They all pushed me!

As Kitagawa Rumi was talking, she pretended to take out her cell phone and look through her address book. Then she looked up at her live broadcast room and saw the names of Magana and Kurokawa Akane flooding the screen.

As the guest with the best cooking skills since the launch of "Today's Meal at the Kitagawa Family", except for the outsider Kitagawa Ryo, Kurokawa Akane's popularity in this live broadcast room is not low at all.

The reason why Kana Arima's name was also mentioned so often is not only because the two of them are indeed tied together on the Internet, but also because of her own personality in the past two years. Since her fourteenth birthday, Kana Arima has been keen on posting some of her own baking works on social platforms, and they look quite good.

"Kana and Akane? They are indeed good candidates... but they are both busy filming the live-action version of Tokyo BLADE right now, so they may not have the time."

Kitagawa Rumi began to interact with the barrage actors seriously, and after a long struggle, she seemed to be overwhelmed by the enthusiastic fans, and took out her phone again in front of the camera in the live broadcast room with a helpless look on her face:

"Okay, okay, since everyone has said so, I'll call them and ask if Kana and Akane are free to come over."

Having said that, she dialed two people's phone numbers on the spot in front of all the fans in the live broadcast room, which was quite a show effect. The first one was Magana's, and after a ding-dong sound, the call was connected.

"Hello—I'm Ruby."

"Um, this is Kana. What's wrong? Calling me at this time... I remember this should be Ruby's live broadcast time."

Arima Kana's very recognizable voice soon came out from Kitagawa Rumi's mobile phone, which had turned on the speakerphone. This live broadcast link quickly caused the number of barrages in the room to skyrocket out of thin air. Arima Kana's popularity is obvious to all.

"Yeah, so it's almost time now. Let me see... there are more than 100,000 people listening to this phone call between Kana and I. After all, Kana is the most popular guest in our live broadcast room, and she is tied for first place in the vote for 'special guest you most want to see return'."

"How's it going? Are you free now? It seems like today is the crew's day off, and from the sound of it, Kana doesn't seem to be on the set either."

In response to Kitagawa Rumi's question, Kana Arima on the other end of the phone lazily responded with two sentences:

"Well, I'm at home today. As for now——"

After a short pause, Kitagawa Rumi heard the second half of Arima Kana's words:

"I'm making chocolates. Isn't today Valentine's Day?"

As soon as Arima Kana said this, the live broadcast room, which had more than 150,000 viewers at the same time, became lively. The quick-handed tabloid reporter just wrote down the title "Suspected love affair exposed? Arima Kana baked chocolates at home on Valentine's Day for whom?" on the notebook, but then heard the person herself add with a heavy breath:

"I've always bought ready-made girihō chocolates before, so this year I'll try making them myself and see how they turn out—"

The audience in the live broadcast room who thought they had heard some explosive news also showed bored expressions of "that's it" in front of their computers. After all, although there is a tradition of girls giving chocolates to boys on Valentine's Day in Japan, it is also carefully divided into two types: giri chocolate and honmei chocolate. Different from the latter which is almost equivalent to a confession of love, giri chocolate is generally given to express one's gratitude and is mostly given to seniors, friends, or fathers, brothers and other people of the opposite sex at home to thank them for taking care of them during the year.

Following Arima Kana's words, Kitagawa Rumi also sang a duet:

"Kana, are you going to make your own giri chocolate this year? Then I guess there must be a portion for my brother, right? Why don't you just come to our kitchen and make it with me? It will be convenient to make it and deliver it right away."

After saying this, Kitagawa Rumi added with a solemn oath:

"I've called Chi Yin, and she said she'll be here soon. After all, Chi Yin and Kana are both ranked first in our live broadcast room's vote for 'the special guest you most want to see return'."

While looking at the densely packed comments in front of her such as "Are you going to lie to Akane and say Kana is coming soon?" and "It would be great if the host could apply this little cleverness to cooking", Kitagawa Rumi was confidently waiting for the answer from Kana Arima on the other end of the phone.

After a while, Arima Kana cooperated very well and showed the netizens' stereotypes about her and Kurokawa Akane, and immediately nodded and agreed:

"Okay - I'll be here in a minute then."

Still not reassured, she immediately added:

"Is Chiyin not here yet?"

