Comics, daily stories

Mai Sakurajima's eyelids twitched as she looked at her junior's expression. Then she watched as the host took a few steps, led the camera crew toward her junior, and smiled as she handed him the microphone.

She even saw a junior student give her a smug yet disdainful look.

Taking a deep breath, Mai Sakurajima walked in that direction.

Nomiyama held a beef skewer in one hand, but didn't take another bite. He just looked at the female host who was walking over.

The female host's eyes lingered briefly on the boy's face. His hair, slightly damp, shone with a subtle sheen. His clear eyes seemed to reflect the world, the neon lights gleaming in them. A gentle smile played on his lips, as tender as that of a senior from high school.

"Excuse me, could you please stop me for a moment?" the female host called out to him.

"Okay." Nomiyama smiled faintly as before.

So the female host handed over the microphone, and tried to soften her tone.

"Well then, please introduce yourself first."

"Ok."

Nomiyama took the microphone, and casually gave Mai-senpai a mocking look as she walked over.

He picked up the microphone and glanced at the camera.

A calm voice began to emerge from his mouth.

"My name is Nomiyama Kazehaya, I am 16 years old; I live in a villa area near the Sanzu River in Inage Ward, Chiba, and I have a girlfriend who is very cute; I attend Chiba General Affairs High School and I get home no later than 8 pm every day."

"I don't smoke, and I generally don't drink alcohol. I go to bed at 11 p.m. and make sure I get 8 hours of sleep. I drink a cup of hot milk tea before bed, and then I lie straight in bed and sleep soundly until dawn, like a baby. I never leave fatigue and stress to the next day. Even the doctors at Chiba Hospital say I'm very normal."

"I just want to say that I have no extravagant desires, I only hope to live happily; therefore, winning and losing are things I like to care about."

"Because I have to beat someone, otherwise I'll feel like, how could I lose to her?"

"I am quite content with my life now because I have people who like me, and I also like others. Once you like someone, you can't let go. That's my philosophy of life."

Nomiyama paused, then looked at the photographer and the female host, who were clearly stunned by the long speech.

A faint smile returned to his face, and his words became gentler.

This time, however, the gentleness had a strange undertone.

"Finally, when I turn eighteen, I will commit my first crime, and no one can stop me."

"This is my declaration of crime."

After saying this, Nomiyama looked relaxed, handed the microphone to the female host who was standing there in a daze, and turned to leave.

As he approached his senior, Nomiyama took a bite of beef and asked, "How was my first time on screen, senior?"

“This is terrible.” Mai Sakurajima shook her head. “It’s so inexplicable.”

"Huh, is that so? I borrowed a line from JoJo's Bizarre Adventure. I think with my acting skills, it should be quite interesting," Nomiyama thought to himself.

"I know you borrowed lines from JoJo, but what's the point?" Mai Sakurajima took a bite of her apple and complained. "And what's with that '18-year-old criminal declaration' thing you mentioned?"

Nomiyama swallowed the beef with a relaxed expression.

"I'm planning to commit bigamy, you know. I have four girlfriends, and I'm going to marry them all."

Mai Sakurajima stopped in her tracks, her expression one of disbelief.

"Are you planning to marry them all?"

Nomiyama turned back, puzzled.

"Why not?"

......

Nomiyama became famous, even though he was already a celebrity in the Chiba High School circle.

"Night Street Interview" has always been a very popular program on Chiba's local TV station. This popularity does not come from how interesting the program is, but rather from the fact that when a TV series finishes airing and enters the commercial break, bored Chiba residents always want to find a program to pass the time.

So they would subconsciously tune into the "Nighttime Street Interview" channel to see the familiar, capable host, to see if there were any streets or people they knew, and to see if the person on camera would be embarrassed, and whether the family matters they talked about matched their own.

In such an environment, and in the slightly reserved lens of the camera, the boy's presence was particularly highlighted.

