After finishing the bottle of wine, I stood up unsteadily. After washing off the smell of alcohol from my body, I changed into pajamas and went to the bedroom.

But when I opened the bedroom door, I found a figure appearing on my bed.

"……Night?"

I frowned - it was a bit inappropriate for someone as old as my daughter to sleep with me.

I walked to the bed and turned on the night light, but what I saw was not my daughter, but the face that I had been thinking about day and night and appeared in my mind for countless days and nights.

My thoughts turned into a mess, and I uttered a whisper that sounded almost like crying: "Mu..."

"Um……"

Her voice trembled slightly.

The next moment, Ruoye Mu opened his arms and hugged me gently: "I'm right here."

No matter how chaotic it was, I knew there was no magic that could bring the dead back to life. I felt terrified, yet also filled with anticipation. "But you're not..."

She hugged me tightly and buried her head in my chest: "I'm always here, because Lu's home is here."

No matter how strong the voice is, it will eventually become hoarse. I closed my eyes and let my heart, which was always tense and on the verge of collapse, fall into this dream.

The soft skin almost makes me addicted to it.

This familiar yet unfamiliar feeling made me excited.

Looking at the face in front of me that was very similar to Mu, I subconsciously wanted to kiss her like I did in the past.

However, when my body was about to touch hers, I saw a pair of eyes that were different from hers, burning with love.

She is not Mu.

She is--

The disorienting dream suddenly woke me up, and I felt a cold sweat on my back.

The excruciating pain of forcing myself awake tore through my mind, forcing me to cover my face.

What am I doing...

What on earth am I doing...

In my room, with my daughter...

What is even more difficult for me to describe is that I am actually excited about it?

Guilt and shame flooded into my brain at the same time, as if giving me a hard slap in the face.

My love for my wife and my inner sense of morality made me stop at the edge of the red line. I stood up in the surprised and lost eyes of my daughter.

"Get some rest."

I forced myself to smile like a father should, and covered Xiaoye with the quilt as if I were protecting the most precious treasure in the world.

My daughter didn't say a word to me. She just looked at me with a mixture of pleading and lamenting eyes, as if questioning why I didn't continue.

...How could I possibly do that?

Leaving the bedroom, I sat against the wall on the cold ground.

Looking at the wedding rings on my fingers, I covered my face again.

In the midst of this painful silence, I heard the bedroom door open.

After a burst of light footsteps, I felt someone sitting next to me and gently resting his head on my shoulder.

The cold moonlight poured into the house from the window, making me feel even more bitter.

In the end, I couldn't bear to let my daughter endure the cold of the night with me.

I picked her up gently, and she hugged me.

She rested her head on my shoulder, nuzzled her soft cheek against mine, and as I returned her to her bed she whispered to me the reasons that had led her to such an absurd act.

When I wanted to leave, she grabbed my sleeve and begged me to stay.

As long as I stay, "Ruoye Mu" will appear beside me at night when no one will notice me, and spend the rest of my life with me;

If I leave, Naruse Ritsu and Naruse Sayo will have to continue to suffer in their hearts, and they don't know when the day will come when their passion fades.

Once again, I heard the buzzing sound that made me lose my mind, whispering in my mind.

They are urging me to make a choice, or urging me to give up the ideas I have been holding on to.

——In the wrong world, you can only save one person

——Should I choose my late wife, whom I have remembered for more than ten years and whom I still cannot forget?

——Or choose my daughter who has gone astray and is about to fall into hell with me?

——Or, did you “watch one of them die without helping”?

——[Abandoning His Wife]

——[Abandoning Daughter]

Seeing the two options floating before my eyes, my mind went blank.

When I came to my senses, I realized that I had made my choice...

Volumes: Volume 1: New Life

1. Moai statues and salmon

...New leaves bring a message:

On the other side of the ocean, in the world history-troublemaker "United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland", the great dream of studying abroad has been shattered -

The "Student Council President" Chihaya Aine fled, dragging her luggage back to her hometown...

……

The pink-haired girl, her hair slightly curled up due to lack of time to take care of it, walked alone on the deserted street.

The spring sunshine, which was originally warming her heart, now made her feel irritated.

The scene before leaving was still vivid in her mind. When she thought about how she had packed her luggage while her roommate was asleep and fled without even saying goodbye, she felt an indescribable shame on her face.

When she thought about the possibility of meeting her former classmates and friends again, and the soul-searching questions they might ask her, Chihaya Aine felt herself sweating profusely, her hands and feet were cold, she had difficulty breathing... and many other complications appeared at the same time.

Hiss... Looking at it this way, it seems that I shouldn't have come back?

Is there any hope for me if I return to the UK now?

No, no, if I go back now, won’t I have to face questioning from my classmates over there again?

Realizing that she had no room for maneuver, Chihaya Aine put on a stiff grin and continued to walk home dejectedly.

As she reached the street near her home, she faintly heard voices coming from a distance. Turning onto the familiar street, Chihaya Aine breathed a sigh of relief at the sense of security she felt. She also saw another woman wearing a white sunhat, talking to herself on her phone.

