“Ooh! So exciting! Hey, hey, Yukino-chan, are you scared?”
Two girls, each holding a flashlight, walked along the mountain path in the forest.
One was lively and cheerful, the other taciturn and reserved, completely unexpected that these two would be together.
The lively one was named Yui Yuigahama, a beautiful girl with light makeup, her pink hair tied into a large bun on the side, making her look even more energetic.
The other had long black hair cascading down her shoulders, exuding an aura of coldness, like an icy mountain lotus that made people dare not approach. Her identity was even more astonishing, the second daughter of a newly rising real estate tycoon, named Yukinoshita Yukino.
At this moment, Yui Yuigahama was clinging to Yukino's arm, her arm sinking into the soft flesh, unable to pull away. Just looking at the girl's scared expression, one could tell it wasn't intentional.
“Why be afraid? Yui-san, it's the 21st century now, reject superstition.”
Yukino glanced at her arm, her brow slightly furrowed as she tried to pull away, but the cling was too tight, she couldn't escape for a while, and she could only give up helplessly.
“Huh?! To say that, it's like I only got into Sōbu High because of my good grades.”
Hearing this, the bun instantly looked dissatisfied and spoke in her own defense.
“Yes, yes.”
Yukino, on the other hand, looked like she wouldn't argue with a fool, nodding in agreement.
“Yukino-chan! You're being mean!”
Seeing Yukino like this, the bun said aggrievedly.
Seeing this, Yukino sighed and changed the subject:
“By the way, Yui-san, have you had any leads on the person you're looking for?”
“Nope!”
The bun answered very simply, almost immediately after the question was asked.
“Huh? I have to say, you really are something.”
Yukino twitched her mouth, unsure how to respond for a moment.
“Ehehe~ But I’m sure he's a Sōbu High student!”
Scratching her head with a silly grin, the bun said with absolute certainty.
She didn't get a good look at the boy's face that day, but she was very familiar with the style of clothes he was wearing! That was definitely a Sōbu High student!
“Sigh, it's unknown how long it will take to find him.”
Helplessly pushing her forehead, Yukino's words had just fallen, and a student wearing a white robe, his face painted white, suddenly popped out from the bushes beside them:
“Wow ah!!!”
The student just appeared and yelled, but Yukino didn't react at all, even the bun looked at the student with a look of seeing an idiot.
Seeing this, the student was embarrassed, smiled and waved at the two, turned and squatted back into the bushes.
Seeing this scene, a look of boredom appeared on Yukino's face:
“I really don't know what's so fun about this childish game of a dare game.”
“After all, it's something that Hayama-kun and the others have been planning for a long time.”
The bun scratched her head, Yukino wasn't interested in the dare game, and it was she who begged her to come.
“Let's keep going, we should be back in about ten minutes.”
Yukino didn't care, she had to go home to study, she had been held down by the top-ranked student, Nakano, for a long time, she had planned to try to surpass her during the holiday, but Yui dragged her to this mountain cabin.
“Okay!”
The bun answered, and once again hooked her arm around Yukino's, walking forward along the path.
In the distance, on a cliff, Nakano Yu, standing on the back of a monster, noticed a group of people gathered in front of the hotel. Naturally, he wouldn't let the monster take him to the front door, so he simply let the monster take him to the back of the hotel. After all, the hotel is quite large, and probably no one would be bored enough to go to the back door.
“Got to hurry, Nino is waiting.”
Looking at the inquiry message from Nino on his phone, Nakano Yu twitched his lips and mumbled as he put his phone away.
Hearing the human words on his back, the monster didn't dare to delay, jumped down from the cliff, spewed out a gray and white spider silk, and quickly shuttled through the forest.
“Hey, Yukino, did you hear something?”
Walking along the path, Yui Yuigahama's ears suddenly twitched, as if she heard something, she said.
“It's the sound of the wind blowing the leaves, it's a bit noisy.”
Yukino said, tucking the hair that was constantly being blown by the wind behind her ear.
“Y, yes, it must be!”
Feeling a little strange, the bun swallowed and said, tightening her grip on Yukino's arm.
“Let's go.”
Knowing the girl beside her was afraid, Yukino didn't say anything. It was not far from the climax of the dare game, and it was best to get there quickly.
“Okay!”
The bun nodded, but just as the two were about to leave, suddenly, a violent tremor came from behind them.
“Boom boom boom!”
Hearing the sound, both the bun and Yukino looked towards the forest in confusion.
Just as they were wondering if it was the sound of the speaker played by Hobou Sho and his group, a huge ox-headed monster suddenly rushed out of the forest!
The ox-headed monster spewed spider silk, flew directly over the two girls' heads, and disappeared without a trace in an instant.
Although it was fast, the two still caught a glimpse of it.
Standing dumbfounded in place, the bun looked up, her mouth wide open, Yukino beside her was no better, staring blankly at the sky, unable to recover for a long time.
“N, nah, Yuk, Yukino-chan, what was that just now?”
After a long time, the bun finally stammered, poking Yukino next to her.
“I, I don’t know...”
Pulling her gaze away with a complicated expression, Yukino felt her worldview challenged, but... how could there be monsters in the world?
That thing just now was definitely some kind of big bird I've never seen before! Absolutely!
She patted her cheeks, forcing herself to regain her composure, and then grabbed the bun's hand, running towards the hotel.
It's better to go back to the hotel now, although she still doesn't believe there are monsters in these mountains, but just in case, well, to avoid wild beasts!
...
Back at the hotel, Nakano Yu looked at the forest behind him with a complicated expression.
“Those two girls, were they Yui and Yukino? So the annoying person Yumiko was talking about is Yukino, guess she saw me, but it doesn't matter, I have to go find Nino.”
After saying this, Nakano Yu walked towards the front yard of the hotel.
At this time, there was still a large group of people gathered in front of the hotel, most of them were not participating in the dare game, but were attracted to come and watch the excitement. For example, Itsuki and Miku didn't plan to participate, while Itsuki and Yotsuba were in a group and had already left.
“Really, that guy Yu is taking his time!”
Wearing a dress, Nino crossed her arms and mumbled in displeasure. They had agreed on a time earlier, but this guy was still late.
Just then, Nakano Yu's voice came, looking towards the sound, only to see that Nakano Yu was now wearing white short sleeves and shorts, and was running towards them quickly and neatly.
“Hey! Nino, sorry for being late, I had something to do.”
“Yu, you’re so inconsiderate, you're so late!”
Looking at Nakano Yu in front of her, Nino gave him a resentful look, and then, as if no one else was around, took Nakano Yu's hand.
“Let's go, we're starting late.”
She said, leading the boy towards the starting point.
The two's intimate appearance was caught by Itsuki and Miku in the distance.
“Nino, Yu, good luck!”
Watching Nino take Yu away, Itsuki said with a smile, but when the two figures disappeared from sight, Itsuki suddenly felt a strange emptiness in her heart. Even though Nino and Yu were like this before, but... it's so strange.
Miku's attention, however, was on the hands tightly clasped by Nino and Nakano Yu. Her blue eyes were unclear what she was thinking.
......