Chapter 76: Great King Enma Ramen.
The man's mention of the cat was clearly suggestive, indicating that he had indeed noticed someone following him. He simply hadn't pointed it out directly for some unknown reason.
Morofushi Sora'aki felt there wasn't much of a reason; it was simply because, as he put it, "it's not time to work overtime now".
After all, when he was in school, Hagiwara Kenji would always procrastinate on unnecessary tasks that didn't have a time limit until the last few days, doing whatever he could to save energy.
Since Hagiwara Kenji's partners are usually the two of them, he often ends up dragging them along to finish their assignments before the deadline.
In the words of Hagiwara Kenji, a student who hasn't experienced pulling an all-nighter to finish assignments on the last day is missing a crucial part of their youth.
Before he could finish speaking, Hagiwara was smacked on the head by Matsuda. Fortunately, they were quick and managed to finish on time, or even ahead of schedule. The satisfaction of finishing (or rather, half-heartedly completing) a long-term project just before the deadline was definitely more pleasurable than the regular daily quota.
"At times like this, what you're after is that thrill!"
His friend Hagiwara Kenji's lively and cheerful voice rang in his ears, and Morofushi Sora'aki met those unreadable purple eyes—perhaps, this world is easier to distinguish than the Gender-Swapped World.
This is what Morofushi Sora'aki thought.
"Hmm?" The medium-length-haired youth raised an eyebrow. He didn't stub out his cigarette, but instead approached Morofushi Sora'aki, his body reeking of smoke. His tone carried a hint of curiosity: "Your eyes... do we know each other before?"
"It's strange, if I had met you, I would definitely have been impressed." Hagiwara Kenji's pronunciation wasn't clear, but it had his own rhythm and tone, yet it possessed a strange charm and attraction.
"Because of my face?" Morofushi Sora'aki asked rhetorically.
Seemingly surprised by Morofushi Sora'aki's comment, Hagiwara Kenji raised an eyebrow, then stepped back slightly, not as close as before: "Yes, but not entirely."
But he didn't go on to explain what the incomplete part represented. He simply extinguished the cigarette in his hand as it was about to burn out and said, "Your personality is a little different from what I expected."
"I originally thought you were impulsive, that you didn't think about the consequences once you got carried away... Hmm, kid?"
"Although I hate to admit it, compared to your age, I am indeed still a child." Morofushi Sora'aki calculated: "We are more than ten years apart."
Hagiwara Kenji: "..."
Hagiwara Kenji covered the lower half of his face with his palm, the gaps between his knuckles not enough to hide his face. He looked somewhat helpless: "I misjudged you. You are indeed quite bold. In every sense of the word."
"You care a lot about age? Sorry, I won't say that again."
"...Does that sound like it's making people more concerned?" Hagiwara Kenji tossed his cigarette butt into his cigarette holder, bent down slightly, and put his hand on Morofushi Sora'aki's shoulder: "It's dinner time now, is there anywhere you'd like to go?"
While it sounded considerate and gentle, it actually left Morofushi Sora'aki with absolutely no room to refuse. This was fundamentally different from when Morofushi Sora'aki asked Edogawa Conan where he was going earlier.
"Ramen? I ate too much cake before, and now I'm a bit greasy. I want something salty."
Hagiwara Kenji: They actually gave us a choice?
He wouldn't refuse at this point, so Hagiwara Kenji clapped his hands: "Okay, then I have a ramen shop I highly recommend!"
"Is it the really hot kind?" Morofushi Sora'aki asked, mimicking his friend's tone, "Is it all about the thrill?"
"Wow, that's amazing! You guessed it all!" Hagiwara Kenji made no attempt to hide his curiosity: "You seem to really know me. If I weren't sure there weren't any strange gaps in my memory, I would have doubted whether I had really forgotten you."
"Because I know how to attract you."
"It drew attention and curiosity." Morofushi Sora'aki actually followed Hagiwara Kenji's footsteps, heading towards the so-called highly recommended ramen shop. He continued, "So that's what I did."
Even if they hadn't noticed at the time, Morofushi Sora'aki would have appeared in front of them on his own.
Maintaining the plot isn't just about protecting the protagonist; it also requires bringing the original storyline back on track. Since they'll inevitably clash sooner or later, why not seize the initiative?
"Should I call you reckless or clever?" A cigarette had appeared between Hagiwara Kenji's fingers again, unlit, merely toyed with in his hand. "You know who I am, don't you? Aren't you afraid I'll kill you?"
"Because I don't think you can." Morofushi Sora'aki turned his head, asking doubtfully, "Can you?"
"Hmm..." Hagiwara Kenji deliberately hesitated for a moment, as if it were a difficult question to answer, before replying uncertainly, "Not for now, right?"
"After all, my curiosity hasn't been satisfied yet, and besides—" Hagiwara Kenji stopped in his tracks, laughed, turned around, and spread his arms wide. "I was just joking—I'm not some terrifying serial killer! Who would casually talk about killing!"
