The call rang for quite a while—long enough that Lin Ye was about to take out his phone to contact Yukinoshita—when it finally connected.
"Hello!"
"It's me, Yukino,"
"Is there something?"
"You're not feeling well; as your boyfriend and fiancé, I have to come check on you, don't I!"
"No need, I'm recovering fairly well now,"
Yukino Yukinoshita continued, "As for your photos, I'll fulfill the agreement in a couple of days. I won't go back on my word—please rest assured on that point."
She worried Lin Ye would think she was making excuses to flee.
But today she really was injured and couldn't move freely.
"I believe you. How could my fiancée deceive me!"
"Mm, then..."
"I'm coming in,"
Yukino Yukinoshita went stiff.
She hadn't expected Lin Ye would still insist on entering.
"I'm really fine,"
"Please open the door, I want to see you."
"Really, there's no need."
"Yukino, you know I have ways to get in. If I come in like that, I don't know what I might do to my beautiful fiancée,"
Yukinoshita's heart chilled, her back going slightly cold.
"I recall a certain girl once promised that, upon reaching the fiancé-and-fiancée relationship, we could sleep together."
The forgotten memory surfaced in her mind, and Yukino Yukinoshita remembered.
She remembered it now!
This was something she'd said, promised to Lin Ye with her own lips.
At the time, her purpose had been more to stall Lin Ye, to keep him from pestering her.
She'd thought that reaching the fiancé-and-fiancée relationship with Lin Ye would take at least half a year.
And half a year would have been enough.
If even half a year passed without reaching the fiancé-and-fiancée relationship, it would essentially mean her relationship with Lin Ye had made no progress—tantamount to it being over.
Only, the unexpected happened.
She hadn't imagined she would actively propose and confirm becoming Lin Ye's fiancée herself.
Now, thinking back, she wondered whether she'd been poisoned—how could she have said such a thing.
Yukinoshita also knew this had an inevitable connection to her sister; had her sister not existed, she definitely wouldn't have dragged out this relationship.
"Ding..."
The door opened.
"Come in, then! But no funny business."
Open the door first, then make demands—this girl was one of a kind.
"Alright, I promise you."
Lin Ye agreed.
Entering the elevator, he soon reached the corresponding floor; the apartment door was already open.
Lin Ye walked in, changed his shoes, and closed the apartment door.
'Click...'
At this moment, Yukino Yukinoshita sat on the sofa.
"Please, sit,"
She sat upright, dressed in gray loungewear, appearing leisurely and natural.
Lin Ye sat down beside the girl and picked up the cup of tea prepared for him that had been placed across the table.
Yukino Yukinoshita was helpless; she'd intended to use this arrangement to make Lin Ye sit across from her, but evidently he hadn't fallen for it at all.
"How's your recovery coming along?"
"Much better, thank you for your concern."
"I'm your boyfriend and fiancé. Isn't caring for you only natural?"
This rhetorical question made Yukino murmur in acknowledgment.
This relationship had her acknowledgment, so Lin Ye could use this identity to express his views and thoughts.
"Yukino, the photos will be delayed a few days?"
"Mm."
"Compensation—I'm quite interested in tonight's shoot and Yukino in the Maid outfit, I'm really looking forward to it, but Yukino wants to postpone, so doesn't that warrant some compensation for me?"
Compensation again?
She was gradually coming to understand a bit of Lin Ye's style.
"Go on, say it!"
"I've bought several new styles of Maid outfit,"
He hadn't bought them, but he could buy them right away; there were still a few days left, plenty of time to purchase.
In Lin Ye's mind surfaced the image of the girl wearing the new-style Maid outfit, and the corners of his mouth couldn't help but curl up.
Yukinoshita took it all in within her view; what this guy was thinking, she knew all too well.
And that Maid outfit definitely wouldn't be anything decent.
"This Maid outfit of yours—is it decent?"
"Of course it's decent, I guarantee it's decent."
Really?
Yukino Yukinoshita was still somewhat hesitant, unable to believe it in her heart.
After all, this guy Lin Ye would, at times, pull some stunts.
