Substitute Toyokawa Shoko, you can become stronger by breathing

He noticed that when Toyokawa Kiyoshi heard the word "future", his brows frowned slightly.

After the food was served, the two ate quietly for a while.

The occasional crisp clash of Toyokawa Kiyoshi's knife and fork was particularly noticeable in this quiet restaurant.

Kujo Renji waited, knowing that the other party would eventually reveal his true purpose.

"Xiao Xiang."

Finally, Toyokawa Kiyoshi put down his knife and fork, took a deep breath, and his expression became serious:

"I hope...I hope you can temporarily stop Ave Mujica's activities after the Osaka tour."

Although Kujo Renji had a premonition, he was still a little surprised when he heard this. He put down his water cup, raised an eyebrow and asked, "Why?"

Fengchuan Qingjiao glanced at him with a complicated look. He opened his mouth as if to explain, then closed it again, as if struggling to weigh the pros and cons. In the end, he just said:

"These...are not things I should tell you right now. But I hope you can trust me."

When Kujo Renji heard this, he felt amused.

The other party's reaction completely confirmed his guess.

It was nothing more than that something happened again within the Toyokawa family, and Toyokawa Kiyoshi's impression of Toyokawa Shoko was still stuck in her teenage years, so he thought it was not a good idea to tell his daughter about the dark and heavy secrets within the family.

In fact, these things may indeed subvert Shoko Toyokawa's worldview, but for Renji Kujo, such things are commonplace.

"what are you worried about?"

He looked directly into Toyokawa Seikatsu's eyes.

Toyokawa Seikao seemed to be surprised by his "daughter"'s direct questioning. He was stunned for a moment, then lowered his head.

"I just... don't want you to get involved in something."

"The tour is already arranged."

Kujo Renji said, "Let's talk about it after it's over."

This is neither an agreement nor a rejection, but an ambiguous response that leaves both parties enough room to maneuver.

Toyokawa Kiyoshige looked at his "daughter" with a complex emotion flashing in his eyes.

He seemed to want to say more, but he restrained himself. In the end, he just nodded, as if accepting this answer that was not satisfactory but could not be forced.

After the meal, Toyokawa Kiyoshi insisted on paying the bill. The two of them walked out of the restaurant and stood in the early summer evening. The neon lights around them had begun to light up, covering the city with a colorful veil.

"I'll walk you home?"

Toyokawa Kiyoshi asked tentatively.

Jiujo Renji shook his head: "No, I have something else to do."

Fengchuan Qingjiao stood there, wanting to say something but hesitant. In the end, he just reached out and gently patted his "daughter" on the shoulder - this action seemed a little unfamiliar, as if he hadn't done it for a long time.

"Take care, Xiaoxiang."

He said softly, with an unspeakable heaviness in his voice.

Kujo Renji nodded and watched Toyokawa Kiyoshi's back as he walked towards the subway station.

The other person walked slowly and occasionally looked back, but then quickly turned around, as if trying to hide his reluctance to leave.

Looking at the figure gradually disappearing in the crowd, Jiujo Renji couldn't help but think of the scene when Ruoye Mu left in the morning - the same person kept looking back, the same person was hesitant to speak, but they were two completely different relationships.

The bond between people is truly wonderful, he thought.

Mingdu is just a back view, but it can carry such different emotional weights.

"Dad must be hiding something from us..."

Toyokawa Shoko's voice interrupted his thoughts, with obvious concern

"What do you think it is?"

Kujo Renji turned and walked in the opposite direction, and the halo of the street lights formed circles of light around him.

"do not know."

He answered quietly, his tone calm.

"But we'll know soon enough."

As the night deepened, the lights of the city reflected in his eyes.

...

Minami Mori's fingertips tapped out a quick rhythm on the dining table. The dusk outside the floor-to-ceiling window was gradually deepening, but it could not illuminate her eyes.

The red wine in the goblet was almost empty, but she had no time to care. The scene from a few days ago kept flashing back in her mind.

The sound of the mirror shattering seemed to still echo in her ears, along with the declaration "She is Wakaba Mu, nothing more", like a slap in her face.

What made her even more unacceptable was that her own daughter, Wakaba Mutsu, whom she had raised for sixteen years, the obedient puppet who never resisted, actually followed Toyokawa Shoko away without hesitation.

"hateful!"

She clenched the cup violently, and the veins on the back of her hand bulged.

No one in her life had ever dared to challenge her authority so openly.

What's even more ridiculous is that the person who broke the control network she carefully woven was the granddaughter of that old fox Toyokawa Sadaharu!

Mori Minami reached out to grab the phone, and her movements were so hasty that she almost knocked over the bottle of wine.

She no longer hesitated and directly dialed the number that she shouldn't have contacted so frequently.

