"Xiao... Xiao Huan..."
In the gloomy room, Ye Shiyu's face was tilted sideways amidst her disheveled black hair. Her eyes were weakly half-open, and her normally profound dark pupils were completely shattered, resembling a heavily cracked crystal ball.
The faint light spilling in from the doorway reflected off the bloodstained razor blade in her hand, gradually illuminating the nurous cuts crisscrossing her palm and arm...
Yan Huan could clearly see faint, still-wet traces of blood on the carpet beneath her hand.
'No way, Ye Shiyu, are you actually being serious right now!?'
Staring at the wounds on her hand and the blood pooling on the carpet, Yan Huan's pupils contracted slightly. He hurriedly turned his head and shouted.
"Call an ambulance!"
"Eh? Y-yes, right away."
Hearing his shout, the hotel staff mbers imdiately took out their mobile phones to dial ergency services.
Without wasting another second, Yan Huan strode briskly into the room to check on Ye Shiyu's condition.
Sakuramiya Hitomi and An Le had not expected Ye Shiyu to be in such a state either, and they stood frozen in place for a mont.
An Le was the first to recover her wits. She pursed her lips and prepared to follow him inside.
But just as she lifted her foot, Little Finger instantly manifested. It flicked its tongue and spoke in a solemn tone.
"Do not go in there yet."
"Eh? Why not?"
"I do not know, but I have this feeling that you will be in danger if you enter..."
Little Finger narrowed its eyes as it peered into the gloomy room. It felt as though it was staring right into a massive, gaping maw dripping with blood.
It flicked its tongue warily, then shot a wicked grin at Sakuramiya Hitomi beside it and suggested.
"You could always let Sakuramiya Hitomi go in first to test the waters. See if she suffers any misfortune before you step inside."
"..."
An Le did not entertain Little Finger's highly immoral suggestion, but she did not rashly walk in, either.
This was because she also sensed that sothing was deeply wrong with that dark room.
'But right now, by Ye Shiyu's side...'
'There clearly isn't any mobile phone.'
An Le scanned the area around Ye Shiyu but found nothing out of the ordinary. She had no choice but to remain vigilant, keeping her gaze firmly locked on Yan Huan and Ye Shiyu.
"..."
Inside the room, it wasn't until Yan Huan got close that he realized Ye Shiyu's face was terrifyingly pale. Beneath her thin pajamas, her skin was completely ice-cold.
Yan Huan quickly checked her wrists, confirming that she hadn't actually slit them but had rely cut up her palms and arms. Only then did he feel slightly relieved...
'Relieved my ass!'
'Ye Shiyu, since when did you pick up these terrible landmine-type habits?'
'You're really out here giving yourself decorative cuts, aren't you?!'
'If Auntie Ye finds out about this...'
"Ah, the hospital said they will be here within five minutes."
Right at that mont, the front desk lady holding the phone spoke up.
Yan Huan frowned as he looked down at Ye Shiyu lying on the floor. With no professional dical staff present, he didn't dare try to move her, so he simply asked.
"Sister Shiyu, how did you end up like this?"
On the floor, Ye Shiyu's eyelashes fluttered slightly. She closed her eyes, and her hand gripping the razor blade began to clench once more.
"It is all my fault... my fault..."
"..."
Seeing Ye Shiyu's miserable condition right before him, a trace of softness subconsciously welled up in Yan Huan's heart.
He even considered abandoning the strategy he had devised on the plane and instead comforting the heavily scarred Ye Shiyu right now.
But imdiately after, he forcefully extinguished that feeling.
After all, the mory of being hypnotized was still vivid in his mind.
This couldn't help but harden Yan Huan's heart.
Moreover, even ignoring his own grudges and the issue with the Crab dicine later, continuing to use a soft approach would not benefit Ye Shiyu herself at all.
In any case, Yan Huan did not believe for a second that Ye Shiyu could turn over a new leaf relying purely on herself.
