"She's your daughter!"
Faced with this absurd scene, Mori Shinra's voice couldn't help but rise a few notches, as if trying to awaken her consciousness through this method.
However, this effort was destined to be in vain. Mai's mother's attitude grew colder, and her tone suggested she had completely lost her patience.
"I do not have a daughter named Mai. Stop joking around!"
"Who's the one joking here?!"
Shinra seemed to want to say more but was directly interrupted by her.
"Listen, if you want to join my agency, please go through the proper channels. You have a decent appearance, and your chances of passing are high. But with a publicity stunt like this, there's no way I'm letting you through!"
"Wait, who wants to join your agency?" Shinra was having a hard time. He didn't even want his own family's company, let alone an entertainment agency.
He didn't want to be a star!
However, looking at her eyes, which did not seem to be faking, and the emotions spreading from her, he knew with certainty that her earlier question, "who is this Sakurajima Mai?", was by no means a joke. She was genuinely asking who this person was, and it was because she truly didn't know, not because of anger or sarcasm.
"Right, the email! Since you were able to come here, you must have seen that email, right?"
"The email? If you're talking about this one, after I show it to you, this inexplicable farce today will be over, won't it?" Mai's mother had had enough of this bizarre entanglement and decided to issue an ultimatum.
She took out her phone from her handbag, opened it, and showed the screen to him.
"...Why?"
This question came from Sakurajima Mai, who was peeking from the side.
Her mother, of course, could not hear this voice. She just held up the phone, while Mai stared blankly at the content on the screen.
The content was exactly the same as the one she had shown him before, not a single word changed.
The sender's name was also clearly written as 'Mai'. There was nothing strange about it, neither from her perspective nor his.
But it was different for her mother. At this moment, she also said with some confusion, "The sender is unknown. But I remember specifically putting this appointment in my memo, and I even squeezed out time for it, pushing back several important meetings... What's going on?"
From her words, it was clear that she really couldn't see those two words.
The name 'Mai' on the phone seemed to have been forcibly blocked by some mysterious power, to the point that her mother was completely unable to effectively recognize it.
And her previous act of specifically clearing her schedule to come here proved that she had, in fact, known the sender was her own daughter.
It was just that at some point before arriving at the appointed place, she had forgotten Mai. It wasn't just that she couldn't see or hear her, but... she had completely and utterly forgotten her.
What kind of power could make a mother forget her own child?
He didn't know, but he clearly realized that Mai's problem was far more serious than he had thought. If it were just being unobservable, at least it proved that she had once existed.
But now... the world was erasing her existence.
Her memories, her experiences, the people and things related to her—everything could cease to exist.
And there was nothing she could do about it.
"To think it could go this far..." he unconsciously voiced his inner thoughts. The supernatural phenomenon surrounding her had completely exceeded his original estimations.
"Yes, to think it could go this far."
Her mother, however, picked up on his words. She looked at the boy before her with a cold gaze. "This self-recommendation is very novel, but at least consider others. You should go and get some experience in the real world, then try again."
With that, without waiting for his reply, she turned and left the coast.
"Try again, huh..." Mori Shinra's eyes began to flicker. He wondered if he should wait until her state ended and then ask her mother out again to ask about her impression of what happened today.
He could use that as a control to better understand the current situation.
But before that, he had something more important to do.
"Are you okay?"
He asked, looking at the somewhat crestfallen Sakurajima Mai.
Her reaction was clearly a beat slower. It took a good while before she slowly shook her head. "I'm fine."
Her voice sounded as if she could cry at any moment, not at all like she was fine.
"How could you be fine like this..." he said, walking in front of her.
"..."
She lowered her head, not replying.
Seeing this, he didn't know what to say either. After all, no matter what he said now, it would be like rubbing salt in her wound.
"Let's go get something to eat."
Because of the appointment, neither of them had eaten. The original plan was to find a nice restaurant for dinner after she had finished talking with her mother, but who could have expected something like this to happen...
But they still had to eat.
He wouldn't let her leave at a time like this. It wasn't for the sake of continuing the date or anything, but because he felt that if he let her go, she definitely wouldn't eat tonight.
That wouldn't do. People are made of iron, and food is steel. If you don't eat properly, there will be problems.
Especially at a time like this, the feeling of fullness from food could effectively alleviate the impact of negative emotions.
"I..." she started to say she didn't want to eat right now.
But after seeing his concerned gaze and remembering what she had promised him, she finally pursed her lips and nodded lightly.
He didn't ask a stupid question like 'what do you want to eat.' When you know your companion is in a bad mood, making them make a choice is clearly not a wise decision.
So he directly took her to a highly-rated seafood restaurant. Considering her poor appetite, he didn't order too much, just a few signature dishes and a seafood congee.
The food was served quickly. During that time, he asked the waiter for another set of cutlery. The reason was simple: because they couldn't see Mai, his table was only served one set.
However, she didn't seem to care about this. Even when the dishes, with their appealing color, aroma, and taste, were placed in front of her, she had no reaction.
Looking at her dazed appearance, he could only take it upon himself to serve her a bowl of the seafood congee. He cleared his throat and said:
"Since it has come to this, let's eat first."