"Huh?"
Huomu had never imagined he would get an answer like that from someone else.
For a while, he stood there in a daze.
The world inside him, which had already been swallowed by darkness, suddenly seemed to admit a little light.
"You mean... you believe me?"
"It's not a question of belief. Hurting someone based on nothing but guesswork and one-sided claims is something only an idiot would do."
Qiji sounded a little impatient, but a little life returned to Huomu's eyes as he listened.
"...Thank you."
"Why are you thanking me? I never said I believed you."
"I don't know either..." Huomu raised a hand and rubbed his eyes hard. At some point, his voice had grown choked. "I... I just wanted to thank you."
Meanwhile, in the main livestream, flashbacks to Huomu's childhood flickered past, one after another-
Countless instances of baseless accusations, isolation, and ridicule...
Cold stares, piercing whispers, and the indelible brand of "the sinner's son"...
In all his life up to this point, not a single person had ever said even half a word in his defense.
Until now.
At last, he felt that he was being treated normally, like an ordinary person.
"Holy crap, finally, a normal person!"
"Huomu has it way too rough. I feel so bad for the poor guy."
"Mask bro, your values are so solid! I'm a fan now!"
"And he's a tsundere, too. First there was the 'shut up' earlier, and now he's counseling someone on a rooftop, lol."
"Guys, I'm saying these two have ship chemistry. Who's with me, and who's against me?"
"Huomu and Qiji are locked in as a ship!"
"This isn't a fucking gay bar!"
"Qiji obviously belongs with Liuli, okay? Some of you in the chat are too much!"
"Get lost! That bad woman doesn't deserve him!"
"All right, stop disturbing my sleep." With that, Qiji closed his eyes again.
Huomu walked silently to one side and sat down against the wall.
The thought of jumping off the building gradually faded.
At the end of the day, he wasn't particularly fragile. Otherwise, he would have been unable to hold on years ago.
He attributed the irrational thought he'd had to a momentary impulse. Fear washed over him in retrospect, and he grew even more grateful to Qiji.
In the distance, Liuli watched everything from the shadows.
"Seriously... what a nuisance."
The next moment, golden light flared in her eyes, and the illusory butterfly at her fingertips beat its wings furiously!
She exerted a stronger influence over Huomu.
Almost at the same instant, Huomu, who had only just managed to calm himself down, stiffened, and his gaze abruptly grew vacant.
He stood up in a daze and, like a puppet pulled by invisible strings, staggered toward the edge of the rooftop once more.
Then, under the horrified gaze of countless viewers in the livestream, he pitched forward and leaped off!
The clean, innocent smile bloomed on Liuli's face again, as though she had fulfilled some sacred mission.
But the next second, the smile froze on the girl's face.
For Qiji, who should have been fast asleep, had appeared at the edge of the rooftop at some unknown point.
He planted one hand on the railing and vaulted over it, grabbing Huomu by the back of his collar in midair and hauling him back up like a chick.
His body traced a short, clean arc through the air. When he landed back on the rooftop, his windbreaker was still billowing and snapping around him.
At the same time, he tilted his head slightly. His gaze beneath the mask seemed to cross the distance, looking toward where Liuli stood.
Chapter 6: Reputation Ruined
Qiji casually tossed Huomu onto the ground.
Huomu slumped there, still shaken and gasping for breath.
The shock of weightlessness in that instant of falling had allowed Huomu to break free of Liuli's control and regain his senses.
Then, recalling everything that had just happened, Huomu found his back drenched in cold sweat and his heart pounding.
"Thank you... thank you for saving me."
Huomu's voice trembled. It was already the second time he had thanked Qiji in such a short span.
"If you really want to thank me, then the next time you decide to kill yourself, please do it somewhere else."
Qiji's voice came through the mask, as cold as ever.
"I don't want to sleep somewhere someone's died."
Huomu hurriedly apologized. "S-sorry! I didn't mean to! I don't know what came over me just now. It was like I was possessed..."
Clutching his head, he felt both frightened and baffled by what he had just done.
Qiji seemed unable to stand his spineless, bewildered expression and said with undisguised disdain:
"Hey, you don't actually think jumping off here would prove your innocence, do you?"
Huomu looked up at him blankly.
"Prove you didn't steal anything by killing yourself?"
Qiji sneered, making no attempt to hide the mockery in his voice.
"Don't be stupid. If you die, they'll just say, 'Look, he really was the thief. He killed himself out of guilt.'
"All you'd accomplish is going from a suspected thief to a confirmed coward and thief!"
Huomu froze. As Qiji delivered those merciless words, he gradually regained his reason.
Yeah, I only had to think about it for a moment to realize...
Death was never proof. It was only an escape, and confirmation of every accusation against him.
"I... I won't do anything stupid again."
Huomu pounded his own head hard.
"You've completely ruined my mood for a nap."
Qiji shook his head. Apparently deciding there was no point in staying, he turned and left the rooftop.
Seeing that Qiji was leaving, the chat immediately panicked:
"Brother Ji, where are you going? You can't leave Huomu alone!"
"Yeah, Brother Ji! Without you, how are we supposed to stand up to the bad woman?"
"Some of you in the chat are too much. Mask bro isn't Huomu's dad. Isn't saving him once or twice enough? You expect him to save him every single time?"
"Exactly. He's the protagonist, so he's got to step up himself!"
"With the way things have started, putting yourself in the protagonist's shoes is pretty frustrating."
"Guys who find it frustrating, switch over to Brother Ji's livestream!"
In the teaching building, in the shadows of a covered walkway.
Seeing Qiji ruin her plans again and again, Liuli bit her lower lip.
"Seriously... what a nuisance."
That was why she had wanted to get Qiji off the rooftop from the very beginning.
Fortunately, that troublesome guy had finally left.
Liuli hurriedly seized the opportunity and activated her Echo again-
This time, she would weave an even stronger "despair" and destroy Huomu in one stroke while his mind was vulnerable!
But the mental erosion she had anticipated did not come to pass.
The threads of her Echo seemed to strike an invisible barrier and were gently repelled.
"?!"
Liuli's pupils contracted slightly.
It failed?
How is that possible?
Refusing to believe it, she immediately drew on more Heart Essence. The illusory butterfly at her fingertips beat its wings faster and faster, almost as if it might throw off sparks.
But her Echo was still shut out by Huomu's mind.
"This guy... can actually resist my Echo?"
Liuli was startled and found it unbelievable.
"How is that possible? It only took two tries for him to adapt completely... and even develop resistance to my Echo?"
"He's just a bottom-ranker with F-rank aptitude!"
Liuli drew on her Heart Essence again. This time, she intended to use her full strength.
But just as she began to move, a slender hand appeared at some unknown point and rested lightly on her shoulder.
"Listen-"
A lazy voice, as though its owner had just woken up, sounded beside her ear.
"-shouldn't you know when to stop?"
!!!
Liuli's body stiffened in an instant.
That voice...
Qiji?
No... impossible!
When did this guy...
She had clearly kept the surrounding area covered with the Power of Echo, on guard against anything that might approach.
How could someone have slipped so close behind her without her noticing?!
Liuli whirled around-
Sure enough, that distinctive mask greeted her, right in front of her face.
The mask reflected a cold light in the sunlight, as though silently mocking her.
"Q-Qiji...?"
The harmless smile that Liuli wore all day finally became too difficult to maintain.
"Qiji... y-you... what are you doing here?"
"Because you're here, Liuli," Qiji answered matter-of-factly. "I came to find you."