When the girl's face appeared in front of Luke, he instantly recognized her as the future "national wife" of Japan—Yui Aragaki.
Just a quick side note: his "second wife" was Satomi Ishihara.
Born in Naha City, Okinawa Prefecture, Yui Aragaki had that iconic sweet, heartwarming smile that won over countless guys back home. Her fans affectionately called her "GAKKI-chan."
She had the adorable face of a petite 5-foot-tall girl, but her actual height was over 5'7", creating this quirky contrast that made her uniquely charming. Cute? Check. Long legs? Check. Curves…?
Sorry, not much there.
A-cup? No thanks…
Of course, to spare the fragile egos of Japanese guys, she listed her height as 5'6" on official profiles, just shy of 5'7".
A Japanese actress at 5'6" is like a guy claiming he's 5'7"—no further explanation needed.
In his past life, Luke had watched a bunch of her shows, like My Boss, My Hero, Legal High, and We Married as a Job…
No wonder her voice sounded so familiar when she was talking earlier with those sunglasses on.
From what Luke knew, Yui Aragaki got her start in 2001 when she won the top prize in a modeling contest for Nicola magazine. After that, she became an exclusive model for the magazine and stepped into the entertainment world.
Rumor had it her first agency totally screwed her over, making her life pretty rough.
The scene in front of him seemed to confirm those rumors—they were even using gang members now.
Even without the system's mission rewards, Luke would've wanted to help out this teenage "national wife." Plus, the skill rewards were just too good to pass up.
So, Luke stepped forward, blocking the tough guy's path and said, "Let her go. She just told me she's coming with me."
"Who the hell are you? Think you're some big shot just 'cause you're wearing sunglasses? I'll mess you up!"
Before the big guy could even respond, a yellow-haired punk pulled out a switchblade and charged at Luke, ready to teach him a lesson.
"Watch out!" Yui Aragaki shouted in panic.
Thwack!
A metal business card buried itself deep into the yellow-haired punk's hand, and his switchblade clattered to the ground.
"Ow! It hurts! I'm bleeding! Oh man, I'm losing so much blood!"
"Man, no matter where you go, local gangs are always so damn rude," Luke said, shaking his head. "All they know is fighting and killing."
"Who the hell are you?!" the big guy asked, a bit wary now.
Luke pointed at the business card stuck in the punk's hand. "My name and contact info are right there."
Having just taken on three kendo masters as his students, Luke wasn't the least bit worried about dealing with some thug gang.
From a legit perspective, he was an official guest invited by the JNTO, a rich American who was basically untouchable in Japan.
From a shadier angle, kendo organizations were already tied to the underworld. Plenty of gang members were either trained in kendo or had studied under a master.
His new "budget disciples" could easily handle any cleanup or fallout.
"Ahh! The blood's pouring out even faster now!"
With a scream, the tattooed big guy yanked the business card out of the yellow-haired punk's hand.
"An actor? Beat his ass! Show him who runs this turf!"
Guess he figured Luke didn't have any real clout, so the tattooed guy signaled his crew to jump him.
Thwack! Thwack! Thwack!
With a quick flick of his wrist, Luke sent three more metal business cards flying, dropping the three yellow-haired punks to the ground, wailing in pain.
Meanwhile, the tattooed big guy seized the moment and rushed at Luke.
He swung a heavy fist, banking on his size and weight to teach Luke a lesson.
Boom!
But in the next second, a massive force hit him right in the gut. The searing pain made him feel like he was flying.
Wait, he was actually flying?
This guy weighs over 250 pounds, and someone just kicked him into the air?
He didn't even block a single move. His rep was trashed—how was he supposed to keep running this turf?
Sure, he was pissed and humiliated now, but if he later found out that even a world-class heavyweight champ had taken the same beating, he'd probably feel honored.
After all, getting whooped by Luke was like getting a celebrity-endorsed beatdown. Once his injuries healed, he could brag to his crew: "You know how tough I am? It took Luke, the martial arts master, using the same move that took down Tyson to put me on the ground!"
The more famous Luke got, the more clout this guy could milk from the story.
Getting beaten by Luke? That's practically a badge of honor.
"Let's go," Luke said after handling the situation.
"What?"
GAKKI-chan looked totally confused. That's it? It's over?
Five gang members, including a super jacked one, taken out in less than a minute.
Was this guy a monster?
If she didn't go with him, would he kill her?
"Didn't you just say you wanted me to take you with me?"
The system's mission wasn't done yet, so Luke had to keep her close. She was basically a walking skill scroll.
"My name's Yui Aragaki. Thank you so much for saving me!" GAKKI-chan suddenly realized what was happening, gave a belated introduction, and bowed deeply.
Yup, just as cute and ditzy as she seemed—probably not the sharpest tool in the shed.
"Come on, if you stay here alone, those guys might come back for you." With that, Luke started walking.
"Ah! Wait for me!" The twin-tailed girl scurried after him.
"So, why were those guys after you?"
Luke needed to know what kind of trouble she was in so he could help her out and complete the mission for those sweet skill rewards.
"My agent's the worst!"
"He wanted me to go drinking with these creepy old guys…"
The fired-up teen spilled the whole story, and Luke got the gist of it.
Basically, her agency was trying to pimp her out to some big shots, and Yui Aragaki wasn't having it.
So, the agency pulled some dirty tricks, and when she caught wind of it, she bolted.
Thinking she could hide from her pursuers just by wearing sunglasses, she ran into Luke, who mistook her for some kind of runaway shrine maiden.
After hearing the full story, Luke realized it wasn't even a big deal. For him, it was something he could fix with a wave of his hand.
"I'll take care of it for you," he said.
"For real?" she squealed, overjoyed.
"For real" in Japanese—hontō ni—sounded so cute coming from her.
Her words reminded Luke of a goofy joke:
A guy gives a Japanese girl a red bean paste bun.
She loves it and asks, "This is so good! What's in it? We don't have this in Japan."
The guy says, "Red bean paste."
She replies, "Hontō da!" (For real!)
The guy: ???
Her: ???
The joke had this weird, adorable charm that hit Luke's funny bone.
The guy was just saying the filling was red bean paste, but to the Japanese girl, it sounded like he was asking if Japan really didn't have those buns. So she answered, dead serious, "Yup, for real, we don't."
GAKKI-chan was just as adorably ditzy as the girl in the joke, so Luke couldn't resist teasing her. "Helping you out comes with a price, you know."
"Huh?"
"From now on, you're mine!"
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