You are Toyokawa Shoko, then who am I?

Sanjiao Chuhua lowered his head.

He wanted to open his mouth to say something, but in the end he held his hands down and swallowed back the words of dissuasion.

"I understand, but Xiao Xiang...if you feel it's too much, just stop. It's okay not to face it when you feel pain. I'll wait for you at home. Leave Xiao Mu to me."

Toyokawa Sho agreed softly, and then asked Sankaku Hatsuka to hold Wakaba Mu's hand.

When Ruoye Mu saw that Fengchuan Xiang was about to leave, he took off his coat and wanted to hand it to Fengchuan Xiang, but Fengchuan Xiang pushed him back.

It was not until he saw Sankaku Hatsuka and Wakaba Mutsuki got into the car that Toyokawa Sho turned his head and prepared to set off to find Toyokawa Shoko.

Based on his understanding of Toyokawa Shoko.

at this time……

That guy might run towards the shrine.

She definitely couldn't climb the stairs to the 30th floor, so she should sit at the bottom of the stairs, where there was an eaves to block the rain...

Toyokawa Sho closed his eyes and tried to use the Corridor of Life to sense Toyokawa Shoko's location. After confirming that the other party's location was as he expected, he ran towards the shrine.

But he hadn't taken many steps.

I saw a middle-aged man in the crowd.

The other party also saw him.

He subconsciously took a step back, and the sincere words he heard at Toyokawa Shoko's house a few days ago began to echo in his ears like a nightmare.

Toyokawa Sho covered his cheeks and used the Corridor of Life to calm himself down, taking advantage of this short period of time.

The middle-aged man ran over anxiously and hurriedly.

It was obvious that his physical strength had been exhausted due to long-term alcoholism. He started panting after running only a short distance.

But even so, he still had no intention of stopping. He grabbed Toyokawa Sho's shoulders and asked almost in a panic.

"Xiang! Where is Xiangzi...!? I can't find her. It's raining so hard, I can't contact her...!"

86

Chapter 86: Toyokawa Shoko’s confession.

This is the case now.

It's like meeting the Demon King right after you get the best sword in the village.

As soon as he learned how to play chess, he was sent on stage to play against the eight-time champion**.

Or maybe he just started training in the gym for a few months and his opponent in his first match is called Taylor.

Looking at the middle-aged man in front of him who was only 1.7 meters tall and much shorter than him, Toyokawa Sho's expression seemed to be imprinted on his face. The determination he had just made up was suddenly faced with the most difficult challenge.

He opened his mouth.

The words were stuck in my throat for a long time. For a moment, I didn't know how to address this person or what tone to use to treat this person.

He ran out to look for his daughter on such a rainy day. He must have quit his hard-earned job. He was a father who only cared about his child's safety. He was too unfamiliar to him.

He has a face exactly like the scumbag in my memory, but what he does and what he says are completely different.

The scumbag would throw beer cans in his face and yell at him why he didn't die with him.

When this man was drunk, he would hug him and pour out all the fragility and pain of a middle-aged man whose life had taken a sharp turn for the worse, and said in a tearful voice that he would take on the responsibility of being a father again.

The gap between the two was so huge, and the sense of separation was so strong, that when Toyokawa Sho saw this person, he felt that he was more like a character in a story, or a character in a movie, than a living person.

unreal.

It's not realistic.

He lowered his eyes for a long time, and finally chose to call the other person by his name.

"...Mr. Qinggao, please calm down first. I know where Xiangzi ran off to. Please calm down first."

The father, who was in a state of confusion, finally calmed down. He did not doubt Toyokawa Sho's words at all. He breathed a sigh of relief, and the stone in his heart fell safely. The hands that were holding Toyokawa Sho's shoulders also released the strength.

"Great... I thought Xiangzi was gone..."

Toyokawa Seikao withdrew his hand and wiped away the tears that had flowed from his anxiety.

Then I looked up and saw that Toyokawa Sho was only wearing a thin shop assistant's shirt with cuffs that only reached his arms, which could not keep him warm at all in the rain.

