Master of the Machete Style Manga

Chapter 162 Give Me a Foot Massage

Ken Sakamoto and Mio Natsume quickly found the music rehearsal room they had booked.

There are many such shops in Tokyo, including rehearsal rooms, recording studios, and music stores; the total number of such shops may exceed one thousand.

Unlike ordinary karaoke bars, this place is open to interest groups. The rooms are small, but fully equipped.

The two registered at the front desk and then took the key to the hourly room equipped with a recording device.

I still took off my shoes at the door and stepped onto the spotless wooden floor.

The rehearsal room was small, only about ten square meters. The walls were covered with dark gray sound-absorbing cotton. In the corner were microphones, tripods and other equipment, and next to them were a computer, a mixing console and monitor speakers.

"Jian, let me import the accompaniment first!"

Mio Natsume appeared very energetic. She took out a USB drive from her bag, plugged it into the computer, and quickly brought up the "Lemon" instrumental demo that she had finished in the studio that morning.

She put on the monitoring headphones and sang softly along with the rhythm: "梦ならば, どれほど, よかったでしょう..."

Ken Sakamoto sat in the chair next to him, listening quietly.

The girl's voice, clear and full of emotion, came through the monitor speakers. Although it was just a simple accompaniment, it was already very captivating.

"Phew..." After finishing the song, Natsume Mio took off her headphones, a blush of excitement on her face. "How was it? How was it?"

"It's fantastic." Ken Sakamoto praised without reservation, "Mio's voice is a perfect match for this song."

Mio Natsume chuckled and said, "Ken, actually, when I was singing this song just now, I felt that it might have a better feel if it were played and sung with a guitar."

"You can play the guitar?" Ken Sakamoto asked, feigning surprise.

Of course he knew, but it came from his memories from the previous playthrough, since he studied vocal music and had learned it along with his studies.

"Yeah, I practiced a little bit while learning vocal music," Natsume Mio said. "Songs that are too difficult definitely won't work, but I don't think the chord progression of 'Lemon' is too complicated, so I should be able to give it a try!"

“This store offers musical instrument rentals,” Ken Sakamoto said, pointing to the extra equipment rental list on the wall. “You can book directly on the computer.”

"Hmm! Let me see..." Natsume Mio immediately went to the computer and opened the rehearsal room rental system.

"This one will do." She pointed to a picture on the screen. "A Yamaha APX series electric-acoustic guitar. It looks nice. The rental fee is 1000 yen per hour."

"Then I'll rent it for two hours." Ken Sakamoto selected the duration and clicked confirm.

Not long after, a staff member knocked on the door and delivered a well-maintained guitar.

Natsume Mio excitedly took the guitar and returned to her seat.

She sat on a high stool, holding the guitar in her arms, and naturally crossed her legs, with the guitar resting steadily on her thighs.

The girl lowered her head, intently adjusting the strings.

Ken Sakamoto sat on another round stool next to her, quietly watching her.

Mio wore white mid-calf stockings, which were thin and clung to her shapely calves, outlining her soft curves.

Her raised right toe swayed gently in the air, keeping time with the rhythm in her mind.

"Okay, let's begin."

Mio Natsume took a deep breath and gently plucked the strings.

The crisp sound of chords filled the room, and she slowly began to play along with the melody.

Ken Sakamoto silently admired her. He knew Mio's skill level; although her guitar playing was only slightly better than a beginner's, the girl's focused expression, especially her small white-stockinged feet swaying gently to the beat, was indeed a pleasing sight.

Suddenly, Natsume Mio paused, playing a wrong chord.

Her cheeks flushed slightly, and she quickly composed herself.

I just glanced at Ken Sakamoto and noticed that he was staring intently at my feet!
This guy!
Hmph, what a foot fetishist!
Natsume Mio snorted inwardly, but felt a strange sense of smug satisfaction.

Then, the tapping motion of the feet became even more obvious.

She played the second half of the piece a bit haphazardly, and coughed lightly twice to cover up her inner thoughts, pretending to be nonchalant as she said, "It's just the beginning, I'm not very skilled yet, let's try again."

She readjusted her breathing and plucked the strings again.

This time, a smooth melody flowed from her fingertips, accompanied by her clear voice, echoing in the rehearsal room.

