Master of the Machete Style Manga

Chapter 72 Protecting the Best Ah Jian (Please Read On!)
"As long as you like it."

Which one to drink?

"what ever."

Ai Hoshino nimbly flipped off him, her smooth body walking unmasked toward the wine cabinet in the living room.

She took a whiskey glass from the liquor cabinet, put in an ice ball, and poured a full glass of HIBIKI 21 Year Old.

Ken Sakamoto followed her over and stood by the bar, watching her.

"Why did you only pour one glass? Aren't you going to drink it?" Ken Sakamoto asked as he saw her place the glass on the bar.

Ai Hoshino didn't answer. She picked up her wine glass, took a big gulp, then pulled Ken Sakamoto close and kissed him again.

Now, Ken Sakamoto also got to drink.

Only after Sakamoto Ken swallowed the drink did she release him with satisfaction, then went to get another glass, poured him a drink, and refilled her own glass.

The two clinked glasses, and as the wine went down their throats, Ken Sakamoto realized that the dream had even recreated that slightly tipsy feeling.

He knew that Ai Hoshihara had a particular characteristic: when she was about 70% drunk, her emotions would be particularly high.

"Hey, I didn't tell you to stop!"

She said that sentence almost three times. Sakamoto Ken also felt dizzy, not knowing whether it was from drinking or something else.

One cup after another.

The whiskey was 43% ABV. Even though Ken Sakamoto had a decent alcohol tolerance, drinking like that would quickly leave him slumped in his recliner, oblivious to everything around him.

But the guy in front of him, although he drank about the same amount, is still incredibly vigorous.

Sakamoto Ken simply closed his eyes indifferently, letting her do whatever she wanted.

He slept soundly after drinking until he was awakened by a "thump thump thump" sound in his head.

When I sat up, I realized that my mind was still relatively clear and there was no lingering drunkenness.

The surrounding environment was now his own dilapidated apartment.

You're awake...

Ken Sakamoto licked his lips, still somewhat unsatisfied.

Just then, the cell phone on the table rang, and at the same time, a girl's voice came from outside the door.

"Knock knock knock! Ah Jian? Ah Jian, are you home?"

Ken Sakamoto saw that the name on the caller ID on his phone was also Natsume Mio.

After having lunch together, she went to work at the convenience store. By now, the light outside the window had dimmed; she had slept straight from noon until evening.

Fortunately, the physical exhaustion in the dream doesn't exist in reality, otherwise he was afraid his legs would be weak when he got up.

"Mio?" Sakamoto Ken got up, went to the door, and saw the anxious-looking girl when he opened it.

Natsume Mio breathed a sigh of relief when she saw Sakamoto Ken open the door.

"Phew... I thought something had happened to you..." Natsume Mio patted her chest and said, "I was on the phone the whole time, and I heard your phone ringing in the room, but you didn't answer it..."

“I was at home, how could anything have happened?” Ken Sakamoto said.

Mio Natsume pouted and said, "I've been looking into the manga industry lately, and I read 'Bakuman.' In it... the protagonist's uncle, Nobuhiro, died from overwork... Ken, you live alone, and if something happens to you at home, no one will know..."

"Don't worry, I'm perfectly healthy," Sakamoto Ken said. "I just took a nap."

“That’s perfect.” Natsume Mio picked up the bag in her hand. “I brought two bento boxes. Shall we eat together? But they’re not homemade; they’re from the convenience store.”

"You bought me a bento box again..."

“I didn’t buy it, it was a gift from the shop manager. She said she wanted me to get one for you too,” Natsume Mio said. “I don’t work at the shop anymore,” Sakamoto Ken said.

"Hehe, because the shop manager is a nice person~"

Natsume Mio went straight into the house, took off her shoes and stepped onto the floor, took out two bento boxes from the kitchen counter, and put one of them into the microwave to heat it up.

Ken Sakamoto quietly stepped aside, and soon Mio Natsume brought the two bento boxes to the low table.

Her expression was very calm, as if she took it for granted.

Ken Sakamoto sat opposite the girl, his hair still a bit messy.

That dream was a bit too intense; I'm probably tossing and turning in it in real life too.

Natsume Mio gazed at Sakamoto Ken with her bright, watery eyes. Seeing his bird's nest-like hair, she covered her mouth and chuckled softly, "Ken, do you always toss and turn when you sleep?"

Ken Sakamoto shook his head and said, "Usually not."

“That’s what I mean,” Natsume Mio said, as if she knew his sleeping habits very well. “Then it means you didn’t sleep well this afternoon. Did you have a nightmare?”

"A nightmare..." Sakamoto Ken smiled and shook his head, saying, "It wouldn't be considered a nightmare."

"Oh? Ken, do you remember what you dreamed about?" Natsume Mio looked at him seriously and said, "I've been having a lot of dreams lately, and what I see in my dreams feels incredibly real."

"Hey, was it about my dream and Ken's?" Natsume Mio asked again when Sakamoto Ken didn't answer immediately.

Ken Sakamoto waved his hand, picked up his chopsticks, and started eating, completely avoiding the question.

Natsume Mio picked up a piece of meat and put it in her mouth. After chewing a few times, before she could take her eyes off Sakamoto Ken's face, she suddenly became a little suspicious.

So he asked, "Hey... Jian, you didn't dream about another girl, did you?"

Ken Sakamoto felt the girl's gaze. He initially considered lying or simply not answering.

But then he hesitated for a moment, then said in a tone that was three parts uncertain, four parts puzzled, and two parts nostalgic, "I did dream about a girl, um... not you."

"Glug..." Natsume Mio swallowed a mouthful of rice, blinked her eyes, and silently watched Sakamoto Ken.

She didn't actually show any disappointment or frustration. She casually said "Oh," and then asked, "Who is that?"

“A woman I’ve never seen before,” Ken Sakamoto said.

This statement was not a lie; he indeed had not met Ai Hoshino in this playthrough.

"So it's just something you imagined?"

"That's it."

"Oh……"

If it's a woman I've never seen before, then we can rule out the girl I saw in yesterday's live stream?

In March, the author of "Miss, Sniper Rifle, and Pantyhose!", met outside Shueisha that day and even took a photo together.

I never expected her to go on a live stream with A-Jian, and... the way she looked at A-Jian during the live stream was clearly strange.

It's definitely not just about "fans".

They probably used the excuse of exchanging ideas with colleagues to get close to Ah Jian, and then... they wanted to steal Ah Jian away.

She was afraid that Ah Jian would be deceived by bad women, after all, in that dream, Ah Jian had been tempted by two other bad women.

Anyway, she figured it out. She would never stab A-Jian in the back. It must be because of those two bad women. They led A-Jian astray first, and then they dragged her into it, which led to that ending.

Therefore, I must protect the best Ah Jian!

(End of this chapter)