"I heard Mr. Miura mention before that he had a smart and beautiful daughter. Now that I've seen you, it seems he was right." Haruno said to Yumiko with a bright smile.
Then, she pointed to the VIP seats not far away and suggested, "Meeting is fate. Why don't we sit down and have a chat?"
Yumiko didn't understand what game Haruno was playing. Hearing the invitation to sit and chat in the VIP seats, Yumiko instinctively wanted to refuse. But the problem was that the other party seemed to know her father, which made Yumiko hesitant.
So Yumiko cast an inquiring look at Shinra, seemingly hoping he could help her decide.
Haruno noticed Yumiko's small gesture, and the playful smile on her face grew richer. She simply helped Yumiko ask directly: "What do you think, Shinra?"
Shinra... Isn't that a bit too affectionate!
Yumiko mumbled in her heart. But because she couldn't figure out Haruno's intentions, she didn't act rashly.
Because of Yukino, Yumiko was now quite guarded against any 'Yukinoshita'.
Especially this sister of Yukino. Although she looked easy to get along with on the surface, Yumiko's intuition told her that the other party was definitely not as simple as she seemed, and her attitude towards her was definitely not as kind as it appeared.
From her, Yumiko faintly smelled a trace of a rival in love.
"Yumiko, you're free, right?" Shinra asked, handing the choice back to Yumiko.
Judging by Yumiko's attire, she must have come with someone else. As for why she was in the VIP area of the fireworks festival, it was likely similar to Haruno: representing her father to show support for the activities organized by the local autonomous group.
However, unlike Haruno, the daughter of a prefectural assemblyman, the Miura family's relationship with the locality wasn't that deep. Therefore, Yumiko only needed to show her face to demonstrate her attitude, and then she could go do her own thing. She didn't need to socialize and exchange pleasantries with the local gentry.
Of course, even if Yumiko wanted to exchange pleasantries with the local gentry, those people might not really pay attention to her. At most, they would chat a few sentences because of her beauty.
The reason was simple. The Miura family didn't have enough weight on this land, far less than the Yukinoshita family. For socializing and exchanging pleasantries, it would be more appropriate for Yumiko's father to come. As for Yumiko herself... forget it, it was meaningless.
Chiba wasn't like an international metropolis like Tokyo. Many times, just having money was useless. Here, besides money, you also needed background and influence.
Seeing Shinra throw the question back to her, Yumiko hesitated. Just as Shinra guessed, she had indeed come out with friends.
But her relationship with them wasn't as good as with Ebina Hina or Yuigahama Yui. So, delaying a little wouldn't really matter. And to be honest, Yumiko could clearly feel that they didn't really want to hang out with her that much. Inviting her was more due to her social status on campus.
Simply put, they invited Yumiko not because their relationship was good, but because Yumiko's presence would help them maintain their own status in the campus social circle.
Like a medieval king enfeoffing knights and nobles, as the 'Queen' on campus, Yumiko possessed authority similar to a king in the social circle of Sobu High School.
Now, there were two options in front of Yumiko. One was to refuse Haruno's invitation and go back to be her campus queen. Although they were just superficial friends, Yumiko could still occupy a dominant position among them and live quite comfortably.
The second was to accept Haruno's invitation and engage with her further. The benefit of doing this was that she could have more contact with Shinra and also indirectly understand the relationship between Shinra and Haruno.
Without much thought, Yumiko followed her heart and made a decision.
She chose option two!
No matter how good superficial friends were, they were fake. Having a good relationship with Shinra was real.
Moreover... Yumiko felt that if she didn't figure out the relationship between Haruno and Shinra, she probably wouldn't be able to sleep tonight.
Yukino was easy to deal with. With her personality, Yumiko felt she could overtake her even giving her a three-body-length head start.
But the Haruno in front of her was different. Yumiko had a feeling that if the other party got serious, her chances of winning might become very small.
It wasn't that Yumiko was boosting others' morale and diminishing her own prestige, but she really felt that Haruno was a bit overpowered. Not only was she beautiful, but her figure was also quite good—even a kimono couldn't hide it. Her conversation and temperament were the best Yumiko had ever seen.
She was basically an enhanced version of Yukino without any weaknesses!
Against such an existence... can I win?
"Then I'll intrude." Carrying her wariness of Haruno, Yumiko finally accepted the invitation.
"However, I have to go tell my companions first."
Even if they were just superficial friends, proper etiquette was still necessary. Yumiko didn't want any strange rumors to appear on campus because of her negligence.
After all, being a 'Queen' wasn't easy. There were countless eyes watching her from below.
Incidentally, she could touch up her makeup. It was definitely too late to change clothes, but there was still room for improvement in makeup. At least she couldn't be outshone too much by Haruno.
While Yumiko went to explain to the friends who came with her, Haruno firmly clasped Shinra's arm. Her vermilion lips approached his ear, and she breathed fragrantly:
"...Being unfaithful is not something to be encouraged."
As the older sister, Haruno felt it necessary to check on her sister's behalf. At the very least, she couldn't let those wild flowers outside pluck the peach.
Because of the close distance, Shinra could not only feel the astonishing elasticity coming from her arm but also smell the faint peony-like fragrance on her.
Faced with Haruno's accusation, Shinra not only didn't feel any panic but asked back unhurriedly:
"Unfaithful? Where does that come from?"
"That child just now, you know her, right?" Haruno mentioned Yumiko, implying that the object of Shinra's unfaithfulness was Yumiko.
But Shinra didn't buy this at all. Firstly, he and Yumiko were innocent. Secondly, he and Yukino were also innocent. Therefore, Haruno's hypothesis of unfaithfulness was baseless.
