Comet Dragon, breaking into the gravity field

I smiled as I heard her mumbling, "Isn't this normal?"

"But..." Mu looked at me and then fell silent.

After visiting Mu's family that day, Mu's behavior made me feel uneasy.

She often looked up at the sky, as if looking at something I couldn't see; she sometimes looked at the mirror at home, as if a martyr with the sword of Damocles hanging over her head; she began to imitate her former mother and learned from her how to use cosmetics; when she teased her daughter, she often asked her to call her by a more affectionate nickname.

Life went on like this day by day until we witnessed another pair of Northern Long-tailed Tits die of old age.

She seemed to be touched by something, and she became depressed from that day on. Every afternoon she would sit in the yard, quietly looking at the small mounds that symbolized the end.

To cheer my wife up, I decided to invite her out for a walk.

Our daughter was temporarily left in the care of Ms. Toyokawa, with whom I used to be at odds but with whom I still maintained a friendly relationship.

As you walk into the tram station, you will see promotional posters about the botanical specimen exhibition everywhere.

It was then that I remembered that I had neglected this hobby for a long time. In order to get my wife interested, I enthusiastically suggested to her that we start a garden in the yard.

But when I turned to look at Mu, I saw her staring blankly at the promotional picture - to be precise, at the specimen in the picture.

Looking at her, anxiety and panic suddenly gripped my heart, as if something terrible was about to happen.

She glanced at me, as if she finally understood something. The corners of her mouth lifted slightly, revealing a smile that made my heart tremble.

The next moment, she stretched out her arms, like an angel falling from the clouds to the earth. Tapping her toes lightly on the platform, she looked at me and leaped backwards with the most lighthearted movement a young girl could muster.

Time seemed to stop at this moment, until a sudden brake sound that stung my eardrums suddenly rang out, and my world turned black and white in an instant.

In the center of the world composed of black and white, bright red flowers slowly bloomed, almost blinding my eyes.

I don't remember anything that happened after that.

When my consciousness returned to my body, I found myself sitting alone on the sofa, with her only daughter lying on me, looking at me with concern.

On the table against the wall, there was a photo frame.

There was a constant buzzing in my head, as if there were countless whispers asking and answering questions in my ears.

——Why would Mu do such a thing?

Because she wants your memory of her to always stay in the best time.

——Why couldn’t I stop her at that time?

Because you also want to keep the best years of your life in this moment forever.

——Why is she smiling at me?

Because she knows you will never forget her.

——Why did she do this even though she knew it would hurt me?

Because it is not Mutsumi who makes the choice, but Mortis (Death)...

……

From that day on, I fell into hell.

IF·Twelve Bells·After Story (2-in-1)

I have already lost Mu, and I cannot lose the only treasure she left me.

No matter how sad I am, I have to cheer up and at least raise my daughter.

Naruse Sayo—Mu gave his daughter this name to commemorate the night we made our vows.

Although I didn't want to leave where my wife and I used to live, I decided to move.

I wanted my daughter to grow up without being influenced by those rumors, and I also wanted to regroup. I quit my job. To commemorate the time I spent with my wife, I picked up a hobby I had put aside for years and decided to open a flower shop.

Not only flowers, I also grow various fruits and vegetables including cucumbers.

Although this might seem a little strange to others, I don't care anymore. My savings are enough for me to raise my daughter, and after that, I have no interest in living in this world that brings me sorrow and joy.

And so, my daughter and I started our lives again.

I have to admit that I'm not very good at taking care of children. Especially when it comes to things related to Mu, I become particularly clumsy.

When she was still young and ignorant, I could still make excuses, but when she grew up and I never heard her ask about her mother again, I knew she knew everything.

At the same time, due to the absence of the role of "mother" in the family, I had to acquiesce to Shoko Toyokawa, the person I once scolded, and allowed her to come to my house frequently to visit Mu's daughter.

There is no ambiguity between her and me. The only motive that prompted her to do this was Mu's daughter.

My daughter and my wife share some similarities in appearance, both with long, light green hair that shimmers slightly in the light. However, her eyes are my pale blue, which makes me realize that she isn't a replacement for my wife, but a daughter of her own.

No matter how you look at it, my daughter is an impeccably beautiful girl, but her personality is as dull as Mu's in the past.

It was my fault, but all I could do was not put pressure on her like my parents did.

I once tried to get closer to my daughter by picking her up from school, but after a while, she asked me to stop.

When I got home that day, Xiaoye looked at me with a rather distressed look, as if she didn't want to say what was bothering her.

I patiently asked her for a long time before she told me the truth with a stiff face.

——Because I looked young and was very close to my daughter, her classmates mistook me for her boyfriend when I was picking her up...

……

— “Do I look that young?”

Hearing my father's wry smile, I nodded slightly.

To me, my father looks remarkably young. Standing next to me, anyone would mistake us for siblings... or even a couple.

The words of several friends echoed in my ears, and I really couldn't understand why they were so excited when they saw their father.

What's so good about such a clumsy person who just stares at his mother's portrait all day long?

Hearing them yelling things like "I want your contact info" and "Let's be friends," I felt angry for the first time, and I even got mad at them, which was rare. He's obviously my father, what nonsense are they talking about...

And my father was the same. I explained it so clearly, but he still looked embarrassed.

