The sun had not yet appeared on the horizon, but faint white light had already begun to dispel the darkness on the earth.
Riverside, next to a bonfire.
Keli and Sato Kazuma finally made a fire.
Because the white mourning clothes that Kazuma was wearing were really not suitable for running to convenience stores, and Keli's wet clothes were not suitable either, the two finally ran to the kind of store that the homeless people said often did business with them, and woke up the boss and got a lighter amidst the boss's curses.
It was still late spring, and the riverside in Tokyo was very cold, but fortunately, Keli's physique was special, and he probably wouldn't catch a cold.
"That is to say, if we want to alleviate that hunger, we may need to kill things like Human-Faced Dog..."
Sato Kazuma covered his head in despair. He felt that his life would no longer have anything to do with peaceful daily life from now on.
Listening to the wailing in his ears, Keli instead focused his attention on other things.
Keli gripped a stone with force. He always felt that since he "ate" the Human-Faced Dog, his strength had increased significantly, but because there was no specific reference object, he couldn't be sure.
"So, what are your next plans?" Kazuma shook Keli's shoulders and amplified his voice.
"We will continue to investigate those Yakuza," Keli replied.
Why are you still thinking about those B-list Yakuza?!
We can't even get on the street! Shouldn't we find a place to live first? Although I'm not sleepy at all, we can't just sleep on the street when we're sleepy, right?
He really wanted to say that, but Kazuma held back.
"Why don't you listen to me? Let's go find a recruiter and work day labor on the surrounding construction sites. At least buy a tent first, and then make other plans!
We can't just sit here and wait! We're not lucky enough to have a place to live find us while we're sitting here."
It must be said that Sato Kazuma is quite pragmatic to some extent.
The term 'recruiter' is actually not a good term. Basically, when it's said, it means the same as a black broker. It mainly introduces down-and-out people to do some tiring work, and then earns the difference in the middle.
Moreover, many more "black" guys will pretend to be recruiters. For example, those foreigners who dream of getting rich are often cheated by those guys.
"Cough cough!"
At this moment, suddenly a cough came from behind the two. Both of them vigilantly got up and turned around.
The events of just this one night had already made their nerves tense to a certain extent, especially Kazuma. If he hadn't confirmed that there was news about him, he would have thought that he had come to some parallel world.
Is this still the Japan I live in, full of peaceful daily life?
When the two raised their eyes, they became even more vigilant. Not far from the riverbank, a green thing was standing there. It seemed to be deliberately making a sound to attract their attention.
"K... Kappa? Was it urban legends just now, and now even monsters are coming out?"
Sato Kazuma stood up nervously, ready to run away at any moment if things didn't go well.
Because the thing in front of them at this time really didn't look like a person. It had green skin, a white abdomen, and a tortoise shell on its back.
However, Keli did not become overly nervous like Sato Kazuma because of what happened before, so he keenly discovered that this guy's face did not have a bird's beak like the Kappa in the legend, and the Kappa mask tightly reflected a man's face, and it seemed that because the leather suit had been worn for too long, the neck was loose, revealing a piece of yellow skin belonging to a human.
The guy in front of him is a person in a suit!
Keli looked at this thing and felt a little familiar.
It seems that he had seen a similar image in some anime before. Yes, it should be a gag anime called Arakawa Under the Bridge.
It's a story about a group of strange people living by the river.
Keli raised his eyebrows.
Because he suddenly remembered that the comedic anime seemed to have some supernatural elements; the female lead, whose voice was like Ryougi Shiki's, seemed to be an alien, and there were also a pair of superpowered individuals with hard heads.
The main purpose of gathering so many heaven-defying individuals was to build a small society, so the female lead wouldn't have to interact with the outside world.
Of course, what made Keli raise his eyebrows wasn't the presence of ghosts and spirits in that anime, but mainly the identity of this Kappa; it seemed this guy was some high-ranking official or royalty, someone with great influence, capable of vetoing a government-approved bidding project with just a single word.
At the same time, Keli glanced at Kazuma, who seemed to have relaxed slightly, apparently realizing that the other party wasn't a monster.
This guy's luck is truly absurd; it's quite possible that by just sitting here, his living arrangements would find him.
At this moment, the Kappa mascot, looking at the nervous duo, was actually a bit nervous himself.
He scratched the back of his mascot head, trying to make his face show a kind expression, but due to the green mask, this expression appeared... extremely bizarre.
"Yo! Lads, I heard you say you don't have a place to stay, but I have a very nice place here."
As he spoke, the mascot, often referred to as the Village Head, also wiped away a cold sweat.
Actually, he was already there last night; he had just left Arakawa and came to Ōta Ward to see some old friends.
On his way back home that night, he witnessed Keli running wildly.
That's right, he was the pedestrian Keli had intentionally avoided.
At first, he thought it was some strange occurrence, until he saw something invisible creating Ripples on the water's surface and the battle happening in the middle of the river; only then did he confirm that he had witnessed a supernatural event.
So he ran away on the spot!
After such a long time, he changed into his mascot suit and wanted to come back to see if there were any clues.
After watching for a while and confirming that these two didn't seem to be dangerous individuals, he heard Kazuma loudly say he had no place to stay.
Considering that he really had a ghost-like entity to deal with and these two seemed capable of handling such things, he bravely approached them to strike up a conversation.
"Uh... that uncle, there's no need for that."
Kazuma shook his head, somewhat wary.
Although he really wanted a place to settle down, as long as the other party wasn't a beautiful girl, his vigilance was still at its peak, and he wouldn't possibly go with this strange guy.
After speaking, Kazuma quietly leaned into Keli's ear and whispered.
"This guy looks very strange; we shouldn't pay attention to him!"
Hearing Kazuma's refusal, the Village Head wasn't in a hurry; instead, he opened his mascot's top and rummaged inside for a while, mimicking the sound of Doraemon pulling out gadgets.
"Doo-doo-doo!"
He took out a wallet, then pulled out all the money inside and placed it on the ground, then pressed the wallet on top of it.
"This is 100,000 yen. I am a Kappa, living under the big bridge in Arakawa. I often help homeless people.
Our base there is quite large, and many people live together.
There are free bathhouses and food.
It's okay if you don't come, but if you do, I can mobilize the residents to help you build a small house with a bed."