Chapter 497

Today's dinner was Mediterranean cuisine, carefully prepared by Saito Asuka.

The appetizer was Spanish ham with melon, a classic Italian starter, with salty Iberian ham wrapping sweet, juicy melon, creating a striking contrast that immediately awakens the palate.

Then came lemon herb olives.

The first course was Greek-style yogurt cucumber sauce with pita bread and vegetable sticks, as well as Spanish tomato cold soup.

The main course was Saito Asuka's carefully prepared saffron seafood rice, as Spain's "national dish," it was absolutely the star and highlight of the table.

When the girl brought out a large pot of colorful, richly ingredient paella, it drew exclamations from the whole family.

"Asuka, your skills are getting better and better!" Minami Ojou-sama exclaimed, thinking she was nearly catching up to her mother.

Minami Ojou-sama's mother, Watanabe Michiko, has long been known as the Queen of Cuisine in Tokyo's elite social circles.

"Indeed impressive." Ikeda Erena gave a relatively fair evaluation, and the Tall Beauty had grown accustomed to having delicious food waiting at home after work.

"Asuka is so outstanding, I can rest easy now." Uesugi Muneyuki also said with a smile.

"Hehehe, what of it? As long as Mr. Uesugi likes it, I'm happy." The soft, cute girl lowered her head, blushing slightly, making her even more charming: "Just wait, Mr. Uesugi, there's still one more dish!"

"Herb-roasted lamb chops from Provence!" The girl brought out the hearty dish she had prepared all day.

A whole rack of lamb chops, charred outside and tender inside, was placed on the table, personally carved by Uesugi Muneyuki, very ceremonial, using Provence herb mix rubbed on the lamb chops before roasting.

Naturally, even for this toughest dish, Uesugi Muneyuki didn't spend a single yen.

From the lamb chops to the seasonings and everything else, all were gifts from the Metropolitan Police Department and various connections, such as Acting Unit Chief Nango Yui's gift of bluefin tuna and New Zealand salmon, these ingredients alone far exceeded his monthly salary.

Okada Masayoshi's father, Financial Services Agency Commissioner Okada Masahide, sent venison, while Kai Toru's father, Justice Ministry Administrative Vice-Minister Kai Mineaki, sent wild boar meat from Nagano, and they all thanked Uesugi for his "care" of their children.

So although Uesugi Muneyuki's current annual income is only 9.4 million yen, compared to Miyawaki Sakura's 17 million, it's really hard to say whose quality of life is higher.

Speaking of which, YKC48 really got screwed…… Uesugi Muneyuki suddenly remembered Little Cherry Blossom.

Recently, that former national female idol group on TV has been reduced to just Little Cherry Blossom shining alone.

Naturally, Uesugi Muneyuki should have said something for YKC48, after all, although pillow marketing is undeniable, overall, YKC48 was actually dragged down by the Okada Masayoshi incident and the subsequent document loss incident, which truly had nothing to do with them.

However, Miyawaki Sakura's document theft incident raised Uesugi Muneyuki's vigilance.

It seems this seemingly pure cherry blossom isn't so simple behind the scenes…… The question is, what side is she on? Why did she steal that document? Is she acting willingly or under coercion?

At this moment, Uesugi Muneyuki did not act rashly; he chose silence, merely greeting the YKC48 side, stating that Yamaguchi Maho was innocent and should not be bullied further.

Meanwhile, Yamaguchi Maho's choice was actually the same as Miyawaki Sakura's—she insisted on staying in the idol group, and instead gained immense sympathy.

"Speaking of which, Asuka, you'll be graduating high school next year, right?" Minami Ojou-sama said with a smile: "Any plans for the future? Like, which university do you want to attend? What kind of work do you want to do later?"

"…………" Upon hearing Minami say that, the girl's face visibly slumped, she muttered a few words under her breath.

"What?" Minami didn't hear clearly.

"I, I don't want to leave Mr. Uesugi's side." Asuka had to speak a little louder: "I want to take care of Mr. Uesugi, this is also…… what my sister wished for!"

