Chapter 1856 Touma Kazusa's evaluation of her future self: Love is never everything in life.

Chapter 1856 Touma Kazusa's evaluation of her future self: Love is never everything in life.
While Setsuna Ogiso is lost in confusion and self-blame, in another world, Kazusa Touma is sitting alone at the piano.

The piano lid was tightly closed. She didn't play a single note, but just sat stiffly, her hands gripping the hem of her clothes tightly, her knuckles turning white from the force.

That copy of memories, called "White Album," was like the cruelest spoiler, laying bare before her the hidden, turbulent, and ultimately unforgettable emotional entanglements she might experience in the coming years.

Unlike Setsuna Ogiso, who tends to be introspective and self-blaming, Kazusa Touma's reaction is more direct and intense, carrying her usual awkwardness and defensiveness.

"What a joke!"

She lowered her head, her soft black hair obscuring her eyes, making it impossible to see her expression. However, her tightly clenched lower lip and slightly trembling shoulders betrayed the turmoil in her heart.

"That kind of thing... how could it be?"

The memory of myself, clumsily hiding my feelings, painfully struggling between friendship and love, ultimately choosing to leave for a distant land, licking my wounds alone in a foreign country!
That pitiful and pathetic version of myself who missed everything because I was a step late, and could only express my longing through music!
"What kind of prophecy is this? Or a curse?"

An indescribable mix of anger, shame, and immense sorrow pounded in her chest. She felt an offensive rage, as if her most private emotional diary had been made public;

At the same time, there was a deep sense of sorrow for that future version of myself, so wretched and pathetic.

Finally, she suddenly raised her head, and her eyes, which were usually indifferent, were now burning with suppressed flames.

She spoke in the chat group with an almost self-deprecating tone:
Touma Kazusa: "I've finished watching."

Touma Kazusa: "It's truly a magnificent 'tragedy'."

Touma Kazusa: "Cowardly, escapist, and self-righteous. The future me is truly a complete failure."

She relentlessly criticizes the version of herself in the memory, as if evaluating a character unrelated to her, but between the lines, a pain bordering on self-torture is revealed.

Touma Kazusa: "And that Kitahara Haruki, indecisive and wavering, like a fool."

Touma Kazusa: "And Ogiso, you're just the right amount of 'gentle'."

Touma Kazusa: "This kind of 'future' is disgusting."

Touma Kazusa: "If this is what was destined to happen, then I wish it had never started!"

Her remarks were aggressive, like a frightened hedgehog raising all its quills, using anger and sarcasm to mask the fear and hurt deep inside.

Unlike Setsuna Ogiso, who was confused about "how to choose," she showed an almost resolute resistance!

Resisting to accept that future, resisting becoming the tragic protagonist in the memory copy.

Touma Kazusa: "What threesome! What choice between friendship and love! Utterly boring!"

Kazusa Touma: "Music! The piano is everything to me!"

Touma Kazusa: "The rest doesn't matter."

Touma Kazusa: "Do whatever you want."

Touma Kazusa: "Don't drag me into this."

Finally, she uttered this almost defiant remark, and her profile picture went dark, as if she wanted to completely sever ties with this "farce."

However, her rapid breathing and still clenched fists betrayed her.

Touma Kazusa's heart is far less cold and resolute than she appears.

The impact of that "spoiler" was devastating; it prematurely awakened emotions that might have been buried deep within her heart, and filled her with fear and uncertainty about the future.

Her confusion, unlike Ogiso Setsuna's, did not stem from "not knowing how to choose," but rather from her fear and resistance to the "future."

She didn't know how to face the future where she might fall in love with Kitahara Haruki and have a complicated entanglement with Ogiso Setsuna, so she chose to deny and escape in the most intense way.

Touma Kazusa and Ogiso Setsuna are different, both in their views of the world and in their feelings.

Ogiso Setsuna grew up in a relatively warm and normal family environment. She was beautiful, gentle, and good at getting along with others. She was a popular "idol" at school.

