Volume 3 - Chapter 14 - New Beginnings (Down)

Previously on EC…

Rick gives some advice to his neighbour, only to be chased after by suspicious men in black as soon as he hits the road for his morning training. Running like mad, he outsmarted and evaded capture and managed to get help, catching his pursuers instead. After spending a day with the police to sort out the misunderstand, he learns that he is a sought after man. Given the options available to him -after an altercation with his father who came to the station- he opted to be under surveillance for the time being. Rick sends off an email to the rest of our MCs before crashing into his bed.

Till -aka Nyoko- received the email right away, as she sends an email to Bell to inquire, a confrontation with a group of delinquents occurs.



“I wasn’t even walking since I need to type an email, unless you are telling me I am able to do that while walking.” Nyoko calmly explains while displaying the ‘Email Sent’ notification with its visible timestamp. “Aren’t you the one that didn’t bring his dog eyes when walking? If you didn’t know, there are places that offers seeing eye dogs, I can even refer some places since you seem to be lacking more than just eyes.”

[T/N: Seeing eye dogs are also known as guide dogs in other parts of the world, they are one and the same, I chose the former for the obvious ocular connections. “Dog eye” used in this case is a play on word on top of the insult of calling him a dog. There isn’t an english equivalent as far as I nor Ishman know, so I’ll leave it transliteral unless someone has a better idea :P]

The other diners couldn’t help but laugh after overhearing the retort, some are even choking on their food before being thrown into a coughing fit. The shop in question is of the semi-open-air type, with some seating inside the shop itself, the rest shared outside with adjacent shops on the street. As the commotion occurs at the front of shop where the excessively large awning was, it attracts the attention of everyone in the immediate vicinity. The majority of them are gossiping in low voices while a few bystanders smile and chuckle.

The youth in question is turning slightly red in the face, obviously not used to ridicule. “Do you know who I am? What kinda bullshit are you spewing? You think I’m some country bumpkin like these ignorant mongrels here? Even the latest mobile phones doesn’t have that function yet!” He smugly puts down the onlookers while countering the petite girl in front of him.

“Who are you?” The girl suddenly lightly hammers her palm with her fist, like a certain someone in her party in Second Phantasia. The watch on her wrist jingles subtly with the impact. “With that hair, flat nose, pig face, eyes that are more slits than holes, and those awful, awful piercings, you must be with the circus.” Her matter-of-fact tone of voice doesn’t match her gesture. “When is the next show? That might also explain why you are the ignorant one here, aside from being blind.”

“““Hahahahahahahahaha!”””

The youth’s condescending look disappears as his face falls flat, although he isn’t exactly hideous, he can’t be considered anywhere near handsome. Very few people dared to mock him in his life thus far, and fewer still dared to mock his facial features. With the taunt and the crowd’s laughter, his face turns beet red.

“Fuck this, teach her a lesson!”

“““Got it, Young Master!””” The entourage consists of mainly youths, but there are some adults hidden in there. Each of them pulls out a yellow bandanna before wearing it on their forehead.

“Shit! That’s the Wong Choi Group!”
“Someone, someone get the cops!”
“Shut up you idiot, they ARE the cops.”
“Let’s get out of here!”

[T/N: Wong Choi is 黄财 in this case, meaning yellow/gold wealth.]

“Fucking bitch, you will regret messing with I, the great Yang Fa Cheng! I’ll make it so that you can beg for neither life nor death!”

“Never heard of you.”

A vein can be seen popping out of the youth’s forehead. “Don’t tell me you never heard of my father, he’s the head of the police here!”

“Eh… so you are the son of Commissioner Yang?”

“Heh! That’s right, it’s too late to beg for forgiveness now! After we are done with you, I’m going to rip out your eyes and slash your face before throwing you into the whorehouse. Even your parents won’t recognize you!” The youth suddenly steps forward and swipes the electronic device from the girl’s hand before backing away, playing with it as though it was his all along.

[T/N: The original transliteration is “Human not looking like human, ghost not looking like ghost”, since it sounds awkward as fuck, it’s changed to “Even your parents won’t recognize you”.]

Nyoko’s eyes shift ever so slightly, her expression cold. As the crowd disperse for their own safety, she’s slowly encircled by the youth’s entourage. She makes a slow sweep of each individual’s face while slowly backing away.

*CLANG* *Butto*

“Shit! Old Yama is at it again!” A man shouts from a little distance away. In the next shop over, a burly man with rough hempen clothing is brawling with a muscular, dark brown, middle-aged man in a stained white t-shirt.

