"See? If you'd cooperated from the start, everyone would've been spared the trouble."
The man spread the prepared documents in front of Kiyotsugu Toyokawa and handed him a pen.
His hands shaking uncontrollably, Kiyotsugu signed his name. Then someone grabbed his thumb and pressed it hard into bright red ink before stamping it down over the signature.
"Pleasure doing business, Mr. Toyokawa."
The two men collected the papers and nodded in satisfaction.
"Oh, and one friendly reminder."
Before leaving, the broader man patted Kiyotsugu's swollen cheek and spoke softly. "This is just the first payment. There's still the main debt, the sixteen point eight billion yen. Hope you'll be just as cooperative next time. Otherwise… who knows how many pieces you'll be in when we meet again."
With that, they straightened their suits and headed downstairs as if nothing had happened.
Kiyotsugu trembled like a leaf, his face drained of all color.
In the stairwell, Sakiko was just as pale. Seeing the two men about to leave, she quickly hid.
Only when their footsteps faded did she finally release her grip on the railing and suck in huge gulps of air.
Her stomach churned violently.
She gagged a few times, but nothing came up.
So this was… reality.
No shouting matches. No bloody brawls.
Just two "employees" in uniforms, holding legal documents, calmly pushing someone to the brink.
This violence wrapped in civility was far more suffocating and terrifying than open brutality.
"Dad… Dad…"
Sakiko let out a bitter laugh and climbed the rest of the way up.
Her father was still slumped outside the apartment, staring blankly at the floor, mumbling to himself. "It's over… it's all over…"
The anger she'd felt on the way up vanished the moment she saw him.
All that remained was a bottomless sadness.
"Dad!"
She rushed over and tried to help him up.
"Sakiko?"
He reacted as if shocked, shoving her away hard. "Don't touch me!"
When he looked up, his bloodied, bruised face twisted with a madness she'd never seen before.
"Why did you come so late?! Huh?! Where the hell were you?!"
He grabbed her shoulders and roared, "Those people just now… they were going to take all my money! That was the last of it!"
"Dad, calm down…"
Ignoring the pain in her shoulders, she tried to soothe him. "Money can be earned again. As long as you're alive, it's—"
"Fine?! How is this fine?!"
He cut her off, shrieking hysterically. "They were sent by Yuichi! They said there's still sixteen point eight billion! They want to drive me to death! They'll really kill me!"
"Sakiko! Hurry! Go find your grandfather!"
Like a man clinging to his last lifeline, he stared at her desperately. "Only you can see the old man! Go beg him! Tell him what that animal Yuichi is doing! As long as the old man speaks, Yuichi won't dare touch me!"
Watching her father in this deranged state, Sakiko felt her heart sink, inch by inch.
In his eyes, there was no dignity left as a father, no concern for his daughter.
Only the raw urge to survive, and a cowardice that made her sick.
But this time, she didn't turn away.
Instead, an eerie calm settled over her.
Because as frantic as his words were, they confirmed what she'd already suspected.
Her father was being trampled because he was weak, because he'd lost the family's protection.
For the Toyokawa Family, driving someone to death was never difficult.
The fact that Yuichi had only sent these "collection companies" to probe instead of using harsher measures meant he was still wary of something.
Of Grandpa?
As long as her grandfather lived, as long as the main family stood, that was a line no one dared cross.
Seiji Fujiwara's claim that the old man was "about to die" had to be a bluff. If Grandpa were truly at death's door, Yuichi wouldn't bother with elaborate debt confirmations. Wiping out her and her father outright would be far simpler.
"I understand."
She took a deep breath and pried her father's hands off her shoulders.
Her eyes hardened with renewed resolve.
"I'm going to the main house right now. I'm going to see Grandpa."
With that, she stood. She didn't spare her collapsed father another glance as she turned and headed downstairs.
This wasn't just to save him.
It was to save herself.
"Just wait, Seiji Fujiwara."
Stepping out of the dark apartment building, she looked up at the gloomy sky and swore silently.
