Aunt Xiangzi, how did you manage to live?

Her slender fingers, clutching the hem of her clothes, trembled, and the girl's long, thin arms swayed slightly as well.

While feeling guilty, Kazama also glimpsed something terrifying in the eyes of the obsequious girl.

That was an obsession with "not wanting to let go no matter what".

Well, even though he was a child who grew up under the care of a bunch of amazing aunties, he couldn't help but shudder when he finally grasped this implied meaning.

"...Do you really only want our relationship to return to how I remember it, Aunt Su Shi?"

He clearly saw an even more hysterical emotion in her eyes.

But perhaps she herself was unaware of the existence of this feeling, or perhaps she was just pretending to know what she didn't—in any case, Nagasaki Motoyo euphemistically called it a more respectable kind of feeling.

"No, that's right... because for Xiao, the most important people are [us], right?"

She seems eager to become the future [Nagasaki Motoyo].

The reason she did this seems to be simply because she thought it would make her the person Xiao cared about most.

This is a bit too distorted.

Even though there was nothing on his shoulders, Kazama still felt a bright, heavy weight pressing down on them, making him feel uncomfortable and a little breathless.

"...There must be things you don't know."

He sighed, then reached out to help Su Shi up—but she insisted on kneeling on the ground until Kazama agreed to her promise before she would get up.

Left with no other choice, Kazama could only let Su Shi kneel beside him, clutching the hem of his clothes, and recount to her everything he knew, from the beginning of his journey to this time and space, explaining the ins and outs.

From the initial surprise of arriving in this unfamiliar time and space, to witnessing the "resurrection" of Toyokawa Shoko, whom he believed to be long dead—and then to understanding that all of this was simply because everyone's fate had not yet reached the turning point that could determine their future, and that the ability to rewrite everyone's life trajectory was firmly in their own hands.

Xiao couldn't quite remember when he realized that the people around him weren't the aunties he remembered.

Perhaps it was when Su Shi, under the guise of an ally, wanted to repair her relationship with Xiangzi through him. Perhaps it was when Li Xi's eyes were devoid of warmth and filled with wariness. Or perhaps even earlier—

When people first met him, they treated him with the same caution and distance as if he were a stranger.

In the end, he made a well-considered decision to save Toyokawa Shoko's life, thus changing everyone's fate in an unknown direction.

“I do hope that everyone can have a better life, that’s true. Maybe it would be better for you if we just didn’t interfere and let Xiangzi live and die in front of me… But if I have to witness a life being lost, I can’t just sit idly by.”

Kazama stared directly at Souse, as if he were facing a future that he himself had rewritten.

"So from that moment on, I had already made up my mind."

Even if we can never go back to how things were before, it doesn't matter anymore.

“………Eh?”

Sure enough, Su Shi, who kept saying that she already knew the truth, still didn't know one thing.

She was unaware that, in Akatsuki's timeline, Toyokawa Shoko's death was an established fact.

Su Shi couldn't help but recall his past misdeeds, and he couldn't help but feel dizzy.

She seemed never to have imagined that Kazama's growing estrangement was actually due to a life that needed to be saved.

What am I even doing?

Chapter Ninety-Four: The First Blossom of the Triangle, Joining the Shura Field

"Lanna-chan... what are you doing here?"

Misaka Chuka tilted her black baseball cap up slightly and stopped the white-haired girl who was about to leave via the stairs at the stairwell entrance.

"Well."

Seemingly not expecting to be stopped here, the white-haired girl suddenly shuddered like a real cat.

When she turned her head, her eyes fixed on him, she met Chu Hua's smiling gaze.

"It's Ryuna-chan from MYGO... Looks like I didn't mistake her for someone else. You didn't answer me just now, I thought I had mistaken you for someone else, hehe."

Chu Hua chuckled, trying to shorten the distance between them using the social rules she relied on for survival. At least those girls who frequently came to watch Sumimi's live concerts would be defeated by Chu Hua's pure smile.

Colena's behavior was somewhat the opposite of the other girls.

"……who?"

She blinked her striking heterochromatic eyes, seemingly quite confused by Chu Hua's appearance.

"Um—I'm Hatsuka, Misaka Hatsuka. I'm the guitarist for sumimi, and also the guitarist and lead vocalist for ave mujica. I've heard so much about Rakuna-chan from Akatsuki."

Chu Hua was not annoyed by the white-haired girl's dismissive attitude. Instead, he cleverly changed his words and tried to establish a connection with her.

Of course, she also casually mentioned a certain boy.

"Speaking of which, Xiaojun doesn't seem to be home today... Why is Rakuna-chan here? Did you also arrive only to find that there was no one there, just like me?"

With a smile and a slight bow, she patiently guided the white-haired girl sitting on the stairs, adopting the demeanor of a friendly older sister.

Chu Hua concealed the purpose of her visit and came up with a reasonable explanation in just a few seconds. Then, with an extremely natural expression, she asked Le Nai a question that was not too outrageous.

"No, I know he's not home."

Lena shook her head. Just as Chu Hua had expected, she had fallen into the linguistic trap Chu Hua had set for her and honestly revealed the information Chu Hua wanted.

