"I told her I was pursuing you, but you turned me down so hard. Auntie was comforting me," Riki said.
"Of course I did. I'd never like you," Nagasaki Sose said coolly.
So you're making your buddy look like a clown, huh?
I wouldn't even need clown makeup to go to Gotham. I'd get arrested by Batman before I even made it through customs.
Nagasaki Sose, you're the absolute worst!
Nagasaki Sose glanced over. Seeing how dejected Riki looked, she tilted her head and couldn't help letting out a soft laugh. Her melodious laughter carried far on the wind.
That night, Nagasaki Sose got hold of Riki's laptop. After hesitating for a moment, she opened the eighth episode, which the comments had called "heavyweight," "explosive," and "my favorite episode."
Did this have something to do with her?
Ever since Crychic disbanded, she'd been through so much torment. Now that an opportunity was right in front of her, she wasn't about to let it slip by.
She wanted to know the truth.
Chapter 31: Sakiko: ...Soyo?
[I didn't expect things to turn out that way, either. I was shocked.]
[If I'd known beforehand, I would've stopped them. The set ended, but then they suddenly started playing.]
[It's only natural that you're angry, but please believe me. We really didn't intend to play Kasukage in the first place.]
[I promise I won't play that song again without permission.]
The screen showed her sending messages, and Nagasaki Sose watched the comments float by.
"A world-famous painting: Soyo sending a text."
"Way too intense. Bombarding her with texts is such Heavy Woman behavior."
"Don't rush, Teacher Da Xiang. Big Sakiko just blocked you. It's not like she's ignoring your messages."
"That's the power of being a king!"
"I never stay up late.JPG."
Nagasaki Sose frowned at the comments, automatically translated by the browser, and grew furious. Why were these people making fun of her like this? She'd made a mistake by playing Kasukage, sure, but what was wrong with that? These people who didn't know the whole story were talking nonsense, and it made her angry just to read it.
You don't understand how hard I've tried!
She even clenched the Sakiko plushie in her arms tighter.
--The Sakiko plushie Riki had bought on Taobao. When Toyokawa Sakiko had passed by the bedroom and seen it earlier, she'd looked a little embarrassed, but hadn't said anything.
Seeing the comments multiply, Nagasaki Sose angrily used Riki's account to post: [What do you people know about the beauty of Crychic?!]
Riki had just finished washing the dishes and walked out. The moment he saw what Nagasaki Sose had done, he nearly pissed himself.
"Hey, what are you posting with my account?!"
Sure, I did lend you my laptop and tell you to use it however you wanted.
But putting the facts aside, don't you think you're at least a little bit in the wrong?
"These people were being way too nasty," Nagasaki Sose said angrily, turning her head away without a hint of remorse.
Lu Shen frowned. You've earned yourself a death sentence. Do you know how I got the ten-thousand-year soul ring on my bicycle? I got it by running over a little bunny while out on a picnic. You, Nagasaki Sose, have barely twenty levels of soul power, yet you dare act so brazenly in front of me!
Let me see what's going on first.
Riki squeezed onto the sofa to look at the laptop. Nagasaki Sose noticed how close he was sitting—so close she could smell his body wash—and stiffened a little. "Could you sit a bit farther away?"
Riki looked at her in shock.
This is my house, and you're telling me what to do?
I studied under Teacher Asanagi, you know. Think I won't crank your sensitivity up a thousandfold and make things intense for you?
I've beaten more O-Ninja than you've secretly visited H-sites.
Facing Riki's disbelieving look, Nagasaki Sose realized that even though he was Riki, she might've gone a bit too far. She muttered a few words under her breath and moved as far from him as she could. But to see the screen, their shoulders still bumped into each other now and then, and Riki could smell her natural scent.
She smelled pretty good.
Something like roses.
Riki couldn't help comparing her scent with Toyokawa Sakiko's, which he'd smelled before.
Each had her own appeal.
No, no, no. Teacher Da Xiang smelled way better.
There's only one sun in my heart!
Riki also saw Nagasaki Sose's comment. People had already replied, and they'd recognized his account.
"Lao Lu, did Soyo just possess you?"
"Everyone, move along. Last time Lao Lu dressed up as Sakiko to make a video. Is he going to dress up as Long-Term Vegetarian this time? I recommend tossing him a couple more coins."
"Brother Riki, I admit you're the one who understands Soyo best. You've really gotten into character, hahaha."
"Online, everyone calls him Brother Riki. I can't even imagine what you'd call him in person... 'Little Riki, dress up as Sakiko and pour me a glass of water. You think my cup's gonna fill itself?'"
"This was the most hilarious episode yet."
They were getting mad.
Riki's mouth twitched. As a double agent for Xiaohongshu and Sunba, when had he fallen so low that people could point fingers at him? Usually he was the one pointing fingers at everyone else. How had something like this happened today?
