Dragon Raja 3; Chapter 496: Epilogue (2)

Dragon Raja 3

Tonight, the entire Kabukicho district could hear the songs from Takamagahara. On this cool summer night, the distant melody brought clarity to everyone’s thoughts. Across the street, in the residential area, people began opening their windows.

The only regret was that Lu Mingfei couldn’t quite keep up with Caesar’s dazzling piano. As the lead singer, he should have been the star, but his singing was mediocre at best. Even in karaoke competitions, his performance was just average. Even though Caesar tried to tone down his musical brilliance to match Lu Mingfei, it was still obvious. Lu Mingfei had to push himself to sing louder, sweating profusely and straining his voice until it felt like it might tear apart.

We are already friends

Beautiful friends

Just like this, friends

Gentle…

We are already friends

From the heart, friends

Forever, friends

From now on…

Friends… only goodbye can be said, everything else is left unsaid.

The music and lyrics dispersed into the night sky, and for a long time, there was only silence. The hall was so quiet you could hear the beating of hearts. No applause. No cheers.

Caesar stood up from the piano, Chu Zihang set down his saxophone, and they walked over to Lu Mingfei’s left side. The three of them clasped hands and bowed deeply together.

The crying and applause crashed over the stage like a storm. Tonight, the Yasha from the Yamata no Orochi Clan were in charge of maintaining order, but even the elite of the Execution Bureau couldn’t contain the passion of these women. They tried to rush onto the stage to embrace the young men who were about to leave, but the stage was too high. Instead, they threw roses—thousands upon thousands of roses. Red, pink, deep crimson—it was like a snowstorm of flowers on the stage. No matter how many times the trio bowed, it didn’t help. The emotions of the audience had reached their peak, and nothing could calm them down.

“Ukyo! Ukyo! Ukyo!”

“Basara King! Basara King! Basara King!”

The whole room echoed with these two names, along with cries of “I love you” and “Don’t leave me.” Lu Mingfei silently watched the crying women, observing Chu Zihang wave at Nakajima Sanae, who stood quietly in a distant corner, waving back with the dignified Councilman Hojo beside her.

“Look at you, how are you going to marry my son like this?” In the VIP box, Mori Takako sighed softly as she spoke to Aoki Chinatsu, who had shouted herself hoarse.

“The wedding will go on as planned,” Aoki Chinatsu whispered. “He was just a passerby in my life. Everyone has one or two passersby, right, mother? Even you weren’t an exception.”

“Yes, everyone has one or two passersby in life,” Mori Takako sighed again.

“It’s such a happy occasion today! Should we have another drink, godmother?” Finger, standing beside Mori Takako, was eager and overly flattering.

Meanwhile, in another VIP box, a man dressed as a priest sat restlessly. As a man devoted to serving God, being in such a flashy and indulgent setting made him uneasy, even if the young men performing were now the idols of the Tokyo disaster. But due to certain reasons, he had to be present—it involved a $1.2 billion donation.

“The land is within your parish, an old street near the back gate of Tokyo University that hasn’t been redeveloped. You might know the previous owner—he used to attend your church regularly, though you might not have known his name,” Anjou said, handing an envelope containing the deed to the priest. “His name was Koeru.”

The priest trembled as he held the envelope, unable to recall who Koeru was. Too many elderly people came to his church every weekend for services and volunteer work, and many were known only by titles like “brother” or “sister.” Could such a wealthy person really have been hidden among those unassuming seniors, donating a $1.2 billion plot of land to the church’s foundation?

“Although he wanted to give this land to your church with no conditions, as the executor of his will, I do have some requirements. All profits from the land will go to your foundation. It can be redeveloped commercially but must retain its current style. Seventy-five percent of the proceeds should be used to care for elderly people without children, and I’ve appointed an accounting firm to monitor your finances,” Anjou stated coldly. “If I find out you’ve misused the funds—like building some luxurious new church or keeping a mistress—then not even your God can save you.”

The priest looked up and down at this elegant old man, completely shocked that such harsh words could come from him. “Not even your God can save you,” he said right after transferring a $1.2 billion piece of land to the church.

“Don’t look at me like that—I don’t believe in your God,” Anjou shrugged, reading the priest’s thoughts. “That man said I’m a devil, after all.”

“Ladies and gentlemen! If you’re interested in supporting Sakura, please cast your precious vote into the box! Thank you for your support!” The host, Fujiwara Kansuke, shouted energetically.

