Oh no! They all seem a bit off!

Chapter 219 Facing Dongzi
New week, Monday.

10:37 AM, Chiyoda-ku Station, Tokyo.

Himeyasu and Akizuki Makoto, returning from their trip to Hakone, parted ways in the station's waiting hall.

Before parting, Akizuki said solemnly, "Xue, I will contact you in the next couple of days to help you resolve your family's problems."

"Okay, goodbye."

Ji Yexue nodded, responding calmly, and bid farewell to Qiuyue Cheng.

Then, she pulled her suitcase and disappeared into the crowd.

Akizuki Makoto stood there watching Ji Yexue leave, his thoughts drifting away as he recalled everything they had experienced over the past week.

For him, this week was like a dream, a memory he will cherish for a lifetime.

Of course, he did not intend to part ways with Ji Yexue peacefully; he would continue to pursue her relentlessly.

After a while, Akizuki Makoto finally snapped out of his reverie, grabbed his suitcase, left the station, and took a taxi home.

Today is Monday, a school day, but he has a strange feeling that he will see the person he wants to see when he goes back.

If, as Ji Yexue said, Dongzi knows everything and is intentionally interfering, then he must know that he wants to see her now.

"Dongzi, how am I supposed to face you..."

Looking at the reflection of his own face in the car window, Akizuki Makoto felt a mix of emotions.

During his travels, he deliberately forced himself not to think about anything other than Ji Yexue, and he suppressed all his complicated thoughts.

Now, his emotions have backfired, and he suddenly feels lost and helpless.

Is he going to unleash his fury on Dongzi? Or will he interrogate her? Or is he feeling fear and disappointment towards her?
not understand.

He didn't understand what he was thinking.

In short, he wanted to hear Dongzi's thoughts and the reasons why she did this.

While he was thinking about these things, the taxi soon arrived in Bunkyo Ward and stopped in front of his apartment building.

Qiu Yuecheng paid the fare, pulled his suitcase, and got out of the car. He stood in front of the apartment building entrance, squinting as he looked up at his floor.

At that moment, he suddenly felt as if his legs were filled with lead, becoming incredibly heavy.

The importance of Dongzi to him is self-evident. He has always thought of Dongzi as a well-behaved, cute, innocent, and pure little girl who needs to be taken care of.

But Ji Yexue's words overturned his impression of Dongzi, making him suddenly realize that Dongzi was no longer the Dongzi he remembered.

She also became a stranger to herself, harboring her own little thoughts and secrets.

“We clearly agreed that we wouldn’t hide anything from each other or lie.”

Akizuki Makoto's face showed bitterness, and he suddenly felt very ironic and sad.

To be honest, he was the one who broke the agreement first. Although he didn't lie to Dongzi, he kept putting on a brave face. Even though his heart was already broken and on the verge of collapse, he still pretended to be strong.

Moreover, he hadn't told Dongzi about the series of recent events. Whatever his reasons, he was keeping something from Dongzi.

"call……"

After standing downstairs for several minutes, Akizuki Makoto took a deep breath, took a difficult step forward, and entered the apartment.

He pressed the up button on the elevator and rode it back to his floor.

The hallway was quiet. The elevator connecting the building to the residents was only ten meters away, just a few steps away. But for Akizuki Makoto now, those ten meters felt as unreachable as the ends of the earth.

He was terrified that the moment he opened the door, Dongzi would come out to greet him.

He might show a very ugly, broken expression because of this.

He thought he was mentally prepared and that his heart had become unbreakable in the face of adversity, and that nothing could defeat him.

But in fact he was wrong, and very wrong. The evidence was that his hands were trembling, his heart was pounding, and the intense palpitations made his breathing rapid.

He moved slowly, inch by inch, down the corridor, so slowly that one might doubt whether he was even walking.

It took him five minutes to walk the ten-meter distance, but when he stood at his doorstep, he calmed down.

Since we have to face it sooner or later, there's no point in trying to avoid it.

Akizuki Makoto took out his key, inserted it into the lock, and turned it a few times.

With a crisp "click," the lock was released, and he turned the doorknob and pushed the door open.

The entryway was deserted, as was the living room. The empty living room remained exactly as it was before his trip, without any changes.

Akizuki Makoto breathed a sigh of relief, but when he looked at the shoe cabinet, he couldn't help but laugh at himself.

There, Dongzi's loafers were neatly arranged.

As if to confirm his idea, the master bedroom door, which was tightly closed at the end of the living room hallway, was suddenly pushed open, and Dongzi, wearing pajamas, walked out of the bedroom.

She looked at Akizuki Makoto standing in the entryway and smiled radiantly, saying, "Brother, welcome back."

"..."

At that moment, Akizuki Makoto seemed to have been struck by lightning, standing there stunned, his mind blank.

He couldn't understand why Dongzi could still laugh so purely and happily, as beautiful as a flower bud about to bloom.

Was Dongzi's appearance here a coincidence? Was it all just a coincidence, a misunderstanding? Or was it simply fate?
“Brother, Dongzi waited for you on purpose. Dongzi knows that you have something to ask me and something you want to talk to me about.”

Dongzi's words shattered Qiuyue Cheng's unrealistic fantasies and wishful thinking.

Sure enough, she saw through everything and was in control, guiding the future development as she wished.

"Why?"

Akizuki Makoto's face was ashen, his voice hoarse beyond belief, and his heart was suddenly breaking down.

The moment he realized that the person who had led him into this hellish situation and plunged him into the abyss of misfortune was none other than Fuyuko, he was immediately overcome with emotion.

He didn't understand why Dongzi did this.

Even though his subconscious and intuition told him that Dongzi would not harm him or do anything to his detriment, and that was the only thing he was certain of, he had long since lost his reason and ability to think.

"This is so that my brother can be happy."

As Dongzi spoke matter-of-factly, she walked step by step closer to Qiuyue Cheng, her innocent and childlike face still beaming with smiles.

"Touko would do anything for her brother."

"No...no, why is this happiness? I don't understand, I don't understand at all. Can I even call myself happy right now?"

Akizuki Makoto couldn't understand what Fuyuko was saying. He shook his head and stepped back, but before he knew it, he stumbled and fell to the ground.

(End of this chapter)