If the pressure grew too intense, the two of them would most likely end up following Lin Ye's instructions and heading in the direction he'd left.
But if they had time to think it over—
human instinct and rational judgment would inevitably bring hesitation.
Given three possible directions,
any normal person would lean toward the two well-lit paths—but neither of those was the one Lin Ye had told them to take.
In other words,
whichever path they chose, they'd likely never run into Lin Ye at all.
If they wanted safety, if they wanted to make it out alive, their greatest reliance wasn't themselves, and it wasn't luck—it was Lin Ye.
Even though Yukino Yukinoshita didn't want to admit it, even though her pride wouldn't allow it, faced with the reality of life and death, she found herself believing she had to depend on Lin Ye.
She had to trust him.
"Student Yukinoshita... I, we..." It's getting closer.
Closer didn't begin to describe it.
The distance was now less than fifteen meters.
At this range,
Rui Tachibana could clearly see the maggots writhing in the wound on the blonde female monster's face—the bloated things crawling, trailing thin threads of blood.
She felt her heart trembling uncontrollably.
There was nothing to be done about it.
It was deeply unpleasant.
Her stomach cramped in a spasm; she nearly threw up.
If she could, Rui Tachibana would have run already. But she didn't move, because Yukino Yukinoshita hadn't moved, because the girl with long black hair beside her stood perfectly still.
So she chose to stay put, chose to wait.
If Yukinoshita wasn't leaving, then she absolutely wasn't leaving either.
"Wait a little longer. What we need right now is more time,"
Yes.
Yukino Yukinoshita had made her decision.
She had analyzed it, weighed it, and concluded that the reason the Strange wasn't rushing them wasn't that it couldn't—it was that it didn't want to.
Whatever the Strange's current behavior was aiming for, it was clearly trying every trick to get them moving.
And if that was the case,
then staying exactly where they were was the best strategy.
"But..."
"Trust me. The monster wants us to leave this spot—wants us to walk away. First the blonde woman calling for help, and now this thing closing in step by step without ever hurrying—it's all meant to draw us away from here."
It did seem... it really did seem that way.
Rui Tachibana thought Yukinoshita's reasoning made sense.
No—more than that, it made a lot of sense.
All of it looked like an attempt to lure them away from where they stood,
trying every possible way to make them leave.
But,
there was still one thing that puzzled her.
Why would it want them to leave this spot at all? This wasn't some fortress. The monster could reach them in a single charge if it wanted to.
Rui Tachibana voiced this doubt aloud.
Yukino Yukinoshita offered a theory. "The light," she said.
She guessed,
"The streetlight. That's our best protection."
Rui Tachibana glanced up at the lamp overhead.
But the streetlight had already dimmed somewhat, flickering every now and then.
It gave the impression that it might go out for good at any moment.
"Student Yukinoshita, this light doesn't look like it'll hold much longer. Shouldn't we... run for the next one?"
Rui Tachibana pointed toward a lamp in one direction.
That bright light looked like hope itself, like a chance at survival.
"Wait a bit more,"
But Yukino Yukinoshita wasn't in a hurry.
If the Strange wasn't rushing, then she wouldn't rush either.
"We need to stall for time until Lin-kun comes back. So trust me—we keep waiting here. It won't be able to get close anytime soon."
Yukino Yukinoshita's firm, resolute words gave Rui Tachibana confidence.
Her heart was still a little unsteady, but she felt she could manage. She felt she could trust Yukino Yukinoshita, just this once.
Since Yukino Yukinoshita had already made up her mind to stay, Rui Tachibana didn't have a better plan for getting the girl away from here anyway.
All she could do was stay by Yukino Yukinoshita's side. And if things went wrong, if the monster attacked, she would—in that instant—create a chance for Yukino Yukinoshita to escape.
That was Rui Tachibana's plan.
And it was her resolve.
A promise made was a promise she would keep, without fail.
"I trust you,"
Rui Tachibana said, and backed her words with action, once again putting herself between Yukino Yukinoshita and the monster.
