Chapter 9 – Conference

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Albeit unofficial, they’d have a discussion with Saori. Nanase, Mizuki, Yuuta, and Tomoe would accompany Yukishiro to the meeting place. Only Yukishiro, Nanase, and Mizuki, however, would take part in the conference. Even though he’d stay outside, Yuuta had requested to come along in case something were to happen and it was decided for Tomoe to be his chaperon.

The site was a certain hotel situated at the border between the summer resorts of the Yoshiwaras and Minatos. Having arrived thirty minutes early, Yukishiro’s party timely went over to the conference room while leaving Yuuta and Tomoe behind.

Saori was already awaiting them inside. Or to be precise, Saori and three other women. One of them was a witness dispatched by the state. Despite its informal nature, the state deemed it important enough to send one of its civil officials.

The other two were both Minato people whom Yukishiro knew. However, the presence of one of them shocked Yukishiro, making her ask herself why that person was here.

“Please take a seat.”

The state witness would apparently play the role of moderator in this. Yukishiro sat down right in the middle with Nanase and Mizuki on her left and right.

“Very well, I would like to start the meeting then. Having said that, this is essentially a problem between mother and daughter. Saori-sama, Yukishiro-sama, please have a constructive exchange.”

Saying only that, the witness sat back down and fell silent.

Mother and daughter stared at each other. It was their first meeting in around eight months.

“It has been a long time.”

Yukishiro was the one breaking the silence.

“Mother, and everyone from Minato, I feel deeply sorry for having caused you so much trouble.”

She bowed deeply. After all, Yukishiro fully understood just what she had done.

Saori didn’t respond in any way to her daughter’s apology. She merely continued to stare at her.

“Saori-sama,” one of the Minato people, a woman who looked somewhat daunting, said.

“Raise your head.”

Reacting to her peer’s call, Saori directly addressed Yukishiro. And then she faced Nanase, who was sitting next to her daughter.

“My foolish daughter has been in your care.”

“I haven’t done anything worth mentioning. Yukishiro-san is a wonderful girl who can perfectly handle her own matters.”

Saori was three years younger than Nanase and would turn 36 years old this year. With her 166 cm, she was taller than Nanase and Mizuki. Her hair possessed a natural, brown hue and her face looked as beautiful as a piece of art.

Saori and Yukishiro resembled each other closely. Going by her youthful appearance, one wouldn’t expect Saori to actually be close to 36 years old. She possessed dignity and a beauty as befitting for the head of the Eternal Minato family.

The conference proceeded to something you could call gossiping between Saori and Nanase. Both didn’t share a relationship which made such a talk very likely, but it served as a light opener before they’d enter the main topic.

And then, after some time, Saori touched onto said main topic.

“Yukishiro-san.”

“Yes?”

“It’s impossible for Iori-san.”

“She has just finished one school term, so isn’t it a bit too early to judge?”

“Regardless of how many school terms she finished, it’s impossible for that girl. That is something I have known from the very beginning.”

Iori’s education as family head wasn’t going well. She had a mountain of things to do, yet she ran away from them.

“Iori-san appears to also understand that it’s impossible for her.”

“I…see.”

Yukishiro had planned to watch Iori’s growth until the end of her first high school year, but the person in question has already given up.

“You are the next family head of the Minatos. Come back at once.”

“Are you saying you will approve of my own wishes?”

Hearing those words from Yukishiro, Saori’s face was clearly twisted by anger.

“You mean the nonsense about you getting married to Yuuta-sama?”

“It is no nonsense. I’m serious about it.”

“Did you become attached to him while the Yoshiwaras took care of you?”

“Yes. He treated me very well and I’m deeply thankful towards that man.”

A nasty sound of Saori clamping down on her fan could be heard.

“The Minatos and Yoshiwaras are incompatible. It’s unthinkable for them to share the same man as husband.”

“I have never heard of such a law existing.”

“Oh my!”

The somewhat daunting woman raised her voice. She was staring at Yukishiro reproachfully as if she couldn’t believe what she was hearing.

“Don’t you have any self-awareness as the next family head of the Minatos!?”

Judging that a blaming glare wasn’t enough, she also criticized Yukishiro verbally. But, the one responding to her was Mizuki.

“I don’t know any other girl who possesses as much self-awareness as a future family head as Yukishiro-san.”

“What was that!?”

“You won’t convince anyone by raising your voice,” Mizuki said while smiling composedly.

The woman’s lips trembled.

The Yoshiwaras and Minatos, two families who have been at odds with each other for a very long time. The Yoshiwaras built a firm organization with Nanase at its center. In contrast to that, the Minatos have been coming apart in various places after losing Ena.

The current lack of composure shown by the Minato woman served as manifestation of the lacking composure among all of Minato.

