I am only one world away from Yukinoshita.

"It's okay," Kiyora said, covering his head with his hand, not knowing why he suddenly had these symptoms. "It's probably low blood sugar..."

In that moment of darkness, Qinglai seemed to vaguely see a few images.

Familiar, yet strange.

What was that just now?

Seeing Yono's undisguised concern, Kiyoyori suddenly felt a little embarrassed.

"I'm fine, don't worry."

My headache inexplicably improved, as if nothing had happened.

Looking at the face in front of him that was 80 percent similar to Yukino Yukinoshita, Kiyoyori suddenly felt a sharp pain in his heart.

Who is that figure lying on the ground?

Haruno? Or Yukinoshita-senpai?

Kiyoshi instinctively grabbed Yono's wrist.

"Kiyo...?"

The close proximity caused both of them to experience a kind of hallucination.

"welcome!"

The sensor at the door suddenly went off, startling the two people who were staring at each other.

"The desserts here are said to be delicious! It was recommended by Kaori-senpai!"

"Yes, yes, if you can't see Kaori-senpai, you come here to stake out. Yuko, are you planning to become a paparazzi in the future?"

"Huh?! What are you saying?!"

"Hey, stop arguing for a second, let's take a look at the menu together. Wow! This strawberry cream cake looks delicious! What do you think, Mizore?"

"If Nozomi likes it, I like it too..."

Kiyoshi's bewildered gaze briefly met the four people who had just entered, and another suffocating awkwardness washed over him once again.

P.S.: All the parts have arrived, but the device hasn't been shipped yet, sob sob. The author only has one day off this week, but has to go to the countryside to sweep the tombs, and then go back to work right after. Why is this happening to me...?

Chapter 340, Part 02: Can You Let Me Go?

"Tachibana, what a coincidence, you're here too."

Yoshikawa greeted Kiyori first, then turned his gaze to Haruno beside Kiyori, "Did I disturb you?"

Although it wasn't intentional, Kiyoyori and Haruno's actions did seem somewhat ambiguous to onlookers. Yoshikawa offered a friendly reminder but didn't say anything more.

"Ah..." Kiyoyori immediately distanced himself from Haruno, releasing his grip on her wrist as if electrocuted. "It was me just now—"

"Oh my, isn't this Mizore-chan? It's been a long time! Haven't seen you since that fireworks festival, have you?"

Haruno suddenly interrupted Kiyori loudly, changing the subject, while Mizore, whose name was called out unexpectedly, belatedly realized that she saw Kiyori and Haruno.

“Long time no see,” Mizore paused for a moment, as if only then realizing who was speaking to her, “Miss Yukinoshita.”

"You're being too polite. Just call me Haruno."

Mizore, feeling somewhat uncomfortable, hid behind Umbrella Tree.

Yoshikawa's gaze suddenly sharpened, shifting between Haruno and Mizore. "Does Mizore know this... Yukinoshita-san?"

It wasn't that she was particularly perceptive; it was just that the person who called himself Haruno had a rare surname and a face that was more than 50% similar to Haruno's. It was hard for Yoshikawa not to connect Haruno with Yukinoshita.

“Yes,” Mizore replied softly, “My parents have business dealings with the Yukinoshita family.”

"Under the snow, could it be..."

Umbrella Wood blinked in surprise.

"Does anyone know my younger sister, Yukino? She's also a second-year student at Soubu High School."

Even Kiyori had to admire Haruno's superb social skills. She paid for the four of them in a way that was neither forceful nor easy to refuse, and successfully changed her self-address from Yukinoshita-san to Yukinoshita-senpai.

“I’ve been keeping an eye on Soubu High’s brass band, after all, I’ve formed my own band before,” Haruno said, resting her chin on her hand, her smiling expression making it easy for people to be wary of her. “Although it wasn’t as big as a proper brass band.”

When the topic of music came up, several members of the wind instrument section became interested.

"Does Yukinoshita-senpai also play musical instruments?"

"Hmm, I know a little bit."

Yang winked playfully.

"Speaking of which, the drummer who performed on stage with Yukinoshita at the end of this year's cultural festival, shouldn't that be Yukinoshita-senpai?"

Nakagawa has an exceptionally good memory.

"We actually found out!" Haruno feigned surprise, then wrapped her arm around Kiyora's neck, who was sitting silently beside her. "Kiyora and I met because of music!"

Out of consideration for others, Kiyoyori resisted the urge to push Haruno away.

“I remember…” Yang Nai deliberately feigned a thoughtful expression, “Among the third-year students who retired this year, there should be some of my juniors from back then, for example—”

She glanced at Kiyori, who was poking at the cake with her head down, and said, "Tanaka Asuka."

