"We're here."
Ryo-neechan stopped and said.
Hayato looked up at the building in front of him.
They were now standing in a desolate yard that still showed signs of occasional care.
In front of them was a school building that looked quite old, its outer wood and paint corroded by time, and its dilapidated walls exuded an eerie aura.
In the sunlight, it seemed to constantly emit loneliness.
Hayato looked for a long time and slowly said.
"Ryo-neechan, have you heard of a place called Tenjin…"
"You're not scared, are you?"
"The brave ones in horror movies…"
"This is Ishikawa's weakness."
"What a joke!" Hayato couldn't help himself; he felt his Pervert status was being insulted.
He said with conviction.
"I can tear down this kind of place with my bare hands when I'm in full Pervert mode, but aren't we here to pull weeds…?"
His voice grew softer as he spoke.
Ryo-neechan didn't expose him, but instead walked into the abandoned school first… If Hayato were to describe it, exploring ruins was interesting, yet boring.
Broken glass accumulated on the ground, some leftover books were corroded, curled, and whitened, and the haphazardly placed desks and chairs were scarred.
Some rooms still had relatively fresh signs of recent play.
Walking here was like watching the passage of time.
But that was all.
Hayato didn't like this dilapidated feeling, but he found it interesting only when he saw Ryo-neechan looking around excitedly, showing a different kind of liveliness.
She would sometimes squat down to look at old magazines, sometimes examine old objects on the tables, but she never reached out, seemingly maintaining a lot of caution.
Her movements were also careful; when she squatted, she carefully tucked her skirt between her knees and held the hem to prevent it from getting dusty, and when she walked, she carefully observed the ground.
"I get it."
Ryo-neechan, startled by Hayato, turned to look at the guy who had suddenly spoken.
"Ryo-neechan is a cat person."
Ryo-neechan, who had expected him to say something else, watched him for a while, then turned back to continue exploring.
Ah, he accidentally annoyed her.
Hayato closed his mouth and followed Ryo-neechan.
He said that because, from observing her all along, seeing Ryo-neechan's curious exploratory demeanor, her cautious manner, and her usual independent nature, it immediately reminded him of a stubborn stray cat.
His interest in observing her suddenly heightened.
However, he was certain that his frequency of observing Ryo-neechan was no different from before.
But he didn't know if it was because of what he had just said, but Ryo-neechan's frequency of looking back increased.
Finally, the next time Ryo-neechan looked back, Hayato couldn't help but ask.
"Ryo-neechan, what's wrong?"
"What are you thinking?"
Ryo-neechan's question was very direct, and so was Hayato's answer.
"Ryo-neechan is so cute."
"I'll consider calling the police for sexual harassment."
Hayato froze for a moment, then hurriedly said.
"No, no, no, how is that sentence sexual harassment?"
Ryo-neechan paused, then turned around and continued forward.
Hayato also calmed his heart, which had almost been stirred; thinking too much was quite dangerous.
Considering calling the police and all that, he almost fell into the trap called fanciful thinking.
After wandering around the first floor for a while, they thoroughly explored all the rooms except for a few locked ones.
Reaching the end of the corridor, Ryo-neechan decisively walked towards the second floor.
Hayato looked at the cracked staircase, revealing the mud bricks inside, stopped and asked.
"Ryo-neechan, are you sure you want to go up?"
Ryo-neechan stopped, turned her head, and said calmly.
"It's a bit dangerous, but we might be the last guests this place will host."
Hayato could tell that she didn't necessarily mean to go up and look; her words also seemed to be confirming his thoughts.
He looked at the cracks on the wall, thought for a moment, and said.
"Alright, just don't leave my side by more than a meter, and even if the house collapses, I can get you out."
Ryo-neechan nodded and smiled.
"Flag."
After saying that, she walked up without any fear.
"Don't jinx it." Hayato retorted helplessly, then followed.
The scenery on the second floor was even more desolate; the ground was thick with dust, and the swollen, almost falling-off wall plaster clung to the walls.
Upon reaching the second floor, Ryo-neechan's desire to explore waned. She looked around, but didn't observe anything carefully.
She noticed the area behind her.
Although Hayato's gaze casually lingered in various places, she felt as if she was constantly being watched.
Indeed.
Less than half a second after she turned around, Hayato looked over.
And she threw out the question she had been holding for a long time.
"Aren't you scared?"
Hayato froze for a moment, then showed a wronged expression, standing still in fear.
"Ryo-neechan, I'm so scared, I need a hug."
Ryo sighed inwardly, knowing that Hayato had been putting on an act from the very beginning, and immediately tried to avoid him.
She walked to the door ahead and gently pushed it open with her foot.
The door opened heavily, but a large section of plaster from the doorframe fell off with it.
