章 2: Final Recruit

As soon as Yuuta closed the door behind his back, something inside him made him instinctively flinch back. Since his body only acts that way when it comes to certain dangers, Yuuta already knew what was happening.

Fwip!

A small projectile launched itself straight towards Yuuta's head. Before it could hit him, however, Yuuta immediately ducked and the projectile didn't even graze him.

"Tsk."

Clicking his tongue once more, he got a vague idea on where everything was placed. "Found it," He muttered, grabbing a nerf gun near the doorway and shooting it in front of him.

Plack!

"Uuu~ " A girl moaned, scratching her forehead. "Brother, that's not fair!"

"Just drop it, Yui, you know you can't win against me." Yuuta relentlessly said as he fired two more nerf darts. Just like the first one, it hit Yui squarely on the head.

"Yui! Stop teasing your older brother!" Rin lightly reprimanded her, but after seeing the smile form on Yuuta's face, he couldn't help but feel slightly joyful. From one look, he could tell that the siblings were enjoying their time despite their hardships in life.

"But dad! He's the one teasing me." Yui pouted. Albeit being two years younger than Yuuta, Yui still acted like a ten-year-old.

"Yuuta, your younger sister already prepared the bath for you, do you want to take a bath first, or eat dinner first?"

Yuuta contemplated for a few seconds before answering. Until now, the injury on his shoulder was still throbbing. Aside from that, he also suffered a few injuries in his body because of what happened earlier in the night. But since his dad and his younger sister don't know anything about it, he decided not to tell them anything.

In the end, Yuuta decided to take a bath first before joining everyone for dinner.

As he entered the bathroom, he was careful not to leave his bag outside for fear that his younger sister or his dad might rummage through it. And if they were to see the rolls of money in it, as well as the mysterious headgear inside, they would've jumped to conclusions. 'I don't want them to worry, after all. But then again, it's not like I can hide these from them forever.' Yuuta said to himself as he showered.

Every time the steady gushing of water hit his injuries, Yuuta would flinch in pain. The discomfort of his multiple injuries was not something to laugh at but Yuuta managed to keep his voice down.

"If my dad were to see this, he might assume that I'm getting bullied at school," Yuuta said to himself.

As he comfortably eased himself on the bathtub filled with warm water, something that happened earlier the night came to his mind. And because of that, his eyes inadvertently looked towards his bag, even though he couldn't see a thing.

"I guess it wouldn't hurt if I just tried it," Yuuta said to himself.

.....

Meanwhile, in the middle of the city.

Even though the night lights and the crowd were enough to fill the whole place up, a certain man could easily be noticed from the crowd due to his eccentric taste in fashion. Wearing a white top hat and a white pair of suits, he was certainly conspicuous to the crowd, and not to mention oddly weird. Adding to that, he wore a white bow-tie and a white pair of shoes, coupled with his white mustache and white-rimmed eyeglasses.

"Sir, are you sure you should be spending the night here in the middle of the city? Aren't you in a slump at the moment? I mean, at work?" One of his bodyguards concernedly asked.

The reason why he was asking was that the man's phone just wouldn't stop ringing, but for some reason, the man wouldn't even bother checking his phone.

"You don't have to worry about such small details," The man gleefully said as he twirled his index finger in front of his bodyguard. "We've finally finished our recruitment, what more could we ask for? A few days from now, our product will hit the market and then success will be well within our grasp. Why do we have to sweat out the little things like me having too much work?"

"But, sir... "

"Now that you mention it, I know that there's a famous sushi place here nearby, we should give it a try. Don't worry about the costs, it's my treat."

Thus, the eccentric man and his two bodyguards walked a little ways further before arriving in front of a wooden house, its sign read 'Raiken Sushi'

The moment the eccentric man entered the sushi place, every single person inside the place stood up.

"Greetings, sir!" They all shouted in unison.

It was obvious that the eccentric man was used to this type of greeting since he casually waved his hand in response. Instead of finding a seat, however, he approached a man who was seated by the counter of the sushi restaurant.

The eccentric man was surprised at how many plates of sushi the man has finished but he didn't say anything about it. There were more pressing matters at hand that needed to be discussed and the amount of sushi was not included in its roster.

From an onlooker's point of view, the man could very well be an honest salaryman, wearing a pair of striped suit, a tie, and a pair of aviator glasses that rested on his nose bridge. Beside him was a not-so-expensive leather suitcase that appeared to contain some files of sorts.

"Shou, were you able to find a good candidate?" The eccentric man asked. He didn't bother greeting Shou and just went straight to the point.

"Yes," Shou confidently responded as he downed another plate of sushi. "I can even say that I wouldn't have been able to find a more fitting candidate."

"Oh hoh, and this candidate, anything I should know about him or her?"

"You may not believe it, sir, but this guy. He's a fighter." Shou replied. "He holds the most wins in the underground boxing, mixed martial arts, and wrestling."

"And here I thought he's something extraordinary." The eccentric man sighed. "Was that the best you could do? There's no point in asking whether he agreed to the agreement or not since he's probably drunk in fighting. He would've simply wished to avail of our services just so he could fight anyone. On one hand, other people here have recruited Olympic athletes, actors and actresses, world-renowned geniuses, scientists, and inventors. And yet, you, of all people, recruited a fighter in the slums?"

The eccentric man couldn't help but sigh helplessly as he grabbed a plate of salmon sushi and put it in his mouth. "What a waste of headgear. I can already see that he will smash that headgear into the ground if someone were to beat him in the system."

"Sir, I'm not yet done explaining." Shou continued. The eccentric man was perplexed since there were still some hints of confidence in Shou's eyes even after everything he said. "What if I tell you, sir, that he doesn't beat his opponents up, he tires themselves and hits them at their lowest point, earning him a win through surrender?"

"All his fights?" The eccentric man confirmed.

"Yes, his records clearly showed that all his wins are like that. Well, he did have some losses but the amount of losses he had compared to his wins is such a minuscule amount. Out of his sixty-seven wins, he only lost thrice."

"Well, he does sound like a very interesting guy... "

"Kid." Shou corrected. "He's just a kid."

"A kid you say?!"

"Yes, and what's more... all his opponents? They are all veterans in terms of martial arts, wrestling, and boxing. He even beat that infamous Kimura in one of his fights... you know, that one who won the nationals twice."

"A kid? You mean a twenties type of kid or a teenager type of kid?"

"A teenager type of kid."

The eccentric man tried to wrap his brains around it but he really couldn't grasp the fact that a mere kid managed to beat a national athlete. Although he's a retiree, it's still not easy to beat him in his sports, and yet, a kid managed to do it?

"This is interesting. Now I know why you were super confident about him. You really recruited a promising young lad. Indeed, he's probably one of the best candidates for the system."

Shou grinned from ear to ear, but something was not quite right about his grin. The eccentric man immediately noticed that he still hasn't told him everything that he needed to know about the kid.

Feeling his curiosity catching up to him, the eccentric man couldn't help but scratch his head as he asked yet another question of confirmation. "Other than his innate talent in fighting, is there anything I need to know about this kid?"

"I'm glad you asked." Shou puffed his chest. He was feeling rather nice being the center of attention. "What if I tell you..."

"What if you tell me what?" The eccentric man asked.

Pause.

Shou paused for a moment just so the build-up would make his statement even more emphasized. He knew that dropping this information was like dropping a bomb in front of the eccentric man.

"What if I tell you... that that kid is blind." Shou continued without as much as a change in his tone.