Substitute Toyokawa Shoko, you can become stronger by breathing

Chihaya Aine jumped back suddenly like a cat whose tail was stepped on, waving her hands wildly in front of her chest, her movements as funny as a broken robot.

"I, I, I just... it just suddenly occurred to me! That cactus at home! I seem to have forgotten to water it before I left! Oh, will it die of thirst? It's so pitiful!"

She was talking nonsense that she didn't even believe in, and she was exaggeratingly changing the subject.

Nagasaki Suyo: "..."

She looked at Chihaya Aine, whose acting was exaggerated, eyes were wandering, and face was as red as a boiled shrimp, and silently withdrew her hand.

Those blue eyes that always had a hint of helplessness were now filled with three words:

--"can't read".

Of course she didn't believe it.

Do cacti need watering every day?

Besides, even if you really forgot, you wouldn't react so strongly, right?

She sighed softly and said helplessly in the same tone as she would treat her cat that occasionally went crazy:

"...Really? Then let's go back early after school and take a look."

"Mmmmmmm!"

Chihaya Aine nodded enthusiastically as if she had been pardoned.

The crisis...is temporarily resolved?

The two walked side by side on the road again, but the atmosphere became subtle.

Chihaya Aine no longer dared to look at the top of Nagasaki Suyo's head. Her eyes were fixed on her toes the whole time, as if the most beautiful flower in the world had bloomed on that pair of ordinary student leather shoes.

Her body was stretched straight and her walking posture became a little stiff.

But her heart is still that madly running steam engine.

[Kujo Renji's plaything]...

She began to observe Nagasaki Suyo beside her uncontrollably.

Soyorin looked the same today as usual. Her hair was neatly combed, her school uniform was impeccable, and she was carrying her bass bag, still the serious and reliable bassist.

But...

Chihaya Aine's eyes glanced at her fair neck secretly and quickly.

Are there any strange traces there? Like planted strawberries or something...

Ahhhh! Where am I looking?

She quickly looked away again, her face turning even redder.

She stole another glance at Soyorin's fingers.

Those hands, clean and slender, are the hands that play the bass.

These hands...will they...

Wow! I can't take it anymore! My brain is going to burn out!

Chihaya Aine felt like she was going crazy.

Now, whenever she looked at any part of Soyorin, she could automatically conjure up a hundred thousand words of indescribable waste literature in her mind.

She had to do something to divert her attention!

So, without warning, she began to hum a song.

"Ah, ah ha, Hakimi, oh, no anger?"

The singing was tone-deaf, its tune going to Siberia, full of the awkward vitality unique to adolescent girls, who tried to hide something but ended up making it more obvious.

Nagasaki Suyo was startled again by her sudden action. She turned her head and looked at her with a look that asked, "Are you okay?"

"...Aine, you really look energetic today."

"Ah, ahahaha, really?"

Nagasaki Suyo felt helpless.

She probably guessed it.

The reason why Aiyin acted so abnormally was probably because she was still struggling with the topic about "Xiaoxiang" yesterday, so she wanted to use this exaggerated method to liven up the atmosphere today and pretend that nothing had happened.

What a... simple and clumsy guy.

Finally, the school gate came into view.

For Chihaya Aine, this journey seemed longer than a century.

When they said goodbye in front of the teaching building, she almost couldn't wait to wave to Nagasaki Suyo.

"Um, um! Soyorin! I'm going to the classroom first! Bye!"

Nagasaki Suyo stood there, looking at her fleeing back, and shook her head with amusement.

"Really...you're running so fast, aren't you afraid of falling?"

She whispered to herself, with a hint of fondness in her voice that she herself hadn't noticed.

In her opinion, although Aine's abnormal behavior today was a bit exaggerated, the logic behind it was very clear:

Because of the topic of "Toyokawa Shoko", the atmosphere became a little heavy -> The innocent Aine felt guilty and embarrassed about this -> So today she wanted to use double, even a little excessive "energy" to cover up the past and pretend that nothing happened.

Well, it fits Chihaya Aine's straightforward personality very well.

She turned around and walked towards her classroom with her usual steady and graceful steps.

The morning light shines through the windows in the corridor, casting bright and dark spots on the floor. The students' laughter flows in my ears, and everything is no different from usual.

However, Aine's overly exaggerated look just now still made her a little worried for some reason.

Forgot to water your cactus?

This excuse is really too poor.

And those red cheeks, as if steaming up, and those eyes that were desperately avoiding him, not daring to look him in the eye...

wrong.

