John had already found a corner and was lying down obediently to rest.
For him, any place here was a place to sleep.
He lifted his eyes, glanced at the two people not far away, then let his head droop again, no longer paying them any mind and focusing on his moment of rest.
And at this moment,
the small apartment room was completely silent.
Lin Ye and Mai Sakurajima's eyes met, and a faint, subtle, and ambiguous atmosphere emerged.
Mai Sakurajima's cheeks were a little flushed. She was somewhat embarrassed; facing Lin Ye's request to share the bed, she didn't know if he was joking or being serious.
"It's not entirely incomprehensible for a junior to fantasize about sleeping in the same bed with me, but Student Lin, you already have a girl you like. If Student Hoshino found out, she would be heartbroken."
She really couldn't bring herself to agree to Lin Ye's request.
"Ai-chan will never know. Hahaha, if Senpai isn't willing, then forget it. It was just a joke. I'll sleep on the floor."
Lin Ye's expression was natural, without a trace of disappointment.
This made Mai Sakurajima feel that Lin Ye had already been mentally prepared for rejection when he first spoke.
"I'll sleep on the floor!"
"How can I let a guest, my Senpai, sleep on the floor? Or is Senpai..."
Lin Ye pointed toward German Shepherd John, who was lying quietly by the window.
Mai Sakurajima followed his gaze. At that moment, John's eyes held a hint of confusion. After a good while, he seemed to think of something, so he shifted a bit, freeing up more space.
The girl with long black hair slowly formed a question mark in her mind.
The meaning...
She understood in that instant. He was making room for her, telling her to go squeeze in with John!
This dog...
Mai Sakurajima didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
"Haha, John likes you a lot."
"Mm, but why can it see me?"
Other animals, including cats and dogs, couldn't observe her existence, yet John could.
"It might have something to do with the contract I signed with him!"
Because of the collar, an item from the Strange Game, an invisible connection had formed between him and John. Otherwise, given his current appearance, which was completely different from the one he'd fabricated for his game character, there was no way John would have recognized him.
A contract?
Mai Sakurajima nodded lightly and didn't say much more.
"In that case, Student Lin, what about the promise you made me in the park! You have to prove it to me."
Lin Ye remembered.
The extraordinary skill demonstrated during the Go game had aroused his Senpai's attention and curiosity, and he had promised to demonstrate it for her after they returned to the apartment.
"Senpai, are you asking me to take your underwear?"
The 'Sleight of Hand' skill had a 100% special effectiveness on underwear.
Mai Sakurajima shot Lin Ye a look. "Take my pillow."
She picked up the pillow and hugged it tightly, her eyes fully focused, giving Lin Ye no opportunity to strike.
"Senpai, give me your left hand."
"Okay."
She extended her hand.
Lin Ye took Mai Sakurajima's hand. In that instant, the fair little hand trembled slightly.
It wasn't the first time Mai Sakurajima had physical contact with Lin Ye, but her body still couldn't help but react.
She endured it, trying to keep her thoughts from flying into disarray. Her right hand, in contrast, hugged the pillow even tighter, her arm sinking completely into it.
"Are you ready?"
"..."
Lin Ye nodded. "Senpai, prepare yourself!"
"Mm."
Lin Ye activated Sleight of Hand, and then... it failed.
This time, it wasn't successful.
"What's wrong?"
"Nothing."
It wasn't impossible for Sleight of Hand to fail.
The failure rate was still quite high.
Lin Ye switched to using Time Stop and took the pillow from Mai Sakurajima's hands.
Looking at Mai Sakurajima in a state of absolute stillness, Lin Ye smiled. "Senpai really is beautiful. I wonder how much more sexy a Bunny Girl version of Senpai would be."
Given Mai Sakurajima's figure, she would definitely look amazing in a Bunny Girl outfit.
Lin Ye looked forward to it.
The twenty seconds passed very quickly.
When Mai Sakurajima came to her senses, her right hand followed its forceful trajectory and struck her own chest. She realized what had happened, and what's more, she saw the pillow in Lin Ye's hands.
"Again. A different item."
Mai Sakurajima felt more experimentation was needed, so she found her phone, put it in her pocket, and even used her hand to firmly guard the pocket.
"Senpai, are you ready now?"
"One more time."
Mai Sakurajima said seriously.
"Alright."
Lin Ye agreed, once again choosing to use Time Stop to take the phone from Mai Sakurajima's pocket.
But the moment time resumed its flow,
Mai Sakurajima stared blankly at the phone in Lin Ye's hand. However, what was different from before was that she noticed the position of her hand and the shape of her pocket had changed ever so slightly.
