A while later, Kurama and Kibitoshin arrived at a dead-end next to the hotel;-Botan is already coming downstairs. Come on!
-Sure!
They stand at the hotel's reception. Botan arrives soon. She dresses a nice outfit, and her hair is tied as always. As soon as she saw Kurama, she goes to greet him;
-Hi Kurama, how are you?- She hugs him.
-I... I'm fine now.- Kurama blushes.
-Nice! And that guy I always forgot the name.
-Oh, Kibitoshin? He's going to teleport ourselves to Yomim we are going to a restaurant he will choose.
-Hi, Kibitoshin! Your hair is pretty amazing, and your skin color, so different!- Botan praises him.
-Hi, thanks very much. Like Kurama, I'm not from this world.
-I have suspected, hahaha!
-Let's go, Botan? Kibitoshin is going to teleport us, so you need to grab his hand.
-Teleportation? How interesting!
-Kibitoshin, let's go?
-Sure.
Kibitoshin teleports Kurama, Botan and himself to the building lobby, where Yomi and Shura are already waiting. Yomi can feel Botan's energy and thinks about her whereabouts, although he's uncertain. Kurama introduces Botan to Yomi, it wasn't truly necessary, but he always does it when new persons enter Yomi's life;
-Botan, he's Yomi, the city ruler. Yomi, she's Botan.
They greet each other. Botan gets scared a bit with Yomi's youkai energy. Although she already knows him, she never had come too close as much to do a handshake. Yomi's energy is huge and leaks all the time, although he can't use that for nothing. In fact, Botan has dipped into a pool of youkai energy as soon as she arrived in Yomitan;
-Do not fear, Botan. I think you look familiar to me, but I'm not sure.
-I...I... I'm glad to meet you!
-I'm glad to meet you too.
Shura greets Botan. He's behaving like a normal child now;
-Hi, Botan!
-Hi, Shura. what beautiful hair you have!
-Really? I want to be like my father and look like him!
-Nice, you will get it!
-So, Kurama, let's go?- Yomi walks toward the parking lot.
-Sure, Yomi. Friends, come on!
After the greetings, they went to the parking lot of the building, where there is a black limo;
-Wow, what a luxury car, Kurama!- Botan gets surprised.
-Hahaha, this is a gift Yomi received from a province ruler someday. In the past, we had used normal cars.
They enter the limo. Kurama is the driver and Botan sits beside him, the others sit in the rear seats. Kurama starts the engine and drives out of the building. This particular "limo" is quite different from normal ones because there's no separation between the driver and passengers;
-This limo is so smooth, it appears to float!
-Hahaha, Botan, there is another factor: Yomi take much care of the road pavement, and we do a complete review of its conditions once a year.
-I thought that! Koenma doesn't ever...ops!
Botan reveals her association involuntarily, and Yomi got it instantly;
-Koenma, the king of the spirit world... How good, it reached the point he sent a correspondent...-Yomi stays calm as always- Botan, are you from the spirit world?
-Well... I am. I'm helping Koenma.
-I felt your energy, it's so pure and different. Could you tell me what kind of mission Koenma is doing? I think it's something related to me.
-Well, I'm here to... well...
-To spy on me, am I right? Hahaha, I met Koenma long time ago, and thus acknowledged his way to handle such situations. I guessed a detective would be sent sooner or later.
-Well, at least he's amazed by your progress.
-Good to know that.
Botan was scared, but Yomi remained very calm. He has nothing to lose or gain from it because the test period has ended, and there would be no reason to change behaviour again. Yomi feels much better today than in the past, now he owns a small kingdom, which fulfills his ambitions of power, and his political enemies are no more than fragile pieces of jelly, i.e., nothing compared to the maikai bandits that he fought against in past.
They arrive at the restaurant in few minutes. It is a well preserved and richly detailed building from the Qing Dynasty. Its placement is privileged and provides a nice cityscape view;
-What beautiful place Kurama, it looks like Enma's house!- Botan admires.
-Really? Cool!
Kurama enters the underground parking lot, and parks the limo quickly in a tight space for the size of the vehicle;
-Quite impressive skills, Kurama, even when driving.- Yomi praises him.
-Hahaha, this is the result of practice!
They left the limo and head upstairs. When they arrived at the restaurant itself, which has few customers, Yomi causes a fuss by being there;
-Hey, it's Mr. Yomi!
-Hi, good morning. I came to lunch and brought some friends with me, I would like to have a table for 5 persons.
-If you want, we can close the entire 2nd floor for you!
-No, thank you, just the enough for us. Kurama, try to find the place which has the best cityscape view.
-No need to do that, just go straight ahead.
-Right.
Yomi was discrete even as an administrator when moving the whole city hall to a normal commercial building. Previous rulers always requested guards to protect themselves when walking on the street. They bought grocery store products via government bidding. When they went to lunch, they requested the entire restaurant to be temporarily closed as long as they want. Yomi walks on the streets alone, buy in grocery stores himself instead of doing state bidding, and when he goes to a restaurant, he does it as any person and pays the bills with his own money, not using city hall budget.
The place chosen by Yomi quickly became a point of interest inside the restaurant;
-Hey, Mr. Yomi, can I take a picture with you?
-Mr. Yomi, sign on my notebook, please!
-Hi, I will give attention to everyone. Just wait for a little.
Yomi goes to his fans while Kurama made the requests;
-I want a dish with rice and shrimp. Make two of them, one to Yomi, one to me. Friends, what do you want?
