Madam, believe me, how can I be a minotaur?

But how could she, alone and without support, survive in this city with its extremely high cost of living?

So, Asano Makoto lent his apartment to Miyajima Eriko for free under the guise of friendship, with the only condition being that she cook him one meal a day and clean his apartment twice a week.

And so, the two gradually became familiar with each other and seemed to truly become friends.

Later...

...

Miyajima Eriko suddenly woke up, breaking free from her memories.

Why, why did it turn out like this…

Thinking this, she couldn't help but close her eyes in pain.

She didn't want to believe that the events in this nightmare were real, but this dream was just too real.

Whether it was Yamada Yuta's peaceful yet pale face lying in the coffin, or Asano Makoto's broad and sturdy chest, everything was incredibly clear.

It was as if those future events would really happen.

Author's Note: Sebu Oni has a humble request, which is that all readers who have read this far can maintain a consistent reading schedule from today until next Wednesday.

Even if you really want to let the chapters accumulate, please make sure to click on the latest chapter and flip through it a few times!

This is really important to me because it will affect the upcoming recommendations for this book.

As long as I can get the desired recommendation, this Sebu Oni will directly start the bonus chapter mode!

...

There will be another update tonight, but it might be a bit late, around one o'clock in the morning.

You can read it after you get up tomorrow morning, because there will be another update around five or six in the morning, and you can read them together then.

In addition, I currently owe everyone two more updates, which Sebu Oni has kept in mind and will pay back next week.

That's all I wanted to say, and I am really grateful for the support of all the readers.

Chapter 53: Offending Before the Funeral Hall

Miyajima Eriko finally woke up.

No matter how cruel the things that happened in the dream were, real life still had to go on.

So, after tidying herself up a bit, Miyajima Eriko left home at 8:10 AM sharp, as usual.

This was her daily time to take out the trash and buy groceries.

Usually at this time, Asano-kun should also be...

Just as Miyajima Eriko was thinking this while closing the door, a door opening sound came from next door.

Miyajima Eriko turned her head to look and found that the person opening the door was indeed Asano Makoto.

Perhaps because of the conflict yesterday and the dream last night, when Miyajima Eriko noticed Asano Makoto looking at her, she subconsciously raised her right hand to greet him.

However, before she could speak, Asano Makoto, seeing that it was her, turned his head indifferently and left, taking the elevator downstairs alone.

Miyajima Eriko stood there, staring blankly at his departing figure.

Didn't we agree that when we met again today, we would go back to our previous relationship?

But… why?

Miyajima Eriko didn't have mind-reading abilities, she didn't know what Asano Makoto was thinking, and naturally couldn't figure out this question.

But for some reason, she suddenly thought of the time she had spent with him since they met, and the incredibly real dream she had last night.

In the dream, Asano Makoto accompanied her through the most difficult time after losing Yamada Yuta, and even lent her his apartment for free, and never did anything inappropriate to her during their time together, only occasionally praising her.

Just like he was before…

Miyajima Eriko was suddenly stunned.

Yes, from beginning to end, Asano-kun hasn't changed, he has always been like that.

Just like he said yesterday, he has always just regarded her as a friend and doesn't plan to do anything to her.

Even if he occasionally said some complimentary words to her, he was simply looking at her with an admiring gaze, without any lust beyond the bounds of friendship in his eyes.

He didn't do anything wrong, from the beginning it was she who dreamed in the dream that he did those excessive things to her, and then she developed feelings for him that she shouldn't have, and then she decided to distance herself from him on her own.

Thinking of this, Miyajima Eriko suddenly felt a little regretful, regretting the words she said yesterday, regretting her decision to alienate Asano Makoto, and regretting making him feel disappointed.

I'm going to lose him…

The moment she realized this, Miyajima Eriko felt her heart suddenly clench into a ball.

She dropped the trash bag in her hand, quickly ran into another elevator that hadn't gone down yet, pressed the button and rushed downstairs.

During this obviously not long time, Miyajima Eriko felt as if she had lived through a century.

After the elevator finally reached the first floor, she rushed out of the apartment building, constantly turning her head to look around.

No, no… still no.

After searching around, Miyajima Eriko still couldn't find the figure she wanted to see.

Realizing that the other party had already left, she just stood there, feeling her heart throbbing in pain.

She didn't know why this was, but she knew that it must be abnormal, she shouldn't feel heartache because Asano Makoto was alienating her.

