Dragon Raja: Lu Mingfei Returns from Sekiro

"She has broken her own record for the farthest distance, crossed that intersection, and is now hiding behind a telephone pole."

"Hmm." Yuan Zhisheng nodded, pulled up the bamboo blind, and looked down from upstairs.

Erii was dressed in a shrine maiden outfit, with a gray kotatsu tablecloth transformed into a bundle. Two strips of cloth passed under her nose, making her look like a pair of mustaches, which was quite comical.

The fair face was smeared with mud, three lines on the left cheek and three lines on the right cheek, just like a cat's whiskers.

She peeked around furtively, looking left and right from time to time, like a thief, but she had no idea how to be a thief.

Her oversized shrine maiden outfit made her extremely conspicuous, and her exaggerated movements and tiptoeing were even more eye-catching.

Only thieves in anime walk like that.

The utility pole offered no cover for her body or clothes, yet she used it as a refuge. Whenever she peeked out and saw a passerby, she would immediately duck back inside.

“Don’t keep too close an eye on her,” Yuan Zhisheng said. “Be careful not to upset her. She’ll come back on her own when she’s had enough fun.”

“We only monitor her through the surrounding cameras so as not to agitate her. The team is on standby inside the building and will react immediately if anything unexpected happens.”

Although the head of the Uesugi family appears to be a delicate and beautiful girl, that's only an appearance. She is very sensitive and can easily go berserk, turning into a killing machine that doesn't distinguish between friend and foe.

Word of Judgment, Sequence 111—this is the terrifying power she possesses.

That was almost the realm of gods, where one could force a death command upon enemies within attack range.

However, there is a side effect of backlash, which will also shorten her lifespan.

If Erii really loses control and goes berserk, no one in the family except Genjiro should be qualified to confront her directly, so let her do whatever she wants.

Genji looked at the gloomy sky, as if a storm was about to break.

“Send someone to throw an umbrella next to the telephone pole,” he said softly. “Find someone who is of average appearance and build, have him ride a bicycle, and ‘accidentally’ drop the umbrella from the frame. Be careful not to make it too obvious.”

"Yes, my lord."

......

"It looks like it's going to rain." Lu Mingfei looked up and sighed. "I should have stayed in bed and played games instead of coming out. It would have been so much more comfortable."

The weather was hot and humid, with a chilly wind blowing. Many households brought their clothes back from their balconies and kept their doors and windows tightly closed.

In the midst of a torrential downpour, snuggling in bed with a PS controller, playing games while the rain pours outside, and enjoying the air conditioning while controlling Kratos, the bald-headed hero, wreaks havoc on Mount Olympus—that's one of life's greatest pleasures.

But he didn't check the weather forecast when he left home in the morning, and he didn't even bring an umbrella.

When it was just getting light, nothing was visible, but now it looked like a stormy day.

The rumble of thunder could already be heard in the distance; it was about to rain.

He had originally planned to visit Tokyo Tower today, but going up to a high place in the rain was definitely not a good idea. He also didn't know if the observation deck there had a glass barrier to protect it from the rain.

"Alright, alright, let's go back. God, please hold on a little longer, don't pee so soon."

As he spoke, large raindrops fell onto Lu Mingfei's nose.

Summer thunderstorms always come so suddenly, and the rain pours down on the concrete ground as if it were being poured from a basin.

This area seems to be an industrial zone; there isn't even a convenience store where you can take shelter from the rain.

Lu Mingfei was instantly soaked to the bone.

He quickly covered his iPhone with his chest; if the phone short-circuited, Norma would be gone too.

Thanks to the convenience of artificial intelligence, he didn't bother to memorize the map at all, and he hadn't even remembered the name of the hotel he was staying at.

Finding his way home in the sprawling metropolis of Tokyo was an impossible task for him. Taxis were too expensive; it was said that a taxi in Japan cost 20 or 30 RMB per kilometer, and the meter would jump up and down in ten minutes, faster than robbery.

He preferred to run back in the rain. He was physically strong, so getting a little wet was nothing. Back in Ashina, he had even fallen into a lake in the dead of winter. The icy water irritated his unhealed bleeding wounds, and when his frostbite became infected, they had to cut off the attached flesh. That was real torture.

He didn't dare take out his phone, so he just wandered around aimlessly, following his memory.

All he could hear was the patter of raindrops. He searched for a long time but couldn't find a house to take shelter from the rain. But he seemed to be lucky and found an umbrella on the ground, apparently left behind by someone.

"Better to die for your fellow Daoist than for me."

He rushed forward to grab the umbrella, but instead of the umbrella, he grabbed a cold hand.

Her dark red hair was soaked through, her face looked like a little cat's, and her shrine maiden outfit became somewhat transparent from the water, clinging tightly to her skin, revealing glimpses of her black lace lingerie.

She was curled up by the telephone pole, holding something in her arms.

"Nono?" Lu Mingfei exclaimed in an instant, but upon closer inspection, he would find that the two were very different.

He held up an umbrella to shield the girl from the rain.

The raindrops pattered on the umbrella cap, gathering into tiny streams that flowed down the umbrella beads to the ground.

Chapter Twenty-Five: Cherry Blossom Rice Cakes

"Young Master, the Uesugi family head has run into an S-rank enemy," Crow reported. "Shouldn't we do something about it?"

"Did they start arguing?" Genji asked.

