After Xiangzi died, I inherited her harem.

If the two families weren't close, Toyokawa Shoko and Wakaba Mutsu wouldn't have grown up together.

"That would have devastating consequences. You should be thinking not about how to fix it, but how to prevent it from happening in the first place."

Without hesitation, Toyokawa Sadaharu quickly offered his own insights.

“If an ally betrays you, it means you can’t fully take over my network. Since you used Wakaba as an example… Minami Mori and Shoko’s mother have been childhood friends, and I’ve given her a lot of support in her career. So she’s reliable enough for me, but not necessarily for you. She’s definitely not the kind of person who’s easygoing.”

The voice on the other end of the phone paused, as if considering whether to make things clear.

"In short, I don't mind if you try to win over Mori Minami, but she'll only use you. A simple alliance based on mutual benefit will be betrayed by someone with greater interests. You need a relationship as a stable anchor, for example..."

Having said that, Toyokawa Sadaharu fell silent, but Toyokawa Yuu already knew what he wanted to say.

You're no longer worthy of that old woman's attention. If you want to maintain your alliance with Ruoye, you might as well set your sights on that little girl.

Moreover, Metis said that he and Minami persuaded her to give up the guitar, so he was probably just fooled by that old woman.

"Wakaba Mutsu... I understand. Thank you for your guidance. I will actively contact her."

Despite having been killed by Metis not long ago, Toyokawa Yuu accepted the plan quite calmly.

It's just life, it's just death, he has plenty of lives to live.

He wouldn't care about dying once or twice as long as he could find that one and only way out of the deep-seated problems.

Moreover, Yuu Toyokawa does need reliable allies; he cannot have enough trust in that old man, Sadaharu Toyokawa.

If he could kick Toyokawa Kiyoyuki out of his house, he might very well kick him out too, or even... take him with him.

"Perfect timing. The agent position at the agency has been arranged. You can go meet Xiangzi now... Remember, Ave Mujica, failure is the only option, success is not an option."

Upon hearing Toyokawa Sadaharu's words, Toyokawa Yuu's heartbeat, which had already returned to normal, changed for a moment.

Is it finally time to meet?

His deceased wife, whom he had never met.

Chapter 12 First Meeting with My Deceased Wife

Shoko Toyokawa died nine years and three hundred and sixty-four days ago.

..............................

Shoko Toyokawa wasn't in a good mood today; more accurately, ever since she formed Ave Mujica, her mood has been steadily deteriorating.

Rebellious teammates, teammates who stand by and watch...

In a band of only five members, one openly opposed the other and the other potentially opposed it.

I'm already trying my best to carry everyone's lives, so why won't everyone listen to my arrangements and make this path a little smoother?

The phone in her pocket vibrated. Toyokawa Shoko took it out and found it was an unfamiliar number.

"Hello, may I ask who you are...?"

After hesitating for a moment, Toyokawa Shoko decided to answer the phone.

A slightly casual chuckle came from the other end of the phone: "Nice to meet you... Ms. Toyokawa Shoko, right?"

It was a very distinctly male voice, which made Toyokawa Shoko frown slightly. She was quite certain that she had no recollection of the voice.

But how did the other person know her name?

This made her feel a little uneasy.

"who are you?"

"It's not convenient to talk about it over the phone. If you want to know, come to your usual coffee shop. Yeah, I'll be waiting for you there."

Before she could say another word, the phone suddenly hung up, making Toyokawa Shoko, who had already lost her sense of control over the unknown, even more uneasy.

She has always liked to arrange everything in an orderly manner, only in this way can she feel a sufficient sense of security.

But now, Toyokawa Shoko has discovered something unexpected, making her feel that things are becoming increasingly out of control.

In this situation, she should have ignored the strange phone call, but she had a feeling that she had no choice but to go.

From the other person's expression and tone, it was clear that the person who suddenly called her seemed to know her very well, but she knew nothing about that person.

And the store she mentioned she frequents... means...

Is it the store where we met at Hemu?