"I'll come back with Grandpa's orders. And then I'll tear that humiliating contract to pieces right in front of you."
She flagged down a car and gave the address in Tokyo's wealthy district.
What she didn't know was that the instant she got in—
At a street corner not far away, inside a black sedan, Koles held a radio and reported evenly, "Boss. Sakiko Toyokawa is heading to the main house. Everything is proceeding according to plan."
…
…
Minato Ward, Tokyo. Ochanomizu.
This area gathered the finest medical resources in the country.
And at the end of the slope stood Keimei University Affiliated Hospital's VIP wing, a place reserved for political and business elites.
The taxi stopped beneath the grand marble portico.
Sakiko paid and stepped out.
The door closed behind her, and a wave of cold air carrying disinfectant rushed over her.
It had started raining. Fine droplets struck the dark gray stone tiles, spreading into deep, wet stains.
She glanced down at her shoes.
Plain flats, scuffed with dust from the stairwell, and faint dark-red marks that wouldn't come out. Her father's blood, splashed during the beating.
She instinctively drew her foot back, then inhaled and straightened her spine.
I am Sakiko Toyokawa.
She repeated the name in her mind.
Once she walked through those doors and saw Grandpa, everything would end.
Her father's debts. Those disgusting collectors. Seiji Fujiwara. All of it would disappear.
She brushed her messy bangs into place and stepped toward the automatic glass doors.
The lobby was quiet.
Crystal chandeliers hung from the high ceiling. The floors gleamed. There were no noisy registration lines, only a few neatly dressed nurses chatting softly at the counter.
She walked straight to the desk.
She'd been here many times. Sadaharu Toyokawa had always been in poor health and had a private ward and elevator. She knew the place well.
"Hello, are you here to visit a patient?"
The head nurse stood with a professional smile.
Sakiko stopped and nodded politely. "My name is Sakiko Toyokawa. I'm here to visit my grandfather, Mr. Sadaharu Toyokawa."
The nurse's gaze lingered on her for a moment.
It was a strange look. Not disdain, not surprise, just a subtle, awkward disbelief.
"Please wait while I check the list."
She typed a few times, blue light reflecting on her expressionless face.
After a few seconds, she looked up. The smile hadn't changed, but her words hit like ice.
"I'm very sorry, Miss Sakiko. Mr. Sadaharu Toyokawa's visitation list was updated three days ago. Your name is not currently on the approved list."
"That's impossible."
Her heart skipped.
"I'm his granddaughter."
Her fingers curled against the counter. "I never needed an appointment before. I have something urgent to discuss with him. Please make an exception, or at least call the ward."
"I'm truly sorry."
The nurse didn't reach for the phone. She bowed slightly, polite but distant. "This was a special instruction from the family committee. Mr. Toyokawa requires rest. All visits are declined except for designated individuals. We're only following regulations. Please don't make this difficult for us."
The family committee.
The words sounded almost mocking now. That "committee" likely consisted of one voice alone: Yuichi Toyokawa.
"If you won't let me up, I'll wait here," Sakiko said through clenched teeth. "Or I'll take the stairs myself. You have no right to stop a granddaughter from seeing her grandfather."
She turned toward the stairwell.
"Miss Sakiko."
The nurse's voice rose slightly, still courteous, now edged with warning. "Please don't do this. If you insist, we'll have to call security. That wouldn't be very dignified for you."
As she spoke, two tall guards emerged silently from the corner.
They didn't touch her. They just stood there, like silent gatekeepers, blocking her path.
Sakiko froze.
She looked at them, then back at the nurse who still wore her perfect smile.
No shouting. No tantrums.
This was a top-tier private hospital, an extension of high society. The violence here wasn't fists, but rules. Lists. Decorum.
This soft blade cut deeper than the punches in an Adachi Ward stairwell.
Because there was nothing to push back against.
Just as she stood there, trapped, the elevator chimed.
An elderly man in a black tailcoat stepped out, gray-haired and hurried, holding a thermos.
Sakiko's eyes lit up instantly.
It was Butler Sato.
