Master of the Machete Style Manga

Chapter 147 Half of an 18-year-old boy's body is that of a pervert.
Ken Sakamoto is engrossed in drawing storyboards, and the storyboard for episode 33 is nearing completion.

Just then, the studio doorbell rang.

Keiko Kaji quickly stood up and went to open the door.

"I'm coming."

When she arrived at the door, she saw the image of two familiar girls on the smart lock screen.

Keiko Kaji opened the door and saw Mio Natsume and Haruna Mikazuki.

"Mio-chan, Ms. Mitsuki Haru, you're back!" Keiko Kaji smiled and stepped aside to let them in.

As soon as Mikazuki Haruna entered the room and saw Sakamoto Kenzai, she immediately glared at him angrily.

Mio Natsume didn't do that. She first nodded politely to everyone in the studio before walking to Ken Sakamoto's desk.

"Jian, you're finally back! Where did you go today?"

Natsume Mio's voice was very soft, but Sakamoto Ken still detected a subtle hint of questioning in it.

He didn't stop writing, but simply replied, "I went out for a walk to find inspiration."

"Looking for inspiration?" Natsume Mio's tone rose slightly. "Where have you been looking? And why haven't you replied to my messages?"

"what?"

Sakamoto Ken put down his pen, picked up his phone from the table, and opened Natsume Mio's chat interface. All seven messages on the screen were then marked as read.

"Sorry, sorry, you know I usually keep my phone on silent mode." He put his phone down and said, "It's normal to miss messages occasionally."

Ken Sakamoto had already prepared this explanation, or rather, he didn't need to, since he had used it many times in the previous game.

"By the way, today I mainly met a reader who recognized me," Ken Sakamoto added. "We chatted for a while, and he even took me on a tour of my studio."

"Readers?" Natsume Mio and Mikazuki Haruna asked almost simultaneously, their voices filled with doubt.

"Have you reached the point where people recognize you outside?" Mikazuki Haruna pouted, her tone full of sourness. "I've never been recognized."

Ken Sakamoto shrugged and said, "Maybe it's because your manga isn't as popular as mine."

"Tch!" Mikazuki Haruna, having been hit where it hurt, snorted defiantly, "Just you wait, I'll definitely surpass you someday!"

Mio Natsume ignored the popularity contest between Haruna and Ken Sakamoto; she was more concerned with another issue.

"Did that reader come and visit and then leave?" she asked tentatively.

"Of course," Sakamoto Ken answered crisply.

"Oh, right!" Mikazuki Haruna suddenly realized a crucial issue. "How could you just casually give the readers the studio's address? What if it gets leaked?"

Mikazuki Haruna's interruption directly disrupted Natsume Mio's train of thought.

Upon hearing this, Natsume Mio quickly said, "That's right! Ken, this is too dangerous! What if some extreme readers come and harass us?"

"Don't worry, it won't happen." Sakamoto Ken waved his hand and said, "I have a good eye for people, otherwise I wouldn't have brought him along."

Natsume Mio was still worried, so she turned to look at Kaji Keiko.

“Kaji-san!” She went straight to the most crucial question, “That reader…you met him, right? Was he male or female?”

The moment the question was posed, the studio fell silent.

Although Ryushin and the other two kept their mouths tightly shut, they all slowed down their drawing movements and quietly perked up their ears.

Keiko Kaji was taken aback by the question. She looked at Ken Sakamoto, then at Mio Natsume and Haruna Mikazuki, who both looked nervous, and gave a somewhat embarrassed smile.

“That… is…” Keiko Kaji drew out the last syllable.

"female."

Ken Sakamoto answered decisively.

"A female reader?!"

This time, Natsume Mio and Mikazuki Haruna's voices overlapped, both rising in pitch.

Natsume Mio stepped forward, staring intently at Sakamoto Ken: "Ken! You, you didn't just bring her here because she's a female reader, did you?!"

