"Really? Our taking-san looks like a man now. When we last met, there was... nothing here."

She winked at him, placed her fingers playfully on Taki Yi's lips, gently circled there, and scraped 360 degrees until she reached her chin.

In the eyes of the elders, it is probably the most magical thing to find that a junior who has always been regarded as a child suddenly grows a beard on his face.

Nineteen years have passed, and there is a long time between each meeting.

The slight beard growing on Takiichi's face seemed to have become a fun toy in Kudo Shizuka's eyes.

"Taki-san, please work hard. With this face, those little girls may be fascinated by you. Do you need me to pass on some skills to you? It will definitely work."

Takiichi seemed to be able to see the end of this sentence, mixed with heart-shaped symbols.

There is no man who doesn't like a woman with a gentle personality, especially a woman with a homely physique, but this kind of nature has basically nothing to do with Sakura.

Although Nako is quieter, at such an age, she is still lively and active when facing him.

The smile in front of him is probably the most precious thing among what he has experienced during his solo travels these days, except for the little sister Maibai Sakamoto who is four years younger than him.

"Okay Shizuka, I have to tease him like this every time I see you."

Behind Kudo Shizuka, a person came up, quietly pulled her arm and shouted.

"Kasan, I'm extremely sorry for making you worry about me."

The person who stepped forward to rescue Takiichi was none other than his mother, Miki Hirai.

"Go back to your room first, have a good rest, and then take a bath. You will be the protagonist tonight."

Hirai Miki stretched out her hand, clung to the side of Taki Yi's face and gently rubbed it for a long time.

Her mouth opened slightly, and it seemed that she had a lot of things to ask him.

There was not much communication between mother and son, but there was a deep sense of warmth in the tone of voice and demeanor.

These days...or from the time Hirai Takichi left home until now, she must be worried about my state, right?

After going up to the second floor from the lobby, I returned to my room.

"Pap~"

After closing the sliding door behind him and turning on the lights, Takichi breathed a sigh of relief.

When I came to the window, the location was just right enough to capture the various aspects of life in Sanshan Kimura.

Behind the Kagaya Onsen Hotel, or rather beyond the backyard, is a park, where you can vaguely see a few elderly people walking in their seventies.

There are also a few farm dogs running around happily.

For the children in the village, the green space of this park, with only a few swings and public facilities, is the only place for them to play.

There are no buildings of different heights in Tokyo, and there are no windows in each building that reflect the white light under the sunlight.

"I wonder when Nako will arrive?"

Taki murmured as he closed the window.

The atmosphere of Sanshan Kimura, everything is too beautiful.

Looking at the sunset hidden among the clouds in the distance, until now, he could still think of the various smells everywhere he went these past few days.

Ryusei from Shintanabe, Maibai Sakamoto from Ikkyuji Temple, grandma from Miyamizu Shrine, Chikumaru Ryōtou who slept with him for three days, Yumezuo...

The multiple scenery he passed by, the many different people he talked to, the taste will change every time the scene is changed.

"It's amazing...Is this what it feels like to explore unfamiliar things, go to places you've never been to, and meet more people?"

With his hands behind his head and his body lying on a familiar bed, the smell of this room made Hirai Takiichi miss him every bit.

He had never imagined what he would do in the face of such loneliness after leaving Sakura.

Just sitting on a rural tram and following the scenery outside the window, every frame of the picture embodies the life of the locals.

After turning over and resting for a while, Taki sat up from the bed and took out the computer and sketches from his backpack.

Hanging next to the bed is a boy's school uniform, with the University of Tokyo's emblem embroidered on the left chest.

"Time flies so fast~I'm about to graduate~"

With his eyes locked on that set of clothes, which had been ironed without a trace of wrinkles, Takiichi slowly stood up.

One arm habitually pulled a box out from under the bed.

Inside the dusty, shabby-looking suitcase was a laptop with scratches and cracks on the surface due to damage.

Fortunately, Taki reacted quickly during the fire in the orphanage when he was a child. In the moment of crisis, he stuffed the computer into a crack in the wall.

No one knows how important this laptop is to him.

Pressing his finger on the power button and staring at the screen that quickly lit up, Takiichi's expression suddenly became a little more sighing.

On the dark and somewhat shiny screen, a series of incomprehensible codes were slowly loading.

After entering the password I set, the moment I entered the computer desktop, a string of data in the lower right corner "has been updated to March 24, 2020."

"It's still six years different from the current world timeline, although I don't know why it is like this. Happy birthday, Takiichi... In this life, there is still me in the previous life."

All in all, I haven't turned on this computer for two years.

Compared with the past, although it is still indispensable to me, the degree of dependence on it is getting lower and lower.

Over the years, Takiichi has mastered many things with it.

During most of his free time, the role of this computer for him is limited to watching clips of variety shows broadcast in Future World, or... to store some important information.

After entering the main page of the computer, apart from the browser, there are only four files left on the desktop.

‘Song’, ‘movie script’, ‘TV drama script’ and ‘variety show script’.

Every file is inevitably password-protected. There is no need to worry about copyright issues for anything in any file. It will be priceless when you take it out.

But the key is that some things need to be used on the right people to achieve their true value.

"Da da..."

He took out the drawings from his backpack, picked out a few and put them aside. Taki held the edges with one or two hands, straightened them up gently on the table, then stood up and put them in the drawer in front of the desk.

There is a thick diary placed in the middle of the drawer. The top, bottom, left and right, and the distance between the four corners and the edge have all been carefully measured and compared.

But now, the position of the notebook is slightly tilted compared to before leaving home.

This shows that someone had entered his room before and read the contents here.

He took out a pen from the pen holder on the desk, pinched out the refill, squatted down, and poked the tip of the refill upward in a certain direction.

Somewhere under the wooden board of the drawer, a very inconspicuous small hole appeared in sight.

"Danglang~~"

With just a slight push upward, the moment the wooden board of the drawer was lifted, a new space appeared underneath.

This drawer was transformed into a double-layer interior by Takiichi many years ago.

When normal people open it, their eyes will first be attracted by the diary placed above, and they will not notice that there is another layer below.

Everyone needs to have their own private space and little secrets, even when facing their own parents.
Chapter completed!