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Recently, there lived an old man and an old woman in a run down nursing home in the 5th district of Shinjuku. They were very poor. Chiro, who was the boss of a group of delinquents and who caused nothing but trouble, lurked in the back streets of the 5th district. Chiro enjoyed giving people who were heading to the supermarket a hard time. |
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One day the old man took a back street to go to the supermarket. Then he saw something lurking near him. "What's this," he thought to himself as a large group of reckless delinquents appeared. "This must be Chiro," he thought. The old man was very scared but kept his calm. He sat on the hood of Chiro's beloved car, pulled out a rice ball, and began eating it. |
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Upon seeing this, Chiro became worried. He thought to himself, "This old man is not afraid of me! Alright, I'll show him something scary." |
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"Hey old man, I'm the boss of this back alley. Do you think you can come here and pass through without asking me? If you can solve the following riddle, you can pass, but if you fail, you're dead. Got it? Here we go! What is a pan that is too hard to eat even though you can use it for cooking," he asked. Within a second, the old man answered, "Sure, that's a frying pan!" |
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"No way, old man! Next one, here we go. What food is said to be near even though it's placed afar?" |
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"That's soba noodles!" the old man answered. |
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Chiro became infuriated. "This time it's gonna be a hard one!" The old man pulled a cigarette out of his jacket, lit it, and began to wait. Chiro thought and thought, but nothing came. The old man took the last drag of the cigarette and said, "I'm not going to wait anymore," as he put the cigarette out on Chiro's car. With that, he started walking towards the supermarket. Chiro saw the mark on his beloved car and his heart ached and ached. Gasping heavily, he said, "Hey old man, what do you fear the most?" The old man replied, "I fear living in a beautiful place the most," and kept heading down the back street. |
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Getting back to the nursing home, he told his old lady all that had happened in the back street. The old woman said, "Chiro won't be bothering people anymore. You did a good thing," and the two of them burst into laughter. |
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That night when they were going to bed, they suddenly heard a voice; "Hey old man, I'll give you the thing you fear the most!" The old man peeked out the window of the nursing home and saw Chiro with all 500 of his delinquents. Chiro drove the elderly out of the nursing home, and began renovating the building with his gang. The old man screamed, "Stop it! I'm afraid, I'm afraid! This is the thing I hate the most! This is scary! Please stop!" Chiro said, "Be more afraid, I'll make it even more beautiful, just watch! I'll even add an open air bath! How about that!" and he sped up the construction. As dawn approached, Chiro and his gang finished up the renovation and returned to the back alleys. |
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The old man and old woman, and all of the elderly people lived happily ever after in their luxurious home. |