Kiyoyori suddenly stopped moving and looked at Haruno, who was still counting names on her fingers, with some disbelief.

Does Asuka know Haruno?

But... how could this be?

“Oh, right,” Yang said, her eyes crinkling as she looked at Yoshikawa sitting directly opposite her, “I remember there was a girl in the trumpet club named Nakagaku Kaori, right?”

“I invited them to join my band, but they declined,” Haruno said, showing no sign of disappointment. “Looking back, their decision was definitely the right one.”

Kiyoyori didn't know why Haruno brought up Asuka and Kaori at this time.

“What happened last year was the same,” Yang Nai said in a low voice, as if she wanted everyone to hear her, “If we had just followed the script, everything would have been fine.”

Her voice turned icy cold in an instant, cold and ruthless.

"What did you just say—?"

Kiyoshi suspected that he had just been hallucinating.

However, Haruno seemed not to hear Kiyoyori's voice at all. "But this year's competition was really cool! I went to listen to it live. I believe you will definitely achieve even greater glory next year."

Yoshikawa accepted Hino's words with neither humility nor arrogance, showing no outward signs of emotion.

"And one more thing—"

"Yono!" Kiyoyori interrupted Yono forcefully, grabbing her wrist with one hand and his eyes full of warning. "That's enough."

After a brief eye contact with Kiyora, Haruno's lips curled into a triumphant smile. "I'll have to trouble you all to take care of Kiyora~ Consider today's cake my thank-you gift~"

Kiyoshi, unusually, did not speak first to refute, "Seniors, she and I still have some things to say to each other."

“Then we’ll take our leave,” Yoshikawa said, clearly not intending to stay any longer. Although she didn’t know what Yukinoshita Haruno was up to, she could sense certain hints in her words. “Tachibana, see you at school.”

Kiyoshi finally let out a deep breath after all four of them had left the dessert shop.

"What exactly do you want?!"

Kiyoshi suddenly felt her headache, which had been getting better, start again, as if a nerve was throbbing. Haruno's words from earlier kept replaying in her mind, vaguely piecing together a few fragmented images.

"It's nothing," Haruno stirred the milky-smelling black tea with a small teaspoon. "I just wanted to give Kiyora a little motivation, especially after the school trip. Both the brass band and the service club should have reached a stable period, right?"

"So you're planning to openly cause trouble?"

Kiyoshi disliked the other person's behavior and also disliked being led by the nose by the other person.

"Why did you bring up last year's events with Yoshikawa-senpai and the others?" Kiyoyori pressed his finger to the bridge of his nose and closed his eyes, thus missing Haruno's momentary worried gaze. "I'm sure you know that this matter is a secret within the entire brass band."

“I really hope the brass band can develop better, after all, Soubu High School is also my alma mater,” Haruno’s answer was as flawless as ever, both in terms of her words and her expression, “It was just a little test.”

"test?"

"Yes, but I already have the answer."

Yang Nai smiled slyly, but Qing Lai felt that she was very disappointed.

Some words were stuck in my throat, and I didn't know how to express them. In the end, they just turned into a heavy sigh: "What exactly do you want from me?"

Kiyoyo understands Haruno better than most people do. She won't interfere with things that interest her, either by excessively interfering with what she likes or by completely destroying what she hates.

Kiyoshi always categorized himself as someone disliked by the other party.

After all, she had almost destroyed her former self.

"Can you please let me go?"

P.S.: The next chapter will be posted next Tuesday. I have to work the day after tomorrow. Speaking of which, I'm exhausted from visiting the graves today, but the Nintendo Switch case I ordered arrived, and it even came with a screen protector! Now I just have to wait for the Switch to ship on the 7th. Ahhhhh! I can't wait!

Chapter 341 Twisted Love

Yang rarely saw Kiyori so vulnerable; to be precise, Kiyori rarely showed his vulnerable side in front of her.

A sense of vengeful pleasure seemed to surge within her. Yang Nai had always been aware of her somewhat twisted personality, and she never hid her awkward possessiveness towards the things she liked.

But she knew even more clearly that what doesn't belong to her will never belong to her.

So what is she seeking revenge for?

Was it for Yukino, or for himself?

The person in front of them clearly remembers nothing and is completely unaware of their past suffering.

Perhaps this is the punishment the gods are giving her.

"No, you can't," she heard herself say in her usual voice, and she saw a fleeting look of pain in the other person's eyes.

The repeated words seemed like a decision imposed on himself.