She was as inorganic as a doll, and her tone and expression rarely changed. It was hard to tell how much she cared about the answer to this question, and she spoke calmly, as if she was just saying it casually.
But it's like throwing a bomb directly into a calm lake.
The girl with sky-blue hair sitting opposite her shuddered all over and almost coughed out all the tea she had just taken. Her overly violent reaction broke her serene and noble temperament, and she was instantly downgraded from an elegant young lady to an ordinary beautiful girl.
"Ahem! Mu, what are you talking about all of a sudden?"
After coughing several times, Toyokawa Shoko quickly put down the teacup and wiped the scattered tea with a handkerchief.
She tried hard to suppress her panic and shyness, and acted calmly to deal with her childhood playmate's shocking words.
Ruoye Mu watched her expressionlessly as she quietly put the phone into her pocket, and said bluntly, "It's useless, I've seen it all. Xiangzi is not good at lying, nor is he good at covering up... You can tell whether that person is an ordinary friend or not by looking at his expression."
"..."
Her body stiffened slightly, and after a moment, Toyokawa Shoko relaxed as if admitting defeat, put her phone back on the table in the pavilion, and sighed softly.
"I've known this for a long time, and I probably can't hide it from you... But I still feel a little bit unwilling to hear Mu, who is even worse at acting, say this."
"Xiangzi, are you hiding something from me?" Ruoye Mu blinked, simply expressing his confusion, "You're always grinning at your phone, and you always bring up that person... I thought you were waiting for me to expose you, but I couldn't find a good opportunity."
"Cough hum!"
As if her throat was uncomfortable, Toyokawa Shoko coughed a few more times, clenched her fists and pressed them against her lips. Her cheeks were flushed with a slight blush, as if she was ashamed or embarrassed.
"Mu, some things don't need to be said so clearly...Thank you for your reminder. I will be more careful about my behavior in the future and try not to let you have such misunderstandings."
Ruo Yemu opened his mouth slightly and wanted to say something, but he saw a gentle smile with a strong sense of oppression on her face, and her eyebrows were already twitching slightly.
"... Yeah, I'll remember that next time."
Driven by her survival instinct, the girl could only answer softly, lowered her head to drink a sip of mango juice, and then asked, "So, Xiangzi is going to marry that person?"
"Get married?!"
If she hadn't put the teacup aside earlier, Toyokawa Shoko might have sprayed again.
Her face flushed, as if she wanted to explain something, but when she saw Ruo Yemu's unconscious and indifferent expression, she felt that doing so was futile and would only make her look more guilty.
——There’s nothing I can do. Mu is just that kind of person.
Toyokawa Shoko smiled bitterly and shook her head, "Mu, you're thinking too far ahead... Let's not talk about the fact that we're only fifteen years old, and we're still several years away from the legal age for marriage. We're not even boyfriend and girlfriend right now. Even if my family agrees with him and me, it would be more appropriate to wait until the third year of high school before considering marriage."
What this means is that she has already regarded him as a marriage partner, but the timing is not yet ripe, so she did not discuss it in advance.
"Not boyfriend and girlfriend?" Ruo Ye Mu expressed doubt.
After all, in her eyes, Xiangzi's behavior is similar to those heroines who fall in love in comics. Recently, he has been drinking tea and chatting with her less and less on holidays, and instead goes out on dates with that man.
Neither an engaged couple nor a boyfriend and girlfriend...are there any other more intimate relationships?
"Well, to be honest, we just don't use 'dating' to define our relationship. In essence, we are no different from ordinary couples."
Xiangzi couldn't help but chuckle, his lips slightly pursed in a reserved manner, with a hint of pride in his embarrassment.
"'A community of shared destiny in life', 'proof of the existence of mutual reliance' - how about that? It sounds even closer than being a boyfriend and girlfriend, right?"
"Oh……"
Ruoye Mu opened his eyes slightly wide, showing obvious surprise, which was rare.
——Although I don’t really understand what she is saying, but since she uses such Xiangzi-like words to describe it, then it must be a closer relationship between the man and woman than that of ordinary lovers, right?
It was as if she was talking about a treasure that belonged only to her. Those eyes were full of hope for the future, sparkling, overflowing with emotion and longing...that was Toyokawa Shoko that she had never seen.
