mygo, Villain Simulator

"I'm mentally prepared. Could someone please call a staff member for me? I will sincerely apologize."

"Ugh"

"It doesn't matter?"

Toyokawa Shoko suddenly looked up and listened to Shiina Tatsuki say that it wasn't very polite, but as long as she drank the drinks responsibly, the people in the shop wouldn't be angry. The young lady's furrowed brows relaxed.

And then—Lixi also had such an experience?

silence--

Shiina Tatsuki felt she shouldn't have tried to persuade Toyokawa Shoko like that: "Enough! We're here to practice!"

Shiina Tatsuki forcefully changed the subject, her gaze falling on Nagasaki Sase.

The brown-haired girl laughed—it was because of me.

In the past, due to her family situation, Nagasaki Sase built a deep wall around her heart.

The eldest daughter of the Toyokawa family, the child of a famous entertainer, and the younger sister of a famous composer.

Compared to these people, Nagasaki Sase felt that he was nothing.

But now, faced with the noisy scene, the brown-haired girl laughed—everyone here is just an ordinary girl like me.

No longer feeling alienated from the group, Nagasaki Sase's smile was genuine.

Even if this isn't the real me

But the connection here always feels different. (The last two characters appear to be garbled and cannot be translated.)

Although it seems too early to call it destiny.

But the feeling of cherishing it in my heart is real.

Nagasaki Sase cherishes this moment. Although she has a childhood friend who isn't quite a childhood sweetheart, the emptiness in her heart hasn't been filled.

After all, Ichinose Wakaba is busy working every day.

Just like her mother, apart from her birthday every year, and after they went to different schools, Nagasaki Sosei and Ichinose Wakaba saw each other less often.

Having become alone again, she cherishes the present moment, but that doesn't mean Nagasaki Sosei doesn't cherish her relationship with Ichinose Wakaba.

After all, it was a gift sent to her by the gods when she was at her most difficult and helpless.

So, when she saw Toyokawa Shoko looking at the poster on the wall with a curious expression, she smiled and said, "Would you like to order something else? It's almost dinner time anyway, how about some snacks that you can eat as much as you want?"

As Nagasaki Sase spoke, she checked the faces of the others, except for Shiina Tatsuki, who thought—we're here to practice, right?!

Toyokawa Shoko exclaimed in amazement, "They even have tea and snacks! Karaoke is truly profound!"

Takamatsu and Ruoye Mutsu started discussing what they wanted to eat together in front of the poster.

Unbeknownst to him, seeing this scene, Nagasaki Sosei's lips relaxed again.

And that upturned corner of her mouth became even brighter when she saw Ichinose Wakaba carrying the food in: Is today my lucky day?

I haven't seen my childhood friend in a long time, so I want to say hello and see if we have time to hang out tonight.

"Wakaba?!"

Chapter 152 The Canary Escaped the Cage

Nagasaki Sase was stunned that the sound didn't come from his own mouth.

In her eyes, Ichinose Wakaba's expression changed from a formulaic waitress smile to a stiff one—the smile seemed to be frozen on her face, and the next second, even her eyes were no longer directed at her.

"...I'm sorry, your order..."

He acted as if he hadn't heard the call, lowering his head to neatly arrange the coffee and desserts on the tray. Every movement was flawless, yet too mechanical, as if to mask his panic.

In that instant, Nagasaki Sase felt the air freeze. His heart, which had been beating lightly, suddenly jerked as if something had gripped it tightly.

"Ruoye!"

Once again, that familiar voice rang out, along with Nagasaki Sose's familiar face.

No—the perfect young lady's face no longer wore a proper smile, but instead showed pain, inner turmoil, sadness, and joy...

All the emotions that Toyokawa Shoko had never shown to others surged forth like water bursting its banks.

The blue-haired young lady trembled slightly, her eyes reddened, and her lips were tightly bitten, as if she had used all her courage to call out that name.

That question, "Do you even deserve to bear the weight of my life?" has caused her endless pain—"What did I do wrong? Why are you doing this to me?"

[Afterwards, you pretended to panic and fled the karaoke bar, acting as if you hadn't even asked for leave. Toyokawa Shoko, who caught up with you, managed to get the staff to reveal that you'd been working there for a long time.]

