Why wasn't I the one who got the male lead's script?

"By the way, I don't think you and the Hoshimi in my memory are the same person."

Futaba prepared milk for the boy, but prepared American unsweetened coffee for herself.

"...Because since you traveled to ten years later, your experiences have been completely different from the Xingjian I know."

She was briefly addicted to tea when the boy was still alive, but after the boy's death, she picked up the coffee cup again at some point.

And then I never let it go.

"...Ms. Futaba, could it be possible that you could be as heartless as a stranger to a face that looks like a friend?"

In response, Xingjian just shrugged and silently took a sip of the still warm sugar-free pure milk.

He believed that his understanding of Futaba would not have changed much even after more than ten years.

"...It's not that extreme. Diode thinking is not a good thing."

Futaba curled her lips helplessly, but it wasn't because of the bitter taste in her mouth.

She had long been accustomed to this feeling, and to be honest, the taste buds on her tongue had long been numb.

"Let's get back to the point. What do you think we should do next?"

"Um... Futaba, what exactly do you mean?"

After finishing all the bread in no time, Xingjian drank the last bit of milk in the cup, feeling as comfortable and relaxed as if he had just slept at home for a night.

"...Do you really think you can live here in your past self's place with the body and memories from ten years ago?"

There was something ironic in the smile that Futaba pointed at him.

"If that's the case, I'd be the first to disagree—after all, you didn't belong here ten years ago."

"Well, I'm aware of that."

After taking a piece of paper from the tissue box on the table and wiping the corner of his mouth, Xingjian slowly threw it into the trash can, his tone calm and casual.

"So, I guess all I can strive for is the possibility of getting here smoothly."

His voice was soft and his tone was slightly nonchalant.

But Futaba could tell that this was indeed his current plan.

"Please, Futaba, you don't really think I can accept my own death peacefully. I won't accept dying inexplicably like this."

Besides, her own death made her so sad... This was something Xingjian didn't want to see.

Xing Jianqing, who was supposed to continue living in this time and space, died in an accident ten years ago.

So, in order to avoid that death, in order to allow myself to exist safely ten years from now—

This is probably what Xing Jianqing needs to do now.

Rewrite your own destiny and change the death that is destined to happen.

It may sound like a fantasy, but now that I have come to this point ten years later and learned this fact, maybe there really is a way to change this established fact.

"In that case, I might be able to help you."

Futaba didn't seem surprised at his answer at all. She just raised her eyebrows slightly and looked at the glasses that the boy had tucked into the breast pocket of his shirt in a daze.

——Those should be my glasses.

I vaguely remember that I gave the glasses to that boy many years ago.

"...What a terrifying guy."

Thinking of this, she couldn't help but look away slightly.

Whenever she looked at the young man in front of her, she always had the illusion that her body and mind seemed to be still stuck in ten years ago.

The thought was too horrible for her.

"...To be honest, I have been researching this aspect over the years."

Futaba cleared her throat, and then in a nonchalant tone, briefly introduced to Hoshimi what she had done over the years.

"Time travel, puberty syndrome... Since these things happening to us aren't unprecedented in human history, collecting data and conducting research and extrapolating them isn't as difficult as one might imagine."

Her tone was relaxed and casual, as if she was describing a very small and simple task.

“It just takes a little time.”

"Ah...Is that so?"

Come to think of it, Hoshimi also saw those densely packed research books in Futaba's study.

"So, Futaba, you've been studying these things all these years with all your heart and soul... just because of my death."

So it's been like this for ten years, and you've never given up.

"...Stop adding meaningless modifiers before what I say."

Futaba was a little unsure how to respond to the boy's frank question, and was stunned for a moment. After a long silence, she gradually looked away.

"I just don't want to believe that there is really no room for redemption."

We had been through so many ups and downs and all kinds of unrealistic things together, but in the end this guy just suddenly left without saying goodbye.

Futaba Rio couldn't accept this fact.

If it was due to youth syndrome, then that guy's death shouldn't have been inevitable.

So, she just relied on her own stubbornness and kept investigating and researching possible reversals - refusing to give up.

It was only when I realized that I had been doing this for nearly ten years.

"...Thank you, Futaba."

"…What are you thanking me for?"

"Thank you for not giving up on the possibility that I might survive, even though my death was already a certainty."

"Don't be so grateful for something you've never accomplished. I haven't succeeded once in the past ten years."

Having said that, Futaba couldn't help but smile at herself.

"Rather, the reappearance of you from ten years ago here would give me the illusion that my research has been successful and my wish has come true."

Obviously, he is not some heroic spirit that appears to fulfill one's wishes.

"Let's get back to business. I'll tell you my research and findings after breakfast."

She shook her head, putting the unnecessary thoughts behind her, and then slowly chewed the half-remaining bread in her hand.

You have to know that in the past few years, Futaba Rio has not really paid much attention to her physical health and proper nutritional food intake - she has put more of her energy into an experiment that may never make any progress.

