Chapter 39

Erina cursed inwardly at her sudden emotion burst in the Den. Looking at it, she knows that she was the one who was wrong. But her pride wouldn't let her apologize to Nino. And when her cousin, no, her sister took a side with Nino, still under the emotion burst, she left the Den. Now, she found herself in the rural side of Tokyo that she didn't even know it exist, without her phone to contact everyone or without knowing a way back to Totsuki or to the Den.

She could see the stare of a few thugs on the corner of the street focusing on her body. It makes her uncomfortable and afraid. Honestly, if not for her pride, she would probably cry right here, in the middle of the street. She didn't know how long her pride will last if the thugs decided to come to her.

And just like what she was afraid of, the thugs stand from their sit and walk toward her. She didn't know what to do. She wants to run, but they will just follow her and she didn't know where is it right now. When the thugs are a few steps away from her, tears threatened to fall from her eyes. She wanted to cry right here. But suddenly, she could hear a familiar voice,

"Erina-san! Here you are! We have searched for you for a while!" She turned around to see the source of the voice. It turned out to be Hiroyuki who found her here, in the middle of nowhere. He looked at the thugs who were just one step away from her and bowed,

"Thank you for finding her. She is new here and wanted to explore for a bit." He didn't wait for them to respond before he grabbed her hand and run away from the thugs. After about three minutes of running, Erina started to lose her breath,

"S-Stop please!" She panted in the hand of Hiroyuki. The one who mentioned stopped his run as she said and looked at her.

"Wow, it is just three minutes and you have already tired. You need to have some workouts, princess." He muttered. He received a fierce glare as the result.

"Shut up! If not for you, all of this would have never happened!" Hiroyuki stupefied for a moment before he chuckled. Within a second, the chuckle turned into a burst of laughter that annoyed Erina so much.

"What is so funny!" She glared furiously.

"What is so funny? It is the fact you blame me for all of this. I mean, what is really happening to you? And what did I really do that makes you blame me?" He asked after he wiped a tear from his eyes.

"It is because of you! You probably convinced Grandfather to let us work for you to humiliate us! I heard that woman who is the manager of your stupid café was rejected by Totsuki. It must be your revenge on us!"

Hiroyuki lets out a whistle, clearly impressed with Erina's wild imagination.

"If you want to write a novel, please do tell me. You have a very wild imagination." He ignored the glare he received from the princess. "As for I convinced your grandfather, well, I don't need to do that as he came to me, begging to let you work with us. And why would we need to take revenge? Megumi-san is already happy with our café, so we don't really need anything from Totsuki."

"She doesn't need anything, but I bet you want to take your revenge! I won't believe what you said!" Hiroyuki sighed, rubbing his temple tiredly.

"Sure, you can believe what you want. Now, what do you want to do?" Seeing the blank look from Erina just makes Hiroyuki sigh more. "Since it is clear that you don't want to work in the Den, I will call your grandfather to take you back to Totsuki. I will also tell Alice about your condition so she can decide whether she wants to continue in the Den or she wants to go back just like you."

"No! Alice will come back with me!" Hiroyuki snorted at that.

"Girl, you are just her cousin, not her owner. She can decide what she wants for herself." She glared once more time.

"Fine, but I will tell her by myself!" Hiroyuki ignored her as he takes his phone from his pocket and make a call.

[Hello. Sanzaemon here. What can I do for you, Hori-san?]

"Sanzaemon-dono, Erina snapped at me and wanted to come back to Totsuki." Hiroyuki decided to straight to the point. He could hear a sigh from his phone.

[I understand. What about Alice?]

"I will inform her about Erina. She will have to decide for herself."

[Okay. Thank you, Hori-san. And for what it's worth, I apologized.]

"Don't worry about it. I have already expected something like this happened. It just surprised me that it would only take one day for one of them to snap."

[….. I understand. I will be there in thirty minutes.]

"Okay. Thank you, Sanzaemon-dono." He closed the call and turned his attention to the princess who is still glaring at him.

"You heard it yourself. Your grandfather will be in the Den in thirty minutes. Let's go back." Erina swallowed her pride and followed him until they arrived at the Den. But before they arrived, Hiroyuki stopped and turned around to face Erina with a serious face.

"Let me tell you something, princess. Don't take the fact I let you go back to Totsuki as me being afraid of you. I know what your father did to you." Erina froze as she heard about that. "I know what he did to you in the name of education. I also know about your mother's condition. Imagine what would happen if the news about that leaked out. I could ruin Totsuki's reputation. Better, I could ruin your family's entire life."

