You certainly talk big. Bring me one hundred million first.

"Tsukasa, why did it take you so long to get here?"

Fujitani Chitsubaki had also spotted Haruno Tsukasa standing at the doorway and immediately sensed the awkward atmosphere, quickly speaking up to break the silence.

She had only been joking just now.

After all, blood stains on a bedsheet did not necessarily mean they were left from the first time; it was much more likely to be menstruation.

In Japan, physiology classes concerning male and female physical structures were taught as early as elementary school, so practically no one was illiterate about such matters. Just like that thin membrane, even if it had not been formally ruptured, the internal connective tissue could still tear due to ordinary strenuous exercise and sudden impacts.

Therefore, it was completely normal for there to be no blood the first time.

Furthermore, when Fujitani Chitsubaki had noticed the blood stains on the bedsheet Shimizu Yuko was spreading out on the sofa earlier, she merely assumed Yuko had leaked during her period.

As for talking about having children...

It was completely the banter of a middle-aged woman.

In her circle of friends, Shimizu Yuko belonged to a rather special category of "eccentrics." Apart from her, everyone else—regardless of whether they were currently divorced or living in happy, blissful families—had without exception married and had children early on, with some even having grandchildren.

It was just unfortunate that when she made such a joke, it happened to be overheard by her son who was right in the middle of adolescence.

Especially since Yuko did not quite seem like a matron yet.

Hearing this, Haruno Tsukasa collected his thoughts. Knowing his mother was just trying to ease the recent awkwardness, he gave a cough and replied with a normal expression, "I kept getting cut off by other cars on the road."

"You parked the car properly, right? Make sure you don't get a parking ticket from the traffic police. I heard the fine is 15,000 yen a time."

Fujitani Chitsubaki responded first, then turned her head to look at Shimizu Yuko, who was tightly clutching the bedsheet beside her, and asked as if nothing had happened, "Yuko, didn't you want to wash the sheets? Why don't you go take care of it in the bathroom first? I'll go check on the soup you've got simmering."

"Right... I'll go ahead then..." Shimizu Yuko whispered with a flushed face, not even daring to look up at her surroundings.

Seeing this, Fujitani Chitsubaki felt a mixture of surprise and doubt.

In her impression, this friend of hers had never acted as coy as a seventeen or eighteen-year-old girl. In the past, if something like this came up, even if she displayed it openly and told her son he'd have to wash his wife's sheets in the future, that would have been the normal way to handle it.

But now...

Why was she suddenly so shy?

She looked like a girl who had just started dating and was still in the honeymoon phase, caught completely bare.

Though she found it strange, Fujitani Chitsubaki wasn't cruel enough to bring up someone else's embarrassment in front of her son. Shifting her gaze back to Haruno Tsukasa's face, she said, "Don't just stand there. Auntie Yuko made quite a few side dishes and left them in the food warmer. Help Mom dish them out."

"No problem." Haruno Tsukasa also sensed that Shimizu Yuko's state of mind wasn't quite right, and feared that dragging it out would lead to exposure, causing his mother a heart-wrenching shock. Thus, he agreed readily and headed straight for the kitchen as soon as he spoke.

One had to admit, with over forty years of life experience, even someone with no talent for cooking could develop decent culinary skills out of sheer necessity.

Tonkotsu soup, also known as pork bone broth, is basically used as a ramen base to enhance flavor. However, since this soup had been simmered since morning, it was meant to be drunk on its own. Shimizu Yuko had simmered the corn and pork bone soup for three hours using a traditional recipe: chopped pork shank sections, corn cut into chunks, carrots, shiitake mushrooms, and a sprinkle of chopped scallions for garnish.

Extracting the freshness and richness of the soup overall was not difficult; the only skill required was probably managing the heat.

Aside from the soup, there were several small plates of tsukemono.

Japanese cuisine had always prided itself on preserving the original flavor of ingredients, which in reality meant relishing pure freshness. However, as everyone knew, going without salt left people easily fatigued, and thus tsukemono came into being.

Tsukemono referred to pickled vegetables. The "Seven Gods of Fortune" dish that Shimizu Yuko had specially prepared was a traditional Japanese pickle, originally made from seven ingredients: eggplant, radish, turnip, perilla, sword beans, and angelica, hence the name. It tasted somewhat sweet.

Fujitani Chitsubaki made herself right at home with a friend of decades. Even while freeloading meals for her son, she treated the place like her own. After taking a few bites of the dishes and a sip of the soup, she narrowed her eyes slightly in praise. Before long, she steered the conversation back to a matter of concern: "Speaking of which, Yuko, that trouble you mentioned to me last time—has it been completely resolved?"

"Trouble..." Shimizu Yuko instinctively glanced toward Haruno Tsukasa, a news photo she had seen on her phone screen the previous night flashing through her mind. Hesitating for a moment, she gripped her solid wood chopsticks tighter. "It's resolved."

"I heard the specific details from Mika and Yuki too. You really were unlucky to run into such a disgusting man, but thankfully, it's finally settled."

Fujitani Chitsubaki said with empathetic feeling.

"That's life for you; it always has its ups and downs." Shimizu Yuko let out a soft sigh, expressing a casual sentiment.

"True enough. I haven't been to Tokyo in ages, and I found out about my son quitting his job later than everyone else. Some ungrateful child didn't even bother to report it to his mother; it really breaks my heart."