"My achievements...maybe they will actually help you in your quest to change your destiny."

Well, for Futaba Rio, today's breakfast was a little more palatable.

[Futaba Line] Destiny: Chapter 6 Goodbye, Not Goodbye (Part 1)

"To be honest, the present future might just be one of the many branches of the time and space you once lived in."

After breakfast, Futaba took Hoshimi to the study on the second floor - which was also the place where Hoshimi had slept on the floor last night.

Of course, Futaba didn't bring him here to sleep.

She pulled a book out of the drawer and tossed it to the bewildered Hoshimi.

The title of the book was "Time and Space Travel Paradox and Principles and Parallel Universes" - it might be a book published ten years later. Xingjian was unfamiliar with the publisher and the author, and had never seen a book with the same name in his memory.

"This means that if you take certain remedial measures, you still have the opportunity to return to the time and space you truly belong to, and then change the choices you made - leading to another future."

The gray-haired woman pushed up her glasses and picked up a bottle of clear liquid in a test tube from the table beside her.

"This is……?"

After briefly flipping through the book that Futaba threw to her, Hoshimi noticed the reagent in her hand.

"You have the ability to travel through time and space."

Futaba didn't answer his question immediately. She just stared at the transparent liquid in the test tube and shook it slightly. Her eyes were focused and not distracted - it seemed that she only looked away after the test was successful.

"Although for some reason you are unable to use your time-travel ability to return to the time and space you are supposed to exist in, with a little help from external factors, perhaps you can awaken your time-travel ability again."

After she said this, she handed the test tube to the confused Xingjian.

"Don't look so skeptical. Although it's understandable that you're still skeptical about this bottle."

Perhaps because she could easily read the curiosity and caution in Hoshimi's eyes, Futaba made some detailed additions.

"Over the years, I've tried to contact patients with puberty syndrome who have also experienced time travel. After investigating and recording the objective factors that induced their syndrome, such as environmental factors, food factors, and physical conditions, I tried to make a bottle of this reagent."

At this, she shrugged slightly.

"But don't mistake this for a so-called time-travel potion—it simply stimulates and activates the time-travel ability you already possess. It's like a catalyst in chemistry; it doesn't participate in the energy exchange of a chemical reaction, but merely serves as a catalyst... Sorry, I'm getting off track."

"Haha, Futaba, you're still the same."

After listening to Futaba's explanation which may be a bit confusing, even Futaba herself not only held her forehead and sighed that her old illness had come back again, but the young man smiled softly and took the reagent from Futaba's hand as if he was relieved.

"Well, you're still the familiar science nerd—that really puts me at ease."

"...What? You sound like you know me very well."

You have to know that they have known each other for a full ten years.

"Some things never change with time. I'm content just by confirming that."

The young man felt relieved, and the bottle of transparent reagent in his hand, which seemed a little strange to him, became harmless.

Since it was made by Futaba, he could be 100% confident that there wouldn't be any weird side effects.

"If I drink this, I can travel through time like before, right?"

"In theory, it should be, but I haven't actually tested it, so I'm not sure. Besides, I can't make a 100% promise about this kind of thing."

Futaba curled her lips helplessly. She didn't think she was a reliable pharmacist.

"After all, this is just to help you regain your ability to travel through time and space. What will happen after you regain your ability is still unknown."

"Is that so... Then if I go back, everything I've experienced now——"

"You're the only one who will remember it. If you direct the future towards a different possibility, then no one will know what you've been through—including me."

"Hmm...if I drink it, will I be unable to come back?"

"Why, you still want to return to this time and space? This time and space where your original self is already dead?"

Futaba chuckled softly as if she had heard a joke, but the boy remained expressionless.

"Not really...it's just that for me, even though Futaba has become a stranger to me ten years later, I still feel a little uneasy."

"—"

The boy's words, which sounded a bit casual, froze the curve of the gray-haired woman's mouth.

"Futaba, do you have a job now?"

Even though there was only a short time left before leaving, Xingjian still asked Futaba about some family matters in a very patient and gentle tone.

Maybe it's because I haven't had the time to ask these questions before. And if I don't understand now, I won't have the chance again.

"…currently unemployed."

Futaba, who understood his thoughts, choked for a moment, then turned her face away somewhat awkwardly - she looked exactly the same now as she did ten years ago.

"Haha, that's it."

"why are you laughing."

"Nothing, just not surprising at all."

Xingjian weighed the reagent in his hand, his eyes a little vague.

When Futaba introduced this bottle of reagent to herself, her tone was very calm, as if it was just a summer homework completed on an insignificant vacation.

But that’s not the case.

This must be what this guy... did over the past ten years, pouring all his energy into it, holding on to his last remaining hope, and refusing to give up even after everyone around him had accepted Hoshimi's death.

"...If you don't have a job, Futaba, have you ever considered becoming a university lecturer? If you're Futaba, you must have solid professional knowledge."

"Huh? What's wrong, you suddenly?"

"nothing."