"I get it—Yukino wants the indecent kind of Maid outfit. No problem, I'll switch right away."
"No,"
Yukinoshita immediately refused. "I agree to it,"
"It's a deal, then,"
"Mm,"
She nodded.
Lin Ye picked up the cup and took a sip of tea.
How to put it!
He recalled that in the past, whenever he finished his tea, Yukino would proactively refill it, but this time she didn't do so, instead maintaining her seated posture, her whole person exuding an air of indifference.
This air, on the contrary, made him feel something was a bit off.
Today, Yukino's period seemed quite severe—not so easy on her at all.
"Yukino, if your body's still uncomfortable, then don't force yourself to push through it,"
"I..."
Yukinoshita was about to deny it, but the moment she thought of Lin Ye's perspective skill, she understood he must have secretly used the perspective skill to see the bruise on her waist.
Even if she wanted to conceal it, it would be meaningless.
Of course, what angered her most now was that Lin Ye had actually used perspective again, peeping at her again.
Even though it wasn't the first time she'd been seen completely by Lin Ye, being observed at such close range gave her not a shred of security, and her whole body trembled.
"Lin Ye,"
Being addressed by his bare name instantly startled Lin Ye.
How had her attitude changed.
"Do you not realize your behavior is extremely rude?"
"Hmm?"
"Don't play dumb,"
Her dark navy eyes glared at Lin Ye.
"What did I do?"
Good, very good.
This guy really wouldn't admit it.
Last time was the same; if she hadn't directly exposed him, there was no way he'd ever have admitted it.
Yukino Yukinoshita stared at Lin Ye, her aura growing colder and colder.
"Yukino, if I did something wrong somewhere, you can just say it directly,"
"You used perspective to look at my body again. Is this behavior polite?"
The rhetorical question left Lin Ye stunned.
He used perspective?
How had he used perspective?
"I didn't,"
"If you didn't, how did you know about the bruise on my waist? How did you confirm my body was still uncomfortable?"
It took Lin Ye a while to grasp the reasoning behind the girl's idea.
A bruise.
Injured.
Lin Ye's face fell. "I'd assumed all along that you'd gotten your period,"
Yukino blinked.
"But I never imagined you'd been injured. Tell me—how did you get hurt, and why did you hide it from me."
In an instant, the momentum between the two reversed.
Yukinoshita came under enormous pressure.
"You... really didn't use perspective on me?"
She clung to this point, unwilling to let it go; if she'd guessed wrong, then this was... blaming the wrong person.
"Do I still need to use perspective to look at you now?"
Yukino: ???
"I'm not the kind of person who casually uses perspective on girls. I'm not so starved as to stoop to that. You're my girlfriend, you're my fiancée—can't I just look directly? Do I still need to resort to means like perspective?"
Makes sense... my foot.
How had she ended up letting Lin Ye see her body!
"You're not allowed to look at me directly. I won't let you look,"
As she spoke, she instinctively wrapped her arms around her body, gazing at Lin Ye warily yet bashfully.
"Are you still my girlfriend and fiancée?"
Lin Ye put on a hurt pose.
"I am, but we haven't reached that step. Lin Ye, I'm confirming with you one more time now—did you use perspective on me?"
"I didn't,"
Lin Ye denied flatly.
He really hadn't done it.
He didn't need to, either.
There really was no need for it.
His previous uses of perspective had all been for the sake of Strange survival—for survival and clearing instances.
Last time, using perspective on Yukino had been more because of perspective's drawback—it was a passive, two-way perspective that he couldn't control, only passively taking effect, and so he'd seen the girl's bare body.
But after that, he really hadn't done anything similar again, and he definitely hadn't used perspective on girls to admire their bodies.
Yukino Yukinoshita ultimately chose to believe Lin Ye; at this step, there was no need for Lin Ye to keep deceiving her.
"Then, now it's my turn. Where are you hurt?"
"It's nothing,"
But after being stared at by Lin Ye for a while, Yukino Yukinoshita slowly lowered her head and, with a soft sigh, said, "My right waist..."