[Knowing everything, Motokazu Kazuha watched quietly, explaining everything to Akari Takamatsu, Tatsuki Shiina, and Sawa Nagasaki, who was comforting the weeping Shoko Toyokawa.]

"His name is Ichinose Wakaba, and he was Shoko's older brother's former fiancé."

"It wasn't like before, wyuwwyw I didn't refuse. 尔久VII流玖一氵爸!~流麇....wuwu."

Originally, when Nagasaki Sase heard that Ichinose Wakaba was actually the adopted son of the Toyokawa family, and even her fiancé, his feelings became complicated.

On one hand, she saved her childhood sweetheart with whom she had feelings, and on the other hand, she received a gift from the gods that helped her escape her pretentious daily life.

Nagasaki Sase doesn't want to hurt any of them.

But now, she realizes that she might be the one who gets hurt. Especially after hearing from Wakaba Mutsumi that he was no longer her fiancé, only to have Toyokawa Shoko deny it while crying.

Thinking of the weakness that Ichinose Wakaba had never shown in front of him, and the sadness that Toyokawa Shoko hid beneath her young lady appearance, Nagasaki Sase began to feel jealous.

That evening, Nagasaki Sase found your place.

After helping you resolve your mentally challenged father's physical problems, you stopped Nagasaki Sase—"Don't tell Shoko."

[Then you told me a story, a story of a boy who had fallen into the abyss and a princess who was incomparably radiant.]

After hearing this story, Nagasaki Sase broke down in tears; she had no idea such a thing had happened to you.

[At first, I thought it was just a normal story about my mother's death and my father's problems, but it turns out to be a feud within a wealthy family.]

So, you ended up in the arms of this incredibly well-developed childhood friend.

It's okay, I won't abandon you, Wakaba.

The brown-haired girl longs to be your pillar of support.

Therefore, she helped you conceal the truth from Toyokawa Shoko.

Unfortunately, Nagasaki Sase, caught in your trap, didn't notice the triangle of Hatsune Miku outside the window.

[Hakka Mikasa, whom you arranged to notice all of this, took a picture of this crime with her phone.]

[Because she's jealous of you, Miku Miku is collecting information about you, though she doesn't intend to use it for anything.]

[In the side of yourself you showed to Miku Miku, you were actually living a worse life than she was.]

[However, subconsciously, Miku Miku was collecting this information, feeling it might be useful in the future.]

[It's like taking Toyokawa Shoko from your arms.]

On the second day, Nagasaki Sase, who had stayed overnight with you, went to school as usual, and as usual, she shared the hardships with Toyokawa Shoko.

Unlike usual, after school this day, Toyokawa Shoko went to the karaoke bar from the previous day.

Can you tell me about Wakaba?

Sorry, Ichinose-kun resigned yesterday.

[From the manager's words, Toyokawa Shoko learned that Ichinose Wakaba hadn't received a single penny of her salary for the month after resigning.]

At this moment, Toyokawa Shoko had no idea what her salary for the past two weeks was. Similarly, Nagasaki Sase also had no concept of what her salary was.

[One reason is that the young lady is indifferent to prices; the other is your usual pretense.]

So, after learning that you weren't working here anymore, Toyokawa Shoko, who had been desperately pleading for information but couldn't get any, left while struggling with whether or not to tell Shoko in Nagasaki.

This inner conflict remained unresolved until the very end of the ordeal, and was never told to Toyokawa Shoko.

During this period, your plan begins to be implemented.

With the help of Toyokawa Nakato, who had been dormant for a year and was starting to feel capable again, you, disguised as a ground engineer, found him with a plot of land.

With your sweet talk and the help of the miracle drug I have, Toyokawa Nakato, now regaining his erection, has decided to spend 168 billion yen to buy this promising piece of land.

[By the way, you also took the opportunity to tell Toyokawa Nakano about Misaki's current situation: perhaps using this illegitimate child as a threat could be useful.]

Following your advice, Toyokawa Nakanobu has found Miku Miku.

Although Misaki Misaki is afraid to see the Toyokawa family because of what happened last time, she once again obeys Toyokawa Nakano's words because of Toyokawa Shoko: "I will definitely make Dad acknowledge you, so come, live with me and Shoko."

