Chapter 23

Perhaps Zero hadn't anticipated this development either, as he looked no less surprised than I was.

"Ms. Takahashi, this is different from what you said before. You just asked to meet little sister Nana..."

However, the subsequent developments obviously exceeded both of our expectations.

Takahashi Masako's new husband, my nominal stepfather, arrived late. Unlike the casual, homely look he'd had at the conference, he was now dressed in a smart suit. Even at forty, he looked well-maintained, with gold-rimmed glasses perched on his nose, giving him the air of a social elite, his style radiating with edge.

He retrieved relevant information from the public security system that could prove that Masako Takahashi and I were mother and daughter, as well as the documents from the original court ruling, to prove that Masako Takahashi had legal guardianship of me.

He said, "When Koizumi Emi took you away from the United States, although she later obtained Masako's consent, Masako was your sole legal guardian, both in terms of kinship and law. Furthermore, now that Emi has died unexpectedly, who else could raise you except for returning to Masako and having her raise you? Could it be you, Mr. Furuya?"

"Although I don't know what your private relationship with Emi is, no matter from which angle you look at it, you are not the best person to take care of Koizumi..."

Rei Furuya was silent, but I could see him quietly clenching his fists.

The two looked at each other, and the air was filled with invisible smoke, which was as oppressive as the precursor to an explosion.

There is absolutely no way to refute this man, after all, he was once a very famous lawyer.

But senior Huimei's identity and mission must not be revealed to anyone. It was obvious that the only person she could think of for help when she was in the most dangerous moment was him, and he also promised her that he would take good care of Nana, but... but it happened!

Of course I understand Zero's dilemma. In fact, I know that even if the person standing here at this moment was Aunt Huimei instead of Zero, the result would probably be the same.

Legally speaking, my guardian from the beginning to the end is only one person, and that is Masako Takahashi. If the other party holds on to this and refuses to let go, no one can do anything to her.

I just didn't expect this day to come so soon. She showed up too early, and I was still too young. If it had been a few years later... Obviously, just a few years later...

"Zero, he's right."

I was the first to speak and break the silent confrontation. My voice was suddenly filled with fatigue, as if I was running a grand marathon. I originally thought that I could hold on to the finish line, but when I was halfway through, I realized that this was an impossible task.

"But I promised Sister Huimei that I would take good care of you..."

"Mr. Furuya, there's no need to trouble you with taking care of Nana. I'm Nana's mother, and I will take good care of her."

It is said that you should not hit a smiling person. Masako Takahashi is well aware of this truth. She immediately put on a smile and stood up to take her husband's hand, acting as a lubricant for the two.

"Yajing, everyone says you're not a lawyer anymore. Don't be so rigid when you speak. Don't scare the child."

Then he looked at me and said, "Our family can finally be reunited."

I lowered my eyes, deliberately avoiding her gaze, and did not respond to her words.

Who is the family of that strange man... I have a father myself, but he remarried another woman quickly after divorcing my mother, and within two years of the marriage, he immigrated to Europe with his family.

"Little sister Nana..."

Seeing that Ling was still struggling fearlessly, I interrupted him, "It's okay, Brother Ling, don't forget that you have more important things to do."

"If I'm not here, there won't be anyone to bother you, right?"

This was the first time I called him "brother" seriously.

I looked him in the eye and smiled, "I'm fine."

The most important thing now is Aunt Huimei's whereabouts and safety. Leaving the safe house on my own initiative also has an advantage, that is, if there really is an enemy waiting for the opportunity...

This is the perfect time!

As long as I can help my aunt escape danger...

All I have to do is endure it.

It's okay.

I was always the best at enduring, so there's no reason I can't be now.

*

I followed Masako Takahashi and her husband, Masakyo, to their villa in the suburbs of Tokyo. The creamy white, three-story villa, with its own large garden, looked incredibly expensive.

She took me to the room on the second floor. When I opened the door, what came into view was a dreamy pink color: pink sheets, pink wallpaper, pink carpet. The entire bay window was filled with furry Disney dolls, and there was a faint, sweet fragrance in the air.

"Look, this will be your room from now on! Do you like it? I asked a well-known domestic designer to design it. He said that girls your age like this style the most. Angel said she likes this room too..."

"By the way, you haven't met Angel yet, right? She's Yajing's daughter, six years old... It was a little late today, and the little girl insisted on waiting for her sister to come back, so I had a hard time coaxing her to sleep..."

Angel, angel.

I guess the person who gave her this name must have loved her very much...

Seeing that I didn't want to talk to her, Takahashi Masako looked a little disappointed, but the emotion quickly dissipated. They say blood is thicker than water, and I did owe her a lot over the years, but she still has time to fix everything, right?

Thinking of this, she felt that she should guide her child patiently, so she said tactfully: "You must be very tired today, so Mommy won't disturb your rest for now..."

I finally breathed a sigh of relief when she left the room and closed the door.