"My grandfather wouldn't allow it." She whispered lowly. Hiroyuki just gives her a menacing smile.

"Your grandfather knows about this for almost a month, but he didn't do anything. He doesn't know how far I know, and if he chooses to take a move, it would attract Nakiri Azami's attention, which he didn't want to do right now. Or, you want your father to be here? Just say it, and it would take just a call to attract his attention to Totsuki right now."

"You wouldn't dare."

"Want to take a bet?" There is a silence between them before Erina whispered once again,

"What do you want?" Hiroyuki nodded, satisfied with her reaction.

"Stay away from Megumi's Den and my family. If something happened to them, I would blame you whether it is you or not who messed with us, and I would be happy to ruin your life." She nodded slowly, still frightened of the man in front of her. But he quickly changes his threatening smile to a polite one in instant, making her confused.

"Good! We are on the same page now. Just so you know, I am quite a vindictive person. You mess with me, and I will return it twice. So, stay away from us." He left her at the front of the Den as the princess just stands there, processing what really happened.

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"So, what will you do, Alice?" Hiroyuki asked the sister/cousin of Erina Nakiri about her decision after explaining what happened to the princess. Erina herself just sit down beside him, glaring at everyone who dares to stare at her.

"This place is more interesting than what I thought, and Megumi-san and Nino-san are so kind toward me. I will be there until the end." She said while sending a playful smile to her sister. Erina scowled after she heard her sister's decision.

"How dare you!" Alice just gives her an innocent smile and said,

"What do I do, dear sister?"

"You- You!" Erina seems struggling to find a word to describe what she feels right now. But by the look in her eyes, Hiroyuki knows that she feels betrayed by her only confidant here. Erina didn't say anything and decided to storm out of the Den, right when Sanzaemon's car arrived.

Sanzaemon wanted to greet Hiroyuki. But seeing Erina's furious mood and the fact she came without Alice is enough for him to know the situation. So, he just came out of his car and bowed to Hiroyuki who also did the same.

After they leave, Hiroyuki could not help but asked Alice,

"Will she be a problem for you?" But Alice just gives him a playful smile.

"Of course, no. She might be angry, but she will come back to me once she calmed herself down. That is because she doesn't have any friends. The only people she talked to outside of the Totsuki business or Kitchen businesses are me and her secretary, Hisato Arako, and she treated us not as a friend or sister, but just as an assistant. So, yeah. She will come back to me when she needs me, and I will be sure to not let that go." She giggles for a moment.

"What about your grandfather?"

"I will not have to worry about him too. Just like you, my mother also knows about grandfather's dirt. He will not do anything to me" Hiroyuki snapped his attention to Alice and asked,

"What do you mean?" She snorted.

"Don't play dumb. It doesn't suit you. Grandfather would not let us work in a mere café. He will check every restaurant and cafe available for us to work at and get to know about the owner. He will test the owner with a threat. If the owner started to lick his feet or crumbled in cower, he will just ignore them. Honestly, threatening must be a family way to get the deal. My mother is also doing the same.

But, back to my grandfather, even if you somehow passed his test, my grandfather will not be that respectful to you. He will still act like you are lower than him. However, I can see the respect and wariness in my grandfather's eyes when we talked about you. The only thing I could think about is you did the same, threatening him back, and with some solid evidence.

My mother also did the same when my father wanted to marry her. Grandfather wanted to test if she is fit or not to have the Nakiri name in private. That is why their relationship is not that good, and that is also the reason why Erina is his favorite granddaughter." Hiroyuki stared at her dumbfoundedly, making her uncomfortable.

"What?" Then Hiroyuki let out a chuckle before saying,

"It seems I am underestimating you. You are far smarter than I thought." She pouted at that.

"Of course, I am! Now, Megumi-san said she wanted to bring me somewhere. Do you know anything about it?" She asked curiously. But to her irk, she got a smirk as the answer.

"Of course, I know. I am the one who asked her to invite you."

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Author note:

You can also read:

- Transmigrated Into Anime World as Kiyoko Shimizu's Older Brother up to chapter 46

- Naruto: Ashigaru up to chapter 15

You can read all of it at my Patreon account, pat_reon.com/zwolf1 (Without '_') Thank you for your support! :)