Tokyo: Starting with taking on his wife's debts

“Yeah, her voice is so gentle…” Sophia subconsciously agreed, glancing back at her front door. She’d been standing there for a while, but Xiuming showed no sign of coming in… She suddenly remembered the waitress’s words, stealing a glance at Xiuming who was looking at his watch, and whispered, “My… my cat can… do somersaults, do you want to come in and take a look?”

"Oh? Then what are we waiting for?"

Xiuming said, taking her hand and pushing open the door.

Sophia was secretly admiring the waitress's brilliant suggestion, and she wondered if Xiuming would stop caring about the cat once they entered the room, just as the waitress had said.

So, if we don't care about the cat, will it cause trouble like it did in the alley earlier?

That won't do, Mom will find out. But if Mom's asleep...

Xiuming suddenly pushed open the door. She instinctively felt guilty and, disregarding her shyness, hurriedly whispered in Xiuming's ear, anxiously reminding him.

"Don't be so loud, my mom is resting~ You'll wake her up..."

Xiuming's foot, which hadn't yet touched the ground, paused in mid-air. He looked up at the room upstairs like a thief and whispered, "Right, right, I almost forgot about my mother-in-law."

"Wh...what?" Sophia felt like her ears were broken and asked instinctively, "What...did you say?"

"Looks like I didn't wake my mother-in-law," Xiuming sighed, the second-floor room was dark. Then he muttered irritably, "How could you be so tactless? Don't you know how tempting those kinds of words are to a man! Which room is it?"

"The second room..."

Sofia responded blankly, her mind filled with Xiuming's address to her mother, Xiuming's apology that had just slipped out, and his current cautious demeanor.

She subconsciously tightened her arms around Xiuming's neck, wanting to ask many questions but unsure how to begin.

Xiuming gently pushed open the door, and just as he kicked off his shoes, a weak, soft voice called out from the dark room, "Is that Sophia?"

Then, the chandelier in the room turned on with a "snap".

The room, roughly the size of eight tatami mats, is a dozen square meters in total. It is divided into two rooms by a light blue curtain, with a pale yellow pendant light directly above the curtain.

Sofia's mother was half-lying on the small bed directly opposite the door, wearing a loose, light-colored nightgown and covered with a beige blanket. She looked to be in her forties.

Symptoms unique to uremia patients include a sallow complexion, slight eyelid swelling, and a deep-seated fatigue in the eyes that cannot be eliminated through sleep.

However, even so, it still cannot hide her beauty in her youth, which seems to be a gentle tenderness that is ingrained in her bones.

"Hello, Auntie," Hideaki said, taking advantage of Sophia's daze, he quickly put Sophia down, bowed deeply to Sophia's mother, picked up the lunchbox, slid to the bedside with small steps, opened the lid of the lunchbox, revealed a stack of money, 670,000 yen, and said, "This is a gift for you. I am Hideaki Yamanaka, Sophia's boyfriend."

"Ah...oh." Sophia's mother nodded blankly, her eyes filled with confusion, and slowly turned her head to look at Sophia standing in the doorway.

Sophia's face was flushed red. She lowered her head, twisted her hands together, and whispered, "Yes...yes...I just forgot to tell you beforehand..."

“It’s alright, everything’s fine…” Sophia’s mother nodded, lifted the thin blanket covering her legs, and continued, “I’m so sorry… um, let me get you a glass of water.”

“Mother-in-law, you’re too kind. It’s your son-in-law who should pour the water,” Xiuming said, covering her lap with the thin blanket. “Please sit down and I’ll pour you some water.”

"Ah? Mother-in-law... Mother..." Sophia's mother sat back on the small bed, holding the white porcelain water cup that Xiuming handed her in both hands, looking at a loss.

“Mother-in-law, Sophia has already told me about our situation. You need to go to the hospital for regular check-ups every month, right? It’s really inconvenient living here. I just bought a few properties that are very close to the hospital…”

Xiuming kept talking, and Sophia's mother listened in a daze. After Sophia closed the door, she knelt down at the entrance, head down and motionless.

