I am only one world away from Yukinoshita.

Just as she was thinking this, the licking sensation left, and a faint sense of loss welled up in Yukinoshita's heart. But as if sensing its owner's displeasure, the cat gracefully strode towards Yukinoshita's face, affectionately nuzzling her face with its head, and even kept trying to snuggle into the girl's arms.

The texture was so realistic, even the ticklish sensation from the fur brushing against her nose felt incredibly real. Yukinoshita abruptly opened her eyes and saw a pair of blue eyes that seemed to hold the stars and the sea. It stared blankly at Yukinoshita, its long whiskers brushing against the girl's face. She watched in astonishment as the cat nuzzled her nose, its unfocused face before her eyes, and heard the adorable, pleading meow in her ears.

Meow~~!

Hearing this, my heart melted.

"Meow~".

She cradled the little creature's face in her hands and whispered to it.

Tempted by the cat's beauty, Yukino Yukinoshita was momentarily unaware of her predicament until the cat rolled into her arms, desperately trying to be cute. Only then did Yukino belatedly realize that her pajamas and the bed beneath her were quite different from usual.

Moreover, from the very beginning, it was impossible for a cat to be present in her residence.

She was startled. Was she still dreaming and hadn't woken up yet?

Finding its owner not paying attention, Tuanzi tugged at the girl's clothes and climbed onto her shoulder, stretching out its body while patting its owner's face with its cat mat to vent its dissatisfaction.

The soft, fleshy pads against her face felt so real that Yukinoshita couldn't help but play with them in her palms, but she also began to observe this completely unfamiliar room.

The only light source in the room was the sliver of light filtering through the simple blackout curtains, which glowed softly, indicating that it was getting late. Beside the window was a desk, neatly arranged with various books and a computer. The bookshelves were full of books of all genres, from classics to light novels. One book was missing from one shelf, and that book sat within easy reach on the bedside table: *Love Metronome*, the title of the novel.

Next to the schoolbag was a black hard-sided suitcase. Even in the dim light and under the snow, the shiny exterior of the suitcase was visible, and it looked like some kind of musical instrument.

On the opposite wall hung an LCD screen and unfamiliar school uniforms. The wardrobe was placed near the door, and on the cabinets next to it were many models, from imposing robots to cute and slightly flirtatious female dolls. These were things that one would only find in a boy's room. If it weren't for the fact that the school uniform was a girl's style, Yukino Yukinoshita would have doubted the gender of the room's occupant.

There was another thing closest to her, and the most hard to ignore, something she had never felt before on her chest. Her shirt-style pajamas were stretched open by her impressive breasts. Although they weren't exaggeratedly large, the subtle rise and fall that could be seen even from the neckline made Yukinoshita admit that this was definitely not her body.

After lying in bed in a daze for a long time, Yukinoshita slowly began to accept the reality that she had woken up to find herself in someone else's body. In a situation where she knew nothing about this, she could only pretend that nothing had happened.

The cat left her arms and slipped out through the narrow crack in the door. If it weren't for the evidence of its affection left on her pajamas, it would have looked like a heartless prostitute.

Yukino watched the fluffy figure disappear into the distance and couldn't help but sigh.

Perhaps that was the only consolation.

Her phone flashed, and she hesitated before picking it up. It was a LINE message from someone whose contact name was "Xiao Lina," likely a close friend of the body's original owner.

"Qinglai, why aren't you at school yet? Aren't you going to participate in morning exercises? Are you not feeling well?"

Yukino glanced at the time above her head subconsciously—7:30, it was indeed getting late…

Morning exercise? Do you mean club activities?

Yukino held her phone like it was a hot potato; replying was awkward, and not replying was equally awkward. Just as she was feeling helpless, the sound of slippers clattering came from outside the door. Soon after, a middle-aged woman in loungewear with her hair loosely tied up came in with a thermometer. She gently pushed open the door and was surprised to find that her daughter had already woken up and was sitting blankly on the bed staring at her phone.

Yuanzi stepped forward with concern, seemingly worried about her daughter's health. Although her daughter had said those words to her last night, so many years of feelings were not something that could be easily let go of.

"Chiang Lai?"

Yukinoshita's body jolted, and she looked up at the woman whose face was full of worry. Her first impression was that the other woman was a gentle and graceful Yamato Nadeshiko type. Yukinoshita had never seen such undisguised worry in a woman of this age. She turned her gaze away awkwardly, feeling that if she looked at the other woman like that, she would burst into tears.

"what's wrong?"

Yuanzi approached her daughter's bedside, slowly sat down, and reached out to touch her daughter's forehead, but the daughter instinctively dodged. Her hand paused in mid-air, neither moving closer nor lowering itself.

