I.W.B.A.L

　　Looking at the sunset outside the window, Qingura Mai should be almost home, right?

　　"Miss Wu, is she off work by now?"

　　Kento prepared dinner and left it in the pot, stewing it over low heat. He dried his hands, came to the living room, looked at Setsuna, and asked about Qingpu Mai's off-get off work time.

　　"Normally we get off work at five o'clock, and now it's almost time to get off work."

　　After looking at the clock in the living room, Setsuna nodded.

　　Kento sat down and held Setsuna in his arms, feeling the light and soft body in his arms, his hands around her waist, the soft touch from his palms and fingertips healed Kento's heart.

　　"Then let's wait for Miss Wu to come back and then have dinner together."

　　"Um."

　　Closing his eyes, Kento thought about how he should talk to Qingpu Mai after dinner and ask her to agree to be his "guarantor"...

　　— — — —

　　I dreamed that I was in an abandoned temple full of "Advertising Space for Rent" brand dolls. There were all kinds of dolls everywhere in the temple yard. The touch of them in the dream was quite nice.

　　Thanks to Cat and Dog Diary, Shuke161001402754, Kouno Dioda, Treasure of the Ages, Favorite Kara, "Saito Himeya", Tianrenyidao, and the monthly tickets and blades of my canvas shoes are missing! Thank you all for your recommendation votes!

Cherry Blossom Season: 67. Where is your dream? ——Burning

　　Qingpu Mai usually gets home from get off work around five o'clock, and arrives home before six o'clock.

　　While waiting for Qingpu Mai to come home, Setsuna sat quietly in Kento's arms. The girl who had just found love felt extremely happy for every minute and every second she spent with Kento. When she raised her head and just looked at his face, she felt fulfilled.

　　"Hey, Kento."

　　"Um?"

　　"Do?"

　　"Your body hasn't fully recovered yet. It's not good for your health. You should rest for a while and consider this matter again when your body has almost recovered."

　　Looking down at the girl who was looking up at him, Kento was a little surprised. He had never thought that Setsuna would be so proactive in asking for love from him. Under normal circumstances, he would have no reason to refuse, as it would be too unmanly to refuse.

　　But Setsuna had just 'graduated', and his body had not yet fully recovered. If Setsuna's body was harmed, that would not be the result that Kento wanted.

　　So, the moment he opened his mouth to answer, he gave a rejection.

　　Setsuna blinked and looked into Kento's pure eyes for a while. She saw the concern for herself in Kento's eyes, pursed her lips, and lowered her head silently.

　　"Um."

　　Having restored his youthful body, Kento did not deny that he was now full of energy all the time and had certain needs in that aspect, but it was not to the point where he could not endure it.

　　I turned my head and looked out the window at the sunset. Next to the pure white gauze curtain, in the dim sky outside the glass window, a bird whose name I couldn't tell flew across the sky, making a lonely cry, and disappeared under the cover of the eaves. I didn't know where it flew to...

　　When Qingura Mai returned home, as soon as she entered the house, she saw the empty house. She went back to the door and looked towards the apartment opposite.

　　Looking at the half-closed gauze curtain and the on lights, she thought her daughter should still be visiting Kento. She stared at it for a while, sighed, went back into the house, closed the door again, turned on the lights, walked towards her room, and changed her clothes.

　　Wearing her usual home clothes, she tied her long hair with a hairband into a long ponytail, which hung diagonally on her left shoulder, and walked slowly towards the door.

　　I walked all the way from my home to the door of Kento's apartment and rang the doorbell.

　　Ding Dong——

　　The doorbell rang, and Kento, who was sitting in the room, looked at Setsuna in his arms.

　　He wrapped his arms around her slender waist and gently rubbed her flat and smooth belly. He let Shanshan temporarily get up from his body and walked towards the door.

　　Setsuna sat down where Kento originally sat, and watched him walk to the door and open it.

　　"Miss Dance."

　　When he opened the door, Kento saw Qingura Mai standing at the door, and he smiled and invited her into his house.

　　"Well, excuse me."

　　Qingura Mai, wearing a solitary-colored sweater and a soft white skirt, looked at Kento who opened the door, walked slowly into the apartment, took off her shoes, stepped on her soft white cotton socks on the floor, put her shoes in place, put on slippers, and followed Kento into the house.

　　Looking at the moment sitting in the room, Qingpu Mai had an expression as expected, and felt helpless in her heart. For a moment, she didn't know whether this was her home or the house opposite was her home.

　　"Sure enough, it's here. Even if it's here with Kento, at least he should leave a note at home."

　　"I forgot."

　　Setsuna was originally planning to go home and post a note in his living room or on the door to tell his mother that he was with Kento.

