According to Norihiko, Kamezo Gozou said that although Norihiko had caused the company to lose more than 100 million yen, he only needed to repay 100 million yen.
And he could even pay it back in installments, such as 10 million yen a month.
Although that already sounded like a much smaller amount, it still put enormous pressure on both Norihiko and Hisato.
After all, they came from an ordinary family.
Even their original mortgage had already been difficult for them to handle.
Now they suddenly had this huge debt added on top of it.
Just thinking about it made it hard to breathe.
Hisato was still thinking about how to repay it.
But walking beside her, Norihiko had already completely given up on that path.
At this moment, all he hoped for was that Hisato would come to her senses soon.
That she would put aside her prejudice against President Kamezo and agree to become Kamezo Gozou's secretary, to solve this matter once and for all.
In Norihiko's view, having Hisato become Kamezo Gozou's secretary was already the only way to keep him out of prison.
Meanwhile, Hisato kept her head lowered, as if she had other ideas.
Each of them was lost in thought. Neither spoke, and there was no communication between them.
The sun was setting, and the streetlights had just turned on.
The dim yellow light shone on their backs, casting two shadows.
Even though they were walking side by side, under the light from different angles, their shadows gradually stretched farther and farther apart, as though they were heading in opposite directions, drifting away from each other.
———
The two of them still returned home together.
But they did not continue discussing how to repay Norihiko's debt after getting home as they had planned.
Norihiko still looked terrible after returning home, as though he could barely bear the weight of it.
Without saying much, he went straight to his room, locked the door, and stayed inside by himself.
But the truth was not what Hisato thought.
He was not worrying about how to repay the company's enormous debt.
What he was really thinking about was how to persuade his fiancee, Hisato, to become President Kamezo's secretary.
So she could completely solve the debt problem for him and keep him out of prison.
———
On the other side, Hisato had no idea what her fiance Norihiko was thinking.
She only assumed that he was in a terrible mood and under too much pressure to talk, so she did not disturb him.
Although Norihiko's excessive trust in that pervert Kamezo Gozou, even more than his trust in her, made Hisato extremely angry, and even caused her to resent him somewhat, their relationship was what it was.
They had even been close to getting married.
So there was no way she could stop caring.
Hisato racked her brain, trying to figure out how to help Norihiko get rid of the debt and avoid prison.
Sitting alone on the sofa, she struggled and hesitated for quite a while.
Then she suddenly stood up and returned to her room.
After changing clothes, she pushed open the door and left the house.
———
Knock! Knock! Knock!
After hearing a sudden knock at the door, Hikari, who had returned home after parting ways with Investigator Rika and had just finished exercising and was about to shower before doing some psychological counseling work, could only turn around and walk over to open it.
After opening the door, he saw his neighbor, Mrs. Hisato.
Looking at her, Hikari raised an eyebrow.
Because Hisato was dressed rather carefully today.
Her already flawless face had light makeup on it, making her look even more beautiful.
Her clothing was also different from the casual home clothes he had seen before. Her full figure was wrapped in a somewhat tight brown spaghetti-strap bodycon dress.
It looked similar to the "stepmother dresses" that had once been popular online in his previous life, leaving her shoulders exposed.
The slightly stretched fabric beneath the straps outlined the fullness of her chest in an especially round and attractive shape.
The fitted waist design made her waist look slender while also making her lower abdomen appear slightly rounded. It did not look fat at all, but instead made her look fuller and more feminine.
Matching the mature beauty of her upper body, the lower half of Hisato was equally curvy.
Even from the front, her shapely hips clearly displayed the charm of a mature woman.
Even without seeing the full view from behind, anyone could imagine those round peach-like curves.
They were undoubtedly the kind of mature fullness that attracted attention.
At this moment, Hisato's brows were slightly furrowed, and there was a faint trace of worry on her beautiful face.
Combined with her curvy figure, that expression naturally stirred a desire to pull her into one's arms and cherish her.
Even Hikari was briefly distracted by the sight.
Lightly biting her lower lip, Hisato softly said, "Hikari-kun, Auntie has a favor to ask..."
"What?", Hisato's voice was so quiet that Hikari looked at her in confusion.
Under his gaze, the beautiful married woman bit her lips and hesitated for several seconds before suddenly changing the subject.
"Um, Hikari-kun, I cut too much watermelon just now. I wanted to share some with you. Let's go inside and talk."
"Okay."
