You are Toyokawa Shoko, then who am I?

"More important than all this is that he's also incredibly skilled at inspiring the potential in others. I know my own limitations, but when I follow him, look at his back, and see him turn around and meet my gaze, I always feel as if a powerful force is supporting me, making me feel as if I can do anything, that I can transform into a better version of myself."

Shiina Riki lowered her eyes, then looked at Nagasaki Suyo again, expressing her attitude without any hesitation.

"You asked me what I thought of him, and my answer is simple: I wanted to play with him, that's all."

"What about Crychic...?"

Nagasaki Suyo's pupils shrank slightly. She guessed that Li Xi would most likely favor Toyokawa Sho, but she didn't expect Li Xi to be biased to this extent. This is already the point of completely taking sides...!

"If you want to play with him, what about Crychic...!"

"That's not a problem. Just invite him in." Shiina Riki said firmly.

"What about Xiaoxiang!?" Nagasaki Suye's facial features were almost twisted into one.

"The guy who abandoned the band without permission, just throw him aside."

Shiina Riki snorted coldly.

"She's so far behind Xiang. I don't need to be so enthusiastic and beg someone who gave people so much hope and then dashed it to come back. Just because she's the band's founder, does that mean she can arbitrarily decide the band's life and death? Does that mean the band won't survive without her?"

"Lixi..."

Nagasaki Suyo was now completely desperate.

Just a few days ago, Li Xi was thinking about rescuing Crychic just like her, so why did it become like this in the blink of an eye?

She tried to delve deeper, but found that the plan proposed by Shiina Riki at this moment could actually be considered a way to save Crychic.

Since Shoko Toyokawa is unwilling to come back no matter what, we can just bring in Sho Toyokawa, who is a peer and will definitely show up, to restart the band.

This solution is so feasible that it can even be said that there is no other solution simpler than this one.

But she couldn't accept this kind of thing no matter what, she couldn't just ignore Toyokawa Shoko's feelings.

"Why... do you hate Xiaoxiang so much..."

"Huh? I don't hate her," Shiina Riki frowned, "...I just think she was wrong this time. She was the one who said the band was a community of shared destiny, but she was also the one who said she wanted to quit the band a few days ago. I don't hate her, on the contrary, I admired her...but what was done was wrong, and as a member of the band, can't I say a word?"

"Then, if you have to choose between Xiaoxiang and him..." Nagasaki Suyo tried to hold on to her last hope.

"I choose Xiang," Shiina Riki gave her answer pertinently, "Even if there is no such certainty, I will still choose him."

Rumble.

Li Xi's decisive and direct answer was like a thunderclap that shattered Nagasaki Suye's last bit of hope.

She lowered her head in despair, and her clear and beautiful eyes were filled with a layer of mist. She turned her head to the side and rubbed away the weakness and sadness with her slender fingers. What remained in her pupils was only despair as if her heart was dead.

Nagasaki Suyo inevitably realized it.

The way she wanted to save Crychic was completely contrary to Shiina Riki's.

The two of them now stand behind different people.

Xiaomu and Xiaodeng will face the same dilemma after today.

No matter whether they choose Xiaoxiang or Xiaoxiang.

Crychic……

There's no way back to the way things were.

Looking at her like this, Shiina Riki sighed in her heart, thinking that her words were a little harsh. She wanted to say a few words of comfort, but she couldn't think of any, so she had to change the subject.

"So, what did you tell him?"

Nagasaki Suyo didn't respond immediately, or rather, she didn't want to continue the topic.

The continuous blows brought to her by Toyokawa Sho and Shiina Riki have completely broken the wall of her heart. What she needs now is rest and calmness. Only when she recovers can she think normally again.

But Shiina Riki's oppressive gaze was staring at him impatiently.

She had no choice but to open her mouth, while her fingers slowly smoothed her smooth hair, showing that she no longer wanted to discuss this topic.

"...It's just a minor unpleasantness. It's okay if you don't know about it, Lixi."