The touch of the bed sheet is very good, and it feels very smooth. It seems that my rough hands can easily scratch the material.

Although I had prepared myself to be patient, when I stayed in this luxurious and unfamiliar room, I realized that—

I can't stand it at all!

My peripherals, my game cartridges, my comic books, woooooooooo…

All in all, it was destined to be a sleepless night.

I closed my eyes almost at dawn, but I felt itchy on my face not long after I fell asleep. When I opened my eyes, an enlarged face appeared in front of me.

I screamed in surprise, and my reaction obviously scared the other person, causing him to fall off the bed and onto the soft floor.

Only then did I see clearly that the person was a little girl, wearing a light blue puffy skirt, her hair carefully braided into a beautiful shape. It was Masakyo's daughter, Angel, Takahashi Masako's stepdaughter.

Seeing that I woke up, she immediately climbed up again and said sweetly: "Good morning, sister!"

I subconsciously retorted: "I'm not your sister."

But she raised her innocent face and asked in a doubtful tone: "Don't you want to be my sister? Do you want to be my mother?" ??? ???

"What nonsense are you talking about?!"

"Angel is not talking nonsense. Those sisters that Dad brought home before all wanted me to call them mom soon after. Angel didn't like them, so Dad drove them all away."

She shook her head saying this.

"No, no, you were not brought back by dad, you were brought back by Masako's mother. You are Masako's mother's daughter. Masako's mother is also my mother, so you are my sister. Angel likes Masako's mother, so Angel will also like my sister..."

Girl, your logic is correct and circuitous.

But is there a simpler and more crude logic? I am also an underage girl, so it is absolutely impossible for me to want to be your mother...

I secretly complained in my heart, but I learned one thing from Angel's incredible remarks, that is, Mr. Masakyo is most likely a daughter-con, and I also have a rough guess as to why Masako Takahashi stood out among many "sisters" and successfully took the position.

It seems my mother's second marriage wasn't as happy as it seemed...

*

It was always like this at the beginning. Because she felt guilty, she was very cautious with me, afraid that she would make me unhappy in any way. She bought me all kinds of clothes and shoes, all kinds of dolls and toys, as well as delicious desserts and cakes. But I still stubbornly wore the two sets of clothes that I brought with me, which were washed white. I never touched the toys she gave me, let alone ate the desserts and cakes.

Not only that, in order to welcome my return, Masako Takahashi connected the two rooms on the third floor and turned them into a dance studio with large floor-to-ceiling mirrors on all four sides.

But I never even took a step inside.

She asked me why, and I hesitated and hemmed and hawed for a long time. Looking at her eager eyes, I finally said, "I haven't danced for too long. I don't want to dance anymore."

She thought it was just a momentary outburst of anger, thinking that as long as she had enough time and patience to guide me, I would change my mind and become the child who danced gracefully under her guidance again.

I was too lazy to refute her. It wasn't so much that I was too lazy to refute her, but rather that I still didn't have the courage to say those words.

From then on, her focus shifted from how to persuade me to continue dancing to finding a suitable school for me to transfer to. The reason was that she felt that the school I was currently attending was too bad and not up to par, and she wanted to find a better-qualified private school for me in downtown Tokyo.

She is more of a diligent and hardworking student than I am, and she is constantly studying the introductions of various schools.

Such concentration naturally caused dissatisfaction among another person in the family.

The trigger was that she forgot to attend the parent event held by Angel Kindergarten because she went to meet a teacher at a private school.

My room was close to the stairs on the second floor, and I could hear the quarrel between the two people downstairs very clearly.

The house is a very nice house, but the sound insulation is really not very good.

At that time, Angel was in my room showing me the music box left to her by her mother (her biological mother), and she also heard the noise downstairs.

I immediately changed the subject, "Angel, I have a very nice song here, do you want to listen to it?"

Children's attention is easily diverted, so she immediately became interested and quickly said, "I want to listen! Angel wants to listen!"

Seeing this, I immediately took out my headphones and put them on her head, picked a song, and turned up the volume to a level just enough to cover up the noise downstairs.

About two minutes later, the quarrel downstairs ended and I heard footsteps coming up the stairs.

My door was not closed because of Angel's arrival, so when Mr. Yajing came upstairs, he naturally saw Angel wearing headphones and shaking his head. There was a flash of surprise in his eyes at first, and then he reacted.

He said to me, "Thank you."

I glanced at him and sneered, "It's hard to believe you two can still argue so passionately at your age... Go outside if you want to argue next time. It's so annoying. Don't you know that noise pollutes the environment?"

Then he took off the headphones on Angel's head and sent her and her father out of the room.

As the door was about to close, I asked, "Why did you marry someone like...my mother?"

My voice was so low, almost a whisper, that I thought he didn't hear me. But unexpectedly, the moment the door closed, he answered -

"Because she's a good mother."

I almost couldn't straighten my back while laughing in bed, as if I had heard the funniest joke of the century.