Aunt Xiangzi, how did you manage to live?

Bloodstains clung to the corner of his mouth, and he was incredibly weak, but his amber eyes, identical to his own, were filled with unwavering determination, as if he saw through everything and everything would eventually come to a conclusion.

Whenever Xiangzi thought about what happened that day, he felt guilty and somewhat powerless.

To say that he denies her theory of gods... Kazama is actually far more self-righteous than he realizes.

She has already given up everything to get to where she is today, how could she tolerate Kazama, an outsider, criticizing the beliefs she has held onto until now?

Once I repay the favor of saving him, we'll be even.

That's what Toyokawa Shoko was thinking, so her steps toward the boy's ward quickened as her thoughts wandered.

Just as she turned the corner of the corridor, she bumped into Hanami, who had just come out of Kazama's room—and the photo in her hand.

Chapter 89 Kazama, who exactly is your mother?

The woman in the photo has a beautiful and generous smile. The passage of time has not added any signs of weariness to her aging face; on the contrary, the wrinkles have given her face a more mellow and rich charm, like fine red wine.

The boy she held in her arms, though at a mischievous age, did not resist at all and obediently let the woman hold him in front of her. There was not a trace of impatience in his innocent amber eyes.

Although it was a baseless guess, when Anna Hanami saw the photo, she seemed to immediately guess who the little boy was based on her intuition.

...No matter how you look at it, it's Kazama.

Although the photo is still so new that it shows no signs of yellowing, judging from the age and appearance, it is more reasonable to assume that the boy is Kazama's younger brother—or even his illegitimate child.

However, Banami felt that this person should be a young Kazama Akatsuki.

So here's the question: she doesn't remember having anything else in her pocket besides her phone, so why is Kazama's photo here?

The question had barely popped into her head when she immediately came up with a reasonable explanation.

"...No way."

Bana grinned at Anzu, still vividly remembering what the system had just told her in her mind.

The irreversible consequences of sparing no effort to save Kazama and Toyokawa Shoko's lives—

Did they really just print out a family photo of Kazama from when she was little and stuff it into her pocket? That's completely unreasonable! There must be some other, more serious consequences that could arise.

But wait, doesn't the woman in that photo look familiar?

Before Banami could continue thinking, she caught a glimpse of Toyokawa Shoko standing at the end of the corridor.

The girl was carrying various tonics and fruits she had bought for visiting patients—of course, these were all bought in advance by Dingzhi's assistant for her to take off the bus. After all, it was difficult for Xiangzi to support herself and her father with the money she earned from her daily work, let alone spare some money to buy tonics for Kazama.

When she saw that Xiangzi was also staring blankly at the photo in her hand, Banami almost subconsciously put the photo back into her pocket.

"If you're looking for Kazama's room, it's the second to last one at the end of that corridor."

As she put the photo away, she pointed in the direction with her other hand, which successfully diverted Xiangzi's attention from his deep thoughts.

"...Thank you. You are..."

Xiangzi hesitated slightly before thanking him, perhaps because she hadn't expected Kazama's friend to be willing to talk to her.

After all, in anyone's opinion, if it weren't for rescuing her from under the wheels of a car, Kazama wouldn't have been lying in the hospital for so long.

"My name is Anna Hanami. I don't play in a band or have any plans to play any instruments. I'm just Kazama's friend. Just call me Anna Hanami."

The blue-haired girl smiled slightly, but it was merely out of politeness.

"...Is that so, Yanami-kun?"

As a smart man, Xiangzi was not unaware of the aloofness beneath the seemingly friendly and easygoing girl's smile. He simply murmured softly and lowered his head.

Banami clearly defined the boundaries between herself and her, and also provided the most appropriate explanation for her identity.

Indeed, as Kazama's friend, she had no reason to be nice to him. And as the "lucky one" whose life had been saved by Kazama, she couldn't afford to show any displeasure to Kazama or Hanami at this time.

"That guy's in a good mood today, and he's still awake. You can go see him directly—but please be gentle with patients."

Banami pursed her lips. She was actually not very good at being impolite, but she still gave Xiangzi a little "warning".

She has only ever shown her displeasure to one person so far, and that is Motoyo Nagasaki, who talked a lot of nonsense after the performance that day.

Even though Banami considered herself to be a very good-tempered person, she couldn't help but retort a few times that day. After Akatsuki's accident, she avoided visiting her on days when she might run into Suze, and of course, she never mentioned Suze's nonsense.

—If Kazama had heard what Sose said that day, he would have been heartbroken.

Because she had been by his side from the very beginning, even though he might have been hiding some secrets from her, Banami knew very well what could cause Kazama to become depressed.

It was precisely because she had high hopes for those girls in the band that she became so dejected after receiving a disappointing response.

Naturally, because of that conversation that day, Nagasaki Motoyo's impression of her plummeted in Hanami's mind.

However, since she was saved by Kazama, this Toyokawa Shoko shouldn't be as arrogant as Nagasaki Motoyo.

Banami took a step forward, nodded slightly to her, and then brushed past the girl.

"..."

Xiangzi thus missed out on that photograph. Her gaze fell on Banami's pocket, but she had to reluctantly look away because she couldn't see anything clearly.

As they walked further away, Banami sneaked into the women's restroom on that floor of the inpatient ward like a thief. After confirming that the room was empty, she placed her bag on the sink.

She took out the photo from her pocket again and examined the face of the woman in the photo.

If the little boy is undoubtedly Kazama, then this woman always reminds her of a member of MYGO.

Although Banami had only met them a few times, and her memories of the members' appearances came entirely from online encyclopedia entries about the band MYGO, those few meetings were enough to make her make some connections.

