I became the emperor in the comic book series.

As for the rest, let her do whatever she wants. Even if you stop her from doing something foolish, she'll still act impulsively in other ways.

Tired, let's destroy it.

Su Shi: 'I don't understand what Xiao Xiang is saying.'

Toyokawa Shoko: '?'

A red exclamation mark pops up, indicating that you are not the other person's friend and that you should add them as a friend before chatting.

Those who are good at blocking people will eventually be blocked themselves.

Toyokawa Shoko's eyes widened immediately, her fair face gradually turning red, and her whole body seemed to be flushed, even her body couldn't help but tremble slightly.

Seeing this, Higashino Akira laughed unkindly, only to be glared at angrily by the embarrassed and angry Shoko.

A few more vibrations followed. This time it was Higashino Akira's phone. He picked it up and glanced at it. It was a message from Nagasaki Motoyo, asking him to meet up the next day, saying that she had something important to discuss with him in person.

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P.S.: 28 chapters still owed.

Chapter 54 Forced Ejection

Dream, Miyamizu Shrine.

Higashino Akira opened his eyes and couldn't help but smile as he thought of Shoko's disgusted, flushed, and somewhat embarrassed yet hesitant expression before he fell asleep.

So cute!

I sat up from under the covers. This time, no notebook fell off me. The notebook was placed next to my pillow. I opened the first page and looked back from where I had looked last time. Sure enough, there was new content.

"The second body swap was so tiring. I got scolded by my supervisor. Why do I, a junior high school student, have to do the work of a college graduate? You're such a disgrace to your mother. If I had known, I would have just taken a day off. I really want to go home."

"Yay! I passed the exam!"

"People in Tokyo are so mean. They actually mocked me for being from the countryside. Even though Chiba is considered a country bumpkin in Tokyo's eyes, I really hate them."

"Hmm! The notebook has a reply. Hello Xiaoming, I shared with my mom how I officially became acquainted with Xiaoming, and I got a stern lecture from my mom, who said I should respectfully call him Master Higashino. I'm not happy, Higashino is bad."

"I really want to experience what it's like for Higashino-sama, who is a god, to live his daily life."

What is it like?

Akira Higashino reflected, "I guess I spend my nights sleeping with Sakura-chan and my days beating up brats?"

"In the second year, I met my crush! Such a cute girl! She's also very gentle, and like me, she came from the countryside. Her family also runs a shrine. Tenjo-me classmate, I like her! I wish I were a boy, sob..."

"I'm so happy to have become friends with my classmate, Amamiya."

"So many people come to confess their love to Tiannvmu, it's so annoying! Kamisama, please bless Tiannvmu so she won't fall in love, at least not for twenty years after my death!"

"Waaah... I failed. That bastard named Higashino actually won Amatsume's heart despite my protection, and even called her by her name. I've never called Amatsume that before."

"Heartbroken, I've sealed my heart away from love, and will never fall in love again!"

"Preparing for university entrance exams!"

"How can the Japanese be so wicked! University is so expensive, and all scholarships are loans. Even students at prestigious universities have to sell their bodies to pay off their debts! And it's practically impossible to get into university without spending a lot of money on cram schools! Please help me, Kamisama, I will love you for the rest of my life."

After reading the girl's ramblings written down over the past two years, the smile on Higashino Akira's face gradually faded.

He roughly understood why he had channeled his energy along the pre-existing connection to his origins, projecting his consciousness onto Futaba Miyamizu of this era.

The girl named Amatsume from Futaba Miyamizu's novel might actually be his mother, whom he has never met in this life. And what about Higashino? Did they meet so long ago?

Finally, he had gained something. After roughly estimating the era and thinking about the major events that occurred during that time, Akira Higashino decided to leave Futaba's World Cup betting result in his notebook as a token of his gratitude.

Footsteps approached from outside the door, and Miyamizu Ichiyo's calls began to ring out.

After thinking for a moment, Akira Higashino picked up his pen and continued writing, still wanting to give it a try.

Old Deng could still become a winner in life and live a good life even without being with Tenjome. If Tenjome hadn't been with him, she might have been able to avoid dying young, which would have also caused the gods of the Kashiihime Shrine to perish.

If we consider Old Deng's gratitude for giving birth to his son as having accepted his inheritance and promised to care for him until he grew up, then there is no further connection between them.

The kindness the woman had shown him that day was immeasurable, and Higashino Akira simply could not bear to let her walk down this path to her doom.

