Heavy girl? I feel worse than Black Hole Trigger!

This time he waited longer.

He was mentally counting the time he had left for his lunch break, and just when he had calculated half an hour left, the intercom began to make a noisy electrical sound again.

“…I’ll go down now.”

●

A little bit of sunlight shone through the gap in the roof of the pavilion onto Nagasaki Suyo's face.

This viewing pavilion is not very effective in keeping out the rain, but it is very comfortable in sunny weather.

The school had even set up a round table and a few chairs in the middle of the pavilion, as if to allow the young ladies to host a small tea party during lunch breaks and after class. Nagasaki Suyo had never actually seen anyone do this before. It was a perfect place to sit and relax while they talked, so she invited Toyokawa Shoko to sit down.

Looking up at the cloudless sky, Su Shi couldn't help but smile: "What a nice weather——"

Then there was a clang, and Xiangzi, who had just sat down, stood up again, and the heavy metal chair made a harsh sound as it scraped against the ground.

"If Nagasaki-san is here just to talk about this kind of thing, then I'll excuse myself."

“…Oh my.”

Su Shi quickly spread his hands in surrender, only to see Xiangzi with a cold face sitting down again.

It seems that even after calming down, Xiangzi is still the decisive Xiangzi: because they are both sisters who have been tempered in the Moon Forest for a long time, Xiangzi knew at once that what Su Shidao said was just the basic tactic of using courtesy first and then force.

Obviously, Xiangzi now doesn't even have the patience to compete with her on this point.

"Then I'll get straight to the point."

Su Shi put away that polite smile——

Yes, Xiangzi had lost his patience, and she was also in no mood to maintain a facade.

"At that time, Xiaoxiang was in a bad mood, so I didn't ask, but that doesn't mean I don't care about it... As for what's going on now, can you tell us?"

She looked deeply into Xiangzi's cold amber eyes.

"Xiao Xiang, why did you quit CRYCHIC?"

Su Shi once felt as if those eyes held the sun, illuminating everyone indiscriminately. Now, even the remnants of the star disappeared from her eyes, leaving only two dim flames ready to burn anyone who approached her.

Her transformation seemed to happen in the blink of an eye. Or perhaps it just happened at a moment that Su Shi had never noticed.

No matter how much Su Shi tried to convince herself that CRYCHIC was just a slightly impressive game in her short life, she still could not deny that the interactions with Xiangzi, Deng, and everyone in the past few months were more vivid and interesting than the dull and boring past ten years.

And when Toyokawa Shoko personally put an end to that wonderful time that seemed to have no end in sight——

Confused. Sad. Overwhelmed. Those are real feelings.

...But more of it was a surge of anger.

"Your so-called 'community of shared destiny'... your praise for Xiao Deng's lyrics..."

"You said you wanted to play our own music, and that you wanted to stand on the same stage as Morfonica..."

Su Shi looked at the slender girl with the same coldness.

The hand pressing on his chest gently tugged at his collar, as if he was trying hard to suppress the emotions that were gradually stirring in his chest.

"Are those words all lies?"

"..."

Xiangzi avoided her gaze for a moment.

But the next moment, she frowned slightly, seemed to grit her teeth, and looked up at Su Shi again.

"Those words are all true," she said in a flat tone.

In contrast to Su Shi who gradually revealed her emotions, Xiangzi, who initially showed obvious disgust towards Su Shi, has now completely suppressed his expression, just like she was on that rainy day - no, even worse.

That already pretty face seemed to be covered with frost, so cold that she didn't look like a girl who had been moved to tears by a song lyric.

She slowly opened her lips, "I just failed."

"……fail?"

Xiangzi shook his head slightly at the stunned Su Shi, his voice lacking inflection, "After the first LIVE, I understood - CRYCHIC can't reach that level. So I gave up."

"………………ha?"

Su Shi opened his eyes wide and looked at the girl in front of him.

She habitually tried to interpret the meaning behind Xiangzi's words, but the conclusion she came to made her spine cold.

Although, only slightly—Su Shi was indeed like what Baodeng Zheli had said. After eavesdropping on Xiangzi and Zheli's conversation, she felt a small comfort in her heart: Perhaps Xiangzi had his reasons. Perhaps Xiangzi had no choice. Perhaps Xiangzi simply couldn't let go of his dignity, so he deliberately played the villain.

Perhaps, if Xiangzi could apologize properly, everyone would still have a chance to return to the way things were before.

...She used to think so.

"That's literally what it means."

As soon as she finished speaking, Toyokawa Shoko looked back without flinching with a pair of eyes that were even sharper than Su Shi's a moment ago.

"I thought you were worthy enough to realize my dream... It was indeed my fault for saying those words, and I apologize for that."

The blue-haired girl stood up and gracefully saluted Su Shi, who was still sitting in the chair.

"----But."

Then, she slowly smiled.

The corners of her mouth were slightly raised, her brows were quietly relaxed, and her appearance was somewhat similar to her past self. However, her eyes, which were no longer bright, added a coldness that could be called indifference to the same smile.

“‘Things without value should be discarded.’”

"Isn't this the rule of 'our world', Shigaraki-san?"

Lost Star Chapter 117 Summer Record: Chapter The Great Entertainer

Shoko Toyokawa's words were powerful.

Nagasaki Suyo looked at her meaningful smile and was speechless for a moment.

"…worthless things."

