Chapter Twenty-Eight: When Countrymen Meet

"Hey, Uesugi-kun, what the hell is that thing?"

Seeing the man behind them treat his own head as a detachable object, Ririko couldn't help but feel a chill, gripping the bamboo sword in her hand even tighter.

"A Rokurokubi, also known as a flying head," Uesugi Toru stared at the creature's crown for a moment before saying, "It's not very strong."

No wonder he and Ririko had been discovered; there had been a head floating in the sky watching them the whole time.

"But be careful. Its head and body can stretch or separate at will. Also, I’m not sure if its body remains active once the head is detached."

Ririko shot him a surprised glance, seemingly wondering why Uesugi Toru was so knowledgeable about these sudden apparitions. However, she didn't dwell on it, merely asking coldly, "Then which side should I take?"

"Those two people. Leave the flying head to me."

"Fine."

Ririko and Uesugi stood back-to-back, shifting their positions, and she noticed him stuffing a strange-looking rag doll into his pocket.

"What is that?"

"Don't worry about it!"

The moment the words left his lips, the two moved in perfect sync, sprinting toward their respective opponents.

"Hiss!"

The Rokurokubi let out a shrill screech, its mouth stretching wide at the corners, raw red muscles flexing to reveal an expression more vicious and terrifying than any demon.

A piercing sonic wave swept across the area. Uesugi, wrapped in a thick layer of Qi, remained expressionless. He settled into a *Hiraseigan* stance, lowered his body, and closed the distance with lightning speed. He felt that this fight had come at the perfect time—it was a great opportunity to put the new sword techniques he had recently acquired into practice.

On the other side, the two members of the Fraternity Club—no, perhaps it should be called the Fraternity Cult—sighed in unison.

"Why go to such lengths..."

Standing beside them, the young employee looked as if he had been scared witless, staring at the unfolding battle, frozen in place. The two cultists wore expressions of pity, pulling out prayer beads and beginning to chant strange, incomprehensible verses.

"Playing god, are you?"

Ririko scoffed. She felt only some insignificant, fragmented noise brush against her "Sword Heart."

"The Sound of Delusion has no effect?!"

The two cultists spoke with undisguised shock. As they watched Ririko closing in, one of them turned vicious and pulled out a dagger, while the other snapped his prayer beads with a sharp tug. The cultist with the dagger had a cold, sinister look in his eyes as he thrust the blade toward Ririko’s heart.

At the same time, a surge of noise, dozens of times more intense than before, flooded into Ririko’s mind, only to be ground into dust by her Sword Heart without the slightest resistance.

Ririko furrowed her brows and roared, "Cultists, is this all the talent you have!?"

Her forefoot hit the ground, *Kiai-jutsu* erupting. The bamboo sword in her hand seemed to transform into a falling thunderbolt, striking the dagger-wielding cultist’s hand, chest, and forehead in a single instant.

A full-power, three-strike-per-second combo!

In a flash, the dagger was knocked flying against the wall. The cultist’s nasal bone was shattered by the downward swing, and his vision went black as he collapsed to the ground, unconscious.

"Kote! Do! Men!"

Amidst her shouting, Ririko pushed her *Kiai-jutsu* to the limit. Her face was as fierce as a Vajra, but her eyes were colder than a Siberian winter. Before the second cultist could react, Ririko, now within close range, dropped her bamboo sword and delivered a brutal kick to his groin.

The cultist’s face twisted in agony, a cry escaping his lips: "Argh!"

That cry was cut short a moment later by Ririko’s flying elbow strike.

"—Sounds like things are going smoothly over there."

Facing the screeching, lunging Rokurokubi, Uesugi halted his steps, maintained his *Hiraseigan* stance, and thrust his blade forward in a single breath.

*Tooth Stab!*

A faint blue light bloomed from the blade of the Kaga Kiyomitsu. The tip of the sword, already blurring with speed, accelerated even further. The Rokurokubi hadn't even caught the trajectory of the blade before the Kaga Kiyomitsu pierced straight through its skull, turning it into a shish kebab in mid-air.

A one-hit kill!

[You have killed the half-star apparition "Rokurokubi," Soul Ash +25]

Seeing the notification pop up, Uesugi was about to turn around to check on Ririko when he felt a cold wind whistling toward him from both sides.

—An ambush?!

Uesugi’s pupils constricted. Almost instinctively, he wanted to transform into the Laughing Hannya, but fortunately, in his state of *Mind Like Still Water*, he knew there was no need to reveal that trump card, which would only bring more trouble.

After a desperate roll to dodge, Uesugi stood back up, two gruesome bloody gashes on his back, and stared at the two heads glowing with malice. Why hadn't these two Rokurokubi supported their teammate earlier?

