Tokyo: After years of stagnation, the heiress of the yakuza arrives.

On the other end of the phone, Ritsuko Miyazaki visibly breathed a sigh of relief.

"It's good that he's not here."

Her voice softened, as if she had finally confirmed that someone in danger was not standing nearby, and there was even a hint of relief in her tone.

"Xiaoqing shouldn't know about this for now."

The air in the club room was so quiet it was as if someone had pressed the pause button.

Kuroba Shido held his phone, looking at Miyazaki Kiyoshi who was stepping on his shoes, and his expression gradually became very calm.

Not here.

Yes.

Kiyoshi Miyazaki is not here.

She was simply standing in front of him, stepping on his shoes, looking at his phone, and most likely hearing every single word on the phone...

This is not what it means to be present.

This is what we call being very close in a physical sense, but not yet in a social sense.

Kuroba Shido coughed lightly and continued to cooperate very naturally.

"Don't worry, Aunt Ritsuko, the Minister isn't here."

Miyazaki Kiyoshi looked at him.

Shido Kuroba immediately looked away and pretended to listen to the phone call attentively.

Ritsuko Miyazaki seemed completely oblivious to the strange atmosphere around her, her voice becoming much gentler, and Shido Kuroba's use of the term "old lady" was subconsciously ignored and justified.

She understands that classmates, especially close ones, use more intimate or special terms of address.

"Then I'll get straight to the point, Kuroba-kun. Actually, the reason I wanted to invite you over this weekend is because there's something I'd like to ask you." Miyazaki Ritsuko's voice came through the phone.

Kuroba Shido's heart skipped a beat.

Please.

The Miyazaki family.

weekend.

Frosty moon and high glass.

Putting these keywords together, it doesn't seem like a typical outing to someone's home.

He glanced at Miyazaki Kiyoshi out of the corner of his eye.

Miyazaki Kiyoshi remained silent, simply standing there with his eyes slightly narrowed, as if waiting for the other end of the phone to continue.

Shido Kuroba understood immediately.

The minister wants to hear it.

And I want to hear the whole thing.

So he said very politely into the phone, "Auntie Ritsuko, as long as it's something an ordinary poor male college student like me can do, as long as it doesn't break the law, doesn't involve prostitution, and doesn't require too many exam papers, I can seriously consider it."

Ritsuko Miyazaki: "..."

There was a moment of silence on the other end of the phone.

"Kuroba-kun, you're still as interesting as ever."

Kuroba Shido thought to himself, "No, I'm not being funny; I'm setting the bottom line in advance."

Ritsuko Miyazaki sighed softly, her voice more serious than before: "It's about Kiyoshi. You should have sensed it too; she's not quite like other children."

Kuroba Shido glanced at Miyazaki Kiyoshi.

Miyazaki Kiyoya looked at him.

These words were spoken softly, but in the clubroom, they fell like a thin thread, pulling Miyazaki Ritsuko from her side and silently landing at Miyazaki Kiyoshi's feet.

Shido Kuroba didn't rush to reply.

Ritsuko Miyazaki continued, "I'm not saying she's bad. She's my daughter, and I want the best for her more than anyone else. It's just that over the years, she's grown further and further away from the outside world. Many times, even though she's right beside us, it's like she's standing far away."

Kuroba Shido held his phone, unusually refraining from making any jokes.

Miyazaki Kiyoshi's expression remained unchanged.

She seemed to have known all along that Ritsuko Miyazaki would describe her this way, and it was as if these words were not unfamiliar to her.

Ritsuko Miyazaki paused for a moment.

"Miss Shuangyue, a good friend of mine, is a very capable medical expert in the fields of neurology and psychiatry. She is quite professional in this area. She said that Xiaoqing needs someone who can elicit a response from her, someone she cannot easily categorize into her existing judgment model."

Kuroba Shido silently added a sentence in his mind.

In plain terms, we need a hapless soul who can pollute Miyazaki Kiyoyuki's mental environment.

Before he could suppress the thought, Miyazaki Kiyoshi gave him a brief, indifferent glance.

Shido Kuroba immediately began mixing No. 42 concrete with spaghetti...

Ritsuko Miyazaki, unaware of the intense psychological manipulation taking place on the other end of the phone, continued, "I'd like to ask you to come over to my house this weekend to work with Koga. It's not a complicated matter; we just want to see if Qing's reactions differ from others when you're with her."

Kuroba Shido did not answer.

He looked at Kiyoshi Miyazaki.

Miyazaki Kiyoshi narrowed his eyes, still remaining silent.

She didn't ask him to agree.

He wasn't asked to refuse.

But Shido Kuroba could tell that Kiyoshi Miyazaki didn't like this statement.

I'm not angry.

It's not just ordinary dissatisfaction.

Rather, it was a kind of quiet rejection.

Analyzed.

Arranged.

They were treated as people in need of treatment.

This shouldn't be anything unfamiliar to Kiyoshi Miyazaki.

It is precisely because it is familiar that it is even less interesting.