Though tonight was a farewell performance and Lu Mingfei’s debut on stage, there were still the traditional Takamagahara events—voting with flower ballots and setting off cherry blossom fireworks. But the excited crowd didn’t care about Fujiwara Kansuke’s words; they were too busy waving their hands and shouting the names of Caesar and Chu Zihang. The server carrying the golden box around the dance floor was jostled left and right by the crowd as the guests rushed toward the stage, throwing the flower ballots randomly. The floor was littered with pink envelopes.

Lu Mingfei smiled wryly to himself. It was now that he truly realized how amazing Whale was—only his exaggerated performances could control these frenzied women. Compared to him, Fujiwara Kansuke was just a rookie.

But Fujiwara Kansuke didn’t need to work so hard. After all, this was just a performance, and the idea of “voting with flowers to keep him” wasn’t really necessary. The audience was already deeply into the show, which was enough.

There probably wouldn’t have been many votes for him anyway, especially with Caesar and Chu Zihang on stage. Lu Mingfei felt invisible next to them. Whale was just flattering him with all that talk of “being chosen at first sight” and “white poppy”—in the end, he was still an unpopular host, unnoticed by the crowd.

He remembered he still had a few small things to collect backstage and thought of sneaking off while Caesar and Chu Zihang were busy receiving roses from the guests.

Just then, the spotlight suddenly shone on a man descending from the ceiling, suspended on wires with wings on his back! He grabbed the tall microphone and roared with the force of Lü Bu brandishing his halberd, “Ladies! Tonight, our flowers bloom for you!”

His voice stunned the entire hall, bringing some order back to the chaos.

Whale truly lived up to his title as the King of Hosts. Even with only one arm left, he was still awe-inspiring!

Whale had narrowly escaped death. When the rescue team found him, he had lost half of his blood, but the wound on his severed arm had been well bandaged. Given his naturally strong physique, a blood transfusion was all he needed to pull through. When Lu Mingfei visited him in the hospital, he was so angry his nose almost twisted. After all the emotions he had wasted on this guy, Whale was already back to handing out his business cards to every female patient, promoting his “respectable” host club as a high-class women’s relaxation lounge. Other than missing an arm, he was the same as before.

Whale hadn’t fully recovered yet. The doctor had initially refused to discharge him tonight, but here he was.

“The attending doctor was a woman, and the manager moved her to tears,” Fujiwara Kansuke whispered to Lu Mingfei.

“Ladies! On this beautiful night filled with blooming flowers, a night of both farewells and reunions, I am honored to introduce… Little Sakura!” Whale pointed with his one arm, and the spotlight shone on Lu Mingfei.

Lu Mingfei, slouching and with his head down, had intended to sneak away quietly. Now, forced to stand up straight, he reluctantly plastered on a charming smile, but it didn’t garner much applause.

“According to Takamagahara tradition, whether Little Sakura stays in our warm family depends on one thing—love! Your love will determine if he stays! Now, let’s reveal how much love Little Sakura has earned during his internship!” Whale announced passionately.

A server brought an envelope to the stage. Whale tore it open with his teeth, exuding power. He scanned the crowd and shouted with the gravity of an Oscar announcement, “Little Sakura received… 320 flower votes!”

Lu Mingfei wished he could disappear into a hole. Some guests who didn’t fully understand Takamagahara’s system looked around in confusion, unsure what 320 flower votes meant. Nakajima Sanae, with gentle understanding, quickly reached for her wallet, intending to buy more votes.

Three hundred and twenty flower votes was a failing score. According to Takamagahara’s rules, an intern needed to accumulate at least 800 flower votes—each worth 1,000 yen, meaning they had to earn 800,000 yen in votes to pass. For most hosts, this wasn’t too difficult; they could gather a few hundred votes before their debut, and then stir up the audience to collect a few hundred more during their performance. For Caesar and Chu Zihang, who were exceptionally talented, Whale had organized their debut performances even before their internships were over, and they easily garnered over 900 flower votes. Caesar didn’t even feel like he had given it his all.

But Lu Mingfei had only 320 votes, and even that was because the large crowd tonight included some guests who, out of kindness, had given him a vote.

Lu Mingfei thought to himself, Manager, why, why, why… why must you create this drama? This is your own club! I’m your employee! How does embarrassing me benefit you?

“That brings the total, including the flower votes purchased in advance, to 100,320 votes. Congratulations, Little Sakura, you’ve passed your internship and officially joined our family.” Whale suddenly stopped joking around. He pulled a check from his suit pocket, held it high for everyone to see, and the projector immediately displayed an enlarged version on the stage’s backdrop. Indeed, it was a check for 100 million yen, roughly $950,000 at today’s exchange rate—a rare, massive check. Whale dropped it into the server’s golden box, looking at Lu Mingfei as he said, “Yes, someone wanted you to stay. She came to me a few months ago.”