In truth, Uesugi had killed the first one so quickly that the remaining two hadn't had a chance to react.

"No matter..." Fueled by adrenaline, Uesugi felt his blood boiling. "Just two pieces of trash."

The aura coming from these two was nowhere near as strong as the first one. The "Zero-star" label floating above their heads confirmed it. The Rokurokubi danced in mid-air, their blood-filled maws flashing with sharp, cold teeth.

Uesugi stepped forward in silence. Two clean flashes of sword light vanished in an instant, silencing the hoarse roars of the Rokurokubi.

[You have killed the zero-star apparition "Rokurokubi," Soul Ash +12]
[You have killed the zero-star apparition "Rokurokubi," Soul Ash +13]

The four-lobed skull fragments scattered on the ground, emitting a foul stench. If left alone, they would be discovered and reported within a few hours. But Uesugi had notified Nanjo Aimi while waiting in front of the barbecue restaurant; calculating the time, the Special Affairs Bureau should arrive in less than two minutes.

[Your skill, Kiai-jutsu (Fragmentary) proficiency +21!]
[Your skill, Tennen Rishin-ryu proficiency +28!]

Perhaps because this was his first real combat since leveling Tennen Rishin-ryu to the "Beginner" level, the proficiency gain was higher than usual. Including his practice during spare moments, his *Kiai-jutsu* proficiency had reached [Kiai-jutsu (Fragmentary) (151/300)], already more than halfway there.

Sheathing his sword, Uesugi walked across the alley. "How is that guy..."

"You're hurt?!"

Ririko interrupted him, pulling him over to inspect his back, only letting out a sigh of relief after confirming the wounds.

"Minor injuries."

As he spoke, Uesugi unceremoniously took the doll back from Ririko’s pocket and turned around again. "Instead of me, worry about him first."

Once both cultists were unconscious, the young man seemed to snap out of his daze, blurting out in Chinese, "Thank you... was it you who just saved me?"

Ririko scratched her head, not understanding a word. Uesugi, however, raised an eyebrow and asked in the broken Henan dialect he’d picked up online, "Fellow countryman? Are you an international student?"

The young man froze, then became so joyfully incoherent that he stuttered, "Holy shit, brother, your girlfriend was fucking cool just now!"

Girlfriend? Oh, he must have meant Ririko.

Not bothering to correct the minor detail, Uesugi kindly put an arm around his shoulder and asked in Chinese, "Buddy, can you tell me how you ran into these two?"

The young man laughed when he heard this, but though he was laughing, Uesugi felt a sense of bitterness behind it.

"Just ran into them. I was about to get off work, and they walked in, saying all sorts of stuff about love and enlightenment, and I just... followed them in a daze. Sounds pretty stupid, doesn't it?"

In a daze, huh.

Uesugi glanced at the scattered prayer beads on the ground. Probably some form of hypnotic or spirit-influencing Onmyodo.

The laughter faded away. The young man pulled out a cigarette, placed it in his mouth, and closed his eyes wearily. "Sometimes I wonder, was coming to Japan to study really the right choice?"

"At first, I couldn't even speak the language when I worked part-time, and I couldn't understand the lectures. By the time things started to get a bit better, everyone was wearing masks. Even though I'm graduating next year, my family says there's trouble with the business, and I have to figure out how to pay the tuition for the last two semesters myself. Today, I almost got abducted by a cult... I'm tired. I'm really just tired."

He looked at Uesugi and Ririko with envy and handed him a cigarette. "Brother, cherish your girlfriend."

Uesugi took the cigarette and asked, "What are your plans now?"

"Going home," the young man exhaled a cloud of smoke and let out a long sigh. "Going back to my hometown to farm or raise some livestock. It might not be a fancy life, but adding an extra pair of chopsticks to the table is never hard."

Thinking of the recent events in Tokyo, Uesugi felt that returning home might be a good choice for him. He said nothing more; he could just ask the two cultists about the rest later.

The young man tilted his head, quietly gazing up at the modern metropolis filled with skyscrapers, as if recalling every little detail of his time as a student. After a long while, he seemed to have made up his mind and walked away without looking back.

Once the young man's figure had completely vanished, Ririko, who hadn't understood a single word, asked curiously, "What did he say to you?"

Uesugi stared at the unlit cigarette in his hand and thought for a moment before saying, "He said he missed home."

Ririko didn't understand, but she could clearly feel the heavy atmosphere lingering in the air. She looked at the two cultists, who were beginning to show signs of waking up.

Ririko decided to perform the "Great Memory Restoration" technique on them.