It felt like it had been moved.
She had made a point to memorize it just now.
Could it be that Lin Ye's method of taking the phone wasn't to take it out of thin air, but to take it at a speed so fast she couldn't react in that extremely short period of time?
Mai Sakurajima focused her attention on her left hand; it seemed like there was a faint sensation of being touched.
"Is this enough now?"
This should be sufficient, right?
"Still not enough."
But Mai Sakurajima denied it.
"Didn't you want to take my underwear, Student Lin? Come on, try it!"
Lin Ye froze, a question mark forming in his mind.
You're actually asking me to take your underwear?
Are you kidding me?
"Senpai, let's just forget it! It's not appropriate."
Lin Ye refused.
This reaction further verified Mai Sakurajima's guess. Her guess was correct; it was very difficult for Lin Ye to take the underwear she was wearing.
"What's not appropriate? I've already agreed."
"Senpai will call me a pervert."
"I won't call you that. You're a pervert anyway."
Lin Ye almost laughed out loud when he heard that. "Since I'm already a pervert, can I do very, very perverted things to Senpai?"
"Be serious. Use your ability to take my underwear. I've agreed."
She urged him, "Unless you were lying to me, Student Lin, and you can't take my underwear at all."
"Sigh, Senpai, you're the one who said it. But if I succeed, then Senpai, you..."
"Tonight, I can sleep in the same bed with you. But if you can't do it, then please tell me more about your abilities, including your Invisibility."
So that was it.
Mai Sakurajima was indeed still extremely curious about his special nature.
"Alright, then..."
Just as Lin Ye stretched out his hand, Mai Sakurajima pulled the quilt over, wrapping herself up tightly and covering herself completely.
"Come on!"
The girl, with only her small head exposed, said.
After a moment's thought, Lin Ye realized that Mai Sakurajima had grown suspicious of his ability.
Senpai, your observation skills are very sharp, but you've overlooked one thing. My 'Sleight of Hand' is truly specialized for a girl's underwear, so... here I come!
Under Mai Sakurajima's gaze, Lin Ye straightened his fingers and quickly poked the girl's cheek.
In the blink of an eye,
Mai Sakurajima felt the tactile sensation on her body change.
"Senpai, your underwear."
Lin Ye's left fingers dangled a sexy pair of underwear that still retained some warmth.
The girl with long black hair stared, her expression growing more and more astonished.
It was real.
This guy could really do it.
She hurriedly looked down, checking her currently wrapped-up state.
Nothing had changed at all.
Lin Ye truly had taken an object from a distance, taking the underwear she was wearing without her knowing a thing.
The girl with long black hair sitting on the bed was blushing crimson, filled with shyness, and a sense of embarrassment continuously welled up inside her.
"Give it back."
"Can I keep it as my trophy?"
"No, give it back to me."
"I should have made a deal with Senpai first."
Lin Ye placed the underwear beside Mai Sakurajima. "Do you need me to step out for a bit?"
Mai Sakurajima knew Lin Ye was being considerate of her feelings.
She was about to speak but saw that Lin Ye had already walked to the door and proactively closed it behind him.
"Sigh!"
It wasn't that she couldn't accept Lin Ye being in the room, but this feeling of shyness was just too intense.
She let go of the quilt, took off her outer clothes, and put her underwear back on.
"The skills of a perverted groper."
Whether it was this stealing skill or the Invisibility skill, Mai Sakurajima's first reaction was 'groper'.
"If it were anyone else, they probably would have started doing evil to satisfy their inner desires by now, right?"
She placed the highest trust in Lin Ye's character.
"Student, it's fine. You can come in now."
Click...
Lin Ye re-entered the room.
"You go wash up first!"
"Mm."
Lin Ye went to wash up, taking a cold shower.
A dozen or so minutes later, he brought out a new set of toiletries and handed them to Mai Sakurajima.
The girl took them and went into the bathroom.
Splash, splash...
The hot water sprayed out.
Mai Sakurajima wet her hair with her hands.
So many things had happened tonight.
It wasn't that she hadn't heard of the 'Strange' before, but she had always thought of it as a circulating urban legend, something impossible in reality. But tonight's encounter let her know that this world was far more profound than she had ever imagined.
Next time, would she encounter a Strange entity? What kind of Strange entity?
Thinking back on the four Strange events she encountered in the park...
The old men at the card and chess game, she couldn't handle them.
The sports Strange entity, she could barely manage.
