Toyokawa Shoko doesn't want to become a witch

The memories that Xiangzi couldn't recall when he made his wish are restored here. I wonder if anything happened after he held a gun to his head.

The scene was projected into Xiangzi's eyes: she stood peacefully beside him, coldly observing the night that had driven her to the brink of collapse.

It's like watching a movie, with the past reappearing before my eyes.

—"I am Xiaoxiang's heart-shaped box. I really am the 'heart-shaped box' that Xiaoxiang uses to hold his happiness and unhappiness."

"I'll do anything... Please... Please... Don't leave me..."

"Don't make promises you can't keep."

Arguments, attempts to salvage the relationship, breakdowns, escalating conflicts, reaching an irreconcilable point—everything unfolded exactly as I remembered it.

Mu stood quietly beside Xiangzi, watching and observing the changes in Xiangzi's expression.

Although Xiangzi's emotions have become more stable since the first memory, it is only a superficial stability. Mu can easily judge her emotions by the changes in Xiangzi's pupils and micro-expressions.

Going through these memories over and over again was still torturous for Xiangzi, but this replaying, like a desensitization training, made her numb.

The two were very close, almost shoulder to shoulder.

Mu felt that she was not suited to speaking; every time she opened her mouth, something bad would happen.

In that case, expressing oneself through actions might be a better way to convey what one wants to say, whether to Xiang, Su Shi, or anyone else.

Mu touched Xiangzi's hand.

Xiangzi did not refuse her.

So she simply took Xiangzi's hand, just like when they were still inseparable.

The Tale of Nirvana: Keeping Your True Self: Chapter 114 Hidden in Memories

The movie-like scene continued as Shoko in the miniature garden picked up a shotgun and pointed it at her head.

Then....j崎陾3冷思镹奇衤三4..

sizzle ————

The entire pane of glass was covered in snowflakes, and nothing could be seen.

"Sure enough, it's not that easy."

Xiangzi's own memory ends there. What happened after that is unknown, even to Kyubey who should know everything, who said that the relevant records were lost. Only Miaomeng knows a little bit.

Conversely, isn't Miaomeng the most suspicious one?

Why is it that even Kyubey is completely baffled, yet she still retains the memories from that time?

There's definitely something wrong with Miaomeng. Go back and torture her to see if she can reveal anything she's been hiding from us.

Meow Dream: Hey! I've been so open and honest with you, and you still doubt me?! You're so cruel!

Of course, Xiangzi was only thinking about it.

Xiangzi felt that Miaomeng, with her somewhat clever but naive appearance lacking a sense of the bigger picture, was incapable of doing such a thing.

The most likely culprit is Oblivionis, and it's the only possible explanation for the treachery behind this.

Mortis is a very good at hiding his familiar, but he is still far inferior to Oblivionis.

Xiangzi pressed the pause button with a heavy heart, unconsciously clenching his fist again, but he didn't feel the sensation of making a fist. Instead, he felt a soft touch, like cotton candy.

It was only then that she realized she was holding Mu's hand.

"Mu?"

"Xiang was very nervous the whole time," Mu said calmly.

Is this your reason for secretly holding hands?

Xiangzi squinted at Mu.

Stare~

Mu's eyes darted away unnaturally.

Xiangzi took two steps and circled around to be directly in front of Mu's line of sight.

stare--

Mu planned to pull her hand away and pretend nothing had happened.

But Xiangzi instead gripped Mu's hand tightly, preventing her from pulling away.

"You've always loved holding my hand since we were little."

Xiangzi squeezed Mu's little hand, raised it, and placed it between the two of them.

"He likes to follow me around like a little shadow, doing whatever I tell him to do."

"......Um."

"Is this your own idea? Or do you not want to think and think that as long as someone is in charge, that's enough? Including those excessive things I just said."

"What does Xiang think?" Mu turned his gaze back to Xiangzi.

I was asked a question in return.

This was an answer Xiangzi hadn't expected.

In an instant, a valve that had been hidden deep in my heart was opened by a single sentence.

Xiangzi had never understood what Mu was thinking, but Mu's simple yet playful question just now made her understand completely.

“Then I think there’s no need to ask anymore.” Xiangzi gave a helpless yet relieved smile. “Today you’re in charge. I’ll do whatever you say.”

It wasn't until just now that Xiangzi realized that Mu had become more opinionated, without him even noticing.

The things Mu did for herself and the words she spoke were not told to her by someone, nor did she receive help from anyone who asked her to.

Mu is not a puppet, but a person with her own ideas. Her actions, thoughts, and ideas are all things she is willing to do.

I really underestimated her.

"Xiang, do you think there's anything abnormal about these memories?" Mu didn't ask Xiangzi to adjust the memories to any particular location anymore, but instead asked him.

"unusual?"

