Of course, no matter how much you imagine, you know things couldn't go all the way right there at the door.
I mean, doing something like that at the entrance—what was I thinking?
After kissing for a while, Morina flushed with embarrassment and ran off in a panic.
But I was still in a great mood. Now that we'd done it once, would the next step really be that far away?
If I could save my new potential father-in-law, wouldn't the rest fall into place soon?
I thought about it happily.
Maybe it was because I'd been thinking about Doraemon last night,
But the next morning, as soon as I got up, I heard a racket coming from the spaceship.
A round, blue figure rolled out of the ship.
"Nobita! Nobita! Where are you? I just got back from a checkup in the future!" Doraemon shouted as he looked around.
"I'm here, Doraemon!" I called back, happy to see him.
It had been a while since I'd seen Doraemon. On Koya Koya Planet, a month had passed, but maybe only a day on Earth.
I'd really missed Doraemon. We used to be inseparable, and this time we'd been apart for ages—it felt so weird.
"Nobita, as soon as I got home and found you weren't there, I figured you'd come here!
When we went to the dinosaur era, the time machine had some issues, so it brought me back late.
I rushed back as fast as I could!" Doraemon said apologetically.
But before I could say it was fine, Doraemon's tone changed.
"But didn't I tell you not to get so involved with things here?
Why did you come by yourself? You should've at least told me.
You're just too soft-hearted!"
Doraemon kept nagging, and I could only rub my nose in embarrassment.
He had a point—I really should've brought him along.
Seeing me like that, Doraemon couldn't bring himself to scold me any more. After all, I'd only done it to help others.
"All right, tell me what happened! You've been here alone for so long," Doraemon said, finally relaxing.
So I told him everything that had happened these past few days—well, except for the stuff with Clem's mom.
"What?! It was that dangerous? Nobita, how could you do something so risky?" Doraemon was shocked.
"I was just trying to save Koya Koya Planet."
"And see? I'm fine!"
"You… sigh! Never mind. I know you like to help people. Just remember to call me next time!" Doraemon said, knowing it was useless to scold me. I'd always been like this.
"Okay, okay, got it!" I replied, feeling happy. After all, Doraemon was always there for me no matter what.
"But… poor Roppuru," Doraemon said, sighing. He felt bad—he'd only been gone a few days, and someone he'd just met was already gone.
It just showed how dangerous Koya Koya Planet could be.
Doraemon looked at me seriously: "Nobita, do you still insist on saving Koya Koya Planet?"
"Yes, Doraemon, I do!" I answered seriously.
"Why?" Doraemon didn't try to talk me out of it, just asked for my reason.
"I promised Roppuru! I said I'd protect Koya Koya Planet and his family." I answered with determination.
"And besides, Doraemon, didn't you always say a man has to keep his promises?"
"That's right—a man has to keep his promises!" Doraemon repeated softly.
"Okay, then I'll stay and help you!" Doraemon said, smiling.
We looked at each other and smiled. No more words were needed.
"Doraemon, do you have any way to get into the hyperspace dimension and find someone?" I suddenly remembered I still had to help Morina find her father.
"You mean Morina's father, right?" Doraemon was already caught up on what happened.
"Let me see…" Doraemon reached into his four-dimensional pocket, searching desperately.
"Sorry, Nobita!" he said suddenly.
"Oh no, the time machine's broken—I can't use it right now.
The other time-space gadgets can't travel that far either."
"So…" I started to worry.
"Ta-da! The Time Space and the Time Mochi!" Doraemon suddenly produced an orange device and a rod.
The orange device had a yellow ring attached to it, like a portal.
But Doraemon put the rod away—after all, we were going to find someone, not just fetch an object.
"All right, Nobita! Use the Time Space to locate Morina's father—you can go straight to him," Doraemon grinned.
"Doraemon, don't scare me like that! I thought you didn't have a way!" I complained.
"I was just trying to lighten the mood!" Doraemon said sheepishly.
I'd originally thought we'd have to do it like the original story—get a spaceship, jump into hyperspace at high speed, and hope for the best.
But that was way too risky. If the ship broke apart or we got lost forever in twisted space, that'd be the end.
In the original, Doraemon and I used the big mechanical arms from Galtite Mining to travel through hyperspace.
But that only worked because of a lot of lucky coincidences.
"But… how can we pinpoint Morina's father's location?" I asked.
"Didn't you say you saw not only Roppuru's image in your mind, but also Morina's father?" Doraemon said, stating the obvious.
"So we just have to target the hyperspace distortion where Roppuru was? Since I got images from both, they can't be far apart!" I realized.
"Exactly! And since Roppuru's spaceship is still here, there should be some data left on it. With that info, we've got a great chance of finding him," Doraemon said, clearly pleased.
He was proud that I was getting a lot smarter these days—maybe too smart for my own good.
Without further ado, he got to work on the orange machine.
The Time Space, which was a clear ring at first, began to darken and swirl with inky blackness. The blackness inside the yellow ring spun faster and faster,
Until suddenly it stopped.
Through the yellow ring, a new scene appeared.