Can someone in MyGo stay in an adventure group forever?

Page 68

“...Xiangzi.” Yuecun Ze interrupted her somewhat reluctantly.

“Ze…” Toyokawa Shoko suddenly stopped, turned her head, and looked at him with tear-filled eyes.

"Let's run away together..."

"Please let me... forget everything."

Chapter Sixty-Nine: The Broken Straw

“Okay,” said Koshimura Sawa.

“If this is the future you want,” he said softly, “I’m willing to be with you.”

"Actually, I already have quite a bit of savings! Although it might feel a little unfamiliar at first in a new place, I should be able to adapt quickly, right?"

"Then buy a detached house with a yard, just like you said, by the sea, preferably with not too many or too few people around."

"If I plant a cherry blossom tree in the yard in spring, I should be able to see the cherry blossoms in full bloom next year, right?"

"In summer, we can stroll along the beach together, feeling the sea breeze as we walk on the wet sand, watching the sunset gradually sink below the horizon, dyeing the sky and the ocean the colors of the evening glow."

"In autumn, we can lie in the yard and watch the stars together. The starry sky in the countryside must be much brighter than in Tokyo, and we can see many constellations that we can't see in the past."

"In winter, we would huddle under the kotatsu, with hot tea you had brewed on the table. We would look at each other, do nothing, and lazily spend the whole day like that."

"...Although it's not quite what I imagined, I'm sure I'll be very happy to spend my life with you in this ordinary way."

The sunlight moved, filtering through the sparse shadows of the trees and dappling their faces.

"but..."

Koshimura Sawa, using the flattened grass beside him, slowly stood up.

It blocked the oncoming sunlight, casting a shadow on Toyokawa Shoko.

"What if they still won't let you go even after you escape?"

His voice was deep and clear, each word striking Toyokawa Shoko's heart like a hammer blow.

The girl's eyes widened suddenly, and she abruptly raised her head to look at his back.

"You must still have family, right?" Koshimura Sawa continued to ask.

"If you leave, what will happen to your father? Isn't he also a member of the Toyokawa family?"

Toyokawa Shoko's lips trembled violently as she slowly lowered her head.

Her bangs fell down, obscuring her eyes. Her dreamlike aspirations, once so vivid, shattered like fragile bubbles.

"...I have no idea."

Koshimura Sawa sighed.

"Aren't you going to try again?" he suddenly asked after a long silence.

"Just yesterday, the director of the Bureau of Paranormal Investigations... ah, that is, Takamatsu Akari's father, told me that he has a large chain of evidence, and now, all he needs is one key piece..."

"So what..."

Toyokawa Shoko suddenly stood up unsteadily.

"You mean I didn't try my best?!"

"How is that possible? I definitely tried it!"

She screamed at the top of her lungs, hot tears streaming down her pale cheeks.

"Even if it's repeated a hundred times! A thousand times! Ten thousand times—!!! nothing will change!"

"It's over... Koshimura Sawa."

The girl's hand fell limply to her sides, as if all her strength had been drained away.

"I will not go any further."

"This is the end. I'm a coward. I give up."

"...Do I have to say it this way for you to be satisfied?"

“No,” said Koshimura Sawa decisively.

"People who really want to leave won't ask for other people's opinions."

"I would just pick an ordinary afternoon... maybe the sun was shining, maybe it was raining, I would walk out the door without taking anything... and never come back."

He reached out and supported Toyokawa Shoko's trembling shoulders, forcing her to look him in the eye.

“Look at me, Xiangzi.”

The girl looked up and met his eyes through her blurry, tear-filled vision.

"You just asked me, and my answer is—I like you," Koshimura Sawa said, emphasizing each word.

"So...do you like me?"

“I…” Toyokawa Shoko’s lips moved.

However, no matter what he did, he couldn't make a sound.

......

“I see…” Koshimura Sawa slowly released her shoulder.

"Don't you think it's too fast? We've only known each other for less than a week, and we've barely even met a few times. At least I can't think of any reason why you would say something like this to me at this moment."

He took half a step back, creating some distance between himself and her.

You don't like me.

“A person who has fallen into the water will desperately grab onto the last floating straw, even if it is full of sharp thorns that will cut your hands... But that is not love, it is just instinct.”

"That's not how it is—" the girl tried desperately to refute, her voice trembling with tears, "I—"

"Do you like me?" Koshimura asked again.

......

The only possible response was the girl's soft sobs.

Koshimura looked at her deeply, his eyes flashing with sadness, pity, and disappointment... but in the end, only a calm that remained remained.

