People in Mygo are emotional firefighters.

He put away his phone, looked at Xiangzi again, and suggested, "How about we go to the band activity room?"

This suggestion caused a barely perceptible flicker of surprise in Xiangzi's eyes. The band activity room... why would he think of that?

That was her secret corner where she could occasionally catch her breath and vent her emotions through the piano.

A slight unease, a feeling of being seen through, swept over her, but that place did indeed give her a twisted sense of "safety"—at least better than in a corridor or any open space. She suppressed her doubts and nodded slightly, tantamount to agreement.

The two walked silently down the corridor leading to the band room, one after the other. Their footsteps echoed in the empty corridor, the atmosphere so oppressive it was almost suffocating. Xiangzi always lagged behind by half a step, his gaze fixed on Zhenyu's back, as if scrutinizing her, or perhaps gathering the strength to interrogate her.

Reaching the door of the activity room, Zhenyu tried pushing it, and the door opened with a click. The setting sun shone through the windows, casting a warm glow on the room, but the piano standing quietly in the corner made the air feel inexplicably heavy.

Xiangzi was the last to walk in, and gently closed the door behind him.

"Click".

The soft click of the latch locking the door was particularly clear in the quiet activity room, as if it had officially opened the prelude to this destined-to-be-difficult conversation. She turned around, leaned against the door, crossed her arms, and when she looked up at Zhenyu again, her amber eyes were filled with only cold scrutiny.

Just as her lips parted slightly—

"Long time no see, Xiangzi."

Ishikawa Mayu's voice rang out first, seizing the initiative.

"I didn't expect you to be in Yuqiu too."

This unexpected greeting made Xiangzi's prepared question get stuck in her throat. She pursed her lips, and her arms, which were clasped to her chest, tightened unconsciously, her nails almost digging into the fabric of her arms.

"Long time no see?" she repeated, her voice icy. "Shouldn't I be the one saying that? The person who moved away without a word back then is now acting all familiar."

Ishikawa Mayu remained silent for a moment, not defending herself, because it was indeed the truth.

Shoko Toyokawa clearly didn't want to dwell on this embarrassing topic any longer. She took a deep breath, as if trying to forcefully suppress her surging emotions:

"Why did Nagasaki know I was in Haneoka?" Her voice was low, filled with barely suppressed anxiety and a hint of barely perceptible panic. "Did you tell her?"

This is the assumption she fears most.

If he said it, it means her last refuge has been exposed, and the status quo she has been desperately trying to maintain, severing ties with the past, will be completely shattered.

Seeing the unease and accusation almost overflowing in her eyes, Ishikawa Mayu understood.

He could almost imagine how much resentment Xiangzi would feel towards that lively and innocent pink-haired girl if he were to reveal that it was Aine who blurted it out in front of Su Shi, given Xiangzi's sensitive state at that moment.

"I didn't tell Su Shi that you were here."

Xiangzi's tense shoulders relaxed slightly, but he still looked at Ishikawa Mayu with a questioning gaze.

"However, this matter did indeed originate from me; it was my dereliction of duty. I knew perfectly well that Aine knew you, yet I neglected to inform her beforehand... that this needed to be kept confidential. It was my oversight."

This candid "confession" left Xiangzi, who was itching to question others, feeling like he'd punched a pillow. The pent-up anger in his chest had nowhere to go, leaving him stuck there, unable to vent.

Looking at the man in front of her, who seemed to think, "Do as you please, punish me or whatever you want," she was speechless for a moment, and all the sharp words she had prepared lost their target.

He could only look away sullenly, his voice lowered, and he asked with lingering unease:

"...Then, does Su Shi...know about my 'situation'?"

Looking at Toyokawa Shoko's forced composure, yet barely concealed worry, Ishikawa Mayu felt a complex pang of pity resurface. He shook his head, his tone firm:

“She doesn’t know. I’ve never mentioned anything about your family to anyone.”

He paused briefly, his gaze calmly fixed on her, his voice softening slightly, tinged with tenderness:

“I can probably understand… why you chose to leave without saying goodbye, and even hid the truth from Su Shi. You probably felt that telling them would only make them worry, or… you didn’t know how to face them. There’s no right or wrong in that feeling.”

These words were like a key, gently prying open Xiangzi's tightly closed heart.

He actually... understood? Not accusing her of escapism, not mocking her stubbornness, but seeing through her clumsy attempt to bear everything alone. This unexpected understanding caused her tense defenses to loosen slightly, and a bittersweet warmth mixed with grievance welled up in her eyes.

She pressed her lips tightly together, preventing any sign that might reveal her weakness.

However, what Ishikawa Mayu said next instantly cooled the faint warmth that had just begun to rise.

