In May, the new store of Little Pond Toy Factory opened.
The new store is located in the Beika-cho commercial street, which is bustling with people.
The entire small building was bought by Hojo Natsuki. The first floor was used for experience and sales, with a small warehouse at the back. The second floor was divided into two suites, a VIP customer reception room and an employee changing room, and the third floor was the store manager's office.
The decoration style of the store continues its usual exquisite earthiness, with a huge frog head hanging on the plaque. At first glance, it looks high-end, but at second glance you'll wonder "what kind of crap is so fancy?" Regardless of whether it's beautiful or not, at least the recognition has reached an unprecedented level.
In the first few days of opening, Hojo Natsuki felt fresh.
He wore a light-colored casual suit and had a "store manager" badge on his chest. He wandered around the store every day, inspecting his territory.
When a customer approached him and asked him to introduce his product, he just smiled and started talking nonsense.
“This is our driverless product line, the ‘Vodka’ series, equipped with a 12-inch central control display, original gesture operation, and performance…”
Hojo Natsuki boasted as he pleased, after all, the customer was not interested in the wine, so he just made some casual remarks to fool the other party. When the other party asked, "I have the intention to buy, can I add you as a LINE friend to learn more about it?", he turned around and took a look at his follower wearing sunglasses behind him - Real Vodka.
"This is our sales manager Yuzhong. He can provide you with more comprehensive pre-sales consultation and after-sales service."
Vodka: “…”
Most of the guests walked down the stairs, took out their mobile phones a little awkwardly, reluctantly added their friends who drank vodka, and left in disappointment.
After everyone left, Hojo Natsuki also changed his expression.
He looked at the obedient Vodka and asked, "It's been a long time. What are you doing following me?"
Vodka looked at his nose and looked at his heart: "Brother is busy, there are many people here, I am afraid that if something happens, let me protect you."
Xia Shu: "Got it. Keep an eye on me."
Vodka: "Please don't think like that, Big Brother is really..."
Vodka explained dryly, but he recalled Kurosawa Jin's instructions before he left, thinking that it was no problem, this was definitely surveillance...
Hojo Natsuki interrupted his beautiful excuse and calmly asked, "Do you know who I am?"
"Ah..." Vodka fell silent.
His expression was a little nervous, and his fingers were twisted together, as if he was making a very difficult decision.
This gave Hojo Natsuki a bad feeling.
I asked Vodka this question just to scare him out of boredom, but his reaction didn't seem to be simple.
Could it be that this useless frog is also immune to the hood's "privacy protection" buff and can recognize the Boss's true identity
The corners of Hojo Natsuki's mouth that were raised gradually dropped and formed a calm straight line.
Vodka whispered: "...Sister-in-law."
Hojo Natsuki: “???”
He was stunned.
Vodka continued, "Don't worry. I have been with Big Brother for more than ten years and am his most trusted subordinate. I will never say anything outside, and this matter will not be reported to Boss. If something... dangerous really happens, your safety will definitely come first."
Hojo Natsuki: “…”
Hojo Natsuki: “?”
Cosmic Dog Sublimation.jpg
Confused. I don't understand.
Is this guy really speaking Japanese
In Hojo Natsuki's eyes, the relationship between Frog Head Boss and Gin is a pure father-son relationship, and no one should associate it with something strange (but in fact, the entire organization spreads this message), so he was unable to understand Vodka's implication for a while. Intuition is not a good thing.
He glanced at Vodka, habitually pretending to be cool and aloof, saying "I understand everything, just tone it down a bit", and walked towards the counter.
The manager on duty bowed slightly to him and said, "Manager, your customized rocking car has been delivered."
Hojo Natsuki: "Take it out and put it on both sides of the store door."
At the command, two male shop assistants carried two large express boxes to the door and started unpacking and connecting the boxes.
The box contains a yellow-green frog rocking car, which is a 1:1 replica of the Ferrari 4399 in the game, and is a coin-operated model.
After connecting the wires, two brand new rocking cars, like two frog-shaped stone statues, with their feet on tracks covered with seven-color lights, solemnly guarded the left and right sides of the store door.
Hojo Natsuki: "It's really nice. It matches the style of our store."
Duty Manager: “…”
Vodka: “…”
A female clerk passing by: “…”
Hojo Natsuki: "Uozuka, you try it."
