Chapter 43
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As Sakurai assumed, the White Rascals were supposed to be the only opponent, but gradually other Sword organizations joined in.
Even with the help of the Mighty Warriors, the results were still not good.
The uploading of the USB flash drive brought enormous public pressure to Kowloon. They had to violently suppress Sword as soon as possible. As for everything else? It had to be put aside for the time being.
Liu Longren called ICE. He was once a member of the Mighty Warriors, and out of old friendship, he had to give them a heads-up: "Hello? ICE, stop calling! Jiulong is coming."
"Oh, thanks, Liu," he said, and hung up. "Hello, Jesse!"
Jesse took a few steps back to avoid the cobra's attack and made a "pause" gesture: "Wait."
ICE said: "Gone."
"You heard that too?" Jesse said, "No more fighting this time. Goodbye." He waved.
"Hey, where are you going?" Cobra felt something was wrong. How could someone suddenly stop fighting after a fight? Something must have happened.
But they retreated quickly.
/
"……ha?"
The Mighty Warriors were walking out. Jesse spotted Sakurai sitting cross-legged at the station entrance. "I'm going to go first. See you later."
Ice shrugged, "We have to come play tonight, right? Bring Sakurai along."
He waved to Sakurai Minami in the distance, and the other party nodded as a greeting.
She wasn't easy to spot, a black mass resembling a ghost. But since she could make Jesse look like that and chose to go over at such a critical moment, ICE concluded it had to be Sakurai Minami.
"OK, it's my treat."
"You can still pay for your own land?"
"Hahaha, that's right."
After a few words, they made an appointment. Bernie said, "I want to go say hello too. I didn't recognize Noble the last time I saw her."
"I advise you not to go," ICE said.
Bernie smacked his lips: "I feel like there's something wrong with these two." The pure-hearted otaku is quite sensitive to this kind of thing.
Ice rubbed his fingers and smiled with interest: "It's quite interesting to see them together."
/
"Why are you here?" Jesse asked.
Sakura Minami raised her head, took the hand he extended, and used the force to stand up: "Didn't you say you were fighting at the station? I just saw a Kowloon bus driving in."
"Oh," Jesse stared at her. "Worried about me?"
She wore a mask and a hat, leaving only her eyes and eyebrows exposed. Her eyebrows were furrowed in a knot, and she reached out and slapped Jesse's face away: "Didn't I say I'd throw you a welcome party after you're released from prison?"
"Then why are you dressed like this?"
Sakurai Nan tsks, "Something happened. Maybe you'll see me on the news soon."
"That's really remarkable, so what did you do?"
"Exposing Kowloon's bottom?"
Jesse sighed and pulled her hat down a little further. "…Does it have anything to do with your time before you came to Little Asia?"
“…Yes.” Sakurai Minami said.
The atmosphere suddenly became heavy, but it only lasted for three seconds. Sakurai Minami said, "I can't see anything if you're like this."
There was a moment of darkness before her eyes. But she could feel a pair of eyes staring at her without any aggression, as if wanting to eat her alive. When she realized this, she found that goose bumps had already appeared on her arms.
Maybe it was an illusion, she could even feel a breath gently blowing on her face.
His hand was still on her face through the hat.
This is weird. Very, very weird.
"What are you doing?" she asked. She reached out and, like a ferocious octopus, pressed her hand against his jaw, then groped upwards in vain.
She raised her eyebrows in surprise: "Are you laughing?"
"Yeah," Jesse said, "but we have to get out of here first."
He grabbed Sakurai Minami's still trembling hand and said, "Let's go."
Jesse's hands were hot.
She used her free hand to slightly lift the brim of her hat, then looked down at their holding hands. She then looked up at Jesse's profile.
Jesse turned around and asked, "ICE wants us to go to Funk Jungle, do you want to go?
"Okay. Also, I can see the road now." So, I can let go of my hand.
Jesse made an ambiguous "tsk" sound and let go of his hand.
/
Once it gets dark, there are so many people at Funk Jungle that it's scary.
"Hold on to me," Jesse said.
So he naturally grabbed Sakurai Minami's hand again.
"Let go," she said.
"I can't hear you." He even had the leisure to scratch the palm of her hand with his fingers.
They were two such insignificant people in the crowd.
She looked at Jesse.
I feel itchy.
Upstairs, Bernie asked, "Pearl?"
"……ah?"
"Why did you suddenly get distracted?"
Sarah followed Pearl's gaze, thought for a moment, and smiled.
/
Sakurai Minami was warmly welcomed on the second floor.
This made her feel a little uncomfortable all over, especially when a strange woman was staring at her with such fiery eyes.