“However,” he changed the subject, his tone still gentle but carrying a “rationality” that Xiangzi found jarring, “I think you should still find an opportunity to have a good talk with Su Shi. It would be fairer for both of you to clarify things.”

"Talk?" Xiangzi suddenly raised his head, his expression, which had just softened, turned cold again, and his voice was filled with anger at being misunderstood. "Talk about what? Tell her how miserable I am right now? Make her pity me? Or make her feel even more guilty?"

She felt that Ishikawa Mayu was looking down on her predicament from that superior perspective again, spouting empty, pretty words.

He kept saying he understood, but in the end, he still stood on a seemingly fair position, saying these bland words that forced her to face the most unbearable reality. He had no idea how much price that "honesty" would cost.

Seeing the anger and deep disappointment burning in Xiangzi's eyes, Ishikawa Masahiro remained silent for a moment. He neither refuted her accusations nor defended himself.

Only after that suffocating silence did he speak softly, almost as a sigh:

"Yes, maybe I don't understand... I don't understand what the best way is."

His gaze fell on her tightly clenched, slightly trembling fists, and his voice carried a pure worry devoid of any preaching.

“But, Xiangzi,” he called her name, no longer using any distant form of address, “I don’t want to see you like this.”

"I don't want to see you carrying all the burdens alone, making yourself so...painful."

Toyokawa Shoko stared blankly at him, looking at her own utterly wretched reflection clearly in her eyes, and an indescribable pang of sorrow suddenly welled up in her eyes.

She quickly turned her face away, not wanting him to see her eyes instantly reddening, leaving only a tense, silent profile facing him.

Chapter Forty-Seven: A Slow Tempo Like a Song

In the activity room, only the suppressed breathing of the two people and the increasingly dim sunset outside the window remained.

Ishikawa Mayu let out a soft breath, deliberately making her tone lighter, trying to break the tense atmosphere:

"Speaking of which, after knowing you for so long, I only found out these past few days," he said, his gaze shifting to the quiet piano in the corner of the room, "that you play the piano so well."

Xiangzi's shoulder twitched almost imperceptibly, but he didn't turn around.

She wasn't deliberately hiding it; it's just that when she was with Masahiro, there weren't any facilities at home for playing the piano.

Mentioning something so untouchable will only hurt you more.

"Could you play me a song?"

"Ishikawa Mayu said softly."

Toyokawa Shoko remained silent, still with her back to him.

Just when Ishikawa Mayu thought she would refuse with cold silence as before, she spoke softly, her voice still slightly nasal, but her tone was harsh:

"You don't need to care about me... about Su Shi and me."

As soon as he finished speaking, Xiangzi took a step forward, not towards the door, but towards the piano standing in the corner.

She sat down on the somewhat worn piano bench, without looking at him or saying a word. She simply opened the piano lid quietly, her fingers hovering over the black and white keys, as if gathering something, or perhaps struggling with some emotion within her.

Finally, the fingertip landed.

It is the second movement of Beethoven's "Pathétique Sonata", a lyrical slow movement.

The first few notes were somewhat awkward, with a slight, almost imperceptible tremor, as if reflecting her chaotic emotions at that moment.

But soon, the melody unfolded gently and profoundly, like a river flowing calmly under the moonlight. The notes echoed in the empty activity room, carrying a deep and restrained sorrow, yet within that sorrow, there was an indomitable and noble strength.

Ishikawa Mayu stood quietly, not disturbing her. He watched Xiangzi's profile as she immersed herself in the music, the afterglow of the setting sun dancing on her blue hair.

At this moment, she is no longer the sharp-tongued, guarded girl, nor the girl exhausted by the weight of life. She is Toyokawa Shoko, a proud yet lonely performer who has built her own world with music.

As the music ended, the last note slowly dissipated into the air, leaving behind an endless lingering melody.

Xiangzi's hands remained on the piano keys, his head slightly bowed, his shoulders no longer as tense as before.

Ishikawa Mayu didn't clap, but behind her, in a voice loud enough for her to hear, she whispered something:

"It sounds beautiful."

Xiangzi still didn't turn around or respond. But her fingers, which were resting on the piano keys, curled up slightly, almost imperceptibly.

She silently closed the piano lid, stood up, and walked towards the door. This time, her steps were neither hurried nor heavy, but unusually quiet.

"I'm leaving." She opened the door to the activity room, her voice soft and devoid of emotion.

Ishikawa Mayu followed half a step behind Shoko, and the two walked silently through the gradually emptying campus.

The setting sun stretched their shadows long, occasionally overlapping and then separating. There was no conversation, but the tense atmosphere from before was also gone, as if time had reversed, returning to those evenings in the old apartment building where they understood each other without saying a word.

