Chapter 67: Tempura in the Rain

[I say, Uesugi-kun, this so-called tower apartment of yours is nothing special.]

Hironaka Mariko, the soul-body of the Fuji TV female anchor, drifted around the room. Taking advantage of Uesugi Soushi directing the moving staff to place furniture, she unceremoniously critiqued his living environment: [You're always going on and on about the Kazoku nobility, yet you end up just being an ordinary company employee living in an eighteen-story ordinary tower block. You guys really are cut from the same cloth, Roppongi boys and Kazoku men!]

[If living in a tower block counts as an ordinary employee, Ms. Hironaka, your standards for ordinary employees are a bit too high,] Uesugi Soushi retorted playfully.

The monthly rent for this eighteen-story tower apartment in Sakatabashi, Bunkyo Ward, was roughly 300,000 to 350,000 yen, with another 50,000 yen or so for monthly management fees and utilities. Following the rule of thumb that rent and housing expenses should not exceed one-third of monthly income, a tenant would need a net monthly income of at least one million yen just to afford it.

Yet in Hironaka Mariko's mouth, a man living in such a place was merely an "ordinary employee."

Generally speaking, in Tokyo, if a marriage relied solely on a single male earner while the wife remained a full-time housewife, the husband's annual income needed to be at least six million yen to maintain a relatively decent standard of living. This was also many women's baseline income requirement for a future husband when planning to become housewives after marriage.

If a husband's annual income could reach ten million yen or more, then the single-earner housewife setup became quite comfortable. This was precisely the lifestyle expected by the vast majority of Japanese women. If a husband reached this income level and went out drinking and carousing to find a mistress, as long as he didn't bring her home, wives would mostly choose to endure it.

A decade later, surveys conducted by the University of Tokyo and official institutions targeting over a thousand randomly sampled high school girls in the Kanto region revealed that more than half of the females dreamed of getting married and becoming housewives after graduation, forming an overwhelming majority compared to those who wanted to work. Everyone wanted to graduate and marry a husband earning ten million yen a year, with six or seven million yen a year as the absolute bottom line.

Unfortunately, let alone ten million, Japanese men around the age of thirty—the prime marriageable age—earning six million a year were already exceedingly rare. Such a situation had been relatively common during the golden age of the bubble economy, but that did not mean it would persist forever.

This gave rise to Japan's "older husband, younger wife" culture, where a large number of regular employees in their thirties paired up with women in their early twenties as husband and wife.

[Are you kidding me? I'm already pulling in six million net a year. If my husband can't earn ten million, why on earth would I get married?] Hironaka Mariko said as a matter of course. [Does your income even match mine? And what about this female police officer? Can the two of you even afford the rent together?]

Uesugi Soushi ignored the ghostly anchor, thinking to himself that she actually had a point.

This tower block was merely at the average middle-class level and wasn't particularly luxurious. True wealthy elites mostly lived in high-rise penthouses above the thirtieth floor, or resided in garden mansions like the Uesugi main family estate, or more modern upscale villas.

Even so, Uesugi Soushi was already quite content.

He simply zoned out the areas in his new home. The standard 3LDK tower apartment layout was clearly suited for a family of three. The entryway guest room was sparsely arranged, the living room was empty and lacking many things, and his own master bedroom looked somewhat spacious with just a single bed. Spending about two hours, Uesugi Soushi managed to have the moving company settle everything in place.

"We're finally done!" Sitting on the large living room sofa and feeling the sunlight streaming through the floor-to-ceiling glass window on one side, Uesugi Soushi pulled Ikeda Eirina down to sit beside him and smiled. "How is it? Not a bad home, right?"

"Mhm, it's alright." Ikeda Eirina bit her lower lip, her cheeks flushed crimson. Clutching the hem of her skirt, she cautiously sat down next to Uesugi Soushi. After touring his new home, the tall beauty's breathing grew somewhat warm. She pressed her legs tightly together, harboring a premonition—like a sprouting spring bud—that Uesugi Soushi might be planning to do something right here...

"The house is still missing a lot of things. Master Eirina, would you care to offer some suggestions?" Uesugi Soushi glanced around and spoke casually. Having moved into a spacious and bright new home, his mood was quite good.

