Chapter 90: Let’s Be Better Brothers!

Chapter 90: Let's Be Better Brothers!

Our Chevrolet Camaro SS pulled smoothly into Hana's reserved parking spot. Because the car had her specific plate sticker proudly displayed on the windshield, we didn't have to deal with any of the annoying hassle of searching for a parking spot in a crowded hospital lot.

Mei and I carried the heavy bags of pickup food we had grabbed from Subs Way and Star Dollars, navigating the sterile corridors as we made our way to find James's assigned room.

When I called his phone on the walk over, Ashley answered instead of him. She explained that he was currently occupied in the restroom with Akeno helping him navigate his injuries. She kindly gave me the room number to find them, and I managed to get a simple lunch order for the both of them before we hung up.

Knock! Knock!

I tapped lightly on the wooden door before letting myself in, Mei following close on my heels. I found James gathered not just with the two women, but also with his mother.

Jim's mother looked to be almost forty and was surprisingly short, which was hilarious considering James was a tall, lanky beanstalk of a guy. She was a natural blonde with warm brown eyes, sharing those exact same features with her son. The moment she saw me walk through the door, she rushed over and wrapped me in a tight hug.

"Thank goodness you two idiot boys are fine!" Mrs. Tong scolded, pulling back to look at me. "Why do you kids always get beat up and go around fighting?! How are you, Ricky?"

I offered her a reassuring smile. "I am doing better than Jim, Mrs. Tong. I just got a sore shoulder, no big deal. We were just at the wrong place at the right time as usual."

She reached up and patted my head like I was still a little kid. She scanned my sharp, tailored suit before looking past me toward the hallway. "Seeing you all grown up looking, with a maid in tow... what Jimmy said is true? You are a Tang?"

As I handed out the warm food and drinks to everyone in the room, I kept my explanation as simple as possible. I laid out a dumbed-down version of the truth, completely stripping away all the dangerous high-society glamour and the physical pain of the situation. She listened closely, her worried expression softening as she finally seemed to get it.

"So that's it really," I concluded, checking the wall clock. "Also, I don't have my own X-ray appointment until 1 pm, so you three ladies should go ahead and run your errands or take a nap while I keep Jimbo company here."

Mrs. Tong stood up from her chair, smoothing out her skirt with a nod. "Then I will head home and prepare the apartment for you and Akeno, son. See you all later."

Ashley stepped up next, leaning over the hospital bed. "Rick, I will be back at that time," she said, turning her focus to me. "I have my own duties to attend to for a bit. Thanks for sitting with him."

Ashley leaned down and pressed a soft kiss to the top of Jim's head. He flashed her a bright, completely smitten smile as she turned and left the room.

Akeno giggled, her thick Japanese accent cutting through the quiet room as she looked at James. "I will drive to Kim's house and look in on her, see you both later. Bye-bye boys, fufu."

Once the room cleared out, Mei stepped into my personal space. She reached up with a focused look, her fingers gently adjusting the white-bunny-pin pinned to my lapel.

"I will watch your 6 out in the waiting area just outside here," Mei informed me, her voice dropping into a professional murmur. "Plus, I will just use my laptop and see what is going on. Just yell for me if you want me, Master~!"

Mei gave a cheerful wave to Jim as she stepped backward into the hallway, pulling the heavy room door shut behind her.

James watched the door click shut, his jaw practically dropping. He turned his head slowly to look at me, his eyes wide. "Brother, be honest. You and her?"

I pulled a heavy plastic chair right up to the side of his mattress and sat down, shaking my head immediately. "Nope, just seriously my personal maid. I do admit she is so hot and I even dream about her occasionally, but we are just friends. You know about my maid fetish after all, so some days it's incredibly distracting."

James let out a loud chuckle, shaking his head in disbelief. "You're a better man than me, brother. I think I would have climbed into her bed for sure if I was her master, ha-ha. No, never mind, I don't think I would even have the nerve to. She seems fiercely protective, like one of those... what do they call them in the Japan Empire... a Yandere!"

I smiled at the comment, knowing deep down that Jim wasn't actually that kind of guy anyway. He was genuinely sweet and deeply caring whenever it came to girls. I watched him settle back into his pillows, the atmosphere in the room turning quiet.

"James, now that all the girls are gone, how are you really feeling, brother?" I asked, my tone shifting to something serious.

James instantly lost his cheerful, bubbly smile. His shoulders slumped, and his voice cracked slightly, dropping into a deeply sad, vulnerable register. "Rick... I was really fucking frightened, man," James confessed, staring down at his lap. "It was not like our old high school fights with Scott's monkeys. I honestly thought I was going to die."

I just gave him a firm, solid nod. Guys don't coddle each other with words, so I just kept my eyes locked onto his, giving him a reassuring, steady look to let him know I was listening.

