By A Slight Mistake

Chapter 21

By A Slight Mistake 21

Translator: Silver Editor: Namorax

「21」

Silence slowly descended upon the room.

Suwa waited for me to speak, but I remained quiet.

It was difficult to think of the kind of answer I needed to give.

“That time.”

Suwa began talking again out for sheer impatience.

“You were the only one who accepted me while everyone else told me to deny my feelings. Nevertheless,…… I was incredibly happy.”

“Let me say one thing, Suwa.”

I intended to break this flag.

Let’s assert this once and for all.

It wasn’t a flag to raise. It was one to crush.

“Did you notice your mental state at that time, Suwa? It’d be obvious to everyone that something had broken inside you.”

“……Ah……”

“You’re mentally too weak. Fragile would be the best description. You were beside yourself on whether or not you should hold to your feelings or do what others said was right. You were projecting your feelings with such an intensity, it affected everyone around you. The classroom was at its breaking point when I intervened. Ookami had to ask me to do it.”

“That’s……”

“No one else could cope, so they pressured me into doing something.”

The most natural course of action would have been to find a counselor.

I don’t know it had been a mental lapse, or if it was a weakness at the base of Suwa’s character, but something needed to be done.

In the end, the situation was pushed on me, the victim in all this.

It hadn’t been a laughing matter to me.

“Therefore, I did something. If you break without recognizing it, then you just need to recognize it. Isn’t it that simple?”

Hayate was probably looking for me by now.

I needed to get to the game room.

“…… Sagara.”

“The thing you felt for Shiori wasn’t 『Love』. It was closer to affection for your mother, rather than lust for the opposite sex. You only thought it was love because she wasn’t your mother. While your wish to monopolize her was great, there was no 『Desire』involved.”

“Why…… are you saying such things?”

“The answer is simple. You never tried to keep Shiori by force, did you? You were all too happy to be in her presence. You’re naturally impulsive. Such an idea never came up, and your attitude remained the same. It was easy to see.”

“……tsu!! What was I doing!!”

“I’m just being honest, do you not want to hear what I have to say?”

Although Suwa had turned red, it was out of shame, not anger.

“You settled down because I recognized your feelings, didn’t you? Anyone could’ve done that. You had to accept your true feelings. Then you calmed down. After you calmed down, your father tested you. That was the branch family’s embezzlement. I’ve known about it for a while now. It’s true that I had my family investigate them. It was one of my trump cards to protect myself. My grandfather shared the information with your father, and he purposely allowed it to appear on your desk so he could test you as the next head of the family. When you decided to severe that branch family, you felt bad for Shiori, but you didn’t feel a sense of loss, did you? Even though you say you have a broken heart, you haven’t sunken to your previous depths. Am I wrong?”

Suwa quietly swallowed what I said.

He spoke without caution when he was upset, but when he was depressed he became incredibly insecure.

He probably wouldn’t cut it as the head of the household if he couldn’t get that under control.

“Why, is it……”

“I told you, didn’t I? You’re easy to read. It’s a fatal flaw for someone standing above others. In the incident two years ago, Shiori was the one who called out to me, but do you know who acted the most absurdly?”

“…… huh?”

Suwa stared at me with a dazed expression.

He didn’t understand, did he?

What was the current head gonna do with this foolish son?

Perhaps, a bit of forced re-education was needed!?

If not, the only option would be to crush the Suwa in their entirety..

Of course, I still lacked the power to do so, but my siblings could handle it.

“Well, do you understand? It should’ve been simple, right? All you had to do was activate the SOS app on your phone when you became aware of the attack. Security would have been made aware of the incident. The GPS chip would have ensured their arrival on the scene in two minutes. Everything would’ve ended before I arrived. You see?”

“That! I……”

“To save Shiori, you recklessly tried to fight off four adults. While it sounds romantic, it was quite the stupid thing to do. A child is no match for an adult. The only reason they didn’t kill you was because you are the son of the Suwa family. Your habit of flying off the handle will get you killed one day.”

I took a deep breath.

“Not learning from the incident was another critical failure. I was attacked and injured as a result. It was because you didn’t know the proper form of resistance. Under these circumstances, you should’ve learned self-defense to protect yourself and those around you. You’ve experienced being attacked. However, what did you do? Nothing. You didn’t learn anything from that incident.”

