Chapter 64: Eyes Meeting
Tap, tap, tap…
The footsteps were very crisp.
Sakamoto Ken, who had been chatting and laughing just moments ago, had his smile freeze on his face instantly.
Mikazuki Haruna walked over step by step, her gaze fixed on Sakamoto Ken’s face the whole time.
Wait, didn’t you say she wasn’t coming?!
The host greeted Mikazuki Haruna, but she didn’t notice at all; the surrounding voices were automatically filtered out, and right now, there was only one person in her eyes.
Mikazuki Haruna walked straight to the double sofa where Sakamoto Ken was sitting, stopped, and said, “Sakamoto Ken Sensei, nice to meet you, please take care of me.”
The girl’s voice was very crisp, without any surprise or delight in her tone.
Sakamoto Ken still remembered the first time he met Natsume Mio in this round; she had been so excited.
She had chased him directly from the exam room doorway to the school gate, almost confessing to him right there against the wall.
Although Mikazuki Haruna’s emotions weren’t as outwardly expressive as Natsume Mio’s to begin with, this was too calm.
Sakamoto Ken controlled his facial expression and calmly met the girl’s gaze.
Actually, Mikazuki Haruna’s heart was pounding with excitement.
But just now backstage, she had already confirmed through the monitor screen that Sakamoto Ken’s appearance was exactly the same as the man she had been thinking about nonstop.
The host, the Chief Editor, and his exchange earlier had lasted nearly twenty minutes, which was enough time for Mikazuki Haruna to calm down.
The corner of her mouth curved up slightly, and she said to Sakamoto Ken, “I’m your reader, you know~”
After saying that, she tilted her head slightly, pointed at the sofa, and said, “Can you scoot over a bit?”
Sakamoto Ken glanced at Kaji Keiko, who responded with a smile tinged with a bit of apology.
This was all the Chief Editor’s arrangement; she had followed the Chief Editor’s instructions and hadn’t told him that Miyuki Haru would be attending.
After all, in Kaji Keiko’s view, this was just a normal dialogue interview between two writers; JUMP had done it before, nothing special.
And Miyuki Haru had insisted on keeping it secret beforehand, like one of those tearful family reunion segments on variety shows…
Probably because she really liked reading Sakamoto Sensei’s works? Kaji Keiko didn’t think too deeply about it, just figured that was probably it.
Sakamoto Ken now understood why his side also had a double sofa.
He silently shifted to the other side of the sofa until he was against the armrest.
Haruna lightly lifted her skirt hem and sat down elegantly beside him.
The double sofa wasn’t spacious, just wide enough for one cushion per person; sitting like this, there was barely less than 20 centimeters between them, and he could already clearly smell that particularly familiar fragrance.
Sakamoto Ken had thought he might instinctively feel a bit nervous or sweaty, but actually, he was fairly calm.
Thinking back, it was probably thanks to Natsume Mio.
On the day the exam just ended, he had been like a startled bird.
The first time he saw her at the convenience store, he was pretty nervous too.
But after a few more encounters, even when she came to his house to deliver a bento, that sensation gradually faded.
Sakamoto Ken noticed that after Haruna sat down, she didn’t look at the camera but turned her head sideways, her bright eyes unabashedly scrutinizing his profile.
From her gaze and reaction, there was no doubt: she also possessed those memories.
Probably like Natsume Mio, she had memories, but they weren’t complete; she just thought it was a dream.
Host Onodera and Kaji Keiko clearly hadn’t noticed the subtle atmosphere between the two; they continued with the live broadcast process.
“Two writers serializing at the same time are meeting in our live stream!” Onodera livened up the atmosphere with an exaggerated tone. “Miyuki Haru Sensei, what opportunity brought you to our live stream today?”
“When I heard Sakamoto Ken Sensei was doing a live stream, I asked Chief Editor-san, and Chief Editor quickly agreed to arrange for me to join too.”
Several questions in a row were thrown out, and Haruna answered them all fluently, though her gaze kept drifting intentionally or not toward Sakamoto Ken beside her.
“Since you both admire each other’s works and are the most watched rivals on the JUMP+ platform, do you have anything you’d like to say to each other now?”
Mikazuki Haruna turned to the camera first, flashing a sweet, harmless smile.
“Actually, I decided to join at the last minute,” Mikazuki Haruna said. “I’ve been following《Chainsaw Man》, I really love it, so I just wanted to take this chance to say hi to Sakamoto Sensei, that’s all.”
She waved at the camera and said, “Oh, right, please support my work《Young Lady, Sniper Rifle, and Pantyhose!》 too. I recently redrew the previous manga content, so even friends who’ve read it before can enjoy new surprises~”
Say hi, that’s all?
Sakamoto Ken’s gaze subtly swept over her.
His eyes naturally drifted downward, landing on her thighs wrapped in black silk fabric.
This pair of pantyhose… he recognized it.
The fabric had delicate diamond patterns, looking subtly textured, feeling silky with a slight raised sensation when touched, and having a special sheen under the lights.
In the previous life, she had once come to urge manuscript submission wearing this exact pair of pantyhose.
Complaining on one side about how he hadn’t finished drawing yet, while rubbing her foot against his leg nonstop, disturbing his work.
Then… Sakamoto Ken set down his pen and pinned this girl on the sofa, giving her a harsh lesson.
This not-cheap pair of pantyhose accidentally got a long tear from him.
Afterward, it was thrown into the trash can.
Fine, so this pair of pantyhose got reborn too, huh.
In the moment he was lost in thought, a comment suddenly popped up in the live stream’s comment section.
「Did you see Ken-bro’s gaze? Wasn’t he looking at Miyuki Haru Sensei’s thighs?」
「I screenshot it! Definitely looking!」
「Director, lower the shot a bit, can’t see the legs!」
「Photographer’s chicken leg is gone!」
Sakamoto Ken caught a glimpse of the scrolling comments on the monitor out of the corner of his eye and immediately shifted his gaze away, staring straight at the camera ahead.
And Mikazuki Haruna beside him had clearly seen those comments too.
She slowly turned her head, looking at Sakamoto Ken with a half-smile.
What? Why are you looking at me like that? You really think I was looking at your legs earlier?
It’s just that this pair of stockings looked familiar, reminded me of some past events, a bit sentimental, that’s all.
“Ahem!”
Host Onodera and Kaji Keiko had of course seen the barrage too. Though they hadn’t specifically seen how a certain male author was looking at the female author’s thighs, they immediately started smoothing things over.
They couldn’t let the audience keep discussing this topic in the comments, or else Sakamoto Ken would end up with a pervert persona.
Kaji Keiko said, “Miyuki Haru Sensei’s work has a very exquisite art style, and it’s also scheduled to appear in《Weekly Shonen JUMP》 next. Everyone, besides supporting《Chainsaw Man》, be sure to follow Miyuki Haru Sensei’s manga too.”
Onodera glanced at the cue card in her hand, then at the time.
The scheduled live stream time was almost up; after some small talk, she shifted the topic to the closing remarks.
Finally, she waved at the camera: “Thanks everyone for watching, that’s all for today’s live stream!”
“Thanks everyone for watching!”
“See you next time!”
“Bye-bye~”
The four waved goodbye to the camera together.
The “On Air” sign lit up in front of the live stream room went dark, and the photographer turned off the camera.
Kaji Keiko stood up and walked toward Sakamoto Ken.
However, she saw that the two on the sofa hadn’t moved at all.
They remained in their previous positions, sitting quietly, eyes locked on each other.