The man who had served her grandfather for forty years, who had watched her grow up. Before she was driven out, he'd even slipped her pocket money in secret.
He was family.
"Butler Sato!"
Like someone grabbing at a lifeline, she hurried over, ignoring the guards. "Butler Sato! It's me, Sakiko!"
He stopped abruptly.
Looking at the girl standing in the middle of the lobby, thin and soaked with rain, his eyes flashed with joy for a split second.
Then that joy was swallowed by fear and avoidance.
He instinctively shrank back toward the elevator, but the doors had already closed.
"Butler Sato…"
She reached him, her voice pleading. "Can you take me up? I need to see Grandpa. Uncle Yuichi… he's going after my father and me. Only Grandpa can save us."
She reached out for his sleeve.
He stepped back half a pace, dodging her hand. "I'm terribly sorry, Miss Sakiko."
"Why?"
Her heart dropped. "You know what's happening right now. They've already come to our door. They beat my father. They want sixteen point eight billion yen. If Grandpa doesn't step in, we're finished!"
"It's useless."
He shook his head, his clouded eyes filled with sorrow. "Even if you went up, it wouldn't help."
"Why?" she pressed.
He fell silent for a few seconds, glanced at the nurse watching them, then lowered his voice and spoke the truth that sent her plunging into ice.
"The old man suffered a cerebral infarction a month ago."
"He's in the ICU now, kept alive by a ventilator. The doctors issued two critical condition notices. They say he won't make it through today."
"Second Master sealed the news and told the outside world he was resting." He lowered his head, unable to meet her eyes. "The legal team has already been called in to redraft the asset trusteeship. Miss… the Toyokawa Family now belongs to Mr. Yuichi."
Boom.
It was as if thunder exploded inside her head.
A month ago?
Back then, she'd been drowning in her father's gambling debts, swallowing her pride for a few thousand yen in part-time wages.
At that very moment, the person she relied on had already fallen.
No wonder.
No wonder everything had seemed calm until today, when it all crashed down at once.
No wonder Seiji Fujiwara had said the timing was right.
Everyone knew.
Everyone except her, the fool still dreaming that Grandpa would save her.
"I… see."
She opened her mouth, but her throat was painfully dry.
She didn't scream. She didn't grab the butler and shake him. She didn't collapse in tears.
She just stood there for a second or two, then slowly nodded.
"Thank you, Butler Sato."
Her voice was terrifyingly calm. "I'm sorry for putting you in a difficult position."
He looked at the girl before him, who seemed to have lost her soul in an instant. His eyes reddened. His lips moved, as if he wanted to comfort her, or slip her some money.
In the end, he did nothing.
Because he saw the nurse picking up the internal phone, ready to report.
In this brutal transition of power, even a trace of sympathy for the old faction could cost him the job meant to see him through retirement.
"Please… take care of yourself."
He lowered his head and hurried past her toward the exit.
Sakiko stood there, watching his frail back vanish into the rain.
The lobby remained brightly lit.
The nurse still wore her flawless smile, but to Sakiko it looked like a mask stretched over a skull.
"Miss Sakiko, if you'll—"
"No need."
She cut her off softly.
Turning around, she walked toward the doors.
Each step was steady. No stumbling.
Yet in her vision, everything around her was draining of color. The luxury, the well-dressed figures, all faded into gray backdrops.
The world had closed its doors on her.
She pushed through the glass and stepped into the rain.
It was heavier now.
Cold drops struck her skin like needles.
She stood there numbly.
Where could she go?
Back to the cheap apartment?
Or just keep wandering?
Without her grandfather, without the family, what was Sakiko Toyokawa now?
The daughter of a fraudster buried under sixteen point eight billion yen in debt?
Or a destitute high school girl who couldn't even support herself?
Just then—
Her phone vibrated in her pocket.
The faint buzz rang loudly in the dead silence of her despair.
She took it out mechanically.
The screen lit up.
Sender: Seiji Fujiwara
It was an image, followed by a few lines of text.
The image was a screenshot of an electronic plane ticket.
=-=-=-=-=
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