Sakiko watched Metis's fervent expression in silence—the manic curve of her smile, the hands clenched around Sakiko's wrist—her own eyes utterly flat.
She didn't follow Metis's delirious pitch. Instead, she said coolly:
"Don't worry. I won't let you disappear, Metis."
For a brief moment, Metis's facial muscles stiffened.
The sick flush drained from her cheeks at a visible speed. Her pupils, blown wide with excitement, returned to a normal focus. Her breathing steadied. That exaggerated grin softened, then settled.
In two or three seconds, the reckless fanaticism peeled away as if it had never been there.
Metis slowly released Sakiko's wrist and stepped back half a pace.
"Looks like you've completely seen through me." Her voice was calm now—nothing like the earlier hysteria.
Sakiko didn't answer immediately. Her gaze swept across the messy room and landed on a chair a few meters away.
She lifted her right index finger. A pinpoint of pale blue light flickered at the tip—then vanished.
Cursed Technique Lapse—Blue.
A sharp pull of gravity surged. The chair in the corner lifted and slid across the floor, gliding cleanly to Sakiko's position without so much as a whoosh of air. It stopped precisely in front of her.
Sakiko swung a leg over the backrest and sat astride it. She folded her arms on top of the chair back, rested her chin on them, and let her focus go distant—thinking.
Metis was a Shadow born from Mutsumi's expectations. She hadn't lived through real human socialization; her emotions hadn't developed in any complete way. She couldn't form healthy interactions based on genuine feeling.
Everything she displayed—her logic, her tone, her facial expressions—wasn't instinct.
It was imitation.
And the raw material for that imitation was Mutsumi's memories.
So that earlier "fanatic" performance had been acting.
With Six Eyes—borrowed through her possession state—Sakiko could see it instantly. Metis's performance was flawless on the surface, but beneath it, the involuntary micro-reactions of muscle and nerves told the truth:
Metis was not actually that frenzied.
So if the mania was fake… what was her real goal?
The answer was simple. Brutal.
To survive.
Metis wanted Sakiko to rebuild Ave Mujica so Metis could continue to exist.
Metis had been born when Mutsumi, crushed under Sakiko's pressure, tried to answer Sakiko's expectations—an Shadow woven from love and fear.
Her sole reason for being was to ensure Ave Mujica's continuation.
As long as the band lived, Mutsumi's expectations would keep producing Metis, and Metis could keep existing.
But Ave Mujica had already disbanded.
The moment Mutsumi truly realized Metis had failed to fulfill her wish, Metis could evaporate in the cognition world—gone, erased.
That was why Metis had kept Mutsumi suppressed, why she had blocked Mutsumi from waking up and meeting Sakiko.
She was afraid that the instant Mutsumi woke, Metis would die.
And Metis was right about one thing: whether Ave Mujica stayed together was the product of capital and real-world operations. That was never something Mutsumi could decide by sheer will.
A Shadow could wield terrifying power in the cognition world, but its influence on reality was extremely limited. At best, it could act on a specific individual—slipping into that person's cognition world, manipulating or crushing their Shadow, and indirectly changing their behavior in reality.
Even that had strict prerequisites.
If a person's psyche wasn't twisted by obsession, desire, or trauma—if they didn't have an independent Shadow—then their mind flowed into the human collective unconscious like a drop into the sea.
In that state, an outside Shadow couldn't isolate them for interference, unless it could warp the cognition of all humanity at once.
That was why, for "normal" people in society, it was often more practical to influence them directly in reality than to try prying open the collective unconscious.
Just like Mutsumi in childhood.
Back then, her psyche was like any other child's—submerged in the collective.
But Mori Minami's oppression, the distorted home environment, shattered Mutsumi's core self.
In this world, if a person with an independent Shadow—or worse, a Palace—suffered that level of collapse, the result was straightforward and horrifying:
They would lose all cognition and interaction in reality. They would become a hollow shell—an empty, unresponsive body.
A "ruined" person.
But Mutsumi hadn't become that.
Why?
Because, back then, Mutsumi had never separated from the collective. Even after her inner self collapsed, her remnants were still soaking in the collective unconscious.
