Pillow Fight
The girls arrived at their destination. However, the water buffalo cart that was supposed to cross the island didn't actually traverse the entire island. After all, when advertising any product, there's always some exaggeration involved.
The oxcart was decorated in a rustic style, and the driver played the shamisen as it traveled along the coast. The shallow seawater was like a mirror, the sea breeze was gentle, and the wind chimes on the cart were crisp and clear, creating a sense of tranquility that felt like being away from the world.
"I wonder how those guys are doing." Emma leaned lazily against the cushion.
"Oh, that? I already sent a text message asking, and it said that minors are not allowed to kayak," Ye Ye replied casually while pressing her phone.
Yuko/Emma: "Huh?"
"I almost got into a fight with the staff."
Yuko/Emma: "..."
"And now?" Yuko asked anxiously.
"Who cares about them? We can always find other ways to pass the time. Let's do our own thing," Ye Ye comforted her.
“Yes, it’s so good that we don’t have to worry about them anymore, Xiaoyou.” Emma chimed in.
Yuko had no choice but to calm down after being told that by the two of them.
The driver, playing the shamisen, began to tell folk tales from the island.
"A long, long time ago..."
Most of the stories on the island are inseparable from the sea: husbands going out to fish, wives waiting at home for their return, shipwrecks, worshipping the sea god, feudal customs, ghosts—these keywords alone can form a general legend.
They listened intently, and when they got off the bus, the driver, knowing exactly what to recommend, suggested a famous local shrine.
"It's very effective, and it's quite famous in our area. Moreover, it's said that if a young girl goes to pray, the success rate is even higher," the driver said.
As expected, it suited the tastes of several girls, especially Asanuma Nono, who was from Africa but did not admit to having an African constitution. She loved going to places like shrine fortune-telling shops, but whether it was drawing lots or fortune-telling, she always got bad results like "extremely bad luck".
Seeing that it was still early, the three of them took a taxi to the Youming Shrine that the driver had mentioned.
This shrine enshrines the Netherworld Priestess. Legend has it that on an island further east called Sea Serpent Island, there lived twin sisters. The elder sister was a Light Priestess who guarded the sea during the day, while the younger sister was a Netherworld Priestess who guarded the sea at night. As priestesses, they were required to remain chaste, but the younger sister, the Netherworld Priestess, secretly conceived a child with a man and eloped with him, tragically perishing on their escape.
Perhaps it is because of the spirit of the underworld priestess who is willing to risk everything for love that she has gained the faith of women, which is why this shrine exists.
When the three arrived at the shrine and were asked to pay a 10,000 yen entrance fee, they realized it was a tourist trap...
But we're already here...
Many people do things they later find incomprehensible because they think, "Since I'm already here," as if they've already come all this way.
After paying the entrance fee, it was no different from any other shrine: a red torii gate, an approach path overgrown with fallen leaves and weeds, and stone guardian lion-like creatures. If I had to describe it, it might be a bit more desolate, as there wasn't even a shrine priestess; everything was self-sufficient.
The driver's prayer was simply to write his wish on a small wooden plaque and hang it on the shrine's railing.
Ye Ye, being very experienced, quickly wrote it and found a place to post it.
Yuko and Emma racked their brains trying to figure out what to write. Soon, Emma wrote a line in a cryptic manner and then told Yuko that she would go hang it up first.
Yuko was left unsure how to begin writing.
Yes.
Yuko suddenly had an idea and carefully wrote on the wooden sign—"I hope Emma and Nono's wishes can be fulfilled."
After writing her wish, Yuko went to the place where the wooden plaques were hung. The wishing railing was full of wooden plaques of different ages tied with red ropes. Emma and Nono had already hung them up, and Yuko carefully tied her plaque up as well.
"Emma, what you wrote is related to Draken, right?" Nono teased her with a grin.
“Of course,” Emma readily admitted, unfazed by the teasing. She countered, “What did you write?”
Ye Ye smiled mysteriously: "Secret~"
Emma grumbled, "How cunning!" Then she smiled slyly, "Hmph, I could guess even if you didn't tell me. It's probably something about enhancing luck."
"It's no use trying to trick me into telling you, dear~"
"Then I'll use torture to extract a confession!"
"Haha! Don't tickle me, you brat! Hahahaha!"
The two chased and played around, while Yuko watched them with a doting smile. Nono's wish... could it be related to the venue?
At this moment, Nono and Emma were playing around and didn't notice her at all. Yuko turned her head and saw their three brand-new wooden signs. According to the three of them, she could immediately find Nono's sign. As long as she flipped it over, she could confirm her guess.
However, it's a bit unethical to peek at someone else's wish card.
But missing this opportunity might mean never knowing the truth.
