Fate Entwined, Part Two

"Sorry, but we've already closed for the day."

"We're terribly sorry, but we're short on ingredients and can't serve you two."

"Lord Soul Master, all our tables are reserved. Could I recommend another restaurant?"

Xiao Wu stormed out, slamming the door behind her. Tang San followed, suppressing his anger as he hurried after her. The restaurant manager finally relaxed when the two walking disasters were gone. Heh. I got rid of them without offending Passione and even sent trouble a competitor's way. My brilliance is truly unmatched!

"Xiao Wu, how about we find a hotel and get some rest?" Tang San suggested as he caught up. Something was wrong. The situation felt so familiar that he could almost believe he was back in his previous life. He remembered senior disciples of the Tang Sect mentioning things like this. Offend a local power, and the townspeople would often shun you rather than risk being associated with you.

Just what is this Passione? How can it have more clout in a city than the City Lord? Tang San wondered.

"Brother San! This is all your fault. I never should've come to Suotuo City with you. You'd better make it up to me!" Xiao Wu said, planting her hands on her hips.

"Xiao Wu, finding a hotel where we can rest comes first," Tang San said, trying to soothe her. He felt they were in danger. Still, with his hidden weapons, even a Soul Ancestor would be no match for him!

"Brother San, didn't that restaurant give us an address?" Xiao Wu was still angry, but she knew what mattered most. She was like a child giving her mother the silent treatment, sneaking out for dinner through her tears despite having sworn not to budge. Being angry was one thing; eating and resting mattered more.

"Wasn't that obviously a way to send business to their competitor?" Tang San said with a gentle smile. Even so, he decided to take Xiao Wu there. He could go hungry, but he couldn't let his little sister starve. Well... whether she was his sister was another question.

The place the previous restaurant had recommended was called Divine Chef Fugui. Tang San found the name curious. He had seen plenty of strangely named shops along the way, including Delicious-to-Death Ramen Shop and Ramen Worth Dying For. Honestly. Can none of these people come up with names?

"Boss! Are you open?"

Xiao Wu walked in, slapped a table, and demanded an answer. The clerk behind the counter instinctively glanced toward a nearby table. Xiao Wu and Tang San looked over too, only to see a balding middle-aged man fawning over two blond youths. He looked like a veteran sycophant who had finally met his beloved goddess. It was nauseating.

"Hm?"

Both blond youths looked over. The boss jolted and immediately went pale, trembling with one hand pressed to his mouth as though he had no idea what to do.

"Boss, we have a recommendation from another restaurant. They told us to eat here~ You won't turn us away, will you?" Xiao Wu exchanged a look with Tang San, then instantly put on her best behavior. With one hand on her hip and the other holding out the paper, she smiled sweetly at the boss.

"Well, you see, we've already..." At a signal from one of the blond youths, whose eyes were different colors, the boss walked over, wringing his hands anxiously.

"Boss, we'll leave as soon as we've eaten. We won't cause trouble," Tang San said earnestly as he pulled out a chair and sat down.

"That's not it, sir."

One look at the writing on the paper made the boss's face go red, as if Darius had instantly stacked five layers of rage on him. He wanted to grab his martial soul hoe and play Nasus from next door with ten thousand stacks on his Q, just to bring it down on that bastard. You play dirty when it comes to business! Last year you sneaked in to steal my company seal so you could order a thousand pigs from a breeder east of the city and bankrupt me. The year before, you bribed the dishwasher to overwater my money tree until it died. And this year, you send people who've offended Passione to eat at my restaurant?

Is this Shejin's handiwork? Man-Eating Tree? Dark psychology? The secrets of human nature? Terrifying! Just you wait! Next month I'll hire a celebrity soul master to appear at your place, then leak his scandals and drag your restaurant down with him!

"Boss, I know there's been a misunderstanding, but—"

"Serve them." The blond, red-eyed youth cut off the argument, calmly turning a teacup in his hand.

Everyone fell silent. Five pairs of eyes swung toward him at once, as if he were the only person in the room who mattered.

"What does it matter? Customers are customers, aren't they?" the youth continued evenly.

"Of course." The boss finally relaxed. Wiping the sweat from his brow, he promptly told the kitchen to prepare the food. The person who truly called the shots had spoken, so he had nothing to worry about. Lord Jodio must already have a plan.

"Thank you," Tang San said, nodding politely to Jodio.

"Hmph." Jodio turned his head slightly, amused. Tang San was surprisingly polite. He even knew how to say thank you. How funny, considering how quickly he would become that sort of person after ascending to godhood. Could anyone believe this man—well, no. Even now, "you're courting death" could come out of his mouth at any moment.

Anger burned in Jodio's chest, but he quickly forced it down.

A line in a game asking "Was it all worth it?" was hardly enough to make someone angry. A scientist would only scoff at a claim that space shuttles ran on coal. A wolf that begged humans for food would sneer at the reproaches of its own kind. Jodio had every reason to be furious, but he had to remember one thing: this guy had come from ancient times. He. Was. Not. Modern.

Their values, their views of the world and of life, even the ambitions they had held for the first half of their lives were different. To put it bluntly, Tang San had been a "researcher" in the Tang Sect. The fact that he acted like a mob boss after becoming a god was almost restrained. You couldn't expect more of him, any more than you could expect someone who thought a space shuttle burned coal or firewood to understand how it flew.

But wrongdoing still deserved punishment. Punishment was necessary and right. Since ancient times, an eye for an eye had been humanity's noblest principle. Even Holmes had said that if the law could not deliver justice, private vengeance became not merely justified, but honorable.

Jodio was a man who kept his word. He had said he would leave Tang San with nowhere to bury his body, and he would do it. He would make death itself seem like a mercy. That was a strong man's pride and bottom line. Nothing would shake him—not the present, not the future. Nothing would make him betray the person he had once been.

His past self had poured everything into the will to take revenge, longing for his future self to carry it out. Let it go? Make peace? Refuse to be blinded by vengeance? Then what about the person he had been? Wouldn't that be betraying him?

You want me to become a traitor?

Bullshit!

"Like the threads of fate tangling together... or perhaps it's destiny," Jodio murmured.

"Go meet them," Jodio told Dai Mubai, channeling Soul Power to carry his voice directly to him.

"Heh. You don't have to tell me. I was thinking the same thing." Dai Mubai rose with easy confidence and walked over, sending his reply back the same way.

← To Be Continued

Gao Weis—JoJo! (A coin drops.) (JoJo Part Five transition music.)

Information currently available:

Martial soul: Soft Bone Rabbit (level 29)

Holder: Xiao Wu

Spirit Rings: Yellow, yellow

Destructive power: B+; speed: A; range: D-; stamina: D-; precision: B; growth potential: A+

Martial soul abilities: In theory, the Soft Bone Rabbit should follow an agility-attack path, but in practice, it has been developed as a power-attack martial soul. Because its foundation is still agility-based, it retains considerable mobility while striking hard. Its speed is no weakness.

Conversely, it lacks the high defense and resistance typical of power-attack martial souls. It usually has to rely on Spirit Ring abilities for defense. Its innate durability falls short of the power-attack class and remains at an agility-attack level. It does seem to have enhanced resilience, though, which is an advantage.

The burst of speed and strength from her first Spirit Skill, Waist Bow, works with the charm and control of her second Spirit Skill to give her abilities much like an assassin's. If she gains a defensive Spirit Skill later, the combination will be excellent. (Personally, the author thinks Xiao Wu's first four Spirit Skills work together better than Tang San's: buffs, control, defense, and mobility, all in one. If Xiao Wu is Gaia from Seer, then Tang San feels more like Lishabubu???)