Comics, daily stories

Hachiman Hikigaya nodded to his old classmate across the street, whom he hadn't seen in a while, before turning to his sister with a bright look in his eyes: "Please let me see Komachi's incredible connections."

Hikigaya Komachi grunted twice, then remained silent.

Hachiman Hikigaya, taking a deep breath, immediately added, "I'll cook for the next three days."

Hikigaya Komachi remained silent.

Hachiman Hikigaya gritted his teeth: "For the next two weeks, I will be in charge of hygiene and cooking."

The only sound was whistling.

Hachiman Hikigaya went all out: "Plus half a month's allowance!"

Hikigaya Komachi laughed, her steps light: "That's what my brother said himself, I didn't say anything."

He exhaled and Hachiman Hikigaya relaxed.

Komachi is indeed too young. With Kasumi Utako's current reputation in the literary world and light novel field, paired with the long-standing national goddess Sakurajima Mai, and the rising star Nomiyama Kazehaya who is shrouded in various strange rumors, the three of them together are a perfect match.

The price of my "Love Story" collector's edition will be inflated to an astonishing level. In short, reselling it will definitely make me a fortune, far beyond what pocket money can offer.

Thinking about this, he took a step forward, glanced at his lively younger sister in front of him, and sighed.

Never mind, Komachi is so happy. If I were to resell it, she would be very sad.

“That’s why I really like the existence of younger sisters.” Nomiyama nodded to his old classmate, then continued to look at Komachi and sighed, “They’ll be close to their older brother and help him out, not for any other reason than to make him happy.”

If it weren't for Komachi, Nomiyama would have turned around and disappeared, because the other party brought out two whole sets of "Love Story," and signing them one by one would have been too much trouble. Besides, he's not a real entertainer, and signing autographs isn't part of his business.

"My sister... isn't as wonderful as you imagine," Sakurajima Mai sighed as well.

Nomiyama turned his head to look at her, and then thought of his blonde, boisterous sister-in-law.

After a moment of silence, he stepped forward and said, "Yes, you're right."

Sakurajima Mai caught up with him, reached out and pinched him, her eyes filled with threat: "What do you mean? You think my sister is no good, huh?"

Nomiyama raised his hands in surrender, saying in a serious tone, "How could I think that? Kazuha is amazing."

Mai Sakurajima narrowed her eyes, her tone growing increasingly dangerous: "You wouldn't have any designs on my sister, would you?"

Nomiyama's eyes widened in surprise: "You can't slander me like that. I didn't do anything, and I rarely spend time with Kazuka."

Mai Sakurajima smiled and said, "Then be clear. I feel something's off about you. Once someone senses something is wrong with you, then there's definitely something wrong."

Nomiyama looked at that chilling smile, waved his hands frantically, and said seriously, "Absolutely no problem, it's just that she's a bit of a troublemaker. Aren't we all at Chiba National University? And she's in the same major as me, which is super, super troublesome. She comes over to scrutinize me all the time, being sarcastic and weird."

Sakurajima Mai looked at him suspiciously: "I'm also at school, how come I've never heard you mention it, and neither have you and Hana."

Nomiyama explained, "It wouldn't be right to talk about your sister behind her back. Besides, I did marry you, so I should at least maintain a good relationship with her. She's family, and she's only targeting me because she's afraid you'll suffer."

"Oh." Sakurajima Mai nudged him with her elbow. "Did you suffer in silence?"

Nomiyama thought for a moment and shook his head: "No, it's just that she's quite energetic and will try to provoke me whenever she gets the chance."

"They've retaliated?"

"No, I was very patient and listened to her quietly."

Nomiyama continued, recalling, "Then, when she didn't get a reply from me, she became furious and prepared to attack me, so I ran away."

Mai Sakurajima rubbed her temples: "I'll talk to Kazuka another day. If this continues, it'll be you bullying her."

"I'm the one who gets scolded and beaten," Nomiyama complained.

