Chapter 35 - Sayuri

"Boss. I'm still in Shinagawa. I just had coffee with Shigeo-san." Fumio reports to Red over the phone.

He is now on his way to the train station to head back to Nerima.

/I see. *grunt* That's good then. *clack* Are you on your way back?/ Red asks.

"Yes boss." Fumio nods, but his focus is more on what he is hearing in the background on the other side of the line.

"Is that Kotone? What is she doing?" he cannot help but ask, after recognizing who the grunts belong to.

"Yes. We're sparring." Red says.

"… Oh…" Fumio can only silently wish Kotone good luck.

Suddenly, he realizes something.

"Boss. Are you hitting her? I didn't complain because I'm used to receiving blows. But she's very new to it. Probably never got hit in her life too. Despite her generous salary, she might quit. Or even try to sue you for abuse." He hopes to stop Red from being too harsh on Kotone.

/Buddy. I'm not the type of person. But it looks like I am starting to make her really hate me./ Red replies with a hint of mischief in his voice.

/Isn't that right, Kotone?/ He adds.

/IYAH! *WHOOSH*/ Fumio hears Kotone yell followed by a whooshing sound he knows too well; a sound of a wooden sword being swung downwards at great speed.

/Too angry. Too open. Too easy to read. Three mistakes. Three slashes from me./ He hears Red comment.

The tone and speech pattern in Red's voice reminds him of his own 'sparring' sessions with Red.

/N-No!/ Hearing Kotone's helpless voice, he can only feel bad for her.

"Well. Whatever training she's having, it looks like she's very energetic about it." He comments however, feeling a bit glad that he is finally not the only one who knows of Red's humiliating sparring.

/She is, alright./ He hears Red chuckle.

"Is there anything else you want me to do today? It's still early." Fumio asks.

/No. You can go home and continue your breathing practice. Try to use it while doing your sword art's kata. Your place is wide enough for that, yes?/ Red asks.

"Yes boss." Fumio answers.

-

An hour later, Nerima.

"Lovely day… lovely day…" Fumio is now happily humming, feeling the warmth of the freshly baked goods contained in the huge paper bag that is in his embrace, as he reaches the floor where his apartment is.

"Hm?" He then slows down in his steps as he sees a woman standing outside his door, leaning against the door frame, with her back turned against him.

The identity of the woman is soon revealed as she turns around to look at him.

Fumio freezes in his steps looking at the person he least expected to meet at the place.

"N-nee-sama." He subconsciously greets his older sister who is fashioning a high-quality brown trench coat, with its buttons open revealing the typical office lady outfit under it.

At the same time, he immediately figures that Hideki has lived to tell the Hasegawa clan of his tale and that with the Hasegawa's resources, they are able to find his address.

"Looks like life has been good to you since you left." His sister says, her tone lukewarm, as she gives him and his clothes a once over.

"Well. I found my talents." Fumio quickly comes up with something to say, which surprises him.

What surprised him even more is his casual tone. Had it been three years ago when he was still in his clan, he would have been at least on his toes when talking to his siblings.

It is not only him who is surprised as his sister too, raises her left eyebrow in surprise.

"It seems you have." She can only say, brushing aside her surprise.

"I, uhh… Sayuri-san…" Fumio gets careful at how he addresses Sayuri due to the complications brought upon by him leaving the clan, but, "It's been a while. Would you like to have something warm?", he still gives her a polite smile and invites her to his apartment.

"S-sayuri-san…" Sayuri is taken aback by the sudden distant address to her.

While on the outside, she is stoic, internally, she cannot process that the weak young man three years ago, who she thought was going to beg himself back into the clan after being slapped by reality by the real world, is the same man in front of her.

The Fumio in her memories cannot compare to the Fumio who carries an air of confidence and is standing straight as a sheathed sword. She even feels that Fumio somehow is taller than he used to.

"If you don't want to come in, please give me a minute or so. I know a nice place for coffee." She is taken out of thoughts by Fumio who is already holding open the door of his apartment to her.

"We don't have to go anywhere else." She accepts the invitation and she steps in.

"Good. I have new coffee beans from ******. I've been meaning to share this with someone." Fumio says, trying his best to stay calm.

Sayuri on the other hand, feels burdened by Fumio's hospitality.

A few minutes later, the two are now at Fumio's living room, seated facing each other over the coffee table.

Sayuri is having a cup of coffee which Fumio himself grinded and mixed.

Fumio on the other hand, is having Red's tea to help him be as rational in the following conversation as possible.

"Lovely place you have." Sayuri says as she looks around Fumio's simple but relatively spacious living room which is connected to the kitchen slash dining area.

The four simple words she said covered the surprise of her quick observations of the place. She does not have to see the entire place to know that the apartment is a bit better than the average middle-class apartment. Even Fumio's basic furniture are new and are obviously good in quality.

