Chapter 26: Duel between Death Gods [VIP]
It is a sunny afternoon.
The tennis club called Faragliano is, as always, full of quiet energy.
It is quiet because it is large enough and is creatively built in the planning style of a residential area, separating venues or venues providing different services with landscaping methods similar to courtyard partitions.
Therefore, even if there are two adjacent golf courses, there will be buildings such as trees or corridors in the middle, which completely ensures the quiet and comfortable playing environment.
——It ensures that even if you, a novice, cannot even catch the ball, you can just trip with your left foot and fall flat on the ground with your right foot, and you will not receive any vague and contemptuous looks from other venues.
The vitality refers to the fact that even through the shadowy buildings and trees, the rhythmic sound of hitting the ball still appears one after another in every corner of the club, perfectly interpreting the most essential attribute of this place that looks like a garden - playing golf.
But on a certain court in the northeast corner, there was an awkward atmosphere that was completely different from the usual atmosphere of the tennis club.
To be precise, only Ken Oshitari was embarrassed.
Miss Suzuki Sonoko sat there in a good mood, and even hummed a song unconsciously because she had nothing to do.
Actually, things were pretty good when we first met.
Just as Ximen Sojiro said before, Suzuki Sonoko is a person who, apart from being particularly attentive to the people she cares about, mainly relies on labels when getting along with other people.
Although Ken'ya Oshitari was treated as a child by her, he was still her fiancé after all.
Sonoko had been on blind dates six times in a row and had formed a very fixed pattern on how to get along with her fiancé. When she met Ken'ya Oshitari, this pattern started to work automatically.
First of all, as a fortune teller, that is, an [interviewer], Suzuki Sonoko will not be shy at all. In addition, she will directly classify the man with the title of fiancé into a relatively intimate range, so at least when they first meet, that kind of natural and generous intimacy will definitely not be offensive.
When Kenya Oshitari walked into the gate of Faraglioni with his tennis bag on his back as if he was going to the execution ground, he felt that Tokyo was really a dark place. The next second, before he even had time to follow his uncle's instructions and adjust his expression to a more appropriate one, a girl's sunny voice came unexpectedly from not far away.
She didn't even call him by name, she just called out, "Here!"
Because there was still some distance between them, Kenya Oshizuka was so concerned about himself when he looked at the photo that he didn't remember his specific appearance. For a moment, he wasn't sure whether he was calling him.
He stood at the door in a daze, blinked at the girl not far away, and pointed at himself uncertainly.
This dazed expression is obviously better than the one on the execution ground, because Sonoko's second label for him besides "fiancé" is "child", so after seeing this dazed expression, she actually has a strange feeling that her expectations have been met.
So she nodded to him happily.
Ken Oshitsuka certainly wouldn't lose his temper with a girl for no reason, but he just didn't want to go on a blind date. The feeling of suppressing his unhappiness surrounded him all the time.
Sonoko did notice it, but didn't care - considering that the label of "child" was clearly on Ken'ya Oshitari's head, Suzuki Sonoko felt that if a little boy didn't get upset or sullen, what kind of child was he?
This was the first applicant who was younger than Sonoko, much younger. She felt like a senior from the beginning to the end, and she put herself in the shoes of Ximen Soujiro and Feng Jingye when they had been with her earlier.
The further Ken Oshizuka walked inside, the more he felt the same feeling as when he entered a tennis court. Listening to the sound of the ball hitting the ball coming from not far away, he felt that the tennis racket in his bag was already stirring.
Correspondingly, the reluctance of being forced naturally subsided a little.
Just at this subtle point when the aura changed, a cool touch gently hit his cheek and then left. When Kenya Oshitari came back to his senses from his excited state of surprise, Miss Suzuki Sonoko had already put a can of vegetable juice in his hand.
The girl, who was three years older than him, was only about half a palm shorter than him. Her figure and body shape were already very close to those of an adult woman, but her appearance was obviously childish. There was a magical childish feeling about her. When the two were combined, it felt like a marshmallow wrapped in pure chocolate.
——But it should be delicious.
To be honest, Ken'ya Oshitari is also a sociable person. The innocence of this young lady quite appeals to him. After all, she is a teenager of fourteen or fifteen years old. With these two factors combined, he actually felt a little embarrassed when he took the drink.
Suzuki Sonoko felt that she might succeed.
Then, as she led the teenager forward, she recalled the past in her mind: Besides buying her food, what else did Feng Jingye do?
Unfortunately, although she had great ambitions to imitate her predecessor's routine, this impulse came too suddenly and she did not do as much preparation as her predecessor.
