It was unclear how much time passed.
Yukima Azuma felt the phone buzz gently.
He picked it up and glanced at it.
It was a message from MEM.
It seemed urgent.
Yukima Azuma unlocked the phone and opened Line.
MEM: [Trouble! Akane-chan is missing! Akane's mother says the window in her room was wide open, but she's nowhere to be found!!!]
Just reading the message conveyed the anxiety and urgency.
Yukima Azuma tilted his head and glanced at Kurokawa Akane, who was lying in his arms.
At this moment, Kurokawa Akane was resting on Yukima Azuma's left arm, her small head resting on his chest.
Her breathing was steady, clearly in a deep sleep.
But even while asleep, she still held onto Yukima Azuma's neck.
The girl frowned in her sleep, clearly dreaming of something unpleasant.
Yukima Azuma reached out and gently stroked the space between her eyebrows, smoothing out the crease on her face.
Then he picked up his phone.
Snap.
Azuma: [She's with me.]
Azuma: [Akane is sleeping.jpg]
Azuma: [Regarding Akane's mother, I give that to you, MEM-san. Right now, she's unstable, and it's better for her to stay with me than go home.]
MEM: [???]
MEM: [Cat expression asking.jpg]
MEM: ['The other party is typing...']
After about two minutes, the chat still showed "The other party is typing," but no message was sent.
Yukima Azuma pressed the phone screen off, casually tossing it to the side of the pillow.
Sleep, sleep.
...
Meanwhile, in another place.
MEM was at the Kurokawa house, her face contorted in distress.
Is this for real bruh?!
Does this even make sense?
She opened the picture Yukima Azuma sent, zoomed in to look at it, then turned it off. Afterward, she opened it again to confirm.
The content of the picture was so strange it made her feel like it was a photoshopped image!
Why are these two, who hadn't even met until this afternoon...
now sleeping together like this at night?
And how am I supposed to explain this to Akane-chan's mother?!
She looked up at Mrs. Kurokawa, who was extremely worried.
MEM took a deep breath and hesitantly raised her hand.
"Um... Aunt Kurokawa, Akane-chan is fine, she's been found, and right now she's with one of my friends."
At this point, MEM really didn't know how to continue.
Hearing this, Mrs. Kurokawa hurriedly walked over.
MEM decisively showed her chat screen to Mrs. Kurokawa.
Seeing her daughter's photo,
Mrs. Kurokawa first breathed a sigh of relief, but soon after, her expression grew a little strange.
Her daughter, who had never been in a relationship before,
was now sleeping with a boy.
But as she was about to speak, she found herself unable to say anything.
She remembered something from before.
The cyberbullying her daughter never told her about, simply to avoid worrying her.
And then everything had ended up this way.
Mrs. Kurokawa hadn't want her daughter to make much money or something like that.
Her support for Akane's pursuit of an artistic path
had only been because, since childhood, Akane had admired a young idol.
What Mrs. Kurokawa longed for most was simply that her daughter could be happy.
After returning from the police station,
Mrs. Kurokawa had also realized that her daughter wasn't okay.
She was extremely worried, even frightened.
And now,
Her daughter in the photo seemed to be sleeping peacefully, without any sign of danger.
Compared to the safety of her daughter, other worries at the moment seemed trivial.
Seeing Mrs. Kurokawa's expression, which seemed to want to speak but couldn't,
MEM thought for a moment and finally came up with something to say.
"Aunt Kurokawa, my friend is the one who saved Akane-chan this afternoon."
"He definitely won't harm Akane-chan, so don't worry."
Hearing this, Mrs. Kurokawa finally eased her worries.
"Sorry for troubling you kids so much... My daughter never tells me anything."
"As long as my daughter is safe, nothing else matters."
"You all are good kids... Akane, I entrust her to you, please..."
Finally, Mrs. Kurokawa couldn't hold back and hugged MEM, crying uncontrollably.
MEM hurriedly comforted Mrs. Kurokawa, while sighing inwardly.
After all, it was just good that everything was fine.
At this point, all hopes had to be placed on the young man she had just met.
MEM looked back at the photo on her phone.
He had said he would find a 'job' for Akane-chan.
Could it be that he intends to... do something like... have a child with her?
