Heavy girl? I feel worse than Black Hole Trigger!

The scorching sun peeking out of the window was so intense that even a tiny melting ice cube reflected a brilliance that was difficult to look at directly.

"After this semester, I will transfer out of Tsukinomori Academy. As for where I'm going, please allow me to keep it a secret... If I see your familiar face on stage again on the first day of school, I'll be very troubled."

“…Oh my.”

Zhe Li laughed helplessly.

For a well-educated girl like Toyokawa Shoko, using such a plain description is almost equivalent to what people usually say, "I don't want to see your face again" - obviously for Toyokawa Shoko, the shock of Zheli's abrupt appearance on stage as a teacher was so great that it still bothers her to this day.

"So, since you're willing to take the initiative to ask me out today," Zhe Li looked carefully into her piercing eyes and asked, "Do you want to tell me the reason behind this?"

She nodded decisively. "That's right. So, I hope you can keep this a secret."

"I promise you." Zhe Li said.

"You responded so quickly. I wonder if you're going to pretend to obey but actually disobey."

"You don't look like you doubt me."

"......" Toyokawa Shoko avoided the man's gaze. "It's just that there's no point in doubting it."

Zhe Li laughed, a hint of teasing in his voice: "Even so, you're still willing to tell me?"

"because,"

Because you said it - as long as you are willing to speak, I am willing to listen.

The girl clenched her fists and shook her head slightly.

Under the sunlight, the azure twin ponytails seemed to have regained the clarity and brightness they had when they were first seen.

"...No. Nothing. Let me get straight to the point—"

She slowly smiled.

There was still unresolved sorrow in her eyes.

Her face still showed the accumulated fatigue.

But, at this moment...

The heavy burden that had always lingered on his shoulders was briefly lifted, and an illusion that had been suppressed deep in his memory once again appeared before someone's eyes in the hazy daylight.

"I am no longer a member of the Toyokawa family."

It's like the setting sun of spring quietly hiding in the south wind, looking up at someone.

Just like when we first met.

Lost Star Chapter 112 Summer Time Record: Chapter Evil

The beginning may be traced back to a long, long time ago.

"……divorce?"

Toyokawa Shoko raised her head. Her round little face couldn't hide her future beauty. Her large amber eyes held not a trace of sadness, only deep doubt.

"Yes."

Her father squatted down, his eyes, sleepier than ever in her memory, looking level with her.

Looking back now, her father must have felt much more pain at that moment than she could have imagined.

"Mom said...she wanted to have a good rest. So, for the time being, she's staying away from me, away from Xiangzi, away from 'us'. Xiangzi might not see Mom for a while."

The man chose his words carefully. He was so exhausted that he looked like he would collapse at any moment, but he still tried hard to look at his own face, not wanting to let even the slightest change of emotion escape his sight.

"Oh." Xiangzi just responded softly.

The father paused for a moment. He seemed both relieved and worried, and asked softly, "Isn't Xiangzi sad?"

"Because, Father said it's only temporary." Xiangzi smiled innocently. She looked at her astonished father with wide eyes and said as if it was a matter of course: "Mother has been working so hard. Xiangzi often wants to skip classes and sleep in, so it's normal for Mother to want to rest."

"Xiangzi, I will wait patiently."

"……Yeah."

My father's eyes softened. The exhausted man seemed redeemed by these words.

Toyokawa Shoko just waited until he left, until the housekeeper and servants sent her back to her familiar daily life, until the night enveloped the sky, and until the lights in the boudoir, which was so spacious that it seemed small, were turned off.

She was lying on the bed looking at the ceiling when she suddenly exclaimed, "Ah."

It turns out that even if her mother completely disappeared from her side, her life would not change at all.

...So mother is a "worthless" existence.

That's why my mother disappeared from "Toyokawa".

So, if.

If someone loses their value under the name of Toyokawa—

……

"—Father was expelled from the family."

"I don't know the specific excuse yet. ...But as his daughter, I also chose to run away from home."

Even though the air conditioning in the cafe maintained a comfortable atmosphere, the sunlight streaming in from the windows was so intense that the floating ice quickly melted into water. Toyokawa Shoko stared at the remaining ice fragments, her own faint reflection in the cup's rim, her lips curled up slightly, revealing a chill that bordered on self-mockery, unbothered by the scorching sun.

"If I want, I can still be the 'Shoko Toyokawa' I once was."

The girl's smile was a little cold, but one could vaguely see the look that Baodeng Zheli was familiar with.

"If we can completely forget about the man who failed miserably as a father, husband, son, and simply a businessman, everything will be fine."

Then Zhe Li saw her suddenly smile.

“But I still made this choice.”

"To torture yourself and hurt them...how foolish."

Perhaps because the deserted cafe was so quiet, her voice was flat, yet remarkably clear. Zhe Li looked into her eyes, and she looked back at him. The man, looking into her eyes, whispered, "Have you ever regretted it?"