——Except for the vegetable juice, which she unconsciously saw while looking through the information, she didn't remember any other specific details about Ken'ya Oshizuka.
So, during the short walk from the hall to the private venue, Miss Suzuki Sonoko's original interest gradually died down, and finally she simply gave up the temporary plan of taking care of her young fiancé because of the reason that "it was too troublesome".
To put it simply, she didn't want to play anymore because of that inexplicable irritation.
When Ken Oshitari walked into the venue, he unexpectedly found a child of six or seven years old waiting inside. The child was wearing a small suit and sitting obediently on a chair in the rest area with an opened box of coffee milk next to him, swinging his legs leisurely.
This little child is the beginning of everything going wrong.
Miss Suzuki had no intention of introducing who this child was. In fact, she didn't even bother to pay any attention to this child. But that ignoring attitude also showed that this child was tacitly allowed to stay there.
Although there is no intention of talking about love, blind dates are inherently ambiguous.
Now, whether he wanted to get to know his fiancée better or to honestly tell her about his anticipation for the national competition, the presence of a seven-year-old child at the scene made the words stuck in his throat.
Suzuki Sonoko gave up treatment.
Ken Oshitsuka was also at a loss for words.
The two of them changed their harmonious atmosphere on the way here and confronted each other for ten minutes for no apparent reason.
Then the young boy Qianye touched his tennis bag and thought that if they couldn't communicate, they could just play tennis. After all, Suzuki Sonoko had been playing tennis for ten years. Even if they couldn't communicate anything, it would be good to compete with an opponent of good level.
So he said, "Suzuki-san, do you want to play a game?"
Although this was a question, it would generally not be rejected, so he opened the golf bag before he finished speaking.
However, Miss Suzuki sat there without moving, shook her head gently, and said firmly, "No fight."
——When Sonoko was thinking about it last night, she had originally thought about having a fight, but she always felt that there was a smell nearby that made her uncomfortable. In the hot and suffocating atmosphere, she had begun to consider whether she should just lie down on the ground and collapse.
Being rejected unexpectedly, Kenya Oshitari, who had already grasped the tennis racket, was at a loss as to what to do for a moment.
He opened his mouth, but he hadn't actually thought of what to say, but the kid sitting next to him drinking coffee and milk suddenly made a slurping sound, attracting two pairs of eyes at the same time. He seemed to have completely ignored Suzuki Sonoko's gaze, and blinked blankly at Ken Oshitani.
The little boy uttered a childish "Ah" and tilted his head to ask, "Big brother, what are you doing standing there?"
The older brother Ken Oshitsuka was also stunned by the question.
As if dissatisfied with his lack of response, the little boy repeated in the same tone, "Big brother, why don't you sit down?"
For some unknown reason, Ken Oshitsuka also felt as if he was being urged.
He looked at the little boy's sparkling eyes, and driven by the strange atmosphere, he sat back down with his racket in his arms.
I sat there for a full quarter of an hour.
Suzuki Sonoko was very tired and didn't even want to talk. Kenya Oshima was quite handsome, so she just stared at him in a daze, which was actually a good way to pass the time. She just stared at Kenya Oshima without dodging.
Miss Suzuki Sonoko's ability to keep an eye on people has been recognized by her previous fiancés!
Being stared at by her wholeheartedly for a long time like this, even the calmest person would feel a subtle sense of uneasiness and shyness. However, Kenya Oshitari, who has a preference for innocent and cute girls, could only feel an awkward feeling of sitting on pins and needles.
Because the little boy of six or seven was also staring at him.
She stared at him along with Sonoko with an expression that was hard to describe, one that was innocent yet a little fake, one that was curious yet tinged with a hint of subtle disgust.
The look was quite penetrating, and soon Qian became so restless that he felt as if he was being followed by a surveillance camera.
But every time he couldn't help but look back at the child, the child would suddenly smile with the corners of his mouth, and make some cute movements.
——For example, blinking twice rhythmically.
——For example, tilting your head as if calculating the angle.
——For example, he would pretend to be innocent and naive while shaking his feet, but at some subtle moment, he would stare at his two short legs that could not reach the ground with a look of disgust.
While sitting there, Miss Suzuki, who was enjoying herself, started humming a song, but the two of them still did not have any verbal communication.
Just when Ken Oshitani thought he could only continue in silent embarrassment, his cell phone rang.
The regular players of Hyotei Tennis Club arrived at the battlefield half an hour late because Jiro Akutagawa was late for the gathering.
Ken Oshitari immediately breathed a sigh of relief.
"Um," he cleared his throat, "Suzuki-san, my friend seems to be nearby. Do you mind if I go pick him up?"