However, the tall beauty did not answer his question right away. Ikeda Eirina felt that the two of them were sitting a bit too close. Even though October was just around the corner and the temperature in Tokyo was dropping, sitting together on the sofa meant they were practically pressed against each other as they spoke. Inhaling the man's pleasant pine scent, listening to his melodious voice, and mingling their warm breaths, the air between them gradually heated up.

The soft velvet pantyhose wrapping her legs suddenly didn't feel quite so bothersome anymore.

Being with him made everything feel wonderful.

Yet... looking at the upscale environment around her, looking at the man's new home, looking at his expression of unvoiced words and winking at her, Eirina began to hesitate.

He was probably about to confess his feelings.

Would accepting his confession really be a good idea? Was becoming a housewife truly what she wanted?

No! This wasn't the reason she came to Tokyo! This wasn't the reason she persevered!

That wave of feminine shyness was suppressed by her increasingly resolute will and conviction, gradually calming Eirina's mind. Even though she felt joyful in this situation, and even though she genuinely loved spending time with her, she still exhaled a hot, turbid breath and softly said, "Uesugi, um..."

"Hm?" Uesugi Soushi signaled for her to go ahead and voice any suggestions she had.

"Although it might be presumptuous, I don't want to resign." Ikeda Eirina's face flushed deeply, and she said with considerable embarrassment, "I still want to continue doing this job."

Uesugi Soushi: "???"

A series of question marks popped up over the man's head.

Does your answer have anything to do with my question?

"I'm sorry, Uesugi-kun, I don't want to consider so many things just yet. You know how it is—for us martial artists, if we don't maintain our training, we easily grow slack," Eirina continued. Seeing Uesugi Soushi's stagnant expression, she felt even more ashamed. Lowering her head, her tone tinged with anxiety, she asked, "So, can we just keep things as they are?"

"Keep things as they are?" Uesugi Soushi was even more bewildered. The house was missing so many things, yet you want to keep things as they are?

"I'm sorry, I am truly sorry," Eirina suddenly added. Her lovely face was full of shame. Seeing that Uesugi Soushi's expression still didn't look too good, Eirina slowly inched her body closer to him. As she trembled slightly, the full, plump curves of her chest bounced along with it. The tight, slender legs encased in black sheer pantyhose were simple and unadorned yet perfectly complementary. Her miraculous figure—composed of an uplifted chest, full hips, and a slender waist—was fully displayed before Uesugi Soushi.

With her flushed face of shame, paired with her spirited short-haired look and fair-complexioned skin, Eirina looked utterly adorable now that she had dropped her combative edge: "From now on, I'll let you look at them. If worst comes to worst, and you really want a taste, I can reward you occasionally... But I really don't want to resign, is that okay?"

"Sure, fine by me!" Uesugi Soushi thought to himself that if she didn't want to resign, then she didn't have to; but why on earth did she suddenly agree to let him touch her?

Looking at the long, straight, perfectly proportioned black-silked legs beneath Eirina's skirt, he couldn't help but swallow hard.

He had wanted to touch them for a long time.

Ikeda Eirina gave a soft response and slowly raised her head. But upon catching Uesugi Soushi's gaze, the tall beauty let out a soft gasp and immediately bolted toward the restroom: "Um, I need to use the restroom!"

With that, the pair of silk-clad long legs under her skirt pattered away toward the restroom entrance, leaving behind a perplexed man.

[Such a greedy woman!] At that exact moment, Hironaka Mariko spoke up. The ghostly anchor looked toward the restroom and couldn't help clicking her tongue in amazement: [How can there be such a greedy woman? She wants to have her cake and eat it too?]

[Huh? Wait, what on earth does that mean?] Uesugi Soushi was completely lost. [Hironaka, what on earth is she talking to me about? Did you figure it out?]

[You didn't understand? Tsk tsk, as expected, Roppongi boys and Kazoku men are all cut from the same cloth!] Hironaka Mariko wore a look of utter disdain and made a spooky face—since she genuinely was a ghost, the expression was quite terrifying. She twisted her face into the shape of a hemp rope, rolled all her features together, and popped her two eyeballs out of their sockets before sucking them back in: [She thought you were about to confess your love to her.]