If it really did charge, she would be the first to pay the price.
Yukino Yukinoshita looked at the girl's back and felt something warm flood through her chest, unbidden.
This was a girl worth trusting, worth keeping as a friend for life.
A sudden impulse rose in Yukino Yukinoshita—she wanted to become friends with Rui Tachibana.
It was the first time in her life she'd ever felt such an urge.
Even now, remembering that Rui Tachibana still had feelings for her man, Lin Ye, that the two of them were still in a relationship, that they'd even planned to go to a hotel together—
even so, once the thought of becoming friends had surfaced, she couldn't push it back down.
Once this was all over, Yukino Yukinoshita decided she would try.
Just as Miura Yumiko had once reached out to her, this time she felt she should be the one to make the first move—to try to become friends with Rui Tachibana.
It went completely against her usual way of doing things, but she still decided to do it.
Every so often, doing something out of character wasn't necessarily a bad thing.
Life ought to have more novel experiences. If she wanted to be friends with Rui Tachibana, then—she'd just do it.
That was Yukino Yukinoshita's thinking in this moment.
As for what would happen, whether Rui Tachibana might refuse—that worried her a little, but this wasn't the moment to hesitate out of fear of rejection.
Yukino Yukinoshita had already made up her mind.
And besides, she didn't think she'd be refused.
A girl like Rui Tachibana was clearly the type who couldn't say no. So there'd be no problem. Rui Tachibana would agree to be her friend.
The two girls huddled close together.
The streetlight had become the one thing they both relied on.
The intermittent flickering brought light that meant hope, meant survival—even as it grew dimmer by the moment.
"Grrraahh..."
"Bzzzzzt..."
The Strange kept closing in,
but its pace had grown even slower, as though something were holding it back from advancing.
It reached out.
Its splayed claws grasped for Rui Tachibana,
but for all its effort, it couldn't cross that final short distance.
Rui Tachibana looked at the hideous face and felt her heart gradually settle.
It really was true.
It really was exactly as Yukino Yukinoshita had said.
The Strange couldn't get close.
It was doing everything it could to lure them out of this safe zone.
For now,
staying put here was the safest thing they could do.
Rui Tachibana turned to Yukino Yukinoshita with a joyful smile. "Student Yukinoshita, your judgment was right. It really was... right."
More than right—it had matched exactly.
If they had fled recklessly, the Strange would likely have caught them. But now, close as the monster was, as long as it couldn't get any closer, they could stay here and wait for Lin Ye to return.
"Mm,"
Yukino Yukinoshita also felt herself relax.
A judgment was still just a judgment—she trusted her own reasoning, but even so, some lingering unease remained. If she'd guessed wrong, death would have been the result.
Even if Rui Tachibana would have thrown herself in the way to protect her, giving her the better chance of escape, Yukinoshita still couldn't quite accept that outcome.
She wanted them both to make it through unharmed—not for anything to go wrong, not for anyone to get hurt.
"Grrraahh..."
"Diiiee..."
A hoarse voice.
The blonde female monster's eyes bulged, and it swiped its claws through the air—but to no avail, none at all.
The faint yellowish glow was the best defense they had.
"Bzzzzzt..."
A sound like crackling electricity ran through the air.
The streetlight flickered.
It cut out a few times, then came back.
The female Strange had crept a little closer.
Even if it was only twenty centimeters,
it still meant the gap between them had shrunk.
"It can't hold out much longer,"
Yukino Yukinoshita said lightly.
The streetlight couldn't shield them indefinitely.
They'd need to move on ahead of time, or else they'd have to face the Strange head-on.
"Should I draw it off?"
Rui Tachibana said.
"Let me try first. If the Strange follows me, I'll run back. While we still have time, we should try to figure out its behavior patterns."
Rui Tachibana felt they couldn't just sit here waiting to die.
With their limited time, they ought to try more things.
"Or, Student Yukinoshita—how about I stay here, and you go?"
Rui Tachibana offered up an option. She worried Yukino Yukinoshita might think she was trying to run, so she made this suggestion instead.
