Chapter 268: The Night Before the Wedding

October in Tokyo has already entered autumn, and the dampness of the autumn rain has seeped into the door frame on the far east side of the third floor; the plastic sign reading "YKC48 Dormitory" sways slightly beside the rusted mailbox.

The exterior walls of the reinforced concrete building, built in 1998, are covered in air conditioner units, three of which have handwritten warning notes from members: "Please turn off the bathroom exhaust fan when turning on the air conditioner."

Sakura, having finished a full day of activities, pushed open the iron door of Room 304, which was plastered with takeout flyers; in the entryway, fifteen training shoes were crammed into a discount shoe rack, and on the bottom shelf, a pair of black loafers with peeling heels had a piece of tape stuck to them reading "For Performance," while the twelve-mat living room was piled with two sets of second-hand sofas, their faded fabric printed with the faint patterns of general election promotional posters.

"Ouch!"

Sakura lay flat on her back on the sofa, completely unwilling to move.

I'm exhausted!

Ever since she was hit by a pie falling from the sky, Sakura had received an official offer from Fuji TV and would become a regular guest on a new Golden Time program centered on Uesugi Muneyuki and Shirakawa Mai; although she was only a placard girl, this was a qualitative leap for Sakura's career.

More importantly, Sakura had become the apple of the management's eye.

YKC48 belonged to Yoshimoto Kogyo, and Yoshimoto Kogyo had been left in a state of utter chaos and distress by this case; the only consolation was that Miyawaki Sakura had received a regular role because she was favored by Uesugi Shiro, so the management took note of this, immediately assigned Miyawaki Sakura a dedicated Agent, and even planned to move her to a different apartment—one that was better, larger, and had a walk-in closet.

However, before that...

The girl rested on the sofa for a while, then snuck into the closet, secretly fishing out a secret, old-fashioned Nokia phone from a hidden compartment in a small shoebox inside.

Sure enough! A message had come from "that side"!

What is this, they didn't count my contribution at all!

Sakura curled her body deep inside the closet, pouting, thinking to herself that she had worked so hard, and if it weren't for her, how would Miyano Hiroyuki have been exposed?

Fortunately, "that side" was dissatisfied with Sakura's slow progress, but since this incident finally involved something, they instructed her to continue her deep investigation, and incidentally expressed approval for the girl hooking up with Uesugi Shiro.

Turning off the phone and carefully tucking the Nokia back into the hidden compartment of the shoebox, Sakura immediately came out of the closet, preparing to record a short video for herself and, incidentally, continue to follow the progress of the Yoshimoto Case.

When will Fuji TV broadcast this program?

After refreshing her phone a few times, Fuji TV had released another three-minute trailer, which finally included shots of her; seeing that the view count had already exceeded three million, Sakura excitedly rolled back and forth on the sofa a few times, then immediately went to bathe, change, and put on makeup.

Mooch! I'll mooch for all I'm worth! If I don't mooch now, when will I?

After brewing up her emotions and setting up the lighting, Miyawaki Sakura took a deep breath and clicked to start recording the program.

"Konichi-Sakura-Sakura~ Hello everyone, this is Sakura from Kagoshima, Kyushu!"

"As you can all see, I was lucky enough to participate in the recording of the Fuji TV program that day~ Thank you all for your attention, but I'm very sorry, I can't reveal too much to everyone yet, but please look forward to the broadcast of the program!"

"Speaking of the program recording, I saw Uesugi-san and Shirakawa-san on set, they are both super~ polite and super~ excellent people! I even got to talk to Shirakawa-san and Uesugi-san, and he even called me Sakura~"

Usually, Sakura's videos only got a few thousand or ten thousand views.

Just half an hour after this video was posted, the view count exceeded fifty thousand, and people underneath were constantly asking what exactly happened, what kind of people Uesugi Muneyuki and Shirakawa Mai really were, and how on earth she got so close to them.

Sakura did not reply; the girl, who was proficient in the art of fishing, knew very well that sometimes maintaining a bit of mystery was important.

Watching the constantly rising follower count and view count, Sakura, who was pure and clear, possessing the pure sky of Kagoshima, Kyushu, suddenly underwent a certain change, her eyes faintly tinged with a multicolored black.

Three years in the capital is not as good as a single chance encounter; choices seem far more important than hard work.

Oh no, I'm addicted to mooching; it seems I can't go back to the past anymore.

In her mind, the words Shiratori said at the time kept surfacing.

That side, it seems, also hopes that she...

……………………

At the same time, Bunkyo Ward, Sakata Bridge Tower 1802, Uesugi Residence.

"Hmm~ hmmm~ hmm↑ hmm→ hmm↓~"

Minami leaned against the soft sofa, pouting, feeling both frustrated and helpless.

"What's wrong, Minami?" Uesugi Muneyuki asked with some amusement; he and Minami were watching TV together, while Asuka was massaging Minami, though Uesugi Muneyuki very much doubted how much strength A-Xiu's little hands had.

Ikeda Erena volunteered to wash the dishes, the tall beauty thinking to herself, I've already washed the dishes, Uesugi should give me the key now, right?

The tall beauty, with her prominent curves and wearing an apron, standing with her back to the living room, was as beautiful as a painting; especially after being with Uesugi Muneyuki, Ikeda's figure seemed to have become even more perfect.

It's just that it shouldn't get any bigger; if it gets any bigger, Master Eirina will have to quit her job at the Metropolitan Police Department and go work for Blue Archive.

Yes, today Minami came to Sakata Bridge; uh, does that count as visiting? Uesugi Muneyuki didn't know either.

