As soon as I heard that, my blood boiled in anger. “

Is this guy crazy

? We 

just saved his life, and instead of thanking us, he wants to cause trouble?

” 

“Mr. Zhang, 

how

 should I answer him?” asked Xiao Gao. 

“Tell him what I just said!” I fumed.

“

I don’t think that’s a good idea

…”

Saito rolled his eyes

 and waited 

for our answer. I

t seemed there wasn’t a single

member

 of the underworld 

that was

 nice. 

Xiao Gao spoke a few Japanese phrases. Saito calmed down

, nodding 

repeatedly. For every nod, he 

said

 “Yoshi.” 

“What did you tell him?” I asked. 

“I agreed with him on behalf of you guys

.

” Xiao Gao forced a smile. 

“What the heck?” 

“I

t

’s 

just to 

buy time

. We should get out of here first.” Xiao Gao 

signaled to me by blinking. 

For the time being, it was all we could do. I had to give the other party a nod, too. 

Chuyi suddenly asked

 in an 

indifferent voice

,

 “How long has Li Mazi been gone?” 

“

Shoot

!” I cursed

 and ran 

toward the toilet. The others followed me. I pushed the door of each boot

h, but found nothing

. When I pushed the door of the last booth open, I saw Li Mazi sitting inside. He held his head low and was

scratching his face.  

“What are you doing? Why are you scratching your face?” I 

asked in puzzlement.

“Little brother, my face is so itchy!” Li Mazi’s voice was sharp and strange to my ears. Eventually, 

h

e lifted his head. When I saw his face, I could help but gasp. 

Li Mazi’s mouth had 

become

 long and pointy. He 

had

 thick fluff on his entire face

 and green 

pupil

s

. When he lifted his head, a pair of 

triangular,

 orange-red pointy ears popped up. 

“

Shoot

! A 

m

onster! 

So many

 monsters!” When Li Mazi saw me, he screamed

 and charged 

forward.

I had to back off quickly.

When he rushed out of his toilet booth, the people that filled the place were stunned. The henchmen 

took out

 their knives 

and were ready 

to attack.

I screamed, “Put your knives away!

 He’

s my friend!” 

Li Mazi pushed me toward a urinal

. Then, he shrieked, pushed 

through the crowd, 

and ran

 away. 

We hurriedly chased after him. 

The people

 in the club screamed and made way for him when they saw

 his 

fox face. Some hostesses fainted at the scene. Everything was a m

ess.

“A 

m

onster! A monster!” 

Li Mazi 

ran around like crazy

. He turned to the window

 and jumped off the floor we were on, which was the 

fourth floor. My heart throbbed. Then, Li Mazi floated up again. It turned out there was a jumping cushion outside. 

“

It's an

 illusion!” said Chuyi

.

 “Hurry, bite your tongue!” 

I did as he said

. The pain made me shiver

. Now, Li Mazi

’s face was normal once again. 

Chuyi, Xiao Gao, and I ran to the window. I didn’t know what we looked like in Li Mazi’s eyes

, but h

e was s

hivering and looked very

 scared. He didn’t look back at us and continued to run away. 

The members of Saito

’s g

roup also rushed out behind us. I told Xiao Gao

,

 “Tell them not to 

follow

 us

,

 I can’t protect them all! And, tell them to look for my bag on my sofa in the pub. My wallet and passport are inside.” 

Xiao Gao 

translated for

 Saito. Then, he a

sked,

 “Mr. Zhang, you put your passport in your bag?” 

“No, it

’s 

just to fool him. I didn’t bring 

a

bag

 with me. My passport’s at the hotel

, and

 I 

have

 my phone and money with me

,”

 I answered. 

I wanted to take this chance to run away

.

When I saw

 Li Mazi 

run

 toward the big street, I 

became

 nervous

. I hated 

that I couldn’t just jump off this balcony and follow after him.

Chuyi reached his hand

 to stop 

us

,

 point

ing

 at 

a

 window. “Look over there.” 

I lifted my head and saw a fox with pure white fur lying on the window sill. It squinted

 as it watched 

us

. It looked as 

if it was teasing us. 

“Evil creature! 

You're c

ourting death!” Chuyi screamed. Then, 

a

 big, round head protruded from his chest. It was Little Lin 

in

 his red dudou. 

Little Lin’s body was like a hot balloon

 that floated 

up into the sky. The whit

e 

fox jumped onto another window sill. The two swiftly shifted between the windows

, chasing one after the other.

Little Lin suddenly grabbed the white fox’s tail

, which made the

animal

squeak

 in pain. 

