I don't want this money anymore.

The sky was overcast, with faint flashes of purple lightning abruptly tearing through the clouds and mists, accompanied by a rumbling sound echoing from afar.

Tokyo was growing increasingly muggy.

Tsukasa Harano had originally planned to visit a nearby real estate agency to look at apartments, as his current place was indeed rather uncomfortable to live in, but the misty rain and the weekend-bound traffic completely killed that idea.

There was no need to go inspect properties in person; looking at them online wasn't all that different. After all, in Japan, actual properties basically matched their photographs.

And reality proved his intuition right.

Within mere minutes, the sky was completely blanketed by dark clouds.

Following a series of continuous roars, the drizzle suddenly transformed into a torrential downpour. Within seconds, dense raindrops plastered the entire windshield, making crisp pattering sounds and blurring the view so completely that road conditions became entirely invisible.

Tsukasa switched on the wipers, turned on the front and rear fog lights one by one, and slowed his speed to under thirty miles per hour.

A rainy day, an expressway, and a Mercedes-Benz.

Though it was merely a low-end version of a rainy-night overpass and a Maybach, it was still a scene that countless ordinary people could never attain in their entire lifetimes—at least he didn't have to hustle in the pouring rain.

He had always believed that possessing money was not the ultimate goal.

The important thing was the experiences in life.

Of course, Tsukasa Harano never romanticized suffering; he was much more inclined to revere the pursuit of enjoying life above all else.

Yet, this was contingent upon having money.

Although money could not solve everything, nor could it banish every trouble, the moment one had money, they would discover that all their worries stemmed from various pursuits leading to happiness.

For instance, wanting to earn more money, yet having to sacrifice the time originally intended for a family vacation.

Or perhaps wishing to purchase a country villa in Hakone to breathe the fresh air, but lacking the time to go there due to work or other commitments, leaving one with no choice but to live in a six- or seven-hundred-square-meter flat in Minato Ward overlooking half of Tokyo.

In short.

Happy troubles always came in various forms.

While the reason for unhappiness was singular.

And that was simply having no money.

Just as Tsukasa Harano's thoughts were spreading like wild grass, his cell phone suddenly rang.

Because it was connected to the car's Bluetooth, the caller ID appeared on the central control screen. Tsukasa glanced at it, paused slightly for a moment, and then came back to his senses to answer the call: "Mother, why are you calling?"

"Does a mother need to report before calling her son?"

"Of course not. I was just worried something might have happened on your end," Tsukasa said with a somewhat helpless tone.

"You guessed right, something actually did happen."

"Go ahead," Tsukasa said, somewhat surprised.

"Well... actually, it's nothing major. I just wanted to ask how that matter I asked you to help Yuko with turned out? Are there any lingering troubles?"

"No trouble at all. It's already been resolved."

"That shouldn't be..."

His mother muttered to herself on the other end of the line.

Hearing this, Tsukasa's heart stirred, realizing that perhaps some new development had arisen from this. He immediately asked, "What's wrong? Has something changed?"

"Changes... you could say that." His mother's voice hesitated for a moment before she explained, "Ever since I talked to her on the phone that night, whenever I call her afterward, she always refuses to pick up. Yuko seems to have vanished into thin air. But when I ask others, they say she's completely normal. I'm wondering if something else happened..."

"She always rejects the calls? Has she blocked you?"

"No."

"Then that really is quite strange."

Hearing this, Tsukasa couldn't help but frown.

Since she hadn't blocked the number and was living her life as usual according to others, she shouldn't be ignoring phone calls.

Especially since his mother had just helped her out.

As a normal person, even if she wasn't sending a sincere, grateful invitation for his mother to visit, she should at least express her thanks verbally a few more times and maintain regular contact afterward to nurture the relationship. But to continuously avoid picking up...

Unless there was something she found difficult to articulate.

So, what difficulty did Yuko Shimizu have in speaking out?

A word suddenly popped into Tsukasa Harano's mind.

Guilt.

Based on his interactions, although his mother's friend had a habit of heavy drinking, her character and conduct were actually quite good. More importantly, at her age, she hadn't completely transformed into a hardened cynical person, which genuinely shocked Tsukasa a little.

Even though drinking played a part in this incident, it ultimately couldn't be separated from Tsukasa intentionally guiding her dark impulses.

As an adult with normal moral standards—let alone being with a man half her age—even dating someone just a few years younger was already quite a challenge. The gap in eras and age probably created an emotional hurdle in her heart that she couldn't cross.

Therefore, following common logic, the reason she intentionally avoided his mother was most likely because she didn't know how to face her, seeing as she had no idea how to handle the situation.

Tsukasa frowned in contemplation. After turning the causes and effects over in his mind and figuring them out, he obviously couldn't state the truth outright to his mother—after all, if this matter were truly exposed, he'd probably get chewed out to death. So he could only tell a bold-faced lie: "Maybe Aunt Shimizu has been quite busy lately. After all, once the trouble is gone, she has a lot of things to handle, like loan procedures and recruiting employees."

"Just what kind of trouble did your Aunt Yuko run into anyway?" Chiharu Fujitani naturally had no idea what had transpired between them, but she was now simply curious about the root cause.

There was nothing confidential about this, so Tsukasa answered directly: "A civil servant from the Financial Services Agency was pursuing her recently, and Aunt Yuko's loan approval was put on hold because that person had a word with the bank. That's pretty much it."

"The Financial Services Agency... is that a big deal?"

"It's alright."

"Then Tsukasa, won't you make powerful enemies?"