Thinking of this, Toyokawa Shoko subconsciously tightened her grip on her schoolbag.

……

After hanging up the phone, Toyokawa Yuu looked at the time on her phone; it was about four o'clock.

The sunlight streaming through the French windows shone on the young man sitting in the shadows, making him feel slightly glared.

The coffee machine inside the shop made a mechanical sound, and the air was filled with the aroma of black tea, which made Toyokawa Yuu feel a little sentimental.

Aside from his poor judgment in judging people, his deceased wife, whom he had never met, had quite good taste in other areas.

After he opened the store's menu, the female shop assistant who walked over approached him with a gentle smile and asked, "What would you like to do?"

"Two cups of Earl Grey tea, please. I'm waiting for someone."

Yuu Toyokawa closed the menu, nodded, and smiled slightly.

"I understand."

After the female shop assistant made a note of it, he rubbed his temples to relax and adjust his mindset.

He planned to organize the information and intelligence he currently possessed before his deceased wife, whom he had never met, arrived.

Nearly three hours had passed since he died after experiencing the rain of flying debris.

The last time he was strangled by Hatsune Miku and returned to this point in time, he was stuck there for about 24 hours.

This time, he was unsure how long he could stay.

He has a lot to do if he wants to survive ten years from now.

He will probably have to get in touch with people like Toyokawa Shoko, Wakaba Mutsu, and Hatsune Miku.

Unknown time limits, multiple targets to be reached, and thoughts more complex than a ball of yarn tangled by a bad cat.

The threat of death was like a Damocles' sword hanging over their heads, ready to fall at any moment.

Even if you can reload a save file, the taste of death is never pleasant.

There's nothing shameful about it, Yuu Toyokawa said frankly, admitting that she fears death (Mortis).

Moreover, he still doesn't understand how this ability works. What he knows for now is that each rollback will push the timeline back.

While he was unwittingly exchanging his life for information, those who wanted to kill him were also taking action.

If too much time is wasted, and the illness becomes too deep to be cured, sooner or later you will open your eyes to find yourself on the guillotine.

At that point, this ability to rewind will no longer be a blessing that allows one to undo moves repeatedly, but a curse that will endlessly cycle between life and death.

Let him go. Dying once or twice is enough to make him suffer.

If things really come to that, it's better to just die.

Fortunately, I regressed to a point early enough that Ave Mujica was just formed.

With the agent position that Toyokawa Sadaharu arranged for him, it wasn't difficult to contact these people.

As I pondered, the transparent glass door was pushed open by a girl in a gray uniform, which, judging from its style, was likely the uniform of Haneoka Girls' Academy.

The blue-haired high school girl in front of me was clutching her schoolbag with both hands, her amber eyes scanning the surroundings of the store as if searching for someone.

Aside from her slightly tired and gloomy demeanor, her exquisite appearance still attracted a lot of attention.

The shop assistant, holding a notebook, was captivated by the scene. After a moment of stunned silence, she finally asked, "Excuse me, is there anything you need?"

"No need, I'm actually here to find someone."

The girl with blue twin tails responded in a gentle tone.

Her demeanor exuded the refinement of a young lady from a prestigious family. After receiving a clear answer, the shop assistant did not press further, but still couldn't help glancing at the elegant young woman.

Seeing this scene, Toyokawa Yuu, who was sitting in the corner with her hands supporting her chin, found it slightly amusing.

In his memory, that young lady probably only maintained that composure on occasions like this.

After waving to Miss Toyokawa, Toyokawa Shoko, standing by the glass door, realized that the young man sitting in the corner was, without a doubt, the person she was looking for.

After ending her conversation with the shop assistant, Toyokawa Shoko walked straight to where Toyokawa Yuu was. Looking at this figure she had never met before, Toyokawa Shoko couldn't help but frown.

Toyokawa Yuu didn't care about his deceased wife's attitude towards him, since they had never met before. He simply took out his business card from his pocket.

He pushed the business card with his name and contact information in front of Toyokawa Shoko:

"Hello, Toyokawa Yuu, you are currently the new head of ave mujica."