Seemingly sensing that Shimizu Yuko's emotional state was a bit off—after all, anyone encountering such an ordeal would take a long time to recover—Fujitani Chitsubaki refrained from pressing further. Instead, she shifted the target of her conversation to her son, who was currently burying his head in his soup beside her.

Turning her head with an air of casualness, she asked with a smile, "By the way, Tsukasa, what have you been up to lately?"

"I've been doing work related to venture capital and investment."

Haruno Tsukasa put down his bowl and chopsticks and answered solemnly.

In fact, he had long anticipated being asked about this.

When he originally transferred five million yen to his mother, he had already prepared himself for an interrogation. Reality was not a video game, and money did not fall from the sky like a birthday wish. Nor was he heartless enough to enjoy wealth alone while ignoring his parents.

So as for how to explain it...

Haruno Tsukasa had already prepared a contingency plan.

If it were a girlfriend, perhaps the other party wouldn't care where the money came from and would only care about how much she could spend. But as parents, under normal circumstances, they worried whether a child who suddenly experienced a drastic change might be in some danger.

Sudden wealth and sudden poverty.

Both clearly fell into the category of drastic life changes.

Fujitani Chitsubaki, who knew her son still harbored psychological trauma from a previous business failure, felt her expression change upon hearing the term once more: "Venture capital and investment? Is the risk high?"

"Not bad, basically no risk. I'm mainly doing this alongside my former boss. We have a very close personal relationship, so rather than saying I'm doing venture capital, it's more like someone is taking me along to make money."

Haruno Tsukasa originally thought using this excuse would put his mother slightly at ease, but her expression only grew more grave.

"A boss?" Fujitani Chitsubaki suddenly recalled scenes from soap operas she had watched where various pretty boys were seduced by wealthy middle-aged women for fortune. At the time, she had inserted herself into the scenario and found it quite thrilling, but the thought of this happening to her own son instantly made her feel as though she had a fishbone stuck in her throat and needles pricking her back. She could no longer sit still, and after holding back for a long time, she tentatively asked, "Male or female?"

"A female boss," Haruno Tsukasa replied.

"How old is she?" Fujitani Chitsubaki felt her heart skip a beat at those words, then hurriedly pressed on.

"Thirty."

"Ah? W-Why so young?"

"How old did you think she was?"

"I thought..."

Haruno Tsukasa couldn't help laughing at his mother's hesitant expression, knowing full well what she was thinking. "What on earth are you thinking? Do you think it's only normal if she's old enough to be a grandmother?"

"It's not that, it's just... why would someone be willing to take you along to make money?" Fujitani Chitsubaki spoke as she carefully observed her son's expression. Seeing that he wasn't nervous and showed no trace of lying, she relaxed a little. She still understood her son quite well; even if he lied, he generally wouldn't lie to her, and besides, he seemed to have guessed what she was thinking.

Pondering it once more and still failing to figure out the reason, Fujitani Chitsubaki frowned slightly and muttered to herself,

"Logically speaking, you aren't even that handsome."

"Do you have to look down on your son like that?"

"It's not that I'm looking down on you, it's that I know my own limitations. You crawled out of my belly, how much better could you possibly be than me?"

"But I think you're very beautiful."

"Stop flattering me!"

"Anyway, my life is completely normal right now. Quitting my job has actually made me much freer, and it's quite lucrative. I won't tell you the exact numbers, but in any case, it'll be fairly easy for you to retire comfortably in Tokyo."

"You talk big! Bring me a hundred million!"

"..."

Haruno Tsukasa only had around thirty million yen in liquid cash, but he could genuinely scrape together one hundred million yen. Moreover, his mother's words served as a reminder: since he was handing out a hundred million yen in investment capital anyway, why keep it all within the family? Why not let his mother make use of it?

It was just that his mother lacked a higher education and managerial experience. If he really handed her one hundred million yen to open a shop or something, she would probably decline out of modesty.

As they chatted, Haruno Tsukasa pondered the feasibility of this matter, but quickly pushed it aside. Compared to endless streams of money and rewards, he actually felt that these rare, relaxed moments were more valuable. Therefore, he focused entirely on chatting with his mother, ranging from wearing split-crotch pants as a toddler to stepping in cow dung on the way to school.

The atmosphere grew increasingly harmonious.

Haruno Tsukasa and Fujitani Chitsubaki conversed very congenially.

Meanwhile, Shimizu Yuko looked much more like a guest from afar, sitting quietly to the side drinking her soup, completely devoid of her usual warmth and generosity. Instead, she watched the mother and son reminisce and laugh, looking nothing like the mistress of the house.

Fujitani Chitsubaki, who was naturally quite perceptive, certainly noticed this uncharacteristic behavior of hers.

However, before she had a chance to show her concern,

she spotted something far more worthy of attention.

For she noticed that right along the edge of Haruno Tsukasa's collarbone—just barely covered by the collar of his jacket—there was a faint ring of bruised blood. Having studied nursing in her youth, Fujitani Chitsubaki was certain that this could not have been caused by scratching with a hand, but was medically a mechanical purpuric spot.

So...

She blurted out a question unceremoniously.

"Tsukasa, are you seeing a girlfriend?"

"No, I'm not."

"Then how come that purpuric spot on your left collarbone, the one covered by your collar, looks so much like... a hickey?"

Accompanied by the crisp sound of a porcelain spoon striking china, Shimizu Yuko's slightly reddened lips parted slightly, her attractive face freezing into a dull expression as if her soul had left her body.