Chapter 119: It’s Peach-flavored
Sakamoto Ken hadn’t even fully reacted when he was pushed by that sudden surge of power.
He slid forward along with the chair until he bumped into the edge of the desk, then stopped.
When he stopped, just right, the inertia brought the girl’s body leaning toward him.
Sakamoto Ken instinctively wrapped his right arm around her, perfectly half-embracing her soft, warm body into his arms.
His nose was surrounded by the faint fresh scent from the girl’s hair strands, and Makima’s red ponytail fell onto his face.
Before Sakamoto Ken could even speak, the view in front of him was quickly occupied by the rapidly enlarging face of the girl.
Her eyes held a color woven from determination and shyness.
The distance was infinitely closed in an instant, then pressed tightly together.
Sakamoto Ken felt warm breath brushing against his lips, carrying a faint peach sweetness.
At this moment, all surrounding sounds disappeared, leaving only each other’s breathing close at hand and the drum-like heartbeat in their chests.
Natsume Mio closed her eyes, her long eyelashes trembling uneasily like butterfly wings.
Her body was tense, and the hand gripping the armrest of the chair was clenched so tightly that her knuckles were slightly pale.
Her mind was blank.
All her courage seemed to have been exhausted in that earlier forceful lunge.
The sensation at this moment was even softer and hotter than she had imagined.
It carried an indescribable electric current that instantly surged through her entire body.
Unlike those dream fragments that repeatedly appeared in her mind.
This time, it was real.
The real A Jian was right in front of her.
Embracing him, feeling each other’s warmth and heartbeat.
So this is what it feels like to kiss A Jian…
Time seemed to stretch infinitely in this moment.
Although when she bought this lipstick, she had imagined the scene of feeding it to A Jian.
But back then it was just a thought; mainly the shade matched Makima’s color well, so she bought it, and she hadn’t expected herself to do something so bold.
At this moment, the peach-flavored lipstick that was only on her lips also let Sakamoto Ken taste it, and the lipstick became a lubricant between their skin.
In the first few seconds, Sakamoto Ken was actually stunned.
He knew Mio had this personality: when her emotions reached their fullest, she would make particularly bold moves.
But he hadn’t expected it to be today, right now…
Earlier she had mentioned something about peach flavor, and now tasting it, there really was a hint of fresh peach sweetness.
Sakamoto Ken could feel the slight trembling of the girl’s body in his arms, and her increasingly rapid, increasingly hot breathing.
The arm around her waist also instinctively tightened a bit.
The whole process was actually only a short dozen seconds, but it felt like a very, very long time had passed.
Suddenly, the abundant softness in his arms, like a startled fawn, abruptly left.
In the instant of separation, the girl’s small mouth instinctively pursed, creating a slight suction.
Natsume Mio retreated several steps in a row, her cheeks already red like ripe apples, with even her ear roots, neck, and down to her collarbone dyed in an alluring blush.
She was panting heavily, her chest heaving dramatically, as if that brief touch had exhausted all her strength.
Sakamoto Ken raised his hand, his fingertip lightly touching the edge of his lips, and his finger picked up some red.
“Mio, you…” Sakamoto Ken had just started to speak when Natsume Mio jumped as if startled.
She hurriedly said: “I, I I… A Jian, I… I just now… that, kiss…”
The girl was a bit incoherent; she felt her legs had lost all strength, leaning against the edge of the desk with her waist, supporting herself on the desktop with her other hand, barely avoiding collapsing from weak legs.
But just as she pressed her hands on the desk to support her body, she felt her hand slip.
Natsume Mio looked down and was suddenly startled, quickly pulling her hand back.
Just now, she had accidentally pressed directly onto Sakamoto Ken’s drawings on the desk, and her palm was full of sweat, plus the pressure, causing the drawings to bunch up and the paper to be damaged.
“Ah!” Natsume Mio exclaimed, hurriedly carefully flattening the paper.
But the creases that had appeared could not be restored, and moreover, this wasn’t a storyboard draft—it was Sakamoto Ken’s completed manuscript paper.
Exactly the page where Makima put the lollipop into Denji’s mouth.
Natsume Mio held the drawing with both hands, her eyes wide open.
