Aunt Xiangzi, how did you manage to live?

"...It seems nothing can be hidden from you, Chu Hua."

Xiao, who was initially a little surprised, quickly calmed down and rubbed his slightly throbbing temples with a hint of helplessness.

"Although I know your intelligence is not to be underestimated, how did you know about this?"

He shouldn't have revealed his identity to anyone.

"And I do know exactly who you are..."

However, he has no memory of ever revealing Hatsune Miku's true identity.

There is no evidence in this world that he was once known as [Ruoye Xiao] - it's already outrageous enough that some people suspect he has some connection with the Ruoye family, but it's an unexpected outcome that someone like Chu Hua would so incisively expose his true identity.

So... how did she know?

“You didn’t reveal any flaws, Xiaojun.”

Chu Hua shook her head, her gaze calmly fixed on the boy who was about to fall into the trap of self-justification.

In fact, from the moment he didn't intend to deny his conjecture outright, but instead tried to convince her with logic and reasoning, Chu Hua vaguely felt that her guess had hit the bullseye.

"Could it be that my amicable conversation just now caused you to misunderstand?"

Xiao shrugged and continued to try to explain himself, but revealing his identity as a time traveler would bring him no benefit whatsoever. His existence might even be corrected or erased by an invisible force.

"Because we were just chatting about family, did that make you think I'm part of the Wakaba family, Hatsuka? Haha, if it were possible, I'd really like to be a member of the Wakaba family—"

This explanation is actually plausible, but it's rather weak and ineffective for Chu Hua, who is bursting with intuition and inspiration.

"..."

Chu Hua didn't say anything more. She just stared at the boy for a long time, and then suddenly reached out her hand—

He grabbed his hand and led him into the staff lounge next door, closing the door behind him.

"?"

Before Xiao, who was entering the palace for the second time, could react, Chu Hua pressed him against the door with unprecedented force, as if this would prevent him from running away from this detective reasoning show.

"That argument won't convince me, my Watson."

Despite being at least a head shorter than him, the girl fearlessly blocked him at the door, staring intently at him from below with piercing eyes.

The girl's faint fragrance, mixed with the light smell of sweat that lingered after the intense performance, inexplicably entered Xiao's sense of smell.

It was at this moment that he suddenly realized a terrifying reality.

—After his mother, Wakaba Mutsu, declared her intention to marry him, Aunt Hatsune pinned him against the wall.

Something's definitely not right about this world, is it?

"Combined with the things that had been vaguely suspicious to me before, I've been thinking about it a lot lately... Why did I hit it off with you so quickly, Xiaojun? Why do you know so much about Xiaoxiang, Xiaomu, and even about Su Shi and the others, as if you were an old friend who's known us for a long time..."

Chu Hua didn't care how much her actions crossed the line, or perhaps she had wanted to do this for a long time, and now the perfect opportunity had finally arrived.

“You even know everything about my past, Xiaojun.”

Xiao only needed to look down to see the blonde girl's delicate and lovely face with a slightly melancholy smile.

Even though she was right in front of me, it felt as if she were looking through me at a very distant place.

"As expected, it's because of you, Xiaojun..."

Hatsune lowered her voice so that only the two of them could hear her whisper.

She tiptoed, letting her delicate fragrance fill the boy's nostrils while also whispering her question into his ear.

"They're from the future, right?"

Although the voice was so faint that only the two of them could hear it, the boy felt that the words resonated throughout the entire room.

Chapter 90 You probably don't want everyone to know either, right?

"Xiaojun, you're actually from the future, aren't you?"

When Chu Hua uttered this guess, her voice was trembling slightly. Before her voice had even finished, the air in the room seemed to suddenly drop in temperature.

She knew, of course, that the guess was baseless and there was no evidence to support it.

But looking at the boy's frozen expression and contracted pupils, she knew that this bold guess was not a wild fantasy.

Kazama stared at her silently for a long time. The sharpness and arrogance that should belong to a young man seemed to be washed away in that instant, leaving only something melancholy and weary.

It seemed to be the fear of being seen through, yet also mixed with the relief of having a secret that had been kept tightly under wraps finally discovered by others.

Why does Chu Hua think that way?

Compared to his earlier panic, Kazama—no, Ruo Yexiao—appeared remarkably calm at this moment.

"Xiaojun didn't reveal any crucial information. If I hadn't accidentally seen a certain photo... I might have thought for the rest of my life that you were just a casual acquaintance who suddenly became a close friend with me."

Chu Hua lowered her head, her smile somewhat bitter.

"Photos...what photos?"

Xiao quickly grasped the key point in her words and pressed for further questions.

"It's a photo of Xiaojun as a child and Sushi, who looks to be in her forties."

Chu Hua didn't intend to hide anything, and told him the whole story in detail.

"That photo appeared next to Su Shi without warning. And according to her, the surname on Xiao Jun's signature in that photo... was [Ruo Ye] instead of [Kazama]."

So, the truth came to light.

Of course, Kazama was completely baffled by this.

What group photo?

Even if he really did take a photo with Aunt Su Shi when he was a child—why would this photo appear in this time and space?

