My childhood sweetheart is Nishimiya Glass

Chapter 296 Scream
"Then let's sign up too."

Shoko didn't look away until Ayumi Ajitani disappeared around a corner.

"Uh-huh."

Following the signs, the group walked to the end of the line where three or four groups were queuing to register.

"How will we be divided into groups later?" Takagi asked, puzzled.

Without hesitation, Tsuna pointed to Shoko and himself: "Let's continue with the groupings that the class president just made when we went out to explore. Shoko and I, you and Nishikata."

Fearing she might refuse, he added, "Besides, it's so late, and I'm worried about you two girls being together. I'm not comfortable with Nishikata and me being in a group."

"Row."

"Uh-huh."

"No... no problem."

Seeing that no one had any objections, Tsuna patted Nishikata on the shoulder. When Nishikata looked up, he saw Tsuna looking like he wanted to say something but hesitated. Before he could ask anything, he was interrupted by the staff.

"How many?"

The plastic folding table was covered with a white cloth stained with yellow, and the staff member wearing a faded blue quilt was smoking a pipe.

His face was covered in cheap white powder, and there was fake blood on his right cheek. Behind him stood a handwritten price list.

“Four of you.” Tsuna pointed to the other three.

"You all know about pairing up, right?"

"I understand." Tsuna nodded, and then, ignoring Nishikata and Takagi's attempts to dissuade him, he paid the registration fees for all four of them at once.

"You can get a mystery reward if you walk to the exit in 30 minutes."

After receiving a flashlight and a crumpled map, and listening to the staff's quiet explanation of the background story, and learning that there were fluorescent road signs and checkpoint stakes, Tsuna and Shoko were put inside.

He then stopped Nishikata and Takagi, saying, "You'll have to wait ten minutes before you can go in."

"Uh-huh."

As Tsuna led Shoko inside, he didn't forget to turn back and give Nishikata a look.

"Nishikata-kun, don't worry, I'll protect you." Takagi noticed that Nishikata had been silent since the start of the queue and mistakenly thought he was scared.

“…” Nishikata didn’t refute, but nodded with his ears turning red. He was still pondering the meaning behind Tsuna’s look before he went in…

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Dusk turned the maple leaves a dark purple, and the surrounding leaves rustled in the wind.

Tsuna could clearly feel the hand holding his hand gradually tightening.

"Shoko-san, there isn't such a thing as—"

The wind chimes hanging on the tree directly opposite were suddenly shaken by a staff member, interrupting Tsuna's words of comfort. However, neither of them reacted much and continued walking forward according to the map as usual.

"..."

"What the hell?" The staff member in the tree looked speechlessly at the two people walking away. "That girl looked so nervous, why didn't the sudden noise scare her?"

"Tsuna, what did you just say? I didn't hear you." After walking a distance, Shoko finally mustered up the courage to ask in confusion.

"..."

Tsuna shook his head helplessly: "It's nothing, I just wanted to comfort you, but it seems I don't need to."

It's often said that the background music plays a significant role in horror movies; if you can't hear it, you hardly feel any fear.

Besides the darkness, there are also occasional small noises from the staff to scare people, but as long as they don't suddenly appear in front of him, he can guarantee that they won't scare Shoko at all... Tsuna tapped the yellow road sign on the tree trunk with his flashlight: "There's a checkpoint 500 meters further north."

Shoko clutched the crumpled map, the highlighted route blurred by sweat: "But we saw this tree twenty minutes ago."

"Boom..."

Gang tapped her on the head: "Don't scare yourself, okay? These trees all look almost the same."

"Oh..." Shoko nodded, covering her head with a pitiful expression.

During those five or six minutes, apart from being a little nervous and scared at the beginning, she didn't feel any fear at all later on.

First, someone was nearby; second, she had taken off her hearing aid...

Now she communicates with Tsuna solely through lip reading, using the faint moonlight and a flashlight to translate.

The two arrived at the third checkpoint. The dry branches rustled under their feet, and suddenly a flock of crows took flight from the woods.

Taking advantage of this, Shoko closed her eyes and crashed into Tsuna's arms. There were small, makeshift surveillance cameras nearby, so she didn't dare to do anything too outrageous...

The innocent Shoko never even considered things like sneaking a kiss when it was dark and she was scared, then making an excuse that she was frightened or it was an accident, or suddenly hugging him tightly.

"It's a thrush." ​​A-Tsuna chased the flock of birds with his beam of light. When the beam swept across the tree trunk, Shoko suddenly froze—the twisted burl looked like a crying face in the light and shadow.

"This way." Tsuna noticed her unusual behavior and naturally took her cold hand.

The smell of humus grew stronger, and Niu Zi stumbled along, his steps uneven, when he was suddenly tripped by a tree root.

Tsuna's arm muscles tensed instantly, and a muffled laugh came from the chest she bumped into: "Watch where you're going."

Moonlight filtered through the tree canopy, scattering like silver flakes, accompanied by the sound of a stream in the distance.

Just as Shoko was about to cheer when the flashlight beam swept across the wooden post with the red ribbon tied to it, a terrified scream suddenly came from behind her.

"what!!!"

"What's wrong, Tsuna?" Shoko asked curiously when she saw him suddenly turn around and look behind him with a serious expression, but she didn't dare to look back.

"N-nothing." Tsuna shrugged. "I just heard Nishikata scream and was curious about what happened to him."

"..." Shoko was a little speechless at Tsuna's composure. "Should we go back and take a look?"

"No need, there's no danger here, and we don't even know where they are now." Tsuna shook his head.

"If we turn back now, we'll miss out on that mysterious reward."

"Hmm..." Shoko hesitated for a few seconds on this matter, but then chose the latter and went with Tsuna to wait at the exit.

On the way back, Tsuna tied their wrists together with the rope from his belt. Shoko stared at the back of his hand with its distinct knuckles and muttered, "He's not an elementary school student."

The hooting of an owl swept overhead, and she instinctively moved closer to the source of warmth. The moonlight cast long shadows of the two of them.

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"How are Takagi-chan and Nishikata doing?" Ayumi asked curiously as she watched the two calmly emerge from the forest.

Tsuna let go of Shoko, letting her go chat with Ayumi Ajitani, while he turned around and went to the staff to return the flashlight map and collect his reward.

"They should be out soon." Shoko put on her hearing aid and sat down on the chair next to her. "I just heard Tsuna say that he heard Nishikata scream."

"Huh...?" Ayumi Ajitani looked at her in surprise, "It's a test of courage, shouldn't it be Takagi-chan screaming if anyone's going to scream?"

Shoko shrugged: "I don't know. Tsuna was talking about Nishikata's scream. Anyway, I didn't hear it clearly."

"Never mind, it's not important. They'll be out soon, we can ask them later." Ayumi Azuya waved her hand. "The most important thing now is to see what your mystery reward is."

(End of this chapter)