After Xiangzi died, I inherited her harem.

Seeing Hachiman Kairin suddenly barge into her home, Chihaya Aine frowned deeply, not because of the other party's rudeness in coming uninvited, nor because of the other party's question involving her former band.

But because...

"Weren't you supposed to take Youyu home? Why are you still here?"

“Send Youyu away…yes, I should go see him off…no, there’s no need for that anymore.”

Upon hearing the name Toyokawa Yuu, Hachiman Kairin instinctively froze, muttered to herself for a moment, and then shook her head.

Is it no longer necessary?

Chihaya Aine frowned deeply. She knew that Toyokawa Yuu was currently in a predicament in his family position due to his wife's death and needed a reliable ally.

Moreover, it was by no means a problem that could be easily solved, otherwise he wouldn't have needed to come to me.

But now, Hachiman Kairin, who should be an ally of Toyokawa Yuu, says that protecting Toyokawa Yuu is no longer necessary...

"You sold him?"

Although it was a question, Chihaya Aine's tone was extremely firm.

Upon hearing the pink-haired beauty's question, Hachiman Kairin's expression froze, but she ultimately nodded without uttering a sound.

She shifted her gaze slightly elsewhere, bracing herself for Chihaya Aine's reprimand.

However, Chihaya Aine doesn't have such thoughts now.

Rather than further questioning or reprimanding, the most important thing now is to tell Toyokawa Yuu about this.

Even though she had long seen through Toyokawa Yuu's character and was utterly disappointed in him.

However, Chihaya Aine still couldn't completely stand by and watch him die.

He dialed Toyokawa Yuu's number, but all he got in response was a dial tone indicating the call had been disconnected.

Undeterred, I continued dialing, but the phone kept saying the other party was already on another call.

Looking up at Hachiman Kairin, who was looking away, Chihaya Aine took a deep breath, grabbed her things, and headed for the door.

He only spoke through gritted teeth as he passed by Hachiman Kairin.

"You've thrown yourself into a daze... I don't know what happened, but giving up in an instant, such a complete reversal of attitude, shows that you don't deserve what you crave."

After saying that, Chihaya Aine stormed out the door, leaving Hachiman Kairin standing there dumbfounded.

"You and Youyu are truly birds of a feather, different kinds of scoundrels."

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Pain, tinnitus...

The piercing sound filled her mind. Ruo Yemu tried hard to open her eyes, but she couldn't see anything for a moment.

It opened its mouth, but no sound came out; all it could hear were sharp chirping sounds.

His body ached as if it were falling apart. Although he slowed down when entering the curve, he was forcefully pushed out of the car, rolled across the road, and fell into the roadside bushes. Even Ruoye Mu would not have been able to escape unscathed.

It felt as if his body was enveloped in a sticky liquid, and a slight warmth emanated from that liquid, bringing some comfort to the pained Wakaba Mutsu.

Her brain didn't even register what had just happened for a moment; Ruoye Mu instinctively curled up to protect the phone in her arms.

Yuu's phone call with Hatsune Miku... is still ongoing...

With this in mind, Ruoye Mu got through the initial and most difficult period of suffering.

As the initial sharp pain gradually subsided, the reflection of the world reappeared in Wakaba Mutsumi's eyes.

The guitar in my arms has vanished.

The shoulder strap was torn, and pink fragments were scattered all around.

Judging from the way it looked, even collecting the fragments would be a troublesome task, completely eliminating the possibility of repair.

But perhaps because the guitar happened to cushion the fall when he was pushed out of the car, Ruoye Mu felt that his injuries were not that serious.

At least, after the pain subsided, Ruoye Mu was even able to stand up on his own.

"Guitar......"

She murmured softly to herself and looked down at the phone she was holding in her arms.

Surprisingly, even though the guitar was in such a state, the cell phone belonging to Toyokawa Yuu in her hand was still intact, completely unharmed except for a few drops of blood.

Bloodstains...

Looking at the thick layer of blood covering her body, even if Ruo Yemu had no common sense, she should know that if so much blood was really hers, then she probably wouldn't have a chance to stand up again.

