"Reading for the purpose of improving your grades really does feel dull and painful." Dong Yunshan chose his words carefully, trying not to sound like the kind of adult he had hated most as a child. "How about trying a different approach?"
Yui Yuigahama, who had already stopped what she was doing, looked over in confusion. "A different approach means...?"
"Try finding the joy in reading." Dong Yunshan mimed a bench press. "Like when you're working out, you'll inevitably feel tired and miserable. When you want to give up, imagine a little kitten lying on your chest. If you can't push the weight up, the kitten will get squashed. Once you push it up, the kitten will meow and rub against you affectionately—that kind of feeling, probably."
"A little kitten lying on your chest..." Yui Yuigahama instinctively looked at Yukino Yukinoshita. "And meowing..."
Yukino Yukinoshita gave her a frosty look. "What are you looking at me for?"
"Um... Dong made it too hard to understand!" Yui Yuigahama hurriedly came up with an excuse. "Little Yukino, do you find joy in reading like that too?"
Yukino Yukinoshita said, "Reading itself is enjoyable."
Yui Yuigahama blinked her big eyes. "...Right, right."
"Still, his suggestion does have some merit." Yukino Yukinoshita would point out Dong Yunshan's mistakes, but she would not deny when he was right. "You don't need to use my interests as a reference. Think about what you like."
"I like... going out with friends!" Yui Yuigahama's eyes lit up. "Can that interest be used for studying?"
Yukino Yukinoshita said, "..."
"Congratulations." Dong Yunshan chuckled. "You've successfully touched upon young Yukinoshita's blind spot in knowledge."
Yukino Yukinoshita calmly glanced at Dong Yunshan. "...I won't deny that."
"You should at least deny it!" Yui Yuigahama sympathetically hugged Yukino Yukinoshita, as if trying to draw closer to her pain. "I'm starting to feel sorry for you."
Yukino Yukinoshita was clearly unaccustomed to such overly intimate contact. "...Now I'm starting to feel sad."
Completely ignoring Yukino Yukinoshita's feeble struggles, Yui Yuigahama hugged her and gently stroked her head, her gaze gradually becoming resolute. "I've decided! Starting this week, let's hold study sessions!"
Yukino Yukinoshita raised her head. "...What?"
Yui Yuigahama had inadvertently touched upon another of Yukino Yukinoshita's rare blind spots in knowledge.
"Club activities stop the week before exams anyway, and our afternoons are free, right?" Yui Yuigahama quickly came up with a plan. "How about going to Saizeriya in PIENA?"
PLENA was a shopping center, while Saizeriya was an Italian chain family restaurant.
"Great idea." Dong Yunshan cast a vote in favor. "That way, the two of you can successfully combine your interests."
Yukino Yukinoshita's delicate brows furrowed slightly as she almost instantly recalled something Dong Yunshan had said.
"When I had just started my second year of middle school in Nagoya, a boy with a terrible personality transferred into our class. I spent a few days hanging out with him. We played games, kicked a ball around, had meals together, and before long he had blended in with the rest of the class."
Could this be Dong Yunshan's plan?
"Little Yukino~" Yui Yuigahama shook Yukino Yukinoshita's hand. "I want to study properly, but if I'm alone..."
Yukino Yukinoshita said, "...Fine."
"Yay! This is the first time I'll be going out with Little Yukino~" Yui Yuigahama happily bounced once. "I'll definitely study hard. Nothing can shake my determination to study seriously!"
Knock, knock.
There was a knock at the door.
Dong Yunshan answered, "Come in."
"Yahallo~" Komachi Hikigaya greeted them cheerfully. "The Film Research Club's short film is finished. Let's go watch it together."
Yui Yuigahama looked pitifully at Yukino Yukinoshita.
Yukino Yukinoshita repeated expressionlessly, "Nothing can shake my determination to study seriously."
"I'm not shaken..." Yui Yuigahama awkwardly avoided her gaze. "It's just... delayed a little—Little Yukino~"
Yukino Yukinoshita sighed. "If you want to go, then go."
"By 'if you want to go, then go,' I mean..." Yukino Yukinoshita said with a stern face, radiating refusal, "you don't have to go if you don't want to."
