I'll Have a Family of My Own (Continued)

It was Kitagawa Ryo, whom she had just thought was still in Hokkaido.

"Honami."

Upon seeing Ichinose Honami, Kitagawa Ryo, who had been leaning slightly against the door, raised his hand and called her name.

It had been almost a month since I last saw her, and I could clearly sense that the girl in front of me had a different aura than before. This was not due to the professional attire she was wearing, but rather a genuine change in spirit and energy emanating from Ichinose Honami, completely different from her previous self.

"Ryo is back from Hokkaido?"

Upon seeing Kitagawa Ryo, Ichinose Honami was momentarily stunned, but she quickly ran over, unlocked her room with her key, pushed Kitagawa inside first, and then followed him in.

"Yes, my flight was this morning, and I haven't even been in Tokyo for two hours yet."

As he spoke, Kitagawa Ryo rubbed his temples wearily. He could only say that the Hokkaido story was essentially an enhanced version of last year's cruise ship story. If he had known, he would have preferred to stay in Tokyo Shiina Hiyori be researched by Karuizawa Kei as well. The bond between the three members of the last simulated hospital riot trio was indeed more than the sum of its parts.

"Let's not talk about that. How's Honami doing here?"

"It's great. My seniors and superiors have been very supportive of me. I guess Liang deserves some credit for that. In essence, I'm just taking advantage of their influence."

"Honami, there's no need to say that. Before I came to find you, I specifically asked around the company, and everyone had a good opinion of your work attitude and ability. In fact, as an intern, you've done a great job. Most interns at ANHS are still at the stage where they consider it a victory if they don't cause trouble for the company."

"But it still feels far from a professional level."

"Honami is only a second-year high school student right now. After this Special Exam is over and he returns to school, he can look for books on this subject to study, or he can pursue further studies in a related major at university after graduation."

Kitagawa Ryo was well aware from the beginning of the reason why Ichinose Honami suddenly showed a great interest in this industry, but of course he wholeheartedly supported her. After all, just as the other party thought, when it came to money, he would naturally prefer to appoint his most trusted person or confidant. Rather than saying that Ichinose Honami was willing to take the initiative to take over this matter, it was to relieve his burden.

"That will have to wait several years."

"No matter how many years later, the company will always reserve this position for Honami. And it's not just Honami; I myself will have to follow my family's arrangements and take over various tasks step by step. So there's no need to worry about anyone falling behind; our paces are always in sync."

Reality is not like what is shown in TV dramas. Of course, Kitagawa Ryo could not tell his family directly that he had already trained for more than ten years in his previous life. The training of heirs by large conglomerates is a rather long process.

It is precisely for this reason that the three years spent at Tokyo Advanced Nurturing High School can be considered the last period of time Kitagawa Ryo could freely control in the next ten years or so. It can only be said that since he inherited the advantages brought by that talent, the corresponding responsibilities and sacrifices were also unavoidable.

"Um."

For any girl, it would be hard to resist a moment to plan for the future with her sweetheart. This was especially true for Ichinose Honami, because for a long time, she had sadly believed that their future would be like two parallel lines that would drift further and further apart and never intersect, with no possibility of ever meeting.

Then, the two of them sat together on the dormitory bed. Ichinose Honami leaned back against Kitagawa Ryo's embrace, tilting her head slightly up to look at him with a rare playful expression, and asked him:

"Isn't Liang worried that it might be a bit unsafe for someone like me, who has a history of theft, to work in the finance field?"

"Honami isn't anyone else's accountant or housekeeper. From now on, he'll be my personal accountant and housekeeper. So what's mine is yours, and what's yours is mine. There's no need to do this kind of left-hand-to-right-hand thing."

"Rather than that, I'm afraid Honami will be stingy with himself like before."

"Mean?"

"Yeah, even stealing wasn't for himself, but because of his sister's stinginess. No one in this world can be nice to another person all the time, so sometimes you have to learn to be nicer to yourself."

"But if I never learn it in my entire life, does that mean Liang has to obediently learn to be good to me every single moment for the rest of her life?"

"Even if Honami doesn't do it this way, I'll still try my best, so let's try to learn it as much as possible."

The peach-pink hair clip is engraved with an exquisitely designed mythical bird with outstretched wings, its tail feathers trailing waves of gradually changing crimson flames.

As he spoke, Kitagawa Ryo took out a gift from his pocket that he had specially brought back from Hokkaido for Ichinose Honami.