The woman looked to be around thirty or forty years old. Her dignified and elegant style of dress and the gentle curve of her eyes always felt somewhat familiar.

Especially her elegant long brown curly hair, resembling that of a long-haired cat, seems to be something she has maintained and cared for since her youth...

Thinking of this, Banami was speechless.

She immediately thought of someone.

The person in the picture, no matter how you look at it, has a close mother-son relationship with Kazama.

"...No way."

She was a little incredulous, but still took out her phone from her small bag and snapped a photo as a backup.

"But...as detective novels also say, after eliminating all the impossibilities, what remains, however hard to accept, is the final truth..."

Banami swallowed hard; the truth was still too unbelievable for her.

"Oh no, my phone's about to die..."

Just then, her phone screen started flickering, so she had to rummage through her bag to find the data cable, and then rush to the charging outlet outside the bathroom to keep the phone running before it shut down.

She also haphazardly stuffed the photo into her bag, planning to come back and sort it out when her phone battery was no longer low.

Of course, Hanami couldn't possibly know this, and it was during this brief moment—

The latch on the stall door in the women's restroom suddenly slid.

Someone came out from inside.

Chapter Ninety: Mother or Sister?

Actually, when I first saw that photo, Anna Hanami immediately thought of someone who looked remarkably similar to the woman in the photo.

But at the same time, he was also someone she found extremely unbelievable.

Nagasaki Suyo.

The person who was inciting everyone to point the finger at Kazama just a few days ago.

The woman in the photo looks at least ten times as similar to her, if not nine-tenths.

The subsequent guesses are quite reasonable.

Considering Su Shi's extremely complex personal feelings for Kazama, and Kazama's gentle treatment of her that he could never bring himself to be harsh towards, and then combining that with this photograph...

Holding her phone, Detective Anna Yanami pondered for a moment.

Finally, she came to an astonishing answer.

"—I get it! The person in the photo is Su Shi's mother; they are actually siblings!"

However, the two people do not look very similar, and they may be half-siblings, which would explain why their relationship is so tense.

"Hmph... I'm simply a genius at deduction."

Banami was very satisfied with the answer she had come up with. After all, she had never met Suze's parents and did not know the composition of Kazama's family. This was the most reasonable explanation at the moment.

Sigh, thinking about it now, maybe I'm being too prejudiced against Su Shi. There might be some entanglement between her and Kazama that others don't know about; after all, even an upright official can't settle family disputes.

"Indeed, I should try to be less subjective in the future..."

However, when she returned to the bathroom with her phone, which had been successfully revived, the scene before her was somewhat unexpected.

The items on the sink remained exactly as they had been when they left—except for the photograph, which a young girl had picked up.

That was a brown-haired girl with long curly hair who appeared in the restroom at some unknown time, standing blankly in front of the sink holding this photo, as if her soul had been stolen away.

Nagasaki Suyo.

"...Oh dear."

It was only then that Banami, who was a beat slow to react, realized that she had been too reckless and had forgotten to bring such an important item with her.

But speaking of which, why is Nagasaki Motoyo here?!

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

The truth is this:

About an hour ago, Nagasaki Motoyo entered this hospital.

Ever since witnessing Hatsuka's relentless advance on Kazama that day, she felt an overwhelming sense of crisis and decided to seize the opportunity to catch up with Hatsuka's pace.

However, in order to avoid suspicion, she did not plan to meet with her companions to visit together. Instead, she planned to appear when Kazama was alone, thus creating a private space for the two of them.

Once they're alone together, she'll be able to properly explain what happened that day to Xiao.

It was less of an explanation and more of a confession; she knew very well that she had no ill will toward anyone outside of C-group—but sometimes this indifference was the source of malice.

Nagasaki Motoyo didn't intend to deny it; she just wanted to be honest with Kazama about her thoughts. Whether he would forgive her afterward was beyond her control.

But at least this will make me feel better.

With this in mind, Su Shi had planned to sneak in and everything would go smoothly until she saw Banami's presence in the room through the window just before she was about to knock on the door.

She had deliberately avoided visiting her companions at the same time as her, but she hadn't anticipated that Banami would also choose the same time.

With no other option, Nagasaki Motoyo gritted her teeth and slunk away to the restroom to hide. She planned to go find Kazama after Hanami left.

But just as she was scrolling through her phone to pass the time, she overheard Banami talking to herself—she seemed to be muttering about some photos, including some about her mother, which aroused Suze's curiosity even more.

When Banami ran out of the restroom with her phone, she tiptoed out and peeked at the sink.

She picked up the photograph.

But what is this thing?

Looking at the photo in her hand, Nagasaki Motoyo's last trace of indifference was easily taken away.

The little boy in the photo seemed to resemble Kazama somewhat, but what actually captured her attention was the woman gently holding the boy in her arms.

She stood motionless, as if her body no longer belonged to this point in time. Even her fingertips trembled slightly, as if she had been forced to uncover some untouchable secret.

A face she should have never seen with her own eyes before, yet it was incredibly familiar to her.

A woman with long, curly brown hair, now a Buddha statue, wearing a dress she had never owned but recognized at a glance, held a young boy tightly in her arms with a gentle smile on her lips.

Her elegant, long-haired cat-like curls, the serene curve of her brows, and that gentle, peaceful smile—

Nagasaki Motoyo only glanced at it once, but instinctively felt as if something had struck her chest.

"……impossible."

She murmured to herself, yet she couldn't deny it.

The woman in the photo looks exactly like myself twenty or thirty years from now.