Increasingly Like the Original (Two Chapters Combined)

"Whew, finally done."

Duan Mu wiped the dust from his face and stood in front of the building, nodding in satisfaction.

"Duan Mu, you've done a beautiful job." The middle-aged woman beside him looked at her completely renovated home, joy spreading across her face. "No wonder all my neighbors come to you to repair their houses as soon as winter arrives. You can really feel the room getting warmer once you're inside."

Emiri's favorability +3. Obtained 3 experience points.

"Now my child shouldn't dislike my house so much anymore." A happy smile appeared on Emiri's face. "You didn't know, did you? I have a son now. He only died recently, and I liked that child the moment I saw him."

The corner of Duan Mu's eye twitched. Why does that sound so strange...?

Still, he understood what Emiri meant. A child who had recently arrived in Soul Society had been assigned to her household and become her son.

"Then congratulations." A strange glint flashed through Duan Mu's eyes.

To be honest...

Emiri gaining favorability was completely beyond Duan Mu's expectations. In the past, whenever he accepted one of her commissions, no matter how hard he worked, she would find fault with everything and use all kinds of excuses to reduce the commission fee. Sometimes, she would even refuse to pay.

Her reputation in West District 7 was notoriously nasty and stingy. Many residents there who had good relationships with Duan Mu advised him not to accept her commissions.

She was also incredibly miserly. Even though her house leaked wind everywhere, she had never considered hiring anyone to repair it. Two years ago, in an attempt to raise her favorability, Duan Mu had even told her that he could renovate her house for free if she needed it. In return, Emiri had given him an extremely guarded look!

In the end, Duan Mu simply gave up on dealing with her.

He had originally thought this year would be like all the others, with her not coming to him for repairs. Yet after he finished all his renovation commissions and winter arrived, Emiri actually came to his door—and, for the first time ever, paid the commission fee in advance.

She really had become a completely different person.

Looking at the gentle smile on Emiri's face and the aura completely different from the one in his memories, Duan Mu could not help sighing inwardly at the greatness of the word "mother."

Merely adopting a child had actually caused such an enormous change in someone.

"My Kosuke is exceptionally smart. He's only eleven, yet he can already write so many characters. He can even recite a lot of ancient texts..." Emiri spoke about her child endlessly, like she was chanting sutras.

Although Duan Mu was somewhat impatient inside, not the slightest trace of it showed on his face. Instead, he listened attentively and occasionally added a comment.

To outsiders, their conversation looked exactly like two middle-aged women gossiping together. One kept talking about her child, while the other nodded and agreed nonstop.

"The only bad thing is that he's too delicate." After speaking, Emiri smiled. "But I'm partly to blame for that. I've never really maintained the house, so it's only natural that he feels cold."

"He's a child, after all. It's normal for him to be a little delicate."

"Exactly."

Emiri nodded, then seemed to think of something and sighed. "It's just that he's always saying things I don't understand. When I ask what he wants, he says he wants to lie under a 'kotatsu' and watch 'television.' He also wants to play something called a 'handheld game console.'"

"Hm?"

Duan Mu, who had been somewhat impatient, immediately perked up.

A kotatsu?

Television?

A handheld game console?

He had not heard these modern terms in a very long time. People who came to Soul Society rarely discussed their lives before death. Since Duan Mu had never deliberately tried to inquire about them, this was the first time he had heard any news about the Human World.

That single short sentence already allowed Duan Mu to analyze a great deal of useful information.

Television could still be considered a relatively modern invention. It had appeared quite some time ago. But handheld consoles were definitely a modern product. Even the earliest handheld consoles had not become widespread until near the end of the 1990s.

If that was the case, the day when Seireitei underwent its great upheaval should not be far away.

But...

It had nothing to do with him. Whatever happened in Seireitei should not affect him here.

Besides, Duan Mu had calculated the approximate era he was living in long ago. When he had been training with the Shiba Clan, Big Sis Kūkaku had mentioned that the current captain of the 10th Division was Toshiro Hitsugaya!

"By the way, you also died only a few years ago. You should know what these things are, right?" Emiri asked.

Duan Mu smiled at that. "A kotatsu is actually the 'tatsu' that many households have. The tatsu in the Human World isn't heated with charcoal or carbon briquettes, though. It uses an energy source called electricity. As for televisions and handheld consoles, they're products of the Human World. In Soul Society, you can probably only find them in Seireitei."

