Comics, daily stories

Mai Sakurajima didn't run; she simply maintained her original pace and looked at the people ahead.

There was no doubt, because it was something my junior insisted on, so there was no doubt. Even though I couldn't see it myself, even though the whole thing was absurd and unreasonable, I still chose to believe him and was willing to give him some time to resolve it.

The reason I wanted to resolve this was simply because I didn't want my junior to be misunderstood.

Sakurajima Mai stopped walking, her eyes filled with complex emotions.

My junior really met some great people.

Then, I realized that I might have bothered them a little.

......

"Junior, have you ever thought about disappearing?"

Mai Sakurajima, who was huddled in a corner of the sofa, suddenly spoke.

Nomiyama was chewing on a wasabi-flavored candy when she heard this. She turned to look at her senior and said, "No, I have someone I like. If I disappear, they will be very sad."

Sakurajima Mai shrank back: "Are you happy, junior?"

Nomiyama thought for a moment and replied, "It's not so much happiness as a sense of satisfaction and peace of mind, knowing in my heart that someone will always love me."

Nomiyama's expression softened, and his voice became slightly gentler: "I started to feel more confident because I knew that no matter what, there would always be someone supporting me. This is a rare and reassuring thing. I never have to gamble everything, and there will always be someone by my side."

"That's nice." Mai Sakurajima shifted her gaze from her junior to the television, sighing softly.

Nomiyama composed himself and glanced at his senior.

There were some things she was unwilling to say aloud; perhaps those things were scars she didn't want to reopen.

But now, she seems to be more inclined to speak up.

"The wind blows early."

Upon hearing his name called, Nomiyama responded, "Yes."

"I've always wanted life to be a little quieter," Mai Sakurajima murmured.

"Well, and then, senpai," Nomiyama replied simply, indicating that she was listening.

“I can’t go to school because the people there aren’t my classmates. They look at me like I’m something they’re afraid to approach.”

“I can’t communicate with my classmates because I’m famous. If they say a few words to me, they’ll use it as gossip and consider me a friend. If I look at a male classmate a few more times, he’ll think he has a chance and send me a love letter.”

Mai Sakurajima stopped watching TV and simply curled up on the sofa, her voice still carrying a hint of reminiscence: "I can't get close to my classmates. They can't adapt to me like this, and I can't adapt to them like that either."

"I finally returned to the school I had always longed for, but I found that I was no longer related to the word 'student'. In most people's eyes, I was that big star, the 'national goddess,' 'Chiba's daughter.'"

"The weight of the label on me has already exceeded that of [Sakurajima Mai], but I didn't want it to be like this. I just want to have a normal high school life. I want to make friends, participate in club activities, and have a relationship where we can be sure that we like each other. But when I'm being watched, I can't do anything."

Nomiyama also slumped onto the sofa, sniffing, "So Mai-senpai developed a hope that the world could ignore her identity and allow her life to return to normal."

"You didn't expect this matter to actually get a response. You started to gain the ability to be ignored whenever you wanted. Although it was a bit different from the ordinary life you had imagined, you were still very happy because at least, you didn't have to be the center of attention at school anymore."

Looking up at the head on the other side of the sofa, Nomiyama's tone remained flat: "It's just that Senpai didn't expect that this ability would come at a price. The events quickly spiraled out of your control. That ability wasn't a gift, but a curse. The curse deepened, and you went from a superhuman who wielded the ability to a powerless bystander."

“You watch as everything deteriorates, that reliable ability begins to spiral out of control, one person after another forgets themselves, and gradually becomes ‘non-existent’ in the eyes of others.”

Mai Sakurajima slowly stretched her body and did not deny it: "Yes."

Nomiyama frowned.

Although we know the most basic reason, it's meaningless because the cause and the solution seem to be completely unrelated. If the solution to this symptom is to allow Mai-senpai to have normal social interactions and friendships, then the curse should have been broken in the first few days after Yukinoshita.

Then, there's one more thing the senior didn't mention.

Leaving a familiar environment inevitably brings a trigger; any relationship, even one with long-standing grudges, will have a point that sparks resentment.

The senior student didn't say what made her finally decide to make up her mind.

However, we've already learned quite a bit today, so there's no need to rush; we can wait a little longer.

"Isn't the junior going to ask anymore?" Mai Sakurajima said, hearing the silence on the other end. "I thought the junior would continue to ask, asking why I suddenly left the entertainment industry, asking about the cause."

“Mai-senpai will tell me herself, I’m not in a hurry.” Nomiyama stretched his legs.

"Oh, I see. Then you're probably going to be disappointed, junior. I wasn't planning on saying that at all."

Mai Sakurajima stretches her legs.

A moment later, on the sofa, the heads of two people who had begun to stretch their bodies touched, the movement slightly gentle.

"Mai-senpai, you're taking advantage of me, can you move aside?"

"Oh? Then tell Yukino and Megumi in a couple of days that the invisible female ghost is sexually harassing you, and see how they react."

"Okay, I'll message them later."

So Mai Sakurajima nudged him forward, rubbing his head against hers.

Undeterred, Nomiyama also pushed forward.

“Mai-senpai, the sofa is mine.” Nomiyama pushed it up a little.

"I'm just an invisible female ghost; the whole world is my home." Mai Sakurajima held his head, showing no intention of moving aside.

