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Mayuzumi was now experiencing just how scary boys could be in a different way.
No, more accurately speaking, she felt how scary the boy named Seiji Haruta could be.
He had suddenly praised a woman next to him with utmost sincerity.
It was clearly natural to him, and it obviously wasn’t intentional flattery with hidden purposes; his words truly originated from his heart!
Mayuzumi, who’d received such an unexpected attack, felt like she had been pierced by a sharp arrow as her heart was moved.
She had never fallen in love before.
But she had imagined being in love many times before and could recognize that this was the beginning of love—romantic interest in a boy!
The female manga author’s face turned red as her emotions became chaotic.
This child… Haruta-kun…
“Sensei.”
“Eh? W-what!?”
“Would you like to play this?” Seiji pointed to a stall as he smiled.
His faint smile seemed so gentle on his handsome face.
‘Is this… an added effect due to my fast heartbeat?’
Mayuzumi was dazed for a moment as she watched him.
He never gave her such an impression earlier…
Even though she felt that he was handsome and bright to the point of glowing, it was mere appreciation. It was much akin to watching a handsome idol on television: although she would recognise that the idol was good-looking, there were no romantic feelings involved.
She never expected that after her heartbeat quickened, looking at him again… felt so different from earlier!
Mayuzumi was experiencing this for the first time in her life.
Her heart was fluttering, and her face was flaming hot… how was she supposed to suppress this?
‘I need to distract myself!’
The manga author hurriedly looked at the stall he was pointing at.
It was a shooting game commonly found at any amusement attraction. There were various dolls placed on a shelf, and customers used a very simple toy air gun from the front to shoot the dolls. If they successfully knocked over any dolls, they could take them.
“Those dolls are all custom-made and aren’t purchasable anywhere else; they’re all unique.”
Seiji introduced the stall’s specialty to her.
Mayuzumi also saw the same words being advertised on the stall’s sign.
Unique dolls crafted by the students… the quality seemed pretty good as well, which would definitely attract customers as evidenced by the continuous stream of customers lining up.
‘I want one…’ whispered a tiny voice in Mayuzumi’s heart.
“Okay, let’s go—we’ll give it one try.” Seiji decisively walked up to the stall.
‘He didn’t wait for my reply… no, he must have figured out from my expression that I wanted one.’ Once again, Mayuzumi felt just how considerate he was.
Such an amazing successive attack from him.
Not to mention he seemed to have zero awareness of it all… Honestly…
Seiji paid the money required for a try with the toy air gun.
“Sensei, come over here.”
“Oh… oh.” Mayuzumi obediently walked closer.
Only when she took the toy air gun from his hand did she come to the shocking realization that she was able to get so close to a boy!
Even though she was still nervous, it was completely different from nervous fear. Her body wasn’t tense, nor did she feel uncomfortable in any way.
This… seemed pretty nice.
With Seiji’s instructions, Mayuzumi took her pose as she lifted the toy air gun and aimed.
Three shots later…
She had failed to hit any dolls.
This was an obvious result. She felt rather helpless.
“Sensei, good job.”
“Eh?” ‘Why is he praising me?’
Seiji smiled lightly at her.
“Thanks to Sensei, I now know how to hit the targets. Just watch me.”
His handsome face exuded self-confidence.
For the second time, Mayuzumi was left dazed.
Seiji paid again for another chance with the toy air gun.
“Sensei, the one you want the most is the rabbit doll second from the right, correct?”
Mayuzumi nodded.
“Okay.”
Seiji took aim and fired!
The first and second bullets both accurately hit the target doll.
The doll wasn’t knocked over by either shot, but its position was shifted backwards. At last, the third and final blow knocked it over with a headshot!
The most important part was the location that was hit. Mayuzumi was able to notice this.
“Congratulations to this customer for winning a prize!”
The student running the stall gave Seiji the rabbit doll.
Seiji took the doll and smiled as he handed it to Mayuzumi.
“Thank you…”
Mayuzumi accepted the fluffy cute rabbit doll and felt its softness as she hugged it.
Softness… Seiji couldn’t help but take a peek at Mayuzumi’s breasts that were squeezed slightly out of shape as she hugged the rabbit doll.