"No, no, but it will be soon."

Although Kitagawa Rumi had a teasing look on her face while trying to hold back a smile, the tone of her voice did not change at all. After ending the call with Arima Kana, she proudly made a 'yeah' gesture to the camera while calling Kurokawa Akane without stopping. With the same rhetoric, she successfully tricked Kurokawa Akane into coming over.

Although many viewers knew that today's format was obviously a script agreed upon in advance, everyone watched the live broadcast for fun, and the popularity of Magana and Kurokawa Akane was there. After a while, a considerable number of personal fans of Magana and Kurokawa Akane flocked into Kitagawa Rumi's live broadcast room.

"Then please wait for a moment - wait for Akane and Kana to come over, and then I'll start the broadcast again. About half an hour?"

After asking the staff in the live broadcast room to seamlessly insert the recordings of the past few episodes and putting a thirty-minute countdown next to the screen, Kitagawa Rumi turned off the camera used for the live broadcast and walked out of the kitchen briskly. She saw Arimaka and Kurokawa Akane coming down from the second floor.

I have to say that the sound insulation between each floor of the Kitagawa family's house is really good. After Kitagawa Rumi officially succeeded a few years ago, her waist and legs no longer hurt, and even her ears no longer have auditory hallucinations. It has completely swept away the gloom many years ago when she had to lie on the second floor in the middle of the night and could only stare at the ceiling of her room and the floor of the bedroom on the third floor.

Today is indeed a good day off for the crew of the live-action movie version of "Tokyo BLADE", but Arimaka and Akane Kurokawa came to the Kitagawa family early in the morning.

Frankly speaking, although the three of them had met and reunited quite often in the past few years, now that everything had just been revealed, there was still some awkwardness between them.

Especially Kitagawa Rumi, for a long time, she was almost unaware of her good friend Kurokawa Akane's thoughts. If she herself was not the one who stole the fish first, and traced the source and remembered that it was she who asked Kurokawa Akane to keep an eye on her brother, otherwise she would probably start to doubt what Kurokawa Akane was playing with her for all these years.

But on the other hand, this cannot be considered a completely bad thing. Just like what Kindaichi Toshiro advised her back then, at least it's someone she is very familiar with, which is always better than Ryo Kitagawa suddenly bringing back someone she doesn't know at all from outside.

After all, familiarity means close relationships and knowing each other well, and it can also avoid some possible extreme situations. Kitagawa Ryo himself actually has some considerations in this regard.

Ai and Rumie have always had a good relationship, otherwise the threesome in the beginning would not have been possible. The always sweet-talking Kana Arima and the well-behaved and sensible Akane Kurokawa were both children she liked very much before. Rumie and Akane have been good friends for more than ten years, and her relationship with Kana began to gradually become closer a few years ago. When the two went to Miyazaki to film, she took them to buy clothes and related daily necessities. As for Akane and Kana, there is naturally no need to say more. On the relevant forums, you can still find hundreds of pages of entanglements between the two compiled by fans.

"Huh? Why are you just standing there? Liang and I are so busy, come and help us--"

Just when the three of them were standing at the stairs staring at each other, half of a face of love with a little white flour on it suddenly appeared from the corner of the living room, and called Rumi and the other two over.

Although a variety of ingredients for making chocolate and other desserts have been prepared in the kitchen to facilitate the live broadcast, the scene in the living room is completely different. All other things on the coffee table have been moved away, and replaced by a large bowl filled with meat filling, and several piles of dumpling skins next to it. Kitagawa Ryo and Ai are sitting on both sides, and Ying, who is over two years old, is sitting on the sofa next to them, looking at her parents with bright eyes, and from time to time she imitates their movements, and solemnly lowers her head to play with the plasticine in her hand.

Kitagawa Ryo was skillfully wrapping one ingot-shaped dumpling after another. The style of each one was beautiful and impeccable. Ever since he announced his identity as a time traveler to Ai and Rumi a few years ago, the Kitagawa family naturally began the tradition of celebrating the Lunar New Year and making dumplings. Although the relationship between the Chinese New Year and making dumplings had changed from a cultural symbol to an almost abstract symbol before he traveled through time, this was also his last recollection and remembrance of his past life.

