12. Aragaki Family's Adopted Son-in-Law!
Of course, saying they were study companions for the little princess of the Sakayanagi family was definitely a joke.
As the saying goes, the local magistrate is better than the current manager.
Chairman Sakayanagi showing a little favoritism to his own daughter in his own school, anyone would just think he doted on his daughter.
Normally, no one would be so tactless as to challenge the Sakayanagi family's authority.
Afterwards, as long as he maintained a facade of fairness on the surface, and since the people don't report, the officials don't investigate, once Sakayanagi Arisu had had enough fun, she could leave at any time.
Anyway, she didn't need what Class A graduation offered.
Who would pick on the esteemed chairman of Advanced Nurturing High for such a small matter?
Having roughly guessed Chairman Sakayanagi's thoughts, Aragaki Shun decided to fix this bug first.
Otherwise, future class competitions would be out of the question.
He had no interest in being suppressed by the school's highest authority while also having to be careful not to scare the girl who seemed to have heart problems.
"Kanzaki, who is your connection at school? Let's see if we can jointly report to the board of directors."
Aragaki Shun looked at the pensive Kanzaki Ryuuji.
He wasn't very familiar with the situation of Kanzaki Heavy Industries; after all, they weren't in the same region.
"...Actually, it's Chairman Sakayanagi."
After a moment of silence, Kanzaki gave a surprising answer, no wonder his expression had been so strange.
Aragaki Shun: "..."
"So you're actually on Sakayanagi Arisu's side?"
"It's just that my family has some connections with the chairman due to certain projects. The relationship isn't particularly close. I only remembered after meeting her and knowing her name that I had met the girl of the Sakayanagi family a few times at banquets when I was a child."
Kanzaki Ryuuji shook his head.
His family relied on vast financial resources to establish themselves in high society, but they had always been weak in the political arena.
Therefore, his family was very keen on investing in various political projects to supplement their political connections.
"Forget it. Tomorrow I'll go talk to the only son of the Kouenji conglomerate. After we've communicated with the board of directors, you go to Chairman Sakayanagi and get some compensation for us?"
Aragaki Shun looked at Kanzaki, whose expression was hesitant, signaling him to ask directly if he had any problems, and not to agree and then fail to deliver.
"Is it necessary to go to this extent?"
Sure enough, the thought of directly confronting the chairman of this school made even the calm Kanzaki feel a little timid.
"You want to bet the chairman won't abuse his power for personal gain? Nonsense, he already arranged Sakayanagi Arisu in Class A."
According to the hidden rules given by the seniors, the school assigned the 160 students to classes A, B, C, and D based on a pattern of excellent, good, average, and flawed.
Aragaki Shun didn't care why he was assigned to Class B.
Because just seeing that Sakayanagi Arisu could even be assigned to Class A, everyone should understand that this class assignment could actually be freely manipulated according to the wishes of the school's senior management.
Anyway, he didn't believe the school had anyone with greater defects than that sickly girl who needed a cane to walk.
It couldn't be that all of Year 1 Class D were paraplegics, right?
"I don't like to play ostrich after knowing about hidden dangers, thinking that if I just don't pay attention, the problem won't happen."
Aragaki Shun unhesitatingly said so, "Besides, if my foster parents knew I was a study companion for a little girl at school, and a sickly daughter of the Sakayanagi family at that, they would definitely drag me back to take care of Ayase."
His name in this world was the same as in his previous life.
In essence, he had transmigrated into this world, and after his golden finger awakened, he automatically obtained an identity in this world.
Aragaki clan, originating from the Ji surname, was a very ancient surname.
According to his foster parents, their branch were Han Chinese immigrants to the Ryukyu Kingdom, who then slowly integrated into Japan.
Twelve years ago, when they went to the mainland to visit relatives, they found Aragaki Shun, a distant relative in an orphanage, to be very intelligent, so they brought him home as an adopted son.
Though called an adopted son, according to Japanese customs, it was more appropriate to call him an adopted son-in-law.
His own family, who had recognized his talent and brought him home, and had painstakingly cultivated him as a future successor, if he were easily seduced by the sickly daughter of the Sakayanagi family, his foster parents would definitely be so angry they'd spit blood.
And according to Ayase's personality, it might very well develop into a bloody end.
Anyway, no matter how clever Sakayanagi Arisu was, her frail constitution definitely couldn't withstand the machete in Ayase's hands.
Kanzaki Ryuuji: "?"
The young man was somewhat puzzled.
Who was Ayase, and what did being dragged back mean?
"The Aragaki family isn't afraid of the Sakayanagi family. Yet, I still have to kowtow to the Sakayanagi family's girl at this school. What do you think my foster parents would think?"
Aragaki Shun explained very calmly, "By the way, Ayase is my adopted younger sister, and also my fiancée."
Although he was, in a sense, a child groom, he had no dissatisfaction with it.
After all, Ayase was very cute, and he had raised her for so long, he had no intention of handing her over to someone else.
So he's the adopted son-in-law of the Aragaki family!
Kanzaki Ryuuji understood.
Then indeed, he couldn't easily bow his head to Sakayanagi Arisu.
As far as he knew, Chairman Sakayanagi still only had one sickly daughter.
In the future, he would most likely have to take the path of recruiting a son-in-law to inherit the family name.
But speaking of which, with Sakayanagi Arisu's sickly constitution, who would be desperate enough to become her family's son-in-law?
Without resolving the illness, let alone Sakayanagi having children, she might very well pass away the morning after the wedding night.
It was said that Chairman Sakayanagi had been searching for a way to cure his only daughter's heart disease in recent years.
Otherwise, the Sakayanagi family name and the position of the next chairman would have to be passed on to an adopted son from a collateral relative.
"It's just that your Aragaki family can afford to ignore Chairman Sakayanagi, but my family's business has been trying to make progress in politics before I enrolled."
"Don't be ridiculous!"
Aragaki Shun rolled his eyes at Kanzaki's troubled expression. "In their eyes, this is just kids fighting. Do you really think it has that much impact?"
Are fights between children important?
Not important!
Because relationships between enterprises are maintained by interests.
As long as the interests remain, the connections will always be useful.
But to say it's completely unimportant isn't quite right either.
After all, people have an instinctive desire to show off.
This kind of competition among peers can sometimes affect the older generation's evaluation of their next generation's abilities.
"Kanzaki Heavy Industries might want to curry favor with the Sakayanagi family, but it's just currying favor, not directly kowtowing, right? Kanzaki, if you go and compete with Sakayanagi, wouldn't being able to gain the upper hand better prove your own ability?"
"Besides, your relationship with Chairman Sakayanagi is something your elders should worry about. What you, Kanzaki, should be concerned about right now, isn't it your relationship with me?"
Kanzaki Ryuuji: "?"
He first showed a puzzled expression, then immediately reacted.
It seemed to be indeed so.
As fellow Class B students, his relationship with Aragaki was closer.
If he stood on Sakayanagi Arisu's side at this time, that would be completely insane.
...