It remains a small and exquisite hair clip.

In fact, he had given Ichinose Honami a phoenix-patterned hair clip several years ago, but she never wore it for the next two years until she finally resolved her inner conflict and was willing to wear it.

Even the prettiest girl needs to learn how to dress herself up, just like even the most beautiful jewelry needs to be worn in different ways, right?

Ichinose Honami Kitagawa Ryo still wearing, the one he had given her years ago, which bore the marks of time, and handed it to her. He then reached out and took the girl's long, golden-pink hair that was scattered across his chest, and pinned the brand-new snowflake-shaped hair clip to her.

Ichinose Honami quietly let Kitagawa Ryo do these things, her eyes fixed on the hair clip that had been replaced in her hand, seemingly lost in thought.

She used to think that even the prettiest hair clip only came alive when worn; once taken off, it became a mosquito's bloodstain, a dull and lifeless red.

But now it seems that's not the case. What can truly bring an inanimate object to life is the memories and emotions condensed on it, just like the hair clip she's holding tightly in her palm right now.

It will be, and should be, one of the memories, not the only one.

The former is used for commemoration, while the latter can only be used for mourning.

Even ten or twenty years later, when her child finds it again at the bottom of the dressing case, she should still be able to smile and tell them:

This is the hair clip that Mom and Dad liked to wear most when they were dating.

P. S.: Thank you for reading and subscribing.

PS2: Tomorrow I will post the last chapter of the main story, followed by the epilogue and side stories.

Final Chapter: Our Beginning and End

Without a doubt, Ayanokoji Atsuomi was a cautious person, especially when it came to his own safety.

After all, when he first joined Naoe's ranks, he did some shady things for him, such as introducing underage girls, bribing officials, and conducting espionage activities against rival organizations. Naturally, he sometimes resorted to mafia-style and semi-thuggish violence. Many of his victims died directly or indirectly at Naoe's hands, and quite a few were even sealed in cement and sunk into Tokyo Bay.

Unless it's Matoba like at Tokyo Advanced Nurturing High School where bodyguards are explicitly prohibited, Ayanokoji Atsuomi always brings his trusted bodyguards with him whenever he goes out, even within the White Room under his complete control.

Even so, Ayanokoji Kiyotaka was still confident that he could subdue his bodyguards on the spot with some effort, after all, he had done it once before in the White Room.

But the risks of doing so are undoubtedly very high.

Firstly, Ayanokoji Atsuomi would never be foolish enough to sit idly by and watch his bodyguards surrender after being subdued by him. This man would immediately get up and flee the moment he sensed something was wrong, and given his cautious nature, he would definitely not give him another chance if he missed this opportunity.

Secondly, this does not meet the expectations of the other forces that he and Tsukishiro painstakingly won over. After all, what they wanted was to make things bigger. Ayanokoji Atsuomi's life was even insignificant in the eyes of some of them. What was more important was how to spread the fire to the person behind him.

Finally, and most importantly, Ayanokoji Kiyotaka did not actually want to achieve a one-for-one exchange with Ayanokoji Atsuomi.

After all, his initial intention in wanting to kill the other party was to break free from his control and freely explore and experience the rest of his life. If it was only to pursue the result of killing the other party, then it would be putting the cart before the horse.

It was precisely because of all of the above that Ayanokoji Kiyotaka ultimately turned his attention to Miyabi Nagumo.

In a sense, Miyabi Nagumo now is no different from Ayanokoji Atsuomi back then. Both of them are willing to abandon their past principles of survival and their past concepts of good and evil in order to get a little bit of power. They are the easiest people to use.

During this month-long Special Exam period, Ayanokoji Kiyotaka had Miyabi Nagumo do two things.

First, they would stake out the Matoba where various politicians were giving street speeches, and instruct them to appear extremely enthusiastic and interested in the ideas and thoughts of the Onigashima Faction politicians when they were giving speeches, while showing extreme indifference or even harassment towards Naoe's people.

Secondly, it was what Miyabi Nagumo considered a 'loyalty test' or a pledge of allegiance.

Ayanokoji Kiyotaka wants him to withdraw from Tokyo Advanced Nurturing High School on his own initiative.

In fact, this was exactly what Miyabi Nagumo had always hoped for. After all, in his eyes, ANHS was just Matoba for children to play house, not to mention that he had always been ostracized there. Now that Ayanokoji Kiyotaka had ordered him to drop out, didn't this prove that he and his father, that truly important figure, Ayanokoji Atsuomi, were really determined to have him work for them?