"To break up Tiannvmu and Dong..."

The writing of those few words became increasingly difficult. In the end, it felt as if he was holding not a pen, but a scorching, heavy mountain. The surrounding space and time began to tremble, and a massive amount of chaotic and indistinguishable sounds flooded into his mind, giving Higashino Akira a splitting headache.

Finally, after a shout that reached its limit, all the sounds in my mind suddenly fell silent, no longer noisy, but replaced by a pure, constant hum.

Higashino Akira's vision went black, he lost consciousness, and his body fell backward.

"Futaba? Time to get up."

"Ok?"

"Why isn't this child up at this hour?"

Tokyo, 2025. Akira Higashino opened his eyes in his bedroom, got out of bed and went to the living room to pour a glass of warm water for his friend. He sat on the sofa, holding the glass in one hand and occasionally raising it to take small sips, while pressing his thumb and forefinger on his temples with the other hand, gently rubbing to relieve his headache.

Thinking about what had happened before, I became somewhat silent.

He wasn't some fantasy novel protagonist who could reverse the flow of time, alter history, and give his past self a cheat code to change his fate.

He achieved an unconventional time travel through a chance encounter and the Miyamizu family's inherited talent. The price he paid for the time travel was the amount of money he had paid in advance. He slightly altered the historical trajectory of Miyamizu Futaba during this journey, but it was difficult for him to change his own past.

Even leaving lottery betting information for Miyamizu Futaba, after leaving, deducted 1,000 from Higashino Akira's account as an equivalent exchange for the historical trajectory of micro-interference.

This time travel was orchestrated by him. If he attempted to modify important historical moments related to his origins, he would be fighting against his own existence. If he did not exist, this time travel would not have occurred, and there would be no question of modification.

For Akira Higashino, the world is hard to categorize as either materialistic or idealistic, but for him personally, it is purely egoistic.

Not all worlds are like those in American comics, where countless timelines are generated at all times. Even if they are, there is only one of him. Only the timeline in which he exists can be perceived by him. There cannot be another him in other timelines. He is unique.

Therefore, he cannot change the past, and he cannot make Tennyo-me survive even in a parallel world on another timeline. Her existence and the origin of Higashino Akira's birth have been forcibly bound and locked.

Akira Higashino didn't understand these things before, so he did them.

Even if I knew all this beforehand, I would probably still have tried it.

The question is whether the parallel world theory gives Amaterasu a chance to live peacefully in a timeline without him, or whether he will be stuck due to a time paradox and unable to proceed to the next step.

There was no other reason than the nurturing of the woman destined to be his mother in this world, the protection of the ancestors of the Kashii-hime Shrine, and the upbringing of the old man—his kindness was as heavy as a mountain.

Akira Higashino doesn't consider himself a good person, but he does have his own bottom line and principles, and he clearly distinguishes between gratitude and resentment.

This time, being forcibly ejected, the already countdown-bound connection could no longer hold on, and it seemed that there was only one last chance to project consciousness into the past.

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P.S.: 27 chapters still owed.

Chapter 55 Su Shi: Xiao Xiang cares about me!

The following day, Akira Higashino met with Motoyo Nagasaki at RiNG.

Upon seeing him arrive, Nagasaki Motoyo, her face filled with anxiety, couldn't wait to exclaim, "Something terrible has happened! It seems like Sho knows about us!"

Upon hearing this, Higashino Akira raised an eyebrow and gave Nagasaki Motoyo a serious look.

What does it mean?

She already knew.

Besides, didn't you send the photo to her yourself?

The thought of her amazing decision to blur out his own face but instead blur out his brave, invincible younger brother made Higashino Akira laugh.

I've laughed more times recently than I did all year last year.

I've been too greedy this time; I should save it for next year's Lunar New Year before getting to know her.

"When did you develop the misconception that Xiangzi is unaware of our relationship?"

"Xiao Xiang shouldn't have known!"

Nagasaki Motoyo clenched her fists so tightly that her fingers turned white.

Even though she's blurred out, it's impossible to tell it's her in the photo!

I did that in order to win back Xiao Xiang and make her realize the truth that love is unreliable. If Xiao Xiang finds out, even if she leaves me, she will hate me and our relationship will never be able to be repaired. What's the point then?

Nagasaki Motoyo's eyes glazed over, and she felt a chill run through her body. Her mind was buzzing, and a violent sense of weightlessness swept over her.

