Older Brother is Just Older Brother - Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Port Mafia Head Office.

Mori Ougai watched the surveillance footage of Jiuli, who had finally let down his guard looking like a small animal exposing its belly for the first time and let out a slight sigh of relief.

“Send over some daily necessities.”

The bedroom Verlaine had taken to Jiuli had no surveillance. After all, installing cameras in a bedroom would be going too far, even considering that what Mori Ougai was doing to Verlaine was already quite excessive.

But Mori guessed that Verlaine would definitely need those things.

Verlaine had indeed said before that he didn’t want to involve himself in outside affairs, but Jiuli was different. Mori felt that once Verlaine met Jiuli, he would absolutely never be willing to just hand Jiuli over to anyone else.

Speaking of which.

“A home… huh.” Mori smiled. “I didn’t expect it to be this simple.”

“If I invite Jiuli-kun to join the Port Mafia now, the success rate should be 100%…”

Elise abruptly interrupted: “Stupid Rintaro!”

Mori Ougai: ?

Elise: “Can’t you see, Rintaro? Jiuli-kun doesn’t treat the Port Mafia as home at all. He just had his guard lowered by Dazai-kun, and happened to meet Verlaine-kun at that moment, so he treats the space around Verlaine-kun as his home!”

Mori Ougai: !

“Ah—so you mean there’s still a long way to go before Jiuli-kun joins the Port Mafia, right, Elise-chan?”

Mori Ougai felt like crying without tears. “Really, did I mess up? Maybe I shouldn’t have let Jiuli-kun and Verlaine-kun meet in the first place?”

Elise didn’t bother responding to Mori; she went back to eating her favorite small cake.

However, Mori wasn’t really looking for a reply from Elise.

He looked at Chuuya Nakahara’s report sent from the Medical Department and muttered to himself, “But with Nakahara-kun there, it should be fine, right?”

As long as Jiuli recognizes Chuuya Nakahara as his own kind, it’s only a matter of time before he’s willing to join the Port Mafia!

The idea was beautiful, but just as Mori Ougai was about to initiate a series of operations targeting Jiuli.

Verlaine appeared in his office.

Verlaine was concise: “Intelligence.”

He could forgive Mori for not telling him about Jiuli initially, but Mori had to give him all the intelligence related to Jiuli.

Mori Ougai: …

Mori Ougai, who didn’t want to give it but was being threatened by Verlaine’s weapon: …………

Verlaine left.

Mori Ougai, stripped of all intelligence by Verlaine: “Ah I was planning to use that to act a bit mysterious in front of Jiuli-kun, but it seems I can’t do that now—”

…

The Basement.

Jiuli was truly exhausted.

He slept for over a dozen hours in one go. When he opened his eyes, the time had already jumped to the next morning.

The feeling in his body was completely different from the last time he woke up.

He was lying on a soft, comfortable large bed, wearing dry pajamas. His fatigue was reduced by 100%, his anger reduced by 99%, and he felt entirely refreshed.

Jiuli momentarily forgot about the whole “traveling to another world” thing. Accustomed to living alone, he turned his head, saw a somewhat unfamiliar man, and said subconsciously:

“Why are you in my house?”

That was so rude!

Verlaine slowly put down the intelligence on Jiuli he had been studying.

The elegant blonde man had originally been looking forward to his younger brother saying good morning to him. He hadn’t even gone to the study to research data, but had specifically waited here for several hours.

But now, he was mentally filing a lot of question marks.

No.

He only brought Jiuli back yesterday, right? How did this become “his house”?

…

“Sorry, sorry, sorry.” Jiuli finally realized this wasn’t his home at all.

Upon hearing Verlaine say that because there were no extra bedrooms in the basement, Jiuli’s butt was currently on his bed while he had slept on the sofa last night, Jiuli performed a “carp leap” to sit up.

Then he pressed down on the bed in disbelief, letting out a shocked exclamation.

Verlaine looked at Jiuli, who acted as if he had never slept on such a soft bed in his life, and remembered the wet Jiuli from yesterday who hadn’t made a sound despite being frozen for so long. His heart instantly softened:

“It’s alright. I am your elder brother. If you like it, you can treat it as yours.”

Forget this life Jiuli hadn’t even slept on a bed this good in his previous life. Hearing this, he immediately lay back down.

While wondering how expensive this bed was and how many of his old iron-frame beds (which were useless except for being sturdy) it could buy, Jiuli pulled the quilt up and took a couple of secret sniffs.

So nice. Even though my rich brother lives in a basement, the quilt smells like sunlight.

And it’s so nice that my brother likes me so much.

As Jiuli was feeling sentimental, he shrunk further into the quilt.

Suddenly, Jiuli felt something was off.

