Why did the three of them need to split up and walk separately?
This question lingered in Yukino Yukinoshita's mind, and Rui Tachibana was equally puzzled.
Even now, the two girls couldn't guess what Lin Ye was thinking at all.
If he didn't intend to keep pursuing the matter with the three men, why make them split up and leave separately?
But puzzled as they were, neither Yukino Yukinoshita nor Rui Tachibana asked the question aloud. Instead, they waited quietly for Lin Ye to finish handling the current situation before bringing it up.
"I'll count to three,"
Lin Ye raised a finger and began counting.
"One,"
"Two,"
The chill grew ever more intense, finally making the three men realize Lin Ye wasn't joking, and they all scrambled into motion.
"You, go this way,"
Lin Ye pointed at one man, who set off down the road to the left.
"You, go that way,"
At Lin Ye's instruction, another man walked off in the opposite direction.
Lin Ye watched the shift in the timers.
The difference was obvious.
Before, the countdowns had differed by less than ten seconds.
But now, after acting on his instructions, the three men's countdown times had visibly diverged.
The gap between them was now two minutes.
"I get it, I get it,"
The third man nodded hastily to show he understood, and immediately walked off to the right.
Not a moment's hesitation.
There was no point resisting anyway.
If the man told him to go this way, then this way he'd go.
Just a different road—what did it matter?
Soon, all three, enduring the pain in their bodies, shuffled off in three separate directions.
Lin Ye watched the numbers above their heads, deep in thought.
There was a source of danger here, though its exact form was still unclear. What he could be certain of was that it hadn't been a single outburst that swept the whole area, killing everyone at once.
Lin Ye looked at the numbers above the two girls' heads.
They'd barely changed at all.
Why had the men's numbers shifted so drastically, while the death countdowns for Yukino and Rui Tachibana barely moved?
That small a change could basically be dismissed as negligible.
This had to be connected to something specific.
"Student Lin, is there something above our heads?"
Yukino Yukinoshita was quite perceptive, and she'd noticed Lin Ye's gaze settling on the spot above her head more than once.
At first she'd assumed something had gotten caught in her hair, but Lin Ye hadn't tried to remove anything for her, and when she'd reached up to check herself several times, she'd found nothing. The nagging question finally got the better of her, and she asked.
"Don't worry about it,"
But Lin Ye's reassurance only made Yukino Yukinoshita instinctively glance upward—where she saw nothing at all.
Above them stretched the black night sky, a few stars faintly twinkling.
But with Lin Ye there, Yukino chose to trust him. She believed he would keep her safe.
"Lin-kun, what exactly is going on?"
By now, Rui Tachibana no longer believed the three men had simply been heading to a hotel.
Something specific and dangerous had clearly occurred—she just hadn't figured out what.
"There's danger, but trust me. Don't run off on your own. Stay with me, follow my instructions. Whatever I ask you to do, no matter how unreasonable it seems, you need to do it."
Rui Tachibana hadn't quite processed this yet, still puzzling over it.
But—
Yukino Yukinoshita nodded first.
Seeing that, Rui Tachibana slowly nodded her agreement as well. "Even if you told me to strip, I'd do it right away,"
She offered the example to demonstrate her resolve.
Lin Ye was startled, but he didn't bother explaining further—there was no scenario where stripping would come up.
The countdowns above the two girls' heads ticked steadily downward.
Lin Ye looked off to one side.
"Wait here for me a moment. If you run into any strangers, anything strange, don't go near it. Don't approach it. If it comes toward you, run straight for wherever I am and call out for me—I'll get back to you as fast as I can,"
Lin Ye pointed toward the direction he needed to go. He had to observe the man in the suit whose countdown would reach zero first.
He needed to witness the death itself, to further pin down what was causing it.
If it was a natural accident, that would be fine.
But if it was something Strange, then things would get a lot more complicated.
Something with an unknown Strange power was roaming this area.
If they didn't figure out its power and how it manifested, the three of them getting away safely wouldn't be simple at all.
It wasn't that Lin Ye hadn't considered bringing both girls along. But he wasn't in an unlimited Time Stop right now.
One person was already within the range of his ability—two would put him under real strain.
So, looking at the countdowns above the girls' heads, Lin Ye judged that for now, neither of them was in mortal danger.
Leave the two girls here, and go take a look himself first.