The girl narrowed her eyes and laughed.

“————Not at all.”

In the falling sunlight, the sky-blue hair was as incredibly bright as when I first saw it.

Bao Deng Zheli once again realized that Toyokawa Shoko had not changed at all: from the day they first met until now, she had always been hopelessly confident and equally hopelessly inferior.

"I, who dared to betray even my own family, easily abandoned my 'worthless' friends..."

"This is perfectly normal."

In the center of the sight, the girl pressed her hand against her chest.

Her smile at this moment coincided with many fragments in her memory: she smiled softly while hiding her hand injury when they first met, and she was excited when she praised the performance when they met again; she was so happy that she couldn't stop smiling when the orchestra was formed, and she looked at the sunset with satisfaction in the evening when they successfully played "Spring Shadow" for the first time.

They were all genuine feelings. They all thought they were genuine feelings.

but.

——When necessary, even the "real self" can be abandoned.

In the past, Nagasaki Suyo had not yet been suppressed to the limit of her endurance.

Today, Wakaba Mutsu uses silence to make room for his emotions.

But perhaps, long before she met him and them, a part of Shoko Toyokawa had already been quietly broken.

Baodeng Zheli looked at the girl with a bright smile and asked, "Are these all your true words?"

"Ah, that's right." She nodded gently, without a trace of hesitation, only an unwavering will. "I paid the price of 'freedom', so I can no longer continue with the band and chose to withdraw from CRYCHIC. That's all."

"As for the reason why I didn't mention it before."

She paused, raised her eyes again, and looked deeply at the man in front of her.

"Given the personalities of Nagasaki-san and the others, no matter how I explain it, they'll probably see the Toyokawa family as the reason for my leaving the band... Resentment towards something that has nothing to do with me is like sympathy for someone you can't touch; both are meaningless and worthless."

"not to mention."

The girl smiled what could perhaps be called a smug smile.

"I am enough for the 'evil'."

"..."

Baodeng Zheli smiled at the arrogant look that could almost be described as bluffing.

Just as every perfect criminal has the desire to talk about his or her own great achievements, Toyokawa Shoko now shows the same self-abandonment: secretly degrading himself as a villain in his heart, but complacent about his or her acting skills and actions, as if a fantasy child imagines the misfortunes of childhood as a test for greatness, and is fortunate to have gained experience far beyond ordinary people.

So childish.

But also very pitiful.

"What a boring reason," he said flatly.

The girl's smile froze, but she soon laughed at herself again.

"Boring, huh? ... Indeed, with the manager's abilities, such an assessment is only natural."

Zhe Li raised an eyebrow, "Ability?"

"The Moon Forest doesn't welcome unknown people." Toyokawa Shoko's gaze lingered on Zheli's face. "I don't know how you convinced the teachers to let you into the school, but the fact that I've seen you teach for so many days in a row is enough to prove your ability."

"I see. Your judgment is correct. I do have my own connections..."

The man propped his cheek with one hand, his eyes, as big as the sky, staring at her intently.

"So, are you done? It's my turn."

"……Eh?"

"Storytelling is about give and take."

He grinned widely, and his usually cheerful smile was filled with a strange coldness.

"Let me also tell you a story about a 'bad guy'."

Chapter of Lost Stars, Act 1, Summer Time Record: Interlude, Savior

Good and evil can never offset each other.

I have thought so since a long, long time ago.

Just like a broken cup, even if you put it back together, the crack cannot be completely eliminated; the damage caused to people, whether physical or mental, may take a long time to heal, but it will never become "never happened".

This is what is called "evil".

……

"Before coming here, I lived in a city with poor public security."

"Hmm. Even if I just say this, it's hard for you to understand. So let me give you a simple example—"

A certain man grinned widely, like a scarred genius from a distant memory.

"It was a terrifying city where you never knew when you would be attacked just by walking down the street. Even though the government army was equipped with the most advanced weapons, it only cared about waging war on neighboring countries. People lived in constant fear, worrying about whether they would be harmed by the people around them or by the army themselves."

“Is that so?”

Rather than being surprised, Toyokawa Shoko felt completely unrealistic about what he was saying.

Baodeng Zheli looked at her momentarily stiff face and gave a mischievous smirk.

...Yeah. That's the best way.

I hope you never have to empathize with such a world in your entire life.

"I'm truly remarkable that I was able to survive a place like that."

“I think about this every day I’m here.”

——It’s just that I have a script in my head, the credibility of which is still unknown.

A man who was just an ordinary person the day before, who even shamefully banged his hands on the wall for help in the pitch-black smoke, suddenly felt that he could do anything and thought he was a "savior."

Idiots like that should have served as a warning to the real heroes and died on their way to save the world.

"I'm not afraid of you laughing. At the very beginning, I was truly a despicable person." He chuckled softly at the girl's gaze, which was still slightly confused and incomprehensible, as if mocking himself: "I fabricated my origins, deceived a great man, and let that naive girl easily trust me..."