He was so calm, so handsome, so serene, and his words were so strange.

A long, calm self-introduction, followed by a final "criminal declaration" in a gentle yet firm tone.

"I told you long ago that Nomiyama-kun is abnormal." This was the voice of a male student in the corner of the classroom.

"But he happens to have excellent grades." This was a male student in another corner of the classroom.

"He's so handsome, I want to...have a baby..." This was a female classmate's comment that sounded a bit off.

"Hey! Are you okay?!" This was from the hot girl at the next table on the left, who even kicked her own chair.

Nomiyama glanced down at the beautifully shaped long legs, then looked away: "It's nothing, I'm already famous, it's a small matter."

"How have you thought about what I asked you last time?" Miura Yumiko changed the subject, directly probing the most crucial question.

"What is it?" Nomiyama blinked, trying to bluff his way out of it.

"Come to my house on Saturday and enjoy being 'served' by your junior." Mai Sakurajima sat beside him, crossed her legs and swung them around, holding an open copy of "One Hundred Years of Solitude" in her hand.

"Mind your own business," Nomiyama replied irritably.

He then looked at the blond man at the next table, who was clearly puzzled but chose to remain silent, and said tentatively, "Um, how about we consider it? I think I'll be a bit busy on Saturday..."

So Miura Yumiko stopped looking at him and looked past him at someone else.

Yui Yuigahama caught her gaze, her eyes fixed on her, and began to complain: "Kaze always lies to me, so many times. Every time I want to go to Kaze's house to play, he says he's busy."

Hina Ebina smiled and delivered the finishing blow: "Kazehaya, it's going too far to keep pretending you're busy. Aren't we friends?"

No, your friends have ulterior motives; Nomiyama met the blond man's unwavering gaze at the next table and silently looked away.

"Then let's have this Saturday. What would you like to eat? I'll prepare a menu then."

"Ha, what a womanizing scumbag." Mai Sakurajima threw a heavy book onto his desk and sneered.

"Huh? You're the one who stirs things up the most, and then you start by saying it's my problem?" Nomiyama said sarcastically.

Miura Yumiko, Yui, and Hina exchanged glances, then turned their heads away, no longer paying attention to him as he talked to himself.

It's good that he's a little crazy; if he weren't, it wouldn't be easy for me to get involved in his relationship with Yukinoshita.

Ideally, nothing should be normal.

......

"How did you do that?" Mai Sakurajima asked, standing on the shore with a hint of curiosity.

“My girlfriend’s family is very powerful, so I managed to do it,” Nomiyama casually replied.

With the power that Yukino holds over the Yukino family, it would be incredibly easy for her to arrange a meeting with a celebrity manager.

Well, she'll make self-deprecating remarks like, "You only come to me when you need something," "You don't like me at all," "I'm just an extra in this group of sisters," "You only want my body and money," and then you'll have no choice but to agree to some of her requests.

"Sister Gongyu?" Mai Sakurajima asked.

"Do not."

"Fine, you scumbag junior." Mai Sakurajima thought of one of her four girlfriends whom she didn't know well, and she understood.

“I’m completely devoted to her, how could I be a jerk?” Nomiyama’s gaze shifted slightly as he looked at the sophisticated and capable woman who stepped out of the car, and he fell silent for a moment.

A moment later, he watched as the senior student left him and walked towards the other person, and for a moment he was speechless.

Mai Sakurajima remained calm as she stepped forward to meet the woman walking towards her.

When she got closer, she spoke, "Mom..."

She only uttered the word "Mom," because the other person had already ignored her, simply glossing over it and walking behind her.

Nomiyama looked at the person who was frozen in place and said nothing.

Mai-senpai knew about this, including herself. Even the special Yukinoshita couldn't remember, so how could she expect someone who was just an ordinary person to remember?

I knew it in my heart, but I still wanted to meet them, coming with hope that they would still remember me.