"No, but... we were sitting harmoniously by the telephone pole, sharing the same umbrella."

“Letting her get soaked isn’t a solution. Get me an umbrella, I’ll go pick her up and also give our S-class a welcome.” Genji stood up from the bench.

"Yes, young master." Crow went out to prepare.

......

"Where is your home?!" Lu Mingfei shouted in the witch's ear. "I'll take you back!"

The sound of the rain was so loud that his words wouldn't reach the other person's ears otherwise.

The shrine maiden pulled out a soaked red sticky note and a ballpoint pen from her bosom. She wanted to write something on it, but as soon as the pen tip touched it, the black ink immediately spread, and each stroke she wrote turned into a black blob.

She stopped writing the first word, put the paper and pen back in her pocket, and pointed to an industrial building across the intersection.

"Where do you live?" Lu Mingfei asked, puzzled.

Why don't you go home when it's so close?

The priestess nodded, then pointed to the package in her arms, her left hand outstretched, and two fingers of her right hand tracing patterns on it.

Did you sneak out?

The priestess nodded again.

"Be careful not to catch a cold if you get wet in the rain. Let me take you inside first, okay?" Lu Mingfei stood up and held the umbrella higher. "If you agree, blink three times; if you disagree, blink four times."

She's so beautiful, yet she can't speak. God is truly cruel.

The witch blinked four times, remaining motionless, as if she didn't want to leave the back of the telephone pole.

Lu Mingfei was at his wit's end. He couldn't just drag someone along; that would make him look like a thug.

There was only one umbrella here, so he had no choice but to squat down again and stay in the corner with the willful little girl.

The shrine maiden seemed to be holding something very important; even though her back and chest were soaked, the gray cloth bag remained dry.

She protected it like a mother protecting her child.

Perhaps out of fear that the rain would get the bag wet, the wind blew the downpour at an angle, and as you walked, the things in your arms would inevitably get wet.

The two of them squatted on the telephone pole, like children playing house.

There was only one sound in the world: the patter of raindrops. It was truly a peculiar experience.

Raindrops the size of soybeans fell into puddles, splashing water and mist, making the world hazy and dreamlike. The outline of Tokyo Tower became blurred, the streets were deserted, and a sudden clap of thunder sounded. Yet, you and a shrine maiden, as beautiful as a paper doll, were leaning back to back against a telephone pole, sharing the same umbrella.

To be honest, this umbrella is completely useless. It only provides some protection for the head and chest area; the pants and shoes still get soaked.

The girl looked up at the sky and uttered a single word: "Sakura".

So she can talk.

The soft voice wasn't drowned out by the rustling sound, because the shrine maiden was speaking close to his ear.

Cherry blossoms, is she trying to find cherry blossoms?

Lu Mingfei didn't connect her with "Eri's PSN". He thought that shrine maidens and cherry blossoms were a good match.

It often happens in anime, right? In March or April, a young shrine maiden dressed in a red and white shrine maiden outfit leans against a torii gate, and pale pink cherry blossom petals fall one by one, like spring rain, landing in the shrine maiden's palm.

But it's August now, where are the cherry blossoms?

Lu Mingfei shook his head. He did have some cherry blossom cakes, and he had bought some to keep at the hotel. They tasted pretty good, with pickled cherry blossoms in the filling. They were sweet but not greasy, and the shrine maiden might like them.

He suddenly remembered that there seemed to be another piece in his bag.

He had originally planned to eat it for breakfast, but the heavy rain came too suddenly, and he hadn't had time to take it out yet.

I took out a small piece of oil paper from my coat pocket. Luckily it was oil paper, otherwise it would have gotten wet from the rain.

Lu Mingfei wiped his hands inside his still-dry shirt, tucked the umbrella frame under his arm, and carefully peeled off the oil paper.

He broke the cherry blossom cake in half and handed one half to the girl next to him.

“Sakura mochi,” he said. “Mochi made by Sakura.”

The girl's eyes lit up. She grabbed the half-eaten pancake, looked it over from left to right, and began to chew it in small bites, like a little squirrel foraging for food.

Do girls like that really exist in the world?

Lu Mingfei quickly and hurriedly finished the remaining half of the pancake.

He never liked to chew slowly. Ashina's dry rations were really hard to eat. Chewing them for too long only made him suffer more. The correct way was to swallow them in two or three bites and then drink water to cleanse his mouth.

But the shrine maiden was in no hurry. She savored the taste of the cherry blossom cake, and a smile slowly curved her lips. She smiled, a smile so beautiful it was almost unbelievable, so beautiful it was intoxicating.

Suddenly, the sound of rain subsided.

It wasn't that the rain had stopped, but rather that a huge umbrella was placed over Lu Mingfei and the witch's heads. It was more like a tent than an umbrella because it was so big that it took eight burly men in suits to carry it.

“It’s time to go back.” Genjiro extended his right hand to Erii.

There was still cherry blossom filling on the corner of her mouth. She handed over the bag in her arms first, and then took Genji's hand.

"Thank you for holding the umbrella for my sister. Please come and sit in the guest room and change your clothes," Yuan Zhisheng said with a smile. "She's always running around."

Room.

Lu Mingfei changed into a black kimono. The suits he had worn didn't fit him well, and he couldn't even stretch his arms out of the sleeves. So, Genji prepared a large kimono for him.

His new iPhone didn't get wet, but the battery was low, so he took it to charge.