Rebuilding Sakamichi in a chaotic worldline

The curry on the coffee table was steaming hot, and the potatoes were cut into different sizes, clearly not the result of pre-cooked food processing. The carrots next to it, on the other hand, were cut very carefully, each piece a neat diamond shape, looking like the result of careful work. Rito could tell at a glance who each piece came from, and gave Yoko a half-smile.

"What? If you're so capable, do it yourself!"

The mischievous puppy immediately understood what he wanted to say, and quickly grabbed his chopsticks fiercely, warning him not to laugh at him.

"I didn't say anything, you're just being too sensitive."

Rito laughed heartily. The house was already quite large, and Nana Min wasn't the type to cause a ruckus, so it felt rather deserted. Yoko's arrival made up for much of that.

Yangzi grunted twice, then ignored him, clasped her hands together, and quickly uttered, "I'm starting," before beginning to enjoy the food she had put so much effort into. Perhaps due to psychological factors, she found the first bite incredibly delicious, and proudly raised an eyebrow in acknowledgment.

Sitting next to her, Nana smiled and seemed to see the shadow of that silly bird in her, although the two of them were almost completely opposite types except for their youthful appearances.

It should be soon. I'll urge him again after he gets married.

Thinking this, she looked away from her and picked up the remote to turn the air conditioner up two degrees. Because she had eaten a lot of snacks in the afternoon, she wasn't hungry yet. She just ate a couple of bites as a courtesy and then put down her chopsticks, planning to reheat them a little later.

Knowing her habits, Li Ren didn't try to persuade her further. He quickly ate a bowl of food, then put down his chopsticks and gave her a wink.

Ten minutes later, a gentle night breeze swept across the second-floor rooftop, bringing a touch of coolness and signaling the imminent end of the hot summer. Nana Min leaned against the railing, stretched her body, and waited for a while before footsteps sounded from below.

"I was held up by Yoko for a while." Rihito explained his lateness, leaned against her, and tossed her a bottle of coffee.

"That kid is quite clingy to you." Nana Min took the drink, took a sip, and smiled understandingly.

"Children?" Rito chuckled, reminding her that the two were actually the same age, and even considering their mental age, the difference wouldn't exceed five years.

"Well, I guess so. It's all your fault for making me start working so early. I'd forgotten that I'm still a university student."

Nanamin tilted her head and thought for a while, then burst out laughing, smoothly shifting the blame onto him. Rito didn't argue with her, but smiled and admitted that it was his fault, then took out a small box from his pocket.

"Hey!" Nanamin, seeing the ring box-like shape, instinctively jumped back a step, her eyebrows furrowed deeply, and raised her voice, saying, "Kubo Rito, if you dare to play any fake proposal tricks, I'll push you off this cliff right now, you believe me?"

"Huh?" Hearing her say that, Rito was stunned for a moment before opening the box with a wry smile. She took out a small key from inside, waved it at her, and explained speechlessly, "What are you thinking? I'm about to get married. What's with proposing now? I just thought that since I'm leaving, you won't be able to live in this big house by yourself, so I was wondering if you wanted to move to a smaller one."

After hearing his explanation, Nana Min realized she had misunderstood. Her face flushed slightly, but she was Hashimoto Nanami, and there was no way she would apologize. She immediately pretended that nothing had happened, took the key, glanced at it, and said indifferently, "If you hadn't mentioned it, I was just about to tell you. Well done, I'll take it."

Looking at Nanamin's red little ears, who was trying to remain calm, Rito smiled with satisfaction, but a moment later, he suddenly felt a pang of melancholy.

For him, it was a constant struggle. He brought the members into this world with the initial intention of making up for their regrets and allowing each of them to enjoy their idol lives. But making up for regrets is a very broad concept. If you asked them themselves, probably not many of them became idols because they truly loved idols. If you really had to say, finding a wealthy person like Nanamin and enjoying life might be what they longed for more. Since the group's formation, he had indeed received quite a few hints, both overt and covert. If he really wanted to make a move, he believed that 80% of the idols wouldn't refuse, but—

Kubo Rihito sighed and reached out to pull Nana Min into his arms.

"What's wrong?" Nana Min noticed the turmoil in his mind, but didn't know why.

"It's nothing, I just feel a little sorry for you." Rito shook his head. He knew that the things that troubled him didn't need an answer, and in fact, there wasn't one.

