Chapter 154: Mio, What Are You Doing With That Knife?
Sakamoto Ken didn’t nap with Natsume Mio in the company just because he was hungry enough to want to eat there.
After all, he had already exhausted himself with Hoshihara Ai yesterday.
It was mainly to verify whether all three of them could enter that dream world.
Sakamoto Ken had indeed been drawing all morning today, then continued with a meeting, and now he was really a bit sleepy.
Moreover, his mindset was very calm, and he fell asleep on the sofa after lying down for a short while.
This time, his consciousness drifted in that pitch-black void for a long time, in a state where he was asleep but his consciousness was clear, yet not yet entering a lucid dream.
Previously, during the test with Hoshihara Ai, this state only lasted a very short time.
Probably, waiting to link up?
Sakamoto Ken couldn’t say for sure if it would succeed at noon today, but he had to try first anyway.
In the darkness of his consciousness, Sakamoto Ken didn’t wait too long before he felt the hot sun shining on his body; the weather in reality Tokyo was still a bit cool, but Tokyo in this dream was very hot.
Once he could see clearly, it was some rooftop.
Rooftop?
Sakamoto Ken felt the rooftop railing behind him; this rooftop’s railing was quite high, about up to his shoulders, a height that was hard to climb over in one go.
But what concerned him more was the girl in front of him.
Natsume Mio held a palm-sized knife in her hand, looking down at it with doubt.
Then she looked up at Sakamoto Ken, then down at the knife in her hand again, and let out a soft “Eh?”
Sakamoto Ken instantly understood; this was the scene from the previous life where they cornered him on the rooftop.
Originally, all three girls should have been standing in front of him, but due to the link-up, only Natsume Mio was there.
It was right that she held a knife in her hand, because in the next second, this knife would stab into his body.
However, Natsume Mio didn’t do that.
After all, this was just recreating the scene from back then, and Natsume Mio was actually the current Natsume Mio.
Although Sakamoto Ken thought so, he still shifted his steps slightly to the side, avoiding the range of her reach.
“Mio, you… what are you doing with that knife?” Sakamoto Ken stared tightly at the weapon in her hand and asked.
“Ah?” Natsume Mio gripped the knife handle, weighed it a bit, and said uncertainly, “Should be… should be… to kill A Jian?”
“What a strange dream, but I must have thought that back then, yes, to kill A Jian,” Natsume Mio muttered to herself.
She looked closely at the knife in her hand, with the blade pointing at Sakamoto Ken, but her face wore a smile.
“No, no, A Jian, don’t be scared, I didn’t really want to kill you.” Natsume Mio raised the knife in her hand while explaining.
“Put the knife down first…” Sakamoto Ken said.
Even though it was in a dream, Sakamoto Ken didn’t want to be stabbed by a knife.
Natsume Mio didn’t say much else and directly threw the knife to the ground.
“There, there, A Jian, don’t worry.”
Sakamoto Ken immediately picked it up and tossed the knife downstairs with a backhand.
Now he felt relieved…
Without a weapon in her hand, Sakamoto Ken wasn’t afraid of Natsume Mio; even though she had practiced kendo, the difference in body muscle power between men and women was there, and without weapons, her techniques wouldn’t be of much use.
At this moment, Sakamoto Ken realized that Natsume Mio actually didn’t care about his presence at all.
She treated him like some background board, or rather… an NPC in a game?
Natsume Mio looked around the rooftop on her own, pondering in her mind.
‘It’s that dream again, but it’s a bit different from the previous ones; why can I move around freely like this?’
‘And A Jian is here too; he’s probably just something I imagined?’
‘He was clearly scared of being stabbed by me just now, looking all nervous.’
‘If I talk to him, will he react?’
Natsume Mio came back in front of Sakamoto Ken and waved at him: “A Jian?”
Sakamoto Ken looked at the girl in front of him, didn’t reply, and directly reached out to touch her head.
Natsume Mio widened her eyes looking at Sakamoto Ken, didn’t dodge, and Sakamoto Ken’s hand gently stroked her head, then pinched the braids draped over her shoulder.
In this dream, the participants’ attire was exactly the same as in reality, so Natsume Mio also had Makima-red braids, paired with a white dress and pure white mid-calf socks.
And in Natsume Mio’s view, right now she was having a lucid dream about A Jian.
Since it was a dream, it didn’t matter how she acted however she wanted.
As for the rooftop or the knife, it didn’t matter; it was just a scene she imagined.
Besides, she hadn’t really stabbed at A Jian.
Natsume Mio noticed Sakamoto Ken staring straight at her, so she leaned in close and said with a beaming smile: “Hey, A Jian~ Am I pretty?”