“If you want to leave, then leave.” He turned around, his back to her, and said gently, “...Xiangzi, actually...you are already very, very amazing.”

"If it were me, I wouldn't be able to persevere like you have. So, I have no right to... criticize the choices you made."

He started walking toward the rusty door.

"...And what about you?" Toyokawa Shoko asked, staring blankly at his solitary figure standing in the weeds.

Koshimura Sawa did not stop walking; he merely turned his head slightly, and his calm voice carried on the wind.

"...I won't stop."

The boy continued walking forward, leaving the shadow of the wall and stepping into the dazzling sunlight.

"Tonight's awards ceremony is a ruse." Koshimura's voice came from afar, both muffled and clear. "Takamatsu Yuji just wants to take advantage of their momentary lapse in vigilance to conduct a forced search... This is the last chance."

His shadow was stretched long in the sunlight.

"correct."

But then, as if suddenly remembering something, he stopped, turned back, and took out three 100-yen coins from his school uniform pocket.

He took Toyokawa Shoko's cold hand and carefully and gently placed the three coins, one by one, into her palm.

The cold touch made the girl's body tremble slightly.

"What is this...?" Toyokawa Shoko looked down at the three small coins in her palm and asked somewhat blankly.

“That pork miso bento was on sale because it was close to its expiration date, and you gave me an extra 300 yen,” Koshimura said calmly. “I don’t like owing people money, so… here you go.”

He paused, his gaze sweeping over Toyokawa Shoko's pale face, over the wasteland that buried countless secrets and despair, before finally settling back on the three brand-new coins.

"From now on, I owe you nothing."

So, without any hesitation, he turned and left.

I walked forward step by step along the path that had been trodden countless times.

The wild grass brushed against his trouser leg, making a rustling sound, as if making a final attempt to hold on, only to be ruthlessly torn away.

Toyokawa Shoko stood there blankly, clutching the three cold coins tightly, their protruding edges digging painfully into her palm.

As she watched that receding figure grow ever more distant, a profound sense of loss and heart-wrenching pain overwhelmed her.

at this time--

“Ding-ling-ling——!!!”

A shrill cell phone ring suddenly came from her uniform pocket.

Xiangzi trembled as if startled, and frantically pulled out his phone.

The word "Father" appeared on the screen.

With trembling fingers, she pressed the answer button and held the phone to her ear.

"Hello... Daddy?" she asked, trying her best to suppress her sobs.

A hurried and excited voice could be faintly heard from the other end of the phone.

"What do you mean by 'he turned himself in'?" Her voice suddenly rose. "Who turned himself in—"

Koshimura stopped in his tracks.

Chapter Seventy Before the Rain

When Shoko Toyokawa pushed open the door to the Metropolitan Police Department, the interrogation had already been going on for some time.

Behind the one-way mirror, the young man in the seat faced the police officer in charge of the interrogation and nodded mechanically.

Shoko Toyokawa leaned against the door frame, her chest heaving, staring blankly at the utterly absurd scene before her.

"You're here."

A gentle voice suddenly came from beside me.

Toyokawa Shoko turned her head and looked at the middle-aged man in a suit sitting on the bench in the corridor.

A man in a black trench coat stood silently half a step behind him, like a silent statue.

"Xiangzi, don't you remember me?" The middle-aged man smiled kindly. "I used to hold you when you were little."

He stretched out his hand and gestured in the air: "Back then, you were probably only this tall."

"But so many years have passed, it's normal that you don't remember me..."

“No.” Toyokawa Shoko interrupted him, looking at the face that she had etched into her mind.

"Chairman of Sato International Logistics, head of the Sato family... Takeru Sato."

"So you still remember me?" Takeru Satoh raised an eyebrow in surprise. "That's truly an honor, the renowned young lady of the Toyokawa family..."

He raised his hand, pointing to the man sitting behind the one-way mirror, his voice suddenly lowering, filled with sorrow: "Do you see that?"

"That's the person who killed your mother."

Takeru Satoh sighed deeply, slowly closed his eyes, and shook his head.

"What a misfortune for our family..."

"Sōsuke was my favorite nephew, and the one I had the most faith in among his generation. I watched him grow up since he was a child."

"I trusted him so much, I went to great lengths to nurture him, and I entrusted him with important responsibilities..."

"—I never imagined he would be so blinded by greed, colluding with those cultists from the Eternal Moon! He even used other people's names to do so many heinous and despicable things!"

He was so excited he could barely breathe. He patted his chest hard, and after a long while, he finally spoke again.

"...It's my fault for not disciplining him properly. I bear an unshirkable responsibility for how he turned out this way."