My love index is at its maximum.

Listening to the sound of raindrops hitting the transparent umbrella, the three of them wandered aimlessly through the misty, damp air, with dark clouds covering the sky above them.

There is a huge oak tree on the mountainside. Its canopy is so large that when you look down from below, it seems as if the dense green leaves cover the entire sky.

When he saw it from afar, Tsukasa Tazaki was reminded of the tall oak tree at the Kitagawa school gate.

The heavy oak branches, soaked with moisture, swayed gently in the wind.

He couldn't help but walk over.

The scenery here is truly poetic and picturesque.

A thin drizzle fell from the oak leaves, and you could feel the breath of the sky above the clouds. The falling rain lingered on the ground like mist, and the hazy morning light seemed to flow slowly with the atmosphere.

The puddles on the ground reflected the light of the tender leaves, and there was no noise except for birds singing in the trees.

Kikawa Yui followed beside him and asked, "Do you miss school?"

“A little,” Tsukasa Tazaki smiled and glanced at her, taking the tablet from her hand. “Could Yui be my model? I can draw one here. Maybe it can be used as an illustration for a novel, or perhaps as the heroine of a manga?”

Kikawa Yui nodded.

Beneath the damp branches, Tsukasa Tazaki held a tablet and deftly sketched the oak tree's branches. In the dappled sunlight, a blonde girl suddenly appeared, dressed in pure white stockings, like an angel who had descended unexpectedly.

Behind the two, Kurisu Kirikawa watched from under an umbrella, a smile playing on her lips.

Halfway through the painting, the sun peeked out a little, and the leaves, still glistening with raindrops, began to shimmer with a pale green light. The fast-moving clouds in the sky glowed, and the wind ruffled the puddles on the road.

When it was almost finished, Tsukasa Tazaki realized something was wrong.

The eldest brother is indeed beautiful.

But she was only wearing ordinary white tennis shoes, which made her look like she was missing something and not feminine enough.

Tsukasa Tazaki has always believed that shoes are a woman's most important accessory, and can greatly determine a woman's external charm.

So, the scumbag Tazaki turned around and looked at Kurisu Kirikawa with pleading eyes: "Auntie, can you do me a favor?"

Kurisu smirked smugly: "Hmm?"

"Can you stand with Xiaowei?"

"Huh?" Kurisu blinked, then covered her mouth in surprise: "Is Tsukasa planning to create a piece depicting both mother and daughter receiving the same item? You're so mean!"

"Tsukuru Tazaki, what are you trying to do?" Yui Kikawa asked coldly, her tone flat.

“Shoes, shoes,” Tsukasa Tazaki quickly explained, “Auntie’s shoes are prettier, and I want to swap them with yours…”

The blonde girl's expression finally softened.

"Is it really just about changing your mother's shoes to your daughter's feet?" Kurisu asked with a charming smile, her voice captivating.

“Really,” Tsukasa Tazaki assured him.

"That's good. I thought you were still hung up on your mother-in-law and wanted your daughter to carry some of her mother's traits."

"..." Tsukasa Tazaki was completely speechless.

“See, you can’t refute it now.” Kurisu walked over to her daughter, took her arm, and said to Tsukasa Tazaki with a smile, “I don’t believe sixteen or seventeen-year-old boys. Everything they say is a lie.”

“It’s absolutely true. How could I lie to my aunt?” Tazaki Tsukasa chatted with her in a serious tone. “I have the utmost respect for you. I wouldn’t even dare to say a sweet word to you. No, I don’t want to say a single one.”

"Alright, tell me, if Xiaowei and I stand together, who looks better?"

"..."

"Hahaha."

Kurisu chuckled a few times, then turned to her daughter and said, "See? A scumbag is a scumbag. Yui, you need to be more clear-headed in the future. It's okay to like someone, but you must maintain your independent personality. If you want to leave, don't drag it out, okay?"

"Yes!" Yui Kirikawa nodded solemnly.

Kurisuki showed a satisfied expression, and the next second, she said to Tsukasa Tazaki, "After Yui dumps you, you can come to your aunt. Your aunt's door is always open to you, and you don't have to take responsibility."

The blonde girl's face stiffened.

When it comes to manipulating their own daughters, mothers are always the first to step up.

Kurisu's answer surprised Tsukasa Tazaki. He was stunned for a few seconds before he came to his senses and said with a smile, "An opponent with unfathomable bottom lines is really troublesome. It seems that I can never let my guard down against my aunt in this lifetime."

"Your aunt is now in charge of the Qichuan family's external affairs, and she's going to poison your grandfather soon to take over as the head of the family and manage internal affairs. How can she do that without some shrewdness?"

"poison?"

"You can't bear to part with that old man?"

"That's not true. Please increase the dosage when administering the medicine, and include my portion as well."

"It's settled then! From now on, your aunt and I will be sharing the same bed. We'll have to take care of and serve each other from now on."

"Isn't the phrase 'sharing a bed' a bit inappropriate?"

"I'll give you half of my family fortune."

"Sleeping in the same bed is wonderful!"

Watching the two of them chatter away, Yui Kichikawa coldly snapped, "Tsukasa Tazaki, hurry up and finish your drawing! Don't waste my time!"

A gust of wind blew by, and water droplets from the oak branches fell densely onto the umbrella, making a pattering sound.

Under the umbrella, the blonde girl's snow-white skin was tinged with a faint red, and her slightly impatient, indifferent eyes were captivating.

