Substitute Toyokawa Shoko, you can become stronger by breathing

"Why... help me?"

The wind suddenly picked up, ruffling the strands of hair on her forehead.

Jiujo Liansi reached out to push it away for her, and his fingertips stopped at the moment they were about to touch her eyebrows.

"because..."

His voice was very soft, staring into the girl's eyes:

"Ave Mujica needs Wakaba Mutsu, not the daughter of Wakaba Takafumi and Mori Minami."

This sentence is like a key that opens a lock that has been closed for a long time.

Wakaba Mu's eyes widened slightly, and his golden pupils sparkled in the sunlight.

"You, are not...Xiaoxiang."

She suddenly spoke softly, with no accusation in her tone, only a calm confirmation.

Kujo Renji's expression hardly changed, but a hint of almost invisible surprise flashed in his eyes.

He didn't deny it, but just looked at her quietly.

"But thank you."

Wakaba Mutsu continued, the image of the girl with blue hair and twintails reflected in his eyes.

At this moment, Ruoye Mu's heart was filled with unprecedented complex emotions.

She knew clearly that the person in front of her was not the real Toyokawa Shoko - she had already noticed it from the expression in the depths of her eyes, from the way she spoke, and from the subtle differences in her gestures.

But strangely, this realization did not bring about the fear or resistance she had expected.

On the contrary, a conflicting feeling took root in her heart.

She missed the real Shoko Toyokawa, the best friend who had accompanied her and understood her since childhood.

But at the same time, this "new Xiaoxiang" gave her strength and courage she had never experienced before, helping her break those seemingly unbreakable shackles.

This contradiction left her in agony and confusion. She wanted the real Xiaoxiang to come back, but she also didn't want the man in front of her to leave. This was the first time she had such a tangled thought, the first time she didn't know how to define her own feelings.

Every relationship in her life had clear boundaries and definitions—daughter, student, bandmate—but the connection she felt with the man before her at this moment transcended all established categories.

She suddenly took a step forward and gently rested her forehead on Kujo Renji's shoulder.

——Ending わりたくない (I don’t want it to end)

The girl's muffled voice came from her shoulder, but Kujo Renji didn't hear clearly what she said.

Kujo Renji's hand hovered in the air, and finally gently landed on her trembling back.

The roar of a tram came from afar, startling a flock of white pigeons, whose flapping wings cut through the blue sky.

When Ruoye Mu raised her head, her eyes were still moist, but the corners of her mouth were raised in a slight arc - not a perfect smile that had been practiced thousands of times, but a real smile that belonged to her.

"time to go."

Kujo Renji turned around, but felt the corner of his clothes being gently pulled.

Ruoye Mu's hand grasped the corner of his clothes, the force was light but not negligible. The sunlight filtered through her hair, casting tiny spots of light on the ground.

"Ah."

Jiujo Liansi didn't look back, but just slowed down his pace:

"Together."

The shadows of the two people gradually lengthened in the setting sun and finally merged into one.

......

PS: Today is the last day of this month, so I’ll give myself a break QAQ

Starting tomorrow, continue to

Monthly ticket reward!

All previous bounties have been paid off, now I'm going to offer another one.

The rules are the same as before

Blades one hundred plus one thousand

Reward 10,000 plus 1,000

Monthly ticket 100 plus 1,000

Calculate in rounded form

Blades/rewards/monthly tickets can be added together (e.g., achieving 101 blades + 101 monthly tickets at the same time → total bonus of 4000)

.......

Chapter 71: I'm addicted to lotus, I smoke it (five in one)

As the sky gradually darkened, Kujo Renji stood in front of the floor-to-ceiling window of the hotel, overlooking the dazzling night view of Tokyo.

He had just sent Ruoye Mu back to her room and returned to his suite after making sure she was asleep safely.

Kujo Renji stood in front of the French window, his fingertips gently tapping the glass as the amber drink swirled slowly within. The nightscape of Tokyo stretched out beneath him, its millions of lights like falling stars.

"So..." Toyokawa Shoko's voice suddenly sounded in his mind, with a deliberately cold tone, "Are you satisfied now?"

The corners of Jiujo Renji's lips curled up slightly: "Satisfied with what?"

"Don't play dumb!" Toyokawa Shoko raised her voice a few notches, then immediately lowered it, as if afraid of being overheard. "You and Xiaomu...you..."

Water droplets slid down the glass, and Jiujo Liansi deliberately prolonged the silence for a few seconds until he felt the restless emotions in his consciousness.

"What are we?"

He took a sip, the thrill of the bubbles sliding down his throat.

Toyokawa Shoko suddenly stopped talking.

Kujo Renji could imagine what she looked like at the moment - biting her lower lip, her fingers unconsciously twisting the hem of her skirt, and her amber eyes, exactly the same as his, filled with complex emotions.

