Chapter Five: Visiting Everyone / Chapter Six: That Time ...

"No, no, no! How could Lin do such a thing! You brat, go back to sleep right now!"

The white-haired man wearing a mask, shirtless, shooed the boy away impatiently, as if swatting away mosquitoes. He seemed very annoyed by the boy's appearance; he was already quite annoyed the moment the door was knocked and the boy appeared.

"No, no! Uncle Chrono! I didn't come to talk about that!"

"... Hmph." The masked man snorted coldly upon hearing the boy's flustered explanation, making way for him to enter. However, his eyes beneath the mask remained fixed on the boy, clearly indicating that he wouldn't hesitate to teach the boy a lesson on behalf of his parents if he dared to bring up that matter.

The boy was still a little afraid of the uncle who taught him to cook. Although both the father and the masked man wore masks, their temperaments were completely opposite.

In comparison, the father was quite kind.

Upon entering the house, the boy discovered that the masked man was shirtless because he was busily cooking in the kitchen, developing new dishes even so late at night. The boy was deeply impressed by the masked man's dedication as a chef.

"Speak up, then go back. I don't have time to take care of a brat." The masked man, wearing a shirt with Winnie the Pooh printed on it, sat opposite the boy, his tapping fingers on the table revealing his mood. "But let me make this clear: if Kevin and Vill-V hadn't specifically told me to consider your feelings, and if you weren't their son, I would have thrown you into the river before you asked me."

"So you should know what you should say and what you shouldn't say."

The boy's hair stood on end, and he nodded nervously.

"Very well, then speak."

"Uncle Chrono, I want to ask... what happened before my parents got married?"

"Marriage? Hmph, who remembers that boring stuff!" The masked man snorted dismissively. "But I seem to remember that Aponia prayed all night on their wedding day, saying she was sending blessings to their marriage. Tch, hypocritical woman."

"Aunt Aponia? That makes sense..."

The boy had the best impression of the Nun among the elders, of course, before this incident. She was gentle, kind, and tolerant. If the boy learned anything from the Nun, it was probably noble character.

However, he vaguely sensed that the Nun was the one among them who looked at his father with the most fervent gaze... so fervent that it sent a chill down his spine.

"Is that all the questions you want to ask?"

"Wait, wait Chrono, do you remember what happened between you two before Father and Mother decided to get married?"

"What happened... Back then, those things had just ended, there was no time for leisure and elegance... Hmm..." Seeing the boy's serious eyes, the masked man, no matter how impatient he was, thought for a moment and then said uncertainly, "Back then, your mother held a party to celebrate."

"When?"

"The day before your parents announced their marriage."

This is it!

The boy was so excited he almost jumped up. He had initially thought his father was having an affair, but now he realized things weren't so simple and he had finally found an important clue!

"I have to say your mother had a really good alcohol tolerance. She got everyone, including me, drunk. I don't remember very clearly what happened after that, but I was the first to wake up and found that only your mother and your father were missing."

Exactly the same situation as that time!

That party must have been orchestrated by my mother. Perhaps she drank a lower-proof drink or even something that wasn't alcohol at all. Then, while everyone was in a daze, she took the opportunity to propose to my father, leaving no time for anyone else to react.

The boy recalled the gathering, the scene of his father being taken away by his aunt, and her cold smile, concluding that she was taking revenge on his mother.

"Thank you, Uncle Chrono."

"Thanks... Tsk, if there's nothing else, you should go now, I have things to do."

"Qi Jiu... would you like something to drink?"

The woman with cherry-blossom hair looked even more reserved than the boy. She nervously rubbed her fingers together, completely lacking her usual heroic demeanor.

After all, in her opinion, the reason for the father-son conflict in the man's family was her awkward attitude at the time, which caused the boy to misunderstand.

"No need, Aunt Sakura, I'll be leaving in a bit." The boy understood that the woman was also very guilty, so he comforted her instead, "Don't worry, Aunt Sakura, I already know that I misunderstood. I just want to know some other things. If you can, please answer me truthfully."

"Okay, I'll tell you everything I know."

"You're taking this too seriously, Aunt Sakura..."

The boy scratched his head, coughed, and said, "Aunt Sakura, did you originally plan to... um..."

Before the question could be finished, the cherry-haired woman lowered her head in embarrassment. She was the least likely among them to lie or hide her emotions; what she wanted to say was written all over her face.

"Back then... we went through a lot as friends who fought side by side, so we got along really well. Don't overthink it."

