284 Just Who Are You? Why Have You Come Here!? (1/2)

After washing up, Saki went to the kitchen to cook breakfast.

As Mayuzumi's good friend, she had stayed over here countless times in the past, and the same could be said for cooking breakfast. She already knew where everything was.

A few seconds after she started cooking, she heard footsteps approaching.

When Saki turned around, she saw the manga author Mayuzumi behind her, still wearing pajamas.

”Saki…” Mayuzumi mumbled, looking weak and teary-eyed.

When she saw Mayuzumi's state, Saki stopped cooking and headed towards her friend. Mayuzumi walked to her and hugged her tightly, letting her friend support her.

Saki gently patted Mayuzumi on the back.

”It's alright,” she consoled. ”It's just a dream; everything's fine now that you're awake.”

Mayuzumi continued to tremble. Mayuzumihugged her good friend tightly and sniffled gently, like a young child who had been frightened but was trying to overcome their fear.

The two of them simply hugged each other for a while. Only after Mayuzumi had finally stopped shivering did she release Saki.

Saki also released Mayuzumi. ”You should go wash up. Breakfast is almost ready.”

”Okay…”

Mayuzumi nodded and turned around to go to the restroom.

Saki inwardly sighed as she watched her friend.

Mayuzumi started having nightmares two weeks ago, on the second night of the school festival.

At first, she just claimed to have some slight insomnia, but then Saki noticed that something was off. It was only when Saki asked her seriously about it did she learn about the severity of the situation.

Mayuzumi had started having nightmares every night since that day, and the nightmares kept getting worse.

She went to go see a doctor and had some medicine prescribed, but it was ineffective.

Why did this begin?

All Mayuzumi said was that on the first day of the school festival, she coincidentally ran into a male classmate of hers from college and fainted when she came face-to-face with him.

Had this incident activated her subconscious fear and cause her nightmares to begin?

But when she met him, they only exchanged a few sentences, and they never even saw that man again afterwards. Even if there was some fear, it should have dissipated by now.

However, Mayuzumi's condition was still worsening.

Saki was extremely worried.

All she could do was to accompany Mayuzumi as much as she could and hope that the situation would get better.

'But if things keep getting worse…' The editor was quite concerned.

It didn't take long for her to finish cooking breakfast.

Saki brought the food to the dining table.

Saki returned her greeting. ”Harano called me just now, and said that he was coming over to have an important face-to-face discussion with me regarding his novel.”

”Harano-kun… is going to come here?” Mayuzumi blinked in surprise. ”What could be so important that it needs to be said face-to-face?”

”I don't know.” Right as she said this, the doorbell rang.

'It's probably him,' Saki thought. 'He arrived rather quickly.'

Before she opened the front door, she looked through the peephole and saw that it was indeed Seigo Harano.

”Good morning, Editor Yoshizawa.” Seiji smiled when he saw Editor Yoshizawa open the door, and greeted her politely.

”Good morning, Harano. Please come in.” Saki invited him inside.

”Sorry for the bother.”

”We're currently eating breakfast. Would—”

*Boom!* A sudden muffled sound interrupted her words.

Mayuzumi, who was sitting at the dining table, reflexively looked at the source of the sound.

She saw a man wearing a gray cap and a black jacket on the veranda! His face was obscured by a breathing mask and sunglasses.

Mayuzumi was shocked by this sight.

This… was supposed to be the twelfth floor!

'How did he… how is this…'

*Shatter!*

While the manga author was still dazed, the black-jacketed man strode forwards and crashed through the locked window, entering the room!

Without stopping, he walked towards her and reached out with his hand…

”Mayuzumi!!” Saki shouted loudly. She was similarly astonished by this scene, and after she shook off her shock, she rushed over to Mayuzumi.

However, there was someone who was faster than her.

Seiji cast the [Body-Strengthening Spell] on himself, charged at the intruder with amazing speed, and punched!

*Smack!!*

The black-jacketed man's body was distorted by this punch. He flew back through the window again and came to a jarring stop against the veranda's guardrail.

It seemed that he was about to topple over the guardrail, but he managed to catch the edge of the guardrail with his hand and prevent himself from falling.