Toyokawa Shoko doesn't want to become a witch

Page 212

That's a mountain.

Xiangzi saw it clearly.

That was a mountain, a mountain made of water, the roar of the ocean.

If we were to use a universal term to describe it, there is only one word that represents natural disaster.

The Great Tsunami

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P.S.: Eden Zero: Hope Paradise Awakening Chapter 3, match successful, ding—

The Lost Tale: A Young Man's Spirit: Chapter 256 You Insult Like You're Being Pouting

What Xiangzi didn't know was that some time had actually passed between her being thrown back into the ruins and waking up.

To understand what happened during that time, we need to rewind the pointer to the moment when Xiangzi was ejected from the barrier by Mio.

Within the barrier of the pool.

============

boom--!

Chu Hua heard a loud bang, and then the whole world was plunged into darkness and silence, as if the power had gone out halfway through watching TV.

"Xiao Xiang?!"

Chu Hua's legs went weak, and she knelt on the ground.

My ears, my eyes, my whole body hurt.

"Xiao Xiang, where are you?! What happened?!"

Chu Hua was like someone who had dropped a contact lens on the ground, blindly groping around on the floor.

"Your Xiao Xiang is no longer here."

Mio's voice echoed in Hatsuka's mind.

A few seconds later, Chu Hua felt her chin being pinched and lifted up.

"It's just you and me here, Chuhua."

"let me go......"

"Don't let it go."

"Hurry up...or else..."

"Or what do you want to do?" Mio's voice was full of contempt.

His empty eyes stared fixedly ahead, meeting Mio's gaze.

She clearly couldn't see where Mio was.

Chu Hua opened his mouth, revealing sharp fangs, and spoke, word by word.

"I...I'm going to kill you..."

"Well, there's more."

"I'll tear you to pieces... I'll rip your intestines out... I'll throw them on the ground and stomp on them... I'll swallow all the pieces of flesh."

Chu Hua's voice grew deeper and deeper, becoming less human and more like that of a wild beast.

At the same time, after losing Xiangzi, the wild marks on her body became more and more numerous, and the keratin layer that had been shaped like armor once again went out of control and grew wildly.

The empty eyeballs gradually regained their clarity, and the red in the iris took over.

"Continue," Mio said calmly.

"I will make you pay for all those who died at your hands—!" Chu Hua's two rows of neat teeth turned into sharp fangs as he opened his mouth, making a gurgling sound in his throat.

The scales of the Soul Gem began to tip in Bsk's favor, and the wolf-head helmet hanging on his back slammed shut forward with a clang—

Then, it was twisted back by a hand.

Mio ripped the wolf's head off Chu Hua's back like a piece of rotten plastic and tossed it to the ground. She pinched Chu Hua's chin, as if putting an iron mask on a wolf. No matter how arrogantly the wolf howled or how loudly it growled in its throat, once it put on the mask, it had no choice but to be a good dog.

“Darling,” she scoffed, “you insult people like you’re being affectionate.”

"you--!"

"That's enough," Mio said. "You've said enough insults. Can you let me speak now?"

She sighed.

"It's been so many years since we last met, and I have so many things I want to tell you."

"Shut up..." Chu Hua said through gritted teeth, "...I don't want to hear it."

She stared intently at Mio with her eyes, now that she had regained her sight. If looks could kill, Mio would have been dead countless times over.

"Why won't you listen?" Mio's eyes inexplicably turned sorrowful. "Aren't we each other's only friends?"

"We were no longer friends before you crossed the line."

"Bottom line? What's your bottom line? Is murder and arson the only bottom line?" Mio suddenly flung her hand, throwing Chu Hua to the ground. "So, anything beyond that doesn't count as crossing your bottom line? Can I understand it that way?"

"There's no need to explain to someone like you!"

The moment Chu Hua felt free, she almost instinctively wanted to pounce on him.

but--

Boom!

Two armored guardian knights descended from the black mist in the sky, their shackle-like hands pressing her firmly to the ground.

"If murder and arson are your bottom line, then breaking contracts means nothing to you, right?" Mio waited for her, her tone finally showing some emotion. "I bet you don't even remember what contracts you broke."

"what----!"

Chu Hua grinned and roared at Mio, but her voice sounded weak and feeble.

She had never been so eager to submit to the witch within her.

But at this moment, she couldn't do it. Even though most of her body had become like Bsk's, she still couldn't cross that line.

Mio somehow managed to maintain her soul gem in a strange balance, just like... when Xiangzi was beside her.

"What did you do to me?!"

"Are you even listening to me?" Mio frowned. "Don't be silly, I can do anything that Toyokawa Shoko can do."

