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

Honestly, with Miyajima Eriko's attitude being so cold, he was really worried he wouldn't even get through the door today.

After all, the reason he chose was quite flimsy. With just a little thought, or a glance at his house, anyone could tell he was lying.

But now that he's inside, there's no point in thinking about it anymore.

To make his lie seem more convincing, Asano Makoto thanked her and headed straight for the bathroom, looking very urgent.

When he came out of the bathroom, he planned to strike up a casual conversation and take the opportunity to stay.

But before he could speak, Miyajima Eriko spoke first, "Now that you're alright, please go home, Mr. Asano."

"Uh..."

Asano Makoto was stunned for a moment, then immediately realized that Miyajima Eriko was giving him the boot.

But how thick-skinned was he? He didn't plan to give up his purpose for coming this time.

A smile appeared on his face as he said gently, "Are you in such a hurry to get rid of me, Eriko? Yuta isn't home right now anyway, shouldn't you be feeling bored?"

Upon hearing this, Miyajima Eriko instantly became alert and immediately questioned, "Mr. Asano, what do you want!?"

Having experienced the previous two dreams, she was now starting to feel some fear.

Because every time in her dreams, she would do that kind of thing with Asano Makoto... that kind of thing that only people with very close relationships would do together.

The thought of herself being spanked and tickled by Asano Makoto in her dreams, and her body reacting to it, made her blush with shame and feel a little absurd.

It was precisely because she and Asano Makoto were too intimate in her dreams that she was now really afraid, afraid that she might have developed some feelings for Asano Makoto that she shouldn't have.

After all, there's an old saying that dreams are a continuation of reality.

And in just one week, she had dreamed of Asano Makoto twice, each time doing those shameful things in her dreams, wouldn't that mean that in reality, she also felt something for Asano Makoto...?

So recently, she had been putting on a very cold appearance and deliberately distancing herself from Asano Makoto, hoping to keep her distance from him.

The reason Miyajima Eriko's reaction was so strong at this moment was actually for the same reason.

In her current state of constant tension, Asano Makoto's words, which had no other meaning and were simply intended to chat with her as before, likely contained some other meaning.

Even the kind smile on Asano Makoto's face now seemed somewhat malicious in her eyes.

On the other side, after hearing her question, Asano Makoto was about to explain that he had no ill intentions.

But just as he was about to speak, a prompt suddenly sounded in his mind.

Chapter 49: Miyajima Eriko-san, you wouldn't want...

[Miyajima Eriko's favorability -5.]

Hearing this prompt in his mind, the smile on Asano Makoto's face froze.

Originally, his plan was to chat casually to open Miyajima Eriko's heart, and then take the opportunity to ask the reason.

He didn't expect her reaction to be so strong, directly backfiring on him.

The painstakingly accumulated favorability was reduced by five points at once, and Asano Makoto couldn't help but feel a little sad.

But he quickly calmed down and immediately waved his hand to explain to Miyajima Eriko, "Don't misunderstand, Eriko, I'm not planning to do anything to you, it's just that I'm a little bored at home alone, so I wanted to find someone to chat with."

Thinking of the favorability he had just lost, he immediately decided not to change the subject and instead directly stated his purpose for coming this time.

"Why do I feel like you've been very cold to me lately, Eriko? Did I do something wrong to upset you?"

He put on a puzzled expression and asked Miyajima Eriko like this, then bowed very sincerely and said in a sincere tone, "If that's really the case, then I hope you can tell me, and I will definitely apologize to you."

Seeing his sincere actions, Miyajima Eriko's face finally softened slightly, and she slowly shook her head and said, "No, I haven't been cold to you, Mr. Asano, and you haven't done anything to make me unhappy."

Speaking of this, she paused slightly, then put on a somewhat cold appearance and said in a serious tone, "I just think that our relationship shouldn't be close enough for us to be alone together late at night, right?"

Hearing this, Asano Makoto smiled wryly and asked, "I don't have any ulterior motives, I just want to be ordinary friends with you, Eriko, is that not allowed?"

Miyajima Eriko was silent.

In fact, she had always known that all of this was because she was afraid of developing feelings for Asano Makoto that she shouldn't have, and had selfishly decided to distance herself from him.

And Asano Makoto had done nothing wrong. He probably really didn't have any special feelings for her, as he said.

But there was nothing she could do about it.

Miyajima Eriko had already thought it through clearly.

In any case, as a woman with a boyfriend, she shouldn't have too close a relationship with Asano Makoto, and even more so, she shouldn't and couldn't have any feelings for him that she shouldn't have.

So she was determined to actively distance herself from Asano Makoto, no longer have deeper contact with him, and keep her distance from him even if it meant losing his friendship, nipping that wrong feeling in the bud.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Asano, this is really not your problem, but I still think we should maintain our current relationship, it's better for both of us."

Asano Makoto sighed deeply, looked directly at Miyajima Eriko, and said with sincere and sad eyes, "But... why? I just want to be friends with you, Eriko..."