James swallowed hard, continuing as his grip tightened on the bedsheets. "I just wanted to protect my baby, my Akeno, and I wanted to also keep Ashley safe. When that creep pointed his gun right at her... my body just moved completely on its own. And I was totally useless."

A couple of heavy man-tears tried to well up in the corners of his eyes, but we both stubbornly looked away for a split second, silently pretending they weren't there at all.

"I-I was in so much absolute pain," Jim muttered, his voice trembling. "And when she offered herself to that bastard just to save me, I felt so incredibly bad. I know she did it out of love for me and Akeno, but... it really fucking sucks as a man, brother."

I let out a soft breath, reaching over to pat his forearm. I decided it was time to actively employ my Acting skill, shifting my posture and deepening my voice to sound as sagely, wise, and comforting as humanly possible.

"No, Jim, this was actually good for you guys," I told him, the words flowing with absolute conviction. "You instinctively wanted to protect a woman you have deep feelings for, and she wanted to protect the man she has feelings for. You and Ashley, along with Akeno, are going to be completely fine, and now you can build something even better than before. But now your feelings are completely clear. Ashley is a woman you would even die for."

Honestly, I had no clue if my romantic philosophy was actually true, but if I were the one lying in that hospital bed right now, this was the exact reassurance I would want to hear from my best friend.

James looked up at me, his eyes clear as he absorbed the words. "Rick, when you changed so drastically, I should have changed too. I don't want to be that useless guy anymore. How can I be better? I don't mean picking up more girls, but becoming a man my girls can truly rely on. I want to be a man my future kids will be proud of."

I let out a heavy sigh, running a hand through my hair as the weight of my own life pressed down on me. "Sigh, I ask myself that exact same question every single day now. I have gotten wrapped up in a lot of heavy things since we graduated, and half the time I am just stumbling around in the dark. It's hard for a guy with completely average looks to have all these beautiful women love him, you know? I feel the pressure to be the absolute best I can be every single day. I am constantly afraid of losing all of them. And kids?! I just hope my kids don't grow up to absolutely hate me, is all."

James had been putting me up on a massive pedestal lately, but seeing my conflicted, deeply stressed face completely broke the tension. He let out a sudden, genuine laugh, the mood instantly lightening.

"Ha-ha! Brother, you look so incredibly worried, man," James laughed, shaking his head. "I am just glad to see the old you is still trapped in there somewhere. I honestly thought you got possessed by some other crazy being, like in those dumb web novels. I seriously imagined you came back from the future where you were like fifty years old and needed to change history or something."

I let out a smile, realizing from his perspective my sudden rise and change in personality really was too drastic. I decided to lean right into the joke. "Yeah, some days I really do feel like one of those crazy light novel Protagonists," I chuckled, leaning back in my chair. "But if I actually came from the future, the very first thing I would have done was kick you straight to the curb as dead weight. So let's talk about your future goals then, Side-Kick Character, ha-ha!"

James reached over, grabbed a crumpled piece of sandwich paper from his lunch, and threw it right at my head with a wide grin.

"Side-kick? Fuck off!" James scolded me playfully. "What side-kick has two hot-ass girls constantly at his side?! But no, you're right. Let's make a real plan for me and you. Let's be better brothers... for our women!"

My expression turned entirely serious, my voice dropping into a firm, unyielding tone. "Then James... I need you to study and learn business like your actual life depends on it, because it honestly does. I need my most trusted friend to help me build a massive business empire. I want to be an Emperor of the Business World! That is my life's ultimate goal in this life."

James stared at me, his eyes wide as if I had just spoken some profound, cosmic truth. But honestly, the words had just flown right out of my mouth on a whim. I hadn't even made that my actual life goal until just this exact, random moment.

Years from now, I would look back on this quiet hospital room and realize something massive. This very conversation was my true superhero pivot point, my definitive origin story—just like the moment Batman lost his parents in the alley, or when Spider-Man learned that with great power comes great responsibility.

It wasn't my incredible roster of lovers, and it wasn't even the miraculous gifts from my System. It was my idiot best friend begging me from a hospital bed to be a better brother that finally defined who I was going to be.

As the gravity of my new life goal settled into my chest, Jim broke into a massive, proud smile. "If you are seriously going to become a Business Emperor, then I will gladly become your Majordomo! Let us do our absolute best, for our women! Let's be better brothers!"

Jim thrust his clenched fist out across the bedrail. I smiled and brought my own fist forward, bumping it hard against his just like we always did. But this time, the gesture carried the weight of a lifelong promise between the two of us.

For the next couple of hours, the heavy tension completely vanished. We just acted exactly like we used to back in high school, flipping through the pages of some car magazines I had bought at the gift shop and listening to the small bedside radio play recent hits as fun background music.

