Tokyo Psychic

Page 149

There used to be such a rule, but after some students launched a fierce protest, the school gradually relaxed its arrangements for after-school time, not only allowing them to form bands and perform in various places, but also relaxing the review process for creating clubs.

Therefore, the idea of ​​"students from our school joining clubs at other schools" is much safer and more reliable than "students forming bands and running around all over Japan" because it has the endorsement of another school.

When Wakaba Mutsu hesitated, she was indeed tempted when she heard that Toyokawa Shoko was also in Kurusu Akira's club. "I want to join."

Saying such a thing means that she is ready to leave her original club in Moon Forest.

As soon as she finished speaking, she saw Akira Kurusu stand up and extend her hand to her, "The Department of Mental Health Education welcomes you to join us."

"Ministry of Mental Health Education?"

"That's the name."

As the girl stared blankly, Akira Kurusu revealed a smile that resembled a "tribe succeeded".

Just then, footsteps came from the stairwell.

Mori Minami returned to the basement, looked at the young man and woman chatting happily, hesitated for a moment, and then left.

Since things have developed exactly as she hoped, there is no need to intervene further in the interaction between the two young people.

She returned to the living room, the melody of "Spring Shadows" still echoing in her mind.

What an amazing guy... Senmina thought to herself, which strengthened her resolve to bring them together.

Mu should still remember the script I arranged for her, right?

Minami walked into the kitchen and told her hired housekeeper to start preparing a seasonal fruit salad.

......

Noticing the footsteps in the stairwell, Ruoye Mu suddenly tensed up.

After confirming that Minami Mori had left, she immediately relaxed.

Akira Kurusu asked her, "Are you still worried that Shoko will be angry?"

Ruo Yemu nodded slowly.

“But clubs are different from bands. Clubs don’t last forever, so you don’t have to worry about Xiangzi getting angry.”

As Akira Kurusu said this, the girl in front of him showed a look of anxiety and uncertainty.

If Ye Mu suddenly stood up, ran to Qi Xiao, grasped his hand tightly, and looked into his eyes with an admiring and trusting gaze.

"You... saved Xiangzi like this, right?"

Akira Lai nodded.

"Will I...will I also find happiness? Like, like...Xiangzi?"

A dreamlike hope flowed from the girl's voice.

-----------

131. Wakaba Mutsumi: You're sleeping at my house tonight. (Two-part sentence)

[Ikuyo Kita: Great! From now on, we're a professional band!]

[Rupa: First, we need to prepare the ticket fees for our livehouse performance.]

[Rupa: Currently, the estimated cost, when split evenly, is 7,000 yen per person.]

[Kita Ikuyo: So expensive!]

[Ikuyo Kita: Can't we do what Amamiya-senpai's band did... and debut through street performances?]

Pleia (Anhe Subaru): Pochi will die.

[Goto Doku: I'm sorry!!!]

[Satoshi Ebizuka: There's no need to apologize for this. You're our band's guitarist.]

[Pleia: Correction, he's a rhythm guitarist.]

【...】

The girls were having a lively chat in the discussion group for the new band named "Beni-shouga (Red Ginger)".

Akira Kurusu was in the basement chatting with Mutsu Wakaba about some very boring things. Occasionally, she would pick up her phone and glance at the screen, only to find that the chat history she had seen earlier had vanished without a trace.

After playing five consecutive songs of "Spring Shadows," Akira Kurusu, holding his guitar, played everything from his band's debut song to some popular online tracks. Feeling quite tired, he dismissed the persona floating behind him and returned the seven-stringed guitar, which he found increasingly comfortable to use, to Mutsumi Wakaba.

Wakaba Mutsu is a girl who is very bad at expressing her emotions. Perhaps because she is afraid of saying the wrong thing, she always keeps silent.

Only when Akira Kurishi initiates a conversation will she respond in a very soft voice or with the shortest possible words.

Sometimes, words might fail to express the intended meaning, but Akira Kurusu always understands what she is trying to say immediately and corrects her.