Vodka, who was called, walked over with heavy steps, looked at the children's rocking car in front of him, and fell into deep thought.
He and Natsuki looked at each other, and he tried his best to squeeze into the seat that was not the right size, and put in a coin.
The rocking car starts up, and the colorful lights surrounding the base turn into shining light balls, radiating dazzling light to the ground and all around. The body of the car dances to a cheerful tune, swaying up and down in a regular pattern, looking extremely lifelike.
The car was so cool that every passing child stopped to look at it with eager eyes.
"Amazing… "
"Mom, I want to try that!"
"It's a little frog!"
"Wow! Frogman's car!"
Vodka held the children's steering wheel, his fingers trembling with shame. Having been in this industry for so many years, he cherished his life very much, and at this moment he wanted to die more than ever.
Hojo Natsuki discovered the problem: "Why is there only instrumental music in this car?" After waiting for a while, he still didn't hear any lyrics, so he said as a matter of course, "Uozuka, you sing one."
Vodka: “????”
Vodka panics.
Hojo Natsuki asked softly, "No?"
Vodka: "Ah?!... What do you want me to sing?"
Hojo Natsuki: "'The eldest brother's eldest brother is the eldest brother', something like that."
Vodka: “…”
No!!
It seemed as if the heavens had heard his extremely reluctant voice, and the Frog Bodhisattva had pity on the diligent driver and sent down two idle policemen to save him.
One was wearing sunglasses, and the other had his medium-length hair tied loosely behind his head. They looked completely different, but both were young and handsome.
Matsuda: “The new store is pretty cool, but it feels like something is missing.”
Hagiwara: "Where's Frogman?"
Matsuda pointed inside the store and said, "Look, it's over there."
On the big screen of the main booth of the 'Vodka' series, ads for trolleys from different channels were being played in a loop. It just happened to be the classic epic of the Frogman vs. Aka Fish. This ad actually had no sound, but Hagi and Matsu had already automatically dubbed the two fighting characters in their minds... "Aka Fish, give me back my princess!"...
"Now that you're here, come in and take a look," Matsuda said to Hagiwara.
Turning his head, he saw Hojo Natsuki standing by the door. He stopped, raised his eyebrows, and pushed up his sunglasses: "...Huh? You're not that... Hojo?"
Hagiwara also looked at him and keenly saw the nameplate: "Hojo-kun, long time no see. ... Oh, are you the store manager?"
Hojo Natsuki smiled and said, "It's been a long time since we last met. Do you want to come in and experience it?"
He secretly added two more names in his heart: Mama and Juanjuan.
The curly hair is indeed curly, just like its tail, curled freely. As for Mama... Why is it Mama? The face is not long, could it be because of the flowing hair
When they are not deliberately trying to irritate people, Hagiwara and Matsuda speak in a humorous and witty manner, just like performing a manzai.
The two followed him into the store, and every time Hojo Natsuki introduced something, they would flatter him. For a moment, they were having a great time and everyone forgot about Vodka, who was sitting on the rocking cart at the door.
Hagiwara: "Come to think of it, we've been to a toy factory's offline exhibition before. Would your store consider inviting real people like Frogman and Aka Fish to the booth?"
Hojo Natsuki: "I heard that the actor who played Aka Fish resigned, so there will be no similar activities in the near future."
Matsuda asked, "Resigned? Then why not just find a stuntman?"
Hojo Natsuki: "'Substitute' sounds a bit like a TV drama."
Matsuda: "Then remarry. It's always okay to remarry."
Hagiwara: "… Remarrying seems to be even weirder, right?"
Hojo Natsuki, who knew everything, smiled mysteriously.
Just last month, when the graduate school school started at the University of Tokyo, the cat and fish natural enemies, who were supposed to be separated by death, met each other again.
Fūya Rei and Morobushi Kagemitsu both agreed that this was a godsend opportunity. They decided to establish their persona as "hard-working graduate students". Publishing in SCI would not be difficult. The public security team behind them would find a way and, by assembling the capabilities of the entire system, publishing two papers would be a piece of cake.
But both of them must also have basic scientific research qualities to avoid making mistakes when serving as assistant researchers.
