People in Mygo are emotional firefighters.

[Aine: Um...where's Mio? Is she...chatting with Mayu?]

This time, Chanel seemed to finally sense something unusual, and her reply carried a hint of teasing.

[Kana: Oh—? Our Aine is finally feeling threatened?]

[Kanna: Wait a minute, let me ask for you.]

The brief wait felt like an eternity. Ai Yin stared intently at the screen, holding her breath.

[Kana: I asked! Mio said no. She said that Mayu seemed a little tired today, so when she said goodbye to Mayu, she just said, "Take care, senpai," and we didn't chat tonight.]

[Kana: How about that? Are you relieved now? I knew it! Mayu isn't the kind of person who would be easily seduced by some random slut! (￣▽￣)~*]

He wasn't chatting with the enthusiastic younger colleagues.

He finished his work and felt exhausted.

He returned home.

……Then what?

Why is that chat box that always responded to her, even if it was just a few simple words, now as quiet as if it were dead?

A massive wave of panic, like an icy tide, instantly overwhelmed Chihaya Aine.

Kana's subsequent reassuring and teasing remark, "Mayu-san isn't the kind of person who would be seduced by just any random slut," now sounds like a cruel joke.

Yes, he won't be easily seduced by others.

Does that mean... the problem lies with her?

It was because her terrible performance that afternoon, her last-minute escape and her refusal to look at him, finally exhausted his patience, making him feel... that she was a hopeless problem, so he simply didn't want to deal with her anymore.

This thought, like a venomous snake, gnawed at her heart.

She bit her lower lip so hard it almost bled, her fingertips turning white from the force. Driven by immense fear and a desperate, reckless impulse, she trembled as she clicked on the pinned chat window that had been making her anxious.

[Aiyin: Aren't you done yet?]

The moment she sent the message, she felt as if all her strength had been drained away; the phone slipped from her hand and sank into the soft bed.

She curled up, hugging herself tightly, her eyes fixed on the darkened screen, praying that it would light up again in the next second and sound that special notification sound.

One second, two seconds, ten seconds, one minute...

Time crawled slowly in the silence, each second feeling like an eternity.

The screen remained dark.

Did he see it?

Did he see it, but choose not to reply?

Does he... really hate me?

On the other side, Ishikawa Mayu was sitting at the cozy dining table of the Nagasaki Sue family.

Before me lay a steaming bowl of ochazuke (rice with tea) that Su Shi had just prepared. The rice was plump, the tea broth was clear, and it was topped with finely shredded seaweed and sesame seeds, emitting a comforting aroma.

Su Shi sat opposite him, resting her chin on her hands, looking at him with her eyes crinkling into crescents, her voice so gentle it could melt your heart: "You must be tired from work, Zhenyu-kun. Try it and see if it tastes right?"

Chapter 155 Never a Disturbance

Ishikawa Mayu returned to his apartment on the 46th floor. The room was quiet, with only the faint sounds of the city night outside the window. He carefully placed the violin case against the wall, rubbed his temples wearily, and then remembered to take out his phone.

The screen lit up, and the LINE notification icon showed an unread message from [Chihaya Aine]. He subconsciously tapped it, ready to reply with the usual [Finished with work].

However, the dialog box only contained one system message:

[Chihaya Aine retracted a message]

The space below is empty.

Mayu's finger paused on the top of the screen.

withdraw?

Aine almost never retracts her messages. Given her personality, even if she sends a message to the wrong person, she'll immediately follow it up with a string of "Ahhh, wrong message!" or a cute emoji to cover up her embarrassment.

This silent withdrawal carries an unusual... cautiousness, or rather, unease.

He frowned, his finger hovering over the input box as he typed, "What did you just retract?"

Delete it.

"What's wrong?"

Deleted again.

Words seem too rigid and distant. In such delicate and uncertain moments, words are too easy to misunderstand and too easy to give the other party room to evade.

He could almost picture Ai Yin staring at the screen, anxiously awaiting his reaction, perhaps even overthinking things because of his simple question.

