Chapter 16: I’ll Take Care Of You!
Natsume Mio quickly followed Sakamoto Ken out.
Sakamoto Ken had his hands in his pockets, walking along the dim residential area path.
Although he didn’t look back once the whole way, his ears were closely listening to the sounds behind him.
From the footsteps, he could tell Natsume Mio was about three meters away from him.
She tried to speed up and catch up a few times, but only took a few steps before returning to her previous pace, always maintaining that distance.
Sakamoto Ken knew his strategy had succeeded.
Keeping a proper psychological distance from her—not advancing to an intimate relationship all at once, but making her constantly think about him.
This was the safest state.
This was the hard-earned experience Sakamoto Ken had summed up after going through the yandere trope ending in his previous life.
Finally, at the street corner, Sakamoto Ken stopped and turned around.
Natsume Mio also stopped immediately, gazing at Sakamoto Ken under the dim streetlight.
“Did you see what’s inside here?” Sakamoto Ken pointed to the fence by the roadside.
Natsume Mio tilted her head to look and said, “Cemetery?”
Sakamoto Ken nodded, then pointed to the house ahead covered in rusted metal siding.
“That house is where I live,” Sakamoto Ken said.
Natsume Mio quietly looked at the old apartment under the night sky.
The exterior wall, long in need of repair, the rusted metal siding, with lights on in a few rooms, and further back a forest belonging to the cemetery, especially eerie in the night.
A Jian’s residence—she actually knew it.
The last time she came based on the memory from the dream, she happened to run into Sakamoto Ken coming out, and she was a bit surprised then; she had only known his family conditions were poor, but didn’t expect he really lived in such a rundown apartment.
But at the time, she was busy stalking and didn’t think much about it.
Natsume Mio shifted her gaze to Sakamoto Ken, pondering in her mind.
Earlier when Sakamoto Ken told the store manager grandma he needed to take a break, she actually felt a bit secretly happy, thinking A Jian was going to tell her something important, like… a confession.
She didn’t expect A Jian was bringing her to see where he lived.
But why?
At this moment, Sakamoto Ken continued walking toward the old apartment, saying as he walked.
“After my parents passed away, they left me with a huge debt, and even now I’m still asking a pro bono lawyer to help with the lawsuit.”
“Not long after that, I moved here to live alone.”
“If not for the store manager grandma’s help, I wouldn’t even have been able to afford food back then.”
“A Jian… you’ve had it rough,” Natsume Mio said softly.
Sakamoto Ken continued talking to himself: “Natsume, actually I used to like you.”
“Eh?” Natsume Mio paused in her steps, then hurried to catch up.
Just as she tried to walk up to Sakamoto Ken’s side, he continued, “You’re the prettiest girl in the class.”
She stepped forward, passing Sakamoto Ken by a few steps, turned back to him and said, “Then… A Jian, why didn’t you tell me back then?”
“Because that kind of liking was a very vulgar kind of liking,” Sakamoto Ken said.
“How could it be! Why would liking someone be vulgar!” Natsume Mio said urgently.
“I purely liked your body,” Sakamoto Ken stopped, looking up and down at the girl in front of him.
This… is it vulgar?
Natsume Mio’s emotions were thrown into disarray again.
“Besides, I don’t think I have sufficient conditions,” Sakamoto Ken said, sidestepping the Natsume Mio standing in front of him.
He pulled out a key from his pocket, inserted it into the lock of the main entrance downstairs of the apartment building, and opened the door.
“You see, it’s this kind of apartment, only the poorest people would live here; the room doesn’t even have its own bathroom, and in winter sometimes you have to brave the snow to go to the public restroom to use the toilet,” Sakamoto Ken said to himself.
“I don’t mind…” Natsume Mio said softly.
Of course she knew the apartment’s conditions; in that extremely realistic dream, although other things were a bit blurry, the days living here and being together with A Jian, she remembered very clearly.
The public restroom here was still a squat toilet, and on winter nights, after using the toilet and coming back, her entire butt would be frozen numb.
Then… then A Jian would have her sit on his lap, and it would warm up quickly like that…
Natsume Mio pursed her small mouth, feeling that dream of hers was really wishful thinking, filled with all sorts of improper fantasies about A Jian.
“Come in,” Sakamoto Ken stepped into the apartment and said to Natsume Mio.
“Eh?” Natsume Mio didn’t expect Sakamoto Ken to invite her in.
The girl didn’t hesitate and immediately stepped into the apartment.
Looking left and right, sure enough, everything around matched her memory…
Sakamoto Ken led the way in front, arriving at his room doorway, and used the key to open the door.
Sakamoto Ken felt along the wall and turned on the light in the room.
“It’s this kind of room; it’s fine for me living alone, but forget adding another person—even an extra cat wouldn’t have space,” Sakamoto Ken pointed to the wall by the door and said, “See, it’s moldy here, and several pieces of the tatami inside are broken.”
Sakamoto Ken stood at the doorway, not inviting Natsume Mio to come in; he spread his hands and continued, “Now you know, with conditions like mine, I have no mind for romance.”
As he was speaking, heavy breathing sounds came from next door, then the wooden floor creaked, and a woman’s rough panting grew louder, turning into whimpering cries.
Sakamoto Ken silently walked out of the house, closed the door again, pulled out his mobile phone, and checked the time.
“You’ve heard the sounds around too; my living environment is this malicious,” Sakamoto Ken walked toward the stairwell. “I need to get back to the store; you hurry home, don’t miss the train.”
Natsume Mio was still standing stunned at Sakamoto Ken’s room doorway; his figure was already gone from the hallway.
In her ears, the sounds from the next door room were especially clear, making her face flush red.
There were no lights in the hallway, only faint streetlight from a distance.
After Sakamoto Ken left, the surrounding darkness felt even thicker.
Natsume Mio hurried downstairs and ran out of the rundown apartment building.
“A Jian! A Jian!” Natsume Mio panted as she ran up behind Sakamoto Ken. “I get what you mean, A Jian! But I don’t need you to give me any gifts; we can just, just date…”
“No dating; I need to make money,” Sakamoto Ken said as he walked. “Otherwise, will you support me?”
“Sure, I’ll support you!” Natsume Mio blurted out.
Sakamoto Ken: “…”
Wait, you want to support me too?
Sakamoto Ken shook his head and said, “I’m not the kind of man who lives off a partner.”
“Is… is that so?” Natsume Mio unconsciously used a questioning tone.
In her mind appeared that scene: Sakamoto Ken getting into a rich woman’s Porsche…
Sakamoto Ken walked into the store without looking back, giving Natsume Mio a very firm reply.
“Of course; I definitely won’t live off a partner.”
This time for sure.