Seemingly realizing that her actions were too distant, Yukinoshita, in a self-deceptive manner, moved her body closer to the direction of the body's owner's mother.

At that moment, Touko withdrew her hand.

"It seems everything is fine now," Touko placed the ear thermometer to Yukino's ear. As the machine beeped, she glanced at her temperature. "Mom has given you a half-day off. You can go back to school after lunch, okay?"

Perhaps it was the woman's gentle tone that made Yukino lower her guard and nod silently but obediently.

She heard the woman sigh softly, "Tell your mother if you feel unwell. Don't always get so caught up in practice. Although your mother has no right to say this to you, there should be a limit to your efforts. Don't ruin your health because of practice. That would be putting the cart before the horse."

Yuanzi's voice was gentle and soft, yet it revealed an irresistible domineering quality.

"Oh right, Mom hasn't congratulated you on your successful selection yet. Have you chosen your piece? Did you qualify for a solo performance?"

Selection process? Repertoire? Solo performance?

Yukinoshita had never felt the embarrassment of being completely clueless before. Faced with Touko's question, she actually started to sweat nervously, but fortunately another voice saved her.

"Yuanzi, how's Kiyoyori doing?"

It was a deeper female voice, which, if Yukinoshita were to describe it, was similar to Hiratsuka Shizuka's, but for some reason, this person's voice could give people a great sense of security.

"Yes, the fever has gone down. I'll go back to school this afternoon. Carl, you go to work. Didn't you say you had a meeting today?"

Yuan Zi said to the person standing at the door.

The woman was dressed in a smart women's suit, with the top two buttons of her shirt undone. Her suit jacket was draped in her bent arm, and her high-waisted flared trousers hugged her figure perfectly, revealing her long, slender legs.

"That's good. Don't always worry your mother, little one. She just finished her world tour."

A world tour?

Yukinoshita, unable to immediately grasp why there were two female elders in the family, had missed the point.

"Okay, go to work now. I'll take good care of Kiyorai."

Touko walked towards Carol, buttoned up her shirt, and kissed Carol's lips without any hesitation in front of Yukinoshita. Unsurprisingly, the other party deepened the kiss.

Forced to open up a new world, Yukinoshita momentarily thought she was hallucinating.

But as Carol left, she raised an eyebrow defiantly in the direction of Yukino, saying, "I'm heading out, little one, don't push yourself too hard."

Although she is unreliable, she is a mother who deeply loves her daughter.

It's just that the way they express love seems a bit strange.

Yukinoshita recalled that provocative smile from earlier and thought helplessly:

Are you a child?

But this is what a home feels like. Even in this special family, there is such warmth. Compared to the family that owns this body belongs to, my own family is the odd one out.

Yukino lowered her head with a wry smile, unlocked her phone with her fingerprint, and opened LINE to reply:

"Yes, I have a slight fever. I'll be going back to school this afternoon, don't worry."

The reply came very quickly:

"That's good, I'll wait for you."

Looking at the simple six words, Yukinoshita pressed her nose with her hand, feeling a headache coming on. She suddenly wanted to escape reality and stay in her room all day without going out. The closer the person was to her, the easier it was for them to notice that something was wrong with her.

"Qinglai, since you're up, go wash up and come downstairs for breakfast."

“Okay,” Yukinoshita agreed, then hesitated for a moment before whispering, “Mom…”

Touko paused, turned back to Yukino with a soft smile, and said, "Okay, I'll wait for you downstairs."

Like a cat, Yukinoshita felt inexplicably.

Yukinoshita also left the room in her slippers. She looked around the house; it was a duplex. There were three rooms on the floor where she was, and it seemed there was another floor above it. The living room was downstairs. The snowball was no longer in the stairwell; perhaps it had gone off to play somewhere.

Yukinoshita found the restroom and saw the body's original owner's face in the mirror:

This was a mixed-race woman with striking features unlike any Asian face. Her lake-blue eyes were particularly beautiful, and her hair was as black as Touko's. She was undoubtedly a beauty, so much so that even Yukino Yukinoshita, who was used to seeing her own beauty, couldn't help but be stunned. Moreover, her figure was simply indescribable. Just from the faint muscle lines visible on her exposed forearms, Yukinoshita could guess that the body's owner had a habit of exercising regularly. She couldn't help but lift her pajamas to reveal her abdomen, and sure enough, there were clearly visible eleven-point abs and V-lines. The touch was completely different from what she usually felt.

Xuezhi quickly put down her clothes and turned on the tap to cool down her face.