After finishing the piece, her smile grew even more confident: "That's about it! Ah Jian, the melody of this song is so easy to remember, shall we record a sung version?"

“Okay.” Ken Sakamoto nodded.

He got up, grabbed a tripod from the corner, fixed his phone on it, adjusted the angle, and positioned it directly in front of Natsume Mio.

"Ken, are you going to post the video directly?" Natsume Mio asked.

“I won’t post videos featuring real people.” Ken Sakamoto shook his head.

"Hey, aren't you going to send it?"

“I took the picture for reference,” Ken Sakamoto explained. “I thought that adding a picture of a girl sitting in a chair playing guitar next to the previous illustration music video would make the overall feel better.”

"Oh—" Natsume Mio exclaimed in sudden realization, "So it means to use as a model for reference?"

The girl puffed out her chest again and said, "Then, Jian, you'd better take good pictures of me so you can really appreciate them!"

Ken Sakamoto pressed the record button.

"here we go."

Natsume Mio immediately dropped her joking expression. She hugged her guitar, adjusted her posture, closed her eyes, and took a gentle breath.

When she opened her eyes again, she was completely immersed in the emotions of the song.

Slender fingers deftly plucked and pressed the strings, and a clear singing voice rang out.

She tilted her head slightly, her gaze fixed on a point in the void, as if she were talking to someone far away through a camera lens.

Her body swayed gently to the melody, and her little feet, clad in white silk stockings, swayed and tapped out the rhythm.

When the song ended, Ken Sakamoto pressed the stop recording button.

"Let me see! How did it turn out?" Natsume Mio immediately put down her guitar and excitedly ran to Sakamoto Fitness.

He immediately and skillfully swiped down from the top of his phone screen to activate the moon-shaped "Do Not Disturb" icon.

This ensures that no notifications or alerts will pop up on your phone afterward, and the phone will remain silent throughout the process.

Kenjiro Sakamoto turned his phone sideways and opened the video he had just recorded.

Natsume Mio immediately leaned closer, pressing her head tightly against his shoulder, their heads touching as they stared at the phone screen together.

The delicate fragrance of the girl's hair wafted into Sakamoto Ken's nostrils, and he could even feel her warm breath gently brushing against his ear.

Ken Sakamoto watched Natsume Mio in the video; both her playing movements and her expressions while singing were incredibly natural and moving.

"It's very well filmed!" Natsume Mio watched the video with great satisfaction. Instead of leaving, she leaned her head on Sakamoto Ken's shoulder and rubbed against him gently. "Ken, you should watch this video often."

“Yes,” Ken Sakamoto nodded and said, “I will draw it carefully based on his work.”

Natsume Mio straightened up, satisfied.

She went back, carefully placed the guitar back on the shelf, stretched, and let out a soft hum.

"Ah—my legs are so sore." She gently rubbed her thighs. "I've been sitting with my legs crossed and the guitar on my back for over an hour, and I feel like I can barely walk."

"Thank you for your hard work," Ken Sakamoto replied casually.

Natsume Mio looked at him, blinked, her eyes sparkling, and pursed her lips as if she had made up her mind. Suddenly, she said, "Ken, could you... help me?"

"Help you?" Sakamoto Ken looked at her in confusion.

Without the slightest hesitation, Natsume Mio walked straight up and sat down on the round stool in front of Sakamoto Ken.

Then, she lifted her right leg and placed it firmly on Sakamoto Ken's thigh, her milk-white stockings standing out against her dark pants.

How to put it? It's like a bright, glossy frosting on a rich dark chocolate cake.

"Give me a massage, please." The girl's voice carried a hint of coquetry. "It's so sore I can barely walk."

Ken Sakamoto looked down at the girl's slender legs.

Don't let her slender legs fool you; she's actually very strong and incredibly flexible, as Kenjiro Sakamoto experienced firsthand last time.

Especially because practicing Kendo requires various footwork movements, her footwork is also very strong, giving her a feeling of both softness and resilience.

Your legs will ache if you sit like this all afternoon?
She looked up again and met Natsume Mio's eyes, which were filled with expectation and a hint of nervousness.

Ken Sakamoto nodded: "Alright."