Ryo quickly pulled her foot back after hearing the sound.
Splat, a large piece of plaster fell to the ground, kicking up dust.
However, compared to this, it was the scene inside the room that slightly moved her.
The concrete floor in front of her feet sloped downwards, descending from the second floor to about halfway down the first, creating a novel sense of fear with its uneven space.
It was like reality had been torn open.
While she was staring in a daze, she suddenly felt a gust of wind approach.
She looked in that direction, but before she could see clearly, she heard a sound from behind her, similar to the plaster cracking just now.
She glanced at Hayato, who had suddenly come close to her, then looked back at the plaster that had fallen from the corner of the wall.
She looked up.
The plaster had fallen from above, perhaps dislodged by the previous movement and delayed by a beat.
But how did this guy manage to knock out such a fragile thing so perfectly?
"Ryo, who recommended such a dangerous place to you?"
She snapped out of it, looking at Hayato, who was naturally leaning on her shoulder and gazing into the room.
He looked very surprised.
Ryo asked him, "Are you scared?"
Hayato turned his head, maintaining an extremely close eye contact with Ryo without any pretense.
He could clearly feel the flow of Ryo's breath.
Ryo didn't step back either.
"A Pervert has nothing to be afraid of."
After he said that, he clearly felt Ryo's breathing become a little erratic.
He reassured her, "I can definitely get you out safely."
He stepped back two paces and, with an elegant yet aggressive smile, said to Ryo, "Others use bragging to exaggerate their strength, but I use bragging to conceal my strength. There's nothing to worry about; the man named Hayato's strength is far more than this."
In the desolate ruins, Ryo, standing quietly, gave a faint smile, then turned around, her skirt swaying as she slowly took a step.
"Indeed, the most dangerous one should be the person beside me."
"It's not like that, is it?"
Hayato responded nonchalantly, catching up to her slow pace, which she had deliberately waited for him to match... They wandered around the ruins for a good while, but the excitement seemed to have been used up at the very beginning.
After calmly viewing everything, the two emerged from the ruins.
Next, they went to a mountain field to pull weeds.
When it was time to go back, each of them carried a small bag of various edible wild grasses, walking towards the train station in the slightly slanted sunlight.
Walking on the dirt path in the countryside, they looked at the small grasses on both sides of the road, which were slightly yellowed by the sun.
After a long silence, Hayato looked at the road and said to Ryo beside him, "I always feel that Ryo is very unforgettable."
Ryo hummed a noncommittal sound.
"Always eating grass, wandering in dangerous places, and when I touched her twice before, her body felt extremely thin."
As Hayato was speaking, he heard Ryo take out her phone next to him. He quickly reached out and grabbed the phone.
"No calling the police."
"Oh." Ryo pulled her hand away, took her phone back, and put it in her pocket.
Then she seriously asked Hayato, "This is genuine sexual harassment, isn't it?"
Feeling that Ryo didn't want to discuss it, Hayato went along with her, saying with a dramatic and exaggerated tone, "This level is still far from what I consider sexual harassment! Would you like me to demonstrate?"
"How about I let the police take you away instead?"
The lively atmosphere immediately returned to calm.
After a few seconds of pause, Hayato asked again, "Will you invite me on your next adventure?"
As soon as he finished speaking, a cold wind blew through the air in this season of fluctuating warmth and cold.
The air seemed to carry a rich yet not pungent scent like lilac, but it quickly drifted away.
He heard the girl beside him respond, "Perhaps no one truly likes to be alone, it's just that they don't like to be indulged or indulge others."
Ryo's low, almost sighing voice came from beside him.
"Hayato, a lonely person is like a needle dropped on sand, only moving slowly when pushed by the sand."
"Then it touches another needle, emitting a long-awaited resonance, or perhaps causing harm."
After she finished speaking, she carefully scrutinized Hayato.
"Hayato, I don't understand you. I feel you are very dangerous."
Hayato sensed her unease and said to her, "I can't guarantee anything else, but one of my principles is to make the people around me happy; that way, it's double the joy."
"And Ryo is so cute…"
Ryo had a hint of disdain on her face, yet a faint smile, as she said, "Being called cute by you really doesn't feel good."
Hayato chuckled softly.
The reason he said that was because he had gradually guessed the reason why Ryo had been eating grass recently.
Because of the joy of reforming the Band, she invested more in instruments, dedicating herself to playing with everyone.
Beneath her expressionless face was a delicate and turbulent heart.
Hayato thought for a moment, then couldn't resist teasing, "Speaking of which, what you just said felt very much like an older sister. From now on, I'll call you Ryo-neechan."
"Don't you dare call me that."
Ryo raised her voice in protest.
In the setting sun, their figures walking side by side on the ground seemed to lean into each other.