The earlier hug and kiss were all suppressed by the sudden guilt and even sense of sin.
Now, the girl’s legs finally lost all strength.
With a “thud,” Natsume Mio sat down on the wooden floor.
Her legs splayed to the side, left hand supporting the ground, right hand still holding this damaged drawing.
Natsume Mio didn’t know exactly how much effort Sakamoto Ken put into drawing one page, but she knew every page of manga was Sakamoto Ken’s blood and sweat.
And she had ruined one page of A Jian’s blood and sweat.
She placed this page of drawing flat on the ground, tears already falling from her eyes, and she lunged forward, directly prostrating herself on the ground in a dogeza pose.
“A Jian, I, I’m sorry… I… I didn’t mean to…”
Now Natsume Mio was hot-blooded and worked up, her emotions hard to control.
Sakamoto Ken knew this characteristic of hers; although it was a pity that one drawing was damaged, he had no intention of blaming Natsume Mio.
Moreover, Kaji Keiko had just scanned the manuscript; she had taken the digital version back to the company, so this original manuscript didn’t really matter.
Sakamoto Ken squatted down, picked up the manuscript paper and placed it on the desk, then held Natsume Mio’s shoulders with both hands and pulled her up.
“The drawings are fine; the editor scanned them earlier,” Sakamoto Ken said.
Natsume Mio raised her hand to wipe the tears from her face; she saw the red mark on Sakamoto Ken’s mouth and timidly turned her head away.
“Then… just now…”
Sakamoto Ken kept a warm smile on his face, brushed her braids that had fallen to her shoulder behind her, and said in Denji’s tone: “Miss Makima’s kiss is very delicious.”
Hearing Sakamoto Ken answer like this, Natsume Mio instantly got into character, immediately shifting her mood, cleared her throat twice, and said the line she had memorized after reading it once, in Makima’s tone.
“From now until death, Denji will experience various first times; in short, the first kiss is… peach-flavored.”
After saying that, she blinked and asked very softly: “A Jian, this… was your first kiss, right?”
“Sort of.”
“What do you mean ‘sort of’?”
Because it was this round’s first kiss.
But Sakamoto Ken didn’t say that.
He said: “Does a kiss count if it’s a sneak attack?”
“Eh?”
“It should be in an ambiguous atmosphere, the two getting closer and closer, gazes always locked on each other, until their lips meet—that’s a perfect kiss,” Sakamoto Ken said.
“I-Is that so?!” Natsume Mio had never thought about this.
But with Sakamoto Ken saying it, she felt it really made some sense.
After all, for kissing, is the act itself the most important?
The most important should be the emotional exchange between two people through their lips.
But I just now took it upon myself…
Natsume Mio felt her mind empty; she looked at Sakamoto Ken’s lips, thinking of her earlier sneak attack.
I seem to have ruined A Jian’s perfect first kiss…
I… I’m so bad…
Sakamoto Ken saw her expression and knew what this girl was thinking.
So, Sakamoto Ken pulled two tissues from the desk, handed one to Natsume Mio, wiped his own mouth, and said: “Actually, it can be like this: I’ll consider what just happened as reference material, and it really is; in the future, I can use it for kiss scenes.”
“Since it’s reference material, it’s just pure mutual help, so it doesn’t count as a first kiss.”
Natsume Mio seriously pondered Sakamoto Ken’s words for a few seconds.
It can be like this?
By this logic, doesn’t that mean my first kiss is still intact?
That’s great; I can save my first kiss for an ambiguous atmosphere, the two getting closer and closer, gazes always locked on each other, until their lips meet.
But why does it feel like A Jian saying this has a bit of a scumbag vibe…
“So, what do you think?” Sakamoto Ken followed up at the right moment.
“I think…” Natsume Mio frowned and thought for two seconds, then nodded, “Very reasonable!”
The smile at the corner of Sakamoto Ken’s mouth deepened; he extended his right hand toward Natsume Mio: “I’m very satisfied with the reference material just now, so can you help me with reference material next time too?”
A Jian couldn’t possibly be a scumbag.
Natsume Mio immediately denied the thought that had just popped up in her mind and quickly reached out to shake hands with Sakamoto Ken.
“A Jian can do reference material however he wants!”
