Chapter 18

Keigo Atobe must have instructed her in advance that the car was parked some distance away from Akimi Nakamori's home, so she got out of the car and walked for a while before getting home.

"Hey, Qiushi, why did you walk back? Didn't you ask the driver to pick you up?" As soon as they got home, Zhongsen's mother held her red face in her hands with a distressed look, "Look how hot you are."

"It's okay, Mom. I could use some exercise."

"I never thought I'd hear the word 'exercise' from you one day," Nakamori's mother said with a look of relief. "By the way, Qiushi, your classmate just brought your bag back. The boy was tall and strong, and he looked very safe. Did you..."

"No!" Nakamori Akimi, who knew what his mother was going to say, quickly denied it. He was tall and strong, could it be Huadi? "Mom, don't think too much, he has a girlfriend."

Her girlfriend's style was comparable to that of Atobe Keigo, so she didn't dare to even think about him...

"That's right. Such a good boy would have been picked on by other girls long ago." Nakamori's mother said regretfully, "Then Akishime should go up first. Come down with Riie to eat later."

"OK."

Nakamori Akimi agreed and returned to her room. Just as she put down her bag, her phone suddenly rang with a message: someone had requested to add her as a friend.

"Who is it?" Nakamori Akimi took a look, "Fuji Shusuke?"

How did he know her account number? Never mind, this was a good way to save face when I asked her out later.

So Nakamori Akimi agreed and changed the remarks.

[First Act: Man Suicidal for Love: (Cat Peeks Out.jpg)]

A message came quickly from the other end, and the emoticon was so cute that it didn't look like him.

[Qiushi: How did you know my account number?]

[First Act: The Man Who Suicided for Love: I asked Atobe for it, and he gave it to me very readily.]

[August 1: I'm sorry, Qiushi, I said a lot of bad things today. I didn't mean to doubt you or Atobe, but I'm a lesson learned. I've been thinking about this for a long time now, and I fully realize my mistakes. Please forgive me, okay?]

Although what you said was sincere, she was also a lesson learned before taking the blame, and I really cannot agree with it.

But you still have to pretend to be nice for the sake of face.

[Qiu Shi: No, actually, I was a bit too extreme today and said such harsh words to you.]

Nakamori Akimi typed these words with an expressionless face. They were too fake and not real enough.

[August 1: Since we both feel we were wrong, why don't we just let go of the past and start over?]

Are you some kind of painful hero in a youth novel? Who's telling you to let go of the past? Have we started over? Let's start over!

Nakamori Akimi took a deep breath, calmed down, and kept his composure. He would go see him again in a week.

Qiushi: Zhou Zhu, you should know that there's a deep rift between us. Although it's invisible and intangible, we know it's there. We can't start over unless we resolve it. Let's just try to be friends first.

Well, now this really has the flavor of youth pain literature.

[First episode: If this is what you want, then I am willing.]

Yes, done!

"I didn't expect that I have a talent for PUA."

Nakamori Akimi stared at the chat box, a smug grin on her face. Then, the Student Council's Planning Committee Chairperson suddenly sent her a message.

Planning Committee Chair: Nakamori-san, I've prepared the hiking plan. Please review it and hand it over to the president. (Please.jpg)

(Takao Mountain Activity Plan.pdf)]

Hiking? She had almost forgotten that this was waiting for her.

[Nakamori Akimi: (received.jpg)]

Nakamori Akimi opened it and took a look. It was densely written, with ten pages in total. Just looking at it was suffocating. She still remembered that she spent half an hour reading it last time.

The content remained the same: a day of hiking, including fishing and a picnic. The schedule was so packed that Nakamori Akimi wondered if he would survive the next day.

Nakamori Akimi clicked the forward button with shaking hands. Then she closed her computer and began to think deeply.

No, she used to be exhausted just by climbing a mountain. If she really followed this plan, she would have to go to the road.

"Or else, just pretend to be sick and ask for leave."

Nakamori Akimi silently calculated what kind of minor illness she would get by then.

[Ms. Nakamori, please do not deviate from the main storyline, otherwise there will be random punishment.]

When Nakamori Akimi heard the system prompt, his face froze. Tsk, I forgot about this——

"Knock knock." Suddenly there was a knock on the door, "Miss, it's time for dinner."