She snorted coldly, walked up to Chu Hua, squatted down, and tapped the soul gem in the center of Chu Hua's collarbone.

blah blah.

The fingernail touched the gemstone and made a crisp sound.

“As long as I keep absorbing the filth you produce, you can stay in this form, right?” she said.

"You can see my memories?" Chu Hua's eyes widened.

“What memory? I’m talking about the Seed of Lamentation.” Mio stood up, turned around with little interest, and slowly explained to her, “The upper limit of how much the Seed of Lamentation can be purified depends on the upper limit of the witch’s magic power, and witches who possess flowers, such as me and Shoko, possess almost unlimited magic power.”

She shrugged and said.

"All witches can purify the Soul Gem before they die, but no witch is willing to use it."

If Xiangzi were here, she would have discovered that Mio's method of purifying Hatsuka's soul gem was completely different from her own. However, Hatsuka wouldn't have noticed, nor could she have known.

Mio sighed and changed the subject.

"Besides, do I need your memories? We were childhood sweethearts, and I never stopped paying attention to you after you left the island. You probably know yourself better than I do."

"You're... paying attention to me?" Chu Hua was stunned, and her shoulders suddenly went limp.

"So you're finally willing to listen to me properly now?"

Mio turned her head.

Black mist drifted down from the sky, forming a table and a pair of chairs in front of them. The guardian knight helped Hatsuka to the chairs, while Mio walked to the other end and sat down.

"We have plenty of time. Would you like to hear my story?"

"What do you want to say?" Chu Hua fidgeted restlessly in the chair, but the guardian knight behind her held her down firmly.

"It's nothing." Mio rested her chin on her hand, looked at her, and slightly curled the corners of her mouth. "I know everything that happened after you left here—most of it, you should know mine too."

"Do you know how I... became this unrecognizable, ghost-like person?"

A Tale of a Lost Soul: Chapter 257 Reminiscing

"After you left, I had no friends and nowhere to escape from home."

Mio was lost in memories.

“My father is still an alcoholic, but since you left, he has become even more reckless in beating people.”

"Why?" Chu Hua didn't understand.

"Are you really confused or just pretending?" Mio didn't understand either. She looked at Chu Hua, feeling a surge of resentment she couldn't vent. "You are the most crucial link between our family and yours. Without you, how can I legitimately hide in your house and spend the night?"

"Mom shouldn't mind..." Chu Hua didn't realize that her tone had become weaker.

"Of course she wouldn't mind, but I had no reason to go out! My father would lock me at home and not let me go out, and my mother would hold my hand and cry. Where could I go? Besides, at that time, I actually felt guilty about breaking off our friendship, so I dared not go to Aunt Lin."

"..." Chu Hua guiltily looked away.

Mio rubbed her temples and continued:

"But even at home, I can still connect with the outside world."

"After all, it's the 21st century now, and there's the internet."

"I used a cell phone that I found at the dock to access the internet at the only hotel in the village and learn about the outside world."

"After using it so frugally and secretly for quite some time, I discovered your SNS."

The black mist condensed in Mio's hand into a tattered old cell phone, which she pushed in front of Hatsuka.

On the phone screen is a social media account that few people follow. The account's content is mostly short videos of Chu Hua singing and playing guitar on the street.

"This is... what I created at the very beginning..."

"Yes, I've been following you since you only had a few dozen followers."

Mio tapped the screen with her finger, and the number of followers on the account began to rise, with new videos being uploaded to the account like bubbles rising one after another.

“From two digits, to three digits, to four digits,” Mio said, “until you and Ms. Mana teamed up and started frequenting places like bars.”

"Then, you went to Reed Plain, made your debut, and your account's number of followers exceeded five figures."

She looked at Chu Hua intently.

"I've been watching you all along, Chuhua. I've liked every single one of your videos."

"Should I say thank you for your concern...?" Chu Hua gave up struggling and said softly.

She felt so guilty.

What is the source of your guilt?

Because... she remembered that in the beginning, it was Mio who wanted to become a big star, not her.

She also promised that they would be together forever.

As a result, they never crossed paths again until the very end.

"Why didn't you tell me..." Chu Hua said weakly.

"Yes, why wouldn't I tell you?"

Mio laughed.

Why didn't the Little Mermaid tell the prince that she was the one who saved him? It was because seeing the prince happy was enough for her.

"From the bottom of my heart, I wish you success, I wish you popularity, and I wish you to leave your isolated island."

"Seeing you succeed feels like seeing me succeed, and seeing you get criticized feels like seeing me criticized. I cheered for you online and fought back against your haters. I feel like I did my part for you, you know?"