This can't go on any longer.

His escape from RiNG this afternoon, the retraction of the message just now... he could no longer allow this unsettling atmosphere to spread.

Without hesitating for even a second longer, he exited the chat interface, found the familiar number in his contacts, and pressed the dial button.

Holding the phone to her ear and listening to the monotonous "beep-beep" sound coming from the receiver, Ishikawa Mayu's heartbeat unconsciously quickened slightly with the regular busy tone.

He leaned against the cold wall, waiting for the moment the call would be connected.

Instead of the expected ringtone, the call was connected almost simultaneously with the dial tone.

So fast... it was as if the other person had been holding their phone tightly in their hand the whole time, afraid of missing any sound.

However, after the call was connected, there was only silence on the other end.

There was no "Moshi Moshi" as usual, no "Mako?" with a smile, and even the sound of breathing was so faint that it was almost impossible to hear.

Only a heavy, suffocating silence pressed down on us through the radio waves.

Ishikawa Mayu's heart felt as if it had been suddenly gripped by this silent suffocation.

"Aiyin?"

He subconsciously straightened his back, which had been lazily leaning against the wall, and his voice carried a hint of urgency and worry that he himself was unaware of.

"……What's wrong?"

There was still an unsettling silence on the other end of the phone.

Just as Mayu thought there was a problem with the signal, or that something had happened to her, his brows furrowed deeper and deeper, and he was almost about to call her name again—

"……nothing."

Finally, a response came from the receiver. It was Ai Yin's voice, but it had lost all its former brilliance and vitality, becoming low and muffled, as if covered by a thick layer of dust, carrying a forced yet fragile calm.

"It's just... I accidentally sent it to the wrong person," she added softly, her tone unconvincing.

"Aine." Mayu called her name, her voice not loud, but with an undeniable seriousness, "Don't lie to me."

These words seemed to shatter her last line of defense.

A small, suppressed sob came through the receiver, followed by a more pronounced nasal tone: "I'm...I'm sorry...Mayu...I...I didn't mean to disturb your work...I just...I just..."

Her words were fragmented and incoherent, but her immense unease and fear were clearly conveyed.

Zhenyu leaned against the wall and slowly slid down to sit on the cold floor. He closed his eyes, rubbed his temples, and the slight frustration he felt from her avoidance that afternoon was now washed away by her tearful voice, leaving only heartache and the realization that "I knew it."

"Stop apologizing, you idiot." He sighed, his voice carrying a hint of indulgence he himself didn't realize. "I didn't feel bothered."

"Just now... I was having a late-night snack at Su Shi's house, and my phone was lying next to me, so I didn't notice it."

"Su Shi, is that you...?"

Ai-yin muttered softly, but her voice was too faint and nasal, so Mayu couldn't hear her at all.

"what?"

"No, it's nothing!" Chihaya Aine sniffed, grabbed a tissue, wiped her face haphazardly, and replied hastily, a subtle bitterness spreading through her heart.

Seeing that Aine was unwilling to talk about it, Mayu didn't press her further. Instead, she continued to explain in her tired but patient tone, "I went straight to the agency after leaving RiNG. I didn't have time for dinner, so I'll have to trouble Suze."

He described it simply and naturally, as if it were just a trivial matter in daily life.

However, these words were like a pebble thrown into a calm lake, creating ripples in Aine's heart.

"I came out of RiNG and went straight..."

"I didn't even have time for dinner..."

So... he was so busy with things this afternoon that he didn't even have time to eat?

Imagining him rushing to work on an empty stomach, only to have to hurry to a neighbor's for a simple late-night snack after finishing... that subtle bitterness that instinctively arose because of the name "Su Shi" was instantly overwhelmed by a surge of heartache and self-blame.

It's all because of her... If she hadn't so impulsively said "give up," if she hadn't fled in such a sorry state, he could have calmly arranged everything as usual, without having to go through all this trouble and exhaustion...

