Before leaving the eighth floor, Yu returned to the auditorium. Adjusting his somewhat messy collar, he was just about to go back and talk with Yotsuba and the others, but as soon as he returned, he discovered that Fujiwara Chika had already left.
Yotsuba, who remained there, was holding her phone in her hands, her gaze fixed on the screen, occasionally tapping it. It looked as though she was typing messages and talking to someone.
Out of curiosity, Yu quietly approached her, suddenly leaned over to look at the phone she was holding, and asked:
"Yotsuba, what are you looking at?"
"Eh?! Yu, Yu?! W-when did you get here?"
As soon as the young man's voice sounded, Yotsuba's hand trembled, and the phone she was holding immediately slipped from her grasp, only for Yu to catch it in the middle of her startled cry.
"If you mean when I sat down beside Yotsuba, just now. If you mean when I saw Yotsuba texting someone, then quite a while ago."
Hearing that, Yu put on a thoughtful expression and spoke while making a motion as though he was about to look at Yotsuba's phone. However, the moment he managed to glimpse something from the corner of his eye, Yotsuba snatched the phone from his hand.
"N-no! Yu can't see this yet! It's... it's a secret..."
Taking the phone back, Yotsuba's face turned red. She pressed the phone against her chest, avoiding the young man's gaze, obviously not wanting Yu to find out what she was talking about.
At that, Yu smiled, waved his hand, and said:
"Alright, alright, Yotsuba has her little secrets too. By the way, Yotsuba, do you know where Ichika and the others are? They dragged me and Ikaros away as soon as we got out of the car, and I have no idea what they went off to do."
"Hmm, they were changing into formal dresses in a room on the fifth floor back then. They've probably already come out by now, so I'm not really sure."
Seeing that Yu was not insisting about the phone, Yotsuba breathed a sigh of relief and answered after a moment of thought.
"I understand. Alright, Yotsuba, see you later. Give my regards to Moeha for me."
Standing up, Yu waved and prepared to leave, not forgetting to ask Yotsuba to greet Moeha on his behalf.
"Eh?! So he really... saw it, didn't he..."
Hearing the final sentence the young man casually tossed out, Yotsuba paused, then smiled helplessly. Looking at Fujiwara Moeha's request on her phone, she murmured:
"An arranged marriage, huh... Will Yu help?"
Pressing her lips together, Yotsuba thought deeply.
Her impression of Fujimaru Chika was actually very good, but she felt that something was wrong.
Earlier, she had heard Yu talk about the Fujiwara family; they were one of the most influential political families in Japan. Why would they do something like sending their daughter into an arranged marriage?
Moreover, the other party was the second prince of some small country, which brought absolutely no benefit to the Fujiwara family.
If that was the case, it would be better to simply give up on the marriage.
Yotsuba felt that even she herself could understand such things, so why was this happening?
She tightened her grip on the phone and turned off the screen.
It was useless to keep thinking about it. She could not help; she could only hope that Yu, who had seen the phone earlier, would do something.
In Yotsuba's opinion, Yu and Fujimaru Chika had a very good relationship; they were friends. But family matters like this were not something friends could interfere with; after all, that was how it was in manga.
Now she could only wait and see whether Yu would choose to help. If Yu helped, would that mean Yu and Fujimaru Chika would end up together?
It seemed... not very different from an arranged marriage.
Leaving the auditorium, Yu arrived in the hallway with a calm expression. He recalled the message he had seen on Yotsuba's phone earlier. After a long while, he finally murmured:
"So, they're really sending that person into an arranged marriage?"
As for the situation of the Fujiwara family, Yu could not say that he knew everything, but he did have certain insider information.
The current Fujiwara family was completely different from the Shinomiya family. After all, the political world was different from the business world. Although politics was more dangerous and harder to rise through than business, it was also more stable. A political force as deeply rooted as the Fujiwara family would never easily run into trouble.
As for the Shinomiya family, although on the surface they were still at the head of Japan's four largest financial conglomerates, in reality they had been consistently losing money for the past two years. And not just a little, but to the point that their value had nearly been cut in half.
And the reason for that was inseparably connected to the senility of Shinomiya Gan'an.
Setting aside the foolish mistakes Shinomiya Gan'an made while planning the future of the Shinomiya Group in his later years, the very fact that he allowed his three sons to fight among themselves meant that the Shinomiya family would not last much longer.
In Yu's opinion, Shinomiya was not a royal family with a throne to inherit; the people there constantly schemed against one another, completely neglecting the Shinomiya companies while fighting over an illusory right of succession. If that was not stupidity, what was?
Of Shinomiya's three sons, the only one Yu truly appreciated was Shinomiya Unyo. Although Unyo was cunning and ruthless, at least he knew how to win people over. And what about Shinomiya Oko and Shinomiya Seiryu?
Besides internal conflict, another reason was the severe corruption within the companies of the Shinomiya Group.
Countless large and small enterprises continuously drained the life force of Shinomiya. If they did not go bankrupt because of that, then who would?
Still, Shinomiya Gan'an's ability was worthy of respect. After all, despite being drained for years, he still managed to present an image of prosperity, which was truly impressive.
Ahem, he had strayed too far from the topic. In short, unlike the ever-changing business world, the Fujiwara family was a giant tree on the political stage. They had no need to send their children into arranged marriages to create powerful alliances.
Not to mention that the other party was the second prince of another country.
It was important to know that in kingdoms, the eldest prince usually had the right of succession. The second prince, compared to ordinary people, at most had a somewhat higher status.
Moreover, as the second prince of another country, his influence in Japan could be considered almost nonexistent.
Why would the Fujiwara family do something that brought them no benefit at all?
Unless... the Fujiwara family's real objective was not to form an alliance through marriage, but to lure a snake out of its hiding place?
Thinking of that, the corners of Yu's lips curved slightly into a smile. The Fujiwara family was truly impatient; they had even used him and Fujimaru Chika as part of their plan.
But... who came up with such a crazy idea?
Was it Fujiwara Daichi? Probably not; his level of obsession with his daughter was similar to Tachibana Gen's. That left only one possibility: Fujiwara Manaho, the Japanese diplomat.
But Yu remembered that Fujiwara Manaho was a very intelligent woman, so how could she have come up with such a bad idea?
Thinking about that, Yu sighed, took out his phone, found Fujimaru Chika's number, and immediately called it.
In the car on the way home, Fujiwara Chika was still wearing her formal dress, but at this moment she was very different from her usual self. Her always-smiling face was unusually calm, and her gaze was directed out the car window toward the passing scenery, while no one knew what she was thinking about.
"Hey, Onee-san, are you... really going to enter an arranged marriage? You haven't even met him."
Moeha sat beside Fujimaru Chika, looked at their conversation with Yotsuba, then looked at her sister and asked worriedly.
"Hmm? Moeha, don't worry. Maybe he's a very good person."
Hearing her sister's concern, Fujiwara Chika smiled again, but unlike her usual smile, this one seemed somewhat forced.
Since her sister had said that, Moeha did not know how to respond for a while.
Should she directly ask her sister, "If you accept the arranged marriage, what will happen to Yu-sama?" Should she say something like that?
At that moment, Fujiwara Moeha felt that it would only make the situation worse.
Thinking about that, Fujiwara Moeha clearly knew that the only person she could place her hopes on now was Yotsuba.
Just then, Fujiwara Chika's phone suddenly rang, instantly shattering the false peace inside the car:
"Ding-a-ling!!!"