At the same time, it was also Toyokawa Sadaharu's way of preventing the Toyokawa family's power from flowing out, and he was your nominal fiancé.

Chapter 13 Leave Your Life to Me

"I've never heard of such a thing."

Toyokawa Shoko frowned, slammed her hands on the table, and looked down at Toyokawa Yuu.

If she hadn't considered that this was a public place, she might have taken even more extreme measures.

Yuu Toyokawa ignored Shoko Toyokawa and simply watched as the waiter brought two cups of black tea to the table, pushing one of them towards Shoko Toyokawa.

He picked up his cup and sipped it gently. The warm black tea and sugar from Toyokawa Yuu eased the mental stress caused by his two deaths, making him feel a little more relaxed.

"You know, that old man is the kind of person who can do something like that."

The girl's amber eyes reflected her chaotic thoughts, and she gripped the tablecloth tightly with both hands.

When the man in front of her suddenly said something so absurd, she instinctively wanted to refute him, but then she remembered her grandfather's usual way of doing things.

She understood that such a lie could be easily exposed simply by verifying it herself; the other party had no reason to tell such an easily debunkable lie.

Do you think I'll obediently follow your instructions?

After learning this news, which would be like a bolt from the blue for any normal girl, Toyokawa Shoko did not show the resistance and accusation that Toyokawa Yuu had expected. Instead, she seemed quite calm.

This made Toyokawa Yuu think for a moment and then she understood why.

After all, she is a gentle and sweet girl. As long as you breathe on her in advance, Teacher Da Xiang will naturally not breathe on strangers.

"No, so I don't plan to do what Toyokawa Sadaharu wants."

This answer surprised Xiangzi, who had already prepared to refuse the arrangement, and he couldn't understand what Toyokawa Yuu was up to.

Yuu Toyokawa gently stirred the tea in the bone china cup with a teaspoon; the murky tea seemed to reflect someone's emotions.

"What do you mean?" Toyokawa Shoko stared into Toyokawa Yuu's eyes and pressed for an answer.

“He knew you definitely wouldn’t accept this, so Toyokawa Sadaharu gave me a task: to quietly end the band Ave Mujica for you, and then take advantage of your vulnerability when you were at your lowest point.”

"After all, in Toyokawa Sadaharu's eyes, what you've done is nothing more than a young lady playing house. Compared to these time-wasting things, returning to the Toyokawa family and inheriting the family business is probably the most important thing."

The young lady is playing house...

These are the words that Toyokawa Shoko least wants to hear. They mean that all her past efforts have been completely negated. Whether it was moving out to suffer with her father or suppressing her emotions to keep Ave Mujica running, it was all just a simple act of willfulness.

Whenever she gets tired or doesn't want to play anymore, she can always go back to that spacious villa, which might be even bigger than a performance venue, and act spoiled.

"Do you think I can't survive without the family? Even without Ave Mujica, without the Toyokawa family, I can..."

Just as she was about to refute all of this, Toyokawa Yuu suddenly stopped stirring the bone china cup with her teaspoon, interrupting Toyokawa Shoko's words.

"Of course not. You're talented and proactive. If you want to, you can find a way to survive, no matter how miserable you are... So, want to help me?"

"Would you like to work with me... to find a way to break free from the Toyokawa family's control?"

"..."

Toyokawa Shoko pursed her lips, realizing that she couldn't quite understand this man she had only known for less than half an hour.

Logically speaking, Mingming was adopted by the Toyokawa family, and his own father was theoretically his adoptive father.

However, she could not hear a single trace of respect for the head of the family, Toyokawa Sadaharu, from Toyokawa Yuu's mouth; instead, she addressed him by his given name at every turn.

And now...

Toyokawa Shoko looked at Toyokawa Yuu with a puzzled expression: "Why? If this is Grandpa's arrangement, then it should be beneficial to you, right?"

"That's why I said that as a pampered young lady, you have no idea about the darkness behind the Toyokawa family."