Let's do it again, Yukino.

Although he was in a haunted house, it seemed that the white hem of his dress gave him great courage, and just as he was about to greet Xiaoxue beside him.

"Waaaaah~~~"

The white figure turned around.

Facing the strange boy who grabbed his clothes,

immediately

It was still accompanied by a piercing scream.

"!!!"

At that moment, Chunri realized that she seemed to have followed the wrong person, and her whole body trembled slightly.

I guess I still don't quite fit into this haunted house environment...

Just as Haruhi, who hadn't thought things through enough, was about to throw a punch at the "white ghost" without a second thought, a soft hand in the darkness grabbed Haruhi before he could strike and gently pulled the boy back to her shoulder.

"You idiot, sneaking in all by yourself, and you're so scared."

That cool, clear voice rang in my ears on a spring day.

Like a clear spring.

Caught off guard, Chunri bumped into Xiaoxue, who appeared behind him, in the dark haunted house.

"hiss----"

"Xiaoxue, are you alright? Did you hurt yourself anywhere? Let me see if there are any wounds where you bumped yourself."

"I'm not as delicate as you think, let go."

Looking at Chunri, who, despite being somewhat uncomfortable in the haunted house, still rushed up to her and showered her with concern despite the group of "staff," Xiaoxue's face flushed slightly in the darkness, and she secretly turned her pretty face away.

"Let's get out of this creepy place. I'll never come back to this kind of place again."

"No one forced you to come in. You sneaked in on your own, and now you're complaining about this? Do you think it's all my fault?"

"..."

They had only met for two minutes, but Xiaoxue's haughty tone made Chunri feel as if she had returned to the scene in the park last night.

After all, this period was also a time when Xiaoxue was not very comfortable, so Chunri tried her best not to say anything that would upset her.

"Hey, Xiaoxue, you should rest well these next few days. Let's try to avoid places like haunted houses. If you like to go out when we get back to Chiba, I'll take you to a haunted house in Chiba."

"You're so long-winded... It's so annoying. If you're scared and want to go out, then go out first."

Xiaoxue snorted, but Chunri still held her hand tightly.

It wasn't out of tenderness, but rather because the two had grown accustomed to holding hands.

"Anyway, the person I am now is the real Yukino Yukinoshita. If you, Haruhi, don't like it, you can go find the Yukino you like."

"You're joking again, Xue. Can we stop arguing? Have you forgotten that you still need to help Ebina on this school trip?"

Seemingly forgetting the tense atmosphere of the haunted house, Kasuga smiled and said to Yukinoshita.

"...That's true, let's go then."

In the end, Xiaoxue listened to Chunri's advice and ran towards the key point.

In the dark, cold, and blood-stained haunted house, Haruhi and Koyuki ran past the corpses and dead samurai toward the finish line.

"Speaking of yesterday, Xiaoxue, why did you leave me behind and go by yourself?"

"Because I feel uncomfortable."

"Drink more hot water?"

"...Idiot, I'm ignoring you."

Xiaoxue seemed too lazy to explain anything, and rolled her eyes at the black sky.

"Finally, we've reached the exit. I'll never come to a place like this again, even if you kill me."

As light gradually appeared in their field of vision, the dark atmosphere seemed to be breaking, and Haruhi breathed a sigh of relief as she faced the haunted house she was about to leave.

Standing not far away, beside the brightly lit exit, Xiaoxue, whose steps had slowed to a halt at the last moment, turned her back to the light and looked towards the spring sun.

"The destination you're looking for is right behind me, Ah-Qing."

The girl gazed at the spring sun and spoke softly.

For some reason, Chunri felt that there was a different meaning behind Xiaoxue's words, but he didn't think about it. Before Xiaoxue could finish speaking, he grabbed her and ran towards the exit as fast as he could.

"Let's go out together, let's go."

"……Um."

Time began to turn again.

……

…………

On the bus from Ninna-ji Temple to Ryoan-ji Temple,

By chance, he met Hayama and Hachiman's group, and at Yumiko's kind invitation, he joined Hayato's small group.

"It seems things aren't going too well, regarding the matter between Himeko and Sho-kun."

Meanwhile, Yuihama, sitting in the corner, seemed a little downcast and muttered something softly to Koyuki sitting next to her.

Compared to the request from Haruhi yesterday, Yuihama is now more concerned about the matter between Ebina and Kebu.