"Probably not."

"How could you not? Even though I really wanted to help your Aunt Yuko, I was already uneasy about you living alone in Tokyo. Now you've gone and offended someone. I heard people in Tokyo are very petty. What if they decide to retaliate against you..."

"Mother, we're practically half Tokyoites ourselves."

Tsukasa responded with an amused tone.

Yamanashi Prefecture was very close to Tokyo.

After all, they were both part of the Greater Tokyo Area, though Yamanashi didn't have the geographical advantage of Saitama, and government resource allocation was scarce. Broadly speaking, however, it was still within the same metropolitan sphere.

"How can that count? We till the land, and Tokyoites catch fish," his mother retorted with a rare rebuttal.

"...That is true."

"I'm going to Tokyo next week, is that alright?"

His mother said suddenly.

"Of course." Tsukasa was slightly startled, then immediately agreed while pressing further: "Otherwise, I can drive to Yamanashi to pick you up. It's not that far anyway."

Without morality, there could be no moral kidnapping—this principle applied to malicious women, but he himself certainly wasn't that devoid of ethics. Leaving aside the fact that having inherited this body meant taking on all its connections, just the sole fact that Chiharu Fujitani was the only person who had showered him with warm, solicitous care when he first arrived in this world was enough for Tsukasa to fulfill his filial duties properly.

From a management perspective, he still operated on the conventional level of following the crowd based on how others treated him, not to the extent of forgetting a kindness the moment he received it.

If mere survival was difficult, perhaps family affection would be greatly diluted by the hustle of daily life. But since money was no longer an issue, neither family ties nor friendship remained unattainable luxuries. After all, who wouldn't want their loved ones to live well?

Hearing this, however, the mother on the other end of the line was slightly taken aback, asking with a hesitant tone, "Did you buy a car?"

"Yes." Hearing that, Tsukasa realized he had accidentally let slip the information that he had bought a car, though a moment later he added: "It's for work."

Living in Tokyo, owning a car was unnecessary.

In fact, vehicle prices abroad were quite low because maintaining a car was the bulk of the expense—especially in a metropolis with such convenient transportation networks where cars truly offered little praise-worthy benefit beyond comfort.

In his memory, his mother was an extremely frugal person. If he hadn't claimed it was for work, she probably would have scolded him for wasting money on a vehicle.

That was why Tsukasa added that excuse.

Yet, his mother didn't scold him for wastefulness as he had anticipated. Instead, she said with an inexplicable sense of emotional reflection:

"Tsukasa really has grown successful..."

"Still, don't come pick me up. I can take a bus directly from home to the Yamanaka area, then transfer to the Fujikyuko bus to Shinjuku, and switching to the train from there is very convenient."

"I'll come pick you up," Tsukasa flatly rejected her plan.

"No!"

"If you don't let me pick you up, you'll have to take the Chuo Shinkansen from Kofu Otsu-machi. Otherwise, I'm driving back right now, so don't blame me for being disobedient."

"You child! It's still raining right now, how dangerous would it be to drive back? How can you say something like that!"

"Then I'm heading out now."

In the end, Chiharu Fujitani couldn't out-stubborn her son's firmness. Sighing inwardly at how her boy had grown up, she said softly, "Don't come! Fine, fine, Mom will listen to you this time. Taking the Shinkansen it is. It's a short distance anyway and not too expensive."

"Then tell me the exact time, and I'll buy the ticket for you in advance, and pick you up at Shinagawa Station in Minato Ward on the day."

Tsukasa smiled and smoothly followed up.

Hearing her son say this, Chiharu Fujitani on the other end glared into the empty air, her tone laced with dissatisfaction: "Understood. You child, do you think Mom would cheat you?"

"If I don't buy it, you might just take the bus again."

"How could that be! Mom will never trick you!"

"You used the exact same tone when you confiscated my New Year's money when I was a kid, but I still haven't seen it back."

"Uh, that was so long ago..."

Tsukasa chatted back and forth with his mother on the phone, listening to her chattering about how the grapes and plums planted in their hometown garden didn't accumulate enough sugar because the rainy season had lasted too long recently. At the same time, he also remembered Aunt Shimizu's affair, wondering if things had been completely resolved after asking Member Asada for a favor last time.

Moreover, the 100 million yen investment quota reward from the achievement card hadn't been used yet. He had been so busy these past few days that he almost forgot about it, and it was about time to figure out what to do with it—after all, resources had to be fully utilized.

It was just a question of who to spend it on.

Ruka Hoshino didn't want to open a shop, so his idea of using the investment quota to substitute for cash payments naturally went down the drain. He still needed to find a final candidate for this money.

After all, not everyone possessed an entrepreneurial spirit.

The inherent nature of a gold-digger was to want to make money while lying down.

Speaking of career drive, however,

Aunt Shimizu seemed much more suitable...

Driving through the flowing traffic, Tsukasa arrived near Senkawa-cho in Ikebukuro. After hanging up the phone with his mother, he pondered this matter while heading toward his apartment building. However, just as he reached the floor of his apartment, he spotted two figures arguing from afar.

There was nothing particularly strange about that; people always claimed the Japanese were polite and courteous, but that was merely a superficial illusion. In reality, as long as a neighbor carelessly left some trash near their doorway, they could quarrel endlessly as if they shared a deep, blood-soaked grudge. Yet, as he drew closer, a familiar female voice laced with sobs reached his ears:

"I don't want this money anymore! I don't want it! It was my fault, I'm begging you not to go to my school and tell the others, otherwise I really won't be able to go on living!"