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Kapitel 86

I blurted it out without thinking.

"What!"

Kiba shouted, then fell silent again.

Kyogoku looked at me with a helpless expression.

"Really?! Is this true?! Mimasaka?!"

Kiba roared.

Mimasaka didn't answer, but instead glared coldly at Kyogoku-do. Yoko simply endured it silently.

Ever since I met this woman, I've felt like she's enduring something.

Masuoka strode quickly toward Kyogoku-do.

"Mr. Chuzenji, is this true? My organization investigated her for a long time, but ultimately couldn't find out anything about her. How did you learn of this?"

Kyogoku-do glanced at me and said:

“Mr. Masuoka, I regret to inform you that this is true.”

Mimasaka forced out a sound and said:

"Chuzenji, how did you find out about this?"

Mimasaka's expression turned fierce, but he showed no sign of panic. I figured even if this got out, it wouldn't bother him much. Besides, even if Yoko really was his daughter, it wouldn't be enough to blackmail him. Only after I spoke did I realize that this was something we didn't know, not really a "secret."

Kyogoku-do replied:

“It’s very simple, Professor. Because I already knew. Don’t you remember? On the night we decided whether this research institute should continue, you talked to me about your personal matters.”

"Yes, I remember. But I do not remember telling you the names of your wife and daughter."

"Professor, the envelope wouldn't just have the recipient's name on it, would it? There would also be the sender's name."

"That kind of place—you saw the name of that kind of place and still remember it? I'm just holding it in my hand, I haven't even shown it to you yet—"

"But I just remember. So you never know when trouble will strike, so you must be extra careful from now on."

After Kyogoku finished speaking, he turned 180 degrees to face me.

"Well, thanks to this negligent person who messed up the order, my work has become a little easier, though I'm not happy about it. Yoko is the daughter abandoned by Mimasaka, and Suzaki has certainly met her. But that's not enough to be used as blackmail material."

"certainly."

Masuoka responded immediately. I'm such a clown.

"But this is the foreshadowing of the 'secret.' It must have been around this time that Miss Yoko asked Suzaki for the address and phone number of this place—the Mimasaka Institute of Modern Medicine—right?"

"--Yes."

Yoko seemed to be mentally prepared. Could this delicate woman endure the "secret revelations" that were about to unfold?

"The real 'secret' that Suzaki used as blackmail material—"

"Chuzenji, shut up!"

Mimasaka gave a brief reprimand.

"Chuzenji! That's enough, now I'll—"

"This matter is closely related to the fact that Kanako is not Shibata Hiroya's child."

"--Yes."

"What did you say! Is this true?!"

This time, Masuoka panicked.

"So you never really intended for Kanako to inherit your estate."

"—I have absolutely no such intention."

"Chuzenji! You—"

Mimasaka became angry for some reason; was it because she couldn't bear the thought of her daughter's private life being made public?

"Professor, this is embarrassing! I'm forced to say these things here that I never had to say before. It's all your responsibility to trace the source of this."

"So you're saying I have some responsibility now—oh, I see. I won't fall for that! You bastard, you want me to tell you that story myself?"

"dad!"

Yoko made a painful sound, as if it were coming through a glass tube.

Mimasaka then fell silent, looking completely bewildered.

What was that?

At that moment—Yoko spoke.

"That's enough, isn't it? I can't take it anymore. I'm sorry, Dad—Dad. I can't help you."

After Yangzi finished speaking, she covered her face and cried.

Masuoka continued mercilessly:

"You! Ms. Yoko, so you've been deceiving us for fourteen years? Not only that, you recently said you were willing to inherit the estate as Kanako's representative! This is outrageous, this is fraud!"

"I'm so sorry. It's all, it's all my fault, it's all—"

She burst into tears.

Upon hearing this, Masuoka seemed reluctant to say anything more, and squinted his large eyes behind his glasses to look at us one by one.

Kyogoku-do said with a serious expression:

“Mr. Masuoka, you will not be punished for forgiving her past actions. Although the total amount of economic support over fourteen years is indeed considerable, it is but a drop in the ocean considering the scale of the Shibata Zaibatsu. Please consider it as the cost of Mr. Shibata Yohiro’s dream.”

"radish?"

"Mr. Yaohong, even in his dying moments, was still dreaming that his bloodline, which had effectively died out, would continue. Ms. Yoko's lie could be considered the final gift to the lonely giant. However—there's certainly no need to give Ms. Yoko that fortune, enough to buy half of Japan. Not only because Kanako isn't Mr. Hiroya's child, but also—"

Kyogoku-do looked at Yoko.

"I think she's already dead."

Yoko let out a silent sob.

"Anyway, even if the money is given to this woman who has no desires, it will all end up in that man's pocket."

Kyogoku-do pointed to Mimasaka.

Mimasaka stared at Kyogoku-do without saying a word.