"The film couldn't have been completed so smoothly without your help." Komachi Hikigaya pressed her hands together. "Just consider it a chance for us to thank you."
Yukino Yukinoshita avoided Komachi Hikigaya's eager gaze. "I didn't establish the Service Club in order to receive thanks..."
"Then there's no need to avoid being thanked, either." Yui Yuigahama linked arms with Yukino Yukinoshita. "Come with us, Little Yukino~ I'll be scared if I'm alone."
Yukino Yukinoshita's body seemed to stiffen, her voice icy. "If you're scared, then don't go."
"That's exactly why I have to go." Yui Yuigahama stated it as though it were obvious. "Who would watch a horror movie that isn't scary?"
Yukino Yukinoshita said, "..."
"I wanted to ask this last time." Dong Yunshan stared into Yukino Yukinoshita's eyes, unwilling to miss even the slightest detail. "Don't tell me you're afraid of ghosts?"
"There is no need to fear things that do not exist." Yukino Yukinoshita glared at Dong Yunshan. "I'm merely helpless against things beyond common sense."
"Ah! Sorry, sorry. I'm not as observant as Dong, so I didn't realize you were so scared." Komachi Hikigaya apologized sincerely. "Then let's wait until next time, when we're filming a different kind of story."
Yukino Yukinoshita said, "I already said..."
"Mhm, mhm." Yui Yuigahama also thoughtfully let go of her arm. "Everyone has something they're afraid of. It's nothing."
"Exactly, exactly." Komachi Hikigaya nodded repeatedly. "After I watched Delia, I didn't dare go to the bathroom for a long time either..."
Dong Yunshan helplessly pressed a hand to his forehead. If Yui Yuigahama and Komachi Hikigaya had put it differently, Yukino Yukinoshita probably really would not have gone.
But when they put it like that...
Yukino Yukinoshita's delicate brows furrowed slightly. "We'll buy drinks before we go."
That was exactly what would happen.
With drinks in hand, they arrived at the multimedia classroom where the film would be screened. The sheer number of people there surprised them all.
Komachi Hikigaya found a classmate from the Film Research Club and asked around, only to learn that many people had heard the rumors about the club being haunted and had come specifically to see for themselves.
Of course, some had grown tired of studying with exams approaching and had chosen to come relax.
Since there were more people than expected, the classroom chairs had been arranged more tightly to accommodate everyone.
Komachi Hikigaya led them to a row of connected seats. Yui Yuigahama sat on the innermost side, followed by Yukino Yukinoshita, with Komachi Hikigaya beside Yukino Yukinoshita.
Taking his height into consideration, Dong Yunshan sat on the outermost seat near the aisle so he would not block the students behind him.
Once the blackout curtains were drawn and the lights switched off, the room immediately took on something of a movie theater atmosphere.
The film opened with the school at dusk, peaceful and serene.
Then four students—three boys and one girl—appeared on screen and began discussing ghost stories circulating around the school.
The four told the ghost stories they had each heard, while the camera shifted between the locations involved in those tales.
As they spoke, the school on screen grew darker and darker, while their discussion gradually focused on a wandering blue monster.
Some believed in it, some did not, some were frightened, and some were excited.
In the end, they decided to visit the old school building at night.
It was a rather steady opening, and the atmosphere had been built up well.
At this point, Dong Yunshan felt Komachi Hikigaya beside him poke him twice.
"Someone needs my help." Komachi Hikigaya lowered her voice. "I'll head out for a moment."
Dong Yunshan stood to let her pass, and Komachi Hikigaya quietly slipped out.
By the time the four characters in the film had gathered and wandered around the old school building several times, Komachi Hikigaya finally returned.
Dong Yunshan was about to stand when he saw Komachi Hikigaya wave her hand.
"I might have to go out again later," Komachi Hikigaya said, lightly pushing him. "You sit on the inside. I'll sit on the outside."
Dong Yunshan moved to sit beside Yukino Yukinoshita.
"Oh." Noticing the movement beside her, Yukino Yukinoshita made a short, low sound and abruptly turned to look at him.