"..."

This level of lying is far weaker than the green-haired aunt's skillful lying, where she could lie without batting an eye, and eleven out of ten sentences were false.

"But... maybe it's just my opinion." The cherry-haired woman sighed, noticing the boy's undisguised disappointment in her eyes. "I'm the kind of person Lin hates the most. The only reason he can tolerate me is because of other people."

"Don't underestimate yourself, Aunt Sakura, and back then..."

"Then?"

The boy who had let slip a bead of cold sweat broke out as the cherry-haired woman's sharp, knife-like gaze pierced his face.

Why are all these people so sensitive?

"Back then, it must have been Father who accepted Aunt Sakura! He never said a bad word about you."

"Yeah?"

The cherry-haired woman frowned, sensing something was amiss, but the boy quickly laughed it off.

Then he tentatively asked, "Um, Aunt Ying, if... I mean, if... when Father and Mother got married, Mother secretly used a little trick to deceive you all..."

Before the boy could speak, the cherry-haired woman's gaze, as sharp as snow in February, made him wisely shut his mouth.

"That's just a hypothetical! How could Father get married so casually, right?"

"...Too."

The boy wiped away a cold sweat. Luckily, the cherry-haired woman had a strong bias against men, otherwise he might have made another big mistake.

However, it was precisely that look in the cherry-haired woman's eyes that made him truly realize that even a woman with such a gentle personality would react after learning the truth. Therefore, it wouldn't be surprising what the green-haired woman, with her personality, would do after finding out...

Chapter Six at that time

"Let's organize the intelligence."

The boy stopped writing and tapped his notebook with his fingertips. His face was completely devoid of any extra emotion. He learned this trick from his father. Men tend to reduce their emotions when doing things that involve thinking. According to his father, as long as there is no drastic change in facial expression, the thinking can be more focused.

"Twenty years ago, my father, mother, uncles and aunts founded an unknown club. After achieving its initial goals, the club disbanded. The day after the disbandment, my mother organized a party and proposed to my father that night, announcing it to everyone the following day."

"Then they got along peacefully for the next twenty years, but in reality, Aunt Mobius was secretly plotting something, and most likely she had already succeeded, which is what I saw at the time."

"Aunt Vill-V said that with my mother's intelligence, it was impossible for her to be kept in the dark... So let's assume that Aunt Mobius didn't actually do anything that made my father and mother feel uncomfortable, and that they were very likely... doing academic research at the time?"

"So, following this line of thought, could it be that I just misunderstood when I saw other people in my father's room? And my mother, knowing all this, just let me misunderstand?!"

He initially thought his father was a heinous criminal and his mother an innocent victim, but after interviewing several people, his stance instantly reversed. This dramatic change caused the boy's forced composure to falter.

"But why..." The boy covered his head, feeling as if he had overlooked something, a strange sense of unease lingering in his heart.

After gathering his thoughts and tucking the notebook into his pocket, the boy, filled with trepidation, knocked on the last door of his journey.

An unremarkable laboratory door.

"You seem to really enjoy playing detective games."

A green-haired woman with her hands in the pockets of her white lab coat stood in front of a tubular petri dish in the laboratory. The faint fluorescence was the only light source in the pitch-black laboratory. Her face was hidden in the darkness and could not be seen clearly, only the corners of her mouth were slightly upturned, carrying a hint of interest.

"Actually, it's not like that..."

"So, have you found the truth?"

"The truth?" The boy didn't understand what the green-haired woman was saying. He just wanted to find out if his father was really like that, or simply to clear up the misunderstanding. Why use such a mysterious word as "the truth"? "Father was just discussing academic issues with you, wasn't he?"

"... Are you still hung up on that matter?"

The green-haired woman was clearly somewhat surprised, but not because she was surprised that the boy had cleared up the misunderstanding; rather, it was more of a surprise that was mostly disappointment.

"Huh?"

"Tch, I thought they would just tell you what happened back then, but I still have to tell you." The green-haired woman clicked her tongue. "If you knew what happened back then, you would understand that love is the rarest thing for people like us. So back then, there was no ridiculous palace drama-like competition for favor. Your father and mother just naturally came together to where they are now. There was no underhanded trickery involved on either side."

"What... what does this mean?"

The boy was confused. Why were their versions of events different?

He noticed something: what the green-haired woman said about "what happened" back then. He had never paid attention to what they were doing at the time, but now he was curious about what their society did, since even a scientific luminary like the green-haired woman was a member.