She was handing the choice over to Yukino Yukinoshita.
As far as Rui Tachibana was concerned, either way was fine.
The Strange kept inching closer. Slowly, so slowly—but she knew that as the light grew weaker, the Strange would only draw nearer still.
And in the end,
they'd have to face it directly. Death wouldn't even be the worst outcome.
Becoming one of the Strange—one of those hideous, snarling things, a corpse that could still move—that was the truly unbearable fate.
Neither Yukino Yukinoshita nor Rui Tachibana wanted to become something so grotesque. They were pretty girls—how could they possibly end up like that?
"Wait a little more,"
Yukino Yukinoshita said, running calculations in her head.
Unlike Rui Tachibana, who wasn't the analytical type, Yukino Yukinoshita had already begun timing and observing the pattern of the flickering light. If it hadn't been for the fluctuating brightness, she wouldn't have been able to sense it so precisely—she could practically chart out a curve of its changes by now.
But now she had a reasonable estimate, and she knew what to do.
They could hold out here a little longer, wait a bit more.
Seeing this, Rui Tachibana didn't try to argue further.
She was terrified, honestly, and part of her wanted to run right now—but since Yukino Yukinoshita had made her decision, she'd follow along.
And besides, the Strange really was struggling to get close. Having watched it for a while now, her eyes had grown somewhat used to the sight.
Even she had gotten a little used to it.
People's capacity to adapt really was remarkable—no matter how terrifying something was, once you'd seen enough of it, experienced enough of it, it stopped being such a big deal.
This Strange thing, appearing in the real world—she used to shake with fright just watching horror movies, and now, having experienced it firsthand, this close, with danger right in front of her, she could face it with something close to calm.
Now,
given how little time had actually passed, the change in her really was startling.
Looking back on it later, she'd probably find the whole thing surreal, almost dreamlike.
Rui Tachibana could already smell the Strange's foul stench.
The overpowering odor made her stomach turn; she held her breath, but even that couldn't block out that particular reek.
This world really did have the Strange in it.
The thing in front of her was the best proof of that.
This world, it turned out, was far, far more than she'd ever understood.
This world was more mysterious, more full of things worth wondering about, than she'd ever imagined.
Thinking of her sister and Lin Ye's experiences,
Rui Tachibana grew even more curious about what kind of Strange her sister had faced.
Was it even uglier, even more grotesque than the one in front of her now?
Probably.
It surely couldn't have been good-looking, at least.
She'd ask her sister about it once she got back—see what her sister thought.
"Bzzzzzt..."
The crackling, electric sound grew stronger.
Rui Tachibana glanced over without meaning to and saw the Strange had drawn even closer—its bloody face suddenly filling her view, and she flinched back a step in fright.
Good thing Yukino Yukinoshita caught her, or she might have fallen flat on the ground.
"Thanks,"
"It's fine. Just be more careful. We're still in danger here."
The two of them hadn't escaped the crisis yet—the Strange was still there, and it could take their lives at any moment.
So, what now?
Yukino Yukinoshita calculated, estimated the time remaining.
Staying here any longer wasn't an option.
If they kept waiting here, they would inevitably end up Devoured by the Strange.
They would die here.
So—which direction should they flee to?
"Has Lin-kun replied?"
Rui Tachibana asked.
She saw Yukino Yukinoshita typing out a new message.
"Not yet. He might not have gotten it."
There was no failed-to-send notification, so the message must have gone through. Lin Ye hadn't replied—either he had no time to check his phone, or he hadn't received the message at all.
There was no way for her to tell what state Lin Ye was in.
Yukino Yukinoshita quickly scanned their surroundings and saw no sign of him.
Lin Ye still hadn't come back.
Yukino Yukinoshita felt a flicker of unease, worried something had happened to him—but then thought better of it, deciding she was probably overthinking things.
Even if both of them were in danger, there was no way Lin Ye could be in trouble.
That guy had so many mysterious, hard-to-pin-down abilities—how could anything happen to him?
