Chapter 379: Thug |
"Hey, that is so pretty! Where did you buy it?"
"Did you manage to snag tickets for Saturday's concert?"
"I think a handsome man was just looking at you!"
"Where should we go for dinner?"
"I wonder if the rain outside has stopped..."
"..."
The clamor of voices filled every corner of the shopping mall. Pedestrians walked together in bustling crowds, surging like an ocean tide.
Ye Xingyuan kept his head slightly lowered as he circled through the most densely packed areas, then turned and left the bustling commercial building.
Finding a random alley nearby, he did not bother opening an umbrella. Letting the rain soak him, he pulled three fairly bulging wallets from his pocket.
Yet, looking at these wallets, Ye Xingyuan did not immediately open them to inspect his haul. Instead, he turned his head and called out toward the entrance of the alley, "How long are you going to follow me?"
"..."
The scene fell quiet for a moment before a figure holding an umbrella appeared at the mouth of the alley.
Still wearing that exquisite Japanese schoolgirl uniform, still holding that beautiful little umbrella, Takanashi Chisaki silently watched Ye Xingyuan, her gaze lingering on the wallets in his hands. "I wonder what Grandmother would think if she knew the pitiful guy she so desperately wanted to help was actually a highly skilled thief."
Ye Xingyuan stared back at her in silence. His expression was calm and indifferent, showing absolutely no anxiety or nervousness at being caught red-handed. Even in the face of her obvious mockery, he merely replied flatly, "I actually think the truly pitiful one is not me."
"As for what she might think..." Ye Xingyuan looked at Takanashi Chisaki with pitying eyes. "Shouldn't you know best what 'she' would think?"
"..."
Takanashi Chisaki froze for a second before saying, "I do not understand what you are talking about."
Ye Xingyuan remained noncommittal, then lowered his head and opened the first wallet.
There was a small stack of ten-thousand yen bills, along with a few thousand-yen notes and some loose coins. A rough calculation put it at around seventy or eighty thousand yen.
Of course, the wallet contained more than just money. IDs and bank cards were also stuffed inside, but Ye Xingyuan had no interest in those things.
"I think you should return those to their owners."
Ye Xingyuan glanced up at Takanashi Chisaki, who was still standing at the alley's entrance. "Are you acting heroically for justice, or are you simply a moral purist?"
"Neither," Takanashi Chisaki shook her head, stating earnestly. "It is just that Grandmother hopes for it."
"Is that so," Ye Xingyuan pondered for a moment. He snapped the wallet in his hand shut and tossed it to Takanashi Chisaki. "You helped me, so consider this your reward. Whether you return it or keep it for yourself, it is entirely up to you... no, up to your Grandmother's wishes."
Takanashi Chisaki caught the flying wallet, but her eyes remained fixed on Ye Xingyuan. "And the rest?"
Ye Xingyuan turned and walked toward her. As they were about to brush past each other to leave the alley, he waved the remaining two wallets in his hand. "These are not something you or your Grandmother's wishes can decide."
He then raised the clear plastic umbrella in his other hand and popped it open. "Also, thank you for the umbrella."
"..."
After Ye Xingyuan had walked about ten meters away, Takanashi Chisaki called out to stop him once again, "Wait!"
He turned his head and asked in confusion, "Is there something else?"
Takanashi Chisaki hurried over with her umbrella. She looked into Ye Xingyuan's pitch-black eyes and said, "If you are only doing this for the money, the wallets themselves and the IDs inside should be of no use to you, right?"
Saying that, she pulled out her own wallet, took out a stack of ten-thousand yen bills, and handed them to Ye Xingyuan. "Here, take these, and give those two wallets to me."
Ye Xingyuan fell silent for a moment before asking with a hint of bewilderment, "What good does this do for you? Or is it simply for the mental satisfaction you gain after doing a good deed?"
"I told you, it is only because Grandmother hopes for it."
"..."
Ye Xingyuan accepted the money from Takanashi Chisaki and handed over the wallets he held.
Takanashi Chisaki gave him a long, deep look. Gripping the wallets under her umbrella, she turned and ran back toward the shopping mall.
Watching her retreating figure, Ye Xingyuan's gaze appeared somewhat hollow.
"What a pitifully good person..."
Subsequently, he looked down at his own hands. "An unpitiable..."
"Thug."
...
Rumble!
"Eep!"
At the Shimizu Residence, inside Shimizu Yu's room, several girls sat gathered around a small table on a fluffy carpet.
The sudden clap of thunder startled Ito Saki, making her shrink her neck and let out a soft yelp.
After being sent out of the abandoned school by Hoshino Gen, the members of the Outdoor Adventure Club had returned to their respective homes, minds heavy and spirits in a daze. However, the group of close friends from Segawa Private Academy's First-Year Class A did not separate. Instead, after enduring such intense terror and extreme shock, they chose to huddle together for warmth.
They had each called their families, arranging a long-overdue joint lodging together.
Oguri Aino shifted her body, scooting closer to the thunder-fearing Ito Saki.
"Let it come!" Suzuki Sawami appeared somewhat excited. "We have already survived a battle of superpower users! Why would we be afraid of a mere typhoon?!"
Inevitably, the conversation steered back to this topic. Everyone unanimously turned their gazes toward Shimizu Yu, who had her head bowed, constantly checking her mobile phone.
She had sent a message to Hoshino Gen but received no reply, and then sent one to Hoshino Rin, only to be met with the same silence. Shimizu Yu was still a bit absent-minded and did not react to everyone staring at her. It was not until Sakurajima Yui nudged her from the side that she finally snapped out of it, looking up to find the others watching her.
She could not help but blink. "Wh... what is wrong?"
"What is wrong, she asks!" Suzuki Sawami reached out with a mock-ferocious expression, pinching Shimizu Yu's cheeks. As she tugged, she yelled, "Hurry up and explain to us exactly what is going on!"
"Hoshino... Hoshino was flying in the sky back then, right?! He was totally flying! The one who froze that collapsing, crumbling building in place, the one who tossed all of us out of that abandoned school in one go, that was all Hoshino, right?!"
"I knew he always seemed so out of place at school, incredibly mysterious and all. So this was the reason!"
"Ahhh—I cannot take it anymore! What in the world is going on with this world?"
"But at the end of the day, we are not that close to the guy anyway, and he inherently has this temperament where 'even if things are like this, there is no incongruity at all'..."
"The main issue is you, Yu-chan! When did you become a magical girl who can conjure a large fireball by hand?!"