However, the fact that things didn't go smoothly wasn't entirely Yuihama's fault; or rather, it was only to be expected that Yuihama couldn't handle it.

Tobe's naturally optimistic and outgoing personality is probably why Ebina doesn't like him. Moreover, Ebina has said before that she doesn't want to change her current life, even though in the eyes of those around her, Ebina, with her yaoi fangirl persona, is a rather strange girl.

Although upon closer inspection, Hina Ebina is actually quite cute.

"Well, Yui, you've done your best, there's no need to push yourself so hard."

"But after all, Himeko is also someone's good friend, and they want to do everything they can to help Himeko."

Xiaoxue gently brushed a few strands of hair that had fallen by her ear, her voice low and soft: "Many times, you can't accomplish everything just by doing your best. Trying too hard will only backfire."

"But, Himeko..."

"Don't worry, I'll handle this request for you, Yui."

Yukino nodded at the still uninterested Yui.

She already had some solutions in mind, and she didn't need the help of that self-destruct maniac, Hachiman Hikigaya.

Let's just treat it as a **.

The final **.

……

.........

"Haruhi, keep up with me, or if we get lost in this temple, Hiratsuka-sensei will be frantically searching for us again."

Inside Ryōan-ji Temple,

After paying the entrance fee and entering the building, Yumiko looked at the huge pond that appeared before her and saw that Haruhi's figure was starting to fall behind again. Without any mercy, she stood in front of her and shouted at Haruhi.

"Here it comes."

Just now, Yui and Yukino disappeared somewhere, leaving only the remaining people, Kasuga, and Hachiman Hikigaya who followed the main group.

Proceed along the approach path, which is surrounded by low walls made of woven bamboo.

"Did you have a fight with Yukinoshita?"

Haruhi walked up to Yumiko, and soon heard her quietly asking him in a voice that only the two of them could hear.

"?? Why would you think that, Yumiko?"

"If you hadn't been arguing, you wouldn't have been caught by the dormitory manager yesterday, right? Yukinoshita isn't the kind of careless girl, is she?"

Yumiko smiled slightly, whispering a secret that only the two of them could hear.

"This is the first time I've ever met a guy who delivers sanitary napkins to his girlfriend. At least last night, I still think you're quite special sometimes."

"Stop it. I don't want to hear anything about those three words for the next few days."

After all, it was a bit embarrassing for Haruhi, a normal guy, to hear about sanitary napkins from a girl.

"They really did have a fight? Although it was somewhat expected."

Seeing that Haruhi no longer offered any rebuttal, Yumiko, who had only made a casual remark based on her sixth sense, suddenly chuckled.

"I guess so. Well, in a sense it wasn't really an argument, but rather a very subtle kind of cold war, and even I don't know where the cold war started."

"Whose fault do you think it is? Yukinoshita's, or yours?"

Yumiko asked again.

"I don't know. If I did, I wouldn't be having such a headache."

Spring sighed and shook her head slightly.

The two arrived at a stone pavilion. Yumiko sat on a stone chair, while Hayama and the others gazed at the scenery of Mirror Pond and did not notice Yumiko and Haruhi for a moment.

"To be honest, I'm quite envious of you two, Kasuga-kun and Yukinoshita, even when you're arguing or in a cold war."

The pool was rippled faintly.

Yumiko turned around, looked at Haruhi standing behind her, and said softly.

"At least the person you like has always been by your side, hasn't she? Although Yukinoshita isn't exactly my friend, I could tell what kind of person she was at first glance. She's cold on the outside but warm on the inside. No matter how sarcastic or cynical she is, her heart will never change. If she had chosen you, Kasuga-kun, as her lover from the beginning, perhaps she would never have changed her mind in this lifetime."

"Although I still don't like Yukinoshita."

Yumiko added one last sentence, her gaze gentle.

Why do I feel like Yumiko, you seem to care a lot about what's going on between me and Yuki?

Haruhi looked at Yumiko, who was analyzing the story between herself and Yuki, and said something half-jokingly and half-seriously.

But as soon as those words were spoken, Yumiko greeted him with a queenly gesture, waving her hand with an air of authority.

"Of course I care, because the relationship between Haruhi Kasuga and Yukino Yukinoshita is a miracle, a miracle that I, Yumiko Miura, have believed in since that moment in Chiba Village?"