Tokyo: The Player Behind the Scenes.

Chapter 48 48: A brave heart born of courage

Nobita was prepared to be hit by a car, but he ended up being electrocuted!

After a while, the mattress was soaked with his sweat, and he looked as miserable as if he had been pulled out of the water.

He then listlessly turned on his phone and checked.

"Showa era. Third-rail power supply. I see."

Nobita now knows the cause of his death.

Subways in the Showa era generally used a third rail power supply, which is an additional exposed metal rail laid next to the main track, usually located on the side or below the track, with a voltage as high as 600-1500 volts.

If a leakage occurs, it can also cause the ordinary tracks to become electrified.

It can penetrate shoes instantly.

He's already incredibly lucky that he hasn't run into them after walking for so long.

"Wait a minute, there's no need to make this so realistic, is there?" Nobita was feeling down after losing his last life today.

He dared not initiate the fourth attempt; the feedback from dying three times was already unbearable, and dying four times might actually mean certain death.

I reached out and touched the mineral water bottle next to me, but it was empty. I shook it a couple of times and it was out of water.

He sweated quite a lot the first two times, and he had already drunk all the water.

His mouth was parched and he struggled to sit up. He held his dizzy head for a while before he felt himself slowly coming back to life.

"Let's solve the problem of drinking water first."

Nobi peeked out from his secret base, parted the tattered cloth covering him, and his nose inevitably touched the scrap of cloth. The musty smell mixed with the aroma of grilled chicken skewers wafting from the nearby izakaya filled his nostrils, causing Nobi, who had only eaten two salt rice balls for dinner—the unscrupulous vendor had even dug a hole in the center of the rice balls to cut corners (can that still be called a rice ball?!)—to salivate and his throat to churn.

He carefully looked around, listening to the background noise whose source he couldn't discern.

Perhaps it was the electronic sounds from the pachinko parlor, or the howls of drunkards, that mixed together to form the murky pulse of Adachi Ward.

It's 10 p.m. now, and for a place like Adachi Ward, the excitement is just beginning.

Although such liveliness is not usually a positive term.

After making sure no one was around, he finally emerged completely from his secret base and headed across the street to the lit convenience store to buy water.

It would be even better if he could take a shower. The secret base is great in every way, except for the strange smell. With the sweat from the past two days, he felt like he was about to rot. But he couldn't afford to go to those internet cafes with showers, and he didn't want to go home.

"Maybe I should find a public bathhouse tomorrow; they should be cheaper."

As I walked along, lost in thought, the convenience store came into view.

"Oh, little sister, are you working the night shift alone? Do you want your big brother to keep you company?"

Before Nobita even entered the convenience store, he heard a very frivolous voice.

Upon closer inspection, they were two tattooed Yakuza wearing "Arakawa Ryuzakugumi" uniforms.

Their faces were flushed with alcohol as they stood around the cashier. One of them leaned forward, propping himself up on one side, while the other held a box of condoms and smuggled money into his waistband with a lewd grin.

"Little sister, how do you use this? I don't know how. Can you help me? There'll be a tip!"

The girl they surrounded was the same young girl who had handed him a bottle of water that day.

She maintained an awkward smile, helplessly dodging the occasional outstretched hand from him. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Nobi, her mouth slightly agape, then quickly averted her gaze, carefully avoiding looking at him again.

Nobita's steps froze on the spot, and he even subconsciously took half a step back, his heart starting to pound uncontrollably.

The image of Koizumi and his two friends stepping on his head and making him lick their shoes seemed to reappear before his eyes, making him instinctively fear these audacious thugs who were even more repulsive than delinquents. Nobi lowered his head in a panic, wanting to leave, but his feet, which had just taken a half step back, seemed rooted to the spot, refusing to move an inch.

He looked through the glass at the girl's tightly clenched lips and helpless eyes, his breathing became heavy and labored, and he could hardly breathe.

Nobita's face was reflected in the glass, revealing a weakness and incompetence that he himself loathed.

He clenched his fists silently, took a few deep breaths, closed his eyes, turned around, and disappeared into the dark corner.

The girl at the cashier protected the vault, her pale face bearing a stiff smile as she shook her head repeatedly. After losing sight of Nobi out of the corner of her eye, she silently breathed a sigh of relief.

Although situations like today are rare, she has encountered similar situations before. She usually doesn't go too far; as long as they get bored, they'll leave on their own.
"Don't be so stingy. Is it because the boss isn't giving you a commission? We brothers will give you one."

One of the Yakuza slammed his wallet on the counter with an air of extravagance and pulled out two "thousand-yuan bills".

"Yeah, say something to us, if it's something nice—ahhh!!" Before he could finish speaking, a muffled thud was heard, and a stone thrown from the doorway hit Yakuza squarely on the head, splattering blood and eliciting a rather unpleasant scream.

"Ah! You bastard! Who threw that stone! Ahh, I'm bleeding! I'm bleeding!"

Yakuza covered his head, blood flowing from between his fingers.

The girl stared at all this in astonishment, looking completely bewildered.

"You bastards, Dragon Claw Group! This is to avenge my brothers in the Orochi Gang! I'll beat you every time I see you!" Nobita roared in a gruff voice, then immediately turned and ran.

"You arrogant bastard! Chase after me—I'm going to kill you!!"

Despite his head injury, Yakuza was consumed by rage and, ignoring the pain, chased after them with his friends.

However, the number of streetlights in this area was worrying, there were many dark corners everywhere, not to mention an unfinished construction project. They hadn't even run a few meters before they lost track of Nobita.

"That damned beast! I clearly saw him disappear here!"

"Ah, oh my, I think I saw him wearing a school uniform?"

"Huh? Are you seeing things? How can you see in this darkness? This little brat wouldn't dare mess with us. You'd better hurry and see Dr. Anben; you've lost a lot of blood."

"You damned bastard, I hope you don't catch me!"

"Go quickly, your tongue is all tied."

The two voices gradually faded away. Nobi hid in a corner of the secret base, covering his mouth and nose, not daring to breathe too loudly.

It wasn't until ten minutes later that he finally released his mouth from his hand.

Besides lingering fear, I felt mostly joy.

The joy of resistance.

That stone, as if it had transcended time and space, seemed to have helped him in the past, inspiring him greatly.

"Is this the legendary spirit of rebellion?"

Nobita looked at his hands and felt that he had changed a lot. Things that he used to fear now seemed nothing special.

Fighting back against his father, running away from home, ambushing thugs, playing life-or-death games. Any one of these things, would he have dared to do in the past?

And the feeling of resistance
"Not bad."

Nobita clenched his fist, his Adam's apple bobbing in his thirst.

(End of this chapter)