A Late Bloomer's Powerful Restart ~My Second Life Starts at a Prestigious School Where the Gender Ratio Is Totally Off, and for Some Reason, All These Talented Girls Get Attached to Me...!?~

Chapter 48.1: The Fallen Prestigious Family

It’s been two months since I started at Teimon Academy… and for the first time in a while, I came to the Yashima house mansion.

Usually I’m the one getting invited, but this time I reached out myself. The reason? To talk about the new register system and to set up the procedures for appointing a legal guardian so I can buy the patent.

I’m still stuck with the handicap of being a minor, after all. Grandpa told me it’s okay to rely on the family in times like this, so I decided not to hold back.

…Or so I thought.

“Sign all these documents and give approval, Utsumi.”

“Did you get Dad’s permission first?”

“Tch… You really think we can keep letting Dad run everything like a dictator forever?”

“…What exactly are these documents anyway?”

“Doesn’t matter what they are.”

“You’re just gonna dump it on your subordinates again without checking anything yourself, aren’t you, Big Brother…? …Sigh. I’ll look them over myself and then sign.”

I overheard Uncle Chuya and Utsumi arguing through a half-open door in one of the rooms.

Even though his request got through, Chuya looked all sulky, shoved the door open, and stormed out of the room.

I quickly ducked behind something to avoid running into him.

Chuya’s still as overbearing as ever, huh.

Even in the future, he stayed the naked emperor type till the end. The guy can’t do the work himself, but because he’s Kasumi Yashima’s eldest son, everyone just props him up.

That said, the people around him are actually really capable, so I never thought the company would run into serious trouble even if he took over.

To put it bluntly… he’s a useless guy who doesn’t work. Put nicely… he’s harmless.

But because of my interference, things can’t stay that laid-back anymore.

From what I heard, Mom recently moved into this mansion too.

Mom’s super competent… but it seems like Chuya’s got some kind of complex about her.

I want to give Mom a quiet life, completely separate from any power struggles.

Considering the possibility that Uncle’s tyranny could end up hurting her, propping up the second son Utsumi here might actually be a good move.

“Hi Uncle.”

“Ah, Taiki-kun… Did you maybe hear that just now?”

“Well… your voices were kinda loud.”

Even though I showed up at the study without an appointment, Utsumi gave me a wry smile but stayed really gentle and polite.

The last time I saw him he seemed all jumpy and scared of something… I couldn’t really figure out what kind of person he was back then, but he seems kinder than I thought.

“If I’d known you were coming, Taiki-kun, I would’ve prepared something to welcome you properly. Sorry about that. Dad never tells me anything when it comes to you.”

Oh, so that’s how it is.

They’re probably trying to keep me from getting in the way of whatever Uncle and the others are doing.

Out in the world, people are already whispering that I’m a candidate to take over Yashima Electronics.

They’ve got plenty of reason to be on guard.

The rumors themselves don’t matter, but if someone starts digging because of them, my shareholdings could get exposed. That can’t happen.

“Today I actually came to talk to Grandpa about something.”

“…I see. I won’t ask for details then.”

Is he being considerate?

This guy seems really intimidated by Grandpa, so maybe I don’t need to be too wary around him either.

“But since you’re here anyway… how about this—I can tell you a bit about your mom.”

“About Mom? Is that really okay…? You look super busy.”

Looking at the dark circles under his eyes, it seems like he’s been pulling all-nighters even on a day off. I was worried about bothering him… but honestly, I’m curious.

He grabbed the pot sitting in the corner of the room and poured me some tea.

When we sat down on the sofa, I got a clear look at his calm, intelligent face across from me.

“Your mom… Mitsu really is amazing. Honestly, having her come back to help run Yashima Electronics makes me feel so much more secure.”

“…!”

I never expected him to say something like that, so I was genuinely surprised.

I thought from his perspective Mom would just be another rival in the succession fight.

Is he just weird… or is there something more to it?

Maybe I should test him a little.

“Um… Uncle, what did you think back when Mom had me and left Yashima Electronics?”

The moment I asked, I clearly saw his body flinch hard for a second.

Slowly he started to look like he was about to bury his face in his hands, but he still met my eyes.

“Is it really okay for me to be the one telling you this…? No… I guess it would be hard for Mitsu to say it herself, and maybe you should know.”

What does that mean…?

This wasn’t the reaction I expected at all. Everything happened because Grandpa misunderstood—Mom ran off with Dad. That’s the truth Grandpa told me.

I just wanted to know what kind of feelings he had about Mom back then… but it seems there’s some story I don’t know about.

“Please tell me.”

“Do you know about the Sendo family?”

“Ah, yeah. I heard… they’re completely fallen now.”

Sendo Holdings… Back even further than now, they were a company that went head-to-head with Yashima Electronics.

I heard the reason they fell was internal power struggles.

The branch family, the Sendo house, split off and clashed directly with the main Sendo house.

In the end they both collapsed together and lost their influence… or so I thought.

But what does that have to do with Mom…?

“Mitsu… she was in talks to get engaged to the Sendo heir, Sōta Sendo.”

“Wha…!”

The story just took a turn.

Grandpa told me Mom refused the arranged marriage meeting, but it had actually progressed all the way to engagement talks?

No—Grandpa got truly furious because he suspected a shotgun marriage… Maybe Utsumi doesn’t know that part?

From Grandpa’s perspective, the whole thing started with his own misunderstanding… No way he never told him the truth, right?

Whatever… what Utsumi’s about to tell me is valuable anyway.

I swallowed my questions and just listened.

“Along with the engagement talks, the Yashima and Sendo families were secretly going to form a cooperative relationship. But right after Mitsu ran off with that guy, Dad immediately cut ties with the Sendos.”

“Cut ties…? Did something happen between the two families?”