Tokyo, there are too many defeated magical girls.

"Eh?!"

—The cunning and shrewd Lin Chun threw Shuicheng Linzi into complete disarray with just one move.

"Idiot, you idiot, don't say it out loud!"

Her face immediately turned red with embarrassment.

At that moment, the two of them had just entered the yukata shop, where there were sales assistants and other customers.

But Lin Chun's question was unusually loud, and it immediately echoed throughout the entire store...

Everyone looked on in astonishment.

As a purebred Japanese girl, Rinko Mizushiro is extremely thin-skinned and couldn't stand this. She immediately felt extremely ashamed.

But when he saw Lin Chun's smug grin, he immediately realized that he absolutely could not back down here.

Otherwise, it would be a real loss of face.

"call--"

She stood there and took a deep breath.

With a determined effort, she wrapped her arms around Lin Chun's neck, under the watchful eyes of all the shop assistants and customers.

"Of course we'll kiss! My lips are already looking forward to it."

"Uh……"

Rinko Mizuki's counterattack caught Lin Chun completely off guard.

The mischievous smile disappeared; instead, he turned his face away.

But the Japanese girl wouldn't let it go, determined to return the humiliation she had just suffered twofold.

"So, Hayashi Jun-kun, please make sure you choose a nice yukata for me~"

Rinko reached out her right hand, cupped the face of the man she had pledged her life to, and as their eyes met, she confessed, word by word:

"That way, even if there are the most dazzling fireworks, your gaze will still be fixed on me."

82. Mieko’s difficult choice

Mizushiro Rinko was finally satisfied after dating Lin Jun until 2 PM.

After they parted, she sat alone on the tram back to her old house, clutching her shopping bag.

My heart is pounding with excitement; every moment I'm dreaming about tomorrow night's summer fireworks festival.

Almost every three minutes, I would mentally plan the deep kiss that would follow.

It's no exaggeration to say that my brain was practically deprived of oxygen from all the stress I was putting on myself.

She almost missed her stop, but she was still incredibly happy as she walked home.

My joy was overwhelming—until I pushed open the gate of my old family home, which abruptly dissipated.

His mother, Mizuki Mieko, had been waiting in the front courtyard for quite some time.

She stood with her arms crossed at the entrance of the wooden corridor, casting an unusually stern gaze.

"Rinko, why haven't you replied to my calls and texts?!"

"what?"

Rinko Mizuki hurriedly pulled out her phone.

Only then did I see as many as twenty unread text messages and nearly ten call records.

Without exception, they all came from Mother.

Then it dawned on her that she had put her phone on silent so she could go on a date with Lin Chun, and hadn't looked at it once during the entire time.

"I'm sorry, Mother..."

"Where did you go? Who did you go with?!"

"Well……"

Rinko Mizushiro originally wanted to make up an excuse.

But her mother's sharp gaze was already fixed on the shopping bag in her hand, filled with suspicion.

Moreover, judging from her delicate makeup, she must have gone to the apartment with great joy, but she didn't see Lin Chun herself.

—The answer to who you went out with is obvious.

In the end, Rinko chose to tell the truth.

"I went shopping in Shibuya with Mr. Lin Jun..."

"Is it a date?"

"almost……"

"Woo!"

"???"

My mother was unusually strict just a second ago...

Without warning, a voice filled with grievance and jealousy escaped her throat, and Mizuki Rinko thought she had misheard.

He wanted to look up at his mother's expression, but a hand was stretched out in front of him.

Demanding things from a superior position, full of the authority of an elder.

"Let me see what you bought!"

"A yukata...and some small accessories...here you go."

No matter how unwilling Mizushiro Rinko was.

In this traditional family, one dared not disobey the mother's orders.

She obediently handed over the shopping bag, letting the other person take out the Japanese-style yukata right in front of her.

Facing the sunlight, I looked him up and down.

—The background is pure white, and the colorful pansy pattern is painted on it, which is full of youthful vitality.

The classic design is intentionally loose and relaxed, so that fair and delicate skin is exposed just right.

It's practically against the rules for a girl to wear this yukata on a date at night.

Because it will definitely make your boyfriend unable to take his eyes off you.

"This……"

Mizushiro Mieko, now a mother, stared blankly.

In a daze, it felt as if I had returned to twenty years ago, to the same age as Rinko.

Looking at the brand-new kimono, I look forward to showing my best self to my loved one.

And at this moment——

Rinko Mizushiro's carefully chosen follow-up statement was nothing short of a killer move.

"This yukata... was personally chosen for me by Mr. Hayashi Jun, for the summer fireworks festival tomorrow night..."

"What?! You're going to the summer fireworks festival?! This, this... Waaah!"

Mihoko not only bit her lower lip tightly, but also desperately tried to close her trembling legs together inside her dark purple kimono.

—If I were to openly be jealous of my daughter, I would be the most unsuccessful mother in the country and a disgrace to the Shuicheng family!

"I understand."

She took a deep breath and forcibly calmed down all her negative emotions.

Then, with a blank expression, she bent down and put the youthful pansy yukata back into the shopping bag.

But in the end, it was never returned to Rinko Mizushiro.

Instead, he carried it himself and turned to walk along the corridor.

"……Eh?"

Rinko Mizushiro had a bad feeling.

She quickly took off her JK round-toed leather shoes, revealing her feet clad in clean white cotton socks, and stepped onto the wooden floor.

Because the date lasted until 2 p.m., those exquisitely shaped eyes were wet and hot.

It has a distinctly Japanese scent, which is strangely reminiscent of freshly baked mochi.

She jogged all the way to barely catch up with her mother.

Neither of them spoke again, and they were stuck in an inexplicable stalemate.

Only in the Japanese garden next to the corridor, a cool early autumn breeze rustled the leaves.

The first leaves to turn yellow, no matter how unwilling they are, can only fall with a soft rustling.