This chapter is set after No Hero V2C9, but written before V2C10 was released.
"Charles! This is really good!"
I set down the silver teapot I was currently polishing. Instead of his usual glass of milk this morning, the young master had chosen to try pearl milk tea, a popular drink among the youths of this age. I was exalted at the chance to show my skill at brewing black tea, so it was with a twinge of regret that I added the necessary condensed milk and tapioca pearls into the drink. The Young Master enjoys strong flavors. I was worried the condensed milk would obscure the complex taste of the tea.
"Charles is pleased that the young master enjoys it. This milk tea uses Earl Grey, instead of a more typical black tea."
"No wonder it's so fragrant! And the tea isn't too strong or weak at all. The pearls are a perfect texture too."
I could feel the corners of my mouth rise by several millimeters. Pearl after pearl shot up the young master's brightly colored straw. The young master was directly swallowing the pearls without chewing at all. Considering his usual eating speed, having to chew only a few pearls at a time would be much too slow. Perhaps next time I should cook the tapioca pearls to a slightly softer consistency to remove any choking hazards.
As today was a Saturdary, the young master did not need to head to school. Mr. Bramble and the others had already headed to the rooftop to monitor the city's security cameras. The young master chose to continue watching the news.
Following the incident with X, the news was once again innundated with complaints against the heroes. The people on the news mostly complained about things such as how much trouble had been caused as those criminals hunted First Wind and the destruction in the neighborhood where the incident had taken place.
I glanced towards to young master to gauge his feelings at the moment. He noticed this movement and smiled a bit ruefully at me. He then said, "Don't worry, Charles. It really can't be helped. The street I destroyed was only repaved last year, following the remodeling of that shopping district. They're naturally very unhappy that all that money to renovate the place was wasted. The businesses on that street haven't even finished repaying the costs of the previous renovations, and estimates of the new repair fees are already well into the millions."
I slightly winced in sympathy for the business owners as the young master turned back around to resume watching the television.
The police also chose this moment to complain about how First Wind, by arresting small fry drug dealers and capturing vehicles carrying quantities of drugs, ruined months of surveillance that the police had spent to get those small fries to lead them to bigger targets.
I chuckled dryly to myself. It was just as likely that the police were not capturing the small fries to avoid angering the mafia bosses. Even if the police managed to uncover members of the upper echleons of Sunset City's underworld, there was no way they would dare to bring them to justice. As criminal masterminds, it was doubtful that the police would ever be able to find solid proof against them to use in court. Even if one could be successfully jailed, it would only create chaos in the underworld. Rival crime bosses would begin vying for the newly open position. Civilians could easily be caught in the crossfire. And the feeble police force would be all but powerless to stop the destruction.
"Young Master?" I called out.
The young master turned around to look at me with a quizzical expression on his face. The police officer on screen loudly continued to rant angrily in the background, so the young master pressed the mute button.
"If the master dislikes you being a hero so much, why doesn't he try to make the police force stronger to take the place of heroes?"
This was clearly an uneconomical choice, but I doubted the master would be unwilling to go through any expense for his younger brother. With control over thirty percent of the world's economy, even funding the police force of a city as large as Sunset City couldn't be counted as too expensive.
The young master shook his head. "If the solution was that simple, Gege would have already done so long ago. If Gege sent out the Solaris Federation's own troops to keep the peace, people wouldn't trust them at all. They might even riot against them, making the situation worse. As long as the Solaris Federation doesn't interfere too directly in their lives, they'll tolerate it. But Gege has been discreetly donating to the police force. He can't do much, since people would grow suspicious if they discovered a large increase in the police force's funds, and even more suspicious if they were unable to trace the source of the funds."
He went silent for a moment, then resumed speaking. "There is no one else who can do this, so even if Gege is unhappy, I still will continue being a hero."
The young master faced the screen again and unmuted the television.
Later in the evening, we went to check on First Wind. The young master guessed that he would not go to a hospital and risk exposing his identity. Even after I told the young master that First Wind carried hemostatic agents and blood transfusions on him, the young master still was not reassured.
We didn't actually know Ji Luo Chu's address, so we could only use the cell phone number that he had given the young master to ask him. Although he intended for the young master to use this number to contact him about modeling, it did not seem completely inappropiate to use the number for something like this as well.
The call nearly went to the answering machine when Ji Luo Chu finally picked up. Over the speaker phone, he somewhat tiredly asked, "Ah Ye. Is something the matter?"
"We wanted to check to see if you were alright. It's nearly dinnertime right now. Would you like us to bring you some food?"
There was a long pause at the other end. First Wind was probably evaluating how much he could trust us. He cautiously said, "My house is most likely on the other side of the city from yours. It would be too much trouble for you."
The young master shook his head and replied, "Don't worry, it won't be. I can be anywhere in Sunset City in less than an hour. Charles' cooking is really good. I'll ask him to make something for you."
The other party fell silent again, but it was for a shorter amount of time. He agreed, "O.K. then. I'll have to trouble you. My address is at..."
"Oh! That's closer than I expected. We'll be over soon." The young master ended the call.
He turned to me and began narrating instructions. "Charles, after all that blood he lost, Luo Chu-ge should probably eat more things with iron in them! Red meat might be too tough to digest. Do you have any seafood?"
I smiled. "Of course, Young Master. I can use it to make seafood congee." I originally intended to use the seafood in tomorrow's dinner, but I could easily purchase more tomorrow. It was a pity that chicken liver has such an overpowering flavor. Liver is an excellent source of iron, and due to the young master's liking for fried chicken, there was always a surplus on hand.
"Congee does not take long to make. It will be ready soon."
"That's great! We shouldn't leave Luo Chu-ge hungry for too long."
As I watched the congee boil, watching bubbles come up through thick white soup rather than the golden oil I normally cooked with, I couldn't help but wryly smile. Even the young master's sickbed diet of fried, high calorie foods differed from the bland, soft foods of a normal person's.
He truly was unique.
A/N: My friend told me that using Earl Grey instead of regular Lipton black tea really does make a difference! I still have yet to try this. I tend to get the tea-to-condensed milk ratio wrong all the time and I don't want to waste the good tea.
There's no plotline to this fanfic at all because it's just random ideas that come in my head. Even this first chapter ended off rather oddly. (I did want them to go visit Ji Luo Chu, but that would require making things up about his life that I'd rather try to find out from the series.) I can't promise more chapters, but because I love No Hero so much, it will at least be likely that there will be another chapter someday somehow. I'm sorry if you have a long wait.