Just as Mrs. Yukinoshita was about to order her driver to prepare the car, a servant bowed slightly and said,
"Madam, the young lady and the second young lady have returned."
Mrs. Yukinoshita's expression changed slightly.
'It had been almost a week since they returned from the Ninja World. Those two girls hadn't come back earlier or later, so why now?'
She discreetly tightened the collar of her kimono, instantly switching from a woman lost in romance to the cold, authoritative head of a financial conglomerate.
Entering the living room, she saw her two daughters sitting properly on the tatami mats.
Mrs. Yukinoshita sat down opposite them, maintaining her usual serious expression as she spoke calmly:
"Why the sudden return?"
Haruno glanced at the servants standing by. "You're not needed here. Leave."
"Yes."
The servants bowed and withdrew, also dismissing the attendants outside.
Mrs. Yukinoshita's brows furrowed a little more.
"Mother, you... you're going to see him, aren't you?"
Yukino's face was a mixture of disappointment and anger as she stared directly at her mother.
Mrs. Yukinoshita's heart jolted, but she forced herself to remain calm, pretending not to understand.
"What are you talking about?"
"Mother, at the Suzuki Estate the other day, we originally came to have a proper talk with you, after you and Mrs. Suzuki had finished your spa treatment and returned to your rooms..."
Mrs. Yukinoshita's carefully maintained composure completely crumbled.
'Well, well. So I'd been caught red-handed.'
"Mother, why are you doing this?"
Yukino could no longer maintain her usual prickly demeanor. Tears rolled down her cheeks in large drops. "Father hasn't even been gone long. Have you forgotten him so quickly..."
Haruno also spoke, her tone complex:
"Mother, we're not saying you can't find someone else, but Father just passed away..."
Their father's death wasn't the issue. The sisters weren't so rigid as to forbid their mother from seeking happiness again. But shouldn't she wait at least a little while?
Their father had been gone barely a week, and their mother had already thrown herself into someone else's arms.
Remembering how their father had struggled to maintain family harmony among the three women, Haruno and Yukino felt it was all for nothing.
This was probably the first time in her life Mrs. Yukinoshita found herself at a disadvantage before her two daughters.
Maybe it was her first time in such a situation… her mind was in chaos.
"Sigh... Listen to me, Haruno, Yukino. You know how much I've suffered since your father passed.:
"I thought I had lost him forever, but recently I've realized that's not the case."
Mrs. Yukinoshita looked at her daughters with unusual seriousness.
"I've noticed that Makoto looks a lot like your father. I didn't think so before, but lately, the more I look, the more I see it."
"You know what? It must be your father's soul transferred onto Makoto. It's truly the case!"
"I've come to feel your father has been resurrected. Your father's spirit is attached to Makoto, which is why I feel this impulse."
Hearing this utterly absurd statement, Haruno and Yukino were completely stunned.
They never imagined their mother, who seemed as unassailable as a deity in their eyes, could say something so ridiculous.
"Mo, Mother, how can you say such a thing?"
Yukino's voice trembled with a mix of anger and sorrow. "Do you know what Makoto is really like? How many people in Tokyo have lost their lives on his whim? Don't you think the Third Hokage's death might be related to him?!"
Recalling Hiruzen's death, Yukino had always felt something was off.
Though she had no evidence, her sharp intuition sensed something strange.
Honestly, even four years ago when Makoto became Hiruzen's disciple, she had found it suspicious.
How could someone as arrogant and proud as Makoto show such a fawning expression in front of Hiruzen?
Well, it might be because he truly admired Hiruzen... But, was that even possible?
"Enough... That's enough!! Don't speak to your mother in such an accusatory tone!"
Mrs. Yukinoshita, already eager to get to the Suzuki Estate and see Makoto, and frustrated with her daughters for not coming home, finally lost control, her pent-up resentment exploding.
"Do you understand what filial piety means?!"
"I gave birth to you, and I can't even have a little happiness?"
"If you bother me again, I'll give you both to Makoto too!!"
Hearing this, the Yukinoshita sisters' faces showed only the shock of questioning their very existence.
This time, not only Yukino, but even Haruno, usually adept at wearing masks, completely broke down, tears streaming down her face.
"Mother, how can you say something like that..."
However, having said those harsh words, Mrs. Yukinoshita herself was panicked.
She practically fled, standing up and hurrying past her daughters, getting into her car and urging the driver to leave immediately.
On the road, recalling what had just happened, even Mrs. Yukinoshita couldn't help but feel remorse.
'What's wrong with me? How could I say that to my children...'
'My husband, my children, this family... what should I do?'
But as the car continued forward, the Suzuki Estate, a castle-like mansion, came into view, and the image of that man grew clearer in her mind.
In an instant, all her guilt and inner turmoil vanished.
'Her joy consoled her: It's okay, sister. Just act as if you never had these things!'
…
Meanwhile, another family was also in turmoil because of Makoto.
The Fujiwara Family.
"Chika, do you really not know Nishikawa-sama?"
These days, Fujiwara Chika, the second daughter, had been repeatedly asked the same question.
After all, a sixteen-year-old high school student being directly appointed Prime Minister of Japan was too absurd.
Bombarded with the same question for days, even someone as naturally cheerful and outgoing as Chika was getting a bit annoyed.
"No! I've told you so many times! I really don't know him! I've hardly even spoken to him."
"But... I think Kaguya-san knows him."
"That doesn't make sense. Why would he choose you?"
Chika's grandfather, a former Prime Minister, rubbed his bald head in confusion.
Given Makoto's top-of-the-world personality, it wasn't impossible for him to randomly appoint someone as Prime Minister.
But still, shouldn't he at least pick someone he knew?
"Sister, if you don't want to, can I do it?"
Moeha, the youngest daughter, couldn't help speaking up, a hint of jealousy in her eyes.
'Why couldn't I be the one chosen?'
Ever since she went to the high school division to watch the excitement, the world's strongest man, ruthless to enemies but gentle to his own, had left a deep impression on this middle schooler.
Moeha, who had a slight yandere streak and had once fantasized about locking a crush in the basement, suddenly felt her sister was a bit in the way.
"Could it be... that he has feelings for Chika?" The eldest of the three sisters, Fujiwara Toyomi, speculated softly.
Come to think of it, she had seen Makoto before.
It was the time he burst into the university division and tortured Akizuki Kozo to death.
She just hadn't said hello.
The family fell silent for a moment. Daichi spoke gravely:
"Chika, we don't know the real reason Nishikawa-sama chose you, or whether he has special feelings for you, but the Fujiwara Family must show its stance."
"You'll soon be an adult. As a member of the Fujiwara Family, I hope you'll shoulder your responsibilities."
As a doting father, Daichi didn't want his daughter to become a pawn in political games.
But thoughts were thoughts, and reality was reality.
Moreover, that being was beyond compare with ordinary politicians.
"Yes, I understand, Father."
Though her father spoke euphemistically, coming from a political family, Chika could read between the lines.
Unlike the Yukinoshita sisters, Chika accepted this predetermined fate.
She had always known that her future would likely unfold this way.
That was why she was so energetic, why she loved to play and have fun.
If she didn't enjoy her freedom now, would she wait until she was tied down by a political marriage and cry then?
And recalling Makoto's god-like, overwhelming power...
Chika secretly thought that if things developed that way with him, it wouldn't... be so bad.