But something seemed to be holding him up, or he'd have replied to at least one message by now.
"Student Yukinoshita, from here on, you decide. I'll follow your lead."
Rui Tachibana chose to stop thinking for herself. At least so far, Yukino Yukinoshita's judgment hadn't been wrong once.
Following Yukinoshita's lead might just get them out of here alive.
That was the conclusion Rui Tachibana had drawn from this stretch of tense waiting—the trust she'd placed in Yukino Yukinoshita.
At the very least, she herself hadn't observed anything, hadn't analyzed anything useful. If she wanted to survive, following Yukinoshita's lead was the best option.
"All right. We still have a few minutes."
Yukino Yukinoshita said, pressing her lips together.
"In three minutes, we move."
"Okay,"
When the time came, Rui Tachibana would just run alongside her.
She looked at Yukino Yukinoshita, thinking as much.
"Should we call out for him first?"
"We can."
Yukino Yukinoshita said.
It was fine to call out now.
They were about to hit the limit of how long they could hold out.
Lin Ye had said that if they ran into danger, they could call for him.
Given the circumstances, Yukino Yukinoshita felt it was about time. Close enough.
So...
"Lin-kun, hurry back and help us!"
Rui Tachibana called out,
shouting as loud as she could.
But,
after a few shouts, there was no response at all.
Yukino Yukinoshita tried dialing his number, but there was no signal.
The call wouldn't go through.
Seeing this, Yukino Yukinoshita lowered the phone.
It was as if the two of them had been sealed off from everything else.
Lin Ye had once mentioned that when the Strange appeared, it created an isolated pocket space cut off from reality.
They were very likely inside just such a space right now.
So...
that possibility made Yukino Yukinoshita's stress spike instantly.
If Lin Ye and the two of them were now in separated spatial zones, then... what could they do?
How would they even reach him?
Even if Lin Ye wanted to come find them, it would be difficult—let alone actually rescuing them.
In that moment,
a trace of pallor crept across Yukino Yukinoshita's cheeks.
Rui Tachibana noticed it at once.
She spoke up immediately. "What's wrong, Student Yukinoshita?"
This wasn't a normal reaction from Yukinoshita.
She was starting to get scared, wondering if something had gone wrong.
"It's nothing. We'll be able to leave here shortly."
Even having just learned this grim news, Yukino Yukinoshita wasn't about to give up. She wasn't the type to give up easily.
If Lin Ye couldn't get to them in time, then they'd hold out until he did.
Hold the line,
wait until Lin Ye arrived.
She trusted that man. She believed Lin Ye was probably more anxious than either of them right now, desperate to come find them.
Yukino Yukinoshita refused to believe that man could bear to watch his fiancée die here.
And she was grateful she hadn't chosen to run right away earlier—that she'd stalled and waited instead. If she and Rui Tachibana had fled the moment they could,
the amount of time they could have held out would have been far, far less.
So,
right now,
having squeezed out every last second they could hold this ground was something she could genuinely be thankful for.
"Mm."
Rui Tachibana sensed there was something Yukino Yukinoshita wasn't saying, but since Yukinoshita chose not to say it, she didn't press.
She knew perfectly well her own intelligence didn't match Yukinoshita's. Even if she asked, she'd probably just be a burden. So she decided to do nothing, ask nothing, and simply wait to be told what to do.
That was Rui Tachibana's thinking.
Time crawled by unbearably slowly.
The Strange kept creeping closer at a snail's pace.
The light flickered, growing dimmer by the moment.
Every so often, a mournful howl from the Strange broke the silence.
Rui Tachibana and Yukino Yukinoshita had both grown used to it by now, used to the current situation.
The blue-haired girl didn't ask what the right moment would be. She held her anxiety and worry in check and kept waiting for Yukino Yukinoshita's signal.
At this point,
Yukinoshita's judgment was everything.
She'd handed all decisions about timing over to Yukino entirely.
As for herself, she'd just follow instructions. She didn't want to think about anything more than that.
"Bzzzzzt..."
