"Don't use that ability on me," Sakurajima Mai warned.
"Even if I agreed, would you believe me?" Mori Shinra felt she was overthinking it. There was no visible sign when he used Emotion Perception. Even if he really didn't use it, would she believe him?
Trust is like a ghost. It exists if you believe in it, and it doesn't if you don't.
Since the result would be the same in the end, he might as well just use it freely, however he pleased.
After hearing this, Sakurajima Mai thought about it and actually found it quite reasonable. Even if he said he wasn't using it, would she believe him?
Not a chance.
So she dropped the topic and asked instead, "Why do you call me Senpai?"
"You're a third-year, right? Although we're not from the same school, it's not wrong to call you Senpai."
Sakurajima Mai attended Minegahara High School, which was quite far from his own Sobu High. It was a key high school in the neighboring city of Kamakura.
Of course, although it was said to be quite far, it was actually only about a twenty-minute train ride.
(Note: The real-life prototypes of Sobu High and Minegahara High are actually more than ninety kilometers apart, and it would take over an hour by the fastest train. For the sake of the plot, the author has shortened the distance with his supreme divine power.)
"Did you investigate me?"
"This information is all over the internet. By the way, I also joined your fan group."
"Do you need my autograph?"
"Sure. I feel like if I sold it, I could definitely get several cream buns for it."
"I'll sign it on your face."
Mori Shinra expressed that he would not accept a reward for no merit and tactfully declined her kind offer.
He asked curiously, "More importantly, I'm more curious as to why I ran into you here, Senpai. Were you looking for me?"
"I live nearby."
That sounded familiar. Shinra was surprised. "Don't tell me we're neighbors?"
"Fortunately, we're not."
Although her home was near the station, it was in the opposite direction from his.
One was to the east, and the other to the west, and the station they were at now was right in the middle.
"Shouldn't the normal response be 'unfortunately'?" Shinra felt that her choice of words might have been a mistake.
"If we lived close, that would be the real misfortune," she said, indicating that her wording was precise, with no misunderstanding.
Clearly, she had underestimated his thick skin. He just said, "So distance creates beauty? I'm enlightened."
"You're enlightened in the wrong way."
"So you really weren't looking for me?"
Sakurajima Mai hesitated for a moment, then said, "Do you have time?"
"At your service, my lady."
"Be normal."
"I have time. Where are we going?"
They found a high-end coffee shop with private booths. After all, she was currently in a state where she was unobservable to normal people. If they didn't find a coffee shop, he would appear to be talking to himself, and might even be mistaken for a mental patient.
I should have brought headphones with me before leaving the house.
That way, even if he was talking to 'the air,' others would just think he was on a phone call.
Interestingly, Shinra ordered two cups of coffee. When the waitress delivered them to the booth, he had Mai take a sip in front of her. However, the waitress didn't seem to notice anything amiss and left directly after serving the items.
From this, it was clear that Mai's current state was not simple invisibility, but something akin to a cognitive shield. In this state, even if she deliberately dropped her cup on the floor in front of the waitress, the waitress would only perceive it as an accident.
After realizing this, Shinra sincerely felt that this ability was a bit too lewd and violent. It was lucky that she was the one who had obtained it. If some malicious person had gotten it, what would happen then?
As a man of integrity, Shinra wished he could take her place.
"So, what is the reason that the dazzlingly popular star, Miss Sakurajima Mai, has been reduced to a state where no one would even give her a second glance, even if she's wearing a bunny girl outfit? Don't go away, we'll reveal the answer after this commercial break."
"Are you some kind of TV station announcer?" she said, speechless.
He paid her no mind. "So when did this situation of yours start?"
She was silent.
"Is it inconvenient to answer?"
"It's not that."
She organized her thoughts and then spoke slowly. "I noticed something was wrong last Thursday."
Thursday... counting the time, that was six days ago, and only three days before he had run into her last Saturday.
If that was the case, then he had to overthrow his previous guess that she had ended her acting career because of Puberty Syndrome.
"That day, on a whim, I went to the aquarium in Enoshima."
"To the aquarium on a Thursday? Alone?"
"Is there a problem?"
"Did you go with a lover?"
"I've never had one of those."
"Oh, right. You did mention that."
A playful smile appeared on Mai's face. As if to deliberately tease him, she said, "Does it bother you that I'm a virgin?"
But just as she finished speaking, her face began to turn red, all the way to her neck. She seemed to be shy because of the word 'virgin,' even though she was the one who said it first.
"Not at all. I'm very happy."
"Hmm?"
"Because it proves that my idol is a good woman who respects herself," he said with a straight face.
His serious demeanor, in turn, made her not know what to do. She turned her face to the side in a slightly childish manner and quickly brought the topic back on track.
"I-is that so... Anyway! I noticed that even though the aquarium was very crowded, with many families, not a single person recognized me."
"At first, I thought it was just my imagination. After all, it's been two years since I stopped my acting activities, and most people were paying attention to the fish."
Wrong. If a beautiful girl of her level was there, there's no way anyone's attention would be on the fish, unless it was a mermaid.
"But it became clear the moment I entered a coffee shop on the way home, because no one greeted me with 'welcome,' and no one showed me to a seat."
"The customers who came in after me all received the proper service. I tried to talk to the staff, but got no response. The other customers didn't notice me at all."
Her expression grew heavy, and her tone became low.
"I was stunned. I ran back home as if fleeing."
"However, when I arrived at the station, I found that everyone seemed to be able to see me again. They all had a 'is that Sakurajima Mai?' look of surprise on their faces. I was still concerned about it afterward, so I went to investigate if the same thing would happen in other places."
Shinra rubbed his chin. "So you wore the bunny girl outfit?"
"If I dressed like that, I would definitely be stared at, right?"
"You seemed to be enjoying the staring quite a bit at the time."