Chapter 19: If You Depart, I Shall Not Live Alone

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The door closed behind her. Mutsumi Wakaba leaned against it and listened for a moment, making sure those people had no intention of coming inside and were merely standing guard outside. Then she walked over to her wardrobe.

Sakiko had told her to open her window. Mutsumi did not understand what she meant, but she chose to believe her.

She took off her formal dress and changed into a light T-shirt and jacket, along with the sneakers she had bought but hardly ever worn.

Before going out onto the balcony, Mutsumi remembered to retrieve the PPK tucked beneath her pillow and slip it into her pocket.

It belonged to Sakiko. She had lost it while fighting Motis, and Mutsumi had picked it up. She did not know why Sakiko carried a gun, but something like this ought to be returned to its owner.

Mutsumi pushed open the window, and the evening wind rushed into her face. The ceilings in this mansion were far higher than those in an ordinary residence. Though it was technically the third floor, it was in reality comparable to the fifth or sixth story of another family’s detached house.

Below lay the heart of the banquet. Minami Mori’s absence had not diminished the festivities in the slightest. Though the hostess was nowhere to be seen, the guests remained enthusiastic, embracing one another in their immaculate clothes, exchanging greetings and trading the things they wanted. Everything looked so beautiful.

But she could not see Sakiko. Her hero did not seem to be here. Had Sakiko been caught by Gaku Inuyama?

A deep roar tore through the noisy night sky. Everyone instinctively turned toward it, only to be blinded by a pair of brilliant headlights rushing straight at them. They raised their arms to shield their eyes as the horn blared wildly, growing louder and louder. Every person there heard the tires grinding over the paving stones.

A Maybach burst out of the Wakaba family garage. It should have been heading toward the gate; the Wakaba estate had two main entrances, allowing vehicles to enter and leave without interfering with one another.

But the damned driver seemed to be drunk. The Maybach swerved crookedly into the lawn. Before anyone could recover from the brief pause, the driver sent it barreling straight toward the center of the banquet. At that speed, it looked as though she intended to send everyone straight into the afterlife.

“Get out of the way! Move!”

The attendants were the first to react. The Wakaba family hired professional security for every gala, after all. The people gathered here were leaders in their respective fields, and their safety mattered.

The black-clad bodyguards had only just begun ushering the guests aside when the Maybach came roaring in. The magnificent champagne tower collapsed with a crash, while beautiful custom-made banquet tables overturned and shattered beneath its wheels. Everyone shouted curses at the damned driver, furious cries of “baka” rising one after another. If they had reacted any more slowly, someone would certainly have been injured.

The car door flew open. The young driver paid no attention to any of them. She leapt onto the hood and shouted toward the open window on the third floor:

“Jump! I’ll catch you!”

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Her long blue hair whipped fiercely in the wind, and the dim yellow lights illuminated Toyokawa Sakiko’s face. No one had expected the reckless driver who had nearly killed them to be such a young girl. They should have shouted at her, rushed over to drag her from the car, slapped her hard across the face, and hauled her off to the police station.

But no one did.

For a moment, every person there forgot to breathe. She was simply too dazzling. Standing atop the hood, she looked mighty and imposing, like Joan of Arc raising her battle standard, bathing in flame as she welcomed a new birth. Her flawless face wore a smile of such pride and confidence, while her bright eyes were like mirrors reflecting the entire world. Somehow, because of her, the banquet strewn with wreckage seemed to shine once more.

Someone even pulled out a phone. In a certain sense, these people, saturated with artistic sensibilities, were all madmen. Only madmen could create the finest art, or stand beneath an erupting volcano with a camera in hand.

They forgot the tragedy that had nearly claimed lives. Flashes lit up like a surging tide as everyone scrambled to record this moment of bursting inspiration. A brand-new script was already taking shape in their minds.

Mutsumi Wakaba stared blankly at Sakiko. She was like the knight written into destiny, whose golden armor could be pierced by neither curse nor blade. Nothing in this world could stop her radiant advance, because this was fate. Everything had already been written in a book no ordinary person could read.

Yes. It had always been this way, ever since they were little. Sakiko had always been Mutsumi’s hero. A hero was not merely someone who rescued a princess. Sakiko was a person like the sun, capable of banishing every shadow, bursting into your life and bringing you dreams. She did what she said. She was a born leader. Her brilliance went far beyond that of the sun—she shone like an exploding supernova, and in that instant even the universe would set aside the darkness to cheer her on.