That was Lin Ye's plan.
But it plunged both girls into a brief moment of tension.
Even Yukino Yukinoshita—especially since she'd already guessed what the danger might be—reacted far more strongly than she normally would.
"..."
But—
Yukino Yukinoshita didn't ask Lin Ye to stay, nor did she press him further about why he was leaving.
She knew that asking such questions now would accomplish nothing.
What she needed was to trust Lin Ye—trust the boyfriend, the fiancé, she loved.
That was Yukino Yukinoshita's thinking.
"Lin-kun, we'll be fine. I'll protect Student Yukinoshita,"
The moment those words left Rui Tachibana's mouth, both of them were struck momentarily speechless.
Protect Yukinoshita?
Rui Tachibana was saying she'd protect Yukinoshita?
Even Lin Ye wondered if he'd misheard.
But soon, the resolute look in the girl's eyes made her attitude and intent clear.
There wasn't a trace of joking in it. She meant it.
With that,
Lin Ye reached out and patted the girl's shoulder. "All right. I trust you,"
How to put it—
Officially, Rui Tachibana was his girlfriend, while Yukino Yukinoshita was the girl he liked.
And his girlfriend, Rui Tachibana, offering to protect the girl he liked—by any normal measure, that shouldn't make sense.
And yet, given how the girl was acting, it somehow felt perfectly natural.
Lin Ye didn't know why Rui Tachibana wanted to do this, but since she'd made up her mind, he wasn't going to argue or tell her it was unnecessary.
It would only hurt her.
"Mm, when you get back, once this is all over, let's go to a hotel. All three of us, if you want,"
Rui Tachibana added, and even Yukino Yukinoshita was stunned.
This airheaded girl, with the things that occasionally came out of her mouth—she really could still catch people off guard, still leave them astonished.
If Yukino hadn't known this was the girl's own idea, she'd have suspected Lin Ye had been secretly coaching her.
"I'll be back soon. Don't worry about me,"
With that,
Lin Ye smiled at the two girls and left.
He moved fast, and within moments his figure had vanished from their sight.
Beneath the night sky, beside the streetlamp,
Yukino Yukinoshita and Rui Tachibana stood there together.
A light evening breeze drifted past, making the air feel colder than usual.
Rui Tachibana instinctively wrapped her arms around herself, trying to warm up a little.
"Student Yukinoshita, do you know what's going on?"
Rui Tachibana asked Yukino Yukinoshita.
To her, asking Yukinoshita seemed like the best option.
If she'd asked Lin Ye earlier, he probably wouldn't have explained in detail—partly because of time, and partly, she suspected, because he simply didn't want to.
She felt Lin Ye didn't want to go into detail.
Rui Tachibana didn't know for sure, but she could clearly sense that Yukino Yukinoshita knew something. If that was the case, then things were simple.
She'd just ask Yukino Yukinoshita.
Yukino Yukinoshita might seem cold and distant, but Rui had a feeling she'd turn out surprisingly easy to talk to.
That was what she thought, anyway.
"I don't know the details clearly."
She didn't know much, but given how Lin Ye had been acting, it basically had to be connected to something Strange.
So for now, following Lin Ye's instructions and quietly waiting here for him to return was the best choice.
"But roughly?"
Rui Tachibana wasn't giving up.
She still wanted to know something, so she could prepare herself mentally to some degree.
Right now, even though she knew there was danger and risk, she had no concept at all of what it actually was.
If a crisis really did hit, she wouldn't even know how to respond.
Just waiting here like this left her feeling more and more lost.
"Student Tachibana, just stick with me. When I say run, we run,"
"Uh, that's fine, but I did say I'd protect Student Yukinoshita. If something dangerous shows up, I want to be able to handle it right away,"
Rui Tachibana spoke up again.
She'd told Lin Ye she'd protect Yukino Yukinoshita—she couldn't very well go back on her word.
Protecting Yukino Yukinoshita was something she was absolutely determined to do.
Even now, thinking back on it, she couldn't quite say why she'd blurted out that she'd protect Yukino Yukinoshita in the first place. Was it... to earn more of Lin Ye's favor?
Probably... yes.
She'd done it to earn more of Lin Ye's good graces. That was the reason.
"Actually... it might be better if you don't know,"
Yukino Yukinoshita still wasn't sure it was a good idea for Rui Tachibana to know.