Can love really change a person completely?
Ruo Ye Mu was a little envious, but he was also sincerely happy for his friend.
But she still had a question.
"Was it Xiangzi who confessed first?"
"...Confession?"
A somewhat unfamiliar word made Toyokawa Shoko stunned for a moment, and her emotions returned to normal.
"Yeah. Even if you're not boyfriend and girlfriend, you've expressed your feelings to each other, right?"
Wakaba Mutsu, who usually secretly reads some girls' comics, is now very interested in the details of her friend's talk about "a relationship that is closer than love". She, who used to be taciturn, became talkative and asked repeatedly with a fixed gaze: "Who said 'I like you' first? How did it feel? Is it the same as in the comics?"
"Eh? This one~"
Being stared at so seriously by her best friend, Toyokawa Shoko leaned back in inexplicable embarrassment, scratching her reddened cheeks with her fingertips, but her expression became more and more confused as she thought about it.
"Come to think of it, we really haven't told each other our feelings directly...either we want to tie each other down, or we can't accommodate anyone else in our hearts..."
Of course she knew that the reason why they were a couple in name only but not in reality was because of what she said in the KTV.
——Because they were afraid of the anxiety and jealousy that the relationship would bring, they simply skipped this step and made an agreement on each other's future directly.
Anyway, in Toyokawa Shoko's understanding, they are currently leaning on each other with the premise of growing old together, and are accustomed to a life with each other's existence; different from those young lovers who are just playing around, they do not rely on sweet words, but use practical actions to prove their feelings to each other, and the depth of their relationship has long surpassed the so-called romantic relationship.
If they had to say it, they would have confessed their feelings to each other countless times with more profound words.
——How many times do I have to say "I love you" to express the deep love that is willing to shackle each other?
"Mu, please don't confuse us with ordinary couples."
Xiangzi soon smiled in relief, picked up the teacup in a relaxed manner, and said leisurely with half-closed eyes: "Even if we don't say 'I like you', we can clearly realize how heavy and deep our feelings are for each other... This feeling is definitely deeper and more touching than any confession in a comic."
"I see." Ruo Yemu nodded, not quite understanding, and said in a calm and gentle voice, "So, are you sure you like each other?"
"of course!"
With her chest held high, Shoko Toyokawa is full of confidence.
Ruoye Mu tilted his head and looked at her, with a look of doubt in his gilded pupils.
"Then why didn't he confess to you? If he really liked you."
"Hmm? So..."
Toyokawa Shoko frowned slightly, not quite understanding why she asked that, but she still patiently explained it again, and even briefly recounted what had happened since they met.
Ruoye Mu listened to her obediently, nodded, and asked questions without changing his expression.
"These are Xiangzi's thoughts, right? But before you fell in love with him, it was that person who approached you."
"He obviously likes Xiangzi so much and has done so many things for her, but he has never said in person that he likes you... I don't know why, but I find it a bit strange."
Ruoye Mu looked into her eyes, seeming to be worried about her.
"Does he think that if he says this, you will break up?"
"How can it be!"
Toyokawa Shoko answered loudly subconsciously, but when she realized that she had accidentally become excited, she quickly apologized softly and sighed to calm down.
"It's just that there's no need to say it, not that I can't say it... Mu, do you understand the difference? Just like our relationship has always been good, but I never go out of my way to say that you are my best friend."
At this point, she laughed and shook her head helplessly.
Looking at her friend who was as cute and innocent as a doll with warm eyes, Toyokawa Shoko put on the airs of a mature older sister and said in a relaxed manner:
"Well, Mutsu must not understand."
"When you have someone you want to entrust your life to and promise your future to, you will understand why I say this."
The topic ends here.
Toyokawa Shoko picked up the teacup, seemed to be immersed in the fragrance of tea, closed her eyes and slowly sipped the slightly hot tea.
Its elegant and dignified posture, as if rejecting something, silently exudes a clear sense of distance.
"Xiangzi..."
After a brief hesitation, Ruo Yemu chose to shut his mouth again.
He also lowered his head, sipped the mango juice from the straw, and returned to his previous silent and taciturn self.
--even so.
The conversation that day still carries a strange magic, constantly echoing in Toyokawa Shoko's heart.
