Thanks for the invitation. I'm in Type-Moon, inheriting the legacy of Zi-O.

However, this morning seemed different from usual.

A fragrance suddenly wafted into the girl's nose, making her eyes widen in surprise.

"That smell...it's from the kitchen!" The girl flung open the door, not even bothering with the stockings hanging to the side, and immediately ran into the kitchen.

A tall, unfamiliar man was staring intently at the pot of instant noodles in the kitchen.

"Hmm—?" Sensing the girl's gaze, the man's eyes were as sharp as swords, but softened instantly when he saw the girl's puzzled expression after just waking up. "Good morning, Tangtang."

"—Ah, um. Good morning." The girl responded instinctively, then belatedly realized what was happening and took a few steps back, looking at the man in front of her warily. "Wait, who are you? Why are you in my house?!"

"—Oh right, I forgot to introduce myself, please forgive me." The man was taken aback at first, then seemed to remember something and scratched his head with a smile, extending his hand to the girl. "Hello, my name is Nianzhuo."

"Eh—Nianzhuo, Nianzhuo, umm. I'm Tangtang, call me Tang—um!?" The girl naturally reached out her hand, but before she could grasp it, she seemed to remember something and took a step back. "What did you say?! Your name is Nianzhuo!?" She looked at the man in front of her in disbelief.

"--Hmm, right? Is there a problem?" Nian Zhuo looked at the hand he couldn't hold and couldn't help but show a hint of regret. Then, seeing the girl in front of him becoming more and more wary, he helplessly spread his hands. "You're right. I am the Nian Zhuo you created, the guy who inherited the power of Zi-O."

"Huh, huh—?" Her brain almost shut down, Tangtang's mouth gaped open. "You, how could you—"

"How can a virtual character appear in reality?" As if he had already guessed the girl's question, the tall man named Nian Zhuo tossed the rice pot in his hand, ladled noodles into a bowl, and wiped his hands with the apron around his waist. "Actually, I don't know how I appeared, but the only thing I know is—" The man drew out his words, as if he was keeping her in suspense.

"The only thing we know is—?" Even Tangtang became nervous along with him, swallowing hard.

"—Today is Sunday, and it's a rare long day off for you all." The man tapped the calendar on the girl's back, then looked at the tempting aroma of instant noodles in front of him and nodded with satisfaction. "So you don't have to rush to get up for school, Mom." As if a little shy, the man scratched the tip of his nose.

"—Oh, I see." Having confirmed the calendar that today was indeed a rare day off, Tangtang's eyes darted back and forth between the man and the noodles in his hands, while she clutched her rumbling stomach. "Although I still have many questions for you, I want to eat breakfast now~"

"Here you go." Nian Zhuo brought the noodles to the dining room without hesitation and thoughtfully placed chopsticks on them. "This is for you. Eat it while it's still soft."

"Mmm!" Putting aside her many questions, Tangtang happily sat down in the chair and began to enjoy the instant noodles in front of her. "I remember the first time you appeared, you made instant noodles for the old demon king, slurp slurp—" She ate in a somewhat wolfish manner, but Nianzhuo simply softened his gaze and sat opposite the girl, nodding as he watched her wolf down her food.

"So, if you really are Nianzhuo from my book, why did you appear—?" Tangtang patted her stomach after finishing her meal, slumped in her chair, and looked at him busy in the kitchen. Suddenly, the girl's expression turned serious.

She slipped away quietly to the man who was washing dishes and tugged at his sleeve.

"Could this be an anomaly? Is it like the Grimoire of Zero, where fictional characters invade the real world?" Tangtang asked Nianzhuo, who was staring at her in surprise, with a serious expression. Her expression didn't seem like she was joking. "Then can you beat the military princess Altair?"

"Pfft—" Seeing the girl's serious expression, Nianzhuo suddenly clutched his stomach, even stopping his washing of dishes. "Hahaha—hahahaha—!" He made no attempt to hide the mockery in his laughter.

"What's so funny! Hey—!" Tangtang's face flushed with anger, and she couldn't help but kick Nianzhuo. "I'm asking you seriously! Is this how you treat your mother?!"

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" Nian Zhuo tried to stop laughing, but found it even harder to control himself. "I, of course I didn't mean to disrespect you, it's just that I've also watched the anime 'Grimoire of Zero,' but you're talking to me about this so seriously—hahahaha!"