She is sensitive and kind-hearted, extremely concerned about the feelings of others, afraid of conflict, and prone to attributing problems to herself.

She hopes everyone can be happy, but when there is a huge gap between reality and her ideals, she falls into deep self-blame and confusion.

Therefore, when she saw the future in the memory copy where her choices ultimately caused everyone suffering, her first reaction was to reflect on herself.

"Am I not doing a good enough job?"

"Would the outcome have been different if I had been braver or more decisive?"

She wanted to seek a better outcome by changing her behavior.

In contrast to Setsuna Ogiso, Kazusa Touma's childhood was filled with loneliness and loss.

Her mother, Yoko Touma, was a world-renowned pianist, but she was largely absent from her upbringing, leaving her with more strict demands.

This made her accustomed to using indifference and aloofness to protect herself from a young age, closing her heart off to a world of only piano, and resisting interpersonal relationships.

However, deep down she desperately longed to be understood and accepted, but she feared the uncertainty and potential harm that intimate relationships could bring.

She was like a wounded hedgehog, using her sharp shell to protect her soft and fragile heart.

If someone tries to get close, her first reaction is often to resist and attack, in order to test the other party's sincerity and protect herself.

Kitahara Haruki's appearance was an accident.

He was clumsy, persistent, and even a bit meddlesome, but his sincerity in wanting to get closer to Kazusa touched the softest part of Touma Kazusa's heart, the part she longed to be touched.

He made her feel a long-lost sense of being cared for and needed.

This feeling was unfamiliar and intense to her, and once it arose, she found it difficult to extricate herself from it.

That's why, when she foresaw through a copy of her memories that she would fall so deeply in love with someone in the future, and thus become entangled in a painful love triangle, ultimately escaping battered and bruised, this "future" was nothing short of a nightmare for her.

She armed herself with anger and sarcasm, attacking her memories of herself, Kitazono Haruki, and Ogiso Setsuna, trying to escape the "future" that made her feel uneasy and vulnerable.

She would rather be alone than experience the pain of being hurt again.

An ordinary group owner said: "The memory copy only provides a possibility, so don't take it too seriously."

An ordinary group admin: "The future has already changed the moment you joined the chat group."

An ordinary group admin said: "And you who join the chat group are also fully capable of creating the future you want."

An ordinary group admin said: "This kind of campus romance is actually unnecessary."

Su Yunqing looked at Ogiso Setsuna's confused self-blame and Touma Kazusa's sharp resistance, and gently shook her head.

In her view, the two of them were clearly blinded by the emotional entanglements that would occur in the future in the "memory copy," and had fallen into a state of "being blinded by a leaf."

In fact, they can do much more once they join the chat group.

The ordinary group owner said: "Think about it. When you can easily obtain the extraordinary power to manipulate elements and move mountains and fill seas through points; when your life level is able to leap forward and you have a lifespan of thousands of years or even longer to explore the mysteries of the world."

The ordinary group admin said: "When you can utilize knowledge and technology from other worlds, you can propel the technological growth of your entire civilization at breakneck speed, solve the energy crisis, cure terminal illnesses, and even reach for the stars."

An ordinary group admin said: "At that time, what you care about will no longer be trivial feelings."

An ordinary group admin said: "Your stage will be the entire planet, and even the boundless sea of ​​stars."

An ordinary group admin said: "Your lives will have countless wonderful possibilities, far more magnificent than being trapped in the vortex of a love triangle."

Su Yunqing's meaning was very clear.

When a person possesses the power to change the world and an almost limitless lifespan, their mindset and pursuits will naturally be elevated.

The emotional entanglements that seem crucial in the ordinary world naturally lose their weight in a grander narrative context.

This is not indifference, but a leap in cognition.

An ordinary group admin said: "Love is certainly a part of life, but it should never be the whole thing, especially not the whole thing that makes them so painful and conflicted."