-I want the same dish of my father! With candy!- Shura says.
-I think I'll get salmon with rice and green salad, did you have?
-Sure Botan, choose anything you want!
-I'll want some onigiris plenty of soy sauce. And also a good portion of surimi.- Kibitoshin requests.
-Well, all requests closed? Any entries?- The waiter asks.
-Spring rolls and fish baits with soy sauce.- Kurama requests.
-Right. The main dishes will be ready within a few minutes, the entries in five minutes or a bit more.
-Thank you.
Yomi returns after being used as a protagonist in pictures taken by a lot of people. Due to this, Kurama laughs;
-And Shura still thinking maikai is better, hahaha! In which time people in maikai would take pictures with Yomi?
-Never, but Maikai is way funnier.
-Funny is here!
Botan looks Yomi curiously. Is absolutely weird how a Youkai like him behaves so friendly with common people, even having a past marked by totalitarianism and bloody crimes. From this point, Botan realizes how much Yomi has changed;
-He's another person, how it was possible?- She thinks.
People tend to establish a north in their life. This north can be some ideas, dreams, political ideologies, whatever they consider important. And they will pursue that goal until reach it. For Yomi, it was very clear and straightforward: have the whole maikai world on his foot, and taking his main enemies apart. But "Shura Factor" was much more powerful, and his enemies know that. Not all the original goal was lost, today Yomi has his own "kingdom', although without the same freedom to do everything he wants because he must hear and understand the people's feedback to stay in power.
His leadership now help millions to have a better life by just moving the government away from them as much as possible.
Yomi has only six years to rule Yomitan. A clause prevents rulers to stay more than ten years in power. Yomitan's future may be bad if someone took office and implement expensive welfare policies or public spending with an insufficient budget, needing to increase taxes again and ruining the economic bases which made Yomitan wealthier. Therefore, "the price of freedom is the eternal vigilance".
The entry dish came soon. Kurama helps Yomi to differentiate the dishes by touching them. Botan laughs discretely;
-Yomi is like a big child, hahaha- She thinks.
-Yomi, this is the fish, and this, the spring roll.
-Thank you, Kurama, which is your favourite?
-So, I love both, but the fried fish is the best.
-I'll follow your preference, Kurama. Shura, what do you want?
-Spring roll, of course, dad!
Botan and Kibitoshin choose both dishes. Yomi turns his face to her;
-So, Botan, how is the spirit world going? And about Yomitan, how are the things going?
-All is going normally, Yomi. Here I have really very light work to do, I'm not sure what happened in Yomitan, but people are quite pacific for the city's size.
-I'm glad to hear this, and I may have the answer: I turned away from people and left them free to be or do anything they want inside the borders of the law.
-I can see... the effects are very positive, you prevented many deaths doing it.
-I hope so.
-How did you get Shura, Yomi? I know he's not a naturally generated child, but you needed to pick DNA from someone.
-Yes, he's not natural. I demanded from a servant to pick up DNA from a female person, and since this wasn't my task, I really don't know the origin.
-Well, I need to talk to you something about it someday.
-Fine, if you want...
-This is serious, Botan?- Kurama whispers in her ear.
-You will know..
-What I do have with it, dad?- Shura nudges Yomi.
-Hey, shura, do you liked the food?- Kurama runaway the conversation.
-Sure, hahaha! And you lost again!- Shura grabs the last fried fish.
-It's not fair, this is my favourite and I deserve the last one!
-I won, hahaha!
-Hey, calm down both!
The main dishes arrive a bit later than expected and they start to eat. Unlike with entries, no one exchanges a single word when eating the main dishes. This is a unique Yomitan custom, so persons who talk while eating main dishes are easily identified as citizens out from Yomitan;
Right after the main dish, Yomi gets up and goes to pay the bills;
-Hey Yomi, let me pay mine! -Botan walks over to him.
-You will not have to, you're my guest.
-How kind you are, Yomi.
-You're welcome.
After lunch, they return to city hall. This time, Kibitoshin was the driver, Yomi was the passenger in the front compartment and the others have gone to the back. Kurama and Botan can now sit together, and he grabs one of her hands, looking into her eyes deeply. Botan lays in the backseat and lays his head on Kurama's lap, looking his large and mysterious green eyes.
Kurama caresses Botan's head, looking her with a very calm face. Shura pulls Kurama's sleeve at once to get his attention;
-Hey Kurama, when are we going to fight? You will switch to Youko, right?
-Oh, what a scare, Shura! Hahaha, of course, since I know you're picky, I will not pity you.
-Do not overdo, Kurama. Shura doesn't know how powerful you are as Youko as I know, hahaha- Yomi laugh.
-Do not worry, Yomi. I only promise I won't use my carnivorous plants.
-Fight honestly or Shura might be disappointed.
-Oh, aren't you afraid of dying? I didn't want to take you to Koenma, Kurama, hahaha!- Botan jokes.
-You don't have to worry, Botan, we fight seriously although taking care.
-Alright- Botan caresses Kurama's face.
They arrive in the city hall building and go to the lobby.;
-Well, Kurama, let's work a little bit.
-Yes, Yomi, just wait a moment.
Kurama goes to Botan to say goodbye;
-I'm going to work now. At the end of the afternoon, I will be free again. Take care!
-Right, do not worry!
Botan hugs Kurama tightly. The elevator arrives and Kurama needs to go with Yomi to his office. Botan remains there until the elevator door closes, and says goodbye to Kibitoshin.
Nenhum comentário:
Postar um comentário