Chapter 217: The Gathering of Heroes
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 217: The Gathering of Heroes
"P-Prospective groom?! He and I are not in that kind of relationship!"
As Yukika denied her relationship with Kim Yoo-Sung in surprise, Fuma Kotaro chuckled as if he knew everything.
"You don't have to be so shy. Your mother and I also first met when we were in high school."
"N-No! It's not because I'm shy!"
The topic had come out of nowhere, and Yukika, though flustered, tried her best to explain.
Finally sensing something was off, he asked with a hardened expression.
"Don't tell me... he just took the technique and refuses to take responsibility for you? If that's the case…"
"Would you please just listen to me!"
Finally exploding, Yukika raised her voice, and Fuma Kotaro quietly shut his mouth.
Thinking the atmosphere was finally calm enough to talk, Yukika let out a small sigh and said,
"Kim Yoo-Sung and I are not in the kind of relationship you think we are, Father. Of course, at first, I intended to teach him Hayate on the condition that he become an adopted son-in-law as per the clan's rules. But through negotiations with the elders, we substituted that price with him defeating the powerful yokai living on the mountain in front of the village."
"The village elders agreed to such a condition?"
"Yes. It was probably because they needed a new successor to fill your empty seat. After you disappeared, for nearly ten years, no one in the village could learn Hayate."
"I suppose so. There's no way those sly old foxes would have agreed to such a condition without a reason."
Nodding as if he roughly understood, Fuma Kotaro hummed, "Hmm…" and chose his words for a moment.
"So, you're really not in any kind of relationship? With that Korean, Kim Yoo-Sung."
"…For now, we just have a normal senior-junior relationship."
"I see…"
He didn't look like he believed her, but Yukika decided to pretend not to notice.
That wasn't what was important right now.
"So, is that really the only reason you suddenly came to see me? Father."
"Does a father need a special reason to come see his daughter?"
"For any other family, maybe not, but for our family, yes. Why did you leave home ten years ago without a word?"
At Yukika's question, Fuma Kotaro fell silent for a moment, as if the answer was difficult.
Then, he let out a deep sigh and spoke.
"I suppose the time has come to tell you. The reason I left the village that day."
After saying that, Fuma Kotaro took something out from his coat.
It was an old cigarette pack.
"Do you mind if I have one?"
"This is a non-smoking apartment."
"…Right."
He awkwardly put the cigarette pack back inside his coat and then said with somber eyes,
"This was thirteen years ago, when you were just five years old."
*
Your mother, Yukiko, was originally a healthy woman.
In high school, she was so well-known as a tomboy that she was the talk of the school.
But after giving birth to you in her hometown, her health rapidly deteriorated due to puerperal fever, and after suffering for several years, she died.
As I grieved before my wife's body, the village elders approached me and whispered.
'Take a new wife and produce a male heir to carry on the family's bloodline.'
But I, who had truly loved your mother, refused the elders' demand.
My reason was that if I brought in a new wife while you were still so young, you would be confused.
But the village elders kept pestering me, so I proposed a condition.
If they would wait until you turned eight, I would take a new wife after that.
Having no other choice, the village elders accepted my condition, and in that short time I had earned, I taught you Shinrai.
So that even if I were to disappear, you could take care of yourself.
And so, when all the given time had passed, on the day you turned eight…
I left the village on my own two feet.
*
The story her father, Fuma Kotaro, told her was shocking.
For Fuma Yukika, who had in some ways lived her entire life for the village, it was tantamount to a complete denial of her life up to this point.
The secret her grandfather and the village elders had hidden from her was truly ugly.
And so, she denied it.
"…You're lying."
"I won't ask you to believe me now. But my love for your mother was genuine."
"You're lying!"
It happened in an instant.
The blade of the Raikirimaru she had hidden under the tatami mat was at Fuma Kotaro's throat.
"You show up after ten years and the first thing you do is give me some sob story?! Couldn't you at least have asked if I was doing okay?! No, am I even really your daughter?!"
Like a dam had broken, a torrent of emotions poured out all at once. Fuma Kotaro silently closed his eyes.
He had been prepared for this from the moment he decided to visit his daughter after ten years.
"Who do you think you are! Showing up out of nowhere and ruining my life!"
"I just…"
"Answer me!"