[Normally, an unmarried man bringing an unmarried woman to his new home and asking for her opinion on the interior layout carries a heavy implication of a romantic confession. And this woman is so terribly greedy! If a regular employee living in a tower apartment had confessed to me when I was twenty-three, I definitely would have agreed,] Hironaka Mariko complained. [Why is she so utterly average yet so brimming with confidence?]

[Hold on, when did I ever want to confess to her?] Uesugi Soushi understood immediately upon hearing the explanation, his brows furrowing tightly. [Are you saying Ikeda thought I wanted to date her?]

[Well, duh?!] Hironaka Mariko laughed uproariously, having figured it out herself as well.

[I never had any intention of dating her from start to finish. She definitely misunderstood,] Uesugi Soushi understood completely now, feeling a mixture of amusement and exasperation. [Why would I ever want to enter into a marriage-oriented relationship with her? She isn't even on a career track!]

[Then why were you sucking up to her like that?] Hironaka Mariko looked utterly contemptuous. [Such a hypocrite.]

[Who told you that romantic relationships always have to aim for marriage? Did you ever think about marriage with President Kameyama?] Uesugi Soushi delivered a sharp, tongue-in-chief retort. [Representative director of the production bureau, director-writer, and Johnny's superstar Nakai—did you sleep with every single one of them with the intention of marrying them?]

[Tsk!] Hironaka Mariko was left completely speechless by Uesugi Soushi's counterargument, so she simply changed the subject: [Anyway, she's a greedy woman, you get it now?]

Uesugi Soushi understood.

To put it bluntly, Ikeda Eirina wanted to maintain their existing partnership and ambiguous relationship while simultaneously avoiding a formal, marriage-oriented romance. She wanted to continue working on the front lines of criminal investigation rather than becoming a housewife or transferring to an indoor desk job, yet she also didn't want to reject Uesugi Soushi and lose her position by his side as his partner.

In short, she wanted it all.

The only thing she never anticipated was that Uesugi Soushi had never once considered entering into a marriage-oriented relationship with her from the very beginning!

You overthought it, Master Eirina!

Dating a female civil servant is a massive headache! Let alone dealing with a landmine-heavy, high-gravity, boss-slaying, whistleblower-obsessed she-tyrant!

Rest assured, you can have complete peace of mind. I, Uesugi Soushi, will never consider marrying you, so you can rest easy a hundred times over!

When Ikeda Eirina emerged from the restroom, she noticed that Uesugi Soushi's attitude toward her seemed to have undergone a subtle change.

I'm sorry... Eirina felt deeply unsettled inside. She genuinely liked this man, but she was unwilling to give up her current career. She didn't want to be a housewife; she hoped to continue living this life of upholding justice and punishing evil.

I've wronged you, Eirina bit her lip, silently offering an apology in her heart. I was just being too greedy.

"Let's go, time to eat," Uesugi Soushi stood up and said with a smile. "I'll make it up to you for the tempura I owed you last time. I know a fantastic place today!"

"Mhm!"

........................

"Welcome!"

Walking for about five minutes, Uesugi Soushi led Ikeda Eirina to a small shop that looked particularly ancient from the outside.

The establishment was located on the ground floor of an old detached house. The building was of traditional wooden architecture, with paper lanterns and a signboard hanging at the entrance bearing the characters "Ten-Hachi Izakaya" alongside a string of katakana characters.

Pushing open the shop door, an elderly voice greeted them from within. An elderly gentleman with a crane-like complexion and youthful hair, along with a plump, white-haired elderly woman wearing a headscarf, smiled and welcomed Uesugi Soushi and Ikeda Eirina.

"Just go with the old man's recommended set menu. Whatever ingredients you've prepared today, bring them all out, plus a set meal with extra rice," Uesugi Soushi was clearly a regular customer here.

"OK!" The old man smiled and flashed an out-of-date, folksy OK hand sign.

Both elderly proprietors were nearing eighty years of age. They had been making tempura right here for a full fifty years, making them genuine "tempura immortals" (used without any derogatory connotation).

"If you didn't know this old shop, you'd probably think it was just an ordinary izakaya," Uesugi Soushi introduced to Eirina. "Don't worry, any place I recommend is guaranteed to be delicious."

