Chapter 120: Ghostly Secrets

“Yuri didn’t used to be afraid of the dark, did she?”

Having barely escaped the haunted house, I took a moment to rest and talked with the two of them.

Considering Yuri’s normally timid personality, I didn’t expect her to take on the role of a ghost, even if it was just a role, especially since she would have to be in a dark place the whole time.

“Hehe…. Celie and Lynne were next to me, and more than anything, I had a purpose, so I could endure that much.”

Indeed, people grow. Yuri was steadily moving forward, one step at a time, compared to before.

“So, did you achieve your purpose?”

“Yeah! It was a little too short, but I feel satisfied with this much?”

I’m glad if Yuri was able to enjoy it.

When I first met her at the beginning of the semester, Yuri was mostly timid, but now she was smiling so brightly, I felt proud just watching her.

“How about you two? Are you enjoying your date?”

The words “date” instinctively made me, a born-again solo who had never been in a relationship, flinch for a moment, but as I was now used to talking to women, I calmly accepted their jokes.

Of course, the content was male, so I was conscious of the fact that I was dating a woman, but from my friends’ point of view, it was just a joke that female friends often made.

If I showed any signs of being concerned here, they might suspect something.

It was safer to block any clues that could make them suspect me, from the start.

“How can I not enjoy being with such a cute girl like Anne? Isn’t that right, Anne?”

However, unlike me, who calmly brushed it off, Anne’s face was flushed red, as if she couldn’t take Yuri’s joke as a joke.

Well, I was so flustered that I couldn’t even speak properly when I first heard the word “date.”

Anyway, Anne is so cute when she’s all smiles and enjoying herself when she’s playing pranks, but when she’s attacked, she gets flustered and her face turns red.

“…I think I can last until my turn with this. You two should go and enjoy the festival.”

Unlike Celian’s words, which sounded like she had received something, she didn’t buy anything in particular, so what was ‘this’? I didn’t know what it was, but I was glad that it was helpful for her to endure, but I was also a little curious.

If I knew what ‘this’ was, I would give it to Celian as much as I could to help her, but if I said something without knowing what it was, I might end up making a false promise, so I decided to just pass it over quietly.

“Then I’ll go on a date with Anne! Good luck to both of you!”

I waved my hand at the two of them, accepting Yuri’s joke and saying goodbye.

“Anne, you have to say hello too?”

In the meantime, Anne, like when she heard Yuri’s joke, was lowering her flushed face again.

I gently shook Anne’s hand, which I was holding, signaling her, and Anne finally raised her other hand and waved it at the two of them.

“…Well, tomorrow is my turn. See you tonight.”

Yuri’s voice sounded somewhat sulky.

They were working hard, but they were seeing us having fun in front of them, so it was understandable that she was upset.

I quickly took Anne out of there so as not to bother the two of them.

“How is it? Now that you’ve experienced it yourself?”

When we came out of the tent, Lena asked us for our impressions.

“The makeup was really realistic. Even Anne was scared, so it’s good enough for the academy students.”

“…You really have no tact. Well, from my point of view as a spectator, it’s more fun that way!”

“Huh? I have no tact? Come on, you’re joking.”

“…Elysia is so consistent. Well, let’s just say it was a joke.”

Even though it looks like this, I’m a former assassin, so I can be confident that I have tact.

In the first place, how could an assassin who has to seize opportunities go around assassinating people if they had no tact?

Leaving behind Lena’s enigmatic words, I headed to the middle of the festival again to enjoy a date with Anne.

• *　＊

“The other kids must have returned to their rooms by now, shall we go back?”

We came out of the haunted house planned by my classmates, and after that, we walked around other classes and enjoyed the festival for a long time.

The morning sun that I had seen at the start of the opening ceremony was now slowly trying to rest, drawing red curtains in the sky.

“Already?”

However, Anne, who had been walking around for a long time, looked disappointed, as if she wasn’t tired at all.

“It’s a shame, but today isn’t the only day. The Heavenly Casting Festival is just beginning.”