Unlike before, he was trying to comprehend what I was saying.

He was improving, but he wasn’t there yet.

“Even then, you want me to acknowledge you as a friend?”

“I want to be recognized. I want to be your friend, Sagara.”

“And how would I benefit from that?”

“Huh?”

Suwa gave me a wide-eyed look when I said that.

“…… That…… you’d be happy.”

He was hiding his true intentions.

“It makes no sense for two families to build friendly relationships with one another unless it’s mutually beneficial. In my case, I can offer my client list, information network and my analytical prowess. Although, my analytical skills do pale in comparison to my elder sister’s. There are other things, but these are the important ones. Ariwara and Tachibana are great too. Ariwara has his connections and amazing linguistic abilities. Currently, he can speak five languages fluently. It seems he’s learning Latin now. He says he wants to be capable of speaking at least 12 languages. Negotiating in a client’s native tongue is an advantage in and of itself. Deals can be made without issue.”

“No way!”

“It’s true. I’m only capable of speaking three languages. I managed French and Italian, but things got mixed up when I tried to learn German. Have you learned anything besides a few English words?”

The look on his face confirmed that English was all he had.

Well, I expected as much.

The Suwa family was a God clan.

They were raised in an environment where Japanese was the only requirement.

Unlike normal conglomerates, they were hesitant to enter foreign markets.

“Tachibana has his intelligence network and unique connections. Also, he’s well-read and knowledgeable in various fields. It’s probably the result of a specialized curriculum.”

In the game, Tachibana was the illegitimate son of the family head and a geisha.

The protagonist helped him through his depression that resulted from the constant ridicule he endured, but things were slightly different here.

Tachibana’s parents were childhood friends that married one another.

The mother has a weak constitution and isn’t capable of bearing a child.

However, his father had wanted a child.

Surrogate mothers had yet to legalized back then.

So the wife asked a friend if she would give birth to her husband’s child.

The mother of honor, a lovely geisha by trade, immediately agreed to help the couple.

Since raising a child would interfere with her work, the mother entrusted her child to her close friend.

Normally, the mother would disappear at that point, but she remained in contact with her child.

Instead of covering up the facts, they publicly announced them and allowed their son to meet his birth parent.

The other geishas accepted them because they’d been open about everything.

While geishas never divulge information about their customers, a son visiting his mother picked up on a few things.

It allowed Tachibana to utilize a unique information network.

By the way, I’ve visited Tachibana’s birth mother before.

She was an excellent shamisen player with a lovely voice.

She became a cooler woman every time I saw her.

“So, Suwa. What merits do you possess?”

At the moment, I could only see the demerits.

“You’re too devoted to Shiori. You can’t gather meaningful information. You have barely any connections. Your emotions impair your decision making. That’s my current opinion of you, so why don’t you tell me of the merits you possess?”

As I said, I didn’t hate or dislike Suwa.

That was because he had a good voice.

In the game, he was one of the capture targets, and his voice actor was famous for playing sweet and thoughtful characters.

It was a voice that could entice you even if he spoke utter nonsense.

For a voice fetishist, just listening to him speak was worth it.

No matter how disappointing the content was, it was permitted if the voice was good.

Even if we didn’t have a relationship, talk to me as much as you like.

I wanted to hear your voice! It made my ears perk up!!

You don’t even have to talk to me personally.

I liked Suwa’s voice to that extent.

There was no point trying to find value in what he said.

“Well. If you have any merits, please tell me about them. Take your time and think about it. Until then, its fine if you continue to think of Suwa Iori as my subordinate.”

I rose to my feet after saying that.

“Until summer vacation is over, goodbye.”

I left the room on that note.

When I entered the hallway, I spotted Hayate approaching.

Did that eat up too much time?

“Hayate!”

Hayate came running when I raised my hand and called for him.

“What are you doing here, Mizuki?”

“Mmm…… it was hot outside, so I came here to wipe my sweat off?”

“…… Sorry. I asked a stupid question.”

Seeing his ears turn red made me chuckle.

“Let’s head to the game room!”