Yukinoshita's Correction Method

Yukino Yukinoshita: "???"

"Um..." Komachi Hikigaya reminded him quietly. "That doesn't seem to be the point."

"Right," Dong Yunshan realized belatedly. "You took advantage of the three of us... four of us."

"Only you would be that bored." Yukino Yukinoshita wanted to glare at him, but with baby Xi watching her, all she could do was show a smile with no real amusement in it and pinch Dong Yunshan. "Mama is the simplest sound to make. It's the natural result of a baby opening her mouth and breathing out. It just so happens that the meow-meow I taught her sounds similar to mama, so that's why Xixi said it. What she wanted to make was the meow-meow sound. It only turned into this because she said it wrong."

"Seriously?" Dong Yunshan leaned closer to Dong Yunxi. "Xixi, ma-ma~"

Dong Yunxi: "Eh."

Dong Yunshan: "???"

Yui Yuigahama fought back her laughter so hard her face turned red. "Dong Yun, you definitely didn't take advantage of me."

"No, of us." Komachi Hikigaya was all smiles. "You didn't take advantage of the four of us."

Dong Yunshan noticed the adorable smile on baby Xi's face. "Why do I feel like you're doing this on purpose?"

"Xixi is doing it on purpose." Yukino Yukinoshita's eyes curved with a smile. "She's already able to distinguish expressions now. When she agreed, everyone was happy, so she just kept agreeing."

Dong Yunshan's gaze swept over everyone.

Yui Yuigahama avoided his eyes. "I-I held it in."

Komachi Hikigaya flashed a peace sign. "I didn't!"

Yukino Yukinoshita picked up baby Xi and shot Dong Yunshan a sidelong look. "It's about time. Go make the formula."

Dong Yunshan: "...Okay."

After feeding her, Yukino Yukinoshita held baby Xi's legs and did gas-relief exercises for her.

Dong Yunshan came back after washing the bottle, picked up baby Xi, and lulled her to sleep.

The little baby who had just been twisting around soon quieted down, yawned, moved her tiny mouth, and drifted off into dreamland.

Dong Yunshan put Xixi down, tucked a pillow into her arms, took the folded blanket from Yukino Yukinoshita, and wrapped it around baby Xi to simulate the feeling of being held, so she could sleep more soundly.

Yui Yuigahama and Komachi Hikigaya watched the two of them work together so smoothly without needing to say a word, and stood off to the side not even daring to breathe too loudly, afraid they might wake Dong Yunxi.

Yukino Yukinoshita raised a hand and tied her hair into a ponytail, then looked at the two of them. "What do you want for lunch?"

Yui Yuigahama glanced worriedly at baby Xi and lowered her voice. "Won't we wake her up?"

"She isn't that easy to wake once she's asleep." Yukino Yukinoshita shot Dong Yunshan a sidelong look. "Someone has already tested it."

Dong Yunshan nodded proudly.

"We just came to see Xixi," Yui Yuigahama said, relaxing. "As for lunch, there's no need to trouble yourself."

"It's no trouble." Yukino Yukinoshita shook her head. "Even if you hadn't come, we'd still have to eat lunch."

Um... you came with us too, didn't you—Yui Yuigahama wanted to remind Yukino Yukinoshita, but when the words reached her lips, she felt there was no need.

"I can help~" Komachi Hikigaya raised her hand. "I'm often in charge of cooking at home."

"I-I don't cook much at home..." Yui Yuigahama said enthusiastically. "But I can help too!"

Dong Yunshan: "I..."

"You can eat your fitness meal by yourself." Yukino Yukinoshita pointed to the side. "Wash Xixi's bibs and clothes. That, and that toy need to be disinfected too. She's been drooling a lot these past two days, so they have to be cleaned promptly..."

Dong Yunshan: "...I'll get busy with my own stuff."

Yui Yuigahama blinked her big eyes. Dong Yunshan at home felt so different from Dong Yunshan at school.

How should she put it... he seemed especially obedient.

The three of them went into the kitchen to work, leaving Dong Yunshan busy outside.

But not long after, Yui Yuigahama came out of the kitchen.

"Dong Yun..." Yui Yuigahama looked pitiful. "I'll come help you."

"Hm?" Dong Yunshan glanced toward the kitchen. "What happened?"

"I don't know either..." Yui Yuigahama muttered quietly. "They both know how to cook, and I don't, so I thought I'd help them wash and cut the vegetables... but then they told me to come out."

Dong Yunshan guessed, "Maybe there were too many people in the kitchen. It was a little cramped."

Yukino Yukinoshita's voice came from the kitchen. "She was going to wash the meat with dish soap."

Dong Yunshan: "..."

Yui Yuigahama asked weakly, "Is that not okay?"

"How do I put this? It's not exactly impossible." Dong Yunshan sighed. "But do you want to eat meat that tastes like dish soap?"

"Hmm..." Yui Yuigahama thought about it. "That actually sounds kind of interesting."