Sakamoto Ken nodded matter-of-factly: “Of course.”
His hand moved downward, trying to touch Natsume Mio’s face.
But this time, Natsume Mio dodged.
“Sigh, but after all, this is just the A Jian I imagined in my dream, not the real A Jian…” Natsume Mio muttered softly.
She looked Sakamoto Ken up and down and said: “A Jian, you guy, with that look in your eyes, don’t tell me you want to get naughty?”
Sakamoto Ken was surprised she would bring it up proactively in the dream; actually, he hadn’t thought of it just now, but since she mentioned it…
Sakamoto Ken reached out to grab Natsume Mio’s hand.
But as soon as his fingertip touched, Natsume Mio dodged again.
“No way.” Natsume Mio said, “You’re the A Jian I made up in my head, not the real A Jian; I’m not doing those things with you.”
Hearing Natsume Mio say that, Sakamoto Ken was really stunned for a moment, his thoughts circling before understanding her train of thought.
Mio thought “he” wasn’t the real Sakamoto Ken from reality, but just a shadow she imagined, an NPC in the dream.
So, talking was fine, but she didn’t want to do intimate things.
Sakamoto Ken had never thought of it from this angle himself.
According to Hoshihara Ai’s detailed description before, in the dream without linking up, she was in a passive participant perspective.
It was like fully reviewing what happened in the previous life; everything could only develop as it did back then, and she couldn’t change it based on her own preferences.
Moreover, everyone except herself and Sakamoto Ken was blurry, so she only knew there were two others but not their specific appearances.
What Hoshihara Ai told him was that if she could change things in that dream, she wouldn’t have stabbed him.
“What are you talking about? I am the real one.” Sakamoto Ken took a step closer to Natsume Mio.
Natsume Mio immediately stepped back, widening her eyes at Sakamoto Ken: “Eh… A Jian, you, you you… you want to do something to me…”
She even put her hands in front of her chest in a defensive posture.
Seeing her reaction, Sakamoto Ken smiled and said: “Since I’m the A Jian you imagined, then my character should be as you imagine; what kind of image did you imagine me as?”
Seeing Sakamoto Ken not approaching anymore, Natsume Mio breathed a slight sigh of relief.
Looking at the figure in front of her that was exactly like A Jian, she actually felt a bit dazed, thinking the one before her was indeed A Jian himself; he looked the same, sounded the same, and even felt the same.
But she was also very clear that right now she was lying in Shueisha’s writer’s lounge, sleeping with A Jian.
So, no matter how similar, it was just a shadow she imagined in her mind.
In reality, especially at night when she felt her room was empty and lonely, she would think of A Jian’s appearance to reward herself.
But that was different; that was her own thing, and she was thinking of the real A Jian from reality.
She didn’t mean doing intimate things in some dream where she could act autonomously like reality, with an imagined shadow from the “future”; that would make her feel a bit conflicted inside.
But talking and such was of course fine.
Thinking of Sakamoto Ken’s question, Natsume Mio said: “A Jian… is a big pervert who likes big breasts, stockings, beautiful legs, and jade feet.”
“?”
The muscles at the corner of Sakamoto Ken’s mouth twitched slightly, and he said: “That’s the image I have in your heart?”
“Am I wrong?”
“What makes you say that?”
“I can tell.” Natsume Mio said.
Sakamoto Ken smiled faintly and shook his head, saying: “Actually, I’m not that picky about breast size.”
This guy definitely added “big breasts” as her own bias.
Sakamoto Ken truly didn’t have particularly high requirements for breasts; from Haruna’s small ones, Ai’s medium, to Mio’s substantial ones, though they varied in size, he didn’t see any superiority; he was quite inclusive.
In fact, the core was just one thing: beautiful girls.
Foot fetish or leg fetish, all fake; actually, it’s beautiful girl fetish.
“What?!” Hearing Sakamoto Ken say that, Natsume Mio glared at him and said grumpily, “And you’re a total scumbag!”
“What makes you say that?” Sakamoto Ken asked.
Natsume Mio huffed lightly and said: “Do you know why I had a knife earlier?”
“Why?”
“Because I originally planned to kill you.”
“Why didn’t you do it?”
Natsume Mio raised her chin and said: “I spared you at the last minute.”
She pointed to the ground and said: “This place is where you die in the future, and not just me; the three girls that scumbag A Jian hooked up with all killed you here together.”
Because it was in a dream, Natsume Mio spoke of these things without any reservation.
Actually, in her view, this was also a kind of emotional venting.
After all, in reality, it’s impossible to discuss such things with Sakamoto Ken, but if it’s a lucid dream she had about A Jian, discussing it with him is no big deal.
Anyway, no matter what she says, the real A Jian won’t know.