“Saori-sama,” Nanase called out with a calm voice. “Yukishiro-san and Yuuta-sama love each other.”

“Love?”

“Yes, love.”

Saori considered that to be unbelievable.

“With a man she kept company for merely a few months? Aren’t you mistaking something else for love?”

Yukishiro was the one answering Saori, “No, I do love Yuuta-sama.”

“I didn’t expect you to be deceived by Yuuta-sama.”

“Yuuta-sama isn’t that sort of a person.”

“He is the man who is engaged to the next family head of the Yoshiwaras. It wouldn’t be odd for him to trick you with the intent of gaining an advantage for the Yoshiwaras.”

Saori’s thinking was very understandable for a family head of the Minatos.

“Saori-sama,” Nanase spoke up once again, “no matter what Yukishiro-san might have been told by Yuuta-sama, she would never harm the Minatos. She is quite capable of making a proper distinction. And I believe you are the one who knows this best, aren’t you Saori-sama?”

“Women change when they get involved with men.”

Nanase smiled at those words.

“That’s true. Women change because of men. Yukishiro-san changed after bonding with Yuuta-sama. I’m sure she will become a wonderful family head for the Minatos.”

“…She bonded with him?”

Yukishiro spoke up, a strong resolve dwelling in her voice, “Yuuta-sama confessed to me.”

“!”

“And I spent a night with him as his lover.”

“Wh-!?”

Not only Saori and the daunting woman were shocked by this, but also the other Minato woman and the state’s witness.

“Yukishiro-san, you…”

“Yes. I had the privilege to sleep with Yuuta-sama.”

“What have you done!?”

Saori glared at Nanase.

“I didn’t do anything. Yuuta-sama and Yukishiro simply fell in love and entered a relationship.”

“Do you think anyone is going to believe such a lie!?”

“It’s no lie! I love Yuuta-sama, and Yuuta-sama loves me!”

The daughter desperately appealed to her mother while her mother scowled at her in return. But, no matter how much she was being glared at, Yukishiro was filled with an unshakable determination. She wouldn’t hide or deny her own feelings towards Yuuta.

“I am going to become Yuuta-sama’s wife! Please allow me to serve as the family head of Minato as his second wife!”

Yukishiro’s yell reverberated inside the room. Once it faded, the place was wrapped up in silence. A deafening silence.

What could be heard next was Saori clasping down on her fan so hard that it sounded as if it’d break at any moment. But, the one breaking the silence with actual words was Nanase.

“Saori-sama, I promise you as head of the Yoshiwara family. Our family will never do anything to harm the Minatos through Yuuta-sama.”

At that point, she cast a sidelong glance at the state’s witness.

“And…I would like to tackle projects to better the life of the women in this world together with the Minatos.”

“What kind of projects are you talking about?”

The state’s witness asked.

“At present, the Yoshiwaras are working on a certain project. I think you might already have heard of the Angel Suits.”

The witness put on a stern expression.

“You will be working on that project together with the Minatos?”

“Yes.”

“Though I believe this is something that should originally be placed under the management of the state…”

The Succubus Suits are managed by Dreamseducers and the Angel Suits by the Yoshiwaras. Although Dreamseducers is mostly made up of common women, its activities have been strongly influenced by the state. It’s considered a secret organization, but in reality the higher officials of the state such as the prime minister knew of its existence from the very start. And they have been promoting political measures to employ sex goods like the Succubus Suit with Dreamseducers in the center.

The Angel Suits managed by the Yoshiwara, however, are still limited to Toukyou, unlike the Succubus Suit which has spread all over the country. If the Yoshiwara and Minato joined hands and tried to spread the Angel Suit to other regions with Exclusive Male Zones, the eternal families in those areas likely couldn’t ignore that.

Because of that, the other eternal families have already started to investigate matters. To make matters worse, the matters regarding the rights and ownership were somewhat complicated. Even though the other family had grasped that Yuuta had invented the Succubus Suit, he didn’t hold the rights over the Angel Suit. Then again, the Angel Suit had been created based on the Succubus Suit. As such, it wouldn’t have been weird for Yuuta to have filed complaints about having the technology behind his Succubus Suit stolen, but because he looked past that, the Yoshiwaras could also claim to hold the rights for the Angel Suit.

Matters surrounding the copyright were slightly complicated, but the one at the center of everything was still Yuuta, nonetheless. Assuming Yuuta were to warm up to women from other Eternals and wished to pass the rights to reproduce the suits to those families, no one would be able to ignore his plea.

Of course, it was very unlikely for that to happen at the present point in time, but the future is unpredictable. After all, Yuuta is still only seventeen years old.

“I wish the Minatos and Yoshiwaras to join hands and make this business grow as a project for the sake of improving our society.”