"Mhm, I'm looking forward to it." Ikeda Eirina glanced around, finding the shop remarkably narrow and intimate.

Right at the entrance was the kitchen counter. Inside the long counter was the kitchen itself, its wall shelves fully stocked with bottles of alcohol, bowls, chopsticks, and condiments. Deeper inside were the stove and exhaust hood—all vintage fixtures that looked like relics from the previous century.

In front of the old man sat a pot filled with dark sesame oil, flanked by a large box of batter flour.

On the other side were tatami booth seating areas, complete with floor cushions and low tables. Two rows of wooden tags listing price menus hung on the wall, and a large television sat in the corner, broadcasting a promotional program featuring Kawai Mai.

Since it was midday, the shop was practically empty, so Uesugi Soushi and Eirina chose a table by the window.

Rumble—

Suddenly, thunder rumbled outside. While they waited, an autumn rain began to pelt down in sheets.

"The customers' luck is truly not bad," the old man fished out a skewer of fried shrimp tempura from the sesame oil using an extra-long pair of chopsticks. "There you go, today's fried shrimp tempura!"

The sound of rain mingled with the fresh scent of the outdoors, paired with the aroma of deep-frying and the crisp, springy texture of the tempura shrimp, instantly caused Ikeda Eirina's eyes to narrow in bliss: "Delicious!"

"Don't rush, this is just the appetizer." Uesugi Soushi glanced at the rain outside, breathed in the fresh air drifting from outside and the sesame oil aroma inside, and said to the boss, "Boss, the heavens are telling you it's time to change the oil!"

"You brat, what nonsense are you spouting? I use a fresh pot of oil every single day! If you don't believe me, look!" Half-jokingly and half-offended, the old man lifted the small pot before coating the next dish in batter: "Next dish, the personal choice of Lord Tokugawa Ieyasu!"

Eirina didn't understand the reference, but Uesugi Soushi already caught the meaning.

Sea bream tempura.

During the late Sengoku period, the method of making tempura had been introduced to Japan via Sakai port, and this deep-fried delicacy gradually grew popular among the common folk. Rumor had it that when Tokugawa Ieyasu, the founding shogun of the Edo shogunate, was recommended the dish by a merchant from Kyoto and tasted it, he found it truly exquisite. He immediately ordered several large fish and had all of them made into tempura to enjoy entirely by himself.

As a result, perhaps because the old turtle's daily diet was usually light and disciplined and his body couldn't suddenly handle the rich food, he contracted enteritis or perhaps pancreatitis. At age seventy-five, Tokugawa Ieyasu became a tempura glutton who suffered from severe vomiting and diarrhea before kicking the bucket.

Of course, this was merely a historical anecdote and wasn't necessarily true.

Another amusing theory was that the origin of the word "tempura" might have been "temple," because deep-fried foods were introduced to Japan along with Christianity. When the Japanese asked the Portuguese—who enjoyed deep-fried treats during religious observances—what the food was called, the Portuguese thought they were asking about religious activities and casually replied "temple," which the Japanese misheard and recorded as "tempura."

"Here you go, sea bream tempura—a favorite of Lord Ieyasu—along with fried shrimp heads!"

The old man served the food one after another, frying and plating each piece using his long chopsticks.

"Mushroom tempura!"

"Stuffed eggplant tempura!"

Squid tempura, scallop tempura, sea urchin tempura, lotus root and shrimp paste tempura, conger eel tempura, monkfish liver tempura, seaweed-wrapped yam puree tempura, corn tempura, green bell pepper tempura.

Everything could be tempura.

Ikeda Eirina had never tasted cuisine so authentic, so complex, and yet so perfectly suited to her palate. The tall beauty couldn't stop praising the food throughout the meal, repeating "oishii" endlessly.

Accompanied by the faint, rumbling, continuous rolls of thunder outside, the heavy downpour mingling with fresh air and moist vapor drifting into the room, the delicious, sweet, and delightfully springy tempura in her mouth, and Uesugi Soushi sitting right beside her, chatting and laughing—

At that very moment, Eirina suddenly understood what happiness meant.

This was the happiness she wanted!

Updated, seeking votes, duck~