Different people have different definitions of despair.

For some people, despair is that they don't have enough money and can hardly make a single move in the big city of Yokohama. For some people, it's that they are born humble and are ruthlessly trampled upon with their last bit of dignity. And for a high school girl who suffers from campus violence, her despair is that she unconsciously caused her best friend to go missing.

Hinata Hajime had also lost a companion and knew how painful that feeling was.

It was raining heavily outside and everything was wet. Hinata Hajime arrived at the school gate. The school was quiet with nothing but the sound of rain.

Hinata Hajime quickly jumped over the railing, his wet clothes stuck to his body, the stickiness was particularly severe, but Hinata Hajime no longer had time to care about these things, finding Tomikawa Yuki was the most important thing.

"Who are you? Help!"

Tomikawa Yuki's voice was heard, and the girl's screams of fear continued.

in warehouse.

Hinata Hajime adjusted his breathing, then he quickly ran towards the warehouse. The moment he arrived at the warehouse, the girl, covered in wet clothes, rushed out of the warehouse.

"Yuki Tomikawa." Hinata Hajime supported her body which was about to fall.

"Yes!" Tomikawa Yuki raised his head timidly, and trembled a little when he saw Hinata Hajime, "H-Mr. Hinata, I'm sorry!"

"I don't want to hear that." Hinata frowned.

“Huh?!”

"Don't apologize to me all the time in the future."

Yuki Tomikawa was frightened and almost fell to the ground. She subconsciously wanted to say sorry, but then she reacted and covered her mouth and nodded desperately. Her red and swollen eyes were almost filled with tears again. Hinata Sou breathed a sigh of relief, helped Yuki Tomikawa up, and then smiled at her.

"I mean, I don't need you to apologize to me because you haven't done anything to let me down."

“…I, I understand.”

Hinata Sou exhaled, trying to make himself more approachable, "It's okay, can you tell me who is pursuing you?"

"It's a man I don't know." Tomikawa Yuki quickly pointed to the warehouse, "He's inside!"

As soon as Tomikawa Yuki finished speaking, there was a click and the gate of the school opposite collapsed. Hinata Hajime hid Tomikawa Yuki behind him. When the door flew out, the wind brought rain and lifted his hair directly. Hinata Hajime stretched out his hand to block in front of his eyes, and his red left eye was as calm as before.

"Boring." Hinata Hajime put down his hand, "A Psychic?"

"Mr. Hinata! Monster, it's a monster!"

"Be quiet." Hinata Hajime looked at the person in front of him. A man in black walked out of the room, and the ground he was standing on was slowly freezing.

It is indeed a supernatural power.

"Leave here first." Hinata Hajime told Tomikawa Yuki, "Go home or go somewhere else. Don't let this man catch you."

"Yes." Tomikawa Yuki quickly agreed, and then she asked blankly, "But why is this person pursuing me?"

Yuki Tomikawa thought: I am just an ordinary high school student, cowardly and weak, why would anyone care about such a high school girl? Besides, people with special powers, aren't these things that only exist in urban legends? My mother said that she is not worth anything, not worth a person with special powers to catch.

"Don't think about why you are suffering. Finding excuses for others is the biggest mistake." Hinata Hajime moved his wrist, "It's better to think about how to return this suffering."

"Huh?" Yuki Tomikawa was stunned for a moment.

Hinata Hajime didn't look at her. He just stood in the rain, staring at the man in front of him who was about to rush over.

After hesitating for two seconds, Yuki Tomikawa turned around and started running. Although it was different from what her mother told her, what Mr. Hinata and Midori told her were the same. Midori said that it was not their fault and that suffering was not the price they deserved.

Don't say sorry to anyone.

"You let my prey go. How can I explain this to my master?" The man smiled at Hinata Hajime and said, "Are you going to take her place?"

"It's not up to you to decide whether it's a prey or not."

"My master said: She is prey, so she is prey."

Hinata Hajime frowned slightly. This man's words were full of fanaticism. It was obvious that he was not a normal person. The intelligence dealer was indeed not simple. It seemed normal for him to fool an ordinary person into working for him.

[Can it be handled? ]

【It takes time to deal with him.】

[The psychic is indeed a problem. 】

Hinata Hajime raised his head, his heterochromatic eyes seemed to be glowing in the rain. Under the influence of the psychic, the surroundings began to freeze little by little, and the temperature continued to drop.

"Kill you and keep chasing your prey!"

"What a pity." Hinata Hajime looked at him expressionlessly, "You can't get over it."