"Grrrraahh..."
The atmosphere grew more tense, more suffocating.
The stench washed over them,
now so thick that both Yukino Yukinoshita and Rui Tachibana could barely stand it.
"Get ready..."
Suddenly, Yukino spoke.
She looked at Rui Tachibana, and at that same moment Rui Tachibana's gaze landed on her too.
Their eyes met.
Both of them nodded at the same instant, without thinking, signaling agreement.
This brief brush with shared life and death had drawn the two of them even closer—forming a mutual trust that would never have formed under ordinary circumstances.
But facing a shared crisis, people really could build close bonds in a short span of time.
That was exactly what was happening now between Yukino Yukinoshita and Rui Tachibana.
Not to mention that Yukino Yukinoshita had already started thinking about becoming friends with Rui Tachibana once this was over.
"I'll count to three, and we run that way,"
Yukino Yukinoshita pointed.
She was pointing toward the pitch-black road—the direction Lin Ye had gone when he left.
"Why..."
Even Rui Tachibana couldn't help but ask.
If light could stop the Strange from advancing, then shouldn't they be heading toward one of the two well-lit paths instead?
Not toward the one road so dark you couldn't see a single glimmer of light.
That was what Rui Tachibana thought.
Rational judgment told her she should choose one of the two lit paths. Lin Ye still hadn't responded—all the more reason to pick the path that offered them the best chance to protect themselves, to hold out longer until he came back to find and save them.
"Trust me. Just do as I say."
Yukino Yukinoshita didn't explain. There wasn't time for explanations now.
Seeing this,
Rui Tachibana pressed her lips together and nodded, choosing to trust Yukino Yukinoshita, to follow her instructions. This was Yukinoshita's call, her decision.
Since Yukinoshita had said so, there was really no need to think it over further, let alone question it to the bottom.
Following Yukinoshita all the way, without second-guessing—that was the best choice she could make.
"Hah..."
Aside from the Strange's howling and its hoarse cries, all that remained was the sound of two girls bracing themselves to move.
"Three,"
Yukino Yukinoshita began the countdown.
Rui Tachibana readied herself.
"Two,"
In a moment,
they'd be moving.
Ahead of them lay pure blackness, a darkness so deep it seemed ready to swallow everything whole.
Rui Tachibana looked at it, Yukino Yukinoshita looked at it, but both held firm to their choice.
She judged that the direction of that darkness was where their chance at life lay.
This came from her own analysis and reasoning, and also from her own instinct.
And more importantly, Lin Ye had said it himself—
if they ever ran into the Strange, into danger, they should run in the direction he'd left.
Putting it all together, that was what made up her mind to head into that deep, endless stretch of darkness where no light could be seen.
Whether it meant life or death,
she was willing to accept either outcome.
But if her choice turned out to be wrong, the price wouldn't fall on her alone—Rui Tachibana would pay it too, and she'd have failed the girl's trust in her.
"If I'm wrong, I'm sorry in advance."
Before they set off,
Yukino Yukinoshita suddenly said this.
Rui Tachibana froze for a moment, but then broke into a smile and shook her head. "It's fine, no need to apologize. Choosing to trust you, Student Yukinoshita—that was my own choice too. If it's wrong, that's on me. No one else to blame."
Yukino Yukinoshita couldn't tell if that was the girl's genuine feeling, or just something said to comfort her.
But it didn't matter anymore.
What mattered
was the sincerity behind it.
Rui Tachibana really was a girl worth having as a friend—that much was true.
If she'd been a man, she would absolutely have gone all out to win her over, to bring her home, to keep her as a wife for life, to protect her forever.
Even Yukino Yukinoshita found herself entertaining such a thought.
This kind of feeling, this kind of thinking, had always been something only Iroha Isshiki inspired in her—but now, faced with everything Rui Tachibana had shown her, even she was moved.
She even found herself thinking that if she were a man, dating and marrying this girl would surely bring happiness.
All she could say was: Rui Tachibana really was too well-suited to being a good wife and mother.
"Okay, we're definitely going to survive this."
