Chapter 15: Refined Scum
Editor: Atlas Studios
What happened next was a whole new experience for Kazuma.
In his past life, he was a law-abiding citizen. He did not have much experience dealing with the police, let alone entering a police station. In the few instances where he had crossed paths with the police, it was mostly related to traffic matters.
Now, things were just great. In the half a month since he'd transmigrated, he had beaten up the yakuza and an unscrupulous capitalist on two different occasions, and now he's at the police station. This life was much more eventful than his previous one had been.
At the police station, Chiyoko tearfully explained the situation before signing the statement.
After Kazuma finished recording his statement, a police sergeant named Sato politely escorted him to the entrance of the police station.
Chiyoko asked with concern, "Will those two be punished?"
"Well… we can confirm that it's an attempted rape, but…"
Sergeant Sato wanted to say something but hesitated. When Chiyoko was about to ask more questions, she saw Ito Yuusaku and his underling, Yamada, come out from the police station.
A man in a suit and leather shoes walked in front of them. The pattern of his collar pin looked like that of a yakuza emblem.
'Could it be that the yakuza has come to the police station to bail them out?'
Kazuma was shocked.
At this moment, Sergeant Sato greeted him, "Yanaka-san, thank you for your work."
Kazuma frowned. If this person was really from the yakuza, it would not make any sense. After all, it was weird for the police to be so respectful toward the Yakuza…
Yanaka nodded at Sergeant Sato before turning to Kazuma. He handed over his name card and said, "Nice to meet you, Kiryuu-san."
Kazuma took the name card and looked at it. "Yanaka Taisaku, Head of Yanaka Law Firm."
So he was a lawyer. No wonder a low-level police sergeant like Sato would treat him with respect.
Behind the lawyer, Ito glared at Kazuma fiercely. He was no longer the refined scum that Kazuma had thought he was.
In comparison, Yanaka looked more like the refined scum now.
Chiyoko shouted, "You can't let him leave! He molested me!"
Lawyer Yanaka smiled. "Yes, there is sufficient evidence of an attempted rape, but before the court's conviction, they are only suspects and have the right to be bailed out."
Chiyoko bit her lip. "As a lawyer, shouldn't you uphold justice?"
"You are right, we indeed uphold justice." Yanaka smiled. "But, little sister, justice differs from person to person. Upholding judicatory justice is the job of prosecutors and judges. Upholding social justice is the job of the police. As for lawyers, we uphold the justice of our clients."
Chiyoko was speechless with anger.
Lawyer Yanaka turned to Kazuma. "Young Master Kiryuu, I heard that there is a disagreement between you and Sumitomo Construction regarding the land purchase contract. Would you like to hire us? We are skilled at handling this kind of contract dispute. We can guarantee that your dojo will be sold at a price that is not lower than the market price."
"Yanaka-san! What are you talking about?" Yamada interrupted loudly. "Our company hired you…"
"I'm not a legal representative of your company. I'm just collaborating with your company. You can't control whose case I accept, am I right?"
"You…"
Yamada was about to speak when Ito scolded, "Shut up, Yamada! If it weren't for you, I wouldn't even have to trouble Yanaka-san in the first place!"
Yanaka Taisaku acted as if he did not hear their conversation. He bowed to Kazuma again.
"Well then, goodbye, Kiryuu-san."
Then, he strode toward his car in the parking lot of the police station without looking back again.
Ito shook his head and was about to leave when he suddenly remembered something. He turned to Kazuma and said, "My office number is on the name card that I gave you earlier. You can call me anytime if you change your mind."
"I won't. Get lost!" Kazuma said bluntly.
He watched them leave.
Chiyoko whispered, "That lawyer seems reliable. Should we ask him for help?"
"Don't be silly. He said that because he knew we couldn't afford his lawyer fees," Kazuma said indignantly.
Sergeant Sato chimed in, "That's right. Lawyers being lawyers. In that case, please take care. I have other matters to attend to, so I'll take my leave first."
Hence, Kazuma and Chiyoko bade farewell to Sergeant Sato and left the police station.
On the street outside the police station, Chiyoko asked, "What should we do now?"
Kazuma took a deep breath. "If I sell the dojo for seven million yen, even I will not let myself off, not to mention our parents in heaven."
Chiyoko was delighted. "So we're not selling it?"
However, the worried look returned to her face immediately. "But what about our daily expenses? It's just like what you said, Brother. We can't even afford to fall sick…"
Kazuma didn't reply because he could not think of any other way other than working part-time.
However, when he tried to persuade Chiyoko yesterday, he said that he would give up on kendo and quit the Kendo Club if he had to work part-time. He even showed an attitude that he would never give up on kendo.
Now, if he decided to work, he would make a huge joke of himself.
He would never find a part-time job. Never in his life.
However, if he's not working and they couldn't sell the dojo, their financial issues could not be solved.
Kazuma's face darkened as he pondered. Suddenly, he thought of a solution. It might not work, but at least it was something.
Kazuma turned to Chiyoko. "Let's skip school today."
"What?" Chiyoko was shocked. "Skip school? Why?"
"To look for Ogasawara-san at Sumitomo Construction Headquarters, of course. I'll get Ogasawara-san to make an exception for us and sign a contract with a similar price as what we had previously agreed upon!"
Chiyoko stared at Kazuma. "Are you serious?"
Kazuma nodded. "I'm serious. We'll settle this today."
In fact, Kazuma was skeptical about the viability of the plan. However, he could not allow his enemies to bully him any further.
Chiyoko bit her lips and said, "Alright. Let's go to Sumitomo Construction to look for Ogasawara-san."
Kazuma nodded.
Chiyoko suddenly asked, "Should we make an appointment first?"
Kazuma thought for a moment and agreed. Ogasawara needed to go around visiting his clients, so he might not be at Sumitomo Construction Headquarters at the moment.
However, it was 1980. Even pagers had not been invented, let alone phones.
The only way to make a call was through a public phone.
Kazuma looked around and saw a public phone booth not far away.
He fished out Ogasawara's name card from his pocket. He had put it in his pants pocket yesterday, and he was still wearing the same pair of pants today.
The call went through quickly. Ogasawara said over the phone, "Hello, this is Ogasawara. Who am I speaking to?"
"Hi, Ogasawara-san, we would like to discuss the contract with you. I have convinced my sister…"
"Then sign a contract with the Relocation Department. I remember that Ito is the one in charge of your case. He should be visiting you today."
"He's already been here. The price on the contract he gave me was five million."
Ogasawara fell silent.
A moment later, he said, "I thought they would offer at least 30 million yen… However, this matter is no longer my responsibility. In fact, it's not under the control of my whole department either. I can't do anything about it."
"Ogasawara-san!" Kazuma was a little anxious. After all, it had not been easy for him to convince Chiyoko.
Besides, if they could not sell the dojo at the regular price, he and Chiyoko would be facing serious financial difficulties in the future. He would never become a rich man in that case.
Ogasawara sighed. "Fine. Come to the headquarters. I'll introduce you to Executive Director Ohara. Maybe you can persuade him."
-- Gift
received