Because they were the closest people to me, I didn't dare to come at first, afraid of being forgotten; but later I had no choice but to come, because I had no one else who remembered me, and I could only place my hopes on the people closest to me.

Do you know Mai Sakurajima?

Nomiyama didn't wait for the pretty woman opposite him to speak, and simply asked a question.

Sakurajima's mother was slightly taken aback. She knew that the boy in front of her was someone the Yukinoshita family had specifically instructed them to treat seriously, but she still felt puzzled.

Sakurajima? And then Mai?

After thinking for a moment, she shook her head somewhat embarrassedly: "I'm sorry, I don't know."

Nomiyama glanced at the senior student looking this way, took a deep breath and said, "She is your daughter, seventeen years old, a student at Soubu High School, debuted at the age of six, her debut work is 'Ninefold', she has long black hair, the hair near her cheeks curls slightly inward, and she likes rabbit headbands."

Sakurajima's mother showed no impatience or confusion. She simply listened to the account, thought carefully, and finally gave an apologetic reply: "I'm sorry, I really don't remember."

"She's your daughter, do you even know what that means?"

"I don't have a daughter."

Nomiyama didn't say anything more, but just looked into her unwavering eyes.

Yes, if you don't remember, then it means it doesn't exist, because the other person is a blank in your life.

He took a step forward, ready to provoke the other person again.

"enough."

A person rushed over, with long, flowing black hair and a fragile, pleading voice.

Nomiyama then fell silent, his hands quieted down, and finally placed them on her back, gently stroking her.

Looking up, he said, "Sorry, it's nothing. I'm sorry to have bothered you."

Sakurajima's mother opened her mouth, but in the end, she only politely said goodbye: "No trouble at all, then goodbye."

Nomiyama didn't say goodbye; he just watched the other person leave and then continued to carefully stroke the hair of the person in his arms.

He said softly, "Senior, if you keep going like this, you'll really become an unwanted puppy."

Mai Sakurajima didn't say anything, she just let go of his hand, lowered her head and turned away.

"You're the dog, your whole family are dogs."

"I am the only person in my family."

"So you're a puppy."

"..."

......

Nomiyama looked up at the sky. His eyesight was excellent, so he could see thick, dark clouds gathering above the neon lights, and the wind was constantly blowing the hair on his forehead.

It's going to rain, soon, and heavily.

Without saying much, he tugged at his senior's sleeve and quickened his pace slightly.

At a certain moment, probably the instant the first raindrop landed on his cheek, Nomiyama noticed that the person behind him had stopped, and that his fingers, which were not gripping the sleeve tightly to begin with, had not been able to hold on.

Nomiyama had no choice but to turn around and look at her, who was standing still.

The torrential rain that had obscured their vision poured down in the next second, and the other person seemed to be soaked to the bone in just a few seconds.

A drenched, dejected chicken with its head down.

Car horns began to be drowned out by the torrential rain; the rapid, intense sound of the rain almost drowned out all other sounds nearby.

Nevertheless, Nomiyama could still hear some faint female voices, see the slight twitching of the other person's body, and a hint of red in her eyes hidden beneath her black hair.

The sound was an illusion caused by the downpour, the redness in the eyes was due to rainwater getting in, and the water running down the face was just rainwater.

That's probably what she was thinking.

Nomiyama took a deep breath and shouted, "What are you going to do! Is getting soaked in the rain fun?!"

Sakurajima Mai looked at him through a stream of tears and rain, and naturally caught his voice in the sound of the rain. Suddenly, she didn't want to go on like this anymore, and she didn't want to go back with him. It was very sudden.

"Just leave! What does my business have to do with you? You've already helped me so much! I don't want your help anymore, okay?!"

Nomiyama listened to those words, looked at her for a while, and then, unlike last time, he was not quiet.

He took two steps forward, reached out and grabbed the wrist, only to be met with resistance and struggle.

So he took another step forward, but did nothing; he just yelled.