People in Mygo are emotional firefighters.

He turned his head stiffly and extremely slowly.

Chihaya Aine stood beside him, looking up at him.

Her face still bore traces of tears, and her eyes and the tip of her nose were red, but the panic and despair that had overwhelmed her earlier had vanished from her silver-gray eyes.

Her lips trembled slightly, as if she wanted to say something, but she couldn't utter a single syllable. In the end, she simply gripped his hand tightly in return, her fingertips icy cold, yet carrying an undeniable strength.

No words were needed. She held his hand tightly; that gesture said it all.

"Mayu-san..."

A soft, worried voice came from the other side.

Takamatsu Akari had somehow moved to stand on his other side, her light brown eyes filled with clear unease and concern. Looking at Mayu's still flushed profile and rapid breathing, her small hands unconsciously clutched the hem of her clothes, and she whispered:

"...Your face...is so red...are you alright?"

She timidly reached out her hand, as if wanting to touch his forehead, but hesitant. Her small hand hovered in mid-air, and her light brown eyes reflected his disheveled yet unusually determined appearance.

Ishikawa Mayu was taken aback by Akari's innocent concern, and then the overwhelming sense of shame surged up again. He straightened up abruptly, instinctively wanting to cool his burning cheeks with the back of his hand, only to find that his right hand was still being tightly gripped by Aine.

Aine trembled slightly at the touch, but she didn't let go. Instead, she gripped it even tighter, as if the finger was the only piece of driftwood she could hold onto at that moment.

Mayu felt the cool pressure of Aine's fingertips on the back of her hand, and the pure, worried gaze of the other person. A strange feeling of being needed and supported quietly mixed in with that huge awkwardness.

He took a deep breath, trying to calm his still-rapid heartbeat and the heat on his face. His voice was still a little unnaturally hoarse as he shook his head at the light.

"...I'm fine."

He paused, glancing at the few curious glances cast his way around him, and realized he really didn't want to stay there for another second.

“It’s not convenient to talk here…” he said in a low voice, his gaze shifting between Ai Yin and Deng, carrying a sense of exhaustion as if he had just survived a disaster, as well as a determination to deal with the situation immediately. “Let’s… find a quiet place first.”

The three walked silently to a quiet bench in a nearby park. Mayu sat down first, still avoiding Aine's gaze, the blush on the tips of his ears not yet fully faded. Aine sat close beside him, her hand still clenched. Akari sat quietly on Aine's other side, watching the two with concern.

After a while, Aine seemed to have calmed down a bit. She lowered her head, her voice still hoarse from crying:

“Lixi…you’re not wrong.” She gave a bitter smile. “I have indeed…been running away.”

She looked up, her gaze somewhat blank, and said softly, "Light, did you... also think that the timing of my transfer was strange? Mayu, you... probably didn't know why I suddenly came back from England, right?"

Zhenyu nodded silently. He only knew the result, not the reason.

Ai Yin took a deep breath, as if she had made up her mind, and slowly recounted the embarrassing experience she had been trying to bury:

“I went to England… but I only lasted a month.” Her voice was soft, tinged with self-deprecation. “I couldn’t keep up with the language at all, classes were like listening to gibberish, and I was so nervous even going to the convenience store… I felt like a complete failure. So… I ran away. I bought a plane ticket, said nothing, and just ran back to Japan.”

After she finished speaking, she let out a long sigh of relief, as if a huge burden had been lifted, but then her shoulders slumped again, and her voice was filled with helplessness:

"See? That's me. All I do when I encounter difficulties is run away. I ran away from England, and now I want to run away from the stage... I thought I could start over at Haneoka, but..."

Her voice suddenly choked up, and she unconsciously tightened her grip on Zhenyu's hand, her knuckles turning white.

"And now... I'm even more scared." She finally voiced her deepest fear, tears welling up again. "Makoto, you... you protected me like that, you took all the blame for me... I... I'm so scared... If I mess up in the end and play terribly on stage... wouldn't I... wouldn't I be letting you down after all that effort you put into protecting me? I... I can't bear to disappoint you..."

This is her deepest knot in her heart—that overwhelming trust has become an unbearable pressure for her.

"It's not over yet."

Two voices rang out almost simultaneously.

Ishikawa Mayu and Takamatsu Akari exchanged a glance.

Lamp carefully tore a page from her notebook and handed it to Aine and Mayu. The paper contained the familiar, chaotic maze of lines, and scattered among those tangled lines were a few clear words:

【get lost】

【heavy】

【trust】

【go ahead】

【Everyone】

The lamp stared at the paper, its gaze slowly shifting between Aine and Mayu. Its voice was soft, yet unusually firm:

"It's okay if I feel that trust is a heavy burden."

"I'm afraid... but it's okay if I let someone down."

Her gaze fell on Mayu's still tense profile, then shifted to Aine, who was trembling with fear.

"Because...we're together."

