Chapter 113 – I caught you

"That's not right, according to the usual script, how could there be no one here?" Yukio was a bit puzzled by the logic of Ishizaki and his group, and directly pushed open the door of his own stall.

Just then, he saw Ishizaki tiptoeing, almost like a thief, trying to sneak away quietly.

Ishizaki was obviously startled too, not expecting Yukio to come out of the door: "Yu, Yukio-san... um… you haven't stayed for three minutes, have you?"

Yukio rolled his eyes, still remembering the rules of the game? Yukio did not continue on this topic, but, puzzled by his own question, pointed at the top of the toilet stall: "Is that all?"

"Don't you think it would be scarier to add someone, standing on the toilet in the stall, holding onto the partition board, and sticking their head over?"

"Mistake?" Ishizaki could never have imagined that the courage test would be halfway through when he was caught by Yukio for instruction, scratching the back of his head innocently, and smiling sheepishly: "Well… actually, we did think about it."

"In the end, Shiina-san rejected it, saying that standing like that, while definitely scarier, is not good if it's too scary. This is a courage test, not some professional haunted house."

"Moreover, Shiina-san also said, considering the girls' bathroom, where girls are scaring people, if it's too frightening, it might lead to class conflicts or something. Or if a girl stands on the toilet and accidentally falls, that would also be our responsibility."

"After much discussion, in the end, we just decided to knock on the first two stalls and be done with it."

Only then did Yukio understand that everything was arranged by Shiina. No wonder the courage test had some ingeniously designed and some inexplicably youth elements. The root was Shiina's clever little brain.

Since it was Shiina's design, Yukio didn't have much to say. He nodded and let Ishizaki go back, preparing to welcome the next person who got scared.

Yukio then went up to the top floor, which was also the last one. Further up was the rooftop; completing this meant passing the test.

At every stairway, there was a checkpoint guarded, but what surprised Yukio was that the one guarding here was actually Shiina.

"Yukio-kun! you're here~." Shiina was also very happy when she saw Yukio, sitting behind a small desk, waving her little hands joyfully.

As Yukio approached, he noticed a book titled "Psychological Health Assessment" on the desk, along with stacks of questionnaires and pens: "What are these?"

"Oh," Shiina explained obediently, "Actually, the courage test ends here. It's just that there wasn't enough space on the fourth floor of the school building, so we set the finish line on the rooftop."

"The rooftop is spacious enough for us to enjoy moon watching~ and stargazing. We've also specially prepared hot and cold drinks and snacks, so everyone can eat, drink, and have fun."

"However, the challenges on the first three floors might indeed be scarier. For everyone's psychological well-being, I decided to stay here to have each person who passes through fill out a survey questionnaire to see if anyone might have psychological issues."

"If there's a problem, we'll need to contact teacher in the school's medical office. If there's no problem, naturally, they can go up to the rooftop!"

"So that's how it is." Yukio, with an inexplicably amused smile, diligently started filling out the questionnaire as Shiina instructed.

Soon after completing the questionnaire, Shiina, familiar with these questions, quickly glanced over them and happily congratulated: "As expected of Yukio! no problems at all, you can go right up. I'll wait here until all the participating students have finished their questionnaires, then I'll go up too."

"Okay." Yukio appeared very cooperative and didn't intend to wait here with Shiina, turning to head upstairs.

However, after taking three steps, Yukio suddenly turned around, just in time to see Shiina, brimming with excitement, about to put on a terrifying ghost face mask, pulling out a toy snake from the desk drawer.

The fear of sudden silence; both froze at the same time. Shiina's joyously smiling face didn't have time to fade and just froze there.

The frozen smile was extremely awkward, like a laugh that wasn't quite a laugh, as if someone hit pause in the middle of a laugh, looking oddly uncomfortable from any angle.

Yukio's smile widened into a big laugh, breaking the silence: "Haha! I knew it! From the very first challenge, it was all about diverting people's attention, making the students who came to play think it's all over, then suddenly scaring them at the end."

"I caught you. You designed all of these, right?"

Shiina pouted her cute face, sulkily putting the toy snake and mask back into the drawer: "Meanie, Yukio-kun, you big meanie, not even giving me a chance to scare you. Even though before, so many people got scared."

"It's because you were too eager to scare me, and you weren't careful." Yukio chuckled, coming back to gently rub Shiina's head with his palm: "You didn't think about it. Normally, I would definitely stay here to wait with you until everyone has passed through."

"I didn't say anything, just turned and walked up, leaving you alone. Didn't you find that at all suspicious?"

"Right? Oh!" Shiina finally realized, somewhat belatedly and adorably, that she had been seen through by Yukio from the start. Her whole body deflated, her disappointment bending her forward, arms resting on the desk.

"Alright now." Yukio's tone became gentler, stopping the stroking of Shiina's hair and instead cradling her face with both hands.

"!" Shiina was forced to lift her head, meeting Yukio's kind gaze. At that moment, where was there any sulking? Where was there any thought of deflation?

Her heart and eyes were filled with him. From Shiina's perspective, the stars and the moon were behind Yukio. The light of the stars and moon faintly shone through the corridor windows onto Yukio's back, making it seem as though he was draped in a handsome silver moon cloak.

His eyes shone brightly, as if moonlight had shattered and melded into them. Being looked at like this... Shiina's heart uncontrollably began to thud violently.

Her cheeks heated uncontrollably, turning a deep red. Perhaps unable to withstand the temperature on her face, Shiina earnestly closed her eyes, preventing them from being scorched by her cheeks' heat.

Seeing Shiina in such an adorably vulnerable state, Yukio leaned down to gently kiss her. Since he didn't know when the next student might come, Yukio didn't prolong the kiss.

After a kiss filled with the beauty of youth, Yukio smiled and walked away, dragging out a chair from a nearby empty classroom: "I'll join you in scaring people then."

"Yeah! Yukio-kun is the best!" Shiina's mood instantly lifted, regaining her serene and graceful smile, as if mist and moonlight, and handed Yukio a toy dagger: "Here, take this."

"Since you're scary enough on your own, you don't need the ghost face mask. I'll keep that."

"...The way you say that, it's as if I'm some kind of a monster."

As a result, the next few groups of students were thoroughly scared, seeing Yukio and Shiina, a formidable duo, one wielding a dagger and the other wearing a ghost face mask, neither looking particularly friendly!

Plus, they had thought that they only needed to complete the questionnaire to pass directly and then go up to the rooftop to enjoy food, drinks, and fun, completely off guard. Having relaxed already, they were suddenly startled by this, causing a fresh round of screams and howls.

***

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