Once the two were seated, Morgana opened the driver’s side door, slipped behind the wheel, and removed her sunglasses.
There was no denying it: Morgana, being European, had a figure with proportions as perfect as a runway model’s. Her crisp black suit gave her the aura of a Wall Street elite. Gao Sijin remembered first meeting her at the airport, when she had arrived in a red Ferrari. If he’d known back then that Morgana and Rio were acquainted, he wouldn’t have wasted all those days in the library chasing phantom encounters.
“Let’s go, Morgana.”
Tsukiyuki Rio sat with effortless grace, her long, snow-white legs crossed elegantly, her feet in wooden geta sandals that teased the imagination.
Catching himself sneaking a glance at Rio’s legs, Gao Sijin immediately turned his face away and inwardly scolded himself for his rudeness.
“Gao-kun, why are you turning away?”
“Nothing. Just pondering life.”
“What kind of life? Can you tell me about it?”
“Uh, well, all kinds of things…”
Gao Sijin turned back, intending to share his life plans with Rio, but then he noticed she had leaned in close. A sweet, clear fragrance instantly overtook his senses, and his gaze was helplessly drawn to the tantalizing expanse of fair skin visible within the open collar of her kimono.
This girl was completely unguarded around him. Gao Sijin nearly had a nosebleed on the spot.
“I’ll tell you later, Rio.”
“Alright.” Tsukiyuki Rio nodded obediently. “But it really does feel like a dream, going out to see the cherry blossoms with my favorite author. Even if I died tomorrow, I’d have no regrets.”
“Don’t speak so lightly of death, Rio. You have to live life to the fullest.”
“I was just joking, Gao-kun.”
The car pulled away.
Soon, they were passing the Hongo Campus and heading into the distance.
Gao Sijin had been in Tokyo for some time now, but as a homebody, he wasn’t terribly familiar with the local area. His conversations with Rio also had a tendency to lapse into inexplicable silence; often, they’d end up blushing and stopping mid-chat.
The confined space of the car naturally brought a man and a woman closer together.
Yet, even as Gao Sijin basked in Rio’s charming presence, his body would occasionally tremble. That hallucination of being plunged into an ice cellar returned. The scenery passing by the car window felt so eerily familiar, and the beautiful girl at his side likewise sparked a sense of recollection. His brain kept subconsciously telling him that what was happening now was not the “present continuous” but rather the “simple past.”
“By the way, Rio, what do you think about déjà vu?” Gao Sijin was pleased to have found a good topic, and he genuinely wanted to hear Rio’s perspective. “Sometimes I feel like my life is just a rerun. Things happening for the first time always feel as if I’ve experienced them before. It feels like I’ve been on a long trip with you before.”
“Does Gao-kun want a supernatural explanation for déjà vu, or a scientific one?”
“Either is fine. Let’s just treat this as casual chat, Rio.”
“From a supernatural angle, maybe we met in a previous life and had a connection back then, which is why Gao-kun feels a sense of familiarity. I’m not sure if Gao-kun knows about parallel world theory, but perhaps in some parallel universe, we’ve already been friends, or maybe even something more. Alternatively, it could be precognition, or even alien abduction—there are all sorts of possibilities. Anyway, déjà vu is a pretty rare phenomenon, so why not let our imaginations run wild?”
Gao Sijin didn’t buy the past lives and parallel worlds talk at all.
As a fine youth of the twenty-first century, he had little interest in superstition.
“And what about a scientific perspective?”
“Déjà vu is thought to be closely linked to temporal lobe epilepsy. Patients with epilepsy are more prone to experiencing déjà vu during seizures, which may be related to abnormal electrical discharges in the brain’s neural system. Studies have found that déjà vu tends to decrease with age, generally occurring most frequently between the ages of fifteen and twenty-five. Gao-kun is twenty-two this year, which fits right in that range.” Tsukiyuki Rio giggled, her dark-red eyes roaming over Gao Sijin’s face. “Also, people under greater stress are more likely to experience déjà vu. Come to think of it, after what happened yesterday, it’s only natural you’d be stressed. Today, just enjoy our cherry blossom outing with me and relax.”
“Actually…”
“Actually?”
“Never mind. It’s nothing.”
Being with her was even more stressful.
Gao Sijin had to watch every word and action, terrified of leaving a bad impression on Tsukiyuki Rio.
No matter what, he absolutely did not want Rio to dislike him…
“Relax, Lord Sijin. You don’t need to worry so much,” Morgana suddenly spoke from the driver’s seat. “Young Lady Tsukiyuki often talks about you, and she spends entire afternoons reading your books. The light novel you published before—she’s read it at least ten times. To show her support, she even bought over a hundred extra copies and gave them to the Tsukiyuki Clan members as souvenirs.”
“Rio, you’re way too much…”
She actually gave that yandere maid light novel to the Tsukiyuki Clan members?