As for the little girl in red, if the game was hide-and-seek, she didn't think she could successfully hide unless the three Strange entities' search time was very short.
And for the final fountain and Lark, unless she could have made the connection to singing...
Some rules,
when you're in the middle of it, are hard to figure out. But when looking back in hindsight, you find they weren't that difficult to discover after all.
"It's easy to be lost in the moment."
If she encountered a Strange event again, Mai Sakurajima wasn't confident she could really find the clues and rules to pass successfully.
Splash, splash...
Mai Sakurajima finished her shower, dried her body with a new towel, and changed into a new T-shirt and panties.
At first, she wondered why Lin Ye had brand new girls' panties here, but then she thought about Lin Ye's ambiguous relationships with several other girls. It was very possible a girl had stayed the night here before, so it wasn't hard to understand that Lin Ye would prepare some ladies' items in advance.
"Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh..."
The hairdryer blew.
Mai Sakurajima walked into the bedroom and saw Lin Ye already lying on a futon on the floor.
While she was showering, Lin Ye had already laid out the bedding.
"You're..."
"Sleeping on the floor. How can I let a guest sleep on the floor?"
But this, in turn, provoked Mai Sakurajima.
"Get in bed. We'll sleep together. When I, Mai Sakurajima, promise something, there's no way I'm breaking it."
Mai Sakurajima walked past the futon to the bed. Seeing that Lin Ye was still lying on the floor, motionless, with no intention of getting up, she stood up and pulled Lin Ye to the bedside.
"What's a grown man dawdling for?"
"I just wanted to experience being forcefully pulled into bed by Senpai."
Mai Sakurajima didn't know whether to laugh or cry. "You!"
"I don't sleep soundly at night. Senpai will have to bear with me."
"..."
You're definitely saying that on purpose so you can take advantage of me tonight, aren't you!
"I'll bear with it, don't you worry. But I can't say for sure if something of yours might get snipped off by then."
Mai Sakurajima made a scissor gesture with her hand and smiled as she looked at Lin Ye.
This made Lin Ye subconsciously flinch. As a man, he had his own masculine instincts.
"Senpai is so gentle, she definitely wouldn't."
"My gentleness is reserved only for the boy I want to be gentle with. And Student Lin, you're clearly not in that category yet."
She smiled, her gentle eyes watching Lin Ye.
"I'm heartbroken. Senpai and I have been through life and death together, and I'm still not in that category?"
"Of course. How could a fickle boy be in my category?"
That reason... he really didn't have the confidence to refute it.
Not far away, under the window, German Shepherd John yawned.
He was getting a little sleepy and wanted to go to bed.
It was definitely time to rest at this hour.
"Awoo!"
John let out a big yawn out of boredom.
The sound was very soft, but both Lin Ye and Mai Sakurajima heard it. They looked at John's interesting expression and immediately smiled.
"Let's sleep!"
Influenced by John, Mai Sakurajima also felt sleepy. Her gaze fell on Lin Ye, waiting for his response.
Lin Ye made an 'okay' gesture, reached out his left hand, and pressed the switch.
Click.
The room's light went out. Moonlight shone in from outside the window, filling the space with a faint, silver-white glow.
Lin Ye and Mai Sakurajima lay quietly on the same bed.
Looking out of the corner of his eye at the girl resting with her eyes closed on his right, Lin Ye felt a slightly strange and subtle emotion in his heart.
Mai Sakurajima was actually sleeping beside him right now.
If her fans found out, who knows how many would howl and cry.
Although, given Mai Sakurajima's current situation, there really weren't many fans who still remembered her. In fact, in the whole world, he was probably the only one who still remembered her.
Lin Ye closed his eyes.
Mai Sakurajima carefully squinted her eyes slightly and saw the man on her left with his eyes closed, and she slowly relaxed.
This guy wasn't planning on doing anything.
Those words from before were all just jokes.
If Lin Ye really had planned to do something, to take some advantage of her, as long as it wasn't too excessive, she felt she could have pretended not to know.
But this guy was still a gentleman, just a bit of a smooth talker.
If only he wasn't so ambiguous with so many girls.
Mai Sakurajima couldn't help but think.
She gradually let her consciousness drift, slowly sinking into a deep sleep.
A silent night,
with only the occasional sound of someone tossing and turning.
John opened his eyes in the middle of the night, his bright eyes glancing around before closing again.
...
The next day.
The first rays of morning sun shone in.
John had been awake for a while, but seeing that Lin Ye was still sound asleep, he remained quiet and didn't make a sound, not wanting to disturb Lin Ye and Mai Sakurajima's rest.
