Want to be human, but cube-like

He used this relationship to bind Alex, all for his own sake.

He even went so far as to try to use this to persuade her to go to England with him.

Even before coming here, just a second before meeting Alex, Aine was still fantasizing that it might just be a misunderstanding.

Could it be that they didn't explain things clearly?

Is it possible that Alex simply lost the ability to make the right judgments about relationships?

But when Aine heard Alex say something utterly ridiculous—claiming to be her mother—once again…

She was finally, completely disappointed in Alex.

Aine could no longer suppress the dull pain surging within her. Tears streamed down her face, clinging like threads to her once-clean cheeks, leaving a glaring mark. They eventually gathered at her chin, falling into the earth along with her desperate sobs, turning into a dim hue.

Then, the already tranquil park fell into a suffocating silence.

The air felt so heavy it almost seemed to freeze.

It was only at this moment that Alex understood that what Aine had always loathed was this relationship, which she saw as extremely twisted.

It turns out that Aine never wanted to admit that she was her mother.

It turns out that all of this was just Alex's own wishful thinking.

That makes sense...

Originally, even the term "mother" was just a word that Alex had stolen from Aine.

It was after hearing Aine call her mother that her empty and lonely heart began to yearn for this kind of connection between people, so she followed suit and wanted to call her manipulator, Chihaya Aine, "Mom".

Aine, however, has never admitted to such a thing.

They might not even have cared whether she existed or not.

Just as Xiangzi said... Aine had always only regarded her as a game character without consciousness and unable to resist.

In Aine's eyes, she was never her daughter, but just a doll without a self.

Completely devoid of the will to argue, Alex lowered her head and fell silent, even her breath caught in her throat for a moment.

For a long time.

No one uttered a single word.

Only the pink-haired girl's soft sobs were constantly dispersed by the cold wind.

After a moment, Aine gradually calmed down.

She sniffed, calming herself down. Looking at Alex's distraught appearance, she bit her lip, turned away, and refused to look at her again.

She still felt incredibly attached to him.

"Bye now……"

With a still-hoarse voice, she whispered goodbye.

Suppressing her heartache, she left the small park.

Alex was left standing there, her legs seemingly fixed in place, completely motionless.

Until the footsteps were completely gone.

Until the breeze completely stopped.

Until the park returned to tranquility.

Until the once clear sky was covered with a layer of dark clouds.

Even Alex had forgotten the passage of time.

Cool drops fell on her drooping head, her hunched shoulders, and her trembling fingertips.

"Clap!"

Her long legs were completely powerless, and Alex's body went limp. She pressed her hands to the ground and knelt down.

"don't want……"

The early spring raindrops seeped into her silvery hair. The drizzle, which usually made her feel nothing when it fell on her, now felt as heavy as a thousand pounds, pressing her down firmly.

"Don't abandon me..."

Alex bit her lip, a tearing pain spreading endlessly through her heart, almost overwhelming all her senses.

She lowered her head, a sour feeling welling up in her nose, reddening her already pale eyes.

This unfamiliar emotion surged into Alex's heart when she was most helpless, transforming everything in her heart into something she had never experienced before.

A burning sensation welled up from the corners of her eyes, streamed down her face, and quickly lost its heat in the cold air. Finally, glistening drops fell onto her small hands, which were supporting her on the ground, leaving a few messy marks on the back of her snow-white hands.

she cried.

For the first time since she became conscious, Alex experienced this feeling called crying.

To experience this kind of pain.

The rain intensified, and the increasingly dense raindrops pounded heavily on the leaves and the budding flowers, soaking not only the ground but also drenching Alex completely.

She could no longer distinguish whether the tears flowing down her cheeks were unfamiliar or familiar raindrops.

Or perhaps, the two have already blended together, and it is no longer possible to distinguish between them.

The back of her hand, covered by the heavy rain, had completely lost any trace of the tear stain.

Her body was cold, but her heart was a thousand times colder than her body.

It was so cold it was bone-chilling, so cold it made me lose consciousness.

The pink hue of cherry blossoms drifted to the ground with the chaotic rain, casting shimmering reflections in puddles of all sizes, falling into Alex's eyes, already blurred by tears and rain.

Those cherry blossoms should have bloomed today or tomorrow, but now, this rain has mercilessly knocked them to the ground.

Just one day before the cherry blossoms were about to bloom, under a not-so-gentle drizzle that heralded the arrival of spring.

Just like her relationship with Aine, which ended without a trace.

They will never see the moment of full bloom again; only fallen petals remain, broken yet poignant.

on this day.