Ken Sakamoto leaned back in his chair, crossed his arms, and pondered for two seconds, pretending to be deep in thought.

"Hmm...that's true." He nodded. "If it weren't for a female reader, I wouldn't have chatted for so long; I would have just said hello and left..."

"you--?!"

Natsume Mio was so angry that she was speechless for a moment.

"Hey, you bastard, you're not thinking of making a move on that female reader, are you?!" Mikazuki Haruna frowned, scrutinizing him with a critical look. The two girls exchanged another glance, this time with a knowing look in their eyes.

"They say that half of an eighteen-year-old boy is a pervert..." Mikazuki Haruna muttered to herself.

“I think Ken is him!” Natsume Mio immediately chimed in.

Ken Sakamoto shook his head and said in an extremely innocent tone, "It's already quite an achievement for an eighteen-year-old boy to keep half of his body from being a pervert."

Natsume Mio: "..."

Mikazuki Haruna: "..."

Mio Natsume and Haruna Mikazuki were speechless at Sakamoto Ken's words.

Meanwhile, Endo Tatsuya and the other two were desperately trying to suppress their laughter. Tatsuyuki even quickly took out a small notebook from his bag and wrote down what he had just said.

As expected of Sakamoto-sensei!

A role model for our generation!

"Cough cough..."

Natsume Mio coughed heavily twice, feeling her cheeks burning with anger.

On the way here, she had been thinking about how to question Ah Jian.

But now, the whole plan has been disrupted.

She took a deep breath and forcefully steered the conversation back onto the track she had prepared.

"Wait, wait!" Natsume Mio waved her hands repeatedly. "Ken, I actually want to ask you something else."

"Hmm?" Sakamoto Ken looked at her in confusion.

Natsume Mio pursed her lips, took out her phone from her pocket, and opened the photo album.

She opened a photograph and held it up in front of Ken Sakamoto.

"Do you know where this is?"

The photo shows an ordinary-looking public park with a high-rise apartment building in the background.

The moment Ken Sakamoto saw the photo, his pupils contracted sharply, but then immediately returned to normal.

The place in the photo is the public park located downstairs from Ai Hoshino's apartment building.

He had just been in a dream, sitting on this park bench with Ai Hoshihara... conducting an experiment.

Sakamoto Ken was inwardly turbulent, but he managed to keep his face expressionless.

How did Natsume Mio get these photos?
Did she make a special trip there today?

Yes... she did appear in that dream, although she disappeared quickly for some unknown reason, but she must have seen something.

It's okay, it's nothing serious, it was just a dream.

“A public park,” Ken Sakamoto replied calmly.

“Ken,” Natsume Mio stared intently into his eyes, “have you been there?”

Just as Kenjiro Sakamoto was about to answer, Haruna Mikazuki curiously leaned over.

“It’s the place we just went to. I was wondering why you were taking pictures in such a boring place…” Mikazuki Haruna said.

She followed Natsume Mio the whole time today, and when asked, she wouldn't say anything, and kept complaining, saying that she shouldn't have woken her up, even if she had woken her up a minute later...

“These kinds of public parks are all pretty much built by now,” Ken Sakamoto said. “I don’t see it… Why are you asking this?”

"I……"

Natsume Mio opened her mouth, but didn't know how to begin.

She couldn't very well tell everyone that she had a dream in front of so many people, a dream in which Ah Jian and another woman whose face she couldn't even see clearly were together in broad daylight, right on this park bench...

That’s outrageous!

and……

Damn it! Why did I dream about him with another woman?!
Even in a dream, why can't it be that I'm dreaming of Ah Jian and me on a bench, or anywhere else...?

Natsume Mio grew angrier the more she thought about it. She glared at Sakamoto Ken and then glanced at Mikazuki Haruna, who looked completely bewildered.

Pshaw, don't even think about it. You've never even seen it before!

(End of this chapter)