Considering it was getting late and Sophia's mother needed to rest, she kept talking for five minutes before finally slapping her thigh and saying, "Since Mother-in-law has no objections, it's settled then. I'll pick you up first thing tomorrow morning. It's getting late, so I'll take my leave now."

"Oh... Xiuming-kun, I'm so sorry to have troubled you... It's really..." Sophia's mother placed the water glass on the bedside table piled with medicine bottles and was about to lift the blanket, seemingly to see Xiuming out.

Xiuming quickly covered her legs with the blanket and said, "Mother-in-law, please sit down. Sophia can take me. You need to rest more."

"Okay...okay."

After bowing again, Xiuming slowly closed the door as Sophia's mother watched him with a bewildered look.

Sophia kept her head down and followed Xiuming silently.

As they reached the gate, Xiuming turned back and said, "Go back quickly. I'm quite worried about you standing outside in that outfit."

“Oh…” Sophia replied, turned stiffly, and walked through the door.

Xiuming took a few steps out, but Sophia was still standing behind the crack in the door, watching.

"Your cat must have run away from home, right?" Xiuming said loudly, without stopping. "Tell me when you find the cat."

Xiuming didn't intend to do anything here; he just wanted to check on Sophia's family situation, see Sophia's mother's condition, and learn about her personality.

Although the condition is not very serious, it is impossible to cure it completely.

She has such a good personality; no wonder she raised such a filial daughter.

Find a time when she's in a good mood to reveal your situation. After all, you'll inevitably run into Riko after moving there, and it'll definitely be exposed.

It's 11 p.m.

Hideaki walked through Okubo Park again.

"Hi sir, three thousand yen! Just three thousand yen can relieve your stress..."

"The police are here!!!"

Xiuming let out a loud shout and took off running.

The entire park suddenly fell silent. From the dark grass, it seemed as if countless heads of gophers were peeking around, and soon after, a series of curses erupted.

Xiuming was hit on the shoulder by a high heel that flew out of the bushes, but he was in a good mood and didn't bother to argue with them.

At the park entrance, Ichiro Shiraishi, his face dark, slowly pulled up next to Hideaki in his brand-new Toyota Crown.

Hideaki had just used his mobile phone to call Ichiro Shiraishi's pager, and Ichiro had just returned home and hadn't even had a chance to show off his new car to his wife when he rushed over again.

Although I feel saddened by Hideaki's "petty distrust," it is reasonable if I put myself in his shoes.

After all, he's already a full-time driver, so even if he's dissatisfied with his boss, he can't let it interfere with his work.

I'll modify this car a bit, using a partition to separate the driver's cab. That way, if he messes around in the car again, he won't have any grounds to frame me.

Hideaki called Daisuke from the car to ask about the whereabouts of Haruo and Keizo.

Daisuke has returned to the pachinko parlor to play pinball, while Haruo and Keizo have taken over his guard duty and returned to Kato Hospital to continue guarding Yagami Katsu.

Hideaki took a car to Kato Hospital, found one of Sophia's white coats in her infirmary, and then walked to the door of Yagami Katsu's ward at 12:01.

With his arms still in casts, Zhifu was eating strawberries that a nurse was trembling as she handed them to him, while watching Keizo play video games.

Katsuya Yagami stared blankly at the ceiling, like a vegetable.

Hideaki continued to lock onto Haruo through the glass door.

[Sometime within the next 12 hours, Haruo will request two hand grenades from Fukai Jiro.]

[Sometime within the next 12 hours, Haruo will kidnap Maruyama Ichiro.]

[Sometime within the next 12 hours, Haruo will be attending a meeting to discuss the assassination plot against Yoko Ezaki.]

The first piece of information is understandable, but the second piece of information... it seems that Maruyama Ichiro really believed that he was impersonating Fukai Jiro, and probably Fukai Jiro found out when he was gathering information.

The third piece of intelligence is that Fukai Jiro truly deserves to die.

