The official residence and the public residence were both encircled by high walls, with a ring-shaped courtyard and a large parking lot between the walls and the buildings.
If one were to take a walk, the area inside was ample enough for a leisurely stroll.
However, Phoenix Academy Maggie’s desire for a walk was just a pretext. She left the official residence and headed towards the back gate.
The current security forces were at least as strong as, if not stronger than, during Kumazo Yasuda’s ti.
Nominally, they were still part of the Security Special Police Team affiliated with the tropolitan Police Departnt’s Security Bureau. However, their faces were completely different from those of the previous special police.
Most of the forr special police officers had been dismissed and sent to local positions because Kochou found them too incompetent.
So of those directly responsible for Kumazo Yasuda’s defense were prosecuted for suspected involvent in his murder and sent directly to prison.
The current special police team mbers were all personal bodyguards from the Phoenix Academy family.
They were all equipped in Arican style. While their training records were good, their actual performance could only be tested when danger arose.
Phoenix Academy Maggie pretended to survey the scenery to her left and right as she strolled to the back gate. She then walked along the asphalt road toward the path outside the official residence.
The official residence’s back gate was a very plain electric retractable gate. It remained open, with special police mbers guarding the nearby intersection, preventing suspicious individuals from approaching.
Phoenix Academy Maggie followed the path around the official residence.
Gray-green rocks were piled up one by one, forming a towering wall that isolated the official residence from outside prying eyes.
Trees sprouted from the top of the wall, obscuring the outline of the official residence.
But from so tall buildings not too far away, one could still peek into scenes within the official residence.
In terms of secrecy, the Pri Minister’s residence was not as hidden as the Phoenix Academy family’s mansion. Phoenix Academy Maggie had heard from her mother that she had already bought up the surrounding buildings.
She was rely waiting for her new policy to be implented. Then, any surrounding buildings taller than the official residence would be demolished to proclaim the Pri Minister’s authority.
This didn’t an no buildings taller than the official residence could be constructed throughout the entire Chiyoda District. However, at least around the official residence, construction of high-rise buildings taller than it was prohibited.
She rembered her mother’s expression when she said that and sighed softly in her heart.
Just then, a breeze rustled the branches, causing the cicadas to chirp incessantly, as if protesting the wind’s playful harassnt.
Across the path, a black-haired boy approached, holding two cups of milk tea in his hands.
"What a coincidence, Maggie, we happen to et here. Would you like a cup of milk tea?"
Seeing Aozawa’s feigned expression of a chance encounter, Phoenix Academy Maggie wanted to laugh but suppressed the urge.
She turned her head slightly to glance at Mike, who was behind her, and waved her hand. "Step back a bit."
"Okay."
Mike shrugged, knowingly slowing his pace to give the young couple so space. He felt a pang of pity for Aozawa.
The status gap between them had been significant before, and now it was even wider.
Kochou had already beco the Pri Minister.
Mike wasn’t optimistic about their future. It was just a youthful dream, but young people should have the right to dream.
As soone whose youthful dreams had been crushed by harsh realities associated with the United States, Mike felt he had so authority on the matter.
Therefore, he didn’t want to interfere with the young lovers, unless Kochou gave a direct order.
After all, he was just an employee.
The afternoon sun slanted down, casting a golden hue on the narrow, quiet path, devoid of passersby.
Phoenix Academy Maggie sipped the milk tea Aozawa had bought and, feigning a stern expression, asked, "Can you now tell what Infinity Big ans?"
"That’s my power."
Aozawa had already considered how to answer. After much thought, he decided against claiming Infinity Big was rely a technique; such a la excuse clearly wouldn’t satisfy Maggie.
Instead, it was better to use the sa explanation he’d prepared for Chitose to address Maggie’s doubts.
"Power?!"
Phoenix Academy Maggie stopped in her tracks, turned her head, her eyes sharpening as she said, "Then when I asked you before if you were a Superpower User, you said you weren’t!"
"I really am not," Aozawa replied with a shrug, an innocent look on his face. "I am an Angel Envoy from a Different World. The abilities I possess are called ’powers,’ so how could I be a Superpower User?"
Phoenix Academy Maggie was slightly taken aback; this boy was actually playing word gas with her. She pursed her lips and said, "So, you have no relation to Dio?"
"None. I crossed over to this world from a Different World ten years ago. As for the specific reason, I’m not too clear myself.
If you don’t believe , you can check my records. There’s no information about in this world before I was six."
Aozawa took a sip of his milk tea, moistened his throat, and continued, "When I crossed over, I was very young and alone, wandering the streets of Adachi District when Chitose found .
She was still a high school student then, a very kind person. She took in, holess as I was, and raised ."
"I see."
Phoenix Academy Maggie believed what he said.
Because Phoenix Academy Maggie didn’t believe Aozawa was connected to the incident in xico.
The Emperor of the Shadow Clan had impaled over three hundred thousand people at once.
Such ruthlessness, such willpower, could only co from an Emperor forged in the crucibles of a Different World—one who held no regard for the people of this world.
