Master of the Machete Style Manga

Chapter 157: Reward or Punishment? (6400 words)
Ai Hoshino sat on the sofa in the living room of her apartment, rubbing her temples. Her consciousness was slowly peeling away from the chaos of just "waking up," and her senses were quickly reorganizing.

She looked down at herself.

She was cool and naked, which was her most comfortable state when she was alone.

She looked around the empty room with a puzzled expression, lost in thought.

She was lying in bed just now, but now she's sitting on the sofa, which means she's entered that "dream".

But the question is, where is he now?
"Ajian?"

"Come out, stop hiding."

"What, want to play hide-and-seek?"

Ai Hoshino called out her name, but there was no response.

Ai Hoshino stood up, walked barefoot on the floor, and circled the entire apartment room.

She pushed open the bedroom door—it was empty.

The study is empty.

The bathroom—was still empty.

Finally, she went to the balcony and looked at the view outside the building.

The dream was just like she remembered: there was no one else in the entire world.

Ai Hoshino already had a vague, not-so-good feeling about it, but she wanted to confirm one more place.

Ai Hoshino walked quickly to the apartment door and opened it without hesitation.

Outside the door was the familiar corridor, equally deserted.

She went down to the first floor and walked out of the apartment.

As she had expected, the streets were deathly silent, with no pedestrians or vehicles in sight.

She walked quickly to the city park where she had gone with Ken Sakamoto before, and sat on the bench where they had exercised intensely together.

Leaning back in my chair, I looked at the exercise equipment in the park in front of me.

When she started her afternoon nap, she was initially full of anticipation, and was even thinking about how to reward Ah Jian for being on time.

When she sat in the room and found that Ah Jian was not there, her expectation turned into doubt.

Now, this emotion has solidified into a calm mixed with anger.

An obvious fact was laid bare before her.

She, Ai Hoshihara, is currently in the online dream state.

Based on her personal experience, the prerequisite for entering this dream is to enter the dream together with Ken Sakamoto, since he is the master of this dream, or rather, the host.

If she were alone, she wouldn't enter a dream at all.

Her coming in now means that Ken Sakamoto is asleep in reality right now as well.

Since he was asleep, and the online connection was successfully triggered.

So……

Where are the others? !

Ai Hoshino leaned back in her chair, looking up at the false sun in the sky.

"Well, you're something else, Ken Sakamoto..."

"We agreed to sleep together at noon, but you ended up sleeping at another woman's place, didn't you?!"

……

"Ah Jian?!"

Mikazuki Haruna called out Sakamoto Ken's name somewhat uncertainly.

She blinked hard, still a little confused.

She clearly saw Ah Jian lie down on the sofa and take a nap, so she also leaned back on the sofa for a short nap...

How did I end up here the moment I opened my eyes?
Is it that apartment?

Haruna Mikazuki stared intently at Ken Sakamoto, who was sitting in the chair in front of her.

He seemed to have just woken up, looking at her blankly before glancing down at his surroundings.

When Mikazuki Haruna's gaze followed his body and landed on his feet, her eyes widened instantly.

On Sakamoto Ken's ankles were conspicuously handcuffed with a silver...

Handcuffs?!
The other end of the handcuffs was tightly locked to the metal crossbeam of the chair.

"What's happening here?!"

Haruna Mikazuki quickly walked up to Ken Sakamoto.

She crouched down, curiously reaching out her finger to poke the cold metal handcuffs.

"it is true?"

She looked up at Ken Sakamoto again, then looked down at the handcuffs.

An incredibly absurd yet exhilarating idea popped into her head.

"Could it be... the same dream as last time?!"

She immediately recalled the incredibly vivid dream she had entered while taking a nap in the studio last time!

That dream where you can interact with him, touch him, and even...!
Mikazuki Haruna looked at Sakamoto Ken's face, which was so close to hers.

"But I've only been lying down for a short while, and I'm already dreaming?"

