Chapter 3: The Story is Poisonous

The story happened to a pair of twins; they were named Koshi and Yoko.

Although they were twins, their treatment at home was completely different.

Toward the older sister Yoko, the mother's attitude was terrible, not only making her sleep in the corner of the living room but also only letting her eat leftovers. Not only that, the mother had broken her teeth and burned her body with cigarette butts.

Toward the younger sister Koshi, the mother was very doting, favoring her everywhere in life and buying her the gifts she wanted.

Under the differential treatment, the younger sister Koshi also looked down on the older sister Yoko, and even if she saw Yoko suffering from school bullying, she just pretended not to know her.

One day, Yoko sat alone on a bench in the small park downstairs of the apartment. She felt very sad in her heart, not knowing why she would receive such treatment.

At this time, a stray dog ran to her feet and rubbed against her. Yoko was a bit surprised after seeing it; she felt that this dog was familiar.

Through hard recollection, she remembered seeing a "lost dog" notice on a utility pole before, and the one looking for it was this dog.

She thought about it, picked up the dog, and sent it to the address on the notice.

Arriving at the destination, she knocked on the door, and an old woman named Mitsuko came out to greet her.

She was the dog's owner. Seeing Yoko bring the dog, she was very happy, so she invited her to be a guest in the house and treated her to the snacks she made.

Yoko took a bite and found that she had never eaten such delicious food, so she couldn't help but wolf it down.

Seeing Yoko's eating manner, the old woman's heart was full of sympathy, and she invited Yoko to come over as a guest next time.

Yoko was very moved; she had never been treated like this by anyone.

Leaving the old woman's house, Yoko returned to her normal life.

This day, she was taken by her younger sister Koshi to eat with 2 other classmates. Except for Yoko who had empty hands, everyone else had a burger and a portion of fries.

Koshi took a bite of the burger, felt it was unpalatable, and then "pfft" spat it into her palm.

She saw Yoko sitting opposite her, reached out and handed the vomit mixed with saliva to her mouth, signaling Yoko to eat it.

The classmates nearby felt disgusted and stood up to persuade, but Koshi laughed: "Yoko eats everything."

Hearing her younger sister Koshi's words, Yoko took the vomit, closed her eyes, opened her mouth wide, and ate it with a "satisfied" expression.

Seeing this scene, everyone felt abnormally disgusted and left.

When only Yoko was left, a painful and lonely expression appeared on her face.

At night, Yoko came to the old woman Mitsuko's house and found that the old woman had made a sumptuous dinner to welcome her. After the meal, the old woman helped her change into clean clothes and combed her messy hair.

Yoko was very happy; she had never felt so happy.

The two talked about life, and Yoko expressed that she was not liked by anyone. After hearing this, the old woman encouraged her: "You know, if you want to change, you can definitely change."

After hearing this, Yoko was thoughtful. Could she really change?

When leaving, the old woman gave Yoko a book and a key, telling her she could come whenever she wanted, and made a promise with Yoko: "One day let's go on a trip together!"

Hearing this sentence, Yoko couldn't help but smile. She felt that for the first time in her life, there was sunshine.

After thanking her, she began to return home, only to be seen by her mother with the book in her hand. The mother's first reaction was that Yoko had stolen it, so she immediately beat her severely. While telling her how hard it was to give birth to Yoko, she punched and kicked her.

The younger sister Koshi said from the side: "She was impulsive."

This sentence sounded like persuasion, but it defaulted to the fact that Yoko had stolen it. After hearing this, the mother hit even more fiercely, even tearing Yoko's hair.

Yoko held her head with both hands, and in grief and indignation, she fainted.

After waking up, she found that her book had been confiscated by her mother.

The mother looked at her and said coldly: "If you dare to enter mother's room, I will kill you."

Yoko didn't say a word, but made up her mind to get it back; that book was very precious to her.

Inside, it held the key the old woman gave her.

The next day, while her mother was not at home, Yoko sneaked into her room and began to search everywhere. Because the room was very messy, Yoko spent half a day finding the book by the bed.

Opening the book, she couldn't help but feel lucky because the key was still there.

At this time, there was a sound at the door. Yoko, who had no time to escape, immediately hid under the bed. Just after she hid, she found that her younger sister also walked into the room, seemingly wanting to find something.

During the process of rummaging, the younger sister Koshi accidentally knocked over all the CDs and also knocked over the vase next to it, causing the water in the vase to spill directly onto her mother's laptop.

This was bad!

Koshi was panicked for a moment. She knew that the CDs and the laptop were her mother's beloved items, and even if she was doted on by her mother, she might suffer punishment.

