Chapter 4: It’s Like Having an Affair

“So this is the place…”

Natsume Mio stood in front of an old apartment building.

She was certain she had never been here before, yet everything she saw was so familiar.

After getting off the bus, she hadn’t even looked at a map, finding her way here purely by memory.

It was a two-story apartment building with its outer walls covered in brown sheet metal, already speckled with rust. The entrance was a simple glass sliding door.

Judging by the number of windows, the building could house a total of eight households. Each room was small, with no balcony; clothes could only be hung on racks outside the windows.

Turning a street corner, Natsume Mio even saw a cemetery, directly facing the apartment building.

It’s even a cemetery-view property…

Does Ken really live in a place like this?

Natsume Mio took a picture of the apartment building. She didn’t really mind it, after all, she had only seen it in a dream and just wanted to come see it in person.

The area was so quiet it was a bit eerie. Just as Natsume Mio was about to leave, she heard the thumping sound of footsteps from inside the apartment.

In that dream, she remembered this old apartment had absolutely no soundproofing. They didn’t even dare to make love in the room, afraid the neighbors would hear them, so they had to go to a small hotel outside every time.

Of course, there were people who didn’t care at all.

After all, there were eight households in the entire apartment. Living here, the sounds of battle raged almost every night.

Many of the memories from the dream were blurry, but anything related to him was exceptionally clear, even including every last sensory detail of her body…

Just as she was thinking, a figure appeared behind the frosted glass door.

Natsume Mio’s eyes widened instantly. Although the other person hadn’t opened the door yet, just seeing the silhouette, she could confirm that the person standing behind the door was definitely Ken!

Ken really lives here?!

Natsume Mio looked left and right, then quickly hid behind a large tree next to the cemetery, peeking her head out to watch the situation at the apartment.

The glass door slid open, and Sakamoto Ken walked out.

He had a shoulder bag slung over his shoulder and walked directly toward the intersection.

Only after Sakamoto Ken had passed the next intersection did Natsume Mio hurry to follow.

After turning two more street corners, Natsume Mio stuck close to the walls the entire time, cautiously keeping an eye on Sakamoto Ken, who was only about ten meters away from her, ready to duck behind a wall at any moment.

Originally, Natsume Mio thought that a normal person wouldn’t suddenly turn their head while walking. But as she walked, she saw Sakamoto Ken suddenly stop and begin to turn around.

Natsume Mio dodged behind the outer wall of a nearby single-family house almost as a conditioned reflex.

She felt like her heart was about to leap out of her chest.

Why? Why does it suddenly feel like I’m having an affair!

After several seconds, Natsume Mio dared to carefully peek her head out again.

Seeing that Sakamoto Ken had resumed walking forward, she let out a small sigh of relief, this time tailing him from a bit further away.

Following him all the way, Sakamoto Ken arrived at the bus stop where she had gotten off earlier.

Natsume Mio didn’t dare to get on the same bus as him, only watching from a distance.

Sakamoto Ken got on the Take 15-2 bus. She guessed his destination was probably Takenotsuka Station.

Where is he going?

Natsume Mio felt that she shouldn’t be tailing Ken; it made her feel like a pervert.

But once the thought popped up, she couldn’t shake it.

Sakamoto Ken had already left on the bus. If she waited for the next one, she definitely wouldn’t make it in time.

Natsume Mio stood at the intersection, looking around, just as a black taxi drove by.

She hurriedly waved her hand, flagging down the taxi.

“To Takenotsuka Station, and please hurry!” Natsume Mio’s nerves tensed up.

In less than ten minutes, the taxi stopped in front of the station.

Paying the 1,200 yen fare, Natsume Mio felt a pang in her heart.

That was more than an hour’s income from her part-time job, gone in less than ten minutes in a taxi.

Takenotsuka was a large station with a shopping center outside.

However, only one train line passed through here, which made it convenient for staking out.

First, she determined that Ken couldn’t possibly be heading north to a more suburban area, so there was only the southbound direction.

She first swiped her card to enter the station, walked quickly to the very end of the platform, and hid behind a vending machine, closely watching the staircase leading up to the platform.

After waiting for about ten minutes, sure enough, the familiar boy appeared in her field of vision.

Natsume Mio suddenly felt like a hunter who, after a long hunt, had finally spotted her prey.

Although a part of her still felt that what she was doing wasn’t right, that feeling was mostly replaced by excitement.

So thrilling! So thrilling! So thrilling!

That dream is real!

At least some of it is real!

Never mind whether Ken becomes a scumbag later on, at least this means he will definitely get together with me, right?!

After Sakamoto Ken boarded a car at the other end of the train, Natsume Mio immediately followed.

After getting on the train, Sakamoto Ken took out a manga from his bag to read, not noticing that in another car, a certain young lady was secretly watching him.

The Tobu Skytree Line, from Takenotsuka to Nishi-Arai Station, a same-station transfer here, a total of over forty minutes, finally arriving at Jinbocho.

After following Sakamoto Ken off the train, Natsume Mio muttered to herself, “What the, we’re back in Chiyoda.”

The flow of people on the downtown streets was dense, forcing her to follow more closely. The whole journey was nerve-wracking but without incident, and she finally watched Sakamoto Ken walk into a building covered in a glass curtain wall.

At the very top hung three large characters:

Shueisha.

…

Shueisha.

Sakamoto Ken walked through the main entrance with his bag.

It was a modern corporate lobby, the surrounding walls adorned with posters of famous manga.

This was the place all manga authors yearned for. If a work could get a serialization spot in Shueisha’s flagship magazine, it was equivalent to starting one’s career from a very high point.

“Excuse me, do you have an appointment?”

“Yes, I have an appointment to meet with Editor Kaji.” Sakamoto Ken showed the email reply to the front desk staff.

“Please fill out your information here.” The front desk staff handed Sakamoto Ken an information form.

Sakamoto Ken filled it out with the same information he had used for the web submission.

The front desk staff picked up the phone, dialed a number, and announced Sakamoto Ken’s name.

Soon, he pointed to the other side, “In that case, please wait a moment in meeting room number 7. Kaji-san said he will be right there.”

A specific area in the Shueisha headquarters building was divided into small meeting rooms by partitions about one person high. There were probably more than a dozen of them, most of which were in use.

Moreover, Sakamoto Ken could hear everyone’s conversations.

“I’m sorry, the artwork in this manuscript does not meet our requirements. Please go back and polish it some more.”

“The concept for the rest of the story doesn’t move me. Please leave.”

“The characters are all clichéd designs. Please take a look at more recent works.”

“…”

In short, these editors were all making sounds that would break the hearts of new authors.

Sakamoto Ken sat in cubicle number 7 and waited for a few minutes before he heard a series of hurried footsteps.

To Sakamoto Ken’s surprise, Kaji turned out to be a female editor.

To be honest, he would have preferred to work with a male editor.

It wasn’t that he doubted her professional competence, but after what he’d been through in his previous life, he had a subconscious tendency to avoid beautiful women.

People who haven’t been stabbed by a woman just wouldn’t understand.

(End of Chapter)