She crossed her arms and continued: “At first I didn’t know who they specifically were, but then I saw that car and knew Haruna was one of them.”
“You guy, in the future you’ll bow to her money, become her gigolo; how lame.”
Sakamoto Ken wasn’t surprised by this; clues could be seen from Natsume Mio and Mikazuki Haruna’s usual relationship.
Sakamoto Ken said: “My manga is very popular; the volumes will definitely sell well in the future. Why would I become a gigolo for money?”
Natsume Mio pursed her lips and said: “I doubt it; even if A Jian’s manga sells well, she still has more money.”
Sakamoto Ken shook his head lightly and didn’t reply to that.
But what she said definitely wouldn’t happen; he didn’t have such a strong desire for money; having a few hundred million in royalty fees was enough for a comfortable life; he didn’t need luxury mansions or yachts.
Now the volumes were about to be released, plus a submission bonus, and the nailed-down animation adaptation project; whether copyright fees or the monthly consultant fees paid by NESX, they were all quite substantial.
He wouldn’t submit under some young lady’s skirt anymore; the initiative would naturally be in his own hands.
But Sakamoto Ken still followed her words: “What if I still end up with them?”
“Eh?” Natsume Mio was slightly stunned, looking at Sakamoto Ken in front of her; she wasn’t angry but fell into thought.
In her view, this was a question she was asking herself inwardly.
Yeah, what if A Jian this guy still hooks up with them… especially that Haruna?
Natsume Mio looked around very seriously and said: “You absolutely cannot repeat the same mistakes, or we’ll corner you on the rooftop and kill you here.”
“If it happens again, I definitely won’t repeat the same mistakes.” Sakamoto Ken said confidently.
Natsume Mio nodded and said: “I think A Jian won’t repeat them either; hopefully so…”
Sakamoto Ken listened to her muttering softly.
The “repeating mistakes” she was thinking of probably wasn’t the same as what he meant…
A gentle breeze.
The rooftop wind blew on his body; Sakamoto Ken felt this exceptionally realistic dream environment, looking at the appetizing girl in front of him.
Actually, right now he could totally pull her over forcefully, hug her tightly, and do anything he wanted.
But Sakamoto Ken was a gentleman.
Since Natsume Mio had no such thoughts at all, and Sakamoto Ken was actually quite surprised, even a bit touched, by how she treated “him” in the dream.
She only liked the real him from reality; even meeting in a dream, when she could control herself, she wouldn’t do anything too intimate, since unlike Hoshihara Ai, she clearly knew the principle of this dream.
As for Mikazuki Haruna, she probably never even thought about such things.
Moreover, back then it was Sakamoto Ken who initiated, pinning her down without explanation, and the actions carried some emotion, a bit of revenge for her pressuring him to update in the previous life.
Natsume Mio walked to the edge of the rooftop, looking at the city buildings outside the railing, muttering to herself: “I wonder how long I’ve slept; has the alarm gone off? If I slept too deeply, I wouldn’t hear it…”
She turned to look at Sakamoto Ken, still in a muttering tone: “A Jian has a meeting later; I wonder if he’s awake yet. If A Jian wakes up first and sees me still sleeping, will he wake me?”
“Eh?”
Her mind suddenly turned, thinking of some scenes.
“He wouldn’t do anything bad to me while I’m asleep, right?”
Sakamoto Ken listened to her mutterings the whole time; you guy, what do you imagine me as? What could I do to you while you’re asleep?
It’s not like Ai, who won’t wake up no matter what if she doesn’t want to; not many have that talent for controlling sleep.
About this time, an alarm bell suddenly rang in the sky; not just Sakamoto Ken, but Natsume Mio was also startled by the sudden sound.
When Sakamoto Ken looked again at where Natsume Mio had been standing, she had directly disappeared.
He had seen Hoshihara Ai suddenly disappear entirely in the dream before; this was the second time, and it was clearly the sign of her waking up.
Sakamoto Ken directly ignored the bell; standing on this familiar rooftop, he actually had many emotions in his heart.
This was the place where he once died…
The bell stopped soon; Sakamoto Ken remembered his mobile phone alarm should ring longer, so the only reason was that Natsume Mio turned it off.
Immediately after, Sakamoto Ken felt the world shake, everything in front of him suddenly contracted, and his vision returned to darkness.
Soon, his consciousness cleared, and Sakamoto Ken opened his eyes.
As soon as he opened his eyes, the girl’s big face filled his view.
Natsume Mio widened her eyes, staring at him unblinkingly; they were very close, her exhaled breath hitting his face.
Sakamoto Ken gazed into Natsume Mio’s pupils, seeing his own face reflected in them.