"Pfft!"
Riki turned to look. Nagasaki Sose had turned away and was covering her mouth as she laughed.
Wait, wasn't this your fault?
"Say something!" Riki said with a dark look.
"That's your account. It has nothing to do with me," Nagasaki Sose snorted.
Was I too nice to you before, or have you hit your rebellious phase?
This was how you dealt with a disobedient kid!
Riki grabbed Nagasaki Sose's cheeks and pulled them apart.
"Hey, hey... Wh-what are you doing... Let go..." Nagasaki Sose glared at Riki in anger, but with her cheeks pulled like that, her glare had no menace at all. If anything, she looked kind of cute.
This was what happened when you offended a god.
Nagasaki Sose started struggling.
"Don't move around... Oh, crap!"
Nagasaki Sose shoved Riki, throwing him off balance. He fell onto the sofa, landing on top of her. Their noses were almost touching, close enough to feel each other's breath and scent. They stared into each other's eyes, both bewildered, and most importantly, Riki felt something very, very soft beneath his hand.
Could this be the legendary Lucky Pervert scenario!?
Riki looked down and saw his hand resting on Nagasaki Sose's waist. He was immediately disappointed.
Were beautiful girls' waists really this slender?
Holy crap, was this the kind of slender waist and voluptuous curves that Bilibili's horny artists could never draw, even with all the editing in the world!?
"Are you planning to get up or not?"
Nagasaki Sose, pinned beneath him, suppressed her anger and glared fiercely at Riki.
"Let's get one thing straight first: we're both fifty percent responsible. Once I get up, you're not allowed to yell at me. Otherwise, you're a local from Black Iron, and a total sore loser." Riki hurriedly said. Surely, faced with such a vicious curse, Nagasaki Sose wouldn't dare take revenge.
"Get up already!" Nagasaki Sose's face was turning bright red. She had no idea what he was saying, and kicked him in the waist.
"Ugh!"
It didn't hurt, but he still had to act as if that kick had been powerful. Otherwise, Nagasaki Sose would get even angrier.
But it had actually been soft. He just wondered what it would feel like to touch.
Quite proper.
They sat back down on the sofa. Nagasaki Sose's face was red as she eyed Riki warily.
Nagasaki Sose knew she'd overreacted earlier and had kicked him pretty hard, too. Though she was blushing and angry, she didn't take it out on Riki too much. Still, every time she looked at him, she glared fiercely.
She was awful.
She had to glare at him.
By then, the scene on the screen had reached the second big reveal, and Nagasaki Sose's pupils shrank.
[Don't go. It's not like that.]
[I really cherish all of you. I really like all of you!]
[No, please! Without you, Sakiko-chan, without you all, I...]
[I'll do anything I can.]
Nagasaki Sose saw what Toyokawa Sakiko had said to her.
[How much resolve did you have when you said that?]
[You're just a student. Can you shoulder someone else's life?]
[You only ever think about yourself, don't you?]
The comments floated by.
"Explosive, explosive, explosive!"
"A world where everyone gets hurt: achieved."
"That's so pathetic. I'm crying."
"MyGO!!!!!.JPG."
"Customer Service Xiao Xiang: 'Dear, you're very focused on your own feelings, aren't you?' (smile)."
"How could this happen?" Nagasaki Sose bit her lip, unable to believe it.
She didn't care about whether kneeling would be humiliating or anything like that. She just couldn't believe Sakiko could be so cold.
Seeing how stunned Nagasaki Sose was, Riki chimed in. "I don't think Sakiko was all that wrong."
She'd only made a small mistake in the historical course of the band's development.
Nagasaki Sose's face went blank. "This has nothing to do with you, does it?"
Well, now she hated him too.
Riki lowered his head and looked at his phone. Probably because he'd often brought it with him when he traveled between worlds, it could connect to Sakiko in the other world. So Riki had kept trying to call her. Most attempts failed, but he did manage to get through now and then.
"What are you doing?" Nagasaki Sose asked, frowning at what Riki was doing.
"Don't talk. This part's important." Riki waved her off. After the call had failed to connect a few times, it finally clicked through.
"Is that you, Riki?" Toyokawa Sakiko's voice came from the other end, full of delight and joy.
"It's me..."
"Sakiko-chan?!"
Before Riki could finish, Nagasaki Sose couldn't help blurting out in delight.
There was a pause on the other end. More than ten seconds passed before a disbelieving voice finally spoke.
"...Soyo?"
Chapter 32: A Little Flower for Soyo
"Sakiko, you look much better than before. Earlier, you looked so hopeless that I thought you'd had a fight with your boyfriend. I was even worried you might go and k... Ah, sorry. But you seem to be in a pretty good mood today."
Before you continue