Only after discovering it was Dong Yunshan did her tense body relax slightly.
When she tilted her head and saw Komachi Hikigaya sitting on the outside, she understood what had happened.
"It's the principal." Not wanting to disturb the others watching the movie, Yukino Yukinoshita leaned close to Dong Yunshan's ear and whispered, "A lot of clues point to the former principal."
"The hidden passage is behind the bookshelf." Dong Yunshan nodded. The plot was fairly clear. After circling the building several times, the four students had collected plenty of fragmented information and put it together.
Based on the information they had, the four concluded that there was a secret passage here. There were also many unusual traces, as though left behind by some kind of monster.
The instant they reached that conclusion, the terrifying Blue Demon sprang out from the darkness, sending the four scattering in panic.
Waves of startled cries also rose from the classroom, along with a few piercing shrieks.
That was right, they came from Yui Yuigahama.
When the Blue Demon appeared, Yukino Yukinoshita's entire body stiffened as she barely maintained her composure.
Then a scream suddenly rang out beside her. Yukino Yukinoshita's arm twitched, and her fingers hooked onto the corner of Dong Yunshan's clothes.
A tense and thrilling chase began in the movie. Door scares, love at first sight around a corner, hiding in a cabinet and breathing a sigh of relief after seeing the ghost leave, only for the cabinet to be violently pulled open... one classic scene after another played out, and screams rose and fell throughout the classroom.
A few of them were clearly half a beat too late. Just from the sound, it was obvious they were fake.
Dong Yunshan seemed to understand why so many people had come.
Three students were killed one after another, leaving only the final student. While fleeing, the student dodged the Blue Demon's pursuit and uncovered the secret of the old school building, discovering the hidden passage.
But the passage did not lead outside.
It led inward.
At the end of the passage, surrounded by iron bars, blue distorted creatures of all shapes and sizes writhed grotesquely.
The protagonist was on the verge of a mental breakdown, and the corner of Dong Yunshan's clothes had also been ravaged beyond recognition by Yukino Yukinoshita.
But it was only the corner of his clothes.
Whenever she touched Dong Yunshan's body, Yukino Yukinoshita would pull her hand back.
Yet her pale fingers remained hooked onto the corner of his clothes.
Dong Yunshan wanted to pat her hand and tell her not to be so nervous.
At the very least, she could grab a different corner of his clothes.
Just as Dong Yunshan raised his hand, he saw Yukino Yukinoshita's serious profile and suspected that if he patted her now, she would become even more nervous.
So he lowered his hand again.
Pretending not to notice the miserable state of his clothes, he turned back to the movie with a serious expression.
In the dim classroom, Komachi Hikigaya's big eyes sparkled.
When Dong Yunshan lowered his hand, a hint of disappointment appeared on her face.
Blinking, she watched the two connected by that tiny corner of clothing. Her eyes curved into crescents, her smile full of anticipation.
The protagonist in the film fled in terror, but failed to notice what was underfoot. His body pitched forward, and he crashed into a wall, losing consciousness.
When he woke again, he was already in a hospital.
The moment the protagonist turned his head, he saw the three classmates who had explored with him.
The classmates around the hospital bed all spoke at once, explaining that the four of them had been found unconscious in the old school building, and everything the protagonist had seen had been a hallucination.
Seeing that the protagonist was still shaken, the classmates stopped making noise and thoughtfully drew the curtain so he could rest properly.
Dong Yunshan felt the corner of his clothes being gripped gradually loosen.
It seemed Yukino Yukinoshita had calmed down.
Dong Yunshan stared straight at the film, pretending not to notice anything.
It was finally over...
Dong Yunshan felt a sense of relief.
It was not that he disliked the movie. The Film Research Club had done quite a good job.
Many classic horror movie elements had been used well, and the slightly rough green-screen effects had a charm of their own.
Nor was it that he disliked horror movies. When he was in college, Dong Yunshan spent every Saturday having horror movie nights with his good friends, buying piles of snacks and watching ghost movies.
Anyone who had watched horror movies with friends knew that compared to the scary images in the film, the friends beside you who kept jumping at every little thing were even scarier.
Like Yui Yuigahama.
Before you continue