Suzuki Sonoko, who is very good at thinking from other people's perspective, thought to herself that she also had a burden, so if he wanted to call for help, then just call!
Nodding generously, indicating: Of course!
As soon as Kenya Oshitari went out, Shinichi Kudo followed him out.
"Hey, where are you going?" Yuanzi grabbed his collar and said, "You're so short right now, be careful not to run into a crowd and get stepped on..."
Kudo Shinichi raised his arms and turned around, cupping Suzuki Sonoko's face with his two little hands and saying to her earnestly, "After all, I'm not going to buy him juice."
——When he saw Suzuki Sonoko buying things to please people through the window, Kudo Shinichi almost thought he was dreaming...
She was like this, even though she said she didn't want to go on blind dates with children, her body naturally became honest once she met someone good-looking.
The kid's expression obviously changed when he walked in. If he hadn't taken control of the situation in time, and the two of them started chatting, I'm afraid that after playing a game of ball, this stupid fish would happily go and bite someone else's hook!
However, he can still be praised for refusing tennis.
Because of his short legs, Kudo Shinichi had to run to catch up with Ken Oshitari, but the road in Fraglia was so winding that he lost him after just a few laps.
He stood in front of the bushes by the wall with his hands on his hips, thinking that it would be great if it was a means of transportation. The next second, a strange noise came from the other side of the wall.
The intuitive detective swooped into the bushes.
This wall-climbing guy was obviously very skilled. While climbing the Fragglia's wall, which was higher than the average level, he still had enough time to talk on the phone.
I left it at a high-end club nearby.
[Don't worry, it's safe here... You can... come here to get it]
[I'll deal with those guys, please be careful.]
These unclear fragments of words strangely conveyed a sense of impending storm.
Before Kudo Shinichi could hear anything else, the man had already crossed the isolation belt with a whoosh. When the child detective came out of the bushes, all he could see was a head of orange-yellow hair disappearing around a corner not far away.
Thinking about the precarious situation around him and Sonoko, he became as sharp as a detective. He glanced around, quickly determined the direction of the path the man had taken, and rushed to the vestibule from the other side.
=====
Ichigo Kurosaki ran around the corner, frowning impatiently as he tried to find his way, while yelling at Rukia Kuchiki on the other end of the phone.
"I know the situation is urgent, and I know how terrifying Hollows are. You've already told me all this before, but could you please consider the reality of the situation? No matter how urgent the situation is, I can't just turn into a Grim Reaper on the street!"
In fact, it has only been a short time since Rukia Kuchiki started carrying out missions in the human world.
Before she had the chance to follow the teachings of the Shinō Spiritual Arts Academy and serve the Seireitei faithfully and safeguard the harmony of the spiritual world, she was seriously injured and lost the ability to work for the squad.
In desperation, she could only place her hopes on Ichigo Kurosaki, the Shinigami proxy who had inherited half of her abilities.
They are the gods of death, and their main job is to attract spirits and eliminate the void. Once something happens, they will definitely rush to the scene without hesitation!
How could Ichigo Kurosaki have so many problems? He has to attend classes and change bodies all the time!
——"I have already sent the soul to the place you mentioned. You can deal with Xu without worry. He will take good care of your body!"
"As someone whose body was nearly usurped yesterday..."
Ichigo Kurosaki entered the building from a side door, wandering around to avoid people. He finally found an unlocked door near the corner, walked in quickly, and made a comfortable pose on the sofa. He quickly escaped from the body, still muttering through gritted teeth, "You'd better warn that guy to behave himself!"
After saying that, he didn't even care about his phone and jumped out of the window.
"Anyway," Miss Rukia Kuchiki, the God of Death, completely ignored the warning and the fact that there was no one on the other end of the phone. She waved her hand casually and said, "Go, Ichigo!"
At the same time, at the main entrance of the Faraglia Tennis Club, the anxious Kenya Oshitari was waiting for his cousin who claimed to come to the rescue.
And my cousin's teammates.
Oshizuka Yuushi came up and patted his shoulder sympathetically, asking, "How's the situation?"
"well?"
Qian also considered his words: "It's hard to say..."
"I think you'd better tell the truth."
Minister Hyotei, who was standing at the front, snapped his fingers and said, "Since you want to end it, just tell her directly. If you want to play tennis or the national tournament, she might just agree."
Akutagawa Jiro, who had been scolded all the way for being late, carefully looked at Atobe's expression with his round eyes, curious in his heart: Why did Atobe say that he seemed to be very familiar with that person...
Ken Oshige scratched his hair, feeling a little embarrassed.
