My Classmate Yukino Definitely Has a Crush on Me

The moment she touched Yukino, Yui was suddenly pounced on and held tightly by the girl, like a drowning person clinging to a piece of driftwood.

"Don't leave me..."

Her eyes were tightly shut, her fingers trembling, her whole body shaking in the darkness.

Her low voice, laced with tears, was like a string pulled taut to the breaking point.

"Don't go, please, Older Sister..."

Later, Yumiko told Yui that when Yukino was a child, her classmates locked her in the school's darkened restroom. She called for help for nearly a night but received no assistance.

After that, she apparently developed a bit of a fear of the dark.

More than "a bit." Yui had never seen Yukino so utterly broken and out of control.

At that moment, Yui stood frozen in place.

How ironic. I didn't even know about something like this concerning my friend.

What kind of good friend am I...

Although the exam results wouldn't be out until next week, everyone this week already felt like wilted leaves scorched by the midday sun.

Young people who haven't experienced much feel like the sky is falling over a failed exam, a breakup, or rejection from a crush.

In the classroom, Miura grabbed Yui, who was trying to sneak away, by the back of her collar and said sternly, "This weekend, as we agreed, you're coming to my place to study!"

The pink-haired dumpling, caught, let out a pained wail.

"...Can it be next week?"

Miura sneered, "Remedial exams start next week. Do you want to fail and set a new record for our class???"

Yui felt mortified. "Alright, alright, I'll study, okay..."

Her expressions were lively and vivid. Whether happy or dejected, she was always that energetic and cheerful beautiful girl who made people feel relaxed and happy just by looking at her.

Yukino heard that Yui was popular not only in their class but also among the underclassmen and upperclassmen.

Everyone likes cute and sweet things; it's not hard to understand.

Unlike herself, who was cold, sharp-tongued, and difficult to get along with, like a shard of transparent, solid ice, cold and hurtful.

When the cute and sweet mochi dumpling accidentally met the gaze of the solid ice, she always felt a pang of guilt and unease, instinctively averting her eyes.

[System has filtered the best option to reverse your negative image: Comfort Yui]

Comfort?

Is she sad?

This thought circled in Yukino Yukinoshita's mind for a few laps before she finally realized that Yui Yuigahama might be feeling guilty about the warehouse incident a couple of days ago.

Kamizawa and Ono started chasing each other in the hallway for some reason. Ono let out a chuunibyo shout, then leaped forward like a cannonball, crashing into Kamizawa and sending her stumbling back a few steps, nearly hitting the wall.

When the two of them got together, they were always so childish and affectionate. Miura, however, felt a twitch in her brow and quickly chased after them.

"Hey, hey, hey, don't do anything so dangerous in the hallway!"

"Be careful not to fall!"

Miura, who was very childish about some things, acted like a worried old mother at this moment.

Only Yukino Yukinoshita and Yui Yuigahama were left.

Yukino Yukinoshita thought for a moment, "Yui Yuigahama."

Yui Yuigahama immediately looked like she was about to salute, "Yes!"

Yukino Yukinoshita tilted her head and looked at her, "That incident was an accident. You shouldn't dwell on it too much."

Yui Yuigahama froze. She silently lowered her head and softly said, "Oh."

It wasn't an accident. It was all a stupid mistake caused by her own foolish self-righteousness.

That day, after Yukino Yukinoshita had been extremely frightened in the darkness, she had fainted. Yui Yuigahama and Yumiko had taken her to the infirmary together.

The school nurse was almost speechless about these few frequent visitors to the infirmary.

That day, Yui Yuigahama saw Yukino Yukinoshita lying on the bed, her brows furrowed in pain even in her sleep.

Her forehead was damp, and her face was streaked with tears.

She had almost broken down in the unexpected darkness.

Yui Yuigahama felt guilty and regretful about this. Even though she had experienced pain herself, she never wanted Yukino Yukinoshita to go through such suffering.

When she came back to her senses, Miura had finished lecturing Junko and Kaho and returned, huffing, just in time to hear their conversation.

"What accident?"

Yukino Yukinoshita calmly pushed Miura's head back, "And you're talking about others? Weren't you running around the hallway too?"

"Aww, Teacher Hiratsuka isn't here, so what accident are you talking about~"

Yui Yuigahama smiled and helped Yukino Yukinoshita out of the situation, "It's about what happened in the warehouse that day..."

Miura's expression paused for a moment before she smiled, "Ah, yes, that was indeed an accident. Yui Yuigahama, don't think too much about it."

After Yukino was sent to the infirmary that day, she quickly regained consciousness. She said the warehouse door had been accidentally closed by the wind.

She apologized, saying she had a slight fear of the dark but had mostly recovered. However, this incident was sudden, and the warehouse was too dark.

She said, "Miura, don't worry."

Yui thought at the time, "That 'don't worry' is something the old Yukino would only say to herself."