However, instead of pinching her calf as Natsume Mio had expected, he reached out and grabbed her ankle, cradling her entire right foot in his palm through the thin stockings.

"Well!"

Natsume Mio shuddered violently as a tingling, itchy sensation mixed with a strange electric current surged from the soles of her feet throughout her entire body.

She almost cried out in surprise, her toes instinctively curling up.

She wanted to say, "I asked you to massage my legs, not my feet." But when she saw Sakamoto Ken's serious expression, she swallowed the words back.

Natsume Mio watched silently as the boy in front of her lowered his head, his expression focused.

Sakamoto Ken gently pressed his fingers against her ankle, feeling the shape of the bones, and then slowly slid down to the arch of her foot, kneading it with his fingertips in a light and gentle way.

The feeling... was like handling a precious work of art.

The silk fabric felt smooth and delicate to the touch. He could feel the warmth of his palms passing through the thin fabric onto her skin, making her little feet grow hotter and hotter.

Natsume Mio blushed, biting her lower lip, her body feeling weak as he kneaded her.

Ten minutes later, Kenjiro Sakamoto released Mio Natsume's right foot.

The warmth of his palm seemed to still linger on the girl's small feet, which were wrapped in white silk.

Of course, it's also possible that the warmth of her soles lingered on Sakamoto Ken's hands.

In short, everything was warm.

Natsume Mio pulled her foot back as if she had been electrocuted, hiding it behind the chair leg.

She quickly brought her other foot together, her legs clamped tightly together, and her face was so red it looked like it was about to drip water.

The tingling sensation she felt just now was ten thousand times stronger than she had imagined.

"What about the other one?" Sakamoto Ken's gaze fell on her hidden left foot. "Do you want me to massage it again? Is it still sore?"

"It doesn't hurt anymore! It doesn't hurt anymore!" Natsume Mio shook her head repeatedly, her ponytail swinging high. "My left leg doesn't hurt at all!"

This guy clearly offered his foot willingly.

However, Ken Sakamoto didn't continue teasing her.

"Alright, you can organize the files now. Today's recording is complete," Ken Sakamoto said.

Hearing Ken Sakamoto get down to business, Mio Natsume finally breathed a sigh of relief, and the suffocating atmosphere she had just felt dissipated considerably.

She quickly stood up, walked to the computer, and asked in a low voice, "Jian, if you feel the effect isn't good enough, I can record it again!"

"It's already very good." Ken Sakamoto was quite satisfied. "Whether it's playing the instrument or singing, your emotions are spot on. Next, we just need to make the video and upload it to YouTube."

Mio Natsume said, "Speaking of which, should we register a new account?"

“Just use your own personal account,” Ken Sakamoto said. “Registering a new account would seem deliberate; it’s more natural to post from your usual account.”

"Should we use a personal account directly? Would that be inappropriate..." Natsume Mio said.

"What's wrong?" Ken Sakamoto asked.

"N-nothing!" Natsume Mio quickly waved her hand, taking out her phone. "It's just... my account posted some very ordinary things..."

As she spoke, she opened the YouTube app on her phone.

The moment the app's homepage loaded, Natsume Mio gasped in surprise, as if she had been burned, and almost threw her phone away.

Ken Sakamoto glanced at it; several video titles were prominently displayed on the homepage recommendations.

"Just do this, and you'll have a foolproof way to win over your boyfriend!"

"How to choose stockings? Turns out guys like this style..."

"The psychology of love: How to get your partner to take the initiative to speak."

Ken Sakamoto could see everything on the screen clearly.

Wait, what do you usually watch?

"Um... um..." Natsume Mio frantically clicked into her profile page, stammering as she explained, "What's wrong with YouTube's homepage recommendations? They're showing me stuff I never watch..."

“Yes, yes, it’s because of random big data recommendations,” Ken Sakamoto said.

“That’s right!” Natsume Mio replied guiltily.

She finally breathed a long sigh of relief after the page redirected to her personal center.

She immediately steered the conversation: "Ah Jian, look, it's this account."

"Natsume's Cat House?" Ken Sakamoto read out the account name.

“Hmm…” Natsume Mio’s voice was much lower. She pointed to the orange cat avatar and said, “Because this account was originally used to post cat videos when I was a child… Orange, the orange cat that grew up with me.”