Gratitude and complaint, trust and suspicion, all mixed together, leaving her at a loss for words.

Jiujo Liansi suddenly felt a bit of interest and deliberately started to provoke:

"You've actually seen Wakaba Mu's pain a long time ago, haven't you?"

Toyokawa Shoko was silent for a moment.

To Kujo Renji's surprise, the girl did not get angry.

"I had no idea it was this serious."

She finally responded, a certain guilt in her voice.

"I knew Mu's relationship with her mother was... not great. I also vaguely sensed some kind of pressure, but I never imagined it was such systematic control and manipulation."

Kujo Renji could hear a hint of self-blame in her voice.

"I should have noticed it sooner."

Toyokawa Shoko continued

"The signs were all there—Mu's fear and silence, her reasons for not wanting to go home, her unusual reactions to certain topics..."

Kujo Renji turned around, walked to the sofa and sat down.

"You saw it, but chose not to look."

He directly pointed out the key point, without any accusation in his voice, just stating the facts.

He could feel Toyokawa Shoko's emotional fluctuations, like an invisible wave rising in the space of consciousness.

"What can I do?" Her voice suddenly became a little low.

At the time, she was already deeply trapped in her own problems, unable to care for others, with family pressure, school expectations, and her father's situation...

How can she be someone else's god if she can't even save herself?

Kujo Renji nodded and did not continue to pursue.

He understood Toyokawa Shoko's contradictory psychology - she blamed herself for not being able to help Wakaba Mutsu earlier, but also defended her choice to do her best.

This inner conflict made her particularly sensitive now, especially after Kujo Renji did what she failed to do.

"You seem to be enjoying the role of a hero."

Toyokawa Shoko suddenly said, with a hint of sourness in her tone that Kujo Renji had never heard before.

Kujo Renji raised his eyebrows. From this angle, Toyokawa Shoko's attitude was indeed a bit...awkward.

"I only did what was necessary," he responded calmly. "Wakaba Mu is crucial to our plan."

"Of course, it's all for your plan."

There was a clear sarcasm in Toyokawa Shoko's tone.

"Not for Mu, but for her worth. How thoughtful, Kujo-san."

Kujo Renji could almost imagine Toyokawa Shoko with her arms crossed over her chest at this moment.

This prickly attitude was quite uncharacteristic, especially after he had just helped her most important friend.

He suddenly realized something and the corners of his mouth rose slightly.

"Ms. Xiangzi, you are not...jealous, are you?"

Toyokawa Shoko's voice suddenly rose

"Why should I be jealous? Stop being so sentimental!"

Sure enough, this awkward thought came out at once.

Kujo Renji thought that it was a bit funny that he had exposed the girl's thoughts.

"Are you jealous of the dependence and trust that Wakaba Mu has shown me? Or are you jealous of the attention I have shown Wakaba Mu? I'm very curious."

"You...you..."

Toyokawa Shoko seemed to be enraged and began to refute incoherently.

"I just think you're too... you don't understand Mu at all! You've only known her for a few months! What makes you think you can understand how she feels?"

Jiujo Renji let out a short laugh:

"I thought you would thank me for helping her get out of that situation."

There was another period of silent reaction. Kujo Renji seemed to be able to see Toyokawa Shoko's embarrassed look, as she wanted to refute but felt that refuting would be even more embarrassing.

really interesting.

"I'm grateful!"

Toyokawa Shoko took a long time to respond, the emotions in her voice were still complicated, and it was rare for her to express her inner thoughts.

"But that doesn't mean I like seeing Mu... so dependent on you."

She almost uttered the last few words through gritted teeth.

Kujo Renji could sense the conflict in her heart - on the one hand, she was indeed grateful for his help to Wakaba Mutsu, but on the other hand, she felt uncomfortable with the new connection that had formed between him and Wakaba Mutsu.

This is a very human reaction.

Toyokawa Shoko is used to being the person closest to Wakaba Mutsu, and now that someone suddenly shares this position, she naturally feels subtle discomfort, even if that person is Kujo Renji who "occupies" her body.

"Ruoye Mu saw through my lie." Kujo Renji suddenly changed the subject: "yet he chose to continue to trust me. That's interesting, isn't it?"

Toyokawa Shoko was silent.

[Original Sin Points Harvested: 3]

[Original Sin Target: Toyokawa Shoko (Pride)]

Seeing that his goal had been achieved, Kujo Renji no longer provoked the eldest lady.

He stood up, walked to the bathroom, turned on the faucet and washed his hands.

The cold water washed over his knuckles, which were injured from breaking the mirror, and took away the dried blood, revealing the wounds that had begun to heal underneath.