Yuko hesitated for a few seconds, but curiosity eventually won out.
Feeling guilty, she flipped open Nono's wooden sign and saw the words on it. With mixed feelings, Yuko put the sign down and turned to look at the laughing Nono, cheerful, lively, and seemingly carefree.
Nono is such a big idiot. Yuko's tears were about to fall, but she tried her best to hold them back.
"Yuko, stop daydreaming, let's go!" Nono waved happily to her. Emma smiled broadly too. The two girls, under the shade of the trees, looked like adorable forest sprites, full of vitality.
"Mm." Yuko forced a smile and walked towards them.
I must help them all.
Yuko silently repeated this to herself.
While the girls went to the shrine, the boys were following the leader of the group in pairs, paddling kayaks through the inner bay of the island. Before they set off, the leader had told them not to play around in the kayaks, as there were many weeds underwater and even people who were good swimmers could be in danger of drowning.
The water flows gently, schools of fish peck at the dead leaves floating on the surface, and lush trees and shrubs stand on both sides. Occasionally, monkeys can be seen climbing and leaping on vines, or unknown birds can be seen flying by.
Yi Hu and Mikey were in a kayak. Mikey sat lazily in front and didn't paddle, relying entirely on Yi Hu in the back to propel the kayak forward. Gradually, they fell to the back of the group.
"Mikey, you should move around a bit too," Yihu said helplessly.
“No.” Mikey refused decisively.
"How could this be?" Despite his words, Ichigo's tone was flat, revealing no sign of complaint or dissatisfaction. He glanced around and said with a smile, "I wonder how Yuko is doing. I'll send her a text message to ask."
Mikey feigned indifference and asked Yi Hu, who was behind him pressing his phone, "Are you two close?"
“Yes,” Yihu replied, “I like Yuko too.”
Mikey turned around and looked at him: "Too?"
Yi Hu didn't answer directly, but said with a smile, "If you hesitate any longer, don't blame me for taking action first."
Mikey remained silent.
Yihu immediately sensed something was wrong. Faced with such a provocative statement, Mikey remained unmoved. A thought flashed through Yihu's mind: "Mikey, you haven't already confessed your feelings, have you...?"
Mikey's eyes instinctively darted to his right. Tiger, whose gaze had been averted, remained silent.
"So what was Yuko's answer?" As soon as he asked the question, Ichigo realized he had asked a pointless question. If Yuko had agreed, how could Mikey have reacted like that to what he had just said?
This was truly a case of good intentions gone wrong. He originally intended to provoke Mikey but inadvertently touched a raw nerve. Yihu comforted him, saying, "It's because she lacks discernment. It's alright, there are other girls if not Yuko."
"Are you out of your mind?" Mikey turned around and continued to lean lazily against his seat. "Not everyone can do this kind of thing."
Yi Hu thought that was true. Mikey was a picky eater, especially when it came to food, let alone someone he had set his mind on. He changed the subject and muttered, "In the end, Mikey, you were too impatient. Youzi must have been scared off by you to refuse."
"Is that so?" Mikey asked doubtfully.
"Because Yuko is naturally timid."
That's true. Mikey thought to himself that Yihu had finally said something sensible, so he asked with more patience, "Then what should we do?"
"I don't know either. I've never pursued any girls. I always get love letters from other people." Putting everything else aside, Yi Hu has the face of a herbivore and always has a smile on his face, making him seem harmless. At school, he maintained an impressive record of receiving an average of two love letters a month.
Upon hearing this Versailles-esque remark, Mikey thought to himself that he was the one with a screw loose, and that he should ask Apa instead. So he bluntly said, "Hurry up and row, we're at the very back."
Yi Hu: "...But I'm still the king, aren't I?"
Mikey: "Then please row quickly, Your Majesty."
Yi Hu: "..."
–
After they got ashore, Ye Ye called.
After they met up, they had dinner together at a ramen shop in the fishing village of Iriomote Island. Compared to the luxury of the hotel, the meal was rather simple, but it is said that if you come to Okinawa and don't eat a big bowl of ramen to bring good luck, it feels like something is missing.
During the meal, the group chatted casually, and the girls learned that the restaurant owner did not allow these underage boys to go kayaking, but because they had unintentionally helped the owner's son who was being extorted, the owner took them to go kayaking as a way of repaying the kindness.
"And it's free!" Yi Hu said with a smile.
The three women who were scammed out of a total of 30,000 yuan today: ...
After dinner, they were heading back to the hotel, and it was getting dark. The sea, bathed in the afterglow of the setting sun, churned with golden waves; the sunset over the ocean evoked a sense of inexplicable melancholy.
After a long day, everyone was a bit tired. It was already completely dark outside, so they went back to the hotel, took a bath, and changed into their pajamas.
