Chapter 155: Yoshiharu Oyama Feels This Is Too Unreal!
As Tokyo entered the night, the Oyama family, who had been kept behind alone, were being treated to a meal by Hiroshi Nohara, their prospective son-in-law.
Ginza, the high-class Japanese restaurant “Shirakobako Garu-en.”
There was no noisy human chatter here, only the proprietress in a high-end custom kimono, walking with elegant small steps, silently moving along the tatami-matted corridor.
The unique earthy aroma of premium Binchotan charcoal-grilled matsutake mushrooms permeated from the depths of the garden, mixing with the scent of roasted meat fat and spices, creating a gluttonous craving that made one’s mouth water.
Inside this top-tier private room called “Tsukuyomi,” crisp exclamations full of youthful vitality could be heard one after another.
“Wow—! Brother-in-law! This… this sea urchin is so delicious!”
Mogae Oyama, this energetic girl from Kumamoto Prefecture, had her large, dark, sparkling eyes wide open at this moment.
She carefully picked up a small piece of sea urchin, its color a golden yellow and the grains plump, with her chopsticks. She gently pressed it against the tip of her delicate tongue, and the rich flavor, a blend of oceanic freshness and creamy sweetness, instantly exploded in her entire mouth!
The extreme deliciousness made her so happy that even her toes curled up.
“And this! This tuna belly! My goodness! This isn’t fish meat at all! This is… this is melt-in-your-mouth marbled fat!”
She then shifted her target to another plate, the top-grade sashimi with its beautiful marbling, glistening with tempting fat under the light.
Her chopsticks moved rapidly.
Her appearance, as if she had never seen such a thing before, made it seem as though she wanted to swallow her own tongue.
“I’ve decided! I’m never going back to Kumamoto! The best sushi restaurant where we live, compared to this place, is just a roadside stall!”
“Besides, there’s nothing good to eat in Kumamoto!”
These straightforward praises instantly hurt Mr. Yoshiharu Oyama, the representative of Kumamoto Prefecture’s education sector, who was seated in the main seat.
“Ahem! Ahem-ahem-ahem!”
Yoshiharu Oyama heavily placed his cup of the expensive “Juyondai” sake on the table, his face already shrouded in a dark green pallor.
His sharp gaze fiercely pierced the girl who knew no bounds.
“Mogae Oyama!”
His voice suppressed a surge of anger: “Do not speak while eating, and do not speak while sleeping! This is the family precept of our Oyama family! Have you forgotten?! Also, girls should eat in small bites, elegantly! Look at you now, jumping around and being so boisterous, what kind of demeanor is that?!”
“Oh, I know, I know.”
However, this cliché scolding only earned a grimace of impatience from his youngest daughter.
Mogae Oyama couldn’t even be bothered to turn around, and simply stuffed a piece of sea eel sushi, smeared with soy sauce and wasabi, into her mouth. Her voice was indistinct but filled with a cunning sense of justification: “Sis, you try it quickly too! It’s really delicious! A hundred times better than the sushi restaurant that Dad took us to last time, which claimed to be ‘Number One in Kumamoto’! As expected of Tokyo! It’s so much better than Kumamoto, which is like the countryside!”
“You—!”
Misae Nohara was so provoked by this statement that her blood surged, and the finger she pointed at Mogae trembled slightly with anger, but she couldn’t find the right words to refute her for a moment.
In the end, she could only turn her head like a defeated bull and cast a gaze full of helplessness towards the mistress of the house, who had been quietly smiling the entire time.
“Old woman! Look! Look at the daughter you’ve raised! She’s becoming more and more unruly! Aren’t you going to do anything?!”
“Oh, dear, why are you yelling again?”
The mother, Takao Oyama, sighed helplessly: “Mogae, listen to your father, don’t always bother your sister, let her eat something too.”
Then, she turned her head to the prospective son-in-law, who looked helpless, and gave him a gentle smile full of apology: “Hiroshi-kun, I’m sorry you had to see this. This child is becoming more and more wild, even I, her mother, can barely control her.”
“Not at all, Auntie.”
Hiroshi Nohara simply sipped his tea quietly, a smile in his eyes: “I think it’s good for Mogae to be like this. Lively, cheerful, with her own ideas. This is what a modern woman should be like in our era. Independent, autonomous, not bound by those old rules.”
Praising women was politically correct in this era.
These words were like the most potent heart stimulant, instantly reviving the energetic girl who had been a bit dejected moments before!
“Did you hear that! Dad!”
Mogae Oyama, like a chick that had found a safe haven, instantly hid behind Hiroshi Nohara, poking out a fluffy little head. She made another cute face at her father, who was glaring at her with puffed-out cheeks.
“Even my brother-in-law says I’m good like this! This means your thinking is out of date! You’re just an old fossil!”
“You… you rebellious daughter!” Yoshiharu Oyama trembled all over with anger.
“Alright, alright, both of you, say less.” Takao Oyama looked at the two lively troublemakers, her husband and daughter, her smile growing more helpless.
She glanced at the empty seat beside her, and a trace of imperceptible worry and affection flashed in her gentle eyes.
“Speaking of which, Hiroshi-kun,” she turned her head and smiled, changing the subject: “It’s such a shame that Masae couldn’t come with us this time. That child has always been sensible since she was young, but she’s too introverted and likes to keep to herself. There seems to be an important teaching evaluation at school recently, and she insisted she couldn’t get away and had to stay in Kumamoto to work overtime.”