Unable to persuade each other, the two could only wriggle on the sofa, competing with each other.

Mai Sakurajima felt the completely still mountain and her eyes flickered slightly.

"Junior, let's go on a date tomorrow."

"what?"

Nomiyama was stunned and released his grip.

A moment later, the other person pushed off the edge of the sofa and moved their head to their side.

On the sofa, the two lay on their sides, their eyes close together, one facing forward and the other backward, but parallel to each other.

The deep blue and the dark black stare at each other.

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

Chapter 214 A Forced Kiss with a Puppy (6.2k)

Eye contact is actually a powerful form of contact, its power distinct from visible physical contact, and also from the sharpness or softness of words.

Its power lies in the ability, when eyes meet, to transcend the windows of the soul and delve into the deepest emotions.

Looking at the gently undulating deep blue expanse, Nomiyama felt it resembled an uninhabited deep sea.

When two people are face-to-face and no more than a fist's width apart, a guy will instinctively want to kiss a girl if he likes her.

Nomiyama suddenly remembered this statement that Megumi had mentioned.

Kissing, please?

Sakurajima Mai stared into those bottomless black eyes and thought of a drama she had watched before, in which the female lead heard that "when the distance between you and a guy who likes you is no more than a fist's width, he will kiss you on his own," so she went home and tried it out.

She failed.

kiss?

Their eyes met, each looking at the other's lips, then looked away.

I don't seem to have that feeling.

The two people, who were essentially facing each other upside down, glanced at each other one last time before sitting up.

Nomiyama rubbed his chin: "Mai-senpai, are you going to cheat on your best friend?"

Mai Sakurajima pondered for a moment, then seemed to ask, "Yes, I've decided to cheat on Yukino and Megumi. What do you think, junior?"

Nomiyama was quiet for a moment, then he couldn't suppress the smile on his lips. He turned to the side and began to move towards the other person little by little: "I think it's great. Let's have a baby now."

The first thing you see is feet wearing long socks.

Nomiyama turned his head to avoid it, and continued to move forward without taking it to heart: "Senior, do you really treat me like a good junior? I'm sixteen years old this year, in the prime of my life."

Sakurajima Mai felt a pang of panic when she saw the other person's undisguised greedy gaze, especially the gaze lingering on her legs. She frantically moved backward.

Nomiyama stopped what he was doing, still smiling, but the meaning of his smile began to change, with mockery and contempt moving across his face.

"Sakurajima Mai is nothing more than a nobody."

The other person immediately jumped off the sofa, grabbed a slipper, and threw it at him.

Nomiyama reached out and grasped it, sneering.

"Just some slippers belonging to Mai Sakurajima."

A few seconds later, Nomiyama, clutching the still-warm object in his hand, looked at his senior in silence.

Sakurajima Mai looked at the black stockings she had thrown over, then at her bare leg, and fell silent as well.

Subconsciously, Nomiyama's fingers twitched and rubbed.

"It doesn't feel as good as the usual black stockings; the stockings are much thicker than the black stockings."

Mai Sakurajima remained silent, pouncing like a hungry tiger.

Nomiyama raised his hand, covered his eyes with his sock, and ran away.

......

Life's sweets are life's sweets, and life is life; these are two different concepts.

No matter what the store manager says, no matter how complex and varied the flavor of that candy is, it cannot truly represent the joys and sorrows of life.

This is what Nomiyama thought when he tasted lemon flavor for the 1001st time.

Because he never knew exactly where the bitterness in his life lay, from the moment he gained consciousness in this world, he rarely encountered those bitter emotions.

What could it be? One thousand and one lemons.

"Junior, are you sure everything's okay?"

Mai Sakurajima glanced at the person next to her who was frowning, but didn't seem to care. She simply put a rice cake in her mouth.

My junior has a great taste in snacks. Rice cakes, oden, takoyaki—Chiba is such a small place, yet he always seems to be able to find the best stalls for each kind of snack.

As for the "candies of life," it seems to be good for him, because every one he eats will be the kind of chocolate that represents love, but what the junior himself thinks...

Hmm, he seems to eat very little chocolate.

"It's nothing, it's just that my teeth are a little sensitive."

Nomiyama glanced around, finally settling on the oden paper cup that his senior was holding.

"Junior, remember you owe me a favor." Mai Sakurajima sighed and handed over the oden.

"A favor?" Nomiyama accepted it without ceremony. "Don't forget that I paid for the oden."

"Huh? I thought a fan like you, who's been a fan for ten years, would be incredibly excited about buying me oden." Mai Sakurajima said in surprise.

"Excuse me, I'm only excited about those stockings from last night. Could you please take them off and throw them in my face, senior? Anyway, no one around can see you." Nomiyama casually blurted out.

Mai Sakurajima stopped in her tracks, her face slightly flushed, and gritted her teeth: "I already said, last night was an accident."

Nomiyama glanced back and said, "Oh yeah, she accidentally took off her stockings and then accidentally threw them at my face. As expected of Mai-senpai, even her accidents are different from ordinary people."

Mai Sakurajima took a deep breath, stepped forward, and walked to his side to meet his gaze.

"I'll say it one last time, last night was an accident."

Nomiyama looked at her senior's serious expression and said, "I understand, it was an accident."

After a while, the two of them were still standing in the same spot.

Nomiyama lowered his head: "So, Mai-senpai, could you please stop stepping on me?"