Therefore, although today is Valentine's Day on February 14th, it is New Year's Eve on the lunar calendar. This has made the inner joke he made at Kurokawa's house last month come true, which is quite a coincidence.

People in Japan also eat dumplings, so Magana and Kurokawa Akane didn't seem too surprised. They had seen Kitagawa Ryo's likes and dislikes on the sticky notes on the kitchen wall of Kitagawa Rumi's house, and dumplings were at the top of the list. What also impressed them was the note in parentheses at the end that said "not served with rice".

After all, for Kitagawa Ryo, the Japanese way of eating fried dumplings with rice is really a heresy among heresies. Anyway, he has been traveling through time for more than 20 years and is still not used to this way of eating.

Because Kitagawa Rumi and the other three had all had more or less contact with it and even practiced it before, they were able to get the hang of it very quickly after being called over by Ai, and soon the entire table was neatly covered with the cloth.

During the whole process, Beichuan Liang did not take the initiative to speak, but simply enjoyed this leisurely and even somewhat lazy atmosphere, just listening to the girls next to him chatting about the common topics that they never seem to get tired of talking about. At the end, he casually wrapped the remaining stuffing and dumpling skins into the shapes of small animals such as rabbits, and childishly pinched their heads and let them walk from one end of the table to the other, and then walk back from the other end to this end.

After preparing and cleaning up their family's lunch in advance, as the half-hour countdown was about to end, the group of five people washed their hands and changed their clothes.

Beichuan Liang deliberately opened the window and let the cat, who had been forced to be locked outside when making dumplings, back into the house. As a result, as soon as he walked in, he was chased by another Firefly, whose eyes suddenly lit up and threw away the plasticine. The cat meowed and ran around again. Finally, it had no choice but to jump onto Beichuan Liang's shoulder as if for refuge, straightened its upper body, and proudly raised its chin at the human cub with the same name as itself.

However, before the kitten could feel proud for long, it was put down by the scruff of the neck by Beichuan Ryo who was rushing to shoot a program. Before it could react, it was immediately grabbed by the human cub who came trotting over. It simply gave up resisting and lay on the ground with a look of despair, allowing the other party to rub and pinch it. It just followed the back of Beichuan Ryo who was walking towards the kitchen with its beautiful firefly eyes, and suddenly meowed with some satisfaction.

Kitagawa Ryo didn't notice this detail behind him, because the camera was aimed at him. Rumi was standing behind him with her arms around his neck affectionately, introducing him to the audience as the regular judge number one of the show, although the next second her arm was pulled away by the uninvited judge number two next to her.

"This is Kitagawa Ai - please take care of me today."

Unlike usual, after finishing the routine self-introduction session, Ai did not move away from the camera immediately, but read the title of the live broadcast thoughtfully:

"Valentine's Day special album? It's Valentine's Day again. I remember that the Valentine's Day special album of "B Komachi x B Komachi" a few years ago seemed to have exceeded 60 million views on the entire network. You are also welcome to visit my personal channel or B Komachi's official channel to reminisce today - I will also, "

As she said this, she boldly approached Beichuan Liang in front of nearly 300,000 viewers in the live broadcast room without any shyness. However, before she could take another step forward, the camera was moved away by Beichuan Rumi, who had a serious face:

"No, no - we have a pretty complete live studio here."

Although everyone has basically made everything clear, everyone knows that at present and in the next few years or decades, the only love that can be completely open to the public is the love that has already been married.

As a result, the live broadcast room was suddenly filled with "What is the anchor doing?", "Move the camera back!", "Is this not healthy?", "Can we start filming the second season of "It's Not My Fault That I'm Not Popular" on the spot?", and under the "threat" and "instigation" of the barrage of comments, Rumi had no choice but to refocus the camera on the two of them, making the single fans of Kitagawa Ryo and Ai who still had time to squat in the live broadcast room to watch the live broadcast on Valentine's Day sprinkle a wave of dog food again, and everyone said that it didn't matter what the Kitagawa family had for dinner today, because they were full anyway.

It seemed that she felt that stealing the show like this was not satisfying enough, and with a look on her face that said "Who can control who the audience wants to watch, and who can control who you want to watch?" she then rushed straight into the kitchen, humming happily in front of the three people who could only make "gift chocolate", saying that she came here to make "real chocolate".