"I thought you were such a serious person, but now you seem a bit...naive?" Nian Zhuo finally stopped smiling, looking at the girl in front of him whose eyes were already brimming with tears. "Um... Tangtang's mom?"

"Give it to me, go to hell!" Tangtang grabbed a pillow from the sofa and angrily threw it at Nianzhuo.

"Ouch!" Seeing Tangtang get angry, the tall man hurriedly dodged the flying pillow, but in the end, the girl still grabbed his ear.

"Tell me! Will you dare to do this again next time!" Grabbing Nianzhuo's ear, Tangtang felt an unprecedented sense of accomplishment. "Today I'm going to show you what a mother's authority is. Tell me! What exactly did you come here for!"

"I'll tell you if you let me go!" Nianzhuo said stubbornly, staring into Tangtang's eyes.

"I'll let go if you say so!" Tangtang stared intently into his eyes, her gaze full of seriousness.

"I won't talk unless you let go!" With a determined look, Nian Zhuo simply closed his eyes.

"I won't let go until you tell me!" Tangtang looked at the man in front of her, and in her heart she had already come to believe that he was Nianzhuo.

After all, he was her own child, and she understood his stubbornness.

"—Okay, okay, I'll tell you, alright?" Nianzhuo squinted and saw the tears glistening in the girl's eyes. Suddenly, he gave up and surrendered. "Actually, I don't know why I came. Maybe it's some special day today. —Anyway, Tangtang, don't cry." He picked up a tissue and carefully wiped away the tears from the corners of the girl's eyes.

"A special day—?" However, Nianzhuo didn't see Tangtang's expression grow even sadder, and the girl's expression only appeared for a moment. "Today doesn't seem to be a special day after all—"

"Alright, alright, stop crying. If you don't know, you don't know." Nianzhuo shrugged indifferently. "What if I can't leave because you can't remember? Although I feel bad for Mary and the others, time over there should only take a few words to stop in your writing, right?"

"That's true~" Tangtang smiled through her tears and grabbed Nianzhuo's hand. "So, now that you've appeared, you have to stay with me!"

"Let me make this clear, I didn't—" Nian Zhuo was about to say that he hadn't signed it when he saw the girl pick up the tablet next to her. "What are you doing?"

"I'm adding to the settings for you being a billionaire (in reality), okay?" Tangtang replied without looking up, then her pale finger wrote "OK, done—!" on the tablet, and she tossed the tablet aside with satisfaction.

Suddenly, Nianzhuo felt a heaviness in the pocket at his waist, and when he reached in, he pulled out a whole bunch of things.

Cash, bank cards, even mobile phones and ID cards—all the necessary items flew out of Cong's pockets like treasure chests and landed in front of Nian Zhuo.

What finally landed in Nianzhuo's palm was an ID card.

"—Don't use your author's rights for this kind of thing!" Nian Zhuo pretended to be angry and banged on the table, but the corners of his mouth couldn't help but turn up in a smirk.

Nian Zhuo: Look at this author, he's a piece of trash, yet he gave me so much money (crying).

"Well, she's my child anyway~" Tangtang waved her hand dismissively, then rushed into her room as if she remembered something, quickly locking the door behind her. "Don't peek—after I change, you'll play with me properly today!"

"You accepted it so quickly." Nian Zhuo helplessly touched his chin, but his eyes were drawn to the keyhole. "Should I be like Er Qiao—or forget it, what's so interesting about a girl who's only 17 today? But, she is indeed quite big—" Recalling their meeting just now, Nian Zhuo touched his chin with lingering fear.

(She's probably catching up to Mashu soon—)

After Tangtang changed her clothes, she used her authorship rights to change Nianzhuo's clothes as well, and then the two of them happily went to the city center.

Amusement park, zoo, shopping street.

At this gathering place for couples, a mother and child embraced (just kidding), the two strolling around happily like a couple.

Little by little, piece by piece, they pieced together Tangtang's smile.

At noon, at a Japanese restaurant called 'Mr. Fujino' (there really is such a restaurant near Mom's place!), Nianzhuo and Tangtang quietly discussed the various interesting things that happened during the day.

—Except when she was playing the claw machine, for some reason Tangtang suddenly looked like she was about to cry, especially when she saw the two penguin decorations. Nianzhuo thought to herself.

