Laid-Back Life in Tokyo: I Really Didn't Want to Work Hard
Chapter 193 - 175 Kabuki-cho First Street_2

Chapter 193: Chapter 175 Kabuki-cho First Street_2

They were still in the stage of practicing their stance and pulling rubber bands, envious of the seniors who could stand at the shooting position and draw a bow.

The ringing of the phone came at an inopportune time, and Uesugi Sakura, clutching his bamboo bow, walked down from the shooting position.

He answered the call.

Uesugi Sakura: "Hello?"

Uesugi Shio: "Cough, cough, Sakura, do you know where our advisor went?"

Uesugi Sakura: "No idea."

Uesugi Shio: "I can’t reach him by phone, and he hasn’t been to the Kendo Department for two days. If he doesn’t come to school soon, we’re going to have to dismiss him."

Uesugi Sakura: "The school actually employed him?"

Uesugi Shio: "What did you think, Sakura—that he came to work for free? He keeps saying Kendo is boring, but he’s not saying it for nothing, even though he is quite skilled."

Hanamaru Yugetsu teaches earnestly.

Seeing that the Kendo Department members lacked fundamentals and had weak footwork, he personally guided them through moves like "sending foot," "opening foot," "following foot," and "walking foot," one by one.

Uesugi Sakura: "So, why is Shio calling me?"

Uesugi Shio: "I have to train the members here and can’t get away, so I’m asking you to find him. I’m worried he might drink himself into trouble."

Uesugi Sakura didn’t expect his uncle to be so cared for: "Go to Kabuki-cho to find him?"

Uesugi Shio: "Yes."

Uesugi Sakura: "Isn’t it a bit inappropriate for a handsome guy like me to go there?"

On the other end of the phone, Uesugi Shio couldn’t help but smirk while sucking on her lollipop: "Although you’re quite handsome, when did you become so narcissistic?"

"Always have been."

Uesugi Sakura hung up the phone and casually put it back in his pocket.

Uncle Yugetsu mentioned that Kabuki-cho had been reformed. Nowadays, it mostly consists of proper dining restaurants.

"Captain!" he called out.

Seisuke Yooya turned around: "Leaving early again?"

"I just have something to take care of," Uesugi Sakura said.

Chitose Mai, holding the scoreboard, curiously leaned in and asked, "I heard you joined the Kendo Department and became the General. Is it true?"

"Yes, it’s true, but the Kendo Department isn’t very competitive. I’m the General just to make up the numbers."

"Does that mean the Kendo Department isn’t very strong right now? A newcomer like you became the General?" Chitose Mai asked. "How’s your Kendo level?"

"Just average; I don’t even have a rank in Kendo."

Hearing the conversation, Sugita Shuhei, rich and holding a Sixth Rank of Kyudo, turned around and said, "Your Kyudo is also no rank, yet now... you’re dubbed the unmatched comet by the Kyudo World."

It’s an embarrassing title; Uesugi Sakura just wanted to earn those 1,000,000 yen.

Darn that journalist for making a big fuss over nothing.

Chitose Mai laughed: "I bet you look even more handsome swinging a sword in a Hakama."

Kyudo and Kendo together?

Uesugi Sakura casually replied, "Not too bad."

——————

Kabuki-cho First Street, located at the Shinjuku East Exit, Tokyo, Japan.

This place is famous as a red-light district in all of Japan and even Asia.

Once, it was extremely dangerous.

Hanpe is a guide here, eyeing the pedestrians entering this street with keen and narrow eyes.

Among them are socially dressed people in suits, drunkards looking inebriated during the day, heavily made-up women in fancy clothes, and curious foreign tourists wandering about.

There are rules in the trade. Guides like him generally don’t approach foreign tourists, since some stores might accept them, but they often get scammed.

Though they are reining it in now, some things still exist.

In his mind, a guide is not a pimp, but a tour guide with principles.

Pointing those who want to enjoy themselves but are afraid of being ripped off in the right direction in Kabuki-cho’s chaotic mix.

Without a guide, they’d get nowhere in this labyrinthine Kabuki-cho.

He just takes a small commission from the shop, that’s all.

Hanpe had been waiting here for an hour, watching as unfamiliar-looking folks got lured away by his competitors.

It’s only evening, not the peak time yet, but every single one of them looks starved like a hungry wolf.

Business is tough.

He shook his head.

However, his gaze suddenly caught sight of someone, and he quickly rushed forward.