Kuroba Shido suddenly realized that if he went along with Miyazaki Ritsuko's words and said, "Okay, okay, I will definitely cooperate with the treatment," then Miyazaki Kiyoshi probably wouldn't scold him or hit him; he would just move him from his observation list to a colder position.

That would be dangerous.

Of course, most importantly, Shido Kuroba never wanted to be a healing tool.

He cleared his throat and spoke into the phone.

"Aunt Ritsuko."

Ritsuko Miyazaki: "Hmm?"

Kuroba Shido's tone became unusually serious.

"Let me say this first: I don't think Miyazaki-san has any mental issues, like schizophrenia or being crazy."

The other end of the phone went quiet.

The club room also quieted down.

Miyazaki Kiyoshi looked at him.

Kuroba Shido didn't look at Miyazaki Kiyoshi, but instead stared at the corner of the exam paper on the table as he continued speaking.

"Everyone expresses themselves differently. Some people like to talk, some don't. Some people are quick-witted and observant, so they are more likely to feel that ordinary communication is unnecessary."

He paused for a moment, as if organizing his thoughts.

"This doesn't mean she's sick, nor does it mean she should be treated as some kind of abnormal individual who needs to be corrected. People are inherently different. As long as she doesn't harm others or herself, and is a little cold, talks less, and thinks more, she shouldn't be treated as crazy."

Ritsuko Miyazaki did not speak immediately.

Shido Kuroba felt as if the weight on his feet had lightened a little.

He didn't know if it was just his imagination.

Miyazaki Kiyoshi's shoe tip was still on his shoe, but she didn't seem to be putting any more pressure on it.

Kuroba Shido continued, "Of course, I'm not saying it's wrong for you to care about her. You're her mother, so you're definitely more worried about her than I am. It's just that if you're calling me over this weekend so that Shimotsuki-sensei and I can use her as some kind of experimental subject to observe her, I don't think that's a good idea."

On the other end of the phone, Ritsuko Miyazaki's breathing became lighter.

The more Kuroba Shido talked, the more he felt like he was in a very delicate position.

He only wanted to survive.

But after saying those words, I realized that they were indeed the right things to say.

Miyazaki Kiyoshi may not necessarily need his help.

She is so intelligent, strong, and calm that she can even treat other people's inner thoughts as ordinary ambient noise.

But being smart and powerful doesn't mean she should be forever studied by others through glass.

Kuroba Shido became unusually serious, speaking earnestly, but towards the end, it seemed to veer off course, and some personal grudges were involved.

"And Aunt Ritsuko, your daughter isn't actually that strange. She's just a little quieter, a little more thoughtful, a little more perceptive, and occasionally she'll use club questionnaires to persecute innocent members a little..."

Kiyoshi Miyazaki: "..."

Push harder, push harder, push harder...

Oh no, my instep!

Feeling the relentless torment on the instep, Kuroba Shido immediately took remedial action.

"But overall, it is still very excellent, very rational, and very respectable."

Ritsuko Miyazaki remained silent for a long time on the other end of the phone.

After a while, Shido Kuroba began to wonder if he had offended both the Miyazaki mother and daughter at the same time.

A few seconds later, Ritsuko Miyazaki spoke softly.

"I see."

She seemed to be thinking about something, and her tone carried a complex emotion.

She seemed to understand a little.

Why did Kiyoshi react to Shido Kuroba?

Perhaps it's not because he's particularly smart.

It's not because he's anything special.

It was because when the boy saw Xiaoqing, his first reaction was not "there is something wrong with her", but "she is just different from others".

The two are very different.

One is diagnosis.

One is to acknowledge it.

Over the years, Miyazaki Ritsuko has heard too many people describe Xiaoqing with very professional, gentle, and accurate words.

Cognitive lockout.

Emotional isolation.

High-functioning closed personality structure.

Abnormal social reactions.

These words may not have been malicious.

Many of them even expressed concern.

But they all have one thing in common.

They all assume that Xiaoqing is the one who needs to be explained and corrected.

Kuroba Shido's words just now were very unprofessional.

It was even a bit of a mess.

But he actually described Xiaoqing as simply quiet, thoughtful, and having a different way of expressing herself.

Ritsuko Miyazaki suddenly felt like laughing.

I felt like sighing again.

It's hard to imagine that, given their daughter's personality, she could be described as "quiet and thoughtful" by Shido Kuroba.

Ritsuko Miyazaki remained silent for a long time.

In the clubroom, Shido Kuroba glanced cautiously at Kiyoshi Miyazaki.

There was no obvious change in Miyazaki Kiyoshi's face.

She remained calm and quiet, as if those words had left no trace in her heart.

In a fleeting moment, she glanced at Shido Kuroba.

It's very light.

Also very quickly.

Kuroba Shido almost thought he was seeing things... 666, the club leader is still a tsundere!

Push harder, push harder, push harder... My instep hurts.

The Black Feather Warrior said, "..."

So sinister?

On the phone, Ritsuko Miyazaki's voice finally rang out again.

"Kuroba-kun."

Ritsuko Miyazaki spoke softly, but her question was very direct.

"You like Xiaoqing, right?"