Oh no! They all seem a bit off!

Chapter 114 The Shy Feeling of a Fluttering Heart

"Dong yi yi"

Staring at the heavily closed door, Akizuki remained silent and motionless for a long time, his heart filled with indescribable frustration and annoyance.

Lately, he's been acting a bit neurotic. In the past, he would never have doubted Shimizu Rei.

He would be more inclined to believe that Ji Yexue herself had a health problem.

"...There's probably no other possibility besides this one."

Akizuki Makoto muttered to himself, he couldn't possibly suspect that Fuyuko was behind it, that was even more impossible.

After that, he sent a message to Shimizu Rei via LINE, sincerely apologizing to her, reflecting on his mistakes, saying that he shouldn't have doubted her, and even specially called her over just to question her.

The message was read shortly after it was sent, but Shimizu Rei did not reply, presumably still angry.

Akizuki Makoto didn't send any more messages, thinking he'd wait until she calmed down before apologizing in person, since Shimizu Rei was indeed his important childhood friend.

He didn't want to break up with Shimizu Rei like this, at least not because of his mistake that he lost his childhood sweetheart of more than ten years.

"Ding-dong ding-dong"

Just as Akizuki Makoto put away his phone and was about to cook, the doorbell rang suddenly, followed by Shiina Maki's voice coming from behind the door.

"Akizuki-kun, are you alright? I think I just heard a loud noise."

Upon hearing that it was Shiina Maki ringing the doorbell, Akizuki Makoto opened the door and forced a smile, saying, "It's alright, don't worry."

Shiina Maki looked like she had just finished cooking; she was wearing an apron, holding a spatula, and looking at him with an uneasy expression.

"Is it really okay?"

Shiina Maki was still uneasy and hesitated before saying, "Just now... I vaguely heard arguing coming from Akizuki-kun's house."

"It's just a misunderstanding with that person, it's okay, you really don't need to worry."

Akizuki Makoto still forced a smile, clearly not wanting to continue the conversation.

"Akizuki-kun is always like this, keeping everything to himself."

Shiina Maki murmured sadly, her expression suddenly turning sorrowful: "I also want to share some of Akizuki-kun's troubles, even if it's just being someone to confide in."

"..."

Upon hearing this, Akizuki Makoto fell silent, unsure how to respond.

He could understand Shiina Maki's desire to do something for him, but he couldn't accept that desire.

For him, opening up about his innermost thoughts was more shameful and unacceptable than running naked.

Moreover, the issues between him and Shimizu Rei cannot be resolved simply by confiding in outsiders.

Even if I talked to Shiina Maki, the only solution would be to apologize to Shimizu Rei; there was no other way.

Since he already knows he should apologize, why bother confiding in Shiina Maki?
Besides, she probably wouldn't want to hear about other girls.

"Hey, Akizuki-kun, it's me... can't I have it?"

Shiina Maki could no longer hold back. She walked up to Akizuki Makoto and asked softly, "I know that I am inferior to President Himeya or the other girls around you in many ways, but I can give everything for Akizuki-kun. I can do anything."

As she finished speaking, her tone became increasingly agitated, and she pressed herself against Akizuki Makoto, wanting to hug him and have more contact with him.

Qiu Yuecheng looked down into her eyes, meeting her gaze, and clearly saw the obsession and morbidity surging within them.

"Don't do that, Shiina-kun."

He shook his head, took a step back to create distance, and said in a low voice, "I don't need you to do anything for me, and I don't need anyone else to do anything for me."

"Akizuki-kun..."

Shiina Maki stared blankly at Akizuki Makoto's troubled expression, and when she noticed his backward movement, a sudden pain shot through her chest.

"You messed up again."

She gave a bitter smile, her voice full of disappointment, and said, "I'm sorry, I just... I just wanted to deepen my relationship with Akizuki-kun and get closer to him, that's all, I didn't mean anything else."

Lately, she has been unable to resist releasing gravity, which frightens Akizuki Makoto and makes him distance himself from her even more.

"I didn't mean anything by it. It's just that my current troubles haven't reached the point where I need to confide in anyone, nor do I need to."

"...I understand. Sorry for saying something unnecessary."

After a moment of silence, Shiina Maki forced a smile.

After apologizing, she continued, "Then I'll head back now... Sorry to bother you, Akizuki-kun."

"Goodbye."

After watching Shiina Maki return to the next room, Akizuki Makoto closed the door and went back to the living room.

Afterwards, he made himself a simple meal to fill his stomach, and then registered official accounts on some well-known social media platforms.

His initial pen name was not his own name, but a pseudonym, "秋月景明".

That's why I wasn't asked by anyone in the student council if I was the author of "Snow Country".

