I became the emperor in the comic book series.

Chapter 37: Higashino on horseback!

Higashino Akira lay in bed for a long time, mentally preparing himself, then sighed before finally opening his eyes.

Open your eyes, and then.

A pair of clear, clean, and watery eyes came into view.

Higashino Akira's heart skipped a beat as he quickly realized the situation. He had clearly turned away from Emi to sleep last night, but somehow Emi had ended up in his arms.

What's even more suffocating is that he was used to sleeping with girls in his arms, whether it was Saki Kawasaki or Shoko Toyokawa. His body instinctively made the kind of movements he would only make when he was with them, placing his hands where they shouldn't have been.

Even through a layer of pajamas, he could clearly feel the girl's well-developed, healthy, full breasts and their elasticity.

The girl's originally pure and lovely face was now flushed red. She gently bit her lip, her eyes were a little hazy, and she lay there obediently and quietly, gazing at him.

Higashino Akira paused for a moment, and finally could only pretend to be calm as he let go and sat up from the bed.

"It's getting late, get up."

"Ah."

Behind her, the girl's eyes were filled with shyness mixed with a hint of secret delight.

The morning passed peacefully. After washing up, Higashino Akira rolled up his sleeves and went into the kitchen, only to be gently pushed out by Amaneme Ei.

He said that the kitchen is a girl's battlefield and she doesn't need his help.

Culinary skills are an important achievement for a bride's self-cultivation.

Higashino Akira had no choice but to let her do as she pleased, while he picked up his phone and went outside to answer it.

"Your Majesty, the assassins we detained yesterday died in an accident last night."

"Moreover, their bodies decomposed too quickly. According to the autopsy results, their bodies should have shown abnormalities long before death, but these abnormalities only manifested rapidly after death."

"Before they died, they were almost all in a state of mental confusion. The police tried everything they could, but they couldn't get anything out of them."

Upon hearing this, Higashino Akira did not blame the other party for incompetence. It was understandable that ordinary criminal investigation methods would not be very effective when encountering supernatural events, especially when the methods were different.

On the contrary, this series of reactions made Higashino even more certain that he was indeed being targeted. The previous attack, whether by ghosts or possessed people, was all pre-arranged. Otherwise, how could it be such a coincidence that so many people happened to be carrying weapons and decisively attacked him after the evil spirits' attack failed?

Neither those evil spirits nor the vessels they possessed were innocent.

If we're talking about truly innocent people in the carriage, the only ones are probably the other passengers. Fortunately, they're all Muggles, not sensitive to psionic energy, so neither of the two waves of attacks from the evil spirits targeted them. Instead, they sat safely on the front lines, watching the whole thing unfold without a scratch.

"Continue the investigation. Investigate their identities, the people they came into contact with, where the knife came from, where the vehicle came from, and the train staff at that station. Check everything thoroughly."

The advantage of official channels is that they can be used to openly and legitimately do many things that are inconvenient to do in secret, and the person being investigated has to cooperate.

Once a clue is found, the rest can be handled without the need for the overt forces to go through the formalities. Other forces will act swiftly to make the perpetrator pay the price.

The phone call ended, and a voice called from inside the house. Higashino Akira went back and sat down with Amaneme Akira to quietly eat breakfast.

To be honest, it's just okay. It's not bad, but it's not particularly delicious either. It's about the standard of an average housewife.

However, seeing Ying's expectant eyes, Higashino Akira nodded, acknowledging her hard work and praising her.

After all, people who don't have to cook and are just waiting to be fed shouldn't have too many demands.

Another day has passed. Since they had already woven the straw ropes they needed yesterday, the two of them started making classic and fashionable shrine trash such as amulets today, leaving the tasks of inspecting shrine props and doing a thorough cleaning to be done in the last two days.

The only special thing was that Ying's friend, who was also her half-sister Nagisa Ichiyo, came and helped out.

As a former anime fan, although many memories have become blurred after more than 20 years, Akira Higashino has not forgotten classics like Yosuga no Sora. He naturally knows the complicated relationship between Akira Amatsume and Ichiyo Nagisa, not to mention that he was a witness to that incident in this life and saw the old man bring the child back with his own eyes.

However, since the old man didn't say anything later, Higashino Akira kept the matter to himself.

In fact, even if Ying knew the truth, her politician father could not tarnish his own reputation or change Ying's current situation. It would only add to her troubles. It would be better to live each day happily. At least at the shrine, she has elders who care about her and family who care about her. She is not an abandoned child.

In the afternoon, Nagisa Ichiyo was picked up by the driver and left. Before leaving, she said a serious goodbye to Higashino Akira and Ei, promising to meet again on the day of the New Year's pilgrimage.

