Family Banquet (3)

He vanished like a ghost.

For the first time in a long while, Uesugi Etsu felt a chill run down his spine... He swallowed.

Aside from a few student couples out for a walk, there was only a family of three sightseeing nearby. The boy in that family was far too chubby to have been the source of that laughter.

A terrible premonition suddenly rose in his heart—could the revived God already have begun moving through Tokyo with conscious intent?

Over thousands of years, the Snake-Branch Eight Families had collected every ancient scroll they could find, yet they still could not depict God's exact form. They did not even know the precise state or appearance of the Holy Remains... As Uesugi Etsu thought about it, he sucked in a cold breath and took out a small cup to pour himself a drink and calm his nerves.

After the battle between the two emperors on the icy sea of execution... following six eras of freezing, the White Emperor's strength finally waned. The Black Emperor then sank the White Emperor and the bronze pillar into an undersea volcano. That was what the ancient scrolls recorded, a testament to the White Emperor's astonishing vitality.

Perhaps God's method of evolution was completely different from what they had imagined. Perhaps Susanoo's possession had merely been one of the many ways the White Emperor had returned to the world.

Could that just now have been the White Emperor walking the mortal world once more...

Rubbing his temples, Uesugi Etsu stopped his baseless wild speculation.

Rain pattered like shattered jade poured from a tray, and a thin wall of mist rose beyond the ramen cart's panels.

"Did you hear that sound just now?" Uesugi Etsu leaned out past the cart's panel. He was a true emperor; he should not have doubted his own hearing and instincts so much. Yet for someone to get so silently close to both him and Angers was simply too bizarre.

There should have been only one person in the world capable of approaching him without a sound. That person's name was Hilbert Jean Angers, leader of the Secret Party, and he was sitting beside him right now.

"Angers?" he asked uncertainly.

By all rights, Angers's Time Zero should have made it easier for him to detect movement around them. For a hybrid, that Word Spirit was the ultimate assassin's tool.

"When? I didn't hear anything." Angers calmly pushed his ramen bowl forward. "Another serving of char siu, please. I've already paid."

He still ate ramen with composure and elegance, but his speed in emptying the bowl had noticeably increased.

After adding the char siu for him, Uesugi Etsu sank into deep thought.

"An old friend of mine has come to Tokyo. I'll see if I can catch up with him. I hope he'll be willing to wait for me at some crossroads." When he had finished eating, Angers stood and straightened his suit. His gaze lingered for a moment on the silver-white cross hanging from Uesugi Etsu.

His farewell was somewhat complicated. "I've asked what I needed to ask, and you've answered what you needed to answer. I wish you lasting happiness as you go to Paris and become one of the faithful... if you truly think that is happiness."

"I really hope I never see you again. It won't be long before I pack up too." Uesugi Etsu wiped his hand, which had gotten a little pork-bone broth on it. His urge to flee this city grew stronger.

He did not have any other skills. After going to Paris, he would have to keep selling ramen. The thought of pushing a ramen cart along the beaches of Paris was truly rather pleasant.

"Bride and groom, please hold that pose."

In a rainproof old pavilion in Tokyo's Shibuya District, painters and photographers surrounded the young man and woman before them, praising them endlessly.

Eriya was rather nervous, and Lu Mingfei was equally embarrassed.

"We aren't husband and wife. We're... friends."

Since he had been saved by her several times before, they should count as friends. Sitting stiffly upright, Lu Mingfei forced out a smile as he explained his relationship with Eriya. His heart pounded like a war drum.

Something was wrong. Very wrong.

The opening buildup for this instance was way too fucking long—far longer than the map of Yan. Not a single Deadpool or boss had appeared so far.

Over the past two days, it felt as though all of Tokyo had been trying to matchmake him and Eriya. If they took a taxi, the driver would ask, "What a perfect couple. When's the wedding?" If they ate hot pot, the owner would come over with tears in his eyes and say, "Seeing you two reminds me of my wife and me back then, so your table is on the house."

The moment they entered the temple, photographers and painters skilled in every style had crowded around them, tearfully volunteering their services. Each one looked like Icarus witnessing the sun's procession... as though they would commit seppuku on the spot if they were not allowed to paint or photograph them.

There should have been both a stick and a carrot. But this carrot was too sweet, too rich—why did it feel like someone was trying to force-feed it to him? Had life really grown a conscience after beating him with a stick a hundred times before?

Lu Mingfei's vigilance did not lessen in the slightest. Instead, he felt that this instance might be preparing to play a huge joke on him.

If life were compared to a movie or television drama, then his life would definitely be a brutal fighting-and-gore film. How could a fighting-and-gore film suddenly make a one-hundred-eighty-degree turn into a youthful idol drama?

Lu Mingfei gently touched Eriya, who was sitting beside him and feeling a little nervous because of the crowd. Eriya had originally folded her hands on her knees, but when she saw his movement, she took the initiative to extend her left hand toward him. The wind lifted her skirt and the ends of her hair, and her body trembled faintly.

Only after their fingers touched did she finally calm down completely.

Lu Mingfei had only meant to comfort his monster friend. He had no experience chatting up girls; what he meant was, Don't be afraid. I'll take you away to eat soon.

But the moment their fingertips touched, his body stiffened for a moment. From that cool touch, Lu Mingfei sensed the other person's existence.

To feel someone in this world meant that person had left traces in your world. She was no longer virtual or abstract, but a real and tangible friend who could bring you either happiness or worry.

Lu Mingfei suddenly felt the pressure on his shoulders grow heavier. He was not very good at taking care of others.

"Can I move now?" Eriya quietly passed him a note. The two of them were like desk mates secretly passing notes during middle school class.

"You can move whenever you want." With reddening fingers, Lu Mingfei passed over the note he had prepared in advance.

He realized that the girl beside him was like a little beast, somewhat wary of the outside world yet also curious about it. She needed repeated reassurance, so he had prepared three such notes beforehand.

After passing her the note, Lu Mingfei shifted his gaze to the group of people around them whose intentions were unclear.

At this distance, he could instantly slit the throats of the painters in front of him and then draw his gun to fire at them if danger came... if they intended to make a move.

"It doesn't matter if you aren't married. You two are so talented and beautiful, such a perfect pair—you definitely won't remain friends forever." One painter, having finished his work, smiled as he nervously turned the painting around, like an envoy from a small state presenting tribute to a tyrant of a great empire in ancient times.

Lu Mingfei stared at it in a daze. This painting should have been titled Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria and His Empress, Princess Sissi.

In the painting, he wore a German aristocratic military dress uniform, while Eriya wore a courtly gown. St. Paul's Cathedral in London formed the backdrop, and the two of them looked exactly like newlyweds emerging from the cathedral after receiving the blessings of countless subjects.

The other painters and photographers immediately joined in with lavish praise and ingratiating smiles. Looking closely, one could see varying degrees of fawning in those smiles.

They were far more nervous than Eriya and Lu Mingfei, and it was not an act.

On one hand, although the "groom" was smiling cooperatively, the faintly threatening gaze he kept casting at them was genuinely frightening.

On the other hand, the boss behind them was raging as he pressed them on.