"Actually… we haven't started talking yet."
"ha?"
Jilang's attention was instantly diverted, and he began to complain: "If it hasn't started yet, then I clearly haven't overslept..."
"Suzuki-san brought a little boy."
Ken Oshitani also frowned and continued, "That kid is a bit strange... Anyway, we haven't officially started talking yet..."
"Little kid..."
Yuushi Oshitari subconsciously began to think: What does it mean that Miss Suzuki comes to a blind date with a child?
Mukaihi Taketo immediately said "huh" indifferently.
"He's just a kid, can't you just give him a toy or a snack and send him off to play?"
After saying that, he generously pulled out a large-headed lion doll from the half-open zipper of his tennis bag and said, "Here you go! This is Benji, the protagonist of 'Meat Empire.' He's probably the most popular animated character among children right now!"
Kenji Oshima subconsciously took the doll in his hand, but perhaps it was an illusion caused by the long-term embarrassment, he seemed to see the doll's mouth twitching.
"Speaking of which," Feng gently poked Yue Ren's shoulder, "When did Senior prepare these toys? He even considered that he could take care of children. Really reliable!"
"Not really."
Yue Renke happily accepted the admiration of his junior, and said with dignity and integrity, "Didn't I trip over the steps when I got off the car just now?"
He gesticulated excitedly as he recounted, "This doll is lying under the handrail on the left side of the stairs. Although it looks like it was thrown away, it's still new and of good quality. I just picked it up. Now that I need it, it's even better!"
Feng also smiled and said: "Senior is really a good person. If the baby has a soul, it will definitely thank you."
The soul squatting in the doll's body twitched its mouth uncontrollably again.
——Thank you XXX!
You even stepped on my foot!
wrong.
The soul remained in the form of a doll, banging its head against the wall frantically.
——Thank you XXX!
That idiot Kurosaki Ichigo is still waiting for Soul-sama to rescue him!
=====
After entering the gate and taking a few steps, the security guard hurried out and caught up with them to ask them to register again. Seeing that he was sweating profusely in a hurry, although Tobe was not very happy, he still took out his membership card here.
"Um," Feng asked curiously, "Did something happen?"
The security guard did not answer, and then the service staff rushed to the scene and politely asked them to wait in the lobby first.
There is only one lobby in Faraglieria, which is on the first floor of the main building right at the entrance. At this moment, all the valuable members are in their own exclusive boxes, resting and asking their sparring partners what happened.
One of the club's most valuable members, Miss Suzuki Sonoko, the nominal heir of the Suzuki family, was sitting on a red sofa chair in the left corner of the hall with a confused look on her face.
The stuffy and suffocating feeling made her want to sleep more and more.
The first room at the corner three steps away was nominally her exclusive lounge, but because the right to use it had been transferred to someone else, when she came again this time, the club's person in charge had decided to open the lounge in advance.
Because the maintenance staff had just finished cleaning, there was a faint lemon scent in the air.
A kind-looking policewoman sat opposite her and asked gently, "Little girl, how did you find the deceased?"
The toddler version of Kudo Shinichi, sitting on Sonoko's lap, said in a voice that was at least twice as sweet as the others: "I wanted to get a new towel for my sister, but when I pushed the door, it was locked. The manager had told us the door was open, so I went to the front desk to get a spare key. When I opened the door, the orange-haired brother was already collapsed inside."
When the group of Hyotei candidates were led into the lobby, Kenya Oshitari, with an orange lion doll tucked under his armpit, hurried to his fiancée who was surrounded by the police.
"What happened?"
"well?"
Yuanzi came back to his senses in a daze, half asleep and half awake.
Kudo Shinichi perfectly took up the conversation gap, raised the sweetness in his voice to three plus signs, and said innocently: "A murder has occurred in Sister Sonoko's lounge!"
"Well," the policewoman interrupted, "We're still not sure if it was a homicide. There weren't any signs of trauma on the deceased's body. It's very likely that he died suddenly due to physical reasons..."
"But I've seen that big brother before," Kudo Shinichi said, "He seemed to say he wanted to get something here."
The police sister thought to herself that according to the information, this underage gangster with orange hair did not seem to be a member of this tennis club. From what she heard, could it be that he was here to steal?
When Hun, who was trapped under Ken'ye Oshitari's armpit, heard this, his eyebrows jumped.
No way...
The next second, two co-police officers carried out a stretcher from the lounge, on which was placed a human-shaped plastic bag that had not been zipped up.
When Hun twisted his cloth head with great difficulty to look over there, he saw the opening in the silver-blue plastic—
——It was Ichigo Kurosaki’s face!
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