"I just feel like Shirakawa Mai is so popular!" Minami tangled in pain: "There's news about you and her everywhere! You two are just like the male and female leads in a Monday night romance drama!"

"And me, Muneyuki-kun's true fiancée, the daughter of the Superintendent General, the Section Chief of the Special Investigation Division of the Criminal Investigation Department, I haven't been mentioned in the news at all!" Minami shouted, expressing her anger: "Even Ikeda, even Ikeda showed her face! Why wasn't I mentioned? I'm the one who is supposed to fly away with Muneyuki-kun!"

Uesugi Muneyuki glanced at Minami sideways, unable to help but find it funny, but also a bit heavy.

He had already learned the results of the punishment for the Yokohama Case from Minami.

Now, based on the Dead Soul of Kudo Geni, Uesugi Muneyuki had basically confirmed one thing.

The mastermind was that Lawmaker Yuasa, and furthermore, Igarashi Aiko definitely had a grudge against him!

In the end, the handling result was nothing more than a voluntary admission of fault and an apology, with a fake, slight demotion.

Even Watanabe Eiji was very dissatisfied with this handling result, let alone Uesugi Muneyuki.

But my Japan has its own national conditions.

Uesugi Muneyuki had always wanted to complain about a very bad historical habit of the Japanese—the lack of clarity in rewards and punishments.

Early Japan had no written law; Japan's first law came from the "Tang Code" brought back from the Tang Dynasty by the envoys, and after Prince Shotoku and others studied it and changed the name slightly (referring to changing the "Tang" on the cover to "Taiho"), the "Taiho Code" was officially released.

However, from the moment the "Taiho Code" was born, it suffered from severe incompatibility; the Tang Dynasty system, which was copied mechanically, did not fit Japan's national conditions, and coupled with the fact that the Emperor soon lost power, this made the judicial system chaotic.

The Samurai, under the leadership of Minamoto no Yoritomo, gradually established the "On-and-Ho" reward system, but the punishment system was a mess; for the Samurai, lighter crimes were handled leniently if they admitted fault and begged for mercy, while heavier crimes resulted in direct ritual suicide.

This bad habit was passed down to the post-war era; after the reforms by Emperor Ma, Japan also entered modern society, and in modern society, it is naturally impossible to order ritual suicide for slightly serious crimes, but the result was that many crimes were handled by an apology, a show of submission, a light fine, and a demotion while remaining in office, and after a while, they were quietly promoted, ultimately resulting in no substantive or meaningful punishment.

It seems that if I want to further investigate that Outer World gigolo killer, I still have to rely on myself and the power of the inner side of Senior Mai.

"You didn't pass the physical fitness test, did you?" Uesugi Muneyuki felt that he couldn't bring the problems of the inner side to the Outer World, so he put away his dissatisfaction and smiled: "The physical fitness standard for female police officers is 15 seconds for 100 meters and 4 minutes 21 seconds for 800 meters before age 30, and 17 seconds for 100 meters and 4 minutes 48 seconds for 800 meters after age 31; these are already very loose conditions."

"Sob sob sob~ I can't do it!" Minami hung her head in frustration.

"Then you can just have Eirina take you to practice every day before you get off work during this time." Uesugi Muneyuki glanced at Eirina, who was washing the dishes.

"As for me, I'm OK anytime." Eirina naturally had no objections: "If the Section Chief needs it..."

"Then I'll leave it to you, Ikeda! This is the key to whether I can be promoted to Management Officer of the Special Investigation Division! Whether my life can continue depends on this moment!" Minami, with a bitter face, threw herself into Uesugi Muneyuki's arms to seek comfort: "Otherwise, I'll just have to pretend to be pregnant and say that Uesugi-kun forced himself on me against my will, you know~"

"Hey! You're trying to send me in to rot in prison for three years!" Uesugi Muneyuki was startled.

"Hahaha~ Sorry, Muneyuki-kun, I didn't mean it like that~" "Hahahahaha~" Minami amused herself, and Ikeda was laughing so hard he was rocking back and forth, shaking uncontrollably.

Saito Asuka behind them couldn't help but laugh too; the Housekeeper Ashūshū was wearing a black and white maid outfit today, paired with a white headscarf and thickened white Silk Stockings, looking so fresh and tender she was like an angel.

The girl seemed particularly prone to schadenfreude over other people's embarrassing moments, though she usually wouldn't show it, only revealing her true self at home, especially after getting close to big sister Minami.

This girl seemed to have a dark side gene as well, Uesugi Muneyuki thought to himself unconsciously as he gently stroked the back of the young lady Minami to comfort and encourage her.

Dark Bird, Black Sakura.

And that Hirate, who was arrogant, insufferable, and full of herself.

Why were all these underage girls he knew so strange?

"Oh right, speaking of this, Uesugi, isn't your brother getting married in a few days?" The young lady Minami suddenly remembered something.

"Yes, that's right, are you going to attend?" Uesugi Muneyuki nodded.

"Of course, what kind of joke are you making, Muneyuki-kun? I am your fiancée, if I don't attend, who will?" The young lady Minami said aggressively: "Oh right, by the way, for the engagement ceremony a month from now, Eirina, Asuka, you both must attend as well to back me up!"

Eirina and Asuka both nodded; the Keishicho Alliance was unbreakable!

Just like that, while Fuji TV was still working hard to get through to the Ministry of Justice, urging the District Public Prosecutors Office to quickly complete the evidence review and file a public prosecution so that the current episode could be broadcast, on October 21st, the wedding ceremony held at the Tokyo Imperial Hotel took place as scheduled.

The future Head of the House of the Yonezawa Uesugi Clan, Uesugi Muneyuki's brother Uesugi Sadanori, was officially married!

(End of this chapter)