Volume 3 Hello, Eri Chapter 207 The Red-Haired Girl (Part 3)
It is always rainy in Tokyo in spring. The day after the commissioners from the Kassel Academy headquarters arrived in Tokyo, the city was once again bathed in the sound of drizzling rain. The rain hit the roof of the shrine, scattering beautiful parabolas, and the scattered and rotating spring cherry blossoms in the garden were all over the ground.
This is a classical shrine located in the mountains outside Tokyo. The meticulous renovation has prevented it from looking dilapidated and old, but the torii gate in front of the main hall of the shrine was burned down and has not been rebuilt to this day, as if it exists for some kind of commemoration. The vermilion walls are as rich as blood.
Six people holding paper umbrellas walked into the shrine one after another. They were all wearing formal kimonos, the men wearing black-patterned tsukiohaori and the women wearing black tomesode. They wore white socks and wooden clogs. They looked straight ahead and walked very steadily.
The six heads of the eight Snake families, Tachibana, Inuyama, Fuma, Ryoma, Sakurai, and Miyamoto, and the remaining Minamoto and Uesugi have already arrived in place in advance, and the eight families gathered here today.
This is a rare event. Every year, the heads of the eight families only gather together during the New Year's visit. It is rare for all the members to be present. Now, no matter if they are ninjas or military officers, the heads of the eight families have to abandon their work and follow the orders of the head of the family, Tachibana Masamune, to come to the shrine. This means that something major is about to happen in the shrine that will change the pattern of the underworld.
After the six family heads entered the main hall, a large group of followers appeared on the stone steps outside the shrine, separated from them by guards standing on both sides. These men in black suits stood shoulder to shoulder, forming a landscape from bottom to top. When the family heads were in a meeting, they would never allow any outsiders to approach.
The main hall was covered with tatami mats, and there were no shrines or Buddha statues. The inner walls were covered with ukiyo-e paintings, depicting a war between demons and turtles, with clouds and flames flying. Hundreds of men and women in black knelt in their respective positions, and everyone knew their position in this huge organization, and no one knelt in the wrong position.
"Master, all the participants have arrived. Elders from the Strategy Department, such as Kurabe Juro, Sekimoto Hide, and Amiguchi Cho, the head of the Liaison Department and his subordinates total 34 people, the Five Small Surnames total 134 people, the Japanese branch of Kassel Academy has 19 Kanto branch heads and team leaders, 17 Kansai branch heads and team leaders, 14 people from the Ganliu Research Institute, 7 people from the Maruyama Construction Institute... a total of 440 people are here." The black-clad secretary presented the list to the silver-haired old man, "Please take a look, Mr. Masamune."
"Where's Chisheng? What's the point of holding a meeting without him?" Tachibana Masamune looked at the most conspicuous empty seat in the venue, "Yaksha Crow, where is Chisheng?"
Crow, who was kneeling in the back row, stepped out of the line: "The young master is patrolling the surroundings to ensure the safety of the family heads. He may not have received the news that everyone has arrived. I will go and inform him now!"
The shrine of the Sheqi Eight Family is very large. It is not only a place of worship, but also the residence of the priests. There are many rooms in the courtyard behind the main hall, which intricately form a unique garden. Any family head has the right to rest here. Occasionally, the shrine will also accept some poor people who are forced to come to seek help in person, and those rooms will be used to accommodate them.
At this moment, Yuan Zhisheng was in his residence deep in the garden. It was a small house with a rather antique style. Everything was simply decorated, but the electronic gaming equipment in the room was a little out of place. He sat cross-legged, staring at KOF13 on the screen, and was in a fierce battle with the girl in black beside him.
She was a young girl who looked slightly younger than Gen Chisei. Although she wore a black-patterned kimono for men, the wide kimono could not hide her curves. She was slender and graceful, and looked like a grown-up girl next door. Her long red hair was unadorned and lay on the tatami. Nowadays, there are very few girls with this kind of hairstyle. It reminds people of the shrine maidens in ancient shrines.
The battle was a one-sided and overwhelming victory. Yuan Zhisheng won seven games in a row, while the girl didn't win a single game. However, she didn't get discouraged nor did she cheat. After losing, she silently pressed the selection button to enter the next round. The colorful cold light on the screen flashed across her expressionless face, making her slightly pale skin look even more like jade.