He looked down at his suit jacket, and without hesitation, he took it off neatly and put it on Toyokawa Sho.

"..."

Toyokawa Sho was stunned for a moment and looked at Toyokawa Seigao with some surprise.

"It's okay. When I was young, I ran around a lot to raise money for tuition. Even when it rained heavily, I would get up and deliver newspapers. I'm used to it."

Fengchuan Qingjiao forced a smile, but when he thought about how he was still drained by alcohol, his face was not shaved clean, and even his eyes were bloodshot.

It doesn't matter when he is with his daughter, because he knows that his daughter has always regarded him as her father.

But when facing this son who came from another time and space, he didn't know whether he was a qualified father in his mind.

He turned his head and rubbed his cheeks with his hands, his fingers sliding uncomfortably across the yellowed skin, trying to hide his beard and his decadence.

Toyokawa Sho looked at him, his fingers touching the suit jacket draped over his body. After hesitating for a moment, he stuffed the jacket back into Toyokawa Seikao's hands.

"Xiangzi's emotional breakdown this time is because of me. I will take responsibility and bring Xiangzi home. Mr. Qinggao can go back to work without worry."

Toyokawa Sho waved the umbrella towards Toyokawa Kiyoshi, preventing the man from getting wet in the rain.

He could handle the rest of the matter by himself, and there was no need to trouble Fengchuan Qinggao to go with him.

But Toyokawa Seikao shook his head and said in a firm tone.

"Whatever the problem is with the child, it's all my fault as a father. It's my incompetence that caused Xiangzi to take on the responsibility of taking care of the family too early. It's not your fault at all."

"If I lose my job, I can find another one if I try harder. But Xiangzi can't. She is my daughter, the person I cherish most... I promised her mother that I would protect her for the rest of my life. I have already failed in my duty once, and I will never fail in my duty again!"

Toyokawa Sho slowly opened his eyes and felt that what the other person said was like a story in a fairy tale picture book.

Looking at Fengchuan Qinggao's serious face that didn't seem fake, many words on the verge of coming out of his heart finally turned into a sarcastic sigh.

"Is it really okay? If I lose my job."

"It doesn't matter. After all, I'm a student at a prestigious high school. Even if I'm not very capable, my teachers and classmates won't let me ruin the reputation of my alma mater."

Toyokawa Kiyoshi joked.

"Indeed, if the teachers knew that you were drinking every day and had been relying on your daughter's part-time job to support yourself, they would probably invite you to freestyle swimming in Tokyo Bay, thus physically preserving the reputation of the University of Tokyo."

Toyokawa Sho nodded in approval.

"...I was wrong, I was really wrong. I will never bring alcohol home again. I swear, I swear to you all, I will let you and Xiangzi supervise me. Please believe me."

Fengchuan Qinggao said with tears in his eyes.

Looking at the man's face full of heartache, it seemed that he was really determined to fight to the end to quit drinking.

Toyokawa Sho silently sighed in his heart, "That's great."

He put in so much effort back then.

Actually, I just wanted to talk to the scumbag like I am now.

Alcoholism, decadence, homelessness, and paying off debts.

In his opinion, these are things that can be overcome.

He is willing to pay any price as long as his father can get back on his feet.

As a son, how big could your biggest wish be?

I just want to get the recognition of the tall man in my memory, and hope that my father can live a long life, year after year, safe and healthy, that would be enough.

It’s just that life is full of ups and downs, just like a movie made up of countless films, which has infinite possibilities. So sometimes it can accommodate dreams as high as the sky and as vast as the sea, and sometimes even such a small wish will be crossed out.

Looking at Toyokawa Kiyoshige who was scratching his hair and whose straight suit was soaked by the rain and looked disheveled, Toyokawa Sho silently withdrew his gaze.

He is a good father.

"Xiang, you should wear my clothes. It's cold outside. Don't catch a cold."

Fengchuan Qinggao said earnestly.

