Chapter 158 Part 1
Visit to the Komatsu Family (1) ~Calling~
According to Sayaka, the Komatsu family’s ancestry dated back to the Edo period, when they were a samurai family serving the Fudai clan in the northern part of Musashi Province.
The family was of low status and lived a rather modest life.
However, it seemed that after becoming an apprentice of a renowned swordsman and receiving the license of full mastery, they opened a dojo in the castle town and began taking students from lower-ranking retainers and townspeople.
The timeline was a little earlier than the Meiji Restoration that Yuu remembered, but the Edo Shogunate fell and a new government was established in this world as well, and the status of samurai ceased to exist.
Now that it had come to this, those who could continue to secure work as government officials were on the luckier side, but most samurai families struggled to even make ends meet.
Employing the so-called 『samurai business method』, many of them ended up increasing their debts vainly and falling into a life of poverty worse than that of the common people.
The same was true for the Komatsu family, the dojo continued to operate albeit on a small scale, but as it was no longer in the age of the sword, they began to take up employment such as soldiers and police officers, just like other samurai families.
Later on, Hanako (Sayaka’s great-grandmother), born the eldest daughter of the Komatsu family, was an eccentric girl who was a sucker for machines since childhood and became absorbed in cars and motorcycles that had just been released to the general public.
When she grew up, she became an engineer, honed her skills by working at an auto repair shop, which was rare at the time, and eventually set up her own business.
It was around this time that she met the male prostitute who would later become her husband.
Despite the ups and downs of the economy, she established a company called Komatsu Giken Kogyo (commonly known as Komatsu), and the business expanded.
Blessed with one son and three daughters, the Komatsu family grew and settled in Wako City in Saitama Prefecture, adjacent to Tokyo’s Itabashi and Nerima wards.
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After having lunch, in the early afternoon, Yuu left his apartment by car and took the Kan-etsu Expressway along the way to Sayaka’s parents’ house, which took 50 minutes to get there.
Incidentally, Riko, who went to the same middle school as Sayaka and went out of her way to go to the same high school as her, commuted to school by train and bus for 1 hour and 30 minutes, so it was quite tough.
He could understand why she wanted to sleep over at Sayaka’s apartment.
Sayaka’s parents’ house was located quite a distance away from the urban area around the station, close to the bank of the Arakawa River, in an area where there was more greenery than buildings.
When they got out of the car, which was parked in a large gravel parking lot that appeared to be for visitors, they could see a magnificent wooden gate with a tiled roof about 50 meters away, and a long white plastered gate wall, also with a tiled roof, stretching for as far as the eye could see.
「It, it’s a very majestic mansion, isn’t it?」
「Samurai residence?」
「Hmm, this is the first time I’ve seen it, but it feels like the residence of an ancient honorable family.」
Unlike ordinary houses, they could see that there was a distance to the mansion on the other side of the gate.
Even just within the visible range, there were tall, beautifully shaped pine trees planted along the wall.
Most likely, the garden was also pretty large.
Flanked by his security personnel Kanako and Touko, Yuu was captivated by it for a moment, but as the time for his appointment was drawing near, he moved towards the gate.
When they rang the doorbell next to the gate, they immediately received a reply, and without waiting for that long, the door was opened.
Welcoming them was a woman around 20 years old, about 10cm taller than Yuu.
She was wearing a white top and black hakama. Her shoulder-length hair was tied up in a ponytail, and although she didn’t wear much makeup, he could tell that she had well-defined facial features.
When Yuu introduced himself, she smiled and said, 「We’ve been waiting for you.」
Then she made eye contact with the security personnel.
「Mm, she’s good.」
「Yes.」
Yuu could hear the two whispering to each other behind him.
Not only was she well-built, but even her minute movements and bearing suggested that she had experience in martial arts.
He remembered that Sayaka had told him before that they ran a dojo at home.
Naturally, the woman in front of them was also one of their apprentices, and perhaps she had been entrusted with the task of welcoming guests.
「Oh! This is one magnificent garden.」
「Fufufu. I’m sure the president would be pleased to hear that.」
「Err, by president… I believe…」
「It’s Sayaka-sama’s grandmother, Reika-sama.」
「Does the president take care of it herself?」
「Yes. That said, it’s only been a few years. Most of the works is left to contractors, though.」
With the woman from earlier leading the way, guiding them along the gently curving path, they were on their way to the main house.
The ground was covered with white gravel reminiscent of a white sandy beach, and they were walking on flat stones that were laid out as stepping stones.
On either side of the path were round and oval-shaped plants, which were probably azaleas and satsuki azaleas that were long past their flowering season.
Then there were maple trees, which they could tell from the shape of their leaves, and the tall ones were probably sweet osmanthus.
Of the trees that Yuu could see, those were pretty much the ones he could identify. Basically, trees that suited a Japanese-style garden had been planted there.
Today, too, they had a sunny summer day, and the sun was going strong, but as the path they were currently walking on was well shaded by the trees, it was a little cooler.
It must take a lot of work to take care of this kind of garden.
It was pleasant to look at, but to maintain it, you had to call in a contractor on a regular basis.
It was probably because they had the financial leeway to do that that they were rich people, though.
The place they were headed to, which was right in front of them, appeared to be the main house.
Finally, they were getting closer to the entrance.
It was a house that reminded you of old Japanese architecture.
Strictly speaking, it was a two-story building, but the first floor was unusually spacious, and the second floor didn’t seem to even be half that size.
It was so wide that it could probably fit three ordinary houses, and it gave off a similar impression to that of the mansion designated as an Important Cultural Property that he visited when he went to the rural area.
At least half a century had probably passed since it was built.
It gave off a strong sense of history, but for the house of the president of a large company, it looked like not much money had been poured into it, at least not as much as he had expected.
As the entire main house came into view, they could see a brand new garage with its shutters down on the left.
Judging from its size, it could probably fit around three cars.
The front of the garage was paved, and it seemed to lead to a car-only entrance.
On top of that, along the wall on the other side of the paved road, there were also five cars of various sizes lined up in a row, which was probably something you would expect from the family of the founder of an automobile manufacturer.
When he turned to the right, a single-story wooden building caught his eye.
It was a little old, but it had a simple, sturdy box-like structure.
It reminded him more of a community center or assembly hall than a house.
In front of the building was an open space with bare, leveled ground, and along the edge, tall sunflowers were seen standing in a row with their large flowers in full bloom; such was the scene he saw at the distance.
「That building over there is the dojo.」
Perhaps noticing Yuu’s gaze, the woman told him as such.
Perhaps they were taking a break at the moment, or perhaps it was a day off, no voices could be heard from the inside and it was completely quiet.
「Today is Saturday, so elementary school students are expected to come at 4pm. In the evening, it’s middle and high school students. And on Sundays, adults also come.」
「Come to think of it, Sayaka said that she also trained at her home dojo until middle school. I believe the person in charge of teaching is….」
「From Sayaka-sama’s perspective, her great-aunt, Ritsuka-sama, is the instructor. She is a former police officer, and although has become a little kinder now that she has retired, back when she was still in service, she was a very strict person…」
There must have been a lot of memorable moments.
She seemed to be recalling them with a distant look in her eyes.
NEXT CHAPTER
RELEASE RATE
Reborn In A World of Chastity Reversal
Speed up schedule by 10 hours
Current schedule: Every 70 hours
This story itself is so slow, and the release schedule is somehow slower lmao