Friendship Club

Hasegawa had died just like that, without a sound. Uesugi Tetsu had thought he would accomplish something.

Uesugi Tetsu closed his eyes, feeling the reality behind the three words Nanjō Emi had said to him that night: "You'll die."

"Where was he buried?"

Shizuma Mafuyu answered carefully, "At the cemetery near Hongwanji Temple. I heard the land there was cheap, so he could send the money he had left to his family."

After a moment of silence, Uesugi Tetsu gave Shizuma Mafuyu a slight nod before continuing, "Ms. Shizuma, please protect your sister and the friends around her."

Shizuma Mafuyu said nothing.

For a moment, she wanted to loudly demand how Manatsu had become tainted by demons. But at the same time, Shizuma Mafuyu understood that bringing up the past now was meaningless. Letting her emotions run wild would only make things worse.

"Mr. Uesugi, sorry for the trouble."

Shizuma Mafuyu bowed deeply to Uesugi Tetsu and spoke sincerely.

--If not for Uesugi Tetsu, she might never have known that Manatsu had come into contact with danger. By the time she discovered it, everything might already have been too late.

Fortunately. Fortunately.

"It's nothing. I should be the one saying that."

After watching Shizuma Mafuyu drag the bewildered Manatsu into the van, Uesugi Tetsu unexpectedly saw Kitano Runa bow deeply to him before getting in as well.

He smiled. "Ririko, your eye for friends isn't bad."

Ririko, her forehead covered in sweat, gave a quiet snort. "Did you really need to say that?"

After seeing off Ririko's two best friends, the two of them unhurriedly walked toward the yakiniku restaurant they had chosen.

At the red light in front of the yakiniku restaurant,

"Uesugi-kun, why are you walking so slowly while sweating so much?"

Uesugi Tetsu stopped circulating the Ki-ai Technique and glanced at Ririko, whose sweat was dripping from her chin. "You're asking me?"

Ririko fell silent, then clicked her tongue. "Try-hard."

After crossing the final intersection, they arrived at their destination. However, a line of more than a dozen people was still waiting outside the restaurant.

Most of Japan's better-tasting restaurants required reservations. Even with a reservation made in advance, customers still had to obediently line up and wait until everyone ahead of them had gone inside. Generally speaking, waiting half an hour was already considered fast.

This was especially obvious in densely populated Tokyo.

Ririko, already so hungry she felt hollow despite never stopping her training, lightly ground her teeth as she inhaled the aroma of meat wafting through the gap in the curtain. "Is this supposed to temper my Dao heart...?"

Uesugi Tetsu was just about to mock her when he vaguely heard a conversation coming from inside the restaurant. "If no one saves you and no one cares about you, then let love transform everything..."

"J-Just by following you, can I obtain salvation?"

"We will give you happiness."

The conversation was probably deep inside the restaurant or in some corner, and the voices were not particularly loud. If Uesugi Tetsu had not just undergone Ririko's special training, raising his physical attributes by two points, he truly would not have been able to hear it.

Something about the conversation sounded wrong.

Uesugi Tetsu continued listening.

"Those whom one usually loves dearly may turn against one another and become separated, unable to remain together... This is the suffering of parting. In this world, only love can deliver us from it. Silly child, the Friendship Club welcomes all who suffer."

Uesugi Tetsu lowered his eyes indifferently. Ririko, who was still struggling through her training beside him, froze and asked, "What is it?"

"The Friendship Club," Uesugi Tetsu said softly. "There are people from the Friendship Club inside, deceiving ordinary people."

In an instant, Ririko concealed every unnecessary expression.

Without hesitation, she undid the sword bag on her back and prepared to take out the Bamboo Sword.

Seeing this, Uesugi Tetsu hurriedly held down her hand and swept his gaze over the ordinary people waiting around them. "Don't rush."

Ririko's face was expressionless as she asked coldly, "Why?"

Uesugi Tetsu leaned close to her ear and quickly said, "There are too many people around us. It could cause a disturbance. We should call the police first and have Sister Nanjō and the others come over."

But Ririko acted as if she had not heard him and continued drawing the Bamboo Sword.

"Then you should leave first, Uesugi-kun." Her voice was cold. "This is my personal decision. If you get dragged into it, then I'm definitely in the wrong."

This stubborn woman...

Uesugi Tetsu rolled his eyes inwardly. He already understood that unless he knocked Ririko unconscious right now, no verbal attack would have any effect on her.

But with an enemy right in front of them, who would attack their own ally?

Thus, Uesugi Tetsu firmly gripped Ririko's wrist and quickly whispered beside her ear, "They're a terrorist cult. Are you really willing to beat them with a Bamboo Sword?"

Ririko stopped moving.

"Then tell me. What better method is there?"

Uesugi Tetsu gave a grim smile, like Brahma. "We'll wait until they come out. Once we reach somewhere deserted, we'll rescue the victim, interrogate the Friendship Club members, then execute them."

Ririko's small mouth fell slightly open. "You dare kill people?"

"They already want to kill me. Do you think I should just let them capture me without resistance?" Uesugi Tetsu sneered. "Should good people just stand there while someone points a gun at them?"

"Or is it that you, Ririko, have too much of a savior complex to do this?"

The two stared at each other. After a moment, Ririko put away the Bamboo Sword and patted his shoulder with great delight. "So I really did underestimate you, Uesugi-kun."

A suspicion rose in Uesugi Tetsu's heart. "You..."

"That's right." Ririko grinned and admitted it frankly. "Originally, I planned to ditch you, Uesugi-kun, and clean them out by myself."

Uesugi Tetsu took a deep breath.

This woman was utterly insane. There was not the slightest hesitation or fear of the law in her eyes.

She clearly had not been like this two days ago. What had changed her? Clear Sword Heart?

The two of them waited quietly.

Before long, Uesugi Tetsu keenly caught sight of three people walking out of the restaurant entrance.

Two of them were dressed similarly, though ordinarily, and wore mechanical smiles. The scent drifting from their bodies made Uesugi Tetsu's brows knit tightly.

But when he looked at Ririko, she seemed not to have smelled the nauseating odor.

The young man following behind them looked dazed. He seemed to be an employee of the yakiniku restaurant, and Uesugi Tetsu could smell a strong aroma of yakiniku seasoning on him.

"Follow them."

Neither of them was an FBI agent, but they could both use the Ki-ai Technique to suppress the sound of their breathing. They could also control the force and rhythm of their steps, blending their footsteps with the honking of cars on the street.

Following two ordinary members of the Friendship Club who were still constantly preaching to the employee was utterly effortless.

They followed them all the way, but Ririko gradually realized that they were straying farther and farther from the main road.

Had they been discovered?

Ririko looked at Uesugi Tetsu in alarm, but he raised a hand and smiled at her.

Only then did Ririko notice that Uesugi Tetsu somehow had a katana with a vermilion scabbard in his hand. He had even deliberately drawn it two inches, allowing her to see the blade gleaming coldly.

Where the hell did he get that!?

Ririko was stunned and silently swore.

The next moment, Uesugi Tetsu stopped walking.

The two Friendship Club members, who were about to leave the alley, had already turned around. Smiling, they spoke in unison:

"Two fellow travelers on the bitter road, are you also hoping to join the club and accept love's salvation?"

Hearing the sound of a car engine and footsteps, Uesugi Tetsu looked behind him. He saw the man standing on their escape route holding his head in both hands and fitting it back onto his neck.

This was troublesome.

Uesugi Tetsu coldly drew Kaga Kiyomitsu and thought.