Chapter 79: Volume 3 - CH 3.4

Unsurprisingly, the corridor was plunged into darkness with only the emergency exit light dimly lit, looking eerie.

“Er… when this corridor is so dark, it feels like… those things might appear.”

Yuzu was jumpy and, like a small animal, she was wary of the surrounding area.

“By those things, you mean ghosts?” I tried to confirm but Yuzu’s face went pale.

“Do-don’t say the word! There’s a thing in the world called the power of speech! When you say a word, you’ll attract it!”

“You can’t tell me such superstitions with a straight face.”

“It’s not a superstition! I told myself I am cute every day and I actually became cute! My cuteness is the evidence, so to speak!”

“Even when scared, you still can’t stop praising yourself.”

This narcissism was guaranteed to make even the ghosts cringe.

“Ugh… my legs are shaking. I can’t walk anymore. Will you call me a taxi, Yamato?”

“We’re in a school building.”

Her brain must have short-circuited; Yuzu actually made such a ridiculous request.

“If there’s such a thing as the power of speech, why don’t you just keep saying that ghosts don’t exist? Then they’ll disappear, right?”

I tried to use Yuzu’s assertion to make a positive suggestion, but she shook her head shakily.

“That won’t work. I’m originally cute to begin with, so I just had to continue telling myself that I’m cute. If anyone can turn cute by words, nobody will have a hard time to be cute.”

“So which one is it?!”

It was Yuzu herself who destroyed the evidence she had personally presented.

“A-ny-way! I’m scared of the dark! Yamato-kun, hold my hand. Alternatively, you can try illuminating your whole body.”

“That’s not even a real alternative! Am I a firefly squid?!”

Substantively, there was only one option left.

“What do I do with you… Here’s my hand.”

I reached out my hand, but Yuzu hugged my arm with all her might.

“Eh, wasn’t it holding hands?”

“Just moments ago I realised that the more close contact I have, the less scary it is. In fact, I even want you to carry me on your back,” Yuzu uttered such a thing with a serious face in response to the protest I made after my heart rate increased from her surprise attack.

“…That’ll be even more frightening. Come on, let’s go.”

Yuzu must be nervous, but I was extremely nervous in a completely different way. My arms were wrapped in her body heat and softness, and my nerves were subconsciously sensitive.

Since the cultural festival, we had been getting closer to each other like this more often. Even on our date on the previous day, there was also this level of contact. In theory, I should have gotten used to it by now… but maybe because my feelings had changed, I couldn’t maintain a normal mindset today compared to usual.

Maybe it was because of the tension in the air, but we both fell silent.

“It-it’s scary when it’s so quiet. Yamato-kun, talk about something,” Yuzu made the request. This atmosphere apparently was killing her.

“Okay. Then I’ll tell you a short story about the world’s craziest ‘man-eating clowns.’”

“You don’t have to! I can tell from the title alone that it’s a horror story! Yamato-kun, how come you are so merciless to do this to me?!”

“Well, you see, when it’s hot, it’s said that eating spicy food cools you down, and if you listen to horror stories when you’re scared, you won’t be scared anymore.”

“I appreciate the thought, but you really don’t need to be considerate of me like that Yamato; not now nor for the rest of my life.”

Despite all this talk, we steadily made our way down the corridor. Unlike a haunted house, there were no gimmicks and no tombs, so naturally, we made it out of the school building without encountering any ghostly phenomena.

“Phew… We’re safe now that we’ve reached here,” Yuzu patted her chest as she passed through the school gate.

“We’ve lost our game data, then an unexpected test of courage, we both really had a tough day.”

When I commiserated with her, she looked at me with a mischievous upward glance while remaining snuggled up against me.

“Really? At least Yamato-kun got the benefit of being stuck with me like this, didn’t you?”

“Oh, you’ve become more relaxed now, have you? Okay, now I can talk about the man-eating clown—”

“STOP THAT!”

Yuzu instantaneously jumped away from me.

“…Yamato-kun, you’re so mean,” With puffed cheeks, Yuzu pouted coquettishly.

“Err, sorry. It was on impulse.” I didn’t want her to be seriously flustered, so I was the first to relent.

Yuzu then smiled wryly, indicating she was now in a better mood.

“You’re an utterly terrible boyfriend. The only person who can be with such a terrible boyfriend is me. If you don’t take better care of me, there will be consequences.”

“I do care for you. Second only to games.”

“When will I ever beat those games?! Yamato-kun, your damnation is confirmed!”

“That’s scary. I’ll escort you now so I can avoid the damnation, so please spare me.”

When I held out my hand, Yuzu also softened her expression a little and clasped it.

“Mm. Do as you please. If you do well, I’ll cancel that damnation.”

“You are in a position to decide on heavenly punishment? What are you, a god?”

“What a thing to say, that I’m as beautiful as a goddess. Yamato-kun, you’re exaggerating.”

”I didn’t say a single word like that, but it seems that even this can be exaggerated by you. How informative.”

With a shrug of the shoulders, I walked her home.

—Although we got into a terrible predicament and things turned out a little messy, the fact that I could still think it was fun made me chuckle to myself.