pertwk Page 109
Page 109
A glimmer of tears welled up in her eyes as she looked at him with emotion and nodded vigorously.
I understand, I can feel your determination!
"Cough cough cough." Toyokawa Kiyoko cleared his throat forcefully, almost choking himself instead.
No, I'm still sitting here. Are we not even trying to hide it from people anymore?
I think you are really thinking about it.
You inherently evil village brat, I'll deal with you right now—
“It’s just my mother and me at home,” Koshimura Sawa answered calmly. “She’s currently an ordinary employee at a logistics company.”
Toyokawa Kiyotaka's hand, which was resting on the bone flute, suddenly paused slightly.
He paused for a moment before continuing, "What is your profession?"
"The sorcerer."
What is your job level?
"Level 4."
Toyokawa Kiyotaka's hand, which was resting on the bone flute, suddenly trembled and almost slipped off.
"...Who is the sect leader of the contract?"
"giraffe."
"Never heard of it." Toyokawa Kiyoshi's eyes suddenly turned serious. "What exactly is your purpose in approaching Shoko?"
"Because I like her." Koshimura Sawa said without hesitation.
"Wait, Ze...why, why are you suddenly like this..." Toyokawa Shoko's cheeks turned red, and she hurriedly and shyly tugged at his sleeve.
Toyokawa Kiyoko's hand hovered over the bone flute once again, this time for even longer than before.
"...Have you told me everything about the Toyokawa bloodline, Xiangzi?"
"Uh... I can't get there?" Koshimura looked bewildered.
Toyokawa Shoko was taken aback by what she heard, looked at her father, and slowly shook her head.
“I see…” Toyokawa Kiyoko said, “However… since we’ve come to this point, and you’re a great benefactor to the Toyokawa family, it’s time to tell you.”
"Actually... there is another characteristic of the Toyokawa bloodline, which is that the direct descendants of the Toyokawa family who possess the Toyokawa bloodline... can only give birth to female offspring."
"This has been proven since the very beginning of the 'Toyokawa Blood'."
"That's why...every generation of women in the Toyokawa family would take in sons-in-law...to inherit and manage the family's property."
"And as fate would have it... perhaps it was a cruel twist of fate, or perhaps it was just pure coincidence, but the sons-in-law of the Toyokawa family throughout history... never had a good ending."
"Therefore, rumors gradually spread that the women of the Toyokawa family only bring misfortune to those around them, and that this is the fate of the Toyokawa family's sons-in-law... But how could I believe such an unfounded thing?"
“Back then, I insisted on being with Mizuho—Shoko’s mother—despite everyone’s objections.” Toyokawa Kiyoko sighed. “Even now…with the Toyokawa family in this state, I have never felt the slightest regret.”
"I have never regretted being Mizuho's husband, nor have I ever regretted being Shoko's father."
"She is the best daughter in the world... It's just a pity that I am not a good father."
"If I hadn't been so eager for quick success... if I had been able to withstand the pressure from all sides, perhaps... things wouldn't have turned out this way today."
"Dad..." Toyokawa Shoko looked at him, her eyes gradually reddening, "Don't say that... You'll always be the best dad in the world in my heart..."
"I'm not saying all this to discourage you or anything." Toyokawa Kiyoko's gaze refocused on Koshimura Sawa. "I just want to know... even knowing all this, knowing that this might be a thorny path, constantly shrouded in so-called 'fate,' would you still be willing to stand firmly by Shoko's side?"
"Of course," Koshimura Sawa replied without the slightest hesitation.
“To be honest, I’ve never believed in things like fate,” he said. “If you know that what lies ahead is so-called ‘fate,’ then it’s truly foolish not to try to change it.”
"Besides, haven't I already experienced misfortune?" He paused, then chuckled self-deprecatingly, "Although I brought it on myself..."
"But in the end, it's just a little bit of hardship."
He raised his head and met Toyokawa Kiyoshi's gaze without flinching: "So, rest assured. I will do everything in my power to protect Shoko and prevent her from suffering any further harm."
"...I hope so."
