Yuji Okusu shrugged with a relaxed expression.
"It was too fake. Not scary at all."
Chuichiro Noma immediately shot back,
"How can you even say that? If I hadn't held you back earlier, you almost would've punched one of the staff members out of fear."
"Hahaha! Okusu, you're such a coward!"
Noma's merciless teasing exposed Okusu completely, causing Yohei Mito and the others to burst into laughter.
"Hey! You guys!" Matsui complained the moment they stepped out of the haunted house. "You have absolutely no gentlemanly manners. Running off like that—so unreliable! Luckily, Nango was there."
"Exactly!" Even the usually quiet Yoko Fujii joined in this time. "Didn't you say you'd protect us before we went in?"
"Uh…"
The four boys exchanged awkward glances. Once they entered the haunted house, they had instantly gone into "game mode," forgetting all about their promises and focusing only on racing forward.
Seeing the annoyed looks on Matsui and Fujii's faces, Yohei quickly offered a solution.
"How about this? We'll treat you to food later as an apology. Sound good?"
Matsui nodded immediately.
"Now that's more like it. Deal."
Fujii looked around.
"Should we go find Sakuragi and Haruko?"
"No, no, no!" Kano quickly stepped forward to stop them. "It's rare for them to have some time alone. Let's meet up with them later."
Since no one objected, Kano pushed Nango forward.
"Then let's hurry and line up for another ride."
"Okay!"
Two hours later, Kano sat on a bench licking her ice cream.
"Do you think any of them will get together?"
"Who are you talking about?" Nango asked.
"Anyone, really."
Nango glanced at the group who had just stepped off the drop tower.
"I don't think any of those four have any intention of dating."
"Really?" Kano tilted her head. "I think both Fujii and Matsui are pretty good."
Nango rolled his eyes.
"You're getting addicted to playing matchmaker."
"No way. I'm just making conversation."
Soon, the six of them regrouped.
Yohei checked his watch.
"It's about time. Should we go find them?"
Nango nodded.
"Yeah. Let's eat and then head back. We still have practice this afternoon."
Yohei suggested, "Let's split up and search. We'll meet at the restaurant entrance in five minutes."
Back in those days, mobile phones weren't common yet, so contacting people in crowded places like amusement parks was quite troublesome.
Because Kano was short, she left the searching task to her "towering" boyfriend while she focused on her cotton candy.
Holding Kano's hand, Nango moved through the crowd, stopping and starting as he searched. But even after a long while, he still hadn't spotted Sakuragi or Haruko.
Suddenly, someone tugged hard on his sleeve.
Nango turned around—it was Fujii.
She was breathing heavily, clearly having run over in a hurry.
A bad feeling immediately rose in Nango's chest.
"Fujii, slow down. What happened?"
Fujii pointed ahead while catching her breath.
"I… I found them. Hurry! They're in trouble!"
"Where?"
"Up ahead… at the bumper cars!"
Nango released Kano's hand and said seriously,
"You and Fujii go straight to the restaurant. If you see Yohei and the others, tell them to come over."
Kano nodded quickly.
"Okay. Be careful!"
Without another word, Nango turned and ran toward the bumper cars.
Before he even arrived, he saw a crowd gathered nearby.
His heart sank.
For a moment, he feared he might see something much worse.
"Don't push!"
"Why are you all shoving?"
Ignoring the complaints, Nango forced his way through the crowd.
Finally, he reached the front—and saw Sakuragi and Haruko.
"Phew…"
Nango let out a quiet sigh of relief. At least they looked fine.
Three men stood across from them, surrounding the pair.
Fortunately, a fight hadn't started yet.
Of course, anyone bold enough to confront Sakuragi wasn't exactly weak-looking.
One of them was about as tall as Nango, while the other two were around Mitsui's height, probably in their early twenties.
The tallest one, with dyed blond hair, shouted,
"Red-haired kid! What exactly are you trying to do? If you want to fight, I'm ready anytime!"
Sakuragi clenched his fists.
"You guys apologize to Miss Haruko right now!"
Haruko tugged at his arm nervously.
"Sakuragi… it's okay. I'm fine."
"Sakuragi!"
"Nango!"
Seeing Nango arrive, Sakuragi's face lit up.
"You came just in time! These guys deliberately rammed their bumper car into Haruko earlier! I was just about to deal with them!"
The three men on the other side instantly looked less confident when they noticed Nango's height.
The atmosphere shifted slightly—from confrontation to reluctant reasoning.
After hearing the explanation, Nango stepped forward and stood between the two sides.
He first looked at Haruko.
"Are you okay?"
"I'm fine." Haruko shook her head quickly, then looked at Nango with hopeful eyes.
Nango understood immediately.
She didn't want a fight to break out.
The man beside the blond-haired one quickly spoke.
"See? She said she's fine. Can we leave now?"
"You're not leaving until you apologize!" Sakuragi snapped.
If Haruko hadn't been holding him tightly, he probably would've already charged forward.
The blond-haired man frowned.
"You want to fight? You're just high school students. We're college students!"
"So what if you're college students?!" Sakuragi shot back.
Nango quickly separated the two.
Then he looked at the blond-haired man and said calmly,
"We're not asking for much. Just apologize."
Seeing the blond-haired guy about to interrupt, Nango raised a hand.
"Let me finish."
"Since you're college students, isn't it reasonable to apologize for scaring a high school girl?"
The blond-haired man froze.
His companions exchanged glances.
The one who spoke earlier muttered stubbornly,
"We were just playing. She's not hurt."
Nango calmly continued,
"But she was scared. That's not good, right?"
"…"
The three men finally fell silent.
After exchanging another glance, they muttered reluctantly,
"Sorry. We were wrong."
With that, the blond-haired man led the other two away, quickly disappearing into the crowd.
"Hmph. That apology had no sincerity at all."
Sakuragi was still fuming.
Nango chuckled.
"Hey, at least they apologized."
Haruko gently tried to calm Sakuragi.
"Don't be angry anymore."
Then she turned to Nango.
"Nango, thank you."
Nango waved his hand.
"Why thank me? If you want to thank someone, thank Sakuragi. He was the one protecting you."
Then he winked playfully and whispered,
"Next time… don't dress so beautifully."
Haruko immediately understood the teasing implication.
Her cheeks turned red again.
"Thank you, Sakuragi."
Sakuragi scratched the back of his head and grinned foolishly.
"It's nothing! Protecting Miss Haruko is what I should do!"
Nango smiled.
"Alright. Everyone's waiting for us at the restaurant entrance. Let's go eat."
As they walked away, he thought to himself:
After this… you two should finally make some progress, right?