Over three hundred thousand people.
The sheer scale and the ntal image surpassed Phoenix Academy Maggie’s imagination. It was so imnse that, for the first ti, she felt the poverty of her own understanding.
She could only guess at the true horror of the scene from reports that so witnesses had been driven mad.
Sipping her milk tea in small sips, Phoenix Academy Maggie suddenly thought of sothing and asked, "So, does that an your two-timing is also because of customs from the Different World?"
"Exactly. Where I co from, as long as the feelings are genuine, it’s perfectly reasonable for a man to marry multiple won."
Aozawa spouted this nonsense with a straight face, thumping his chest. "Besides, I’m an Angel Envoy! My physical constitution is top-notch. A few more fields to plow won’t faze in the slightest!"
"Ugh."
The look Phoenix Academy Maggie shot him was like discovering a wriggling, pale-yellow maggot in a bowl of fragrant oatal.
How to put it?
Aozawa realized, to his surprise, that he didn’t much mind that disdainful gaze.
Perhaps it was like when he played gas with Chitose. She would always start off acting like a queen, completely in control. But by the end, she would surrender unconditionally, a lamb to the slaughter.
The stark contrast between the beginning and end gave him a perverse pleasure—enjoying being taphorically stepped on initially, only to turn the tables later.
"You really are a pervert!"
Phoenix Academy Maggie suddenly noticed that he seed to be enjoying her look.
Ew~
Her delicate, doll-like face once again contorted in disgust, as if she’d excitedly stepped out for a morning date only to tread in dog droppings.
Aozawa toned down his expression and said sincerely, "Alright, I’m just teasing. I only want to bring happiness equally to every girl who likes , and whom I like in return. Is there anything wrong with that?"
"Happiness..."
Murmuring the word, Phoenix Academy Maggie’s eyes softened. She didn’t say anything more and just strode forward quickly.
A sudden gust of wind blew, lifting the girl’s golden locks. She turned her head and, against the sunlight, smiled. "Aozawa, what if I liked you, but wasn’t willing to share you with Morimoto, Ayatsuki, and the others?
Pray tell, how would you handle that?"
She continued walking backward, letting the wind playfully tousle her golden hair, her hands still clasped tightly behind her.
Aozawa hesitated for a mont before responding, "I would strive to help you accept Chitose and Iroha. I wouldn’t give up on you."
"PFFHAHA!"
Phoenix Academy Maggie suddenly burst out laughing, stopped walking backward, and naturally unclasped her hands from behind her back. She playfully slapped his shoulder and said, "Jeez, why are you being so serious? You’re making this awkward.
I was just joking. Who would like a philandering two-tir like you?
Dummy!"
She stuck out her tongue, turned around, and her smile faded. Not giving up, huh...
Phoenix Academy Maggie shook her head and shifted to a lighter topic. "What is the Different World like?"
"I’m not sure. I ca to this world when I was very young. All I rember is staying in a magnificent castle where everyone called ’Earl.’
There were many servants, but I didn’t recognize any of them. Maybe it’s been too long and I’ve forgotten.
I probably wouldn’t recognize them even if we t again."
Hearing Aozawa say this, Phoenix Academy Maggie didn’t continue to inquire about the Different World. Walking along the path and gazing at the street outside, she asked, "Aozawa, what’s your opinion on dynastic rule?"
"No opinion really. I don’t care much about that stuff,"
Aozawa shook his head.
Previously, he would have harshly criticized dynastic rule. But since acquiring his Superpower, his status had naturally set him apart from most people.
His position was lonelier and more powerful than any emperor in history—the world’s sole Superpower User.
As a result, he’d beco less concerned with systems of governnt. Whether they were good or bad mattered little; changing them was often just a matter of a word from him.
"That’s just your style,"
Phoenix Academy Maggie retorted, looking up with a hint of lancholy on her face. "I feel like Mother’s thirst for power has grown stronger than ever lately. It’s not just about becoming Pri Minister; she also wants to restore a system of dynastic rule."
"Huh, if that’s the case, wouldn’t you beco a future female Pri Minister?"
"Don’t joke like that. While I’m prepared to inherit the Phoenix Academy Group, running an entire country..."
She paused, sipped her milk tea. And then mused that perhaps such matters weren’t worth agonizing over.
If power eventually fell into her hands, reverting to an electoral system would be a simple matter of her decree.
And before that, with her mother’s wisdom, she could indeed lead the country to prosperity and leave behind a comndable legacy.
"Haha, it’s like they say, ’you can’t see the forest for the trees.’ Thanks to you, Aozawa, I’ve figured out what to do."
"Don’t be so modest. If we hadn’t talked, I’d just keep overthinking it and getting nowhere."
Seeing Phoenix Academy Maggie’s smile, Aozawa thought that if Maggie truly disliked the idea, it might be necessary to give Kochou a stern reminder.
In his identity as Aozawa, he couldn’t do that, of course. It was ti to put on the Dio persona and make Kochou thoroughly understand what was permissible and what was not.
Reviews
All reviews (0)