Nana looked at him and knew he wasn't telling the truth. After thinking for a moment, she assumed he had some kind of marriage syndrome, so she didn't ask any more questions. She gently put her arm around his waist, and the wind chimes on the rooftop made a soft tinkling sound as the wind gently closed the door.

-----------------

The next day, Rito set off from home to the Nogizaka Building. For some reason, the journey was very bumpy. Every time the green light was about to end, he couldn't cross due to various reasons and had to wait for another red light, which made him spend almost twenty minutes more and made him feel irritable. After he parked his car and entered the lobby, before the elevator doors even opened, a hand reached out from behind and grabbed his sleeve.

He turned around and met a pair of obsidian eyes as deep as an abyss. Nishino Nanase wasn't wearing makeup; her face was bare, and her hair was casually tied back. She had clearly just come from the practice room, with sweat still clinging to her forehead, and her expression was complicated.

"Are you free?" she asked. "Yes." He was a little hesitant to look her in the eye, but nodded nonetheless.

The elevator doors opened with a ding. Nana didn't let go, pulling him directly into the elevator and pressing the button for an empty floor. As the elevator slowly ascended, she held onto his sleeve the whole time. There was no one else in the corridor. She pushed open the door, let him in, and then closed it behind her.

"I heard you're getting married to Guan, is it true?"

It's unclear where the news spread, but Nanase somehow found out beforehand. However, Rito didn't intend to investigate further; he had come today specifically to discuss this matter with her.

"...Hmm." He remained silent for a long time before nodding heavily.

Nana smiled, but it didn't reveal much emotion; it was just an ordinary smile. "I thought it would be a long marathon, but it turned out to be a 100-meter race. Well, at least we haven't completely fallen out yet."

She turned her head to look at him. Those beautiful eyes held neither anger nor resentment, only an almost honest calmness, a calmness so profound that it made Li Ren feel as if something terrifying was about to descend.

"In that case," Nana licked her lips, seemingly already confident about what to say next, "I'll be blunt, Rito, I'm not the kind of woman who can be a mistress for a lifetime."

Rito looked at her in surprise, opened his mouth, but only uttered a few meaningless characters, not because he was angry.

"I was thinking of taking a gamble, even though I knew it would definitely end in failure, but at least it would be an explanation to myself. It seems there's no need for that now."

Nana looked at him for a long time. Then she stood up, walked to him, bent down, cupped his face in her hands, and made him look up at her. Their eyes met, still retaining the warmth of the past, but the once passionate rose had grown thorns, and they both felt the sting.

"Honey, after graduation, you'll set me free, right?"

She lowered her head and placed a very light kiss on his forehead, her lips lingering for several seconds before slowly pulling away.

Li Ren stared at her blankly for a moment, then suddenly sprang up, pinning her against the rough cement wall and kissing her forcefully. His actions were so rough that the uneven texture of the wall rubbed his arm, which was protecting the back of her head, left long streaks of blood.

"Nishino Nanase, what makes you think I'll grant you any outrageous request you make? Is it because I've been too lenient with you that you've gotten this wrong?"

The long, violent, and utterly unaesthetic wet kiss ended, and Rito pressed his forehead against hers, their noses touching, their eyelashes almost poking into each other's eyes. He was panting heavily, fiercely interrogating her.

Nana opened her eyes wide, trying her best not to fall into his unfathomable pupils, swallowed a mouthful of blood-tinged saliva, and smiled faintly.

"Kubo Rihito, I'm doing this for your own good. A woman's best years only last a few years, and I've given them all to you. What more do you want? When you're in your thirties or forties and your beauty has faded, even if you want to get rid of me, I might not be willing to leave. While I'm still not in my right mind, I advise you to agree as soon as possible. If I change my mind later, it will be too late for you to cry."

Even though she was being controlled, Nanase still laughed wildly and unrestrainedly. It was an aura that Rito had never felt from her before. He was secretly shocked and finally realized that he did not know this dark-skinned hot girl from Osaka as well as he had imagined.

Could it be that I really messed with the wrong person?

He frowned slightly, unwilling to believe it, but no matter what, it was impossible for him to agree to Nana Sai's unreasonable request. He had finally come back, was it to see her marry Yamada or someone else again? How could that be? Unless the system told him now that its name was actually NTR enthusiast, and it came back specifically to seduce married women.

"Alright, are you done? You can leave now. I'll pretend I didn't hear what you just said. Don't test my patience, understand?"