With that,
Yukino Yukinoshita grabbed hold of Rui Tachibana's wrist.
In that instant, feeling the warmth radiating from the girl's wrist, Yukino Yukinoshita's heart couldn't help quickening its pace.
"One—go!"
As the words left her mouth, the two of them broke into a sprint, dashing toward the road that stretched into darkness in the distance.
In that moment,
both of them poured out every ounce of strength they had, not hesitating for a second, running with everything in them.
Tap tap tap...
The crisp sound of footsteps rang out one after another.
The two of them were rapidly putting distance between themselves and the streetlight—and the Strange.
Bzzzzzt.
The Strange turned, saw the two of them fleeing,
and instead of forcing its way forward, it retreated.
Retreating turned out to be much faster than advancing had been, though it was still hampered by that faint, flickering light.
A moment later,
it had freed itself from most of the light's influence, and its movements grew far more unrestricted.
"Grrraahh..."
As if suddenly unshackled, the Strange let out two howls and lunged straight after Yukino Yukinoshita and Rui Tachibana, its speed now far beyond anything it had shown before.
The strange sound of footsteps closing in from behind made both girls instinctively glance back.
The Strange was coming.
Rui Tachibana's heart clenched, but her pace didn't slow for even a moment.
"Student Yukinoshita, what do we do? It's coming!"
"Run. Keep running. Ahead—there has to be a way out up ahead."
Even now, surrounded by pitch darkness, Yukino Yukinoshita still believed there was a chance for survival ahead.
This road was the path to life.
The other two roads were dead ends, as dead as dead could be.
"Okay,"
Rui Tachibana gritted her teeth and kept pace, her breath ragged, her chest heaving, but she didn't dare slow down for a second.
Tap-tap-tap...
All that remained now was the unbroken sound of racing footsteps.
Rui Tachibana couldn't resist glancing back and saw the shape behind them had closed the distance—it was catching up.
This speed—
it was nothing like the stumbling, sluggish thing from before.
This Strange thing was truly vicious.
Rui Tachibana was grateful she'd listened to Yukino Yukinoshita's suggestion. Otherwise, things would have been far worse for them.
"Ahead—light! Hurry!"
The sudden words made Rui Tachibana instinctively look forward.
There, a bright glow—
pure white light, instantly giving both girls a surge of safety and hope.
"Faster! We'll be safe once we reach it!"
Neither of them cared what lay ahead anymore. They put everything into it, pushing their legs even as they felt like they might give out entirely, forcing themselves onward with everything they had.
One step, two steps,
pushing themselves to the limit.
Rui Tachibana could already smell that foul stench, the reek of the Strange behind them—the kind of smell that made her stomach turn, that made her whole body crawl with discomfort.
If they slowed even a little,
it would catch them.
So they couldn't slow down. They had to hold on.
Rui Tachibana had thought about turning to check on the Strange behind her, but given the state she was in, running purely on willpower, she decided not to bother looking back at all.
Wherever it was, it didn't matter.
Just run, keep running—that was all that mattered.
"Grrraahh..."
A snarling cry rang out,
one laced with pain and fury.
Rui Tachibana's heart leapt with joy—that was the sound of the Strange's furious frustration at failing to catch them.
"Don't stop,"
Yukino Yukinoshita's voice pulled Rui Tachibana back to reality.
Together, they sprinted the rest of the way toward the light.
A few seconds later,
the glow was no longer blinding.
It was...
a lit doorway.
Yukino Yukinoshita hesitated for a moment, but then took Rui Tachibana's hand and pulled her briskly inside.
Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed the Strange's pace outside had already slowed.
This definitely wasn't the Strange holding back on purpose—it was the light affecting it.
Since the light seemed to be working against the Strange, that meant the light was on their side. There was no reason to fear whatever danger this lit room might hold.
Once inside,
resting for a while to recover their Stamina was the best option now.
"Huff, huff, huff..."
After they'd gone in,
the room wasn't large. Tables and chairs, all in order, along with water and some snacks.