"Hmm, do you need me to give you a reward?" Mai Sakurajima turned her head to look at him.

"What reward?" Nomiyama's eyes lit up. "A new pair of torn stockings?"

"What do you say?"

Mai Sakurajima stepped on his foot, rubbing it once, then twice.

......

"I once read a saying in a book that everyone is a book, whether thick or thin, obscure or simple."

Sakurajima Mai pulled him, who had just finished eating, to sit on a bench at the edge of the amusement park, looking up at the Ferris wheel spinning above.

Nomiyama took a sip of his iced cola and responded, "Hmm?"

Mai Sakurajima shifted her gaze from the Ferris wheel to him: "Back then, I felt that you were also a book. I tried to read you and found that you weren't actually that obscure. Most of the time, you were a book that could be understood."

"But your book is so thick, so thick that I'm a little overwhelmed. There are too many secrets and unknowns about you, it's not the normal thickness you should have. I thought that no matter what, I would never be able to finish reading it. But I also think that's good. If I can't finish reading it, it means I can keep reading forever and always enjoy the joy and surprise of reading."

"So I mustered up my courage, prepared myself for the awkward situation of being rejected, and confessed to you first."

Nomiyama gulped down his iced cola, his expression brightening: "Mai, you were so cool back then."

Mai Sakurajima stared at his smiling face in silence for a while, then leaned against his shoulder. Looking at the Ferris wheel above them, she murmured, "That's the thing I can't stand the most about you."

“I was certain that you liked me back then. I bet you would choose to stand up to Yukino and Megumi. I succeeded, so I have the ability to continue reading your book.”

"You're so amazing. Few of your classmates know what you're thinking because you're not restrained at all. You can do whatever you want. Your grades are undisputed number one. You can even go to heaven and negotiate with immortals. You have the most powerful violence in the world. All abnormalities seem like obedient pets in front of you. You can see all kinds of thoughts in people's hearts and can navigate the malice of others with ease."

"But when I opened the book again, those words were gone. I turned page after page, and all that was left were those few words: 'I love you' and 'I like you'."

"Your whole book has changed. Although it's still incredibly thick, you have nothing else to say. Every page is filled with you saying you like me. You go around in circles with every sentence, but you still say you like me. The content is so thin, as if you have no other thoughts about me when you're with me."

Mai Sakurajima shifted her weight on his shoulder, wrapped her arms around his, placed her hand on his, and spoke softly.

“You could have so many things, the best car, the best watch, the best house, you could even have the whole world, you could arrogantly say that you can give me everything you want; but you seem to subconsciously feel that you have nothing, only pages full of 'I like you,' and then use them to exchange for my 'I like you.'”

"You're so simple, so much simpler than before we met. So simple that you could understand that book with just a glance. You're so timid and submissive, not mysterious or powerful at all, and not cold at all. You've become a silly boy who wants more affection and love. But I like it so much. Even though that book is just a few words, I like it even more."

"Right now I want to devour you completely, to let you know that I like you, like you so much that I can't bear to be apart from you."

Nomiyama threw away her Coke cup, looked at the warm sunshine on her body, and then looked at Mai next to her, who seemed warm but also felt very cold.

He reached out, picked the other up, and placed him in his arms. They hesitated as they looked at each other, and he said, "Um, wouldn't it be a little creepy to eat me up? If all else fails, you can drain me dry until I can't move."

Sakurajima Mai looked at him for a while, then leaned against him and listened to his heartbeat: "Don't you like it? If I'm not mistaken, you really like this kind of talk, don't you?"

Nomiyama pressed his cheek against her hair and admitted, "Yeah, I love it, I love it so much. It makes me feel so safe and secure, and a feeling of contentment is running through every part of my body."

The two pressed themselves together, feeling the warmth of each other's bodies spreading and the gentle rays of the spring sun shining from above.

After a while, Nomiyama finally spoke.

He leaned against Mai's hair, inhaling the scent that resembled cherry blossoms: "I don't think I've ever told you this before, but I was actually born in the darkness."