Mikazuki Haruna muttered to herself, then pinched her cheeks.

I wanted to pinch him hard, but I couldn't bring myself to do it, so I reached out and touched Sakamoto Ken's face instead.

My fingers had barely touched his skin, before I could even apply any pressure—

"Snapped!"

Her wrist was grabbed by Ken Sakamoto.

Ken Sakamoto grasped Haruna Mikazuki's wrist, staring intently at her, but said nothing.

Then, Ken Sakamoto used a little force to squeeze the girl's slender wrist.

"It hurts, it hurts..." Mikazuki Haruna quickly said it hurt, and then tried to break free of her hand.

Sakamoto Ken didn't make things difficult for her any further and let go of her hand.

Then Mikazuki Haruna gripped her wrist, puzzled, and said, "Am I dreaming? Why do I feel pain?"

Thinking of this, Mikazuki Haruna raised an eyebrow, confirming her idea.

Now she has entered the same completely realistic dream as before, only the scene is slightly different.

At the time, she was just thinking of joking with Ken Sakamoto, whom she had dreamed about, so she lifted her foot and rubbed it against his leg.

Unexpectedly, this guy grabbed her and pinned her to the sofa.

I never expected him to be so strong; I couldn't beat him at all...

However, thinking that it was just a dream, I quickly gave up resisting and even felt that the experience was not bad.

Haruna Mikazuki silently watched Ken Sakamoto in front of her.

The last time I dreamed of him, he wasn't handcuffed.

But this time, because he was locked up to finish his manuscript, his feet were locked to the crossbar of the chair.

In other words, this time, the situation has completely reversed.

Thinking of this, Mikazuki Haruna's lips curled into a smug smile.

She thought to herself, "In that very long memory of the future, this guy was the gigolo I was keeping."

Then, I liked his comics, so I locked him in the room and made sure he wasn't allowed to leave his chair until he finished drawing them.

Mikazuki Haruna sat across from Sakamoto Ken with a smile and said, "Ken, hurry up and draw. You're not allowed to get up until you're finished."

Ken Sakamoto looked at the manuscript in front of him. The manuscript in front of him was blank, as were the other manuscripts piled up next to him.

This indicates that these contents were not reproduced in the dream.

Ken Sakamoto is actually feeling a bit helpless right now.

His original plan was to take a nap in Mikazuki Haruna's office and meet Hoshihara Ai in his dream, as arranged on the other side.

It's not that I necessarily have to do anything with her, it's just that as long as I've met her, that counts as keeping my promise.

If we need to do anything else, we should do it as quickly as possible, keeping it to about half an hour, or one or two sessions.

Otherwise, if he stays at Mikazuki Haruna's place for too long, who knows what she might do to him while he's asleep.

Unexpectedly, Mikazuki Haruna also fell asleep next to him, causing him to enter a dream-connected state with her.

Sakamoto Ken sighed softly. That meant that I had stood up Ai Hoshihara.

If he stands her up this time, she'll probably make him stand her up again next time.

Mikazuki Haruna asked in confusion, "Why are you sighing?"

Looking at the girl in front of him, Ken Sakamoto knew very well that Haruna Mikazuki was still unaware of the principle behind this dream.

Only Ai Hoshihara and he knew about the principles of dreams.

Therefore, for Mikazuki Haruna, everything before her eyes was just a remarkably realistic dream she was having.

Ken Sakamoto decides to directly play himself from the previous game and immerse himself in the scene.

He looked down at the handcuffs on his ankles again and said to Mikazuki Haruna, "Look at the manuscript in front of me, it's all blank. I have no ideas at all, and there's no way I can finish it. Take off these handcuffs right now."

Haruna Mikazuki shook her head and said with a smile, "No, what if you bully me if I take off the handcuffs?"

"You're not allowed to get up until you finish drawing," she added.

Ken Sakamoto retorted directly, "Isn't that exactly what you've been hoping for?"

