After breaking up, my ex asked me to win her back

She was led into the office area on the second floor of the company.

The receptionist asked Kagura Hikaru to sit in an empty workspace for a while, poured him a cup of instant coffee, and then got up to find the leader.

After watching her leave, Kagura Hikaru immediately got up from his seat and began to wander around.

He certainly wasn't really there to acquire the company.Nôv(el)B\\jnn

Even if he had the spare cash, he wouldn't buy a mess of a company that was billions in debt to the bank and on the verge of bankruptcy.

At least, that's what the asset report given to him by Ayakoji Chiyoko said.

But upon actually entering Mari Enterprise, Kagura Hikaru didn't see any sense of urgency.

It was clear that this floor was supposed to have a lot of employees, but now many workspaces were empty, with desks spotlessly clean of clutter, as if their former owners had moved out a long time ago.

The remaining spots that still had employees were quite lively.

But it wasn't the kind of liveliness that came from everyone being hard at work; it was horseplay.

Guess what Kagura Hikaru saw.

Despite it being work hours, there were actually a few people gathered together, chatting and playing cards, and you could even see empty beer bottles at their feet, laughing and slapping their thighs merrily, with very few actually working on their computers.

No one seemed to care about this situation, and the few employees who were actually working didn't find it unusual—it was clear they were used to it.

At that moment, an office phone rang, right next to the group playing cards.

But they just glanced at it and continued to joke and laugh as if they hadn't heard, taking their sweet time to answer the call, and by the time they reluctantly walked over, the caller had already hung up.

Even this didn't seem to bother the employees, who simply turned back to their card game.

Kagura Hikaru withdrew his gaze.

There was no need to investigate further.

One glance was enough to know that the company's operations were definitely in serious trouble.

The employees knew best what shape a company was in, and their extreme lack of motivation to work signaled that the business had reached its worst moment, beyond the point of no return, with everyone just biding their time waiting for the end.

Is this what the end of a company looks like? He wondered if he should feel any sympathy.

Conversely, as the chairman of Mari Enterprise and father of Saijo Mari, he still had the leisure to propose a trip to America with his family.

No matter how you looked at it, it was peculiar.

Taking advantage of the fact that no one had noticed him, Kagura Hikaru silently left the building by the stairs, exiting Mari Enterprise's office building.

He stood at the entrance, straightening his tie and thinking for a moment before pulling out his phone to call the private detective he had collaborated with on the Ruzaki Mami case.

Next was the waiting period.

Days of studying, training, and secretly cold-warring with Ayakoji Chiyoko continued.

Experience tales with empire

The day of the sports festival drew closer and closer.

At the entrance of Yuqiu High School, a notice about the start time of the Uka Sports Festival was displayed, welcoming visitors.

The campus had undergone quite a few decorations and preparations, but the most crucial sports equipment had not yet been delivered, and the old batch had already been disposed of; without them, the sports festival could hardly proceed.

Even the teachers had gone to the Sports Committee to ask Saijo Mari about it, and although exactly what she said remained unclear, the school authorities still chose to trust her without further investigation.

The day before the sports festival.

"Dad, you can't really be planning not to sell the goods to our school, can you? The sports festival is almost upon us... how much longer do we have to wait? There's no time to wait; tomorrow is the opening day of the sports festival, and yet I haven't received a single item here! ... Dad, just wait, what do you mean you're going on a business trip to America? I still have school, how could I possibly go with you... Hello? Are you still there?"

Saijo Mari looked at her disconnected call screen, puzzled and disappointed, feeling a burning sense of urgency in her heart.

A week ago, her Sports Committee had taken over the task of updating the order for sports equipment, and the preferred supplier, naturally, was the previous contractor for the school, which was also her family's business.

Her father's company specialized in producing these items, and the quality was assured; there was no way they would let down their own school.

When she submitted the order, Saijo Mari even specifically contacted her father to have him expedite the delivery, as the sports day was in a week's time and they would be needed.

Her father had readily agreed, so she hadn't given it much thought.

But now, with the sports day just a day away, she hadn't seen a single barrier!

Although she had vaguely sensed that the company's business hadn't been doing well lately, it shouldn't have been this inefficient.

These were all ready-made products; why were they being made to wait so long?

Complaining to her father over the phone yielded nothing but evasive answers, and just today he had suddenly brought up going to America together, a suggestion so abrupt it made Saijo Mari feel uneasy.

It was as if something bad had happened somewhere out of her knowledge, and she was completely unaware of it.

The sense of unease growing stronger, Saijo Mari couldn't help pacing anxiously back and forth in the club office, frequently turning her phone's screen on and off, wondering if there was anyone left she could ask for help.

Just then, someone knocked on the club room door.

Saijo Mari flinched.

She really hoped it wasn't a teacher or a student from the sports club coming to see her now; without thinking, she knew they must be there to inquire about the equipment, and she had no idea how to respond to them.

But not opening the door at all would seem even more suspicious, not to mention quite rude.

Taking a deep breath, Saijo Mari went to open the door.

The visitor was not who she expected.

It wasn't a teacher or a fellow student from the sports club, but Kagura Hikaru, whom she hadn't seen in several days.

"Mr. Kagura, what brings you here?"

"Aren't you going to invite me in?" Kagura Hikaru lifted the document bag in his hand.

"Sorry, please come in."

Kagura Hikaru stepped into the office.

The Sports Committee's club room was small.

It was nothing compared to the Disciplinary Committee, which Ayakoji Chiyoko took up an entire floor for, and was probably even smaller than the Literature Club's.

A printer, filing cabinets, and other office supplies took up about half the space.

In the center of the room, there was a table with a laptop and various paper documents on it.

There were only four chairs, two in front of the table and two against the wall.

Meaning, normally, only two chairs were in use.

It turned out that the two representatives from the Sports Committee present at the previous meeting had been the entirety of their department's members.

Perhaps aware of the clutter in her department's room, Saijo Mari smiled awkwardly and said, "Our department is very busy during the sports festival, so..."

"It's fine, I don't mind. May I sit down?"

"Ah, don't be polite, please sit."

The two sat down across from each other at the table.

Kagura Hikaru placed the document bag on the table.

"Mr. Kagura, this is..." Saijo Mari observed his expression covertly, sensing a premonition and asked anxiously.

"Inside here is the evidence of your father's crime."