I save a pathological girl with a twisted love story.

Consider it an apology for what I did in the past.

Risa Yajima said, "I'm sorry, Aoi Asahi."

As she said this, she took something out of her pocket.

It is an apology letter.

Xia Wuzhao looked at Asahi Aoi, who stepped forward and took the letter.

She said earnestly to Risa Yajima, "Although I have accepted this letter, it does not mean that I forgive you. What you did to me is something I can never forgive in my entire life."

"I accepted this letter simply to show that I know you have apologized to me."

"I do not accept your apology."

"Moreover, you only say that your way of doing things is wrong. But you don't think you are wrong yourself."

The girl stared intently at Risa Yajima.

"Ah."

Risa Yajima replied somewhat numbly, "That's what I think."

"However, that's fine then. If you'd like to continue, I'm willing to listen. If you don't want to say anything more, then I'll leave."

Asahi Aoi said to Yajima Risa, "You can go now. I've said what I needed to say."

Risa Yajima glanced at Aoi Asahi, then turned and walked towards the auditorium.

After walking for a while, she stopped again.

"Goodbye."

She was speaking to Aoi Asahi.

Aoi nodded silently, while Risa Yajima went straight to the auditorium, where several of her friends were waiting for her in the distance.

Looking at the envelope in her hand, Aoi Asahi said to Kai Natsugiri, "Should I open it and take a look, Natsugiri?"

Xia Wuzhao said, "You can decide for yourself, but even if you take it apart and look at it, it won't make any difference."

"why?"

“Because her apology wasn’t an apology to you,” Xia Wuzhao said.

"Who was she apologizing to?"

"She's just apologizing to her past self."

Xia Wuzhao said calmly, "Perhaps it's because her current life makes her miss her high school days, so she thinks that if she had made different choices in the past, things would be different now."

"She just feels sorry for her past self."

"Is that right?"

Aoi Asahi felt a little conflicted, but then quickly came to terms with it: "Then let's leave it at that."

Have you forgiven her?

Natsuki Kai looked at Asahi Aoi

“How could I forgive her?” Aoi Asahi smiled. “Natsugiri, I will never forgive her. But I won’t do anything to her again now.”

"After all, am I supposed to go and persecute her again? Wouldn't that just make me the same as her?"

“I’m Asahi Aoi, not her.”

"That's fine, that's all. Anyway, we won't see each other again."

Aoi smiled and said, "Right now, I'm just looking forward to a new life."

"A new and happy life."

Chapter 281 Only excruciating pain can awaken

Aoi sometimes regrets things that happened in the past.

"If I had been more proactive back then, and gotten closer to Xia Wu, wouldn't we have been officially a couple by now?"

But thinking about it too much makes me feel a bit smug.

"That's probably impossible."

"Living life well in the present is enough."

The girl asked Xia Wuzhao, "Are we still going to the auditorium?"

"No need."

Xia Wuzhao shook her head.

"Let's find a place to rest then." Asahi Aoi didn't want to go to the auditorium either.

Because if you go to the auditorium, you're sure to see Risa Yajima and her friends.

It always makes the atmosphere awkward, so it's better not to go.

But if we don't go to the auditorium, where else can we go?

Are we going to find Chiharu Tokisaka?

The girl didn't want to go; she wanted to be alone with Natsugiri during the cultural festival.

Therefore, finding a place to rest is the best option.

The two went up to the rooftop, where tables and various other items were piled up.

It was a messy place, like an abandoned site from long, long ago, except for the absence of dust that signifies the passage of time.

The two sat on the bench, with Xia Wuzhao on one side and Asahi Aoi on the other.

She tilted her chin up and looked at the sky, surrounded by the clamor and noise coming from the auditorium.

But the girl's heart felt increasingly empty.

"Natsugiri, as for me, I never expected Risa Yajima to apologize before."

"Because I feel that those are things of the past. Besides, I've already retaliated, I've already punished her. This isn't about forgiveness, but rather because I no longer care about her."