"Just now, I saw Xiao leave the house."

"Oh dear, so that's how it happened. When was it? Five minutes ago, ten minutes ago, or even half an hour ago?"

"Luckily, he didn't find me. I hid very well."

"...Wow, that's amazing! It seems Rakuna-chan has quite a talent for hide-and-seek. So, is there something you need to talk to Akatsuki about today?"

"Although I don't care if he finds out."

"........."

With one question after another going unanswered, Chu Hua's smile began to fade.

I had a feeling that the child had no intention of answering her question at all, and was just talking to himself—it just so happened that his first sentence was a response to her question.

Feeling a little embarrassed, Chu Hua tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear, but even so, she forced herself to keep her smile at its brightest.

"Haha, is that so... Why doesn't Rakuna-chan want Akatsuki to find out? Are you really playing hide-and-seek with him?"

Since we can't get any useful information out of this child, we can only continue talking about her topic.

As expected, Chu Hua's question made Le Nai's eyelashes tremble slightly, and she finally refocused her gaze on the blonde girl in front of her.

"No, I'm afraid Xiao will blame me."

"It's your fault...? Why would Rakuna-chan think that way?"

Chu Hua, who had been forcing a smile, noticed this key point and pressed on with her question.

"Because I broke my promise to Xiao... I clearly promised him."

At this point, a rare hint of sadness flickered in Lena's eyes. She rarely showed any emotional reaction to such things.

“I wanted to apologize, and my grandma told me that if I did something wrong, I should go to her house to apologize. So I brought my favorite matcha parfait with me.”

She raised her snow-white chin, and Chu Hua followed Rakuna's gaze towards the direction of the Kazama family's front door.

"But I dare not knock on the door and see Xiao..."

"So, you just left Baphi at his doorstep and then hid in the stairwell to see when he would open the door and accept your apology gift?"

Chu Hua smiled gently; Le Nai's supplementary explanation had pieced together most of the truth for her.

"Ah."

The white-haired girl nodded in agreement without hesitation.

"So, Rakuna-chan just saw Akatsuki accept your gift, that's why you're standing here in a daze?"

What exactly could have caused Rakuna, a free-spirited and unconventional girl, to feel guilty towards Akatsuki? Hatsuka was quite curious about it too.

But since the child didn't mention it, it was probably difficult to pry any relevant information out of her, so Chu Hua wisely refrained from asking further questions.

"No."

This time, however, her vague guess was denied by Lena.

"I'm waiting for him to come back."

"I see... Even though he only left recently, does Rakuna-chan want to stay here and wait forever?"

Chu Hua pursed her lips and curled the corners of her lips, her face still bearing a friendly smile.

"Ah."

This time, Lena nodded her head vigorously.

"If Xiaojun doesn't come back, are you just going to keep waiting here?"

"Well……"

The white-haired girl, who was as independent and quirky as a cat, was unusually lost in thought, but after a moment she gave her answer without changing her expression.

"It won't take that long."

"Oh, Renai-chan seems very confident."

After saying this, Chu Hua remained silent with a smile.

"Xiaojun is just going to find Yue Yi (6) Doctor Su Shi, it shouldn't take too long."

Lena, who was determined to stay hidden and observe from the shadows, was completely unaware of the crucial information she had revealed with her words.

"Oh... it really is Su Shi."

Chu Hua narrowed her eyes slightly, but the next moment when facing Le Nai, she immediately switched back to a bright and friendly expression.

"Why does Renai-chan even know this?"

"Hmm, intuition."

"Haha, so it turns out to be the most reliable sixth sense. Renai-chan, you really are like a cat~"

"Well."

Lena blinked, her expression seemingly unaffected, but if she could grow a tail, it would surely stand upright in delight at Chu Hua's words.

"Moreover, Xiao probably went to Su Shi's house."

Seemingly in order to gain Hatsuka's approval once again, Rakuna uttered this guess, which was clearly meant to be a compliment, in a calm tone.

"You even anticipated this?"

"intuition."

She even proudly puffed out her little chest slightly, as if to prove that she was worthy of being compared to the inspirational animal, the cat.

"Pfft... Thank you, Renai-chan."

Chu Hua chuckled and waved goodbye to Le Nai.

"The Su family... I understand."

The next second, the corners of her mouth curved upwards into a somewhat eerie arc.

Chapter Ninety-Five: The Battle of the Women Begins!

Humans are beings formed from the sum of past experiences and lessons learned.

Only after dawn did I realize the philosophical truth contained in this statement.

Whether it's Nagasaki Motoyo, Shiina Tatsuki, or Mikami Hatsuka—as long as they don't possess the memories of their time together, then strictly speaking, they can't be considered his "family."

Stubbornly pursuing a mark that they never had on a life form in another time and space is nothing but self-satisfying deception.

Having figured this out, Xiao gradually felt more at ease with the group of girls who looked just like her aunt.

He no longer obsessively wanted to go back to the past with everyone and rebuild the bonds he had with these girls.

Of course, achieving such an open-minded idea is not something that can be done overnight; he had to think hard for a long time before convincing himself to accept reality.

It was clear that Su Shi couldn't accept that he had become so nonchalant about this matter.