Mygo, are you all yanderes?

"And these were friends I made without my knowledge?"

"That's right."

Toyokawa Shoko narrowed her eyes, no longer as afraid as before that Kusano Akira might suddenly attack and hurt her. Instead, she took a step forward and looked at Kusano Akira suspiciously, even the honorifics she always used disappeared.

"How...did you become friends with him?"

Feeling the sharp, needle-like gaze of Toyokawa Shoko, Kusano Akira unconsciously rubbed the pads of his middle and thumb fingers.

He would unconsciously make this gesture when he was lying or nervous.

"Well..."

"Toyokawa-kun, actually I'm a Crychic fan."

“Crychic fans…”

Toyokawa Shoko had anticipated this, since he had initially asked, "Are you Toyokawa Shoko from Crychic?" This left him with only three options: a Crychic fan, a stalker, or someone investigating Crychic out of concern that something bad might happen to the band.

While it's hard to say it's completely gone, the possibility of stalking is now almost nonexistent.

That leaves only two options: being a Crychic fan or conducting a special investigation, and either of these is quite possible.

After hesitating for a moment, Toyokawa Shoko decided to listen to him first and then contact Wakaba Mutsu after he finished speaking to see if he was lying.

"That's right, a Crychic fan."

Kusano Akira nodded, and seeing that Toyokawa Shogoko didn't intend to interrupt, continued speaking. 4◎·2÷

"I saw your performance when I was in the third year of junior high school, and I became a fan of yours then."

"Then, after high school, I was assigned to the same class as Gao Songdeng, and then there were all sorts of coincidences—I formed a band with everyone in Crychic except for you and He Mu."

"Then, a while ago, I saw Mu in front of a coffee shop."

"...Back then..."

Toyokawa Shoko frowned. She remembered that she and Wakaba Mutsu had talked about Nagasaki Motoyo a few days ago in a coffee shop. She never expected that Wakaba Mutsu would meet Kusano Akira after that.

"Out of a desire to meet my idol and because I really wanted to know what happened to Crychic, I struck up a conversation with Mu."

"But when I was trying to strike up a conversation, I didn't have a reason, so I used Su Shi as an excuse."

"...Could you please tell me the specific excuse you gave?"

“I lied to her and said that Su Shi had mentioned her to me, and used that as a starting point to add her 'e'.”

"..."

Toyokawa Shoko took a few deep breaths, her chest heaving.

"...I understand. So, what kind of favor do you want me to do?"

"My lie was discovered by Mutsu, and she seems very angry, so I hope you can comfort her, Toyokawa-kun."

"...⊥肆哎『;泗？<彡—"∷芜腫zhuaQ: I thought you would ask me to help you reconcile. "

"How can that be? I was the one who told the lie, so of course I should take responsibility."

"But I always see Mu alone, and she seems very lonely. She doesn't seem like the type to share her feelings with others; she just silently endures them alone."

"Although thinking like this might seem a bit self-centered, I am genuinely afraid that she will be hurt by my lies."

Kusano Akira raised a finger and shook it, denying Toyokawa Shoko's guess.

"So I think that if you, Toyokawa-kun, are responsible for comforting her, the effect will definitely be much better than if you were the one to do so."

Toyokawa Shoko touched her chest, which was no longer heaving dramatically.

She was already prepared to scold Kusano Akira, but when she heard that he didn't want to help reconcile, but only hoped that she could comfort Wakaba Mutsu, her anger subsided by more than half.

He seems to genuinely care about Wakaba Mutsu, but it's still uncertain whether it's just acting. Let's go over his story with Wakaba Mutsu again later.

"May I ask one last question?"

"But there's no harm in talking."

"If you hadn't run into me, who did you plan to send to comfort her? Su Shi?"

"Of course I'll go myself. If I tell Su Shi and the others, the band will risk falling apart, which is definitely not what I want to see."

"And—I absolutely must get Mu's forgiveness. She's one of my few precious friends. If I can't find you, I'll do everything I can to fulfill all her requests until she forgives me."

"...I understand, I agree to this request."

Toyokawa Shoko took two steps back and bowed to Kusano Akira.

"That……"

She picked up her phone, as if she wanted to say something, but before she could finish, her pupils widened suddenly, as if she had seen something unbelievable.

"The last train is almost here! I'll be going now, Kusano-kun, you'd better hurry up too!"

She hurriedly threw down those words and ran off on her short legs, but after only a couple of steps she turned back.

Please don't tell anyone else about my part-time job. Goodnight.

Only Kusano Akira remained standing there, watching her run off into the distance.

"You really are a decisive person, Toyokawa-kun."

At that moment, Kusano Akira felt a finger poking him on the back.

He turned around and saw the ramen shop owner holding a rolling pin, staring at him with a murderous look on his face.

A bead of cold sweat trickled down Kusano Akira's forehead. He waved to the boss in a fawning manner.

"Uh... hi?"

The uncle remained silent, but simply raised the rolling pin.

"Wait, I'm not harassing you... No, don't hit me!"

........................

After rushing for a while, she finally caught the tram. Shoko Toyokawa sat down, trying to catch her breath, and took out her phone to send a message to Mutsu Wakaba.

[Toyokawa Shoko: Are you there, Mutsu?]

Almost instantly, Ruoye Mutsu's reply arrived, as if he had been squatting by his phone waiting for someone's message.