Listening to these words filled with doubt and incomprehension, and seeing his sad eyes that were enough to make people feel heartache, Miyajima Eriko suddenly softened, and even the cold expression on her face didn't hold up for a moment.

But soon, perhaps having made up her mind, she gritted her teeth and put on that cold appearance again.

Although this almost only happened in an instant, Asano Makoto, who had been staring at her, still noticed her series of facial changes.

Good, there's still hope...

Thinking this, Asano Makoto couldn't help but secretly breathe a sigh of relief in his heart, and then began to walk forward slowly.

Noticing his movement, Miyajima Eriko was stunned for a moment, then realized what was happening and asked fearfully, "A, Mr. Asano, what are you doing?"

However, Asano Makoto did not answer her question, but instead continued to approach her slowly but firmly.

Miyajima Eriko subconsciously took a step back, but before she could take two steps, her back touched the wall.

But even if she didn't hit the wall now, it wouldn't really matter.

After all, the room was so big, no matter how well she could run, where could she run to?

Therefore, having no way to retreat, she could only cling to the wall behind her, looking at Asano Makoto approaching slowly with a look of horror.

Finally, Asano Makoto came to Miyajima Eriko's front.

He placed his hands on the wall on either side of Miyajima Eriko's body, trapping her inside like a cage, leaving her nowhere to escape.

Miyajima Eriko crossed her arms in front of her chest, curled up into a ball, and tilted her head tightly against the wall.

At this moment, she only felt that Asano Makoto was like a stranger, and might even do something terrible to her in the next second.

So, feeling extremely scared in her heart, she subconsciously begged, "Asano... Mr., please, please don't..."

However, Asano Makoto was not planning to do anything in the first place. He simply asked, "Miyajima Eriko-san, do we really have to make things like this between us?"

His tone was sincere and sad, making Miyajima Eriko want to say something subconsciously: "Mr. Asano, I—!"

However, she was interrupted as soon as she opened her mouth.

Asano Makoto's lips drooped into a sad curve, and he sighed with a sad expression, "Please rest assured, Miyajima Eriko-san, as I said before, I will not do anything to you now."

"I just hope you can understand one thing, and that is that the reason I rented the house to you is because I consider you my friends."

"And in this Tokyo, my apartment, if you don't live in it, there are plenty of people who will."

Hearing these words, Miyajima Eriko was stunned for a moment, then subconsciously widened her eyes and looked at Asano Makoto.

Although he still had that somewhat sad expression, and couldn't see anything unusual, Miyajima Eriko still saw his intentions.

He was threatening her.

Yes, he was threatening her, threatening her with the house.

After realizing this, Miyajima Eriko's first reaction was shock.

She did not expect that Asano Makoto would actually threaten her.

Could it be that his previous polite appearance was all an act?

Miyajima Eriko didn't know the answer to this question, and even if she really knew, what could she do?

Faced with Asano Makoto's threat, what could she do?

There was nothing she could do.

Because she and Yamada Yuta had no money to rent another house.

Of course, after getting back the deposit, the money they had on hand was not really enough to rent other houses.

So the meaning of the sentence "no money to rent another house" is actually that there is no money to rent a house with such good conditions as the current one.

In Tokyo, Asano Makoto's apartment is definitely one of the top ones, and the fee he charges is only 100,000 yen, which is one-third of the price of apartments of the same level.

Such a good house cannot be found anywhere else.

And Yamada Yuta would never rent those cheap rental houses or studio apartments in order to let Miyajima Eriko live a comfortable life.

He would definitely look for a house with conditions similar to Asano Makoto's apartment.

But in that case, even putting aside the fact that they don't have enough money now, Yamada Yuta would have to bear at least 300,000 yen in rent every month.

At that time, the money he earns every month would only be enough to pay the rent and living expenses, and he wouldn't be able to save a single penny, and buying a house in Tokyo would be even more out of reach.

Moreover, because of his machismo, he would not allow Miyajima Eriko to go out to work, so his pressure in the future would definitely increase sharply.

Miyajima Eriko didn't want this.

She didn't want to drag Yamada Yuta down because of her personal affairs.

Obviously, having a conflict with Asano Makoto and being kicked out of this highly cost-effective apartment would be a very dragging thing.

In fact, after being brought to Tokyo, Miyajima Eriko had always felt very guilty, feeling that she had dragged Yamada Yuta down.

Because she had never worked, and the things she had to do every day were just staying at home to cook and clean.

And in the eyes of Japanese women, these were things they were supposed to do.

So Miyajima Eriko felt that she had hardly helped Yamada Yuta at all, and had put all the pressure of earning money on him alone.

Under such circumstances, Miyajima Eriko was even more unwilling to drag Yamada Yuta down.

In fact, it was precisely because he saw through her thoughts that Asano Makoto had deliberately mentioned this matter just now.