"Alright, Professor, so your plan has almost completely failed. There's no need to hide anything anymore. Your experiment ends here. Quick, hand the patient over to the police!"

"Are you deliberately trying to make me a criminal?"

"No, I'm preventing you from becoming a criminal. You almost committed a crime by fraudulently obtaining astronomical amounts of research funding, and isn't unnecessary surgery performed without your consent a crime of assault? If you die as a result, it goes without saying that it's manslaughter."

Mimasaka stared at the iron box on the platform with eyes that Kiba described as reptile-like.

"So, does that mean the purpose of this incident was actually to defraud the Shibata family of their inheritance?"

Aoki said.

What a typical motive! It turns out it was for property. Although the scale differed, the motive was exactly the same as that of the Ise relatives who took in and cared for the elderly Kubo woman. However, Kyogoku-do denied it.

“Aoki, that’s not the case. If Kanako hadn’t encountered that tragedy, she would probably still have refused to inherit the estate. In that case, Mr. Masuoka would have eventually given up.”

“I almost gave up, but my organization wouldn’t allow me to! It even made me dream countless times about rewriting my will without my permission, which shows how stubborn she was. But now that I think about it, it’s not so much that she was without desires, but rather that she couldn’t bear the torment of her conscience.”

Masuoka adjusted his glasses several times, but still spoke very quickly.

Yangzi began to speak haltingly.

“I just wanted to live quietly. For me, this kind of mundane life without emotional ups and downs, this life of repeating the same things every day, is incredibly precious. Although Kanako and Amamiya are a fake family, after spending so much time together, their relationship is like that of a real family—I don’t want to live a life full of intense anger or profound sadness anymore. Isn’t love cultivated in these repetitive, ordinary days? So, how much I wished then that Mr. Masuoka wouldn’t disturb us and let us live a peaceful life.”

"I didn't do it because I liked it! This is all because you lied to us, I'm the victim!"

It seems that this heavy responsibility is very difficult for Masuoka, as he looks resentful with nowhere to vent his anger.

Yangzi continued:

“I never expected things to escalate like this. The person who made the suggestion was Mr. Hiroya, who sympathized with my situation—I was in so much pain and sadness at the time, and I just wanted someone to rely on, no matter who it was. But at that time—when I met Mr. Hiroya, I was already pregnant with Kanako.”

"So you even lied to Mr. Hiromi."

Masuoka vented all his long-standing resentment on Yoko. Kiba glared at him sideways.

"No, Mr. Hiroya knew everything. So—all of this, all of this was his idea."

"What's the meaning?"

“He not only sympathized with my situation, but also proposed to me after knowing everything. No, he chose me because I was pregnant with another man’s child.”

"Why? How could such a stupid thing be done!"

Masuoka's expression was complicated.

“That’s true. Mr. Hiromi always said things like, ‘My grandfather was a hungry ghost, a money-grubber, a slave to capitalism, and I don’t agree that he was my grandfather.’ If he had a stronger will, he probably would have participated in that kind of movement—I don’t know what it’s called. He was always talking about how capitalism is this and that the working class is this and that.”

So Hiromi was a proletarian activist? That's hard to believe. I think he must be the kind of fake activist who just puts on a show.

"So he often boasted that he would spend all of his grandfather's wealth, as if he really had squandered a lot of money. But he also knew all along that his grandfather's money was inexhaustible, and as a result, his behavior was no different from that of an ordinary playboy. Therefore, he was always looked down upon by truly thoughtful and active activists, and was often used by people who wanted his money—I think he was a bit pitiful. He was a very good person, loved to save face and was stubborn, but—a very gentle person. He once said to me: 'Let the child in your womb become the heir of the Shibata family, let the tainted Shibata bloodline end. So, please marry me for this—'"

"What did you say!"

Masuoka called out.

"Are you saying that Mr. Hiroya, in order to rebel against Mr. Yohhiro, is trying to make the child you're carrying, whose father is unknown, the heir to the Shibata family? How foolish, how ignorant, I—"

Hiroya's ideas seemed to be beyond Masuoka's comprehension.

“At that time, I didn’t know how significant Hiroya’s words were. I just wanted to give birth to the child no matter what, so I needed someone to rely on. That was all I was thinking about at the time. So when the marriage was not approved—which is to be expected—and he wanted me to elope with him, I went with him. After we were caught, I immediately gave up. After that, I gave birth to Kanako with the money that Mr. Hiroya secretly gave me. I felt that was enough. But—you won’t let me go.”

"Why?"

Kiba, as always, said, facing the wall.

"Why didn't you tell the truth back then! You stubbornly refused to help at first, but you wouldn't say that Kanako wasn't Hiroya's child. If you had told the truth back then, no one would have insisted on helping you."

Yangzi was silent for a moment, then said softly:

"Even if it's a lie, I still hope that Kanako can have a father."