Tsukasa Tazaki resumed drawing on the tablet.

She would occasionally look up and glance at the feet of Kurisu Kawakami.

She was wearing a pair of very nice, elegant dark brown formal high-heeled leather shoes.

The shoes were upholstered in deerskin, looking both luxurious and well-maintained. They featured straps at the heels and were pure black at the backs. Despite the puddles along the way from the hot spring inn, her shoes remained spotless and beautiful.

On the screen, the blonde girl gradually starts wearing shoes that her mother used to wear.

Her originally slightly naive charm suddenly gained a touch of mature elegance. If reality could be like the person in the painting, with the best qualities of both mother and daughter combined, how alluring that would be!

Thinking about this, Tsukasa Tazaki felt it wasn't quite enough, so she tried adding a small deer head decoration to the outside of each of her older brother's stockings. That way, when he walked, it would look like two lifelike little deer were hopping around.

And then...

He also felt that his aunt was really beautiful, and it would be a waste not to record this moment, so he couldn't help but draw a separate illustration for her.

At first, seeing the oak tree reminded him of school, and the image of the blonde girl, like an angel, inspired Tsukasa Tazaki to create. But as he painted, he became captivated by the charm of the mother and daughter and couldn't stop.

Chapter 353: Interactions between the mother and daughter.

The light filtering through the oak branches turned a bright green and was projected onto the tablet screen.

The rain seems to have stopped.

Tsukasa Tazaki looked up. The dense shade blocked out the light, which was broken into fragments by the branches and scattered on the tree roots, the ground, and the mother and daughter.

"Are you done drawing?" Kurisu asked.

"That's all, Auntie, please give your feedback." Tsukasa Tazaki handed over the tablet.

Kurisu reached out and took it.

The blonde girl on the screen has well-defined and handsome features, and possesses an outstanding spirit; her eyes are restrained and reserved, yet the clear blue color cannot conceal her nobility and solemnity.

"Xiao Wei is so beautiful..."

While wiping drool from the screen, the mother turned around and ran her fingers through her daughter's hair, turning her once neat and beautiful blonde hair into a messy seaweed.

"Stop!"

Qichuan Yui had a cold expression and kept twisting her neck, trying to get rid of her mother's clutches.

Instead of stopping, Kurisu Kawakami put her arm around her daughter's shoulder even tighter, kissed her cheek, and said with a smile, "Such a cute little Yui, Mommy can't bear to marry you off. Please don't fall in love, okay?"

"If you're single, don't drag me down with you."

Yui Kikawa was clearly not interested in spending her mother's lonely old age with her. She shook her head, restored her disheveled hair to its original straight shape, and looked calmly at the oak tree above her head.

The tree trunk is straight, and sunlight, like snowflakes, drifts down through the gaps in the tender buds.

"Yui, Yui," Kurisu Kawakami, completely unaware of how annoying she was, wrapped her arms around her daughter's waist from behind and whispered some mushy words in her ear with a playful grin, "Yui is my absolute favorite. Mommy has liked her for sixteen years! How can that later bastard Tazaki compare to Mommy, right?"

Yui Kichikawa did not answer the question, but gently held her mother's hands that were placed on her lower abdomen.

Even when facing her own mother, those clear blue eyes revealed an air that could be described as haughty and aloof.

But this arrogance is completely different from the utter indifference she shows to others. From the small gesture of holding her mother's hands, one can glimpse the extremely close relationship between her and her mother.

The mother and daughter are not only closely related by blood, but also seem to have some kind of spiritual connection.

Tsukasa Tazaki watched the interaction between the mother and daughter, rolling pebbles with the tip of his shoe.

He always had this feeling that the fact that both Kurisu and Yui Kurisu, mother and daughter, existed at the same time was like a unique design by the Creator for him.

It will make him feel close to you from the bottom of his heart, but once you get close to him, he will find it troublesome and give you a big headache.

Take a chestnut.

Tsukasa Tazaki likes Yui Sugawa.

This is a girl born into nobility who has high standards for herself; although she speaks bluntly and is completely clueless about social etiquette, she is intelligent and capable of solving the problems at hand.

Similarly, Tsukasa Tazaki also harbors almost benevolent feelings towards his aunt, Kurisu Kawakawa.

Setting aside her identity as a mother-in-law, only when talking to Kurisu Kirikawa alone can one truly appreciate her as a charming woman, talented, alluring, shrewd, and unpredictable, yet in some ways even more naive than her daughter.

For example, in the matter of entrapment of her son-in-law, she was both naive and shrewd.

In private, things were fine, but his direct flirting style in front of his daughter often left Takazaki feeling awkward and guilty.

But afterwards, you feel a sly, underhanded smugness.

Tsk tsk, men...

The mother and daughter whispered to each other, and the sky cleared up considerably during this time. The thick, dark clouds that had once seemed to block out the sun were now broken apart as if cleaved by a woodcutter's knife, and many huge beams of light slanted down from between the clouds. This phenomenon is said to be called the Stairway to the Angels.

"Xiao Si, come here." Kurisu Kirikawa called out as she turned around.

Tazaki Tsukasa looked at her, puzzled.

She pursed her lips, smiled shyly, and nodded, her demeanor and movements resembling those of Yui Kikawa's younger sister.

"Is there something you need?" Tsukasa Tazaki stepped forward.