*PA* *PA*

“You damn has-been, if I don’t beat your drunken ass today, my name isn’t Pasara!”

Fists fly and kicks sweep through the sitting area, approaching Nyoko. The burly man gets nailed in the face with a right hook, tumbling over in front of Nyoko, a heavy stench of alcohol hangs in the air around his body. The man kicks out with his leg, causing the brown man to leap back into the crowd of people with the yellow bandannas. The man gets up slowly, facing Nyoko, giving a quick, subtle wink.

With a flourish, the man spins both his legs before rolling backward slightly, pushing himself up into a spinning hand-stand. He does a come-hither motion with his fingers at the brown man, a mocking expression on his face. The man in question grabs a nearby folding stool and makes a wide sweep toward the man, causing the people around him to back away. The dispersing crowd quickly converges back together, doubling in size to look at the spectacle.

“Come on, let’s go!” A relatively handsome young man grabs Nyoko by the hand and drags her through the throng of rubberneckers. The two, with the young man in the lead, runs from the crowd for a good while before dodging into an extremely dark alleyway.

*Ha* *Ha*

The two of them pant heavily while they catch their breath, especially the petite girl, due to her physique and her lack of exercise. “Here, have a drink.” The young man smiles a bright smile, handing her a filled up bamboo water bottle. Nyoko simply holds onto it while panting.

*Daku*

“Drink your grandmother!” A lithe figure drops suddenly from above the alleyway, two legs stomping down on the young man’s shoulders before hopping onto the ground, causing him to slump to the floor. “Gimme that!” The figure rips the bottle of water from Nyoko’s hand while lifting the stunned young man by the collar, causing him to stand on tiptoes.

“You want her to drink?! Why don’t you drink it you scumbag?!” The figure tries forcing the young man to drink, who struggles, twisting his head left and right.

*DA*

With a quick flick of the wrist, the bottle of water drifts into the air, in that split moment, the hand that was previously holding the bottle is driven into the young man’s guts, knocking the wind out of him. Using this opening, the water is dumped into his mouth. Before he can spit it out, the figure nimbly shifts its weight and slips behind him after releasing the collar, locking his jaws closed and forcing his head up with one hand while pinching his nose closed with the other. The young man claws at the hands holding him for a few moments before finally swallowing with a *gulp*. A few moments later, the man weakly slumps onto the floor.

“You alright there, girly? Good thing you didn’t touch that thing, otherwise this would’ve been a lot harder with a hostage.” The figure turns the body over with some kicks before stomping a few times on the young man’s genitals. “This son of a bitch makes a living kidnapping girls and forcing them into whorehouses against their will. Let’s see how he likes feeding the fishes with his trouser snake.” The figure gives the young man another kick before stopping. The man’s eyes are filled with pain and anger, but his body and mouth won’t move an inch, obviously paralyzed.

[T/N: Sigh, so much T/N in one chapter, I’m sure you guys are sick of this too, but there’s simply too many impossible to TL correctly. The original line translates to “Let’s see how he likes being fishbait with his worm.”, meaning she’s implying she’s gonna use his penis to fish, likely with his body attached.]

*Ha Ha*

“Who are you?” The girl asks as her panting slows down, the figure in front of her can’t be seen clearly in the dark alleyway. All she can tell is that the figure is lithe and the voice androgynous.

“It’s better for you not to know, now get away if you’ve got a safe place to hole up at nearby, if not - turn left after getting out of the alley and head for the restaurant with the big beckoning cat in front and get help there.” The figure casually starts dragging away the unmoving body by the leg, going deeper into the alleyway. “Now get going before this guy’s partners show up.”

[T/N: Beckoning cat, the thing that Meowth is designed after https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maneki-neko

After the shadows disappear, Nyoko checks her watch before slowly walking out of the alleyway and heading toward the conspicuously large beckoning cat sitting in front of an eatery. Her face calm, her actions casual, if it isn’t for the dirt on her clothing, she’d be just like every other customer in the shop. She takes a seat at an empty table and looks around for the menu.

“Welcome Little Miss, you alone or waiting fa someone?” A teenage girl in a green-checkered apron asks, with notepad and pen in hand.

“Alone.”

“Okay, what wilcha have today?”

“Um… I don’t see a menu here.”