After his lips trembled for a long while, Fuma Kotaro barely managed to speak.
"…I'm sorry."
An awkward silence filled the room.
"I didn't mean to confuse you. I just heard a rumor that a new Fuma Kotaro had appeared, and I was curious to see if you were doing well."
Word by word, he continued in a calm voice, then quietly rose from his seat.
"I'll take my leave for today. I don't think we can continue this conversation in this atmosphere."
Poof!!
Immediately after he spoke, Fuma Kotaro's form vanished with a puff of smoke.
Left alone in the small studio apartment, Yukika stared blankly at the spot where her father had stood. Soon, she dropped the sword hilt to the floor, sank down weakly, and began to cry her heart out.
*
The midterm exams, which started on Monday, were now on their third day.
We usually had two or three exams a day, so the midterms would end tomorrow.
The tense atmosphere in the classroom naturally loosened as a result.
Since the exams for the main subjects were all over as of today, everyone was treating the midterms as if they were effectively finished.
"Hey, hey, where should we go hang out tomorrow?"
"The arcade? Karaoke? Anywhere's fine."
As I half-listened to the Bald Trio already making plans, organizing my provisionally scored exam papers, Sasha suddenly approached and asked.
"Kim Yoo-Sung, are you free tomorrow?"
"Tomorrow? Why all of a sudden?"
Sasha replied with a nonchalant expression.
"My parents are coming to Japan to see me tomorrow. They said they want to meet you then."
"…What?"
The moment I heard that, I felt my mind go completely blank.
And for good reason—Sasha's father was Ivan Romanov, the man I had beaten to a pulp during Golden Week.
To borrow Fuma-senpai's words, he was the head of the Seven Fist Masters, known as the strongest in the underworld.
The man called Russia's 'God of Destruction' was Sasha's father.
I felt my hands trembling uncontrollably as I asked.
"W-Why are they suddenly coming to Japan?"
"Well, it's been almost half a year since I came to Japan, right? My mother said she wanted to see my face. We video call every day, but it's different from seeing me in person."
"Really?"
Warning bells were blaring in my head.
No matter how I thought about it, meeting Ivan again couldn't possibly end well.
I had managed to beat him once when he was off his guard, but even thinking about it now, with how much I'd grown, he was still a threatening figure.
For starters, normal people don't just try to kill someone on a whim when things don't go their way.
His way of thinking was on a completely different level from an ordinary person's.
But Satoru, oblivious to all this, heard Sasha's words and chattered excitedly.
"Whoa, if they're Russian, Sasha's dad must be a real man, right? You know how on the internet, people in Russia ride brown bears on the streets."
I wanted to say that was a prejudiced view, but I couldn't bring myself to deny it.
Sasha had actually told me her family kept several brown bears as pets.
I could say that Ivan matched Satoru's image of a manly Russian man 100%.
"So, what time should we set for the meeting?"
"Wait, hold on. This is all so sudden, I need to think…"
Just as I said that, trying to figure a way out of this sudden predicament,
"Wow! Come to think of it, we've never been to Sasha's place, have we? Why don't we all go hang out together?"
"…What?"
At Rika's sudden interjection, I couldn't help but wear a dazed expression.
Who was meeting whom?
"Hmm, that's not a bad idea. I can show my parents my friends and let them know I'm doing well."
It was driving me crazy that Sasha, the one who should have been refusing the offer, was reacting so positively.
"So it's settled then? We're all going to Sasha's place tomorrow? This is gonna be fun."
As the clueless Satoru chimed in, Sasha gave a wry smile and said,
"It's not much to be called a house. It's just a temporary place we're renting."
"Hahaha, well, you're an international student, so that makes sense."
I was envious of the wealth that allowed her to speak of a hotel's top-floor suite room as if it were a rented studio apartment, but this was no time for such carefree thoughts.
"Wait, hold on. Is it really decided that we're going?"
"You don't have anything else scheduled for tomorrow, do you? Or are you trying to ditch us, Yoo-Sung?"
I'm disappointed in you.
I glared resentfully at Satoru, who was cluelessly acting as a hype man, but in the end, I had no choice but to nod weakly.
"Alright, let's go."
They say you can survive even in a tiger's den if you just keep your wits about you. I guess I'll be fine as long as I watch myself.