I will study hard this year, and publish my SCI papers next year. This will serve as a token of my loyalty, so that I can enter the research institute for an internship and investigate its secrets.
Both Furuya Rei and Morobushi Kagemitsu are people with strong learning ability and serious work attitude, otherwise they would not have been chosen as undercover agents among such outstanding classmates in the police academy.
Naturally, they decided to live on campus and applied for a dormitory.
Although I don't live here often, I can leave my textbooks in the dormitory so that they are convenient for class.
Furuya Rei flipped through the notification message: "We didn't even get a dormitory."
Zhu Fu Jingguang: "It should be that the organization did not inform the school administration and arranged it randomly."
Furiya Rei: “It doesn’t matter.”
Zhu Fu Jingguang: "The opening ceremony will start in half an hour. See you later."
Furuya Rei: "Well, I'll go first."
So, Fūya Rei, dressed in casual clothes, dragged his suitcase and walked into the dormitory door.
The graduate dormitory is a double room with good conditions. The dormitory building was renovated a few years ago and is bright and clean.
He saw his roommate bending over, seemingly picking up something, so he knocked on the door twice as a greeting to avoid startling him: "Good morning."
Rei Furuya didn't have any imagination or expectations about his roommate. He thought that they were just classmates on the surface, probably just a taciturn, bespectacled science and engineering guy with a strong learning ability. It would be best to reduce contact and avoid involving this innocent ordinary person... He had been thinking so until the other person raised his face and greeted him.
Akai Shuichi after his disguise: "Hi, I'm Okiya Subaru."
Furuya Rei: “?”
Fangtani Rei: "... Amuro Toru."
He gave his name and fell into thought.
To be fair, the appearance of Okiya Subaru (Akai Shuichi) after the transformation is very different from his original appearance. His black hair is replaced by pink hair, his facial features are slightly adjusted, and his body posture and voice tone are also deliberately interpreted to be completely different.
Even so, Fūya Rei still noticed something subtle.
I don't know why, but this guy looks so annoying.
Akai Shuichi, who was sitting opposite him, was also in extreme shock at this moment.
Shuichi Akai was shocked. He thought that the next time he met Bourbon, they would be sniping each other from 800 meters away, or at worst a life-and-death chase and fight. He never expected that in the blink of an eye they would become graduate school classmates.
His first reaction was that his identity was exposed and Bo Ben was out to catch him. His alertness instantly rose to the highest level and he was ready to deal with this man's attack at any time.
From Hojo Natsuki's perspective—
A green cat with its fur standing on end and a pink salted fish were staring at each other.
Zero Cat's claws protruded from his paw pads, and it looked like he wanted to make this salted fish that was dying with its eyes open into sashimi.
Akai Yuyu was extremely nervous, moving his body rhythmically back and forth, ready to gulp down a bowl of spinach at any moment and whip the cat that was eyeing him with its tail.
Their eyes clashed violently in the air, crackling and flashing sparks and lightning.
After a long time, Ling Miao spoke.
[Zero Cat]: Do you want to go to the opening ceremony together
[Akai Yuyu]: Okay.
So, the cat and the fish went out, and met the wagging tail at the stairs.
The German Shepherds formed a seemingly harmonious team of graduate students.
They strolled into the auditorium, chatting nonsense all the way.
The leader's speech was long and redundant, but the cat and fish kept asking each other questions, playing Tai Chi back and forth.
[Zero Cat]: What was your undergraduate major
[Akai Yuyu]: Pharmacy, what about you
[Zero Meow]: Haha, what a coincidence, me too
[Akai Yuyu]: I have been living in the UK before, and I am not used to Tokyo yet.
[Zero Meow]: Really? I thought you were American
[Akai Yuyu]: Hmm? Why? I have never been to the United States.
The green-haired German Shepherd next to him tilted his head with a puzzled [? ] on his face, unable to understand why Xiao Xunran was suddenly so happy chatting with his new roommate.
Suddenly, they heard the principal's speech and fell silent.
[Principal]: Next, please welcome Mr. N, the chairman of Xiaochi Co., Ltd. and our school director—
The dog wearing a sad frog mask strode up to the podium, puffed out his chest, and barked proudly and naturally.
[N]：Hello everyone, let me just say a few words...
