Slurp slurp slurp~~~
Once Mutsumi finished her mango juice, Rin stood up to walk her home. However, Mutsumi remained seated, looking up at him with wide, pleading eyes.
Rin sat back down.
"Something else you need to say?"
"Nope~"
Her tone shifted from cold to lively. She braced her elbows on the table and rested her chin in her palms. Beneath the table, her petite feet in loafers began to playfully kick Rin's shins. Mortis was in control now.
"Stay with me~ Stay with me~ Stay with me~"
While kicking his legs, Mortis puffed out her cheeks like a child throwing a tantrum. The Mortis persona was born during Mutsumi's childhood, so her personality remained juvenile.
As she kicked, she began to use the tips of her shoes to rub against the inside of Rin's thighs... Unfortunately, her legs were too short; otherwise, she wouldn't have stopped at his thighs.
"Be a good girl~ I have an appointment with someone else soon." Rin leaned forward and patted Mortis's head. Then, he lowered his voice to a whisper. "Next time, I'm going to ravage you until you're nothing but a breeder."
Mortis blushed and nodded, handing the body back to Mutsumi. Rin stayed for one more glass of mango juice with Mutsumi before leaving the cafe.
The "someone else" he was meeting wasn't just Hatsune, but also someone related to her. Just like Mutsumi, they had reached out to him first.
Rin had planned to settle the Sakiko issue before contacting the Toyokawa patriarch, but the old man had found him first... and the meeting place was a hotel.
In front of the hotel, Rin hadn't even entered before a man who looked like a manager stepped forward.
"Hello, are you Mr. Ito?"
Rin raised an eyebrow and nodded.
"Mr. Toyokawa is waiting for you. Please, follow me."
Rin followed the manager inside, completely unsurprised.
Hatsune had a penchant for playing the tragic heroine, but she wasn't the type to proactively lure a man to a hotel to seduce him... The only person who could have arranged this was Sakiko's grandfather, Teiji Toyokawa.
Rin knew he had likely been "doxxed" by the old man already. The staff recognizing him on sight was a deliberate power move designed to intimidate him.
Teiji Toyokawa seeking him out was well within Rin's expectations.
The manager led Rin to a conference room door and knocked gently. Upon receiving permission, he opened the door and bowed low as Rin entered.
The first thing Rin saw was Teiji Toyokawa, his hair grey and his face a mask of stern authority, sitting on a sofa. The atmosphere in the room was suffocatingly heavy.
Rin didn't flinch. He walked over with a smile and sat opposite the patriarch.
"Mr. Toyokawa, I assume I don't need to introduce myself."
"Tell me, what do you want?" Teiji Toyokawa asked flatly, cutting straight to the chase. "Or rather, what does the person behind you want?"
Rin could use Karen to dox people; Teiji could do the same. With his kind of money, information was a commodity.
However, all he could dig up were useless details about Rin's background. At most, he'd know through Mutsumi's parents that Rin was close to Karen Okiura. He certainly couldn't find out that Karen enjoyed being Rin's "dog" in private.
"Mmm... before I answer that, I have a question for you." Rin smiled and poured himself a cup of tea. "Are you asking me as the Chairman of the Toyokawa Group, or as a father and a grandfather? Depending on the identity, my answer will change."
"..."
Teiji's eyes sharpened. Rin met his gaze with a steady, unbothered smile.
Rin found it hard not to judge the fact that Teiji had "mourned" his dead wife by fathering a child with the maid, but in his memory, Teiji wasn't a heartless father who used his children as political tools.
When his daughter, Mizuho Toyokawa (Sakiko's mother), fell in love with Seigo Toyokawa—a man with no background whose only virtues were kindness and honesty—Teiji didn't block the marriage. Instead, he absorbed the family pressure and put all his effort into grooming his son-in-law.
If Seigo hadn't publicly exposed Hatsune's existence at the family summit, he would still be the heir regardless of the 16.8 billion yen loss.
As for his illegitimate daughter, Hatsune, while Teiji couldn't provide emotional support, he was relentless in his material backing.
When Hatsune wanted to be an idol, he had her partner ready and a contract signed the day she arrived in Tokyo.
Even after her identity was leaked to the family, he resisted the pressure to cut ties. He kept her in the agency and continued to pour resources into her career.
At this point in time, he was likely under immense pressure from the rest of the clan for those decisions.
Sakiko's father was just too "good." Many things don't matter until they are put on a scale; once they are, they weigh a thousand pounds.
Signing Hatsune to a group-owned agency was essentially a semi-public admission. The illegitimate daughter was an open secret that everyone agreed to ignore.
Giving her money and resources was fine; everyone looked the other way. But you could never give her a formal "name" or status.
When Sakiko's father tried to force a name for Hatsune, Teiji had to provide the family with a sacrifice to maintain order. Sakiko's father became that sacrifice.
And it wasn't just Hatsune. In Rin's past life, Teiji was the one who practically carried Ave Mujica on his back.
Rin believed that Teiji was here not for the secret of the illegitimate daughter, but for Hatsune herself. And when it came to dealing with a father, Rin had a mountain of experience.
"It doesn't matter what identity I use to find you," Teiji said coldly after a long silence.
"Then I'll assume you're here as a father and a grandfather," Rin smiled. "There is no one 'behind' me. Karen asked me to do this as a friend. She simply wants to be friends with Sakiko Toyokawa and asked me to be the bridge."
"Sakiko and Karen Okiura have met. If they wanted to contact each other, they wouldn't need your help." Teiji's face remained a mask, his voice devoid of emotion.
Rin continued, "Karen doesn't want a nominal friend. She wants a true friend she can share her heart with."
Mmm, and not just her heart, but her playboy boyfriend too. Rin added that thought privately.
"You've investigated enough to guess how I met Karen," Rin paused.
"Emotionally speaking, Karen doesn't have many real friends. After seeing Sakiko's band fall apart, Karen felt her loneliness and wanted to reach out. She empathizes with her."
"From a business perspective, Karen is the future of the Okiura Group, and Sakiko is the future of the Toyokawa Group... You were young once. You know that friendships forged in youth are almost impossible to find once you've grown up."
"Sakiko's mother passed away early, and her father's abilities are... limited. Once she inherits the group, the Toyokawa empire will likely..."
Rin didn't finish the sentence, but Teiji understood perfectly.
He could withstand the pressure now. But what about when he was truly old? When he could no longer hold the line?
Could he still protect Sakiko from the "darkness" of the Toyokawa family?