As expected, after deliberately provoking trouble at the university where she was auditing classes, Miyabi Nagumo, who seriously violated the rules set by Tokyo Advanced Nurturing High School for this Special Exam, was successfully expelled.

When he secretly approached Ayanokoji Kiyotaka again after receiving this pledge of loyalty, Kiyotaka, quite seriously, finally discussed with him the real plan that he, his father, and Naoe had devised together after receiving these instructions.

"At this time tomorrow, my father will be campaigning for the candidate in the House of Councillors election in this constituency, at the Kamogawa Sentai."

"All you need to do is pretend to be an audience member at a street speech, then blend into the crowd with this, and shoot your father after he takes the stage."

As he spoke, Ayanokoji Kiyotaka took out the crudely made homemade gun that he had originally kept in the package and pushed it in front of Miyabi Nagumo.

"Is this supposed to be a staged assassination scene? That's why I was made to deliberately show political leanings towards the Onigashima Faction before."

Miyabi Nagumo's mind was indeed quite quick. She subconsciously voiced her guess while unconsciously swallowing hard, and reached out to grab the homemade gun.

Is this a prop?

"It's not entirely a prop, but it's the most suitable assassination tool for your identity. Although we can provide you with real controlled firearms, the others aren't stupid. They'll definitely think first, 'How could a high school senior like you get your hands on something like that?' and their attention will be diverted."

At this point, Ayanokoji Kiyotaka tapped the homemade gun, which resembled a camera, again:

"But you don't need to worry. The bullets inside are specially made. Even if they are fired at close range of three to five meters, there is no possibility of a fatal hit. Besides, Father was wearing a special bulletproof vest under his shirt that day."

"Are you taking such a huge risk just to pin the blame on the Onigashima Faction?"

"Of course not. This is also for our side, especially for positive publicity for Father. To be honest, Father went to great lengths to get this spot for the publicity stunt."

Faced with Miyabi Nagumo's question, Ayanokoji Kiyotaka simply shook his head, then pulled up a photo on his phone and showed it to Miyabi Nagumo.

That was during the America election last year, on the other side of the ocean. A candidate was assassinated at a speech. After being shot in the ear and bleeding, he was surrounded by bodyguards who rushed to protect him. However, he still raised his right hand as if to shout, with the America flag half-fallen behind him. The image was coincidentally captured by a photographer at the scene and played a wide-ranging publicity role in the subsequent election.

"You should understand now, right? This is the effect Father wanted."

Regardless of whether the assassination attempt across the ocean was real or not, there is no doubt that Ayanokoji Atsuomi intends to replicate it in a similar manner.

"There were photographers nearby who had already found the best positions and angles, so all you had to do was get close and fire."

"... But I'll be arrested on the spot, won't I?"

Although he understood Ayanokoji Kiyotaka's meaning, Miyabi Nagumo was still clearly a little hesitant and uneasy about this matter.

"Yes, you will be apprehended on the spot by your father's bodyguards and arrested, but in reality, there will be absolutely no danger. After all, firstly, it can only be considered an attempted assassination, and secondly, neither our side nor the Onigashima side will dare to make any rash moves against you. So, the final result will be a few years in prison."

"Of course, we've also prepared a backup plan for you, but listen carefully, this is only for your sake, and has nothing to do with anyone else from Naoe."

It must be said that Ayanokoji Kiyotaka has a remarkable talent for imitating aura and eye expressions. After all, he is a stoic person with little expression, and he can easily give people an overwhelming sense of pressure by just slightly changing his eyes.

"When you give your testimony at the police station and in court, you can put more thought into your motives and try to gain public sympathy in exchange for a reduced sentence or a lighter punishment. I have prepared these materials for you. What you need to do today is to memorize them as much as possible and then reasonably incorporate them into your own story."

Faced with the several pieces of dark history involving certain figures that Ayanokoji Kiyotaka handed over, Miyabi Nagumo broke out in a cold sweat again, sensing that the Ayanokoji father and son intended to use this opportunity to settle personal scores and bring down a few competitors.

But the more he schemed and plotted, the more real Miyabi Nagumo felt about the matter, even experiencing a strong sense of excitement that gave him goosebumps—the feeling that he was about to participate in something that some people could never experience in their entire lives.

"We'll also help you find the best lawyers. If all goes well, you should be able to graduate in about three or four years, which is roughly the length of a university degree."