"Huh? That guy isn't the type to be so petty as to easily cause trouble with others," Shiina Riki's tone became a little impatient. "I answered your question properly, and you're just giving me a perfunctory attitude like that?"

"what……"

Nagasaki Suyo sighed.

His gaze changed from deliberately glancing to the side to avoid Shiina Riki's sight, to looking directly into the other person's eyes.

This was the first time that Shiina Riki saw Nagasaki Motoyo abandon her deliberate disguise. Her face was no longer smiling, but looked tired and indifferent.

Before she could say "What does that expression mean?", Nagasaki Suyo spoke before her.

"Xiao Xiang told me that he would let me see Xiao Xiang, but I had to wait at least a month or two. During this time, he hoped that I would not disturb Xiao Xiang. I couldn't wait that long, so I begged him to take me to see Xiao Xiang right away. Xiao Xiang didn't want to, so I accidentally... said something very harsh."

"What did you say?"

Shiina Riki's heart began to beat restlessly. She stared at Nagasaki Suyo's eyes that seemed to want to escape, and finally heard her murmur in a low voice.

"...I said, he has only been here for two days and he has already deceived you, Lixi. If it had been another month or two——"

pat!

The wooden tea table made a heavy bang when Shiina Riki hit it with his fist, and the tea set on the table made a sound of glass colliding due to the vibration.

This sound, which symbolized the intensification of the conflict, once again attracted the attention of other guests.

“Are you serious…!?”

Shiina Riki almost gritted his teeth.

She grabbed Nagasaki Suyo's collar. The drummer's strength allowed her to pull Nagasaki Suyo up from her seat. The anger surging in her heart flowed through her blood and spread throughout her body.

"That guy...that guy has been agonizing over how to face us! Troubled, in pain, afraid, terrified...! Only today did he finally muster up the courage to face us again...! You know who he is, and what's going on with him, yet you still think so much about him...!?"

An angry voice.

Torn relationships.

The warmth and beauty that once existed in Crychic seemed like a dream, gradually fading from Nagasaki Suyo's sight.

Why are we now...

It will become like this...

Her eyes turned red, and the questioning from Shiina Riki that penetrated her heart had cut her flesh and blood and pierced her soul.

She wanted to defend herself and tell Lixi that she was also there for the band.

But the words that Fengchuan Xiang just left were like a sharp arrow, making it impossible for her to deceive her heart with false appearances.

Own……

Is it really for Crychic...?

She was unable to answer this question for a moment, the light in her eyes dimmed, and she put down her hands in despair, unwilling to make any more excuses for herself. If such a reprimand could make Shiina Riki feel better, then let her take on the role of the villain.

"...sodayo."

She murmured softly, the grievance in her eyes swallowed up by her acting skills.

"……lowest……!!"

This attitude, which seemed indifferent to others, was like a fire that completely ignited Li Xi.

She was so angry that she almost bit her teeth. She had wanted to let go of her hand several times before, thinking that this was a bit too much, but now the strength in her fingers could not be dissipated because of the anger.

So, she continued to pull Nagasaki Suyo's collar and said angrily.

"Is Toyokawa Shoko so important to you? Is she so important that she's irreplaceable? Is she so important that Crychic can only be considered Crychic if she comes back? Are we, who were abandoned by her, left to watch her wander around in who knows where, wasting our lives waiting for her forever?!

"We finally found a turning point that could help the band recover. We finally found someone who is qualified and talented enough to take over her position. Even if you disagree, what will Deng think? What will Mu think? What will I think? Have you ever considered how we would feel in such a situation...? What gives you the right to tell him that he's lying to me!?"

"Are you looking at the five of us, the band, or that missing Toyokawa Shoko?!"

Three consecutive paragraphs of angry questioning almost pushed the bloodthirsty atmosphere in the store to its highest peak.

Almost everyone was staring at the two people standing opposite each other by the window with bated breath, either in amazement, surprise, or an unexpected excitement that could only be suppressed by covering their mouths with their hands.