"So it's a tatsu!" Emiri suddenly understood and exclaimed, "The Human World really has changed quite a lot over the past century."

"..."

To be honest, after nearly five years in Soul Society, Duan Mu's sense of time had grown increasingly vague.

The people here casually talked about decades and centuries as if they were nothing. It made Duan Mu, a young man who had been no more than twenty-seven years old in total before and after death, feel like a baby.

The two chatted for a while longer. Duan Mu glanced at the sky and bade her farewell.

With the end of the year approaching, the weather had already turned cold. The pedestrians on the streets had put on thicker clothes, making Duan Mu, still dressed in his usual black work clothes, look rather out of place.

However, those clothes had also become Duan Mu's trademark. People could recognize him from far away whenever he walked down the street.

"Duan Mu, are you done for the day?"

"Duan Mu, I just made these pancakes. Take them home and eat them with Tsuki."

"Big Brother Duan Mu, when will you come play with me again?"

"..."

As Duan Mu walked along the streets of West District 7, every resident who saw him would call him over for a chat. Duan Mu felt too embarrassed to refuse, and by the time he left the district, the sky was completely dark.

Since it was around dinnertime, he had several small cloth bags filled with food in his hands.

As he walked home, Duan Mu tallied the experience points he had gained during the month since reopening his business.

"980 experience points. I actually gained nearly a thousand in one month. If only every month could be like this."

Though he said that, Duan Mu knew it was practically impossible. This month's earnings could be considered the final busy season before the new year. With winter and the new year approaching, many people would renovate their houses, which was why he had received so many commissions.

More importantly...

The higher someone's favorability, the harder it was to increase it. Many of Duan Mu's old customers had reached bottlenecks in their favorability. Under such circumstances, Duan Mu could only maintain his relationships with old customers while finding ways to develop new ones. As a result, his Yorozuya business had continued to expand.

Recently, Duan Mu had even begun offering a house call medical service. Most of the time, he only prescribed medicinal herbs. Unless absolutely necessary, he rarely used Kido to treat his customers' injuries.

Of course, Duan Mu had not neglected his training outside of work either. His days were extremely fulfilling.

His progress could not be called explosive, but he was steadily moving forward.

Current experience points: 2800

During this month, Duan Mu had used less than four hundred experience points, all of them spent on areas of his training that he did not understand.

"Once things settle down in a few days, I'll go visit Big Sis Kūkaku." Duan Mu sighed. If he wanted to obtain a large number of experience points, he really had to start with Big Sis Kūkaku.

When Duan Mu returned to District 38 and stood outside the shop, he heard a burst of commotion from within.

There was no surprise on Duan Mu's face. He simply pulled open the shop door out of habit, and a lively atmosphere immediately swept over him.

In the spacious hall of the shop, burly men with fierce faces sat in groups of three or five at tables scattered around the room, drinking and chatting.

Anyone who did not know better might have thought this was some kind of tavern.

Though...

These days, Yorozuya really had begun offering tavern services without anyone noticing.

More precisely...

It looked more like a gathering place for dangerous criminals.

These people were naturally the villains. After a month, their numbers had not decreased. Instead, for some reason, they had grown.

When they had first arrived, Diao Ao and the others had been terrified of Duan Mu. But as they spent more time together and discovered that Duan Mu was unexpectedly easy to get along with under normal circumstances, these thick-skinned fellows gradually let themselves go and became less restrained.

Duan Mu still told them what to do and they did it, but in their free time, they would gather in the shop to drink.

At first, the nearby neighbors were somewhat afraid of Diao Ao and the others. Over time, however, they grew accustomed to these fierce-looking men who only acted viciously among themselves in private, while smiling at everyone outside.

They merely took them for men with intimidating appearances, unaware that they were genuinely dangerous people who ran to the districts with higher numbers every day to fight to the death. Recently, because of Uzuki, they had gained a financial need in addition to their enjoyment of killing.

Duan Mu did not interfere with this. It was a rule that had existed in the higher-numbered districts for thousands of years. Aside from certain exceptions, normal people would never choose to live in areas that followed the law of the jungle. If they died there, they had only themselves to blame.

As for why Uzuki had given them a financial need...

Apart from serving as the shop's hostess, Uzuki had expanded into a new business. She had bought a batch of the cheapest liquor from Brewing Granny, then sold it to these villains at five times the price.

Although the service was practically nonexistent and the staff had abysmal attitudes, none of these men cared. Instead, they often stayed for the entire day, as if treating the place as a temporary relaxation spot. Many villains from outside District 79 had even come after hearing about it.