His intuition told him that this touched on Tangtang's pain, so he remained silent and quietly went to the dessert shop while the girl was having fun, then returned as if nothing had happened.

On a park bench, Tangtang rested for a while with her head on Nianzhuo's lap, then stood up energetically again.

We went to see "Violet Evergarden" together, and Tangtang cried when the sisters still couldn't recognize each other in the end.

They went to the shopping street together, and for some reason, Tangtang suddenly smiled foolishly when she looked at Nianzhuo's face.

We went to play the claw machine together, which we had failed to win in the morning. This time, Tangtang won and looked at the penguin plushie lying in the center. For some reason, Tangtang put it in Nianzhuo's hand.

—Tangtang is really happy, so happy.

As these words are written down, two people gaze into each other's eyes amidst the flickering candlelight.

"I remember what day it is today." "Actually, I know." As if she had already guessed what Nianzhuo was going to say, the girl's smile gradually disappeared.

Her eyes were filled with sadness as she looked at the cake with lit candles in the center of the table, her hands gripping the hem of her skirt tightly.

"I know, I actually know everything—" When she looked up again, the girl in front of her had a smile that seemed like it would shatter at any moment.

What I'm about to tell you, please don't take seriously—she was speaking to the child in front of her, tearing open her heart.

At 9 a.m. on September 9, 2003, the girl was born crying in the hospital.

Father and mother must have both been smiling happily; perhaps even the father would have hugged the frail mother.

Hoping this child would have a sweet life, the mother named the child with the character for "sugar" in it.

Her childhood was ordinary; the girl lived happily under the care of her parents, under a spotless sky.

However, as the girl grew older, she seemed to discover something: the sky began to fade.

Her parents started arguing more and more, but there was nothing she could do. As a child, all she could do was cry, but now she chose to lock herself in her room.

It was in this environment that the girl met him in junior high school.

At that time, he was like the sunshine, illuminating the girl's sky and warming everything about her.

It's okay, he's here. Looking at the girl who was hugging him and saying she liked him, the boy nodded, but didn't hug her back.

Subsequently, the mother chose to go on a business trip, leaving the home to avoid the father.

However, the girl became numb, and he couldn't even persuade her to stay.

Fortunately, the girl still had the boy. She kissed him for the first time, and he didn't seem surprised.

For some reason, the girl always felt that the sun that illuminated her was somewhat dazzling.

Gradually, he and she talked less and less.

On their last date, the boy gave away one of the two penguins he had won from the claw machine to someone else in front of the girl, keeping the other one for himself.

"Let's break up," he said.

Well, there was no reason, and the girl knew he wouldn't give her one.

Then the sun went out, leaving only a gray sky.

More than anything else, what the girl cared about was why he was holding hands with a girl from the next class the day after their breakup.

Even in the public eye—the fact that they've only been a couple for a year.

"I see, so that's why you didn't tell me." The girl nodded, but tears fell onto the keyboard.

That night, she threw everything he had away, relegating it to a corner of her memory.

That's why I hate guys who are called "players" or "playboys."

After junior high school, they seemed to have made a pact to disappear from each other's lives, and then they entered high school.

Then, on her first day of school, she learned something.

My parents have actually been separated for a long time, but they kept it a secret so as not to distract her from the high school entrance exam.

When her father slammed the divorce certificate in front of her, no matter how unwilling she was to believe it, she had no choice but to accept the fact.

And so, even the gloomy sky could not be held back, shattering before the girl's eyes.

So she chose a private high school and moved out.

"This is me, this is your mother." The girl in front of me lowered her head, tears falling to the ground and then shattering. "No matter how many times I say it, will this pain—never disappear?"

“Even you are, Nianzhuo.” She raised her head, the boy before her seemingly vanishing through her tear-blurred vision. “This is my dream too, isn’t it?”

He wanted to deny it, but looking at the girl in front of him, Nian Zhuo couldn't utter a single word.

"—But I'm still very happy because you came to celebrate my birthday." Tangtang stood up, hugged the bewildered child, and patted his head. "Thank you, Nianzhuo, I'm very happy today."

"Happy birthday, Mom."

When Tangtang sat back down, Nianzhuo, the cake, and everything else were gone.

She smiled and drank the water in one gulp, waiting for her real self to wake up.

It was another morning when I woke up alone, but this time there was no sunshine.

Today, Tangtang is also waiting for a man to knock on her door.