"Alright,"
With that, Lin Ye stood up.
"Lin Ye, you want to..."
"Don't move,"
Lin Ye came to the girl's side and crouched down, reaching out to lift the hem of her clothing.
The slight friction of the fabric made Yukinoshita's cheeks flush faintly red.
She wanted to stop him, but since Lin Ye had already done it, stopping him would be meaningless.
She'd already been seen; one more look was nothing.
"Have you applied any ointment?"
"..."
"Yukino,"
"There's no medicine at home,"
Lin Ye understood.
"You should have contacted me sooner,"
She turned her head aside, not looking at Lin Ye.
Lin Ye stood up and walked toward the door. "I'll go check a nearby drugstore. Wait for me a bit,"
With that, Lin Ye opened the door, took the elevator, and browsed the electronic map to search for the nearest drugstore.
A dozen-odd minutes later, he returned.
The young girl was still sitting in her spot, waiting for him to come back.
Lin Ye came back to the girl's side, took out the ointment, and gently applied it to the bruise.
Cool, and slightly stinging.
Yukinoshita felt it was strange, but watching Lin Ye's earnest, careful expression as he applied it, her heart felt warm.
Apart from family, no one had ever been so attentive and gentle to her.
The cold beauty Yukino Yukinoshita was, at heart, also a girl starved of love.
After a while, the application finished, and Lin Ye put the ointment away.
"From now on, if anything similar happens again, you must tell me."
This was Lin Ye's demand.
"..."
Agree, or not?
"I'm your fiancé,"
Lin Ye trotted out this reason.
Had he been a quasi-fiancé, that clearly wouldn't have been enough, but now, with the identities of fiancé and boyfriend, Yukino Yukinoshita—a girl who reacted differently based on the relationship between the two parties—ultimately accepted Lin Ye's demand.
"I understand,"
"Same goes for your period."
Instantly, Yukino Yukinoshita blushed.
"Why... the period... too!"
For you to say this with such a straight face—isn't it a bit inappropriate?
A girl's period is very sensitive.
"Isn't your body uncomfortable during your period?"
"But this..."
"It's decided,"
The forceful stance left Yukino Yukinoshita with only a sigh in the end.
"Isn't taking care of my girlfriend and fiancée my duty?"
"Keeping your distance from other women is the obligation of a boyfriend and fiancé,"
Yukino Yukinoshita immediately seized the chance to retort.
She looked at Lin Ye, waiting for his answer.
"My situation is abnormal,"
"Shameless,"
Yukinoshita couldn't help but say it.
A person who's shameless is invincible under heaven—only Lin Ye dared to speak to her like this to her face.
But she had no way to deal with it,
because she'd never once considered breaking up and ending the relationship.
Yukino Yukinoshita had vowed to make Mai Sakurajima withdraw on her own; only then would she, Yukino Yukinoshita, be the final victor.
"I do still have a face—it's just rather thick."
"..."
He really was shameless.
In Yukino Yukinoshita's heart there was mostly helplessness.
Who told her to get stuck with such a boyfriend.
Now, thinking back occasionally, would it have been better if, back at her hometown, she hadn't proactively said those things? Wouldn't she then not be affected by this man, her heart and mind thrown into disarray!
"There's one more thing,"
Yukino Yukinoshita's words drew Lin Ye's attention.
"Go ahead,"
"What was up with the bento at noon? It looked very delicious."
She knew about even that?
Did Yui Yuigahama tell her, or Isshiki Iroha?
"Did Student Yuigahama tell you?"
"That's not important. Tell me, who prepared the bento for you,"
Yukino Yukinoshita had assumed Lin Ye would again go to the convenience store to buy bread to fill his stomach today, so she'd even felt a bit guilty, feeling she'd wronged Lin Ye.
But it turned out Lin Ye had instead eaten an even more luxurious bento.
Even through the screen, she could sense, through the photo, the earnestness and care in that bento.
She felt the maker held very high regard for the recipient.
"Is Yukino curious?"
