Under the light inside the campervan, tears glistened in Ayumi's eyes as she shouted loudly towards Haruka Tendo.
"That's not what friends do!"
"..." Haruka was stunned for a moment, and after realizing what she meant, she turned to look at Ayumi, who had said those words.
"Actually, you were never friends from the beginning!" Ayumi lowered her head, sniffed, and tried hard to hold back the tears that were welling up in her eyes.
Unfortunately, she failed.
Two tears, reflecting a faint light, slid down her cheeks and onto the ground.
"Ayumi, wipe yourself first." Kōyū took a tissue and handed it to Ayumi.
"Thank you, Mitsuyu." Ayumi whispered her thanks, taking the tissue to wipe away her tears.
"Yes, she's right, you weren't friends to begin with."
While Kousuke was comforting Ayumi, Ai said to Haruka Tendo.
"It's the same as a vending machine that sells canned drinks."
"After you put money in, it can temporarily quench your thirst."
"But if you don't put money into it, it won't provide you with anything."
As if she had thought of something, Ai glanced at Kouyu, who was comforting Ayumi, out of the corner of her eye.
After withdrawing her gaze, Ai slowly said, "People's hearts cannot be bought with money."
“You’re absolutely right.” Seeing that Ayumi had stopped crying and looked up, Mitsuhiro said to Haruka Tendo in a serious tone.
"So what if you're from the countryside?"
Are people in the city necessarily more noble than those in the countryside?
"If we go back a few hundred years, Tokyo, this international metropolis, was just a rural area."
"In other words, the city dwellers you see were also country people back then!"
"..." Haruka Tendo stared blankly at Kyou, who was scolding her, unable to utter a word.
Ignoring Haruka's gaze, Kōyū sighed and continued.
"I don't know what you experienced when you were a child that made you think that city people are superior to country people."
"Of course, I have no interest in knowing."
"I just want to tell you that there is no difference between city dwellers and country people. They are all human beings, and red blood flows in their veins."
"Does that mean city dwellers have green blood? Or that city dwellers have an extra mouth? Or maybe they have two pairs of eyes?"
"I think it's more appropriate to call them aliens than city dwellers."
In this atmosphere, the joke failed to achieve its intended purpose.
He didn't take it to heart. After a slight pause, Guangyou continued:
"Just like Ayumi said, you two were never friends from the beginning."
"In my opinion, what you two have is just a pure transaction of interests."
“You spend money to take them out, and they play the role of ‘your friend’.”
"It's just that you didn't realize it and always thought they were your good friends."
"You sacrificed a lot to maintain this friendship built on money, such as your health... but in the end, you got nothing in return."
As Kōsuke was saying these things, Iihei Takuto glanced at Fukuura Reiji.
To some extent, Reiji Fukuura and Yasumi Shirafuji are the culprits behind all of this.
If they hadn't always treated Haruka Tendou as a cash cow instead of a friend, Haruka Tendou wouldn't have done such a thing.
Fukuura Reiji kept his head down, not daring to look at Tendo Haruka.
He never imagined that Haruka Tendo would kill Yasumi Shirafuji for something like this and then try to frame him.
"Yes... I got nothing..." Haruka Tendou bit her red lips tightly until her originally white teeth were stained with a streak of crimson before she let go.
"You spent four years maintaining this 'fake friendship,' it really wasn't worth it," Guangyou sighed, saying regretfully.
"I'm only just realizing this now..." Haruka Tendo clenched her fists, her nails digging into her flesh, but she didn't seem to care.
Compared to the heartache of knowing the truth, this level of pain is practically insignificant.
Her heart aches more than her hands.
“You could have used these four years to expand your social circle and make a lot of friends, I mean the kind of good friends who don’t care whether you have money or not.”
"You could have spent those four years as an ordinary girl, having a simple yet sweet romance in college."
"But in reality, you've been trapped in this deal all along."
“If nothing unexpected happens, you’ll be spending the next few years in prison.”
"By the time you come out, you may already be thirty years old."
“I know…” Haruka Tendou said, her voice choked with emotion.
Seeing that Haruka's eyes were already brimming with tears again, Kōyū sighed, walked up to her, and said in a slightly gentler tone.
"Actually, I understand how you feel. I know what that feeling is like."
"That feeling is really unpleasant."
Hearing this, Haruka looked down at Kousuke, hesitated for a moment, then wiped away the tears from the corners of her eyes with the back of her hand and squatted down.
"I said... if you want to cry, then just cry," Kōyū said with a sigh.
"Don't keep it bottled up inside like you did for those four years. Try to let it out; you should feel better."
After Kousuke finished speaking, Haruka was stunned for a moment, then she reached out and hugged Kousuke, who was standing in front of her.
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