Chapter 92: A Father's Game
Hiratsuka Yuren didn't exactly have a "gentle" reputation in his circles. It wasn't because of his business dealings—though he was a force to be reckoned with there—but because of his daughter.
Yes, because of Shizuka.
To business associates who knew him but weren't close, Hiratsuka Yuren was a formidable tycoon. Having built his empire from nothing with a cold heart and swift actions, he had amassed a fortune during a chaotic era.
By the time he successfully broke into Chiba's upper crust, he was only thirty-three. Back then, many of the old-money elites looked down on him, viewing him as a disruptor of the status quo.
So, they tried to crush him.
A few years later, those very people were either working for the Hiratsuka Group or had been trampled under his feet. Some had their names erased from Chiba entirely.
He was a powerful man, but also an eccentric one. If you weren't his enemy, he seemed perpetually friendly. Sometimes, in the heat of business competition, he would even go as far as to take a step back of his own volition. Because of this, while Yuren had many enemies, he had far more friends—most of whom felt they owed him a debt of gratitude.
However, there was one thing everyone agreed on.
Hiratsuka Yuren had a severe "Daughter Complex." You could offend him, but God help you if you offended his daughter.
When Hiratsuka Shizuka was in elementary school, she went through something very similar to Yukinoshita Yukino, but the outcome was vastly different.
The children who were the loudest in bullying Shizuka found that if their families owned a business, that business suddenly suffered massive losses or became mysteriously entangled in lawsuits. If they were from an ordinary family, the parents would suddenly lose their jobs or find themselves in deep financial trouble.
It was a warning from Hiratsuka Yuren. Having spent his youth in China, he didn't subscribe to the Japanese concept of "letting students handle their own problems."
After that, the parents of those bullies all gave their children the scolding of a lifetime. They lived in terror for a long while, only breathing a sigh of relief when it became clear Yuren wasn't going to take further action.
From then on, no one dared to bully Shizuka. In fact, no one even dared to speak about her behind her back. All they felt for her was a lingering sense of dread.
As a result, Shizuka had no friends throughout elementary school. She didn't blame her father; instead, she had a long talk with him. After understanding his perspective, she continued her schooling cheerfully enough.
Still, sometimes she couldn't help the loneliness. Playing alone, working in groups alone... even during Sports Day, she was alone.
But during those days, every time Shizuka came home from school, she would find her father already waiting by the game console. Her mother would wash some fruit and set it between them. And if they played too late into the night, they would both face the merciless wrath of the matriarch.
Shizuka's elementary years, while tinged with regret, were filled with warmth.
When she entered middle school and moved to a new environment, Shizuka made new friends. Not long after, however, she realized these people were always flattering her with incredibly hollow, hypocritical expressions.
Shizuka went home and confronted her father.
Under the angry, piercing gaze of his daughter, Yuren crumbled and confessed that those "friends" were his own arrangements.
Shizuka didn't resent him. Instead, she realized just how difficult her father's position was. She told him to stop playing video games with her all the time and focus on his own work. She didn't chase those fake friends away, either. At least that way, during school events, she wasn't standing by herself. Emotionally, it was much more comfortable.
Shizuka-chan still didn't join any clubs; she remained a steadfast member of the "Going Home Club." After school, she played games, and she quickly developed a love for fighting games.
Middle school ended, and many of those "fake" friends had actually become real ones. After all, no one could truly resist someone as gentle and kind-hearted as her.
Shizuka graduated with honors and entered a prestigious high school. She parted ways with her old friends, and perhaps because those relationships were initially built on interest, they slowly drifted apart.
In high school, she found new friends again.
—Once more, they were her father's arrangements.
During this period, aside from gaming, Shizuka fell in love with manga—specifically, the hot-blooded shonen variety. While the people around her were drowning in the sweetness of high school romance, Shizuka was drowning in a sea of burning passion and struggle. She was even inspired by manga to start practicing martial arts.
High school ended, and much like middle school, the hypocritical friends became true companions. (Note: This is the origin of the friends she often complains about for "getting married again.")
Shizuka-chan graduated with top marks and headed for university. Before she started, she asked her father to stay out of her life for a while.
Yuren agreed.
In university, there were finally no more "arranged" friends. But Shizuka had underestimated herself. Throughout her entire first year, she made zero friends. Instead, her shut-in tendencies only grew worse...
For the next three years, while she had a few close friends to talk to, the combination of her "Otaku" label and her reputation as a "Violent Girl"—as her martial arts training never ceased—meant that no guys ever pursued her.
After graduating, Shizuka finally got a boyfriend.
That year, Shizuka was twenty-two. As it was her first love, she naturally sacrificed far too much.
The man was a hypocritical playboy. Shizuka, despite her blunt exterior, was actually a very traditional girl, and she had Hiratsuka Yuren standing behind her. Aside from holding her hand, the guy never managed to get anything more.
At the time, they had started living together; the apartment and all the furniture were bought with Shizuka's money.
As they interacted more, the man grew increasingly impatient. Once, he tried to force himself on her, only to have his ribs accidentally cracked by Shizuka. It was then that he began to realize Shizuka's "flaw."
The man started looking for trouble, picking fights over non-existent issues. Shizuka was hiding her identity at the time, so he had no clue that the girl he was dating was the heir to the Hiratsuka Conglomerate.
Hiratsuka Yuren despised the man, but because he was his daughter's choice, he endured. He only had Sachiko tell their daughter very seriously not to give away her first kiss or anything else easily. (And yes, Shizuka-chan's first kiss was still intact.)
Over time, their conflicts escalated, mostly fueled by the man. Shizuka cherished the relationship and constantly yielded to him, naively believing he would change back into the man she once knew...
But those hopes slowly withered away amidst a series of disappointments.
Finally, one day, Shizuka came home after a rough day at work only to find the apartment completely, utterly empty. The light of the setting sun spilled through the windows but offered no warmth. Every single piece of furniture had been sold off.
The photos of their travels together lay scattered on the floor, trampled by footprints, silently mocking her innocence.
In that moment, all the pent-up pressure, the crushing disappointment of broken hope, the pain of betrayal, and the sheer grief hit her all at once.
Shizuka wailed in that rented room. She cried for a long time, until she finally passed out from exhaustion and fell into a deep sleep.
Hours later, her father arrived and carried her back home.
After that incident, even though Shizuka appeared blunt and cheerful on the surface, she had closed her heart. She quit her old job and became a teacher at Sobu High—helping students while trying to heal herself.
She had been doing this for six years...
As for the man who betrayed her, he had been at the bottom of the sea since the day after the incident, never to be seen again.
Hiratsuka Yuren was a unique man. He had ambitions, he had goals!
But his ambitions weren't vast, and his targets weren't overly specific. When he had no money, he wanted money. Once he had money, he wanted a wife. Once he had a wife, he wanted a daughter.
By that point, his desires had essentially reached their end.
Hiratsuka Yuren wanted nothing else; he didn't want to rule the world. He was satisfied. His greatest hope now was for his daughter to marry a reliable husband, and for him to soon have a grandchild to spoil.
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