Aunt Xiangzi, how did you manage to live?

Metis's voice stammered slightly as she spoke the latter part, which might have seemed to others as a sign of her being somewhat absent-minded.

But only she knew that she was trying to bridge the information gap between Kazama and Mutsuka.

When Xiao Mu hides away, she intentionally hides some of the realities she has witnessed from her, but this is not a long-term solution.

Although if Kazama relays his words verbatim to Mutsu, she will definitely be very happy, and Metis will also be very happy because of it.

But if that happens, Xiao Mu will come back.

Then her living space will inevitably be squeezed out—or even completely taken back by Xiao Mu.

No, no, that's absolutely not allowed.

It might sound tragic, but she risked her life to act as a troublemaker.

The same applies to coming to Kazama's house this time.

"Oh, stop talking about that—come play with me! Does Xiao have anything fun at home? Let me see?"

"Unfortunately, besides the video games on my computer and my guitar, there's not much extra space in this apartment for me to put any other entertainment facilities. If you're looking for some fun, I suggest you go down to the underground passage next to the coffee shop downstairs—and then walk all the way to the subway station to take the subway to Shibuya."

"How heartless... How heartless, how heartless! Xiao, you would never treat Xiao Mu like this!"

Teacher Xiao Mo seemed very unhappy with his nonchalant attitude, and rolled around on the bed crying and making a fuss like a child trying to get an adult's attention.

"Discrimination!! This is clearly discrimination!!"

After all, you are the personality of Mu, not the real Mu.

Xiao remained calm, or rather, found it somewhat amusing to see Metis almost wrapped up like a caterpillar.

Will the other personality existing within Mutsu's body also care about his attitude as much as Mutsu does?

"Okay, okay, a girl rolling around in a boy's bed... Hmm, I think this is probably a scene that would appear in a romantic comedy, so Metis, you'd better stop right away."

"Why!"

The blue caterpillar monster barely managed to peek its cute head out from inside the rice dumpling wrapper.

"Because I'm not Xiao Mu!"

It's only natural to feel embarrassed and flustered if you don't want to project your mother's image onto the female lead in a romantic comedy, right?

"Or is it that Xiaoxin actually has someone else she can identify with?"

Metis shouted the question recklessly, like a bravado child, while at the same time, it sounded like something heavy had fallen to the ground from the neighbor's house next door.

"……No."

Kazama, who was leaning against the wall, turned his head to the back of the door. The soundproofing in this building has never been very good... Could it be that the neighbor next door accidentally fell down when he came home?

Never mind, that's not important.

"So... are you and Xiangzi still so incompatible lately?"

What's important is that Metis said this in a slightly tentative tone after throwing a tantrum like a spoiled child.

There's always something fishy going on when things seem unusual; this common sense shouldn't need further explanation.

With a carefree and reckless personality like Metis', she should be indifferent to everything—but for some reason, she seems to care so much about the tense relationship between Kazama and Shoko.

Kazama pondered for a moment, then had a sudden inspiration.

"No, not really. Rather, I've recently felt that we're on the same page in some ways—for example, Xiangzi's desire to invite Mutsu and Chuka to form a new band."

He shrugged and continued speaking under Metis's somewhat astonished gaze.

"From an objective point of view, this is actually beneficial to Muhe Chuhua's personal development, isn't it? In that case, I would wholeheartedly support it. It might even lend Xiangzi a hand."

"But—but you didn't mean it to Xiangzi—"

"Hey, my mom used to say that a prime minister's belly can hold a boat."

Actually, Mu never said that.

"Taking a step back opens up a whole new world; nobody's perfect, right?"

Mu never said that.

"And this way, Chu Hua shouldn't be caught in the middle like Mu is."

Kazama nodded, seemingly expressing that his "sacrifice" was absolutely worthwhile.

"Yes, if Xiangzi and I can get along well, she will definitely feel gratified."

But Metis didn't think so.

Rather, she didn't want to "sacrifice herself heroically" just because of Kazama's sudden "magnanimity."

I originally thought that as long as Mu stayed in my head and refused to come out, and as long as Chu Hua was caught in a dilemma, I could keep Kazama in check and keep him and Xiangzi from seeing each other again—but now it seems that all my efforts have been in vain.

"It's one thing for Mu to be like this, but how come even Chu Hua is like this!"

Teacher Da Mo panicked a little. She had originally thought that Chu Hua, out of a bit of possessiveness, wouldn't want the two of them to shake hands and make peace.

It seems completely unreliable now.

"Forget it, Chu Hua is unnecessary! She's of no use to you in defeating Xiangzi, Xiao!"

Boom! !

The commotion outside the door was so close that both Kazama and Metis turned their heads to look at the door.

After a long silence, the doorbell rang out.

"Um... is Xiaojun home?"

After the video doorbell, came a somewhat guilty greeting from Ms. Misaka Chuka.

As expected, Metis was being followed.

Chapter Twenty-Eight: Don't Take Akatsuki Away From Me!

"Miss Chuhua, step forward."

"Yes……"

"What kind of pig are you, suddenly showing up at my doorstep without any warning?"

"That, that..."

"Chu Hua is going to make excuses! Chu Hua is about to start making excuses!"

Miss Misaki sat cross-legged on the tatami mat in Kazama's house, looking dejected. In front of her were Kazama, who had his arms crossed, and Metis, who was gloating.

Ever since she realized that Kazama had been out of her sight for a day, Hatsuka had focused her remaining energy on "solving cases".