The gaze that had been fixed on him slowly moved forward, and Ruo Yemu's pupils suddenly contracted, causing his knees to buckle and he to kneel on the ground.

Half a person's figure was reflected in the golden eyes.

“You…Youyu…”

Looking at the familiar face on the half-destroyed body, Ruoye Mu's mind went completely blank.

Subconsciously, Ruo Yemu moved her knees and used both hands and feet to lean over, tightly hugging the half-body that was left, as if trying to salvage some of the gradually fading warmth.

"Xiao Mu... You Yu!"

Chihaya Aine, who had just arrived at the scene, was stunned by what she saw.

With a slight slip of his finger, the guitar case, which he almost never parted with, along with the guitar inside, fell to the ground.

Covered in blood, Wakaba Mutsumi held Toyokawa Yuu, whose body was now only half its original size. This was a scene that Chihaya Aine had never imagined, even in her most terrifying nightmares.

Even she was momentarily stunned, until the sound of sirens reached her ears and brought her back to her senses.

With trembling and unsteady steps, she walked to Wakaba Mutsu's side.

For a moment, Chihaya Aine didn't even know who to talk to first.

Only after a moment did he manage to squeeze out a dry sentence.

"...It's alright, I'm here."

Hearing the familiar voice in her ear, Ruoye Mu mechanically turned her head like a puppet, still holding that familiar figure, clutching the phone that the other person had given her last.

An unconscious murmur escaped from the golden-eyed beauty's lips, her voice mechanical and resolute.

"I am... Yuu's thing..."

Chapter 77 Xiao Mu is mine

Nine years and three hundred and fifty-nine days before Toyokawa Shoko's death, early morning.

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I am... something of Youyu...

A mechanical murmur reached Toyokawa Yuu's ears, causing him, whose consciousness was becoming increasingly blurred, to slightly lift his eyelids.

Having been through so much, he no longer had the energy to think about whether it was worth it or not; he just felt a little happy.

The feeling of being split in two was not as painful as Toyokawa Yuu had imagined.

Or perhaps, this pain was truly beyond what Toyokawa Yuu could bear, so her brain subconsciously blocked it out.

In short, when Wakaba Mutsu held her half-body, although she was no longer able to speak, Toyokawa Yuu still had a little bit of consciousness.

A hazy pink figure slowly emerged from her slightly raised eyelids, causing Toyokawa Yuu to pause for a moment.

Why is she here?

The question had barely surfaced in her mind, which was gradually ceasing to think, when Toyokawa Yuu's consciousness was plunged into complete darkness.

I don't know how much time passed, but with each breath, my blurry vision gradually became clear.

The faint pink hue that had been in my sight gradually became clearer.

"Yuyu? Yuyu!"

Chihaya Aine waved her hand in front of Toyokawa Yuu's eyes, her voice tinged with worry.

Ever since he took a sip of ice water, the boy in front of me has remained silent, staring intently at the glass of ice water for almost half a minute without any reaction.

It looked less like he was spacing out and more like he had lost his soul.

Did I do something wrong with good intentions? It seems like psychological trauma is something that shouldn't be touched lightly.

With that thought in mind, Chihaya Aine reached into her pocket somewhat guiltily, hesitating whether she should call a doctor or find a psychologist for Toyokawa Yuu.

Awakened by Chihaya Ayane's call, Toyokawa Yuu gradually made out the pink figure in front of her.

Her long pink hair was as dazzling as ever, but the gray-white trench coat she was wearing had been changed back into the school uniform of Yugaoka Girls' Academy.

Although she has become a little shorter, her figure is still the one that Toyokawa Yuu is most familiar with.

Looking at the pink-haired girl in front of her, Toyokawa Yuu knew that she had returned to ten years ago, to that afternoon when Chihaya Aine said she would help her overcome her psychological trauma.

Instinctively clutching her abdomen, her hand slid down to her thigh, and only after confirming that her body was still intact and not broken in two did Toyokawa Yuu slowly breathe a sigh of relief.

