The fog in her mind finally cleared.
Now fully awake, Nie Chanyin remembered everything from her past life as a Chinese woman and a composition PhD in the 21st century.
At this moment, she was in Tokyo, Japan, in the neon-lit early spring of 1990.
In this life, she was the eleven-year-old legitimate daughter of the Honinbo family.
It was the last golden age of the Heisei era, and the final flourish before Japan’s economic bubble burst.
The investment frenzy, stock market crash, the decline of old families, the collapse of the real estate market, economic stagnation, the changing of the guard in the music industry, a boom in artistic works, the popularity of mono no aware culture...
All the excitement and dangers unique to this era came rushing toward her.
Now her older brother had squandered half the family fortune, the whole family was trapped in property that was about to plummet in value, and their century-old Go tradition was on the verge of decline.
What others did not know was that she carried the finest modern Go strategies within her. She easily solved the dojo’s deadlock and won the Kyoto Go championship, restoring her family’s prestige.
Foreseeing the real estate crash, she persuaded her elders to invest in entertainment and culture, securing access to Tokyo Television’s resources.
In the bleak years of the Heisei era, she sang hit songs, became a sensation across the internet, gave hope to countless disheartened people, and rose to the top as the nation’s beloved diva.
The aloof young heir to a political dynasty, who had been drawn to her voice since childhood, became her devoted listener for life.
They stayed together for a lifetime.
