Chapter 128: The Yakuza grandfather wants to see me?

"Nii-chan, where did you go? You're back so late~"

Tsuruko asked with a hint of dissatisfaction at the dining table; she had originally wanted to finish her homework and then go for a drive in the convertible.

"I didn't go anywhere special, just over to Shimizu Bay to take some photos of Mount Fuji."

Naoki Nagayama took a bite of the fried squid on his plate. It was crispy, the meat was tender and juicy, and the flavor was excellent.

"Mount Fuji? What's there to photograph... Haven't you been seeing it since you were little?"

As someone from Shizuoka, Tsuruko was already so familiar with Mount Fuji that she was completely desensitized to it.

Someone once said that travel is just running away from a place you're tired of staying in to a place someone else is tired of staying in.

That saying was incredibly fitting!

"It's about the different angles~ I actually missed it quite a bit."

"Pfft, how strange." Tsuruko muttered. "Nii-chan, how about taking me for a drive tomorrow?"

"Eh? Going for a drive in this freezing weather? Has your brain gone soft, Tsuruko?"

Naoki Nagayama glanced at Tsuruko sideways.

"Who says you can't go for a drive in winter..." Tsuruko still stubbornly insisted, having clearly not considered that.

Their mother, Nanako, had been quietly listening to the siblings bicker, but at this point, she spoke up:

"Forget about the drive. If you two have nothing to do tomorrow, go help buy some things for the New Year."

"Hai~" x2

Their father and older brother still didn't return until nine or ten at night. Although they only opened at 10:30 AM, staying open until past 9:00 PM was indeed quite exhausting—it wasn't much different from a 997 schedule. They were all earning hard-earned money.

After chatting a bit, the two went to wash up and sleep. Looking at their exhausted appearance, Naoki Nagayama thought to himself about how to persuade them to invest in real estate and become landlords; wouldn't that be much more comfortable?

There were only three days left until the New Year, and the market in Shizuoka remained extremely lively.

Taking advantage of the last two days before the New Year, it seemed everyone wanted to finish buying everything they needed.

Small vendors also hoped to clear out their stock so they could go home and have a good New Year.

"Tsuruko, the next item is seaweed."

Naoki Nagayama held a shopping list filled with handwriting, crossing items off one by one.

"So, what exactly did Nii-chan come here for? You can't pick out produce, and you can't haggle!"

Tsuruko Nagayama looked at him with disdain. "Are you just here to be a supervisor?"

"What do you mean? At the very least, I can help carry the bags~"

Indeed, when it came to haggling at a wet market, whether in his past life or this one, Naoki Nagayama simply couldn't do it.

It was fine in Tokyo, where you just had to pick things out in a supermarket according to the price.

But in a small market like this, the price quoted by the merchant and the price after haggling could very well differ by double!

Watching Tsuruko haggle with the auntie with such familiarity, a sense of admiration rose in Naoki's heart: "I never expected Tsuruko to have such a skill!"

After wandering around the market for nearly an hour, they finally managed to clear everything off the shopping list.

Naoki Nagayama carried two large bags and tossed them into the back seat of the convertible.

"That really is heavy!"

"I guess we bought enough supplies for the whole week!"

Tsuruko said from the side. Originally, this food was meant to be bought every other day, but this time they had bought too much at once.

Naoki Nagayama started the car and drove toward home.

"Tsuruko, do you know how to ski?"

"Of course I do. When it snowed in Shizuoka before, didn't we ski together?" Tsuruko asked, confused.

"That could only be considered sledding..."

Naoki Nagayama recalled the times he, his older brother, and Tsuruko used to sit on sleds and slide down the hillside together.

"It looks like I still need to learn properly..."

"Learn? Who are you going to learn from?"

"A ski instructor, of course. The ski resorts in Hokkaido will definitely provide such services!"

"Oh..." Tsuruko paused, then asked, "Nii-chan, have you booked the ski resort yet?"

"Of course. I called yesterday. Teine Ski Resort in Sapporo. After the New Year, we'll first stay at the Asarigawa Onsen Village in Sapporo, and the next day we'll go skiing at Teine."

"Teine Ski Resort? Is that the one that hosted the Winter Olympics?"

"Eh? Tsuruko knows that too?" Naoki Nagayama glanced at her in surprise. "It's said to be a ski resort very suitable for beginners, and you can also see the Winter Olympics memorabilia and such."

Tsuruko was provoked by Naoki's look: "Nii-chan, that look just now—do you think I'm an idiot?"

"Not at all~" He had to refute that quickly. "I just simply thought you wouldn't know, since it happened so many years ago."

"I was already in elementary school back then, okay~"

"Who knew you'd still remember things from elementary school..."

The siblings bickered all the way home. When they opened the door, they were surprised to see their father in the living room.

"Father, why are you back at this hour? Where's big brother?"

Naoki Nagayama was a bit curious. He had originally thought he was just stopping by to pick something up, but seeing his father and mother in the living room, it seemed something major had happened.

"Ah, Aoki is still at the izakaya. I told him to hold down the fort by himself for a while."

"Huh? Has Father finally decided to pass the position of Master to Big Brother?"

Naoki Nagayama knew very well how much his father valued the izakaya. Although it had been nearly two years, he still felt a bit uneasy leaving his eldest son alone.

"How is that possible! Aoki still has a long way to go!"

Ken Nagayama suddenly became animated, then glanced at his mother and said to Naoki Nagayama:

"Naoki, Grandfather wants to see you."

Grandfather?

It wasn't just Naoki; even Tsuruko was stunned when she heard this.

Since they were old enough to understand, their impression of their grandfather was just a person in a photograph. They heard he was a big boss in the Yamaguchi-gumi.

Perhaps Big Brother Aoki still remembered, but the two of them really had only met him when they were very, very young, to the point where they had no memory of it.

"Grandfather... Why does Grandfather suddenly want to see me?"

Since joining the organization, Grandfather's true "family" had become the people over there. After their father grew up and moved out, contact between the two sides had become less and less.

On one hand, it was because their father wasn't favored, and on the other, it was to show that their father's branch would no longer inherit the Yakuza family business.

In this era that still valued morality, the "family" in "the disaster does not reach the family" referred to this kind of separated bloodline.

As for the eldest uncle's family who inherited the grandfather's name in the Yamaguchi-gumi, they belonged to a relationship of shared glory and shared ruin.

Ken Nagayama didn't know his grandfather's thoughts either: "I don't know. This morning, Grandfather had someone else bring a message."

The few underlings who suddenly appeared at the izakaya had left him a bit bewildered as well.

Tsuruko was making a fuss on the side: "Nii-chan won't be kidnapped if he goes over there, right!"

Ken Nagayama's face darkened: "What are you saying!"

"After all, Nii-chan is considered a rich man now~"

Their mother, Nanako, patted Tsuruko: "Don't talk nonsense. He is your grandfather, after all!"

Naoki Nagayama thought about it, and it was true. After all, it was his own grandfather; even if they weren't close, it was unlikely he would want to do anything harmful to him.

"Well, since Grandfather wants to see me, I'll go~"

"Hmm... It is something you should see him for." Ken Nagayama nodded.

"Bring some New Year's gifts over while you're at it," their mother added. "After all, the New Year is almost here."

"Okay." ===== CHAPTER 129 =====