Yukinoshita fell silent; this question was hard for her to answer.
"Is Yukino jealous?"
"How could that be."
She couldn't hold back.
"Yukino's jealous after all. After all, I could originally only eat the bento Yukino made, but now I can eat a bento made by someone else's own hands—there's a girl who can replace Yukino."
As his words fell, he immediately received a cold glare from Yukino.
"If you don't want to eat it, I can stop making it,"
"Does Yukino want to break the agreement?"
"If you don't want to eat it, I won't make it, to avoid waste,"
she said, insisting.
Breaking the agreement was impossible; it was because Lin Ye wouldn't eat it that she wouldn't make it, that's all.
"I'll eat it—I'll definitely eat it, absolutely no waste. If I stopped eating it and ate other girls' bento, wouldn't Yukino turn into a resentful woman, sulking?"
"Who would turn into a resentful woman!"
"Not denying the sulking, then."
The young girl was so angered her hackles rose; she instinctively tried to forcefully stand up to put some pressure on Lin Ye, but as a result... the moment she moved, the soreness in her waist hit instantly, making her gasp and let out a whimper.
Her whole body even lost balance and toppled to the side.
Lin Ye, quick-eyed and quick-handed, caught Yukinoshita. "Be more careful—bumping into the kettle of hot water could scald you, and one careless slip could even leave you disfigured,"
Only then did Yukino Yukinoshita notice that kettle of hot water.
If the hot water really had hit her face, she really might have been disfigured.
"Thank you,"
she said in thanks, her heart filled with lingering fear.
"You're my girlfriend; protecting you is only natural,"
After sitting steady and calming down, Yukino Yukinoshita recalled the reason she'd suddenly stood up—it was because she'd been angered by Lin Ye; Lin Ye was the one responsible.
"The one who gave me the bento was Student Rui Tachibana,"
Lin Ye proactively informed Yukinoshita, no longer teasing and ribbing her.
"After eating with her yesterday, she ran into some hooligans, and I helped her deal with them. Today's lunch bento was a thank-you gift she specially prepared for me."
"Why didn't you say so last night,"
She and Lin Ye had mentioned Rui Tachibana in their conversation last night.
"You didn't ask me,"
Fine.
She accepted it.
Yukino Yukinoshita wasn't the kind of girl who went, 'if I don't ask, you don't tell.'
At least Lin Ye had proactively informed her, not making her ask again and again.
But the issue was, it was a hero-saves-the-beauty situation, and the next day she'd proactively made a bento—Rui Tachibana had a favorable impression of Lin Ye, and the possibility of her falling for Lin Ye had increased again.
She increasingly felt that her future romantic rivals would only grow more and more numerous.
A headache.
Did this guy Lin Ye think she and Mai Sakurajima weren't enough?
He had to go provoke other girls too?
Yukino Yukinoshita couldn't help but think.
Lin Ye tidied up the tea table, did a simple cleanup of the living room, and arranged things neatly.
The young girl took this scene in.
"Are you going to bathe tonight?"
Yukinoshita instinctively nodded, but immediately shook her head.
She guessed that if she were going to bathe, Lin Ye would probably propose bathing her.
This made her feel it was better to just grit her teeth and endure.
Not bathing for one day wasn't a big problem.
"I'll carry you to your room."
"I can do it myself,"
But Lin Ye took action, scooping the girl up in a princess carry and walking toward the bedroom.
Yukino Yukinoshita wanted to struggle, but didn't dare; her waist still ached, and struggling would hurt; and if she struggled and fell to the floor, it would only hurt more.
Being princess-carried by Lin Ye—so be it!
She'd also gradually grown used to some of Lin Ye's intimate behaviors.
Reaching the bed, Lin Ye gently set the girl down, then reached out to undo her loungewear.
"Wait, Lin Ye..."
Yukinoshita grabbed Lin Ye's hand. "I—I'll undress myself,"
"I'm your fiancé,"
"No,"
But Lin Ye's gaze was resolute.
"Please... I'm begging you,"
She uttered words of pleading.
"It's not like I haven't seen it before—and I even looked for quite a while."
