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"...Nijika-senpai wouldn't want everyone to be in danger, would she?"
A simple sentence instantly shattered the girl's sense of shame.
That's right.
Ijichi Nijika had always been secretly blaming herself.
If she hadn't been looking for her missing older female cousin, everyone wouldn't have entered the strange Hidden World. They should be with her mom and dad right now, instead of being about to face life-threatening danger...
People with too strong a sense of responsibility usually suffer a lot.
Ijichi Nijika was like this.
If only she herself was in danger, that would be one thing, but she absolutely didn't want Ryo, Kita, and Bocchi-chan to be in danger!
"Phew..."
Taking a deep breath, Ijichi Nijika bit her lower lip and looked up at Kitahara Makoto:
"I agree then... But we must agree on three rules!"
Kitahara Makoto said softly:
"Nijika-senpai, please speak."
"Um..." A blush involuntarily bloomed on Ijichi Nijika's pretty face. She remembered the scene in her future vision where Kitahara Makoto 'tricked her into a hug' and slightly turned her pretty face away, saying, "Just a hug, Kitahara-kun, you can't do anything else!"
"I guarantee I won't do anything else." Kitahara Makoto raised both hands, his face full of righteousness, "Nijika-senpai, please believe me, I'm a decent person."
...Kitahara-kun is not a decent person at all!
Ijichi Nijika's pink cheeks puffed out slightly, a complaint almost escaping her lips.
When he was dating her in the future, he often went out and cheated with other girls, how could he be a decent person!
However, that was a sin Kitahara Makoto would commit in the future, and it couldn't be used to punish him now, so Ijichi Nijika forcefully held back her complaint, took two steps forward, opened her arms, took a deep breath, and then, blushing, gently hugged Kitahara Makoto.
"So warm..."
The familiar yet unfamiliar sound of a heartbeat entered her ears, quickly relaxing Ijichi Nijika's somewhat stiff body. After all, in the future vision, hugging was a perfectly normal thing.
Kitahara Makoto raised his arms, letting the strands of fragrance flood into his nose, like a wooden figure, completely without any small movements.
So fragrant.
Even though she hadn't showered yesterday, the blonde side ponytail girl barely smelled of sweat, only a pleasant fragrance quietly wafted over… Could it be that she was marinated in makeup?
Although Nijika-senpai is flat-chested among the flat-chested, her initiative to hug him at this moment can still be described as 'soft and fragrant jade' in his arms. It's the first time in his two lives that he has been hugged by a girl. If it were an ordinary boy, his heart would have been racing and he would have been uncontrollably excited.
But Kitahara Makoto's heart was as still as water, without any reverie in his heart.
His mind was filled with the future scene of him being chopped with a wood axe on the rooftop, and his heart was as cold as a fish-killing knife that had killed fish for thirty years!
Time passed quietly in the embrace.
Neither of them spoke, only the sound of each other's heartbeats was particularly clear.
"Nijika-senpai, you can let go of me now," Kitahara Makoto said softly.
He had been paying attention to the task status on the System. When he saw the green [Completed] mark pop up, he immediately spoke to remind her.
Take the opportunity to hug for a while longer?
No matter how fragrant and soft Nijika-senpai is, she can't compare to a milky fragrance knife… No, it's a deadly wood axe!
He must keep his distance, and her affection must not be allowed to increase any further!
"Ah… okay."
Ijichi Nijika's eyelashes trembled slightly, she quickly opened her eyes, and then quickly backed away with a flushed pretty face, pulling away the distance.
Has it really been three minutes so quickly?
It clearly felt like just a blink of an eye… And she really just hugged him honestly, without doing anything else?
"Stare—"
Ijichi Nijika suddenly felt several gazes fall on her.
Subconsciously turning her head to look back, she saw three small heads poking out from behind the low wall of the park not far away, from top to bottom were Yamada Ryo, Kita Kita, and Gotō Hitori.
Next to the three girls, there also stood a Bunny Girl in black silk, openly and honestly, looking over with a strange and inexplicable gaze.
"Y-you guys…"
Ijichi Nijika opened her pink lips, only feeling the temperature on her face rising rapidly, and the girl's sense of shame exploded instantly.
I'm so stupid, really, I only knew that hiding in the corner would prevent people from discovering me, but I didn't know that everyone is curious and would secretly follow me…
"Senpai, don't panic, just explain it clearly," Kitahara Makoto coughed lightly, and said with a serious face, "We are upright and not afraid of crooked shadows, and our feet are straight and not afraid of crooked shoes."
"…Everyone saw it clearly, no matter how you explain it, you will be suspected, right!"
Ijichi Nijika bit her lower lip hard, feeling so ashamed that she wanted to find a crack in the ground to crawl into.
As a girl, Ijichi Nijika is very clear about how strong girls' gossip is.
What the truth is doesn't matter.
What matters is 'I think', what I think it is, that's what it is…
While speaking, several girls who were peeking at the corner of the wall had already stepped over.
"Nijika, what do I usually eat to fill my stomach when I don't have money to eat?" Yamada Ryo suddenly asked with a blank expression.
"Eh?" Ijichi Nijika was slightly stunned, and subconsciously replied, "You eat grass."
"Correct answer…" Yamada Ryo covered her forehead and sighed, "It seems that Nijika has not been hypnotized by Kitahara-kun."
Ijichi Nijika was immediately speechless: "I wasn't hypnotized in the first place, okay!"
Yamada Ryo said faintly: "So… Nijika took the initiative to throw herself into the arms of a boy?"
"I-I didn't throw myself into his arms!"
Ijichi Nijika's delicate body trembled slightly, her pretty face almost dripping with blood, and she hurriedly turned her head to look at Kitahara Makoto: "Kitahara-kun, explain it quickly!"
Kitahara Makoto coughed lightly and explained the reason:
"You guys really misunderstood, Nijika-senpai and I are just performing an exorcism ritual…"
"Suspicious," Kita Ikuyo said, putting her hands on her hips, "Why didn't Kitahara-kun say it in front of everyone, but instead took Nijika-senpai and sneaked into the corner?"
Kitahara Makoto looked at Kita, and said with a blank expression:
"Kita-san, in order to escape from here, quickly let me hug you for three minutes in front of everyone."
"I-I don't want to!"
Kita Ikuyo's small face turned red, and she hurriedly hid behind Bocchi-chan.
Hugging a boy for three minutes in front of everyone is too embarrassing no matter how you think about it!
"So you see," Kitahara Makoto spread his hands and said innocently, "Even you would be shy, let alone Nijika-senpai."
"Ugh…" Kita Ikuyo quickly puffed up her bun face when she heard the words, like a hamster with its mouth full of chestnuts, "What do you mean even me, it's irritating!"
"…"
Sakurajima Mai folded her arms in front of her chest and asked softly:
"Does Kitahara-kun really have a way to escape the field of flowers?"
Kitahara Makoto nodded and said:
"I have a certain degree of certainty, but I can't guarantee 100% safety, so I decided to hold a ritual to increase the chances of successfully escaping."
This was the truth.
The field of flowers itself doesn't have much attack power. For example, when Nijika and Ryo, who accidentally entered the field of flowers yesterday, were walking out, although they were blocked by the underground pneumatophores, those pneumatophores were quite fragile and were easily broken.
What is truly dangerous is that once humans accidentally enter the field of flowers, their consciousness will be affected by unknown influences, and they will not be able to muster any thoughts of escaping.
So Kitahara Makoto thought of the ability he got from his first lottery draw…
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