Tokyo Psychic

Page 172

The background of the billboard features a photo of a stylish silver-haired man giving a thumbs-up to the camera with a serious expression, and next to him is a line of small text.

[Yu Narukami, the record holder for the highest score in the joint entrance examination, has been named the "Best Student" of the Faculty of Law at the University of Tokyo for two consecutive years.]

Momoka Kawara impatiently looked away. "Anyone with a sound mind could guess what you're up to, right?"

"Only someone with a wicked mind could probably guess that."

"To be able to flirt with a girl your own age and then say something like 'sugar daddy' to a woman two or three years older than you, who is also the guitarist in your band... Can't you at least have some self-awareness about your character?!"

"I'm rich now, Miss Momoka. Working must be tough, right? Could you perhaps...?"

Go back to school!

"I ranked first in the joint entrance examination."

"Then go and be intimate with your girlfriend, try to be a good man, and stop fooling around outside."

"As expected, it's more interesting when Miss Momoka teases me."

Momoka Kawahara was amused by Akira Kurusu's shameless behavior. "Stop bothering me, okay? I dropped out of high school a long time ago, there's no way I could go to any club training camp with you guys."

“But Ms. Momoka looks to be only college student age,” Akira Kurusu said, pointing to the billboard above her head. “She’s the same age as the college student in this movie.”

Kawara Momoka gritted her teeth, "If you're really bored, go to the agency and find something to do. Don't bother me while I'm doing my part-time job."

“Ms. Kawaharaki, we’re going to perform at Seibu Dome on the 27th. If we miss this four-day study tour, it might cause the band to fall far behind in working on the new song, and we might embarrass ourselves on stage.”

Lai Qixiao patiently persuaded, "You are the lead guitarist of our band. If you were gone, it would be very distressing for everyone."

Kawara Momoka's expression changed several times before her gaze fell on Kurusu Akira's hands. Her expression suddenly became somewhat forlorn. "That kind of thing doesn't matter... With your talent, you should be able to easily take on the role of lead guitarist, and you might even be able to play better than me."

"In the end..." she sighed, "I also can't understand why you chose to stay in a band of high school students who are just doing it for fun, and why you, with such outstanding talent, are willing to take on the role of 'rhythm guitar'."

"In the past, it was out of a desire to keep a low profile, but now... I guess it's because I've been the main character for too long, and I occasionally want to try to give the stage to young people who need the spotlight more."

"You sound like a retired hero who has just defeated a demon king, leaning on his cane and watching groups of young adventurers setting off with kind eyes on the streets of a beginner village—but you're only seventeen," Momoka Kawara couldn't help but retort.

Akira Kurusu noticed the ribbon tied on Momoka Kawaragi's wrist. "When a hero defeats the Demon King and retires to the starting village, he usually proposes to the beautiful guild mascot."

"Hmm? Having met the lively and adorable female elf archer, the quiet and dignified female sage, the aloof female assassin, and the passionate female knight... can you still remember the original poster girl?"

"It was because of the encouragement and support of the mascot girl that the boy, who had not yet become a hero, was able to muster the courage to pick up the wooden sword and approach the first slime in his life." As she said this, Akira Kurusu suddenly reached out and grabbed Momoka Kawaraki's wrist, forcibly prying her hand open.

The long, slender, fair hands that should have been holding a pen or a pick had developed some calluses, a very light dark color, which ruined their original beauty.

For a moment, Kawara Momoka seemed to forget to struggle; she was just stunned.

Akira Kurusu said, "Also, your description just now doesn't sound like a hero, but more like a goblin wielding a wooden club and wearing a grass skirt."

Kawara Momoka instinctively wanted to yell at Kurusu Akira, "You're a goblin!" but she was genuinely afraid of being forcibly dragged back to the cave by goblins and forced to live a life of darkness and despair. So, she looked at the boy in front of her with trepidation and asked, "Is this hot spring retreat really something I absolutely have to go to?"

"If you don't go... how am I supposed to brag to my classmates?"

"Then I'm not going."

Two hundred thousand.

"What, two hundred thousand?"

"Five hundred thousand."

"I go."

"Ha, insatiable adults."

"Tsk, what a lecherous high school student."

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(PS: This Wakaba Mutsumi, a born "man of a thousand faces," a born "unruly power," should work on our Persona set.)

(I worked through the night to improve Wakaba Mutsumi's work and rewrote her COOP setting chapter twice. I'll post it with the update tomorrow.)

144. Wakaba Mutsumi: Do you want to build a harem? (5-in-1)

（爆更：1/10、2/10、3/10、4/10、5/10）

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【PM. 6:17.】

When the vending machines begin selling orange sunsets, the baseball team boys swing their metal bats, shattering the sunset into molten glass candy.