"I'm so sorry..." Her voice was thick with nasal tone, and there was even more genuine remorse than before. "It's all my fault... I made you unable to even eat..."

“I already said it wasn’t your fault.” Zhenyu interrupted her, her tone devoid of blame, only a kind of helpless tolerance. “Besides, that’s not the point.”

He adjusted his posture slightly, pressing the phone closer to his ear, as if to get closer to her emotions. His voice was deep and earnest, each word transmitted through the airwaves:

“Aiyin, when you message me, it’s never a ‘bother’.”

“No matter what I’m doing, whether I’m busy or idle, happy or a little annoyed,” he paused, seemingly searching for the most accurate expression, and finally said in an almost frank tone, “...the moment I see your name pop up, and know that my notification sound is ringing, you’re definitely holding your phone, thinking of me…”

His voice softened unconsciously, carrying a gentle warmth that even he himself hadn't fully appreciated:

"This feeling... isn't actually that bad."

“So, don’t say ‘I’m bothering you’ anymore,” he concluded, his tone firm and unwavering. “You can contact me anytime you want. Even if I don’t see it immediately, I’ll always reply later. You don’t need to… be so careful to retract your message.”

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

All that could be heard from Aine's side was suppressed, faint breathing, as if she was biting her lip hard to stop herself from crying out, or as if she had been overwhelmed by his unprecedentedly straightforward and gentle words, leaving her completely unable to react.

After a while, just when Mayu thought the signal might have been lost again, she heard Aine give a very soft "hmm" in her slightly trembling, hoarse voice, which was characteristic of someone experiencing intense emotional turmoil.

Chapter 156 Do you still want the compensation package?

The response was so faint, like the buzzing of a mosquito, that it eased the slight frown on Zhenyu's brow.

"Are you feeling better?" he asked, his voice much softer, with a cautious probing, as if afraid of disturbing her emotions that had just calmed down.

On the other end of the phone, Ai Yin subconsciously shook her head, then realized he couldn't see her, and quickly responded in a low voice, "...Mm."

She shook her head because the heavy pressure in her heart hadn't dissipated. She was afraid that Zhenyu would bring up the performance next, afraid that he would look at her with that "I believe you" look and tone again—that would only make her feel more overwhelmed and less worthy of that trust.

But she nodded because... Zhenyu didn't hate her. He didn't blame her for messing everything up. Instead, he was so busy because of her that he didn't even have time for dinner. Now he was on the phone late at night, patiently explaining and gently comforting her with a tired but unusually soft voice that she had never heard before.

This feeling of being cherished was like a ray of light, piercing through the heavy gloom of her self-denial.

"Well..." Zhenyu's voice came again, with a tone of negotiation, "Tomorrow, let's... have a good talk with everyone and clear things up, okay?"

As expected... it still happened.

Aine's heart tightened suddenly, and her fingers, which had just loosened, instinctively curled up again. She knew that she couldn't avoid this topic after all. Getting together meant facing Riki's possible dissatisfaction again, the lamp's silence, and Su Shi's all-seeing gaze... Just imagining it made her feel suffocated.

Normally, she would probably immediately make up an excuse or try to get away with it by being cute.

but……

His words, "Seeing your name pop up... this feeling... isn't so bad," still seemed to echo in her ears. He had been so earnest and tried so hard to comfort her; if she were to reject him now, wouldn't that be... too unfair to him?

She didn't want him to show that tired and helpless expression anymore.

Silence stretched across both ends of the phone, each second feeling exceptionally long. Zhenyu didn't urge him, but waited patiently.

After a long while, Ai-yin gave an almost inaudible, extremely slow "hmm" again. This response carried obvious unease and hesitation, but it was ultimately an agreement.

Mayu seemed to keenly sense her reluctance, and he continued, his tone carrying a reassuring decisiveness:

"—Also, although I still don't know why Aine ran away this afternoon,"

These words made Ai Yin's heart skip a beat, and she held her breath.

"—But let's not talk about that now."