“Ah, this ya first time here? We are a specialo’da-day kind-a shop, you see them signs up there?” The girl points at the signs in the shape of fruit, vegetable, and animals dangling under the tall entrance. “Just order anything with’em, or chu’kin ‘ave us make it however ya like.”

“Hmm… Can I get a pot of tea, a plate of something that’s healthy and bland with minimal oil - the chef can decide, and a dozen takeaway of you best dishes?”

“Eh… Any particular reason? Not trying to pry, just trying ta figure out whatta getcha.”

“Just health reasons.”

“Ah, got it! Just give us a bit and we will have something for cha.” The girl scribbles something on the notepad before turning toward the back of the restaurant and yells. “Yo pops! A plate of ma steam buns special and a baker’s chaumbap platta!”

T/N: Unspecified generic dish here, or it’s referencing a dish outside my not-small-at-all knowledge of food o.o]

“Oy oy, Ami, get us a plate of them steam buns too.” The slightly older woman with two young children chirps in from across the aisle.

“Make it two plates!”

Nyoko leans back onto the well-worn, properly maintained wooden, upholstered sofa as she looks around the shop. It isn’t exactly packed, but it’s extremely lively, with kids laughing and eating while the adults gossip about the weather and the latest events. She isn’t particularly scared or anything from the recent ordeal, it’s simply a matter of following the existing procedures and letting the experts handle it. All she has to do is play her role. That is, unless she feels like she’s in immediate danger, then that’s what the panic button is for.

She carefully drinks the tea, savouring its flavour and aroma. This is the first time she has been out alone at a restaurant, what with all the time spent on self-studies and Second Phantasia. She has already mastered the five major languages used in the world, now it’s time for her to focus on Math and Economics. It’s one of the few luxuries she can enjoy with her condition, and she has grown fond of the drink itself. It was a surprise though, when she found out that tea as she knows it doesn’t exist in other parts of the world - like at Rick’s location. As she wonders if Bell has it where she is, a steaming plate of small colourful buns appears in front of her with a soft *ta*. The buns comes in pink, pale green, white, off-white and off-black, each of them the size of a quail egg.

“Eat them slowly, alright? And whencha finish halfa them, make sure ya savour it with a mouthful of tea. Enjoy!” The teenage waitress arrives like the wind, and leaves just as fast.

The petite girl picks up one of the pale green buns, gingerly ripping it into two halves, inspecting it. The bun has a firm, spongy texture, with barely visible bits of herbs and vegetable mixed in. With a small bite, she nibbles a bun with low expectations. The food is as bland as expected, with a hint of radish and leafy vegetable taste. Taking the second half of the bun, she dunks it into the tea before taking a slightly bigger bite. Oddly enough, the taste of the sweet radish spreads in her mouth as the tea within the bun squirts out. The subtle taste of the vegetables slowly change from a mild blandness to an all encompassing savouriness with an unexpected depth.

Surprised, similar to the first time she tasted Kun’s cooking, her hand and mouth subconsciously increase their speed, making quick work of the plate of buns.

“Sir, eh, sir, hold up!” Another waitress near the front of the shop yells at a man as he walks into the shop with a purpose, in front of him is a large black and brown dog leading the way. “Sorry, but we don’t allow animals in here.”

The man stops right away. “Ah, sorry about that, can you just give me a moment then?” The man kneels down next to the dog, which also sits down as well. “Which one is it, boy?”

The dog’s ear twitches as it moves slightly back and forth, before finally lifting its right paw, pointing directly at Nyoko.

“Good boy! Alright, go wait outside with the others then.” The man gives it a rough rub along its neck before letting it go. The dog gets back on all fours and gets in front of the door, when the man stands up and opens it, it walks out calmly. The nearby kids were all hiding behind their sofas and chairs, their heads peeking out from the top of them with both fear and curiosity.

Nyoko gently taps a certain part of her watch, turning off the ultra high frequency emitter she has turned on when she was facing those hooligans. “Check please!” She raises her hand and calls, completely ignoring the atmosphere where almost everyone focused on the strangely obedient dog.

The man walks up to the girl, sitting down on an adjacent seat on the wooden sofa. “You alright?”

The girl gives a nod, looking to the right with her eyes, before blinking once and looking to the left, indicating that this isn’t a good place to talk. The man silently nods once, sitting casually as they waited for the bill.

“Ah, this ya bigbro picking chu up?” The waitress from before is carrying two stacks of takeouts as she walks over, one in each hand, with the bill squeezed between her armpit. She turns to the man with a frown. “Shouldn’t leave a gal alone all by herself even though it’s Saturday ya know.”