There was a loud bang in the sky, and the Sad Frog school director made a brilliant appearance, and the entire auditorium exploded!
The three animals in the whiskey group also showed amazing consistency at this moment. They remained calm, with only confused bubbles appearing on their heads - one might wonder if they were as calm as if they had quit drugs.
[Jing Wang]：
[Zero Meow]：
Cosmic frog sublimation.JPG
Cat, Dog and Fish: Why
No matter what they thought, objectively speaking, the lives of the three researchers, whose lives were worse than death, had begun.
Hojo Natsuki ends his recollection.
It has been a month since I started school. I am sure that cats and dogs have experienced the beauty of graduate school life, right
Hagiwara asked: "Do I need to draw lots online to buy this now?"
Hojo Natsuki came back to his senses: "...Ah? No need. You can also draw offline in the store. In addition to the right to buy the twisting car, there are other gifts. Do you want to try your luck?"
Jinpei Matsuda and Kenji Hagiwara readily agreed, and they drew lots. They were lucky, one won a [10,000 yen coupon for the 'Vodka' series twisting car], and the other won a [Small Pond Cultural and Creative Peripheral].
Seeing the surrounding entities, Matsuda Jinpei was silent: "What is this?"
Hojo Natsuki: "As you can see, it's a frogfish."
Matsuda: "… What is a frogfish? Can a sad frog head be attached to a fish body and used as a peripheral? My eyes!"
Hagiwara applauded: "Wow, the king of joints."
Hojo Natsuki looked affectionate and continued with nonsense: "Our surroundings are very unique."
Matsuda obviously wanted to complain a few more times, but the vibrating "beep" of the cell phone in his pocket interrupted his thoughts.
"Hello?" He picked up the phone, put it to his ear, and his expression became more and more solemn.
At the same time, Hagiwara's cell phone rang and they looked at each other.
Hagiwara: "Ah? Where is it? ON77? ... It's a bit far, I didn't drive, Hagiwara and I were at 521 Commercial Street..."
Without any prior agreement, they both put the things on the counter.
"--Sorry, we have official business to go out on the police. We'll leave your things here first and come pick them up later."
Hojo Natsuki nodded happily: "Thank you for your hard work, Uozuka, you escort the two officers."
Vodka: “???”
Matsuda: "That's not necessary. A colleague will come later..."
"Uozuka is a professional driver, trust him. If he suddenly calls you on the weekend, it must be an emergency. It will be too late to send someone to pick you up."
Hojo Natsuki said sanctimoniously, "ON77, huh? He goes there often, is very familiar with it, and knows how to take shortcuts. Let him take you there."
The two stopped refusing and looked at Vodka: "Then thank you for your help."
Vodka: “????”
In short, although Vodka was reluctant, he had to follow the two policemen out and send them to the crime scene.
After getting off the car, Hagiwara and Matsuda expressed their sincere gratitude to him, saying, "You are really a good person with excellent driving skills." After decades in the other world, he returned as a law-abiding citizen. Vodka was in a trance, stepped on the clutch again, and drove back slowly.
Without the surveillance of the human-shaped camera, Hojo Natsuki felt much more at ease and continued to sit and hang around the store.
Not long after, three familiar-looking guests arrived, and the group's status was a repeat of yesterday's.
The two girls were walking arm in arm in front, and the boy, who looked hopeless, was following behind with bags in his hands.
Kudo Shinichi: "... You've been walking for so long, don't your feet hurt?"
"What's wrong with you?" Suzuki Sonoko laughed generously, "Where did you get all the energy to play soccer for an entire afternoon?"
Mao Lilan agreed with a smile: "That's right."
Hojo Natsuki watched from afar and felt the same way. It was really tiring to accompany a girl shopping.
Suzuki Sonoko, whose handsome guy radar had activated, was the first to lock onto him. She shook Xiaolan's arm excitedly and said happily, "Ah! It's Mr. Hojo! Why is he here?"
Kudo Shinichi explained weakly: "… He was transferred to another position."
The three of them walked up to him, greeted him very freely, and walked around the store, excitedly trying out the new products.
The boy and girl looked fairly harmless, but Hojo Natsuki was inexplicably nervous.
He always felt that Kudo Shinichi Chicken was going to get infected with the virus, and was afraid that his newly opened store would be involved in a strange case, so he closed it on the spot for rectification.