"I didn't tell you not to take care of Muneyuki, why are you so worked up?" Minami was amused by Asuka's attitude, she casually said: "I'm asking you, how do you plan to advance your studies? What do you plan to do in the future, Asuka, you're not really just planning to be a housewife, are you?"

"Is, is there anything wrong with that?" Asuka gathered courage to say, turning her cute little face toward Uesugi Muneyuki, longing for his approval: "Mr. Uesugi, you…… what do you think?"

Uesugi Muneyuki furrowed his brow, speaking softly: "Books, still need to be read, Asuka, I told you before, when you turn 18, I'll give you a choice—whether you want to stay or start a new life, it's up to you, but…… perhaps I'm just stubborn, but university still must be attended."

Uesugi Muneyuki, in his past life as a person from the Celestial Dynasty, even though he himself understands, but the ideological steel stamp in his bones remains, even if he knows attending university might not be very useful, the knowledge learned might not necessarily be applicable, yet he still stubbornly believes that no matter what, university must still be attended.

No way, the deeply ingrained notions of the Celestial Dynasty people are here—everything is lowly except reading, his past life's father was already quite open-minded and among the earliest to engage in foreign trade, never believing in gods or buddhas, never doing divination, yet when he traveled to Qufu in Shāndōng, saw a sage, he instinctively knelt to pray for his son to score well on the college entrance exam, placing 888 incense sticks, only seeking peace of mind.

Those deeply rooted notions in the ethnic cultural bones are very hard to change.

He isn't short of money either; the 38 million yen compensation from Weekly Bunshun, he plans to take out 30 million yen from it as Asuka's education fund, so her future university tuition and living expenses will come from there.

"I……" Asuka's face showed bitterness.

"You guys probably haven't figured out the problem yet?" Just then, Ikeda Erena actually spoke, the Tall Beauty looking at Asuka's troubled expression, suddenly said: "Although I don't know the deviation values of various universities, looking at her expression, her grades probably aren't that good?"

Sure enough, after Erena spoke, Asuka's little face immediately slumped, she glared at Erena in anger and frustration, finally nodding bitterly.

Her school grades are poor, it seems she can't get into a good university.

And seeing Asuka's expression, Erena couldn't help but smirk.

Uesugi and Minami are both top students, they fundamentally cannot understand the embarrassment of being a poor student, but she does! When her own judo and karate path was cut off and she could only take the regular university entrance exam, relatives asked her if she planned to attend North Kyushu University or Fukuoka University, she could only show the same expression.

That expression, she's too familiar with it!

"Is that so." Minami thought for a moment, then suddenly laughed: "Since that's the case, Asuka, have you considered police university?"

"Eh? Police university? Me???" Asuka was startled.

Me becoming a police officer? Minami-sister, are you serious?

"Yes, if it were me, arranging your special admission to police university would be no problem at all! Then, if you attend police university, you wouldn't need to consider anything else—just enroll in the clerical preparatory course and take the civil service track! Perfect, I'm also getting married to Muneyuki by the end of this year, no longer suitable to be the face of the Metropolitan Police Department, and I'm now considered mid-level……" Minami thought, then her eyes lit up: "By the time you enter the department in your fourth year, you'll perfectly become the next generation face of the Metropolitan Police Department! Our Asuka is this cute, the Public Relations Division using her as a face for publicity and taking photos would be most suitable!"

"And being an internal affairs civil servant also makes it easy to leave work early to handle chores! Not like criminal investigators."

"Eh, really? Can I really do that?" Saito Asuka was captivated by the big pie Minami painted.

"Of course!" Watanabe Minami saw the girl's interest, secretly delighted in her heart.

This way, the position of this public official would be unshakable forever! Kora!

Everyone around Uesugi is mine, how can Shirakawa Mai compete with me?

Hey! Muneyuki, hurry into my bowl!

"You don't need to rush to answer, Asuka, you still have plenty of time to consider." Uesugi Muneyuki didn't oppose, smiling and nodding.

Thus, the family of four enjoyed a lavish meal, and after eating their fill, Uesugi Muneyuki couldn't wait to have Ikeda Erena and Watanabe Minami try on the internal affairs police uniform she brought home.