Knowing about the Strange—something that didn't fit with how the modern world was supposed to work—tended to leave people frightened.
She herself had been afraid. Rui Tachibana would be no exception.
Most girls were naturally afraid of ghosts and monsters, that sort of thing.
If Rui Tachibana found out, it might throw her into panic and terror, which wouldn't help her cope or escape.
But then again, knowing in advance really did mean she could prepare herself mentally.
Yukino Yukinoshita hesitated, still thinking it over.
"I want to know. If I know, I can prepare myself mentally in advance. Is it... a killer on the loose somewhere nearby?"
But if it were a murderer, why would Lin Ye know about it?
Did Lin Ye somehow know a killer had gone that way?
If that were the case, wouldn't it be safer for them to just flee immediately? There'd be no reason to stay here at all.
"It's not a murderer,"
"Then what is it?"
Rui Tachibana watched her, waiting for Yukino Yukinoshita's answer.
"Please tell me, Student Yukinoshita. If I know now, I can at least prepare myself mentally in advance."
The girl with long black hair thought it over, and finally decided to agree.
Tell her, then.
"It's... that kind of thing,"
"What?"
Rui Tachibana didn't quite follow.
"The frightening kind. The kind that's not supposed to exist, unreal..."
As Yukino Yukinoshita's hints and descriptions grew more explicit, Rui Tachibana gradually began to understand what she meant.
Really... seriously?
But seeing how earnest Yukino Yukinoshita looked, Rui couldn't help thinking she wasn't the type to lie about something like this.
Still,
deep down, some part of her simply refused to believe it.
Right—the kind of thing that only existed in fiction, in imagination. How could it actually be real?
She really didn't want to believe it.
So,
"Student Yukinoshita, really... truly?"
"Do you think I have any reason to lie to you?"
Her tone left no room for doubt, but Rui Tachibana still felt an instinctive resistance toward the idea of such a thing existing.
"Right now, Student Tachibana, you need to accept that it exists. Only then, if it ever shows up, can we respond correctly and get away."
Seeing Yukino Yukinoshita's serious attitude, Rui Tachibana nodded firmly. "Okay. I understand. I'll do that,"
She decided to accept it, at least for now.
The next moment,
her eyes swept back and forth across the empty surroundings, as if she might somehow spot the thing that way.
But Rui Tachibana suddenly thought of something. "Could it turn invisible? Would we not even be able to see it?"
If they couldn't see it, how were they supposed to deal with it?
"No, it can't,"
That bastard Lin Ye could turn invisible, could use Invisibility—
but Yukino Yukinoshita didn't think that this particular thing would be able to turn invisible too.
If it could, they truly wouldn't know how they'd even encounter it.
"Then... what are its features?"
"I haven't run into it myself, but if it does show up, we'll be able to sense it. Lin Ye said—anything that feels off, we just keep our distance. That's all we need to do,"
Rui Tachibana nodded in agreement.
For now, that was all they could do.
Trust Yukinoshita. Trust Lin Ye.
And besides,
if what Yukino Yukinoshita said was true, then Lin Ye must be extremely sensitive to this sort of thing—maybe even quite familiar with it.
Right,
familiar with it.
Probably something close to an expert in this area.
He must have dealt with it more times than she could count—otherwise, how could he leave the two of them here so calmly to wait?
Rui Tachibana suddenly thought of something.
She connected this information about Lin Ye to her sister.
Her sister's attitude toward Lin Ye was different—she'd even pushed Rui to be his girlfriend. That level of concern went well beyond what a normal teacher would show a student.
What if Lin Ye and her sister had actually encountered something Strange together before?
What if her sister had been saved by Lin Ye?
If that were the case,
then everything would suddenly make sense.
It would all fit together.
It would also explain why neither her sister nor Lin Ye had ever been willing to talk about it.
Partly because it was hard for anyone to believe, and partly, perhaps, because knowing about that thing wasn't really a good thing to begin with.
Noticing Yukino Yukinoshita's demeanor,
that was what Rui Tachibana found herself thinking.
____
Gift for Everyone: Once we hit 10 Powerstones, I'll release +1 bonus chapter
________________________________________
If you want more chapters, please consider supporting my page on (P). with 50 advanced chapters available on (P)
👻 Join the crew by searching Leanzin on (P). You know the spot! 😉