　　But sitting on Kento's body was so comfortable that she forgot to do this for a moment, and later on, she even forgot about it.

　　"No matter how much you like Kento, you must not forget what you should do. Liking Kento is not an excuse for laziness."

　　"…Hmm."

　　Setsuna slowly buried his face, looking as if he didn't want to pay any attention to Qingpu Mai, which made Qingpu Mai look at her daughter. She didn't know if it was because of Kento's presence, but she always felt that she was different from before.

　　"Dinner is ready. Miss Wu, please get ready and let's eat together here."

　　After bringing the tableware to the table, Kento looked at Qingura Mai who was sitting in the room with a smile. Qingura Mai, who just wanted to confirm whether her daughter was here, couldn't help but be stunned for a moment.

　　I looked back towards the kitchen counter and smelled a pleasant scent as soon as I entered. So dinner was ready?

　　"In this case... I'll trouble you, Master."

　　"No, it's all thanks to Miss Mai... and Setsuna's care on weekdays. It's just small things."

　　Glancing at Setsuna who was sitting nearby, Kento replied with a smile.

　　After placing all the tableware on the table, Qingpu Mai stood up and washed her hands. When she came back, she stared at Setsuna, which made Setsuna look towards the bathroom, then stood up silently and went to wash his hands.

　　Just as Setsuna stood up and Kento was still serving the food, Qingura Mai, who was sitting in the room, slowly lowered her head and glanced towards where Setsuna was sitting.

　　There was no tissue paper, nor any strange water stains. She tilted her head and sniffed calmly, but did not smell any strange smell. She gradually put her mind at ease and sat quietly in her seat, as if nothing had happened.

　　Until Setsuna returned to the room and sat down, she was unaware of the subtle actions that Qingura Mai had taken when she was away.

　　As for Kento who was serving the food, he was completely unaware of what was happening here.

　　After Kento brought the dishes to the table and placed the cooked rice aside, the three of them sat around the small dining table and began to have dinner.

　　"I'm starting."

　　Setsuna whispered softly, then picked up the chopsticks, looked at Kento, then looked at his mother, and ate in silence. Qingura Mai also just glanced at Kento, then tasted the food cooked by her future son-in-law.

　　During the meal, everyone remained silent and ate quietly, no one spoke.

　　Only halfway through the meal did Setsuna stand up and pour a glass of water. The rest of the time they remained silent until the end of the meal, when Kento was clearing the table, when the silence was gradually broken.

　　"Did Kento prepare dinner alone?"

　　"Um."

　　Kento didn't say anything, but it was Setsuna who answered, who was sitting next to Qingpu Mai.

　　After looking at her daughter, Qingpu Mai was silent for a moment and sighed slowly.

　　"Setsuna needs to work hard to learn how to cook, otherwise she won't be a good wife."

　　"I will try my best."

　　Kento, who was cleaning up the kitchen, did hear the conversation between the mother and daughter, but the content of the conversation was too family-oriented, so he felt it was inappropriate to interrupt the conversation.

　　He felt that once he opened his mouth, all kinds of shame would come out about himself, so reason made him choose to remain silent temporarily.

　　After putting away the kitchen utensils and tableware, Xiantian slowly walked out from the kitchen counter, picked up the magazine that was mailed back from his desk, and put it on the dining table.

　　"Magazine?"

　　Qingpu Mai noticed Kento's movement towards the desk, but she was still a little surprised when she saw Kento pick up a magazine from the desk and put it on her dining table. She couldn't help but look at Kento with curiosity as he sat down again.

　　"This is?"

　　"I submitted it to the magazine before, it was approved and published."

　　"Huh?!"

　　Qingura Mai widened her eyes in surprise and looked at the weekly magazine in front of her. Just as she was about to reach out, a pair of faster hands had already taken the magazine and began to flip through it.

　　"page?"

　　"I don't know, I didn't look at the specific page. When I got home in the afternoon, I saw the envelope in the mailbox. After I got it, I put it on the desk. I didn't look at the contents carefully, and I don't know which page I was on."

　　He stretched out his hand and immediately handed the weekly magazine in his hand to Kento.

　　It was not a shameful thing to look through the contents of the weekly magazine and show what he had written to people he was familiar with. After all, during his comatose period, Sanye, who was taking care of him, knew everything about him writing erotic novels. Sometimes, she would even help him take the magazines and single volumes in the mailbox to his room and hand them to him.

　　From Mitsuha to the magazines and booklets in his hands, almost every one of them has been read. For Kento who has experienced such things, how could he care about being seen by Kiyoura Mai and Setsuna about the serious content he wrote.

　　You know, the subject matter he wrote about most was the "luanpai", and the style of the "luanpai" mostly involved topics like teacher and student, sister and brother, brother and sister, etc.