After a long day of crafting, Higashino Akira was exhausted, mainly because it was so tedious. On the other hand, Amane Emi was full of enthusiasm and energy, throwing herself into her work all day long.

After finishing, he plunged into the kitchen to fight again.

She wasn't wearing the down jacket that Higashino Akira bought for her today; instead, she changed back into her old red and white shrine maiden uniform, saying she was saving the new clothes for the New Year.

Dinner was quiet, ordinary yet subtly warm.

After that, the two of them sat together to watch TV. If there was anything different about the countryside, it was the huge technological gap. Smartphones were already popular in the city, but feature phones were still everywhere in the countryside. The TVs were also old-fashioned, with small screens and dark colors. Not to mention computers and the internet, there were very few households in the entire village of Aomuran that had computers. They were even a step behind in receiving the news.

In comparison, it definitely lacked some of the fast-paced excitement.

The phone rang suddenly. After glancing at the caller ID, Higashino Akira patted Ying, who was leaning against him, and told her to sit up. Then he picked up his phone and went to the door to answer it.

"Horse rider, Dongye!"

"I always knew you were more than just a regional runner-up. If you had worked harder back then, you might have made it to the national competition!"

As soon as the call connected, Hiratsuka Shizuka's loud and boisterous voice came from the other end.

"I've seen the video. He fought six people bare-handed, and he didn't embarrass me!"

"How are you? Are you alright? Is it serious?"

After listening for a while, Akira Higashino finally understood what had happened.

Everything that happened on the train that day was recorded and circulated, becoming a popular video on various video websites. Then, Hiratsuka Shizuka recognized him and called him directly to ask about it.

With sweet words, she soothed the iron fist coach, who was clearly getting carried away and wanted to challenge her to a fight at the gym after returning to Tokyo. This angered her so much that she almost drove straight to this remote and impoverished rural area.

Akira Higashino had a premonition that his phone would be buzzing with activity in the next few days.

Sure enough, after Shizuka Heiwazuka ended the call, the sheer number of red dots and messages on her social media was enough to make one's scalp tingle.

Higashino Akira looked up the video and saw that in the comments section, some troll was even going so far as to expose his personal information, from college to high school, and even which elementary school he attended, his social status, and where he lived. There was no privacy at all, and that idiot even posted a class photo.

The train schedule also revealed that he had gone home, and a group of people who love to watch the drama have already made plans to visit his family's shrine during the New Year.

Akira Higashino didn't have anything he wouldn't dare let others know. Since his family had a shrine, he wasn't afraid of people coming.

However…

Thinking about his boring experience of doing repetitive and tedious handicrafts all day, Higashino Akira looked up at the sky speechlessly and decided not to tell Akira about it, otherwise he would have to work overtime again in the next few days.

Chapter Thirty-Eight: An Unexpected Visitor

I am grateful to the rural areas where information flow is underdeveloped.

This saved Akira Higashino from the possibility of being worried and nagged by Akira, and from the annoyance of having to work overtime as the year draws to a close.

How much money can those little amulets sell for? It's only because Ying disagreed that Higashino Akira would have just outsourced the production to a factory for customization.

I selectively replied to messages from a few close friends and teachers, and for the others, I could only give them perfunctory replies.

After finishing everything, Akira Higashino returned to the house, completely unaware that far away in Tokyo, there was a girl who had been thinking about him for a long time but had searched for him in vain. She had the air of a resentful widow and was meticulously writing down the location of his house on a piece of paper, word by word, in the comments section of that video.

Time passed day by day until the Lunar New Year.

All preparations were finally completed ahead of schedule.

Akira Higashino and Akira Amamiya stopped staying at the shrine and got ready to go out early in the morning.

hospital.

Higashino Akira sat on the empty hospital bed next door, resting his chin on his hand, watching Ei and the old man lying on the hospital bed chattering about their recent situation.

Higashino Akira listened quietly, as did the old man.

Listen quietly as this little girl describes her present, her hopes for the future, and talks about her friends, family, and the wishes she has made to God.

There's never enough time to spend with important people. It felt like only a short while had passed, but her grandfather's kind face already showed signs of fatigue, which made her feel a little guilty.

The old man noticed her change in mood and gently patted her hand to reassure her.

Then, with difficulty, she turned her head to look at her grandson sitting beside her, remained silent for a long time, and then slowly spoke.

"Ming, come any closer to me, I can't see you anymore."

The old man's voice was dry and murky, as if covered by a thick layer of cowhide, indistinct and unclear, just as he had reached the moment of his life, like a candle flickering in the wind.

Higashino Akira walked to his side and let him look at him quietly, over and over again.

The old man stared at him for a long time, gradually sinking into a deep recollection. It took him a long time to come out of it, and he stretched out a dry, almost bony hand and placed it on his face, his expression complicated.

