Hanta Souta's screams were too shrill.
They made everyone involuntarily turn their heads and feel afraid.
The women were still alright.
But all the men clamped their buttocks, then their lower bodies began to feel a phantom pain.
Someone's lips trembled, and they couldn't help but blurt out:
"Water, boiled eggs…?"
But what was even more concerning was Hayato.
Hanta Souta had only gotten some boiling water on his lower body and was already so miserable.
Hayato, however, had taken more than half of the hot water on his back!
"Hayato-kun—"
"Hey, you kid!"
Sakura lightly covered her delicate lips, her pupils trembling so much she couldn't even speak.
Fortunately, Ayaka reacted quickly, immediately abandoning Mikami Kensuke and Yui, whom she had been confronting, and quickly walked to Hayato's side.
But her expression was also tense; just getting close, she could feel a scorching heat, which showed how astonishingly hot the water was.
Generally speaking, water temperatures above 45℃ can scald skin, and boiling water's temperature is more than double that standard!
Mikami Kensuke and the O'gulen person stood frozen, exchanging glances.
They both saw fear in each other's eyes.
Splashing someone with hot water… if the scalding was severe, it could be life-threatening! Fighting was one thing, but murder was another; these were two completely different matters!
Mikami Kensuke gritted his teeth.
He endured the pain to get up, then with a "whoosh," he found an opening and went to Hanta Souta's side, and after calling out to the O'gulen person, the two of them helped the still-groaning Hanta Souta, who was in agony, and immediately ran towards a shop entrance.
Yui was a step slower.
But by the time the first three approached the shop door, she finally started moving.
Most of the diners in this shop were young people, who had never seen such a scene, and upholding the good citizen's creed of "don't get into trouble," none of them blocked the way.
Ayaka originally wanted to chase them, but she glanced at the distant backs of those scoundrels, then looked at the dazed Hayato, and ultimately worried more about this side.
"Say something!" Ayaka anxiously urged, "Hey, have you lost consciousness from the pain!?"
She quickly pulled out her phone, wanting to call the hospital, but she was too nervous, her trembling fingers pressing the wrong keys several times, and finally, after correctly entering the numbers '120', she was about to press the dial button.
A hand with distinct knuckles and long fingers pressed down on her delicate hand.
There was also a warmth.
Ayaka froze, looking up; it was Hayato looking at her.
"I'm fine," he said.
But his surprised expression as he spoke was no less than Ayaka's.
Because he also didn't know why he was fine.
Judging from Hanta Souta's miserable state, the water's temperature was indeed very high, but the part that splashed on him could at most only be considered lukewarm.
"How can you be fine!?" Ayaka asked.
Hayato couldn't answer.
He moved his fingers and wrists, then touched his back; the water's heat dissipated very quickly, and now, with a spring breeze blowing in from the doorway, he even felt a chill.
But there was no pain at all.
"Who, who is it!"
Just as Hayato was doubting life, a thunderous shout erupted, and an irritable old man wearing an apron, dressed like a chef, with a white mustache on his upper lip, appeared: "Which scoundrel stole my pot!? You'd even steal this? No wonder there are so many bad people in Tokyo, Japan—"
Then, under everyone's puzzled gaze.
The old man saw the drenched Hayato; he was surprised: "…You… you weren't splashed with boiling water, were you?"
Hayato subconsciously nodded.
"Wo cao!" The old man, with perfect diction, blurted out a Chinese expletive, which stunned Hayato.
Then, realizing he was in Japan, he quickly switched back to Japanese: "My heavens, that was the boiling water I use to cook ramen—you—"
The old man stared at Hayato, and seeing his expression unchanged, he frowned.
Oh, crap.
Hayato also had a national curse rise in his heart; he wondered why nothing was wrong, so it was water used to cook ramen… So that so-called 'Absolute Defense (Ramen)' not only prevented him from being scalded by ramen but could also cancel out the damage from 'unformed' ramen.
Hayato was silent, then tilted his head in thought.
How strange.
Honestly, saving that stinky kid was just his subconscious action, and he hadn't fully prepared; the moment the boiling water splashed on him, his thought was—"It's over, I'm dead this time!!"
He was actually saved by such a funny and useless skill.
The old man's attitude was much more direct than Ayaka's and Sakura's; the two girls were still in the questioning stage, but he had already taken action.
He grabbed Hayato's wrist, first checked his arm and shoulder, then pushed him so his back faced him, and then reached out to touch his back.
His back should have been the most severely affected area, but the old man's fingers pressed down and found not a single trace of injury.
Hayato also looked normal, without any pain.
"Strange," the old man's hand moved down, and with a "pat," he quickly slapped his butt.
Hayato immediately turned around, his hair standing on end, looking at the mustachioed old man with a bewildered expression.
The old man stroked his mustache: "Tsk, you feel it, but no pain? …No injury?"
"Yes," Hayato nodded in admission, "I'm fine."
"Fine? How is that possible!" Ayaka immediately said; she had seen Hayato splashed with boiling water with her own eyes.
"Hmph, when I was young, I studied traditional Chinese medicine; people in the martial arts world called me 'Saintly Hand of Gynecology, Tang Bohu.' I can tell if someone's been scalded at a glance," the old man said calmly, "But it's strange, strange…"
"I once studied Iron Shirt at… Shaolin Temple."
Wasn't that lie just blurted out? Hayato's "Nonsense lv.5" skill activated.
But perhaps this reason was simply too outrageous; even the usually innocent Sakura didn't believe it: "I've heard my grandfather say, 'All martial arts originate from Shaolin'… But isn't Shaolin in China? Did Hayato-kun also go to China?"
Hayato smiled mysteriously: "The Hawaii Branch of the Shaolin Temple Headquarters in China."
Sakura and Ayaka exchanged glances; they half-believed it, but not entirely.
The old man, however, clapped his hands and said, "So that's it! I heard that Master Shūchōng of Shaolin has been traveling the world to promote Shaolin culture, and I never expected him to form such a good karma with you, young man!"
The old man sized up Hayato, his eyes full of admiration:
"To think that you, at such a young age, possess such skill, it is truly rare."
Hayato: …
That worked too?
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