Just as he was about to breathe a sigh of relief and smile at the girl in front of him, Toyokawa Yuu suddenly frowned and gripped her abdomen tightly with her hands.

Although she was unharmed, just thinking about her miserable state just now made Toyokawa Yuu feel an indescribable phantom pain surge up her spine and into her mind, as if every nerve along the way was screaming.

"Youyu, what's wrong? Should we go see a doctor?"

Noticing the sudden pain on Toyokawa Yuu's face, Chihaya Aine immediately put down the ice water in her hand, walked around the table separating the two of them, and came to the boy's side.

Looking with concern at the pale-faced boy who seemed to be in some kind of pain, Chihaya Aine no longer hesitated and took out her phone to call a doctor.

However, just as she unlocked her phone screen, before she even had a chance to dial, a hand covered the phone, which was covered by a pink case.

"I...I'm fine."

Phantom pain is ultimately just an illusion; it comes and goes quickly.

Now that my body is perfectly healthy, that pain is like a rootless duckweed, which will disappear without a trace with the slightest breeze.

Forcing a smile onto her lips, Toyokawa Yuu looked at the worried pink sun in front of her and let out a meaningful sigh.

"Thank you, Aine, you've helped me a lot."

Strangely enough, there were some things that Yuu Toyokawa couldn't say to the mature and lonely pink-haired beauty ten years later, but she didn't feel much psychological burden when facing the passionate pink sun in front of her.

"It's just a glass of ice water... But are you really okay? I saw your expression just now, and you seemed to be in a lot of pain."

The smile on Toyokawa Yuu's face reassured Chihaya Aine somewhat, but the worry in her gray eyes remained deep.

In her opinion, the boy in front of her seemed to be putting on a brave face no matter how you looked at it.

Moreover, I don't know if it's just Chihaya Aine's imagination.

When she first met Yuu Toyokawa, she felt that the boy, who was almost the same age as her, seemed very tired.

At the time, she thought it was because the other person was not getting enough sleep, but now, for some reason, she felt that the fatigue on Toyokawa Yuu's body had become even more intense.

He wasn't like this when the two of them met in the coffee shop not long ago.

"Don't worry, I'm really fine. I just thought of some bad things."

Releasing her hand from Chihaya Aine's phone, Toyokawa Yuu vaguely brushed the matter aside.

Yuu Toyokawa proactively called out to the waiter to bring a pastry to Chihaya Aine, who hadn't had a chance to order yet, and the smile on her face returned to its usual calm.

He appeared no different from the gentle demeanor he displayed when the two first entered.

Now that Chihaya Aine seems to have seen through her true nature ten years later, she needs to be even more careful to hide it.

After all, what the other party said was the truth, and I probably can't change it anyway. The only thing I can do is to hide it better.

"That's true. After all, psychological trauma is something that probably needs to be addressed by a professional psychologist. What I did just now was indeed not quite right."

Looking at the pastries that the waiter brought to her, Chihaya Aine fidgeted with the knife and fork in her hands with some frustration. She didn't doubt Toyokawa Yuu's statement, just assuming that he was thinking about the things that had caused her psychological trauma.

However, Youyu's psychological problems seem to be more serious than I imagined. Her expression turned so ugly after just taking a sip of the water I gave her...

Xiangzi, don't you plan to take him to see a doctor?

Silently adding an extra task to her mind, Chihaya Aine planned to talk to Toyokawa Shoko about Wakaba Mutsumi when she went to talk to Toyokawa Yuu with Tomorin at noon.

She always felt that there was something strange about the atmosphere between the two adopted siblings.

Since we're family, we should get along well.

Chihaya Aine cut the pastries in front of her into small pieces with her fork, and as she began to enjoy the breakfast that Toyokawa Yuu had ordered for her, the atmosphere between the two fell silent for a moment.

Yuu Toyokawa held the glass of ice water, which was gradually returning to room temperature, seemingly deep in thought, while Aine Chihaya couldn't find anything to talk about for the moment.