Yukino Yukinoshita Challenges the Jerry Dungeon / You're Flat-Under-Flat Yukino?

In Shiga Prefecture, east of Kyoto, Takanashi Rikka had originally been quite interested when You Know Who mentioned her surname.

After all, just as You Know Who had said, Takanashi was such an uncommon surname that practically everyone with that surname was related by blood to some extent.

If they traced their family trees back to their grandfathers' generation, there was definitely a connection.

It was only that, by their fathers' generation, various circumstances had caused them to scatter across different parts of Japan after growing up.

Of course, Takanashi Rikka had heard all this from her sister when she was little.

So when she saw You Know Who write in the diary that among the Takanashis were Vampires and people who had reincarnated into another world as saints, her eyes lit up.

She even began wondering which of the Takanashis she knew might be a Vampire, and which might have already reincarnated into another world.

Still, what she looked forward to even more was the possibility that, as long as she kept reading the diary every day, she would eventually be able to truly break the seal on the Evil Eye.

But when she reached the later part, where You Know Who mentioned that a Takanashi might die in a plane crash, she immediately grew nervous.

Even if she had eighth-grader syndrome, she was still only a girl who had just started high school.

She had lost her mother as a child, then lost her father three years ago. By now, the thought of losing family had left a deep shadow over Takanashi Rikka.

So after You Know Who's warning, she immediately jogged out of her room and asked her sister, who was watching television, whether their Takanashi family had a relative who had been married three times.

Hearing her sister, who spent all day indulging in eighth-grader syndrome, occasionally sound less ridiculous but ask such a strange question, Takanashi Tōka got a slight headache.

What did she mean, "a Takanashi who'd married three times and had three daughters"? Was that any way to talk about their elders?

Still, seeing how serious her sister looked, Takanashi Tōka carefully thought over the family situations of their relatives.

After thinking for only a moment, Takanashi Tōka found the person Rikka might have meant.

"You're probably talking about Uncle Shingo. He works in Tokyo, and for various reasons, he really has been married several times. Come to think of it, his eldest daughter seems to be two years younger than you. She should be in her second year of middle school now."

"When Father passed away, he brought his wife and youngest daughter, who had only just been born, to the funeral. He even wanted to take us to Tokyo to live with him. But he already had several daughters to support, so I turned him down in the end. Still, he did take good care of us back then... Why are you suddenly asking about this?"

Listening to her sister's explanation, a somewhat familiar face flashed through Takanashi Rikka's mind.

So it was that uncle?

Thinking about how he seemed to have brought her plenty of foreign candy when she was little, Takanashi Rikka clenched her small fists slightly. She felt that she absolutely could not let her uncle die in an accident like that.

When her sister asked why she had suddenly brought this up, Takanashi Rikka immediately stammered that she had seen through the Evil Eye that his luck had recently been poor, so she wanted to remind him that he had better avoid aircraft-related transportation for the time being.

Hearing her sister's obvious lie, Takanashi Tōka frowned.

Her sister had had eighth-grader syndrome for years now. At the very least, she could tell the difference between her acting up and lying.

So why was she lying to her?

Ever since a few days ago, she had felt that her sister had suddenly changed quite a bit after entering high school.

She had gone from indulging in her own eighth-grader fantasies to getting involved online, and she even seemed to have made quite a few new friends both in class and on the internet.

Could Rikka have run into some scammer online?

With that thought, Takanashi Tōka's expression became serious.

But looking at Rikka, who was absentmindedly twisting her fingers after telling that lie, Tōka thought it over and decided to go along with her first. She would slowly observe what the person behind Rikka was trying to do.

"Come to think of it, ever since I started working, I really haven't contacted Uncle Shingo or Aunt Shizu for one or two years. It is about time I asked how they've been."

Takanashi Shingo was their fourth uncle, while Aunt Shizu was their eldest uncle's wife.

The former worked in foreign trade in Tokyo, while the latter worked in politics in Hokkaido. When their father died, both had wanted to take the two sisters in and let them live with them.

However, Takanashi Shingo had three daughters, while their eldest uncle had died in an accident ten years ago. Before his death, he had had four daughters and one son with Aunt Shizu, so Takanashi Tōka had politely declined both invitations.

With her sister's rather abrupt reminder, Takanashi Tōka could not help noticing one fact—her father's generation had clearly consisted of four biological brothers, yet by now, apart from their fourth uncle, all the others had died for one reason or another.

