Chapter 556

The next day.

Train station.

The morning light was faint, and the crowd was bustling.

Kaga Reisa stood quietly at the edge of the platform, her hairstyle today seemed to have been taken care of more carefully than usual.

Her iconic side-parted shoulder-length short hair that covered her left eye was slightly tucked inward at the ends, looking exceptionally soft.

The school uniform of Sacred Heart Academy on her body was supported by her overly full "4K" figure, outlining breathtaking curves, and the top button of the school shirt seemed to be bearing some kind of pressure.

She lowered her head slightly, greeting the two siblings who were walking closer in a shy and weak manner.

"Good morning... Xia-brother, Ruri-chan."

The voice was light and thin, like a feather brushing past.

Xia Xia Xia Mujun's gaze swept past, and he couldn't help but sigh inwardly, but soon moved his gaze away politely, looking at her eyes.

"Morning, Kaga-san."

"Morning!"

Natsume Ruri waved her hand in response with full vitality.

Kaga Reisa's thoughts, however, drifted back to last night uncontrollably.

The appearance of Akita Sana and Fujiwara Aoi, two beautiful sisters, clearly having a special interest in Xia-brother, repeatedly surfaced in her mind.

Thinking for a whole night, the more she thought, the more restless and uneasy she became.

At this moment, hearing Xia Xia Xia Mujun still calling her by her surname, that sense of alienation made fine, dense sourness well up in her heart.

She longed to be closer to him, even if it was just a change in address.

And so...

Kaga Reisa took a deep breath, her fingers twisting her skirt hem unconsciously, her head hanging lower, and asked with a voice that was almost inaudible but full of courage:

"Xia-brother..."

"Can I... can I call you by your name directly?"

She raised her head, glanced at him quickly, and lowered it again quickly, her cheeks flushed.

"I just feel... calling you by your surname all the time... is too distant... it doesn't feel very good."

Xia Xia Xia Mujun was slightly stunned upon hearing this.

"Why do you say that suddenly?"

Natsume Ruri also blinked her big eyes, looking at her good friend who suddenly made a request with confusion.

Kaga Reisa's face became even redder, her voice trembling slightly due to nervousness.

"Because... because I think people with good relationships call each other by their names directly..."

"Other classmates... are all like this."

She paused, summoning even greater courage.

"So I want to call your name... and conversely, you... you can also call my name."

Xia Xia Xia Mujun looked at her shy and serious appearance, and thought for a moment.

Kaga Reisa often came home to accompany Ruri, and they got along happily, so their relationship had long been close.

Continuing to use surname address did indeed seem a bit distant.

He nodded.

"Of course you can, Reisa."

Hearing her name called naturally from his mouth, Kaga Reisa's heart was instantly filled with a small burst of excitement.

"Mm... Chikei-brother."

She responded softly, her eyes curving, rippling a shallow, satisfied smile.

Natsume Ruri on the side tilted her head, her gaze turning between her good friend and her brother.

She was a bit confused in her heart, but looking carefully, Reisa-chan was still that familiar, shy appearance.

Whether at school or outside, she had always been like this.

Moreover, she had vaguely felt before that the address between her brother and Reisa-chan was a bit polite.

Now that they could call each other by their names, perhaps... it was a natural manifestation of their relationship going a step further.

Soon.

The train heading toward Sacred Heart Academy pulled into the station, and the train doors slid open.

"Then we're going, brother!"

"Chikei-brother, goodbye."

Ruri and Reisa stepped onto the train, waving at Xia Xia Xia Mujun through the train window.

Xia Xia Xia Mujun watched the train pull away with a smile.

Not long after, the train he was waiting for also pulled into the station slowly.

The carriage door opened.

In the seat by the window, Yukimura Suzune was focused on the literary book in her hand.

Hearing the movement, she habitually raised her eyes, and happened to see Xia Xia Xia Mujun walking into the carriage.