"It's different,"
This was fundamentally different.
In her heart it was completely different.
"Next time,"
Lin Ye decided to let the girl off; pressing any further would stir up the disgust in her heart.
The boyfriend identity and the fiancé identity were very useful, but his feelings with Yukinoshita still hadn't truly reached that point; the degree of emotion between the two was still a bit low.
The two could be said to not have formally begun dating; they merely had this title, without having gone on the emotion-boosting activity of a solo date.
The next step—if he needed to increase the feelings between the two, he'd have to cultivate in this direction.
Find a chance to ask Yukino out on a date—and he'd already obtained permission to hold hands.
Lin Ye looked forward to it.
After standing up, Lin Ye looked at the young girl lying on the bed. "I'll head back first. If anything comes up, call me, and I'll rush over as soon as possible."
Yukino Yukinoshita was taken aback.
She'd already braced herself mentally for Lin Ye to stay over.
But she hadn't expected Lin Ye would actually proactively propose to leave.
He was now, on the contrary, being polite.
Shouldn't he stay—or even propose to spend the night in her room, sleeping directly in her bed?
Yukino Yukinoshita had even prepared a whole string of explanations and persuasions for that.
But none of it was of any use; Lin Ye simply left on his own.
She didn't even know whether she should be happy or sad.
'Click...'
After saying his goodbyes, Lin Ye closed the door.
It wasn't that Lin Ye hadn't considered staying, but the moment he thought of Ryou Fujibayashi, he felt that today he should head to Ryou Fujibayashi's side.
The reason he'd come to see Yukino first was also because he'd planned to leave after visiting Yukino, putting more of today's time on Ryou Fujibayashi's side.
"I wonder when to tell Yukino about Ryou."
Concealing it forever wasn't an option either.
But the moment he thought of the matter of Ryou being found out by Yukino and Mai—
that scene, just thinking about it, made him a bit worried.
The two girls' fury—could he withstand it?
It wouldn't really bring out a hatchet, would it!
Or else... Hypnosis, then!
Lin Ye couldn't help but think of Hypnosis again.
This superpower really was just too useful.
The problem was what the drawback of the Hypnosis superpower was.
What consequences that drawback would cause was, for now, an unknown variable to him.
By contrast, Devour's drawback was easy to test out; the Hypnosis superpower—he currently had no clue at all what its drawback was.
The targets he'd hypnotized had, up to now, all been normal, without any problems arising.
"Take it one step at a time!"
Lin Ye walked toward the apartment door, opened it, stepped out, and arrived at the elevator doors.
'Click...'
The elevator door opened.
"Yo, Lin-kun,"
A sudden greeting rang out.
Lin Ye saw an acquaintance—
the short-black-haired girl, Haruno Yukinoshita.
Appearing here at this point in time?
Lin Ye definitely didn't think it was a coincidence.
Before was the same, today was the same.
It seemed Haruno really was constantly looking out for her little sister Yukino.
Worried he'd stay the night and do something, no doubt!
"Miss Haruno, what a coincidence,"
"Haha, this shows that Lin-kun and I are fated. Isn't that so?"
"This fate, I'm afraid, is man-made,"
"Man-made fate is fate too. I've always hoped to have a deeper level of fate with Lin-kun,"
Haruno laughed.
Some things—both parties knew the other clearly understood, but there was no need to expose it.
The two had formed a potential tacit understanding.
"No thanks,"
"What a pity,"
Haruno shrugged and continued, "Leaving so early?"
"Miss Haruno came over precisely because you were worried I'd stay over at Yukino's, no?"
"Aiya, how could there be such a worry? Lin-kun is Yukino's fiancé; staying at Yukino's place is a perfectly normal thing. What do I have to worry about,"
Lin Ye didn't believe a single word of what Haruno said.
"Best that you're not worried. If there's nothing else, I'll be off first."
With that, Lin Ye walked into the elevator.
And Haruno had no intention at all of leaving the elevator.
'Ding-dong...'
On the contrary, she followed Lin Ye down to the first floor, and they walked out of the lobby together.
