Their restricted abilities are refreshed every week.

Shirakawa Haru, very curious.

"Then, Director, please also send me Toyokawa-san's new home address."

The director paused, then replied solemnly, "Ah...Okay, thank you for your help, Shirakawa."

Not long after the call was hung up, Shirakawa Haru saw the other party's new location on Line.

"Go and have a look."

……

pain.

In the cramped bedroom, Toyokawa Shoko, who had slept all night in her school uniform, covered her head with her hands and slowly woke up.

My head hurts... like someone cut it in half...

My body feels so heavy. I can clearly feel it, but I have no strength at all...

I'm so thirsty, my throat feels like it's burning.

The old electric fan that had been swinging all the time seemed to have broken down at some point and now hung its head against the wall. After a night of heating, this small windowless room was no different from a steamer.

Feeling sticky all over, Shoko Toyokawa opened her eyes with difficulty and saw cans scattered on the ground.

What's this……

what happened?

Why are there so many empty beer cans in my house?

My memory of yesterday is very vague.

Her churning stomach interrupted Toyokawa Shoko's thoughts, causing her to rush into the small bathroom and make a "vomit" sound.

Lying on the unusually clean and tidy tile floor, Xiangzi was in a daze, unable to understand his current situation.

But forgetting it and not understanding it might be what she wanted to do yesterday.

She struggled to stand up from the ground and stared at herself in the mirror with messy hair and lifeless eyes.

After a long while, she laughed mockingly:

"I'm really humble."

I have forgotten what happened yesterday and I can’t remember it at all... This is probably the aftereffects of a hangover.

——But even if he had lost his memory, Xiangzi knew that he should buy some wine and drink until he passed out.

Because she had thought of doing this a long time ago, when her door was blocked by the yakuza.

But at that time, she was not weak enough to run away.

She turned on the faucet, scooped up a handful of cold water, and asked the decadent self in it:

"Toyokawa Shoko, don't you have the courage to face it?"

At this moment, Xiangzi actually felt a tiny bit of empathy for his alcoholic father who had become a frequent flyer.

If you drink and get hungover every day to escape reality and forget what has happened, it is normal to become a half-human, half-ghost person.

so,

Yesterday’s Xiaoxiang cannot understand what today’s Xiaoxiang is thinking.

The cold water splashed on my face.

Washed away yesterday's makeup and decadence.

Then, Shoko Toyokawa was born, who seemed to have unloaded a heavy burden and was extremely relaxed.

"I'm also a weakling who runs away."

She looked up and said to herself in the mirror with a smile.

……

Can’t find it, can’t find it, can’t find it.

Can't find it at all!

Shirakawa Haru has walked around this old and dilapidated neighborhood in Tokyo five or six times, but still hasn't found Teacher Daxiang's address.

Because the surrounding buildings don't have any signs such as house numbers or unit numbers, it is unreasonable to ask door to door.

He thought that even finding a house number or a similar address would be enough, but the facts dealt a heavy blow to Baichuan Qing.

Nothing!

And you can find that the residents in this block seem to be a bit strange.

From what Shirakawa Haru knew, this was probably what was called a "string house" neighborhood - a normal house divided into three, four, or even more parts.

I didn't expect that Teacher Daxiang would be so poor as to live in such a place.

There are actually two or three empty rooms left at home. Teacher Daxiang can just say a word and we can move in with our luggage.

But, she couldn't possibly speak...

"I had no choice but to go to this convenience store and ask."

Looking at this 711 convenience store, Shirakawa Haru walked in helplessly.

Chapter 25 Hello, is this Toyokawa Shoko living here?

"Ah, so you're Toyokawa-san's classmate?"

After identifying himself to the convenience store cashier, Shirakawa Haru was glad that the other party had heard of this name.

——Since Teacher Daxiang can only live in a place like this, I think most of his three meals a day should be solved here with discounted lunch boxes that are about to expire.

If time passes a little longer, the convenience store cashier will definitely have a clear impression of Toyokawa Shoko.

Fortunately, Shirakawa Haru was right.

"She suddenly skipped class today, and I can't contact her family, so I'm here to look after Fengchuan."

With a kind smile, Shirakawa Haru showed the cashier the address on his phone: "So, could you please tell me the approximate location of this building? I'm really troubled by the lack of a specific address."

It turned out that with Shirakawa Haru's 7 points of charm and his gentle tone, it was easy to get a strange cashier to help him.

Not to mention that this is also a slow time for convenience stores.

"Building 44 should be in that direction."

The female cashier in her early twenties pointed to the right side of the convenience store. Not far away from where she pointed, there was a vending machine standing alone.

"It's about fifty to one hundred meters away... There are over forty buildings in this area, so it shouldn't be much further away."

She paused, then said apologetically, "I don't know for sure, because I live in the opposite direction."

"No, thank you very much."

