Hello, Thank You, Soup Dumplings (continued)

Nozomi swallowed and looked back at Shiraki Uke, greeting him with an awkward laugh. "Hey, pal... no, boss?"

Shiraki Uke: "..."

Thanks to Kure Fusui, whenever he heard the word "boss" now, he felt like he was about to go into debt.

And clearly, the three women before him, who called themselves "underdogs," needed a large sum of money to turn their bad luck around.

"..."

When Shiraki Uke remained unmoved, Iori Ichika—the negligent cop who often made money through shady dealings—started scheming.

Grinning slyly, she nudged Hana beside her with an elbow and urged her in a low voice, "Hey, slut, you used to be a hostess, right? Hurry up and figure out how to snag a rich guy!"

"I'm very innocent. I'm not a slut..."

Hana protested without much confidence, then looked at Shiraki Uke. She actually considered Ichika's suggestion for a moment, but immediately began waving her hands.

"No, no. I've met a lot of customers, so I can tell at a glance that Mr. Bai Mu here is definitely the kind of man you can't get money out of..."

Hearing that, Ichika had no choice but to drop it.

She studied Shiraki Uke closely and asked, puzzled, "So, are you the kind of martial artist whose whole life is training?"

"...No, that's not right."

Shiraki Uke thought it over carefully, then shook his head.

"There are martial artists like that, who follow the principle that 'Walking, Standing, Sitting, and Lying Down' are all training. They only come out of that state a few times a day... but I can't do it."

"Drinking, wandering around, worrying about making money, enjoying spending it—as if all those random little things could help improve my strength."

"But if everything in life comes down to efficient training, it's hard to say that's the right way either."

"Going through things and experiencing them, then ultimately throwing 'my' punch—that's what matters."

"..."

Hearing all that, Ichika and Hana looked at each other. They didn't understand it, but it sounded impressive.

Only Nozomi Tenma—the "fighter" who was still active on the front lines of the ring despite her eye disease—understood Shiraki Uke to some extent.

"Sure enough, that mindset is the real deal—'top tier'..."

Nozomi stretched and pulled a few more bottles of beer out from under the table. "But none of that matters tonight. Let's drink our fill first!"

When it was time to train, he trained hard. When it was time to live, he lived well.

Another round of drinking began.

All four people at the table had ties to the underground world, and each was involved in a different field, so they had plenty to talk about.

The Metropolitan Police Department's recent operations, the distribution of yakuza forces, information on underground fighting organizations, and so on.

Once they were in high spirits, Ichika picked up an unopened bottle of beer and gave it a light tap with her chopsticks instead of using a bottle opener.

Pop!

The cap flew off and landed nearby.

"..."

"...Hey!"

A shout from the next table interrupted the four of them.

They turned to see a girl with long black hair sitting at the neighboring table, eating. She wore a beret, a long-sleeved shirt, and a pleated skirt.

She was wolfing down her food. She must have been hungry for a long time.

But before she'd eaten her fill, a beer bottle cap had fallen out of the sky and landed in a plate of mapo tofu in front of her.

Smack!

The girl slapped her chopsticks down on the table and said through gritted teeth, without turning around, "Look where you threw that bottle cap! Are you the only people eating here?"

"Huh?" Ichika's stubborn cop temperament flared up, and she was about to go over and talk back, but Hana stopped her.

Lately, undercurrents had been stirring in Tokyo's underground world. It was better to avoid trouble.

Hana got up, went over, and apologized to the girl, then ordered her another plate of mapo tofu and a few side dishes.

"...All right, it's fine."

Seeing their attitude, the girl let it go and continued enjoying her meal.

At the same time, though, Shiraki Uke and Nozomi Tenma saw the girl's face. They exchanged a look, both a little surprised.

The girl was Li Youba.

She must have finished her match, collected her pay, and then slipped into this Chinese restaurant, where she had been taking her time eating ever since.

"Oh? It's you!"

