Substitute Toyokawa Shoko, you can become stronger by breathing

Her tone became more serious. "If this 'new' soul now becomes your irreplaceable 'best friend,' and the one before is just an 'ordinary friend'... then, betraying that 'ordinary friend' for your 'best friend' may sound a bit cruel and even selfish, but I think... that is an inevitable choice, right?"

She looked at Aine and asked, "If you choose to give up or alienate your current 'best friend' in order to consider that already estranged 'ordinary friend', then... wouldn't that be considered a betrayal of your 'best friend'?"

"Compared to 'betraying' that 'ordinary friend' who we probably don't have much in common anymore..." Eri's voice was gentle but firm: "I definitely... don't want to 'betray' my current best friend even more."

Although Eri's speech sounds a bit "utilitarian", her clear and logical analysis is like a ray of light that instantly illuminates the tangled and confusing fog in Aine's heart.

Yeah...why should we consider them as one person?

If they really swapped, then they would be two independent beings.

Who you like and who you have the deepest feelings for is what matters most. Perhaps the so-called "betrayal" is just a moral shackle that you impose on yourself?

Compared to betraying the vague and distant "past", what she can't accept even more is... betraying the "present" that makes her heart beat, makes her trust, and makes her want to get close to.

"Wow... Eri, you're amazing!"

Eri felt a little embarrassed by her praise, and smiled and asked:

"Why are you suddenly asking such a strange question, Aine? Is the plot of the manga bothering you?"

"Ah...haha, y-yes!"

Aine nodded quickly and smoothed it over:

"It's just a comic! The plot is so convoluted, it's giving me a headache!"

Although she said this, Aine felt as if a huge stone had been lifted from her heart.

Yes, who cares if the soul swap is real or not! Who cares what Xiaoxiang was like before!

No matter what, the current Xiaoxiang, the one who would take her to eat hardcore ramen, teach her to fly a kite, gently tell her to "just be yourself", and show up to protect her at the critical moment, is the unique and best Xiaoxiang in Chihaya Aine's heart!

Even if...even if something bizarre like what happened in the comics really happened...

At that time, you just need to follow your heart and choose the person who makes your heart beat and who you want to get close to, isn't that enough?

After figuring this out, Aine felt a lot more relaxed.

Well! Xiaoxiang is the best now!

.......

On the other hand, it is not clear what happened to Miss Chihaya.

According to the unwritten law that "gods have a high probability of being accompanied by god skills" that Jiujo Renji has observed since traveling through time,

——For example, Chihaya Aine's "label reading" ability that can be called a bug, and Wakaba Mu's consciousness space that can "profile" or even temporarily "map"...

Kujo Renji began to seriously suspect that Miss Takamatsu Deng, who seemed to be extremely introverted and even had some social barriers, might also be hiding some unknown "extraordinary qualities".

Based on the principle of "it is better to kill someone by mistake than to let him go", Kujo Renji decided to inquire about the situation from Miss Wakaba Mu, the person who knew CRYCHIC's past best.

When she returned to the apartment, Wakaba Mu was sitting cross-legged on the carpet, holding her faded rag doll in her arms, watching a documentary on TV with a blank look in her eyes. The content seemed to be about deep-sea creatures.

Jiujo Renji sat down beside her, picked up a magazine and flipped through it, then asked casually:

"Mu, what was your relationship with Deng like before?"

Mu's gaze shifted from the TV screen to that of Kujo Renji. He seemed to think for a moment before offering a concise and affirmative assessment:

"Deng. A very good person."

Her tone was calm, but the word "very good", coming from Mu, who never easily evaluated others, was already a very high recognition.

"very good?"

Kujo Renji asked:

"Is it just 'very good'? Is there anything... uh, special about it?"

He tried to elicit some unusual details from Mu.

"A special...place?"

Mu tilted his head, a hint of confusion in his clear golden eyes, as if he was trying to understand the meaning of "special".

She lowered her head and thought for a moment, then uttered a word tentatively and uncertainly:

"Stone...?"

"Stone?"

Jiujo Liansi was stunned. What kind of description is this?

"What's the meaning?"

The Toyokawa Shoko in my mind was silent for a moment, as if recalling something, and then explained in a somewhat helpless tone:

"...Deng, she loves collecting rocks. All sorts of odd shapes, or rocks she finds beautiful. You can often see her picking them up on the roadside. Just like... just like Mu loves cucumbers, it's her hobby."

After Xiangzi's explanation, Kujo Renji suddenly understood.

Do you like rocks? Do you often pick up rocks?

This hobby...is really...quite unique.

If Mu can be called "Cucumber Mu" because of his obsession with cucumbers, then perhaps Miss Takamatsu Deng should be called "Stone Deng"?

Hmm...it sounds like it fits the stereotype that autistic children don't communicate with others and instead express their feelings on inanimate objects.

Although I didn't get any information about Mu's "special abilities" directly from his mouth, I only learned that he had a strange hobby of "picking up rocks"...

But Kujo Renji felt that Miss Takamatsu Deng might really have some unknown special qualities.

He has almost the same introverted and eccentric personality as Mu, and also has a heart thicker than a city wall. He even has a unique hobby that seems strange and incomprehensible to outsiders.

Moreover, the hobby of picking up stones seems to be even stranger than growing cucumbers in some sense?

You say these are just coincidences?

If it were the former Kujo Renji who only believed in science and logic, he might really attribute all this to coincidence, thinking that it was just two introverted girls with similar personalities who happened to have some strange habits.

But now, after seeing Chihaya Aine's "label eyes" and Wakaba Mu's "personality mirror", look at these "gods" gathered around Toyokawa Shoko.

Does he still dare to make such a hasty judgment?