Kitagawa Ryo sat at the dining table outside the kitchen, looking at the atmosphere inside which had suddenly become noticeably warmer because of the intrusive love, while he held his chin and began to think about what gifts he would give them in return on White Valentine's Day a month later. However, the word "return gift" immediately reminded him of what Kana Arima had done in the past.

Good news: He doesn’t have to pay back the remaining two birthday cakes.

The 'bad' news: Because the agreed time period has changed from ten years to the next lifetime.

Although a lifetime sounds like too long a time modifier for him, who is only 28 years old, and for the even younger people in the kitchen, Kana Arima and Akane Kurokawa, who are only 17 years old this year, in fact, exactly 20 years have passed since he first met Hoshino Ai and Kitagawa Rumie (Sarina Tendouji).

There are actually not many twenty years in a lifetime, but it always feels like we have arrived here as soon as we opened our eyes.

Perhaps it is because these twenty years are essentially nothing more than the result of memories between him and them connected moment by moment.

"Are you willing to work another job besides your idol job?"

"So it's great to see that Ruby still remembers our previous agreement and is working hard to become an idol. Of course, I will keep my promise and become Ruby's first fan."

"As long as I'm here, Kana only needs to perform the performance she likes. No one can force Kana to do something she doesn't want to do."

"No matter what Xiao Qian thinks, I have never doubted your talent or your efforts, and I believe you will not stop here just because of the current public opinion."

When thinking of these words now, Beichuan Liang can still clearly recall every scene at that time in his mind. Under the wash of time, they have not turned into skeletons for only one person to remember, but have become more and more brilliant in his memory.

But Beichuan Liang just looked at the backs of several people, recalled briefly for a while and then stopped. His purpose of recollection was one and only one, which was to look forward to new happiness one after another, rather than to use it to escape from an old sorrow.

Love may start out as a way of keeping each other warm and sharing each other's past, but in the end it must be about pursuing and creating a better future.

In a sense, they changed him.

Although Kitagawa Ryo will not stop pursuing his eternal highest dream as an actor, he also realizes another point.

Even if a hundred, two hundred or even a thousand years later no one remembers the actor named Kitagawa Ryo or the roles he played, those are things he cannot see or know.

All he could see now was what was before him.

All he could know now was that at least in this small space where the air was beginning to carry a sticky sweetness, there were people everywhere he loved and who also loved him.

Various kinds of chocolates were brought to Beichuan Ryo one after another.

In fact, they are all so-called honmei chocolate.

Beichuan Liang reached out to the chocolates, and at the same time, he showed the brightest and most reassuring smile to the camera and to everyone in front of him:

"So--"

"This is the Kitagawa family's meal for today."

(The main part of the book is finished)

London, England.

"Huh - it's been a while since I last came here."

As soon as they entered another manor they had purchased overseas for vacation, Ai sat directly on one of the two swings specially built on the lawn in the courtyard. She held the chains made into vine styles and wrapped with garlands and bouquets with her hands on the left and right. She pushed her feet on the ground slightly, and then sat on the swings in front and behind, leisurely appreciating the vegetation and flowers in her sight, which were full of spring because they were constantly taken care of by special staff, while humming softly as she expressed such emotion.

"Indeed, it seems like the last time the two of us came here was almost three years ago."

After putting away their carry-on luggage, Beichuan Liang, who had just walked out of the house, nodded and sat on another swing next to Ai. However, he had no intention of playing. He just focused on watching Ai, who was no longer satisfied with sitting and stood on the swing to look into the distance. His eyes were soon filled with the white skirt that was lifted in the comfortable evening breeze and the hair that was freely floating in the air with her movements, until she jumped off the swing with a "pop" and stood in front of him. After stretching with satisfaction, she yawned a little tiredly:

"We've been on the plane for more than a day... Let's just have a quick dinner and take a shower first?"

"Well, I'm a little tired too. As for dinner, uh, I really don't want to just use British food to make do with it. I'll just get up and make something."

Beichuan Liang stepped forward to receive the love that was like a feeling of fatigue that suddenly surged up from inside his body, and let her put half of her body weight on him. The two of them talked while slowly walking towards the house behind them.

