The Story of A Beautiful Girl I Rescued From An Attacker Who Became My Seatmate. - Chapter 28

“Eh… That means that the person who attacked Kouji was also…”

“Most likely, it was him. I’m sure the prosecution released him due to insufficient evidence or something like that.”

“I can’t forgive that. Kouji risked himself to protect me.”

Kirishima’s anger was palpable. I appreciate that she’s so angry on my behalf, but she’s gripping my clothes so tightly that they might tear.

“Let’s get back to the topic at hand. After I got fired, I started my own company, the one I’m currently running.”

“Is it easy to start a company?”

I often hear that the barrier for starting a business in Japan is higher compared to other countries. Moreover, starting a business after being fired would be financially unstable and risky.

“Well, I had quite a bit of savings. I didn’t squander them like my brother. However, I had to sell off some stocks.

It took quite some time for the business to stabilize after starting it.”

He appeared composed, but I’m sure he faced considerable hardships. However, if I were in his position, after getting fired from a company, I would explore job opportunities elsewhere, rather than starting my own business. So, it takes great entrepreneurial spirit to start a company in such a situation.

“Did her mother support you?”

“Oh, yes. In fact, if it weren’t for Mirei, I might have collapsed. Mirei supported me no matter what. But it was because of me that her health deteriorated. I’m sorry.”

“There’s no need for you to apologize, dad. I can live the way I do thanks to you.”

Looking at them, their faces don’t resemble each other much, but it’s clear that they’re parent and child.

“But I couldn’t recover after Mirei’s death. The business suffered a significant decline. Also, the industry I initially entered was what we call a ‘sunset industry.'”

“As I expected, I think this company is in the IT industry. Is IT really in decline?”

“That’s exactly right. My company is in the IT sector. Even within the IT industry, there are various fields, and it’s a rapidly changing industry.

While I was struggling with the deteriorating business, someone from my family came. They asked me to return home.”

“Huh? Weren’t you estranged from them?”

“That’s what I thought, but there was no such easy solution.”

Dad spoke with a disappointed expression.

“For the time being, Minamii became the majority shareholder of my company, and it became an affiliated company of the Minamii Group. Originally, I wanted to refuse. I kept questioning myself why I had to sell out to my detested family.

But I had something to protect. Certainly, I had to protect my family, but more than that, I couldn’t leave my employees, my subordinates, in a difficult situation.

As a compromise, some members from Minamii Trading, I think it was called, joined our management team. It made things quite difficult. Plus, part of our business was absorbed.”

“Did you unconditionally transfer the business?”

Under the circumstances of having debts to the family, such a situation is quite plausible. It might be a kind of coercion.

“No way. Originally, I owned two-thirds of the company’s shares, and I transferred them to Minamii. So, I received the equivalent in return for the transferred shares.”

“But in that case, wouldn’t Minamii have no benefits?”

“Exactly. And then they demanded that we incorporate the name ‘Minamii’ into the company’s name. In other words, they wanted us to become a company affiliated with the Minamii Group.”

Is it like an actual absorption…? Did they want the technology that badly?

“If we did something like that, it would be practically selling the company. Regarding this matter, I strongly opposed it as well. I went to negotiate directly, asking the Minamii to reconsider multiple times. However, my brother forcefully pushed things forward.”

“Was your company really attractive to the Minamii?”

“No, I think it was probably more like harassment towards me. My brother and I have been compared all along. I know it’s not good to say this, but he must have built up a lot of frustration, and that might be why he kept getting involved in delinquency.”

As he spoke, he had a somewhat sad expression. Even though he was the one suffering the damage, perhaps being able to worry about the other party is because they’re connected by blood.

I also have a sister, and I’m well aware that not all siblings are good.

“So, because of that, I became physically and mentally exhausted and stopped going home. As a result, I left Reina alone all the time. And despite the existence of Mirei, I got involved with another woman. I’m sorry.”

“I can’t completely forgive you, but I’m glad you’re explaining your reasons properly like this. However, I’ll never forget that you remarried.”

For Kirishima, her mother is an irreplaceable presence. You can infer that from her behavior up until now. If that presence were destroyed, it would be unbearable.

“I’m truly sorry. Please forgive me.”

Dad continues to bow his head to Kirishima.

“Let’s continue with the conversation for now.”

“…Alright.

Well, there were difficulties, but I managed to avoid being fully absorbed until today. However, recently, Minami Trading’s performance has been deteriorating, and my brother, a senior executive, has become more ruthless. On the other hand, my company was thriving by launching new businesses. Our operating profit was around 1.5 billion Yen.

That’s when my brother started threatening me. Initially, he targeted my new wife, but our relationship was already falling apart and it became meaningless.

Then, as the next move, he targeted Reina. I truly don’t understand why, but the fact is he caused an incident because of that. So, Kurata-kun, who saved Reina, I’m really grateful to you. Thank you again.”

“Oh, well, it’s no big deal.”

As I say that, I feel an immense frustration towards “Dad’s brother.” How can he even think of harming his wife and child?