"If you think it's too heavy... you can share it with everyone."

Ishikawa Mayu looked at the paper, listened to the light's words, and felt the chill from Aine's hand, intensified by fear. He suddenly understood what she was truly afraid of.

He gripped Aine's hand tightly with a firm grip, then turned to her, forcing her to look into his eyes.

“Aiyin, listen carefully.” His voice was deep and clear, with an undeniable seriousness. “What I did just now was not to put pressure on you, nor was it to achieve a ‘perfect’ result.”

He looked directly into her tear-filled, silver-gray eyes and said, word by word:

"I protect you because you are Chihaya Aine. That's all."

"It has absolutely nothing to do with whether you play it wrong or mess it up."

He paused, his tone softening, carrying an almost gentle certainty:

"My trust in you has never been based on the assumption that you 'will never fail'."

"The one I trust is Chihaya Aine, who would secretly practice until her fingers bled even when she was trembling with fear; the one who always wanted to make everyone happy and pulled me and Tohru out of our respective corners."

“So,” he squeezed her hand, as if to convey this belief directly to her, “you never, ever have to worry about ‘betraying’ this trust. Because it’s right here, and it won’t disappear no matter what happens.”

He added softly at the end, as if it were a promise, or a self-evident fact:

"If you want to move forward, I'll be there for you. If you want to stop, I'll wait for you. But stop saying you 'can't afford it'... You deserve it all."

Chihaya Aine stared at him, gazing into his eyes at the unconditional trust that clung to her without reservation. The overwhelming weight that had been pressing down on her seemed to melt away and ease with his words.

She suddenly threw herself into his arms, buried her face in his shoulder, and burst into tears.

Aine's sobs gradually subsided, turning into soft whimpers, and finally fading into silence. She still buried her face in Mayu's shoulder, as if it were her only safe haven, drawing comfort from its warmth and scent.

Takamatsu Akari watched them quietly, her light brown eyes sparkling with understanding and empathy. She lowered her head, looking at the torn page from her notebook, the one filled with mazes and words, then looked up, her gaze shifting between the two embracing figures and the chaotic lines. Her voice was soft, yet like a pebble thrown into a still lake, it echoed clearly in the small space:

"I... want to too."

Aine and Mayu both looked at her at the same time.

“Even if…we lose our way,” the lamp said softly, as if reciting a poem of its own, “we still want to…move forward.”

Chihaya Aine slowly lifted her head from Mayu's embrace. Looking at the lamp, she murmured, repeating the word:

"Lost... Ah..."

The panic and self-deprecation from before were gone from her voice; instead, there was a hint of resigned relief, and a faint, rekindled curiosity. She realized that perhaps being lost was simply part of the state of being.

She turned her head and her gaze met that of Ishikawa Mayu beside her. He was looking at her quietly, his eyes offering no urging, no judgment, only complete waiting and support, as if to say, "I'm here, no matter which path you choose."

Aine took a deep breath, as if drawing her last bit of courage from his and Akari's gazes. She didn't just look at Akari, but slowly shifted her gaze between Mayu and Akari, finally asking softly in a tone that was both tentative and incredibly firm:

"So...shall we go together?"

Her question clearly pointed to two people.

Then, as if she had finally made up her mind, she forcefully wiped away the tears on her face. Although her voice was still hoarse from crying, she tried her best to put on a genuine smile, still glistening with tears in her eyes.

"We...we're moving forward together in this state of being lost."

This statement was no longer just her monologue, but a shared vow made to her two most important companions.

Takamatsu's eyes lit up instantly, like stars that had been illuminated. She nodded vigorously, almost impatiently, a faint but incredibly reassuring smile on her face.

As Ishikawa Mayu watched Aine finally stop backing down and saw the completely trusting light in Tama's eyes, a surge of warmth mixed with relief, excitement, and an unwavering sense of responsibility coursed through her entire body.

He reached out and, instead of just holding Ai Yin's hand, he tightly and securely enveloped her hand, along with Deng's slightly cool little hand, which had also been quietly placed on his lap at some point, in his palm.

Both hands, one slightly damp with tears and warm after a resolute decision, the other slightly cool and cautiously dependent, were now firmly held in his grasp.

Ishikawa Mayu raised her head, her gaze deep and calm, looking first at Aine's eyes, which had regained their luster, and then at Akari's brown eyes, which were filled with trust and expectation.

"Whether the direction is right or wrong is not important. Even if we take a detour or even the wrong path, it doesn't matter."

His gaze finally settled on Ai-yin's face, carrying an almost gentle certainty:

"The important thing is that we walk together."

"As long as the three of us are still together and moving forward, then—"

He tightened his grip slightly, feeling the distinct yet equally real warmth emanating from the two girls in his palms, as if to completely connect the strength, determination, and destiny of the three of them.

"—You'll always find the right direction."