"I won't bother with that. Your clothes smell like an old man."

Toyokawa Sho shook his head.

"Big, uncle smell..."

Fengchuan Qinggao felt as if he was struck by lightning. The pain of being disliked by his son was like a sharp sword, cutting a piece of flesh from his heart.

Seeing the man looking dejected, Toyokawa Sho didn't continue talking. He just stood on the side of the road with the man holding an umbrella.

He waved to a taxi not far away, and the car quickly drove over and stopped smoothly in front of him.

"Mr. Qinggao, please get in the car."

"Is it really that far? Isn't it a bit…"

Toyokawa Kiyoshige looked conflicted; his small wallet couldn't quite support such lavish spending.

"Xiangzi will also need a ride soon."

Toyokawa Sho said, "Even if my father was an alcoholic every day, seeing him take a taxi in the pouring rain to pick me up would probably change his mind a little bit."

Fengchuan Qinggao suddenly realized.

He is worthy of being my son. He inherited my excellent genes and has such accomplishments in treating women.

Fengchuan Qinggao was slightly touched. He wiped his face and said with a smile, "That's right. When our family gets home, let's have a good meal. What do you want to eat, Xiang?"

"I don't need it."

Upon hearing this, Toyokawa Sho shook his head slightly and said to Toyokawa Seigao with a smile.

"I'm staying at a friend's house tonight."

……

……

……

Just as Toyokawa Sho expected.

Toyokawa Shoko was indeed staying at the shrine.

However, she did not sit at the bottom. Instead, she climbed a distance, about one-sixth of the way up. There was a torii gate at that location to block the rain. She curled up and sat there alone.

Toyokawa Sho asked Toyokawa Seikao to stay in the car and wait for him to come back, then he picked up the umbrella and the coat that Toyokawa Seikao had stuffed into his hand again, and soon he walked up to Toyokawa Shoko.

The other person was wearing the new dress he had given her a few days ago. She lowered her head, hugged her legs, and buried her face in her thighs. Her body was trembling from being in the rain for a long time. The rain was like a paintbrush, drawing transparent circles along the folds of the clothes. The girl's fair skin and the clothes underneath were clearly visible under these transparent lines.

Toyokawa Sho looked at Toyokawa Shoko silently for a while, put the umbrella aside, knew there was water on the steps, but still sat down next to Toyokawa Shoko, and then put the coat that Toyokawa Kiyoko had stuffed into his hand on Toyokawa Shoko.

When Shoko Toyokawa felt someone touching her, she slowly raised her head, revealing her eyes which were red and swollen from crying.

Her big amber eyes were still filled with crystal tears, and her small nose twitched hard. Even though the rain was falling all around, one could still hear her sobs, which she suppressed in her throat, trying hard not to cry out loud.

She ran to this place, to this place that only she and Toyokawa Sho knew, actually hoping that Toyokawa Sho could find her.

But when she really saw Toyokawa Sho appear in front of her, she became timid again, and couldn't even utter a word of the storm of words that had accumulated in her heart.

Guilt.

Blame yourself.

Countless negative emotions were like surging waves that dragged her into a whirlpool.

She hated herself for not realizing the difference between them sooner, hated herself for being kept in the dark so foolishly, and only now that the truth was revealed did she realize that her existence was a denial of the other person at all times.

She should have noticed it earlier, when she first came to the shrine that day, when Toyokawa Sho heard her say that she had no debts.

If she had realized this difference that day, if she had held his hand that day, fulfilled her other self's responsibility just as he comforted her...

The more Shoko Toyokawa thought about it, the more uncomfortable she felt. The repressed emotions stung her and she wanted to cry again. She kept wiping away her tears with her palms, but the more she rubbed her eyes, the redder they became, and she wanted to cry even more than before.

She gritted her teeth, trying her best not to let herself become weak again, and hugged her thighs to bury her face. After hiding it for a long time, she raised her head again and spoke in a voice as thin as a mosquito's.

"...Why don't you say anything?"