Who knows that the act of "picking up stones" itself is not a trigger or external manifestation of some special ability?

So, Kujo Renji silently added a new to-do item to his long list of future plans:

[Priority: Medium. Task: Reestablish contact with Takamatsu Touma, observe and evaluate his potential special abilities. Note: Stone? Focused.]

.......

After listing Takamatsu Deng as a "secondary observation subject", Kujo Renji began to quietly pay attention to the movements of his former teammate in his daily life.

But unfortunately, the plan to approach Takamatsu Deng did not go smoothly from the beginning.

The girl seemed to be in an extremely contradictory state.

On the one hand, she seemed to be full of curiosity about the current "Xiangzi", and perhaps even still had a trace of admiration from the past. Occasionally, she would secretly observe him from a distance with a complicated look in her eyes.

But on the other hand, her inner inferiority complex and guilt for the past made her very afraid to have direct contact with "Xiangzi".

Every time Kujo Renji tried to talk to her in the corridor or on campus, the girl would either run away hurriedly with her head down, or stammer and be unable to utter a few complete sentences, and then find various excuses to escape.

Obviously, there is still a long way to go to win over the autistic girl.

Of course, it’s not completely without opportunities.

The gears of fate always cleverly connect seemingly unrelated people and things together inadvertently.

It was shortly after Kujo Renji was about to give up his plan to approach the girl.

At Haneda Girls' High School, when Kujo Renji was passing by a green belt near the wall, he unexpectedly saw a familiar figure.

The setting sun dyed the green belt a warm golden color.

Gao Songdeng was squatting beside a low bush with his back to him, and his small figure looked a little lonely.

She seemed completely immersed in her own world, concentrating on searching for something in the grass and soil. From time to time, she would pick up a small piece of something, look at it carefully, then shake her head and put it back carefully.

Jiujo Renji immediately understood what she was doing

——The girl is picking up stones.

He walked over slowly, lightly stepping on his feet. Gao Songdeng was so focused that he didn't notice someone approaching from behind.

It was not until Kujo Renji stopped not far behind her, his shadow lengthened by the setting sun and falling on the ground in front of her, that she belatedly raised her head.

When Gao Songdeng saw that the person standing behind her was Xiangzi, her body trembled violently, and she froze in place as if under a spell. In her hand, she was still holding a small, oddly shaped stone she had just picked up. Her face was instantly filled with panic. Her gray eyes, which always showed a hint of confusion and timidity, were now wide open with surprise and tension, like a frightened little animal.

"Xiang...Xiaoxiang..."

Her voice was as thin as a mosquito and trembled noticeably. She subconsciously wanted to hide the stone in her hand behind her back, as if she had been caught doing something shameful.

The blue-haired girl didn't approach immediately, but kept a distance that made her feel safe.

"lamp...?"

He said curiously:

"It's so late, why haven't you gone home yet?"

Gao Songdeng was caught off guard by his sudden question. His mind went blank and he stammered for a long time but couldn't say a complete sentence.

She subconsciously clenched her fist holding the stone tighter, lowered her head, and did not dare to look into Kujo Renji's eyes. Her cheeks flushed with embarrassment and nervousness.

Seeing her like this, Kujo Renji knew that he couldn't press her any further.

He changed to a more relaxed tone and said as if chatting:

"The sunset here is so beautiful... From this angle, the outline of the teaching building is dyed with a layer of gold, which looks different from usual."

He cast his gaze towards the teaching building in the distance, as if he was really just attracted by the scenery, and chatted with the classmates he met by chance.

Gao Songdeng followed his gaze and subconsciously raised his head to look at the sunset in the distance and the teaching building dyed golden.

The soft light seemed to relax her tense nerves a little. She gave a soft "hmm" as a response.

Seeing this, Kujo Renji continued in a gentle tone:

“Sometimes looking at something familiar from a different perspective can lead to seeing something much more beautiful than before.”

He blinked and said:

“These rocks are so cute.”

Hearing this, the gray-haired girl's eyelashes trembled slightly, and she unconsciously loosened her fists that were clenched in stone a little.

He watched as the panic and vigilance in the girl's eyes gradually faded away, replaced by a faint, spark-like light.

Jiujo Renji knew that his words had worked. He took two steps forward and squatted down not far in front of her, looking her in the eye.

"Can you show me the stone that Deng just found?"

Staring at him with those clear amber eyes that seemed to be able to see through people's hearts, Gao Songdeng felt his heartbeat start to accelerate again.

The girl opened her clenched hands.

There were several small stones of various shapes lying in the palm of my hand. One of them was a little angular and shone faintly in the sunset. I could vaguely see the shape of a star, although it was not perfect and even a little ugly.

"I...I'm looking for...star-like stones."

Her voice was still soft and a little shy, but she was no longer trembling:

"I think... they're beautiful."

"A stone that looks like a star?"

Jiujo Renji looked carefully at the pebbles in her palm. Her gaze lingered on the "star" stone for a moment, then she raised her head.

"It's really beautiful. The lights are amazing. I can find so many."

Hearing this, Gao Songdeng felt his cheeks getting even hotter.

This sudden understanding and recognition seemed to give the girl an outlet for the complex emotions that had been pent up in her heart for a long time and had never been expressed to anyone.

She looked at the "Xiangzi" who was looking at her tenderly, and she remembered the Xiangzi who had shone so brightly in the past but had finally left her. She remembered her own helplessness when CRYCHIC disbanded, and she remembered the Xiangzi who had become even more powerful and dazzling in Aiyin's words...

A huge sense of gap and the subsequent relief surged into my heart.

She knew that she would probably never catch up with Xiaoxiang. A huge distance had already separated them.

But...this is fine.

At least, Xiaoxiang seems to be living a good life now.