Rather than that, it would be better for him to apply so external force.
With this thought in mind, Yan Huan did not respond to Ye Shiyu's words. Instead, he reached out and carefully extracted the razor blade from her tightening grip.
"Sister Shiyu, stay awake. Do not close your eyes no matter what. The doctors will be here shortly."
"..."
She gave no reply. Her gaze was lowered, and she remained completely motionless.
It wasn't long before several dical staff mbers carrying a stretcher ca up via the elevator.
An Le and Sakuramiya Hitomi stepped aside, allowing them to enter the room.
"...Load her onto the stretcher."
After conducting a brief check of Ye Shiyu's vital signs, they exchanged a glance, lifted her onto the stretcher, and carried her downstairs.
Whether it was just her imagination or not, An Le felt that the very mont Ye Shiyu left the room, the gloomy atmosphere inside seed to brighten up considerably.
'No...'
'It isn't my imagination. It actually got brighter.'
An Le turned back to look inside the room and noticed that the instant Ye Shiyu departed, the indicator lights of various electronic devices had flickered on.
The television's standby button, the touch-sensor light on the mirror, the bedside lamp...
'But Ye Shiyu clearly didn't have a mobile phone on her.'
An Le was secretly bewildered. Just as she turned her head to follow the others, she realized that Sakuramiya Hitomi was also observing the strange phenonon in the room.
The two girls exchanged a glance, but neither of them said a word.
"Wee-woo! Wee-woo!"
Downstairs, the wailing siren of the ambulance on the bustling streets of Ginza attracted the attention of nurous pedestrians and tourists.
Yan Huan, An Le, and Sakuramiya Hitomi followed the doctors all the way to the vehicle. However, just as they were about to climb in, a doctor turned around and spoke.
"Only one family mber needs to tag along. There is not enough space in the back for all of you. Who is her family?"
"...That would be ."
Yan Huan glanced at Sakuramiya Hitomi and An Le beside him. They simply waved their hands, gesturing for him to get on first.
The ambulance doors shut, leaving only Sakuramiya Hitomi and An Le standing there, watching the vehicle drive further and further away.
"Then we should also... Ah, wait a second, which hospital did that ambulance belong to again?"
Sakuramiya Hitomi was just about to hail a cab when she suddenly realized a glaring problem.
She looked up, only to see the ambulance round a corner and completely vanish from her field of vision.
"It is fine, we can just ssage him on Plane later..."
An Le was just about to offer words of comfort, but her voice died in her throat.
Because she had also suddenly rembered.
Xiao Huan had co straight to find Ye Shiyu right after getting off the flight. He hadn't bought a mobile phone at all.
Earlier, he had been using Sakuramiya Hitomi's phone, but he had already given it back...
Which ant that right now, the two of them had absolutely no clue where Ye Shiyu and Yan Huan were heading.
"Eh, eh, eeh?!"
At the hotel entrance, An Le and Sakuramiya Hitomi looked at each other, identical expressions of panic surfacing on their faces.
"The patient has not lost much blood, and the cuts on her hands are quite shallow, so there is no major issue on that front."
"However, if she suffers from any psychological conditions, you, as her family, must keep a close eye on her to prevent any further acts of self-harm."
"The primary problem is that she has not eaten for a long ti, which is why she is so frail right now."
Standing at the entrance to the hospital ward, the doctor examined the report in his hands and spoke to Yan Huan.
"We've given her an IV drip of glucose, so her condition is already vastly improved."
"Understood. Thank you, doctor."
Yan Huan nodded, casting a glance into the hospital ward.
The white sheer curtains were drawn, obscuring the scene inside in dim shadows.
But he knew that Ye Shiyu was lying inside, all alone.
Seeing this, the doctor tucked the report under his arm and prepared to leave.
"The patient is already awake, so you may go in and visit her. If there are no other issues, I will take my leave. Just rember to settle the dical bills later."
"Will do."