“Hmph, that’s how the eldest daughter of our Oyama family should be!”
As soon as his eldest daughter was mentioned, a genuine pride finally appeared on Yoshiharu Oyama’s usually stern face.
He unconsciously straightened his back, his voice filled with pride: “Masae has never given me any trouble since she was little! Her studies were always first in her grade; her work was always diligent! This is a true model of the young lady from a good family that we have carefully cultivated!”
“Yes, yes, yes, Elder Sister is the most capable, alright?” Mogae Oyama pouted, her pretty little face showing disdain for her father’s “clichés.”
Seeing that a new “ideological dispute” within the family was about to erupt again, Misae Oyama, the second daughter who was best at changing the subject, finally found her stage.
“By the way, Dad, Mom,” she put down her chopsticks, her rosy cheeks showing a bit of well-timed shyness and sweetness: “I… I haven’t told you in detail about my visit to Hiroshi-kun’s parents in Akita Prefecture last time.”
These words were like a pebble thrown into a calm lake, instantly capturing the full attention of Yoshiharu Oyama and Takao Oyama.
A look of nervousness and solemnity, peculiar to Japanese people and their concern for etiquette and decorum, appeared on both their faces almost simultaneously.
“Oh my! Child, why didn’t you say so sooner!”
Takao Oyama was the first to react, her eyes full of worry: “You… you didn’t commit any faux pas, did you? Did you leave a bad impression? I’m telling you, meeting the man’s parents for the first time is extremely important! Our Oyama family is quite reputable in Kumamoto, we can’t be disrespectful in public!”
“Exactly!” Yoshiharu Oyama also nodded heavily at this moment, his face filled with seriousness: “Did you follow what I taught you, to bow when entering, and say ‘Nice to meet you, I look forward to your guidance’? Did you bring a souvenir? These are all very important things!”
Seeing her parents’ nervous expressions, Misae Oyama couldn’t help but chuckle.
“Oh, Dad, Mom, please don’t worry,” she giggled, her beautiful large eyes like two sweet crescent moons: “Uncle and Auntie are really super nice people!”
She then recounted the heartwarming trip to Akita with some embellishments.
“Uncle, he’s nothing like Hiroshi-kun. He’s very lively, very humorous, and always tells dad jokes. He’s like a cute old mischievous child!”
“Auntie is a very responsible and capable mother. She manages the household and everything else in perfect order. The Akita-style hot pot she made was absolutely divine! I ate three large bowls by myself!”
“And Elder Brother, Mr. Hiroshi, although he doesn’t talk much, he’s very down-to-earth and reliable. He’s now the president of ‘Nohara Agricultural Corporation’! Hiroshi-kun told me their farm has now expanded to dozens of acres and is the largest modern farm in Omagari City! The organic vegetables they grow are now supplied directly to the highest-class restaurants!”
“President?!”
“Dozens of acres?!”
This was somewhat baffling to Yoshiharu Oyama and Takao Oyama, who came from the education system and still held traditional views on agriculture.
In their imagination, the Nohara family should have been like ordinary farmers in their home prefecture of Kumamoto, tending a few acres of land, living a simple and quiet life of working from sunrise to sunset.
But they never imagined that the other party had… had taken the act of “farming” to the “corporate” level, an “advanced” commercial field!
However, this was not the most shocking thing for them.
When Misae Oyama casually dropped the “ultimate bomb” that would completely shatter their worldview, which had been fixed for decades, the entire private room fell into a deathly silence.
“And, even the mayor of their Omagari City paid them a personal visit!”
Misae’s face beamed with pride: “He said… he wanted to ask Hiroshi-kun for some… valuable suggestions for the future development of their entire Omagari City.”
“…”
Yoshiharu Oyama’s hand holding the wine glass trembled violently, his face showing only bewilderment.
The mayor… visiting personally?
Requesting… suggestions?
He, a man who had worked his entire life in Kumamoto Prefecture’s education system and barely managed to reach the position of Dean of Students, had never met anyone higher than their prefectural education bureau director.
And that was when the director came to inspect the school, and he, as the school’s representative, had followed at the very back of the crowd, not even having the right to say a single word to him.
Yet, his prospective son-in-law, who was several years younger than his eldest daughter, had… had reached a point where the highest administrative official of a city would personally visit him for advice?!
This… this could not be simply summarized by the words “promising.”
This was a new dimension that he could not even reach!
“Sugoi!”
After a long time, Yoshiharu Oyama finally squeezed out this sentence full of powerlessness and emotion from his throat.
His voice carried a sense of immense pride, originating from his very core, that he himself had not even noticed.
And when he entered Tokyo Television, he overheard the staff whispering about Hiroshi Nohara, saying things like “Young, yet already a Third-Class Director,” “The only Third-Class Director with an Independent Production Department,” “Received Director Sakata’s favor at just twenty-three,” “Deputy Director Asumi’s favorite person,” and “Definitely going to be a top executive at the station in the future.”
Now, Yoshiharu Oyama was drinking the fine Juyondai sake and truly felt dizzy, lost in a dream.
Especially looking at Misae, who was still smiling foolishly with her youngest daughter, Mogae.
He pursed his lips.
He then looked at Hiroshi Nohara, who was smiling brightly next to Misae, and a question arose in his heart: “My Misae, just because she dropped out of university and was feeling down, came to Tokyo for a visit, how did she end up tricking such a perfect boyfriend?”
This was too unreal!