"Eri is not serious." Before the eighth game started, Gen Chisei put down the controller and rubbed Eri's head with a smile, "Don't you always kill me without leaving a single piece of armor?"
Eri let Gen Chisei fiddle with it, as quiet as a kitten. She grabbed a pen and paper from beside her, quickly wrote a line of small words, and placed it in front of Gen Chisei.
"Because I stayed up late playing games last night."
Only then did Gen Chisheng notice that Eri's eyes looked a little tired. She was always like this and rarely had any emotional fluctuations, so much so that most of the time Gen Chisheng couldn't figure out what she was thinking, let alone the subtle changes that had taken place in her.
"You can play games anytime, but you are not allowed to stay up late." Yuan Zhisheng said seriously, and it was obvious that his tone was that of an older brother teaching his younger sister, a little harsh but still gentle.
"I met a very interesting opponent, and I couldn't help but deliberately provoke him." Eri continued to write in the small notebook.
If someone like Tachibana Masamune saw this kind of words, he would definitely be surprised. In the eyes of most people, Eri is a real doll girl. She is delicate enough, and everyone who sees her will affirm her beauty and beauty. But unfortunately, she has no expression at all. No matter when you see her, she will have a dull look like an old monk who has seen through the world. How could such an Eri say something deliberately provocative, such a bad girl's words?
Perhaps only Genji knows that Eri actually has emotions, but only rarely. The most obvious is probably when playing games. Eri's competitive spirit is very strong. Whether it is an online game or a single-pass horizontal level, she likes to KO with a special move or speed through without injury. If she fails to do so, the corners of her eyes will shrink slightly, which is obviously an expression of anger, but not as strong as that of ordinary people.
"Is there anyone who can compete with you in this game?" Yuan Zhisheng was a little surprised. He was good at playing King of Fighters not because he studied hard, but because he could 100% complete the most accurate and fastest judgment and operation, which was due to his bloodline. For ordinary people who want to become a master in this kind of fighting game, they have to spend a lot of time practicing. Eri has a lot of time. She has no chance to participate in fighting competitions, otherwise it would be absolutely no problem to get into the top three. I am afraid that there are not many people who can compete with Eri.
"The level is not high, and the main thing is that he likes to play tricks. It makes people want to teach him a lesson."
"There's no need to take a game so seriously. This is just an opponent you'll never meet again in your life." Gen Chisheng smiled, feeling somewhat relieved. Eri could be said to be a gangster princess in terms of status, and was almost on the same level as him, the future young master. If Eri acted a little more like a normal girl, perhaps she, with her superior bloodline, would be a more qualified successor to the Snake Eight Families.
The possible future queen of the underworld must be a little domineering girl who plays games and beats up anyone she dislikes. One of the great ideals of Gen Chisei's life is to see Eri become a normal person and live happily like an ordinary girl until she meets someone she likes and walks into a beautiful palace hand in hand. Cherry blossoms slowly fell on the veil she was wearing. She turned around with a sweet smile and gently said to herself, "Thank you for taking care of me, brother."
However, even if Eri was not sick, the identity of this underworld princess was not something that ordinary people could bear. I wonder if someone who was lucky enough to fall in love with Eri would be able to stand his ground under the aura of tens of thousands of black-clad men from the Snake Eight Families.
After discussing the game, the little emotion that Eri had left disappeared. Gen Chisei looked at her calm face and suddenly felt a little sad. From the first time he met her, Eri had been lying on the ICU bed with a breathing tube inserted. Now she is so old, but she has never left home and has not received a proper education. Girls of her age in Tokyo have long learned to dress themselves up as blingbling people, with bracelets, earrings and pendants, each of which is sparkling, and her whole body tells the beauty of youth.
Yuan Zhisheng held up Eri's long hair and combed it carefully from head to tail with a wooden comb. Eri didn't move or turn her head to look at him. She looked at the screen in front of her and picked up the controller again to start the stand-alone mode, cooperating with his work. Although she would be a little bit temperamental when playing games, she was such a well-behaved girl most of the time. Although she couldn't speak, every little action of hers was in line with the time around her.