Thinking of the mother's means of beating Yoko, she couldn't help but feel a chill and decided to push all the responsibility onto Yoko.

Yoko, under the bed, witnessed all this, her heart full of fear. She knew that Koshi would definitely shift the blame to her, worrying that her mother would really kill her. So, after Koshi left, she ran to the old woman's house for help as soon as possible, only to get a piece of news that shocked her.

Yesterday, the owner of this house passed away due to a stroke.

Knowing this news, Yoko couldn't accept it and finally couldn't control her crying. This meant she had lost the only person in the world who cared about her.

In her crying, she couldn't help but think of the words Mitsuko warned her.

She swore she must change her destiny.

On the way home, Yoko saw her younger sister Koshi and gathered the courage to stop her: "You broke mother's computer, right? Mother... already knows it was you."

"Mother will think it was you, right? Anyway, you're used to being scolded by mother, right."

Koshi glanced at her and answered unhurriedly.

Yoko lowered her head and said in a low voice: "Mother already knows it was you, shouting that the order of the CDs is different."

After hearing this sentence, Koshi couldn't help but panic. She didn't know that Yoko had seen everything under the bed at the time, thinking that her mother knew she had broken the computer.

Yoko walked around her, as if she had made a great determination, and proposed that the two exchange identities, and she would take the punishment for her.

Koshi accepted it as a matter of course.

The two walked to the nearest public restroom to exchange clothes, and Yoko helped Koshi mess up her hair to look like she usually did. Koshi looked at Yoko, who was exactly the same as her, and said again: "The identity exchange is limited to tonight, okay."

Then, the two walked to the downstairs of the house together.

They decided to play rock-paper-scissors to decide who would go upstairs to talk to their mother first. But I don't know if it was because of the twins' tacit understanding, the two were repeatedly tied, and in the end, Yoko won a round.

Koshi, disguised as Yoko, had to go home first, while Yoko waited downstairs. She took out the key given by the old woman Mitsuko, looked in the direction of the house, and felt uneasy in her heart.

Seeing this, Asano Aiko couldn't help but feel nervous, completely forgetting her original intention of reviewing the manuscript to pick out flaws.

During the reading process, her entire emotions were mobilized.

From the sympathy when knowing Yoko received unfair treatment, to the sadness when learning of Mitsuko's death, and the nervousness about the consequences Koshi would suffer when she went home now.

She felt her nerves tense at every moment.

Where exactly was the problem with such a work?

Her heart was full of doubts, but her hand couldn't help but continue to flip down.

"Bang."

A figure fell from a high altitude and hit the nearby ground heavily.

Yoko hurried forward to take a look and found that it was Koshi who had fallen. She lay in a pool of blood with terrified eyes wide open, motionless.

She looked at Koshi's corpse, her heart full of lingering fear and panic!

Although afraid, she still returned home.

Once home, the mother looked at Yoko, who was disguised as "Koshi," and asked her to write a suicide note about jumping off the building in Yoko's tone.

The mother pretended to be helpless and said that Yoko had suddenly climbed onto the balcony railing and jumped down, and she couldn't pull her back in time.

Yoko directly exposed her: "It was mother who pushed her down, right."

"Koshi, are you serious." The mother responded with a smile, but gradually withdrew her smile: "Don't say such chilling words."

Yoko looked at her mother with disappointed eyes, "Yoko really liked mother. She always said that she and mother were very similar."

The mother sitting opposite looked at her, as if she realized something, and showed a strange expression.

Subsequently, the police came to the door to question them and left after a long time. The mother went back to her room to rest, and Yoko also went to Koshi's room.

In the middle of the night, Yoko took her packed luggage, put on her old running shoes, hung the key given by the old woman Mitsuko on her chest, and left this house.

She made up her mind to pursue her own life!

After reading the whole story, Asano Aiko put down the manuscript in her hand and wiped the fine sweat on her forehead with her hand.

Since she joined the publishing house, she had rarely seen such a work that could shake people's hearts, let alone from the hands of a newcomer.

The whole story, from beginning to end, was depicting the different encounters of a pair of sisters in the same situation, as if it were something happening next door, unforgettable.

The abused older sister finally used the younger sister's death to water the flowers of her own rebirth.

Their mother might have also realized she killed the wrong person, but showed no indication.

How to say it, the ending was too cruel, but also so logical.

She took a deep breath, then calmed down, let her thinking shift from reader to editor, and thought about whether to accept this manuscript.

This manuscript had already been rejected by "Tokyo Literature," so it shouldn't be a big problem for her to take it, right?

While thinking, she turned to the page with the author's personal information. ===== CHAPTER 4 =====