During the process, Toyokawa Nakanobu felt the land looked familiar; he remembered seeing the ownership certificate for this land somewhere before.

[However, because of your medicine and the power of financial terminology, this land has become very attractive, making Toyokawa Nakato feel like an idiot not to acquire it—with this performance, I'm sure I can return to the core of the Toyokawa Group!]

[And so, Toyokawa Nakano's second grand rebellion ended after he was swindled out of 168 billion yen.]

This time, Toyokawa no Toyoda didn't hold back and directly told Toyokawa no Nakano to get lost.

[Then, they used their connections and acquired the land.]

After all, this land has a very promising future, thanks to your years of effort.

Therefore, by the time Toyokawa Noboru discovered it, it was already too late.

Faced with you, who had been even more severely suppressed because of this situation and had lost your only ancestral homeland, Toyokawa hesitated for a moment—capital is bloodthirsty.

[Old Toyokawa sensed something was amiss, but just then, Toyokawa Shoko showed up at the door—why did you drive Dad away?!]

[Toyokawa Mizue and Toyokawa Nakano's years of feigned affection successfully deceived the naive young lady, so after learning that her father had been kicked out of the house, Toyokawa Shoko left for her father's sake.]

[Your plan was a success. Years of forbearance allowed Toyokawa Shoko, the canary confined in a cage, to escape the cage that both imprisoned and protected her.]

The next step is to put this canary, which has escaped its cage, back into your own.

Now you know why I'm not a villain. What I'm writing now is just setup, and ordinary business behavior doesn't seem like villainy.

Chapter 153 Who is comforting her?

The rain fell silently.

It wasn't a torrential downpour, but a fine, chilly rain, as if the air itself was soaked in it.

Her long blue hair was soaked by the rain, clinging to her cheeks and neck like a faded ink wash. She didn't have an umbrella; she just walked slowly down the street with her head down.

Every step she took seemed heavy, as if she wasn't walking, but fighting against the entire world.

The blue-haired girl's shoulders trembled slightly, her tears already mingling with the rain, making it impossible to distinguish which drop came from her heart and which from the sky.

Pedestrians hurried past, umbrellas in hand, and no one noticed the mute girl, as if she were merely a phantom in the rain.

Toyokawa Shoko gently bit her lip, remaining silent, yet it seemed as if she were silently shouting.

Only when a cold wind swept by did the blue-haired girl slightly hunch her shoulders. At that moment, the whole world seemed to drift away from her, leaving only the sound of rain and her heartbeat echoing in her chest.

Shoko Toyokawa walked to the street corner and suddenly stopped.

Raindrops slid down her eyelashes, blurring her vision, but then suddenly cleared it the next second with the appearance of a familiar figure.

Ichinose Wakaba, wearing a black raincoat, rode his bicycle, as if he had been waiting for her all along. The wind ruffled the brim of his hat, his hair was slightly damp, and his expression was solemn.

"Xiangzi...how could you..."

He opened his mouth, but was interrupted the moment she looked up.

Toyokawa Shoko stared at him with wide eyes, and at that moment, the defenses in her eyes completely crumbled.

"Ugh...!" She almost lunged forward, her fingers gripping Ichinose Wakaba's clothes tightly, as if she had grabbed onto the only piece of driftwood.

The emotions that had been suppressed for too long finally found an outlet, and sobs spilled from her throat, mingling with the sound of rain, heart-wrenching and extremely aggrieved.

"Why does Daddy... Daddy..."

Toyokawa Shoko's voice choked and trembled, like a broken bird in the rain that had finally found a branch to perch on.

Ichinose Wakaba didn't say anything, but simply opened his raincoat and hugged her tightly, letting her cry her heart out.

Behind the two, the blonde girl witnessed everything.

[The highly intuitive activation allows you to see that Toyokawa Shoko left her band, "Bitterness Comes From the Bitter," due to family reasons.]

So, instead of adding to someone's already wonderful life, you offered help in their time of need.

The Uber delivery driver identity I had prepared earlier came in handy at this point.

You randomly picked up a dish you wanted to eat, and then started searching for Toyokawa Shoko on the street.