So although Mutsumi's original core had died, the body still existed—breathing, moving, "Wakaba Mutsumi" as a physical object.
That empty vessel could be filled.
It kept spawning Shadows to answer the expectations around it—living inside other people's hopes, maintaining the illusion of life.
A truly independent self, once shattered, was permanent silence.
But a self still connected to the collective—no matter how broken—could be forcibly stitched back into motion by the endless attention and expectation of others.
Sakiko didn't know which path was "better."
She only felt cold to the bone.
With Six Eyes, a moment outside could feel like several minutes inside.
In those minutes, she re-sorted every detail, checked for gaps, confirmed her conclusion.
Then she closed her eyes.
Two seconds later, she opened them again.
The wavering and confusion were gone. Her gaze was sharp.
She looked directly at Metis, who stood there tense and uncertain, and said clearly:
"I will rebuild Ave Mujica."
Metis stared, stunned—as if she hadn't expected Sakiko to take responsibility so plainly.
"Your existence was born from my mistake." Sakiko's voice was steady. "I kept forcing pressure onto Mutsumi without ever recognizing her true condition. I won't deny that. I'll see it through."
Metis's lips parted slightly, speechless.
"And there are other things," Sakiko continued, "that I also need Ave Mujica to exist for."
For an instant, her mind flashed to her father—collapsed, rotting in defeat.
"So whether it's responsibility, my current goals, or…"
Her eyes lowered briefly to her own fingertips. Her voice dropped, a faint softness threading through it.
"…or my love for music."
"I will rebuild Ave Mujica."
She lifted her gaze again, locking onto Metis's eyes with unwavering force.
"So you don't need to worry. I'll make sure you can keep existing."
"Now."
"Let Mutsumi come out and talk to me."
Silence filled the room.
Metis stood there, her expression tangled—moved, cornered, stubborn, unwilling to admit it—everything at once.
She had been ready with a thousand arguments. Ready to fight. Ready to be destroyed.
She hadn't prepared for this: being accepted wholesale.
In the end, she let out a deep sigh, turned, and sat on the bed again. A helpless smile tugged at her mouth.
"Fine, fine… Now I get why every Wakaba Mutsumi ends up falling for your charm."
She didn't look at Sakiko as she spoke. She closed her eyes.
One second.
Two.
Three.
When she opened them again, the atmosphere changed completely.
The childish curiosity was gone.
What replaced it was something nearly empty—blank, faintly numb.
Mutsumi sat on the bed. For a heartbeat, her gaze was unfocused.
She looked surprised—genuinely surprised—at the sudden return of control over her own body.
In her awareness, Metis had been suppressing her relentlessly. Why would she suddenly let go?
That confusion barely had time to surface before memory slammed into her mind like a tidal wave.
Everything that had just happened—every word—synced in an instant.
Mutsumi's eyes finally found focus. She lifted her head slowly, meeting Sakiko's gaze across the room.
Her lips moved. Her voice was small.
"Saki… so you know…"
She lowered her eyes, unable to look directly at Sakiko.
"I… I'm not human…"
Before she could finish, Sakiko vanished from the chair.
In the next instant, she had crossed the distance and was right in front of Mutsumi.
Mutsumi didn't even have time to react before Sakiko wrapped both arms around her and pulled her in hard.
The momentum shoved Mutsumi backward onto the bed. Sakiko followed, bracing herself above her, chin tucked into the crook of Mutsumi's shoulder.
Mutsumi's cheek pressed against Sakiko's neck.
"It makes no difference to me whether you're human or a Shadow."
Sakiko's voice was warm in Mutsumi's ear, her breath spilling across Mutsumi's chilled skin. Her tone was stubborn—almost domineering.
"You're just my Mutsumi."
Deep in the farthest corner of Mutsumi's mind, Metis—who had just relinquished control—clicked her tongue softly.
Whether it was irritation at Sakiko negotiating with her one moment and getting handsy with Mutsumi the next, or jealousy that Mutsumi got this embrace while she didn't, it was hard to tell.