"I'm a pacifist, you know?" A skilled con artist would never reveal their true emotions. How much of what just happened was real?
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His movements and expressions were somewhat exaggerated, like a performer on stage. Ironically, these behaviors, which seem exaggerated and strange to ordinary people, appeared quite normal on him.
"Ta-da—We've reached the finish line!" Hagiwara Kenji withdrew his hand, took a half-step back, revealing the ramen shop sign behind him: "This is it! Excited?"
"I can roughly guess what will happen next..." Morofushi Sora'aki poured cold water on the idea without any mercy: "So, absolutely not."
"But you still came, I'm so happy." He said this as he opened the door of the ramen shop.
It's not a dangerous room, and there won't be any strange transactions here. It's really just an ordinary ramen shop.
Hagiwara Kenji was clearly a regular customer. He greeted the owner, who, wearing an apron, smiled and replied, "Isn't this Kenji? It seems like it's been a long time since I've seen you here."
"Because I've been super busy at work lately! Owner, you don't know, I have a colleague who finished a task the boss gave us in a month in just one week! It's raised the boss's expectations for us!" Hagiwara Kenji casually chimed in, then complained, "I really hate colleagues like that!"
"Haha, thanks for your hard work—the same as always today, right?" After saying that, the owner looked at Morofushi Sora'aki, who had just closed the door and walked in: "You brought someone with you? Welcome—what would you like to order?"
"Just like me!" Hagiwara Kenji said with a smile.
The owner asked again, "Are you sure?"
"Of course I'm sure." Hagiwara Kenji said, propping his chin on his hand as he sat down. "This is the little guy I brought along, owner-san~"
"Haha, I understand." With that, the owner started preparing the ramen.
Morofushi Sora'aki observed that the shop was quite popular, with all the seats around it occupied by customers. Each customer had sweat on their face, and there was a glass of ice water next to their ramen.
Hagiwara Kenji smiled and said, "This is my favorite shop, you know. I rarely bring people here."
"Don't listen to his nonsense." The owner prepared quickly because the soup base had been prepared long ago, and all that was needed was to cook the noodles. So when he brought the ramen back, he overheard this conversation: "This guy brings almost different people every time."
"And it's always the same story." The owner didn't hold back in exposing their lies.
Seeing the two people looking at him, amidst the rising steam from the ramen, Hagiwara Kenji sighed helplessly, "Give me a little face, owner."
"For the sake of the kids—two servings of Great King Enma Ramen."
"Please enjoy your meal!"
The steam from ramen is different from the white smoke from cigarettes; it carries a sense of everyday life, like the ordinary daily routine that everyone experiences.
Morofushi Sora'aki didn't deliberately observe Hagiwara Kenji's state. He had known his friend for seven years, and even without deliberately observing, he could roughly judge the other person's mood.
Although their experiences are completely different, Hagiwara Kenji is still Hagiwara Kenji, and Morofushi Sora'aki can still tell that he's very relaxed. He really is just like any other office worker after work, complaining about the mundane things at work with the familiar owner.
Morofushi Sora'aki clasped his hands together, closed his eyes, and said, "I'm starting."
After saying that, he opened his chopsticks, looked at the red ramen in front of him, and hesitated slightly before picking up a few strands of ramen with his chopsticks.
The bright red broth coated the ramen noodles. Morofushi Sora'aki blew on them a few times, then tentatively took a bite. He paused almost imperceptibly before finishing the bite with a blank expression.
Hagiwara Kenji looked at the owner with some suspicion as he watched this scene: "Owner—did you give him special treatment?"
The owner turned around and glared at him: "I didn't!"
Hagiwara Kenji, who had been looking forward to seeing a change in expression, sighed: "This reaction isn't interesting at all. Everyone else would have changed their expression immediately!"
"What a perverse sense of humor." Thinking this, Morofushi Sora'aki took a swig of ice water from the side.
Actually, Hagiwara Kenji isn't good at eating spicy food, but just like racing cars, he's looking for that thrill. And sometimes, this spiciness actually brings out the deliciousness of the ramen.
After finishing this serving, Morofushi Sora'aki's face still couldn't help but turn red; even the most composed expressionless face couldn't stop this physiological reaction.
Because of the spiciness, Morofushi Sora'aki's voice changed. He looked at Hagiwara Kenji, whose expression had relaxed, and spoke in a low, husky voice that was no longer as clear as before: "Have you ever thought about being a good person?"
Hagiwara Kenji's bangs were soaked with sweat and stuck to his forehead, with beads of sweat sliding down his neck until they disappeared from sight. He turned his head to the side, as if he had heard an outrageous and ridiculous joke: "Are you kidding me?"
No matter how ordinary and peaceful his daily life may be during the day, it cannot conceal his existence in the darkness.
This is truly hellish difficulty. Morofushi Sora'aki took a sip of the soup and then stuck out his tongue.
Indeed, this level of difficulty is still hard to accept.