"Of course, many doubts actually surfaced before this photo appeared. For example, why would Xiaojun know so much about my true identity, when it's something even Xiaoxiang didn't know?"

Even though the boy's breath was right next to her, Chu Hua inexplicably felt that the boy in front of her was too distant.

"Even though I've always been by your side, I know nothing about what's going on with you."

The hand that was resting on the door next to the boy's shoulder gradually closed and turned white, as if it were going through some kind of struggle and mental storm, just like Chu Hua.

“Clearly…clearly Xiao Mu is the same.”

Changing the subject, she turned to a new topic with a bitter smile.

Rather than calmly analyzing the facts and reasoning, her tone now sounded more like self-pity mixed with a hint of jealousy.

No, it's not that she's jealous of Xiao Mu.

“But even so, Xiaojun still watches over her unconditionally… Even though she doesn’t see everything about Xiaojun like I do, you still want to become family with Xiaomu.”

At this point, Chu Hua himself chuckled helplessly.

"Xiaojun's feelings for Xiaomu were so intense and clear—it could only be because the information hidden in that photo was all true."

He is a true relative of Ruoye Mutsu, and may even be Mutsu's child.

Only in this way can we explain why he took a photo with Suze decades later, knew the secret Hatsune Miku had never told anyone, and, as if by precognition, blocked the car that could have taken Shoko's life.

"As Sherlock Holmes once said, after eliminating all possibilities, the one that remains, however unexpected, is the final truth."

Detective Chu Hua shook his head helplessly.

She never imagined she would quote this well-known saying in such a situation.

"...You're really amazing, Hatsune. No...maybe I should call you Hatsune."

After a long silence, the boy let out a long breath and a slightly approving smile appeared on his lips.

"I originally thought that even if I said something like this, no one would believe me."

"To be honest, I have absolutely no confidence in this guess... So, Xiaojun, is that why you chose to live in this time and space with a false identity?"

"Ah, or rather, I had no choice at all."

Next, Kazama briefly explained to Hatsuka the cause and effect of his accidental journey into this time and space.

Of course, a normal person would still be somewhat skeptical upon hearing such an explanation. Therefore, Kazama specifically added information that only someone who traveled from the future would know—

For example, when will a certain Apple phone release its latest model? Which team will win the World Cup next year? How many gold medals did a certain national team win at the Olympics in a certain year?

Chu Hua, who was initially skeptical, was gradually convinced by Xiao's words.

"Including Hatsune Miku, your past... was actually told to me by you yourself."

Especially after Xiao revealed this fact.

Finally, he no longer has to play the role of "Kazama Akatsuki" in front of everyone.

Even if he could only reveal his true identity to Chu Hua, it would be enough to relieve him of the pressure he had been under for so long.

"Xiaojun is someone who came from the future..."

The blonde girl lowered her head and muttered to herself. Xiao didn't interfere with her processing this information and simply let her continue to pin herself against the door.

His identity as a time traveler was only revealed to Chu Hua, so he shouldn't be caught red-handed by some unseen force and then forcibly "corrected," right?

"Then, in the future world, what will our relationship be—"

"They are aunt and nephew."

Xiao seemed to have anticipated Hatsune's question, so she answered it quickly.

"what……"

"Because Mu is the mom I was talking about who adopted me."

So the rest of the family naturally became his caregivers as he grew up, isn't that obvious?

"Hmm, so that means..."

To everyone's surprise, Hatsune Miku remained deep in thought, her expression serious.

"Xiaojun and Xiaomu are not related by blood."

"Of course, it would be really scary to adopt a child who is related to you by blood."

Wait, why is this guy's attention here?

"Ha... In short, only Aunt Hatsune knows about this, so please don't tell anyone else for now, okay?"

Xiao glanced out of the door behind him. It was clear that he felt that telling Hatsune the truth would allow him to keep the situation firmly under his control, which was why he told her the truth without any concealment.

"..."

However, Hatsune, whom Xiao had expected to immediately grant his request, fell into an unusual silence.

"What would happen if I told everyone this secret?"

The girl's eyes, which were always pure and clear when she looked at him, were now, for some reason, sparkling with a hint of cunning.

This must be the most willful, selfish, and self-serving moment for Miku Miku.

"If Xiaojun doesn't want me to tell everyone about this... I feel that this request alone is far from enough."

But only in this matter did she feel that being a little selfish wasn't so bad.

After all, this was a perfect opportunity for her to "defeat" Xiao Mu.

Volume Three

Chapter 1 Hatsune Miku Boomerang

During the innocent and naive middle school years of a boy named Ruoye Xiao, the following incident occurred.

"Aunt Hatsune, today a girl from my class suddenly stopped me after school... and wanted to ask me to go shopping together next time."

Xiao was only in the first or second year of junior high school when he first received a crush from a girl his own age. As soon as he got home, he told Aunt Su Shi and Aunt Hatsune, who had prepared a meal for him, about what had happened.

"...Oh dear, I think Xiao should focus more on her studies right now, right? And if you go shopping with that girl after school, you won't be able to eat the dinner that Aunt Su Shi and Aunt Hatsune specially prepared for you."