Starting With The Sefirah Castle In The Anime World

"But Mikado, our Shijo family simply doesn't get along with the Shinomiya family, but we're not idiots."

Maki corrected her brother's assumption with a helpless tone.

"If our family were to go against Sanzenin, don't you think the blockade we'd face would be far more intense than what the Shinomiya family experienced?"

"How long do you think we'd last?"

Hmm… three days… No, two days.

Shijo Mikado made a simple estimate and quickly concluded that the Shijo family could probably only hold out for two days.

Although a blockade might not cause immediate collapse of their assets, the moment Sanzenin made a move against them, all of Shijo's stocks would hit limit-down, and the direct damage could be worse than total ruin.

And if things escalated, the entire family might even be arrested on charges of manipulating the market or overseas money laundering.

Foreign regulations tend to favor high-level capital.

Especially when there's a chance to scoop up high-quality assets at a discount, they won't hesitate to make the situation worse.

"What about in Japan?"

In Japan, Sanzenin wouldn't be as aggressive. After all, our family is involved in some heavy industries. Sanzenin wouldn't go so far against us.

"...So, would you say this push to move our industry overseas was a good or bad thing?"

Half good, half bad. Compared to the chaotic and hostile business environment abroad, Japan is clearly more stable. But back then, we had to move things out because of Shinomiya Oko.

Now? That's pure loss.

Mikado also understood the situation clearly.

With Shinomiya Oko in power, Japan had been a toxic environment for the Shijo family.

But with Kaguya now in charge, it was the best scenario they could hope for.

After the transfer of power in the Shinomiya family, the entire organization now moved according to Kaguya's will. As long as her attitude toward the Shijo family was confirmed, they no longer had to live as the Shinomiya family's dogs.

That alone was huge.

Of course, the price of testing her was steep.

But Mikado was confident that their parents and everyone in the Shijo family wouldn't care about those losses. Because what they gained—confirmation of the truth—was more valuable.

Wealth can be rebuilt. Dignity and status are harder to restore.

And with Kaguya's clear attitude now out in the open, their parents could finally be at ease.

From now on, there likely wouldn't be much contact between the two families.

Hearing the slight emotion in her brother's voice, Maki finally caught on.

"D… don't tell me… you actually like Auntie?"

"…Yeah."

Maki was genuinely shocked. She wasn't great at picking up on emotional cues, but her brother's reaction was too obvious. Slowly, the implication began to settle in.

"I seriously advise you to give up. Auntie is stronger than you think. She survived years under Oko's surveillance. You think she needs your help?"

"If she needed you, would she have stayed silent through all that abuse?"

"She's strong. Even a little weird."

"And more importantly, she probably doesn't want anything to do with the Shijo family anymore. You know this. Clinging to her won't work."

There was still silence on the other end.

"We're really alike."

"The guy you like never likes you back and ends up confessing to your best friend."

"And I… ended up liking someone I shouldn't."

Maki's expression was starting to crumble.

"I, I don't like him that way. I just… don't want to lose..."

Still with that twisted personality.

Trying to seem composed, Maki quickly pulled herself together.

"Besides, as a daughter of the Shijo family, I know there are lines I can't cross. We're not a frivolous family."

Haha~ That's true. Our family isn't shameless.

When it comes to emotions, children of the Shijo family must think of the family first. Not themselves.

We can't bring shame to the family. That's the baseline.

I'm not thinking about marriage anytime soon either.

With how things are for the Shijo family right now, I need to focus on stabilizing our position.

There's too much to do. I have to learn to run the family business properly.

The overseas industries need to be brought back home.

And the domestic side… needs compensation to the Shinomiya family. That won't be small.

"How much are we talking?"

Almost all of our heavy industries were shifted out. Only the bare minimum remains.

"That's… a lot."

Yeah, not much I can do. If we've chosen to show our sincerity, we have to go all in. Otherwise, how can Auntie believe us?

"Auntie probably won't care that much…"

Maki had the same thought but still shook her head.

"True, but this makes it easier for her to recognize our sincerity. If you mess up, you need to take responsibility. That's the rule."

After saying this, Maki stood up from the bed.

"Alright, we've wrapped up everything here. I'll leave the rest to you. I'm going back to the banquet."

Got it. I'll take care of it.

After hanging up, Maki put away the satellite phone, neatened herself up a bit, and headed out of the room.

But just as she opened the door—

"!"

Maki instinctively stepped back in surprise.

Then she got a good look at the person standing in front of her.

"You're the boy who was with Auntie earlier."

"Nice to meet you, Miss Shijo."

After fixing his appearance, Ren offered a polite bow.

"Nice to meet you too… strange sir."

(To be continued.)

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