CHAPTER 466: 218. NEW YEAR IN IWATE PREFECTURE: SHRINE VISIT (15)_2

Jiutiao Meijie tapped the screen, and a youthful, lively, and suggestive voice rang out.

"Che-kun~ Happy New Year~"

"Che-kun~ Happy New Year~"

Mrs. Jiutiao! Mrs. Kiyono! What are you doing!

Being mothers, can’t you keep some distance from your son-in-law!

"You seem to have a good relationship with them," Jiutiao Meijie said in a tone laden with meaning.

"..." Dubian Che explained, "It’s because of you that I have a good relationship with them; my direct relations with them are actually pretty average."

Jiutiao Meijie hummed self-righteously and continued scrolling.

"This one?"

"Ayane Kumi, Wind Instrument Club, oboe & bassoon section leader, now the club president."

During the ’meaningless but not boring, even quite exciting’ chat, it was their turn to pray.

Dubian Che threw three five-yen coins into the offering box.

’God, I’m giving you another chance, open!’

[New Product: Sunny Sky Doll]

[Sunny Sky Doll: Hang under the eaves, and the local weather is forced to be sunny]

It seemed like a remarkable but useless item.

[Skills: Entry-level—Border Patrol (100), Master—Child Nutrition and Health (1000), Master—Dodge (10,000), Grandmaster—Sanshou (100,000)]

[Player Exchanges for , Deducts 10,000 Points]

Dubian Che had tried and , the latter of which he didn’t pass, and wasn’t as good as his innate ability to read expressions and mood.

He wasn’t interested in knowledge of other professions either.

With and , he could learn anything he wanted on his own, so he might as well choose which could be offensive or defensive.

With the New Year’s prayers completed, the three left the shrine and arrived at the lantern-lit approach.

Under the cover of night, the lanterns cast light on the shapes of passersby.

"What wishes did you guys make?" Dubian Che asked as they walked.

"I don’t believe in these things," Jiutiao Meijie replied curtly.

"How about you, Kiyono?"

"Nothing important," Kiyono Lin didn’t want to say.

"Well, I’ll share my New Year’s wish; my wish is for everyone in the Human Observation Department to get along better and together..."

"Shouldn’t you call your father?" Jiutiao Meijie looked over and interrupted Dubian Che.

"Almost forgot." Dubian Che took out his phone and called his dad.

It was noisy on the other end.

After hanging up, Dubian Che said to the two, "Sounds like he’s reluctant to leave. Shall we walk slowly? Give him a little longer to enjoy himself?"

Neither of them had any objections.

On both sides of the approach, various shops were lined up, with dazzling arrays of products.

There were also shrine-owned stores, with high school girls working part-time, dressed in red and white miko attire, selling evil-repelling arrows, bamboo rakes, Daruma dolls, amulets, and other lucky charms.

Passing a barbecue stall, the skewers inserted around the charcoal fire drew attention in the cold winter night.

Grilled meatballs, rice cakes, fish, beef, corn, and so on.

The two young ladies declined, but Dubian Che bought a slightly burnt corn on the cob for himself and couldn’t wait to take a bite.

It was so fragrant that even the girls nearby started to drool and immediately bought out the corn at the barbecue stand.

Past the barbecue stall was the chocolate banana stand, followed by the shooting game.

"Ladies," Dubian Che stopped, raising his index finger with the hand not holding corn, "give me one chance, just this once."

"Explain clearly," Jiutiao Meijie said.

"My one and only New Year’s wish, let me show off in front of you!" Dubian Che pointed to the shooting stall.

Both turned to look at the stand.

There, several high school girls were leaning over the table with toy guns, trying to get as close as possible to the target with the barrels.

"This kind of activity, I don’t think there’s anything cool about it." Kiyono Lin crossed her arms, uninterested in any of it.

’Did you forget how I won that dolphin for you at the arcade?!’ Dubian Che threw such a look with his raised index finger.

Kiyono Lin turned her gaze slightly away, her voice lacking confidence, "Still, if you want to play, it’s fine, I can be an audience."

"Seems like I’m the one who should be allowing this, Kiyono?" Jiutiao Meijie squinted at Kiyono Lin.

Kiyono Lin brushed her long hair off her shoulder.

’Battle Mode, activate!’ Dubian Che provided his own voice-over for her action.

"Alright, alright," Dubian Che handed the corn to Jiutiao Meijie, "you two just need to look at me with admiring eyes!"

Jiutiao Meijie glared at him and, with nothing better to do, tried a bite of the corn in her hand.

Dubian Che, unaware that his corn cob had been eaten, was paying the stall owner.

The three high school girls who were about to leave turned back to see Dubian Che and decided to stay.

"The aim seems to be a tad high," one of the girls couldn’t help but point out.