The sound of the phone being connected was so clear, like a knife cutting through silk.

"Toyokawa Hidehiko."

She gritted her teeth and tried to keep her voice steady, but she couldn't hide the anger in her tone:

"I don't want to wait any longer for the plan you mentioned."

There was a brief silence on the other end of the phone, and then Toyokawa Hidehiko's usual calm voice came on.

"What happened?"

"I'm not your good niece yet."

Minami Mori almost squeezed out these words from between her teeth:

"She took Mu away."

"Xiangzi?"

There was a hint of surprise in Toyokawa Hidehiko's voice, but more of it was an inexplicable sense of scrutiny:

"She has certainly been acting a bit...out of line lately."

"Out of line?"

Mori Minami sneered and scratched a shallow mark on the table with her finger:

"This is just out of line? You Toyokawa family—"

She suddenly stopped, took a deep breath, and forced herself to calm down.

Losing control of her emotions puts her at a disadvantage in negotiations, which is the first lesson she learned from her years in the entertainment industry.

"Our agreement ends here."

Her voice returned to professional composure, but the chill still seeped through her words:

"I don't want to wait any longer now. The internal strife within your Toyokawa family has nothing to do with me."

There was a chuckle on the other end of the line, which sounded like it was mocking her naivety or impatience.

"Mina..." Toyokawa Hidehiko's voice remained calm. He gently advised, "I told you not to worry too much. What you're worried about now is just a matter of time. Toyokawa Sadaharu will soon step down, and everything that Xiangzi is proud of—those privileges, that capital, that band—everything will collapse."

"hold on..."

His tone slowed down, as if he was comforting a wayward child:

"Don't be hasty. I will help you with the resources you seek and the attacks on the Toyokawa family's direct line. But the time is not right. Any rash action will only alert the enemy."

Minami Mori's fingers clenched around the phone, her nails leaving tiny scratches on the glass screen.

She didn't like the feeling of being led by the nose, but she had to admit that Hidehiko Toyokawa knew the situation within the family better than she did.

"so what should I do?"

She finally compromised, with reluctance in her voice:

"Were you just going to watch Mu get kidnapped?"

There was some helplessness in Toyokawa Hidehiko's voice:

"I told you, these are temporary... After Toyokawa Shoko lost everything she could rely on, do you think Wakaba Mu will never come back?"

"They are just underage girls."

Mori Minami fell silent.

She picked up the empty cup and habitually wanted to take a sip, only to find that it was already empty.

"That's why I said, don't rush it."

"in addition...."

Toyokawa Hidehiko's voice paused:

"Don't think about solving it on your own. What you should do now is wait, not act rashly. Otherwise, I won't deal with the trouble for you."

Mori Minami's fingers suddenly tightened, and the wine glass tilted dangerously in her hand.

"When did I ever need someone to take care of my troubles?"

She retorted coldly:

"Don't forget, it was you who came to me, not the other way around."

"That's why... we've been able to work together for so long."

Toyokawa Hidehiko responded lightly:

"Okay, if there's nothing else, I'll hang up. Don't forget what I said."

The phone was suddenly hung up, leaving behind a cold busy tone.

Minami Mori stared at the screen of her mobile phone, and suddenly threw the goblet against the wall.

The lights in the living room suddenly seemed dazzling and empty, illuminating the huge photo on the wall - Minami Mori stood radiantly in the center of the stage, receiving applause from the audience.

It was the awards ceremony when she won the Best Actress award. She was at the peak of her career and thanked everyone confidently, but she did not mention her young daughter sitting in the audience.

Thinking about it now, that might have been the last time Wakaba Mu looked at her intently. After that, her daughter gradually learned to hide her eyes in front of her, like a perfect doll, only showing the expression she wanted to see.

Mori Minami turned and walked towards the wine cabinet and took out a new bottle of red wine.

The cork made a muffled sound when it was pulled out, like a silent sigh.

"very good..."

She said to herself, "I can wait. I can wait a long time."

The red wine poured into the new goblet was the color of congealed blood.

She lifted the cup, her eyes fixed on her own shining smile in the photo.

The light reflected from the cup wall danced in her pupils, like a burning flame, or like tears about to overflow.

......

When Kujo Renji returned home and was about to open the door with his key, his fingertips stopped in front of the keyhole - a ray of light came through the crack in the door, which was not the light he left when he went out.

He frowned slightly, pushed the door cautiously, and found that it was not locked.

The door opened easily, and standing behind it was Ruoye Mu.

She just stood quietly at the entrance, her long light green hair hanging on her shoulders, and her golden eyes blinked.

He was still wearing his school uniform, his backpack neatly placed on the floor beside him.

——Where did you get the key?

Jiujo Liansi was a little surprised. After a long while, he asked: