Defying Fate: The Unstoppable Eileen novel Chapter 48

There was this decently priced Japanese ramen shop near the Osaka Museum. They had lunch there.

After finishing their ramen, they were heading to the bus station when Egbert's phone suddenly rang.

Eileen, who was walking ahead, turned around upon hearing the sound.

Egbert pulled out his phone and saw that the call was from an unknown number. It was a phone provided by the TV crew, which only had a few guests' numbers saved. Any calls from other people didn’t show names.

Egbert pressed the answer key and put the phone to his ear.

"Hello, who's this?" A gentle female voice came from the other end, "Is this Mr. Reed? This is Aurora."

Upon hearing the name, Egbert frowned slightly.

Standing across from him, Eileen curiously asked, "Who is it? Aurora?" Egbert didn't answer, but asked the woman on the phone, "What's up?"

Aurora on the other end of the line sounded a bit upset, "Well, Hubery and I had our phones stolen yesterday, and we reported it to the police. Today, the police contacted us, saying they've caught the thief, but neither Hubery nor I speak Japanese well, and we're having trouble communicating with them. The program crew said it was our problem and didn't provide a translator for us. So I thought of you, Mr. Reed. I remember you speak Japanese well, could you come and help us? Please!"

Hearing this, Egbert's face became even grimmer.

Eileen was standing across from him, her hands clasped together, still pressing, "Is it Aurora?"

Egbert put down his phone and said, "Yes, it's her."

Eileen was taken aback for a moment, then turned and said, "Then you guys chat." After that, she was about to head for the bus station.

But her wrist was suddenly grabbed by Egbert. She turned around only to find a phone thrust into her hand, and Egbert moved in front of her, saying, "You take it."

"For me?" Eileen looked dumbfounded holding the phone.

Hesitantly, she put the phone to her ear: "Hello?"

There was silence on the other end of the line for a while.

After a while, a woman's voice came again, "Is this Ms. Lopez? This is Aurora, where is Mr. Reed?"

Eileen frowned at Egbert, "She's looking for you, why did you give me the phone?"

Egbert said expressionlessly, "This is our business. You handle it."

Even though she knew what he meant, that it was their team's issue and she should take charge, it still sounded weird.

Eileen put the phone back to her ear and asked Aurora, "What's up?"

There was another silence on the other end. After a while, Aurora's voice came again. Although it had a hint of coldness, it was relatively calm. She repeated what she had said earlier.

"The police station, huh." Eileen looked at her watch, "We have a scenic spot to visit this afternoon and don't have time to go to the police station according to our schedule. You could borrow someone else's phone, download a translation app, and use the app to translate in real-time. It's a common practice when traveling abroad and facing language barriers."

Eileen thought she had offered a very effective solution.

However, Aurora on the other end of the line seemed a bit impatient, asking, "Can I speak with Mr. Reed?"

Eileen frowned and handed the phone back to Egbert, "Take it."

Egbert took the phone, gave her a glance, and then hung up the call.

Eileen looked surprised at the phone that had returned to the home screen. Egbert put the phone in his pocket and headed for the bus station. Eileen caught up and looked sideways at his expression, asking in confusion, "You just hung up like that?"

Egbert said calmly, "Your approach was good. I couldn't think of anything better."

"But..." Eileen scratched her face, "She obviously wanted you to go there."

——[Is this woman a devil?]

——[Poor him...]

——[Feed him! Feed him! Please feed him!]

——[My mom's the same, always saying 'next time', but there was never a 'next time'!]

Eileen managed to drag Egbert away from the food street. On their way back, Eileen suddenly spotted a sushi shop by the street.

There was a challenge sign hanging at the entrance of the shop. It basically read: if anyone could beat the owner in a knife skill contest, they'd win a luxurious sushi set.

Eileen's eyes lit up immediately. "We've found our dinner. Let's do this!" she said to Egbert.

Egbert frowned, giving the challenge sign a long, hard stare before silently stepping into the shop.

From the outside, the sushi shop was ridiculously unassuming, but it was surprisingly bustling inside.

—[Wow, this is Sakura Sushi. It's pretty famous in Japan. This is the main branch, and they are a bunch of others in different cities.]

—[I can't believe this challenge is still going on. I saw it when I was travelling in Japan.]

—[As a student who studies in Japan, I can tell you it's been going on for over a year now. And so far, no one's managed to win.]

—[The owner of Sakura Sushi is a world sushi competition champion. Is she really planning to challenge him? Has she got nothing better to do?]

—[This is a knife skill challenge, not a sushi making one. This sign is just a gimmick to boost the shop's reputation. Surely, no one is foolish enough to take it on. She's not that overconfident, is she?]

—[Hahaha, this is hilarious. Does Eileen really think she stands a chance? She's quite young, but boy, is she full of herself.]