Chapter 27: Friendship Club
Hasegawa unexpectedly died just like that without a sound. He had originally thought the other would accomplish something.
Shangshan Che closed his eyes, feeling the reality of the three words “will die” that Nanjo Emi had said to him that night.
“Where is he buried?”
Shizuma Mafuyu answered carefully: “In the public cemetery at Hongyuan Temple. I heard the land there is cheap, so the remaining money can be sent to his family.”
After a moment of silence, he nodded slightly toward Shizuma Mafuyu, then Shangshan Che continued: “Ms. Shizuma, please protect your sister and her friends around her.”
Shizuma Mafuyu said nothing.
For a moment, she wanted to loudly question how Manatsu had gotten involved with demons, but at the same time Shizuma Mafuyu understood that bringing up the past was meaningless now. Letting her emotions run high at this point would only make things worse.
“Mr. Uesugi, thank you for your trouble.”
She bowed deeply toward Shangshan Che, and Shizuma Mafuyu said sincerely.
—If it weren’t for Shangshan Che, she might not have known at all that Manatsu had encountered danger, and by the time she discovered it, everything might have been too late.
Fortunately, fortunately.
“No problem. I should be the one saying that.”
After seeing Shizuma Mafuyu pull the bewildered Manatsu into the van, Shangshan Che even saw Kitano Runa bow deeply to him before getting in the car.
He smiled: “Lili Zi, your taste in friends isn’t bad.”
Lili Zi, whose forehead was covered in fine sweat, snorted lightly: “Do I even need to say it?”
After seeing off Lili Zi’s two best friends, the two walked unhurriedly toward the reserved Korean BBQ restaurant.
In front of the red light at the entrance of the Korean BBQ restaurant.
“Shangshan Jun, why are you sweating profusely even though you’re walking so slowly?”
Shangshan Che stopped operating the Ki-Gong Technique and glanced at Lili Zi, whose sweat was dripping from her chin: “You ask me?”
Lili Zi fell silent, clicking her tongue: “Rolling Dog.”
Crossing the final intersection, they arrived at their destination, but there was still a line of over a dozen people at the restaurant entrance.
In Japan, most restaurants with good flavors require reservations, and even with advance booking, you have to wait in line honestly until the people ahead are all gone before entering. Generally, waiting half an hour is considered fast.
This is especially obvious in the densely populated Tokyo.
Lightly sniffing the meat aroma wafting from the gap in the door curtain, Lili Zi, who was starving with her chest sticking to her back yet still cultivating relentlessly, ground her teeth: “Is this tempering my Dao Heart…”
Shangshan Che was just about to mock her when he faintly heard a conversation from inside the store: “If no one saves, no one cares, then let love redeem everything…”
“Just… as long as I follow you, can I obtain salvation?”
“We will give you happiness.”
This conversation was probably from deep in the store or a corner, and the voices weren’t loud. If Shangshan Che hadn’t just gone through Lili Zi’s special training and his physique hadn’t increased by two points, he really wouldn’t have heard it.
This conversation sounded a bit off.
Shangshan Che continued listening.
“Those we constantly cherish and love, yet they go against us and scatter, unable to stay together… this is the suffering of separation. In this world, only love can redeem it. Silly child, the Friendship Club welcomes all who suffer.”
Shangshan Che indifferently lowered his gaze. Lili Zi, who was still bitterly cultivating beside him, was stunned and asked: “What’s wrong?”
“Friendship Club.” Shangshan Che said softly: “There are Friendship Club people in the store bewitching normal people.”
In just a moment, Lili Zi restrained her extraneous expressions.
Without hesitation, she untied the sword bag on her back and was about to take out the bamboo sword.
Seeing this, Shangshan Che quickly pressed her hand and scanned the normal crowd lining up around them: “Don’t rush.”
Lili Zi was expressionless and asked coldly: “Reason?”
Shangshan Che leaned close to her ear and quickly said: “There are too many people around, it might cause a disturbance. Better to call the police first and let Sister Nanjo and them come over.”
But Lili Zi acted as if she hadn’t heard and continued drawing the bamboo sword.
“Then you go first, Shangshan Jun.” She said coldly: “This is my personal decision. If it implicates you, that’s my fault.”
This stubborn woman…
Shangshan Che rolled his eyes inwardly, already understanding that unless he knocked Lili Zi out right now, verbal persuasion would have no effect on her.
But who knocks out a teammate with the enemy right in front of them?
So Shangshan Che firmly gripped Lili Zi’s wrist and quickly said in her ear: “The opponent is a cult terrorist organization. Are you willing to just beat them up with a bamboo sword?”
Lili Zi’s movements stopped.
“Then tell me, what’s a better way.”
Shangshan Che grinned coldly, like a Hannya: “Wait for them to come out, save the person in a deserted place, then interrogate and behead the Friendship Club people.”
Lili Zi slightly opened her small mouth: “You dare to kill?”
“They all want to kill me. Am I only allowed to surrender without a fight?” Shangshan Che sneered: “Should good people just let themselves be held at gunpoint?”
“Or does Lili Zi, you have a bit of a saintly mother complex and don’t want to do this?”
The two stared at each other. Moments later, Lili Zi sheathed the bamboo sword and patted his shoulder with particular pleasantness: “So I underestimated you, Shangshan Jun.”
A guess rose in Shangshan Che’s mind: “You…”
“Yeah.” Lili Zi grinned and admitted generously: “Originally, I planned to ditch you, Shangshan Jun, and clean them up alone.”
Shangshan Che took a deep breath.
This guy was utterly reckless, with not a shred of the hesitation or fear of the law that should be in her eyes.
Clearly just a couple days ago she wasn’t like this. What changed her? Clear Sword Heart?
The two waited quietly.
Not long after, Shangshan Che keenly spotted three people walking out of the store entrance.
Two of them wore ordinary but similar clothes, with mechanical-like smiles on their faces. The scent wafting from them made Shangshan Che furrow his brows tightly.
But when he looked at Lili Zi, she seemed not to smell this disgusting odor.
The young man following behind the two looked dazed, seemingly an employee of the Korean BBQ restaurant. Shangshan Che could smell a strong aroma of grilled meat spices on him.
“Follow them.”
Though the two weren’t FBI agents, they both used the Ki-Gong Technique to suppress their breathing sounds and controlled their strength and rhythm to blend their footsteps with the car horns on the street.
Tracking two ordinary Friendship Club members who were still preaching nonstop to the employee was more than enough.
Following along the way, Lili Zi realized they were veering further and further from the main road.
Were they discovered?
Lili Zi looked at Shangshan Che in alarm, but he raised his hand and smiled at her.
Lili Zi then noticed that Shangshan Che somehow had a Daito with a vermilion scabbard in his hand, and he deliberately pushed it up a bit to let her see the blade gleaming coldly.
‘Where the hell did this come from!?’
Lili Zi was shocked and silently cursed.
The next moment, Shangshan Che stopped.
Because the two Friendship Club members who were about to leave the alley had turned around, smiling as they said in unison to them:
“Fellow travelers on the path of suffering, do you also wish to join the club and receive love’s redemption together?”
Hearing the sound of a car engine and footsteps, Shangshan Che looked back and saw the man standing on the escape route holding his head with both hands, fitting it onto his neck.
A bit troublesome.
Shangshan Che indifferently drew Kaga Kiyomitsu, thinking to himself.