Even their fourth uncle, the only one still alive, had lost his wife more than ten years ago.

Thinking of this, Takanashi Tōka, who had initially thought Rikka was talking nonsense, fell silent as well.

While her sister was deep in thought, Takanashi Rikka, having clumsily finished lying, returned to her room.

Then, naturally, she saw the discussion in the group chat.

Evil Eye: "I already asked the Saint Caretaker. That Takanashi should be my fourth uncle. In the name of the Evil Eye, I told the Saint Caretaker to warn him. After that... we should be able to stop the tragedy, right?"

Because she had appeared in the group chat quite often, and her eighth-grader syndrome was especially intense, the girls in the group had long known that the Saint Caretaker she spoke of was her sister.

However, the other girls did not seem very optimistic about Takanashi Rikka's approach.

After all, what normal person would believe in something like the Evil Eye?

But explaining the things You Know Who had written in the diary would indeed be troublesome.

While several girls in the group chat were still offering Takanashi Rikka all sorts of suggestions, Shinomiya Kaguya, the group's strategist, stepped forward and said that she would help locate that Takanashi in Tokyo and do her best to prevent the tragedy.

What Shinomiya Kaguya meant was not merely preventing the tragedy that would befall that Takanashi family. She intended to use them to locate the flight that would suffer the crash, then use that flight to gain more bargaining chips within the Shinomiya Family.

Chapter 94: Yukino Yukinoshita Challenges the Jerry Dungeon

In the end, the girls in the chat group each confirmed what they would be doing that weekend.

One group would attend the autograph session, while another would go learn Ripple Aura Chi Kung from Jerry.

Of course, quite a few lived too far from Tokyo and Chiba Prefecture to make it to either place. Aside from discussing with Takanashi Rikka how to explain what they had seen in the Diary, all they could do was cheer the other girls on in the group and wait for them to share information.

Kasumigaoka Utaha had stayed up late discussing how to find You Know Who with the girls who would be attending the gathering, so she was in quite a rush when she woke up the next day.

Even with Ripple Breathing's sleep-assistance method, she still needed around four or five hours of sleep to stay alert throughout the day.

Unless she could maintain Ripple Breathing even while asleep, in which case she could sustain herself for a certain period on only two or three hours of sleep.

But clearly, none of the girls with diaries had reached that level yet.

Fortunately, Ripple Breathing had greatly improved her bodily coordination and control.

At the very least, it saved her fifteen minutes of makeup time. She ultimately arrived at the autograph session successfully before her scheduled time.

She took out her phone, replied to her editor, then greeted several girls in the group chat.

Compared to her hurried state, that Yukinoshita in the group was much more composed.

She had gotten up earlier than Utaha and, at around seven thirty in the morning, sent a message saying that she would visit Black Cat before nine.

Kasumigaoka Utaha found that a little regrettable.

After all, this "half the literary world" had not attended the previous gathering. It was only later, when everyone discussed the Service Club in the group chat, that they had finally exposed her identity.

And this week, she had chosen to visit Black Cat and challenge the Jerry Dungeon.

It seemed Utaha once again would not get to meet Yukino, the Second Daughter of the Yukinoshita Family, who was as famous as her—and clearly a cut above her.

All she could do was tag her in the group chat and ask them to remember to take a photo and upload it after they met, so she could see what this woman was really like.

Afterward, she notified the girls who would be attending the autograph session, then went with the staff to make preparations for the event.

As for Yukino Yukinoshita, she had arrived at the Gokō residence at the agreed time, calm and orderly.

The reason she had not attended the gathering last week was, first, because she still could not figure out the intentions of some girls in the group and worried there might be some trap at that gathering.

Another important reason was that she had not yet moved out of her home last week.

After seeing her original future in the diary, Yukino Yukinoshita had already decided that she would change.

If she continued living at home, even if no one else could see the Diary, the changes brought by her Ripple Breathing training might still be noticed by her sister and mother.

Yukino Yukinoshita, who did not want to lie, also did not want to explain such supernatural matters to her family.

So after putting in considerable effort, Yukino Yukinoshita successfully convinced her mother and moved into an apartment near the school.

Her suddenly forceful stance had made her mother study her with an appraising gaze for quite some time. Only after confirming that she was serious did her mother agree.

And this week, for the first time in her life, Yukino Yukinoshita would not be spending the weekend at home. She had also told her mother that she would meet a friend over the weekend and would not be returning home.