Nothing strange or unusual in sight.
Rui Tachibana gasped for air in great gulps.
By now, exhaustion had caught up with her.
Yukino Yukinoshita wasn't faring much better.
Physical endurance was her weakest point. That burst of exertion just now had drained far too much of her Stamina.
If the distance had been any longer, she was sure she wouldn't have made it.
And she didn't even want to imagine what would have happened if she hadn't.
"Huff, huff, huff..."
Yukino Yukinoshita was also panting hard.
Both of them were completely out of breath.
Rui Tachibana hadn't run this hard in a long time; her legs already ached with soreness and fatigue. She was sure that after a night's sleep, her legs would be sore all over come morning.
"We're... safe for now,"
Yukino Yukinoshita forced out the words.
"Mm-hm,"
Rui Tachibana nodded. In this moment, the light of safety settled her heart.
The room stood in sharp contrast to the darkness outside.
"Student Yukinoshita, how... how did you know this side was safe? A lit room, when the other two directions..."
"They weren't normal,"
Yukino Yukinoshita said.
"That it was made to look pitch dark on purpose—it clearly meant it didn't want... didn't want us going that way, choosing that path."
"And the other two sides... were lit up. That was odd. Very suspicious."
Rui Tachibana thought it over and had to agree. "Was that all it was?"
"A feeling. And what Lin Ye told us before he left."
Yukino Yukinoshita said.
"Mm,"
Rui Tachibana hummed in acknowledgment.
At least their judgment and choice had turned out to be right. If they'd chosen a different direction, the outcome likely wouldn't have been good at all.
By now,
what they'd have had to face didn't even bear thinking about.
Rui Tachibana didn't want to become the Strange at all, didn't want to become a monster.
She was grateful she'd chosen to trust Yukino Yukinoshita instead of insisting on going her own way.
A few minutes of rest let both of them gradually recover.
Yukino Yukinoshita's Stamina slowly returned, and the fatigue on her face eased somewhat, though the strands of hair stuck to her forehead were proof of the intense exertion she'd just been through.
She swept back her long black hair and walked to the doorway to look outside.
The Strange's shape hadn't left.
The moment it caught sight of Yukino Yukinoshita, it bared its teeth and let out a hoarse snarl, straining to lunge forward and tear her apart—but the light held it back.
"How's it looking out there?"
"It's fine. Steady."
Yukino Yukinoshita said.
"It can't get in. Not anytime soon. All it can do is bark uselessly."
"Ha, haha..."
Rui Tachibana covered her mouth and laughed.
Yukino Yukinoshita noticed, and a hint of admiration flickered in her gaze.
How to put it—
Rui Tachibana really was growing more and more attractive, more pleasant to look at by the day.
She found herself looking at Rui Tachibana with nothing but growing appreciation.
"What? Is there something on my face?"
Rui Tachibana reflexively touched her cheek, but found nothing there.
This only puzzled her more.
"It's nothing. I just think Student Tachibana is quite admirable today."
Hearing those words come out of Yukino Yukinoshita's mouth left Rui Tachibana utterly stunned, her face frozen in shock.
She half-wondered if she was hallucinating—otherwise, how could she be hearing praise like that?
Admiration, coming from Sobu High's campus beauty, from the girl Lin Ye loved so deeply—it all felt utterly unreal.
That was exactly what Rui Tachibana was thinking right now.
"Student Yukinoshita, don't tease me."
Her voice came out a little bashful.
Not because she doubted the words, but because she was simply too embarrassed.
"I'm not teasing. I mean it. A girl like you—whoever ends up marrying you will have a happy married life, no question."
This only made Rui Tachibana believe it even less.
She genuinely found it hard to believe these words were coming from Yukino Yukinoshita's mouth.
But she knew it wasn't a hallucination. It was real.
Yukino really had said such an unbelievable thing.
"No, that's... that's not true,"
Rui Tachibana said quickly, a faint blush spreading across her face, betraying the turmoil in her heart.
"I mean it. Whoever marries you will absolutely be happy."