If you share the same name, you'll be teased even if no one suspects it.

However, his real name will be revealed sooner or later, as Shinchosha seems to be planning to hold an offline autograph session when the reprint is released.

After registering the official account, Akizuki Makoto sent his ID number to Komatsu Reika, asking her to help verify it and recommend it to others.

As a senior and beautiful editor-in-chief in the industry, Xiaosong Lihua has tens of thousands of followers on her personal social media account. If she could help promote her own account, it would definitely spread like wildfire.

After all, many readers now want to contact the author of Snow Country and offer him their "friendly" greetings.

"Hmm...should I post something?"

Looking at his empty profile page, Akizuki Makoto thought for a while, but still couldn't come up with anything good to post. So he simply turned on his camera, made a "V" sign, took a selfie, and captioned it "I am Akizuki Keimei, nice to meet you," before posting it.

After doing all this, he put down his phone, packed his clothes, and went into the bathroom to take a shower.

After he left, the phone he had placed on the table remained on, with new message notifications constantly popping up in the message bar.

When he finished showering, dried his hair, and picked up his phone again, he was shocked to find that his newly registered social media account was flooded with private messages!
"It's only been twenty minutes, right?"

Akizuki looked at his post with the selfie, which had nearly 20,000 views, 5,000 likes, and several hundred reposts.

Moreover, this number is still rising, and new message notifications keep popping up at the top of his screen, with the phone vibrating as if it were a vibrator.

Seeing this, he had to temporarily put his phone on silent mode and set it to not send message notifications, which finally calmed the phone down.

Only then did he start looking at the comments under the post and the private messages in the background.

To his surprise, there were very few reviews of "Snow Country," and they were all filled with expressions of shock and disbelief.

Just like when Komatsu Reika first met Akizuki Makoto, everyone who has read "Snow Country" thought that "Akizuki Kageaki" would be a weathered and charming middle-aged man.

But one by one
Who the hell is this active male high school student who calls himself "Akizuki Kageaki" and has been certified by the editor-in-chief of Shinchosha?!

It's one thing that he's a boys' high school student, but how come he's so handsome? They wouldn't doubt it if you said he was about to debut as a star.

Naturally, Akizuki Makoto received many private messages from women, including some influential figures and celebrities with millions of followers.

In island nations, writers already enjoy high social status and are very popular, let alone a well-known writer who is also a handsome young man.

In fact, it wasn't just his social media platforms that exploded; his LINE messages also went viral.

First, the student council room group chat has completely exploded, with heated discussions about how Akizuki Seizo really knows how to hide his talent, having debuted as a great writer without saying a word.

Secondly, his Line friends, whom he added at school, were sending him a constant stream of messages expressing shock and admiration, followed by requests for autographs.

Others may not believe or understand how Makoto Akizuki could write "Snow Country," but they can understand.

After all, Akizuki Makoto is already experiencing a real-life love triangle, with even the daughter of the top conglomerate having an ambiguous relationship with him.

His real-life experiences were far more outrageous than those in the novel, so it's not surprising that he was able to write "Snow Country".

Looking at the massive amount of messages in the backend, Akizuki Makoto was almost dizzy.

If I had known, I would have kept my face hidden and revealed my true identity. It wouldn't have been too late to show my face at the offline release event.

"Click!"

Just as Akizuki Makoto was busy clearing the messages, the lock on the front door suddenly made the sound of unlocking.

Immediately, the door was pushed open, and Ji Yexue led Dongzi into the house.

"He's back."

Akizuki Makoto put down his phone, stood up to greet her, and asked, "Dongzi, how are you feeling?"

Actually, he could tell without even asking that the social gathering had gone quite smoothly.

Dongzi's face was beaming with a happy smile, and Ji Yexue was also smiling. The atmosphere alone conveyed harmony and joy.

"I'm so happy to have Sister Xue with me."

After Dongzi answered with a bright smile, Ji Yexue tilted her chin up and snorted, "With me here, what are you worried about? Dongzi has already become good friends with all of them."

"That's good."

Akizuki nodded, patted Dongzi's head, and said softly, "Dongzi, go take a bath first. You must be tired today. Take a bath and relax."

"Good~"

Dongzi responded cheerfully, went back to her bedroom, grabbed a change of clothes, and then ran to the bathroom to happily take a bath.

Meanwhile, Akizuki Makoto, seeing Ji Yexue still standing in the entryway, and considering that she had accompanied Dongzi to a social gathering today, didn't want to send her away, so he said, "Would you like a cup of tea?"

"It's rare to see someone so perceptive, so I'll reluctantly have a drink."

Ji Yexue smoothed her black hair over her shoulder, uttered a haughty remark, and sat down on the sofa.