When Lin Ye woke up, he felt a stuffiness in his chest and a soreness in his right arm, with a soft, elastic sensation pressing against it.
His mind cleared in an instant, and he realized what was happening.
Lin Ye immediately turned his head. The girl's exquisite sleeping face was right before his eyes. He could smell the pleasant, faint fragrance from her body, and an indescribable restlessness stirred within him.
Sometime last night, for some unknown reason, Mai Sakurajima had moved closer on her own, hugged his arm, and even put her leg over his. Her whole body was wrapped around him, as if she were using him as a comfortable pillow.
This big star was not a very good sleeper.
But at this moment, Lin Ye didn't feel the slightest bit of annoyance.
"This has nothing to do with me."
Lin Ye even tried to carefully pull his arm out, but he failed. The moment he moved, Mai Sakurajima held on even tighter.
In the end,
he maintained his original position for over ten minutes.
Finally, the position became a bit difficult to endure, so he took a strand of the girl's long hair with his left hand and used the tip to tickle her cheek.
Soon,
under the stimulation of the tickling sensation, Mai Sakurajima's consciousness slowly returned. Her long eyelashes fluttered, and her eyes slowly opened.
In an instant, Lin Ye's face came into her view. Her drowsiness immediately turned into alertness. Her heart jumped, her body reacted subconsciously, and she immediately pulled back to create distance.
"Good morning, Senpai."
Mai Sakurajima hadn't fully come to her senses yet and replied subconsciously, "Morning..."
"For the record, I didn't do anything to you last night. On the contrary, you did something to me. I hereby sternly condemn your hooligan-like behavior, Senpai."
Mai Sakurajima: ???
Me, a hooligan?
What kind of joke is that?
But noticing the space in front of her and the lingering sensation on her body, she gradually realized that it seemed she had been the one to throw herself into his arms last night, hugging Lin Ye tightly all night long.
"It seems Senpai remembers what happened last night."
Mai Sakurajima was instantly embarrassed.
"It should be my fault."
She didn't try to argue; instead, she admitted it.
"As expected of Senpai, to be able to honestly admit her own mistakes."
On this point, Lin Ye offered direct praise.
If it were other girls, it's very likely the situation would have been them making a fuss, turning the tables, and firmly denying their own fault.
"Mm, but I can't rule out the possibility that you used a special ability to make me do that."
Mai Sakurajima looked at Lin Ye. "Stealing underwear, being invisible... these are all skills from hentai groper-type works. It's not entirely impossible that you have abilities like hypnosis or body control."
Lin Ye had to admire Mai Sakurajima's imagination.
Indeed,
the superpowers he possessed so far were very much like the skills a hentai protagonist would have.
It was entirely possible that the superpower 'Hypnosis' could appear in the future.
He couldn't guess about other superpowers, but he was confident that 'Hypnosis' would definitely appear.
The only question was when this superpower would appear.
"Senpai, if I could use hypnosis, what do you think I would do to you?"
"Don't even think about it."
Mai Sakurajima's face turned beet red as she immediately denied it.
This man... was too... too...
"Sigh, I'm lacking friends and wanted to hypnotize Senpai into becoming my friend. I didn't expect Senpai to be unwilling to be my friend. Sigh, I'm so hurt."
The sorrowful emotion was hard to conceal, almost making Mai Sakurajima believe him.
"What you want to do is definitely not that, definitely not."
"Senpai can't read minds, so how can you be sure that's not what I'm thinking?"
Lin Ye asked back with a chuckle.
"Men definitely like that kind of... lewd stuff. You... you're surely no exception."
"So that's what Senpai is thinking! Then should I perform a little something right now?"
Mai Sakurajima immediately scooted away, hugging the quilt and shrinking into a corner.
"Hahaha... Senpai, if you're scared, don't say it. Otherwise, if I accidentally do something for real, how do you plan to handle it? You should know that right now, it seems no one can see you except for me."
Mai Sakurajima pursed her lips. After a moment, she lifted a finger and pointed at John. "John can see me."
"Woof!"
"But John listens to me. He won't protect you."
Mai Sakurajima looked toward John, casting a pleading gaze. John understood, his eyes shifted, looked up, and then closed. He pretended he didn't know anything.
"Hahahaha..."
Lin Ye burst out laughing.
"See, I told you! John is my partner, he's definitely on my side."
Mai Sakurajima was still a little bit unwilling, even though she had already anticipated this result long ago.
"What does Senpai want for breakfast? I'll go buy it."
"Let's go together!"
Mai Sakurajima didn't want to be left here alone.