“Ahahah, my bad. Something came up suddenly, so I had to have her wait here. I keep hearing about this place from a colleague, so I thought I might as well get her to try some of the stuff here.” The man laughs lightly while grabbing the bill; quickly pays for it, before getting up and grabbing the two stacks of food.

“Thanks for the recommendation, it was very delicious!” Nyoko gets up and give a quick bow to the girl.

The waitress becomes stunned from the unexpected show of eloquent manners by the girl, before smiling brightly. “Our pleasure!”

The duo walks out of the restaurant, with the girl opening the door for the man, as the usual liveliness returns as though the disturbance created by the dog was merely an illusion.

*kaka*

“Eh, whencha get back sis?” The waitress turns her head at the noise of the back door opening after watching the duo go.

“Just now, is there a girl alone waiting here?

“Ah, she just left with her big brother or something with a cute doggy.”

*fuuuu* The lithe figure breathes out a sigh of relief. “Alright, thanks, I’m gonna go check on my father and Uncle Pasara.”

“Ah right, the protection fee gonna be a day late, alright?”

“Got it, good fortunes to you.” The girl goes back out the backdoor with the waitress resuming her busing and screaming at her pops to hurry up with the food.

* * * * *

“Oh! Are you okay, Nyoko? Are you hurt anywhere?!” A woman in a labcoat gives the girl a tight embrace while kneeling down, bringing the girl’s head to her chest, rocking back and forth.

“Mom, quit it. I’m alright.” The girl protests while struggling to get out of the overly tight hug.

“Is that true?” The woman turns to the squad of men and women standing at attention to the side. A team of dogs are also sitting patiently, some with their tongues hanging from their mouths.

“Yes, ma’am! The first team got to her within 30 seconds and was observing the situation, ready to take action in a moment’s notice. You daughter was never in any serious danger. We were really surprised at how calm she was through all of this. You can view the full report later.” The man who escorted Nyoko from the restaurant answers rapidly within one breath, completely different from the way he acted when he approached Nyoko.

“Good job! Thank you!”

“Yeah, thanks a lot. Oh, those food are for you guys by the way, just save one for my mom.” Nyoko finally manages to escape from her mom’s arms, bowing slightly to the squad. All the dogs’ ears perk up, looking in their direction.

“Oooohh, free food, can’t say no to that!” The man smiles good-naturedly before turning to the dogs. “Hey, don’t get too excited, you guys might not be able to eat it! But we’ve got treats for you guys when we get back, okay?” The dogs’ ears droop, followed by their heads, then popping back up all at once upon hearing the last part. “We will hand over the case to EXLA and get back to our stations, let us know if you need anything.” The man gives a salute before heading back with the other men and women, with the dogs in tow.

The mother and daughter watch the group leave, standing in front of a two-story building. “I should probably take a few days off and stay with you…”

“No need mom, don’t worry, I can take care of myself.”

“What happened anyways? Who is it that caused this?”

“Well…” Nyoko smiles mysteriously before explaining everything to her.

* * * * *

“Hmm… strange.” A busty woman is staring at the handheld computer, staring at the ever increasing pile of nonsense emails sent her way from Nyoko’s email account. “First Rick, and now Till…”

*sha*

The automated door opens with a soft sound, half a dozen figures start marching into the reserved conference room. “Hey, Isabel, surprised you aren’t dozing while waiting for us.” Her subordinate chimes good-naturedly as he leads the people in.

Isabel rolls her eyes with a smile. “I was just checking some emails, George. Is this everyone?”

“Yeah, this should be it.”

“Alright, let’s keep this short. As you know, I’m going to be building a resort, of sorts, in Second Phantasia. The Psych department has already agreed to a pilot program.” She nods her head at the woman next to the beanpole-like man, whom she has already introduced to the game.

“Aside from the usual activities and food, I already have some preliminary plans for a large outdoor bath, swimming pool and…” She pause for suspense. “Flying and dropping from the sky.” The two men and woman aside from the beanpole pair and George stare with glittering eyes. Even the three of them that have already entered the game show surprised expressions.

“So… Who wants to invest into this project of mine?” The red-headed woman shows a carnivorous grin as she places both hands onto the large conference table, slowly looking at the gathered group. Everyone working here in Marigold has monies they can’t spend as the job here pays extremely well, but is completely isolated from the rest of the world. She knows full well that none of them can resist the allure of her proposal, it’s just a question of how deep she can sink her claws into them.