The Inugane Clan’s Niece
"Congratulations, Aika. I'm sure you'll look beautiful in a wedding dress."
I felt my soul leave my body.
At this point, my soul had left my body so many times I wasn't sure it would come back.
This is the end…
My mind started working on its own.
Suddenly…
A white dress.
An enormous traditional Japanese hall.
Me smiling with a completely vacant expression.
And at my side…
An enormous man.
Dark sunglasses.
A scar running across his face.
A dragon tattoo peeking out from his collar.
"Honey."
"…"
"Honey."
"Yes…"
"Did you pack the kids' lunches?"
I looked toward the door.
Two tiny delinquents in school uniforms.
"Mom! I'm off!"
"Behave yourselves…"
"Yes!"
I watched them walk away.
One was carrying a baseball bat.
The other a plastic katana.
A tear slid down my cheek.
My children…
…
…
"Aika? You look pale…"
"Are you okay?"
My body began to slowly tilt backward.
Before I could hit the floor completely, a pair of arms caught me.
Reiko.
"I'm sorry, Aika…"
Then she looked up.
And fixed Ryuji with a withering stare.
"Stop playing around and explain properly before she crosses over to the other side."
Ryuji let out a laugh.
"Alright, alright. My apologies."
He ran a hand through his hair.
"Let's sit down first. We don't need her actually fainting."
We took our places on the sofas again.
Ryuji.
Bibi.
Reiko.
Melissa.
Taro.
Matsuda.
And me.
Still completely out of it.
Ryuji poured himself another glass of whisky, lit a cigarette, and leaned back comfortably into the sofa.
He took a long drag.
Blew out the smoke.
And then snapped his fingers in front of my face.
"Hey."
I came back a little.
"Come back to reality, you idiot."
I blinked slowly.
"Aah…"
Another small tear slid down my cheek.
"Haru… Asahi…"
"…"
"Mom is going to miss you so much…"
The whole room went silent.
Ryuji frowned.
"What on earth are you talking about now?"
I snapped back suddenly.
Shot to my feet.
SLAM!
Both hands hit the table.
"It doesn't matter how much I miss my imaginary children!!"
I took a breath.
"I don't want to get married!!"
The silence lasted barely a second.
Ryuji coughed uncomfortably.
"W-well, about that…"
He cleared his throat.
"That's exactly what I wanted to talk about."
I crossed my arms.
"Oh really?"
"Listen, you don't actually have to get married."
I blinked.
"…"
"Huh?"
"But… I just heard you make an engagement deal with that unsettling man to marry me off to his son."
"You only have to pretend you will."
"…"
"Pretend?"
Ryuji nodded calmly.
"I want to use the engagement to hold the alliance together while we deal with the Kurogane problem."
He took another sip of whisky.
"So all you have to do is act engaged. Attend a few events, meet with Hideki's son a couple of times, and play the part of a fiancée."
He shrugged.
"After that you can do whatever you want."
He paused.
Then smiled with a hint of mischief.
"Though if you end up falling in love for real and actually want to marry him, I wouldn't have a problem with that either."
He pointed at me with his glass.
"As your uncle, I'll support you."
And he laughed again.
"Wait, wait!!"
I raised both hands.
"Even if I don't have to get married for real, I'll still be involved with a bunch of dangerous people!"
My breathing started to speed up.
"And you just said yourselves that your families used to be rivals!"
I grabbed my head with both hands.
"What if someone decides to kill me to break the alliance?!"
I started rocking back and forth on the sofa.
"This is the end…"
"…"
"I'm going to be killed by the yakuza…"
"…"
"What a premature death…"
Ryuji sighed.
"Hey, calm down."
He waited until I looked at him.
"Nobody is going to try to kill you."
His expression went completely serious.
"Attacking you would be a declaration of war, and nobody wants that right now."
He paused, then smiled with that confident air of his before continuing.
"Relax. Hideki and I will make sure you're treated like a princess."
My eyes began to shine.
"R-really…?"
"Of course."
I felt a small warmth spread in my chest.
"Oh…"
I smiled, genuinely moved.
"If that's the case…"
I paused.
And then slammed the table again.
"Then why don't YOU get married!!"
"…"
The whole room went quiet again.
Ryuji looked at me for a few seconds.
Then looked away with a strangely shy expression, tapping his fingertips together.
"I did the same thing for you."
I pointed at him immediately.
"What are you, the bashful love interest from a middle school romance?!"
I raised my voice.
"That character doesn't suit you at all!"
I pointed more accusingly.
"What happened at the hotel was an innocent little lie — this is nothing like that!!"
For a few seconds nobody said anything.
Then—
"Pff…"
Reiko was the first to crack.
Then Melissa.
Both of them started laughing.
I turned my head.
"Don't laugh!!"
I puffed out my cheeks.
"This is very serious!"
Bibi couldn't hold it in anymore.
He clutched his stomach as he burst out laughing.
After a few seconds he tried to pull himself together.
"Sorry…"
He wiped a little tear.
"It's just very funny."
"What's funny about it?!"
"That we all knew you were going to react exactly like this."
I glared at him.
I'm fairly certain that if looks could kill… Bibi would have needed a funeral that very night.
Bibi kept talking with a calm smile, though this time there was no mockery in his expression.
"You're not obligated to do anything you don't want to. That's exactly why Ryuji prepared an offer to convince you."
I blinked.
"An… offer?"
Ryuji settled the cigarette between his lips and let out a puff of smoke before answering.
