My Stepsister in Kyoto

Mizuto had heard in psychology that there was something known as misattribution of arousal.

So, what is the misattribution of arousal?

Misattribution of arousal is a process whereby people make a mistake in assuming what is causing them to feel aroused. For example, when experiencing physiological responses related to fear, people mislabel those responses as romantic arousal. The reason physiological symptoms may be attributed to incorrect stimuli is that many stimuli have similar physiological symptoms, such as increased blood pressure or shortness of breath.

Mizuto felt he often encountered this psychological situation when he was with Akatsuki, especially when she always did unexpected things he had never expected, which often caused him to feel scared and speechless. "Minami-san, have you learned psychology, or are your parents working in the psychology-related industry?" 

"No, they are just normal salarymen; what's wrong?" Akatsuki asked, but she didn't deny that she had learned about psychology. 

"....." 

Mizuto had no words to say, but then he shook his head and sighed. "I just realized how dangerous you are." 

"Hehe... did you just realize that?" Akatsuki laughed and held his hand without hesitation, feeling the warmness that she sought after. 

Mizuto didn't stop her clingy action since he knew that before they held hands, it was impossible for Akatsuki not to observe her surroundings. Stranger aside, there was a possibility that Yume might come to visit him secretly, but since she dared to do this, the possibility of Yume appearing shouldn't exist. 

Yet, this should be normal since he was sure that at this moment, Yume should be waiting at home as she made a mental preparation to wear the battle undergarments that he had asked her to wear. 

"It feels like it has been a while for us to hold hands like this." 

"Really? We did it earlier, right?" 

When they were in class during the break, they held each other's hands secretly when Yume and Reina went to the toilet. 

"But you are right. It's been a while since we walked around holding hands like this." 

Hearing his words and his actions that firmly held her hand, Akatsuki smiled as her ponytail swayed left and right, showing how happy she was. 

The last time they went out together was last Friday after his driving class.

When he treated her to dinner, she would pay for his transportation fee. While he didn't care about this, she was adamant about the fairness between them. In her defense, she said, "I have a lot of pocket money," which made him speechless.

"By the way, are you hungry?" 

"Well, not, really, what's wrong?" 

"If so, then can we stop somewhere first? I want to check something." 

"I don't mind, but where?" 

"Oike street." 

"...huh?" 

---

Oike-dori, or Oike Street, is a major street that crosses the center of the city of Kyoto from east to west, running approximately 4.9 km from Kawabata Street (east) to Tenjingawa Street (west). 

Nowadays, the section between Kawabata Street and Horikawa Street is the widest street in Kyoto. This section is on the route of the Yamaboko Junkou parade of the Gion Matsuri and on the route of the Jidai Matsuri parade. Several subway stations of the Touzai Line are located along this segment, as well as several relevant public facilities such as Kyoto City Hall and Zest Oike, making it an important public space. 

For this reason, in 2003, after an extensive infrastructure improvement project, this section was designated as a "Symbol Road" by the city of Kyoto. 

Mizuto thought that if his equity firm had an office building, then it could only be on this street, which was the best street in Kyoto. There was no doubt that it was expensive, but he wanted the best, so it had to be on this street. 

While he might have seen it on the "Store" skill, he still wanted to see the building that he had bought with his own eyes, right?

Still, he had to say that it took a lot of money to buy the building for his equity firm and also a holding company for all various businesses, real estate, and many others that he would buy in the future, but it was all worth it. 

The land area was about 3,577 m2, and it was just a rectangular building of about ten stories with many windows and an exterior made of dark-colored granite. There was no doubt that it was an old building and kind of boring, yet in a country where the land was limited, the sheer presence of this building was impressive. Aside from that building, he also bought a parking park that was about 1,050 m2, located behind the building, which made him spend a total of 264 million dollars or 36.9 billion yen (1 dollar is 140 yen).

Was this expensive? 

Frankly, he felt that it was so fucking expensive. Even though he should have some respect toward this city as he was born and lived in this city, he had to admit that there weren't many things to offer except for a shrine, a temple, and everything that was traditional, so there was no doubt that building such an office of such a size was simply extravagant. 

This was Kyoto, but if this was Tokyo, no one would hesitate to spend such an amount of money to build a building. 

However, when he thought that he had taken 2% (the length of the front building that faces the street is about 100m) of the total of this best street in Kyoto, he knew the price was fair. 

Mizuto also understood why most real estate companies would co-develop the property with others, as the value of land was simply crazy, and their capital would quickly be emptied if they bought the land directly. 

If there was a reason why there were no famous companies that owned headquarters in this area, then it was definitely due to the price of the land on this street.

Still, only at this moment, when he saw his building, he realized how frightening the ability of the system was.

Whether the owner was willing to sell this building to him or not, it didn't matter since as long as he decided to buy it, nothing could stop him, and the moment he bought it, everything became his. Moreover, this wasn't the only thing that frightened him. 

With how old the building seemed to be, naturally, he wished to change it into a better one, wishing to renovate it, but there was no doubt that it was troublesome. Not only did he need to take care of the permission, which was troublesome, as this building was located on the best street in Kyoto. 

Yet, by using the "Store" skill, he could renovate the building directly and instantly, so there was no need for any complicated things. By then, there was no need to hesitate, and he found various examples and styles of design from various famous architecture firms around the world. When he found the one that was suitable, he directly used the example as a basic and modified it slightly so it wouldn't be the same.

The model he used was a Pudong Library. 

Naturally, as this was just an office building and his land size wasn't even half of the total land of the Pudong Library, there were many changes to this building like there wasn't any floating garden as it was impossible for him to waste the space of his building for a garden within a building. 

The building rose about 60 meters, which was the limit of the building height that was allowed in Kyoto city, which made him quite depressed as this amount of land could be used as a high-rise building, but as it was a law, there was nothing he could do unless he became a mayor of Kyoto. 

Oh, it also had 15 floors.

Its external appearance resembled abstract stone forms floating on a green slope that connected to a park, which made anyone who saw the building from a distance think that it was floating. 

Originally, the Pudong Library building was referred to as a bar-code building, as the stone louvers on the top part of the building created a bar-code-like design, but in his case, he made the building's exterior clad with ceramic pipe louvers in the motif of traditional blinds used in "sukiya" and "machiya" townhouses, creating a stately appearance befitting the landscape of the ancient capital of Kyoto city. 

Then, on the top of a building, a gentle yet sharp name of the building, which was "Dipper," a name which was chosen from his given name, Mizuto, which meant a Dipper.

Well, partly, his name also means "Water," but compared to "Water," he felt a "Dipper" was more suitable. 

The Dipper is seen as the throne of Shangdi, the "Supreme Deity" in ancient Chinese religion from the Shang dynasty to later Daoism. It was customarily worshipped on the 14th or 15th day of the 8th month. 

Mizuto might not be a "Supreme Deity," but in the future, who knows, right?

Yet, he knew that this was his beginning. 

Still, when he saw that the renovation happened in front of him and was done instantly, moreover, when the renovation happened, all the people, even Akatsuki, who stayed by his side, didn't even notice and thought that the presence of this building was something that had always existed on this street, really made him dizzy. Still, when he saw how much money needed to be spent on renovations, he felt like the world was spinning. 

Taking a deep breath and holding Akatsuki's hand firmly, he thought that he needed to calm down for a while so he could get used to the feeling of using so much money. 

---

Before I wrote this, I did research on the land prices in Japan, especially those premium areas, and as expected, it is expensive, so don't be surprised. 

Or rather, the land in Kyoto is on the cheaper side.