After being severely beaten, Lala no longer acted stubborn.
Sitting on a chair and wiping her face with a tissue, she tearfully recounted what had happened in Haruko's room.
Downplaying the key points, she omitted the part where she bullied Haruko.
She went straight to the main point, "Originally, I didn't plan to do anything to her, I just scared her a bit, and then I said that Haruko and you are both bad people."
"After that, Haruko seemed to go crazy."
"While saying things like it's okay to scold her, but not you, she also lunged towards my knife. I said sooner or later... sooner or later I'll beat you into a dog, and then Haruko said even if you are a dog, you can only be her dog, and can't have anything to do with me, something like that."
"Then, she snatched my knife."
"After stabbing my thigh, she then scratched her own forehead, saying things like telling me to hurry up and do it, that she was the victim."
"Finally, she muttered to herself that she wasn't a Yandere."
Lala felt a little scared just thinking about it.
She shrank her neck again, "And then you came into the house and hit me without a word. During this process, I was the victim, okay!"
Ichiko frowned, "You're not lying to me?"
Upon hearing this, Lala's blood pressure rose. Ignoring the redness on her face, she straightened up and angrily cursed, "If I don't say anything, you think I'm being stubborn, and if I do, you don't believe me. If I'm lying to you, may my whole family die!"
Ichiko rubbed her chin and asked again, "What about Haruko's state at the time, what were her expressions like?"
"This..." Lala calmly recalled, "She felt like a different person, her tone was frantic, her face was flushed, her eyes were a bit like a cat's, in short... it was terrifying!"
She wasn't lying about this point.
In Ichiko's impression, whether it was in the basement or on the rooftop that time, Haruko was in the same state.
She tentatively called it the Yandere state.
Normally she was quite normal, but once her bottom line was touched, her whole person would become pathological and manic.
But the problem lay here.
She had thoroughly studied the knowledge of Yandere.
Undoubtedly, the state Haruko had shown before was the "pathological" aspect of a Yandere, such as self-harm and seeking death wholeheartedly.
But another major characteristic of a Yandere is being good at disguise!
Furthermore, Dr. Kaito had said that typically, a Yandere doesn't know they are a Yandere.
Haruko knew she was a Yandere.
She also said she wasn't a Yandere.
Yet she displayed various pathological aspects.
So, the question is.
Is she a Yandere or not?
Ichiko had never known Haruko possessed such acting skills.
"Headache."
Ichiko rubbed her temples, realizing she couldn't figure it out by herself.
Seeing the sky outside getting dark, she took out her phone and looked at Lala, "Scan over the seven thousand yuan you owe Haruko."
Lala's face stiffened, "I... I don't have money, I only have three hundred yuan on me."
Ichiko loosened her knuckles, making a cracking sound, and slowly asked, "You don't even have money, so how do you plan to resolve this?"
"I... I..." Lala looked flustered, afraid that Ichiko would hit her again. Her thoughts were almost unthinking, and she blurted out, "Can I use my body?"
She shrank her neck, "Your relationship with Haruko must be unusual, after all, you can train her into that state. If you don't mind, I..."
"Stop!"
Ichiko got up and backed away with a look of disgust, "Look at yourself, don't make me sick."
They were both girls, but in comparison.
Lala was simply a toad.
In terms of cuteness, it had to be Haruko.
Thinking of Haruko's cute face and sweet, obedient smile, Ichiko felt much more relaxed.
She exhaled, "One month. If you can't come up with this money, I'll be back. If I find out you're still bullying the weak, just wait to spend the rest of your life in prison!"
With that, Ichiko intended to leave.
But her sharp eyes noticed a small figure still huddled in the corner.
She looked as small as Haruko.
Her clothes were ragged, and her hair and exposed skin were dirty and messy.
She glared fiercely at Lala, walked over to the small follower, and held out her hand.
Her smile was like spilled moonlight, "Don't worry, she won't dare to bully you again. My name is Ichiko, what's yours?"
However, to Ichiko's surprise, the girl in front of her shrank back again.
She quickly shook her head, not reaching for the hand she extended.
Ichiko initially thought the other person was scared.
But then she heard her emit a weak voice, "Thank you."
Immediately after, she shook her head again.
This time, it was a clear refusal.
She should also be someone who was bullied, yet she refused her like this.
A bit strange.
But Ichiko didn't interfere too much, she respected everyone's choices.
Before leaving, something suddenly came to mind, and she looked back at Lala, "Right, why do you think Haruko became like that, like you said, she went crazy."
"Huh?" Lala covered her face, looking at Ichiko as if she were an idiot, "Wasn't it caused by you? You raised a dog... no, you brought someone, why she became like this, don't you know?"
Getting the answer, Ichiko sighed.
She walked out the door.
The sunset had already fallen, and the moon was beginning to dance with the stars through the clouds.
Winter was approaching, and it was getting dark faster and faster.
It was also getting colder.
Ichiko exhaled a puff of warm air and slowly walked into the deep alley.
The next morning, Haruko, who had rested for a night, got up covering her head.
"System, how many emotion points are there?"
This was something she confirmed every morning after waking up.
By estimating the time and amount of emotion points provided by the major protagonists, she could gauge if something important had happened.
[Reply to Host, 754 points]
[Yesterday evening, the female protagonist Ichiko and the male protagonist Sento each provided a sum of emotion points]
It wasn't easy to quickly gain emotion points when she didn't actively cause major incidents; usually, even if she did, it was only three to five points.
Now it had directly added hundreds of points?
"What happened yesterday evening?"
Ichiko was fine, it was nothing more than caring about her own matters, which generated emotion points.
As for Sento, she had been hospitalized for a few days, and after returning home, she didn't go out. Hiding away like this didn't seem like a solution.
"Ding dong~"
Her phone rang.
Haruko picked up her phone. It was a message from Yuri on Massenger: "Haruko, it's already the seventh day, where's the antidote you promised me? I'm starting to get heat rash on my face, hurry up and give me the antidote!"
It was only then that Haruko remembered that she had agreed to give the so-called antidote to Yuri once a week.
But in reality, the mineral water she had added things to before was just mineral water.
Heat rash... hormonal imbalance or allergy?
Haruko typed back, "Don't worry, I asked you to care about Ichiko during this time, how is it going now?"
Yuri: "That guy is also stupid, she believes whatever I say. Plus, with what you said about recommending a psychologist to her last time, she trusts me like you wouldn't believe now."
Haruko: "Okay, keep developing the relationship, it's best to become her close friend with whom she can talk about anything. Also, she returned to the dorm last night, do you know what she did in the evening?"
Yuri: "Not very clear, she seemed quite tired when she came back, but she talked on the phone with Shin for ten minutes before going to bed. I don't know what the content was."
"Shin?"
Haruko raised an eyebrow, an image of a sinister man wearing glasses appeared in her mind.
This was also one of the important male protagonists in the novel, and his character type happened to be the kind that Haruko found very difficult to deal with!
Haruko sent a message to Yuri, "Wait for me at Moonlight Cafe, I'll bring you the antidote."
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