Chapter 178: The Two Who Must Change

Chapter 178: Chapter 178: The Two Who Must Change

Neither was wrong, or rather, both had areas where they were wrong.

Haruko didn’t want to be a substitute for the original Haruko, and felt even more afraid because of this near-death experience. She was afraid of losing Ichiko from now on, and even more afraid that Ichiko would abandon her because of the plot development and the influence of the world will.

It would be like her previous life, giving her all, only to be met with betrayal.

Just as Black said, possessing her, holding her tightly in her hand, was a comfort to herself and a protection for Ichiko.

When fear overrides thought, rationality decreases.

To the extent that Haruko forgot, how could such continuous high pressure, which didn’t give Ichiko hope like before, possibly lead to being liked?

She had even sealed off her inner self.

It would have been fine if this fake death plan had succeeded; Haruko used a substitute, and everything developed according to her plan.

Precisely because it failed, she personally experienced the feeling of life gradually slipping away and the person she liked drifting further and further.

Even knowing she had a second life, she would still feel fear and panic, thus starting to seal herself off and becoming paranoid.

Was Ichiko wrong?

She didn’t know what others thought, but Ichiko had always felt that the one who was wrong was actually herself.

She had raised Haruko into a yandere, neglecting her again and again, saying she was pretending to like her to treat her, but each time in the end, the resulting outcome became more and more severe.

Countless times she evaded, and countless times she regretted.

But facing those repeated declarations of liking, and the terror of her yandere transformation, the feeling of regret was again occupied by fear and dread.

Her mind went blank.

Both stopped their steps towards reaching out to the other.

This scene was not only something Ichiko didn’t want to see, but even Shin didn’t want to see it.

He and Doctor specifically analyzed Haruko’s report, and it’s no exaggeration to say that because of this fake death, Haruko herself deviated from her own plan.

No matter what Ichiko said about liking her, she would think it was fake.

She started getting stuck in a rut.

She believed that only by listening to her words and doing as she said was true "liking."

Like this, when Ichiko’s War God Father returned, could they still borrow this War God Father as planned?

Now that Ichiko had lost all rationality, the probability of her going crazy first was even much greater than the probability of her falling in love with Haruko.

If neither of them changed, wanting to be together would likely be even harder.

Shin never expected that he would not only have to be an informant and a tool, but now also a matchmaker and a psychological counselor, to bring these two misguided individuals together.

Is there still hope?

It’s worth a try.

Facing Ichiko’s question, Shin typed back, "The only solution now is for you to love her wholeheartedly, to make her truly feel your love, not your fake liking."

The message arrived, and Ichiko bit her lip, "Is it still in time? To love her wholeheartedly, I... I don’t know how to do it."

After all, what is love, and what is liking?

Does liking only count if it’s like Haruko’s constant possession and paranoia?

Shin: "Whether it’s in time is another matter, but there’s no other way, is there? Unless you knock her out, give her a few sedative injections, or try sending her to a mental hospital."

With Ichiko’s superhuman martial prowess, it’s really hard to say if she could beat Haruko in her darkened state.

Shin: "It’s still the same as last time, force yourself to love her!"

"It doesn’t matter if you don’t know what love is, as long as you know what love looks like in Haruko’s eyes."

"It’s possession, it’s caring only about the other person in your eyes, it can even be her everything!"

"Since that’s the case, just follow her way of thinking to love her, show that you also want to possess Haruko, want to be mutually in love forever, and even actively interfere with her. What can her weak little body do? Think of more ways; when she’s weak, she won’t be able to beat you, and it will naturally be resolved."

"Don’t think about what happens later, the first thing to do is to appease her!"

Shin typed a lot of words at once, and just the content made Ichiko tremble with fear.

I go possess Haruko?

Go obey her, or even turn the tables?

What does this mean? Does it mean I have to become a yandere to cater to Haruko?

Just as Ichiko was thinking with her gradually crashing brain, her phone suddenly rang.

Haruko, who was originally still in the room, even poked her head out because of the ringtone.

How could Ichiko dare to continue chatting with Shin? After quickly opening Massenger and deleting all chat history.

Only then did she give Haruko, who had walked into the living room, a dry laugh, "It’s a call from the person in charge of the place where I work."

Haruko just pursed her lips and smiled, "Answer it. I said I wouldn’t interfere while Ichiko is relaxing by playing on her phone."

She sat down next to her, looking at Ichiko from the side.

Smiling, she looked like she wanted to know the content of the call.

Ichiko had no choice but to steel herself and answer the phone, "Hello, Sister Long, is something wrong?"

Although she called her’Sister’, the voice coming from the phone was a sharp auntie’s voice, yelling at Ichiko, "Ichiko, you’re not coming to work, where did you run off to again? Do you still want to work or not!"

Ichiko’s face turned pale, and she quickly explained, "Sister Long, I took three days off, and Manager Feng approved it."

"That Feng is nothing! I’m the one who calls the shots in this store. How many days are there in a month? What do you mean by taking leave all the time? If you don’t want to work, just get lost. If you don’t come again, don’t even think about getting last month’s and this month’s wages!"

"Sister Long, I..."

"Beep beep beep—"

The call had been hung up.

Ichiko leaned back on the sofa, staring blankly at the ceiling.

The snack supermarket where she worked was actually quite good. Shifts were usually half a day or one evening, and the Mister was also very good, taking great care of them, the part-time students.

As long as you came to work, didn’t slack off, and didn’t make mistakes, a half-day shift was 100 yuan, and an evening shift of two or three hours was also 100 yuan.

Her colleagues were all part-time students, and they got along well, but only Long Mian, the person in charge of this branch, for some reason, targeted her everywhere.

Besides being busy, she also had to endure scolding.

She had clearly requested leave, and it was approved.

In the current situation, how could she go back to work?

Ichiko glanced at Haruko beside her, and her phone rang again.

This time it was her Teacher.

"Ichiko, how is your paper coming along? The journal is going to be published next week, you should give me the first draft to look at in the next couple of days. Although time is a bit tight, I know you are definitely capable."

She was just a first-year student, and she had already written two papers since the semester started. This was the third time.

What her Teacher said about cultivating her, all the excessive expectations, turned into pressure.

She actually didn’t want to write that damn paper at all.

"So tired..."

Ichiko leaned on the sofa, thinking again about what Shin had said.

Really, really tired...

Tears welled up again, uncontrollably, but were quickly wiped away by Haruko’s hand.

That petite person was already standing on the sofa, bending down and reaching out to hug Ichiko into her arms.

"Haruko, I..."

Ichiko could no longer stop her tears. She hugged Haruko tightly and cried while leaning in her arms.

Such a warm and comfortable embrace was so likable.

And also made one afraid.

Haruko’s small hand gently stroked the back of Ichiko’s head, and she said softly, "Cry, cry. It will feel much better after you cry it out."

Let me resolve the things that make you unhappy.

After Ichiko cried herself to sleep, Haruko carried her to the bed.

Then she hid the fruit knife and quietly went out the door.

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