Often, after realizing he had said something wrong, Wakaba would nervously look up at Kurusu Akira, and then gradually relax his guard as Kurusu Akira corrected him time and time again.

This boy, whom she had only met once, gradually began to resemble Toyokawa Shoko in her mind.

This is the second person she has met besides her childhood sweetheart who is like a "half-body" to her, who can accurately read her true thoughts.

Moreover, unlike Toyokawa Shoko, who relied on the tacit understanding they had developed since childhood, Kurusu Akira seemed to possess a superpower similar to mind reading... Tacit understanding can sometimes go wrong, but superpowers never will.

If Ye Mu firmly believed this, then she trusted the boy in front of her even more.

Akira Kurusu didn't find chatting with Mutsu Wakaba boring at all.

Although the girl doesn't seem to have any emotional fluctuations, she is not a real doll after all. Instead, because of her upbringing, she has a sensitive and fragile heart and instinctively craves the care and love that she lacked during her childhood.

Even the smallest act of care and kindness can stay with her for a long time.

She just didn't know how to express her joy.

Before and after forming the band "CRYCHIC," Mutsumi Wakaba had suffered too much because of her inability to express herself. She became increasingly afraid to express her true thoughts, afraid of saying the wrong thing again...

Holding his guitar, Wakaba Mutsu's light golden eyes reflected Kurusu Akira's figure with unparalleled brightness.

He's different from everyone else. It's like he knows what I'm thinking even if I don't say a word... Ruoye Mu thought to herself, and then she saw Kurusu Akira give her a smug smile.

No matter how many times she witnessed the power of Akira Kurishi's "mind-reading" ability, Ruoye Mu would always feel genuinely surprised and delighted, then shyly look away slightly.

Having attended an all-girls school since childhood, Wakaba Mutsu didn't understand what "love" felt like. She only felt that Kurusu Akira's eyes and smile were terrifyingly intense, as if just seeing them would make her heart race. Even though there were no strings attached to her body, she had to dance instinctively, as if she were trying to please a destined guest who was meant to take her home.

This was the first time that Wakaba Mutsumi had found a sense of "belonging" in someone else.

Although Mingming and Toyokawa Shoko were in a relationship of mutual "half-body" connection, it was probably a need they had for each other in terms of emotions and experiences.

Looking at Akira now, she immediately felt a sense of "redemption," as if holding his hand tightly would free her from this family.

A voice inside my head seemed to be cheering excitedly:

"Wakaba Mutsu, we need to go to him!"

“No!” Ruoye Mu retorted nervously and dejectedly, “I have no reason to trouble him to do so many things for me.”

"Why not?" The voice in my head suddenly became angry. "You're so cute, he'll definitely like you. If he likes you, he should keep you here!"

"Like? What is liking?"

"Just like you like guitars, you like bands, you like playing. That's what liking is."

Ruoye Mutsu hesitated, her hands clasped in confusion. "But... I don't know if he likes me."

"Then find a way to make him like you."

"..."

Akira Kurusu placed her hand on the top of Wakaba Mutsu's head. "What are you thinking about?"

Wakaba Mutsu paused for a moment, then said somewhat confusedly, "I was wondering... if you like me."

Why did you suddenly think of this?

"Because...because I like you." After saying that, the girl immediately shrank back, looking somewhat fearful.

Do you know what it means to say "I like you" to someone of the opposite sex?

"It's just...it's just..." Wakaba Mutsu stammered, unable to clearly explain what "like" meant.

"Friends are liking, romantic love is liking, wanting a book or musical instrument is liking, family can also be liking, which kind of 'liking' are you talking about?"

Akira Kurusu sensed the wounded, almost pathological, heart within Mutsuka Wakaba's body, and tried her best to soften her tone and guide her thinking.

Then he saw it. Wakaba Mutsu cautiously raised her hand, grabbed her sleeve, and answered somewhat dejectedly, "I don't know."

