Are you, as meal replacement users, ready for the consequences?

Page 56

Before entering, there was a small castle made of stacked beer cans, where the family's old teddy bear lived.

Ningzi squatted down and touched the mirror, leaving a series of fingerprints on the clean surface.

"Am I seeing things? I thought my sister came back to keep me company, but that's impossible."

Having left Deng, Lixi, and Hemu, I once again returned to the agonizing time of being alone.

I need to survive alone until Xiangzi comes home... It's a little past six o'clock now, how am I going to get through these three and a half hours?

"How did I manage to survive until that time?"

The me of the past, you were so powerful.

Ningzi took one last look at herself in the mirror, just like she was looking at her sister.

Their physical features are almost identical, so looking in the mirror is like secretly observing the older sister.

Moreover, unlike photographs and portraits, the people in a mirror move, giving the person looking in the mirror a brief illusion that "I am not alone" or "you actually have someone with you."

"Well then, goodbye, Mirror Xiaoxiang, I'll come see you again later."

Ningzi gently kissed the mirror; the cool touch was barely acceptable.

Ningzi returned to her and Xiangzi's bedroom, turned on the desk lamp, and found the notebook with the Beetle cover under her school uniform that she had changed out of.

Speaking of which, the reason why Deng gave himself a beetle-patterned notebook is because his sister used one before, right?

"Hmm... let's just say I like the Beetle too. If I like it, it's like the lamp was specially given to me, it's something I like."

Ningzi tried to hypnotize herself. She sat cross-legged on the newly changed mattress and touched the gaps between the pages of the book with her fingernails.

The most obvious gap is the morgue where today's crimes are hidden.

"Should we open this...?"

Ningzi placed the small medicine bottle on the bedside table. She felt reluctant to open the notebook, which was filled with sinful and obscene words and contained the wicked heart of a child.

This thing, well, maybe we should just throw it away?

Isn't cutting someone's hair during class a bit too much...?

Ugh, disgusting? Lower body? Perverted?

But I'm very good-looking, so should I be described as... morbid beauty?

"I should just throw it away... The thought of it is disgusting. How can I live with myself if others find out?"

I feel so bad, so bad. Suddenly cutting off my already short hair is really so unfair. I feel so sorry for you.

"Snapped--"

Ningzi raised her right hand and slapped herself across the face.

The sound was crisp and loud, clearly audible in the already silent room.

"Toyokawa Ningko, are you sick in the head?"

“This kind of emotion is not what I need. What’s done is done and can’t be undone, so I can’t have any regrets.”

"I want to enjoy the morning I spend here, and the fruits of my labor that I have created for myself now."

Even if I'm disgusted and loathed by it, even if I feel like throwing up, I'll still enjoy watching this junk for at least half an hour!

Ningzi got out of bed, walked to the window, opened it, and took a deep breath of the fresh outdoor air.

I'm not just going to look at my notebook, but also at the sheet music. These are all the good things I brought today... I must appreciate them carefully!

"Think back to the excitement you felt at the time, what kind of emotions you had when you did these things."

You must be excited!

Toyokawa Ningko closed the window and returned to bed to find her notebook already open.

As if guided by some unseen force, the notebook, which had been hesitant and conflicted about whether to open, was observed opening itself again.

Ningzi swallowed softly and leaned closer.

The sample, a mixture of his own hair and Takamatsu Akari's hair, was quietly stuck inside.

Seeing her hair again truly made Ningzi feel a surge of warmth in her heart.

"I can't watch anymore. If I keep watching, I'll become mentally unstable."

Ningzi locked the laptop in the bedside table and fled from her bedroom into the living room.

Sure enough, I probably still harbor the wishful thinking of wanting to be a normal person.

Is it because having friends feels so comfortable? Or is it because becoming more normal has brought more love and care?

It's so complicated, being human is so complicated.

Ningzi returned to the entrance, kicking her little leather shoes far away to make room for herself to kneel down.

The blue twin ponytails reflected in the mirror seemed to have never left, and Ningzi felt a moment of peace looking at them.

"Sister, being human is so hard, what should I do?"

Touching the mirror, Ningzi could see how pathetic the blue-haired boy looked!

Sitting pitifully on the ground, you don't look like your sister at all! You little whelp! You look so pathetic and helpless, are you about to cry...?

"Live well and don't worry everyone."

Ningzi mimicked her sister's tone, speaking comforting words to herself in the mirror.

"Then, what should I do if I'm lost and can't find my direction?"

"Make decisions based on your heart, and don't regret them."

"Won't you regret it?"

"Don't look back, just keep moving forward."

"But…"

"I love you."

Chapter 74. Ningzi enters an extremely troublesome state.