After a long time, Miyajima Eriko silently walked back to the apartment building, then took the elevator back upstairs, picked up the trash she had just dropped, and went downstairs again.

Taking out the trash, buying groceries, going home to do housework, everything seemed no different from before.

But if someone were to observe her carefully at this time, they would notice her unfocused eyes and the movements of her hands that stopped from time to time.

No one knew what she was thinking, perhaps even she herself didn't know.

...

After working out at the gym all day, Asano Makoto returned home at seven o'clock in the evening.

He sat on the sofa and recalled what happened last night and this morning.

Actually, the dream last night wasn't entirely constructed by himself.

His initial plan was just to use the Dream Demon skill to map reality into the dream, then give Miyajima Eriko a prerequisite to continue alienating himself, and then use some simple guidance to make Miyajima Eriko's future lead to an ending she didn't want to see.

However, before he could start to manipulate it, the Dream Demon skill had already deduced a tragic ending based on the conditions he had given, which was the ending of Yamada Yuta's death.

If he had known that things would turn out like this, then Asano Makoto would definitely not have done this, but would have thought of some other way to resolve this incident.

But by the time he noticed the abnormality, the dream had already been constructed and couldn't be changed.

In order not to waste the opportunity, he could only make the best of a bad situation by attending the funeral and taking the opportunity to comfort Miyajima Eriko, increasing his weight in her heart.

At this time, Asano Makoto thought of the "accidental encounter" with Miyajima Eriko again this morning.

This time, he uncharacteristically didn't greet her, but instead deliberately pretended to be distant and left the apartment directly.

In fact, if it were yesterday, before Miyajima Eriko could speak, he would have taken the initiative to greet her, and then tried his best to eliminate the gap between himself and her.

But while waiting for Miyajima Eriko to fall asleep last night, he suddenly figured it out again.

He felt that perhaps he shouldn't always be so proactive, and that sometimes deliberately distancing himself might be more effective.

So he just took advantage of the situation in the dream to carefully take care of Miyajima Eriko all night, brushing 9 points of favorability as a guarantee, and then decided to let the other party cool off a bit for the next two days.

If the effect is good, he will continue to play hard to get, if the effect is not good, then it doesn't matter if he takes the initiative at that time.

Facts have proved that the wisdom of the ancestors is indeed useful.

After deliberately alienating Miyajima Eriko when they met in the morning, the other party's favorability began to rise steadily, unable to stop.

In just one morning, Miyajima Eriko's favorability increased by a full 10 points, and her depravity value also increased by 10 points.

This harvest was even higher than the favorability he brushed by taking care of Miyajima Eriko all night in the dream last night.

...

After sorting out today's gains, Asano Makoto went directly back to his room and lay down on the bed.

Because of what happened last night, he suddenly developed some fear of the "Dream Demon" skill, so he didn't plan to continue using this skill to do anything tonight, but prepared to go directly to sleep and rest.

However, to his surprise, even though he didn't use the Dream Demon skill card today, after falling asleep, he actually entered Miyajima Eriko's dream again, and it was still the dream that the "Dream Demon" skill had deduced on its own last night.

Asano Makoto immediately became vigilant and began to look around.

Yamada Yuta's black and white photo, the coffin, the white ribbons and big flowers.

Yes, that's right, this is indeed the dream from last night.

But why can't I move today?

Asano Makoto finally noticed the abnormality.

Clearly before in the dream, he could freely transform the dream according to his own ideas, but now he couldn't even move.

Just as he was confused about this, and even anxiously thought that there was some new problem with the Dream Demon skill card, he suddenly felt a blur before his eyes.

When his vision recovered again, a figure suddenly appeared in front of him—it was Miyajima Eriko.

Seeing the familiar figure, Asano Makoto couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief, and even subconsciously forgot the fact that he was in a dream, wanting to ask Miyajima Eriko what the current situation was.

However, before he could speak, Miyajima Eriko, wearing a black mourning dress, took the initiative to hug him.

Then she stood on tiptoe and kissed him.

Chapter 54: A Small Gift

When Asano Makoto woke up in the morning, his mind was still blank.

But he quickly understood one thing.

Miyajima Eriko, without his guidance, dreamed of him in the dream, and even took the initiative to get closer.

In other words, Miyajima Eriko's favorability towards him was even higher than he had imagined, and that idea of deliberately alienating her before had completely disappeared.