I am only one world away from Yukinoshita.

Yukino looked through the rising steam from her cup at Kiyori, who seemed to be lost in thought. Noticing his gaze, she tapped the table with her knuckles in annoyance. "Tachibana-kun, could you please tell me what you're looking at right now?"

Kiyoshi suddenly came to his senses. "Ahem, sorry."

Don't get me wrong, she was just looking at the grinning panda on the T-shirt, but the placement of the image was just suggestive.

"I was just looking at Mr. Pan, and I think I'm starting to find him kind of endearing..."

Rather, it's more accurate to say that the senior in the cartoon T-shirt was just too cute, and those long, fair legs under the table...

Kiyoshi lowered his head, picked up the mug, and took a sip as if to cover up his discomfort. He then moved his legs, which had become sore and numb from kneeling, slightly.

The mug in her hand was also specially bought by Yukinoshita for Kiyoyori. However, according to her, she only bought it because she saw Mr. Pan's new merchandise and couldn't resist. She had other mugs to use and gave it to Kiyoyori so as not to waste them.

The mug concealed Qinglai's upturned lips, and the cold coffee flowed down his throat, slowly extinguishing a trace of restlessness in his heart.

"The fact that we only discovered this now only shows that Tachibana's judgment wasn't good enough."

Yukinoshita never deliberately hid her affection for Mr. Han from Kiyori. Perhaps it was because Kiyori kept Dango at home, and she subconsciously included him in the category of feline lovers as well. Kiyori didn't bother to clarify this little misunderstanding, after all, the adorable expression that Yukinoshita showed when looking at felines was something that couldn't be seen at any other time.

“Oh, right,” Kiyoyori took out three tickets from his small crossbody bag. “This is for you, senpai. And the other two, if Yuihama-senpai and Hikigaya-senpai are interested, please pass them on to them for me.”

These are the tickets for the Tokyo Metropolitan Competition. Kiyoyori remembered them because Yuihama casually mentioned wanting to hear the brass band perform last time. However, since the competition is in Tokyo, we need to travel there by train. Although it only takes about half an hour to travel from Chiba to Tokyo, it's not as convenient as coming from our own prefecture.

Yukinoshita frowned slightly as she accepted the three tickets. After looking at the seats on the tickets and thinking for a moment, she carefully folded the tickets and placed them in a corner away from the teacup.

"Then I'll thank you on behalf of Yuihama and Hikigaya."

She had already researched the details of the Tokyo Metropolitan Games, including how to get from Chiba to Tokyo by train, which subway line to take to the venue, and also checked the relevant ticketing websites.

Seeing the tickets in the other party's possession, Kiyotaka secretly breathed a sigh of relief. "Then I'll trouble you, senior."

"Aren't you worried, Tachibana-san?"

"what?"

Seeing the other person's "What are you talking about?" expression, Yukino sighed helplessly.

"What if we switch bodies during your match?"

“Isn’t this why we’ve been training all this time?” Kiyoyori pointed to the bamboo scraps in the trash can. They weren’t left by Kiyoyori today, but were scraps left by Yukinoshita from the reeds she made. “Senpai can already play any measure very smoothly with my body, can’t she? Even the solo parts.”

“Even I have to admire your extraordinary talent, senior,” Kiyoyori said, picking up a row of reeds from a wooden box, all of them looking like mass-produced robotic products. “Also, I believe in myself, and I ask you to believe in me, senior.”

Looking at the confident Kiyori in front of her, Yukinoshita subtly curled the corners of her lips.

"Is that so..."

...............................................................

"Good evening, Yuihama-san."

"Hey Xiaoxue! What brings you to call me all of a sudden today?"

Hearing the same energetic voice on the other end of the phone, Yukinoshita unconsciously softened her voice.

"Today, Tachibana-san brought me tickets to the Tokyo tournament. She asked me to ask if you're free to go to Tokyo to watch the game tomorrow."

"Huh?! Tomorrow! I'm going!"

A commotion came from the other end of the line, "Wow! I've been wanting to hear Qinglai play for so long! I think she also does solos? That's amazing!"

“Hmm,” Yukinoshita smiled silently, “Then let’s meet at the station at seven o’clock tomorrow morning, is that alright?”

"Uh-huh!"

Goodnight, Yuihama-san.

Goodnight, Xiaoxue!

Beep beep—

"Hey?"

"Good evening, Hachiman."

"Oh, Yukinoshita, evening—hmm?" There was a sudden silence on the other end, followed by rustling sounds, then Hachiman's stiff voice came through again, "Yo, Yukinoshita, what brings you here so late?"

"Tomorrow is the brass band competition. Tachibana sent over some tickets and asked me to ask if Hachiman and Komachi are free to go watch."

"Tomorrow? Well, I'm free anytime..."

Hachiman, who had initially intended to refuse, hesitated for a moment before agreeing.

"That's true. After all, Hikigaya-kun doesn't have any friends, so it's hard to imagine him having any plans to go out on a date on the weekend."

"Hey! Even if it's true, don't say it so bluntly!" Yukinoshita was probably more familiar with him like this. "Wait a moment, I'll go ask Komachi."