"Heh, although I'm reluctant to admit it, your father Lin is better than anyone at using tricks. It was easy for him to figure out what your mother did back then. Of course, we're not stupid either. Everyone knew perfectly well back then. Nobody really cared who Lin married. It was all natural and inevitable."

The boy suddenly recalled the woman with cherry-haired hair's slight anger. What she was angry about wasn't that someone had played dirty tricks, but that the boy was questioning the authenticity of his parents' marriage. In their view, such a thing was beyond doubt, stemming from their acceptance of the hard-won happiness. To deny the marriage was to deny their friendship.

Aunt Vill-V tricked me!

The boy immediately understood the meaning behind the magician's meaningful smile.

She was the most detached person, so she was also the best outsider who could sit on the sidelines and watch the show. The more conflicted he was, the happier she became.

Therefore, her wording is entirely ambiguous and highly misleading.

The green-haired woman brushed a strand of hair behind her ear. "The truth is, your mother was also drunk at that time. She hugged your father and talked a lot of nonsense. She was so moved by herself that she shouted that they should live happily together in the future. Your father, whose thinking was as straight as a telephone pole in some ways, took her words as a marriage proposal."

"But it's not his fault. Everything had just ended then, and your mother is usually outspoken, so it's normal for her to have such a misunderstanding."

"So after thinking for thirty seconds, your father said something..."

Her expression changed.

"You want to have children with me?"

"..."

The boy fell silent.

His father, who often sat silently in the corner, seemed gloomy to him, but was still relatively normal. He never expected that he would say something that wasn't even a cheesy pickup line.

If it were any other girl, she probably would have already gotten slapped for saying that.

"Hmph... Judging from your expression, you seem to have some misunderstanding about Lin. Before you were born, he held a somewhat extreme view of inheritance, prioritizing the future over everything. He believed that exchanging one's own possessions for the happiness of those who came after was a worthwhile thing. Therefore, procreation was something he had never thought about before, but at the same time, it was the most important thing to him."

The contradictory idea of sacrificing one's own happiness for the happiness of future generations without considering one's descendants truly exists in this era.

"So, my parents are very happy... My father didn't cheat on me, my mother didn't lie, and my uncles and aunts are all important friends of my parents..." The boy slowly raised his head, "But before that, what exactly happened? Why did my father have those thoughts? Why were his parents gone when he was young? Why did my mother say 'live happily'?"

"... So, you want to know the truth? Even if it shatters your worldview and leads you down a different path?"

The green-haired woman laughed in the darkness.

"A path your father walked."

Chapter Seven: Consciousness Transfer Experiment

Respectfully yours, Father and Mother:

By the time you read this letter, I will have already run away from home. But please don't worry, I didn't run away because there's something wrong with this family or out of spite. I just have something I need to do.

Before I apologize to you for leaving without saying goodbye, I want to apologize to my father first. I not only doubted you, but also said such hurtful things without knowing anything about your past.

I have already learned from Aunt Mobius what you were fighting against back then, and what a bizarre era you went through, and now... it's my turn.

Please process my leave of absence from school so that my parents can continue to maintain this hard-won life. If possible, you can have another child, because I don't know if I can persevere like you have until the end.

Actually, I have a lot to say... but when it comes to parting, perhaps it's better to remain silent.

—Lin Qijiu.

"Have you packed your things?"

The boy slung the bag over his shoulder, turned to the white-haired girl, and asked.

"Baseball Bat, magazines, potato chips... Hmm! I've got everything!" The white-haired girl rummaged through her messy backpack and nodded to the boy with satisfaction.

"What did you pack?! Why did you bring magazines and potato chips?! Do you think we're going on a vacation?!" The boy snatched her bag, his face darkening as he pulled out the useless items. "And why aren't there any bullets?! Aren't you supposed to know gun-fu?! Why did you bring Baseball Bat?!"

"Bullets cost money too, and I don't have that much spare money to stockpile bullets..." The white-haired girl poked her finger in grievance. "Besides, when Dad taught me gun-fu, I asked him if the Kaslana family developed gun-fu because they were afraid of wasting bullets by using them up too quickly, and he told me he had the same idea!"

"... What's this? Like father, like daughter? So the reason you like girls is because your father also likes girls?" the boy said, facepalming.

"You're not one of them! You said you wanted to join that mysterious organization because of your dad's experiences, and you even know about the Honkai..."