As the girl with long, light green hair squatted by the wire fence tying her shoelaces, the melody of a piano version of "Spring Shadow" came through her in-ear Bluetooth headphones.

The convenience store on the corner rang with a "ding-dong" sound. An office worker in a suit bought the last two cans of chilled beer of the evening. The condensation on the aluminum cans dripped in the same way as the girl's tears three hours earlier.

boom.

The baseball hit the barbed wire with a very dull thud.

The girl crouching on the other side of the grid was not startled at all; she simply looked up and watched the baseball fall to the ground and roll around.

The boy who ran over to retrieve the ball wanted to apologize, but when he saw that lifeless, doll-like face, he instinctively took a step back, swallowing all his apologies and words of praise and admiration because of fear.

The boy, under the empty, deep gaze of Wakaba Mutsu, cautiously bent down to pick up the baseball, then hurriedly fled back to the group of his clubmates.

"Yoshino! What's wrong with you?!" several close friends teased him. "How come you can't even say a word when you meet a pretty girl?!"

Yoshino tossed the ball to his teammates, puzzled. "Shut up, you guys..." He recalled the look in Wakaba Mutsu's eyes, and the fear of being stared at by something inhuman instantly broke through the boundaries of his understanding.

He took a deep breath and forced himself to calm down.

Only after picking up his bat again and standing on the field did Yoshino muster up a little courage to look at where the girl had been.

The doll-like, silent, and exquisite girl had changed places, and a very childlike smile had appeared on her face. She stood prettily in front of a black-haired boy, and her bright eyes no longer held the emptiness of "inhuman" from before. She chattered and laughed around him.

Yoshino recognized the boy's identity as Ren Amamiya, a star in Shujin-ri—the legendary transfer student who ranked first in the joint entrance exam, and who was rumored to be two-timing and had topped the school's "Male Expulsion List" for two consecutive years!

However, this time he felt not the slightest envy or jealousy towards this scumbag socialite who was about to embark on his third relationship.

Unfortunately, as always, the surrounding area erupted in vehement condemnation and denunciation.

These guys, with zero dating experience, simply couldn't understand how that guy outside the baseball field could simultaneously date multiple beautiful girls they'd never even have a chance to talk to on a normal day...

To be precise, the mere fact that they could "build a harem" was already a height that these restless teenagers dreamed of but could never reach.

But... when Yoshino recalled the girl's lifeless face and her seemingly empty gaze, he felt his hand holding the baseball bat tremble.

A sense of admiration for Ren Amamiya arose in my heart.

Ren Amamiya, you bastard... you're the one who should be running this harem.

......

Akira looked at Metase in front of her.

Then, naturally, he took her little hand and led the girl towards the school gate.

"Why did you come alone? Where's Xiangzi?"

The innocent smile that had been on "Wakaba Mutsu" suddenly fell silent. She looked down at the tips of her shoes. "Shoko is accepting apologies from Takafumi and Minami."

"You should apologize, after all, they are the ones who caused you to become like this."

"Hmm... So you knew all along." Wakaba Mutsu's voice, which had been short and emotionless, suddenly became cheerful.

It was as if another part of her soul had been forcibly separated to deal with Akira Kurusu.

"Even this kind of harmony, I like it very much."

Ruoye Mu's eyes changed more than ten times before finally returning to their lifeless state, yet a faint light shone within them. "Thank you."

"You're welcome," Lai Xixiao stroked her forehead. "I told you, I would protect you."

Wakaba Mutsu's shoulders trembled slightly. "I did something wrong."

"Was this category of 'error' defined for you by Mr. Maruki?"

Ruoye Mu nodded, pursing her lips to reveal their delicate, cherry-blossom-like color. Today, she wasn't wearing the Moon Forest school uniform, but rather a dress and jewelry ensemble from various high-end brands. A beige pleated skirt, an intricately designed and ornate top with a collar sewn into a rose-like pattern, scarlet cross earrings, and a black lace choker adorned with pearls and diamonds around her slender neck—she looked like a runaway princess.

But she was clearly not a "princess" in the true sense; she was merely a maid trying to act like one, whose best fate would be to marry a real princess.

Wakaba Mutsu held Kurusu Akira's hand, looking up into his eyes as if seeking redemption and forgiveness.

"I don't want to disappear."

Akira Kurusu was visibly taken aback. "Who's in charge now?"

"...I don't know." The girl's eyes were filled with confusion.

Will Metis disappear?