As Minami said, Uesugi Muneyuki himself is indeed a strong uniform enthusiast, and he himself is indeed in some sense a uniform paradise—Mai Xuejie's shrine maiden outfit, Eirina Nami's police uniform, Mikoto's doctor's uniform, Asuka's JK uniform, and even in some sense, Kashiwagi's wife's police uniform……

So, while Asuka was washing dishes and cleaning up, in the Uesugi residence at Sakata Bridge, a wonderful little theater unfolded in Uesugi's bedroom.

The famous Metropolitan Police Department tall beauty judo woman detective investigator Ikeda Ira Sa (Ikeda Erena portraying) went undercover to investigate a certain Metropolitan Police Department pervert's private residence, she originally had great confidence in her skills, but didn't expect that certain pervert's golden finger was too sharp, the investigator exerted all her strength yet could not prevail, finally letting out an "oh gee gee gee gee" sound, announcing complete defeat.

And seeing that a certain Metropolitan Police Department face Hamabe Minami police superintendent (Watanabe Minami portraying) had not heard from her subordinate for a long time, to investigate the mystery of her female subordinate's disappearance, decided to personally infiltrate, quickly saw a hellish scene, Minami exerted all her strength to repel the certain pervert and rescue Ikeda, but didn't expect to be grabbed from behind by Ikeda, suffering the most terrifying betrayal, Ikeda said sorry to the management officer, I can't go back anymore.

In the end, Minami police superintendent was defeated at lightning speed and immediately fell, begging for mercy.

The Metropolitan Police Department discovered the disappearance of Minami police superintendent and Ikeda investigator, but multiple investigations yielded no results, from then on no one ever saw them again.

Complete~failure~

Congratulations, congratulations~

……………………

Just like that, with the passing of Professor Zaizen, time officially entered June.

After Nango Yui joined, the Special Mission Unit remained active under the leadership of Uesugi Muneyuki, consecutively solving the disappearance and silencing case of the Ikebukuro hostess club manager, the arson case in the old apartment in Adachi Ward, and the suspicious corpse case in Aoyama Mountain Forest.

Thanks to the Special Mission Unit's activity, the Metropolitan Police Department's prestige in the hearts of the people continued to rise, and public support rebroke through 80% for the first time since the Showa era.

Uesugi Chief, awesome promax!

Mid-June, 7:50 AM, Chiyoda, Imperial Palace Imperial Household Agency department office

The Imperial Household Agency office in the early morning, as usual, was filled with a near-sacred solemnity, only the low hum of the air conditioning and the faint rustle of turning pages. The male section chief wearing a standard dark suit and staff ID was conducting the daily morning roll call. His voice was steady and rigid, one name after another called out, each met with a "Hai ei."

"Ishimura."

"Hai ei."

"Matsubara."

"Hai ei."

"Harada."

"Hai yi~"

"Jissōji."

"Here!"

…

"Shizuo."

The section chief slightly raised his volume and called again: "Shizuo Shigeo?"

Still no response.

The section chief furrowed his brow, lifted his head, and scanned the office. Shigeo Shizuo's usual window-side seat was empty, his desk surface unusually tidy. A faint unease began to spread in his heart; Shigeo Shizuo was not a lazy person, on the contrary, he was known for being meticulous and even somewhat rigid, never having a record of unexplained lateness or absence.

"Does anyone know why Shigeo Shizuo didn't come?" the section chief asked.

The other staff in the office exchanged glances, all shaking their heads.

"Try calling." The section chief instructed a young staff member nearby.

The young staff member picked up the internal phone and dialed Shigeo Shizuo's mobile. From the handset came a cold, mechanical prompt: "The number you have dialed is not in service or has been turned off..."

He then tried calling Shigeo Shizuo's registered home phone, but no one answered.

That unease began to spread through the office like ink dropped in clear water, an unexplained absence and inability to contact— in the strictly hierarchical Imperial Household Agency, this in itself was highly unusual.

The section chief's face darkened. He picked up the internal dedicated line and reported the situation to his superior. Message after message, the news slowly and solemnly passed through the lower bureaucratic levels of the Imperial Household Agency, the preliminary assessment being possible sudden illness or family emergency, but an ominous foreboding had already quietly arisen.

(Chapter End)