Dong Yunshan: "...Don't go into the kitchen."

"Even you're saying that..." Yui Yuigahama puffed out her cheeks slightly and looked toward the kitchen.

Who knew whether they were worried she would choke, worried she would wake Dong Yunxi, or worried Yui Yuigahama might get another sudden idea and go back into the kitchen.

Yukino Yukinoshita closed the kitchen door.

"Come to think of it," Yui Yuigahama said, only just noticing, "your place doesn't have an open kitchen, huh? Isn't that inconvenient?"

"I chose it that way on purpose." Dong Yunshan pointed at the exercise equipment on the balcony. "Normally, I do my daily training in the living room. If I could see the kitchen at a glance..."

"I get it!" Yui Yuigahama nodded with deep sympathy. "Sometimes I deliberately put cake way in the back of the fridge too... though in the end, I still dig it out and eat it."

"Digging it out still burns a little energy." Dong Yunshan chuckled. "Any extra movement is a good thing."

"Hehe~" Yui Yuigahama tilted her head and listened, finding that she could only faintly hear voices talking inside the kitchen, but not make out what they were saying. "By the way, I didn't expect you to be so smart."

"Hm?" Dong Yunshan lifted his eyes. "What?"

"The second order." Yui Yuigahama reminded him, "Don't you still owe Yukino one order?"

"Ah... that." Only then did Dong Yunshan remember that he had not thought about it in a while. "I originally considered asking her to help take care of Xixi to complete the second order."

"Originally considered..." Yui Yuigahama noticed his wording. "So later on, you didn't really mean to do it, right?"

"Mm."

"Why?"

"That's between me and her. There was no need to drag Xixi into it." Dong Yunshan explained what he had thought at the time, then paused and added, "And taking care of a child is very hard work. I like watching other people's miserable lives, but I can only laugh without any burden when that misery has nothing to do with me."

"I mean..." Yui Yuigahama waved her hand. "If you didn't ask Yukino, then why is she helping take care of Xixi?"

"Because of correction." Yukino Yukinoshita handled the ingredients with practiced ease.

She had originally wanted Komachi Hikigaya and Yui Yuigahama to go out together. When she cooked, she did not like anyone disturbing her rhythm.

But Komachi Hikigaya seemed able to see exactly what she needed. The moment she said what dish she was going to make, Komachi Hikigaya could prepare the ingredients the way she needed them. When a seasoning was used, she would put it back where it belonged, and if something was accidentally spilled, she would immediately clean it up...

So she had not made Komachi Hikigaya go out with the others.

When Komachi Hikigaya asked why she was taking care of Dong Yunxi, Yukino Yukinoshita glanced at the kitchen door. She could vaguely hear Dong Yunshan and Yui Yuigahama talking outside, but she could not make out the details.

It was probably the same outside.

"At first, he did have the idea of asking me for help. He probably didn't want to drag Xixi into it, so he gave up." Yukino Yukinoshita put the ingredients into the pan and stir-fried them. "Instead, to repay me for helping him choose a few books, he planned to use a request I could easily complete to hand the victory to me—but that would affect my correction of him."

"Correction?"

"You should have noticed it already." Yukino Yukinoshita looked at Komachi Hikigaya. "His problem."

"He just feels... really mature." Komachi Hikigaya stuck out her tongue. "He's holding himself to adult standards, or rather, the standards of an outstanding adult, and it's even become a habit. He does very well, and you could absolutely call him a dependable adult—but he's a high school student, after all. Isn't that exhausting?"

Komachi Hikigaya raised her head and thought back. "I can tell he also wants to enjoy high school life, but he's pretended to be an adult for too long. You can see that he works very hard to build up the mood, yet it also feels like he's completely outside that mood, watching coldly from the sidelines... What's that called again?"

"Dissociation." Yukino Yukinoshita gave the answer. "Its occurrence may be related to abnormalities in the brain's neural networks, disorder in the memory system, imbalances in neurotransmitters, and other factors. It manifests as fragmentation of memory, self-awareness, identity, and cognitive function."

More specifically:

Unexplained short gaps in memory, where you completely forget what you were doing or looking at from one second to the next;

Suddenly asking yourself who you are and what you are doing;

Feeling as if you are underwater, as though a film separates you from everything around you, with even sounds becoming very distant;

Suddenly calming down when sad or in pain, then questioning whom you are putting on a performance for...

"I've heard of that," Komachi Hikigaya said with a firm nod. "I remember that not being able to perceive pain is one symptom of dissociation. Dissociation can minimize psychological and physical pain, and when patients can't feel pain, they may even need to self-harm to complete their perception of themselves... Dong Yunshan shouldn't be that severe, right?"

"If it isn't corrected..." Yukino Yukinoshita thought of the thick stack of medical records in Shizuka Hiratsuka's office. "It's very dangerous."

"So..."

"So I used the contest to stir up his competitive spirit, and used the order to guide his recognition of himself." As Yukino Yukinoshita finished stir-frying one dish, she brought the topic back around. "It had already begun to show results. You saw how he behaved in the clubroom before."