MEM: [I've explained it clearly, Aunt Kurokawa has calmed down for now.]
MEM: [Thank me later! Such a task and you give it to me! The pressure is immense!]
MEM: [Where are you?]
MEM: [Aaaaa! So unreasonable!]
The messages on Line fell silent.
Late at night, in the wind and rain, MEM felt as though she didn't even know what she was busy with anymore.
....
The next morning.
The window still didn't have any sunlight shining through.
Occasionally, there was the sound of light rain tapping against the window.
On a day like this with a storm, the rain came in burstssometimes heavy, sometimes light, occasionally stopping, but mostly it was a downpour.
The room in this guesthouse was very soundproof, and the howling wind outside barely made it through.
On the large bed,
Kurokawa Akane opened her eyes groggily.
Her eyes were slightly red, as if she had been crying.
Since the online scandal began, she could hardly sleep.
Especially the night before the storm started.
She spent the whole night scrolling through comments online.
This self-destructive behavior almost made her mentally and physically exhausted.
Just the smallest trigger could make everything collapse completely.
Fortunately, before everything fell apart, the figure of the boy suddenly appeared in her vision.
Last night, after a physically and mentally exhausting day,
Kurokawa Akane finally stopped her endless thoughts for a moment and fell into a deep sleep.
Her nerves, which had been at their breaking point, gradually relaxed.
Why was she able to sleep?
Perhaps it was because of a warm hug.
The handsome face of the boy appeared in her mind.
But Kurokawa Akane's expression remained blank.
At this moment, she was like a machine stuck.
Because of the scandal, she fell into self-destruction.
Because of this boy, she temporarily stopped her self-destructive behavior.
She could still take in information from the outside world,
but her mind couldn't process it normally.
All emotions were temporarily paused, waiting for the wounds to heal and for her mind to start functioning again.
The information that had been absorbed would only manifest through emotions when that happened.
At this point, Kurokawa Akane was like an emotionless machine.
Receiving instructions and making judgments.
If it made sense, she would act.
And the only principle that governed her actions was not to let the boy in front of her die.
This principle had no reason, but that was the truth.
She didn't know when, but the boy had opened his eyes.
"Good morning, guardian."
"..."
Kurokawa Akane didn't respond.
"Guardian, I'm hungry. Could you make breakfast for me?"
"I'll go make it right now, wait for me a bit, don't wander off."
— — — — — — — — — — —
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Chapter 122: Help Me, Dora-Hayasaka!
Breakfast.
As usual, after being fed half of his meal by Kurokawa Akane, Yukima Azuma announced that he was full.
Kurokawa Akane showed no visible reaction, but she seemed a little confused.
In the end, she ate the remaining food herself.
Yukima Azuma opened her laptop and continued working on his light novel.
This time, he didn't ask Akane to provide him with a massage.
Instead, he pulled her to sit in the chair next to him.
Then he called for someone to bring over a copy of The Youth of a Lonely Boy Will Not Dream of a Passerby Heroine and placed it in her hands.
Kurokawa Akane held the book, looking at Yukima Azuma.
"Guardian, this is the book I wrote. Could I ask you to read it?"
Yukima Azuma said so.
However, Kurokawa Akane made no move.
She had no reason to read a light novel.
Even if someone told her how interesting the light novel was.
At the moment, Kurokawa Akane didn't feel like reading at all.
But that didn't matter.
"Guardian, you don't want to read it? Haah, yeah, the book I wrote isn't worth reading."
"Surely, all the effort I poured into writing this is meaningless, just like me... Honestly, I'm just that kind of person — "
Kurokawa Akane moved closer, placing her index finger on Yukima Azuma's lips.
With her other hand, she opened the light novel.
"I'll read it. Please don't think that way anymore."
The girl's fingers were soft and smooth.
It felt a little strange.
Yukima Azuma paused for a moment, then nodded.
Afterward, Kurokawa Akane withdrew her finger and began reading Saekano seriously.
To stop Yukima Azuma from overthinking again.
She didn't just pretend to read.
She genuinely focused, immersing herself in the story.
Seeing this, Yukima Azuma's lips curved slightly.
He turned back to the document on his laptop screen.
