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

Indeed, the reason the National Tax Agency knew about the illegal asset transfer of Mari Enterprise was partly thanks to Kiryu Hina, who played the role of the anonymous whistleblower behind the scenes.

It all started two months ago.

Kiryu Hina learned a bit of industry gossip from her father's idle chatter.

Her father's business was also in manufacturing, barely associated with Mari Enterprise, but because of their differing statuses, some rumors made their way upstream into his ears. Read the latest on empire

"I heard that the boss of Mari Enterprise is planning to take the money and run, and he's thinking of fleeing to America. No idea how much he'll have to pay off in protection fees over there, tsk tsk, I definitely wouldn't be willing," he said at the dinner table.

Father said this at the dinner table.

Mari Enterprise had already reported three consecutive years of financial losses, and although there was still hope for a turnaround, the management had lost patience and didn't plan on continuing to run the company; they even started to entertain crooked ideas.

On the surface, they had the factory lower prices to take orders from the public, but in reality, they planned to swindle all the deposits in one go and take the money and run. Chairman Saijo, the ringleader, intended to flee to America with his family once the money was enough; he even had the green cards ready.

This kind of news was ambiguously circulating within the industry. Nobody could produce evidence, but everyone thought it possible.

The speaker was unintentional, but the listener was intentional.

At that moment, Kiryu Hina almost instantly associated it with the President of the Sports Committee at their school, the biggest neutral party in Ugao High, Saijo Mari.

She was the daughter of the Chairman of Mari Enterprise, and if the scandal broke, she would definitely be implicated.

So, Kiryu Hina used all her charm and relied on her father's connections to obtain lateral evidence of Mari Enterprise's illegal overseas asset transfers from an insider. She anonymously handed it over to the National Tax Agency at an opportune moment.

Regardless of whether the National Tax Agency had noticed Mari Enterprise's slight movements before, they certainly knew now.

The bunch at Mari Enterprise, dumb 'thieves,' thought they had deceived everyone, not realizing that their every move was right under the eyes of the nation; they couldn't escape.

Although Kiryu Hina played a dark role in adding fuel to the flames, she felt no guilt about it; she wasn't suffering from a messiah complex, after all.

If they hadn't committed a crime, they wouldn't have ended up like this.

It's foolish to talk about morality and justice to criminals.

Kiryu Hina only hoped that when their high-rise collapsed, it would create a favorable environment for her, so, with the least cost and in the shortest time, she could acquire the chess piece that was Saijo Mari.

The bait had been set; now, it was time to wait for the fish to bite.

She didn't reveal everything to Kagura Hikaru and the others. Instead, she deliberately concealed the major landmine that was Mari Enterprise and created the lie that Saijo Mari would participate in the Student Council elections, telling them they could join forces to eliminate her first.

The true goal was to pass on Saijo Mari's existence to Ayakoji Chiyoko through Kagura Hikaru, clearly making her want to take Saijo Mari under her wing.

She knew the other party definitely couldn't resist, and would step into the trap even if they knew it was there.

Of course, the trap was real.

Ayakoji Chiyoko had no idea Mari Enterprise was going to be in trouble, and even Saijo Mari was kept in the dark, with only Kiryu Hina knowing the truth.

She planned to use this leverage to help Saijo Mari when she was at her most vulnerable, offering her a huge favor. With this, she would be able to control her and, when necessary, make Saijo Mari betray Ayakoji Chiyoko, casting all her votes for Kiryu Hina during the final election.

Since the information came from her, Ayakoji Chiyoko and Kagura Hikaru would never fully trust Saijo Mari. Becoming as close as one would be with a loyal subordinate was out of the question, which would make her later recruitment efforts easier.

The best spies in the world are those who, until a second before the incident occurs, don't know they will betray.

It's all about timing.

She could indeed bring Saijo Mari into her fold before Ayakoji Chiyoko realized anything, gaining a massive advantage in votes, but this did not mean she had secured her victory.

Until the election results were out, it wasn't a real victory.

Creating too large of a gap might instead force Ayakoji Chiyoko to resort to a pyrrhic strategy that harms the enemy at the expense of significant self-damage.

Don't chase a desperate enemy to the end, that's the rationale.

Military strategy suggests that when successfully encircling the enemy on the battlefield, it's best to leave them an exit.

This way, all the enemies will desperately charge towards the only hope, rather than stand their ground and aim their guns at the incoming foes to save their lives.

An opponent driven into a corner is much more troublesome than one who still believes there's hope.

In the crucial final moments, not giving Ayakoji Chiyoko any time to react, and establishing a decisive victory with an overwhelming number of votes—such an outcome is what Kiryu Hina had anticipated.

The plan was executed perfectly up until the point of 'doing favors'.

Ayakoji Chiyoko started contacting Saijo Mari through Kagura Hikaru, and as she predicted, Mari Enterprise collapsed suddenly, plunging the Shijo Family into financial difficulty, everything under her control.

Next was the final step, where Kiryu Hina herself would appear on the scene, bringing hope like a bodhisattva and gaining Saijo Mari's loyalty.

Yet it fell through at this point.

She failed.

An unexpected error occurred, or rather, she faced obstruction.

The position of secretary she specially had her father keep for Saijo Mari's mother went to waste.

That was, after all, a position closest to the CEO of a listed company, almost like a training ground for corporate executives—something for which many bright University of Tsukuba graduates would do anything to apply, yet it couldn't even be given away.

She thought she had been generous enough to the Saijo Family, offering them such favorable conditions that it would allow them to recover their previous standard of living within ten years.

Yet someone else snatched the opportunity.

Who could it be...

As she was descending the stairs, Kiryu Hina happened to glance out the window and saw something that made her stop abruptly.

She saw Saijo Mari running across the school courtyard, proactively greeting Kagura Hikaru who was also leaving school late, with a beaming smile on her side profile.

Kiryu Hina had a sudden realization.

So that's it, an unforeseen obstacle indeed.

Her previous assessment of Kagura Hikaru hadn't been wrong after all.

When it came to deceiving someone's feelings, he was indeed adept at it.

In just a few days, another moth had plunged into the flame.

As a spy, he was truly exceptional.

With Saijo Mari as his wildcard, even if Ayakoji Chiyoko wanted to ignore him, she couldn't; she would have to regard him highly.

Earning a significant place in her heart, too, was only a matter of time.

The only problem was, he was too good—so good that even she, his master, had been taken in.

"By doing this, aren't you forcing me to go all out against her, in a fight to the death..."

Kiryu Hina looked on expressionlessly at the retreating figures of Kagura Hikaru and Saijo Mari, her gaze growing darker.