That is, to find out where Xiao went after shaking off him on that day.

After a series of guesses and eliminations, Detective Chu Hua roughly guessed where he would go.

It's either RiNG or the Wakaba family.

Wherever he went, it's an undeniable fact that he met with another girl.

That's why she felt a vague unease and began to suspect whether Mu and Xiao had been having any private offline contact during this period.

After staking out the place for a day or two, she finally managed to catch up with "Xiao Mu," who had been unusually heading from her home to the Kazama residence. So, she secretly followed her there.

Chu Hua's eavesdropping skills were originally quite sophisticated, until "Xiao Mu" suddenly said out of the blue, "Chu Hua is no longer needed"—and she was caught off guard and revealed her true colors.

Miss Hatsuka, who was sitting properly in front of the tatami, raised half of her head and looked at the light green-haired girl sitting on Kazama's bed.

She really wanted to subtly remind the girl that she had heard Xiao Mu's "slander" of her—if Xiao hadn't been keeping a close eye on her, she probably would have retaliated in kind.

"...I'm sorry. I'm just so worried about Xiaojun... Whenever you're out of my sight, I become incredibly anxious, and I even start to fantasize that what happened that day will happen again..."

Finally, Miss Chuhua chose to honestly explain her thoughts.

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry... I didn't mean to bother you like this, but I didn't want to disturb your daily life or make you feel like I was a nuisance... Have I been a nuisance to you?"

She raised her wet eyes and looked at Kazama like a golden retriever that knew it had done something wrong and was obediently waiting to be punished.

"Ha! What a lame excuse!"

Only Metis, oblivious to the situation, burst into laughter, only thinking about how to add fuel to the fire and make it burn even brighter.

"And those words are so heavy! I could feel the weight on my shoulders!"

Seemingly realizing he could no longer pretend to be Mutsu in front of Chuka, Metis simply gave up and started whispering in Kazama's ear—

"No, no! You've shown such a heavy side to Xiao, yet you're still indecisive between Xiangzi and Xiao. That won't do! Unlike me, I'll only stand on Xiao and Mutsu's side, okay?"

"Xiao Mu...? No, it's not Xiao Mu..."

Chu Hua looked at Metis with some confusion. If she had doubted whether this person was Ruo Ye Mu when she overheard their conversation outside the door, then seeing Metis's true colors revealed now, she was absolutely certain that Metis could not possibly be Ruo Ye Mu.

Metis ignored Chu Hua and just kept moving closer to Kazama, who had his arms crossed, grabbing one of his hands and shaking it.

"Compared to Chuhua, I am the partner who will never waver!"

Chu Hua didn't say anything more. She just stared intently at Metis holding Kazama's arm without uttering a word—and of course, she didn't even blink.

Feeling like he was about to become the center of a gravitational field, Kazama calmly pushed away the octopus attack of the unsuspecting Metis, having received an early warning of the crisis.

"Don't come looking for me again, Metis. I'm afraid Chu Hua will misunderstand."

Okay, he said that partly to tease Metis. It felt like if he didn't crack a joke soon, Chu Hua was going to devour Metis whole.

"What?! What happened to our promise of being partners forever?!"

Who agreed?

Besides, didn't she immediately realize that this was just a joke? Why did Miss Metis suddenly become teary-eyed and pitiful as if she took it seriously?

"No...don't leave me, Xiao!"

"So sincere? Alright, I can consider your partner application, Metis—provided you speak to Chu Hua with some respect."

"Yeah! I promise!"

Can you really guarantee that, Miss Metis? Everything you say will be used as evidence in court.

"Wait, Metis...aren't you really Xiao Mu?"

Chu Hua snapped out of her reverie, pulling herself out of her sour jealousy, and also noticed that Kazama's way of addressing "Xiao Mu" was a little off.

"Yes, I've always wanted to explain this."

Kazama breathed a sigh of relief; he could finally change the subject.

In short, he then briefly explained the ins and outs of the matter to Chu Hua—that is, the origin of Metis's identity.

Since Chu Hua had already heard her rude remarks, there was no need for her to pretend to be Xiao Mu in front of Chu Hua anymore.

Miss Metis watched Kazama patiently explaining things and Hatsuka staring unblinkingly at him about his origins, then wrapped herself up in the boy's blanket with a displeased expression.

What was supposed to be a big operation to spend time alone with Akatsuki was intercepted by Hatsuka, who suddenly appeared out of nowhere—no one would be happy about that.

"I see... So Metis is actually another personality of Xiao Mu?"

Chu Hua looked at Kazama, who smiled back at her.

That's all.

Although Xiao didn't speak, Chu Hua could sense a reassuring emotion in his eyes.

It turned out to be the case.

Aside from Metis clinging to Xiao like a child, the two of them had no other connection.

Chu Hua listened attentively to Kazama's explanation like a model student, and the faint gloom that had lingered in her eyes when she looked at Metis was gone.

"I see... It's nice to meet you, Metis. You can just call me Chuhua, okay?"

What's going on? Why are you suddenly giving me this "we can be friends" look?

Metis wasn't stupid; she could sense that Chu Hua had lowered her guard and shown a friendly side because of Xiao's explanation earlier.

"What? Chu Hua, you clearly received Xiangzi's invitation too, and you were also hesitating, weren't you!"

Sitting on the bed, Metis did not feign politeness; instead, she stubbornly clung to Xiao's arm even tighter.

"Yeah, Metis-chan even knows that?"