Yukiko Mio attempted suicide.
Although this attempt was unsuccessful, Yukiko Mio had already lost the will to live.
Yukiko Mio was an ordinary girl.
She was short, did not have flowing long hair, was not slender, and her family was not well-off.
She was ordinary in every way.
However, even such an ordinary Yukiko Mio had her own small piece of luck.
Her childhood friend, Kitayama Tadashi, had always been very close to her.
Deep down, they had already acknowledged each other, with only a thin veil left between them.
However, misfortunes never come alone, and bad luck always finds the unfortunate.
Yukiko Mio fell gravely ill, which made her already struggling family situation even worse.
Most importantly, this serious illness brought Yukiko Mio and Kitayama Tadashi's relationship to a halt.
For Yukiko Mio to recover, she needed a suitable kidney for a transplant.
During her illness, Kitayama Tadashi kept visiting Yukiko Mio.
This gave the desperate Yukiko Mio a sliver of hope for the future.
'If... if the gods bless me and I can find a suitable kidney for a transplant, then Kitayama-kun and I...'
It was this fantasy of a beautiful future that supported the girl in her fight against the illness.
However, Yukiko Mio noticed that Kitayama Tadashi was a little strange today.
"It's a pity our blood types don't match, otherwise I really would want to donate my kidney to you."
Kitayama Tadashi's tone was full of disappointment.
"Thank you."
Yukiko Mio's eyes curved with happiness.
"As long as Kitayama-kun can, can still be my friend, I'll be very happy, really..."
Yukiko Mio's voice grew softer and softer.
Since she fell ill, her old friends had visited less and less.
Recently, it was as if they had forgotten her completely.
Only Kitayama Tadashi still came to see her often.
Therefore, Yukiko Mio's heart was full of dependence on Kitayama Tadashi, but she did not dare express it. She was afraid she had no future and would only drag him down.
"Is that so?"
Kitayama Tadashi lowered his head, and a complicated emotion flashed through his eyes behind his glasses.
"I have some things to take care of today, so I'll be leaving first."
Kitayama Tadashi adjusted his glasses, then stood up and waved goodbye.
"Ah? Oh."
Yukiko Mio was very surprised. She had not expected Kitayama Tadashi to leave so soon after only sitting for a short while today.
Although she desperately wanted to keep him and have him stay by her side, Yukiko Mio did not say it out loud.
What if Kitayama-kun really had something important to do?
Would he come to dislike her?
Yukiko Mio already regarded Kitayama Tadashi as her last emotional support, so naturally she did not want him to dislike her.
So she could only force a smile and wave goodbye to Kitayama Tadashi.
'Kitayama-kun is so strange today. It's as if he's hiding something from me. Is he facing some kind of difficulty?'
Yukiko Mio carefully moved her body to the window.
She silently watched Kitayama Tadashi's figure leave the hospital.
However, one figure awakened the deepest fear in Yukiko Mio's heart.
It was a woman who, from her back alone, one could tell was incredibly beautiful.
She had flowing shoulder-length hair and a tall, slender figure.
She wore a cinched-waist dress and exquisite sandals, gracefully showing off her alluring bare feet.
Most importantly, this beautiful woman went to meet Kitayama Tadashi just as he left the hospital.
The two walked away shoulder to shoulder, chatting and laughing.
Yukiko Mio felt her world collapse.
She fell to the ground in disbelief.
'Kitayama-kun, he...'
Yukiko Mio felt the whole world become blurry.
She felt as if she had been abandoned by the world, left with only a desperate body waiting for death to arrive.
At this moment, sensing the sudden eruption of intense emotion behind her, Mizutani Reiko, who was walking shoulder to shoulder with Kitayama Tadashi, showed a strange smile.
A few days later, in Yukiko Mio's hospital room.
Yukiko Mio sat on the hospital bed, her eyes vacant.
Her mind was filled with images of Mizutani Reiko and Kitayama Tadashi walking together.
Jealousy, envy, despair... countless complicated emotions surged within Yukiko Mio, finally turning into numbness and avoidance.
'They might be relatives, or have some other relationship. Kitayama-kun wouldn't...'
Yukiko Mio deceived herself with excuses that even she did not believe.
If she did not, she might completely break down.
Avoidance was shameful, but useful.
However, an unexpected figure appeared at the doorway.
"Hello, Young Miss Yukiko Mio."
The figure Yukiko Mio so desperately resisted appeared at the door of the hospital room.
She wore the same clothes as a few days ago, gently tossing her smooth long hair and fully displaying her unparalleled, captivating charm to Yukiko Mio.
Inferiority, jealousy... countless emotions surged within her, pulling the already numb Yukiko Mio back into reality.
"Who are you?"
Yukiko Mio tried to keep her voice calm.
"My name is Mizutani Reiko, and I came today because I have something to tell you."
Unlike the fearful and uneasy Yukiko Mio, Mizutani Reiko appeared poised and confident at this moment.
"I'll be direct. You should stop seeing Kitayama-kun."
It really was direct.
Mizutani Reiko's words were like a sharp knife, directly breaking through Yukiko Mio's inner defenses.
They fiercely stabbed into her heart.
Her last excuse was laid bare, and reality unfolded in the way Yukiko Mio least wanted to see.
Yukiko Mio was as if frozen in place. Even her breathing stopped.
The next moment, like a drowning person clutching at a final straw, Yukiko Mio began frantically refuting Mizutani Reiko's words.
"Who exactly are you?!"
"What nonsense are you talking about all by yourself?!"
"This is completely unreasonable!"
...Yukiko Mio began frantically denying everything, as if only by doing so could she prove that she had not been abandoned by the world.
To prove that she still had the right to live.
'Please, don't say any more.'
'Oh God, if this is a dream, please let me wake up now, I beg you.'
However, reality was cruel.
"Who exactly is being unreasonable?"
Mizutani Reiko stood with one hand on her hip, her arrogant expression like a queen looking down on all living things.
The intense aggressiveness in her expression made Yukiko Mio, who was already self-conscious about her appearance, instinctively want to run away.
"Have you even looked in a mirror? Do you really think you're worthy of Kitayama-kun? Don't make people laugh."
"You... you've long since become a burden to Kitayama-kun."
Crack.
Something inside her seemed to break.
The words Yukiko Mio least wanted to hear were spoken by the woman who made her feel inferior.
"You..."
Yukiko Mio found it hard to breathe, her heart pounding violently.
"We're truly in love. You, hehe..."
"Get out!"
Yukiko Mio exploded, grabbing something nearby and hurling it fiercely at Mizutani Reiko.
Crash.
The sound of shattering glass caught the nurse's attention.
Seeing Yukiko Mio pale-faced and drenched in cold sweat, the nurse immediately ordered Mizutani Reiko out of the room in a stern voice.
That evening, Yukiko Mio ate food that would worsen her condition.
(To be continued.)
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