Given my mother's temperament, she's probably already investigating what has happened to me recently, Yukino Yukinoshita thought as she looked at the somewhat aged Gokō residence before her.

Once her mother traced things here and learned that the Shinomiya Family's youngest daughter had met the Gokō family's eldest daughter, what would she think then?

Just thinking of that made Yukinoshita's mood sink slightly.

After all, the Yukinoshita family had started out in the construction industry and was now represented in the Chiba Prefecture assembly. If they wanted to rise any further, they would inevitably have to get involved with real politicians and major financial conglomerates.

Compared to her gentle father, her mother was extremely forceful.

But Yukino Yukinoshita soon shook her head.

She had come here precisely to stand by her own beliefs. What happened at home could not affect the choices she made for her own life.

With that thought in mind, Yukino Yukinoshita pressed the doorbell.

When Gokō Ruri, dressed in Gothic Lolita clothes, opened the door, Yukino politely bowed to her and introduced herself in person.

Looking at the somewhat aloof Yukino Yukinoshita before her, Gokō Ruri had already met Shinomiya Kaguya, whose family background was even more prominent, the previous week. But because Shinomiya Kaguya had not rested well, the Kaguya they first met had been Little Kaguya.

Even though Shinomiya Kaguya returned to normal after resting later on, everyone's impression of her had already been subtly skewed. They did not entirely see her as the daughter of a major conglomerate.

By comparison, Yukino Yukinoshita's air of a refined young lady was particularly distinctive.

Yet for some reason, although their family backgrounds, appearances, and interests were entirely different, Gokō Ruri inexplicably felt that they might have quite a few similarities.

She just did not know how long this aloof beauty could maintain her poise under Jerry's torment.

Gokō Ruri could not help thinking that.

Over the past two days, she had indeed learned quite a lot from Jerry, but she had also been thoroughly exhausted by Jerry's seemingly endless energy.

The only thing worth being thankful for was that Jerry showed some restraint while her parents were home.

But whenever her parents went to work, Jerry could turn the Gokō home into its playground, with all three sisters becoming its playmates.

According to Jerry, it was constantly being squeezed dry for research by its boss, and the poor mouse was nearly being driven sick from holding it all in. Now that it finally had a vacation, of course it had to play to its heart's content. Otherwise, once it went back, the poor mouse would be squeezed dry again.

Seeing Jerry describe its life with You Know Who as so miserable, what else could Gokō Ruri do? She could only keep playing with Jerry.

Yukino Yukinoshita had roughly understood Jerry's personality from Gokō Ruri's messages in the group over the past two days. However, she had brought plenty of pastries and cake this time, and she felt that those things should be enough to make Jerry behave and teach her something.

Besides, several other girls would be coming later. No matter how much Jerry liked to make trouble, it probably could not cause any huge commotion, right?

With such thoughts in mind, the ignorant girl entered the house.

Chapter 95: You're Flat-Under-Flat Yukino?

In truth, Jerry's pranks and playfulness were basically never malicious.

It was only because Miyauchi Hiyage, who understood these girls' personalities extremely well, had carefully described each of their personalities to Jerry before letting it out, and had told Jerry to properly temper these inexperienced girls when the time came.

Clearly, although Yukino Yukinoshita had already deviated considerably from her original trajectory, she was still rather immature.

When she first met Jerry, after exchanging a simple greeting, she had barely taken out the pastries she prepared before Jerry swept its gaze over her flat chest with a subtle expression, then turned and compared her with Gokō Ruri.

It even turned to look at Gokō Hinata, who was still an elementary school student.

Then Jerry's helpless shrug nearly broke her.

Because Jerry's expression at the time seemed to say: Are you really a girl? How are you even worse than an elementary school student who hasn't developed yet?

Although Gokō Ruri was not particularly impressive in that area either, she was naturally a smaller-framed girl. And strictly speaking, she was not entirely flat; at least there were some signs of development.

But Yukino Yukinoshita...

In short, she was flat as a board.

No wonder Miyauchi Hiyage had specifically used the nickname "Flat-Under-Flat Yukino" when describing Yukino Yukinoshita's personality and appearance to Jerry at home.

How pitiful.

Feeling the pity in Jerry's gaze, Yukino Yukinoshita gritted her teeth and got her first taste of the little mouse's terrible personality.

But she endured it.

She was still developing. There was no need to care about a mouse's opinion.

So after adjusting her mindset, she handed the pastries she had prepared to Jerry and expressed her desire to learn some advanced Ripple Breathing training methods from it.