——————

Uesugi Sakura was looking at the bright and colorful signs on the street, wondering where he might find his uncle.

Wouldn’t it be funny if he got drunk at night and ended up sleeping on the street?

"Hey, man, looking for some fun?"

Uesugi Sakura turned to find a middle-aged man in plain clothes asking him, his tone friendly and amiable.

"How much?" Uesugi Sakura knew well what he was implying.

The middle-aged man chuckled, "Eight hundred for an hour."

Eight hundred yen, about the cost of four bottles of water per hour.

"Let me say upfront, our shop provides only drinking companions; you’re getting an extra discount for being so handsome."

Uesugi Sakura couldn’t help but be a little curious about this industry: "Minors are allowed too?"

"You’re not an adult yet?"

The middle-aged man eyed him suspiciously, but quickly returned to his earlier demeanor, continuing to speak, "The police aren’t coming today; if you don’t say and I don’t say, naturally no one will know."

"Isn’t this illegal?"

"Tsk..."

The man puckered his lips.

That sentence made the middle-aged man realize that he was indeed a naive kid, probably still a high school student.

But he has encountered many high schoolers before, not unfamiliar with seeing their excitement upon entering a shop.

"Haha, young man, in Kabuki-cho, there are always lawbreakers every day, and they’re fine, so there’s nothing for you to worry about. As long as you have money here, is there anything you can’t do?"

The middle-aged man pointed to a corner in the distance, where there was a sign with a black "R" logo.

There’s a very small passage inside.

"Do you know what that place is for?"

"What is it?" Uesugi Sakura glanced over there, surrounded by many other colorful and flamboyant signs, making the unlit black sign the most inconspicuous one.

The middle-aged man scanned the surroundings, lowered his voice, and said, "In there, is a club, with over three thousand members, all wealthy people."

He leaned close to Uesugi Sakura, a smile crinkling his face: "The club only opens on Saturdays and Sundays, when they gather together, wearing masks, bringing their——"

The middle-aged man didn’t get to finish as he was interrupted.

"Hey, Yoshitoki, how about leaving this kid to me?" Hanpe, with the left hand missing a part of his pinky, patted the middle-aged man’s shoulder.

"Stealing my client?" The middle-aged man’s name was Yoshitoki, and he glared at Hanpe, his expression turning fierce, starkly different from his earlier cordial guide demeanor.

Hanpe’s long, thin face remained mostly unchanged: "We are all in the same business."

With a glance at Uesugi Sakura, Yoshitoki pouted, turned back to Hanpe and said, "Your sympathy is acting up again. I really don’t know how you’ll survive in the future."

With that, the middle-aged man walked out of sight, standing again under the big sign that said "Kabuki-cho First Street," observing the crowd.

It was then that Uesugi Sakura noticed the many conspicuous slogans hung on the streetlights on both sides of the street.

"Doesn’t it say here that soliciting is not allowed?"

Hanpe turned back, hands in pockets: "Of course, when the police are around, it’s banned. When they’re not, it’s naturally allowed."

"You’re a high school student, right? What are you doing here?" Hanpe asked.

"Looking for someone," Uesugi Sakura replied.

"Looking for someone?" Hanpe appraised him up and down, "You’re quite handsome; with your looks, you don’t need to find someone here, right? Aren’t there purer high school girls in school?"

"Do I seem like that kind of guy?" Uesugi Sakura found that people here spoke with a kind of rogue attitude.

"Come on, you’ve come all the way here, don’t say you have no intentions. We understand youngsters like high school students very well, seen plenty of them having fun."

Hanpe said.

"Do you know what that guy was trying to do?"

Uesugi Sakura said nothing, but he could guess more or less.

"Scam! Coerce you! Pull you in to be a male prostitute! They say it’s just normal bar companionship, but the price of the drink you order is 1700 yen a bottle, and when you settle the bill, it’s 17000 yen a bottle."

Seeing his nonchalant expression, Hanpe continued, "Every shop here is under Yakuza control. What they say goes, and a simple high school student like you wouldn’t be able to repay the debt."

"With your looks, they’d naturally have you become a male prostitute to lure customers – what kind of customers? Young girls, making you deceive them!"

"Some girls who aren’t financially capable get tricked into drinking more than they can pay for, and they make her sell herself, stepping onto a no-return path!"

"Hey! Do you understand any of this, kid? Hurry up and go home, this is no good place for you!"

Search the lightnovelworld.cc website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.