The long, smooth hair fell from his fingertips like silk. Yuan Zhisheng whispered with emotion: "Next time I come back, I will bring you some cosmetics and skirts."
A girl like Eri will look good when she dresses up, right? Yuan Zhisheng has never been able to do anything for her, at most he just plays games with her, but today he suddenly realized that he should give Eri the life she deserves. Even if he can't go out into the world, he should try to make Eri at home as beautiful as the girls outside.
"Cosmetics?" The small notebook was handed to Gen Chisei. This word was a little unfamiliar to Eri, because she didn't have such a thing in her life and had never heard of it. Her understanding of the world came from the big screen in front of her . Games and animations would never mention that girls have to learn how to put on makeup when they grow up.
"Some pretty little bottles will make you look better when applied on your face," Yuan Zhisheng explained.
“I see.”
An ordinary girl would definitely be happy to hear her brother say this, but Eri's reply was just this. She didn't think becoming beautiful was important, and she had never had the experience of being appreciated by anyone. To her, Gen Chisheng's gift was not as interesting as the game they agreed to play next time, but Gen Chisheng had not realized it yet. He was just immersed in his own wishful sadness.
"Young Master! Young Master! The head of the family and the heads of the various families have arrived!" Crow sneaked half of his head in from outside the door, "They are all waiting for you. If you don't go, they will gossip about you again!"
His movements were sneaky, because Crow knew very well that spending time with Eri was one of the few times that could make his young master feel at peace. After each meeting with Eri, Gen Chisei would sit alone in front of the window in silence, with a sense of boredom revealed from his back, not towards a particular person, but towards the entire world, both himself and Eri.
It's not that Gen Chisheng is unaware of what will happen today, but he still chooses to play games with Eri. On the one hand, it's to keep in touch with his sister, and on the other hand, it's actually a way of escaping. Gen Chisheng doesn't like family gatherings. If today's meeting wasn't so important that he couldn't escape it, Gen Chisheng would definitely slip away in the name of having to keep an eye on the headquarters' specialist.
"Got it." Yuan Zhisheng frowned, put down the wooden comb in his hand, and gently touched Eri's hair, "Let's go together."
Eri nodded obediently and stood up. When she walked, she would not walk side by side with Gen Chisei, but would hold the corner of his sleeve and lower her head, letting her hair cover her eyes, and only looking at the ground under her feet. This was her habit, she did not like to make eye contact with unfamiliar people. For example, the smiling crow outside was an unfamiliar person, even if he was a subordinate of Gen Chisei who had seen him many times, in Eri's eyes, he was just a person whose smile made her feel uncomfortable.
Eri's full name is Uesugi Eri, the third of the three inner families among the eight families of Snake. The first family is Tachibana of Masamune Tachibana and the second family is Minamoto of Minamoto Chisei. Therefore, Eri must attend today's meeting, even though she has no idea what the significance of this matter is and has no interest in it. She still has to be present .
The development of the three inner families has been rather desolate so far. The Tachibana family only has Tachibana Masamune, the Minamoto family only has Minamoto no Chisei, and even the Uesugi family only has Erii. They are in name only. If the three inner families did not have sufficiently excellent bloodlines to intimidate outsiders, sooner or later there might be an internal fight within the eight Snake families in order to establish new three inner families.
Fortunately, both Genjiro and Eri are still young enough. As long as they show up to intimidate the crowd, it means that the future young masters of the Sheqi Eight Families will have successors, and there will be two of them, which can make those restless kids behave themselves.
Crow followed the siblings in small steps. He frequented the nightclub every two days, so he would look at every beautiful woman a few times, but he was in awe of Eri. In addition to the fact that Eri was his young master's sister, Crow was also one of the few people who knew Eri's true face. Her bloodline was stronger than that of the future young master, Gen Chisei.
If a beautiful girl has explosive combat power and can fight against a mechanized division, and she never has any expression and doesn't even want to look at you, then she is not a high-class girl, and she is not living in the same world. Therefore, Crow always restrains his vulgar heart and only treats Eri as an object to be assisted like a young master, and treats her with great respect.
