After returning to the apartment, Uzuki saw Cousin Rio sitting on the sofa. Her breathtakingly beautiful smile held a subtle, cruel edge of mockery, as if silently proclaiming her claim over Gao Sijin and her dominance over the entire family.
Compared to that, Uzuki had nothing. A heat began to build in her chest, as if cradling a flame. The burning pain was so vivid. She averted her gaze, unwilling to witness Gao Sijin falling into Cousin Rio’s embrace.
“Won’t you come sit with us in the living room, Uzuki?”
Gao Sijin looked at Uzuki with some concern.
“I’m sorry, I’ve been brainstorming lately. And now that we’re home, Sijin should spend more time with Cousin Rio. I’m fine by myself in my room.”
Compared to the past, her current daily life was already very happy. That was an indisputable fact. Uzuki knew she was being greedy, but she couldn’t help wanting to do something for Sijin.
Entering her room, Uzuki locked the door.
They had to leave at six tomorrow morning to return to the Tsukiyuki family’s old estate. Patriarch Tsukiyuki Kyoichi would hold the family banquet as scheduled. Officially, the banquet was to strengthen emotional bonds among the clan, fostering harmony and sincere cooperation between the Main Family and the Branch Families.
In reality, Tsukiyuki Kyoichi had a far more long-term consideration.
—That is your final deadline.
Tsukiyuki Kyoichi’s slightly hoarse voice echoed in Uzuki’s ears like an auditory hallucination.
Either become the family patriarch, wield the crushing weight of that power, and repay her most beloved with his long-dreamed-of freedom.
Or stand by and watch Cousin Rio, watch their retreating figures, and witness Gao Sijin’s future life confined forever within the Four Main Islands, reduced to her cousin’s plaything.
Knock, knock, knock.
The sound of knocking disturbed Uzuki’s thoughts.
“Sure you don’t want to chat a bit longer?”
“It’s fine. The one who taught me to enjoy solitude was you, after all, Sijin.”
“Alright then…”
On the Word document displayed on her laptop screen, Uzuki typed out a famous love poem by Fujiwara no Sanekata in Japanese:
As the lush mugwort grows thick on Mount Ibuki, I yearn for you in silence, words unspoken. My devoted heart feels as though it will combust. Do you even know, I wonder?
The love buried in her heart perfectly matched the meaning of this waka poem.
The feelings I can’t confess to you—you probably don’t know, do you? My longing for you blazes as fiercely as the burning mugwort on Mount Ibuki.
Sijin, I love you.
At dinnertime, Uzuki still didn’t leave her room. She knew appearing beside Cousin Rio right now would be unwise. Staying in her room was the only correct choice.
At six in the evening, Yu Qingxue brought dinner for Uzuki. As Uzuki savored her meal, she watched the sky become stained with the hues of twilight.
Afraid of her, grateful to her, envious of her, and yet—
Did she truly, deep in her heart, want to become her cousin’s enemy?
Bitter tears streamed down her face. From outside the door, she could faintly hear Cousin Rio’s cheerful laughter. Aside from the company of the Black Cat, Uzuki could only quietly wait for the coming day.
She couldn’t sleep that night. She was brainstorming—brainstorming a story she couldn’t yet write. When would the object of a young girl’s secret crush ever turn his head and finally notice her, so humble and insignificant?
Back then, when she had pressed her lips to his, he hadn’t seemed to resist. Uzuki somewhat regretted not slipping her tongue into his mouth then, yet the very idea also frightened her. Compared to taking the initiative, Uzuki was more concerned with the other party’s feelings.
Her slender fingers fell upon the keyboard, moving as if playing a piano.
She typed on the Word document:
“Even if it means dying, I will become the Patriarch of the Tsukiyuki Family tomorrow.”
She didn’t know why she was putting her innermost thoughts into writing, but her resolve was set.
Eiko is Sijin’s friend and painter. If even she could muster such courage, why couldn’t she?
The moment she finished typing that sentence, it was exactly 2:00 AM.
No one was manipulating the mouse and keyboard.
But on the Word document, a line of text suddenly appeared.
It was in Chinese characters. The font didn’t seem to be a standard one from the computer but rather an elegant, delicate, handwritten-style script. Uzuki couldn’t read Chinese characters, so she could only use Google Translate.
“I won’t let you die.”
Uzuki immediately typed in Japanese:
“Who are you really?”
The other party input no further characters. The night was silent to the point of being eerie.
Uzuki had steeled her resolve to ultimately meet her end at Cousin Rio’s hands. But this sudden message made her heart stir. She abruptly recalled the incident at the old school building, when she was transported into the mirror world at midnight and met an elegant girl with long silver hair, dressed in a black evening gown.
Could it be her?
On that same night, Tsukiyuki Kyoichi was also unusually energetic. Whenever he closed his eyes, he would once again find himself inside the hotel shrouded in mist. Terrorists in black suits with twisted faces, wielding rifles, had killed some of the people there. Those people had forever vanished from Tsukiyuki Kyoichi’s memory.
Other people walked out from those rooms marked “Under Repair.” Tsukiyuki Kyoichi recalled another group of people.
“Riko, I’ll be with you again very soon.” Tsukiyuki Kyoichi loved staying on the 17th floor the most.
At seventeen, he had first met Tsukiyuki Riko. On the 17th floor, they both possessed youthful appearances and robust physical strength. At that time, Riko wasn’t yet Tsukiyuki Riko, but Sarusuberi Riko.
Riko often used to say that calling him Kyoichi with the surname Tsukiyuki sounded like a girl’s name. So Kyoichi had said:
“Then just call me Kyoichi.”
“For fairness’ sake, Kyoichi has to call me Riko too, not Sarusuberi.”
Kyoichi smiled and pulled the girl before him into his arms.
In the future, the surname before her name would no longer be Sarusuberi, but Tsukiyuki.
She was Tsukiyuki Kyoichi’s wife, Tsukiyuki Riko.
On the 17th floor, Tsukiyuki Kyoichi could temporarily forget he was an old man in his eighties and relive his youthful romance.
“Kyoichi must live on well…”
“But I’m truly so tired. I’ve sacrificed far too much for this family.”
“Then why don’t you get a dog? You can call it Riko and treat it like me. That way, you won’t be lonely.”
“Don’t be silly. No one could ever replace you.”
This fog-shrouded hotel was a manifestation of Tsukiyuki Kyoichi’s memories. Even the current Tsukiyuki Kyoichi now understood this completely.
But recently, anomalies had been occurring frequently in this building of memories.
People he wouldn’t meet until he was 30 appeared on the 13th floor.
Senju had clearly entered his life when Tsukiyuki Kyoichi was 32. Yet he would now see Senju’s shadow on the 7th floor. Every person should only move on their designated hotel floor. However, now the people of his memories had begun acting without obeying the rules.
They roamed chaotically through the floors, and Tsukiyuki Kyoichi’s memories had undergone many changes as well.
“You are…”
“I am this hotel’s master. You may call me Gao Sijin.”
A man with refined features appeared before Tsukiyuki Kyoichi.
Tsukiyuki Kyoichi had no idea who he was, but a voice deep within urged him insistently. He must pledge loyalty to this man surnamed Gao. Only then could his memories return to normal.