Fortunately, they were lucky today and nothing unexpected happened until they were ready to leave.
Before leaving, Hojo Natsuki heard Kudo Shinichi's complaint again: "Can we go back now? Aren't you really tired after walking all the way from ON77 to here?..."
Hojo Natsuki: “!?”
Wait, isn’t ON77 the location the two policemen just mentioned
It's still so annoying!
He gasped.
This won't work. We must take measures to deal with Kudo Shinichi.
The next day, it started raining in Beika Town.
The rain at the turn of spring and summer is always soft and without any temper. The raindrops are fine and delicate, making the branches and leaves of grass and trees glossy and shiny.
It was only halfway through the afternoon and already it was getting dark.
Hojo Natsuki was half dead in the store manager's office on the third floor of the store, and Kurosawa Jin was sitting on the sofa opposite him.
"I hate rainy days." He said, "I want to go to the night market with you tonight, but it's not convenient on rainy days and there are not many stalls. I really want to eat butter potatoes."
Kurosawa Jin ignored him and asked directly, "What are you doing here?"
"Wait for someone." Hojo Natsuki said concisely.
Half an hour later, the manager on duty knocked on the office door and said cautiously, "Manager, the master is here."
Hojo Natsuki jumped up and said to Kurosawa, "I'm going to do some work and will be back soon."
He went downstairs at lightning speed with the manager on duty.
The store door was closed and a sign saying "Store Closed" was put up at the door.
A monk in a pink cassock, calmly twirling Buddhist beads in his hands, was surrounded by several chattering shop assistants.
Duty manager: "Hello, Master. This is our store manager."
The monk looked very familiar, and Hojo Natsuki didn't remember it for a moment, so he put on a smile and respectfully called out, "Master."
The manager on duty was quite considerate and took a few employees upstairs to leave them some space to talk alone.
Thus, Hojo Natsuki and the monk were the only ones left in the huge store.
All the screens and audio equipment were turned off, and the first floor seemed too empty. When people spoke, there was even a faint echo.
"Hello, sir."
The monk named Kumamoto put his hands together. He was over 30 years old and had been a monk for many years. He had completed the super evolution in the workplace. His tone was particularly calm, and he perfectly fooled 80% of the outsiders.
"You let me come
, intending to exorcise evil spirits and pray for blessings, this poor monk… "
—Yes, this is Hojo Natsuki’s counterattack plan, use magic to fight magic, and use rituals to crush the chicken plague!
But when he stared at the monk in the pink cassock, he always felt that he looked familiar and quite unreliable.
Xia Shu: "It's like this, Master, our store may have been hit by a strong bad luck..."
Kumamoto: “I know.”
Xia Shu: "Excuse me, how sure are you?"
Kumamoto: "A monk does not tell lies. I will do my best."
Xia Shu: "Then..."
While the two were talking, Kurosawa Jin walked silently and stood quietly beside Hojo Natsuki.
Just as Kumamoto was about to answer the question, he saw Kurosawa suddenly appear and was immediately speechless. The man put his hand on the young store manager's shoulder and stroked his black hair with his fingertips. Kumamoto's eyes widened and his breathing stagnated - it was the killer!
The memories of two life-and-death situations came to his mind. The hairs on his body stood on end, and the sense of crisis was like a sharp whistle, constantly sending out sharp and high-pitched danger reminders in his mind.
After being stared at by him for a few seconds, the silver-haired man raised his eyelids and glanced at him lightly, his eyes as if he saw something dirty on his clothes, and frowned slightly.
He could reach out and crush this 'dirty thing' at any time, but there was something more worthy of his attention at the moment, so he casually withdrew his gaze and stopped at the profile of the black-haired young man next to him.
Kumamoto's hand trembled and the Buddhist beads fell out of fear.
“… Sorry! I’m so sorry!” he said, “I can’t take on this ritual! Please ask someone else!”
Hojo Natsuki: “?”
Why
He thought seriously: Could it be that this person is really capable and has discovered the secret of chicken plague, which is why he is so panicked
If that was the case, he certainly couldn't let the monk leave like that.
The other party bowed deeply to him and prepared to run away.
"Master, you just said you are the most professional in Beika Town..." he tried to keep her.