…

Yuki Tomikawa ran forward. Yokohama late at night was the world of the mafia, but even the mafia would not act normally in the heavy rain. Only those secret arms deals would be conducted in the rain. Yuki Tomikawa walked in the rain with her arms folded, and gradually walked to a place she didn't recognize.

There was rain everywhere, and the cold rain hit her, making her shiver with cold.

"What is this place?"

Just then, she fell and landed in the mud on the street. She coughed, but when she raised her head, she felt something indescribably familiar.

It seemed like there was a day when she fell in the rain, at this time, at this place.

Tomikawa Yuki got up from the ground in a daze. She involuntarily took steps towards one direction. Thunder continued to sound, but she was unaware of it and just kept walking forward.

Finally she came to a dilapidated warehouse with colorful neon lights outside and three big words written on the sign: Rat City.

"Rat City." Tomikawa Yuki finally woke up, her eyes wide open, "Miyo! Are you in there? Miyo!"

Just then, a gust of wind blew over, and a faint sound came into her ears, just like the rat city she encountered last time.

"Don't come in, go away, go away!"

It was Chida Miyo's voice.

"Miyo!" Tomikawa Yuki raised her voice, and she kept trying to find Chida Miyo. "Where are you? Miyo! I was wrong, I'm sorry, I will definitely protect myself, so, where are you? Can you see me, wuwu, I miss you so much."

“Go…go quickly!”

"I don't want to leave! I want to see you!"

Tomikawa Yuki screamed at a volume she had never used in her life, "I will never leave you alone!"

After the roar, there was a click, and the voice belonging to Chida Midori disappeared. The gate of the Mouse Castle slowly opened. Tomikawa Yuki stared at the Mouse Castle. She wanted to rush in, but was stopped by another person.

"Let me go!" Tomikawa Yuki tried to break free, but couldn't. "Miyo is in there. I heard Miyo's voice. She is in there."

Hinata Hajime looked at the stubborn Tomikawa Yuki with a calm expression in his heterochromatic eyes, "It's just that the Rat City is attracting you."

"Impossible! Miyo must be inside!"

"It's not just the intelligence dealers who are trying to wake up the despairing host. The Rat City is also constantly tempting you. As long as the despairing host still has a little hope in his heart, it will not be able to evolve completely. Only by extinguishing all hope in the despairing host's heart can things get completely out of control."

Tomikawa Yuki kept shaking his head, "No, I don't know what Mr. Hinata meant by the desperate host. I just wanted to save Miyo."

"This time, this time I will definitely be able to rescue Midori."

Yuki Tomikawa, who has lost her memory, secretly hopes that Chida Miyo is still alive, and that her disappearance means she is just missing, wondering whether she is dead or alive. In fact, she hopes that Chida Miyo will leave more than anyone else, but she just can't stand her current life and left. She keeps looking for Chida Miyo, which makes her disappointed again and again.

As long as we don't see Chida Midori's body, she must still be alive.

Yuki Tomikawa kept hinting at himself.

However, how could the Fragment of Despair allow Yuki Tomikawa to continue like this? Hinata Hajime has already encountered what Yuki Tomikawa will see after entering the Mouse City.

"Yuki Tomikawa, are you sure you can bear the reality?" Hinata Hajime asked.

"Huh?" Tomikawa Yuki was stunned for a moment, "Reality?"

Hinata Hajime let go and said, "If you really want to go, then go ahead. You have to know the truth eventually."

"Hinata, sir?"

"Despair is not the most terrible thing. What's important is whether you choose to sink or continue to live in despair." Hinata Sou smiled. "In this case, despair is normal. Fuchuan, how to choose is your business. My job is to deal with the chain reaction after your choice."

Tomikawa Yuki stood there, she looked at Hinata Hajime blankly, "Really, is it okay?"

"Of course." Hinata Hajime held out his hand. "Go ahead, don't make a decision you'll regret."

After taking a last look at Hinata Hajime, Yuki Tomikawa ran into the Rat Castle without any worries. In the wide open door, Yuki Tomikawa quickly rushed into a space. The next moment, Yuki Tomikawa stopped because she found that she had come to another place.

It was a pitch-black place with a dim light shining down, like a basement. Next to the basement was a small bed one meter wide. On the bed were several torn high school textbooks. Yuki Tomikawa looked around blankly, and after a moment she saw a piece of plaster.

The white plaster swayed, as if deliberately attracting her attention.

It's in the closet.

Yuki Tomikawa walked towards the closet step by step, her heart beating constantly like a frog jumping around. She put her hand on the closet door, but even so she could feel her fingers trembling.

"Miyo, are you in there?" Tomikawa Yuki murmured, "Are you playing hide-and-seek with me?"

