Soul Patch

Chapter 309 Emotional Patch
The sky is bright.

A seafood wholesale shop in the outskirts of Beijing, owned by Eiko Kawashima.

Kawashima okusan's rambling voice smoothed away Matsuyama's guilt about dismantling the amulet.

At first, I felt a little guilty, but after listening to it many times, Songshan became completely numb.

It's just a stone, why make such a fuss...?

He handed the small gray stone directly to Morita.

The moment the stone touched Morita's palm, the originally gray stone began to gleam with a faint blue luster.

That faint glimmer of light, like a candle flame in the wind, flickered for a moment before disappearing completely.

Morita's hand trembled slightly, and he gurgled in his throat: "Ah!"

This thing is actually a little hot!

“Matsuyama-kun, you know that amulets carry divine protection and the faith of their holders. It's really inappropriate for you to remove them without Morita's consent. This will bring misfortune to Morita…”

"Look at Morita, he's seriously injured now. If you want him to recover soon, you'd better go and ask for an amulet for him yourself. Only then can you gain the gods' forgiveness. You must do this yourself, Matsuyama-kun... Matsuyama-kun!"

Eiko Kawashima was genuinely angry and went on and on about it.

Saki, who was standing nearby, couldn't help but feel embarrassed.

He made an excuse to ask about Morita's injury and what precautions to take in his care, then strolled over to Dr. Sakuragi and sat down, whispering with him.

In the brief moment between Kawashima Eiko's rant, she looked up and found Matsuyama staring blankly at Morita on the hospital bed, his expression numb.

This made Kawashima even angrier. Her breathing became more labored, her chest heaving, and her voice unconsciously rose a few decibels: "Matsuyama-kun, do you have any objections to my proposal?"

Matsuyama didn't hear her words at all, as if he were frozen at the head of the bed, his gaze fixed on the direction of the hospital bed.

Kawashima Eiko was absolutely furious. She screamed, "Matsuyama-kun... Matsuyama Koichiro!"

That last shout was completely yelled out.

Saki and Sakuragi, who were sitting on chairs nearby, simultaneously shut their mouths, stood up, and looked over.

The two looked at each other, bewildered: "What happened?"

This time, Songshan finally snapped out of his reverie. He blankly uttered an "Ah," mechanically turned his head, and blurted out, "Did you see that?"

He didn't use the person pronoun, which is impolite in island nations.

He was incredibly rude of him not to use a respectful title for Kawashima Eiko, who was older than him.

So, at first, Eiko Kawashima didn't realize that Matsuyama was talking to her.

She looked around and saw that besides Songshan, she was the only other person by the bedside.

She then looked towards the chair, where both Saki and Dr. Sakuragi looked puzzled.

Kawashima Eiko suppressed her anger and patiently asked, "Matsuyama-kun, what did you just say?"

Matsuyama's bewildered expression gradually faded, replaced by surprise and confusion: "Kawashima, did you see that stone glow just now?"

Is this a way of changing the subject? Just like my outdated husband, he becomes deaf whenever I start to speak… Kawashima’s face was as cold as ice as he said, “No.”

“Yes, I thought I was seeing things too…” Matsuyama was a little confused. He lowered his head and pondered for a moment, then slowly raised his head and said with certainty, “But, Kawashima, I really want to see that stone spark for a moment.”

He turned to look at Saki and Dr. Sakuragi: "Did you see that?"

The two men shook their heads, their faces showing a mocking expression.

He probably thought something similar to what Eiko Kawashima was thinking: Matsuyama-kun, you're really exaggerating. If you don't want to hear nagging, you don't have to say something so mysterious.

Hearing this, Morita, who was lying in bed, was suddenly jolted.

No wonder Sato treasures this thing and never lets outsiders see it.

And that Amiko wouldn't risk her life to steal a useless stone.

……

Just now, I felt a warmth from the stone, and there was even a faint humming sound, as if it were a spiritual stone. It seemed that this thing was sentient!

[Ding! Soul Patch System Now Available] (Japanese, same below)
A line of text flashed before his eyes.

what's the situation?
Is it possible that excessive blood loss is causing hallucinations?
[Accept Task?]

[Default Receive]

[Negative emotions from the surrounding environment have been detected. These negative emotions have reached a critical threshold. If left unchecked or uninterrupted, they will cause a deviation in one's life trajectory.]

[Source of negative emotions: Sakuragi Ishikawa]

Morita stared at the scrolling lines of text, feeling utterly bewildered.

Is this the effect of the spirit stone?

I've heard that spirit stones can change what happened in the past. What's with this negative emotion?

He closed his eyes, deliberately ignoring the text.

The words remained suspended before his eyes, as if imprinted on his retina. He could see them whether his eyes were open or closed; they showed no sign of disappearing.

He was helpless and forced himself to recall the information he had just received.

Sakuragi Ishikawa is... the doctor who operated on me?

Whether he has negative emotions or his life trajectory has deviated, what does it have to do with me?

Failure to address negative emotions in a timely manner will cause the life trajectory of the person being patched to collapse or even be destroyed.

collapse?

destroy?

What is meant?
It doesn't feel like something good.

Suddenly, he regretted touching it. Sato treated the amulet containing the stone like a treasure.

But I never opened it to take a look.

Perhaps I've seen it, but I've never touched it.

That's not right. Ameko touched this thing, so why didn't it lose its luster?
[System testing has shown that Emotion Patch 001 is insufficient to correct negative emotions.]

Should intensive training be conducted?

[Default is to receive reinforcement training]

[Faced with a person who is emotionally distraught and contemplating suicide, what methods would you use to rescue them?]

How to rescue them? First, find out why they jumped. Based on the reasons, try to persuade them, offering words of encouragement to help them give up.

Or take the opportunity to build rapport, gain trust, and find a chance to lure the person to a safe zone.

[Scoring 60 points on the test will grant you +1 to your Emotional Soothing Skill]

"call"

Morita exhaled a breath of stale air.

Seeing this, Eiko Kawashima leaned closer and asked, "Morita-kun, how are you feeling?"

"Kawashima, I feel much better." Morita's expression was calm, and his voice wasn't loud, but it was still audible. He didn't look like he had lost too much blood or had just undergone major surgery.

He recovered really quickly! He's such a young man... Kawashima Eiko felt better seeing that Morita was doing much better.

A smile appeared on her face, and she said in a light voice, "Morita-kun, I'm making oxtail soup. I'll bring it over for you."

Morita said the mission was to eliminate Sato, but he doesn't seem to care about Sato's life or death. He seems more concerned about the amulet...

Matsuyama looked at Morita thoughtfully, then asked, puzzled, "Is that amulet in your pocket Sato's?"

(End of this chapter)