"Miss Haruno, what are you..."
"Isn't it that I wanted to tell Lin-kun a piece of good news! The matter you had me investigate—there are leads now."
"Hmm? There are results on Asuna's matter?"
He'd already had Haruno investigating Asuna for quite some time; by rights, there should be a conclusion by now.
"Uh, this... that..."
Haruno revealed a troubled expression. "Please give me a little more time, I still need to confirm further,"
Lin Ye frowned slightly.
Haruno smiled awkwardly and immediately continued, "It's the matter of that little sister Sora Kasugano you asked me to investigate—there's information now,"
Sora's matter?
That was rather fast.
"Go on."
"It's like this,"
Haruno paused her words. "I don't know if Lin-kun remembers the serial car crash that happened last month on the Chiba Expressway,"
Lin Ye nodded; he remembered. At the time, he and Ren Nanase had planned to watch a movie at the cinema, and Ren had left the cinema early due to a staffing problem caused by the car crash.
And Ren's leaving had, as it happened, helped her avoid being swept into the Strange movie instance.
That counted as lucky.
And it was also because of this that he and Ryou Fujibayashi had their initial contact and deepening relationship.
"I have an impression of it,"
"That's good. The Sora Kasugano family happened to be the victims of that serial car crash at the time,"
"And her parents and older brother all died in that car crash; only Sora Kasugano, in the back seat, survived,"
"Her older brother should also have been in the back seat at the time, right?"
"Yes, but he perished; only the younger sister, the girl, survived. After being rescued, she was sent to Chiba City Hospital, received about ten days of treatment, and was finally discharged and went home."
Still the hospital where Ren and Ryou were.
"Is that all the information?"
"Of course not just that. I had someone go to the hospital to inquire and investigate, and they said that while hospitalized, Sora Kasugano would, from time to time, call out the names of her parents and older brother,"
This was also fairly normal—a little girl who'd lost both parents in an accident, missing her parents, older brother, and relatives while hospitalized.
But looking at Haruno's expression, the matter clearly wouldn't be so simple.
"Connected to that existence?"
Lin Ye didn't say it explicitly, but Haruno understood well enough.
The core point of connection between the two was precisely that, only for the sake of safety—for the sake of people like Haruno who hadn't touched that domain—they didn't mention it explicitly.
"The possibility is very high,"
Haruno said. "And I also had someone investigate the neighbors of the house where Sora Kasugano lives,"
"Some neighbors have heard strange noises,"
"One neighbor, because of her tragic experience, proactively brought over a dish, but he knocked on the door for quite a while, and it just wouldn't open—yet there really were sounds inside the home,"
This piqued Lin Ye's curiosity.
Sora Kasugano's residence really did have certain problems afterward.
There, it was very likely that a Strange Game mission would be triggered.
Lin Ye felt it was necessary for him to make a special trip there.
"Of course, there's also a piece of gossip, saying someone broke in, and in the middle of the night cries of alarm and calls for help rang out, leading someone to call the police—but in the end there was nothing. I don't know if this is real or purely fabricated information,"
"I understand. I'll find time to make a trip there afterward,"
"As expected of Lin-kun—your guts are big,"
"If my guts weren't big enough, there'd be no way I'd have survived until now,"
"Hahaha, I believe Lin-kun will definitely keep on surviving. I'm still waiting to have certain indescribable things happen with Lin-kun."
"In the next life!"
"Wow! Okay, okay! Lin-kun even made a promise with me for the next life—I'm so happy,"
Haruno's brilliant smile left Lin Ye helpless.
When it came to dealing with men and women, the one he was worst at handling was still Haruno.
And Isshiki, who had the nickname of Little Haruno, was by contrast much easier to deal with.
Of course, other girls were even easier to get along with.
Even Yukino was far, far easier to get along with than Haruno.
...
Translator's note: Guys, what did you think of the cover animation? Would you like more covers like this, or do you prefer that I just leave it as an image?
I would also like to know if you find the cover appealing or not. I'm counting on your feedback.
...
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