Kumamoto walked back decisively, his steps were fast, his mouth trembling: "No, I... I lied! I am an amateur, a very amateur!"
Hojo Natsuki took two steps forward and said, "Wait, monk, you have to keep your word..."
Kumamoto changed from a brisk walk to a trot, and in the blink of an eye he ran across the booth to the door, shouting in despair: "No no no no!! I will return to secular life now!!"
"boom!"
A gunshot rang out.
“Bang!”
Two more sounds.
Suddenly, everything was silent.
Three smoking bullets were embedded in the reinforced glass of the store door. With these three bullets as the center, the entire glass wall was shattered into spider-web-like cracks, which was shocking to the eye.
Kumamoto froze, then began to tremble uncontrollably, bent his arms, and pulled at his sleeves.
There were three freshly formed bullet holes, grazing the lower edge of his arm, forming a line.
The bullet didn't hurt anyone, but its terrifying deterrent effect is self-evident.
"Get back here." Kurosawa Jin spoke in a steady tone, but every word he uttered was filled with murderous intent, "He didn't let you leave."
Kumamoto fell to the ground, tears and snot flowing out instantly: "Don't kill me... I don't want to die..."
He couldn't even stand, so he used his hands and feet, crawling back the same way, and cast an expectant look at Hojo Natsuki.
"I, a poor monk, can... no problem..." He answered in a nonsensical way, not even daring to use his own name, "I will do the exorcism ritual well..."
"Don't scare people like this all the time." Hojo Natsuki pressed down his gun-holding hand and sighed helplessly, "We are outside, we can't be too violent. Fortunately, the other employees are not here. ... Huh?"
As he spoke, his eyes lingered on the tearful face of the monk, and from time to time he glanced at the tattered robes on the other person. A light bulb suddenly lit up in his head, and he finally remembered.
"This person is the monk you invited before."
Hojo Natsuki suddenly raised his eyes and looked at Kurosawa with a sharp look like Usagi-chan, "You think I'm a ghost and you want him to drive me away, right?"
Kurosawa
: "… "
The air suddenly became quiet, even quieter than when the three shots were fired just now; you could hear a pin drop.
Kurosawa Jin paused and answered cautiously, "I have no impression."
Xia Shu: "It's him! I remember his cassock, don't deny it! There are records now, do you want me to show you the evidence?"
Kurosawa said nonchalantly: "Oh, I forgot."
He was like a cat that pushed something off the table with one paw. To him, the inexplicable act of destruction was as normal as eating and drinking. At this moment, the cat was sitting at the crime scene, licking its paw leisurely, and bottles and jars were broken all over the floor.
But cats never think they are wrong, and they are always justified.
"Okay." Hojo Natsuki thought that things had changed and I finally got the chance, so he immediately accused the other party in a rather deliberate tone, "You asked the monk to drive me away, because you think I'm still haunting you, right? You just want me to disappear so you can find another dog, right?"
Kurosawa Jin: “…”
Kurosawa Jin: “No.”
Natsuki: "I knew you hated me and that you had no good intentions!"
Kurosawa Jin: “…That was in the past.”
Xia Shu: "You can see the big picture from the small. You were able to hire someone to perform a ritual to drive me away before, but I don't know what you will do in the future."
Kumamoto, sandwiched between the two people, looked to the left and to the right, always feeling that he would die in the next second, and his tears flowed even more violently.
Hojo Natsuki turned his head away, pretending to be angry, but actually trying to hold back his laughter.
"Got it." Kurosawa Jin said impatiently.
In the blink of an eye, Beau Retta appeared in his palm like a ghost again, and the next second, the cold muzzle of the gun was pressed against the monk's bald forehead.
Top Killer never reflects on his mistakes, nor does he know how to properly solve problems... but he is very good at solving problems for people who raise them.
If you can't solve the problem of the person who raised the problem, then just solve whoever you want.
"What are you angry about?" Kurosawa loaded the gun nonchalantly. With a "click" sound, his scalp tingled. "I'll kill him."
The monk let out a high-pitched squeal like a pig, his eyes rolled back, and he fainted on the spot.
Hojo Natsuki: “…”
Hojo Natsuki said expressionlessly: "Put down your gun."
(End of this chapter)