Yan Huan thanked the doctor once more. He turned his head to look at the tightly shut door, then glanced around the empty corridor, a thought stirring in his mind.
'Now that Sakuramiya and An Le aren't around, getting to be alone with Ye Shiyu is a godsend.'
'Then...'
'Let's begin.'
He paused for a second in silence, took a deep breath, and instantly slipped on his mask of Expression Managent.
In an instant, his face was suffused with an unmistakable look of worry.
"Click—"
Imdiately after, he pushed down the door handle and stepped inside.
The faint scent of disinfectant wafted through the hospital ward. On the hospital bed near the white sheer curtains, Ye Shiyu lay surrounded by pure white, her ink-black hair and dark pupils standing out as starkly as ink splattered across snow.
"Sister Shiyu?"
Upon hearing Yan Huan's voice, the lethargic Ye Shiyu on the bed finally showed a slight reaction.
She quickly turned her head to look at him. After staring for a long while, she turned away slightly with a guilty conscience and whispered.
"As long as you are alright, Xiao Huan..."
"Of course I am alright, what could possibly happen to ? But you, on the other hand..."
Ye Shiyu looked at the normally-behaving Yan Huan. It seed he had absolutely no mory of her hypnotizing him at the Shrine or the collapse of the barrier.
Smart as she was, Ye Shiyu instantly realized that this was likely related to soone else's mory correction.
Thus, she did not question him closely to avoid causing any complications, simply choosing to silently gloss over the topic.
"Sister Shiyu, how could you do this to yourself? If Auntie Ye found out, she would definitely be so worried about you..."
At this mont, Yan Huan's face was brimming with concern as he spoke earnestly.
"Even I feel my heart ache seeing you like this, Sister Shiyu."
However, in stark contrast to the vivid worry plastered on his face, the depths of Yan Huan's eyes were as dark and unfathomable as an abyss, staring intensely at Ye Shiyu.
'Co on, take the bait already, Ye Shiyu...'
Sure enough, in the very next second, Ye Shiyu instantly fell for it. She quickly turned her head back to look at him.
"Xiao Huan... does your heart really ache when you see
like this?"
'Of course not.'
"Of course it's true. Why would you even doubt that, Sister Shiyu?"
On the surface, Yan Huan's expression was incredibly sincere, not revealing a single flaw.
And gazing at that heartfelt sincerity, Ye Shiyu couldn't help but be moved.
She trembled slightly, lowered her head a fraction, and murmured.
"Because... seeing
like this must make you feel that I am no different from the very first ti we t, right? I'm always like this... making people uncomfortable..."
'Indeed you are.'
"How could that be, Sister Shiyu?"
Yan Huan pursed his lips, his eyes dropping to the cuts on her hands as he smiled gently.
"Even if you had so issues in the past, Sister Shiyu, you have already turned over a new leaf now, haven't you?"
"...Yes, I have turned over a new leaf..."
To his astonishnt, after pausing for a few seconds, Ye Shiyu actually nodded and accepted the statent.
'You really have the nerve to agree?!'
'Turned over a new leaf, my ass...'
'Is this a try-not-to-laugh challenge? Sorry, but I lose.'
Seeing Ye Shiyu brazenly admit to this, the guilt Yan Huan felt over scheming against her dwindled to almost nothing.
Because it was glaringly obvious now—if he continued playing soft, Ye Shiyu would only escalate her behavior. Relying on herself would absolutely lead to a dead end; she was guaranteed to rot away completely.
'Fine, just you wait, Ye Shiyu. I'll show you what's what in a second.'
With that thought, the smile on Yan Huan's face grew even more vivid, looking almost inhumanely perfect.
"So, Sister Shiyu, no matter what happens, you cannot hurt yourself like this. Why? Why did you use a razor blade to cut yourself?"
"I..."
Hearing this, Ye Shiyu was montarily stunned. She looked at her scarred hands. Although her face remained expressionless, a hint of bewildernt surfaced in her eyes.
"Xiao Huan, I just... felt so guilty."
