My love index is at its maximum.

Kikawa Yui bit her lip and quietly picked up a cookie, bringing it to his lips.

"Thank you, brother." Tazaki Tsukasa took a bite; it was freshly baked gingerbread and tasted like fresh ginger.

"Don't call me 'Big Brother'!"

"I insist."

"Tsukasa Tazaki!"

The two started wrestling on the sofa, their movements not very vigorous, like a young couple having a tiff.

"I'm so envious." Kurisu yawned, curled up on the sofa, and watched with a smile as his daughter, who was clearly no match for him, was bullied until her cheeks were red and she was panting.

After the two quieted down, she asked, "What does Xiao Si think of Xiao Wei?"

“She’s very good.” Tsukasa Tazaki placed his hand on Yui Kikawa’s white stockings, stroking them as he said, “She’s beautiful, has a good temperament, and a great figure. I’ve always treated her like a daughter I’m raising online.”

"...?" Qichuan Wei, holding a fruit knife, asked coldly, "Daughter?"

"Ah no..."

For the sake of his life, Tsukasa Tazaki quickly changed his tune: "My virtual girlfriend, Yui has always been my virtual girlfriend."

Yui Kichikawa stopped talking and picked up an apple to peel it without expression.

"How about becoming my real girlfriend?" Kurisu asked, holding her teacup.

"It's hard."

What makes it difficult?

"I have a girlfriend!"

"But you're touching Xiaowei's leg right now."

Tazaki Tsukasa quickly withdrew his hand and said with a serious expression, "It shouldn't be a problem to touch Big Brother's leg, right?"

"..." Qichuan Wei was both angry and aggrieved, and stuffed a piece of apple into his mouth.

"Mmm~ So sweet."

Tsukasa Tazaki took a bite of the apple and started crunching it down.

In this quiet little room, the sound of him chewing was quite crisp and pleasant, giving the impression that it was very juicy just by listening to the sound.

Yui ate a small piece, half of it, and then turned to her mother and asked, "Mom, do you want some?"

"You still remember your mother?" Kurisu glared at her daughter with considerable disdain, picked up her teacup and brought it to her lips, complaining, "You used to be the first one to come when we cut fruit, but now that you have someone you love, you don't have the mind to pay attention to your lonely mother anymore."

“In that case…” Yui Kikawa stuffed the rest of the apples into Tsukasa Tazaki’s hands, then leaned lazily against him: “From now on, Mom, you can peel the apples yourself.”

"Cough, cough, cough..."

The mother, who was drinking tea, choked with anger at her daughter's unfilial words.

Tazaki Tsukasa slowly finished eating the apple, carefully wiped his lips with a napkin, and looked up at Kurisu Kawakawa: "Is there anything else your aunt wants to tell me?"

The rain outside the window was pouring down, and the wind picked up, causing the branches to sway in the night.

Kikawa Yui's eyes flickered slightly unnaturally, then she looked down at her toes encased in white stockings, and her heart began to race uncontrollably.

"Where should we begin..." Kurisu looked at her daughter with amusement, holding a bunch of juicy grapes in her left hand and eating them one by one.

From Tsukasa Tazaki's perspective, the mother and daughter have very similar facial features—both are templates of unparalleled beauty.

After eating grapes for two minutes and spitting the skins and seeds into the white trash can, Kurisu Kawa glanced at Tsukasa Tazaki: "After you returned from Tomisato, your family arranged for someone to investigate you. At the same time, people around you, such as Ms. Tono and that classmate named Murakami, are also under investigation. In order to better mobilize these people, they even contacted Murakami's father and found him a fiancée."

Poor Murakami-kun… Tsukasa Tazaki clasped his hands together and silently mourned for his best friend in his heart.

Yui Kikawa picked up a bunch of grapes and handed them to him: "I sent Murakami Mizusaka to Fukuoka just so he could keep you company and chat with you to ease your mind. I had no other purpose."

"Why didn't you say so in Fukuoka?" Tsukasa Tazaki opened his mouth and took a bite from the bunch of grapes in her hand.

"I don't want you to know that I care about you..."

"Sure enough, it's a loser's mentality."

"you……"

Qi Chuanwei hesitated, suppressing her anger by pursing her lips. Her clear blue eyes glared at him, as if trying to make him feel guilty and admit his mistake through her gaze.

Unfortunately, Tsukasa Tazaki has no heart.

He still opened his mouth slowly and deliberately, biting off the grapes one by one from the bunch in her hand.

Kurisu looked at the two of them with a smile: "In June, Miss Tono started investing in cryptocurrency. Through investigation, her family learned that people from the Bank of Tokyo secretly lured her to open an account on the platform created by the Black Dragon Group through her close friends. The purpose, of course, was to swindle all her money and make her submit to the son of the president of the Bank of Tokyo."

"Ptooey~" Tsukasa Tazaki spat a few grape seeds into the trash can, pondering as he said, "Then, the day before summer vacation, I went to Shimamoto-sensei's house, and the Governor of Tokyo overheard me. Then he came to the Kikawa family's house, asking about me?"

“Correct!” Kurisu nodded with satisfaction, her expression growing even more pleased: “After discussing it with the head of the family and the governor, they made a major decision.”

Tsukasa Tazaki asked curiously, "What decision?"

"We've cancelled the original decision to have you marry Xiaowei!"

"...?" Tsukasa Tazaki was stunned for a long time, then turned around and stared blankly at Yui Kichikawa, his mind buzzing.

It feels weird...

if……

If that poor man hadn't committed suicide so soon...