I estimate they'll be back sometime within the next 12 hours, then I'll have to get rid of Yagami Katsumi.

Since neither Haruo nor Keizo had a gun, Hideaki didn't waste any time. He straightened his mask, kicked open the ward door, and as soon as Haruo and Keizo looked up, Hideaki pounced on their heads like a hungry tiger, grabbing them and bumping them together.

It's all fake in the movie; they didn't actually knock her unconscious.

In order to further understand Zhifu's concept of "good reviews", Xiuming beat him while imprinting his thoughts with a steel stamp.

Finally, he covered his bleeding nose and cried out, "Stop hitting me! Stop hitting me! I'll give you a good review! I'll give you a good review!"

Even Jing San echoed this sentiment.

The female nurse huddled in the corner, while Katsuya Yagami, lying on the hospital bed, stared in disbelief.

"What are you standing there for? Come on!" Xiuming told the nurse to untie the ropes binding his legs and walked to the door to call out.

Katsuya Yagami, still in his hospital gown, got out of bed, put on his slippers, walked to the door, and said suspiciously in a low voice, "Give you a good review?"

That was quite surprising; I guess his behavior just now was a bit exaggerated and did seem a bit crazy.

Unfortunately, there's no need to lock him down, but it's fine to keep it going and let word spread.

As I walked out of the hospital ward building, the Toyota Crown was parked at the entrance of the building.

"Where are you going?" Following Hideaki's instructions, Yagami Katsu sat in the passenger seat.

"Shouldn't you ask where Ms. Funakawa Yoshiko is first?" Hideaki closed the back door and continued, "She has a yandere tendency. She might very well instigate you to kidnap me and lock me in her little dark room after you recover from your injuries, and then completely take over me."

"Would you like another good review?"

Katsuya Yagami rolled his eyes in disdain. Hideaki's behavior and words seemed to be deliberately trying to show that "he is very popular with women and doesn't need men to be interested in him." Who was he guarding against? Did he think I was a casual person? He was really shameless. Even the driver was more proper than him.

"Just a reminder to you: if Funakawa Yoshiko is plotting anything against me, don't forget that I saved you today."

"Wouldn't it be better if you broke up with her?" Katsuya Yagami made no attempt to hide his contempt. "After all, you have a wife and so many girlfriends!"

"Don't give me any advice about my own relationship problems. Just remember that I saved you, and don't repay kindness with enmity." Hideaki was too lazy to discuss relationship topics with someone like him who had a different sexual orientation. He continued, "Until I deal with Fukai Jiro, you can stay at my company for now!"

“No need, I have my own place to live.” Katsuya Yagami touched his shaved beard, his cold expression turning somewhat sad.

"Are you single?" Xiuming held up five fingers, speaking mysteriously, and continued, "I have five employees in my company who are exactly single, just like you. They're all programmers, and they're especially popular."

Katsuya Yagami's eye twitched, and he said, "If you're still worried that Ms. Funakawa instigated me to kidnap you, there's no need to try to bribe me with something like this... Do you think I'd believe that? Hmph~"

His contract has expired, he's no longer a bodyguard, and he can now pursue his own life.

Ichiro Shiraishi, in the driver's seat, jolted awake, and the car accelerated.

Chapter 191 contains 2500 words, but will be charged as 2000 words.

(This is to supplement the missing words in Chapter 189, which is under review and I dare not modify it casually.)

Ten minutes later.

The car was parked in front of the Tokyo Financial Center.

Although it was already past midnight, there were still people working in the building. On the 28th floor, there was a temporary dormitory area for the five programmers introduced by Sugita Naoto.

Ichiro Shiraishi left work and drove away.

Katsuya Yagami looked up at the building, his face slightly flushed, and glanced at Hideaki.

Xiuming put away his cell phone, jumped back, and said, "Don't look at me like that. Hurry up and go up to the 28th floor. I've already called and they're waiting for you."

"Hmph~" Katsuya Yagami went upstairs.

The supermarket across the street is still open; after all, it has many employees and could easily be opened 24 hours a day.