Let's do it again, Yukino.

In a daze, Chunri remembered that this class seemed to be a history class, and the history teacher, who was fond of the Warring States period and highly praised Oda Nobunaga, was introducing the life and deeds of the Sixth Demon King with exaggerated gestures.

You've already said it so many times, why are you still saying it...?

The boy sitting at the back of the classroom nodded repeatedly, like he was pounding onions, while simultaneously making sarcastic remarks and straining his willpower to keep his eyelids open.

He, who had been paying close attention to the teacher's voice on the podium, began to feel sleepy as the story was repeated countless times.

Before long, he felt his body getting heavier and heavier, and even the strong-willed Chunri could not hold on any longer.

Finally, exhausted, Chunri decided to lower her glasses slightly, so that the black frames obscured her pupils.

I'll just sleep for a little while. I, Fat Tiger, only need five minutes of sleep.

And just as he relaxed and slowly closed his eyes,

With a thud,

A loud noise erupted in the classroom. The history teacher, who was engrossed in recounting Akechi Mitsuhide's betrayal of Oda Nobunaga, was startled by the commotion and dropped the book he was holding.

"what happened?"

His gaze instinctively drifted towards the squad leader, Asakura, but the latter looked on with a mixture of amusement and helplessness towards the last row.

Following the line of sight,

The boy, who had been supporting his head with his hands, lost his head the moment he closed his eyes, due to the influence of gravity and inertia, and slammed it heavily onto the cold, hard tabletop.

The loud noise was the sound of the boy's chin hitting the table.

In the dream, the pain of spring arrived, and in a daze, she stood up from her seat.

"Please, just one more time, please..."

As if she had just seen something in a dream, with her sleepy eyes wide open, Haruhi seemed to involuntarily repeat and murmur.

"Xiaoxue, the child... Xiaoxue, the child..."

His glasses were perched crookedly on his nose, and the boy's expression as he spoke made him look particularly comical. Instantly, some of the students in the class were amused by his appearance, and the dull atmosphere brought on by the history teacher was swept away, filling the classroom with a cheerful atmosphere.

"Kasuga-kun, Kasuga-kun?"

Nagato, who was sitting in the front row before Haruhi, turned around and kindly woke Haruhi up.

"Wake up, you overslept."

"If you are not feeling well, please go to the infirmary to rest for a while. However, the teacher suggests that no matter how important studying is, it should be complemented by rest."

A murmur of laughter rippled through the classroom. Fortunately, the history teacher was a fairly easy-going person, and the boy's performance on the last test had left a decent impression on him, so he didn't make things difficult for the boy who was dozing off in his class.

As if waking from a nightmare, Haruhi didn't hear Nagato and his teacher's voices clearly. He silently looked at his hands, as if they held something terrifying. He took two steps back, still muttering softly in fear.

"Child...child..."

Somewhat dejected, Chunri shook her head, and under the bewildered gaze of Nagato, she left her seat, slowly pushed open the back door of the classroom, and stepped out.

……

…………

In the classroom,

The teacher standing at the podium glanced at him and left without saying a word. After hesitating for a moment, his gaze fell on Nagato in front of him.

"Nagato, could you please catch up with him? If it's just because he's not feeling well, could you please tell Kasuga to go to the infirmary?"

Of the entire class, only Nagato, who sat in front of Haruhi, usually interacted with this boy. At this moment, the teacher could only entrust this task to Nagato.

The short-haired girl nodded almost imperceptibly, put down her book, stood up from her seat, and followed the boy through the back door.

"Continue the lesson."

Looking at the classroom, which had quieted down again, the history teacher spoke loudly.

……

…………

Instead of going to the infirmary, Chunri changed direction and went straight to the rooftop.

He sat slumped in the spot where he used to have lunch with Xiaoxue, his expression as dejected as before, the boy staring blankly at the sky.

Rubbing her hair, Chunri's mind was filled with the image of Xiaoxue telling her on the phone that she was pregnant before the car accident.

The dream I just had in the classroom made Haruhi realize something profound.

Not long ago, he had even tried to comfort Xiaoxue gently, telling her not to take it to heart.

A bitter smile tugged at the corner of his mouth as he sat in the corner, his hands supporting his bowed head.

From that moment on, the seed of self-blame was planted in Xiaoxue's heart, and at the same time, it was also planted in the heart of the boy.

However, due to his humble male chauvinism, he had always kept it well hidden deep inside.

He couldn't help but shake his head, looking up at the azure sky.

really,

Compared to Minor Snow,

A person who clearly can't let go of the guilt they feel for indirectly killing their own child

It's me...

The boy on the rooftop rubbed his hair.

Influenced by negative emotions such as confusion, jealousy, anxiety, longing, and desire,

At this moment, springtime only makes me feel extremely irritable.

That snow woman classmate was just comforted by this boy not long ago.

right now,

Instead, the boy who had originally comforted Xiaoxue retreated into a mental dead end.

