Izuka - Chapter 153
“Are you sure?” Jaz asked doubtfully. He could not accept a lot of money at once.
One thing which was worth pointing out was when Jaz saw the gold coins in front of him. His mind went blank for a few short seconds as though his brain had short-circuited.
“Yeah, you don’t have to follow me. Go and prove yourself what I’ve done now is wrong. You speak big when you talk about the world’s system, how about you reorder that system to prove that I’m wrong?” Narukami pondered upon his last few words.
“This…” Jaz hesitated. What was happening right now was something he never expected to happen. What he wanted earlier was to say what was in his mind, that was it.
However, he had an objective and it was rather impossible, right? Changing the system of the world, who could do that?!
“This is impossible, it’s already rooted to everyone on this planet. What can I change?” Jaz pondered.
What he said made sense, everything was already good the way it was. What should he change?
“You’ve already known it already, why are you doubting yourself?” Said Narukami.
Jaz fell silent as he cast his gaze to the ground. His brows knitted together and always made contact as he pondered.
A few seconds of silence later, Jaz appeared to find something in his mind as he lifted his head so as to meet Narukami’s eyes.
It could not be denied Narukami’s eyes, making it hard for Jaz to maintain eye contact.
He could do it albeit last briefly as he averted his line of sight to his left side.
“Thank you, Narukami. I’ll do my best,” thanked Jaz as he smiled.
“But why don’t you want me to follow you?” Jaz quickly added without waiting for Narukami’s response.
“Because it’s not suitable for you. Not for the fact you’re weak and stupid. In my view, It is because you’re better in another area.
“Everyone has strengths and weaknesses, after all.”
Jaz understood what Narukami was implying. He was a bit sad and disappointed but there was nothing he could do. Narukami was right. A dangerous organization was chasing after him.
Jaz was not fitting involved in some dangerous chasing.
“Okay, I understand,” said Jaz with a nod. His expression was gloomy.
“Why are you so gloomy? Imagine the things you are going to do with this amount of money!” Jim said as he slapped Jaz’s back. The latter let out a groan as he was snapped from his negative thoughts.
When Jaz got slapped, his body got straightened. It was sudden, after all. Jaz got a bit of a shock.
Turning his head to Jim, Jaz forces out a smile, “you’re right. I can change my life with this. I’ll start by going to high school again.”
“How old are you, anyway?” Jim pondered curiously.
“24, but never too late to educate myself. It’s going to be hard though, but I’ll try my best.” His tone was filled with determination and his negative thoughts shifted away to nothing. His eyes flared with flame.
Narukami nodded before turning his body around and walking as he left the building. Aware of this, Jim waved his hand as he followed behind Narukami.
Jaz was left behind with all the gold coins in his hands. He slowly waved his right hand. It was an extremely short meeting but meant a lot to Jaz.
“Narukami, once we meet again. It’s going to be my face on the television! You better wait!” Jaz yelled.
Jaz’s response was Narukami raising his right hand, “I’ll be waiting.”
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.
.
After leaving the building, they were walking on a quiet street.
“If you have that much money, why don’t you just go home? Even further, you can grab your money any time you want and it’s safe without the need of being afraid of being robbed!” There was evidence of envy in Jim’s tone.
“I have something to take care of.”
“Oh, what is that?” Jim asked as he was curious.
“You’ll know,” said Narukami rather calmly. If he could make a facial expression. He would be smiling mysteriously.
“Are we still going to meet that someone I know?” Jim asked.
“No, no bother. I want to go somewhere.”
“Oh? Where do you want to go? Is it possible you want to buy weapons to take care of the people from Day Fallers? Even better, are you going to go to one of their bases and kick their ass?
“I know one near this area. They are active around here and usually steal stuff down in the suburbs. This place is where they are hanging out.” Jim explained.
“A wolf’s den?”
“Yeah, pretty much.”
“How do you know so much?” Narukami calmly pondered.
“I used to be a cop but I made a big mistake in my investigation. I got fired, an accident happen and I lost my house and family. Here I am,” said Jim in a casual tone but reaching the end, he sighed as his expression changed as sorrow could be depicted in his eyes.
His smile looked like it was filled with sadness too.
“I’m sorry.” Narukami noticed this as he glanced at him before turning his vision to the path forward.
Jim swayed his hand about as he brushed off so Narukami wasn’t particularly bothered with it, “Don’t worry, it’s something that happened ten years ago.”
“Is your family doing well?” Narukami abruptly asked.
Jim’s smile vanished as he replied with a low tone, “They’re doing well. My daughter is the same age as you and my wife got a new one. I’m sure their life would be happier without me.”
Narukami shifted his line of sight to Jim and sized up his face. No matter how hard he saw it, he’s rather young.
As if knowing what was in Narukami’s mind. Jim said, “my wife was pregnant when she was fourteen. Some bastard impregnated her and run away without taking responsibility.
“I was fifteen at the time. I’m what you called it, mature at an early age. I skipped class and got into college earlier than most of my friends.
“My family runs a few businesses in different states and my pops trust me to take care of one in California. It’s hard but I managed to handle it.”
“That’s amazing,” praised Narukami with a straight face.
His words were from the deep of his heart. By the age of fifteen, he took care of his family business and went to college.
Others might see him blessed with luck and envied the Goddess of Luck for opening her thighs to him but Narukami saw it differently.
“It must be hard,” said Narukami as he sympathized.
“Yeah, it’s tough. Not once have I thought of leaving the business to someone else’s hands but it is hard to trust someone nowadays.”
As they walked and had a conversation. Without knowing, they reached a bus station with a few people in line, waiting.
Jim took a seat whereas Narukami stood next to him.
“So how do you meet your wife?” Asked Narukami slowly.
“I’m getting into it.”
After he said that, a bus stopped in front of them as it produced creaking noises from the break.
The door opened and twenty people or so got in. As they were entering, they formed two rows of lines.
Narukami and Jim were next to each other. Just because they were entering a bus, it did not stop Jim from talking.
“I was on my way home that night. I was so tired and just wanted to sleep. I remember it clearly. I don’t care about my surroundings anymore, I just want to get home and sleep.
“A few blocks away from my home, after I get down from a Taxi. There is a tiny path that I must take to reach my home.
“As I walked like a zombie, swaying about. I found her, laying down on the ground. At first, I thought it’s a prank where people scared others with dolls that looked like dead humans. It’s particularly trending at the time.
“I ignored it and continued walking. But that is when I felt something weird.”
Reaching this point, both of them had already taken a seat. In the middle of the bus.
Jim was sitting near the window where Narukami was beside him.
“As I’m really tired and so is my instinct, I subconsciously ignore that feeling and went home.
“But, just as I am about to. Something quite hard gripped my leg. My reaction was to get rid of it by kicking it but I froze as I realized that I’m all alone.
“What kind of animal could grab my leg like a human? Therefore, I slowly turned my head and saw the girl, who I thought was a human doll, had her right palm grabbing my left leg.”
“Her face was full of bruises. Her clothes were covered in dirt. Her arm is as thin as a stick and her skin is pale like a corpse.
“At that moment, I realized she was no doll but a human. The rest you could figure out on your own. I saved her, let her live in my home. From that day onward, my life had changed.” Jim smiled before he sighed in resignation.
“But that was all part of the past,” said Jim as his voice was filled with sadness yet he tried his best to smile.
“Tough as usual,” abruptly said Narukami.
“?” Jim was confused.