“A Jian, you’re awake.”
She tried to get up, but Sakamoto Ken directly wrapped his arm around her waist, pulling her down slightly to press her onto himself.
Natsume Mio symbolically resisted for a second, then proactively adjusted her position.
Thus, their lips touched, the warm moist sensation passing between them.
Sakamoto Ken shifted his body, opened his mouth to try to devour the girl, but in the instant he turned his head, his gaze caught another woman standing nearby.
Sakamoto Ken jolted back a bit and quickly sat up.
“Wait, Editor Kaji, why are you here?!” Sakamoto Ken wiped the corner of his mouth with the back of his hand and said.
Kaji Keiko stood there stunned, gave an awkward smile, pointed to the room door, and said: “Mio opened the door for me just now…”
Sakamoto Ken looked at Natsume Mio; her eyes darted, and she turned her head to look at the wall.
“I called you to wake up, and you, you… ambushed me…” Natsume Mio smacked her lips, her tongue quickly licking the edge.
Sakamoto Ken’s mind turned, and he said: “I just woke up; I thought I was still dreaming. Um… I had a strange dream just now…”
“Did Sakamoto Sensei dream of kissing?” Kaji Keiko said with a beaming smile.
“Yeah… dreamed of Mio.” Sakamoto Ken said.
“Eh?” Natsume Mio was slightly stunned and said unexpectedly, “A Jian dreamed of me too?”
“Too?” Editor Kaji asked doubtfully.
Natsume Mio chuckled and didn’t elaborate; she waved her hand and said: “Nothing, nothing. So did A Jian dream of kissing me? And after waking up, he thought he was still in the dream continuing.”
“I’m not saying.” Sakamoto Ken wisely answered with suspense.
“Alright, you two…” Kaji Keiko shook her head and said, “Anyway, the afternoon meeting is about to start. Sakamoto Sensei, you… wipe the lipstick off your mouth and come to the meeting room. I’ll go ahead…”
Kaji Keiko turned and left, leaving the room to Sakamoto Ken and Natsume Mio again.
Natsume Mio had been trying to act calm in front of Editor Kaji earlier, but now with only her and Sakamoto Ken in the room, her little face instantly turned completely red.
She said very softly: “A Jian, that… just now, it was you who initiated it.”
Sakamoto Ken didn’t deny it but didn’t reply either.
He pulled a tissue paper from the coffee table’s box, wiped the lipstick mark from the corner of his mouth, and directly stood up.
“I need to go to the meeting room… Thanks for the bento at noon.” Sakamoto Ken said.
“Mm-hmm, go ahead, A Jian~” Natsume Mio smiled sweetly and said.
Sakamoto Ken quickly left the rest room and headed to the meeting room from earlier.
As for Natsume Mio, she sat on the sofa in a daze for a good while, various scenes flashing in her mind, then couldn’t help covering her mouth and giggling, even laughing out loud.
She panted deeply to adjust her emotions, finally calming down a bit.
She picked up the bag with the bento box and quickly left, taking the elevator straight to the first floor, heading toward Shueisha’s main entrance.
She had just arrived in Shueisha’s first floor lobby when her gaze immediately locked onto a girl standing by the wall making a phone call.
The other also sensed her gaze, immediately hung up the call with Hanabe Kyoko, and quickly walked toward her.
Natsume Mio had been savoring the kiss where Sakamoto Ken initiated on the way; suddenly seeing Mikazuki Haruna ruined her good mood.
The two faced each other less than two meters apart; Mikazuki Haruna spoke first: “Why were you in there so long?”
“You know how long I was in there?” Natsume Mio asked doubtfully.
Mikazuki Haruna said directly: “I saw you enter, then you went upstairs; you came to find A Jian, right.”
Natsume Mio huffed lightly and raised the bento bag in her hand: “Of course; I brought a bento for A Jian.”
Mikazuki Haruna’s gaze locked on Natsume Mio’s lips, then scanned her still slightly flushed face, her brows furrowing even more.
“How did your lipstick get on your face?” Mikazuki Haruna felt something was wrong.
Natsume Mio touched her cheek; there was indeed that sticky lipstick feel.
She let out an “Oh dear” and said: “A Jian put it there; forgot to wipe it off~”
As she spoke, she took out tissue paper and wiped her cheek and mouth.
Actually, she had truly forgotten earlier, with so many thoughts in her head, she didn’t think to wipe her mouth.
“A Jian… put… it… on?” Mikazuki Haruna repeated word by word, pointing at her: “Did you force a kiss on A Jian!”
“Nyah nyah~”
Natsume Mio stuck her tongue out at Mikazuki Haruna and continued toward the doorway, leaving behind: “Guess~”
