Since the incident in which "Kinoshita Mai took the initiative to call each other's names" happened two months ago, no matter how much Qingto deceives himself and others, he can no longer regard Kinoshita Mai as an "ordinary friend"...

No longer able to regard Kinoshita Mai as an "ordinary friend", the relationship with Kinoshita Mai becomes uncontrollably ambiguous...

In fact, Qingnobo's relationship with Mai Kinoshita during this period has indeed become much closer than before.

Chat content is no longer limited to ordinary daily chores.

I don’t feel like there are more and more slight physical contacts on my palms, arms, shoulders, etc. Of course, these physical contacts are basically unintentional.

Either he touched Mai Kinoshita's little hand when he was taking tea from her hand; or when they were chatting side by side, they were too chatty and accidentally touched each other's shoulders.

Every time the two of them came into physical contact, Mai Kinoshita's cheeks would turn red quickly and her body would bounce away like an electric shock.

Regarding the changes in his relationship with Mai Kinoshita... Qingto has seriously thought about what kind of feelings he has for Mai Kinoshita now.

Qingto feels that his feelings towards Mai Kinoshita should be mostly "friendship".

However, in addition to "friendship", there seems to be a lot more...every time I look into it carefully, I feel my heartbeat speeding up and my chest getting warmer.

Qingdeng is a normal man with quite sound emotions and six desires.

He naturally knows what this emotion is called.

This emotion...is called "like".

From unknown time on, this emotion called "like" suddenly appeared and grew stronger without Qingdeng realizing it. Now, it has grown so strong that Qingdeng cannot ignore it.

"..." Qingto moved the tea cup, which had never lost a drop of tea until now, from his lips and turned his gaze back to Kinoshita Mai.

Kinoshita Mai, who still didn't have the courage to finish the rest of her sentence, was still blushing, her shoulders were hunched up, and her petite body was tense.

Do I want to watch the fireworks display with Ah Wu? - Qingden asked himself in his heart.

Almost in an instant, a firm and powerful answer flashed through Qingdeng's mind.

"...A Wu."

"Eh, eh?"

Kinoshita Mai, who was suddenly called by Aoto, raised her face reflexively and met Aoto's eyes.

Kinoshita Mai becomes bold only when she covers her face with a scarf. Kinoshita Mai, who becomes shameless, forces herself to be shy and invites him to "watch the fireworks display together"... Kinoshita Mai's intentions, Qingnobo doesn't care.

No matter what, I don't want to be disrespectful.

Some words are better spoken by myself as a male.

Qingden took a deep breath.

"Ah Wu, on August 23rd, would you like to watch the fireworks display with me?"

After saying that, Qingdeng paused.

Then he took another deep breath and added:

"Just the two of us will go."

The moment Qingto finished speaking, Kinoshita Mai's delicate body visibly stiffened.

She opened her beautiful eyes wide and looked at Qingden with surprised eyes.

After blinking hard a few times, she gradually showed an emotional face.

"Yeah! Okay!"

The excitement on her pretty face turned into an attached smile at the moment she nodded vigorously.

Qingto felt that Kinoshita Mai's smile was like the sun.

Just by looking at it, I feel that every part of my body is warm.

Being given such a smile at close range, Qingden felt as if his cheeks were getting hot.

"..." Qingdeng silently raised the teacup again, covering his face with the teacup and his palm.

The inexplicable and strange atmosphere that filled the space between Ayoto and Mai Kinoshita suddenly dissipated at this moment.

Instead, there was a weird atmosphere of "if there is a third person present, then this person will definitely want to escape from Ayoto and Mai Kinoshita as soon as possible."

Under the influence of this atmosphere, Qingnobo and Kinoshita Mai looked away in unison.

No longer...or dare not look at each other anymore.

With a reserved expression, Qingdeng frantically raised his cup to drink tea, but there was no shortage of tea in the cup.

Kinoshita Wu lowered her head and eyes, staring at the wooden corridor in front of her knees, and peeked at Qingden from time to time.

Every time she glanced at Qingden, a cute smile appeared on Mai Kinoshita's face.

In just a moment, a sweet smile appeared on Mai Kinoshita's face.

While snickering, she quietly moved her round knees, carefully closing the distance between herself and Qingden.

But at this moment——

"...What are you doing again?"

Wow...

The shop door of Qianshiwu was slowly pushed open...

Kiryu, who was wearing a white turban on his head, a short shirt that was easy for working, and carrying a large suitcase filled with hammers, nails, saws and other items, looking exactly like a carpenter, did not enter the door.

He stood outside the open door of the shop, pursed his lips, and glanced at Ayoto and Mai Kinoshita in the shop with mixed emotions.

Aoto and Mai Kinoshita were shocked by Kiryu's unexpected appearance.

Kinoshita Mai, who had just tried to get closer to Aonto, reacted the most violently.

Just like a cat whose tail was stepped on, she jumped up while maintaining her kneeling posture. She was about 2 centimeters above the ground before her knees landed back on the wooden corridor.

A similar scene...

However, the situation at this time is slightly different from the last time.

In this era, a single young man asks a similarly single young woman to watch a fireworks display together... This kind of thing is indeed difficult to talk about with Kiryu, who has a close relationship with Kinoshita Mai that is similar to that of "grandfather and granddaughter"...

Qingto felt nervous about "guilty as a thief" in his heart. His body immediately tensed up, his eyes wandered, and he did not dare to look at Kiryu.

While feeling nervous, Qingdeng also felt a little shocked.

Although he clearly has the gift of enhanced hearing: "the perceiver of the wind", in the end, he couldn't hear Kiryu's approaching footsteps at all...

"Mr. Kiryu, sir...!" Mai Kinoshita hurriedly adjusted her sitting posture and asked Kiryu quickly in an anxious tone, "When did you come back?"

"You came back just when you shouted, 'Yeah! OK!'"

When he said "Yeah! Okay!", Kiryu pinched his throat and imitated Mai Shimokinoshita's tone just now.

Kiryu’s imitation ability is surprisingly strong!

He is obviously an old gay man who is already 92 years old this year, but he can accurately grasp the pronunciation and intonation of girls' speech.

Kiryu successfully imitated Kinoshita Mai's words with an 80-90% similarity.

Kiryu's vivid imitation... brought a strong mental impact to the thin-skinned Mai Kinoshita.

Kinoshita Mai was stunned for a moment, then her face suddenly turned red, and wisps of steam seemed to float out of her forehead and top of her head.

"So what are you doing this time?" Kiryu focused his attention on Qingden.

I can't hide it, it's impossible to hide it from Kiryu... I'd better just tell them all.

Qingden, who was mentally prepared, cleared his throat vigorously.

"...Boss Kiryu."

Qingden straightened his waist with all his strength and spoke sternly to Kiryu.

"On the day of the fireworks display, I want to take Ah Wu to watch the fireworks."

"Fireworks display? August 23rd?"

"Yes."

"...Are you two going?"

"Well..." Qingdeng's voice got stuck uncontrollably, "Yes..."

"..."

Kiryu stopped talking.

He glanced back and forth at Qingden and Kinoshita Mai with his deep eyes, and then let out a heavy sigh...

"The progress is too fast..."

After mumbling in a voice that even Aoto, who possesses the "Senser of Wind", could not hear clearly, Kiryu finally entered.

"...In this case, please pay attention to safety. There are many people at the fireworks display. Don't come back too late."

Kiryu agreed with Mai Kinoshita and Aoto to watch the fireworks display together.

Kinoshita Mai, who was still immersed in the mental impact Kiryu had just given her, didn't even react.
To be continued...