Li Youba looked up, saw Shiraki Uke, and recognized his face too. He was the man who had warned her from the edge of the ring.

"You should've said so earlier. We know each other! What a coincidence."

Li Youba remarked casually, using a Chinese saying for the last sentence.

Hana paused. "A foreigner?"

Ichika went even further, calling on all the vocabulary she had in her head as she raised a hand in greeting. "Yo, hello, thank you, soup dumplings!"

Li Youba: "..."

She was used to it by now, so she didn't feel much about it. Besides, she owed Shiraki Uke a huge favor.

Since they knew each other, naturally they joined tables.

The table for four became a table for five, and some drunken chatter was unavoidable.

Since they were all part of the underground fighting scene, there was no need to hide anything. Li Youba told them about her run of bad luck lately.

It was much the same as what Shiraki Uke had heard.

The Sanjigumi had disbanded, the Killing Martial Arts Tournament had shut down, the money Li Youba had invested had gone down the drain, and she had lost all her savings betting on horses.

"Damn it!"

Li Youba slammed a fist on the table, blaming everything on what she considered the source—the collapse of the Sanjigumi.

"Apparently, the head of the Sanjigumi, Inoue Sugaya, got caught up in a troublesome wager and ended up losing everything he owned."

"What an idiot. If you can't pay, don't gamble!"

"..."

Hearing that, Shiraki Uke kindly reminded her, "Didn't you lose the rest of your savings betting on horses too?"

Li Youba answered confidently, "That's why I paid!"

Shiraki Uke: "..."

Shiraki Uke: "Ah, right, right, right."

Compared with Li Youba—and the other three tough characters in the gray market—his own little sister, Sakurai Arisa, was less of a worry. He wondered if she was having fun with Maruk.

Hmm, with Maruk... with Maruk...

Surely she wouldn't be a worry?

While Shiraki Uke's thoughts ran wild, Nozomi Tenma, sitting nearby, was puzzled. As she recalled something, she grew confused.

"The Sanjigumi was ruined by a wager too? Strange..."

She explained to everyone, "The organization I used to belong to, Underdog Fighting, is about to go bankrupt because the yakuza group backing it was also set up and suffered a huge loss in a wager. Someone even died."

"Two different yakuza groups were both destroyed because of 'wagers.' Could the same person be behind both?"

"..."

Shiraki Uke frowned deeply. "That is strange!"

"Oh?" Everyone was startled. By rights, Shiraki Uke shouldn't have been so certain. Did he know something they didn't?

Shiraki Uke took a sip of beer and analyzed it seriously. "I only destroyed the Sanjigumi. Who did it to Underdog Fighting?"

Everyone: "..."

Everyone: "...Huh?"

The remark was so strange that, on further thought, it was even a little frightening. For the moment, everyone assumed Shiraki Uke had drunk too much.

As for the subject they'd just been discussing, Iori Ichika, as a police officer, clearly knew more.

"I was going to warn Hana anyway, so I'll come out with it. Don't spread it around."

Ichika put on a serious expression and said gravely:

"According to information from inside the Metropolitan Police Department, members of a criminal group code-named 'IDEAL' have already entered the country illegally. Their apparent goal is to swallow up other underground organizations."

"Although the chances of them targeting a small group like the Jingūji-gumi are low, it's still best to be careful."

With a cigarette between her lips, Ichika sighed helplessly.

"Things haven't been peaceful for any of the yakuza groups lately..."

"So, Bai Mu, if you want to put money into an underground business, finding a few more partners wouldn't be a bad idea!"

"..."

Shiraki Uke nodded casually without giving a clear response.

But to be fair, he did need to invest in some kind of venture, especially after becoming a "member of the Kengan Association."

After all, Kengan matches were essentially business competition.

Membership in the Kengan Association was meant for business owners. If Shiraki Uke really joined, he would need a company under his name, and it would be a bit of a waste to put too little effort into it.