Comet Dragon, breaking into the gravity field

——First there was light, then endless darkness.

This was the last scene that Shoko Toyokawa saw before her consciousness faded.

When she slowly opened her eyes, she found herself back in the room with the piano and the doll.

...back?

Haven't I always lived here?

Thirteen-year-old Shoko Toyokawa looked around in confusion, trying hard to suppress the urge to hug the doll.

She is already thirteen years old and a junior high school student. She can no longer walk around like a child with her toys in her arms.

She stopped looking at the doll in Western clothes on the table, and the knowledge she had learned from etiquette class gradually became clear in her mind. She adjusted her posture and walked out of the room at a steady pace.

The door was clearly closed, but it opened when she approached.

Looking back at the window still covered by the dark red curtain, she tilted her head and walked into the more open space without saying a word.

Suddenly, a hurried sound of footsteps that did not resemble any noble family came from downstairs.

While she was still wondering who was so rude, she saw her father appear at the stairs.

"dad?"

"Xiangzi," the man squatted down without wiping the sweat from his forehead, trying hard to suppress the trembling of extreme joy in his words: "Your mother's condition has improved!"

"……Eh?"

Mom...is sick...

Memories that she had inexplicably ignored suddenly came flooding back to her mind, and Toyokawa Shoko stared blankly at her father who was crying with joy.

"The hospital is still checking. How about we go see mom together now?"

"oh oh……"

Barely able to keep up with her father's pace, her slowness was only understood by others as being overwhelmed by the sudden happiness.

It was not until she walked into the hospital filled with the smell of disinfectant and saw the vague figure in her memory that Toyokawa Shoko realized that tears had quietly overflowed from her eyes.

Before my mind could react, my body had already rushed forward. The anxiety that had once caused me disappeared without a trace in that moment.

The family that was missing a piece was restored to its original state, and the looming haze completely dissipated.

From then on, she seemed to have turned back into the young lady with elegant manners and impeccable manners.

One day in the third year of junior high school, after school, Shoko Toyokawa was still enthusiastically discussing the scene on the stage with Mutsu Wakaba.

"That band is called [Morfonica], right? The seniors are really amazing!"

Even she herself did not realize that in addition to admiration, her words were also filled with unconcealable longing.

"Xiangzi, do you want to form a band?"

"band?"

When Shoko Toyokawa heard Wakaba Mu's suggestion, she was slightly stunned.

But she wasn't surprised for long. Having already planned her future, she smiled and said, "Although it sounds great, I currently have no plans to join or form a band."

"Although my mother's health has improved over the years, it will take some time for her to fully recover. So I still want to spend more time with her."

Knowing the hidden secret, Ruo Yemu just nodded and did not mention the topic again until he left.

Soon, the two said goodbye at a fork in the road, and Shoko Toyokawa embarked on the last journey home alone.

Passing by Feiniaoshan Park, she suddenly heard the chirping of birds coming from the woods.

Looking in the direction of the sound, she saw birds of various sizes flying in the air and then landing on the ground in front of the bench.

Shoko Toyokawa cautiously approached, stepping lightly. From a different angle, she saw the boy sitting on a bench, breaking bread and feeding the birds.

Behind the bench, a stray cat with mottled fur was approaching a sparrow on the outskirts of the flock that was gradually letting down its guard.

"Be careful--"

The words she had intended to use to stop it seemed to have become a starting gun. The moment she warned it, the stray cat jumped out and headed straight for the sparrow.

However, its plan was doomed to fail.

Before it pounced on the sparrow and the flock of birds dispersed, someone grabbed it by the scruff of the neck.

The flock of birds hid in the woods amidst their nervous chirping. Toyokawa Shoko stood there blankly, watching the boy let go of the stray cat he had caught.

"Thanks."

"No, it's nothing."

When her eyes met the blue pupils looking back at her, Toyokawa Shoko inexplicably felt her heartbeat quicken for a moment.

"They've all flown away... I guess I can only come back next time."

Seeing the man stretching and getting up to leave, she suddenly felt an impulse and asked loudly, "Excuse me, are you not going to continue feeding me?"

"They won't be back for a while today, so let's just wait until next time." After patiently answering her doubts, the bright silver with red highlights was particularly eye-catching here.

Toyokawa Shoko was about to speak, but saw the man leave without looking back.

What are you doing...

Feeling inexplicably angry, Toyokawa Shoko first glared at the direction where he disappeared, then turned and walked towards her home.

Sitting on the soft and comfortable bed, Shoko Toyokawa, who had just returned to her room, heard someone knocking on the door again.

"Can I come in, Xiangzi?"

"Mother?"

She hurriedly opened the door and saw her mother looking at her with a rare expression.

It seemed awkward and a little bit cramped, just like an inexperienced girl in her first cooking class in her life, facing the exploding oil splashing in the pot.

"Um...I need to talk to Xiangzi about something, is that okay?"

"of course can."

After closing the door, Toyokawa Shoko heard some disconcerting words coming from behind her: "Because Shoko is almost old enough, your grandfather is planning to pick a suitable one for you, uh..."

Unsure how to approach her daughter, Toyokawa Shoko's mother could only shake her head helplessly and stumble over her explanation: "The other party is a famous family in Europe, and also a leader in the pharmaceutical industry. Our family currently has some business dealings with them, so your grandfather took advantage of the situation..."