Regarding the brief confrontation with Yui, Yukino didn't mention a word, and Miura, of course, had no way of knowing about it then.

She twirled a strand of her blonde hair around her index finger, looking away awkwardly.

"Junko, Kaho, and Yui are all coming to my place for tutoring this week, so, um, Yukino, are you... are you coming too?"

Even though she had found an excuse, she was still very shy.

Or rather, she always got shy easily around Yukino.

"No, I'm going home this weekend."

Miura looked confused. "So Yukino didn't go home before?"

Yukino nodded. "I rent a place outside."

Miura really wanted to know more about Yukino, but the current scene and timing weren't quite right, so she could only give a dry "Oh."

"Well, have a good weekend, Yukino."

Yui, who had been standing nearby, chuckled softly. "What? Yumiko, you're only wishing Yukino a good weekend?"

Miura immediately became flustered and angry. "Yui, what kind of good weekend do you want this weekend? Do your homework!"

The pink-haired girl let out a cute, dejected whimper.

"I'm home..."

When Miura returned home, her parents were not there.

Miura's parents were both high-level executives in the city's medical group and were very busy with work recently. However, they still paid close attention to their only beloved daughter.

When she went to get a cold drink from the refrigerator, there was a sticky note on it: [Drink less cold drinks, dinner is in the kitchen].

When she went to the kitchen, there was a sticky note on the rice cooker: [Prepared Yumiko's favorite chicken wings, there's a surprise for you behind the sofa].

Returning to the living room, Yumiko knelt on the sofa and reached behind it to retrieve the gift her parents had hidden.

It was a new full set of cosmetics from a famous brand, costing around 500,000 yen.

Miura returned to her room and, while unwrapping gifts, couldn't help but think of Yukino.

She had grown up surrounded by the love of her parents and friends and couldn't imagine Yukino's living environment at all.

That rich young lady, at first glance, had a super complicated family situation, like a pitiful child unloved by her father or mother.

Would something terrible happen to her this week when she returned home?

---So concerned.

Miura half-unwrapped her gifts and casually placed them on the bed. She took out her phone, opened Yukino's Line chat, but after hesitating and deleting and retyping for a long time, she still didn't send a single message.

Even as friends, one shouldn't be this clingy, right?

She let out a long sigh and lay on her side on the bed, her gaze falling on a can of cola on the bedside table.

That was the first gift Yukino had ever given her.

Miura then remembered the incident in the warehouse that day. When she saw Yukino hug Yui, her mind went blank, and tears welled up in her eyes without her realizing it.

Why?

Miura asked herself.

Why was she crying?

Japan's regional administrative divisions are different from other countries. Prefectures are larger than cities. For example, Chiba City is under the jurisdiction of Chiba Prefecture. Nominally, it's a prefecture, but its administrative level is probably similar to provinces or states in other countries.

Of course, only similar.

Mr. Yukino was not only a prefectural assembly member but also the president of the leading construction company in the prefecture. Mrs. Yukino was a star figure in the prefecture's education, socialite, and charity circles.

Throughout Chiba Prefecture, the surname Yukino represented an unignorable, powerful, and influential family.

Yukino had grown up in such a family.

"Madam will surely be very happy to see Miss return home," Mr. Ito said with a smile as he drove.

Yukino's schoolbag was neatly placed on the other side of the back seat. Her hands were clenched into fists on her knees, and her gaze was calmly fixed on the scenery outside the car window.

She merely replied, "It would be good enough if Mother doesn't get a headache from me."

Mr. Ito, however, said, "That was before. Miss is different now."

How could she be any different?

Although she thought this in her heart, Yukino was still a little nervous.

To others, she had only been away from home for just over a month. In reality, however, Yukino had not seen her family for one year and four months.

How would they view her, how would they view Yukinoshita, who had disappeared for so long and reappeared?

Yukino looked at the progress bar on the System page, her lips pursed slightly.

[Negative Image 60%, Possession Success Rate 60%]

Over the past month, she had first gained points from Miura, and then from Yui Yuigahama and Kasumigaoka, barely managing to bring the negative image and possession success rate to this level.

60%

This was still not a low probability.

In other words, she still hadn't completely eradicated the possibility of being possessed?

At this moment, the System, which was always so sensitive [crossed out], was poked at a sensitive point, a keyword.

[Achieve the accomplishment of being first in the entire school academically, and you will receive an achievement reward.]

Good heavens, this was the first time Yukino had seen this point-grinding System mention something other than point-grinding!

Moreover, Yukino remembered that being first in the entire school academically was one of the three main quests given by the devious System to reverse her negative image.

However, because the cycle was long and the success rate was too low, only 31%, Yukino had abandoned it, choosing the option with the highest success rate: talking nonsense about liking girls.

She also remembered that there was another one, which was to date a certain honest boy.

[System, does this mean that each main quest completed will have an achievement reward?]

The System responded this time, [Once the host selects a main quest, all other quests will be converted into side quests.]

[Do I have to complete this thing?]