Chapter 130: Asuka's New Home

Just as Asuka was upstairs packing her things, preparing to leave this place of sorrow, Uesugi Muneyuki was downstairs chatting with Erena.

The tall beauty had been enjoying a bumper harvest in both love and career lately; having experienced unprecedented bliss and taken a step forward in her career by securing a promise of entry into the Metropolitan Police Department, she was as radiant as a blooming flower, and her once hot and sunny eyes now held only the figure of Uesugi Muneyuki, wishing she could be stuck to him every single day.

In fact, that was exactly what she did.

However, Uesugi Muneyuki's inexplicable actions today left Erena feeling uneasy, only she seemed unable to organize her thoughts into coherent language to express herself all at once, so she simply stayed silent and focused on observing.

Fortunately, Miss Minami helped Erena ask most of her questions; Asuka's background was indeed heart-wrenching, and Erena sympathized with her as well, able to understand Uesugi Muneyuki's decision.

But understanding does not equal accepting!

At the thought that Uesugi Muneyuki actually intended to bring the girl home, Erena felt an indescribable strangeness; if the other party were ugly, that would be one thing, but looking at this girl's appearance, she was simply a once-in-a-millennium beauty!

Such a girl being brought home by Uesugi Muneyuki?

Erena felt a faint sense of discomfort.

Taking a step back, even if Uesugi Muneyuki had no designs on this super kawaii girl, having one more person in the house was still a bit... inconvenient.

Yes, very inconvenient!

Thinking of this, Erena pouted slightly, her cheeks puffing up a little: "You decided so rashly? Muneyuki, doesn't she still owe you 588,000?"

"Yes, that's right, tuition in Japan is just that expensive." Uesugi Muneyuki did not answer Erena's question directly; instead, he described to her how the annual tuition at Musashino University alone reached 1.8 million yen.

And that was just tuition, not including miscellaneous fees! With all sorts of messy textbook fees, tool fees, miscellaneous fees, club fees, plus the cost of living in Tokyo, it was tight no matter how you calculated it to get by on four million yen a year.

"Then why does she still owe 3 million in scholarships?" Erena's attention was also diverted by Uesugi Muneyuki, and the tall beauty stuck out her tongue: "How could she spend so much? And isn't it a scholarship? Why does it have to be paid back?"

"Pfft." Uesugi Muneyuki was amused by Erena's question.

Thinking about it carefully, his tall beauty mentor had truly never worried about tuition; she was born into a family with a foreign trade company during the golden age, her father was a mid-level expatriate executive with an annual salary of 9 million yen, and later, when the bubble economy burst and the company went bankrupt, Erena's father used the connections and resources he had accumulated overseas to simply switch to another foreign trade company as a mid-level executive with an annual salary of 6 million, so the impact really hadn't been great enough to cause a drop in social class.

She herself had been trained as a professional Judo and Karate athlete from elementary school until now, winning countless awards, and as a national sport, she naturally received all kinds of scholarships and subsidies, so she had never particularly worried about money.

Since the scholarship reform in 2007, scholarships in Japan have been divided into two types: grant-type scholarships and loan-type scholarships.

Only the former are truly given without obligation; the latter must be repaid! And they are high-interest student loans with an annual interest rate of about 3%!

However, the vast majority of spots and application conditions for grant-type scholarships are reserved for foreign students; it is very difficult for Japanese students themselves to obtain this type of scholarship, and what they can actually apply for is basically only the latter, and this scholarship money must be repaid in the future!

So it is no wonder that the Japanese public is extremely resentful of this, with some extremists even expressing the opinion that "Japan is dead" regarding this matter; many people graduate and are already heavily in debt before they even find a job, and what is even more fatal is that nearly half of university students don't even know that this has to be repaid, thinking it is money given to them.

So, why is university tuition in Japan so expensive?

To be objective here, university tuition in Japan used to be very cheap, but from the 90s until now, university tuition has risen about 40 times, while per capita income has fallen by 10%.

His grades in his previous life were not bad, but after entering university, he discovered it was still a six-person room, with no balcony, and the toilet was a public restroom.

Prisons were better to live in than this!

Fortunately, because it was truly sweltering, the air conditioning installed that year saved him, otherwise he would have rebelled.

But when he went to visit the vocational college next door, the twelve-person rooms, sixteen-person rooms, and a special twenty-person room refreshed his understanding again.

Pigsties were better to live in than this!

However, even with complaints, even with opinions, Uesugi Muneyuki had to admit that university was very cheap!

Really very cheap!

Just for this point alone, it was enough to offset the vast majority of problems.

Universities in Japan are too expensive; they are expensive to attend, expensive to live in, and expensive to eat in.

Uesugi Muneyuki even had reason to suspect that these people deliberately made it so expensive to ensure that children from poor families could not afford higher education... or at least to be fiercely bled dry by student loans.

50% of university students in Japan need to rely on scholarships to complete their university studies.

Damn these days.

