People are in Mygo, and I can write their personalities.

However, compared to Nagasaki Motoyo, there was someone even more desperate than her at this moment, and that was Makoto Sho, who was sitting in the office revising sheet music when she suddenly received a call from her grandfather and was then scolded.

After hanging up the phone in complete bewilderment, Toyokawa Shoko was utterly dumbfounded.

She even couldn't help but mutter to herself:

"Grandpa meant that... I hadn't given up on my dad going home alone, but instead he agreed to my request to go home first and drove off in a Maybach?!"

Chapter 57 Li hope: I beat Su Shi up for her (4200 words)

"Lixi, are you alright?"

"...Sister, I'm fine."

"That day..."

"Sis, I already told you." Shiina Tatsuki, still staring at the music composition software and project files on the computer screen, said, "I'm fine, you don't need to worry."

"Okay, if... Lixi, there's anything else you need to talk to your sister about, feel free to come find me anytime. I have a social gathering today, so I'll be going now."

"..."

Shiina Riki held her breath. She didn't reply but just listened silently as the footsteps outside the door gradually faded away. But when she came to her senses, she realized with a touch of self-mockery that her sister wasn't Nanami Natsuki and there was no need to be so careful.

But then again, she had been desperately avoiding Nanami Natsuki for two whole days. When the other party called her yesterday, she didn't answer. She was basically using an ostrich tactic, burying her head in the sand.

Will doing this... solve everything?

Lixi became increasingly irritable, and in a fit of despair, she began to delete the newly created sheet music on her computer, bit by bit.

Perhaps because even the last fig leaf has been ruthlessly torn away, Li hope now finds his "works" mediocre and laughable no matter how he looks at them.

She has begun to feel intense disgust and rejection towards everything about herself.

"As expected, no one can understand me."

Two days ago, Lixi was extremely angry after talking with her sister. She tried her best to control her emotions and avoid throwing a tantrum that she shouldn't have.

Two days have passed, and Lixi has been able to calm down a bit. She has also tried to see things from her sister's perspective.

But the more she replayed those conversations in her mind, the more she felt there was a natural barrier between her and her sister.

"Perhaps only Nanami can understand my thoughts... No, that's not right, she doesn't understand my thoughts, she just..."

But what exactly? Is it just pretending to understand her?

Shiina Riki found it difficult to say such a thing. On the one hand, she agreed with Nanami Natsuki's statements, but on the other hand, she strongly resisted Nanami Natsuki's direct and thorough analysis of her entire being.

"Lixi, are you going to work today?"

“Ah…” Lixi hesitated for a moment inside the room, but still replied, “Mom, I… I’ll go right away.”

"Don't overwork yourself. If you're still not feeling well, then don't go."

"No... I'm not feeling unwell."

Pretending to be sick can't go on forever; what needs to be faced will eventually have to be faced, unless Lixi decides never to work for RiNG again.

But why should she give up this job opportunity just because Nanami Natsuki works there?

She shut down her computer, took out her work uniform and put it into the shoulder bag that Lixi usually used when exercising, and left home feeling depressed and uneasy.

The time it took to get from home to RiNG seemed exceptionally short today, so short that before Riki could even figure out how to deal with that brat Nanami's mental attacks, she had already unknowingly arrived at the entrance of the coffee shop.

"Yay~ Riki-chan~"

"..."

Shiina Ritsuki ignored Nanami Natsuki's greeting, but then she felt it was impolite to do so and might anger the little devil, so she could only nod reluctantly.

Why haven't you changed your clothes yet?

"Because I want Lixi to see if I look pretty today!"

"Vanity." Shiina Tatsuki pouted, but she had to admit that the girl did have the looks to be vain. "But why are you dressed in all black again today? Are you trying to cosplay as a cockroach?"

"What are you talking about?! This is called Gothic Lolita style! And do you believe I'll put a giant cockroach in your drink?!"

"Would you have the guts?"

That being said, what really struck Lixi as odd was that Nanami Natsuki seemed to have no intention of bringing up the previous deal with her today, or perhaps she was mocking her for taking sick leave a couple of days ago.

Is he playing hard to get? Is he convinced that she's guilty for not coming to work these past two days, so he's so confident in waiting for her to speak first?

"Lixi-chan, you didn't come to work the other day."

Here she comes; this girl really couldn't hold back any longer.

"I'm sick."

"Ah, I see. I knew that Li hope-chan, who works so hard, wouldn't just take a day off."

This guy... he must be deliberately making sarcastic remarks about himself, right?

Shiina Riki really didn't want to talk to the other person at all, but unfortunately, this girl's mouth was impossible to stop unless it was taped shut.

"I almost thought you were angry because of me, which is why you didn't come to see me."

"...What could I possibly be angry about?"