His body felt very comfortable too, and that definitely wasn’t just the bed’s doing.

Jiuli started to squirm.

After a rustling sound, Jiuli stuffed his head into the quilt, leaving only a small patch of hair visible.

Another rustle, and Jiuli’s head popped out again.

Jiuli’s pupils experienced an earthquake for a few seconds. Refusing to believe it, he stuffed his head back in.

Jiuli’s head came out again.

After repeating this an unknown number of times, Jiuli finally looked at Verlaine tremblingly, only to frantically look away the moment his eyes met those of the calm, blonde-haired, blue-eyed European.

Verlaine: ?

What was wrong?

Reasonably, Verlaine could have guessed, but he felt that since Jiuli had been in the research institute for so long and had killed people upon coming out, he shouldn’t have such a violent reaction to someone changing his clothes.

So, a curious Verlaine quietly pricked up his ears and began to listen carefully to Jiuli’s muttering in Chinese.

He heard Jiuli saying—

“That’s not right! Even though I like Brother’s looks, it’s not like this in Galgames! Brother should talk to me more, increase my favorability, occasionally give me little surprise gifts, and on some special holiday, produce a special interaction with me… then, during some event that touches my heart, confess to me. Only then would I show Brother my special CG, and then Brother could see my body… how can it be like this right from the start? Besides, such thoughts between brothers are too taboo! A brother is a brother; a brother can’t become a wife…”

Verlaine: ?

Suddenly, Jiuli raised his voice: “Verlaine-niisan, I just remembered! You told me the situation here yesterday. Am I supposed to go report to the Port Mafia’s Boss’s office today—”

Verlaine: ???

Jiuli threw back the quilt, got up, put on his shoes, and got off the bed in just 3 seconds—a smooth motion without any pause, as if he had made a firm decision.

But it only took 0.1 seconds for Verlaine to restrain the “little non-human” whose physical skills were far inferior to his. Clearly, Verlaine’s “decision” was stronger.

“No.” Verlaine bluntly stopped him. “You don’t need to go to Mori Ougai right now.”

This time, the one confused was Jiuli: “Why don’t I need to find Mori Ougai?”

Verlaine looked at his young fellow-kind who was tilting his head at him, and the corners of his mouth unconsciously curled into an arc.

Then, Verlaine said something seemingly irrelevant: “What do you want to do?”

Jiuli: ???

To be honest, Jiuli had thought about a lot of things after traveling here, but he really hadn’t thought about what he wanted to do.

Truthfully, other than killing a few villains for the thrill of it, Jiuli didn’t want to do anything.

After all, even knowing Mori Ougai wasn’t the kind of villain he initially thought, Jiuli still didn’t like the guy.

Moreover, whenever Jiuli thought about how this world had plotted against him, and how this world must have gone through immense trouble to bring him here for some ulterior motive, he wanted nothing more than to start his “lying flat” (slacker) life right now.

Jiuli thought this, and he said it out loud.

But Jiuli felt Verlaine definitely wouldn’t agree.

Verlaine would likely hear his true ideal and think that going to work for Mori Ougai was actually quite good. At least he could earn some money and not be a nuisance by lying at home all day.

The elders in his old neighborhood, the neighbor’s neighbor, and the neighbor’s neighbor’s neighbor all had this attitude toward their kids who finished university.

Jiuli understood; Jiuli understood very well.

However, to Jiuli’s surprise, upon hearing his words, Verlaine didn’t refuse. On the contrary, his eyes, which had always seemed exceptionally flat, suddenly brightened.

“Do you like a normal life, unconstrained by work?” Verlaine rubbed Jiuli’s wrist with his thumb and added, “I understand. I will inform Mori Ougai.”

That’s… just it?!

Jiuli was beyond shocked: “But I need money to live…”

Verlaine blinked, looking a bit more lively for once: “Jiuli, I should have told you yesterday even though I am no longer the ‘Transcendent’ I once was, regardless of everything, I am still an Executive of the Port Mafia.”

In this house, money was the one problem Jiuli didn’t need to worry about.

Jiuli understood.

Jiuli’s mouth hung open in shock.

Now, the only thing Jiuli didn’t understand was how such a powerful thing could be said so lightly by Verlaine.

Honestly, after hearing those words, forget calling Verlaine “Brother Jiuli would be willing to call Verlaine “Husband.”

What do you call it when bad luck turns to good? This is it!

Zhang Wansen, the wealth has arrived!

Even though he had been unlucky before, after living two lives, he had finally been reincarnated into a wealthy family!

Although his brother hadn’t yet described in detail what his future life would be like, just knowing his brother was willing to support him made him so happy he couldn’t breathe… Jiuli understood now; that saying is true! Everyone has a telemarketing scam they can’t refuse, and everyone has a “power fantasy” life story they can’t refuse!