After the first stiff instant, Mutsumi's body softened.
Feeling Sakiko's warmth and heartbeat through thin fabric, Mutsumi's eyes reddened against her will.
Slowly, she raised her arms and wrapped them around Sakiko's back. Her fingers tightened in Sakiko's clothes, pulling her closer.
She buried her face deeper into Sakiko's neck. Her voice came out muffled—choked with guilt.
"I'm sorry, Sakiko… I messed everything up again. Ave Mujica disbanded because of me."
She tried to take all the blame for herself.
Sakiko's brow tightened.
She didn't correct her immediately. She let Mutsumi hold her for a moment longer—then eased back.
Sakiko planted her hands on either side of Mutsumi and straightened, looking down at her with a seriousness that left no room to dodge.
"Mutsumi."
"Are you still going to blame yourself for CRYCHIC and Ave Mujica?"
Sakiko's thoughts flashed back to the rain-soaked night.
In the CRYCHIC practice room, when everything was breaking, Mutsumi had said the cruelest, most decisive line of all:
"I've never found playing in a band fun."
That single sentence killed CRYCHIC's last breath.
Sakiko admitted it—back then, hearing it had shaken her. The anger, the hurt, the sense of betrayal had roared up.
How could Mutsumi say that?
Were their memories and joy all fake?
But now, after seeing the cognition world, Sakiko finally understood.
That Mutsumi hadn't been voicing her own feelings at all.
She had been answering Sakiko's expectation.
Because the "real" Mutsumi had long since lost the self that could truly feel happiness or pain. She was a vessel that received expectation and returned the most fitting response.
That night, Sakiko wanted the band to end.
Mutsumi sensed Sakiko's pain and desire with terrifying accuracy.
To answer it, she delivered the most final blow.
She became the villain in Sakiko's place and said the line that would end everything.
She took the hatred.
She protected Sakiko's pride and escape.
Sakiko's voice carried bitter self-mockery.
"You didn't destroy CRYCHIC, Mutsumi. You were just following me."
"You carried my sins for me."
Mutsumi's mouth parted. Her pupils trembled.
"And Ave Mujica…"
Sakiko's eyes darkened. She gently took Mutsumi's cold hands and tightened her grip.
"That disbandment happened because I didn't recognize my own position. I let myself be steered and squeezed by other capital forces."
Her grip firmed, steady—no evasion in it.
"So in the end, it's all Toyokawa Sakiko's fault."
"My arrogance. My weakness. My selfishness."
"I dragged you into disaster after disaster."
Sakiko lowered her head until her forehead pressed against Mutsumi's. Their breaths tangled.
Then, quietly, she held to the one line she would not abandon:
If you're wrong, you fix it. You make amends.
That was Toyokawa Sakiko's baseline.
Sakiko knew it, too—Mutsumi had never truly cared about the glittering CRYCHIC or the masked performances of Ave Mujica.
It didn't matter.
What Mutsumi had always cared about was Toyokawa Sakiko.
Because Sakiko had always been the only place where Mutsumi didn't have to fight to survive.
A sour ache rose in Sakiko's chest—then hardened into resolve.
She looked directly into those eyes—empty sometimes, but always reflecting her—and tried to shine warmth into the ruins of Mutsumi's heart.
"Mutsumi."
"I'm sorry for what I did to you."
"I destroyed your sense of safety. I never should've dumped my pressure onto you."
"And because I forced you…"
Sakiko's gaze softened to something almost painfully gentle.
"…you ended up creating Metis."
"From now on, it can be like before."
"Beside me, you don't have to play any role."
"You can do nothing at all."
"You won't have to feel the terror of survival or the pain anymore."
"And whether it's you or Metis…"
"I accept you both."
"I won't let either of you disappear."
"I swear it."
The room went completely still.
Mutsumi stared at Sakiko.
As a being born from others' expectations and cognition, she was hypersensitive to pressure—pressure in the heart, pressure in the gaze, pressure in the smallest pause.
Even a hint of disguised demand or disgust would be magnified into something unbearable.
But right now, in Sakiko's eyes, she felt none of that.