She wanted to convince herself that Xiaoxiang was just being tough, trying to maintain his dignity, speaking harshly to his former teammates. Whether it was now or that rainy day, it was just like this -

No.

Nagasaki Suyo couldn't deceive herself.

No matter how much she wants to consider Xiangzi, it is a fact that she broke her promise, it is a fact that Gao Songdeng was sad for her, it is a fact that Ruo Ye Mu was treated coldly by her, and now she declares that CRYCHIC is "worthless", which is even more of a fact.

——The fact is, Toyokawa Shoko abandoned the former "Toyokawa Shoko".

"Xiao Xiang." Su Shi looked at her steadily, "Are you serious?"

"of course."

Seeing her reaction, Xiangzi laughed even more wildly and raised his voice with a certain smugness, saying:

"My words may be a little rude, but they are my true feelings... I didn't mean to sound so harsh. Anyway, Nagasaki-san, I hope you'll understand from now on that delving into things you shouldn't know will only hurt yourself in the end."

Su Shi lowered his head with a sullen face and fell into silence again.

Xiangzi looked down at Su Shi's expression condescendingly, but the smile on his face gradually faded.

She quickly averted her gaze, slightly turned sideways as if preparing to leave, and said, "Well, that's all I have to say. If there's nothing else, I'll take my leave—"

The noisy sound of chair legs rubbing against the ground drowned out Xiangzi's last words.

Su Shi slowly stood up and raised his head. His sky-blue pupils were faintly sparkling with a strange light, like tears.

However, her expression was calm and resolute, and she didn't look hurt at all by the words.

She said softly, "I already understood that."

Ha. The girl seemed to be trying to sneer cruelly, but not even the slightest smile could remain on her lips: apart from the deliberately stern determination on her face, only a hint of sadness could be seen in the corners of her eyes.

"After all, Xiaoxiang was abandoned by his family because he was 'worthless', right?"

“…——!” Xiangzi clenched his fists suddenly. “Are you humiliating me?”

"I'm just stating the facts. Haha, it's just speculation until I say it out loud."

In the center of my vision, the girl's brown hair, as usual, had a few strands of unruly hair. She cast her eyes lazily down, as if in annoyance, and raised her hand to rub her hair. Ever since we'd met, I'd noticed her thin lips, which had been secretly coated with lip balm, slightly parted as she uttered a flat, half-smile:

"In order to avoid being looked down upon, I try hard to pretend I've never been hurt. I also collect the thorns that hurt me and put them on my body. It seems that by hurting others in the same way, I can deceive myself that I have never been hurt..."

Xiangzi frowned, snorted coldly and turned his head: "Boring."

She could see that this woman wanted to deliberately provoke her when her gentle persuasion was ineffective.

……Yeah?

"Indeed, it's utterly boring."

Su Shi narrowed his eyes. Although he was facing her, he didn't seem to be looking at her.

"You too, me too. It's been boring from the start."

Snap. Xiangzi stopped. The moment she stopped, she regretted it.

I missed the chance to leave right now—No. She changed her mind and thought: Anyway, it won’t be long before I will never see this person again, so it might be okay to just listen to what he wants to say.

Xiangzi turned around and looked at her with his head tilted. "What do you mean?"

"That's literally what it means."

Nagasaki Suyo grinned and responded to Xiangzi with the same words that Xiangzi had said before.

Xiangzi heard the implicit sarcasm and frowned slightly. But by now, it was difficult for her to get angry over such a few words: it was not that she had figured anything out, but she had just lost the will.

Su Shi didn't wait for her to speak and quickly regained his calm expression, as if those smiles were just a weapon to mobilize Xiangzi's emotions, and he could put them away whenever he wanted.

She continued calmly:

"I used to be the same."

"I clearly hate the way everyone around me pretends to be polite and courteous, saying and doing utterly boring things, but in order to fit in with this world, I try to adopt the same attitude myself."

"Great principles. Values. Rules. And expectations."

“‘No longer my own self’—I hate that kind of self more than I hate anyone else.”

Sudden.

Nagasaki Suyo took a step forward, reached out and grabbed Toyokawa Shoko's collar and pulled her in front of her.

So close that they could feel each other's breath.

"It must be painful to be abandoned by your family, right?"

"……what?"

Before Xiangzi could respond to her abrupt behavior, he was shocked by the words that broke into his ears.

She looked up blankly.

"It wasn't that I got sick or died. I just watched them go from a small disagreement to a big quarrel. When I came to my senses, they were no longer a family. And I did nothing, I achieved nothing..."

The girl's azure eyes seemed to hold the entire sky, but that sky was now as deep as night.

——There are no stars, moon or sun, only darkness that seems to be able to fall into the deep sea.

"Just like you are now, hating this world and releasing malice that has nowhere to vent towards the entire world."

"...It's a baseless accusation."

Xiangzi almost roughly pulled Su Shi's arm away and glared at her coldly.

"It's unseemly to still be clinging to the past. I was merely stating a fact in a less than tactful way." She frowned and sneered, "Do you honestly believe that a band like this, thrown together haphazardly, can achieve anything? How about turning your arrogance a little lower on reality?"

After hearing this, Su Shi laughed softly, as if he had heard a huge joke.

"Then, Xiaoxiang, have you really taken reality into consideration?"

Xiangzi said loudly: "Of course I——"

"You're still thinking about playing the sole 'villain' and taking all the responsibility on yourself?"

“——…….”

It only took her two seconds to go from stunned to realizing, and then to opening her eyes wide in anger.