Right now, Lin Ye was the only person she could communicate with. She was afraid that once she was separated from him, she would face a cruel reality she didn't want to confront.
"Mm."
"Woof woof woof!"
John also barked twice loudly.
He wanted breakfast too!
"Alright, I'll see what I can get for you. I'll buy you a chicken leg."
"Woof woof woof!"
John wagged his tail energetically.
He had been hungry for a while and could finally have a good meal.
The two got up, finished washing up, and left the apartment for the nearest convenience store.
At this hour, there were a few scattered customers in the convenience store.
Mai Sakurajima walked past several people, and none of them reacted.
Clearly, they still couldn't see her.
Putting aside her identity as a popular star, just for such a beautiful girl to appear, any normal man should have taken a second look.
But the few customers here, including the staff at the checkout counter, all ignored Mai Sakurajima.
Today was already the fifth day.
Mai Sakurajima had gotten used to it; her heart was as calm as a placid lake.
For her, the only hope was that next week, as Lin Ye had said, everything would return to normal, and she could go back to her former life.
Right now, she longed to return to her former life.
Lin Ye bought two sandwiches and four fried chicken cutlets.
Given John's size, eating three fried chicken cutlets was no problem at all.
Back at the apartment, Lin Ye poured fresh milk into a glass cup, and the microwave hummed to life.
"I'll feed him!"
Mai Sakurajima proactively picked up the three fried chicken cutlets Lin Ye had bought and offered them to John.
"Woof woof woof..."
John wagged his tail energetically.
"Senpai, don't think you can successfully bribe John like this. John and I have a life-and-death friendship."
Mai Sakurajima's interest was piqued. She walked over to Lin Ye's side and sat down. "Tell me about what happened between you and John!"
"Well..."
"Do you have some concerns? Feel free to speak. I can understand."
"It's a Strange matter. But now that Senpai has also experienced a Strange event, talking about it a little isn't a huge problem anymore. It won't increase the probability of you attracting Strange entities."
So that was his worry.
The moment Mai Sakurajima saw John appear, she had suspected that John was someone Lin Ye had met during a Strange event. Now it seemed that was true.
"If you can't talk about it, then forget it."
"I can talk about some of it."
Lin Ye explained simply.
Especially John's final performance, which was nothing short of astonishing.
However,
what Mai Sakurajima cared about instead was the girl who had appeared multiple times.
Was it her imagination? She always felt that when Lin Ye mentioned that girl, his reaction was a little bit unnatural.
"I want to get a German Shepherd too."
"How about a husky instead?"
"No."
John's ears perked up.
Husky?
That dog seems a bit interesting.
"What are your plans for the next few days?"
There were still two and a half days left until the end of the week. If Mai Sakurajima had anything she wanted to do, Lin Ye was willing to accompany her.
It could be considered enjoying the holiday during this Golden Week.
"I'll go wherever you go."
Mai Sakurajima threw the question back to Lin Ye.
"This..."
"Worried I'll interfere with your date? Don't worry, you can go on a date with a girl. I won't affect you."
With a girl like you following along and being a third wheel, I wouldn't be in the mood for a date even if I wanted one.
But Lin Ye suddenly thought of something interesting.
"An invisible Senpai... I've thought of a proper use for you."
A proper use for me?
Mai Sakurajima was puzzled. "Let's hear it."
"For example, if I wanted to pursue a girl, Senpai could stand to the side and give me advice, guiding me the whole way."
You want me to help you chase girls?
The girl with long black hair couldn't help but want to retort.
"I can't help. I've never even been in a relationship. How can I help you?"
"I just thought you could be used that way. I don't need to chase girls, so this use for Senpai is actually meaningless to me."
Mai Sakurajima was speechless.
This gave her a strong feeling of being thoroughly teased by Lin Ye.
"I can teach you how to become an excellent actor."
"An excellent actor isn't necessary, but I would like to ask Senpai for some techniques and methods on how to simulate the behavioral patterns of another personality."
For the fabricated character 'Zero' in the Strange Game, he needed to present a different side of 'Zero' to prevent anyone with ill intentions from connecting 'Zero' and 'Lin Ye'.
During a Strange instance, playing the role of 'Zero' still required some skill.
When it came to deepening others' impression and image of 'Zero', Mai Sakurajima was more professional than he was.
"I can. No problem."
Mai Sakurajima was a little happy.
Happy that she could be of help to Lin Ye.
The two began an in-depth exchange on the skills of acting.
Until Lin Ye's phone vibrated.
Someone was contacting him.
...
...
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