Hearing that, Hikari did not press further. He opened the door and invited her inside first.
"Auntie, have a seat on the sofa. I'll put on a shirt first."
After asking Hisato to sit down, Hikari turned and headed toward the bathroom.
Only then did Hisato, whose mind had been full of worries and who had not looked carefully earlier, notice that the boy in front of her was not wearing a shirt.
It seemed that Hikari had just finished exercising and was still bare-chested.
Unlike most skinny high school boys, he had quite a muscular build. Despite being well-developed, he looked neither bulky nor swollen. Instead, everything appeared well-proportioned.
V-lines, a narrow waist, broad back.
All those advanced fitness terms Hisato had once seen in a magazine seemed to match the young man standing before her.
Seeing the sharply defined muscles with a few clear drops of sweat still clinging to them, Hisato swallowed unconsciously.
A good physique was not only attractive to men. Women could be moved by it as well.
But after realizing her reaction, her face immediately turned red, and she quickly looked away.
After all, Hikari was a junior to her.
He was the same age as her niece, Shinomiya Natsuha.
Looking at him that way felt too strange.
Besides, she had not come today to admire the history body.
She had come with a request.
Thinking of that, Hisato felt guilty and embarrassed.
Even so, she could not help being surprised by Hikari's physique.
'His face is so handsome and refined, makes him look like the pretty-boy type, yet his body is this impressive...'
'Do high school boys these days all train this hard?'
It almost felt comparable to a bodybuilder.
'No, Hikari-kun is probably a special case...'
While Hisato's thoughts wandered, Hikari had already dried himself off in the bathroom.
After putting on a shirt, he quickly came back out.
Not wanting to keep his guest waiting.
"Sorry to keep you waiting, Aunt Hisato."
After entering the living room, Hikari sat on the other end of the sofa, about a dozen centimeters away from her.
"Not at all. Hikari-kun, have some fruit first."
Hisato handed him a slice of watermelon she had brought.
"Okay, thank you, Auntie."
After thanking her politely, Hikari accepted the watermelon.
Looking at the slice she had handed over, a trace of gloom appeared on Hisato's face.
It was not because watermelons were expensive in Japan and she felt bad about sharing them.
Rather, when she bought the watermelon that morning, she had thought her family's finances would gradually improve, so she wanted to bring it home for herself and Norihiko to enjoy.
She never expected to learn that afternoon that Norihiko had fallen into a massive debt.
If she had known, she definitely would not have dared buy something like watermelon.
Noticing the subtle change in her expression, Hikari took a bite of watermelon and asked, "Aunt Hisato, you didn't come here this evening just to bring watermelon, right? Is something wrong?"
Hearing that, Hisato, who had been embarrassed and wanted to change the subject and chat for a while first, could only smile bitterly.
She understood that her worries were written all over her face.
Hikari had probably already noticed.
So she stopped beating around the bush and said directly, "Um... Hikari-kun... Auntie wants to borrow some money from you..."
Asking someone much younger than herself for money was obviously very embarrassing for Hisato. If Hikari did not have such good hearing, he might not even have caught what she said.
But Hikari was not surprised at all by her request.
In a calm tone, he asked, "Borrow money? How much are you planning to borrow, Aunt Hisato?"
Hearing that, Hisato felt extremely embarrassed.
She lowered her head and kept rubbing her fair hands together.
After remaining silent for a long time, and finally unable to endure his gaze any longer, she slowly spoke in a dry voice.
"Te... ten million..."
The number seemed to surprise him slightly, and Hikari raised an eyebrow as he looked at her.
Under his gaze, Hisato felt ashamed.
Her face flushed red as she hurriedly explained, "I know that's far too much. We aren't actually that close."
"And you're still a high school student. Asking you for so much money is really too much..."
"But... but Auntie really needs it urgently right now..."
"I'm really short on money... Auntie isn't a scammer..."
"It's just... I couldn't think of anyone else to borrow from, so I ended up bothering you, Hikari-kun..."
"If you don't want to lend it... that's... that's okay too..."
By the time she finished her stumbling explanation, Hisato's head had dropped so low from guilt that it was almost touching her chest, and her voice had become so quiet it was difficult to hear.
When Kamezo Gozou threatened her earlier that day, Hisato truly did not want to betray Norihiko or sell her body to that disgusting pervert.
So she rejected his offer and planned to find another way to help Norihiko repay the debt.