As if she was worried that her daughter would misunderstand her idea, the mother said softly in a negotiating tone: "If Xiangzi doesn't want to, I will refuse your grandfather's request."

"reject?"

"Yeah, so Xiangzi, don't feel any psychological burden."

Toyokawa Shoko was silent for a moment, then nodded and said, "I understand."

Having known that this day would come, Shoko Toyokawa did not find it difficult to accept.

She had heard of similar things before. As the eldest daughter who had enjoyed the protection of her family since childhood, it was understandable that she needed to do this today.

What's more, she trusted her family and believed that they would not let her meet a morally corrupt person.

Now it was her mother who didn't know how to react.

As if she thought her daughter was still holding on, Xiangzi's mother said quickly, "Don't be too nervous, Xiangzi. This is just a meeting. If you don't like it, we can definitely refuse."

"It's okay," Toyokawa Shoko said seriously, with a smile that reassured her family, "I trust Grandpa and Mom's judgment."

——That’s what Shoko Toyokawa originally thought.

It wasn't until the next day that she saw a figure sitting opposite her in the cafe.

"It's you?"

"It's me." Putting down the coffee cup in the lake, the young man who had met her only once yesterday said slowly, "According to the local naming customs in the Far East... Miss Toyokawa, you can just call me 'Naruse Ritsu'."

"'Naruse Ritsu'..." she repeated in a low voice. Toyokawa Shoko suddenly realized something. "Did you know who I was when we met yesterday?"

"Yeah, after all; Dad and I are meeting today, so I have to know him well."

Naruse Ritsu's reaction was much more nonchalant than she had expected. In contrast, she herself was the one who overreacted.

After the opening remarks, Toyokawa Shoko just held the teacup, her eyes constantly moving between the other person's face and the clear liquid in the cup.

"It's not a blind date, there's no need to be so nervous."

"B-Blind date!?"

With her ears red, Toyokawa Shoko, still a virgin, looked at Naruse Ritsu in panic: "What nonsense are you talking about!"

"You must be like me, you agreed to come because your family pushed you so hard you couldn't stand it anymore, right?"

"I'm not!" With a slight frown, Shoko Toyokawa immediately defended her family.

Noticing her obvious reaction, Ritsu Narose, who was sitting opposite her, put down his teacup and sighed, "I really envy you..."

"Envy me?"

"You have a good relationship with your family, right?" Ritsu Naruse, her face in her hand, completely lacking the demeanor of a noble family, said, "I have two older sisters. One dotes on me to a terrifying degree, and the other spends all day either holed up in her room playing games or dragging the neighbor's sister to play duo games at the internet cafe. I just can't get along with them."

Eh...Eh?

Grandpa, is this really a famous family?

Faced with Ritsu Narose's shocking words, Shoko Toyokawa had to drink tea to hide her embarrassment.

"Because if everything goes well, our future plans will be nothing more than getting engaged or something like that, so it's better to clarify some things in advance."

"Engagement!?"

"Yeah, didn't your family tell you?" Naruse Ritsu glanced at her in surprise and said, "I actually think you're quite nice, so I just told you straight out."

After a long pause, Shoko Toyokawa finally realized what Ritsu Narose had said.

Hit by this straight ball in the heart, the girl's fair and round face immediately turned red.

"Glib tongue..."

Unable to hear Toyokawa Shoko's mumbling, Ritsu Narose suddenly made a new suggestion.

After her insistence, they both paid their bills, and then Shoko Toyokawa followed Ritsu Naruse to the place where they met yesterday.

"You want to feed the birds? Just sit here."

After handing the bread bought on the road to Toyokawa Shoko, Ritsu Narose sat on the bench and looked at the sky in the distance.

The two were about one meter apart. Looking at the bread in her hand, Shoko Toyokawa recalled what she had seen yesterday. She tore the bread into small pieces and then placed them a little further away from the bench.

A few minutes later, the first bird, whose name she couldn't remember, appeared on the branch of a nearby tree. After confirming that there was no danger around, it landed on the ground, quickly picked up the bread crumbs and left.

"It flew away..." Shoko Toyokawa felt disappointed that she couldn't keep the bird for a while longer.

"Tear more bread and break it into smaller pieces so more birds will come and eat it."

Following Ritsu Narose's advice, Shoko Toyokawa witnessed with her own eyes that the open space not far away gradually became lively.

As time passed, when she realized she had no more bread, the birds that had gathered there left and stopped on the surrounding branches, looking at the two humans curiously.

"Ready to go?"

The human at the other end of the bench stood up decisively, while Shoko Toyokawa remained seated without moving.

"Um..." She regretted it as soon as she opened her mouth, "Will we... meet again in the future?"

She lowered her head, not knowing that her blushing earlobes had already exposed her inner thoughts.

After an unknown amount of time, she finally heard Naruse Ritsu's voice coming from the side:

"sure."

When she raised her head, she saw the gaze coming from the side.

Instantly defeated in the staring game, Toyokawa Shoko tugged at the corner of her clothes and whispered, "Stop staring at me like that..."

……

"Ah, does today seem to be going well?"

As soon as she got home, she heard her mother's surprised words with a hint of smile.

"No, no!" Facing her mother's teasing, Shoko Toyokawa retorted with a blushing face.

"What kind of person is he? Does Xiangzi hate him?"

After consideration by both parties, this meeting was only held by two young people, so Xiangzi's mother, as an elder, could only inquire about the news from her daughter.