Yukinoshita's Correction Method

"Na-na!" When Yukino Yukinoshita came closer, baby Yunxi happily waved her little hands, the red rims around her eyes and the tear tracks on her face especially obvious.

Yukino Yukinoshita expertly picked Dong Yunxi up and let baby Yunxi lie against her shoulder.

Held like this, baby Yunxi wouldn't be able to see Yukino Yukinoshita's frighteningly icy expression.

Gently stroking Dong Yunxi's back, Yukino Yukinoshita narrowed her eyes slightly and stared at him. "Talk. What exactly happened?"

Dong Yunshan avoided her gaze. "Nothing..."

Yukino Yukinoshita: "Hm?"

"It's just..." Dong Yunshan let out a long sigh. "She missed you."

After Yukino Yukinoshita left yesterday, Dong Yunxi went a long while without seeing her and kicked up a fuss for a bit too.

Dong Yunshan coaxed her for a while, and Dong Yunxi quieted down.

He had thought everything was fine, but this morning, Dong Yunxi started pointing everywhere.

So Dong Yunshan carried her around the house for several laps.

Then Dong Yunxi started crying.

Dong Yunshan realized that Dong Yunxi had just been looking for Yukino Yukinoshita and hadn't found her.

This time, she wasn't as easy to coax as yesterday.

But he couldn't exactly tell Yukino Yukinoshita that outright.

Yukino Yukinoshita had already helped so much, and Dong Yunshan had seen how exhausted she had been these past two days. He really felt too embarrassed to trouble her any further.

He hadn't expected Yukino Yukinoshita to come straight over.

"Accepting separation is also part of growing up." Dong Yunshan repeated what Yukino Yukinoshita had said before. "I had pretty much finished coaxing her just now... Oh, right, she can already express 'no' very skillfully now."

Yukino Yukinoshita picked up a tissue and wiped the tear tracks from baby Yunxi's face.

The little baby nestled in Yukino Yukinoshita's arms, her eyes red-rimmed, her big watery eyes fixed steadily on her.

Yukino Yukinoshita lowered her lashes slightly. "I shouldn't have come."

Dong Yunshan had already coaxed baby Yunxi into calming down. Now that she had come, when she left again, Dong Yunxi would still fuss.

If Yukino Yukinoshita hadn't come, then maybe in a couple of days, Dong Yunxi would have forgotten her.

Even if she never saw her again, she wouldn't make a fuss.

"I didn't explain clearly and made you worry." Dong Yunshan smiled. "Besides, I feel like it's just right for you to come take a look."

Yukino Yukinoshita lifted her eyes. "Hm?"

"There has to be a process, after all." Dong Yunshan explained further. "I left for an entire afternoon before, and then I came back. So the afternoon after you left, she only fussed for a little while. After a day, you came back. Next time, she'll be able to get used to being separated for a day and a half, or even two days... If we do it step by step like that, eventually she won't fuss anymore."

"...True." Yukino Yukinoshita lightly pressed her cherry lips together. "Did she sleep this morning?"

"She slept for a little while." Dong Yunshan glanced at the time. "You probably haven't had lunch yet, right?"

"You hold her for a while." Yukino Yukinoshita shot him a sideways look. "I'll go cook."

"I know you don't trust my cooking, so I thought of a good solution." Dong Yunshan pointed at the door behind him with his thumb. "Let's eat out for lunch."

"That works too." Yukino Yukinoshita nodded lightly. "We can take Xixi out for some fresh air."

"I'll go pack some things... Oh, right." Dong Yunshan remembered something important. "Do you need a hat and mask?"

"A hat and mask?" Yukino Yukinoshita froze for an instant, then shook her head. "There's no need to hide. If anything, hiding my appearance would be more suspicious. I don't care what other people think, much less their unrealistic misunderstandings."

"I was overthinking it." Dong Yunshan packed things up. "No one should misunderstand anyway, right?"

"I feel like you might have misunderstood." Komachi Hikigaya looked at Yui Yuigahama beside her. "How could Yukino possibly hate you?"

"But I asked her out several times, and she didn't say yes." Yui Yuigahama hung her head dejectedly. "If that's not hate, what is it?"

"Maybe she really had something to do?"

"But she was watching a movie this morning."

"Uh..." Komachi Hikigaya tilted her head in confusion. "What's wrong with that?"

"Generally speaking, people don't specially go to the movie theater in the morning to watch a movie, right?"

"That's true..." Komachi Hikigaya pressed on. "So?"