After a few days of using this extremely embarrassing name, Nakamori Aki has completely adapted to it.

"Got it. I'll be right down."

Nakamori Akimi packed up her things quickly, and as she was about to go out, something seemed to flash through her mind.

Did she forget something?

For some reason, she had a bad feeling in her heart.

And this feeling of unease hit her hard when school started the next week.

"Nakamori, are you really psychic?"

Nakamori Akimi discovered it early in the morning. Fujita, who was sitting next to her in the aisle, had been stealing glances at her during the entire morning reading session. His face was filled with unconcealable curiosity and a strange excitement.

Sure enough, as soon as the get out of class was over, she couldn't wait to talk to Akimi Nakamori.

"ha?"

Shocked by the sudden outrageous rumor, Nakamori Akimi opened his mouth wide with a look of "What nonsense are you talking about?"

She thought he was asking about Fuji Shusuke, after all, they were seen by many people after school last Friday, but she didn't expect that he would ask about this.

"Really? It's all spread like wildfire in the class. Zuo Qiu said she saw you talking to the air with her own eyes."

She said she had forgotten something, and it turned out that she had forgotten Zuo Qiu!

Zhongsen Qiushi subconsciously looked in Zuoqiu's direction, and happened to meet her cautious and furtive gaze. Seeing Zhongsen Qiushi looking at her, Zuoqiu shuddered and turned her head quickly, mumbling something in her mouth.

It's not a ghost-chasing rune or something...

A good girl was frightened like this, and the culprit pursed his lips guiltily.

Let her think about how to scientifically and reasonably explain her behavior that day?

Ah! Got it.

"What kind of psychic communication is that? That's not true. Actually..." Nakamori Akimi pretended to be troubled and confused. She lowered her voice and leaned close to Fujita's ear, "I'm having a seizure. I have schizophrenia."

"What?!" Fujita couldn't bear it anymore and stood up suddenly, shouting loudly, which almost covered up all the noisy sounds in the class.

The people who were already paying more attention to this side did not hide it at all, and their eyes wandered around the two of them. The only ones in the class who didn't pay attention to them were probably Jibe who was swimming in the ocean of knowledge and Zuoqiu who was immersed in chanting scriptures.

Feeling everyone's gaze, Fujita blushed instantly. She hurriedly sat down, biting her lower lip embarrassedly, "Sorry, Nakamori, I didn't mean to attract everyone's attention. I, I..."

Seeing that she was about to cry, Nakamori Akimi quickly comforted her, "It's okay, Fujita, I know you didn't mean it."

It didn't matter to her whether it was intentional or not. It was fake anyway, and when the world returned to normal, no one would remember it at all.

"Anyway, don't worry about it. As for Zuo Qiu, she probably doesn't want to talk to me right now. I'm sorry for scaring her, so could you please tell her for me?"

"It's not a big deal! I'll explain it to her later when no one is around!" Fujita was deeply moved by her resilience despite her disability and firmly held her hand. "Don't worry, I'll keep this secret!"

It seemed that Fujita had completely believed her words.

Nakamori Akishime silently gave herself a thumbs up in her heart. With her acting skills, she should have joined the drama club.

But what she said about confidentiality, well... that's debatable.

As expected, there's no such thing as an airtight wall, let alone one as small as a classroom. Within three days, Nakamori Akimi felt the entire class knew about it, and word even reached Atobe Keigo.

"How come I didn't know you also have schizophrenia?"

During the student union working hours that afternoon, Nakamori Akimi brought a document that needed to be reviewed by Atobe Keigo. She was waiting for Atobe Keigo to sign when she suddenly heard him say something out of the blue.

"Well," Nakamori Akimi scratched his face awkwardly, "Zuo Qiu accidentally overheard me talking to 5744. She seemed to think I was psychic and was so scared she started chanting. Anyway, they won't remember it after I return to normal, so I made up an excuse to avoid scaring anyone else the next time I talk to 5744."

Thinking about it this way, she could use this as an excuse to talk to 5744 openly. She really is a genius!

"That's a good idea." After Atobe Keigo signed his name in a flamboyant manner, he finally looked up at her. "How's your conversation with Fuji lately?"

What the hell, this statement gives me the feeling of her dad asking her how her relationship with her boyfriend is going!