Haruna Mikazuki's expression stiffened slightly: "Wh...what? Who would expect something like that?"

The girl's cheeks flushed slightly, then a sly smile appeared on her face.

Sakamoto Ken struggled for a moment, but these were genuine metal handcuffs that rattled but didn't budge.

One can only imagine what Sakamoto Ken went through when he was locked up to finish his manuscript in the last playthrough.

This damn scene...

Haruna Mikazuki continued, "This time it's not your turn to bully me, it's my turn to bully you, Ken-chan~"

Ken Sakamoto heard two "tap, tap" sounds, the sound of Haruna Mikazuki taking off her high heels under the table and letting them fall to the ground.

He looked down.

Under the table, Mikazuki Haruna's legs, encased in black stockings, were crossed together, swaying gently to a rhythm she seemed to be humming herself.

Haruna Mikazuki's eyes held a clear hint of wickedness.

At that moment, the girl gently lifted her right foot.

Ken Sakamoto felt a slightly silky sensation on his calf, which traveled upwards to his knee.

Mikazuki Haruna placed her toes on his knees, then tried to go further in.

It was then that she realized her legs were too short.

When you're sitting across from someone at the table, you can't reach it at all.

She strained her feet, trying to inch forward with her toes, but could only barely touch the edge of Sakamoto Ken's chair. Sakamoto Ken chuckled and said, "You should save your short legs."

Mikazuki Haruna stomped her foot angrily: "Who are you calling short-legged!"

Ken Sakamoto shrugged, didn't answer, and then just shrank back further, pressing his back tightly against the chair.

However, he was unable to move, while Mikazuki Haruna could move freely.

She flipped over and her feet, clad in black stockings, landed steadily on the smooth tabletop.

A pair of feet stood on blank manuscript paper, standing in front of Ken Sakamoto.

She looked down at Sakamoto Ken with an extremely smug expression, her wicked smile becoming increasingly obvious.

Ken Sakamoto's eyelids twitched slightly.

He looked at the girl's feet standing on the table up close.

The lightweight black silk fabric has a subtle, visible pattern, giving it a very high-quality feel.

It's also a relatively thin style, so that, especially under the light of a desk lamp, the skin tone hidden under the thin fabric can be clearly seen.

The feeling is like a cake dessert with a thin layer of chocolate sauce, but you can still move around freely.

It looks like a small black fish.

Then, a small fish jumped off the table.

Suspended in mid-air, the little fish twisted its body and pounced directly at Sakamoto Ken.

Sakamoto Ken opened his eyes wide and strained to turn his head to avoid the little fish's attack.

However, his feet were firmly handcuffed to the chair legs, limiting the range of motion of his body.

The little fish simply adjusted its direction slightly and found its way back up precisely.

Then, Ken Sakamoto felt a slight coolness on his left cheek, and experienced a soft, smooth sensation.

Then the little fish continued to slide down and landed on Ken Sakamoto's shoulder.

Ken Sakamoto raised his head without hesitation, staring straight ahead, and then said:

"I see, your lucky color today is black."

"Eh?!" Mikazuki Haruna instinctively wanted to cover her skirt again, but then she thought better of it and decided to let Sakamoto Ken look at her.

After all, it was just a dream, and the idea of ​​playing a prank originated from herself.

Go ahead and look, you'll be mesmerized!

Haruna Mikazuki sat down on the table, and was a little taller than Ken Sakamoto, who was sitting in a chair.

Just now, when she was sitting opposite him, her short legs couldn't reach her at all, but now she's sitting right on the table in front of Ken Sakamoto.

Suddenly, Ken Sakamoto felt a weight on his body as two small fish landed on him.

Ken Sakamoto gasped, his eyes widening. "Wait, when did you learn all this?"

Looking at the girl with a very interesting expression, Ken Sakamoto strongly suspected that she usually secretly reads some strange comics at home at night.

Of course, considering she possesses some memories from last week's timeline of them being together...