So what if they were on the third floor? So what if Gaku Inuyama was waiting below? So what if this was a home that did not love her? Mutsumi Wakaba no longer cared. She did not know whether Sakiko could truly catch her. Even if jumping meant being smashed to pieces, bidding farewell to this world, she was willing to believe in her. She wanted to die in Sakiko’s arms, to live truly for herself just once.

She leapt lightly, flying toward the future. Amid the horrified cries of the crowd, she allowed herself to fall with the pull of the earth.

Her body touched nothing at all. The sensation of complete weightlessness was terrifying. The entire world seemed to recede from her as heaven and earth turned upside down.

Only then did Mutsumi understand why books said that many people regretted jumping from buildings. Only after taking that step could one truly realize what one cherished most. She heard her own heartbeat—thump, thump—stretching through an eternity that seemed to last a century.

She closed her eyes, surrendered herself to her thoughts, and waited for death…

Or salvation.

Time slowed in Sakiko’s eyes. The cries of alarm, the shouts, the sound of fabric slicing through the wind—everything became crystal clear. Her golden pupils burned at their utmost intensity. The cocktails flowing through her body had become part of her strength. She had told Mutsumi to jump not as a gamble, but because she was certain. She knew she could do it. The truth of the world was already in her hands.

She was a god.

“Jump!”

Sakiko spread her arms and embraced Mutsumi Wakaba. Her timing was perfect. The impact of the fall meant nothing to a dragon’s bones and dragon’s blood. The girl entering her arms was as light as a falling leaf, while Sakiko was the stream that bore her gently onward.

Their combined strength, along with the astonishing height of the leap, drove the tips of Sakiko’s feet back onto the roof of the car. The Maybach’s roof buckled with a heavy clang.

Silence descended.

Every person present stood frozen in astonishment. They had just witnessed a performance that would astound the world, a scene no stunt could ever reproduce. Even a globally renowned martial-arts star returning to the peak of his career would never dare attempt something so difficult. It would surely earn him a trip to the hospital—and perhaps leave both his arms permanently ruined.

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Yet someone had done it, and she was so young, such a seemingly fragile girl. Had acrobatic performances truly become this outrageous? The Wakaba family must have gone to extraordinary lengths to arrange this spectacle.

Mutsumi Wakaba slowly opened her eyes. Before her was a field of pure white. The face leaning close was fair and flawless, touched by a layer of warm light, like a knight bending to kiss a princess upon the forehead.

“Welcome back.”

For the final inch between them, Sakiko bent down tenderly and pressed her forehead against Mutsumi’s.

“Sakiko is my hero,” Mutsumi whispered. She opened the hands she had been shielding herself with. The PPK lay within them.

“Then this hero is about to become a terrible villain. She said she was going to run away with you. From now on, you belong to me!”

They jumped into the car, their skirts flying into beautiful arcs, bold and unrestrained. Sakiko shifted into reverse and set off, the car racing backward. Her golden eyes were cold and sharp as blades. It seemed that no matter what stood before her, she would simply crush straight through it. Mutsumi had never known Sakiko possessed this side of herself—imperious as an empress.

She completed the acceleration within seconds. The Maybach roared away. The collision had not affected its performance in the slightest. It truly was an excellent car.

No wonder her family liked vehicles like this. Sakiko gripped the steering wheel tightly and remembered how her mother had once secretly taught her to drive, using the same Maybach that Qinggao later took away. That mother, outwardly refined but inwardly a little mad, had once opened the windows and driven with her along the dirt roads of the spring countryside.

So the thing called destiny really did exist in this world. The skills one learned in the past would always bloom again someday in the future, bursting into dazzling flowers.

The Maybach veered around the crowd and charged toward the main gate, its brilliant headlights leading the way. The rolling gate was slowly descending. Someone stood beside the controls and took several steps forward, blocking the direct path.

Gaku Inuyama—the man who had said he would take Mutsumi Wakaba away—realized at once how serious the situation was. He blocked the estate’s only exit, holding a long sword in his arms. Astonishingly, he seemed intent on stopping the raging machine with nothing but his body and his blade.

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