CH 71

“Oh, hey, Kai?”

“What’s going on?”

It wasn’t long after that and it was after school.

I seemed to have been in a daze all through class after lunchtime, and I was warned repeatedly by the teacher, to whom I’m sorry.

That was true for Akira, Shogo, and the others, and even Mari was worried about me.

“I’m fine… really, I’m fine.”

“Really?”

“Do you want to go somewhere with me?”

I really appreciated my friends’ concern, but today I was a bit reluctant to do so.

I packed my bags and left school immediately and walked home… but I kept thinking about that screen with the hypnosis release text on it.

I’ve seen that screen many times… Yes, whenever I get out of hypnosis, that text is always displayed on the screen.

“—”

The hypnosis was released, which means that when I was kissing Mari, the hypnosis was already released.

At first I thought I was looking at it wrong, but that’s not true… and it doesn’t seem to be a glitch either.

I’ve used the hypnosis app since to test it out, while feeling sorry for the passers-by, and it worked fine… so what the hell was that all about, really?

“If the hypnosis is lifted, then there’s no way Mari would have responded to the kiss…”

“What about me?”

Mari kissed me…?

Then I suddenly pulled away from the owner of the voice.

It’s my fault for being so zoned out thinking about it that I couldn’t notice if someone was approaching or not… but the voice now is definitely hers.

“…Mari?”

“Yes.”

Yes, it’s Mari.

She was behind me before I knew it, and she was looking at me smiling, but when I look at Mari in front of her again like this, I can’t help but be concerned about that.

I couldn’t say anything as I stared at her, but Mari put my confusion aside and spoke to me in her usual tone.

“What’s wrong? Besides, you said something about me kissing you or something…”

“What…”

“Could it be… that Kai-kun wants to kiss me?”

I want to, if you want to, I want you to kiss me and then serve me again, like at lunchtime.

I can think of an infinite number of such things… But by the looks of it, was Mari still in a hypnotic state at that time?

If she wasn’t in a hypnotic state, her memories must have remained perfectly clear, and if they had, there’s no way she would have treated me like this.

(…I knew it was just my imagination. That was some kind of glitch, and Mari was properly in a hypnotic state too… so it’s all right.)

Oh, yeah, what the hell, it was just my imagination.

I breathed out a sigh of relief, but I looked straight back into Mari’s eyes and told her.

“Hey Mari, you know… about the hypnosis app, right?”

What the hell….

I’ve already come this far. There’s no way I can just dismiss it as misunderstanding or overthinking it.

I was scared of what she would say, but strangely my mind was calm and I was ready to accept whatever was said.

From the restlessness of a moment ago, I was surprised at how calm I was, but… Mari also became serious and nodded her head.

“…Yeah. I know…I’ve known for a little while now.”

“… are you serious?”

I felt a sense of relief that the answer came easily, and I thought to myself, as if it was someone else’s problem, it was over.

Mari pulled out my hand as I experienced the sensation of power draining from my body all at once.

“Let’s go to my house for a bit. It’s hard to talk to you if we’re outside.”

“…Ah.”

I didn’t shake off her hand, and Mari pulled my hand and we headed straight to her house.

I was led straight to Mari’s room, but of course her parents haven’t returned yet, so it’s just me and Mari in this house right now.

“…Mari…really…”

I’m sorry, I understand that one word like that is not something that can be forgiven.

I still wanted to tell her that, but Mari clapped her hands, interrupting my words.

“W-What…”

“Hey Kai-kun, it’s me, right? I love Kai-kun. I really love you with all my heart. I didn’t mind at all if Kai-kun hypnotised me, and I was happy no matter what he did or what he ordered me to do. So, um… anyway! I’d rather be hypnotised by Kai-kun, yes I’d like that!”

I was stunned when she said that to me while closing the distance between us with a giggle.

The words she had just said to me were repeated in my head, and when I finally understood, the one word I let slip was this.

“…Huh?”

I’m probably making a pretty dumb expression on my face.

Mari scratched her cheeks in embarrassment and began to speak slowly, as if to convey something important, although she had lost her earlier momentum.

“When Kai-kun realised the truth, you seemed to be in pain, or rather, you looked as if you were thinking that you had done something wrong. Of course, in a normal way of thinking, that would be a bad thing… but I don’t think that way. I really like Kai-kun, so no matter what you did to me, I was happy and I didn’t want you to stop.”

“Ah… that… eh?”

In other words, to sum up the story, Mari had memories even when she was in a hypnotic state from a while ago, and she was honestly listening to what I said while maintaining her sanity slightly.

And unbelievably, even in her normal state, she fell in love with me… no, no, there’s no way that’s possible!

“Kai-kun?”

“Huh?!”

I won’t admit it. There’s no way I can admit it.

I tried to shake my head like that, but my face was held firmly by Mari’s hands on both cheeks, and she kissed me just like that.

My eyes widened at the suddenness of it, but the sensation of her tongue crawling around inside my mouth was so pleasant that I naturally intertwined my tongue with hers… and then Mari pulled her face away as if she was sucking in a breath.

“I’m not hypnotised now, am I? But I still want to kiss Kai-kun like this and many more things like this. I always want that! I mean, Kai, you should be a bit more aware!”

“Oh, oh…”

“During hypnosis, you know? I can really understand you, Kai. I instinctively understand that your heart is very kind and you would never do anything bad to us. And you always worry about us, even though we’re in such a state, don’t you? You worry about our relationship with our family at every opportunity, don’t you? How can I not be attracted to Kai-kun who worries so much about me! How could I ever leave such a wonderful person! More than anything…”

Mari pointed a finger at me with a SNAP and said.

“You told me to stay by your side all the time and to serve you all the time!”

“What?

That’s… that’s definitely what I told them.

It started with me telling them in a hypnotic state, but I realised that I wanted that from them in any state… I was attracted to them because they were good to me even when they were in their natural state.

“…I’m sorry. I said a lot of things out of the blue.”

“No… that’s fine.”

I’m feeling a bit calmer now thanks to that, you know.

After breathing heavily in a puff of air into each other, Mari suggested.

“Hey Kai, you need some time to calm down, don’t you?”

“Eh? Ah yeah…”

“Then let me serve you like I always do. With that kiss just now, Kai-kun… see?”

Mari pointed her finger at my lower body.

It seems that I was unknowingly aroused by the kiss earlier, but I quickly tried to hide it with my hand, but Mari prevented me from doing so.

“Let’s talk about a lot of things with each other later, for now. Right now, I just want you to know how serious I am. I want to serve Kai-kun, that I’m doing what I want to make Kai-kun happy from my heart, and that I’m determined to stay by Kai-kun’s side for a long time to come!”

“Ma, Mari-san~~?”

Well… there’s so much confusion and things I want to say that I’m panicking.

I ended up being pushed aside by Mari and ended up being served by her as usual, but from the middle I felt so good that I forgot that Mari was in her senses.

“Oooh…”

“Give me all of it?”

And the wise man time that came made me regain my composure.

I was made thrilled by Mari, who was mumbling happily, even though it was wise man time, but once again we were facing each other, and exchanging words.

And at the same time, I recalled all the feelings directed towards me from the other girls, and even more clearly, the true connection I had with them.

“…Mufufu~”

“—”

But still, Mari-san… I know you went into that forceful act to calm me down, or to let me know you were serious, but isn’t that a bit too manly? She’s definitely a girl, though.

I thought so while looking at Mari.