That's normal.

Come to think of it, it was I who led her astray.

This guy... well, now he's reaping what he sowed.

After all, this isn't the first time.

Last time in the dream, Ken Sakamoto gave her a good beating.

That incident probably left a very deep impression on her; she must have held a grudge.

So now, without much hesitation, Mikazuki Haruna began to punish him severely.

Ken Sakamoto leaned back in his chair and said, "No matter what, I'm not going to hand in the manuscript."

At this moment, Mikazuki Haruna placed her hands on Sakamoto Ken's shoulders, smiled at him with the corners of her mouth up, and said, "If you can't hand in a manuscript, you can hand in something else."

As she spoke, she lunged at Sakamoto Ken.

She was sitting on the table just now, but now she's pounced down, originally intending to sit directly on Sakamoto Kenjiro's chair.

As a result of this forward force, Ken Sakamoto lost his balance in the chair and fell backward.

With a loud crash, the chair fell heavily to the ground.

Ken Sakamoto's head hit the ground with a thud, and he even heard a cracking sound.

Then came a sharp pain...

……

"hiss……"

Ken Sakamoto suddenly sat up.

The scene before them instantly shifted, and they were back in Mikazuki Haruna's office in reality.

He sat on the sofa, vaguely feeling a dull pain in the back of his head.

I touched my hand with my back hand, and thankfully, the fall was just a dream.

The weight of the two people, combined with the force of her lunge forward, caused the chair to tip backward and hit the hard marble floor. Her head was probably really smashed.

Then, with a sudden headache, he woke up and returned to reality.

So, besides waking up on your own, waking up from a dream can also be caused by a sudden fall.

Then Sakamoto Ken looked at the sofa next to him, where Mikazuki Haruna was lying on her side, hugging a sofa cushion.

At that moment, Mikazuki Haruna also suddenly opened her eyes and sat up on the sofa.

Because Sakamoto Ken was underneath her when she fell, Mikazuki Haruna wasn't injured at all; she just fell down a bit too.

Her eyes widened as she realized she was back in her familiar office. Then she abruptly turned to look at Ken Sakamoto.

Her gaze unconsciously drifted downwards, and she noticed that Sakamoto Ken's belt was properly fastened, showing no signs of being pulled loose.

Thinking of the scenes in her dream, she chuckled awkwardly.

Thank goodness, it was just a dream...

Mikazuki Haruna said, "You...you're awake? Didn't you say you were going to take a nap?"

Ken Sakamoto checked the time; he had only slept for less than half an hour.

Ken Sakamoto rubbed his temples and asked, "Why are you lying on the sofa too? Did you take a nap just now?"

Haruna Mikazuki chuckled and said, "Why should I tell you whether I'm asleep or not?"

Ken Sakamoto said, "I was afraid that you might have done something strange to me while I was asleep."

"No way!" Mikazuki Haruna scoffed, "Who would do anything weird to you..."

Then the voice trailed off as the sentence progressed, eventually turning into a quiet mutter.

Mikazuki Haruna coughed twice to cover her embarrassment, then thought to herself that it was just a dream she had just had, and Sakamoto Ken had no idea.

So she acted as if nothing had happened, shifted her body, and prepared to put on her shoes.

Then she noticed that Ken Sakamoto's gaze was fixed on her feet.

Mikazuki Haruna looked at him doubtfully.

Ken Sakamoto said, "Look at your little feet, so small, yet so agile."

Mikazuki Haruna was slightly taken aback and said, "You...you said something about flexibility?!"

Ken Sakamoto shook his head and said in a tone that sounded quite sentimental, "It's nothing, just a strange dream I had earlier."

When Mikazuki Haruna heard him say that, she immediately got angry and raised her voice several decibels.

"A dream? What dream? What did you just dream about?!"

Ken Sakamoto pretended to think for a moment and said, "It's not convenient to say."

