Chapter 359: If only I could like Sato-kun this much.
“Kiyomizu-san? Are you okay?”
A familiar voice echoed in her ears, and Kazumi, snapping back to attention, quickly turned her head. She saw Mai Shinomiyai, who had apparently come close to her without her noticing.
“What’s wrong?”
Kazumi subtly shifted her upper body back a bit and asked, looking at Mai Shinomiyai’s concerned expression.
“I thought something was wrong with you since you suddenly stopped talking and your face turned so red,” Mai Shinomiyai said.
Although slightly confused, seeing that Kazumi was fine, Mai Shinomiyai put aside her worry and sat back down by her own bed.
“I just… got distracted…”
Kazumi rubbed the back of her neck, not entirely truthfully. Mai Shinomiyai’s words reminded her of what she had said earlier, and the blush that had finally faded from her cheeks instantly returned. She turned her face away awkwardly and explained in a twisted manner.
*What do you mean, ‘a passionate liking to an unprecedented degree’! It’s just the fleeting, boring feelings of ordinary kids who easily get infatuated! It’s not that beautiful or noble at all!!*
“Mmm… Could it be that Kiyomizu-san is…”
The girl’s extremely awkward and shy actions caught Mai Shinomiyai’s attention. The doubt in her eyes was replaced by a sudden realization, and her emerald-green eyes took on a few sly glances as she looked at the short-haired girl in front of her, who was trying hard to remain calm, with a hint of teasing.
“No, I was just spacing out.”
As usual, cold words came from Kazumi’s mouth, and her resolute, sharp demeanor naturally gave her an irrefutable sense of conviction.
However, the fact that she so definitively denied it even before Mai Shinomiyai could finish speaking was almost equivalent to an admission. Not to mention the slight blush on the girl’s cheeks and her extremely unnatural posture.
“Pffft—”
“Mhm, mhm, mhm! Yes, yes.”
Kazumi’s awkwardly contrasting reaction made Mai Shinomiyai burst out laughing. But under the girl’s subsequent killer gaze, she quickly regained her composure and nodded repeatedly in agreement with her statement.
“So, I feel like Sato-kun is a really outstanding person. Kiyomizu-san, have you considered your future together?”
Mai Shinomiyai took a small step back and crossed her legs again, as if she was used to this comfortable posture at home. She swayed her body and asked Kazumi, full of gossip, “Your future together? What about it?”
Kazumi, whose thoughts were as scattered as a girl her age, had just recovered from her shyness and couldn’t quite keep up. She asked with some confusion.
“I mean, after you graduate. Although you’ve only been together for a little over half a semester, you and Sato are probably not people who are casual about relationships, right? Since you’ve been getting along so smoothly for so long, you must be thinking about what comes next.”
“There’s no need to think that far ahead yet…”
“There is! It’s very necessary! If he were a scumbag who deceived feelings, it wouldn’t matter, but you know better than I do how dedicated Sato-kun is to this relationship.”
“Once you graduate and start working, you won’t find such pure and beautiful feelings anymore. And Sato-kun’s conditions are unbeatable in every aspect, right? He’s good-looking, comes from a wealthy family, and likes you a lot. He usually focuses on exercise and doesn’t have any bad habits. His grades are pretty good, and with his family’s help, he’ll definitely have a job after graduation. Except for his height, he’s practically a perfect marriage prospect! And his height can be compensated for elsewhere.”
“Also, I can secretly tell you that due to family connections, we’ve had quite a lot of dealings with his family. The network behind their family is much more powerful than it appears on the surface.”
“If you don’t seize such an opportunity…”
It can only be said that this is a common problem for everyone. They are a mess when it comes to their own feelings, but they transform into relationship experts for others, planning and strategizing with ease.
Mai Shinomiyai’s rapid-fire monologue completely shocked Kazumi. At this moment, the girl’s mind was filled with the other’s exasperated and demonic tone, and the established facts that were constantly being ingrained in her mind.
*It seems… she’s not wrong?*
*A boy with excellent conditions who likes me is indeed a very worthy person to marry. This way, I won’t have to worry about financial problems in the future, and life will surely be without too many issues.*
*Also, Shinichi is a non-ability user. With his family’s help, he can at best become a district hero. As long as he doesn’t become a combatant in a frontline agency, his safety can be guaranteed. Plus, the agency’s welfare system…*
*We won’t have to worry too much about the problem of buying a house after marriage. If we have children, the boy can be called Sato… What the hell!*
She slapped the little person in her mind who was having strange thoughts to death. Kazumi took several deep breaths before she could break free from the strange situation Mai Shinomiyai had drawn her into.
*You are the Lord of the Undead! You are the Emperor of the Underworld! You are a man!! Don’t let this damn body affect you!!*
Kizumi quickly mobilized the energy in her body to fight against the unrealistic fantasies. She knew that she couldn’t stay here any longer. Seeing Mai Shinomiyai sitting on the bed, looking like her past self when she used to chat with girls in the dormitory and get more and more excited, Kazumi decisively sat up from the bed, picked up her mobile phone without hesitation, and walked towards the door.
“I’m going out for a bit.”
“Eh, Kiyomizu-san, don’t go.”
Mai Shinomiyai, who had just been planning where the child would go to junior high school, finally noticed Kazumi’s small, fleeing figure. Seemingly realizing that the other party was running away out of shyness, the smile on her face grew even wider.
“It’s so nice.”
Looking at the wooden door that Kazumi hadn’t closed properly and was slowly being blown open by the evening breeze outside, the smile on the girl’s face gradually faded, eventually turning into a sense of wistful envy. Finally, she quietly let out a sigh.
“If only I could like Sato-kun this much.”
…
In Sanada Ward, Nanbividad City.
A silver-white stream of light constantly moved through the night sky. A sharp whistling sound echoed in the night sky, and then it transformed into countless silver blades that were indiscriminately shot towards the surrounding buildings.
Just as the blades, large enough to fill a bowl, were about to contact the houses and buildings, an biting coldness instantly swept through. Ice walls were erected in mid-air, directly freezing the blades that carried immense kinetic energy in place.
Aerial ice shards, derived from a distance, appeared at the very top of the entire city. At the apex of the ice ladder stood a stern-faced middle-aged man in a police uniform.
The man looked at the constantly escaping silver stream of light, his originally cold expression becoming even more solemn. The speed at which he solidified the frost path under his feet increased by another notch. At the same time, he pressed the button on the communicator in his ear, and his deep, serious voice sounded.
“The other party used a drug to augment their abilities. I must pursue them with all my might to prevent unnecessary casualties. Arrange for the logistics team to handle the ice path I’ve left behind immediately, and simultaneously contact the North Sea patrol team and the heroes stationed at the local branch, preparing for a coordinated capture.”
“We absolutely cannot let him escape to the high seas!”