It hissed and

 turned 

around,

 biting Little Lin

’s

 neck. The boy 

grabbed

 the fox with both hands

. T

hey both fell off the window sill

, landing 

on a car

 and leaving 

a dent in 

the roof. 

The pedestrians screamed.

The fox then farted. A mass of gas that looked like mist expanded. 

The mist hurt people’s nostrils and eyes

. 

All the people

 who had accidentally inhaled the gas 

started to cough

. 

I used my hand to furiously waft the stinky air away. However, the fox was 

gone while we were distracted. 

Little Lin disappeared, too. 

“Did that 

child

 die?” Xiao Gao was surprised. 

“No, 

h

e’s here with me.” Chuyi unfolded his hand

 and revealed a

 paper crane. 

Li Mazi stood on the pavement

 in 

bewilder

ment

. I 

went over to him

 and pulled him. When he saw me, he acted as if he 

was looking at 

his long-lost 

father

. He almost cried. 

“Oh 

shoot

, you’re here! I thought I 

was in

 a dream or 

something

. Monsters were everywhere

, and

 I had to run for my life

!

 Before 

I knew

 it, I

 was

on the

 street. I thought you guys ditched me here,” said Li Mazi. 

“You

 were 

affected by the fox’s illusion magic

,

” I explained to him. 

“What? 

Anyway, d

id you 

catch

 that fox?” asked Li Mazi. 

I was worried that those guys would follow us

, so

 I shook my head

 and urged 

the others. “No, but we should return to the hotel first. We’ll talk later!” 

Xiao Gao 

said anxiously,

 “We can’t hide in the hotel. We’re Chinese,

 and thus too

 conspicuous. With Saito’s network, he can

 f

ind us

 easily

.” 

“

Dammit

. Let

’s c

all Ru Xue and Yin Xinyue

. W

e should just run!” I 

said

. 

Li Mazi asked, “Hey, who did you provoke?” 

“The Yamaguchi gang.” 

Li Mazi paled in fright. “Little 

B

rother Zhang, you’re too bold! In just 

the

 blink of an eye, you’ve messed with the criminals here. I’ve watched some movies

, and t

he Yamaguchi 

group

 is ruthless. They cut 

people

’s 

fingers

 and 

make

 sushi with 

them

. The

n, they’ll make

 the poor guys eat 

their own

 fingers! Why did you provoke them? Did you lose your mind?” 

I 

said

, “

Shut up, or

 I’m going to tell Ru Xue you were rubbing that hostess’s ass.”

Li Mazi shut his mouth immediately. 

I called the 

girls and asked 

them to pack up and wait for us at the hotel lobby. On the way, we 

came up with a story.

 We wouldn’t mention 

what happened

 in the pub. 

Instead, we would tell them

 that we went to drink some sake. It wasn’t really convincing, but it was the best that we 

had for

 now. 

Li Mazi would never spit a word. Chuyi 

had

 always been 

reserved

. Xiao Gao was here to earn money from us

, so

 no one would disclose 

our secret

. 

Our bond was truly strong!

Shortly after, we returned to the hotel. We gathered with Yin Xinyue and Ru Xue at the lobby

, 

called two taxi

s, and left

. On the way, I told Yin Xinyue the situation. Of course, I’d changed the pub into an izakaya.

Yin Xinyue was a smart woman. She caught the flaw in the story immediately.

She smiled

. 

“How 

can

 an izakaya have hostesses? Be honest. Where did you go?” 

Left with no choice, 

I had to tell her the truth. Fortunately, Li Mazi and Ru Xue took another cab. 

“I didn’t do anything. You can ask Chuyi if you don’t believe me

,”

 I said. 

“I believe you. Anyway, if you 

want to go

 there next time, you should bring me with you. I 

want to know more about

 Japanese 

customs

.” Yin Xinyue smiled

 and pinched 

my cheek. 

“Actually… It’s not interesting at all

.

” I shook my head. 

Xiao Gao

, who was in 

the co-driver seat

, said 

with a 

cheerful

 face, “

Actually

, there 

are

kagemas as well

. 

It’s the Japanese term for male prostitutes. They serve women.” 

I shot him a glance. He still had the guts to talk. If it weren’t for him, we wouldn’t have gone to a 

social

 club in the first place. And, we wouldn’t 

be running 

from the Yamaguchi 

group

. It was our first day in Japan,

and we 

were in the middle of a

 chase scene. 

I felt like I was in

an

 action movie! 

We found a small hotel near the bus terminal 

and

spent

 the night there.

 Early the next 

morning

,

 we took the bus

 and departed 

to Kyoto.