'You had better be.'
"When you went missing, Xiao Huan, I didn't know what was wrong with ..."
"Clearly, I knew I should have been incredibly, overwhelmingly worried about you, but... there was absolutely no emotion in my heart."
"My rationality clearly told
that this was wrong."
"So, I kept speaking aloud, over and over again, using words to remind myself that it was all my fault..."
However, what Yan Huan hadn't expected was for such astonishing words to spill from her expressionless, almost rigid face.
He watched as Ye Shiyu clutched her head, repeating and muttering without a single ripple of emotion in her voice.
"But words were not enough. My heart still refused to give any feedback... It was as if losing you was just a trivial matter, no different from deciding whether or not to eat lunch..."
"I even wondered if it was emotional detachnt triggered by my brain to avoid the shock, but... even if that were the case, it's impossible to feel absolutely nothing."
"It felt like... I was trapped in an emotionless dream... and only pain could keep
briefly awake."
While listening, Yan Huan couldn't help but furrow his brow.
'This...'
'Sothing isn't right here.'
Yan Huan had originally assud that her self-harm was born from psychological trauma, a coping chanism used to alleviate pain.
But from the sound of it, she was using it as a drastic asure to forcefully keep herself awake and grounded.
Looking at Ye Shiyu—who was speaking so much yet remained entirely expressionless—Yan Huan instantly realized sothing.
'A side effect...'
'Is this yet another side effect of a Modifier?'
'This...'
'This is really bad.'
'It's not just An Le. The side effects for the others are cropping up one by one too.'
'Sakuramiya Hitomi, Ye Shiyu...'
'Then what about Spencer?'
'Could she also be suffering from so severe side effect?'
The re thought of Spencer encountering a similar situation made Yan Huan's heart clench involuntarily.
Because his instinct practically scread at him that Spencer's side effect couldn't possibly be as simple as just making outsiders dislike her.
"But, perhaps it was just because I was far too worried about you... Because now that I see you have returned, Xiao Huan, that numbness is slowly fading away..."
As she spoke, Ye Shiyu raised her eyes to look at him, her lips finally curling into an exceedingly faint smile once more.
Staring at that fragile smile blooming amidst a sea of dead silence, Yan Huan couldn't help but draw in a deep breath.
'At this point, I'm afraid Auntie Ye and I are the only ones capable of causing even a slight ripple in her calm as an ancient well heart.'
'But what if this continues to progress?'
'What if it reaches a day where even I, or even Auntie Ye, no longer matter to her?'
'What will she turn into then?'
'Don't forget, right now she requires my physical presence right in front of her just to feel anything at all.'
'Otherwise, when I went missing earlier, she wouldn't have felt so emotionally dead that she needed a razor blade just to restore her senses.'
"...Yes, I have returned, Sister Shiyu."
Having thought things through, Yan Huan decided the groundwork was sufficiently laid.
Looking at Ye Shiyu, who was currently in fairly good spirits, Yan Huan prepared to make his move.
The very next second, a warm smile spread across his face, and he reached out toward Ye Shiyu's hand.
"As long as you are okay now, Sister Shiyu, I..."
Seeing Yan Huan's outstretched hand, Ye Shiyu instinctively raised her own to et his touch.
But the instant she made contact, the warm, caring expression on Yan Huan's face imdiately froze.
In the next breath, his face drained of all color, quickly contorting into a mask of pure terror.
"Let... let go..."
Ye Shiyu was slightly taken aback. She stared at Yan Huan, whose teeth were practically chattering, having absolutely no idea what had just co over him.
"Xiao Huan, what is wrong?"
"Let go of ! You disgusting pervert!! You scum!!"
"Smack!"
The very next second, Yan Huan violently slapped Ye Shiyu's hand away, his face twisted in utter revulsion.
"Eh?"
That voice, dripping with disgust and hatred, felt like a barrage of steel blades piercing her heart, inflicting a pain a thousand tis worse than the cuts on her palms.
