquired by related large companies.

To be honest, this is also speculation.

But she was able to pick and choose and acquire several good patented inventions, and when she was making the production instructions, she attracted the attention of a company. If she could successfully mass-produce them, they were willing to pay a considerable price to acquire them. However, Yuko Shimizu was stuck at the step of getting a loan to purchase equipment for manufacturing.

To be honest, a patented invention may not be successful if it is not mass-produced, but if the first step of raising funds is not even completed, then the initial investment will be wasted.

As for why she was being harassed.

Isn't that what men like?
When Yuko Shimizu was facing difficulties in loan procedures, she met Masamori Taira who worked at the Financial Services Agency through a classmate. However, things did not go as smoothly as she had expected. Instead, after a long wait and after going through all the formal procedures, she was stopped by the other party using special means, and the purpose was just that thing.

Originally, Yuko Shimizu didn't take it seriously, but when she repeatedly hit a wall and realized that some things are not worth mentioning in the face of power, she completely gave up and numbed herself with alcohol.

During this time, Yuko Shimizu kept talking.

Yuan Ye Si listened carefully.

Learning to listen is an art, and it is also a way to quickly gain the trust of others.

But after Harano Tsukasa was silent for two minutes after listening to Shimizu Yuko's story, she suddenly said, "Xiao Si, you don't have a girlfriend yet, right?"

"Not yet." Yuanye Si was stunned for a moment.

Yuko Shimizu met Harano Tsukasa's slightly puzzled look, and used her left hand to support her face, which had turned red again after more than an hour, and said with a smile with a tone of understanding: "I was wondering, if you didn't have a girlfriend, why would you keep staring at my feet."

"..."

"So I guessed wrong? It's actually stockings?"

"Maybe…"

"I heard that you young people seem to like this kind of thing very much, and some of you even like to collect unwashed ones. If you have this hobby, I can give you the pairs I just collected."

"I'm not interested."

"You'd better not have such bad thoughts."

　Two chapters in one
　　
　
(End of this chapter)