A long silence fell over the living room. After what seemed like an eternity, Toyokawa Kiyoko finally let out a long sigh, as if admitting defeat.
“Alright.” He looked at Yuecunze, his emotions becoming increasingly complex. “You’re much more successful than I was back then…”
"In that case, I can feel a little more at ease leaving Xiangzi in your care."
"Yes." Koshimura nodded solemnly.
Fortunately, I have a silver tongue, and I finally managed to convince Xiang's father to agree to us forming an adventure team together.
But you two, father and daughter, are really cut from the same cloth, both being immature and childish. If you're going to form an adventure group, fine, but why bring up things like "I'm entrusting Xiangzi to you"? It's just like how Da Xiang tricked Miao Meng into giving up her life by asking, "Can you entrust your life to me?"
"Wait, wait, what does 'hand over' mean?!" Toyokawa Shoko felt her face burning uncontrollably. She tried hard not to think in that direction, but the more she tried not to think about it, the more she couldn't help herself.
"Doesn't anyone want to ask for my opinion?"
Even if I ask, the result won't change anything...
"I happen to have some time today." Toyokawa Kiyotaka seemed much more relaxed, and subconsciously reached under the table. "Why don't you have a drink with me, and we can have a proper chat..."
“Dad!” Toyokawa Shoko immediately called out.
"Oh, sorry, sorry." Toyokawa Kiyoshi abruptly withdrew his hand, smiling awkwardly. "I'm used to it, I just forgot about it without realizing it."
"Then I'll drink tea instead of wine—"
Just then, his cell phone rang at an inopportune moment.
"Excuse me, I need to take this call." Toyokawa Kiyotaka picked up his phone, glanced at the caller ID, frowned slightly, and got up to walk towards the entrance.
"Hello, how can I help you?"
"Okay okay."
"Well, I see."
He held the phone a little further away and said towards the living room, "Xiangzi, Dad suddenly has some urgent work matters to deal with and needs to go out to make a call. You two chat first."
"Huh?" Toyokawa Shoko quickly stood up, her face full of worry. "You're not going to do what you did before... and never come back, are you?"
"No, it won't happen," Toyokawa Kiyoshi assured him. "It's just a phone call, I'll be right back."
“Okay…” Toyokawa Shoko sat back down with some doubt, watching him push open the door and walk out.
--------
Standing in the hallway, with her ear pressed against the door, trying to make out the sounds inside, Nagasaki Motoyo suddenly heard footsteps approaching from afar, seemingly heading towards the door.
Oh no, someone's coming!
She panicked and anxiously scanned the empty staircase, but found nowhere to hide.
What to do...
At this critical moment, her gaze suddenly fell upon the discarded cardboard boxes piled up in the corner.
Got it!
Kiyoshi Toyokawa pushed open the door, looked around curiously, and twitched his nose slightly.
"Strange...where is that fragrance coming from?"
He muttered something to himself, shook his head, and quickly walked downstairs with his phone in hand.
Only after the footsteps completely disappeared did Nagasaki Motoyo dare to carefully lift a crack in the cardboard box above her head.
After confirming that it was safe, she finally breathed a sigh of relief and crawled out.
What Ze Jun said was actually true; as long as it was hidden in a cardboard box, no one would be able to find it!
She quickly ran to the stairwell, cautiously looked down, and saw that Toyokawa Kiyoshi had just arrived downstairs. He glanced around furtively and then walked quickly toward the person standing opposite him.
Waiting for him downstairs was a girl with long, dark green hair, wearing the gray uniform of Haneoka Magic Academy.
The two began to talk enthusiastically as soon as they met.
and many more...
Nagasaki Motoyo felt her brain being constantly bombarded by an overwhelming amount of information, and her CPU was almost overloaded.
Xiao Xiang's father... secretly went to meet a high school student?
So he actually...cheated?!
And the other person is from the same school as Xiaoxiang, a girl from Yuqiu? ???
Chapter Twenty-Nine: Nagasaki Motoyo is a woman who could become my mother.