The three girls took over the TV in the living room. Since Yuko wasn't watching any dramas at the moment, they watched some variety shows instead.
"How boring! Let's watch Ju-on instead." Nono was referring to a horror movie that had been released three years ago, but because the content was so frightening, even the brave Nono didn't dare to watch it alone, let alone Yuko and Emma. Now that the three of them were together, and there were several men on the other side of the door, the noise from the group made it seem less scary. It was the perfect opportunity to watch a horror movie.
Young people are always very curious, and they mustered up their courage to request the film.
At first, they sat a little distance apart, but then they slowly moved closer. In the end, Nono and Emma hugged Yuko tightly. With the rise and fall of the sound effects and the plot, they would open their eyes one moment and close them tightly in fear the next, their hearts clenching. When they saw Toshio, who was as pale as a corpse that had been soaked in water, staring with completely black eyes and opening his mouth to make a strange sound at the camera, fear exploded like a bomb. Yuko felt like she was about to faint from fright. Nono and Emma couldn't help but scream. The three of them huddled together, trembling, their heads buried together like ostriches.
"Is it over? Is it over? Nono, take a look!"
"I don't dare to look either!"
"Waaaaah, Ye Ye, I'm so scared..."
"Then, I'll count to three, two, one, and we'll watch together."
"good."
"good."
"Three, two, one."
"Wow!" A face appeared in front of me with a shout.
The three girls immediately screamed in unison, "Aaaaaah!!!"
After a moment of panic, they realized that it was Yihu who was scaring them. He grinned smugly on the side. Ye Ye was furious and threw a cushion at him. Emma also grabbed a Pocari Sweat and chased after him.
"Hey, hey, hey, it's just a joke!" Yi Hu opened the door to the boy's room while weaving through the crowd.
Emma and Ye Ye didn't care about him; they just threw whatever they could get their hands on, which accidentally injured a bunch of people.
"Ichiko, don't hide this way!" Mitani complained to Ichiko as he dodged an object.
"Huh? Aren't we teammates?" Yi Hu didn't feel guilty at all.
"Oh, is it going to be a pillow fight?" Those who misunderstood the situation also raised their pillows and launched them randomly.
"Don't join in their commotion, everyone." As he said this, Draken was hit in the face by a pillow. He endured it for a moment. "Are you all children?" He was hit again as soon as he finished speaking. Draken's brain snapped, and he rolled up his sleeves and joined in.
This led to a chaotic fight, and Yuko, who rushed to see what was happening, was hit in the face by a flying pillow as soon as she reached the door.
"Yuko, don't just stand there! It's too dangerous here!" Nono quickly pulled Yuko behind him and made her crouch down. "Quickly find a place to hide. I'll avenge you right away!"
"Oh, oh!" Yuko replied. She looked around the battlefield and finally found a place to hide, so she crawled toward the wardrobe. She was accidentally injured several times while crawling. She finally made it to the wardrobe and opened it.
Sanzu Haruchiya stared at her blankly: "This place is full."
Yuko stared back at her with a deadpan expression: "Hello, traitor Haru Chiya."
She hadn't forgotten San Tu's betrayal of her.
But Santu didn't seem to care and reached out to close the wardrobe door. Yuko quickly grabbed his arm, thinking that since she couldn't get in, Santu shouldn't be able to hide inside either.
"You woman, let go of me!"
"No way!"
The two were struggling when suddenly Santu jumped out of the closet. Yuko thought she had pulled him out and wondered if Haru Chiya was really that weak. But she didn't have time to wonder. She took the opportunity to climb into the closet on all fours and made a face at the shocked Santu before closing the door.
Then Yuko's smugness vanished, for she had no idea there was another person in the closet.
Mikey was originally very interested in this kind of fun, but because Ye Ye and Emma also joined in, unlike the horse riding battle, if he didn't control his strength when throwing pillows and made someone cry, it wouldn't be good. Rather than playing so timidly, it was better to stay away.
As for poor Santu, who hadn't even warmed his seat in the closet, he was ruthlessly pushed out of the closet by Mikey.
Yuko and Mikey were in an enclosed space, the bright light shining through the paper door, casting a soft glow that made it difficult to see clearly. The atmosphere was a little awkward. Yuko tried to remain calm and spoke dryly, "What a coincidence."
"It's quite a coincidence."
Yuko, unsure what to say next after receiving a response, tried to open the wardrobe door, but Mikey blocked it with one foot. She looked at him somewhat helplessly.
Mikey frowned and asked her, "You seem afraid of me? I haven't done anything to you, have I?"
Yuko's mouth was slightly open, indicating her shock at his unconscious remark.