Mayuzumi felt shy when she detected his gaze… but she didn’t feel disgusted, repulsed, tense, or any other negative emotions.
It wasn’t that her androphobia had been cured.
Her body and mind had managed to accept that Seiji Haruta was a special existence.
Scary… truly scary.
‘Haruta-kun is too good at this,’ she thought to herself. ‘It’s to the point of being overboard.’
She snuck a look at the boy by her side, her face still flushed red.
After that, the two of them explored the school festival for a bit.
Seiji was considering whether or not he should contact Mika and Chiaki, or simply take Sensei to visit his class’s confectionery store with just the two of them.
He felt that he should contact them and ask if they wanted to meet up and go together. If two extra girls came, Sensei would likely relax a bit more.
‘I should ask Sensei’s opinion first.’
“Sensei…” He turned around but couldn’t see the manga author’s figure anywhere.
“Eh? Lost!?” He hurriedly looked around behind him when he heard her voice.
Mayuzumi was standing several meters behind him and speaking to a little girl.
“Sensei, what’s the matter?” Seiji walked over.
“This child got separated from her guardian,” Mayuzumi replied.
Seiji looked at the young girl.
The girl appeared to be an elementary school student. She had braided light green hair and was wearing a floral-patterned one-piece dress with a thick jacket. She wore long socks and tiny leather shoes on her legs and feet
The young girl had a pretty face and large blue eyes. Her long eyelashes which were tilted upwards gave her a cute, innocent appearance.
She was staring at the rabbit doll that the manga author was clutching on to; it seemed like she really wanted it.
‘So she got separated from her family’s adults, and was attracted to this doll, which caused Sensei to notice her…’ Seiji felt that was the likely course of events.
“What’s your name?” Mayuzumi asked gently.
“My name… I can’t tell it so easily to strangers.” The little girl’s gaze moved from the rabbit doll to Mayuzumi.
It seemed that she had decent knowledge on how to protect herself.
Mayuzumi and Seiji exchanged glances.
“It’s fine if you don’t want to tell us. Do you have a cell phone?” Seiji asked.
“Yes, but I don’t have it with me right now.” The elementary school girl glanced at his face. “If I did, I would have called already.” Her voice seemed a little depressed.
“Then do you remember your parents’ phone numbers?”
“No…”
“Then we can only go to the lost child booth.”
The young girl pouted slightly and kicked the ground.
“I’m definitely not a lost child.”
It seemed that she was prideful as well.
Seiji’s lips arced upwards.
“I’m sorry, but you definitely are a lost child. Just obediently come with us.”
“Hmph… I won’t.” The little girl averted her gaze. “As long as I wait here, my uncle will find me.”
It seemed that she was a stubborn one.
Seiji chuckled.
He walked in front of her and crouched down so that they were at the same eye level and looked into her face.
“You… you’re really cute.”
The young girl was stunned for a moment before her face reddened and she twisted away in embarrassment.
“For such a cute girl like you to stand here by herself, there’s a chance that you may meet someone strange.” Seiji’s tone changed to a low and heavy one. “If you meet such a person, you may get off lightly with something bad happening to you, or at worst you may be kidnapped… and that’s no joking matter.”
The little girl couldn’t find any words to reply with to this.
“Perhaps you feel that admitting that you’re lost is rather shameful, but compared to the possibility of meeting something bad, who cares about a little shame?
“If you’re a smart girl, you should have the self-awareness that you’re really cute, and place more importance on self-protection.”
Seiji stood up.
“If you don’t believe us or don’t want to follow us, you can go find the Morals and Discipline Committee members. They’re wearing emblems on their sleeves and are easy to identify, or you can find the big brothers and sisters that are running all these stalls here. They’re all students at this school and won’t harm you.”
He immediately turned towards the manga author as he finished speaking.
“Let’s go, Sensei.”
“Eh? But…”
Mayuzumi seemed hesitant until she saw the look in Seiji’s eyes and realized what he was up to.
Seiji began walking off, and Mayuzumi took another look at the young girl before she followed him.
After approximately six or seven steps…
“Wait… Wait!”
The little girl called out to them.
Seiji’s smile widened as he revealed an expression of “all according to plan.”