"She has vanished from my life like ashes."

"But when she actually apologized to me, I was still a little incredulous. After all, Risa Yajima would never apologize to me no matter what she said before."

"I've been wondering, what exactly changed her?"

"Xia Wu, you said it's because she regretted it."

She said she's no longer a student, she's an adult now.

"I think becoming an adult is a really scary thing."

The girl sighed, "Because after becoming an adult, I killed my former self."

Do you think we'll eventually become adults?

She looked at Xia Wuzhao and asked softly.

Xia Wuzhao looked at the sky; "You're an adult now."

"Am I an adult now?" Aoi Asahi asked hesitantly. "But I don't feel any pain."

"Perhaps, the painful things will happen in the future."

Xia Wuzhao answered in this way.

"Really—"

Aoi Asahi patted Natsugiri Kai's shoulder in dissatisfaction: "Shouldn't we be saying something like 'no pain' at this point?"

How can a person not experience suffering?

Xia Wuzhao said, "No one's life is perfect."

"It always feels so sad to say that," the girl said. "Are humans born to experience suffering?"

"That's probably it."

Xia Wuzhao said, "It is precisely because of pain that people can truly feel their own existence in the world."

Aoi stood up and walked to the edge of the rooftop.

Looking at the bustling crowd below: "It's really lively down there."

Xia Wuzhao said, "Don't you find it noisy?"

Chiharu Tokisaka is doing something noisy; she needs to jump around in her mascot costume.

The mascot was originally supposed to be someone else, but it was entrusted to Chiharu Tokisaka.

Even in October, a typical autumn month, it can still feel stuffy and hot when you're wearing a thick mascot costume.

Sweat soaked almost all of my hair, and it even got into my eyes.

It will feel like a bee sting.

"Wearing a mascot costume in this mild weather is not as good as wearing one in the summer."

"Everyone knows it gets very hot inside mascot costumes in the summer. So they make sure to prepare well and care about your feelings. They carefully adjust the thickness of the costume and try their best to keep you from getting hot."

"But in autumn like this, everyone seems to assume that wearing a mascot costume in autumn won't be hot, and no one cares about you anymore. It's as if wearing a mascot costume in autumn isn't for work, but for fun."

Even though my eyes felt stinging from the sweat.

However, Chiharu Tokisaka did not complain or get angry.

She just wanted to—

"That's how you make money."

She even had a strange feeling that every drop of sweat that fell into her eyes made her seem to earn more money.

Every bit of pain you experience will turn into more money.

So she performed even more energetically, jumping and beckoning customers.

The enormous mascot costume she was wearing was pressing down on her shoulders, causing her excruciating pain.

But many of the children who came in were surrounding her, shouting something joyfully.

Chiharu Tokisaka was very responsible; she had done this kind of work before.

So she knew exactly how to make these children laugh.

And so it went until past noon.

She was finally able to rest when she returned to the swimming club's changing room to change her clothes.

He was drenched in sweat when the client came over.

"Tokisaka-senpai, thank you so much."

The girl smiled and said, "If it weren't for you, I really wouldn't know what to do."

Although Chiharu Tokisaka was very tired, she smiled with great energy.

"You're welcome. Just let me know next time, and I'll still help you."

The client smiled and left.

Take off the mascot costume and then remove the school uniform, which is already soaked with sweat.

I took a quick shower in the indoor shower room of the swimming club to wash away my sweat.

Only then did I go back, wipe off the water, and put on my new school uniform.

He walked out of the locker room carrying the bag.

The swimming club's activity today was selling oden (Japanese hot pot), and she went to express her gratitude.

She had friends in the swimming club, and it was because of her friends that she was able to use the swimming club's changing room.

"Is today's commission finished?"

"Yeah, it just finished. I'm exhausted, I'm all sweaty," Chiharu Tokisaka complained. "But thankfully I took a shower, which made me feel a bit better."

The friend from the swimming club covered his mouth and chuckled: "But, you had a pretty good day, didn't you?"

"Yes, it's really good."