Rui Tachibana lowered her head. There was no way to treat Yukino Yukinoshita's words as a joke now—this had to be her sincere feeling.
She was actually quite pleased, quite happy, to have a campus beauty like this acknowledge her charm.
"Thank you,"
"No need to thank me. Everything I said is true."
"Mm,"
Rui Tachibana hummed, "Thank you for the compliment. I'll keep working hard, keep trying. I'll get Lin-kun to say the same thing about me."
Yukino Yukinoshita: ???
The sudden turn in topic gave Yukino Yukinoshita an instant bad feeling.
What was Rui Tachibana about to say next?
"When that happens, I'll make Lin-kun happy. I'll make sure he never regrets being with me, and that he definitely won't regret marrying me and becoming husband and wife."
Yukino Yukinoshita fell silent.
This girl really had fallen for him, hadn't she?
Otherwise, why would the first thing that came to mind, when this topic came up, be Lin Ye? Why think about becoming the kind of wife that would satisfy him?
"Student Tachibana, the one Lin-kun likes is me."
"I know that,"
Rui Tachibana nodded. She'd known that for a long time; she'd never taken it too seriously.
"He's breaking up with you."
"I know that too."
"Then why are you still..."
"That doesn't mean I'm giving up."
Was she planning to be stubborn about it?
Not planning to break things off with Lin Ye at all.
Rui Tachibana caught this reaction and understood exactly what Yukino Yukinoshita was thinking.
"We will break up—after all, Lin-kun and I had an agreement. But..."
In that moment, a smile spread across her face. "Breaking up doesn't mean there's no chance of getting back together. I'll keep pursuing him. I still want to be with him."
That was Rui Tachibana's plan.
If they broke up, then she'd just start over.
"I believe I'll win Lin Ye back. I'll get him to date me again. We'll start from Zero."
That was her plan,
and it left Yukino Yukinoshita speechless.
She genuinely hadn't seen that coming.
And it made Yukino Yukinoshita realize just how deep Rui Tachibana's feelings for Lin Ye truly ran.
She really had fallen for him completely.
"He might very well end up with me then."
Yukino Yukinoshita said, offering up a hypothetical—one that wasn't exactly good news for Rui Tachibana.
The hypothetical left Rui Tachibana stunned, her eyes filling with shock.
Yukino Yukinoshita, saying something like that—did that mean Yukino Yukinoshita had feelings for Lin Ye too?
That thought hit Rui Tachibana hard, her heart tightening.
Yukino Yukinoshita really did have feelings for Lin Ye.
Accepting his request before hadn't just been out of obligation—it had been, more than anything, because of her own feelings for him.
Otherwise,
surely it wouldn't be like this.
Surely she wouldn't be saying things like this now.
Rui Tachibana pressed her lips together, watching the girl with long black hair.
She'd known for a while now that Lin Ye liked Yukino Yukinoshita, and now, she could be even more certain of it.
If forced to choose between her and Yukinoshita, Lin Ye would choose Yukino Yukinoshita without a moment's hesitation, even if Rui Tachibana was currently his girlfriend.
It was a cruel reality, but one Rui Tachibana had no choice but to face.
It was hard.
So hard.
Bitterness welled up in Rui Tachibana's heart. She'd thought she had a chance, because Yukino Yukinoshita didn't like Lin Ye, had no feelings for him.
A girl unwilling to accept him—eventually, Lin Ye would give up on her.
But the result?
It turned out Yukino Yukinoshita did have feelings for Lin Ye, did like him—she'd simply never shown it, not once, all this time.
And now, finally, without meaning to, it had slipped out.
Rui Tachibana raised her eyes to look at the girl in front of her.
"Student Yukinoshita, do you... like Lin Ye?"
One question, and the pristine white room fell into an eerie silence.
Yukino Yukinoshita looked at the earnest, serious face of the blue-haired girl before her, and the reflexive denial caught in her throat.
Like him, or not?
What answer should she give?
Yukino Yukinoshita hesitated, just for a moment.
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