"Then tell me what you know."

"I'm happy to listen to you play the guitar, I'm happy to talk to you, and I'm happy to see you..." Wakaba Mutsumi said hesitantly. "I like playing the guitar, so I always want to practice here. I also want to stay with you a little longer, so I want you to like me."

After she finished speaking, she mustered up her courage and looked into Akira Kurusu's eyes, "What can I do to make you like me?"

Looking into the girl's pure and innocent eyes, devoid of any other influence, Akira felt a heavy sense of responsibility from that hope that seemed to have grasped at a lifeline, and suddenly he couldn't smile anymore.

"It's impossible to explain this in a short time."

Lai Qixiao picked up her phone and glanced at the time; it was almost 11 p.m.

I never expected that I would end up chatting with Wakaba Mutsu in the basement for over an hour.

He said, "I'll discuss this with you after the club activities start the day after tomorrow."

As soon as he finished speaking, Ruoye Mu nervously grabbed his hand, as if afraid he would run away, and asked anxiously, "Where are you going?"

"Now? Of course, I'm going home to sleep."

"There shouldn't be any tram services anymore..."

Sensing the girl's concern, Lai Qixiao put on a calm expression and said, "I drove here, and I'll drive home too. But I might need to use your bathroom before I leave."

He needed to take advantage of his time away to sneak into the Wakaba family's memory space and find the shadow of Wakaba Mutsuki's parents.

Ruoye Mu immediately felt at a loss. She remembered Mori Minami's instructions before dinner, but when she wanted to "perform" according to Mori Minami's requirements, it felt like something sharp had pierced her heart, and something hot was flowing out.

She said in a very soft voice, "But it's very late now... Please, please stay at Wakaba's house. There are... there are spare rooms here."

"Did your mother instruct you to do this?"

Under Akira Kurusu's gaze, Mutsuka Wakaba nodded with difficulty.

How can a girl who can't even express her own thoughts normally lie to others?

Looking into Wakaba Mutsu's pained eyes, Akira Kurusu ultimately couldn't bring herself to refuse.

"It would be very inconvenient for me to live here."

"No, Minami has thought everything through." Wakaba Mutsu released Kurusu Akira's right hand, and as she spoke, she put the guitar she was holding into the guitar case next to her.

"That sounds like a very well-thought-out plan."

Akira Kurusu watched her actions with some distress. "She probably isn't sleeping in your room, is she?" He thought that the woman named Minami Mori might actually make such a bizarre decision.

Ruoye Mu shook her head, "It's the room that Xiangzi used."

"You've actually been keeping a room for her all this time?"

"Yes." Wakaba Mutsu nodded vigorously. "It's cleaned every week."

......

When Lai Xixiao and Ruoye Mu left the basement, all the lights in the living room were still on.

Minami Mori was watching a late-night TV drama on the sofa.

Noticing the boy and girl preparing to go upstairs, she merely showed a weary expression. "Muto, please take good care of Amamiya, and show him the way..."

Ruo Yemu nodded silently.

Minami Mori looked at Akira Kurusu and asked, "You shouldn't mind sleeping in Shoko's usual room, right?"

"Of course I don't mind."

Despite looking exhausted, Minami Mori forced a somewhat mischievous smile. "You can use the bath towels and hand towels she used."

“Then I’ll have to ask her on Line if she’s willing,” Akira Kurusu said, turning back to Minami Mori as she followed Mutsu Wakaba upstairs. “Shoko is very shy. If she finds out I’m doing this secretly, she’ll be embarrassed for a long time.”

"I washed the underwear that Xiangzi left here last time and put it in the second drawer on the right side of the wardrobe in that room."

Upon hearing Minami's "well-intentioned" reminder, Akira Kurusu wondered what this woman was up to. Was she trying to sow discord between her and Shoko?

After careful investigation, he discovered that the Ruoye couple had no malicious intent towards him at all.

There was no intention whatsoever to harm Wakaba Mutsu.