Sakurai Minami almost got goosebumps all over her body. She said, "Hello."
The woman smiled. "Hello, I've heard a lot about you. I'm Dixie."
Sakurai Minami tried not to dwell on the meaning of "I've heard a lot about you", after all, Jesse had said they had exposed her past.
Bernie was a little dissatisfied: "Why didn't you say hello to me? Noble, I don't believe you didn't recognize me the last time we met."
But you definitely didn't recognize me, Sakurai complained in her mind. Over the years, the guys I used to know have all become more mature and sophisticated, but Bernie remains the same. It's like he's grown up in vain, which is kind of relatable in a way. She said, "Long time no see, Bernie."
Bernie was very satisfied, he was always easily satisfied.
When she looked up again, she saw For looking at her pitifully. She could only greet the people she knew one by one, and then wait for Jesse to introduce the people she didn't know one by one.
This nearly cost Sakurai Minami half her life. Her relief was evident after the introductions, and ICE smiled: "Welcome, Sakurai."
/
Since old friends are meeting again, we can't help but drink some wine.
Bernie and ICE were much more generous than they were back then, and they brought in whole boxes of wine. Sakurai Minami found an empty sofa and sat down. Jesse took two cans from the table and sat next to Sakurai.
It was a single sofa, certainly comfortable enough for one person, but Jesse was trying to squeeze him in, and she glanced at him. They were locked in a stalemate, and Jesse finally settled for the armrest. It wasn't comfortable, but it was enough.
Jesse leaned over and whispered in her ear: "Do you remember the first time I met For and the others? We were sitting on the same sofa then."
I remember, of course I remember, but the sofa was big enough for both of us at that time, so your behavior of squeezing in now seems very childish.
She took a can of beer from Jesse. The can was much more convenient than opening a bottle.
/
"...We were still very young at that time, full of ambition and felt that we could do anything," said ICE.
"Tell me about it, I still don't know how you two met." Bernie said, "I remember it started from... N, no, Sakurai dragged Jesse to my store."
After all, last time I only mentioned Noble, but didn't elaborate on their story. Normally, we don't ask about each other's stories. But curiosity is inevitable.
"Ah, that time," Jesse took a sip of his drink and slowly fell into reminiscence. "It was also related to Doubt... ICE asked me to help them find out why Doubt came to Little Asia. That's where I met Sakurai. He beat me up the moment we met."
Someone laughed.
"You were suspicious then," Sakurai Minami argued, "I thought you were on guard duty."
"Okay, but you did beat me up, don't deny it. Doubt captured a lot of kids and locked them up there, and the two of us took them down. Unexpectedly, they remembered our faces, and one even tracked me down. That's when Sakurai took me away and went to Bernie's shop. You all probably know what happened next."
"Then Jesse came to me," Ice continued. "Doubt had made a tidy fortune at Little Asia. We had a big show there, and it was very profitable."
"Ah. That fire, huh?" 9 remembered. "So you guys were the ones who started it."
"There's something even more powerful, 'that,'" Jesse said.
Although the cost was severe, it was still a major move.
Under everyone's curious gaze, ICE revealed the answer: "We went to rob the Katsuya Group. We succeeded."
The Mighty Warriors let out a small cry of surprise.
"But, speaking of which, at that time, Katsuya's team actually installed surveillance cameras and quickly tracked down Noble and Jesse."
Bernie asked, "Noble, did they send an army after you? Normally, it's hard for me to imagine you getting beaten up."
"There were a lot of guns," Noble recalled. "Five? Six? ? ? Pointed at me. It was terrifying. I still have nightmares thinking about it."
"What now?"
Noble held up five fingers.
"Can you fight five guns?"
Noble shook his head. "Five seconds."
Bernie burst out laughing. Even the others couldn't help laughing.
While laughing, ICE suddenly sat up straight and the laughter stopped abruptly.
"Sakurai, I have to make one thing clear," Ice said slowly. "A long time ago, you, Jesse, Bernie, and I were friends. But fate wasn't kind to us. Now, are you still our friend? The choice is yours, change or die?"
Change or die is a common refrain at ICE. Pearl had chosen change; choosing die wasn't a good option, at least not with ICE. The question essentially meant yes or no. If she refused... Pearl could only pray. He glanced at Jesse, who seemed unfazed.
Sarah was also very curious. When ICE asked her the question, she didn't care about the answer or ICE's reaction. She just replied "I never die". She wanted to know how Sakurai would react to this question.
Sakurai said, "or."
Everyone was stunned, and then burst into laughter: "No - you really are -"
"Wow," Dixie said, "I'm starting to like you."
"My pleasure." Sakurai Minami replied.
This question is passed.
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