One can only say, this is Japan, listening to Tokugawa Kajio say it like this~

"Eh? Is that so?" Ikeda Erena listened, feeling a bit dazed; she thought of her monthly salary of 270,000 yen, thinking that even with a seventeen-month salary, it wouldn't be enough to cover the expenses of a year of university even if she didn't eat or drink!

Hehe, fortunately I didn't go to university, I only attended a correspondence high school.

The tall beauty thought happily: Doesn't this mean I saved a large sum of money? And even so, I am already a Police Sergeant, and in the future, I will be transferred to the Metropolitan Police Department headquarters to work alongside a group of Career Track graduates from prestigious schools, so it's not much different.

Win!

…………

At noon that day, Sakata Bridge, first-floor cafeteria.

There is nothing more soothing to a wounded soul than a large bowl of warm, steaming, smooth, and springy ramen on a cold winter day.

Inside the warm-toned cafeteria with the heat turned on, Saito Asuka had completely disregarded her image, slurping noodles in big mouthfuls like a hungry little squirrel, or like a little fledgling bird waiting to be fed, struggling to bury her little head into the large bowl of ramen, fiercely *gup-gup-gup* and *slurp-slurp-slurp*.

Watching her look so hungry, Uesugi Muneyuki and Ikeda Erena both felt a good appetite; Uesugi Muneyuki ate two set meals by himself, and Erena also added a serving of oden.

After finishing lunch, Saito Asuka finally had enough energy to observe her new environment.

The girl from Hokkaido was immediately captivated by the immense luxury of the Sakata Bridge Tower.

So tall! So bright! So clean! So luxurious!

The clean and tidy hotel-style front desk, the bright marble-paved floor, the huge floor-to-ceiling glass exterior walls, the European-style chandeliers hanging from the ceiling, and the spraying rockery statues and the Christmas tree covered in gifts.

All of this exceeded Saito Asuka's imagination; she was stunned, and soon lowered her head in inferiority, her feet twisting together, hiding behind Uesugi Muneyuki, a pair of petite little hands gently tugging at the corner of his clothes.

She, she was afraid!

"Follow me." Uesugi Muneyuki smiled and signaled that there was no need to be afraid, the girl only needed to follow him, and he also dotingly patted her little head.

Seeing this scene, Erena subconsciously rolled her eyes, feeling very uncomfortable inside, but thinking of Saito Asuka's encounter, she could only sigh, unwilling to say anything more.

Entering the elevator and pressing for the 18th floor, after arriving at the floor, the spacious elevator lobby that unfolded before her made Saito Asuka subconsciously think that two or three families could live here; the row of floor-to-ceiling windows on the right was enough to overlook most of Bunkyo Ward and gaze into the entire core area of Tokyo.

The girl was slightly dazed; she had never seen this city from such a perspective, never.

With her little belly finally full after a long time and the commanding view, the girl had a feeling of refreshment for the first time.

"Hehe, if you like looking at it, you will have plenty of time to look in the future." Uesugi Muneyuki patted the girl's little head and said lovingly: "Let's go home first, okay?"

The girl nodded gently like a chick pecking at rice, shrinking her body behind Uesugi Muneyuki like a shy and frightened little fledgling, only revealing a little head to observe the surroundings.

So you live in a place like this? A high-rise tower overlooking the sea and river?

Opening the door to 1802, the fresh air and light rushing to meet her made the girl even more reserved; she could barely find a place to step, feeling that she would dirty this place!

Uesugi Muneyuki took out slippers, and Ikeda Erena had already naturally slipped off her High-heeled Shoe, revealing her beautiful feet wrapped in thick black Silk Stockings as she slid them into the slippers.

As for Saito Asuka, she only hurried to hook off her pair of small leather shoes after being urged once by Uesugi Muneyuki, revealing a pair of pink, crystalline, petite, semi-sheer black-stockinged feet. Seeing the man looking at her, the girl was greatly embarrassed, not knowing where to put her black-stockinged feet, so she hurriedly shoved them into the slippers, bowed 90° to Uesugi Muneyuki very earnestly and with a hint of panic, and swung her long hair from behind her head to the front: "Sorry... sorry to disturb you!"

Opening the small room on the left-hand side of the entrance, Uesugi Muneyuki said softly: "This will be your room from now on, Asuka."

The room at the entrance was not large, totaling only about ten-plus square meters.

"So big!" But the girl had never lived in such a large room; she was startled and said cautiously: "I, I don't need it this big, a place to sleep is enough... I, I'm fine!"

"That's right, you will live here." Uesugi Muneyuki instructed in an unquestionable tone: "I'll give you ten minutes to take the things out of your luggage and put them away; from now on, this is your room."

"Then we will go to the property management office; I will have them issue you a secondary card, and from now on, I will take your sister's place in taking care of you."

Uesugi Muneyuki's tone was very earnest, but Erena, who was beside him, changed her expression upon hearing this.

"Uesugi, then what about me?" The tall beauty was anxious.

"Oh, Master, don't worry." Uesugi Muneyuki answered very earnestly: "Asuka will open the door for you."

"Huh?!"

(End of chapter)