With just one sentence, Shirakawa Haru's workload was reduced tenfold. If the scope was limited to those few buildings, then knocking on every door was also a good idea.

——Of course, there is another method that is more convenient.

After walking back into the convenience store and buying two bottles of orange soda and a small bucket full of oden, Shirakawa Haru walked out while eating.

——After all, they have provided help to me, so I have to buy something before leaving... Of course, one of the reasons is that Shirakawa Haru was hungry after searching for so long.

Walking to the shadow of a house, Shirakawa Haru, who was eating oden, took out his cell phone.

There are two possibilities now. One is that Xiangzi is still staying in her residence here for unknown reasons. The other is that something happened to Teacher Daxiang last night due to the poor security.

I hope it's not the second one...

Shirakawa Haru glanced at the Line avatars of several Yakuza team leaders, and then sent a message to Xiangzi: [Mr. Fengchuan, didn’t you deal with the materials I left in the student union room? ]

He did not reveal the fact that he knew Xiangzi did not come to school and was about to go offline, but instead started with his daily work.

——If the highly dedicated teacher Daxiang still had his cell phone in hand, he would probably answer within a short time.

Based on her average response time in the past, Shirakawa Haru set the maximum waiting time at five minutes.

——But what Shirakawa Haru didn't expect was that Toyokawa Shoko was taking a bath at the moment.

Because who would take a shower so early in the morning?

Time ticked by, and five minutes passed quickly.

Baichuan Qing wiped the sweat from his neck and his expression became uncertain.

Could it be that Teacher Daxiang...

He took a deep breath—I hope it doesn't have some cheesy plot from a classic third-rate novel.

——Because he was not familiar with the Yakuza organization whose sphere of influence was in this old neighborhood, nor with its superiors, Shirakawa Haru did not dare to confirm whether Xiangzi had an accident because of these guys.

Just as Shirakawa Haru was about to make a phone call to the leader of the [Jiquan Club] who was not far from here, a message suddenly popped up on the top of the phone.

[Toyokawa Shoko: I had some personal matters this morning, and I forgot to tell you about my work. I apologize.]

Don't apologize.

Teacher Daxiang, your reply is so timely!

After closing the open phone page, Baichuan Qing rubbed his temples... He usually replied within three minutes or even seconds before, so why did he have to wait for almost ten minutes this time?

Accidents always happen one after another...

After replying [OK, leave it to me], Shirakawa Haru temporarily put down his phone, and then squatted in the shadow of the building where he could perfectly see the movement in the direction of the cashier's finger.

Then, he remained motionless, not missing any moving creature and entered into a state of meditation.

——It is safer to wait and see in secret rather than knocking on every door and asking, only to be turned away by people pretending that no one is there.

Alternatively, you can secretly write down her specific address after seeing her come out, and then knock on her door directly in the evening or later.

Shirakawa Haru was not afraid of not being able to wait, as the school had already sent a note requesting a full day off, and it was impossible for Toyokawa Shoko to stay at home all day - she had to at least come to the convenience store to find something to eat.

Therefore, if it is just a competition of patience, Shirakawa Haru is not afraid at all.

At least it won't be a problem for Teacher Daxiang who has been waiting here for 24 hours.

……

"I guess the president has noticed that I skipped class today."

Shoko Toyokawa put down her cell phone, sat down on the tatami wearing only a bath towel and started to blow her hair, thinking.

The water droplets that kept dripping from the ends of her hair slid across her skin as white as cream, causing Xiangzi to wipe them away with the bath towel again.

I have to think of a reason to fool the president.

But Shirakawa Haru is not someone who can be easily dismissed - if his lie is exposed, he will definitely become curious.

Recalling the last time he said "curiosity" to her, Toyokawa Shoko smacked her lips unhappily.

If the president discovered her current situation, she didn't know how to face him in the future...

I thought the president would say, "It's all in the past, don't worry about it," and then extend a helping hand to me and say something like, "My house is actually quite big."

He will learn the truth out of curiosity, and will definitely extend a helping hand to me gently.

Ever since the incident at the tram station, Shoko never doubted Shirakawa Haru's character and moral standards again.

——But in this case, wouldn’t she be the one being rescued?

Toyokawa Shoko thought.

In this way, there is no equality.

No matter how bright her smile is on the surface or how nice her words are, as long as Shirakawa Haru knows that she has fallen to this state, their relationship will never be the same as before.

When the false weights are broken, the scales will tilt and become unbalanced.

And Shoko Toyokawa longs for this kind of [equal] relationship.

Xiangzi, who has nothing, needs the subconscious recognition of others.

I got up, changed into my underwear, put on my second set of school uniform, and then tidied up my appearance a little.

After taking a shower, Toyokawa Shoko felt refreshed, swept away all the garbage in the house, and picked up the small bag again.

Apart from the faint smell of alcohol lingering around her, Toyokawa Shoko seemed no different from before.