Faced with Ayanokoji Kiyotaka's rather suggestive remarks, Miyabi Nagumo quickly made up her mind.

He was certainly willing to gamble three or four years for a brighter future. After all, as the other person said, it was just the time it takes to go to university. When he and his peers who had just graduated from university entered society again in three or four years, he would already have a significant head start.

After briefly instructing Miyabi Nagumo on firing and aiming techniques, Ayanokoji Kiyotaka put the weapon away again.

"Someone will bring it to you tomorrow at noon, since it's not convenient for you to keep it at home right now."

"Good."

After explaining everything and seeing off Miyabi Nagumo, who had checked him before he arrived, Ayanokoji Kiyotaka sat back down in his seat and subconsciously took out his phone from his pocket.

For a fleeting moment, he did have a strong urge to call or text Kitagawa Ryo, but he managed to suppress it.

It is precisely at such sensitive times that we must pay extra attention to all communication with the other party.

But for Ayanokoji Kiyotaka at this moment, Kitagawa Ryo was indeed the only one who truly knew what he was thinking and doing, and with whom he could talk about anything.

Perhaps this is what they call friends, as described in books.

Remembering the sketchbook he had given to the other person before the start of this Special Exam, Ayanokoji Kiyotaka put down his phone, closed his eyes slightly, and began to rest.

Pure white is colorless, but colorless means that all sorts of other colors can be splashed on it freely.

Just as life is sometimes good in its meaninglessness, because only in this way can each person give meaning to it.

On the last day of the Summer Special Exam, Kitagawa Ryo, unusually, called all the girls he could to his side, intending to take advantage of the fact that both Hotaru were present to tell him everything he had only told four people so far—about himself and Hotaru, as well as the truth about the Sims.

However, Hotaru certainly wouldn't mention that she initially only selected four female leads for Kitagawa Ryo, but later, due to unforeseen circumstances, her brother ended up having so many relationships. And objectively speaking, Shiina Hiyori and Sakura Airi certainly have something to say too. The reason they weren't chosen is simply because their personalities are perfectly normal. Even if they have a few minor issues, they're minor issues, and there's no need to go through such a complicated process of matchmaking.

Therefore, from this perspective, Hotaru's selection should be called a gathering of problem children. Moreover, just as Horikita Suzune and Amasawa Ichika still don't actively seek out Kitagawa Ryo and Hotaru's past, compared to the romantic comedy currently unfolding in reality, would anyone really want another complete tragedy to happen to them?

It can only be said that the previous girl and the one before that had such thoughts have all been thoroughly corrected by Kitagawa Ryo. After all, desperately showing others one's shameful past is, in a sense, a kind of cyber exhibitionism, which is definitely not a correct mentality.

That's why Kitagawa Ryo hopes that everyone can view and joke about those failed lives with a more optimistic and even humorous attitude, just like collecting bad endings in a game. After all, everyone is a living being in the present moment, and the rise of life simulation games is largely to allow people to temporarily forget the reality in front of them.

Conversely, when reality has become the most perfect path in a dozen or so restarted lives, Kitagawa Ryo loses the motivation and necessity to simulate life again, just like the ending he has achieved now.

He didn't know what kind of lives these girls would lead in the timeline without him, but he had already seen several timelines where he still managed to create a bad ending despite his intervention. Sometimes, Kitagawa Ryo would even wonder whether his involvement was a blessing or a curse for them. But it would only be a momentary lapse in concentration, because he had now truly intervened in each of their lives and his Fate was intertwined with theirs.

Of course, this is only the first stage of all of their lives.

It's far from the so-called end or conclusion; in fact, it's still a long way off.

But compared to their previous lives, they have truly put an end to the burdens they carried in the past.

This is the end of the road of the past, and the beginning of the road of the future.

"Eggplant--"

With this thought in mind, Kitagawa Ryo, surrounded by everyone in the middle, raised the two front paws of the solid-colored kitten she was holding, and together with the girls, gave the camera their best smiles.

'Click--'

On one side of Tokyo and the other side, one camera and another 'camera' were captured together by their owners pressing the shutter.

(End of text)

P. S.: Thank you for reading and subscribing.

PS2: The main text ends here, but there will be a lot of epilogues, personal side stories, and "what if" side stories coming up. Please check back for more. The author's closing remarks and new book announcement will also be released after the side stories conclude. Thank you again to all readers for your reading and support so far. Remember to check back for the side stories tomorrow!