The toiletries next to the sink were arranged by brand: face cream, eye cream, toner, facial cleanser, and so on. There were all sorts of skincare products on the table, more than the variety that Yukino herself used. She recognized a few of the more high-end brands, which were not affordable for ordinary students.

She's also a rich family's daughter...

Yukino looked at herself in the mirror and curled her lips in a mocking smile.

The differences between people are truly astounding unless you compare them...

After washing up, Yukino went to the living room, where Touko had been waiting for a long time. Instead of picking up her chopsticks, she took out a notebook and started writing and drawing.

"Is it ready? Come and eat, it's rare for Mom to make breakfast for you."

Yes, Kiyoyori is a member of a club. Every morning she leaves before her mothers get up and has to take care of her own breakfast. Even on weekends, she has to participate in extra training at school or have early morning training with Reina. It's been a long time since we've made breakfast for her like this.

Yukino obediently sat down opposite Touko, whispered a prayer, "I'm starting to eat," before picking up her chopsticks.

The breakfast she ate wasn't as delicious as the one Yukinoshita made herself, yet every pore of her body seemed to scream praise. The unfamiliar taste made Yukinoshita want to cry.

So this is what mother's cooking tastes like.

Chapter 04 Even geniuses have their off days

After the meal, Touko went to the basement to practice by herself. Yukinoshita was worried that Touko would ask her to practice with her, but she didn't expect that she would be forbidden from entering the practice room, which relieved her to some extent. However, the real challenge was yet to come. She only knew that the original owner of the body could play instruments, but she knew nothing about musical instruments, especially wind instruments that were not commonly seen.

It's unknown what instrument the original owner learned, or whether there was any possibility of learning it quickly.

Thinking about returning to school in the afternoon and having to participate in club training after class, Yukinoshita felt an unprecedented aversion to studying.

When she returned to her room, the first thing she did was open the well-maintained instrument case. When she saw the exquisite black instrument body and numerous silver keys inside, she felt despair.

Although Yukinoshita didn't know much about wind instruments, she wasn't completely ignorant. The instrument in front of her, divided into three sections and placed in a box, was an oboe. Its tone was soft and distinctive, so it was often used for main melodies and was also an excellent solo instrument. Moreover, it was the standard instrument for tuning in an orchestra.

Simply put, it's an instrument that's very easy to mess up.

And this oboe is also known as the most difficult woodwind instrument to learn.

Although Yukinoshita possesses genius-level talents in various fields, including music, and can handle common instruments such as guitar and piano well, she lacks confidence in this particular instrument.

Although she didn't know the original owner's playing level, Yukinoshita could make a simple deduction: from the words of the two ladies just now, it was not difficult to guess that "Touko" was a professional musician. What was the possibility that the daughter admired her mother and was influenced by her mother from a young age, so she chose the same instrument as her mother? In Yukinoshita's current opinion, it was almost infinite. Moreover, from the CD rack next to the player, Yukinoshita successfully found a CD with Touko's picture on it, and the instrument she was holding was an oboe.

So it's quite clear about the original owner's playing ability. In addition, Touko asked her daughter about the solo selection right away, which shows that she was very confident in her daughter's ability, even to the point that she thought the teacher would choose a piece with an oboe solo opportunity without knowing the repertoire.

Therefore, Yukinoshita not only needs to have a student who can play the instrument, but also a student whose playing level is significantly higher than the average age.

What kind of epic problem is this?

While searching through Kiyori's belongings, Yukinoshita was thinking rapidly.

Playing the instrument is one problem, but what's even more troublesome is the original owner's interpersonal relationships, including not only classmates but also clubs. Yukinoshita felt her headache getting worse.

Messages kept popping up on her LINE phone, one from "Kasumi Shiko-sensei" and the other from "Older Sister." Both were talking about a light novel called "Love Metronome." Yukinoshita, who hadn't read the original work, couldn't reply to some of the messages that clearly involved plot developments and character personalities. But LINE's damn read notifications made it impossible for her to pretend she hadn't seen the messages, so she had to bite the bullet and reply to the least dangerous ones.

"I overheard from Sawamura that you're her sister. If you have time, would you like to meet up?"

This is a problem that will only cause trouble for you no matter how you reply. Judging from their chat history, the original owner is a big fan of the other person's works and often talks about things that Yukinoshita doesn't understand. Moreover, judging from her tone, this Kasumi Shiko is an older sister, but she seems to enjoy teasing the original owner.

That's right, Shizuko Kasumi is the author of "Love Metronome".

Yukinoshita held her phone, typing a few words and then deleting them, the notification box constantly switching between "typing" and "online".

"How much does this little kid care about me? Do I have to be so careful with my words? I'm so happy."