Her expression made Mikey think back for a moment. Since they met, it seemed like he had teased her before. Mikey said somewhat guiltily, "None of that counts. I don't know why I sometimes can't control myself. I apologize to you, okay?"
Yuko shook her head: "I'm the one who should apologize..." Yuko hesitated, but she couldn't tell the truth.
Yuko looked at him as if she were talking to the future: "Sano-kun, you are a very, very good person. I am not worthy of you."
Mikey didn't know why she had such an idea, and argued with her, "It's up to me to decide."
Yuko asked him, "What if God doesn't allow it?"
Mikey countered, "If fate wouldn't allow it, then why did we meet in the first place?"
"I...don't know either." Tears welled up in Yuko's eyes.
If she could, she would also like to ignore that tragic future and let it all go to hell.
But she couldn't afford to gamble.
Yuko unconsciously pleaded with him, "Can't we just be friends?" If things continue like this, no one will get hurt.
Mikey couldn't understand what she was afraid of, what was making her sad, or what prevented her from saying it directly. He suddenly realized that he didn't seem to understand her at all.
Is liking someone simply a matter of personal pleasure and self-indulgence? He thought of Draken. Draken had always silently protected Emma, but what had he done for Yuko? Compared to Draken, he was far inferior. Mikey lost his last bit of confidence. Yihu was right; he had been too hasty. Perhaps taking a step back was the best choice: "Okay."
Yuko felt relieved upon receiving the word, but a strange sense of guilt welled up inside her: "I'm sorry."
Mikey nodded: "Yeah, you really did wrong me."
Yuko, who thought he would say it was okay: There's no way to respond to that.
Mikey continued, "You should make it up to me."
Yuko, who was inexplicably asked for compensation, said, "Okay... what do you want?"
Mikey stroked his chin thoughtfully, while Yuko's heart leaped into her throat, and she even nervously swallowed. He didn't keep her waiting long before stating his request: "Then call me by my name."
Yuko felt relieved; it wasn't difficult at all—just calling him by name. Yuko tentatively asked, "Manji-kun?"
Mikey was somewhat displeased: "Why are you still using honorifics? Don't you stop using honorifics with everyone else?"
"Well..." She had just felt she could say it directly, but now that she was at the crucial moment, she couldn't say it.
Seeing her blushing and unable to answer, Mikey decided to let her off the hook: "Fine, just call me Mikey like everyone else."
Yuko shook her head again, looking at him stubbornly: "I can do it."
Mikey was somewhat surprised yet felt a sense of familiarity. The first scene that left a deep impression on him was also with this expression, revealing a hint of defiance hidden beneath her docile and obedient facade. Mikey chuckled, "Okay."
Yuko took a deep breath and looked him straight in the eye, as if to prove that she could do it.
"Manjiro."
"Why is your expression so serious? It's hilarious."
Yuko, who was being ridiculed: I really want to beat him up.
"Sorry, sorry," Mikey apologized promptly, then changed the subject: "I heard you have an older brother."
Yuko's attention was successfully diverted, and she nodded: "Yes, my brother and Mr. Shinichiro are friends. I met Mr. Shinichiro when I went to his car dealership with my brother."
Mikey smiled as he thought of his brother: "Shinichiro loves motorcycles, and he's always wanted to open a shop like this."
Yuko then followed up by asking, "So, is there anything Manjiro wants to do?"
Mikey answered honestly, "I want to create an era for bad people."
“I’ve heard that.” Yuko recalled what Nono and Emma had said, “Dongwan was originally formed because Kazutora was bullied by a gang of delinquents. So, Dongwan was founded to protect people?”
"That's one way to put it." That was indeed everyone's initial thought.
Yuko sincerely said, "I really like Higashiman like this, and I also really like everyone in Higashiman. With everyone here, I believe that Manjiro will definitely be able to achieve his dream."
Mikey asked her, "So what is your dream?"
"As for me, I want to become a doctor," Yuko told him honestly.
"That's a remarkable dream," Mikey praised, adding jokingly, "Dr. Yuko, remember to give me a discount if I ever need to see you again."
Yuko laughed: "Don't worry, there will definitely be super big discounts."
Mikey smiled and said, "I thought you were going to say it was free."
Yuko wasn't being stingy; she had her own reasons. She explained, "If I don't let you spend some money, you'll definitely get hurt without any restraint."
"It would be better to tell them this."
"And what about you?"
No one can hurt me.
"Because you're the invincible Mikey?"
"Ha ha."
Mikey looked at Yuko, who was also smiling, her dimples were so cute. For some reason, even though he had taken a step back, Mikey felt like he had never been so close to her before.
Yuko felt a little lost. Everyone's dreams should be able to come true, but it's such a pity that she won't be able to see that day.
It's such a pity.
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