Akizuki Makoto went to the refrigerator to get barley tea and disposable cups, sat down next to her, and while pouring tea, asked, "What did you guys do to make Fuyuko so happy?"

"It's nothing much, just a normal social gathering, eating and karaoke."

"Oh...can she really be this happy just going to these places?"

Akizuki Makoto was a little puzzled, but he didn't think much of it. He figured that Fuyuko was probably happy because she had made a lot of new friends after a long time.

"Of course, we also went to eat dessert together, at that Senbikiya in Ginza..." After that, Akizuki Makoto learned more about the matchmaking event and then suddenly realized that Hime Yuki had conquered everything with her money.

When school was over, several luxury cars were arranged to pick up and drop off people going to the social event at the school gate.

Our first stop was Ginza Senbikiya. There were nine of us, but the bill came to nearly three million yen!
It wasn't just desserts; they also sampled the finest fruits.

Of course, this was Ji Yexue's treat. To her, several million yen was like a few dollars, not worth mentioning, even if it were ten times that amount.

After having dessert and fruit, we went to a private entertainment venue owned by the Himeya Group, where we sang karaoke and played video games, having a great time.

We played until evening, then went to a restaurant we had booked for dinner. It had all sorts of delicious dishes, all very expensive but also very tasty.

After a series of maneuvers, Dongzi's status immediately rose, and everyone fawned over her, regarding her as the highest level of society.

After all, she has a good older brother like Qiuyue Cheng and a top-notch older sister like Ji Yexue.

With that kind of connection and background, he's absolutely at the very top of the social pyramid.

"...the sugar-coated bullets of capitalism."

After hearing this, Akizuki Makoto couldn't help but feel ashamed, thinking to himself, "Won't Ji Yexue lead Dongzi astray and instill wrong values ​​in her?"
Although he should be happy that Ji Yexue dotes on Dongzi so much, he also has a worry that Ji Yexue might spoil her.

"So, can you feel now that being with me is all beneficial to you?"

Ji Yexue tilted her head back and said smugly, "Whether it's appearance, intelligence, or background, I'm at the top. If we're together, it'll be a powerful alliance."

"I don't deny that, but when it comes to love, I value the connection of souls and the resonance of emotions more."

Akizuki Makoto gave a wry smile, thinking to himself that he wasn't going to have a political marriage, and his background was definitely not a plus in a relationship.

He couldn't deny that his looks and intelligence were definitely advantages.

No one dislikes beauty, and no one dislikes outstanding and dazzling people.

If he said he didn't care about appearances at all and only valued inner beauty, that would be too fake.

"You really are stubborn."

Ji Yexue pursed her lips and said, "I can't understand. Your so-called spiritual connection and emotional resonance are nothing but illusory things, completely impractical."

"Is it something ethereal and elusive...?"

Qiu Yuecheng muttered to himself, then asked, "So, according to you, why are you so fixated on me? Is there no one in this world more handsome, smarter, or more outstanding than me?"

"I don't care about that kind of thing. Right now, you're the only one who's accepted by Grandpa and Mom. That's all I know, and besides..."

At this point, Ji Yexue paused, glanced away, and muttered softly, "Isn't there only one idiot like you in the whole world?"

Upon hearing this, Qiu Yuecheng was taken aback and subconsciously turned his head to look at Ji Yexue.

Although Ji Yexue had turned her head to the side, her small ears under her hair were slightly red, giving her away.

Clearly, she was shy, after all, what she said was quite embarrassing.

Both the speaker and the listener felt ashamed.

"..."

Akizuki Makoto fell silent. For a fleeting moment, he had actually found Ji Yexue rather cute.

He's really gone mad to have such thoughts; too many things must have happened tonight, and his mind has gone awry.

Ji Yexue could understand Qiuyue Cheng's words, but she was too embarrassed to admit it. Otherwise, wouldn't that mean she had completely fallen in love with Qiuyue Cheng?

She had always acted as someone approved by the family, and she thought he was good, so she wanted to have him, without much emotion involved.

"Dongzi's all washed up!"

Just as the two of them were too embarrassed to look at each other and fell into a deathly silence, the bathroom door was suddenly pushed open, and Fuyuko, wearing a bear-patterned pajama, appeared with a cloud of white mist.

"...I'm going back now, see you tomorrow."

Ji Yexue seemed to suddenly come to her senses, stood up, said goodbye, and hurriedly walked towards the entrance, not daring to stay any longer.

Her words were so embarrassing that she didn't even know how she managed to say them.

Just thinking about what Akizuki Makoto did when he invited Himeya to the house that day made her heart pound and gave her a strange, tingling feeling.

It was only then that Akizuki Makoto truly broke through her facade, entered her heart, and deeply moved her.