And taking a step back, even if he really had that idea, he wouldn't admit it, and Haruno had no standing to accuse him.
"Yumiko is my friend, and her father is also my important partner. Isn't it natural to say hello when we meet?"
After Shinra finished speaking, he asked with interest: "Also, is the unfaithfulness Haruno-san mentioned asked on behalf of Yukino, or..."
"Of course it's Yukino." Haruno answered before Shinra could finish.
It's just that such an action gave a feeling of trying to cover something up.
Logically speaking, with Haruno's level, she couldn't make such a major 'mistake' unless he really hit a sore spot, or... she did it on purpose.
Shinra felt it was likely a combination of both.
"Is that so... Speaking of which, why didn't Yukino come together today?" Shinra suddenly changed the subject.
"Yukino, she's not suitable for this kind of occasion. After all, this kind of external activity is my job. Showing up on such occasions has always been the eldest daughter's job. This has been Mother's policy all along." Haruno explained.
"You said it's a job, yet you dragged me along." Shinra looked as if he was asking for an explanation.
"Job is just a metaphor. Besides, with a beautiful big sister like me accompanying you to watch the fireworks, do you have any dissatisfaction?" Haruno puffed out her cheeks, pretending to be dissatisfied.
"And you keep mentioning Yukino, but I haven't seen you ask her out these days? Boys should be more proactive in this regard!"
However, as if he had anticipated Haruno would say this, Shinra showed his phone screen to her.
The chat history above clearly showed that Shinra had mentioned the fireworks festival to Yukino this morning. However, for some reason, the other party refused his invitation.
He was proactive, but she didn't come.
What's the solution?
"Is that so..." Haruno revealed a somewhat troubled expression, as if she didn't know how to answer.
"Um... how should I explain it to you... Anyway, this is Mother's idea... After all, doing this makes it less likely to confuse things, doesn't it?"
Although Haruno spoke vaguely, the meaning conveyed was actually quite obvious.
It wasn't that Yukino didn't want to come, but that her mother wouldn't let her come. Doing so might cause unnecessary misunderstandings, making the outside world think the sisters were fighting for the qualification of inheritance, thus producing a bad influence.
This situation was actually quite common in family powers maintained by blood ties. Shinra's experience some time ago was the best example.
He was the first third-generation member of the Mori family to officially appear in the public eye. But among the third-generation Mori family members, there were many who were older than him and even married with children.
Why weren't these people pushed out?
It was nothing more than not being qualified enough to inherit the family's core resources and connections.
Applying this to the Yukinoshita family, it was the same. Yukinoshita Mother believed Yukino was not suitable to take over the family, so she could not appear on relevant occasions.
This was the meaning Haruno wanted to convey.
"In our family, Mother is very strong and very scary." Haruno said half-jokingly and half-sincerely.
"This is the real purpose you dragged me here, right?"
"Hm? What do you mean?"
"After all, some words are hard to say to others, but holding them in is uncomfortable. So you had to find a tight-lipped, honest, and reliable person to tell your inner pressure to."
"Pfft... Haha..."
Haruno almost laughed to tears after hearing Shinra's words. She believed the tight-lipped part, but the honest and reliable part, and the 'honest person' part, was a bit too much of a prank.
Others are honest people who don't talk much.
If the same words were applied to Shinra, it should be: a person who is 'old' (experienced/sly), and doesn't tell much truth.
Finally, under Shinra's increasingly dark face, Haruno finally laughed enough. She wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes and met Shinra's unkind gaze, saying, "Sorry, sorry, just pfft... Indeed, as you said, some words are hard to say to outsiders. Your coming today really helped me a lot."
Your attitude doesn't look like I helped a lot?
Sigh, sure enough, should honest people be bullied like this?
Lord Shinra was magnanimous and decided to haggle with a petty woman like Haruno later.
Before that, he wanted to ask Haruno about her mother.
Previously, he actually wanted to find an opportunity to understand, to see if he could open a breakthrough for the sisters' wish-power commissions. But there had been no suitable timing. Now that the other party took the initiative to bring this up, Shinra naturally couldn't miss the opportunity.
It should still be some time before Yumiko came back. This time was enough for him to learn what he wanted to know.
"According to what you say, your mother is very scary?"
"Actually, it's not scary. It's mainly that she holds the decision-making power for everything and doesn't allow people below to disobey. So Yukino and I had to compromise with her... It just happens that Yukino is not very good at this."
A strong mother, and a daughter who wants to gain some autonomy.
"Typical family relationship problems."
"Is that why she moved out?"
"Correct. To be honest, when she entered high school and said she wanted to live alone, I was a bit surprised. On this point, I looked at her with new eyes."
Haruno initially thought Yukino would compromise with their mother in the end. She never expected she would think of moving out. Although there was a meaning of escape, in that environment, Yukino's decision required a lot of courage.
At least Haruno felt she couldn't do that.
"Your mother agreed?"
"No, Mother was firmly opposed and still refuses to accept it. However, after hearing Yukino's request, Father happily bought that luxury apartment for her."
Speaking of this, Haruno glanced at Shinra again, wondering if her father would still be happy if he knew of Shinra's existence.
"It seems Yukino has a very good relationship with your father."
"Oh? Can I understand this as you being curious about your future father-in-law?" Haruno seemed to want to cause trouble again.
"Then should I be the eldest son-in-law, or the second son-in-law?" Shinra countered directly.
"I don't really mind, but Yukino-chan would probably blame me, right? So, second son-in-law it is." Haruno said with a smile.
"After all, from the past until now, we either use the same things, or I yield things to her..."