"Stop scaring me, can you please come out?"

Yuki Tomikawa swallowed her saliva and opened the closet door with force. The next moment, a soft body fell down.

Chida Miyo was wearing a school uniform which was a little old but very clean. Her leg was in a plaster cast with a little weight on it. The beautiful girl had her eyes closed and seemed to have just fallen asleep. Tomikawa Yuki was pressed to the ground by her.

She hugged Chida Midori's body, her mind going blank.

Cold, no temperature, no breathing, no heartbeat.

Cold.

It's so cold.

"Miyo!" Yuki Tomikawa screamed.

At that moment, Tomikawa Yuki's despair quickly expanded. Hinata Hajime stood at the door and watched the Mouse City expand. Countless black things emerged from the Mouse City bit by bit. Those were the secrets that had been told in the Mouse City. The black mist would carry these secrets and expand to every corner of the world.

She lost control.

[Not absolutely.] Hinata Hajime looked at the black mist calmly, [Of course she would be desperate. Not only her, if I encountered such a thing, I would also be desperate. I can't imagine that one day I would unconsciously kill the most important person. Anyone would be desperate.]

[Suppressing despair will certainly cause problems, let her vent.] Hinata Hajime leaned against the tree, [Only after despair can you see clearly what you really want.]

[You think she can get rid of this despair. ]

[I don't believe her, but I can believe Chida Miyo.] Hinata Sou smiled, [Just like I believe that Deru will never let me fall into despair, Chida Miyo will definitely not want Tomikawa Yuki to fall into the abyss and be unable to leave.]

[And even if she chooses despair, so what?] Hinata Hajime looked at the mouse castle in front of him, [With us here, there will be no problem.]

Kamizuru Izuru closed his eyes, "Since you want this, then go ahead."

【I thought you would say boring. 】

【Boring.】

[…Don’t make up for it now.]

At this moment, in the Rat City, Yuki Tomikawa was kneeling on the ground, holding Chida Midori's body tightly, unable to even cry out. She could only open her mouth as if she was aphasic, and a mosquito-like sound came out of her throat, and her tears fell on Chida Midori's body.

There was no moment that could have made Yuki Tomikawa more sad.

Yuki Tomikawa thought: I was the one who killed the person most important to me.

There are no traps falling from the sky in this world, and the so-called wish fulfillment is just a cover-up. All it wants is to make me more unhappy.

"What on earth do I have to do to end this?" Tomikawa Yuki murmured silently, "Miyo, I'm sorry, it's my fault."

"I shouldn't have chosen to forget in order to stop suffering, and I shouldn't have naively thought that it would be okay."

"I was wrong, Midori."

"...Please, don't forgive me."

Yuki Tomikawa lowered her head, and in her hazy vision, she saw that Chida Midori was holding something tightly in her hand, as if she was holding something important. Yuki Tomikawa opened Chida Midori's palm with trembling hands, and in her hand, Yuki Tomikawa saw a torn piece of paper.

The blood on Chida Miyo's fingertips coagulated on them. When Tomikawa Yuki unfolded the paper, she saw the dark red handwriting.

"Yuki, you must live strong and free."

The paper was grasped so tightly that it broke in the middle because it could not bear the force. Tomikawa Yuki seemed to finally react and let go of her hand. The white paper floated lightly onto Chida Midori's body like a butterfly in the wind.

That was the message Chida Midori left before her death. It was her only request after she understood the situation.

She wanted to make that weak and pitiful girl live strong.

In fact, despair and hope are just that.

Because of one person, one falls into despair from which there is no escape, and because of this person, one gains unlimited hope of life.

The rain stopped and the morning sun came out. Hinata Sou shook off the water on his body. He saw that the black fog in the Mouse City was no longer spreading, and a rainbow formed above the Mouse City, which looked particularly beautiful.

A white light flashed from the Rat City, and the next moment, a beautiful white fragment fell into Hinata Hajime's hands. The pearly white light was quite dazzling.

It seemed that nothing happened except that Hinata Hajime was drenched in rain.

[It seems that I guessed it right.] Hinata Hajime said with a smile: [Chida Miyo did leave something for Tomikawa Yuki.]

【This thing will allow Yuki Tomikawa to choose the bright direction. 】

Kamuzuru Izuru said: [Well done.]

The fragments in his hand almost fell off in shock, and Hinata Hajime almost tripped over his own left foot. [Izuku, what did you just say? ]

【no.】

[It's no use denying it. I heard it all.]

【Don't have such a time-wasting conversation. 】

【……】

What a waste of time!