There is truly only one fool like him who would risk everything for her; he is the only one of his kind in the whole world.

Ah, see you tomorrow, good night.

Akizuki greeted Ji Yexue's retreating figure with a greeting, watching her disappear behind the door, but still did not look away.

"Brother, your expression is a little strange."

At this moment, Dongzi walked up to him, looked at his expression, and asked curiously, "What did you and Sister Xue talk about? It's been a long time since I've seen you so happy, brother."

Am I...am I happy?

Akizuki Makoto was somewhat taken aback, wondering if his expression just now was really that strange, since he clearly didn't feel anything at all.

"I'm so happy! Although my brother didn't laugh out loud just now, the corners of his mouth seemed to be slightly upturned, and his face was a little red."

Upon hearing this, Akizuki touched his face and immediately felt a surge of heat in his palm.

"...Tonight, I must have lost my mind; my thinking has gone awry."

Is my brother sick?

Dongzi tilted her head, a thought suddenly occurred to her, and said, "Brother, do you feel more relaxed, both physically and mentally?"

"what?"

Whether it was a misperception or not, after Fuyuko finished speaking, Akizuki Makoto immediately felt as if a warm current had surged through his body, and he felt a sense of comfort.

Even my previously low spirits felt refreshed.

"Hehe~"

Dongzi laughed, gently hugged Qiuyue Cheng, and asked, "Brother, are you feeling any better?"

"I feel better now... but what did you do, Touko? It wasn't some kind of superpower, was it?"

Makoto Akizuki was somewhat suspicious, but if Touko were to use her superpowers against him, the system would definitely detect it and develop resistance.

Dongzi blinked, giving an innocent look, and said playfully, "It's a magical spell, pain flies away~"

"It's a spell to make pain fly away, huh? Well, I have to thank Touko."

Akizuki Makoto laughed and gently stroked Touko's head.

Since the system didn't detect the existence of superpowers, it proves that nothing happened; it was just a psychological effect of the spell.

He would never know that Dongzi's superpowers had evolved to a level comparable to those of a god, capable of altering reality and interfering with everything with a single word.

Not to mention physical or mental discomfort, even life and death can be reversed, but at an unimaginable cost.

Every time she used the power of words, she could feel the price she would pay.

This price, related to the voice echoing in one's mind, is the price of the soul, entrusted to words and transformed into reality.

"Brother, let's go to sleep together? Dongzi is a little sleepy."

Dongzi hugged Qiuyuecheng affectionately, nuzzling her little head against his chest and acting all cute.

"Okay, then I'll sleep with Dongzi."

Akizuki Makoto laughed, turned off the living room light, and went into the bedroom with Fuyuko to rest.

Dongzi clung to him as always, sleeping close to him, while he stroked her head and gently patted her back, like soothing a child, to help her fall asleep.

"Brother, Dongzi is so happy today because she can go to school with you."

“I’m also very happy that Dongzi was able to make friends so easily.”

"Hmm... but I have my brother, that's enough. I don't need friends or anything like that."

Upon hearing this, Akizuki Makoto was taken aback, then smiled helplessly and said softly, "Dongzi, you really are ungrateful. You don't even need your Xue-jie anymore? Isn't she your friend?"

Dongzi pouted and retorted, "Sister Xue is my older sister, not a friend!"

"Then why did you say that having a brother is enough? Don't you want Xue-neechan? What about Li-neechan? And Maki-neechan next door?"

"Well……"

Dongzi hesitated, seemingly deep in thought, and remained silent for a long time.

"...Then Fuyuko has her brother, Yuki-neechan, Rei-neechan, and Maki-neechan, that's enough, she doesn't need anyone else."

"How greedy they are."

Akizuki sighed, thinking that Touko was still as pure as ever.

She probably doesn't understand that social interaction with others is equally valuable.

Saying that no one else needs it except for so-and-so is too extreme and arbitrary.

Just like Maki Shiina, who said, "I will give everything and do anything."

Does she really have that kind of awareness?

Giving everything, doing anything, is a heavy burden; it's not something you can just say casually.

For example, if he said, "Since you're willing to do anything for me, then please stay away from me and keep your distance," Maki Shiina would definitely be unhappy.

Therefore, the phrase "I will give everything and do anything" is a very heavy one. He could not accept Shiina Maki's morbid, obsessive, and twisted feelings.

Human desires are endless; without restraint, one will only harm others.

Shiina Maki's love was an ocean of desire that threatened to devour him completely; he couldn't bear it.

If he agrees, he will never be able to escape her love for the rest of his life.

...Although, he is now like someone trapped in a quagmire, gradually sinking deeper and deeper, unable to break free.

(End of this chapter)