At first, some people caused trouble. Iwao, who was always stationed at the shop, dealt with them alongside Diao Ao and the others. Of course, Duan Mu had also gone to the higher-numbered districts and killed some people, which played a part.

With sufficient deterrence, a month passed, and this gathering place for villains had actually become extremely popular under Uzuki's management. The money it earned was almost half of what Duan Mu made from working each day.

Making money was certainly a good thing, but looking at the scene before him always made Duan Mu feel that something was wrong.

"Boss Duan Mu is back!"

The moment Duan Mu entered, someone sharp-eyed spotted him, and the noisy shop suddenly fell silent.

"Brother Duan Mu, thanks for your hard work."

"I just collected some 'protection fees' from merchants traveling up from the south. It's all excellent liquor. Would you like to have a drink with us?"

"..."

Duan Mu had only one response to these flattering greetings.

"Get lost."

"Right away!"

The entire group inside the shop left Yorozuya in a grand procession. Once outside, they scattered, splitting into several factions and heading toward their respective districts. After all, many of them had grudges against one another, and if they walked together, they might be tempted to hack each other to death.

Anyone who caused trouble in a well-governed district died, and often an entire group died at once. It was safer to scatter.

Under Duan Mu's cold gaze, Diao Ao, the culprit behind the current situation, laughed nervously. "Boss Duan Mu, we'll be heading back too." After saying that, he led his men away without looking back, as if afraid that he would be beaten to death if he ran too slowly.

Duan Mu did not deny that he had just considered whether he should simply hammer Diao Ao to death.

"I've noticed that you seem to enjoy counting money more and more lately." Duan Mu narrowed his eyes at Uzuki, who was counting money behind the counter. "I never realized you liked doing business so much before."

"There weren't such stupid customers before."

Uzuki did not even raise her head as she replied, "Besides, I'm doing this to earn more money for you to spend. Look through the accounts. Our expenses on liquor and snacks have clearly been increasing lately."

"..."

Duan Mu opened his mouth but could not refute her.

If they could eat large amounts of meat, who would want to eat noodles without a trace of oil every day? Drinking liquor and eating meat was certainly better than drinking liquor and chewing on wild fruit they had picked themselves.

Hmm. I should restrain myself a little from now on.

"But won't this easily affect our customers?"

"It's fine."

Uzuki smiled. "I called Iwao and Diao Ao over. Tomorrow, I plan to build a staircase outside and open a door on the second floor. We'll move Yorozuya's business upstairs. The first floor will become a tavern."

At that, Duan Mu instinctively asked, "You aren't planning to give yourself the stage name Tose, are you?"

"Huh?"

"Uh, never mind." Duan Mu hurriedly waved it off.

Good grief...

His Yorozuya really was becoming more and more like the original.

"What about my bedroom?"

"The second floor is so spacious, but your bedroom only takes up such a small area. You even surrounded it with iron bars like a prison, leaving all that space unused." Uzuki paused before continuing, "Don't worry. The office area will be completely sealed off from your bedroom."

"Yorozuya will only be accessible from the outside staircase, while your bedroom will only be accessible from the staircase inside the tavern. Iwao and his men have done quite a bit of work for you recently. They can handle such a simple job, so you can work as usual tomorrow."

Hearing that, Duan Mu nodded.

If that was the arrangement, he had no objections. Having an additional source of income was pretty good, especially since the number of commissions he could receive would decrease considerably after winter arrived.

"By the way, we received a commission with pretty good pay today."

Uzuki took the commission book from beneath the counter and handed it to Duan Mu. "Several families from District 43 submitted it together. They need to transport goods to Byakudō Gate, but there are many roaming bandits around District 43, so they hope you can bring some people along to escort them."

Duan Mu was speechless. Had he expanded his business again?

"They apparently heard that our shop often has a lot of fierce-looking men, so they came to us for the commission."

"..." Duan Mu fell silent for a moment, ignoring the obvious issue with that statement. He asked doubtfully, "It shouldn't be Seireitei's Procurement Season right now, should it?"

"I'm not entirely sure either."

Uzuki shook her head. "It seems the Fourth Division will be holding a ceremony to replace its lieutenant captain soon, so they're preparing to purchase some supplies a few days in advance and hold a banquet after the ceremony."

"I see."

Duan Mu nodded, a strange glint flashing through his eyes before vanishing.