Xiangzi tilted his head and thought for a moment, then nodded and shook his head.

“Yes, definitely, but I don’t know if it has anything to do with Mortis—these memories are much clearer than what I can actually recall.”

She released Mutsu's hand, crossed her arms, walked over to the several miniature gardens next door that didn't belong to her, glanced at them, and then turned back to Mutsu and said...

"Human memory cannot be such a comprehensive three-dimensional space, but is based on one's five senses. There will always be lost information, and it is not even accurate to call them 'lost information'. Memory should only retain important information."

"But here, it's not just my memories, but everyone's memories, all so clear, so clear that you can see exactly how many cracks there are in the bricks on the ground. Mu, do you think that's normal?"

Xiangzi felt that Mortis might be hidden in these inexplicably rich details.

For example, a shadow in the picture, or a billboard that is very eye-catching, but not so eye-catching compared to the protagonist of the memory.

In places where ordinary people wouldn't notice, Mortis could better launch a sneak attack, break the fourth wall, and devour the least vigilant person.

Yes, that's very likely the case.

According to the information provided by Cupid, it was killed "without seeing the attackers clearly" on several occasions when it scouted around here.

So, if Mortis were to transform into a character from a memory and launch an attack, that character from the memory would inevitably be located in the "focus" of the memory, which is the position that is hardest to ignore.

If Cupid were attacked, he shouldn't have been unable to react.

Just like in a horror movie, if you give a close-up of a bottomless ancient well or an empty corridor, you'll know something's wrong and something is about to come out. Even if a monster actually comes out, you might get a fright, but at least you have some psychological expectation and it won't be that scary.

But if you turn around while you are on guard and see that the well and the corridor are safe and sound, and at that moment you relax your guard a little, just as you turn around again to continue forward, the ghost that should have appeared behind you blocks your way.

The prolonged state of alertness stimulates the brain, and the resulting fear makes the string of vigilance tighter and tighter. Just when you can finally breathe a sigh of relief, a turn of the head causes something that can frighten you to pull that string to its tightest point again, and then snaps.

The string snapped.

Xiangzi felt that his thinking was correct.

If you focus your attention on the focal point of your memory, and you've confirmed that the focal area, which is the main subject of your memory, is fine, you will indeed relax your attention for a moment, and you may miss something at that time.

Therefore, rather than focusing on the main subject of memory, we should pay more attention to these unusually detailed aspects.

Xiangzi briefly explained his guesses and the harmony.

then.

“It’s abnormal,” Mu said, stroking his chin. “But it should…have nothing to do with Mortis.”

Mu's words poured cold water on Xiangzi's hopes.

"Why?" Xiangzi was puzzled.

She felt her logic was flawless, and there was simply no room for rebuttal.

"Because this is a witch's barrier."

Mu stepped forward and pressed the rewind button on the control panel with the witch's script.

Unlike Xiangzi, she couldn't understand witch's writing, but she only knew how to use the buttons for rewind, fast forward, pause, and play. After watching Xiangzi do it once, she would understand it enough... right?

The memories in the miniature garden began to recede, from a few snowflakes to becoming clear, and then back to the moment when Xiangzi pointed the gun at his own head.

But she had no intention of wasting time on this meaningless and painful memory for Xiangzi.

Mu gave up on tinkering and pressed pause.

"Xiang."

"Ok?"

"Let's rewind to... the night the accident happened at Xiang's house."

It's fine for simple progress bar dragging, but forget about searching or anything like that.

Xiangzi returned to the retrieval machine and entered the corresponding time.

The small garden closest to them returned to the frozen moment when Xiangzi's father fired the gun.

Mu took over the control of the search machine and pressed the play button.

The people in the miniature garden began to move.

Gunshots rang out, bullets flew, Xiang's mother fell to the ground, and got up again after a while.

"Honey, did I do something wrong?"

Pause, rewind.

Gunshots rang out, and bullets flew.

Xiangzi's mother crawled out of the pool of blood.

"Honey, did I do something wrong?"

time out.

"Xiang had told us before that the witch's barrier was more like a dream."

This was told to Xiangzi by her seniors, and she later shared this information with everyone.

“A person’s dream may not be very detailed, but the subconscious will automatically fill in the details.”

fall back.

Gunfire rang out.

Xiangzi's mother crawled out of the pool of blood.

"Honey, did I do something wrong?"

“These memories that were displayed may not have been so clear originally, but they were completely filled in by the ‘witch’s dream’.”

"Honey, did I do something wrong?"

"Mu, you've been playing this part in reverse, have you discovered something?"

Mu nodded slightly.

“Excessive detail in memory can be misleading, so let’s take our attention away from what we should really be paying attention to.”

Mu's voice, which had always been light and airy, now carried a sense of calm and security that made Xiangzi feel safe.