Even Akira Higashino shook his head after reading it.

The girl who was taking orders at the counter turned her worried gaze straight in that direction, her heart pounding in her chest.

Matcha Parfait.

At the counter, the cat tilted its head and waved its paw in front of the strange woman.

"Hmm, oh wait, no, it's you again!"

"You haven't paid yet!"

Shiina Ritsuki snapped out of her daze and got ready to work, but seeing the naughty cat in front of the counter only made her feel worse.

Although she didn't know what had happened to Su Shi, since Su Shi didn't speak up, it wasn't convenient for her to go over and ask directly. After all, there were other outsiders sitting opposite Su Shi, and if a misunderstanding caused an awkward situation, it would inevitably create distance between them.

Shiina Ritsuki didn't have any bad feelings towards Suze, except that Suze was too obsessed with that irresponsible guy Shoko, which made her dislike him. Otherwise, Suze was quite nice in her eyes.

Somewhat annoyed, Shiina Ritsuki pinched the cheeks of the naughty cat who skipped out on the bill and rubbed them a couple of times. Just as she was about to teach her not to do it again, Suze's exclamation suddenly rang out from the booth, drawing all her attention.

“She just knew that after you fell asleep that night, Xiangzi came back, and you even slept with her in your sleep for a long time.”

"What!" Nagasaki Motoyo exclaimed, jumping up from her seat in shock.

"That's impossible. If that were the case, how could Xiangzi still be... and he hasn't broken up with you!"

"Why did Xiangzi break up with me?" Higashino Akira looked at Nagasaki Motoyo, whose face had turned pale. "Did you think that Xiangzi and I were in love or that it was a free-choice relationship?"

“Before Xiangzi, I had other women, and I never hid it from her, and she didn’t choose to leave.”

"You have little contact with me, not to mention that. You should know about Xiangzi's family background. It's not uncommon for husbands to have affairs or even for couples to have their own affairs when they are born into such a wealthy family. Although I don't know if such a thing has happened in her family, it is very common in the circle she lives in."

"Although Xiangzi and I are not a so-called family marriage, it can be said to be a forced union where each of us gets what we need. Whether you are there or not, or even if I have other lovers, she will not leave me because of this."

"At most, it's just that our feelings for each other are a bit weak, and we don't have the same warmth as a normal married couple."

"Sometimes feelings aren't that important."

“I have no interest in the Toyokawa family’s assets. It’s highly likely that Shoko will never marry me in a normal way, and I will never marry into the Toyokawa family.”

Nagasaki Motoyo's original worldview was shattered by Akira Higashino's words, and she began to show signs of shedding her student-like innocence and becoming more realistic.

"Xiao Xiang said she likes you..."

Nagasaki Suze vaguely felt that something was wrong. If that were the case, then Xiaoxiang would definitely not be so infatuated with this man as she claimed, and would not even change her own views and interests.

Higashino Akira's next words confirmed her guess.

She's lying to you.

"Xiangzi's attitude towards me can only be described as not disliking me, at best friendly, but not to the point of loving me deeply. The reason is probably that she has encountered some trouble, and telling you would be useless and might even implicate you, so she tries to reduce her contact with you as much as possible in order to protect you. She is safe with me."

"Of course, it might also be partly my fault. After all, if a group of high school girls with extreme personalities, good looks, and decent character get too close and offer themselves up, I'm not one to be easily taken advantage of."

"Perhaps in Xiangzi's view, it would be best if you could live, grow, and fall in love like ordinary people, and there would be no need to get involved like her."

Nagasaki Motoyo looked somewhat dazed, not expecting things to turn out this way. She stammered for a long time, unable to utter a complete sentence.

After a while, she suddenly realized something.

Since Xiangzi had come back and seen him in that state, he not only didn't wake him up and yell at him, but he also didn't blame him when they contacted each other later, and he didn't even mention that incident!

She even wanted Xiao Xiang to be held by her!

He even took the initiative to unblock her again!

What does this show?

Xiao Xiang cares about me!

Nagasaki Motoyo's astonishing wisdom came into play, and a huge sense of surprise filled her heart. Her whole body was filled with joy, and she felt refreshed.

Then, she couldn't help but feel guilty. Out of shame, she took the initiative to block Xiao Xiang!

She shouldn't have done that!

Across from him, Akira Higashino was also taken aback by Nagasaki Motoyo's fluctuating emotions of surprise, joy, and sorrow.