"Mm-hm." At the time, Komachi Hikigaya had even thought those two had a rather romantic little thing going on... Thinking about it now, it seemed Yukino Yukinoshita really had been working hard to correct Dong Yunshan. "Dong Yunshan choosing to hand you the victory for the second order means the competitive spirit you finally managed to cultivate in him... is gone again."

"I'm not helping him take care of Xixi. I'm helping Xixi, who needs care." Yukino Yukinoshita pointed out the key. "I can't hand Xixi, who needs help, over to Dong Yunshan, who needs correction. And while I'm helping Xixi, I can correct Dong Yunshan along the way."

"Now that you mention it..." Komachi Hikigaya remembered what Dong Yunshan had looked like just now. "Unlike when he goes against you at school, Dong Yunshan really does seem very obedient at home—why is he so obedient?"

"Because of correction." Dong Yunshan hung up the freshly washed bib. "You should have noticed her problem too, right?"

"To correct Yukino's problem, you listen to her?" Yui Yuigahama's large eyes were full of confusion. "But she's outstanding. It's just in terms of interpersonal relationships... and that doesn't really count as a problem. It should be more like part of her personality, right?"

"To be able to honestly face your own thoughts and bravely express them is an amazing thing." Yui Yuigahama lowered her gaze slightly. "I think it isn't that she's bad at interpersonal relationships, but that after seeing the essence of interpersonal relationships clearly, she chose to stay true to herself."

Before meeting Yukino Yukinoshita, Yui Yuigahama had never imagined that anyone could do such a thing.

To her, Yukino Yukinoshita was a beautiful girl who was upright and serious, gentle and smart.

Things other people could not do, Yukino Yukinoshita could do.

Things other people could do, Yukino Yukinoshita could do even better.

So when she heard Dong Yunshan say he wanted to correct Yukino Yukinoshita, Yui Yuigahama always felt that it was a cover and excuse for the two of them dating.

It's not like I want to help take care of your little sister. I'm doing this to correct you, so don't get the wrong idea and flatter yourself.

It's not like I want to obey your every word. I'm doing this to correct you, so don't get the wrong idea and flatter yourself.

That was probably how it was.

"Compared to maintaining interpersonal relationships, she chose to spend her energy on more important things. It was like preferring pears to apples, so she chose to eat pears—of course, that wasn't a problem that needed correcting." Dong Yunshan carefully rubbed Shio's tiny clothes. "What I want to correct is her excessive perfectionism."

Yui Yuigahama muttered softly, "Yukinon just wants to do things well..."

"How about this? I'll ask you a few questions, and you answer based on your impression of Yukinoshita." Dong Yunshan squeezed the little garment and set it aside. "Then you'll probably understand what I mean."

"What questions?"

"First question: if the progress of something doesn't match expectations, would Yukinoshita think she didn't do well enough, or would she think it was due to external factors?"

"Uh..." Yui Yuigahama tilted her head. "I feel like if it were Yukinon, even if someone else didn't do well, she'd think it was because she hadn't considered everything thoroughly enough, and that she should have factored other people's mistakes into her plan too."

"Second question: does she think anything only has two possible outcomes, success or failure?"

"You should know that better than I do." Yui Yuigahama remembered the contest between the two of them. "Yukinoshita has always believed that a loss is a loss, and a win is a win."

"Third question: does she think everything has a correct answer, and that one must proceed according to that correct answer?"

"Yes!" Yui Yuigahama answered instantly, without hesitating for even a second.

"Fourth question: is she fixated on her own ideals, and more insistent on her own thoughts than on others' demands?"

"Yeah, yeah!" Yui Yuigahama nodded vigorously. "That's exactly it."

"Fifth question: does she insist on striving to complete everything as perfectly as possible, no matter what, and refuse to compromise?"

"Mm-hmm." This was also one of the reasons Yui Yuigahama admired Yukino Yukinoshita. "If it's Yukinon, she'll definitely work hard to do everything the best she can."

"Then..." Dong Yunshan paused. "Even the smallest mistake is something she can't forgive herself for?"

Yui Yuigahama vaguely realized something. "Yukinon is like that."

"Does she often underestimate the effort needed to accomplish something, or overestimate the impact once it's done?"

"She does." Yui Yuigahama had always thought Yukino Yukinoshita's words about how effort could make things happen, about wanting to change the world and save other people's lives, sounded incredibly cool. But now that Dong Yunshan put it this way, it did seem a little...

Dong Yunshan raised one eyebrow. "So?"

"She refuses to accept failure, can't forgive her own mistakes, and the ideal blueprint she pictures in her mind is too perfect, while she refuses to compromise during the process. She gives too much significance to what she's doing, and forces herself to keep working hard under high pressure..." Yui Yuigahama bit her lower lip lightly. "That's way too hard on her. Something's going to go wrong... Ah!"