She also notices that Fumio seems to be living by himself. Adding all of these observations, she knows that Fumio is living more than comfortably.

"Not as fancy as the place provided by the clan for me, but I'm proud of it." Fumio says.

"Owned or rented?" Sayuri asks.

"Owned… Well. The bank owns it of course. I wish I had the money to buy it outright." Fumio sighs in false frustration.

"Huh." Sayuri is even more surprised by the information.

She herself would not have hoped to start owning property currently so she gets suspicious of Fumio's source of income.

"Well. You must have a nice job to afford a down payment for this." She asks.

Fumio's sees through the question and his mind churns immediately.

"I just got lucky. I'm an agent for a songwriter. Just happened that the songwriter made a killing in the charts." Fumio comes up with an excuse smoothly, making use of the events of his day.

"Interesting… Have I heard of their songs?" Sayuri asks.

"Probably. Their latest work is for a certain popular idol group." Fumio smiles, the effect of the Red's tea not enough to stop him from doing so.

He is feeling happy just remembering Arina, who was present at Ikigai music earlier, and was glad to see him.

"…" Sayuri on the other hand, cannot help but feel a bit of jealousy from the look on Fumio's face.

It is the first time that she has seen her brother smile genuinely like this. She is also feeling a bit lost, seeing that Fumio does not seem to be showing signs of wanting to go back to the clan and is instead living well.

"It seems that you're happy." She cannot help but say.

"I am. It was rough, the first two years after I left the clan, but because good people gave me a chance, I am living the happiest in my life." Fumio nods, trying his best to brag.

Soon however, he quickly suppresses the urge and decides to address the elephant in the room.

"Anyways. I'm pleasantly surprised by your visit. But knowing our family, I think you're not here just to see me. Did something happen that concerns me?" He switches topics smoothly.

Sayuri gives Fumio a look, trying hard to look through him, but seeing nothing that might be a sign that Fumio is keeping something from her, she slowly sighs.

"Yes. Something did happen. Remember Hideki?" She starts.

"Yeah?…" Fumio nods, and with the effects of Red's tea, his face did not betray his thoughts.

"Hated him. He's one of the reasons why I left." He adds.

Sayuri's eyes twitch at Fumio's words, trying her best not to feel guilty for not stopping Hideki whenever he bullied Fumio, despite her being stronger than Hideki.

"But. What's he got to do with me? It's been a long time so he should have been accepted back into the clan, right?" Fumio plays ignorant.

"He's technically still in exile. But the more important thing is, someone almost crippled him and left him in the cold to die. The clan head had no choice but accept him back in the clan." She reports and waits for Fumio's reaction.

Fumio however, simply acts stunned at the news.

"W-well… He deserves it… After what she did to her." He says, purposefully making his voice tremble. "Almost crippled you say? I just wish he was crippled for real." He adds with false rage.

Sayuri falls for Fumio's act and nods in understanding at Fumio's sentiments.

"He might as well be. While he can live normally, he is no longer a superiori." She further reports.

"Huh? How's that possible?" Fumio acts surprised.

Instead, he is internally feeling glad. Glad that he successfully stripped Hideki off his powers.

Before fighting Hideki, Red taught him how to cripple a physical type superioris. He is glad that he executed it well.

"A mystery… I never liked him too." Sayuri shrugs as she exhales a breath, she did not know she was holding. In contrast to Hideki's strong claims that she heard, she sees that Fumio cannot look any more innocent.

"While I'm uhh… quite pleased with the news. What interests me is you did not have to come to me yourself. You could have just sent me an e-mail or a private message on my social media…" Fumio asks to see more of the clan's and his sister's opinion on the claims he all but confirmed Hideki made regarding him.

"Well. Gorou-sama is asking for you." Sayuri relays.

Fumio curses in his mind that Gorou entertained Hideki's claim.

"I always knew you weren't the type to tell jokes, but you're joking, right?" Had it not been for Red's tea, he would also be panicking by now.

"I still don't tell jokes." Sayuri returns.

"Huh… But what for? Based on what you told me about Hideki, the clan head couldn't be thinking it's me who did what to him, could he?" Fumio asks with a mirthless chuckle.

"Even though you're not a superioris, you have always been smart. That still holds true." Sayuri nods.

"But why? Why me? I've left the clan a long time ago. I've been living honestly. Why of all people have to be me?" While Fumio is putting up an act, he is still feeling frustrated and resentful which added to his act.

He feels that what he did to Hideki was right. Hideki was the one who made a move against him first, almost killing him. He was only reciprocating.

"I don't think you did it either. Gorou-sama just wants to talk. He just wants to make sure." Sayuri tries to calm Fumio down.

"No. No. I'm no longer a member of the clan. I don't care if he's the clan head or whatever. I'm not going." Fumio refuses firmly.

"While you're no longer a member. I am.." Sayuri can only wear an apologetic face as she pounces on Fumio.