Chapter 25.5: People of the Niekawa Family

　On a beach in Malaysia.

　A person was watching Nagano’s despairing situation from afar.

“Kogen Kaida-sama. Yes, the sanctions against Erazo Nagano have ended without incident.”

　Ichika Niekawa.

　She is a beautiful woman with black hair in a ponytail.

　She had been monitoring Misae’s father, the target of the sanctions, on Kogen’s orders.

　Okaya is the favorite of Kogen and his granddaughter Rushia.

　They couldn’t forgive Misae’s father for hitting him and hurling more abuse at him.

　Ichika was now at the beach, wearing a swimsuit.

　She had a slender figure.

　Her legs were long and lean.

　However, her breasts are so large that you would believe her if she said she was a gravure idol or a model.

　Such a beautiful woman was standing alone in a black bikini and sunglasses.

　There was no way she could be left alone.

“Hey, sweetheart! Do you want to swim with me?”

　The young men were talking to Ichika in a foreign language.

　Ichika ignored them and reported to Kogen with her phone in hand.

“Yes. I’ll stay overnight and then return. Yes. Yes, I’ll remember to buy a souvenir for your daughter. Yes.”

“Hey, onee-san, hey, let’s play together~”

　Ichika frowned in annoyance.

　At that moment, a huge figure appears beyond the pick-up man.

“EXKYUSUMI!” (Excuse me)

Then he came……

“”T-Terminator!?”

“Hello, I’m the Terminator.”

　There stood a burly, macho man who looked like he had just stepped out of a movie screen.
　He is the third son of the Niekawa family.

The younger brother of Ichika.

“Oh, you’re not safe. Your life is in jeopardy. That female gorilla over there. Terrifying. I recommend you to get away.”

　It was completely in Japanese.

　When Ichibana went to her brother, she was furious and …….

“Who’s the gorilla?　Ha?”

　Ichika grabbed Saburo’s hand and threw him into the sea.

　As soon as he did, Saburo sank into the sea with a violent splash.

“…..And?　Do you want something from me?”

“HIGUYAAAAAAA! BIG GORILLLAAAAAAAAAAAAA!”

　The pick-up men walked away from Ichika.

“Sis, you’re terrible!”

　Saburo, who was thrown overboard, comes up from the water.

　Saburo was also wearing only a pair of swimming trunks.

　Tourists on the street seemed to look at Saburo and mistake him for a bodybuilder 50% of the time, Schwarzenegger 40% of the time, and a vacationing playboy the other 10%.

“I thought I was helping the pick-up men.”

” In such situations, it’s normal to help the woman who’s being attacked, right?”

“But if I leave them alone, they will be dead……. Oh, I’m sorry, I’m lying, don’t be angry with me, sister!”

　Fue, Ichika sighs.

“Sister, is your mission over?”

“Yeah, he just wants us to come home.”

“All right!　I’m going on vacation!　Let’s go rent a banana boat.”

“We are not on a vacation, you know. We’re at work.”

“Chi. It’s okay if we slack off a little, they won’t notice.”

“As a servant of Kogen-sama, you must maintain a sense of propriety.”

“…… stingy old lady…… ouch ouch ouch!”

　Ichibana scores a joint move on Saburo.

“What did you say, Saburo-kun?”

“Sorry, sis!　Also, there’s a really big one on my back!”

“Aren’t you honored to be touching a beautiful woman’s breasts?”

“Gorilla breasts are just hard. ……Gyaa”

　After a while.

　Ichika and Saburo had changed out of their swimsuits and were having a late lunch at the hotel lounge.

“Did you …… buy any souvenirs yet?”

　Ichika said dumbly as they sipped their after-lunch coffee.

　There were a lot of bags of souvenirs on either side of Saburo.

“Yeah. For [Jirota brother, Yotsuba] , and [Itsuwa]. This one is for the young lady and Kogen-sama~”

“I told you we were at work, and you’re all over the place. ……”

Yare Yare, sighed Ichika.

“But that father of hers, he’s in trouble. He’s a social outcast.”

“He deserved what he get…… Really, cheating is the worst.”

　Her hand tightened and cracked the cup she was holding.

　Her beautiful face was contorted in anger.

“?　Have you ever been cheated on before, sister?　There was no boyfriend or anything like that now or in college …… Oh, wait, I’m not disrespecting you, please calm down sis!”

　Ichika grabbed Saburo’s face with one hand and was about to grip it, so Saburo calmed her down.

“When I was in college, I didn’t have a boyfriend, but I did have a crush on someone.”

“Hee, ……!　That’s new!　Hey, hey, what happened with that guy?”

“It didn’t work out. We were in the same class, but we graduated and that was it. I just found out he got married the other day.”

“Hmmm…… Why didn’t you tell him?”

“When I was in college, he already had a girlfriend. It was a girl from a different university. There was no room for me in his life.”

“You loved him, right?”

“It was …… a long time ago.”

　Susu…..She sipped her coffee.

“Sister may be a gorilla, but you’re pretty enough to pass for an actress, so if you told him, wouldn’t he have said yes?”

“One word too many. Do I need to crush you?”

“What!?　What are you doing!?”

“I’m kidding. I’ve tried to tell …… him. Over and over again. But he wasn’t having any of it.”

“What happened?”

“He had been working on something since his first year of college. Finally, in his final year, he started to see some results from his work, and just when he thought it was about to start, he suddenly started to frantically look for a job. ……”

　As if remembering the past, Ichika said with a distant look in her eyes.

“I refrained to let him pursue his dreams, and he just graduated.”

“Oh, so it was just bad timing, huh?”

“Yes, it was …… bad timing. [This time, too.]”

　Ichika drank her coffee.

　They stood up and paid the bill at the cash register.

“Sister, what’s that guy you had a crush on in college doing now?”

　Ichika replied to Saburo’s question.

“He’s working as an editor at a light novel publishing company.”

“Heh!　As I recall, the young lady[‘s] editor, Okaya-sama, works also in a novel publishing company!　Maybe he knows that person or something. The world is so small!”

　Looking at her brother, who clearly didn’t notice, Ichika let out a small sigh.

“…… The young lady’s, huh. Really, you’ve always had bad timing, Okaya-kun.”

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