Next Target, 400PS!
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But as Eriri moved forward, Sayuri grabbed her arm.
"Mom?" Eriri blinked, surprised. Why was her mom stopping her?
"Do you really think your mother would hurt you?" Kai asked with a pleasant smile, catching Eriri's confusion.
"..." True. Even though her mother always teased her just to see her get flustered, Eriri knew deep down that Sayuri loved her and would never hurt her. Plus, Kai was here too. So, even though she was confused, Eriri stayed where she was.
"Phew!" Sayuri let out a quiet breath and gave Kai a grateful look. Without him, she wouldn't have known what to say to Eriri just then.
"You must be Kai. Eriri mentioned you quite a bit while I was overseas!" Spencer Sawamura maintained a warm, pleasant smile the entire time as he looked at Kai.
Even while he was overseas, Eriri often called him and would end up talking about Kai without even realizing it.
"Dad!" Eriri whined, her cheeks flushing red at the callout.
"Hahaha!" Spencer laughed, scratching the back of his head sheepishly. "Sorry, sorry! Looks like our little Eriri really is growing up!"
He sounded nostalgic, acting like the perfect doting father.
But his warm act didn't do anything to ease the tension in the living room...
"Well!" Spencer noticed the tense mood. Seeing Sayuri's angry look, he stopped the small talk and turned to Eriri. "Right, Eriri, let me introduce you to your new mother!"
"???" That statement made Kai raise an eyebrow.
What was Spencer thinking? Bringing his mistress home to meet his wife and daughter explained the tense atmosphere. Kai realized his own situation was a bit similar, though he was just adding to his own harem without any commitments.
"What? Dad, Mom is right here! What are you talking about?" Eriri was confused and didn't get what he meant. She looked at Sayuri, wondering if she had heard wrong. Her mother was right there.
"No, not her!" Spencer maintained his gentle smile. "Your new mother!"
Eriri froze and stared at him, unable to believe what she had just heard.
"N-New mother?" Even Eriri could figure it out now. No wonder her mother looked so upset earlier. Tears quickly filled Eriri's eyes.
"No! I don't want a new mother! Dad, what are you saying? You're joking, right? Please tell me this is a joke!"
Seeing Eriri break down was the last straw for Sayuri.
"Enough!" Sayuri snapped furiously at Spencer.
Sayuri's worst fear was coming true. She didn't care about the divorce, but Spencer bringing his mistress home and expecting Eriri to accept her was something she would never allow.
"Eriri only has one mother, and that's me! Even if we divorce, don't you dare think about taking her away, and definitely don't expect her to call another woman her mother!"
When it came to protecting her daughter, Sayuri looked fierce, glaring at her soon-to-be ex-husband.
"Sue me if you think you can win! Don't forget, we are in Japan. This is our turf. You know how much influence the Sawamura family has. I'd like to see you try and take Eriri from me!"
Spencer held a high-ranking diplomatic status, but his power lay overseas. The Sawamura family was a well-established Japanese conglomerate. Even though Sayuri belonged to a branch family, she still carried the Sawamura name. If things got ugly, the main family wouldn't just sit back and watch.
As the saying goes, even a powerful outsider can't always beat someone with local influence. And Spencer wasn't exactly powerful here.
"..." Spencer obviously knew this. Glancing at Eriri clinging to her mother, he just shook his head.
"I only came back to pack a few things. I've already signed the divorce papers; I'll hand them over shortly. If Eriri is against it, then let's drop it." He chose to respect his daughter's wishes. Not that he had a choice—he couldn't win a custody battle here anyway.
"DAD!" Hearing that, it finally sank in.
Her parents were really getting a divorce. Why? Everything seemed fine before. Why were they breaking up now? There was no warning. Eriri felt completely shocked.
"Can we leave now?" Just then, a sultry, lazy voice drifted down from the second floor.
Even without seeing her, that one sentence sounded so seductive that it was easy to imagine a beautiful woman waiting upstairs.
"Hmm?" Kai instinctively frowned.
As soon as he heard that voice, Kai experienced a wave of malice. It wasn't Cursed Energy, but pure, concentrated malice—the kind that could attract Cursed Spirits.
No normal person should give off that feeling...
"Tomie!" In an instant, Spencer's gentle demeanor vanished. He was replaced by a fawning, subservient eagerness, looking exactly like a desperate simp groveling before his Goddess.
Tomie? When Kai heard that name, everything made sense.
No wonder. If Sadako existed in this world, it made sense that another famous urban legend like Tomie Kawakami would appear too. Tomie was almost as well-known as Sadako in Japan.
A moment later, a stunningly beautiful woman appeared. Tomie Kawakami, slender and alluring, walked gracefully down the stairs.
"Careful!" Seeing her navigate the steps, Spencer rushed over to offer his arm.
"Mm." Tomie gave a satisfied smirk, acting like she owned the place. She glanced at Sayuri and Eriri, then focused on Kai.
"Oh?" She clearly didn't expect to see another man here. Her eyes brightened with interest.
"What do you want?!" Eriri had been glaring at the woman since she appeared.
Seeing her lock eyes with Kai sparked a sudden panic in Eriri's chest. She quickly stepped in front of Kai, terrified that he might fall under the woman's spell too.
"You can leave now!" Sayuri snapped. She wanted to keep Kai far away from Tomie, even if she couldn't explain why. She just knew Tomie was dangerous.
"Tomie, shall we go?" Stripped of his earlier composure, Spencer acted pathetic and subservient, waiting entirely on Tomie's command.
Tomie didn't answer right away. She slowly looked around the fancy living room before saying, "I really like this villa."
She didn't say it directly, but it was clear what she meant: she wanted the house for herself.
Kai wasn't surprised. According to the urban legend, Tomie was a vain and greedy creature driven by vanity and malice. She craved a life of extreme luxury and excess. She did not care about quality. She only wanted whatever cost the most. In the end, that was Tomie Kawakami in a nutshell.
"That..." Spencer hesitated.
"Hmm?" Tomie just shot him a sharp look.
That was all it took. Spencer turned to Sayuri and said with confidence, "We are still legally married. Even if we divorce, I am entitled to half of this estate."
"..." Sayuri didn't say a word.
Was she angry? Not anymore. Instead, Sayuri let out a bitter, mocking laugh. She couldn't believe he had the nerve to say something so shameless. What had she ever seen in him?
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