James and I were chatting when an interesting song debut cut through the airwaves at exactly noon.

[ And this next one is from our new recent rising music star, Kate Kong! When I interviewed her today, this is what she said about her new single we will play shortly... ]

The radio transition cut to a crisp, beautifully recorded audio clip of a very familiar, sweet female voice.

[ Ah! Ufufu, This song was inspired by my real life hero, so if you're listening, my hero, this one is dedicated to you! ]

James sat up so fast he almost pulled his IV lines straight out of his arm, his eyes practically bugging out of his head.

"No fucking way, Rick!" James screamed, pointing frantically at the radio speaker. "Shit, Kate Kong has a man now!!!! Fuck, life is not fair at all. Sorry your ultimate idol crush is completely ruined, ha-ha!"

I just shrugged my shoulders, letting my friend make fun of me. I had forced him to sit through the movie she starred in at least ten times back in the day, so I knew he was just acting bitter to get back at me. I opened my mouth to tell him the truth about my connection to her, but he cut me off before I could even start.

"Jim, I just like her movies and her songs, really..." I started to explain.

[ There's someone reaching back for me. Racing on the thunder and rising with the heat. It's gonna take a superman to sweep me off my feet. I need a hero♪. I'm holding out for a hero, til the end of the night. He's gotta be strong. And he's gotta be fast. And he's gotta be fresh from the fight♪. I need a hero♪. ]

Wait. Are these the exact same lyrics from my old world? No, wait... a lot of things in this place are weirdly similar to my old world. So what does this mean? Did she actually fall in love and record a brand-new track broadcasted to the entire city just to announce she is waiting for her specific hero?

James took one look at my face, watching my brain grind to a complete, mesmerized halt, and immediately assumed I was just acting like a hopeless fanboy. He busted out laughing, pointing a finger at me from the hospital mattress.

"Rick man, you have like 4 and soon 6 wives and you fall stupid hearing Kate Kong?!" James shouted, howling with laughter. "Hahahaha, Brother are you dreaming she is singing to you because you're just so fucking amazing?!"

I shot him a crisp middle finger, rolling my eyes. "Stuff it, asshole. I have never even met the woman. No, it was the actual structure of the lyrics that amazed me."

"Phht! The lyrics?" James snorted, rolling his eyes back. "And I read Playbunny nude magazines strictly for the highly intellectual articles. Don't lie to a literal conman, ha-ha!"

Knock! Knock!

The heavy door clicked open, cutting off our bickering. Two women we both knew incredibly well stepped straight into the hospital room—Akeno and Kim. Kim took one look at the two of us laughing together, and the deep tension she had been carrying all morning completely vanished into a bright smile.

She walked over to stand right next to my chair, looking down at us. "James and Rick, I am very happy to see both of you in such a good mood. Did you two manage to sleep well?"

James reached out across the hospital sheets, grabbing Akeno’s fingers and giving them a tight squeeze. "I am doing really good now. Akeno and Ashley took amazing care of me all night, and the doctors said I can finally leave later tonight after the standard twenty-four hours are up."

Kim turned her focus entirely toward me, her worried green eyes dropping to scan my face.

I gave her a quick, reassuring grin to keep her from stressing. "I slept really well and had an awesome dream on top of getting to sleep in late, so you really don't need to worry about me. I told you last night that I had a great lawyer on my side, right? Heck, I didn't even make it all the way to the police precinct before they let me go completely free."

While Jim and Akeno turned their heads toward each other, lowering their voices to whisper private couple things, Kim leaned in closer to my side. "Can I talk with you on your way down to the X-ray department?" Kim asked, her tone shifting into something hushed and serious. "I already know my way around the halls down there anyway. I just... I really don't want to ask you this here in front of everyone."

Before I could even open my mouth to give her a definitive answer, she smoothly pivoted back toward the bed to address the other two.

"I will make sure Rick gets down to his appointment safely," Kim announced with a warm smile. "So you two just take a nice nap together. Hopefully, I will see you back in class on Monday, James. Bye!"

Well, I actually did need to start heading down for my scan anyway. I decided to just go with the flow, waving a quick goodbye to Jim and Akeno as I followed her out into the corridor.

We navigated the quiet, sterile hallways together. The moment we turned a corner where absolutely no one else was around, Kim suddenly stopped in her tracks. She reached down, took my right hand firmly in hers, and pulled me straight into an empty, dimly lit waiting room.

She pointed silently toward a plastic chair, gesturing for me to sit down. I dropped into the seat, and she immediately claimed the chair right next to mine. She took my right hand back into her own, cradling it gently between both of her slightly smaller hands. It didn't feel like an intimate, romantic gesture, but rather the focused, clinical grip a medical professional uses when assessing a patient.

"Your wives and your friends aren't here right now," Kim began, her voice barely above a whisper. "But... last night I saw something that deeply concerned me, Rick."