“You’ve changed since you came back.”

Akira Higashino didn't say anything, but listened quietly.

"I thought you would live a normal life, peacefully, without being harmed by those bad factors. I was wrong."

"I shouldn't have agreed to let you leave your hometown."

"You've been targeted by those beings once again."

Upon hearing this, Higashino Akira's pupils contracted sharply.

The more the old man spoke, the more out of control he became. Tears welled up in his cloudy eyes, and his thin chest heaved violently, making a wheezing sound like a broken bellows.

"Lady Chayori can no longer protect you. Take Ei with you and leave Okumizome. A shrine without a deity can't protect you. Give the shrine away. Living is more important than anything else."

"..."

The hospital's monitoring equipment for changes in patients' physical conditions went off in a flurry of noise, and a large number of medical staff who remained on duty rushed into the wards, pushing hospital beds into the operating room.

Higashino Akira walked out of the hospital in a daze, with the tearful Amane Emi beside him. Looking up at the gray clouds rolling overhead, he was overwhelmed with mixed feelings.

It turns out that the so-called supernatural world had been entangled with him long before he knew it, even before he was born.

Ying sobbed softly. She didn't understand what her grandfather meant by those words. She only knew that her grandfather probably wouldn't make it through the winter, and she felt sad about it.

The crying brought Higashino Akira back to his senses, and he gently wiped away the tears on her face.

When he wiped her face, Ying cried even harder, hugging him tightly, burying her face in his chest, and sobbing loudly and heartbreakingly.

Higashino Akira let her cry like that; the more she cried, the more she released her emotions, and she would feel much better.

When Ying finally stopped crying and was exhausted, he carried her on his back and took her home.

That night, Ying had cried herself to sleep halfway there. Higashino Akira didn't wake her up. He ate the New Year's Eve dinner that had been prepared but had gone cold by himself. After a few bites, he found it tasteless, sighed, poured himself a cup of tea, and sat in the courtyard, lost in thought.

The old man still had many things left unsaid.

Perhaps he simply mistook the things he was involved with for former enemies, but the very fact that he had this misunderstanding proves that Akira Higashino still has a formidable foe in the world.

Even from the few words he uttered, one could sense the depth of the implications; last time, even the deity enshrined at his own shrine perished.

Even if you follow the old man's arrangements and find another backer, they are not the gods your family has worshipped for generations. If you encounter danger, will they still do their best to help you?

Can they really be relied upon?

I can't trust Akira Higashino to rely on others.

Akira Higashino considered himself a person with principles. Although he was not a good person, he was not a bad guy either. So why did he suddenly feel like he was the enemy of the world?

Sometimes I really want to humiliate this wretched world!

From the other side of the mountain path, a familiar voice could be heard in the distance.

"Hey! Is anyone there?"

Higashino Akira quietly looked up and saw a woman dragging a suitcase slowly walking up to him, using her cell phone as a flashlight.

Upon seeing the person's face, Higashino Akira was even more startled.

"No, are you an idiot?! It's Chinese New Year, why aren't you at home? What are you doing here?"

"You idiot, I only came to hang out with you for a while because of the New Year. Staying at home, I'd either be ridiculed by relatives coming in pairs, or I'd be kicked out after the New Year and face endless blind dates, only to be rejected by everyone. Those blind fools, sob..."

Hiratsuka Shizuka walked over with a dejected look on her face, tears welling up in her eyes as she spoke. She gritted her teeth and patted Higashino Akira's shoulder hard, then suddenly adopted a submissive posture, walked to his side, pressed her head against his, took out her phone, snapped a selfie, sent it to the family group chat, and then quickly turned off her phone.

Akira Higashino, who could face evil spirits without flinching and deliver a powerful blow, had a drastic change in expression after watching Shizuka Hiratsuka's complete operation.

Damn it, I've been forcibly banned by this "inevitable leftover" user!

This world is stupid enough, how come even people are so abstract, holy crap!

"Hey, what's with that expression?!"

Seeing Higashino Akira's reaction, Hiratsuka Shizuka was a little annoyed. "No matter what, I'm a real beauty. You don't even need to coordinate anything to pretend to be my boyfriend. You just need to appear in front of the camera. Is that so bad for you?"

"I haven't settled the score with you from when we talked on the phone a few days ago!"

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P.S.: I can't write anymore today. It's too noisy outside, all I hear are fireworks, each one louder than the last. Some of them even made the car alarms go off in the parking spaces downstairs. It's making me dizzy and my thoughts are all jumbled up. I'll stop writing for now, three chapters. If I don't fall asleep and the fireworks stop, I'll continue writing. I still owe 35 chapters.