She didn't care, she convinced herself; she even found another chance to bite Ming Hai, hugged him tightly, listened to his heartbeat from slow to rapid, and felt happy and agitated for the rising body temperature.
But from time to time, there is always an inner voice questioning:
"Is it my imagination? He seems to be deliberately not saying anything about 'liking' to me..."
"You've said such cheesy things several times. You can't just be shy and not say it, right?"
'If I take the initiative to tell him that I like him, how will he respond?'
From May to June, as the temperature gradually rose, the girl's mood began to become irritable.
Until one day, she finally made a decision.
"There's no point in thinking too much, just listen to what he says once!"
"There's no need to be anxious. It's just a simple "I like you". He shouldn't be unable to say it."
"Even if we're not a couple, it's an indisputable fact that we like each other. It would be irresponsible to continue to doubt him!"
With this thought in mind, Toyokawa Shoko once again invited Ming Hai out on a date.
This time, it was a movie theater.
-
After the days settled down, the pace of time seemed to speed up.
On a Saturday in June, Ming Hai opened his eyes in the air-conditioned room and looked at the familiar ceiling in a daze.
The morning light penetrated the curtains, leaving golden flakes all over the ground.
The noisy bird calls brought him back to his senses, followed by a sigh of mixed emotions.
"It's a dream..."
He had a rare dream in which he was caught cheating on his wife - and then was drained to death by Teacher Xiaoxiang.
The other person even had a succubus's tail and wings, and her figure was comparable to that of Nagasaki Suyo. I guess she had beautified it without my permission.
It wasn’t a nightmare, nor was it a wet dream, but just a very inexplicable dream that made him feel fuzzy after waking up, and he really wanted to go back to sleep.
Leaving aside the idea of cheating, he was just very interested in the process of being drained by the succubus Xiaoxiang, and wanted to return to the dream world to experience it again...
Unfortunately, he remembered that he had a date today - and getting up early to prepare for the date had become one of his habits in these days.
Ming Hai got out of bed, washed up, and just changed into clothes for the date when the doorbell rang outside.
As soon as the door opened, the brown-haired girl walked into the house, ignoring the helpless expression on his face. After taking off her shoes, she walked towards the kitchen, her movements as natural as the hostess of this house.
"Is it necessary to come so early?"
"Today is your first date to the cinema, right? I would like to make you breakfast first, then ask you about your plans and see if I can help you with anything."
Answering as if nothing had happened, Nagasaki Suyo put on an apron, found toast, bacon, eggs and other ingredients from the refrigerator with ease, and started to make breakfast for two.
"Where's your mother?"
"He's still sleeping. He probably won't wake up until noon, so don't worry."
She tilted her head and smiled, but didn't say there was nothing to worry about, because those who understood would understand.
Ming Hai was the one who understood. After shrugged and closed the door, he sat on the sofa with his cell phone in his hand and leaned lazily against the backrest.
——Almost a month has passed since I said "I will always be by your side".
I don’t know what medicine she took wrong, but Nagasaki Suyo seemed like a different person, and her attitude in some aspects was very different from before.
To put it bluntly...she seemed to have really accepted the fact that he and Toyokawa Shoko were dating. She was no longer jealous or heavy-hearted, and would even ask with interest about the details of their dates or chats, like a gossip girl who was simply interested in her friend's love life. There was not even a trace of disguised gloom or forced smile on her face. She was so frighteningly calm.
What Ming Hai found most unbelievable was that when he and Toyokawa Shoko were going to have their second date, Nagasaki Suyo, who had heard the news from somewhere, actually took the initiative to give him advice in the name of "Shoko's love strategist" and was more active than him in wanting Toyokawa Shoko to enjoy the date...
-
Two in one, sorry it took a while to edit.
Volume 70: Chapter Chapter Do you feel happy when you see a girl crying?
What is scary is not that good people do bad things, but that bad people suddenly do good things.
Of course, Nagasaki Suyo is not a bad person at all. At most, she is just a heavy-hearted woman who is hard to guess... Even if she really has bad intentions towards me, she should not be to the point of "I will destroy everything if I can't get it!" or "I will make the world feel pain!", and her mental state seems to be quite stable.