I looked down at our joined hands, but she didn't even seem to notice the contact. Her green eyes locked directly onto mine, filled with intense gravity.

"Rick, it's your eyes," Kim said, her gaze unyielding. "They are the exact same eyes your father had four years ago. The eyes of a man who already knows deep down that he is dead. It's the exact same look war veterans earn."

I had expected her to just be acting over-concerned, maybe playing the role of a nosy teacher, or trying to claim she had suddenly fallen for me after the rescue. I figured it would be some generic, melodramatic nonsense. But the sudden mention of my father hit my chest like a physical blow.

"What?" I breathed, my posture freezing.

Kim squeezed my hand hard, the grip tightening as she laid out her hidden connection to my past. "The day your parents died, I had a massive fight with Alex. I was actually on my way to the bank to get the money for my new home, all because of his participation in that underground game. Just as I was about to walk through the front doors, the entire world went to hell."

Kim’s eyes turned glassy, reflecting the exact same raw horror I had witnessed in them last night when she was clutching my arms in the chaos.

"I was standing right across the street for the entire thing," Kim confessed, her voice trembling. "I saw your mother and your father's absolute last moments alive. His eyes looked exactly like yours do right now. You two look so incredibly alike, but I never realized it was because he was your father until just this morning. Last night, my instincts kept screaming that something about you felt familiar, but..."

She reached out with her other hand, holding both of mine tightly in her lap.

"Don't be mad at her, but Hana told me a bit about your past," Kim pleaded softly. "Rick, I think your heart died a bit on the asphalt Quick Mart alley that day, and that's the real reason your eyes and your actions match your father's so perfectly. I am not trying to nag you or pry into your secrets, but I don't want you to ever think that dying is your only option. The crazy gamble you took last night when you let yourself get shot proves you have so little regard for your own life. It makes me so sad to see you like this, Rick. I am so sorry for butting in like this..."

She paused, using the back of her wrist to quickly wipe away a stray tear that slipped down her cheek.

"I almost committed suicide alongside that gunman last night, truly believing I had absolutely no options left," Kim whispered. "But just when everything seemed completely lost, you swooped in and saved me. So don't you ever dare think you deserve to die."

A soft, genuine smile broke across my face as I listened to her kind words. I knew she was just deeply traumatized by the brutal events of last night, and I personally had absolutely zero interest in dying. But the raw, unforced care radiating from her reached right into my chest.

I reached up with my free hand and gently patted the top of her head like she was a little kid, completely catching her off guard and leaving her utterly stupefied.

"Miss Smith... no, Kim," I told her, my voice low and steady. "I can promise you that suicide was the absolute last thing on my mind. I have beautiful lovers and loyal friends I need to keep safe in this world, and if I am dead, I can't do that. My eyes are just a family trait of absolute concentration during battle. The reason I killed that man last night was simple. He was fully willing to kill me, and a man like that simply doesn't get to live. It was his direct order that put you in danger in the first place. But..."

I stopped the head pat, lowering my hand to clasp hers firmly instead as my smile widened.

"The fact that you were willing to stand there and watch my parents' final moments... it really makes me happy to know someone actually cared enough to stay," I said softly. "Thanks, Kim. But why did you stay and watch the whole thing?"

Kim blinked, her expression turning slightly dazed as she drifted into the memory. "I was standing there desperately hoping to see a miracle. I wanted to see the good guys win for once. Your father saved two people that day, and I felt honored to witness a real hero. Right after seeing that, I went straight back and ended things with Alex for good. I wanted better for myself. I knew right then that I didn't have to settle for someone who didn't care about me, not after seeing a real hero fight like hell just for two strangers to live."

I glanced down at my wrist, checking the time, and pushed myself up from the chair. "My appointment is coming up fast, so... well, thanks for talking with me, Kim. I honestly feel a whole lot better after this chat. I hope you're doing alright, too? Take your own advice and don't give up on yourself. Saving all of you last night was worth my little gamble, so don't you forget it."

As we both stood up in the quiet room, she suddenly stepped forward and wrapped her arms around me in a tight, brief hug.

"Rick Lee, thanks for saving me in time," Kim whispered against my suit jacket. "My absolute last thought last night was how much it sucked that I was going to miss your upcoming match. So don't you dare forget to bring me along next time, or I will officially fail you in class, ha-ha!"

She pulled back, breaking the embrace, and cutely stuck her tongue out at me. In the back of my mind, I could practically feel a massive anime sweat-drop forming on the side of my head at her sudden mood swing.

She quickly slipped her hand around my forearm, adopting the posture of a diligent nurse guiding a patient out into the hall.

"Hurry up, student Lee!" Kim laughed, pulling me toward the elevators. "Don't be late for X-ray class, ha-ha!"