Goshiki and Yunohama stood chatting by the roadside, bags slung over their shoulders, steamed buns in hand.
When Ryosuke saw them, his eyes lit up. He knew it—Goshiki and Yunohama had brought the ball too! Maybe they could even get some practice in today.
Goshiki spotted Ryosuke from far away and waved high in the air.
"Ryosuke!"
This was just how teenagers were—hot-blooded and easily fired up.
Ryosuke ran over, panting.
"You… you guys got here… so early."
After catching his breath, he could finally speak properly.
"Yunohama-kun's wearing glasses today. That's so cool!"
Ryosuke's cat-like praise mode activated. Yunohama awkwardly pushed his glasses up with a finger.
"Right? Right? I think so too!"
In a way, Goshiki and Ryosuke were both single-celled organisms whose brainwaves somehow synced up in strange ways.
The three of them set off toward the amusement park on their bikes.
Ryosuke hadn't brought a bike today, so he sat on the back seat behind Yunohama.
Goshiki sped ahead, pulling farther and farther away, constantly provoking Yunohama. Yunohama snorted inwardly. Childish.
But from the back seat, Ryosuke anxiously held onto Yunohama as they sped up.
"Yunohama, hurry up! We're not going to catch up!"
With a sigh, Yunohama picked up speed and chased after Goshiki. Just as he caught up—
Goshiki glanced back, saw Yunohama behind him, and grinned.
"Alright, alright, let's race!"
He shot forward again.
Yunohama chased after him with a dark expression. Who wants to race you?!
But his legs were brutally honest—he pedaled faster and faster, practically making sparks fly from the wheels.
Sitting behind him, Ryosuke experienced pure speed and adrenaline.
This is so fast!
His mouth fell open as the wind poured straight down his throat, a small cry slipping out.
He inhaled wrong, started coughing, then laughed dumbly.
Yunohama rolled his eyes. What was wrong with these people? Why did all his teammates seem so… not very bright? So immature.
They raced all the way to the city center in a blur.
Goshiki ran a hand through his sweat-soaked hair.
"I'm insanely cool. Like, unbeatable-level handsome."
Ryosuke supported the panting Yunohama from the side, silently grateful he hadn't ridden a bike himself. Yunohama rubbed at his slightly cramping leg and shot Goshiki an irritated glare, completely forgetting that Ryosuke had been the one egging him on earlier.
Goshiki cheerfully walked between Ryosuke and Yunohama, dragging them along toward the amusement park.
Yunohama smoothed the wrinkles in his clothes and sighed.
Before he could even finish sighing, Goshiki dragged him along again. His breath hadn't gone up yet before it was forced back down, leaving Yunohama looking visibly miserable.
Two teammates with an average mental age of about three linked arms, cheerfully preparing to look around.
Trailing behind them was a foul-faced Yunohama. The group looked exactly like "an airhead duo and the unhappy one."
The moment they entered the amusement park, Goshiki bolted off like he'd slipped his leash, dragging Ryosuke along with him.
Ryosuke was hauled around until he felt dizzy. Goshiki kept stuffing things into his hands—plush toys, roasted sweet potatoes, hair clips…
Then his fingers closed around something soft.
Ryosuke looked down and found himself staring straight into a slime's wide eyes.
Ryosuke: ??
That's weird… this texture?
He squeezed it again.
Under the relentless assault of the slime's squishy feel, Ryosuke slowly lost his mind.
His trembling hands nearly crushed the slime.
Behind them, Yunohama pressed a hand to his forehead. Next time he went out with these two, he absolutely needed to bring a leash.
Seeing Goshiki drag Ryosuke off again, Yunohama's eyelid twitched. Forget it—he should just check if they sold leashes around here.
Goshiki even dug up a T-shirt labeled "Ace Tips" at a secondhand stall, holding onto it like a priceless treasure.
They wandered around for most of the day before finally arriving at the haunted house. Goshiki gripped Ryosuke's arm tightly, his face completely calm.
Ryosuke stared in horror at the deep claw marks Goshiki's fingers had left on his arm. Not wanting to lose face, he flushed bright red and endured it.
The haunted house entrance stood open. Yunohama looked at the two people practically glued together.
Still acting like an overworked mother, he bought tickets for his two idiot children. The staff put blindfolds on them and led them inside.
The cold air of the haunted house made the hairs on Ryosuke's body stand on end.
He asked shakily,
"Goshiki… are you scared?"
Goshiki's steady voice came from the darkness.
"What's there to be scared of?"
Ryosuke took a deep breath, staring at the pitch-black floor.
"Listen to yourself! Let go of my leg already!"
In the darkness, Goshiki had shrunk the moment they entered. Whether it was instinct—or something else—he crouched down uncontrollably, trembling as he grabbed onto Ryosuke's leg for support.
"I'm protecting you, Ryosuke! And my leg's injured! I can't stand up right now!"
Yunohama's expression twitched. He pushed the person in front of him.
"Let's go. If we don't move, something's going to chase us."
The person squatting on the floor shot upright in an instant. The speed was so shocking it brought tears to one's eyes—a true miracle of modern medicine.
Ryosuke bristled.
"Didn't you say you couldn't stand?!"
Feeling guilty, Goshiki said nothing. After standing there for a long moment, he finally started walking, trembling step by step.
In the darkness, the three of them stumbled along like they were learning how to walk for the first time. Yunohama was purely being dragged down by these two disasters and could barely keep his footing.
So he started telling them the haunted house's story.
The story was called "And Then There Were None." It told of a man who went on vacation to a villa with his friends, only for them to be slaughtered by monsters lurking in the darkness.
The man made a deal with the monster—he would lure people there, and the monster promised not to kill him.
But after everyone else was dead and only the man remained, the monster broke its promise, devoured him, and escaped the villa.
The man's resentment lingered after death. His spirit wandered the villa, devouring visiting tourists and eventually becoming the next monster.
Yunohama relayed the staff's explanation to the two of them.
The reactions were even more dramatic than expected.
"So the man was the bad guy?!"
—Ryosuke, focusing on something very strange.
"Then does that mean we're going to be hunted by the monster?!"
—Goshiki, contributing a completely pointless remark.
Yunohama had already been speechless many times today, but this time he finally snapped.
"What exactly are you two even shocked about?!"
The usually quiet and composed Yunohama had finally been completely broken by Goshiki and Ryosuke.