Yui Kikawa gripped his arm tightly: "I just found out too... And what else can I do besides reject his confession? As for that Tsukasa Tazaki from before, I can only be friends with him. How can you expect me to fall in love with him? I can't do it..."

As she spoke, she was on the verge of choking up.

Perhaps it was because Tsukasa Tazaki had returned to the house, but her emotions were unusually volatile tonight, and she seemed unusually fragile.

"I didn't say I held a grudge about that." Tazaki Tsukasa sighed with mixed feelings, gently pulling her closer.

A knowing smile appeared on Kurisu's face as he looked at the two and continued, "In order to prevent Yui from marrying you, the head of the family has decided to take this opportunity to have the governor of Tokyo deal with you. When you can no longer face him and have to go home and beg for mercy, he will make you change your surname back to Kurisu and raise you as his heir again."

“No interest.” Tsukasa Tazaki shook his head. “I have absolutely no interest in inheriting the Kikawa family.”

Kurikawa said, "That's what Xiaowei said too, so when I brought this news to her, she made a decision."

"What decision?"

"Xiaowei." Kurisu looked at her daughter and said admonishingly, "You have to be brave enough to say what you feel."

"I……"

Yui Kikawa tilted her head slightly upwards, while Tsukasa Tazaki lowered hers, their foreheads touching. Her small, pink lips parted slightly, and her warm, moist breath washed over them.

"I don't know you very well right now, but I roughly know that you don't like a life that's been planned out like mine."

"Mmm," Tsukasa Tazaki responded, his lips parted.

The two exchanged breaths.

Yui Kikawa smiled slightly nervously and continued, "The day Mom came to Kamakura, I made my decision. I didn't want you to accept that kind of arrangement, and I didn't want me to be arranged for forever. When I told you in front of you that I wouldn't accept the head of the family's decision, what I really wanted was to be your girlfriend, to protect you. Even if it was just a lie..."

Tsukasa Tazaki stared at her, stunned. "Are you serious?"

"I'm serious." Yui's gaze remained unwavering, fixed straight into Tsukasa Tazaki's eyes, never looking away for a moment. Her hand, which she hadn't noticed before, gripped his tightly, equally unwavering and without hesitation.

She had nothing to fear; she simply wanted to convey her feelings through her fingertips.

Tsukasa Tazaki pondered the differences.

As the heir to the Kikawa family, he was bound by the family's constraints. As Kikawa Yui's boyfriend, he was bound by Kikawa Yui's constraints. Relatively speaking, the latter's constraints were almost negligible to him.

If it's a fake boyfriend... then there's no need to even mention it.

From those beautiful, clear sapphire eyes, Tsukasa Tazaki finally understood her thoughts for the first time. She was truly smitten with the blond-haired man. There was no misunderstanding, no mistake, and no deviation caused by different perspectives.

"You've moved me so much..." Tsukasa Tazaki smiled, then said with a troubled expression, "It's going to be hard to end this like this."

Yui Kichikawa said without hesitation, "Be my boyfriend!"

The girl's bright, unadulterated eyes never left him, like a clear, unfathomable blue sky. Staring at them for a long time, one felt as if their soul were being sucked in.

Tsukasa Tazaki had no choice but to look away.

Even so, their clasped hands continued to convey her immense strength and her even more resilient will.

Chapter 220 This date is both a battleground and a giveaway!

When it got light, the rain was still falling.

Just like last night, the raindrops were so fine they were almost invisible to the naked eye; one could only tell it was still raining by the ripples in the puddles and the sound of rain dripping from the eaves.

When Tsukasa Tazaki woke up, the outside of the window was filled with milky white smoke. Occasionally, a breeze would blow, and the smoke would drift away a little, briefly revealing the outlines of the courtyard and trees.

She washed up while yawning and changed into the clothes that Yui Kawakami had prepared.

The clothes are made of soft material and have exquisite workmanship; you can tell they are expensive just by touching them.

Back on the second floor, the mother and daughter were having breakfast around the table. Yui Kichikawa was wearing a smooth, light blue long-sleeved dress, a light blue handbag and high heels, and a wide, light red ribbon wrapped around her left wrist.

"Why are you entangled with this?" Tsukasa Tazaki asked, sitting down next to her.

Yui Kikawa rested her chin on her hand and turned her head: "Mom said wearing it on a date can increase your luck."

"strange……"

"Get serious!"

"Okay, I promise you'll have a great time."

Kurisu looked at the two of them with a smile. She was wearing a snow-white shirt without a single wrinkle. Her eyebrows were shaped exactly like her daughter's, and the bridge of her nose was dignified and elegant. Every smile and frown revealed a charming and elegant demeanor. She was obviously the kind of cunning and wicked woman who was used to switching between multiple identities!

Tsukasa Tazaki turned around to eat breakfast and saw her clumsily spreading butter on a slice of bread.

It's obvious she's deliberately trying to look ugly, but that's okay. Her clumsy nature, which clashes with her appearance, is actually more endearing.

Meeting his gaze, Kurisu put a slice of bread into her mouth, chewed it a couple of times, swallowed it, and then asked while licking the butter off her lips, "Where are you planning to go today?"

The way he licked his lips was so tempting… Tazaki Tsukasa muttered to himself, but just as he was about to speak, he suddenly felt a jolt.

Yui Kisaki tilted her head and looked at him: "What's wrong?"

"No, it's nothing..." Tsukasa Tazaki picked up a piece of bread, stuffed it into his hand, and started munching on it.

"Xiao Si hasn't answered yet." Qi Chuan Li's lips curled into a smug smile as she gently rubbed the foot that was resting on his thigh.