"Although it was night, the sky was beautiful when I was born. The starry sea was ablaze, shining with a firefly-like light, twinkling as if welcoming my arrival. But after that, I fell into boredom, a long, long boredom. Or rather, there was no concept of boredom. I couldn't feel anything about this long period of time because it had no meaning of its own, only the passage of time."

Nomiyama reached out and stroked her eyebrows: "So my true birth actually began with the possession of emotions. When I came to this world, the sun was hanging in the sky, just like today, it was still quite warm, as if it foreshadowed my future."

"In the years that followed, I experienced only warm things, and the sun always shone on me. I always knew that I was experiencing good things, but inevitably, I would think about other things."

"The first time I got angry was in the teachers' office. Some people were trying to bully me and Eriri Yukinoshita, so I beat them up. Their parents came and started yelling at them. They were saying really nasty things. So I thought, I might as well kill them. Killing people is incredibly easy for me. I just need to throw one punch, a little bit of force, and a dozen people will stop in their tracks and never be able to think again."

“Yukinoshita grabbed me. She didn’t think the other side was right. She was just worried that I was wrong because hitting someone and killing someone are two different things. She was worried that I would never be able to live as a normal person again.”

"I didn't lay a hand on her because she was very scared."

“But I was very sad and confused. I thought I could do so many things, so why should I follow the rules of society? If killing them wasn’t enough, then I would just keep killing, killing a thousand or ten thousand, until no one would say anything anymore. Anyway, I’m very good at killing.”

“I don’t understand, and I can’t move, because Yukinoshita doesn’t dare let me move; at that time, I thought that I should have that kind of person, like an elder, someone who would teach me what to do; that day in the office, Sayuri appeared, she slapped those people, one by one, and then had the bodyguards beat them up again.”

"She knows a lot and understands how society works. She's also willing to protect Eriri like a mother hen. She's so cool. Society values ​​reason, but she didn't say a word of reason back then. When she saw Eriri was scared, she just slapped her."

"The consequences seem much better than me killing someone and getting away with it."

Nomiyama leaned back on the bench, his voice lingering: "During that time, I kept thinking about what my parents were like. Were they as handsome as Sayuri, and when they saw their child being wronged, did they not care about right or wrong at first, but instead teach the other party a lesson, and then reason with them after teaching the other party a lesson?"

"I thought and thought, I thought for a long time..."

Nomiyama lowered his head and gently leaned on Mai's shoulder.

“I thought about it for a long, long time, and then I realized that I don’t have any family. I don’t have that kind of common and warm relationship. I’m different from them. I just look sunny and cheerful, but in reality, I’m just basking in the sun all by myself. No matter how warm the sun is, if I turn my head to say something, there’s no one to listen.”

"So Mai, any affection that comes my way."

"When the sun shines, I finally have someone to confide in about how warm the sun is."

I no longer want to understand the temperature of every ray of sunshine alone, so whenever someone I like appears, I want to share every ray of sunshine with them, wanting them to feel the same warmth.

Mai Sakurajima tilted her head slightly and lightly touched his cheek with her lips: "That's why I like you the way you are, that's why I never feel like I've lost to Yukino, that I like the way you seem to go crazy without me, and that I believe you will give me everything, even your life."

"Who can refuse someone who can truly entrust their life to them? After all, most people can't even control their own lives most of the time, but they can control the lives of someone who likes them and whom they like in return."

Mai Sakurajima sat up, took his hand and walked towards the amusement park exit, her tone cheerful: "This world may be black and white, or it may be a chaotic mess, but none of that matters. What matters is always just one thing: wherever I am, you will subconsciously follow me here."

"Look at you, Nomi Yamakaze, you've been completely captivated by me."

Nomiyama blinked: "I feel like you've caught Utaha's influence."

Mai Sakurajima pondered: "Maybe? Utaha always likes to talk about the 'domestication theory' in 'The Little Prince,' saying that as long as you tame each other, it means that you are the only one for each other. Nomiyama Kazehaya, am I the only one for you?"

