The Gemini Princess wants me to confess my feelings!

Chapter 45 Competition

Kuga, Nitta, and the Mori family have a close relationship, being family friends for generations. Such gatherings are literally a regular occurrence, yet they still exchange some meaningless pleasantries.

Mori Akari didn't take the flattery to heart, smiled faintly, and said, "He's capable, he can get things done, he'll never go hungry anywhere."

He's been doing chores around the house for a while now, why are you suddenly bringing this up?

"You're too modest," Lady Kuga said with a light laugh, covering her mouth. "The two young ladies wore new clothes today, and coupled with the rumors I've heard recently, I felt compelled to express my feelings."

"What rumors?" Mori Akari asked.

Nitta, who was standing next to him, chimed in, "Some people say that you recently dealt with the Suruga Group. We've all heard about what the Suruga Group has been doing—poisoning young children and making dirty money. You put pressure on them, and they've become much more restrained. It's truly gratifying."

While it's said to be a cause for celebration, they actually kept quiet about it before it happened.

Mori Shizue remembers clearly that at the last tea party, someone brought up the topic of the yakuza. At that time, her mother did not express any opinion, and their attitude was much more conservative than it is now.

Nitta's previous statement was: While the problem of organized crime certainly exists, would they really dare to be so brazen as to target students from Dongcheng? Even if they did, the problem shouldn't be that serious.

Shizue glanced at her sister's reaction, her brows already showing impatience and sarcasm.

Mori Shizue smiled, sharing the same hatred as her sister, and said, "My mother loved us, so it shouldn't be called punishing us, but just standing up for us. You are the one who truly cares."

As expected of the Nitta family, wielding the sharp sword of the Metropolitan Police Department, they uphold justice and care about the world.

Kirihara Akira, who was watching the show, quickly figured out what was going on.

This person is someone of considerable importance.

Mori Shizue's words were full of praise, both overt and covert, but she deliberately obscured one fact: the man who came today, Nitta, was from a branch of the Nitta family and had some connection to the Metropolitan Police Department, though it was distant.

Nitta was caught off guard.

But they're all old foxes; thick-skinnedness is a must-learn skill. Nitta smiled, raised his teacup, and said, "It's my duty."

Mori Shizue smiled, took a sip of tea, and stuck out her tongue under the cover of her hand.

Ugh, that's disgusting.

After a brief pause, Nitta continued, "It's said that someone from the Suruga Group will step in to take responsibility."

As he spoke, he looked at Mori Akari.

Mori Akari didn't react much, asking indifferently, "Oh, who could bear this responsibility?"

"The two most trusted members of the Suruga Group are a junior leader named Takahashi Daiki, and a junior leader who was recently promoted from my junior brother to assist him. I remember his name is Hino, Hino Harufumi."

While speaking, he kept observing Mrs. Mori's expression, trying to discern some clues.

The lady's attitude is extremely important to this circle.

He needed to know whether this approach would satisfy his wife, and then decide how to proceed based on her satisfaction.

What made him uneasy was that his wife didn't say anything.

Nitta had no choice but to continue, "Although he is just a junior assistant, it is rumored that he is from the 'Crown Prince's' side. The one who committed the crime was a private job that his younger brother had connections with."

Although he was unaware of the situation, he is willing to take full responsibility.

At this moment, the lady suddenly laughed.

She said softly, "'Crown Prince,' you actually came up with that title? Do you really consider them members of the royal family?"

Hearing the sarcasm in the lady's words, Nitta breathed a sigh of relief.

He wasn't a lobbyist for the underworld, so he didn't need to go through the madam's rhetoric to say anything nice to the underworld; all he needed was a clear stance.

He said, "It was my choice of words that was inappropriate."

With that, the opening remarks were finally finished, and the servants, with great tact, served tea and refreshments in a food cart, thus officially beginning the tea party.

There are quite a lot of people at the tea party today.

The atmosphere quickly warmed up. At first glance, Kirihara Akira seemed to have become invisible, ignored by everyone, and he was happy to be at ease, keeping his head down and eating.

However, he still noticed the intermittent, subtle glances.

Kirihara Akira didn't care.

From changing clothes today to this tea party, it's all been a farce.

Kirihara Akira could guess the whole story. It was probably because outsiders thought he was getting too close to the second young lady, so Asahi Kasano offered herself to him to keep him away from Mori Kiyoha.

This tea party wasn't specifically organized for him; he doesn't have that much influence.

But from the fitting to the tea party, what the lady wanted was nothing more than to make him realize the insurmountable gap between him and the members of this family.

Making people realize the gap and then back down... this tactic is very much in line with the lady's style.

Kirihara Akira didn't care at all.

After all, he never intended to pursue Kiyoha Mori.

The desserts were delicious, authentic French cuisine and pastries, braised artichokes with tangy white butter, brioche gratin, Brittany spread with butter and bursting with intense aroma with every bite... Kirihara Akira was very satisfied.

The second young lady has quite a temper, but she doesn't give him a friendly look, and she's still just a child. He wouldn't go out of his way to make a fool of himself by trying to get close to her.

He is invincible when he has no desires. His wife can do whatever she wants, it won't affect him anyway.

However, it was soon proven that Kirihara Akira was too naive.

"Miss Shizue," said Kosuke Nitta, the son of the Nitta family, who was the same age as the children. "I recently selected a batch of good books worth reading and have already sent them over. If you'd like, we can go to the library to look at the books later."

Kirihara Akira paused for a moment, and for a split second felt that her memory was playing tricks on her.

Isn't this guy one of the second young lady's suitors?

Then, Kosuke Nitta turned to the others and said, "Masato, Miyuki, do you want to come?"

The two siblings, who had separated from the family, nodded in agreement. Akamatsu Miyuki looked gently at Mori Kiyoha and asked, "Kiyoha-neechan, would you like to come along?"

Mori Kiyoha played with her spoon listlessly, without saying a word.

Seeing this, Nitta Kosuke became somewhat anxious, suppressing his emotions as he asked, "Miss Kiyoha, if you don't mind..."

So it was a roundabout way to achieve our goal... Kirihara Akatsuki thought to herself.

Kosuke Nitta probably knew that if he directly asked Kiyoha Mori if she wanted to read the book, things might not go well.

Mori Kiyoha immediately interrupted him, coldly saying, "I find it disgusting."

Nitta Kosuke choked, an indescribable embarrassment spreading across his face, making Kirihara Akira feel embarrassed for him.

Perhaps to ease the awkwardness, Nitta Kosuke wanted to find someone to attack, but unfortunately, everyone at the table was an important person, and he couldn't possibly continue to provoke Mori Kiyoha. The only person he could attack was Kirihara Akira, who was engrossed in eating.

He sighed and looked at Kirihara Akira, saying, "Your name is Kirihara-kun, right? Do you read often?"

"Me? I don't read much," Kirihara Akira said.