No demand that she play guitar.
No expectation that she be a certain kind of person.
Only warmth—pure, unconditional, without strings.
That long-lost sense of safety wrapped around her.
For a moment, it was like she'd been dragged back into childhood.
A bright afternoon.
Soft wind.
She sat quietly in the Toyokawa courtyard and listened to Sakiko play piano.
Back then, she didn't have to tense her nerves, fearing that her false self would vanish at any wrong step.
Back then, she didn't have to fear being erased for "doing it wrong."
Back then…
Sakiko was her whole world.
Mutsumi looked at Sakiko up close. The eyes that were always wooden and hollow stirred with the first ripples of something real.
A tear slid down from the corner of her eye.
She squeezed Sakiko's hand back.
And then—she smiled.
It was small and light, like the first sprout breaking through ice.
There was no gloom in it.
And it wasn't a smile made to satisfy anyone's expectations.
"Yeah," Mutsumi whispered. "I understand."
Join here to read ahead.
In Star Rail, Ultra-Beast Armored — Have I Caught "Equilibrium"? l (Chapter 80)
Uma Musume, But I Only Have Five Years Left to Live (Chapter 178)
Zenless Zone Zero: I'm a Doctor, Not a Bangboo (Chapter 165)
Ben Tennyson Wants to Join the Justice League ( 126 )
TYPE-MOON: Redemption Beginning with the Holy Grail War (Chapter110)
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I, Lord Ravager, Utterly Loyal! (Chapter250)
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Crossover Anime Multiverse: The Demon Hunter of an Unnatural World 77
From Junkman to Wasteland 66
Weekly Refresh of Overpowered 31
I'm Grinding Proficiency Like 46
From Kiana, Lord Ravager, Onwa 220
Honkai: Is This Still the Prev 42
Elf: My Starter Pokémon Is Inc 65
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From Demon Slayer to Grand Ass Volume2/20
The Way the Umamusume Look at 68
Uma Musume, but My Cheat Power 248
Naruto: Weaving the Future, Be 65
Zenless Zone Zero, but Kamen R 76
Multiverse Crossover: The Perf 66
My Cyberpsycho Girlfriend 65
Uma Musume: The Dark Trainer 230
Uma Musume: A Calamity Born fr 154
I, a Reincarnation-Loop Player Volume4/40
The Violent Girl Group Is Beat 125
Uma Musume: The Horse Girl Who 67
Uma Musume: From Beginner 145
Becoming a Horse Girl, I Will 85
Uma Musume: I Want All 120
I Can Copy Unique Skills 115
Summoning an Evil God, but the 75
Supernatural Multiverse 110
My Harem Is Indescribable 100
Jujutsu Kaisen: Heroic Spirit 105
"I'm just a Valkyrie passing through." 67
Uma Musume: Today Is Another Romantic Battlefield 105
Still playing traditional Honk 80
The Most Filial Son Under Heav 85
What Should I Do After Switchi - Volume2/3
Reincarnated as a Demon, Skill 78
Hell-Difficulty Dungeon? 55
Transmigrated as Sukuna 80
Checking In in Demon Slayer 85
The Reincarnating Trainer of Tracen Academy 100
I Refuse to Become a Heroic 85
My Best Friend Into a Slime? 80
A Saiyan Stands Above Marvel 90
What Do You Mean by Using a Lab Mod to Be the Hero? 75
Tanya Starts from Re:Zero 80
Why did they assign me to Uma 75
MYGO Beauties 70
DanMachi: Emiya the Giant Hero 70
The Gacha Merchant Who Started 80
Honkai's Otherworld? Wait—Who Are You People?! 80
Emiya Shirou, Determined to Slay Every Curse and Evil Spirit 57
The Uma Musume Who Became 55
I'm Definitely Not the King of 60
After Maxing Out Every Class 45
Naruto: I'm Konoha's Local Men 35
Honkai: World Modulation Mode 34
I, the Elden Sword Saint 27
Dio Brando Is Challenging FGO 24
No One Knows Pokémon Better 18
I, Sakazuki, Won't Go Down Tha 20
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