There was a hint of nostalgia in her voice: "But Aju passed away two years ago."

Ken Sakamoto remembered that the orange cat was also in his memories from the previous playthrough, but he had never seen it in person; he had only heard Mio mention it and watched a video of it.

"He died of old age?" Sakamoto Ken said.

"Hmm... Tachibana died at the age of 16." Natsume Mio shook her head and said, "Ah, let's not talk about this!"

She changed the subject and opened the video list: "Look, the view counts for these videos of mine are all pretty average..."

Ken Sakamoto looked at the list and found that most of the videos were casual snapshots of cats' daily lives.

The few videos that came after Aju's death were just landscape pictures with lyrics captions, recordings of her singing. They were all very casual and showed no signs of being professionally managed.
"Oh, right!" Natsume Mio seemed to remember something. She clicked the sort button and selected "Sort by view count from highest to lowest".

Instantly, a video jumped to the very top of the list.

“Look at this!” Natsume Mio pointed to the video.

Ken Sakamoto looked over and saw that the title of the video read, "The cat has come to your pillow, let's sleep together~".

The video's cover is a close-up photo of Aju sleeping, and the video is ten minutes long, maintaining the same camera angle throughout, filming Aju sleeping.

The view count was a staggering 12.

“I don’t know why,” Natsume Mio scratched her head, “this video suddenly went viral a few years ago. It was just a video of Tachibana snoring that I recorded when I couldn’t sleep…”

“Thanks to it,” she added quietly, “I’ve earned over 30,000 yen on this account, and it all came from this one video, which didn’t get many views.”

"That's pretty good. So, does that mean you also know video editing?" Ken Sakamoto asked.

"Hmm... I can do it a little bit..." Natsume Mio said, "Just enough to do some simple cutting."

“Alright.” Ken Sakamoto made the decision. “I’ll leave the video production to you as well. I’ll go back and finish drawing all the illustrations, scan them into digital versions and send them to you. You’ll be responsible for editing the audio and video together and then publishing it on your channel.”

"Yes, yes! Leave it to me!" Natsume Mio nodded vigorously, full of enthusiasm.

Being able to complete a project with Ah Jian makes her happier than anything else.

Ken Sakamoto glanced at the clock on the wall of the rehearsal room: "It's almost time. We rented for two hours, then extended for another hour. We'll have to pay again later."

"it is good!"

Mio Natsume carefully unplugged the USB drive, which contained all the results she and Ken Sakamoto had achieved that afternoon.

She clutched the USB drive tightly in her hand, as if it were some priceless treasure.

The two packed their things and left the rehearsal room.

Stepping out of the building, you're greeted by the streets of Akihabara. It's not exactly bustling at this hour; the girls in maid outfits only come out at night.

Of course, it's 2015 now, and the maids in Akihabara aren't lined up almost shoulder to shoulder like they would be ten years later.

"Ah Jian, I'm going back to work on the video!"

Natsume Mio stood in front of the train station entrance and waved vigorously at Sakamoto Ken.

"Okay, be careful on the road." Kenya Sakamoto waved to her.

"Ken too! Bye-bye~" Natsume Mio said, then turned and disappeared at the entrance of the train station.

Sakamoto Ken watched her figure disappear before turning around and walking back towards the studio.

As he walked back to his studio, he glanced at the parking lot next to the 7-Eleven convenience store.

There was no red Porsche like Haruna's, nor a black Toyota like Ai's.

He confronted Ai Hoshino directly at noon, telling her that he was having lunch with another girl. He had thought about it carefully before doing so.

For Ai Hoshino, hiding things is the worst possible strategy.

The main reason is that she already has a fairly accurate prediction about "rebirth", and she also knows about the nature of dreams, as well as the entanglement between him and the other two female protagonists.

Since that's the case, we might as well face her with an honest attitude.

I never said I would give up on anyone, nor did I say I would only love you.

Of course, I'll probably still be angry, since I stood her up last time and haven't made up for it yet.

Ken Sakamoto smiled gently.

Oh well, let me be angry.

Next time we meet, I'll just sleep with her properly and comfort her.

(End of this chapter)