Nanase judged that the witness didn’t know all the complicated circumstances surrounding Yuuta. When she heard that the state would send someone to sit in on this meeting, she had suspected that it’d be someone belonging to Dreamseducers. But, the witness sitting here was a high official whom Nanase didn’t know all too well.

“T-The Angel Suit project…together with the Minatos…”

The somewhat daunting woman was bewildered by Nanase’s words, yet she couldn’t shut out the joy from leaking out of her voice. Nanase suspected that she must have been considering all sorts of possibilities in her little head. Alongside the profits that could be reaped from those.

“How about it? I don’t think it’s a bad deal for the Minatos.”

“…”

Saori’s expression remained unchanged. Apparently this offer didn’t manage to calm her anger as she was still putting on a furious expression while clamping her lips shut.

“Although it depends on Yuuta-sama’s wish, we were thinking of holding the ceremony during Yuuta-sama’s next birthday.”

“…”

“For Yukishiro-san to become his bride alongside Aoi-san.”

“…”

This was a substantial concession for the Yoshiwaras. Originally, this whole affair had nothing to do with the Yoshiwaras. Them sheltering Yukishiro, Yukishiro becoming Yuuta’s second wife, Yukishiro having her marriage ceremony together at the same time as Aoi, and even the Angel Suit project; nothing of this was beneficial for the Yoshiwaras.

And yet, Nanase made such a move.

Because her beloved daughter asked for it. Because Yuuta wished for it. And because Nanase also thought of Saori.

However, Saori’s anger hadn’t vanished. Even after Nanase offered so many concessions, Saori’s heart was still full of fury. Rather, it looked as though her rage was growing worse.

Why…? Where is this anger coming from?

Nanase believed that she was pressuring Saori. Although she didn’t know the situation at the Minato household, she knew that the man, whom Saori had courted during junior high, ran away on her, and the events that happened afterwards. It might have been a terrible humiliation for Saori, but she had been blessed with two children. Though Nanase heard that the man, who eventually became Saori’s husband, was spending his time calmly.

Still.

She recalled a story she had heard from Yukishiro.

Why didn’t she attend the Holy Night Festival?

Every year Saori had told Yukishiro that she’d attend the Holy Night Festival before leaving the house on that day. But, Nanase had never spotted Saori at the venue. No matter how large the venue might be, she’d have definitely noticed it if the present head of the Eternal Minato had come to the festival.

There are rumors…that Saori-sama’s husband is spending his days at a peaceful summer resort, but…

The thick sound of something breaking could be heard from the fan in Saori’s hand.

“I understand…your points. I hope we can have a meeting on the work level…in regards to the details of the joint project with your family.”

“Of course. Let’s do that in the near future.”

“We are done here for today.”

The meeting was aborted at this point. Yukishiro has already slept with Yuuta. The only choices left to the Minatos were to either make Yukishiro the family head as Yuuta’s second wife or give up on her and force Iori to become the family head. Nanase assumed they’d likely keep weighing those two options while scrutinizing the details of the joint venture with the Yoshiwaras.

Nanase and Mizuki stood, followed by Yukishiro also getting up. While looking at her mother who looked angry and anguished, Yukishiro and her two companions left the room.

The ones remaining inside the room were Saori’s party and the state’s witness. As the somewhat daunting woman called out to Saori, she received the following reply.

“Please leave me alone for a while.”

The other Minato woman told Saori with a gentle voice, “We shall be waiting while getting everything ready to return home,” and left the room, albeit being worried about the witness staying behind.

Seeing that Saori wasn’t showing any signs of moving, the witness also left her seat.

“As far as the state is concerned, we wish for Yukishiro-sama to become the family head, even if she is Yuuta-sama’s second wife. We would also be happy if we could have you secure as much of the Angel Suit rights as possible.”

Saori didn’t respond.

“Please allow someone from our side to sit in on your upcoming work meeting with the Yoshiwaras. Contact me once the date has been set.”

“…Yes.”

The witness also left, leaving Saori alone in the room. Through the window she could see the car of Yukishiro’s party leaving. Yuuta was with them as well.

The plan to secure a way to control the next era’s Minato sure has backfired.

She was paying attention to the woman who watched the car gradually disappear. It was the same woman whom Saori had permitted to attend today’s meeting.

Since she was allowed to participate in today’s meeting, it means Saori-sama has taken a liking to her. Well…she probably won’t ever reach Ena-san’s level, though.

The witness looked back once more, staring at the room where Saori had remained.

A ・・・・・・ mother who was beaten to the punch by her daughter after being unable to experience love herself, huh…? I doubt you can simply waive it off as jealousy. I can’t tell what she must be feeling, but I do sympathize with her.

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