Yukima Azuma suddenly remembered something and pulled out his phone.
Scrolling through his contacts, he found a name near the end and dialed.
....
At the Shinomiya residence.
Since waking up early that morning, Hayasaka Ai had felt her right eyelid twitching nonstop.
She looked it up online.
Apparently, it wasn't a good omen.
Just as she took her Shinomiya family maid uniform out of the closet and put it on, her phone rang.
She picked up her phone and glanced at the caller ID.
Yukima Azuma.
Hayasaka Ai's face immediately darkened.
What does he want now?
The last time he lured her out, she was forced to help him.
Even now, thinking back on it, Hayasaka Ai still felt annoyed.
Such a troublesome person.
He always started with: "Hayasaka, you don't want your mother to suffer losses, do you?"
Infuriating!
Just thinking about it made her angry.
But after fuming uselessly for a while,
Hayasaka Ai finally picked up the phone.
No matter how angry she was,
Knowing Yukima Azuma's recent actions, Hayasaka Ai had to admit that his methods far exceeded her imagination.
Her mother, Hayasaka Nao, indeed had sharp foresight.
From the beginning, she had placed a big bet on this young man.
And once Hayasaka Nao made a bet,
As her daughter,
No matter how many personal feelings she had, Hayasaka Ai couldn't ruin her mother's plans over petty emotions.
There was no other way, as Hayasaka Ai had always deeply admired her mother.
"Moshi moshi, Yukima onii-chan, so early in the morning... yawn... what's up?"
Hayasaka Ai pretended she was still half-asleep.
Trying to convey that bothering her at this hour was very rude.
"Hayasaka, introduce me to the anime production team collaborating with the Shinomiya family."
From the other end of the line came Yukima Azuma's voice.
His words didn't sound like a request.
They sounded more like an order.
On Hayasaka Ai's forehead, a vein became visible, clearly showing her anger.
Was the person on the other end of the line even human!?
How could he make such an unreasonable, shameless request right off the bat?
Do I look like a spy planted in the Shinomiya household by Laplace Corporation?
Kono hito de nashi!!!
Suppressing the urge to hang up immediately,
Hayasaka Ai took a deep breath and asked:
"Why do you suddenly need an anime production team? Besides, wouldn't it be easier if you handled this yourself?"
Given Yukima Azuma's current status,
The so-called unprecedented king of the light novel world,
Surely, countless anime production companies would be clamoring to work with Laplace Corporation.
Has he gone mad? Forsaking the close ones to seek the far?
Or does he simply want to make things difficult for her?
Hayasaka Ai didn't hesitate to think the worst of Yukima Azuma, feeling no psychological burden about it whatsoever.
"Because I need to ensure quality while standing out from the rest. Negotiating with each studio is too bothersome."
Yukima Azuma explained.
Hearing this, a big question mark popped up in Hayasaka Ai's mind.
"Ensuring quality, I get. But what do you mean by 'standing out'?"
"I'm planning to write a new volume of the light novel and simultaneously produce an anime movie adaptation."
"And you want the Shinomiya family to handle this for you?"
"It's all up to you, Dora-Hayasaka."
Hayasaka Ai muted the phone.
Then
"This lunatic, is his brain even functioning properly!? How can he even say something like this out loud!? Just how shameless, brazen, and thick-skinned can he be!? — BEEP — BEEP — BEEP!" (6.9k vulgar words have been omitted.)
What Yukima Azuma meant was,
He planned to turn his new work into an anime movie.
However, since the new work hadn't been released yet, the anime production had to happen simultaneously.
This meant the anime production team couldn't rely on the original work's popularity.
There was a chance that the anime would be completed, but the original work might not be well-received by the market.
On this basis
Yukima Azuma also demanded that the production team consist of the best staff,
And that they rearrange their schedules to start production immediately.
With such demands, renowned and capable anime studios would certainly have to think carefully.
Because producing a movie based on an unproven script risked damaging the production team's reputation if the audience didn't accept it.
And Yukima Azuma didn't want to negotiate this himself.
So he wanted the Shinomiya family to step in on his behalf.
Using the Shinomiya family's credibility, the famous studios would tactfully agree to the job.
Just like the last time he relied on Hayasaka Ai.