"You're here because your mother decided to run instead of paying me the ten million yen I lent her."
…
Well.
That was still true.
"I suppose so…"
I'll keep my thoughts about how questionable it is that I'm here because of that debt to myself.
"Very well."
He leaned forward slightly.
"If you help me with all this business with the engagement and the Onizuka family… I'll reward you by forgiving part of your debt."
My breathing stopped.
"Forgiving… my debt?"
I looked around.
Reiko was smiling calmly.
Melissa too.
Bibi even gave two thumbs up, as if to say:
"It's an incredible offer!"
I looked back at Ryuji.
"A-are you serious?"
"Of course."
"Y-you're not trying to trick me?"
Ryuji raised an eyebrow.
"Not at all."
Then he smiled with that almost irritating confidence of his.
"I'm a man who keeps his promises."
I didn't know whether to believe him.
But…
If it was true…
I swallowed.
"W-well… if I were to accept… how much money are we talking about?"
Ryuji didn't answer right away — he asked a question first.
"How much do you owe right now?"
"Hmm…"
I started counting on my fingers.
"In these two months I've paid approximately one million one hundred thousand yen…"
I kept murmuring.
"Before that I owed nine million five hundred thousand…"
So…
I smiled proudly.
"Right now I owe about eight million four hundred thousand."
Silence.
Ryuji studied me for a few seconds.
Then tilted his head.
"Hey…"
He scratched the back of his neck.
"I don't want to ruin the moment when you say that so proudly…"
He paused.
"…but… did you do that math right?"
"Huh?"
I blinked.
"What do you mean?"
I counted again.
One.
Two.
Three.
…
No.
It was right.
Wasn't it?
"I'm sure that…"
Ryuji let out a long sigh.
"Matsuda."
"Yes, boss."
"Give me Aika's debt report."
"Right away."
Matsuda opened the tablet he was carrying and his fingers moved across the screen for a few seconds.
Then he looked up.
"As of today…"
He read with complete neutrality.
"Aika Shimizu's outstanding debt stands at nine million three hundred and forty-six thousand two hundred and fifty yen."
…
…
…
I felt my brain stop working.
"…Huh?"
Wait.
No.
That didn't make sense.
That's barely a hundred and fifty thousand yen less than when I started…
My lips started to tremble.
"T-that…"
No…
It can't be…
I'm…
Ryuji cut me off without mercy.
"Idiot."
He brought the cigarette to his lips.
"You're not counting the interest."
…
The…
Interest…
All color drained from my face.
STUPID AI!!
WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME THAT?!
Ryuji slowly exhaled the smoke.
"Your calculations would be right if we were a bank."
He paused briefly.
"But we're not."
He smiled faintly.
"We're yakuza."
"This is one of our businesses."
I slowly lowered my head.
Of course…
Yakuza don't lend money so you can pay it back and walk away happy.
They want you to never stop owing them.
How could I have been so stupid…?
Matsuda spoke up.
"A bank would normally charge between 15% and 18% annually on a debt like this."
He paused briefly.
"We could charge up to 10% weekly."
"TEN PERCENT WEEKLY?!"
What's the point of living like this?
Ryuji let out a small laugh at my expression.
"You made exactly that face when you first arrived."
He pointed at me with the cigarette.
"Maybe the shock made you forget."
Then he spoke in a much calmer tone.
"I don't like seeing girls that depressed, so that time we made a considerably more favorable deal."
I nodded slowly.
"I would work here, and part of what I earned would go toward paying the debt."
He continued.
"And we'd only charge you 5% monthly."
Five percent…
Was that… the generous version?
I felt like crying.
Bibi jumped in immediately.
"B-but you've done a much better job than we expected, Aika-chan."
He smiled sincerely.
"Don't get discouraged."
I couldn't respond — I just kept staring at the table.
A knot formed in my throat.
Then…
I felt a warm hand gently cover mine. When I looked up, it was Reiko.
She didn't say anything.
She just gave me a quiet smile.
"It's true."
Taro let out a small laugh.
"You've improved so much compared to the disaster you were when you arrived."
I blinked.
I looked at them one by one.
Nobody seemed to be mocking me. In fact… they all seemed to want to cheer me up.
Ryuji set his glass on the table.
"In any case."
Let's get to the point.
He looked at me directly.
"If you accept to help me with all of this…"
He paused briefly.
"I'll reduce your debt to four million yen."
I felt the world stop.
"And I'll freeze the interest."
…
…
…
I stared at him.
"I think…"
I think I misheard.
I smiled nervously.
"Could you say that again?"
"I'll reduce your debt to four million."
"And I'll freeze the interest."
I swallowed.
"Freeze… the interest?"
"Exactly."
He nodded.
"The debt will stop growing and you'll only have to pay a fixed amount — it will never increase again."
I went completely still.
I slowly looked to my side.
Reiko was still holding my hand.
She smiled sweetly.
"Isn't it wonderful?"
Then I looked at Bibi.
He gave me an enormous smile.
Melissa too.
Even Taro seemed satisfied.
Guys…
Were they all… waiting for this moment?
I felt a strange warmth in my chest.
I looked back at Ryuji, and he smiled too.
"So… Aika."
"Will you accept my proposal?"
He paused briefly.
"Will you join the Inugane Clan as my niece?"
My eyes began to water.
I brought a hand to my chest and took a deep breath.
Then gave a small bow from where I was sitting.
"Y-yes…"
My voice trembled slightly.
"I will."
I lowered my head a little further.
"Thank you…"
"Thank you for taking me in."