"So Yukinon was watching a movie at home!" Yui Yuigahama puffed out her soft pink cheeks slightly. "That means she had a lot of free time, but when I asked her if she wanted to come out shopping, she turned me down."

"Being free in the morning doesn't mean she was free in the afternoon," Komachi Hikigaya guessed. "Maybe she had something to do in the afternoon."

"That does kind of make sense..." Komachi Hikigaya's eyes shifted. "No, wait, it's also possible she didn't have a fixed plan."

"Huh?" Yui Yuigahama was a little lost. "Isn't that the same thing?"

Komachi Hikigaya blinked. "Or I should say, an uncertain plan."

"An uncertain plan means..."

"A date." A smile appeared on Komachi Hikigaya's face. "An invitation to go on a date."

"You mean... Dong Yun?!"

"If Dong Yunshan asked her out, then she wouldn't have time this afternoon. If Dong Yunshan didn't ask her out, then she would have time this afternoon." Komachi Hikigaya imagined the cool, aloof Yukino Yukinoshita waiting for an invitation.

Her eyes were on the movie, but her mind was on things outside the movie.

It was supposed to be relaxing movie time, yet her gaze kept drifting to her phone against her will, waiting for an invitation email.

The moment she heard the notification chime, she immediately picked up her phone.

The email notification had only just popped up when it entered the girl's sight.

But in the end, it wasn't from the person the girl was waiting for.

"Yukino probably gave Dong Yunshan some kind of hint, but she isn't sure whether he'll understand it." The more Komachi Hikigaya thought about it, the more possible it seemed. "So she can only watch the movie absentmindedly while thinking about what to do on the date, all while waiting for an email that may or may not come..."

"I just feel like the Yukinon you're talking about doesn't sound like the one I know..." Yui Yuigahama tried putting herself in that position. "But if it really is like you said, then didn't my email get Yukinon's hopes up for nothing?"

"Not necessarily~" Komachi Hikigaya wagged her finger. "The instant her hopes fall through, the disappointment and frustration that come surging up might very well stimulate her even further, making her change her mind about passively waiting and choose to take the initiative!"

"By take the initiative, you mean?"

"Email Dong Yunshan directly... call him... no!" Komachi Hikigaya's idea grew even more radical. "Charge straight to Dong Yunshan's house and look for him!"

"That's way too fast!" Yui Yuigahama felt that Yukino Yukinoshita probably wouldn't do that, but thinking about it was kind of exciting, though she had no idea what exactly was exciting about it. "If your guess is true, then before long, we'll probably see the two of them shopping with a kid... Komachi?"

Noticing that Komachi Hikigaya's gaze had gone blank, and that her expression had become even blanker from shock, Yui Yuigahama followed her line of sight.

She saw Yukino Yukinoshita and Dong Yunshan.

Yukino Yukinoshita was pushing a stroller.

Dong Yunshan was holding a child.

"They really did come out shopping with a kid..." Yui Yuigahama rubbed her eyes and finally confirmed she hadn't seen wrong. "This is way too fast."

"Hide, quick!" Komachi Hikigaya tugged Yui Yuigahama off to the side.

"Huh?" Yui Yuigahama didn't understand. "Why do we have to hide?"

"What else would we do?"

"Go over and say hi."

"And then?"

"Together... Ah!" Yui Yuigahama realized it belatedly. "If they see us, they'll end up moving around with us, and that'll ruin their world for two... their family of three."

"It's obviously not their child," Komachi Hikigaya reminded her. "That kid is probably five or six months old. Yukino couldn't have had that much time."

"Oh, right." Yui Yuigahama stuck out her tongue. "It's because I listened to all that stuff you said, and then suddenly saw them, so my mind just went in the wrong direction... So this should be a request?"

"There's a very high chance that this is the trigger for their date." Komachi Hikigaya's gaze sharpened. "Taking care of a baby together for someone!"

"Now that you mention it... is this the second order?" Yui Yuigahama suddenly understood and looked carefully toward the family of three. "Then we..."

Anticipation was hidden in Komachi Hikigaya's smile. "No contact, no interference, and don't lose them!"

On a busy shopping street with people coming and going, as long as they didn't take the initiative to go over and say hello, it would be very hard for them to be discovered.

Yui Yuigahama nodded excitedly. "They're moving. Follow them, follow them!"

Dong Yunxi blinked her big eyes, curiously looking around.

"She really is fine now." Dong Yunshan looked at Yukino Yukinoshita beside him. "What happened?"