It is now the beginning of May. After more than four months of intense filming, the live-action version of "Tokyo BLADE" has finally completed all the filming. For such a commercial blockbuster with superpower battle themes, the remaining work will be handed over to the special effects and post-production of the production team. Frankly speaking, their burden is no lighter than that of the actors.

After finishing the most arduous job on hand this year, Kitagawa Ryoya, who had been working non-stop for more than a year, finally relaxed for a while. He and Ai hit it off and officially launched a plan that they had decided during the rehearsal of the "Tokyo BLADE" stage play. They ran away at the speed of light without telling Rumi and left the child to her.

Fortunately, after so many years of talking about it, Ruby finally got her wish and successfully had a child.

Thinking of this, Beichuan Liang couldn't help laughing and took out his mobile phone from his pocket which had been turned off since he got on the plane. He pressed and held the power button to restart the phone.

"Want to guess how many times Ruby called both of us?"

"Ahem, this is the flight mode. It's not like we don't want to answer it."

Ai cleared his throat with a serious face, but the corners of his mouth that unconsciously curled up revealed his true mood.

Kitagawa Ryo's mood was actually similar to hers. He felt that it was quite fun to tease Rumi like this occasionally. From another perspective, it also allowed the younger sister who ran away from home twice to experience her own mood and feelings at that time.

"Would you like to call Ruby back later?"

"The time difference between London and Tokyo is nine hours. It's four o'clock in the afternoon here, but it's one o'clock in the morning in Tokyo. Let's wait until it's morning over there..."

Before Beichuan Liang could finish his words, the moment the phone was officially turned on, the screen suddenly changed to the communication page of the incoming call. Along with the ringtone, the note "Favorite Ruby" immediately appeared in the two people's field of vision.

"Hello, I'm Ryo."

As soon as the call was connected, Beichuan Liang heard his sister's whisper on the other end, almost overflowing with resentment:

"Ah - so my brother knew how to answer the phone. If it was a little later, I might have already gone to the police station to report it."

"The police probably won't believe it either."

Before Beichuan Liang could speak, Ai, who was standing beside him, took the phone with a smile:

"Because as long as you are not completely isolated from the world, as long as you open any search and social software, you can immediately see headlines like "The rumors of divorce are not true? The Kitagawa couple showed up at Tokyo International Airport and showed off their love as if no one was around" and "Enviable! The Kitagawa couple wore couple outfits and took an international flight, probably flying overseas for vacation"?"

"By the way, how is Ruby doing with the baby? This international flight took a full thirty-six hours. I was worried the whole time on the plane. After all, Ruby has never taken care of a child by herself before, so she lacks experience in this area."

Completely forgetting how he had carefully planned the schedule for this vacation for two on the plane, Ai smiled and gave Rumi another critical blow, and then continued to talk quickly, causing serious injuries.

"But I've posted all the recipes of Hotaru's favorites on the wall of the kitchen. It should be fine to follow the steps - right? Yes, it should be fine. I almost forgot that Ruby's cooking idiot setting is just a character setting for the live show."

"Ryo and I should be back in half a month. Ying is very well behaved. If she really misses us, she will give us a video call. Or, if she wants to, you can just let her look through our family photo album. A few days ago, she pointed to the wedding photo in our bedroom and said, 'This is dad, dad, and this is mom, mom.' She's really cute."

After smoothly performing such a whole set of combos on Rumi Kitagawa, Ai smiled and returned the phone to Liang. She walked into the house with a bit of pride and pointed in the direction of the second floor, meaning that she was going to the bathroom on the second floor to get some hot water for a bath.

As if she noticed that the person on the other end of the phone had changed back to Beichuan Ryo, Rumi snorted immediately, and seemed to be a little upset about the two people's escape this time. However, after being coaxed by Beichuan Ryo and promised to take her out next time, she regained her cheerful mood and began to whisper to Beichuan Ryo:

"In fact, when I was taking care of Ying by myself these past two days, I felt, I felt pretty good. She was cute, well-behaved, and very smart and sensible. How should I put it? She was exactly like me back then."

"…Well, let's not make them too similar."

Almost choking on Rumi's words, Kitagawa Ryo curled the corners of his mouth. He even felt that it was quite humorous that his sister, as a reincarnated person, actually felt that her IQ two years after her reincarnation was the same as that of a two-year-old child.