Chapter 179: You’ve let yourself be influenced!

“He actually came…”

Upon seeing the man being restrained by the mansion’s security guards, Keiko couldn’t help but comment, with a slight hint of disbelief in her tone. She then turned to look at Yumiko, who had a disgusted expression on her beautiful face as she stared at the image of the man who appeared to be screaming at the mansion with all his might—though no sound could be heard, as it was muted.

“That bastard son of a bitch… he came at this hour thinking Kai would be at school. Filthy cowardly rat…” Yumiko muttered through clenched teeth, her voice full of contempt, prompting Keiko to ask in a serious tone.

“What do you want to do? Should we have them beat him up and throw him out?”

“… I really want to scream the truth in his face.” Yumiko replied angrily, but quickly took a deep breath to calm herself. Then she turned to Keiko and asked with a cold tone.

“Do you think it’s a good idea?”

“Well, it’s up to you. He’s basically a fish on a chopping board now. Most of the creditors are on our side, and with Kai, we made sure they couldn’t completely erase the evidence of his fraud. So it’s just a matter of a judge ordering an investigation on the servers, and the evidence will become legitimate—though that woman might still flee.”

“…Let’s go, then. I want to hear what he has to say.”

After a few seconds, Yumiko replied in a cold voice. Keiko nodded calmly, then stood up and got off the bed, adjusting her dress. She then pulled down Kai’s shorts and grabbed some tissues from a box on a nearby table, quickly wiping her hands—something Yumiko did as well.

Without wasting time, Keiko and Yumiko exited the medical room and began walking toward the entrance. At that moment, Yumiko summoned her Accomplice in its combat form—which, contrary to its dramatic ‘farewell’, hadn’t actually disappeared and had only taken a day to return to its previous state, something that had brought great relief to everyone.

Meanwhile, Salem—who had been resting protectively near the door alongside Tama—quickly stood up and grew back to his original size, then began closely following the two women. With his master still asleep, the responsibility of protecting his females now rested on him, the most loyal follower.

“Yumiko!! Listen to me!! It’s not what you think!! Let me in!! We need to talk!! We can’t throw away 20 years of marriage just like that!!!”

Soon, Keiko and Yumiko got close enough to the entrance to hear Haruto’s shouting, which made Yumiko smirk with mocking disdain, while Keiko wrinkled her expression in disgust. Not long after, the pair of stunningly beautiful women arrived at the mansion’s front gate.

Seeing Yumiko dressed so casually and simply—something that somehow made her look incredibly attractive and sensual—Haruto couldn’t help but open his eyes wide in surprise, swallowing hard. The sheer impact of his wife’s beauty made him momentarily question his recent actions. But he quickly pulled himself together and spoke out loud.

“… Yumiko! We need to talk; this isn’t the way to fix things. I know I messed up—I focused too much on work and neglected you, which led to this whole misunderstanding. But I’m willing to change. Let’s start over.”

Hearing the stream of nonsense coming out of her “husband’s” mouth, Yumiko simply looked at him with an emotionless expression, finding him utterly pathetic. Especially with that almost desperate look as he tried to push past the two large and sturdy security guards—one of them looking like a humanoid dog and the other a woman with the build of a professional bodybuilder.

“… Misunderstanding?”

After a few seconds, Yumiko asked in a cold voice, so devoid of any emotion that it made Haruto instinctively take a step back, visibly shaken. It was practically the first time he’d ever seen his wife like this. But being an experienced man, he quickly composed himself and responded in a serious tone.

“Yes, it’s all a misunderstanding. My life is you and Nejire—I could never be with another woman.”

“Oh? So it’s also a misunderstanding that you’re going to have a child with your assistant? What, turns out the kid isn’t yours or something?”

Yumiko asked again, her cold voice laced with a faint tone of mockery, which caused all the color to drain from Haruto’s face. Clinging to a strange sliver of hope that all wasn’t lost, he asked.

“What are you talking about, Yumiko? Where did you hear that?”

“Where do you think?” Yumiko shot back with a slight, mocking smile, which filled Haruto’s head with spinning thoughts. After a few seconds, he reached a conclusion.

(Only Aiko and I know about that, and she would never betray me, so either Yumiko is bluffing… or she hired an investigator. And knowing her, she wouldn’t say something like that so confidently unless she had some real reason to believe it…)

“I don’t know what you’ve been told, but that’s not true. I have nothing going on with that woman.”

Haruto spoke in a serious and firm tone, not daring to get any closer, as the pair of massive panthers flanking Yumiko were quite persuasive. At the same time, he made a visible effort to ignore the sharp stares he was receiving from the two security guards.

“Really? Then fire her. I don’t like her, and I don’t want her in my company.” Seeing firsthand the kind of cynical man she had married, Yumiko gave the order in a cold voice, to which Haruto quickly responded in a serious tone.

“What are you talking about, Yumiko? Fire someone just because you don’t like them? You’re the one who’s always cared the most about the employees! I really can’t fire her just for that—she’s an incredible talent who’s contributed a lot to the company!”