"I love you, Ningzi."

Ningzi mouthed the words in front of the mirror.

"I love you too, Xiangzi, I love you too."

"I know, Ning, we will be together for a lifetime."

Really? For a lifetime?

"real."

"I do not believe."

The notebook... I took it back from the cabinet again.

It was scattered on the ground.

Ningzi pressed herself against the mirror, feeling the warmth of her reflection.

It was cold, like the lake water that night.

Sure enough, the only person in the world who would directly tell me "I love you" is my older sister.

Why isn't my sister home yet? It's almost seven o'clock...

It's already seven o'clock and she's still not home... Is there something outside that's attracting her? How could she do this?

"I have to go to work, otherwise how am I supposed to support you?"

Ningzi continued talking to herself in front of the mirror, guessing that if her sister were here now, she would definitely answer her in the same way.

"Sister, do I need to go out and do odd jobs to earn some money to help support my family?"

"You don't need to worry about these things. Just live your life happily, and leave everything else to me."

"But, but, we're the same age, so why does all the burden and responsibility fall on Xiao Xiang's shoulders?"

Looking at her amber eyes glistening with tears in the mirror, Ningzi could perceive even more subtle reflections through them.

They are all Toyokawa Ningko... or they can be seen as Toyokawa Shoko.

"Xiao Xiang, say something."

Long, slender, and strong fingers slid along the edge of the mirror, covering the entire floor-length mirror with fingerprints.

The touch of the mirror was so cruel that it made Ningzi feel a sharp pain in her heart.

"Xiao Xiang, do you know what? This morning I deliberately ruffled your hair to collect these things. You didn't expect that, did you?"

He picked up the notebook from the ground with a showy air and stuck the sinful container with two pages of his collection stuck to the mirror.

Ningzi wanted her sister to see it clearly and take a closer look.

"How was it? Was it disgusting? Or do you think I'm cool?"

Ningzi in the mirror was doing the same thing; after all, it was just an ordinary mirror and couldn't do anything that contradicted Ningzi.

"Does it look good? Hmm? Just because you're a mirror doesn't mean you can act all high and mighty."

“If there is a blue-haired person with pigtails inside you, you are no longer just a mirror. As long as there is this person’s image inside you, you can be Xiangzi.”

Isn't that what everyone thinks? If someone looks like Toyokawa Shoko at first glance, then that's Toyokawa Shoko. It takes a lot of effort to correct their established judgment.

It seems that only Hailing... and Aine remembered Ningzi first, and the first image that came to mind when they moved in was Ningzi, not Xiangzi.

But…but…

Toyokawa Ningko sat cross-legged on the ground and flung her laptop aside.

She was truly fed up with this notebook; even the illustrations weren't her favorite kittens or snakes, but rather her sister's beloved beetles…

"Pat your head, little Ningzi, don't be sad."

Ningzi pressed her head against the mirror and reached out to stroke her head.

The mirror mirrored her movements, as if the person in the mirror was tossing her hair.

"Sister, why does everyone I know know you?"

"No, I don't know Aine or Hailing."

The biggest difference between asking and answering questions yourself, sharing the information you know with yourself, and silently pondering it in your heart is that speaking it out does indeed help with thinking.

Toyokawa Ningko's eyes gradually turned dangerous as she pondered what she should say and what her sister needed to say, which made her feel powerless and somewhat annoyed.

You're quite something, chatting with the mirror. Toyokawa Ningko, what's wrong? All the answers you get are things you already know. Does that make you angry?

That's so funny.

"Say something! Don't leave me talking to myself, okay? Say something!"

"Say it! Say it!"

Grab both sides of the mirror and shake it vigorously. The Toyokawa Ningko in the mirror is so fragile, swaying as if she will fall apart like a phantom of the past at any moment.

However, he was the only one speaking from beginning to end.

There was no one else in the room.

My father left to work in a faraway place.

This is what the girls who loved her most told Toyokawa Ningko.

My father... When he was alive, he could chat with me for a few minutes, although... we didn't talk much.

My father was the kind of awful person who spent all his time either fooling around outside or coming home to drink.

Father... Father likes to use Xiangzi's wages to gamble on horse races or play slingshot, but... he rarely seems to win money, and... he always says he wants to buy Xiangzi another piano.

He kept saying he was sorry to his daughter, that he owed her and Xiangzi…

My father wasn't home much when he was young, which is understandable. After all, those were his most glorious years, when he was successful in his career and a rising star in the family.

Ningzi had been cared for and accompanied by her mother and nanny since she was a child, but in the end…

Ningzi felt her head swelling more and more, and her blood vessels seemed to be throbbing rapidly.

Just like being pushed off a cliff, Ningzi fell backward.