She hesitated slightly, raised her hand, and waved it with a small amplitude.

Xia Xia Xia Mujun walked over and stood beside her.

"Morning, Yukimura-san."

"Morning... Xia-brother."

Xia Xia Xia Mujun remembered something, took out the first volume of the shoujo manga "Kimi ni Todoke" from his school bag, and handed it to her.

"Here, the one you said you wanted to see yesterday."

Yukimura Suzune's clear eyes blinked, she reached out to take it, her fingertips touching his lightly inadvertently.

"Thank you."

She carefully put the manga into her school bag, and then took out the copy of "The Devotion of Suspect X" from her own bag and handed it to Xia Xia Xia Mujun.

"This... I finished reading it, giving it back to you."

"It's a very excellent work."

Xia Xia Xia Mujun lowered his head to look at this book he had written, a complex, smile-carrying light flickering in his eyes, and shook his head.

"No need to return it to me, I've already read it."

Yukimura Suzune was stunned, a trace of surprise appearing on her cold face.

"You've already read it?"

"I heard that this novel is very hard to buy now, if I didn't happen to know the bookstore clerk, I'm afraid I wouldn't have been able to grab it."

"My bookstore clerk friend said that many people are queuing up for reservations at the bookstore. How did you buy it?"

Xia Xia Xia Mujun smiled, his tone natural.

"Because the author of this book is me."

Yukimura Suzune was stunned again.

However, in her mind, Xia Xia Xia Mujun's grades, which could be called the tail-end in the grade, as well as the narrow apartment he currently lived in, flashed by.

Such a logically rigorous, text-refined, plot-shocking work, how could it be written by him?

If he really had such talent, why wait until now? And why live so poorly?

She concluded that he was joking, and couldn't help but narrow her eyes slightly, a look of annoyance appearing on her cold face.

"Don't mess around."

Xia Xia Xia Mujun shrugged helplessly.

"Believe it or not."

"However, compared to this, I'm actually curious, what do you think of the plot of this novel?"

"Especially the ending, the scene where the heroine confesses to the police, what do you think?"

Seeing that he had really read the novel and wanted to discuss it in depth, Yukimura Suzune temporarily put aside the question of who the author was, put the book back into her bag, and planned to recommend it to Saionji Nanase another day.

She sat upright, pondered slightly, and her cold voice flowed out with clear analysis.

"The structure is very exquisite."

"The ending is indeed unexpected."

"As long as Yasuko doesn't take the initiative to confess, it's actually very hard for the police to find conclusive evidence to convict Ishigami."

"Ishigami almost calculated everything, the only thing he didn't calculate was the complex emotional variable in the depths of the human heart."

Her gaze cast toward the passing scenery outside the window, as if sorting out her thoughts.

"Yasuko's feelings for Ishigami are complex. Initially, she might have only regarded him as a 'tool to get rid of trouble,' and even suspected he was a 'second Togashi'."

"But after learning the truth, she realized that Ishigami's love was a kind of almost pure, self-destructive sacrifice."

"That heavy sense of guilt eventually transformed into a determination to share the criminal responsibility. Therefore, the sentence 'a woman like me doesn't deserve such sacrifice from you' when she confessed, marked that she finally understood the essence of Ishigami's love, and chose to respond with 'mutual destruction'."

She turned her head back, looked at Xia Xia Xia Mujun, and summarized.

"And precisely because of this late understanding and response... Ishigami's perfect plan completely collapsed."

"It can be said that as long as either Ishigami or Yasuko was selfish or cold enough, this tragedy would not have been established from the beginning."

Her tone gradually calmed down, carrying the lingering charm after reading.

"After reading this book... I felt more deeply that human emotions are fluid and complex."

"Initial impressions form stereotypical cognition, but with getting along, cognition is constantly revised."

"It's just that this kind of revision often requires the triggering of an extreme event for both parties involved to realize it clearly."