More importantly, he actually wanted me to invite those guys to my house, saying things like "misunderstandings should be resolved properly" and "don't cut off ties with friends so easily"...

I wanted to retort, but seeing his expression, I couldn't bring myself to say it out loud.

On weekends, I brought those few classmates whom I could barely talk to to my home and watched them shouting and disturbing my father's work.

In the end, I couldn't bear to watch any longer and took these noisy high school girls to the second floor.

The first floor of this house is used as a flower shop, and the utility rooms on the second floor and the top floor are used for our living.

According to my father, we have another home. He once asked me if I wanted to move, but I didn't want to leave the place where I grew up.

As for why...

"Is this a photo of Xiaoye's mother?"

"Hey, shut up, please..."

They found a picture of my mother.

Today, when I was on the road, I told my friends about my family situation, and they also knew that I had lived with my father since I was a child.

Normally, I didn't talk much about my mother with them, so when I told them the truth now, they didn't know how to get along with me for a while - or rather, they were not used to avoiding certain topics.

But I don't care.

Because I don't have much real feeling for my mother "Wakaba Mutsu".

She was just a photo on the cabinet, silently telling me every day that it was she who brought my father to this point.

According to my father, she died in an accident when I was very young. He didn't want to leave me to be raised by my grandparents, and he had no plans to remarry, so he raised me alone.

Apart from my grandparents, there was only a blue-haired Aunt Xiangzi who came to visit me from time to time.

At first, I thought she was one of those shameless women who had targeted my father under the guise of "buying flowers." But after my father introduced her, I learned that Aunt Xiangzi had known my mother since childhood.

Whenever she saw me, there was always a gentle smile on her face, like the moonlight.

Therefore, I also believed what my father said.

I could see that she, like my father, regarded me as proof that Wakaba Mu had existed.

I still remember asking my father one day if he would consider remarrying a beautiful woman like Aunt Xiangzi.

He looked at me in surprise, then just shook his head and told me the story of how he once had a big fight with the other person over his mother.

My father had no such thoughts at all, which made me sigh that this was another story of "fallen flowers have intentions, but flowing water is ruthless."

This stupid father never seemed to think about why Aunt Xiangzi sometimes put it there specially when I was not at home at school, and chatted with me for a few minutes before saying goodbye to him after I came home.

During my conversation with Aunt Xiangzi, I learned that she had never been married - this further confirmed my guess.

So, I chose to ask directly.

Hearing my doubts, Aunt Xiangzi showed a bitter smile that I couldn't understand after being surprised.

——"You always hit the nail on the head... You and your mother are so much alike."

She said this and then told me her motivation.

The reason is simple. As the person in power who has returned to the Toyokawa family, she must deal with the planning of the succession in a timely manner.

In order to reassure her family and not wanting to go to the blind date market to use money and benefits to find her other half, Toyokawa Shoko came to her senses and realized that her best choice was my father, whose old grudges had faded away.

However, she never made up her mind.

It was because she couldn't accept that the person she chose was Wakaba Mu's ex-husband, and also because of my existence.

Wakaba Mu and she are like sisters, and I am Wakaba Mu's daughter.

It seems that I am the one who hindered her happiness...

With a sigh, I pulled myself out of my memories and sent my friends from school to the station before going home.

Seeing my father sitting behind the counter writing and drawing, I suddenly asked, "Dad is very popular with them."

"Really? Then I'm relieved. It seems I didn't embarrass Xiaoye."

Seeing the smile on his face, my already unhappy mood became even more irritable. However, I still looked expressionless in the mirror.

I returned to the second floor in silence and walked to my mother's photo frame.

Looking at this woman who looked so similar to me, I suddenly felt ashamed of myself. Perhaps only a woman like her could make a foolish father like me fall in love like a moth to a flame...

Opening the drawer, I saw the box of rings that my father had carefully stored there.

Thinking of the wedding rings my father never took off, I finally understood:

The living can never defeat the dead.

My father will never love me as much as he loves Wakaba Mutsu.

I went to my father's bedroom, opened the photo album he had saved, and took pictures of my mother one by one with my mobile phone.

Seeing the indifferent expression of the girl in the photo, jealousy bit into my heart like a poisonous snake, making me want to cry.

My body was shaking and I went back to my bedroom.

Facing the mirror, I kept comparing myself to the photos...

……

Since the misunderstanding caused by me was resolved, my daughter's attitude towards me seems to have become a little closer.

As the two of us quietly enjoyed our dinner, she, who was usually quiet, would occasionally start a conversation with me.

Although the topics sometimes sound strange - such as the first release of "widower literature", it is a good thing that she is willing to communicate with me.

But what disturbed me was that I began to see reflections of my ex-wife in my daughter.

This shouldn't be the case...

Soaking in the bathtub, I didn't rush to leave, but instead took a sip of the high-proof homemade wine.

After my wife passed away, I went from never drinking to occasionally drinking to drowning my sorrows.

But I didn't end up being a drunkard.

Ordinary alcohol can't make me drunk at all. Only this kind of wine that I brew myself can let me temporarily escape from the constraints of reality and experience the relaxation of being drunk.

In order not to disturb my daughter, I always enter the bathroom after she finishes her bath. This way, by the next morning, the smell of alcohol in the bathroom will have mostly dissipated.