My avatar is becoming the final boss

Chapter 113 Wishes, Conflicts, and Agreements (Seeking Monthly Tickets)

July 18, night, Minato Ward, Tokyo, inside an izakaya in front of the Keihonka Hotel.

That evening, Gu Qiye wore a baseball cap, a thin black jacket, and casual trousers.

He found a seat at the bar in the izakaya, opened his phone's text messaging interface, and sent a message to someone.

[Gu Qiye: Are you sure this is the place?]

[Black Chrysalis: That's right, Qing Benhua Hotel, this is where Ke Qirui and Miss Ke Zinan are staying.]

[Black Chrysalis: Don't go the wrong way! Rumor has it that our Mr. Blue Arc has a terrible sense of direction.]

Upon seeing the message, Gu Qiye looked up from her phone screen and glanced out of the window of the izakaya at the hotel exit.

I observed quietly for about half an hour, but didn't see anyone.

Gu Qiye seriously suspected that she had been tricked, so she opened her phone and sent a message to Hei Yong.

[Gu Qiye: You were the one who followed Ke Qirui to the seaside villa?]

[Black Chrysalis: Do you expect me to follow Mr. Blue Arc? You run too fast, leaving a trail of sparks and lightning. I dare not follow you, I dare not follow you.]

Gu Qiye turned off her phone and sat upright at the bar of the izakaya.

He tilted his head to the side, his bright eyes fixed on the hotel exit beneath the brim of his baseball cap.

A moment later, he finally spotted the people he was looking for among the hotel guests coming and going: one was Ke Qirui, and the other was... Su Zimai, who was not wearing a face mask.

Through the window of the izakaya, Gu Qiye watched the figure following Ke Qirui from afar.

He did not show shock or surprise, but lowered his gaze, his eyes dimming slightly for a moment.

After waiting for a while, he got up from the bar of the izakaya, opened the sliding door and went out.

Gu Qiye followed behind the two without making a sound.

Seeing the two get into the taxi, he transformed into a bolt of deep blue lightning and ascended to the residential building above him. Maintaining a speed that wouldn't make a sound, he sped between the rooftops, his eyes always fixed on the taxi weaving through the neon signs.

Under the moonlight, faint blue arcs of electricity danced all over Gu Qiye's body, like fireflies swirling around him. His pupils were also filled with the light formed by the condensed arcs of electricity.

Five minutes later, the taxi stopped in front of a Japanese barbecue restaurant, and Ke Qirui got out with Su Zimai. The two entered the restaurant.

Upon seeing this, Gu Qiye, like a ninja who could scale walls, transformed into a bolt of lightning and slid down the wall of the tall building, finally landing steadily on the ground.

He took off his baseball cap, tossed it into the trash, and walked out of the alley, step by step toward the Japanese barbecue restaurant.

Amidst the rumbling sound, Gu Qiye opened the sliding door and stepped inside.

He paused at the doorway, hesitated for a moment, and then slowly walked towards the table where Ke Qirui and Su Zimai were sitting.

"Xu Sanyan and Lin Zhengquan haven't arrived yet? These two are habitual latecomers." Su Zimai frowned.

"It should take another ten minutes, we can order our food first," Ke Qirui said.

Out of the corner of her eye, Su Zimai saw someone walking straight towards her. She subconsciously thought that someone was looking for trouble, so she looked up and glared at Gu Qiye with hostility.

Then she froze for a moment, her eyes slightly vacant in the dim light.

After a long pause, Su Zimai murmured, "...Brother?"

Upon hearing this, Ke Qirui was slightly taken aback, put down her pencil, and belatedly looked up from the menu.

She followed Su Zimai's gaze to Gu Qiye, and suddenly remembered seeing him once on the streets of Roppongi that day.

Mai Mai's other brother? she wondered.

Gu Qiye looked at Su Zimai, lowered her eyes and then raised them again, a smile playing on her lips.

"What a coincidence... Little sister, you're here for barbecue too?" After saying that, he pulled up a chair and sat down opposite the two of them.

"What are you doing here?" Su Zimai asked softly, her ears turning slightly red, so embarrassed she almost buried her head in the ground.

"Shouldn't I be the one asking you..." Gu Qiye laughed, "Wen Yu and I are traveling in Japan, and I never expected to run into you here."

After saying that, he turned to look at Ke Qirui and said with a smile, "You must be Ms. Ke. We spoke on the phone this morning, and you seemed to have said... you were in Hong Kong."

At this point, Gu Qiye paused, her tone becoming slightly somber:

"Perhaps Hong Kong and Japan are relatively close; it's just a short walk from Hong Kong to Japan, wouldn't you say... Miss Ke?"

Even Ke Qirui was momentarily speechless, caught off guard by the retort.

She raised her slender hand to her chin, blinked her eyes under the brim of her hat, and seemed to be thinking of a solution. Ke Qirui occasionally met Su Zimai's gaze.

The atmosphere became incredibly tense. Gu Qiye stared at her without moving, waiting for Ke Qirui to speak.

After a long silence, Ke Qirui lowered her eyes and slowly began to speak:

“It’s my fault… I have to come to Japan for work. MaiMai was afraid you would worry, so she asked me and your brother to keep it from you.”

She looked up at Gu Qiye and said, "I'm sorry, I should have told you beforehand. This kind of behavior is indeed irresponsible."

