We all rode Miyoko's flying magic carpet and left the place.
After enjoying another burst of lightning-fast speed, we reached the clearing, and everyone went their separate ways.
When we got home, Doraemon noticed that the What-if-telephone was missing.
Later, we asked Mom about it. I even thought it was like in the original story, where Mom took it to the recycling center.
But Mom replied that she hadn't even been to my room.
Doraemon got a bit down about it, not knowing who took the What-if-telephone.
He could only think about going back to the future to bring a new one and restore things.
But I guessed who took it. The Doraemon statue in Doraemon's fourth-dimensional pocket was probably gone too!
After all the twists and turns, everything seemed to be back on its predetermined track.
…
On the other side, after Nobita and the others left, Miyoko was using her magic crystal ball to observe the state of the Demon Planet.
"It looks even bigger than yesterday. It's sucking in the starlight, and the Demon Planet is getting closer!" Miyoko's face was somewhat grim.
"Miyoko!" Professor Mangetsu suddenly shouted happily as he ran over, holding some documents.
"I've finally deciphered it! With this, we can get to the Demon World Chronicles!"
"Look, it's right here..."
Before Professor Mangetsu could finish, he suddenly turned alertly toward something behind him.
Miyoko, seeing this, became vigilant too.
"Demon aura!" Professor Mangetsu said seriously.
At that moment, the sky outside the villa turned a crimson red, like the color of blood.
The guardian statues in the manor raised their bows and arrows, but as soon as one fired, it was destroyed.
Hearing the commotion outside, Miyoko and Professor Mangetsu hurried out to check.
A figure with snake hair and a human body stood on the rooftop, staring at them.
While the two were shocked, the figure on the rooftop cast a spell, and a blood-red hexagram magic circle enveloped the entire manor.
"This is..."
"What? What's going on?"
The two panicked and tried to cast spells to resist, but it had no effect.
As the snake-haired figure raised its hand to activate the magic, a massive blood-colored beam of light shot skyward from the entire hexagram circle's range.
...
Time shifted back to Nobita's house.
At that moment, we were just having dinner at home. Doraemon had forgotten his gloom about the missing What-if-telephone and was chowing down heartily.
But then, the house suddenly shook violently. The food on the table spilled everywhere, and Doraemon got a face full of it.
Mom looked terrified, completely at a loss.
Just as Mom was about to fall, I quickly went over to steady her.
"Quick, get under the table!" I said urgently, worried that something might fall from the ceiling due to the earthquake.
I used my telekinesis to stabilize the objects around us.
"Nobita!" Mom seemed to find her anchor and hugged me tightly.
I held Mom and hurried under the table. As for Doraemon, he's a robot with a tough build, so he should be fine with a few bumps.
Under the table, I looked at Mom, who was curled up in my arms like a little woman.
"Lately it's been floods or storms one after another. What's going on? Is this the end of the world?" Mom said, worried and scared.
"Don't worry, Mom. I'm here!" I held the beautiful woman tightly.
I told her I was still here, not to be afraid!
Mom's trembling body slowly calmed down!
But when she looked up, her eyes were filled with tears.
I was puzzled—could a little earthquake really be that scary?
"Nobita! I'm afraid you'll get into danger!"
Mom's words left me stunned.
"I know that you and Doraemon have been going out and not coming home for months now. You must be doing something important."
"It's probably to deal with natural disasters like this!"
It turned out Mom had vaguely known all along that when we left home for so long, it wasn't just for fun.
After learning about Doraemon's wonders, she connected the dots.
"But things like that are always full of danger. What I fear most is if something happens to you."
"Just thinking about being left alone in the house... I don't know what I'd do!"
Mom covered her face and cried.
I was silent. After all, the movie plot did involve dangers, and I didn't know how to respond.
For Mom, I wasn't just family; our complicated relationship made it even harder for me to let go.
"I'm sorry, Mom!"
In the end, that's all I could say.
I knew Mom wanted me to stop doing such dangerous things!
But sometimes, things are like buying a lottery ticket—it's not random; it's already marked.
Like that clichéd saying: Fate has already priced everything in the dark!
After the earthquake ended, I gently wiped away Mom's tears.
"Don't cry; it'll make you look bad!" I comforted her.
"If I look bad, will you stop liking me?" Mom immediately stopped crying and started paying attention to her appearance.
As expected, beauty is what women care about most.
I couldn't help but laugh and cry a little.
"No matter what you look like, Mom, I'll always love you!" I reassured her.
"That's more like it!" Mom acted spoiled like a little girl.
Anyway, things were finally okay.
We crawled out from under the table. The house was fine; it's used to earthquakes, after all.
The stuff around the dining room was stabilized by my telekinesis, so it was okay too.
The only bad part was Doraemon, who got a face full of food.
We both laughed, and the atmosphere lightened up a lot.
While Mom cleaned up the table, Doraemon cleaned himself off.
As usual, after dinner, he turned on the TV to watch. But the magic world's TV is weird.
You have to turn on the switch and then activate it with telekinesis. Doraemon doesn't have telekinesis, so I had to help him afterward.
Once the screen finally came on, Doraemon complained that magic world TVs are a hassle.
I watched the news with him. Besides reports on typhoons, blizzards, and other disasters, there was a breaking news about the earthquake.
The epicenter was in the northwest part of the Tree Sea Forest.
"Isn't the Tree Sea Forest where Miyoko's home is?" Doraemon frowned as he saw this.
"Based on what Professor Mangetsu said about the Demon Planet and the attacking demons, this earthquake doesn't seem normal at all," Doraemon analyzed.
"It looks like something happened to Miyoko," I agreed.
"Let's go! First, we'll find Miyoko and check the situation!" I said, then followed Doraemon, putting on our Take-copters and heading to the Tree Sea Forest.