Aunt Xiangzi, how did you manage to live?

After that accident, Nagasaki Motoyo seemed to gradually understand the purpose behind Kazama's previous actions.

He used seemingly unreasonable excuses to stubbornly stick with everyone, but in reality, he was constantly trying to reunite the group in his own way, and even improved everyone's musical instrument skills—

　?』qun々贰0、〧II尔壹山冥VIII迩 also gave them a performance that could be described as perfect.

If Xiangzi hadn't happened to witness this scene from the audience, leading to the subsequent series of events, Su Shi believed that this would have been a stage that even she would have been moved by.

"I just... don't understand."

Su Shi finally lowered her proud head. Although she was looking at the back of her hand resting on her thigh, it seemed as if she was looking elsewhere.

If he was a partner from the very beginning, why would he betray his allies?

If he intended to take Xiangzi away, why did he have Chuhua temporarily refuse Xiangzi's invitation to form a band?

Last but not least, and most importantly.

"Why... I just completely severed our alliance because of Xiangzi's matter..."

The next second, he was able to rush to the side of the car without hesitation, push Xiangzi away, and take the blame for the accident in her place.

Nagasaki Motoyo didn't know why.

All she knew was that she was feeling terrible.

Even though her attitude towards him was never exactly friendly, and the two of them were completely at odds over Xiangzi and the C Group—

He still gave them this performance and even personally saved Xiangzi's life.

This feeling of being the only bad guy is awful.

I have a feeling that he's not only lying in this hospital bed because of that car accident, but that part of the injuries on Kazama's body were also caused by her.

Despite it being nothing more than a baseless fantasy, Nagasaki Motoyo still sat there with this sense of guilt.

All of this was observed by Sanjiao Chuhua.

Chu Hua remained silent, but her gaze towards Su Shi still held little warmth.

"Su Shi... is it because you feel guilty towards Xiao Jun about Xiao Xiang, or because of all the things that have been accumulating over time?"

She finally asked the question.

"........."

Su Shi simply turned her face away dejectedly, clenching her teeth and remaining silent.

She didn't even have the courage to deny her past self.

Although she didn't answer, Chu Hua still got the answer she wanted.

Nagasaki Motoyo still couldn't see where her heart truly lay.

That being the case...

She breathed a sigh of relief.

In that case, she is no longer a match for someone who can take Kazama away from her.

Not yet.

Just as Chu Hua was secretly congratulating himself on still being in the lead, the boy who had been sleeping peacefully moved his hand.

"?!"

The two girls, like startled birds, immediately ended the topic and turned their gazes toward Kazama on the sickbed.

The still somewhat frail boy slowly opened his eyes, but the name he uttered as naturally as breathing surprised both Chu Hua and Su Shi.

"Mu..."

He called out the girl's name in a hoarse voice, and a tear slipped abruptly from the corner of his eye.

Where did Mu go?

Chapter 83 Jiu Ling* left the machine and pulled out [r eight reading - yi This time I arrived first]

During the two days of intermittent sleep and wakefulness, Kazama's consciousness, which had not been blurred by the excruciating pain, often felt somewhat dazed during these moments of peace.

Perhaps it was the anesthesia administered by the doctor that took effect, or perhaps it was his self-protection mechanism that triggered his life, which he would have lost in the accident. In any case, he would fall into a deep sleep of more than ten hours every day.

But during his sleep, he could always hear someone sobbing.

It sounds like a girl's voice.

She must have tried to keep her voice down so as not to disturb him, but even so, the sound of her crying always managed to grab his attention.

It seems... Mu is crying.

Even though all other senses were numb like never before, it was difficult to even lift my heavy eyelids to see the faces of the people around me clearly—

Kazama recognized the voice through intuition.

It can only be harmony.

Only Mu's crying could evoke such a heart-wrenching feeling in him.

He desperately wanted to speak up and comfort her, after all, as long as she didn't lose her life, she would recover sooner or later, but Xiaolian didn't even have the strength to open her lips and make a sound.

"I'm...I'm sorry...Xiao..."

So he could only continue listening to Mu's self-deprecation, unable to say anything even though he felt sorry for her.

"It's all my fault... If only I had noticed sooner, if only I had stopped Xiang first..."

This is clearly not Mu's fault.

Is this guy starting to cover for others by squeezing out his own feelings again?

He desperately wanted to deny it aloud, but all he could do was move his Adam's apple.

That's when.

"No, it's all Xiang's fault, isn't it? She knew you would feel bad being caught in the middle, but she still took it upon herself to try to pull Mu into the new band. She didn't even ask Mu's opinion—she was only thinking about how to separate Mu and Xiao."

...Huh?

Whose voice is this?

It sounded exactly like Mu's voice, but the light and agile tone of the voice made him completely certain that the speaker was definitely not Mu.

"Don't... say that about Xiang. She doesn't actually know anything either..."