"I only noticed it when I crouched down to coax her just now." Yukino Yukinoshita straightened the blanket in the stroller. "To us, this shopping street looks lively and bustling, but if you look from a crouched position, all you can see are people coming and going. That's why Xixi got scared. Only when she's held up can she see more of the interesting things around her."

"So that's it." Dong Yunshan understood. "No wonder you asked me to hold her. If you held her... hiss~"

Baby Xi was in Dong Yunshan's arms, so if Yukino Yukinoshita glared at Dong Yunshan, she would scare Dong Yunxi.

So Yukino Yukinoshita skillfully pinched the soft flesh at Dong Yunshan's waist and revealed a smile with no amusement in it. "What would happen if I held her?"

"Then I wouldn't get to enjoy this massage service." Dong Yunshan forced out a smile. "A little higher, you can reach... hiss~"

"She's tugging his clothes! So cute!" Yui Yuigahama saw it clearly and couldn't help praising the correctness of Komachi Hikigaya's decision. "They sit so far apart in the clubroom, but the moment they go out, they're holding on to each other!"

"That movement isn't just a little practiced..." Komachi Hikigaya noticed Dong Yunshan's expression. "Look how much he's enjoying it. He's smiling so hard he's about to cry."

Yukino Yukinoshita hadn't used much force at first, but seeing Dong Yunshan's exaggerated reaction, anger rose in her heart, and she put a little more strength into her hand.

Dong Yunshan's expression grew even more complicated.

Worried that his laughing-and-crying expression would frighten Dong Yunxi, Yukino Yukinoshita let go, then rubbed the spot twice in passing, signaling for Dong Yunshan to rein in his expression.

"She's touching his abs in the middle of the street." Yui Yuigahama was dumbfounded. "Is it really that spicy?"

"It's actually nothing much." Komachi Hikigaya guessed, "To other people, it probably just looks like a couple fooling around, with the girl secretly pinching the boy."

The warmth of Yukino Yukinoshita's palm passed through his clothes, warming the soft flesh at Dong Yunshan's waist.

They were clearly both hands, so why were Yukino Yukinoshita's hands so soft?

Before Dong Yunshan could come up with an answer, he saw Yukino Yukinoshita's gaze freeze.

"Hmm?" Dong Yunshan bent down slightly, bringing his own line of sight closer to Yukino Yukinoshita's, and followed her gaze to a family restaurant. "Do you want to eat there?"

"Sure." Yukino Yukinoshita tilted her head as she answered, raising a hand to pat baby Yunxi, who was in Dong Yunshan's arms, on the head.

"They stuck together!" Yui Yuigahama clutched her chest, feeling like her heart was about to leap out.

Dong Yunshan moved closer to Yukino Yukinoshita and blew against her ear.

Yukino Yukinoshita tilted her head slightly and gave him a light kiss on the cheek.

Then, as if to hide her shyness, she patted the baby on the head.

Such a beautiful scene had happened right before her eyes.

"You probably saw it wrong. Like those fake angles they always use in TV dramas." Komachi Hikigaya swayed left and right, adjusting her angle of observation. "They didn't actually touch. It just looked close because of the angle."

"It's fine." Yui Yuigahama was very open-minded about it. "As long as I enjoyed watching it."

Komachi Hikigaya: "...True."

As they spoke, Yukino Yukinoshita and Dong Yunshan had already entered the family restaurant with Dong Yunxi.

After they were seated under the waiter's guidance, Yukino Yukinoshita's gaze still remained fixed in one direction.

That was...

Dong Yunshan finally understood why Yukino Yukinoshita had wanted to come to this restaurant. "Do you want to play the claw machine?"

Family restaurants often had adults bring children in to eat, so they placed claw machines inside to attract customers while also bringing in a fair bit of extra income.

The claw machine in this restaurant was even a Disney collaboration model. The machine Yukino Yukinoshita was staring at was piled full of Panda Johnny plushies.

It was a panda biting a stalk of grass, with fierce eyes, prominent claws, and a bandanna around its neck, giving it quite the air of a western cowboy.

"I don't." Yukino Yukinoshita said that, but her gaze did not move away from the claw machine. "I'm not interested in that kind of game."

"...I suppose there's no helping it." Yukino Yukinoshita followed Dong Yunshan to her feet and walked over, then inserted a coin.

The machine let out a strange wah-woo-woo sound.

Yukino Yukinoshita stared fixedly at the machine, not moving an inch.