Chapter 20 The Boy Here
Ota is from Aomori Prefecture, the northernmost part of Honshu Island. His parents died early, and he was raised by his grandmother since childhood.
My grandmother's greatest hope was that Ota could study more, and he didn't need to go to college, but just graduate from middle school. Then he could find a stable job in the town, marry a local girl, get married and have children.
However, like many orphans who lost their parents, Ota spent his entire time hanging out with his bad friends in town when he was very young.
Because I had no money, I learned to steal things, stealing money everywhere, stealing whatever I could, even from temples and shrines.
With just a stick, a string, and a rhinoceros beetle, he could steal money from the temple's well-protected wooden donation boxes.
So as he grew up, he gradually became a complete and hopeless little scoundrel.
There were two or three other kids of similar age, and they naturally formed a natural alliance. Because Ota was the strongest , he was undoubtedly their leader.
However, life was still as poor as before, with a group of children aged twelve or thirteen wandering the streets in ragged clothes all day long.
In order to make a little money, he and his brothers would do some strange tricks. During the day, they would sell all kinds of small building materials or scrap hardware stolen from everywhere to local stores.
When night falls, they sneak into the store and steal the items they sold during the day. Then, after a while, they sell the items to another store.
Once something went wrong because this trick was played so often that it aroused the vigilance of some store owners.
One of the shop owners marked the item he received, and a few days later, Ota and his friends took the item back to his shop to sell it again.
Then Ota and his friends were caught on the spot, and they were fearless and wanted to resist . The owner rolled up his tattooed arms and beat them up.
"Boy, when I was in the Far East Society, no one dared to fool me like this."
The hideous pattern on the owner's arm, his vicious eyes, and his domineering and confident tone left a huge shadow in Ota's heart.
From then on, he never set foot in that shop again, as if there was a great terror there.
This incident left a deep fear in Ota's heart, but it also opened another door.
He wanted to be that kind of person, he wanted to be a real Yakuza. Tokyo, which was the headquarters of the Far East Society that he had heard about, became a holy place in his mind.
But my grandmother is old and needs someone to take care of her. Although Ota sometimes does things in a bad way, he is at least a filial person.
Last winter, his grandmother passed away suddenly. Ota fulfilled his last wish and finally decided to go to Tokyo to find the Far East Society.
In order to join the Far East Society, he even got a tattoo on his arm in advance and made himself a Far East Society business card.
He had already made up his mind that when he arrived in Tokyo, he would find the Far East Society and simply give the name of the shop owner in his hometown who had beaten him up, and say that he was introduced to the society by him.
On the way to Tokyo, Ota even indulged himself in the yakuza in advance. The feeling of being so majestic that others dared not look him in the eye was really great.
He even showed his acting skills and was ready to recruit one or two younger brothers, one of whom looked very capable in fighting. It was a pity that the other one went to college, otherwise, with his many years of experience in dealing in property, he might have made a fortune by using the skills of the little white face.
However, things did not go as smoothly as expected after arriving in Tokyo. First, they chose the wrong territory and were beaten up by other Yakuza groups.
After searching for more than half a month, they finally found the headquarters of Far East Association near Ikebukuro. However, when they reported the name of the old owner, they were not greeted with polite courtesy, but even more ferocious punches.
If they hadn't run fast, they might have been caught and had their little fingers cut off.
After two months of wandering in Tokyo, he failed to obtain the identity of a gangster and all his money was spent.
Seeing that the friends who followed him were all pale and thin, Ota gritted his teeth and walked towards the homeless people on the street.
As a result..., they were so hungry that they could hardly walk, and were severely beaten up by three or four homeless people.
I, the great Grandpa Ota, was reduced to fighting for food with a homeless person one day, and what was even more shameful was that I had never beaten him...
This was Ota's last thought before he was knocked unconscious.
"Hey, wake up~ wake up~"
Ota had a dream. In the dream, he had a big meal and was about to have a good sleep, but he felt someone buzzing in his ear, like an annoying fly, disturbing his sweet dream.
"Baga~ Don't disturb Grandpa Ota's sleep." Ota turned over in the garbage pile and continued to sleep soundly.
Shirakawa Kaede and Kotaro pinched their noses and looked at each other, and the latter nodded to show that he understood.
Then Kotaro rolled up his sleeves, revealing his thick, black and strong arms, and slapped him twice.
It was really cool. I wanted to teach this guy a lesson last time in the car, and today I finally got what I wanted. Kotaro withdrew his hand with satisfaction.