"Mr. Toyokawa, your sense of time is truly worrying." Leaning against the wall, Eri put away her phone and sighed helplessly. "If I don't call you, are you just going to stay up there forever?"
"Sorry, I suddenly have some family matters to attend to... Wait, this isn't the time to talk about this—" Toyokawa Kiyoshi shook his head violently, "What exactly have you done with my body?!"
"Pfft." Eri couldn't help but stifle her laughter, her shoulders trembling slightly. "So it was you who ran into me. I was wondering why you suddenly messaged me today, telling me I didn't need to cover your shift anymore."
"I only asked you to help me pretend so that Xiangzi wouldn't sense anything unusual. I didn't ask you to interfere with my daily life, and I certainly didn't ask you to play matchmaker for me!" Toyokawa Kiyoshi's voice unconsciously rose a little.
"Even if I didn't say it, didn't you already mean it?" Eri asked with a mocking smile. "A lost girl meets a boy who'd risk everything to save her—what a classic, youthful, and beautiful storyline!"
"Stop, stop, stop! Who told you that?" Toyokawa Kiyotaka interrupted her impatiently. "I think that kid is glib and unreliable; he's obviously not a trustworthy person..."
"Oh? Is that so?" Eri raised an eyebrow slightly. "If you were 16 years old, would you dare to take on a level 9 paladin as a level 4 professional?"
"...I wouldn't dare."
Toyokawa Kiyoko remained silent for a while before finally answering truthfully.
“But he chased after someone and had an overpass cut down for your daughter’s sake, and that’s how it ended.” Eri shrugged.
Toyokawa Kiyoko smacked his lips.
Taking advantage of the opportunity, Nagasaki Motoyo carefully moved down a few more steps from the stairs to make sure she could clearly hear the conversation between the two people downstairs.
She took out her phone, adjusted the angle, and placed it steadily on the metal handrail of the stairs, ready to record the entire conversation as crucial "evidence."
"Never mind... let's not talk about this anymore." Eri tossed her hair. "Have you finished all those things you told me you needed to do?"
"Hmm." Toyokawa Kiyoko nodded with a normal expression, as if what he had just been talking about was nothing more than a trivial matter.
“It’s obvious that the higher-ups are intentionally suppressing information… I must say, you’re really ruthless…” Eri sighed. “Well, I’m not in a position to criticize your actions… The main reason I called you here is to tell you that there’s finally new progress on the abnormal signal we detected from the [Data Deletion].”
Nagasaki Motoyo blinked in confusion.
She was quite certain that she hadn't misheard, and that what came out of her mouth was indeed "data deletion."
Even though I can clearly hear the pronunciation and understand each word, when they are put together, they become a blurry jumble of characters, leaving no impression on my mind.
Ugh?
So... it wasn't cheating after all?
Why call everyone here for something so trivial?
Did I... accidentally overhear something terrible?
"You mean... that signal was real?" Toyokawa Kiyoko raised an eyebrow in surprise. "I thought the instrument had malfunctioned again, as expected."
"If Yutenji heard that, he'd probably fight you," Eri chuckled. "Although I've wanted to say that for a while now."
"The other party responded based on the decoding method and guidance signals we provided, indicating that she was willing to cooperate with our follow-up actions, but she needed to make a condition."
"What conditions?"
Eri took a deep breath: "She said... she wants to go home."
"Go home?" Toyokawa Kiyoko was even more confused. "Go home what? She can still have a home in [DATA EXPUNGED]?"
“It’s about going home, going back to the real world,” Eri repeated.
"Wait... but this is simply impossible! Can't we ask her if we can change the terms?"
“No.” Eri shook her head firmly. “She has already stated that she will not accept any other conditions.”
“But…this doesn’t make sense.” Toyokawa Kiyotaka’s brows furrowed even more. “How could someone capable of entering [DATA EXPUNGED] and surviving within it still have such a deep…obsession with the mortal world?”
“Her reason was… she missed her daughter.” Eri’s voice lowered. “—She should be in high school by now, right? If she were still in this world, she would be able to see her in her high school uniform—that’s what that person said.”