The Legend of Tokyo Taoist

Chapter 776: The Bizarre Adventure of Shichijo Masato Part 9 ()

Qian Xiaoyi leaned back in his chair, picked up the black tea on the table and took a sip, patiently waiting for the French fries to arrive.

Qian Xiaoyi did not think that he was an old scholar or mentor who was qualified to educate others, but whether it was Inuyama Heita whom he met at the beginning, or Nanajo Masato and Terao Iku whom he met later, because of his appearance, they all had more or less cognitive elements. So as a pioneer, if they had problems, Qian Xiaoyi could not just leave them alone.

Each of these three people has his or her own problems, but coincidentally, these different problems put them in the same situation.

Because of their own reasons, each of them ignored their position in reality and turned to the more illusory spiritual world. The German Nietzsche once said a famous saying: When you stare into the abyss, the abyss is also staring at you.

Although this sentence has been overused, it is still appropriate here.

"In the theory of cognitive theory, being out of touch with reality is not a good thing..." Qian Xiaoyi shook his head and murmured, "I hope these guys can successfully find their own [French fries]..."

……

"You're going crazy! Stop showing me those things!" The world in front of Terao Yu has gone crazy. Under the effect of the purple talisman, he can no longer recognize the words on the store signs. He is like an illiterate. All the symbols are so strange in his eyes, yet they exude a familiar meaning.

This sense of déjà vu made him wander around the streets in a daze. He could only look carefully one by one before he could find the fast food restaurant selling French fries. It was a luxury for him to read the signs. Those words kept drilling into his eyes, and he could only try his best not to look at them.

But the problem is that in human society, words are everywhere!

Moreover, there are more than one fast food restaurants on this street. If he picked one at random, he might buy from the wrong place, but it would be against the rules to buy from all of them.

"This is too uncomfortable!" Terao Yu closed his eyes and breathed heavily. Passersby next to him couldn't help but stay a little away from him, otherwise who knows what this lunatic would do.

He now desperately wants to tear off the talisman on his back!

"Huff... Think about it again, think about what to do..." The distorted words made Terao Yu feel like retching. He leaned against the wall, looked down at the ground, and thought uncomfortably about how to crack the problem.

Then, he saw a gap on the ground. The gap was like the most primitive word - [One], which made Terao Yu a little dazed.

The word [一], the simplest Chinese character, has only one stroke, but the instinctive feeling after seeing the word still appeared in his mind.

"This is it!" But Terao Yu was somewhat delighted: "No, I haven't completely lost the ability to read text, this is something I can do! This is [One], I know it! In this case..."

He looked up at the signs.

"Then let's start from the beginning." Terao Yu murmured.

He stopped a person, pointed at a strange and twisted word on the sign and asked, "Excuse me, how do you read this Chinese character? What does it mean?"

"Ah? That... should be [Wine], right?"

"I see. Thank you!" Terao Yu stared at the word intently and re-established the connection between symbols and cognition in his mind. The word slowly turned into the familiar shape in his memory, and he could even smell a faint aroma of wine.

Passersby muttered "weirdo" under their breath and walked away from him.

Terao Yu said excitedly: "I understand! Teacher Qian! I know what to do!"

……

Humans are very emotional animals.

Sometimes we know we shouldn't think that way, but we can't control ourselves, such as when we are angry, sad, or desperate. Under the influence of these extreme emotions, people often behave in an uncontrollable way.

Inuyama Heita is in this situation now. The spell, whose specific effect is unknown, has aroused the dark emotions in his heart, making him irritable and angry, just like controlling those sharp black lines representing despair in the ghost realm. No, more than that, Inuyama Heita feels those black lines of despair stirring under his skin, but because of the existence of "reality", they cannot drill out of Inuyama Heita's skin and appear in the outside world, so they can only run around in Inuyama Heita's body more and more irritably, interfering with his thinking.

He forced himself to keep moving forward and finally arrived at the hamburger shop. All he had to do was buy a serving of fries and then walk back. It was very simple.

But he couldn't.

All he wanted now was to smash up this hamburger shop. He looked at the shop with hatred, as if the group of guys who wanted to teach had appeared in front of him.

What the hell are these fries! What the hell is this Hope Church! It's all bullshit! Go to hell!
Unreasonable and uncontrollable anger ignited his heart. The strange looks from passers-by made him even more furious. Those people didn't understand why this young man was standing at the door of the hamburger shop without saying a word.

Inuyama Heita appeared unusually calm on the surface, but he was furious inside.

"Go to hell!" and "You can't do this, this is not right!" Two thoughts were fiercely clashing in his mind. He wanted to control his emotions rationally, but his instinct would not give in.

While the two voices were still arguing, Inuyama Heita mechanically walked into the store and ordered an order of French fries.

Because this is his mission, even if he is in pain now, his behavior tends to achieve the goal he has set.

This hamburger shop is not like those chain fast food restaurants outside, it is more like a private one. The shop is very small and you can see the end at a glance. There are only two or three people busy working.

The attitude of the store clerk was also average, especially after hearing that Inuyama Heita only wanted one serving of fries.

"Your fries," the clerk said coldly.

After getting the French fries, Inuyama Heita started walking back. Suddenly, he stopped because he found that the French fries did not seem to be fried thoroughly. He picked up a French fry and tasted it. It was cooked only on the outside but half-raw inside. As a working soldier, Inuyama Heita had also worked in a fast food restaurant. He knew what this meant. He failed the training completely.

If it had been left there originally, Inuyama Heita would only comfort himself by thinking that maybe it was the merchant's negligence, or maybe just one of them was not cooked, so he wouldn't go back and cause trouble for others.

This is very common among Tokyo residents. The rule of "not causing trouble for others" has penetrated into their bones, and as a result, they don't want others to cause trouble for them. So it's rare to see two people arguing on the streets of Tokyo, because that would "cause trouble for others" and then receive strange looks.

The Japanese are very sensitive to this kind of silent exclusion, so at least on the surface, they will behave very sociably and silently abide by the rules.

"I'll just go back and report like this." Inuyama Heita thought, "As long as I bring the fries back, the mission will be accomplished! There's no need to make any extra trouble."

After he walked out of the store, he lowered his head, looked at the French fries in the bag, and tasted another one, which was still half-cooked.

So he was silent for a moment, then walked back into the store and said, "Please give me another serving of fries. These are raw."

"Huh?" The clerk scratched his ears and asked, "What did you say?"

"Change it." Inuyama Heita said, "French fries."

"This is a burger shop! You can't just buy fries here!" the clerk said impatiently, "Get away from me, kid! It'll be the same no matter what you do!"

Inuyama Heita suddenly reached out and pulled the clerk's collar, his eyes filled with anger as he said, "Didn't you hear me? I said, change to a serving of French fries, and I want them cooked."

Some of the customers in the store were busy eating, while others just left. No one cared about other people's business.

"...I, I understand." The clerk said politely.

(End of this chapter)