"Hmm..." Ota opened his eyes in a daze, and was a little confused when he saw Shirakawa and Kotaro squatting in front of him.
"Mr. Ota, long time no see." Shirakawa Kaede greeted with a smile.
"Hey, it's you?" Ota recognized the figures in front of him. He had some impression of Shirakawa Kaede and the others. They appeared in his dream just now.
In the dream, they were all his younger brothers, and he flattered them so smoothly and fawned on them to the utmost.
"You woke me up." Ota slowly woke up and saw himself sitting in the garbage dump, feeling embarrassed.
Baichuan Feng nodded, "I think Ota-san is sleeping too deeply, and this is not a good place to sleep, so I have to be rude and wake him up."
"Well, thank you. But why does my face hurt a little?" Ota rubbed his hot cheeks, a little suspicious.
Shirakawa Kaede and Kotaro looked at each other inconspicuously and said in unison, "Maybe it's because there are more mosquitoes here."
"Buzz~", Ota slapped his arm hard and took his hand away, leaving the body of a large mosquito on his arm.
He struggled to get up and saw his friend still sleeping soundly. He felt ashamed and angry, "Hey, you idiots, hurry up and get up. You are embarrassing me."
Ota punched and kicked his subordinates, and made them suffer. However, they all stood together, looking listless, and some even had bruises on their faces.
"Mr. Ota, do you need any help?" Shirakawa Feng saw Ota's embarrassment and asked kindly, thinking that they were all from the Northeast.
Ota's face turned red, he lowered his head and hesitated for a long time, but couldn't utter a complete sentence.
Baichuan Feng could probably guess in his heart that what happened to them was not a good thing, just by looking at the lifeless eyes of his younger brothers.
He didn't ask any more questions, but took some money out of his pocket and handed it to him. "Buy some food. If it doesn't work, it's not bad to go back to your hometown in Northeast China. If you want to survive in Tokyo, you have to learn to humble yourself."
"I'm Ota..." Ota subconsciously wanted to say something sweet, but stopped himself. He waved his hand and said, "Anyway, I can't take your money."
Baichuan Feng smiled and said, "Take it. Even if you don't consider yourself, you should consider taking good care of the people who follow you."
Ota was startled. He turned around and looked at his friends who had followed him since childhood. He saw that they were staring at the banknotes in Baichuan Feng's hand, and some were even swallowing their saliva secretly.
Ota gave a smile that was uglier than crying and took the money with trembling fingers, " Shirakawa-kun , thank you." His voice sounded extremely miserable.
Shirakawa Feng patted his shoulder without saying anything, then stood up and left. Kotaro nodded to Ota and left as well.
Looking at the figure gradually moving away under the street light, and then looking at the several thousand yen in his hand, Ota had a complicated expression.
"Boss, are we still Yakuza?" a younger brother beside him asked hesitantly.
The experiences during this period have made them no longer have illusions about the word "Jidao", and it has nothing to do with the imagined chivalrous way.
Ota did not say anything, but turned away silently. The younger brothers looked at each other, not knowing what to do.
"Hey, do you still want to fill your stomach?" Under the street light, Ota put his hands in his pockets and shouted from a distance.
"Ah, go, go." Several younger brothers trotted over happily.
"After dinner, take a bath. I'll start looking for work tomorrow."
"Okay, okay."
Under the street lights, the jumping figures of several young people were stretched out by the light.
On the other side, the two young men, Shirakawa Kaede, who was almost at his residence, was also being pestered by Kotaro with questions.
"Xiao Feng, why should we help them? They were bullying people in the car at that time."
“Although that guy Ohta is not a good person, he is not an irredeemable bad person either.
Did you see the look in his eyes just now? He no longer had the arrogance and conceit that he had at the beginning. All I saw was desolation and anxiety.
So I thought that anyone who could have such a look must not have done anything heinous before, and at most he was just a country gangster.
Besides, we are all from Northeast China, so we should help if we can.”
"Well, a little. But when I think of that guy's hateful expression, I want to beat him up."
"Didn't you beat him already?"
"Ah, haha..., I almost forgot about it."
"Kotaro, everyone is more or less likely to encounter their own difficulties. When they are struggling on the edge of the abyss, don't think about pushing them, maybe you can try to pull them up, maybe this action can affect their lives."
"Xiao Feng, what you said is too profound. I don't understand."
"How can you be so stupid, man?"
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