“No matter how talented she is, no one is irreplaceable in this life. Even if we have to hire five, ten, twenty, or even a whole battalion to replace her—I don’t want her in my company. So what are you going to do? Are you going to fire her or not?”

Yumiko asked coldly, staring Haruto straight in the eyes. At that moment, Salem let out a menacing growl, forcing Haruto to step back. He then responded angrily, casting a meaningful glance at Keiko, who was watching the entire scene with a mocking smile.

“When did you become so unreasonable?!! I can’t believe you want to fire someone who’s sacrificed so much for the company over some stupid, baseless suspicions!!! You weren’t like this before!! You’ve let yourself be influenced!!”

“Why are you changing the subject? What does it matter whether I’ve changed or whether the suspicions are baseless? It’s my company, and in it, I do whatever the hell I want. Or are you just that scared your child’s mother might lose her job?” Yumiko asked with a blank, emotionless expression—though her icy voice carried a faint trace of fury, which pushed Haruto to reply even more angrily.

“I’m telling you, I have nothing going on with that woman!!!”

“And if you raise your voice at me again, I swear you’ll regret it for the rest of your li—”

Just as Yumiko snapped back in anger, an overwhelming pressure suddenly swept across the entire property and several kilometers beyond. The force of it made both Yumiko and Keiko whip their heads toward the medical room, both of them shouting in unison.

“Kai!!!”

…

…

…

(Is this death…? How strange; it wasn’t like this the first time…)

For some reason, after losing consciousness while feeling the constant pain of spiders tearing chunks of flesh from his body come to a halt, Kai—after who knows how long—regained awareness. If it could even be called that, since he couldn’t see, hear, or feel anything, as if he were floating in a completely dark void.

(Could it be that my first death was like this too, and I just don’t remember? Though it’s a shame there’s no tunnel or light… at least then there would be something to look at…)

With time passing and nothing else to do but think, Kai devoted himself to it, until eventually, he could no longer ignore his situation and began reflecting on it. Not that it helped much, since he couldn’t even feel his body—let alone move—which made him feel incredibly uncomfortable.

(Or maybe I’m inside a spider’s stomach…?)

As time went on—though he had no idea how much—Kai tried different things: sleeping, speaking, activating his aura, his Haki, but nothing worked. It was as if he were just a floating brain in the void. Eventually, he grew somewhat used to it, clearing his mind completely so he wouldn’t notice the passage of time.

But as his mind became clearer, Kai began to feel something strange, as if his sense of proprioception was slowly coming back, letting him vaguely sense his body again—something that reignited his awareness.

(Could it be I’m really in a spider’s stomach and not dead yet?!)

Confused and curious, Kai focused entirely on that faint bodily sensation, trying to command his ‘body’ to move somehow. But no matter how hard he tried, nothing happened, as if he were completely restrained. So instead, he decided to focus on his eyes, since for some reason, they were what he could sense with the most clarity—though still barely, just slightly more than the rest.

Trying in different ways, Kai focused all his attention on making his eyes open, until, after who knows how long, he felt the slightest flutter in them—faint but real—which filled him with motivation.

(Come on! Just a little more!)

Clearing his mind of all thought and entering a trance-like state similar to meditation, Kai continued trying to open his eyes with all his might. The strange flutter grew stronger—more vivid, more real—until he felt he was just about to do it. He paused for a moment to concentrate and then once again tried to open his eyes with everything he had.

(Come on!!!!!)

His relentless efforts bore fruit, and suddenly Kai felt his eyes snap open—but to his surprise, what entered his field of vision wasn’t the inside of a spider’s stomach or anything of the sort. Instead, somehow, he saw a 360-degree image of a strange world in black and white, composed of sharp lines and silhouettes—a vision that quickly expanded in all directions.

(My house?!)

Soon, within his vision, a set of lines and shapes came into view—ones he could easily recognize. It was his own house, which led him to focus on the small forms he could see throughout the place. The more he concentrated on them, the more they began to shift, taking on human shapes. That’s when he immediately recognized Keiko and Yumiko at the entrance of the property, accompanied by five other silhouettes—two enormous panthers and three human figures.

The moment Kai identified the pair of beautiful women, all his senses rushed back at once, making him dizzy for a second. But even amidst the disorientation, through his Observation Haki—which for some reason felt incredibly sharp, though still not quite at the level of his [En]—Kai sensed a deeply unpleasant voice near his beautiful ‘aunts.’

Snapping fully back to his senses, Kai sat up and looked around, quickly realizing he was in the medical room of his house. He also noticed that Eva and Oliver were nearby, along with some unfamiliar ‘voices.’ But for some reason, all the voices around him felt like they were fluctuating in a strange way.

Making a mental note to investigate the phenomenon later, Kai quickly jumped out of bed and ran toward the source of that unpleasant 'voice'—only to come face-to-face with the gray-haired rat, staring him directly in the eyes from below, as Kai was taller. At the same time, he released a low-level pulse of his Conqueror’s Haki and asked with a slightly hoarse voice.

“Why are there rats in my house?”

...

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