"Because I forgot to collect the money from that little girl's matcha parfait several times before~"

"..."

Shiina Riki had already planned what to say, but Nanami Natsuki's feint almost made her reveal her seemingly calm but actually excited inner self.

"But Lixi hasn't responded to me about anything outside of work either."

“你… … “Is it true?”

"Didn't I call you yesterday? I thought I should check on you since you're sick, but you didn't answer my calls."

"..."

Was that brat doing it on purpose? She definitely did it on purpose!

"However, I didn't call you solely to ask about your illness; there are a few other things I wanted to confirm with you."

"Work-related matters?"

"Of course not, Riki, really, why are you pretending to be stupid?" Nanami Natsuki's expression turned disdainful. "Couldn't you have admitted it sooner if I hadn't said anything? Did you really think I would keep talking to you about those irrelevant topics?"

"..."

Yes, actually, she should be the one pretending to be stupid, right? She already knew that Nanami Natsuki was deliberately trying to provoke her into bringing up those things, and even if she didn't touch on them for the time being, she would definitely have to face them directly later.

Otherwise, why doesn't she just stay at home and act like a coward? Why bother pretending to come to a place where Nanami Natsuki is bound to appear?

"Come with me for a moment."

"Ah."

The girl, now wearing mid-heeled shoes again, was noticeably several centimeters taller than him, and Nanami Natsuki's unquestionable tone left the usually assertive Shiina Ritsuki speechless.

She followed Nanami to the dressing room, and then watched in confusion as the other woman began to take off her skirt, finally stopping only when it revealed her surprisingly swollen and red buttocks.

"This……"

"Lixi-chan is really too much." Nanami Natsuki turned her head, her eyes seemingly glistening with tears. "Do you know how much I needed you when that bully Suze hit me? You were the only person I could think of to turn to, but you wouldn't answer my calls..."

"If you hadn't deliberately avoided me for some inexplicable reason back then, would such a pure and innocent poor girl like me have fallen victim to the great demon king's cruel hand!"

"what?"

Shiina Riki looked at Nanami Natsuki's seemingly genuinely aggrieved face and her still swollen buttocks with a strange sense of amusement, feeling a strong urge to laugh.

"No, you dragged me into the locker room just to tell me this?"

"Please, have you no conscience at all?! Who promised to become my protector after I restored Su Shi's memories? Look at you now! The flower has been smashed to pieces!"

"You definitely deserve it..."

"That's too much, Shiina Tatsuki! Even if I did make a mistake, it was just a small mistake that every Nanami Natsuki makes."

"...So Su Shi really hit you?"

"if not?"

"Okay, then I apologize." Shiina Tatsuki readily apologized, after all, it was indeed her fault in this matter. "I forgot about it at the time and thought you were calling about something else, so I didn't answer. This time it was my mistake. I can agree to any compensation you want as long as it's not excessive."

"Also, Nanami Natsuki... you should have finished laying the groundwork by now, right?"

"What foreshadowing?"

Do you think I don't know?

Shiina Riki stared intently at Nanami Natsuki's round breasts. She swore she really wanted to rush over and try them out, after all, she had wanted to teach this little brat a lesson for a long time.

But now she must expose the brat's ridiculous scheme.

"I don't understand, what do you know?"

"Stop pretending. You deliberately led me to think about those things but didn't bring them up yourself. In the end, you made a feint and used Su Shi's matter to put my mind at ease. And now, you must have already figured out how to use my sister's matter to mock me and then tempt me with your deal, right?"

Playing hard to get... Do you think I don't know what you're up to? You underestimate me. Now that I'm working here, naturally I..."

"Ah...you mean that incident? Do you still remember it?"

"...Stop acting, isn't this what you just want to talk to me about?"

"What? Li hope, why are you still talking about those things?" Nanami Natsuki changed into her work uniform under Li Xi's somewhat regretful gaze, then looked at Li Xi with an expression as if she were an idiot and said, "I gave up on that kind of deal a long time ago, after all... I had no other choice."

"...What kind of trick are you up to now?"

"Really, no."

Nanami Natsuki shrugged. "Look, my last resort for saving face has failed, hasn't it? You don't seem to be at all on the verge of a breakdown, which is enough to prove that my experiment has completely failed."

"No, what failure? What are you trying to say?" Li hope became increasingly agitated, feeling as if she had unknowingly fallen into some new trap.

"I want to say, Lixi, the reason you're so confident in facing me is because your sister doesn't love you at all, right?"

"...What...what did you say?"

"The purpose of my experiment was actually to make your sister show the love of family when you are heartbroken. You see... wouldn't you find that your sister doesn't care about the talents that you value so much?"

"She wouldn't cherish those talents she's already possessed for so long, would she? But judging from the current situation, things are probably the complete opposite of what I thought, right?"

"you……"