Author: Inaida Sou
Translator: Kei of ChocoCats
Proofreader: Cinnamon

● 140 DAYS AGO

(This is Makoto’s POV)

In the end, I was able to give the present a month after, at the graduation ceremony.

That day, I got letters from the female students. People were saying that today was a turning point. Thus, I decided to give the scrunchie to Mai as my last chance. In the end, even though I couldn’t even say anything memorable, Mai received it easily without any doubt, so it felt kind of anti-climactic. But when I disposed of the letters I received in the middle of the night, Mai seemed to have seen me. The next day, Mai, who was clearly scared by the sight of me, didn’t wear the scrunchie.

When I was throwing the letters away, I felt annoyance and disgust, so I’m sure I had an expression that Mai had never seen. And it may have been an extra shock for her because I always intentionally displayed a gentle face to her.

After I explained the situation, Mai pondered on it with her head hanging down. I was perplexed by my own disappointed feeling when I peeked a bit at the back of her head and still couldn’t see the scrunchie on her.

Even though I could understand people’s feelings of “sadness” when their gifts were refused, I didn’t have any sense of guilt or regret about throwing away the letters. After all, I am such a person, so I tried to get away from Mai who was lost in thought, but Mai suddenly wore the scrunchie and grinned.

I had never thought about others’ smiles.

But when Mai laughed, something vaguely emerged from my chest or around my abdomen.

I wondered if it was because Mai was in the family category, but I never thought the same about the parents.

For both the blood-related one and the non-related one.

In a sense, I can say that I saw them both as properly equal. And from that point of view, I think it was an ideal form of a stepfamily.

Maybe it was just an obsession because Mai had almost died.

Would I feel the same if the parents were going to die? Should I try to set them on fire?

From the time when I couldn’t give the scrunchie to her, I knew that I was obsessed with Mai, not with Mai’s life or death, but I still didn’t know if it was an attachment as a family or as a human being. Even if I did try to hurt the parents until they almost died, there were still some risks.

Then, maybe because I kept thinking about Mai, she appeared in my dream. I dreamed of touching her just like the health textbook’s instruction that I read some time ago.

Mai in my dream had the same voice and appearance as the actual Mai.

The only difference was when I touched her, she looked a little shy and made a seductive voice. When I woke up, my body was showing a certain reaction, and I realised that I was seeing Mai as a woman, not as family.

While thinking, that mysterious obsession fell straight into my heart.

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T/N: Hello, sorry for the late update, last week I was on bed rest again, so I couldn’t do any translations. Also, this chapter hasn’t been proofread-ed yet, but I thought I should post this quickly as I understand many of you might be waiting for this.

Hope you enjoy it and see you in the next chapter!

Edit: This chapter is perfected by Cinnamon! Thank you for your hard work and good luck with your exam!

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