…………

"Um, Kasuga-kun, are you here?"

I don't know how much time passed.

Chunri, who was squatting on the ground against the corner of the wall, faintly heard a somewhat familiar voice.

When he looked up again, Nagato's porcelain doll-like face came into view.

"Why are you hiding here, Kasuga-kun? We're in class right now!"

Nagato, supporting himself on his knees, bent down, trying to discern the boy's expression.

"Could you please not bother me right now?"

"But the teacher told me to come find you."

Chunri's voice was a little hoarse. Looking at the expressionless face in front of her, she slightly shifted her gaze.

"Then tell the teacher that I'm not feeling well and don't want to go back to the classroom for the time being."

With a sullen face, although he was feeling somewhat withdrawn at the moment, Haruhi at least didn't show any signs of losing his composure in front of the girl.

"If you're not feeling well, I'll go with you to the infirmary, Kasuga-kun. Hmm? Is it a cold?"

Nagato, not in a hurry to leave, patiently inquired about the boy's clearly troubled mood.

A gentle breeze brushed against the girl's rather long eyelashes.

……

A long silence fell over the rooftop.

Haruhi slowly raised his head. Having controlled his emotions, he looked up and was about to speak to Nagato, who was in front of him, to get rid of him. But the moment his gaze met Nagato's, his calm expression suddenly changed, as if he had seen an incredibly terrifying scene.

He pointed tremblingly at Nagato.

No, to be precise, he was pointing behind Nagato.

"Shizuka!!!"

The boy shuddered. He had been leaning against the corner of the wall, but due to his fear and instability, he ended up lying down in the very edge of the corner.

He stared in disbelief at the figure standing behind Nagato.

The snow woman staring at him with an icy expression.

(P.S.: I'm not asking for votes today. Let me tell you what happened to me today. My editor suddenly messaged me on QQ at noon, saying that I had been reported and that the chapters and the book title needed to be changed. And when I checked, several chapters were indeed taken down.)

Good heavens, I really don't understand. I'm just a nobody author, why are those malicious people targeting me like this? They're reporting my book title and my previous chapters, making this struggling new author unhappy all day. Does my bad mood really make you all so happy?

All afternoon, I was again excitedly changing book titles, wanting to do it again? Another kiss? Another love? Another play? Yukino?

Then they silently deleted and modified the removed content again and again.

Rewrite, revise, rewrite again, revise again, then upload again, and finally it gets rejected again. Damn, it still hasn't passed the review. It's so frustrating.

To be honest, I've been writing slice-of-life novels on Shuke for four years now, and I've written almost four or five novels. I can't guarantee that you've all read them, but if you've read any of the slice-of-life novels on Shuke, you've definitely read two or three of them (I'm not some kind of pillow author!). But even if some of you have read my slice-of-life novels, I'm still a struggling author. I've finally decided to turn over a new leaf and start from scratch, like those new authors.

I first tried writing two books under this pseudonym. One was a fanfiction based on Arknights, and the other was a Cthulhu slice-of-life story. However, I guess I'm not good at writing battle-themed stories, so no one read them in the end. Before the plot even started, I stopped writing and started this third book, which is my old specialty.

Compared to other new authors of the same period, I think I've worked pretty hard. In the first week, the book didn't do very well either, ending up with only two or three hundred favorites and a few complaints per page. The book review section was mostly filled with comments like "first blood" or "second blood." However, I have one major difference from other new authors: I know that the most important thing during the new book period is the update frequency and reader engagement. If the plot isn't good enough, make up for it with updates. For new authors, this is a clumsy method, but it's also the most effective one. Unless your writing is really so bad that it's unreadable, or your style is genuinely unsuitable for Shuke, the update frequency will still have an effect.

So I update, I update like crazy, two updates a day? Not enough? Three or four updates a day. The readers are happy, and I'm happy when I see more and more people reading.

Because I never considered myself a gifted author, while other new authors were slowly updating 40,000 words or even abandoning their projects altogether, I had already written 100,000 or 120,000 words. So even if you're envious, my current achievements are not that great. What right do you have to be envious?

Maintaining 10,000+ views every day—can anyone without patience and perseverance keep doing that? I always ask you for recommendation votes and such, simply to keep readers engaged with this book. It's that simple.

Do you know what? I added my editor on QQ for a week and he didn't reply. If it weren't for the problems with my previous books' royalties, and the editor hadn't added me, I, an old lazy bum, don't know when this book would have been signed.

Damn it, now look what's happened. I was just focused on writing and updating in peace, and I got reported again. I can tolerate being called some kind of trashy author who's like a body pillow, but now they're only thinking of reporting me?

I've been writing this book for almost ten days, and you're only now thinking of reporting my book title and content? Excuse me?

My mood is completely ruined!

）

Chapter Forty-Six: You and Me Under the Lemon Tree