Are you making a video call? Or recording a vlog?

...Forget it, it has nothing to do with her anyway.

Sighing with disinterest, Chihaya Aine looked around at the scenery she hadn't seen in a long time. The next moment, she saw two incompatible buildings standing on the land.

No, I took the wrong road?

Leaning forward slightly, Chihaya Aine took out her glasses from her coat pocket and put them on, finally making sure that it was not an illusion caused by dizziness.

Although the two stone statues were scaled down, their solemn and resolute expressions looked no less impressive than their authentic counterparts in Chile. Atop one of the statues, a figure lifted its skull and stood majestically atop.

Mrs. Chihaya, who lived right across from the statue, came out of the villa carrying a shower head and greeted the young man who had moved in some time ago with a smile.

“When someone greets you, you must return the greeting”—this is a famous saying from the Kojiki.

After quickly returning the greeting, Ritsu Narose continued his "discovery" work.

Target one: a middle-aged male office worker who was suspected to be from Wuhan and had just gotten off work. He looked dazed and unconscious, making him very likely to meet with an unexpected and sudden death on his way home.

After enthusiastically writing the ending of this office worker in his notebook, Ritsu Narose began searching for his next prey.

Soon, he found another guy who had fallen into the trap.

Target two, the strange woman who is filming him and the statue beneath him: From Ritsu Narose's perspective, her behavior is somewhat exaggerated, making him feel uncomfortable - so she is set as a tool to introduce the world view to VIII Sanlin Culingqi 9 Qia (Eight) Phosphorus Dream and then die at the speed of light.

Deciding the fate of the character entirely based on his own likes and dislikes, the merciless creator silently noted this in his little notebook and then continued his work.

Target three, the girl dragging a suitcase: she seems a little depressed, and she seems unmotivated. But her expression tells a story...

With a sharp gaze, Ritsu Narose was extremely attentive as she examined this outstanding human being who might become the heroine of her novel.

After a few seconds, he came to the conclusion:

This girl is totally fit for the role of heroine!

The pink hair draped over her back was proof that she was the heroine!

Pink hair, only pink hair - this color that represents cuteness, romance and fantasy can show the personality of the heroine!

Inori Yui, Lacus, Madoka Kaname, Ikaros, Yuno Agatsuma, Eustia, Diablo... countless success stories have proven this!

Scribbling his thoughts in his notebook, Naruse Ritsu didn't waste any more time waiting for the other humans to appear. Putting away his pen and paper, he immediately retreated back into the statue, dashing back to the villa as fast as he could, heading for his study on the second floor.

And in the place he had forgotten, the "heroine" whom he had abandoned without hesitation after taking the material from her returned home in a daze.

“Why would someone put something like that at the doorstep!” As soon as she stepped into the yard she hadn’t seen for several months, Chihaya Aine complained to her mother who was watering the flowers in the courtyard.

"Aine, are you talking about the statue at Naruse-kun's door? Isn't that quite interesting?"

Is this interesting?

What's so interesting about that?

And wouldn’t it be really scary to see this statue at night?

Or has the trend become like this during the time I've been away from Japan?

Seeing her daughter still standing there in the yard, Mrs. Chihaya smiled helplessly. As she took the heavy suitcase, she gently patted her daughter's head.

"Aine, aren't you coming home yet? Mommy prepared a special meal for you~"

"!?"

This child is indeed hungry...

Mrs. Chihaya thought so when she saw her daughter's movements suddenly become cheerful.

Later, when she stood by the dining table and watched her daughter messing with the food on the table, Mrs. Chihaya became even more certain of her judgment.

that's the truth.

Britain itself is a food desert, and with the added debuffs of airplane meals, jet lag, and so on, even people with a good appetite will frown.

Therefore, when Chihaya Aine saw the plates of steaming hot meals at home, the little pearls in her eyes were just one step away from falling.

Buddha, have you finally opened your eyes?

Not fish and chips, not a bacon sandwich, and certainly not a microwaveable frozen meal.

Instead, it was the home-cooked meal she was most familiar with, made by her mother.

The hamburger patty, drizzled with sweet and savory sauce, has a chewy, firm texture that you can imagine just by picking it up with chopsticks. A bite of the golden, deep-fried croquette is instantly filled with the soft, delicate aroma of mashed potatoes.

Bliss...

Just as she finished the food in her bowl, Chihaya Aine saw her mother coming out of the kitchen with a plate in her hand.

This scent, this scent is—

"Look, this is the secret cold-smoked salmon Mom made for Aine!"

The marinated salmon sparkles with crystal-clear colors, and just looking at the elastic fish meat makes your mouth water.

"This salmon was delivered by Naruse-kun yesterday morning. It's really fresh, isn't it?"

"'Narose'...does that mean the guy across from me?"

The chopsticks that were about to touch the fish suddenly paused, and Chihaya Aine's expression was a little strange. What's going on? Why do my mother and that weirdo seem so familiar with each other?

"Yeah. It's normal that Aine doesn't know, since he moved here after you went abroad." Mrs. Chihaya explained with a smile as she handed the specially prepared drink to Aine.

"That's it..."

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