Dubian Che nodded expressionlessly, seeming somewhat aloof—not daring to smile casually.

Far from getting angry, the girl became excited and blurted out all the tips she had summarized.

Only when Jiutiao Meijie’s fierce gaze shot her way did the girl purse her lips in embarrassment.

The girl’s companions giggled teasingly beside her, causing her ears to turn red despite the cold winter.

Dubian Che loaded the prop gun with rubber bullets.

Holding the rifle in one hand, he aimed at the best prize, a Hatsune Miku figurine.

"Oh Saint," Dubian Che intoned gravely and solemnly, like a church choir, "trust in the grace of the Lord, for He shall not forsake us. Grant me the strength to defeat the enemies of the motherland."

Jiutiao Meijie, munching on corn, stopped chewing.

Before she could speak, Kiyono Lin said, "I’d advise you not to ask."

As the person who had spent the most time with Dubian Che and understood him the best, Kiyono Lin could guess it was definitely a line from an anime.

"Pop!" The rubber bullet accurately hit the head just below the Hatsune Miku box.

"It must fall over," the merciless stall owner reiterated the shooting rule.

"... How could that be! You know the power of this crappy gun yourself!"

The young stall owner shrugged with a ’that’s the rule, don’t make me talk in this freezing weather’ kind of arrogance.

"I refuse to believe it," Dubian Che took out money, "Give me a thousand yen!"

Overconfident just moments before, he had only bought one shot.

"Mr. Dubian, don’t embarrass us any further," Kiyono Lin said, her ability to pour cold water on the situation was utterly disheartening.

"I don’t believe it, I can still do this!"

"Enough, are you just a kid?" Jiutiao Meijie handed the corn back to Dubian Che.

Dubian Che could only put down the prop gun and followed the two beautiful girls, but as he turned to leave, he said to the stall owner:

"You’re lucky it’s New Year’s, if it were just me, I’d have bankrupted you today."

"Pauper," the stall owner had nothing but contempt for someone who only bought one shot and hated good-looking guys even more.

Even the high school girls previously had bought five shots.

The trio ambled over to the shrine office.

It was Dubian Che who went in to call for someone.

The place was crowded with men whose faces were flushed.

In the center of the living room, tables were joined together to form a long table where they were eating, drinking, and bursting into hearty laughter from time to time; the atmosphere was lively.

There was no heating turned on, but even Dubian Che, just coming inside, felt hot enough to take off his coat—it was that lively.

"Dad, let’s get going," Dubian Che found his father and said quietly, bending down.

"Oh? You’re here, great!" Dubian Hengxiong wasn’t drinking alcohol; he was holding a juice.

"Hengxiong, is this your son?" someone with a beet-red face shouted.

"Gold medal winner in the whole Island Country’s Wind Music competition, first in the nation in mock exams, girlfriend’s a young miss from Tokyo!" Dubian Hengxiong wasn’t drunk, but his neck turned red from shouting so loudly.

"Remarkable! Such a promising young man!" someone commented.

"All women in Tokyo are vixens; you’ll definitely get tricked in the end!" another chimed in.

"Right, how about a match with my daughter?" yet another suggested.

Dubian Hengxiong dealt with the drunken revellers while walking out of the office with his son.

As they closed the door, Dubian Che overheard someone shout after them, "Who’s leaving before dawn?!"

Followed by the sound of table-slapping and a drunken cry of "Baka yarou!"

Stepping out of the shrine, the surroundings became eerily quiet, the sky was clear, and the stars twinkled brightly.

The air got colder but also clearer.

The four of them, having just come from the bonfire and crowd, quickly got into the Kcar.

On the way back, Dubian Che was still talking about the shooting stall incident.

"Such a trivial matter, and you’re going on and on about it," Jiutiao Meijie tried to cross her legs, but the limited space in the back seat prevented her.

The failed attempt to cross her legs didn’t go unnoticed by Kiyono Lin.

One looked on with scorn, the other with a ’what are you looking at’ glare, exchanging glances.

"It’s so embarrassing," complained Dubian Che with his left hand propping up the car window. "Why does every other male protagonist get to show off effortlessly, while I, when I volunteer to do it, not only fail but fail miserably?"

"You actually think you’re the male protagonist, Mr. Dubian; you have thicker skin than I could ever have imagined," Kiyono Lin said in amazement.

"What right do you have to say that?" Dubian Che retorted, then continued to grumble, "It’s all your fault for rushing me, otherwise I would’ve bankrupted that guy."

Amid his complaints, the Kcar drove towards Misezawa Village.

After the New Year’s, they were to head back to Tokyo.

◇

"Buzz~"

Dubian Che’s phone in his pocket vibrated silently, lighting up the screen.

"Che, I have found a house."