That book had been written entirely to suit Gao Sijin’s own tastes. It hardly qualified as literature; it was nothing more than the self-indulgent creation of a single, loveless otaku.
If the elders of Rio’s family read that, how could he ever face her parents?
The mere thought of Rio’s family looking at his bizarre story with contempt made Gao Sijin want to crawl into a hole.
“My mother and father both like Gao-kun’s work very much.”
“They probably haven’t even read it, right?”
“They have! My grandfather, the Patriarch of our clan, even said the male lead reminded him of his own youthful flair. Mother likes the female lead most, for her ruthless decisiveness and her personality that dares to love and hate in equal measure. Father also thinks the plot is excellent. So, Gao-kun, please have confidence. Your book is loved by everyone.”
Gao Sijin scratched his head, at a bit of a loss.
During the conversation, Gao Sijin also noticed a small detail.
Most people would normally say “my dad and mom,” but Tsukiyuki Rio had said “my mother and father.”
“Does Rio like her mother more?”
“Father married into the Tsukiyuki family, you see,” Tsukiyuki Rio said, her eyes narrowing slightly as she glanced meaningfully at Gao Sijin. “When I get married someday, I’ll definitely find a man willing to marry into our family. Fortunately, because of the uxorilocal marriage tradition, I’m not restricted by the family in terms of love. As long as my partner agrees to take the ‘Tsukiyuki’ surname in the future, it’s fine.”
“Marry into…”
Gao Sijin hadn’t exactly experienced much fatherly love, but his name, Sijin, had been given to him by his grandfather. He’d heard that his grandfather doted on him greatly as a child; the name Sijin carried the hope that his future would be as brilliant as a brocade.
He had no real memories of his grandfather, who had passed away from illness when Gao Sijin was three. Still, he’d been told that his grandfather loved him deeply, often taking him for walks outside during his hospitalization, and always letting little Sijin have the first bite of any fresh fruit.
How could he simply cast aside a name laden with such earnest hopes?
The blood ties between family could not be severed. Gao Sijin wanted to be Rio’s lover, but at the same time, he didn’t want to give up his name.
He was even more disdainful of naturalization.
Not long ago, a compatriot who had naturalized as a Japanese citizen had smugly asked what surname he should take. Gao Sijin had suggested “Inukai” (dog-breeder), and they hadn’t been in contact since.
“Rio, does the person you marry in the future really have to marry into the Tsukiyuki family?”
“Of course it’s a must. Our Tsukiyuki Clan is a prestigious family, after all. Many rules have to be followed.”
“What unreasonable rules…”
Gao Sijin couldn’t help sighing.
Truly, the path to becoming Rio’s lover was fraught with obstacles. The first hurdle was already standing solidly in his way.
The atmosphere grew a bit stiff. Morgana turned on the stereo, playing a song by the popular singer Ovinia.
Looking out the car window, Gao Sijin realized they were getting farther and farther from the city center.
“Where are we going now? Aren’t we going cherry blossom viewing?”
“Gao-kun, if we went to one of those public places where everyone can see the cherry blossoms, it would be too noisy and dull. Besides, those spots are all packed by now. Next, we’re going to my mansion to view the blossoms.”
“To your mansion?” Gao Sijin swallowed. “Does that mean your family will be there today too?”
“Of course not. I said it’s my mansion, not my family’s home. I don’t actually live with my mother and father. They have their work, and I have my own life. Aside from the maids, there’s no one else at my mansion.”
“Truly a young lady born with a silver spoon.”
The car left the city and entered the highway.
The sky outside was a boundless, clear blue. Today was indeed a perfect day for an outing. Though the events of last night still flashed through his mind like a revolving lantern, being with Tsukiyuki Rio gave Gao Sijin solace. He sank fully into bliss.
He’d worry about future problems in the future.
Today, he just wanted to convey his feelings of affection to Rio.
“We’re almost there, Gao-kun.”
Along the forest-lined lane, they could see pastures, a winery, a golf course, and other sights. In the distance, flower-covered terraced fields came into view, as if they had entered a Peach Blossom Spring, far removed from the dust and clamor of the world.
“Allow me to make a grand introduction, Lord Sijin. All this land you see here belongs to Young Lady Tsukiyuki.”
“It belongs to Rio?”
Gao Sijin stared incredulously at the seemingly innocent kimono-clad girl. She was playing with the ends of her hair, pursing her lips a bit shyly.
“Would Gao-kun come to dislike me because of my wealth?”
“Absolutely not. Rather, seeing this… I feel a bit…”
“What’s wrong?”
“Nothing…”
So the second hurdle was their vastly different backgrounds.
Such an absurdly luxurious, Versailles-like life was far beyond Gao Sijin’s reach, making him feel increasingly inferior.
And then, Gao Sijin saw the real Versailles.
Or more accurately, a French-style building modeled after the Palace of Versailles. For some reason, this building also gave Gao Sijin a sense of familiarity. His body began to tremble uncontrollably once again.
