As night crept onto the windowsill, Togawa Sakiko, having finished her ablutions, suddenly felt an itch in her nose. She hastily raised her hand—but it was too late to cover her mouth.
"Achoo!"
She quickly covered her face, her earlobes turning red in the glow of the night light.
But when she shifted her gaze, she saw that her friend on the bed remained quiet, her light green hair tips falling onto her white nightgown, her fingers unconsciously fiddling with the daisy embroidery on the hem.
"Mutsumi…"
The soft call reached the girl's ears, her amber eyes trembled slightly, and her lowered brows concealed her thoughts.
Sakiko suddenly thought of something, retracted her small hand that was about to touch her friend, her eyes dimming a few shades.
Since the near-accident in the Doll Room, the two had not left the room, "guarded" by the attendants, even having dinner there.
These arrangements seemed to be Togawa Fuuki's idea, and it was unclear when this new member of the Togawa Family's words had more weight than Sakiko, who had been the young miss for over a decade.
Sakiko thought of the moment she faced death today; his back was like a stone tablet cutting off the twilight, her breath caught in her throat. She also thought of how, after they parted, he resolutely went to confront her grandfather face-to-face—a courage and decisiveness she had never known.
And her? Her impression of this elder brother still lingered on his adeptness in dealing with people, and his temperament, which was sometimes gentle and friendly, and sometimes cold and distant.
The indifference in his eyes at the funeral, the sincerity when revealing his mother's dying wish; his appropriate demeanor when facing various celebrities at the banquet, his decisive and swift action when resolving matters... Although they had only spent less than two days together, her impression of him became increasingly complex, no... it should be called 'fragmented,' as if something in her mind was interfering with her emotions, guiding her feelings towards Togawa Fuuki.
Togawa Sakiko attributed all of this to her own immaturity.
Because she couldn't forget the pain of losing her mother, she couldn't take a new step towards tomorrow; because she couldn't dispel the prejudice in her heart against Fuuki, she couldn't see the truth with clear eyes.
The immature her had already stepped halfway into the mire, and her other half had also successively encountered unprovoked disasters, experiencing terrifying events enough to leave psychological trauma.
But at the moment Mutsumi rushed towards her without hesitation, Sakiko realized that perhaps only she was standing still.
She must make a change.
'A way to change my mindset... Oh, right, a music festival will be held in the school auditorium in a few days. I remember there will be high school seniors performing...!'
'Let me see... it's called Morfonica, the first band formed by Tsukinomori.'
'That's it, a band!'
The girl's golden eyes suddenly brightened, as if a spring breeze had swept through her heart, instantly clearing away the accumulated despondency.
'Music can make people forget time, escape time... A Tsukinomori girl band, I've never known about them before!'
Reading the information on the school website, Sakiko's small hand, holding her phone, couldn't help but clench. And after watching a video of Morfonica's performance, she was deeply captivated by the sparkling scenes.
'I must bring Mutsumi with me...'
The girl's smile suddenly froze, her phone slipped onto the bed, and her whole body seemed to have been paused.
Zzz—click.
A silver-gray disc slowly ejected from the back of her head. After a few seconds in contact with the air, the disc dissipated like wind-eroded rock.
This was the last [Emotion DISC] Togawa Fuuki had implanted in Togawa Sakiko's mind, intended to adjust the young miss's awkward personality.
However, because Fuuki's control over his abilities was incomplete during the implantation, this DISC did not achieve the desired effect, but it coincidentally helped Sakiko adjust her mindset and stop wasting mental energy unnecessarily.
Buzz—
Just as the girl fell into a brief daze, the phone on the bed suddenly vibrated, and an unfamiliar phone number appeared on the screen.
Wakaba Mutsumi, who was beside her, was startled awake by the vibration. The previous calmness was gone from her face; she was frozen as if she had witnessed an extremely terrifying scene.
Just now, on the television screen in the center of the girl's mind theater, images began to play again. Each scene was of the events she had experienced today, as well as the scenes she had foreseen.
But no matter how many times she replayed it, she couldn't find the scene where Sakiko's throat was pierced, as if it had never existed from the beginning.
Just as she was about to end the screening, chaotic static once again filled the television screen, distorted color blocks flickered continuously in the center of the image, reconstructing two horrifying scenes amidst the chaos.
In a dark room, Togawa Fuuki lay sprawled in a pool of blood, the semi-coagulated dark red soaking his messy shirt. The veins in his neck bulged, still staring intently in a certain direction. One of Fuuki's hands had disappeared, the severed wrist exposing muscle, like a tangled mass of shredded dark red velvet.
The door seemed to be pushed open by someone. When bright light streamed into the messy room, a silver line tore through space, piercing the petite figure outside the door.
Togawa Sakiko's fair neck once again bloomed with fresh red.
A terrifying scene, a scene she didn't want to see... Cold sweat seeped from the girl's forehead, and the dizzying vibration compelled her to act like a death knell.
She picked up the phone and tremblingly pressed the answer button.
"Hello! Sakiko... Sakiko!"
"Stay inside, don't come out!"
Fuuki's pained roar echoed in Mutsumi's mind.
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