Rito was already incredibly annoyed by the traffic jam and had no time to argue with her. He stood up, walked to the door, glanced back at her, and uttered those words. Nanasai sat on the ground, wiping blood from the corner of her mouth—whose blood she couldn't tell from her eyes—her eyes tightly closed, it was unclear whether she had heard him or not.

After spending the day working instead of thinking, as night fell, Liren stood at the company entrance, with no immediate plans to go home.

"Konno-san, do you know any decent bars around here?"

Just then, the old thief drove past him, so Rito stopped him and casually asked.

Having spent so many years in Tokyo, the old thief naturally had no shortage of information in this area. He quickly found an address in his mind and told Rito about it.

"OK, thanks. I'll take tomorrow off. If there's nothing urgent, you can handle it yourself."

The man entered the address into his phone, waved to express his gratitude, and the old thief noticed that he was not in a good mood. He wanted to remind him, but after hesitating for a while, the caution of a working professional made him swallow his words and say "You're welcome" before driving away.

After being separated from the president for a while, the old thief was naturally stuck in Tokyo's evening rush hour. Looking at the motionless traffic, as a cultured upper-class person, he couldn't honk his horn to express his frustration. So he loosened his tie, turned the air conditioning up to the maximum, and punched the leather seat cushion in the passenger seat to vent his emotions.

"Speaking of which, is the president alright? I don't remember him being the type to go to bars."

Perhaps he really had nothing to do, the old thief suddenly recalled the scene at the company entrance, hesitated for a while, took out his phone, but didn't know who to call.

Miss Guan? No, no, the president might be acting strangely because of the wedding. What if talking to her causes family conflicts?

Hashimoto-san? No, that won't work either. If something happens and the main wife finds out, the young lady won't be happy either.

He hesitated for a while over several names that the president had a good relationship with, such as Nagahama, Nishino, and Tsutsui. Just as he was undecided and even doubting the necessity of doing so, a name suddenly jumped into his screen.

"Misa Eto?"

He muttered something to himself, then answered the phone. Misa greeted him politely, then abruptly changed the subject, saying she had received an invitation to a program outside the village and asking if he would agree to her participating. Her words were very polite, but Konno still frowned—her actions were essentially taking on private gigs. If it weren't for Nogizaka46, but for some unknown idol group, her hard work would certainly be a good thing, and the company would be more than happy for her to do so. But this was a legitimate girl group jointly operated by Sony and Dentsu, and her actions were somewhat inappropriate.

In fact, Konno knew her even before he knew Nogizaka46. Years ago, Misa had participated in a local idol group in Oita City, and the company that group was affiliated with had deep ties to him. After the group disbanded, she moved between several agencies, and it was he who remembered her and had someone contact her, which led to her being selected for Nogizaka46's second generation auditions. In a sense, she was a pawn he placed in the group—although the two of them never discussed this, the fact that Misa Eto was coming to him about this meant that he had at least considered this point.

He gripped the steering wheel, waiting for the red light to turn green, when suddenly an idea struck him.

"Eto, are you free later?" He suddenly asked, avoiding the previous topic.

"Hmm? You're free, Konno-san. Did you need something?"

"I'm fine, but if you're free, why don't you go to a bar to relax? I heard you're quite knowledgeable about alcohol, right?"

"Konno-san? I'm an idol, isn't this inappropriate?"

"I was just saying it offhand. Oh, right, I think someone from the company also said they were going tonight. You see, as I get older, my memory isn't what it used to be—"

"—I understand." Misa wasn't stupid; she naturally understood the obvious hint from the other party. After hesitating for a moment, she thanked the old thief and then hung up the phone.

Putting down her phone, she glanced at the room next door, which was Mai Shiraishi's room. Logically and emotionally, she should have given this opportunity to her, since Mai was the ACE of the second generation and had a close relationship with the president.

Misa Eto, is it easy to cling to Mai Shiraishi's coattails? I wonder if she'll remember you, a former nobody, when she rises to the top.

But for some reason, Hori's words suddenly returned to her mind at this moment, and coupled with her sinister gaze, made her shudder and clench her fists involuntarily.

"Mai-sama, are you that kind of person?"

She plopped down on the bed, her eyes glazed over. In the closet, a battle suit she had bought a long time ago but had never worn moved erratically, as if waiting for the day it would see the light of day again.