Chapter 159 Aine: Also Relying on Tanuki

Shiina Tatsuki and Nagasaki Motoyo sat side by side on the cold steps, neither of them speaking first. The streetlights in the distance gradually lit up, outlining the indifferent contours of the city, making the silence here even more unbearable.

Nagasaki Motoyo gently brushed a strand of hair that was ruffling in the evening breeze, gazing at the bustling yet utterly unfamiliar street before her. A bittersweet feeling, a mixture of worry and abandonment, welled up inside her. She turned her head slightly, her voice carrying a barely perceptible hint of loneliness and grievance, softly breaking the silence:

"I wonder...where did they go..."

Her voice drifted away on the evening breeze, carrying a sense of melancholy that no one answered.

Beside her, Shiina Ritsuki had her hands clenched into fists on her knees, her knuckles turning slightly white from the force. Her head was lowered, her hair obscuring her eyes, completely absorbed in her own thoughts, and she hadn't heard what Suze was saying at all.

"That Ishikawa Mayu...!"

She gritted her teeth and growled inwardly.

"In the end, as long as that idiot Chihaya Aine cries and runs away, all he can see is her! All those promises, all that talk about being together, it was all a lie!"

A surge of betrayal anger and even more resentment raged within her. She even began to uncontrollably imagine the worst possible outcome:

"If... if Aine takes this opportunity to say she'll never perform on stage again... Ishikawa will definitely go along with her, right?"

This thought filled her with panic and helplessness.

"Then... what about the band?"

"And...the weekend..."

She thought of the arranged music composition lessons they had agreed upon, of the title "Teacher Lixi" that made her ears burn, and of his focused profile as he listened attentively to her lectures...

Will he... come again this weekend?

"Does this mean... you'll never come again...?"

Just then, a series of slightly hurried footsteps approached from afar.

Shiina Ritsuki looked up irritably, and the first thing she saw was Ishikawa Mayu's face, flushed from exercise and slightly out of breath. His bangs were ruffled by the wind, indicating he had run back. He was walking towards them, and his gaze... seemed to be fixed on her?

Almost reflexively, a split second before their eyes met, Li Xi abruptly turned her head to the side, leaving him with only a tense profile and slightly reddened ears. Her heart, however, clenched uncontrollably—was he running so fast… to scold her for speaking too harshly and making Ai Yin run away?

"Lixi, Sushi." Zhenyu stopped in front of them, her breathing still slightly ragged, her voice earnest, "I'm sorry... I left you here for so long. Are you alright?"

His apology came first, which made Li hope, who was originally prepared to bear the blame, pause slightly, but he still stubbornly did not turn around.

Upon hearing his voice, Nagasaki Motoyo's face instantly broke into a gentle smile tinged with genuine concern. She immediately stood up, walked a few steps to Mayu, looked up at the fine beads of sweat on his forehead and his slightly flushed cheeks, and her brows furrowed slightly.

"Masahiro-kun..." she called softly, her voice full of heartache, as if he were the one who had suffered the greatest injustice. She naturally took a clean, simple handkerchief from her pocket, carrying a faint, youthful scent, and gently wiped the sweat from his forehead. "Masahiro-kun, why were you running so fast? Look, you're all sweaty... What if you catch a cold?"

Through the soft fabric of the handkerchief, her fingertips could clearly feel the warmth emanating from his skin. As she wiped the area near his temples, her little finger seemed to unintentionally and extremely lightly brush against his cheek.

The sensation at that moment—cool, delicate, with a hint of tickle—made Zhenyu's body stiffen almost imperceptibly, his breath catching in his throat. He tilted his head slightly, feeling a little uncomfortable, his ears burning.

Su Shi seemed completely oblivious to the subtle effects of her actions, continuing to meticulously wipe him clean. Then, as if suddenly remembering something, she asked, her gaze still lingering on Zhen Yu's face, "Aine and Xiao Deng... are they alright?"

"I'm fine, I'm just... worried that you'll be waiting too long."

As Ishikawa Mayu spoke, his gaze involuntarily drifted past Suze's shoulder and landed on Shiina Tatsuki, who was still sitting on the steps with his back to him. That tense back resembled a hedgehog with its quills raised, yet trembling slightly.

"Aine and Deng are fine too. They're behind us and will come later."

He hesitated for a moment, then leaned closer to Su Shi and asked in a low voice.

"Su Shi, what happened to Li Xi? Is she still angry? Or..."

A subtle sense of loss welled up in Nagasaki Motoyo's heart. But she quickly suppressed this strange emotion, simply lowering her eyes slightly, her long eyelashes casting a small shadow beneath them.

“Tachibana-kun… she probably isn’t angry.” She said softly, her gaze turning to Tachibana’s back. “I think she might… be worried about you, Masahiro-kun, or perhaps she feels guilty for speaking too harshly and letting Aine-kun run away.”

Zhenyu roughly understood, so she sat down next to Lixi.