Grandma, did your spirit in heaven see this? If you did, hurry up and be reincarnated here too! If you’re late, I’m afraid the spots will be taken!

Considering how righteous you were to me in my last life, willing to learn home-baked bread for me, willing to run to the police station every day for me despite your age, and always standing up for me, I’m willing to be your brother in this life…

Wait, no.

Speaking of siblings—

Jiuli’s gaze suddenly became sharp as he fell into a memory.

The next second, Jiuli’s voice became weak: “Speaking of which, Verlaine-niisan, don’t we have another brother? How is he doing now?”

If he remembered correctly, yesterday, he had almost sent that brother to the afterlife. Today, the guy was most likely lying in the ICU.

If things were bad, he’d be dead on the spot;

If things were “good,” he’d been sent straight into the “kill zone” in one hit. If that guy didn’t have enough savings and Verlaine wasn’t willing to help, the guy would be dead in another two years anyway.

Having done something so terrible, he had actually forgotten about the person while being grateful to the heavens. Wasn’t that a bit too evil?

Unlike Jiuli, Verlaine was calm: “It’s fine. It’s just a fatal wound; Chuuya won’t be angry.”

Jiuli: ?

Verlaine: “You didn’t actually kill Chuuya. Chuuya has no reason to be angry. Besides, Chuuya is your own kind; he will understand you.”

Jiuli: ???

Jiuli stared at Verlaine in disbelief for a long time, realizing the man was actually serious. He sucked in a cold breath on the spot: “Hiss!”

Brother, you non-human is also not quite right in the head!

…

In a spacious and bright room in the Port Mafia’s Medical Department, Chuuya Nakahara was staring at the ceiling in a daze.

With the assistance of an ability user specializing in healing, his injuries were mostly healed.

He was only staying in bed now because he had lost too much blood and needed a period of recuperation.

But as Chuuya lay there, he couldn’t help but look at the two people beside him: “So, why did you two come here? And… aren’t you supposed to stay in the basement? How did you get out?”

The questioned Verlaine remained unmoved.

Jiuli, on the other hand, seeing Chuuya lying there so comfortably, wanted to lie down and try it too.

But Jiuli answered first: “Verlaine-niisan came with me to apologize to you. There were indeed some bad guys who tried to stop Verlaine-niisan on the way, but I just waved my hand and they disappeared. The Port Mafia is quite high-class!”

Chuuya Nakahara: ?

Chuuya suddenly sat up: “Those *** were killed by your ability, weren’t they?!”

Jiuli had been eyeing that warm-looking quilt earlier. Seeing the other person get up, Jiuli used a nimble maneuver and dove straight in.

Stared at by Chuuya’s disbelieving eyes, Jiuli snuggled into Chuuya’s quilt, thought for a moment, and said:

“Damn, you should have said so earlier.”

Chuuya completely flipped out: “You really killed them all? I already told you, the Port Mafia has no ill will toward you at all…”

Jiuli shifted his body again.

Just like before, Jiuli once again willfully ignored Chuuya’s breakdown. He reached out his arms and hugged Chuuya directly from inside the quilt.

Chuuya froze.

This hug was very familiar. Jiuli had done the same thing last time when he had corroded large patches of Chuuya’s skin.

But before he could reflexively push Jiuli away, Jiuli suddenly looked up.

Then, Chuuya heard Jiuli say—

“I’m sorry, Chuuya-niisan.” Jiuli’s voice carried a slight nasal tone. “Yesterday, I shouldn’t have treated you like that.”

Chuuya’s hand instantly stopped in mid-air, but he felt even more awkward and uncomfortable.

After a long silence, he rubbed his hair awkwardly: “Tsk, actually, I wasn’t angry. You…”

Jiuli was originally just sad, but hearing those words, he started crying right then and there: “Waaaaah—I’d rather you be angry at me! You being like this makes me feel even worse!”

“Your life was going fine; it wouldn’t have been any different without me. What did a ‘fellow kind’ like me bring you…”

Jiuli cried more and more sorrowfully, more and more miserably.

Chuuya went from initially trying to stop or scold Jiuli to eventually giving up entirely.

Chuuya also realized that Jiuli must have been joking just now; as long as he knew he was wrong, he wouldn’t kill indiscriminately within the Port Mafia again.

His gaze gradually took on a hint of helpless softness.

After Jiuli wiped his tears on the quilt once, then proceeded to mistake the quilt for Chuuya and hugged it while frantically calling “Chuuya-niisan” to apologize, Chuuya thought helplessly—

Fellow kinds bring tears and take away quilts.

Seriously, it’s winter right now, and he wasn’t even left with a bit of a quilt. Did Jiuli even remember he was a patient?