"Is...it inconvenient to say?!" Mikazuki Haruna's toes curled up nervously. She gritted her teeth and said, "Tell me, what's inconvenient about it..."

Ken Sakamoto got up, walked to the table, looked around, and picked up a pen.

Mikazuki Haruna watched Sakamoto Ken's actions with a puzzled look. She saw him first pinch the pen between his fingertips, and then switch to holding the pen together with both hands. He often twirled the pen when he stopped drawing, so the pen nimbly twirled between his fingertips.

Ken Sakamoto put down his pen, his gaze lingering precisely on Haruna's legs draped across the sofa. Finally, he shook his head gently and said, "Never mind, I won't say anything more."

Although Sakamoto Ken said "I won't say anything more," Mikazuki Haruna had been watching the whole thing, and her thoughts had been running through her head for a while. She seemed to have vaguely understood something.

The muscles around the girl's eyes twitched visibly, her small mouth opened slightly, but she couldn't utter a word. She even felt a slight hallucination in her legs, as if they were being pressed against something...

No, how did he know?!

Mikazuki Haruna simply couldn't understand it.

She replayed the events that had just occurred in her mind.

She saw Ken Sakamoto asleep on the sofa. She had originally thought of playing a prank on him, but then she remembered that Ken had been staying up late drawing these past few days and was really tired, so she didn't disturb him.

But she was also very bored in the office, so she lay down on the sofa next to her and rested for a while.

I hadn't actually planned to fall asleep, but the thought of Ah Jian being in the room made me feel inexplicably at ease. I hugged a pillow and drifted off to sleep.

Then she entered a dream and saw that scene... Ah Jian was handcuffed to a desk, with papers and pens on the desk, just like the scene in her memory where she locked Ah Jian at home to finish his manuscript.

And then...

But no matter what I did to him, how could he possibly know?
Could it be such a coincidence that you had the same dream?

Did you also dream about the scene from that memory?
After putting down his pen, Ken Sakamoto leaned against the table and pondered the matter carefully, and now he has a plan.

Having learned from last week's experience, Ken Sakamoto felt that the most important thing now was sincerity.

After all, they have many memories of last week's story. Although they don't know exactly who the other party is, they are very clear about the fact that "there are two competitors".

Mio Natsume and Haruna Mikazuki have begun to suspect that the other is one of the other two, while Ai Hoshihara has already confirmed the existence of the other two.

As agreed with Ai Hoshihara beforehand, Ken Sakamoto was certain that she had just taken a nap at home and entered the online dream world.

However, the dream world was generated based on his memories. Sakamoto Ken himself appeared in Mikazuki Haruna's apartment, a place Hoshihara Ai had never been before, so she did not appear in front of him.

I guess... after Ai Hoshino woke up, she was probably at home, or somewhere else the two of them had been together, but she was all alone.

Based on her understanding of dreams, she must know that the premise for this dream to exist is that he must first fall asleep. So, it is only natural that she would think that if he did not appear in front of her, he must have appeared in front of someone else.

Ken Sakamoto tapped on Ai Hoshihara's profile picture on LINE, edited a message, and sent it.

Ken Sakamoto: "Something unexpected happened just now."

Ai Hoshihara: "You're not having enough fun, are you? It's only been a short time! /smile/smile/smile"

Ken Sakamoto: "I woke up quickly because I was thinking of you."

Ai Hoshihara: "Did you miss me?"

Ken Sakamoto: "I didn't do anything."

Ai Hoshihara: "You can't believe a single punctuation mark a scumbag says. /smile"

Sakamoto Ken did nothing; he was handcuffed, so if there were any problems, they were Mikazuki Haruna's problem, not his.

It had only just begun when she rushed over in a panic, and we both fell to the ground, instantly waking up.

Moreover, Ken Sakamoto was indeed thinking about Ai Hoshihara; he had been thinking about how to explain things to her ever since he entered the dream.

So he didn't tell a single lie, not even a single punctuation mark.

(End of this chapter)