Dragon Raja 3; Chapter 304: Second Son of Gen Family (7)

Dragon Raja 3

“Wouldn’t that be like handing over the launch button of a nuclear weapon and inviting someone else to press it?” Caesar remarked. “I think Chisei can be trusted to some extent, but I’m not sure everyone in the Yamata no Orochi is trustworthy.”

“Indeed. Japan isn’t our territory, and no one here is absolutely trustworthy. Before we confirm Uesugi Erii’s true identity, it’s too risky to hand her back to the Yamata no Orochi,” Chu Zihang said.

“Alright then,” Caesar snapped his fingers. “Keeping this human-shaped weapon around for the short term shouldn’t be an issue, especially since we have Lu Mingfei. Since she trusts him, let him take care of her.”

“What do you mean? Are you giving me a job? Hey, I’ve already pulled an all-nighter, can’t I go back to sleep? I want to go back to Takamagahara to sleep!” Lu Mingfei was shocked. He’d been on edge all night, thinking everything would be fine now that Caesar and Chu Zihang had arrived.

“You can sleep at the love hotel, and with a beautiful girl, too!”

“Report, Captain! I’ve been single for twenty years, and I have no experience dealing with girls. Please assign this glorious and honorable task to someone more capable! Send me back to Takamagahara!”

“In the love hotel, you only have to deal with one girl. In Takamagahara, you’d have to deal with a hundred girls every night. If you can’t handle the job at the love hotel, how can you manage at Takamagahara?”

“At least the ones at Takamagahara are human, even if some are a bit ugly. But this one is a monster!”

“How can you call her a monster? Look at Uesugi’s figure, her looks—where does she resemble a monster? It’s just your mind playing tricks on you. As long as you think of her as a beautiful girl, she is a beautiful girl!” Caesar patted Lu Mingfei’s shoulder vigorously.

“But I’m almost at my limit! I’ve been trying so hard to play the polite and reliable big brother, but what if she sees through my sleazy nature? ‘Oh! So this is what Sakura-nii-san is really like? I’m so disillusioned with the world, I’m going to destroy it!’ And then, boom, Third Impact happens. The world is destroyed! Boss, think carefully! We have a responsibility to world peace!”

[Author’s note: Third Impact refers to the world-ending event from Evangelion, which involves Adam’s embryo interacting with Unit-01, cloned from Lilith.]

“Maybe she actually likes your sleazy side? Maybe she’s waiting for you to be even sleazier?” Caesar gave Lu Mingfei a big hug. “Trust my judgment. You can do it! Just remember to buy her enough snacks. Girls love snacks!”

Chu Zihang also stepped up to Lu Mingfei.

“Stop hugging me! You guys are acting like you’re saying goodbye to a corpse!” Lu Mingfei shouted.

“I wasn’t going to hug you.” Chu Zihang stuffed a stack of ten-thousand-yen bills into Lu Mingfei’s hand. “This is all the cash Caesar and I have on us—over seven hundred thousand yen. When you’re with a girl, there are always expenses. Make sure to keep her happy.”

“This feels like the start of a dating mission!” Lu Mingfei was dumbfounded.

“Calling it ‘dating’ makes it sound crude,” Caesar said seriously. “It’s normal interaction between men and women! And it’ll also help improve your studies at Takamagahara. Remember, this is part of the art of being a man!”

“I-I-I… I’m going!” Lu Mingfei stammered.

“I knew you would! Now hurry back and play some games with Uesugi so she doesn’t get bored waiting for you!” Caesar kindly draped a coat over Lu Mingfei’s shoulders.

“Does this task count for credits?” Lu Mingfei asked, looking miserable.

“No problem. When we return to the College, I’ll make sure to emphasize your efforts in my report. Using your Chinese saying, it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say you deserve great merit!”

“Boss, I feel like your behavior lately is becoming more and more like the Vice Principal’s. Is that just my imagination? Oh, by the way, Boss, don’t you think Uesugi looks a bit like Senior Sister?” Lu Mingfei suddenly found it odd. Even from across the street and through binoculars, Caesar should have noticed the resemblance between Erii and Nono—the slightly reddish long hair, the rare red eyes, and the somewhat boyish eyebrows. There weren’t many people in the world who looked that similar, which was why Lu Mingfei had mistaken Erii for Nono when he saw her underwater in the dim light. In better light, the two girls did look different. But when the vault door opened and he saw those eyes, Lu Mingfei felt a strange, inexplicable flutter, as if something solid in his heart had lightly trembled.

Caesar thought seriously for a moment and then shook his head. “Now that you mention it, there is a slight resemblance, but their auras are completely different. Even though Nono is a bit of a maniac, she’s a different kind of maniac.”

“Is it really okay to evaluate your girlfriend like that? Does the type of ‘maniac’ really matter?”

“In any case, whether or not a girl resembles my fiancée is something I get to decide,” Caesar concluded casually. “At most, there’s only a 50% resemblance.”

Lu Mingfei remained silent, thinking to himself, Well, that’s a solid reason. It’s his fiancée, so he gets to make the call.

But feeling down about something like this didn’t make much sense. He needed to learn to control these sour emotions. Still, it was hard for him to understand—was he really the only one who thought Erii and Nono looked so similar? So similar that it was unsettling?