Ye Shiyu stared in disbelief at Yan Huan, who was clutching his hand and stumbling backward, glaring at her with furious, hateful eyes. She felt as though she had been plunged into a freezing abyss.
"Xiao... Xiao Huan..."
Her heart practically stopped beating. Her forrly numb and apathetic emotional core felt as if it had just been obliterated by a speeding semi-truck.
Because at this very mont, she was witnessing it with her own two eyes. Without any hypnosis, right here in reality, her greatest fear was playing out directly in front of her.
Xiao Huan's absolute revulsion was radiating toward her.
"No... please no, Xiao Huan..."
"Crack... crack..."
She was actually so terrified that she was on the verge of dropping Fragnts.
But just as Ye Shiyu's mind and spirit were greatly shaken, the abhorrence on the retreating Yan Huan's face abruptly froze. Slowly, it lted away, replaced by a gentle, bewildered look.
"What... what did I just say...? Why would I say sothing like that to Sister Shiyu...?"
Seeing this, Ye Shiyu—whose mind had gone completely blank and whose heart had been plumting endlessly—felt a sliver of warmth return to her soul.
She reached out with a trembling hand toward him.
"Xiao Huan, what... what happened to you?"
"I don't know either, it's just..."
Yan Huan looked at her. The confusion and gentle expression he had directed at Ye Shiyu crumbled to dust the instant her hand reached toward him.
'Can you react to my changing faces, Ye Shiyu?!'
The very next second, his innocent face twisted into a vicious scowl.
He violently grabbed her unhealed hand, taking advantage of her weakened state to forcefully pin her down beneath him.
"Smack!"
Instantly, Ye Shiyu's hands were brutally locked against the mattress by Yan Huan.
"Hiss—"
A sharp pain shot up from the cuts on her hands, causing Ye Shiyu to gasp in shock. But towering over her, Yan Huan continued to glare at her with venomous ferocity.
"I didn't expect you to be so disgusting. I was completely wrong about you, Ye Shiyu... I treated you so well, so why do you insist on torturing
like this? Why?! Tell !"
"I... Xiao... Xiao Huan..."
Yan Huan's furious roar completely stunned Ye Shiyu. She stared blankly at the boy before her. The sheer terror of her Modifier being exposed caused a deeply ominous aura to rapidly spread across her body.
Spotting this, Yan Huan imdiately flipped his expression once again.
In the blink of an eye, his vicious scowl vanished, smoothly giving way to innocent confusion.
"What... what am I doing? I just..."
And as Yan Huan's face changed, Ye Shiyu's rapidly deteriorating aura instantly dissipated into nothingness.
'What...?'
What in the world was going on?
Her usually calm as an ancient well little heart was now pounding furiously, shooting up and plumting down as though she were riding a roller coaster.
Yan Huan's wild, back-and-forth emotional whiplash had left her drenched in cold sweat.
"...Xiao Huan, what is wrong with you? Please do not scare ..."
Looking at Ye Shiyu—who was, for the first ti, showing genuine panic, looking at him as if she feared he was possessed by a ghost—Yan Huan almost broke character.
'Ye Shiyu...'
'Now you finally know how terrifying a zero-fra activation face change really is, right?'
'Hmm?'
'Speak!'
'Feel my pain!!'
Internally, Yan Huan was on the verge of throwing his head back, weeping tears of joy, and throwing wild punches in the air to celebrate.
But outwardly, backed by his Perfect Expression Managent, Yan Huan looked more innocent than anyone else alive.
"I... I don't know either..."
Looking as though he had been drained of all his strength, he quickly climbed off Ye Shiyu and slumped into a nearby chair.
"I don't know why, but it feels like whenever I get close to you, Sister Shiyu, I feel completely terrified..."
"It's like... my body is terrified that you are going to turn into soone else entirely, and do sothing incredibly disgusting to ..."
Upon hearing these words, Ye Shiyu's sweat truly began to pour.