　　He opened the weekly magazine in his hand and read two pages. He did not see his own content. After turning a dozen pages, he saw a familiar text and handed the magazine in his hand to the mother and daughter.

　　"This paragraph is the content of my submission."

　　After tapping on the content of his own article, Setsuna and Kiyoura Mai came together and started reading together.

　　As for the fact that Kento submitted an article to the magazine, Kiyoura Setsuna also had a deep impression of this incident. After all, that day was the day when Saionji Sekai first sneaked out and she happened to catch the evidence.

　　Looking at the content of the weekly magazine in front of me, I didn't expect that after about a week, the content submitted by Kento was actually published in the magazine.

　　While Shanna appeared calm on the surface but was actually happy for Kento, Qingura Mai looked at the magazine in front of her and felt a little surprised in her heart. She didn't expect that it would actually be approved and published in the magazine.

　　Previously, I learned about this matter from Shanna's mouth.

　　At that time, she just thought that Kento would try to submit his work, but she didn't think that the boy would succeed. But now it seems that she underestimated Kento.

　　After blinking and quickly reading the article, Qingura Mai raised her head and looked at the boy beside her who was just smiling.

　　"this...."

　　I was just about to ask if this was really written by Kento himself?

　　But when the words came to her lips, she realized that it seemed inappropriate to ask this question. However, even though she was not engaged in work in this field, nor was she a researcher in this field, Qingura Mai could feel the accumulation of years between the articles.

　　He looked down at the article in the magazine in front of him, then looked up at the young boy in front of him, and a strong sense of incongruity suddenly arose in his heart.

　　But when her eyes met with Kento's, Qingpu Mai looked at Kento's clear and inexplicably deep eyes, and she suddenly didn't feel so out of place anymore.

　　I lowered my head in silence, feeling somewhat inexplicably strange.

　　"Kento, that's amazing."

　　Shanna lowered her head to read the contents of the article, then slowly raised her head and looked at the boy opposite her. She was a little amazed, a little happy and confused. After reading the contents of the article, she was a little dazed and puzzled in her heart, but looking at the boy opposite her, she did not ask.

　　"Is this your first submission?"

　　Qingpu Mai looked at the boy beside her and asked slowly.

　　"Well, this is my first submission, and I was surprised that it was successfully accepted, but... hehe, the payment was a little less. I thought it would be over ten thousand, but I didn't expect it to be only eight thousand."

　　Originally wanted to ask some questions about the content of the article, but after hearing Kento's words, Qingpu Mai was stunned. The original confusion in her heart was replaced by more speechlessness. She sat in her seat, not knowing where to start for a long time.

　　Even Setsuna was stunned for a moment. He did not expect Kento to give such a mercenary answer.

　　Looking at the stunned mother and daughter, Kento chuckled, lowered his head to read the contents of the magazine, a trace of nostalgia flashed in his eyes, and he smiled and closed the magazine.

　　"I probably won't continue to submit articles to this magazine in the future. It seems that it is not very difficult to get articles published in this magazine, but the remuneration is not very high. For the purpose of making a living, this magazine is not suitable for me."

　　If at the beginning, when she saw Kento putting the magazine in front of her and telling her that he had published an article in it, she felt that he was full of youthfulness and wanted to share the sense of accomplishment with her, then the current Kento gave Qingpu Mai the feeling that he was completely like a real adult, which made her a little unable to adapt for a while. Even Setsuna blinked and looked at Kento, not knowing how to answer.

　　"You're submitting articles for living expenses? Doesn't your father, a civil servant, give you living expenses every month?"

　　After a moment's silence, Qingpu Mai came back to her senses, looked at Kento in front of her, and spoke with some surprise.

　　"Yes, but it's only in the early stages. My father still hopes that I can be self-reliant, so he will only provide me with living expenses in the early stages. But in the future, I still have to earn my living expenses on my own, so I thought of submitting my article."

　　Qingpu Mai was completely speechless. She originally thought that Kento did it out of interest and hobby, or even a dream.

　　I just didn't expect the real reason to be so realistic.

　　He blinked and looked at the boy in front of him.

　　Qing Pu Mai felt that the boy's skills were inexplicably proficient before, which made her unable to react at all, and her mind went blank...

　　Now, Kento's realistic answer made her feel that the boy only looked like a boy, but was actually an adult.

　　Even now when I look at him, I feel that there should be a cigarette between the fingers of Kento's idle left hand, and a glass of wine in front of him...

　　In a trance, she seemed to see a melancholy young man who looked like Kento, but more vicissitudes and decadent, nodding and smiling at her.

　　It seems that compared with the current Kentos, he has more charm of a mature man?