【Wakaba Mutsumi: Yes.】

[Toyokawa Shoko: Do ​​you know someone named Kusano Akira?]

【Wakaba Mutsumi: I know.】

[Wakaba Mutsumi: How did Sho find out about him?]

[Toyokawa Shoko: I'll tell you about that later... Could you tell me how you met him?]

【Wakaba Mutsumi: Okay.】

Then, Wakaba Mutsu told her in detail everything that had happened since she and Toyokawa Shoko parted ways at the coffee shop that day.

As Toyokawa Shoko read Wakaba Mutsu's words and saw that they were almost identical to those provided by Kusano Akira, she felt relieved.

However, we still cannot let our guard down.

[Toyokawa Shoko: What kind of person do you think Mutsumi is?]′［¨÷｀＾:

【Wakaba Mutsumi: A bad person.】

Before Toyokawa Shoko could react, Wakaba Mutsu sent another message.

【Wakaba Mutsumi: A good person.】

?

Toyokawa Shoko sometimes really couldn't understand what her childhood friend was thinking. On one hand, he said Kusano Akira was a bad person, and on the other hand, he said he was a good person.

【Wakaba Mutsumi: Sho, my question.】

Wakaba Mutsu asked again the question she had just asked Toyokawa Shoko.

[Toyokawa Shoko: Well, actually...]

Then Toyokawa Shoko told Wakaba Mutsumi everything about how she met Kusano Akira and what Kusano Akira had said to her.

[Wakaba Mutsumi: Did he really say that?]

When she saw Toyokawa Shoko's message, "He asked me to comfort you," Wakaba Mutsu blinked, her grip on her phone tightening unconsciously, causing cracks to appear on the phone's casing, like glass.

[Toyokawa Shoko: Yes.]

【Wakaba Mutsumi: I understand.】

Ruoye Mu looked up thoughtfully at the basement ceiling, a strange light flashing in her eyes, as if she were thinking about something.

[Toyokawa Shoko: Mutsu. What did you mean by "bad guy—good guy"?]

[Wakaba Mutsumi: I knew from the beginning that he was lying to me.]

[Toyokawa Shoko: Did you know from the beginning?]

Toyokawa Shoko looked at the passage with a puzzled expression.

Although her childhood sweetheart was a bit clumsy in some ways, she didn't think Ruoye Mu would be the kind of person who knowingly walks into danger.

Since she saw through Kusano Akira's intentions from the beginning, why did she pretend to play along? It couldn't have been because she thought he was good-looking that she agreed.

My childhood sweetheart has seen many handsome celebrities since she was a child, and she is definitely not the kind of person whose judgment is influenced by appearance.

Is it possible...

Suddenly remembering Takamatsu Akira and those news reports, Toyokawa Shoko shuddered. She quickly shook her head, trying to comfort herself.

If Wakaba Mutsumi and Kusano Akira hadn't known each other for very long, how could she possibly be the kind of yandere with heavy emotions? If she really were, she would have noticed long ago.

You are really scaring yourself.

[Wakaba Mutsumi: But he's not a bad person.]

Since Ruoye Mutsu believed it so much, she could also trust Ruoye Mutsu's judgment. Although her parents didn't care much about her, they were quite concerned about her personal safety, so she should be fine.

However, she should also pay more attention to Wakaba Mutsu's condition. It has been a long time since she had a proper chat with Wakaba Mutsu since leaving the Toyokawa family.

The thought of her current situation gave Toyokawa Shoko a terrible headache.

[Toyokawa Shoko: Mutsumi, the tram's here, I have to go now.]

[Toyokawa Shoko: Let's go out sometime sometime.]

【Wakaba Mutsumi: Hmm.】

After sending the last message to Wakaba Mutsu, Toyokawa Shoko put her phone away and walked out of the station.

She walked until she reached a somewhat dilapidated building, looked up at a window on the upper floor, bit her lip, and went inside.

With a creak, she pushed open her front door, and a wave of strong smell of alcohol washed over her.

Shoko Toyokawa covered her nose in disgust, her feet, clad in white socks, stepping over the empty beer cans on the ground.

But she still missed one; her foot accidentally stepped on one of the cans, and with a scream, she lost her balance and fell to the floor.

Although she protected the back of her head immediately, she still fell quite hard.

The middle-aged man lying in the next cubicle was not attracted by the commotion. He simply scratched his back, turned over, and turned his face toward the side where Toyokawa Shoko was not.

Seeing the man's dejected appearance, Toyokawa Shoko's eyes dimmed. She slowly got up, picked up the broom and garbage bag from the corner, swept up the garbage scattered on the ground, and then locked herself in her room.

Toyokawa Shoko took out her notebook to review the formulas taught in class that day, but her attention would wander whenever she got to the last step of a problem.

At this rate, I won't be able to learn anything.

It's really too much for one person to work two jobs, juggle studies, take care of their jerk dad, and occasionally bail him out. They're clearly having trouble concentrating.

With a soft sigh, Toyokawa Shoko put down her pen, gently removed her hair tie, lay down on her bed, and covered her face with the blanket.

I'd better rest today.

With that thought in mind, Toyokawa Shoko drifted off to sleep.

one……………………

Looking at such an outstanding daughter of yours... I feel utterly ashamed...

[With Xiangzi like this, Xiao Mu might never come back.]