Nomiyama nodded seriously: "Of course, there is only one Mai Sakurajima."

Mai Sakurajima laughed: "But Yukino Yukinoshita, Megumi Kato, and Yukinoshita Yukihachi, they are also unique. Your uniqueness is uniqueness to everyone."

She sighed, "Seriously, what if you bastard get dragged down with them one day? I don't want to have to commit suicide before I've even had enough of life with you."

Nomiyama looked up and thought for a moment, then leaned close to her ear and whispered, "Don't be afraid. They can't escape now, even if they wanted to. I'm super strong."

Mai Sakurajima pinched his hand and sneered, "You scumbag, you're so confident in being a scumbag, huh?"

Nomiyama didn't explain this, but just looked back at the Ferris wheel that was still rising and falling, feeling a little regretful: "Don't you want to take a ride?"

Mai Sakurajima smiled slightly: "We still have a few days until our annual Ferris wheel ride, so if I want to go on another date in a few days, none of them will have any objections. Isn't that interesting?"

Nomiyama's voice was lower: "Mai, how despicable."

Mai Sakurajima stepped on his foot and said coldly, "Who do you think you can blame? I was supposed to completely consume your free time by myself. Who do you think you can blame for this situation now?"

Nomiyama carefully recalled his memory and cautiously answered, "Under the strange snow, Megumi, Haruno, Miyaame?"

Mai Sakurajima stopped him, then pulled out a thorny leather whip from her hand.

Nomiyama stared at the whip, his thoughts momentarily frozen, followed by a frantic warning.

He let go and retreated more than ten meters in the blink of an eye, panic surging across his face: "Where did you get that whip?"

Mai Sakurajima glanced down at the thorn-covered whip, then looked up at him and sneered, "If you dare to run away, don't even think about getting close to me again."

Nomiyama immediately raised his hands and slowly approached her: "It's my fault, it's my fault. The current situation is all my fault."

He walked slowly, glancing at the whip with lingering fear: "Where did you get this whip? Did Xuewan make it?"

Something was wrong with that whip. He was clearly stronger than before, but the whip still gave him a strange, stinging sensation.

Mai Sakurajima put away the whip, her expression indifferent: "One night, a certain man, after eating his fill, made love to me by the bedside with a silly grin."

Nomiyama's expression was a bit strange. He remembered that he had promised to create a weapon that would definitely cause pain. He got a spiked club... Now it has become a whip. That means that either Yukihana or Yukinoshita modified the spiked club. Maybe they even replicated the rules and made a lot of whips.

Nomiyama leaned closer, his smile bright and sunny: "Mai, we are..."

Sakurajima Mai looked at the man who had become defiant because of her threat, suppressed a laugh and walked forward: "Idiot."

Nomiyama watched as the girl's pale yellow skirt swayed in the breeze, and then followed her.

"Won't Mai hit me, will she?"

"Maybe," Sakurajima Mai said ambiguously.

"But Mai can't bear to see me in pain."

"I heard Yukino say that once the thorns disappear, the whipping won't hurt anymore, but rather, it'll be exhilarating?"

"An illusion! Absolutely an illusion! If that were true, she would have done it already! Don't believe me!" Nomiyama said righteously.

"Who knows if you've already experienced it with her and then kept it from me?" Mai Sakurajima rubbed her chin thoughtfully.

“How could that be! I’m always in control, I would never play such a weird game!” Nomiyama said even more firmly.

"Oh."

Mai Sakurajima became even more suspicious, but after glancing at him, she looked away.

She walked forward, scanning her surroundings, and after confirming her location, asked, "Shouldn't we go buy some groceries to prepare dinner?"

Nomiyama looked around and nodded: "Yes, I promised Megumi."

"Oh? What did you promise?"

"We're having meat tonight, lots of meat."

Mai Sakurajima sighed and turned to look at him: "Do you really like eating meat that much? When you cook for a girl, at least be a little more romantic."