Perhaps realizing her attitude had been a little off, Mai Sakurajima fell silent.
She walked forward quietly, not saying where she wanted to go, and Ryuichi followed beside her. The two of them simply wandered without any particular destination.
Ryuichi didn't mind. He had nothing to do today anyway, so killing time like this wasn't a problem.
Just then, the growl of an engine rumbled behind them—a motorcycle speeding their way.
Ryuichi instinctively stepped aside. Mai, however, seemed lost in thought and didn't react in time.
The rider couldn't see her at all, and the bike was heading straight for her.
In a flash, Ryuichi reached out without hesitation and yanked her into his arms.
The motorcycle roared past, brushing close enough for the wind to whip their hair before it disappeared down the street.
Ryuichi still had his arm around her slender waist. When he looked down, their eyes met.
They stared at each other for a moment before Ryuichi calmly let go and said, his tone casual, "You know, this is actually pretty dangerous."
Mai nodded lightly. "Yeah… it's more troublesome than I ever imagined."
"Thanks," she added quietly.
Ryuichi waved it off. "No big deal." Then he continued walking, Mai keeping pace beside him.
"Other than stuff like that," Ryuichi said, glancing sideways at her profile, "you must run into a lot of inconveniences, huh?"
Mai's gaze drifted toward a bakery not far ahead. "Yeah. Not being able to buy the cream bread from that place has been pretty rough."
Her voice was calm, almost joking, but they both knew she was only using the simplest example to downplay how bad her situation really was.
Ryuichi looked at the bakery, then suddenly took Mai by the hand and led her inside.
"Two cream breads, please," he said to the clerk.
The woman behind the counter smiled brightly. "Of course! Just a moment."
A minute later, Ryuichi was handed two neatly wrapped buns. The clerk hadn't so much as glanced in Mai's direction, completely oblivious to her presence.
"Here," Ryuichi said, handing one of the breads to her.
"Thank you."
"You're welcome. That'll be two hundred yen—cash or transfer?"
Mai blinked, utterly dumbfounded. "...Huh?"
Seeing her expression, Ryuichi gave her a playful wink. "What? After all the effort I've put in today, treating you to lunch isn't too much to ask, right?"
Mai sighed, exasperated. "Does it count as treating someone if you decide after I've already paid?"
"As long as someone else is footing the bill, it's a treat," Ryuichi said, grinning smugly.
She rolled her eyes. "Next time, I'm paying."
So basically, she's saying she'll let this one slide.
"Fair enough," Ryuichi said with a shrug.
The two of them eventually reached the riverbank. They stood at the railing, quietly watching the water flow by as they ate their cream bread.
Across the river, an enormous screen on the side of a high-rise building was playing a new commercial—and the person in it was none other than Mai Sakurajima.
On-screen, she wore a flowing white dress, her smile bright and carefree as she stood in a sea of flowers. The dress billowed around her as she cheerfully recited lines for a matcha drink commercial.
Ryuichi didn't bother commenting on the ad itself. He was more interested in comparing the Mai on the screen to the one standing beside him.
To her fans, seeing this in person would probably be a dream come true.
He had to admit, Mai was stunning on camera—but the real thing carried a more mature, sharper aura that the screen could never capture.
Beside him, Mai stood frozen, her eyes fixed on the screen as if mesmerized.
Ryuichi pursed his lips.
…Whatever happened to her, the frustration in her eyes was impossible to miss.
"It's strange," he murmured lazily after swallowing the last bite of his bread. "The commercials are still airing, your work's still out there… and yet nobody remembers you."
Mai didn't respond. She just kept staring at the screen, lost in thought.
Guess I'll have to push a little harder.
Ryuichi narrowed his eyes slightly and said, "I don't know what you're running from, but you still want to go back to show business, don't you?"
Mai turned toward him slowly. "When did I ever say that?"
"You didn't have to. The way you were looking at that screen gave you away," Ryuichi replied, his tone calm but cutting straight through her defenses.
"I just… happen to take an interest in that sort of thing."
"And maybe you just happen to miss what it felt like to be on set."
…Bullseye.
Mai stared at him, eyes wide. Can Devils read minds now or something? she thought.
As if reading her mind yet again, Ryuichi said, "No, I don't have telepathy. You're just easy to read. You really don't want to try going back? I bet there are still people waiting for you."
"…You're annoying, you know that?"
She said it flatly, but there was heat behind it—he'd struck a nerve.
"Ha. Maybe I'm not human anymore," Ryuichi said with a small smirk, "but you'd be wrong to think I don't understand."
Then, in a softer voice: "It's because of your family, right?"
Yep. Walking straight into the minefield again.
And sure enough, Mai snapped.
"You're so irritating!" she burst out, spinning on her heel and storming up the embankment toward the street.
"Not going to check around the area a bit more?" he called after her.
"I said I'm going home!"
Yep, definitely mad.
Her anger practically radiated off her words.
Ryuichi followed her at an unhurried pace. No matter how fast she walked, he always stayed right behind her, hands in his pockets, completely unfazed.
After a while, Mai realized he was still following. She stopped, turned around, and glared at him.
Looking at him standing there so casually, she couldn't help but feel both irritated and amused.
"Are you a Devil or some kind of clingy stray dog?" she demanded.
Ryuichi just smiled, completely unfazed. "So… have you cooled off yet?"
"I wasn't angry."
Ah, the classic denial.
He couldn't help but chuckle to himself. She really is kind of cute when she's like this.
Ryuichi cleared his throat. "Look, I'm not trying to reopen old wounds. I just think we should be honest with each other."
Then, realizing how that sounded, he quickly added, "I mean honest emotionally, not, you know, the other kind of 'honest.' Don't get the wrong idea."
Mai gave him a deadpan look. "You could stop talking whenever you want, you know."