[...: ...]
[Xiaoxu: Can you not bring those people over?]
Humble, acquiescent, pleading, it was all so familiar. It was as if Mori was looking through a screen at that freckled-faced girl, wearing dowdy braids and thick, opaque glasses, secretly observing and probing her.
[Natsuki: I promise.]
[Xiaoxu: I believe you, Xiaoxia.]
Mori doesn't remember how she ended up in that bathroom after agreeing, having never felt her steps so heavy, as if dragging numerous iron balls.
She gently knocked on the stall door in front of her: "Xiaoxu, I'm here."
Inside, Yukawa Maki's choking voice came out: "Xiaoxia, you listen, I'm fine, I'm just a bit sad." The voice was so hoarse, as if she had just cried a while ago...
As if afraid she wouldn't believe her, the stall door was slowly opened a crack, and in the darkness, Yukawa Maki's slightly pale face peeked out halfway, unchanged from usual—shy and immature, except with slightly moist eyes and a hopeful gaze.
"See, I told you, Xiaoxia."