“You are indeed very irresponsible. I never would have imagined that I would meet someone from Hong Kong in Japan…” Gu Qiye looked directly into Ke Qirui’s eyes and said expressionlessly, “Do you know how dangerous this is? If she were your family, would you allow someone to bring her to a place like this without saying a word?”

What angered Gu Qiye even more was that Ke Qirui, knowing full well that the White Raven Brigade would be at the auction, had allowed Su Zimai to join the operation without her consent...

How could she not know how dangerous this was? They were facing a group of monsters.

Thinking of this, Gu Qiye felt a surge of anger rising within her. "I have no family, so I might not understand how you feel." Ke Qirui took off her beret. "What I did this time was wrong... I apologize to you again."

She looked up earnestly and met Gu Qiye's gaze.

Gu Qiye's tone remained indifferent: "You're right, because you have no family... so you don't know how anxious and painful it is to worry about your family."

Su Zimai immediately became restless, frowning as she spoke:

"Didn't she say that I was the one who asked them to keep it from you? Why are you yelling at my teacher?"

Gu Qiye glanced at Su Zimai. After a long silence, he said, "Xiaomai, actually I guessed it when Wenyu told me. When I called you, I just wanted to know... whether you were willing to admit it."

“Yes… I lied to you, and then what do you want to say?” Su Zimai asked calmly.

"Nothing much... Did you have fun in Japan?"

"happy."

"Well... if you've had enough fun, how about going home with your brother? We're both in Japan, so we can invite Wenyu to come along... If you want, I can also invite Dad, even though I don't get along with him."

"No."

"why?"

"I feel very tired."

"Tired?" Gu Qiye laughed self-deprecatingly. "Then you know I have..."

"I know."

Su Zimai suddenly interrupted him.

She lowered her head, not letting Gu Qiye continue: "Seeing you shoulder all the responsibilities and things at home all by yourself makes me feel so tired. You're always like that, it really makes people want to avoid you. It feels like... we're a burden to you."

"You're my sister, how could you be a burden to me?"

“Who likes to see you like that every day?” Su Zimai laughed. “You think you’re so great, taking care of everything at home, without ever asking what my second brother and I think.”

She paused for a moment, then said, "Do you think we don't know how much you've sacrificed?"

Gu Qiye explained with a pale face, "I never thought that way. I'm the older brother. Mom is gone, Dad is gone... Only I can take care of you. In the past few years, I've never felt that you are a burden."

“Yes, but we feel,” Su Zimai said, “I just want to give you a break. I don’t want to be taken care of by you all the time, so I don’t want to stay at home.”

"But... I'll worry about you."

“Then don’t worry about me,” Su Zimai said earnestly. “I’m much better than you think.”

"But you're only sixteen, just a high school student."

"So what were you doing in high school?" Su Zimai said in a low voice. "You think I don't know that I went out to work late at night? Every day after school, I would go home to cook, and then go out to work the night shift. I wouldn't come back until two or three in the morning. Then I would turn on the light and study in my room by myself."

She paused, then looked up into Gu Qiye's eyes: "You really think... that neither my second brother nor I knew?"

Gu Qiye was stunned for a moment. Indeed... He had always thought he had done a good job and had never been exposed... But it turned out that his sister had always known that he would go out late at night and not return home until the middle of the night... The only difference was that his sister thought he had found a job outside and did not know that he was actually an outsider.

That's right. Living under the same roof for so long, how could he possibly hide it from his younger brother and sister?

Gu Qiye remained silent for a long, long time. She clearly had a lot to say, but she couldn't say anything.

“I won’t go back with you… You should think more about your own things and stop worrying about us every day,” Su Zimai said. “I’m capable of taking care of my own life and don’t need you to keep watching over me.”

“But you have no idea how dangerous it is…” As he said this, Gu Qiye looked up at Su Zimai.

He paused slightly, meeting his sister's stubborn gaze. No one knew Su Zimai better than him; she had always been like this, once she made a decision, she wouldn't change her mind.

“I’ll be home when summer vacation ends. You’re already out having fun, so don’t worry about me… Have fun. Your second brother doesn’t like it when you’re always thinking about us. You’re only a teenager, you should have your own life… We don’t like it when you sacrifice yourself for us, it makes us feel guilty and makes us want to run away.”

Su Zimai paused, "Mom is gone...it's not your fault."

After saying her last words, she stood up and walked out of the barbecue restaurant without looking back.

Gu Qiye didn't stop her, but just stayed there for a while. Ke Qirui didn't rush to leave either, and quietly sat down opposite him.

A moment later, he looked up at Ke Qirui and said, “Miss Ke, I don’t blame you for what happened this time, but please make sure you take good care of her.”

Ke Qirui nodded, put on her beret, and walked out of the barbecue restaurant, leaving Gu Qiye standing there in a daze.

He kept his head down, his bangs obscuring his eyes, making it impossible to see his expression...

After an unknown amount of time, Gu Qiye, like a goldfish surfacing for air, slightly opened her mouth and took a breath.

He then took his phone out of his pocket, intending to make a call, but ultimately opened the text message interface instead.

[Black Chrysalis: How did the chat go, Mr. Blue Arc?]

[Gu Qiye: Do me a favor. I can't possibly keep an eye on so many people at the auction. Keep an eye on my sister. If there's any danger, get her out of here immediately.]

[Black Chrysalis: Of course! I've been waiting for you to say that.]

[Gu Qiye: If anything happens to her, our cooperation will end here.]

[Black Chrysalis: Please rest assured of my abilities. I promise you... your sister will definitely get through this auction safely.]

　Asking for a monthly ticket!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)