'mory Correction...'
'...is not omnipotent.'
'Xiao Huan's mind has indeed forgotten the horrible things I did to him, but his body... his body has rembered the sheer malice of my actions.'
"Crack... crack..."
A spiderweb-like Fragnt drifted down bit by bit as Ye Shiyu's terror peaked. However, before it could even hit the floor, it was snatched away by a plump Black Cat.
'But, what should I do now?'
'If the mory correction really is flawed, doesn't that an Xiao Huan will despise
the mont he gets close?'
'Doesn't that an I...'
'..pletely ruined everything?'
'No...'
'It cannot be like this...'
'What if I hypnotize Xiao Huan again and try to overwrite the previous mory correction with a newer one?'
With this thought in mind, the panicked and disoriented Ye Shiyu's eyes faintly shimred with a deep, swirling purple hue that resembled a hypnotic vortex.
But Yan Huan remained entirely oblivious.
Previously, he had repeatedly confird that Ye Shiyu hadn't brought her mobile phone with her, making him fearless because of his reliance on that fact, confident that he was at least safe from her hypnosis.
Yet right now, despite his ignorance, his innate sixth sense suddenly flared to life.
Watching Ye Shiyu's aura take a rapid turn for the worse, he imdiately perford a third face change, muttering to himself in profound confusion.
"But... Sister Shiyu doesn't need to do any of that, and I would..."
"Xiao Huan, what... what did you just say?"
Hearing Yan Huan's muttered words, Ye Shiyu's heart practically stopped. Her dangerous aura instantly evaporated, replaced entirely by disbelief and bewildernt.
'She really took the bait.'
"Ah, it's nothing... I just feel like that was probably all an illusion. I have no idea what's wrong with ..."
But Ye Shiyu's complete attention had been thoroughly hijacked by Yan Huan's seemingly absentminded muttering from a mont ago.
'What did Xiao Huan an?'
'I don't need to do any of that, and he would...'
'Is he referring to the fact that I hypnotized him?'
'Which ans, Xiao Huan...'
'...actually likes !?'
'Wait, wait, wait. So all this ti I believed Xiao Huan didn't like , resorting to hypnosis to try and claim him.'
'In reality, I was just making a futile effort, and actively running the risk of completely ruining things?'
Yan Huan's vague, ambiguous words had successfully planted a monuntal delusion in Ye Shiyu's mind.
'He truly likes .'
Gazing at Ye Shiyu—who had now swallowed the bait hook, line, and sinker—the guilt in Yan Huan's heart was practically nonexistent.
In the past, he would have undoubtedly felt a heavy conscience deceiving a girl like this.
That was why, when he first left Auntie Ye's house, he had felt genuinely sorry for Ye Shiyu.
But now...
That pure, innocent Yan Huan seed to have died a long ti ago...
Buried by Ye Shiyu's very own hands.
"I'm sorry, Sister Shiyu, I... I feel like I'm acting a bit strange."
Ye Shiyu's eyes widened. She stared at the boy before her, instinctively averting her gaze slightly as she shook her head in embarrassnt.
"No, you're not, Xiao Huan... It's
who should be..."
Seeing that the montum was perfect, Yan Huan finally took a deep breath and decided to cut to the chase.
"Since that's the case, do you want to go exploring around Tokyo together later?"
"Exploring Tokyo?"
"Mhm, just the two of us. We could check out Ginza, or walk around a shopping center sowhere..."
'Just
and Xiao Huan... the two of us?'
'Isn't that just...'
'...a date?'
Ye Shiyu's eyes bulged, her entire mind left spinning dizzily from Yan Huan's rapid face changes.
One mont, she felt as if she were soaring through the clouds, blissfully happy.
The next mont, she felt as if she had been plunged into hell, suffering endless tornt.
But now, regardless of the whiplash, she still found herself nodding blankly in agreent.
"Alright. I will do whatever Xiao Huan says."
Reviews
All reviews (0)