“But…. Today is the last day that I’ll be walking around the festival alone with El.”

Anne, with her head down, was kicking the floor with her toes for no reason, grumbling.

I hugged Anne tightly to soothe her cute grumbling.

I knew that I shouldn’t get used to hugging girls my age, but I hugged them so often that now neither I, who was hugging, nor Anne, who was being hugged, felt any hesitation at all.

Rather, Anne snuggled further into my arms.

“Is the Heavenly Casting Festival the only festival? And what if it’s not the Heavenly Casting Festival. The important thing is that we’re together. Let’s take our time and walk around together next time. We’ll also go to Anne’s territory again during the winter vacation, just like we did during the summer vacation.”

“Yeah! You promised? You can’t forget! Got it?”

Anne, who had been burying her face in my arms, looked up at me and said.

Her eyes, which had been full of disappointment just a moment ago, were now filled with anticipation instead of disappointment.

“Okay, okay. The kids are waiting too. Let’s go back quickly.”

“Yeah! Hehe….”

Fortunately, Anne, who had a simple and cool personality, could be soothed with just a simple promise.

It’s not a difficult promise in the first place. Rather, I also enjoy being with Anne.

I grabbed Anne’s hand, who had been sulking, and walked back to the room, matching her pace.

“It’s finally my turn. Let’s get up and get ready to go out.”

Yuri, who had woken up earlier than usual, although not as early as yesterday when there was an opening ceremony, grabbed me from the bed and said.

I turned my head slightly and looked around, Anne was still sleeping soundly, having kicked the blanket off with her feet, and Celian was already up and tidying up her bed.

Even in the midst of all this, Lynne, who was a ghost, yawned and rubbed her eyes.

“Hmm…. It seems too early, but I won’t overlook it because I know Yuri’s heart. Both of you, don’t skip breakfast.”

“Hehe…. Celie really understands my heart.”

“Well, tomorrow is my turn. I can show this much generosity.”

“Alright, alright. Now that that’s settled, go wash up and come out.”

Yuri, who had finally dragged me out of bed, put me straight into the bathroom.

I washed my face with cold water once to get rid of my sleepiness, and lightly washed my hair as usual.

As I roughly wiped off the dripping water with a towel and came out, I saw Celian and Yuri talking about something.

“Do you know the rules?”

“Of course. Don’t worry, I remember them.”

“…I’m worried because it’s Yuri, but on the contrary, I can trust you because it’s Yuri.”

“What are you talking about so much about? What rules are you talking about?”

As I approached, being careful not to drip water, the two of them flinched and were startled by my sudden appearance, but they answered with a nonchalant face.

“No, it’s nothing. It’s just that we made a separate promise to each other in the past.”

“Yeah. It’s really nothing, so you don’t have to worry about it. It’s totally! unrelated to El.”

I pouted my lips a little, protesting silently as it felt like I was being left out, but the two of them didn’t seem to want to answer.

Tch. I tried to act sulky, but it didn’t work.

Anyway, the two of them wouldn’t leave me out, say anything that would harm me, or backbite me, so I didn’t need to worry too much.

I soon lost interest in the two people’s conversation and focused on drying my wet hair.

“So, where should we go first?”

“Hmm? First, let’s eat what Celie said we should eat from the morning?”

“Then how about that store? It’s a store with its main branch in our territory, and they said they opened a branch here this time. It will probably suit El’s taste too.”

Yuri stretched out her hand and pointed to a store not far away.

I didn’t really have any thoughts on what to eat from the morning anyway, so I quietly followed Yuri’s recommendation and entered the store.

Whether it was a famous store that Yuri recommended, there were quite a few people sitting at the tables and eating from early in the morning.

However, among the many people inside the store, we found an unexpected face.

“Father?”

“I was planning to visit slowly, but I didn’t expect to run into you like this. How have you been, Yuri?”

A middle-aged man was sitting alone and forlornly at the table closest to the entrance, looking at the menu.

It was Craig, Yuri’s father, who I heard from Yuri was going to visit during the festival period.