Nagasaki Suyo's pace slowed down unconsciously.

A detail flashed through her mind like lightning.

Aine's reaction wasn't that exaggerated from the moment she saw her.

When she first greeted me, she was acting normal, even looking in a pretty good mood, with a bright smile that came from the heart on her face.

Change begins suddenly from a certain moment.

Since when?

Nagasaki Suyo has always had a good memory.

She quickly replayed the scene in her mind.

It was... before she asked with concern, "What's wrong with you?"

It was after the two of them walked side by side and Aine was silent for a while.

In that moment of silence, Aine's gaze... seemed to fall on... the top of her head?

Nagasaki Suyo's footsteps stopped completely.

She stood in the middle of the corridor, surrounded by classmates coming and going, but the noisy voices seemed to drift away from her in an instant.

--Label.

Chihaya Aine has claimed more than once, half-jokingly and half-seriously, that she can see the "labels" on other people's heads, and those labels will show the other person's true status and thoughts.

Later, Aine herself said distressedly that there was a bug in her ability, there was a serious delay, and all she saw were outdated old labels.

if...

What if this morning, just now, Aine's so-called "bug" was suddenly...fixed?

A chill ran up her spine.

Meanwhile, at Hanegaoka Girls' College.

Chihaya Aine wiped the non-existent sweat from her forehead, her heart beating like a drum.

For some reason, that label could not be shaken off the girl's mind.

Its aftereffects were far greater than she had imagined.

She had seen a similar label on Yutenji Ruomai's head before.

——[Kujo Renji’s pet].

Although I was shocked when I saw this label at that time, it is nothing compared to now.

After all, Yutenji Wakamugi was just a blogger she followed regularly.

But Nagasaki Suyo is different.

Soyorin is her friend and the bassist of MyGO. He is the indispensable person who will pour cold water on her when she gets too proud of herself, but always silently supports the band at critical moments.

When the word "plaything", which is full of humiliation and possessiveness, is associated with such a vivid, real person who is right next to you, the impact it brings is devastating.

This impact directly caused Chihaya Aine to be in abnormal condition for several consecutive days.

She became completely absent-minded. During class, she could not hear a word the teacher said. Her mind was filled with Su Shi's quiet face and the ominous label above her head, which kept jumping back and forth.

When eating, I would suddenly put down my chopsticks, stare blankly at the miso soup in front of me, and imagine some strange scenes of the soup dripping.

This state reached its peak during the band rehearsal.

"Aine, you played it wrong just now."

“Aine, don’t be distracted.”

“Aine!”

Riki's roar echoed in the practice room, but today's Chihaya Aine didn't even have the energy to refute.

She just said "Ah?" blankly, her fingers still stiff on the strings, obviously unaware of what mistake she had just made.

Several times, Nagasaki Suyo put down her bass and seemed to want to come over and say something to her.

Maybe he wanted to ask about her condition, or maybe he wanted to continue yesterday's topic about "Xiaoxiang".

But every time, as soon as Yusei got close, Chihaya Aine would reflexively dodge away like a frightened rabbit.

"Ah, I, I need to go to the bathroom!"

"My pick seems to have fallen off, let me look for it!"

She used all kinds of poor excuses to avoid any close contact with Nagasaki Suyo.

She didn't hate Su Shi, quite the opposite.

It's even more deadly precisely because it's not annoying.

Because every time, when she looked at Nagasaki Suyo's gentle and slightly worried face, her gaze would drift upwards uncontrollably, and she would clearly see the label "Kujo Renji's Plaything".

Then her mind would start to race uncontrollably.

Those shameful and specific images that were forcibly suppressed that morning would instantly break through the dam of her reason like a bursting flood.

What made her blush and feel so embarrassed that she couldn't even speak of it was...

When she substituted the uncertain speculation "Xiao Xiang = Kujo Renji?", the nature of the whole incident became even more...more exciting to her.

Yes, excited.

Chihaya Aine had to admit that she had a good impression of "Kujo Renji".

If her guess, which she was unwilling to admit, was true, then the other person was actually her best friend, someone who had saved her from danger many times and someone who had untied her emotional knot.

This is also the reason why the girl is unwilling to explore, unwilling to believe, and chooses to be an ostrich, a turtle, and pretend to know nothing.

So, when she learned about the relationship between Nagasaki Suyo and "Kujo Renji", her first reaction was not jealousy that her friend was taken away.

It's a kind of... twisted, voyeuristic, mixed with possessiveness and a sense of substitution... excitement.