It turned out that ten days ago, Dorsom had been bitten off half a finger by Ronnie, had taken the broken finger to the city hospital to have it set, and had been home recovering from the injury. The more he thought about it, the angrier he became. After recovering from his injury, he took the three of them to look for Alice to take revenge, and after inquiring about the siblings' whereabouts, he came to the Umbrella House. Seeing that no one was there, he sat inside and waited for more than two hours, but in the end, he couldn't wait for the siblings to come back, so he thought that the siblings had run away, and in a fit of rage, he burned down the Umbrella House.In the morning, while Hasegawa was at school, someone came to tell him that his girlfriend's house had been burned down, and he rushed back to the Umbrella House to check it out. When he found out that Dorsom and three others had set the fire, he was furious and wanted to confront them, but was afraid of being outnumbered. He got one of the City-state guards to act as referee and formally challenged Dorsom to a duel. The city-state allows duels to settle personal disputes. Dorsom was a bit stunned when he first received the challenge. When he heard that it was Alice's boyfriend who had challenged him to a duel, he immediately agreed. The town square was chosen as the venue for the duel. At noon, the square was filled with spectators, most of whom were cheering for Hasegawa. The referee announced the dueling methods and contract promises, and there were three dueling methods:
The first and most traditional way of dueling, both sides stand ready with their weapons back to back, after the referee signals the start of the duel, each takes six steps forward, after the number of steps, they can turn around and shoot.
The second, more civilized, is presided over by the referee, who allows both sides to negotiate until one side agrees to the terms proposed by the other.
The third, the most brutal, is where the referee provides two weapons, each side chooses one, and then they fight at close quarters until it's a matter of life and death.
After the duel, neither side is allowed to seek revenge, alive or dead, and they must defend to the death the contract they promised during the duel.
The referee was promised by both sides, and he first offered to settle the matter with the second method, but Dorsom refused. Hasegawa was furious when he saw his opponent's refusal, and immediately chose the third method of dueling. The referee provided two weapons, a half-meter long sharp knife and a pair of iron gloves, iron gloves covered with iron spikes. Hasegawa chose the duel method, leaving the choice of weapon to Dorsom. He chose the spiked knife, and Hasegawa had no choice but to choose the gauntlets. Both sides stood to one side and the referee gave the order. Dorsom picked up the spiked knife and lunged at Hasegawa, who stood still and watched. Seeing his opponent rush towards his body, he took a step forward, raising his left hand to block, only to hear "bang", the two things colliding, gold splashing. Immediately after that, he turned sideways and raised his right hand towards his opponent's face. Dorsom was unable to dodge, and the left side of his face was hit by the iron spikes of the glove, causing him to scream miserably and fall back two steps, his face immediately oozing blood. At that moment, his face was full of ferocity, his eyes shone like copper bells, he raised his hand to dry the blood on his face, his hands grabbed the sharp knife, and he rushed up again. He swung his sharp knife in a flurry of slashes, Hasegawa dodged from side to side, but his left arm was still cut with a long and deep gash, white flesh flared and bright red blood gushed from the wound, quickly staining his white shirt. Dorsom was overjoyed, waving his sharp knife and becoming more and more desperate, but this time he was overjoyed too soon, just as he swung out a knife, he suddenly felt his feet empty and his whole body fell forward. Hasegawa saw the right moment and took an arrow step forward, raising the gauntlet in his hand and slamming it down, hitting his opponent square in the head, accompanied by broken bones and a miserable howl, Dorsom fell with a sound. Hasegawa breathed a sigh of relief and turned his head to ask the city guard, "Did I win ...?" Before he could finish his words, he suddenly felt a chill coming from behind him, and just as he was about to turn around, Dorsom came back from the dead, the sharp knife piercing his chest. Hasegawa stifled a grunt, covered the wound, staggered a few steps and fell down, Dorsom taking advantage of the situation and plunged another knife into his neck. Hasegawa's eyes widened and a ho-ho sound came from his throat, and he couldn't close his eyes until he died. Dorsom was crushed with a bloody hole in the back of his head and stood only a few seconds longer than him before collapsing helplessly to the ground as well. The referee stepped forward, heaved a sigh, and said to Hasegawa's corpse, "Brother Hasegawa, have a good journey!" Michiko was already in tears and sobbing uncontrollably after the story.
Alice went over and hugged her and gently comforted her, "Michiko, be strong, Ronnie and I will be your family from now on.”
The next day, the three of them went to the hospital to pick up Hasegawa's body and buried him on the hill behind the Umbrella House. In the evening, Michiko appeared at the door of the Umbrella House and said to the siblings, "Alice, can I move in with you?"
"Sure, if you don't mind the simplicity of this place," Alice replied with a smile.
Ronnie was happy too. He had always liked to be lively, and he always felt lonely being in Umbrella House with his sister, so he spoke up sharply, "Michiko, why don't you move in tonight?"
"That's fine, I'll go home and pack now, I'll come over in a while." After Michiko finished talking, she turned around and went home to pack.
After she left, Alice pulled Ronnie aside and instructed, "From now on, Michiko is your sister too, you have to treat her like a family member, got it?"
"Michiko is so pitiful, of course I will treat her well," Ronnie nodded.
"Ronnie, tomorrow you're on vacation too, let's get this place cleaned up. we'll have to make do with what we have for tonight," Alice said as she looked around the messy house.
"Sister, I have a 'Bira coin' here, let's exchange it for star coins and decorate the place."
"Where did you get the Bira coin?" Alice asked in surprise.
Ronnie immediately spiced up the story of his bet with Professor De Silva. "Didn't you see that? everyone's stunned. They say I'm a genius. Some even cried with excitement, and one girl said she wanted to marry me when she grew up, which I refused. Then I turned and walked away, leaving them with nothing but a cool back,” Ronnie added his imagination and spoke eloquently.
"Ronnie can make money now too, more than me, you're great," Alice praised.
"That's for sure, sister, I'm a genius. What's the big deal?" Ronnie straightened his back and said proudly.
About two hours later, Michiko came over with a backpack, she took out a tortilla from the backpack, broke it into three pieces, and handed it to Alice and Ronnie respectively, the siblings hadn't eaten for a day, and their stomachs had been hungry for a long time, when they saw the tortilla, they didn't hesitate to take it, and ate it in three or two bites. Then they made a place for Michiko to sleep, and the three of them spent the night in silence.
Early in the morning of the second day, the three of them went to town and exchanged Ronnie's bira coin for 1,700 star coins, then bought new furniture, including a table, chairs, three beds, and some cutlery. They also hired workers and bought construction materials. They had just returned to the Umbrella House when they found Rajeev standing at the door, "Alice, long time no see, how are you?" Rajeev opened his mouth first.
"Brother Rajeev, what brings you here, are you visiting us?" Ronnie greeted him warmly.
Alice bowed her head and said nothing. At this time, Michiko took the lead and said, "Rajeev, you are not a man,you waited for 'Dosom' to become a wreck before you dared to show up, didn't you? "
Rajeev looked embarrassed and said incoherently, "Yes ... I'm sorry ... but I really had no choice ..."
"Don't explain!" Michiko said angrily, "just go, don't come back, you're not welcome here."
"Alice, I'm sorry, I was too weak," Rajeev finished and turned to leave.
Not long after, the furniture Alice had bought and the workers she had hired were brought in on a cart. They first put the furniture on the beach for the time being, then started to remodel the house, and when it got dark they lit torches and kept working, and finally it was all done at ten o'clock in the evening, and then the furniture was moved into the house and set up. After paying the workers for their work, Alice's nine-star payment account was left with just over four hundred star coins.