“When you’ve experienced a lot, you naturally grow old.”
Shinji said this nonchalantly, and paired with his still-pale young face, it revealed an incongruous sense of world-weariness under the candlelight.
Eri Kisaki watched him, gently swirling the wine glass in her hand.
She instinctively wanted to retort, wanting to use an adult’s experience to expose this youth’s facade, but the words were blocked by an inexplicable intuition just as they reached her lips.
As a lawyer with a one-hundred-percent win rate, she had seen too many different types of people, but the Shinji before her was like a fog, piquing her curiosity.
It was precisely this haziness that made Shinji—clearly a patient who needed support even to walk, and clearly just a high school student—possess an intriguing air in every gesture.
This sense of contradiction held a fatal attraction for the opposite sex, especially for a strong, independent woman like her.
Just as Eri Kisaki was lost in thought, Shinji suddenly changed his sitting posture.
He tilted his head slightly, his peach-blossom eyes curving with a hint of playfulness.
His voice lost some of the cold rigidity from when they were discussing business earlier, replaced by a touch of seemingly casual nonchalance:
“By the way, Attorney Kisaki.
If I may ask, are you currently single?”
“Cough, cough-cough!”
This sudden, direct strike shattered the subtle, profound atmosphere from just a moment ago.
The small sip of red wine Eri Kisaki had just taken nearly went down her windpipe.
She hurriedly set down her glass, picked up a napkin to cover her mouth and nose, and let out a series of suppressed coughs.
That exquisite face, which always maintained absolute calm and made prosecutors tremble in court, was now flushed with crimson, whether from oxygen deprivation or some indescribable emotion.
“You, cough, cough…”
Eri Kisaki finally managed to steady her breathing.
She looked up, her eyes appearing somewhat watery now.
When she glared at Shinji, it not only lacked any deterrent power, but instead revealed a hint of coquettishness she herself hadn’t realized.
“Mr.
Matou, does this have any necessary connection to our partnership?”
She tried to regain her dignity as a lawyer, sitting up slightly straighter and adjusting her collar, which wasn’t even messy.
“Or are you saying that the legal counsel contract for New World Holdings also includes an investigation into the emotional status of the second party?”
“How could that be?”
Shinji blinked innocently, his expression as guileless as a good youth concerned for a big sister next door.
“I’m just purely concerned.
After all, for a woman as talented and beautiful as Attorney Kisaki, if you were already taken, wouldn’t I have to worry about being confronted by a jealous husband every time I invite you out for a meal to discuss business in the future?”
As he said this, he deliberately made a fearful expression.
“You know, I’m a disabled person right now; I can’t handle a beating.”
Sirius, sitting at the next table, was holding her glass of lemonade.
Hearing this, the corner of her mouth twitched ever so slightly.
This familiar formula, this familiar flavor.
Just a few days ago, in a room at this hotel, this young boss had asked her the same question using this same seemingly harmless, but actually probing, tone.
“Heh, men.”
Sirius muttered to herself in her heart.
Although as a bodyguard she shouldn’t judge her employer’s private life, watching the woman known as the Queen of the Legal World, Attorney Kisaki, get flustered by a few words from this kid, she felt a strange sense of empathy, and even a desire to watch the show.
Eri Kisaki took a deep breath; she could certainly tell that Shinji was spouting nonsense.
All that talk about worrying about being beaten by a husband—this was clearly flirting with her.
But strangely, she didn’t feel repulsed.
If it had been any other client daring to speak to her like this, she would have long since thrown them with a shoulder throw or walked away with a cold face.
Yet facing Shinji, a long-lost desire for victory rose in her heart.
“I’m sorry to disappoint you, Mr.
Matou.”
Eri Kisaki pushed up the gold-rimmed glasses on her nose, a flash of wisdom gleaming across the lenses.
She picked up her wine glass again, a confident and charming smile curling at the corners of her lips—this was the counterattack of a queen.
“Legally speaking, I am currently separated.
That is to say, on a social level, you can consider me single.”
She leaned forward slightly, her beautiful eyes staring straight at Shinji with a hint of provocation.
“What?
Are you saying Mr.
Matou is interested in me?
If you want to pursue me, considering how young and promising you are, I might consider giving you a chance to stand in line and get a number.”
She thought this young boy was just all talk, and if he really encountered a counterattack from a mature woman like her, he would surely be shy and retreat.
After all, there was an age gap of nearly twenty years between them, an insurmountable chasm.
However, she underestimated the soul inhabiting this body.
Shinji not only didn’t blush, but instead smiled even more brightly.
There was not a hint of embarrassment in that smile at being seen through; instead, it carried a sense of delight.
“Is that so?
Then it looks like I’ll have to strive to get a VIP number.”
He didn’t pester her about this topic; that kind of ambiguity that stopped just at the right moment was actually more tantalizing than being thick-skinned.
Just as Eri Kisaki was preparing to counterattack again, the jazz MV playing on the LCD TV hanging on the side of the restaurant hall was suddenly cut off, switching to an emergency financial news broadcast.
“We now interrupt with breaking news from Akihabara.”
The news anchor’s standard broadcasting tone instantly caught the attention of many diners in the restaurant.
In this era where the internet had not yet become fully popularized, television remained the primary window for obtaining information.
“This afternoon, at the Global Graphics Technology Summit, the usually low-key NVIDIA CEO, Mr.
Kenta, introduced a shocking strategic partner to the whole world.”
Eri Kisaki subconsciously turned her head.
The screen switched to that resplendent stage.
Under the spotlight, the youth wearing a dark blue suit was slowly standing up.
That was Shinji from a few hours ago.
But that Shinji, and the Shinji sitting in front of her right now drinking hot milk, seemed like two different people.
In the TV, although he was pale and his figure was so thin he looked like a gust of wind could blow him over, his posture while standing was so upright.
He faced the dense crowd below the stage, faced countless camera flashes, and there was not a trace of stage fright on his face.
That confidence was not faked.
It was a kind of arrogance, as if he had the whole world under his feet and held the future in his hands.
The screen gave him a close-up.
Even through the screen, Eri Kisaki could feel the flames in those eyes.
“Young.
Because I am young, I am spirited.”
When this sentence, clearly captured by the on-site audio equipment, came through the TV speakers, the entire restaurant seemed to go quiet for a second.
That overwhelming arrogance and domineering aura, in this Japanese society that values humility and seniority, was like a depth charge dropped into stagnant water.
Eri Kisaki felt her heart skip a beat.
Was this… the same youth who said he had escaped?
In that instant, she seemed to see the shadow of a giant standing up within that frail body.
He was using this most extreme, most arrogant way to announce his arrival to the world.
“This child…”
Eri Kisaki murmured to herself, feeling her cheeks burning—a heat more intense than when she had been flirted with earlier.
This time, it wasn’t because of shame or annoyance, but because of an instinctive palpitation for the strong.
This was the scent of power and ambition; it was the best aphrodisiac.
She subconsciously turned her head back, wanting to confirm reality.