Faced with Li Xi's angry attitude, Nagasaki Suyo bit her thin pink lips tightly.

She tried her best to tell herself that the most important thing now was to reconcile with Lixi, stabilizing the relationship was the top priority, and she couldn't widen the rift in Crychic any further.

But facing Li Xi's gaze, which was filled with tears and even deep disappointment, Nagasaki Suye finally couldn't maintain her tolerance again and again.

She took a deep breath and questioned Li Xi with red eyes.

"What about you, Lixi?"

"What's wrong with me?" Li Xi gritted his teeth.

"You said I only care about Xiaoxiang, but what about you? Aren't you the same? You care about Fengchuan Xiang, who only appeared in front of you for two days, but you are biased towards him to such an extent?"

Nagasaki Suyo met Riki's gaze, which was choked by these words, and her words were filled with incomprehension and disappointment in her.

"I also want to ask you, is Toyokawa Sho so important to you? So important that you can forget about the past and kick Xiaoxiang aside without any inner burden? In the end... aren't you the same as me?"

As she spoke, Nagasaki Suyo took away Li Xi's hand that was holding her collar, looked at that hand, looked at the memories that flashed by, then raised her eyes, and their eyes met. Her watery blue eyes were like a huge wave, extinguishing Li Xi's anger.

"You, just having Xiaoxiang and Deng is enough."

The scene returned to silence.

The atmosphere came to an end.

Both of them fell into a suffocating silence.

All disguises and illusions fell off and shattered in the collision, and now only the true faces left, as they struggled to survive and searched for shelter after the war.

Nagasaki Suyo looked away.

No longer looking at Shiina Riki who was clenching his fists.

About half a minute later, Shiina Riki suddenly turned around and seemed to be walking out of the store.

"……Where are you going?"

Nagasaki Suyo raised her eyes and gently stopped Li Xi's footsteps because she didn't want to make things so awkward.

“…I’m going to go find him.”

Shiina Riki had his back to Nagasaki Soyo, and his voice no longer had the arrogance from before. Now it was just calm, but there was a clear and audible decisiveness in this quiet tone.

"try to find……?"

Nagasaki Suyo was stunned.

"You...you're going to look for Xiao Xiang? He's been gone for at least fifteen minutes. If he walks fast, he might even be home already—"

"Even so, I still want to find him. It has nothing to do with whether I can find him or not, but whether I want to find him or not."

Shiina Riki lowered her head, her clenched fists resting on the edge of her black and purple plaid skirt. On her pretty face was the fortitude tempered by the fire after the unconscious vanity was torn apart and the truth that was not recognized was exposed.

"Perhaps you're right. I'm just like you. I only care about him and Deng, using Crychic as a cover. In reality, all I need to do is follow them... But I'm willing to admit it. I'm willing to swallow my pride and agree with this statement."

She turned around.

There is light in the eyes.

Words are like swords.

The sword's brilliance was so strong that it seemed to be able to split mountains and seas.

"Nagasaki Suyo, can you admit it?"

Nagasaki Suyo's breathing stopped, and she was nailed to the stone pillar by these heart-piercing words, unable to turn over. She looked at Shiina Riki in disbelief as he was still whispering.

"I can go find Toyokawa Sho. Even if I can't find him today, I can still see him tomorrow. What about you? Can you see Toyokawa Shoko? Can you see that phantom whose whereabouts are unknown?"

"If staying where you are and clinging to useless fantasies is your way to revive the band, then go ahead. I'm going to move on. Whether it's Deng or Mu, I'll make them recognize Xiang... Until one day, I'll make you recognize him too."

As he spoke, Shiina Riki took a deep breath.

With dignity, without clouds or confusion, he brought the truth that he dared not speak out to this world.

"This is how I'm going to revive Crychik."

The words fell openly in the store.

Although light, it is powerful.

It seems to come with mountains and seas.