Ryunosuke talked at great length, telling her everything that needed to be said—including the fact that he likely had two new girlfriends...
Megumi's gaze went blank for a moment; then, she stated that she wanted to meet them. Ryunosuke didn't think twice and immediately took Megumi to the hospital.
As soon as they arrived at the hospital and she saw her two love rivals, Megumi's eyes instantly turned red with jealousy. She drew a dagger from her sleeve, preparing to perform a "cleansing." Ryunosuke hurriedly restrained her from behind.
"Calm down! Megumi!"
Ryunosuke wanted to cry; he shouldn't have been so honest earlier.
At this moment, Megumi looked like someone possessed. What on earth was this? The number of rivals was already so high that there was barely enough time to share his affection as it was, and now there were two more. It would be better to just finish them off now to reduce the burden—or rather, to reduce the amount of Ryunosuke's time being snatched away.
However, in the eyes of Yuuki and Chizuru, Ryunosuke appeared to be hugging empty air while shouting like a madman.
In order to finish the two of them off, Megumi had intentionally activated her presence-concealment ability, so that no one besides Ryunosuke could perceive her existence.
Yuuki, thinking Ryunosuke had gone insane from the stress of finding money for her, felt her eyes immediately well up with tears.
Chizuru also looked saddened and said, "You should go see a psychiatrist; your stress has become too heavy."
"Psychiatrist my foot!" shouted Ryunosuke, who was still holding Megumi back. Internally, he thought: (I really must not let my other wives find out that I'm looking for two more girlfriends on the outside).
Unfortunately, as soon as they stepped out the door, Megumi immediately "sold out" Ryunosuke. As it happened, Ai was on the phone.
Megumi made an excuse to Ryunosuke so she could take the call outside. Ryunosuke let her be, as long as she wasn't carrying a dagger to hack someone...
Megumi snorted and slammed the door so hard it let out a booming thud. The people inside the room, including Chizuru and Yuuki, felt as if they had seen a ghost because, in their eyes, the door had closed on its own with a powerful force that clearly wasn't caused by the wind.
They looked at one another, feeling that this hospital had a "resident spirit." Grandma Sayuri, who had recovered and only needed routine check-ups, said:
"I will go to the temple to ask for a protective charm for you..."
Yuuki's mother and older brother also raised their hands bashfully. "Um... please get one for us as well."
They were also terrified, especially as patients with serious illnesses requiring long-term care who couldn't leave. Grandma Sayuri agreed to do so.
The relationship between these two families was quite unique. Considering their daughter and granddaughter were both "owned" by the same man... in a certain sense, they were already like in-laws. It was just that they were in-laws whose heads were a bit "green" (cheated on).
◆━⊰✿✧✿⊱━◆
Meanwhile, Megumi, having broken away from Ryunosuke, immediately complained to Ai. She exposed the fact that Ryunosuke was pursuing two more women on the outside. At a time like this, she finally remembered to ask her Boss to take action—despite the fact that earlier, someone had been planning to "eat in secret" behind the Boss's back...
Ai took a deep breath, stated that she understood, and then hung up. No one knew what would happen next.
Ai then sought out the person she trusted most at the moment—or more accurately, the person least likely to allow her not to return: Sakayanagi Arisu.
She knew that if she wanted to leave, she needed someone willing to shell out 20 million private points to buy her back. If she left and no one redeemed her, it could become a major problem.
Ai pushed open the door to Class A's classroom roughly. All the students turned to look at her, including Arisu, who was playing chess, Masumi, and Miki, who was serving tea.
Ignoring them, Ai approached Arisu aggressively and slammed the chess table, sending the pieces flying into disarray.
Arisu said with a hint of regret, "You've made a mess of my chess game."
Arisu began picking up the scattered pieces. Ai, feeling guilty for being too impulsive, helped pick them up. Once finished, Ai stated her purpose.
"I'm leaving school. I'm handing over all of Ryunosuke's points to you for safekeeping. Later, use 20 million points to redeem me. Including him."
Arisu's movement in arranging the pieces paused for a moment. She said teasingly, "So you can actually ask me for help too... Morishita-san. I wonder, should I agree or not?"
Arisu wore a playful expression. However, without waiting for consent, Ai snatched Arisu's terminal phone from the table and transferred approximately 220 million private points all at once. Afterward, she placed Arisu's phone back and pushed it toward her.
Arisu's face darkened. Ai had done that without her permission and had essentially "forced" her to accept that responsibility.
Feeling her goal was achieved, Ai prepared to pack her things, submit her application to drop out, and leave this school.
After Ai left, Masumi made a throat-slitting gesture, hinting whether they should just let Ai never return. That way, a "first wife" rival would be gone, and their time with Ryunosuke would increase.
However, Miki felt that wasn't right; she was afraid Ryunosuke would be angry.
Arisu sighed. "The matter isn't that simple..."
While continuing her chess game, she explained to Masumi why they couldn't do that.
"If we don't spend the points to redeem her, Ryunosuke will do it himself when he returns. That is an unchangeable fact. Morishita-san has already calculated this. She knows I am a smart person who understands profit and loss, so I will certainly let her return."
"Ryunosuke is our man; how could we not redeem him? And because we redeem Ryunosuke, once he knows the truth, he will definitely redeem Morishita-san as well."
Arisu paused for a moment and continued, "It is better that we give her 'face' by bringing her back now. That way, she will owe us a favor. Isn't that more profitable?"
Masumi nodded in agreement, feeling Arisu's explanation made sense.
Miki also breathed a sigh of relief. She had no interest in the power struggles of this "palace"; she only wanted to accompany Ryunosuke peacefully. To her, being able to live together, have children, and wait for her husband to come home at the front door was her greatest dream.
Miki began to fantasize about married life. Arisu and Masumi sighed in unison at her behavior.
"This girl... she really is very easy to please."