Alex, in the truest sense, was controlled by her mother, her creator, her manipulator, and her only kin.

The person she loves most.

Completely abandoned.

It wasn't a silent departure, nor was it a separation caused by some accident.

Instead, he told her face-to-face, in person.

There was absolutely no room for maneuver, and no opportunity for argument was given whatsoever.

This finally made her realize this.

Mom, don't want her anymore.

…………

PS Phase 1, End

Next, we will officially enter the main topic of this book, which can be understood as the main text.

I never imagined that this plot, which was only meant to be a prologue or prequel in the outline, would end up being this long. Before I knew it...

I've written so much already.

By the way, don't rush. Ai Yin's trip to London is just like a crab taking a quick dip in Yangcheng Lake—it's a short trip, and she'll be back soon. In the original novel, she only studied abroad for two weeks, and in this book, it won't be much longer.

On a side note, I checked Tokyo in mid-March 2020 and confirmed that the cherry blossoms bloomed earlier than usual, and that early spring period was accompanied by rain. That's why I wrote the scene like this in this chapter. It was quite a coincidence, I must say.

Volume 2: Chapter 196 To Become a Magical Girl?

A quiet morning so still it was unsettling.

The girl woke up on the soft bed as always, opening her light blue eyes.

She sat up, rubbing her blurry eyes, and stared blankly for a while before slowly picking up her phone from beside her pillow and glancing at the time.

It's about seven o'clock in the morning.

Unlocking the screen, a social networking account page named crychic appeared in her eyes.

Last night, as usual, I fell asleep holding my phone, staring at this social media account that hadn't changed at all for many months.

As a result, the girl couldn't even remember exactly when she fell asleep.

When a cool breeze touched her neck, she shrank her shoulders, then stretched her little feet out of the bed, reached down and groped for her slippers, and stood up.

With a whoosh, the curtains beside the bed were pulled back. Outside the bright French windows, the city was still quiet and deserted. Looking down from above, the pedestrians on the ground looked like ants, their features indistinct.

On the glass, the girl's own head of soft, light brown hair was faintly reflected.

She lowered her eyes, turned and walked out of the bedroom.

What came into view was the living room of a luxurious duplex apartment, empty and lifeless. In this huge house, she was all alone.

Last night, my mother was still busy at the company and didn't come home.

As always, I remained silent, washed up in the bathroom, made myself a simple, bland breakfast, and sat at the long dining table, facing the cold air.

"I'm gonna start now."

Her voice was very soft, and it drifted through the empty living room without causing a ripple.

After quietly finishing her breakfast, the girl returned to her bedroom and put on her new uniform in the walk-in closet.

Today is April 1st, the first day of high school, and also the day she officially entered the Tsukimori Girls' Academy High School.

After tidying her clothes and hair, she picked up her bag, glanced at the bass box that resembled a guitar in the corner of the room, and turned to leave.

……

On the first day of school, many students gathered in front of the school's notice board, looking for their names and trying to find out which class they had been assigned to.

The brown-haired girl was no exception.

Standing on the periphery of the crowd, she tiptoed and glanced around before spotting her name.

【Nagasaki Motoyo】—Grade 11, Group A

Looking further down, I was pleasantly surprised to find another familiar name.

【Wakaba Mutsu】was also in the same class as her.

They were all members of the same band, a girl band called Crychic, which holds many fond memories.

No, even now.

It's just that we haven't practiced together for a long time.

It's just that we haven't been in contact with each other for a while.

Even though she had already found her and her friend's names, the girl named Nagasaki Motoyo, she still seemed to be searching for something, her gaze sweeping back and forth across the entire notice board for most of the day, but she still couldn't find the name she had been longing for.

"Xiao Xiang...how could that be? You don't have it?"

She whispered, her tone tinged with confusion and bewilderment.

All the planned actions were disrupted by the unexpected unfolding of events.

What she didn't expect was that things would develop differently from what she had anticipated from the very beginning.

"Greetings, Su Shi! It's so lucky we were assigned to the same group in high school!"

The sound from the side interrupted her increasingly chaotic thoughts.

Looking in the direction of the sound, I recognized the classmate from junior high school who had been in the same class and joined the wind band together.

"Greetings~"

With a habitual, gentle smile on her face, Su Shi concealed the panic in her eyes. She pinched her throat and responded to her classmate's call with a sweet voice completely different from when she was alone.

"Yes, that's wonderful!"

I casually responded to the topics my classmates were discussing, and naturally walked to class with them. Su Shi was still thinking in her heart, wondering where things had gone wrong.