This seemed to be Mu's rebuttal, but her argument seemed rather weak compared to the other voice, which was more talkative and eloquent.

"But she didn't even get Mutsu's consent, did she? She just wanted to run away to keep Mutsu by her side, and now Akatsuki is like this... That's a bit too much, isn't it? She hasn't even come to check on Akatsuki these past few days, has she? Mutsu is her savior—"

...Who exactly is this voice that keeps stirring up trouble?

"No...that's not it. Xiang was just taken away by her family after her condition stabilized..."

"Even without this excuse, Xiang's prejudice against Xiao has always been there, hasn't it? Honestly, Mu has always so obviously shown that she likes Xiao... Is Xiang jealous or just not wanting Mu to get what she wants?"

"Stop talking—!"

The arguing between the two subsided, and then everything around them fell silent again—he didn't know if the quarrel had ended or if he had lost consciousness.

That voice was clearly Mu's, yet she was arguing with Mu... Who else could be here?

The familiar numbness once again overwhelmed Kazama's thoughts, carrying his consciousness away like the ebb and flow of the tide.

When he woke up again, Chu Hua and Su Shi were sitting on either side of his bed.

"Mu...?"

In his hazy state of consciousness, he called out the name of the person he cared about most at that moment, and a tear gradually slid from his eye to his cheek.

“Xiao…Xiaojun…”

Chu Hua, who was so excited that she was about to cry tears of joy, froze on her face. Su Shi, who was standing next to her, finally felt relieved.

Kazama is temporarily unharmed and has regained consciousness—which makes her feel a little better.

Although, like Chu Hua, the name he heard from him was neither the other person's nor his own, Su Shi's feelings were also somewhat complicated.

"Chu Hua... Su Shi?"

Once the boy's eyes regained their clarity, he was finally able to see the faces of the two girls who were beside him.

"...Xiaojun, are you feeling any better now?"

Chu Hua didn't show much surprise when she heard this address. She expressed concern for the boy as usual, and then naturally and gently touched the boy's slightly cold left hand.

"?"

Su Shi naturally witnessed this scene, and his originally gentle and tolerant expression instantly took on a strange quality.

Even if she were someone like Riki, who is slow to notice and insensitive to emotions, she should have noticed by now Misaka Hatsuka's somewhat inappropriate concern for Kazama.

This woman, whose level of ruthlessness rivals his own, and whose cunning completely surpasses his own… seems to have different expectations of Kazama.

This is not okay.

With an idol-like perfect appearance, but a heart more twisted than anyone else Suze has ever seen (excluding himself)... Kazama definitely can't handle this kind of person.

Perhaps it's out of a desire for atonement, or perhaps it's using this desire for atonement to justify one's own petty thoughts—

In short, Nagasaki Motoyo picked up the bento box that Riki had just placed there.

"If you're hungry, there are bento boxes here."

Su Shi's smile remained unchanged, as if she had never shown any awkwardness due to the past estrangement between her and Xiao.

"Ah...thank you."

Xiao hadn't expected Su Shi to be so friendly to him; he was still a little dazed from just waking up.

So he pulled his hand out from Chu Hua's hand and took the still warm food container.

"........."

Chu Hua remained silent, only meeting Su Shi's slightly upturned eyes with a seemingly indifferent gaze.

A silent spark seemed to burst forth where their eyes met, but Kazama, still dazed, didn't notice it at all; all he wanted to do was eat something to fill his stomach.

"Speaking of which, this is a dish made by Lixi."

Chu Hua stopped looking at Su Shi and instead gave Xiao an even brighter smile, explaining the situation.

Su Shi's smile drooped slightly; it seemed Chu Hua genuinely didn't want her to use her connections to curry favor.

Since that's the case, she turned her gaze and came up with a new solution.

"Yes, Lixi, Deng, and I are all very worried about you."

Although this was true, Su Shi still showed a hint of apology and self-blame when she confessed her thoughts.

"I'm sorry, Xiaojun. I... shouldn't have said those things to you before."

Chu Hua smiled, her eyes slightly narrowed.

Did you really choose this time to apologize and grab all the attention? Su Shi, you bastard…

"I'm back. The doctor said I can go home after a few days of observation... Huh."

The sudden sound of the door opening broke the balance between the two. At the same time, sensing that something was not right, she looked around and her expression became a little strange.

"I think I smell gunpowder... Is something on fire somewhere?"

Chapter 84 From now on, there will be no more debts owed.

Shiina Riki's arrival slightly broke the tense atmosphere between Hatsuka and Sose, although she herself was completely unaware of the undercurrents between the two—nor could she guess why they were so hostile.

"Ah... Kazama, you're awake? That's great!"

The moment she saw the boy open his eyes and sit up slightly from the hospital bed, her usually sharp eyes instantly filled with obvious joy.

Especially when her gaze traveled downwards to the hand that the frail boy was holding in his palm as he made a food container.

"Are you eating the bento box I prepared for you? How does it taste?"