An ordinary group admin said: "Chat groups give you the opportunity to redefine your lives. You can devote your energy to more meaningful and exciting things such as improving yourself, exploring the unknown, and even changing the world."

An ordinary group admin said: "When you become truly powerful and have seen a wider world, when you look back at your current troubles, you may only think of them as a small episode in your growth."

Himouto! Umaru-chan: "That's absolutely right!"

Himouto! Umaru-chan: "If we're using a game as an analogy, chat groups are like cheat codes in our lives!"

Himouto! Umaru-chan: "Points can be used for any item in the chat group's world!"

Himouto! Umaru-chan: "Superpowers, ninjutsu, martial arts, authority, divine weapons."

Himouto! Umaru-chan: "You can also travel to other worlds and see the scenery of different worlds."

Himouto! Umaru-chan: "You can achieve the future you want in the way you want, instead of getting caught up in the campus romance of 'I like you, you like her'."

Himouto! Umaru-chan: "So, you really don't need to worry too much about the contents of that memory copy!"

Himouto! Umaru-chan: "Just treat it as a 'trash-avoidance guide,' and then focus on how to make good use of the chat group as a 'cheat code' to decide your own future."

Umaru shared the same thought as Su Yunqing. In her opinion, Ogiso Setsuna and Touma Kazusa had no need to worry about the future in the memory copy.

If that future were good, that would be fine, but that future is not good.

It was a story filled with misunderstandings, tears, long waits, and heartbreaking partings.

Even if someone ultimately achieves a formal "victory," everyone involved suffers immense pain during the process, and the scars left behind may never be fully healed.

In a peaceful, everyday world, a complicated relationship casts such a heavy shadow over youth. To an outsider, this is not something worth pursuing or holding onto.

If their youthful romance is like that of Hachiman Hikigaya and Yukino Yukinoshita, where despite the twists and turns, they ultimately achieve a deep understanding and mutual devotion on a spiritual level, building a bond that is unique to them, then perhaps it can be considered "worth it".

But what about Kitahara Haruki? His indecisiveness, his wavering between the two girls, and his inability to make a decisive choice only plunged everyone into deeper pain.

In Umaru's view, this kind of personality trait is simply not enough to bear the heavy and sincere feelings between Setsuna Ogiso and Kazusa Touma.

"Instead of wasting your precious youth and emotions on someone who can't even be firm in their own heart or take responsibility, it's better to set your sights on a broader horizon."

This is Umaru's opinion on this.

Moreover, the existence of chat groups also provides them with an opportunity to escape this exhausting "triangular cage".

They could completely redirect the energy and time that might otherwise be wasted on hopeless waiting, complex calculations, and inner torment to improve themselves, explore the unknown, and witness the scenery of different worlds.

When they become strong enough and have broadened their horizons, looking back on this period of their youth, they may only see it as an interlude in their growth, and may even be glad that they did not get too caught up in it.

Now that you have the "chat group" to change your destiny and have seen your own future, what reason is there to be obsessed with a known path that is full of thorns and whose end may not be bright?

Wouldn't it be better to choose a future that offers more control and a greater chance of growth and happiness?

They genuinely hope that Setsuna Ogiso and Kazusa Touma can understand this and use the opportunities provided by the chat group to move towards a brighter and freer future that is different from the memory copy and truly belongs to them.

Ogiso Setsuna quietly read through Su Yunqing and Umaru's speeches.

She had to admit that, from a rational perspective, the group admin and Xiaomai's suggestions were entirely correct.

"Now that I've seen the thorns and potential pain along that path, and now that the chat group has given me the power and opportunity to change everything..."

"What reason do I have to stubbornly head towards that known, painful future?"

"Kitahara Haruki, he is indeed a gentle person, but his gentleness has also become one of the important reasons for the suffering of the three of them."

Is it really worth putting yourself through prolonged suffering for someone who might not be able to make a firm choice for themselves?

(End of this chapter)