“She was supposed to disappear,” Wakaba Mutsumi said in a calm and emotionless voice, reverting to the way she was when she first met Kurusu Akira. “Mortis wasn’t originally Mortis. The purpose of that personality was simply to fulfill Takafumi and Minami’s expectations.”

"You call her a 'personality'? Is this a result of Mr. Maruki's therapy?"

If Ye Mu could clearly and accurately recognize the existence of those different consciousnesses, then "Yes."

Then she continued, "But later, Takafumi and Minami seemed to suddenly become different people, twisted and terrifying. They wanted to destroy me, so in order to find a way to escape, I..."

Her voice grew softer and softer, as if she felt guilty, yet also relieved—a complex and fragmented emotion, like a mirror shattered into thousands of pieces being pieced back together, reflecting countless faces of joy, anger, sorrow, and happiness.

“Metis was born to rebel against them.” At this point, Wakaba Mutsu suddenly gripped Kurusu Akira’s hand tightly. “No… it’s because Metis said she could do it that Metis came into being.”

She took a deep breath, staring unblinkingly at Akira Kurusu, as if hoping for some kind of answer, "Did I do something wrong?"

Then, the girl, who looked as if she might crumble into hundreds or thousands of pieces at any moment, said sadly, "I...I'm a bad child."

Akira Kurusu stroked Mutsuka Wakaba's face, "Mutsuka is a good child."

"Even if... all of this was 'acted' by me?" Wakaba Mutsu felt even more ashamed.

His innate talent allows Wakaba Mutsumi to instinctively portray completely different versions of "Wakaba Mutsumi" in response to the needs of different scenarios.

She finally understood why she felt an inexplicable closeness to Akiko Kurusu when they first met—and even deliberately said "I hate being around him" because she was worried that this uncontrollable closeness to Akiko Kurusu might cause Toyokawa Shoko to dislike her.

At this moment, Wakaba Mutsu finally realized that he had "kindred spirits" in this world.

Although there is a gap in self-awareness between the "person with a thousand faces" and the "person with a thousand faces but no appearances," they ultimately come from the same origin, which gives them reasons to be close to each other.

Looking into her eyes, Akira Kurishi said, "So, you're going to express your affection for me through countless 'performances'? That's truly flattering."

“That’s not what I meant! I…” Ruoye Mutsu’s emotions suddenly intensified. She said with immense guilt and self-reproach, “I can’t guarantee that every ‘me’ will like you.”

“Then I will try my best to make them all like me.” Akira Kurusu said with a smile, “I have always had a good memory and can remember the differences between each ‘Wakaba Mutsumi’. Even if you instinctively melt them into another personality, I will still remember every moment they existed.”

Ruo Yemu suddenly stopped talking.

She clearly looked like she was about to cry, but she suddenly threw herself into Akira's arms.

They parted after a long time, and glistening tears finally streamed down her smooth, fair cheeks, but a heartbreakingly happy smile spread across her face.

The setting sun shone on her, making it seem as if most of her body was stained with blood.

In the distance, the rumbling sound of trams winding along the tracks could be heard.

If Ye Mu stared intently at Lai Xixiao's face with his empty eyes, it seemed as if he wanted to fill the huge void in his heart with all of Lai Xixiao's image.

She has the values ​​and understanding of a normal person, so she clearly understands that she was born a "monster".

In her unique family structure, she was unable to learn to "know herself" like Akira Kurusu, and adapting to changes in the environment by playing different versions of "Mutsuki Wakaba" has become her instinct.

As if judging herself, Ruoye Mu said, "During that time, I executed all the 'Mu's, and then entrusted everything about them, including their will to resist, to Metis." She used the word "execution," and her light golden pupils reflected the silhouette of the setting sun. In the light, the shadow of the building was gradually obscured by the boy's face, as if a tall tower was crumbling in the flames.

"But now, however, Metis has a new purpose in life, which is..."

Lai Xixiao's hand moved along the girl's cheek, her fingertips caressing her lips, then pressed up, silencing the girl's unfinished words, "I said, from now on, I will protect you."

He reached into his backpack with his other hand, then magically pulled out a gift box, opened it, and revealed a pair of exquisite scissors.

The handles of the scissors have ornate inscriptions that mean "Ravenda".

If the meaning of giving a brass knuckle duster is "to personally shatter the capriciousness of fate," then the meaning of a kunai is "the power held in one's hand can cut through the barriers of the world."

So this pair of scissors probably symbolizes "cutting off the threads that bind you and no longer being a puppet controlled by someone else."

Akira Kurusu smiled at the doll girl who had regained her freedom and said, "Consider this an early gift."

"And..." He looked at Wakaba Mutsu, who was playing with the scissors he had just given her, and coughed twice.

"Mumu, can you entrust the rest of your life to me?"