"Ok."

After a moment, Komachi's energetic voice came from the other end of the phone.

She said it was no problem.

"Then, let's meet at the station at seven o'clock tomorrow morning."

"OK."

Goodnight, Hachiman.

"OK, good night."

After hanging up the phone, Yukino looked at the four tickets in her hand, one of which was far away from the other three seats.

P.S.: Here's Yukino you all wanted. Since you like stomach medicine so much, should I post more of it in the future?

Chapter 81 A New Beginning (Section 141)

"Here! Here!"

As soon as Yukinoshita arrived at the agreed location, she saw Yui waving at her.

"Good morning, Yuihama-san. Why are you here so early today?"

Yuihama had a faint dark circle under her eyes, but she still looked to be in good spirits.

"Hehe," she scratched her head sheepishly, "I've never been to a concert or anything like that before, I was so excited yesterday I couldn't sleep..."

"Hey, are you a primary school student?"

Generally speaking, more formal attire is required for such concerts, but considering that this is not a concert by a professional band and has a more competitive atmosphere, the audience is likely to be mostly parents of students, so Yukino didn't specifically mention what to wear and just wore a simple long dress.

Yui's style is consistent with her usual fashion sense, featuring a very youthful look.

Has Xiaoxue ever been to a concert?

I went there a few times when I was a child.

"Wow!" Yuihama exclaimed, her fingers clasped tightly to her chest, her face filled with anticipation. "I can't wait!"

Seeing the expectant look on her face, Yukinoshita couldn't help but laugh. "Yuigahama-san, you shouldn't have such high expectations. After all, this is a competition, and it's far less relaxing than a regular concert for the performers. In fact, it's more like a heavy one."

"Ah, oh, that's true..."

“But I still think Kiyora is amazing,” Yuihama said, lowering her head. “She’s good at studying and has managed to stick to something for so long. As for me, I haven’t even thought about what I want to do in the future…”

The topic suddenly became heavy, and just as Yukinoshita was about to change the subject, she saw Hachiman walking towards her. "As long as I don't end up like Hachiman-kun, it's fine."

"Huh? What are you talking about?"

As soon as Hachiman approached the two girls, he unexpectedly heard his own name.

"I'd like to tell Yuihama-san that she should try to stay up less late, otherwise her eyes will end up like Hikigaya-san's, which wouldn't be good."

"Tch, mind your own business."

"Yah hello, Yukino-neechan, Yui-neechan."

Komachi popped out from behind Hikigaya at just the right moment and waved enthusiastically to the two of them.

"Yah hello, Komachi, Koki."

"Good morning."

With Yuihama and Komachi as their two warm little suns, the atmosphere among the four of them immediately became lively, as if they had endless topics to talk about. Even after getting on the train, the two of them kept chatting.

"I happened to go to the Sunrise Festival this year to see the Sobu High School Brass Band perform! They were really amazing. They played while walking around in such hot weather. Although I don't know much about music, I could hear the people around me praising them!"

"Huh? Komachi went to the Sunrise Festival?!" Yui Hama's face showed envy, followed by a hint of regret, "I should have gone to the park with Yuki that day..."

"I don't think Yuihama-san, who was busy with her quiz the following week, had time to watch the Sunrise Festival."

The snow mercilessly poured cold water on them.

"Hehehe," Yuihama rubbed her hands together sheepishly, "Speaking of which, Komachi will be starting high school next year, right? Have you decided where you want to go?"

"Hmm, it really is Soubu High School, isn't it? Soubu High School has a very high college entrance rate, and now it seems their club activities are quite interesting!"

"Right!"

Feeling somewhat out of place in their conversation, Yukinoshita turned her gaze to the rapidly receding scenery outside the car window. Just then, her phone, which was resting on her lap, vibrated. She opened the email and found it was a multimedia message from Kiyoyori.

The photo is a selfie of Kiyoshiro, who looks like he's still on the bus. From the few remaining shots, you can see several members of the brass band, many of whom have their eyes closed, seemingly taking a nap, but in reality, they are making the most of every moment to review their fingerings. Their strangely moving fingers make it seem as if they are playing an air version of an instrument.

The image is accompanied by the text—

"Have the seniors boarded the bus yet?"

Yukinoshita's reply was flat: "Mm."

After waiting for a while and receiving no further messages, Yukino put her phone back into her handbag.

...............................................................

After several twists and turns, Yukinoshita, finally freed from the crowd, leaned against the wall at the subway entrance and slowly let out a breath. The venue was now within reach, and the flow of people slowly surged towards it. The noisy crowd made her rub her earlobes.

"Wow, so many people..."

Yuihama gripped the metal chain of her crossbody bag, looking around at the metropolis, while Hikigaya raised his hand to shield his eyes from the glaring sunlight, like a salted fish about to be dried out.

"It's so hot..."

Leaving the cool subway station, the sun brought an indescribable heat. Many buses passed by them, which were probably school buses. Sure enough, all the passengers getting off were high school students in uniform. What made Yui and the others feel unbearable was that all the high school students, regardless of which school they came from, were wearing winter uniforms.