As I walked through the teaching building gate, I could vaguely hear students passing by whispering among themselves.

"Another student from Tsukimori?"

"I seem to see her quite often lately. A very pretty girl from the Moon Forest came here before..."

These words, like background noise, went unnoticed by the two walking side by side. Their thoughts seemed to still be lingering in the activity room filled with the sunset and the sound of the piano.

However, just as they were about to step out of the school gate, a figure stood quietly in the twilight outside the gate, as if he had been waiting for a long time.

The evening breeze ruffled Nagasaki Motoyo's long, honey-brown hair.

She stood there, her hands clasped in front of her, a carefully practiced gentle smile on her face.

As Toyokawa Shoko stepped out of the school gate first, Nagasaki Motoyo's gaze immediately fell on her. A complex and unreadable emotion surged in her blue eyes—the excitement of a long-awaited reunion, the cautious probing, and a hint of barely perceptible sorrow.

She unconsciously twirled a strand of hair with her fingers, her voice as sweet and soft as ever, carrying just the right amount of surprise:

"Xiangzi...it's been so long—"

The greeting came to an abrupt end.

Because she saw it.

She saw Ishikawa Maho standing half a step behind Xiangzi, before stepping out of the school gate.

The air seemed to freeze before Nagasaki Motoyo's eyes.

Her carefully crafted smile froze on her face, like fine cracks suddenly appearing on the surface of delicate porcelain. Her blue eyes, which always shimmered with gentle light, were now filled with disbelief and shock, her gaze frantically shifting between Toyokawa Shoko and Ishikawa Mayu like a startled butterfly.

Xiangzi...and Zhenyu-kun?

How did they end up... coming out of school together?

This scene struck her like a heavy blow, slamming into her understanding.

A series of questions pierced her hopeful heart like icicles. More than the excitement of finding Xiangzi's trail, a profound sense of loss and grievance welled up inside her, a feeling of being concealed and excluded by the most unexpected people.

Her gaze finally settled on Ishikawa Mayu, her eyes filled with shock, confusion, and a sting of betrayal. Her carefully maintained composure was on the verge of collapse; her voice, though still striving to remain gentle, inevitably trembled and hardened.

"Makoto-kun...?" she asked softly, each word seemingly squeezed out with difficulty from between her teeth, "You and Shoko... knew each other before?"

Ishikawa Mayu, who was directly named, sighed inwardly, "As expected."

He looked into Su Shi's eyes, which seemed to be covered with moisture and filled with questions, and knew that any ambiguity at this moment would only make the situation worse.

Shoko Toyokawa, who was standing in front, froze the moment Suze appeared.

Almost instinctively, she wanted to turn around and leave immediately, to escape this suffocating scene of reunion.

But when she caught a glimpse of Ishikawa Mayu beside her out of the corner of her eye, her stubborn refusal to show her weakness and vulnerability in front of him again froze her in her tracks.

She couldn't run away. At least, not in front of him.

So, Toyokawa Shoko forced herself to stay where she was, her jawline taut, her hands quietly clenched into fists at her sides.

She didn't look at Su Shi, nor at Zhen Yu, but stared blankly into the empty air before her, as if that would free her from this awkward and painful triangular standoff. But her slightly trembling fingertips and overly straight back betrayed that her heart was far from calm.

Chapter 48 Pinky Promise, Never to Change (3k)

Ishikawa Mayu felt Shoko beside him freeze almost solid, and saw the question in Sose's eyes that was a mixture of shock and hurt.

In a flash, he realized that trying to smooth things over would only make things worse.

"Yes, I know him." He met Su Shi's gaze and answered clearly and calmly.

Then, he changed the subject, his tone becoming serious and even somewhat solemn: "But it seems that I don't need to explain this to you, Su Shi, one by one."

These words made Nagasaki Motoyo gasp for breath.

These words were like a bucket of cold water, suddenly splashed on Nagasaki Motoyo's face. She widened her eyes slightly in disbelief, as if she were seeing this person for the first time. She had never heard Ishikawa Mayu speak to her in such a tone.

Ishikawa Mayu didn't give her time to process the shock. He stepped forward and subtly shifted his body to the side, placing himself between Su Shi and Xiangzi, giving Xiangzi some space to catch her breath.

He looked calmly at Su Shi, who had taken a slight step back in surprise, his voice low but clear, enough for Xiangzi behind him to hear every word:

“Su Shi, I understand your nostalgia for the past, and I understand how important Crychic is to you.” His opening remarks carried a rare, almost cold rationality. “But what are you doing now? Waiting for people at the school gate? Have you considered that this isn’t a reunion, but harassment?”

“I…” Su Shi’s face turned pale from the sharpness of his words. She wanted to explain, but he interrupted her.