The staff in the dark couldn't stand it any longer and said, "Sorry, miss, eating is not allowed here."
The sudden voice startled Itsuki. However, after hearing the rest of the words, her face turned slightly red, and she quickly said, "Sorry, I didn't know."
Saying that, Itsuki quickly put the bread away. Then she grabbed Haruto and ran off in embarrassment.
The staff member wiped the cold sweat from his brow, watching the two leave, and muttered, "That guy actually used meat buns to coax her, and she was so obedient."
"Is this a new way to chase someone?"
"Should I try it too?"
Meanwhile, after running a bit further, Itsuki sighed in relief and patted her chest. "The staff couldn't take it anymore. Luckily, I didn't eat; otherwise, I would've caused them trouble."
Haruto looked around and said, "There's no staff here. You can eat secretly without anyone noticing."
"Let's not."
Itsuki hesitated for a moment, shook her head, and said, "It won't be long. It's better to wait until we're outside to eat, or it could be bad if we get caught."
Soon, Haruto led Itsuki to a three-way intersection.
Haruto grabbed her hand and said, "We passed already; Nino is inside."
"Oh~"
Itsuki responded, glancing at Haruto's hand, then quickly looked away.
As they said, staying as they are now is fine, right?
So, just holding hands shouldn't be a problem, especially since it's dark and a bit scary here.
Itsuki could feel the warmth enveloping her hand—it was so warm, much warmer than her own. Plus, his hand was really big.
It wasn't long before Haruto stopped. Itsuki quickly withdrew her hand, looked around, and curiously asked, "Kuromori-kun, is Nino here?"
Haruto shook his head—Nino wasn't there.
The reason he stopped was because there had been a ghost following them, though it didn't seem malicious.
After some thought, Haruto decided to ignore it and pulled Itsuki forward.
The ghost was probably just wandering aimlessly; they happened to be walking in the same direction.
After walking a bit more, Haruto stopped in front of a wooden door. Nino wasn't foolish; instead of running ahead, she had chosen to hide somewhere.
However, hiding could be tricky. If unnoticed, it might be difficult for a regular person to find someone eventually—they might need to ask the staff.
Haruto glanced at Itsuki, who was sneakily eating chocolate, pretending not to notice, then raised his hand and knocked on the door: "Nino, it's me."
Inside the small room, with her hands on her knees and head buried in them, the girl squatting by the door suddenly lifted her head, a look of surprise on her face.
That voice...
Was it Haruto?
Soon after, a slight pout appeared on Nino's face. She wiped the corners of her eyes and quickly stood up to open the door.
But since she had been crouching too long, and with her physical discomfort over the past few days, as soon as she stood up, her vision suddenly darkened, and she banged her head on the door.
*BANG*
"Woo~"
A dull thud was followed by a painful cry.
Outside the door, Haruto frowned, his heart stirred, and his eyes immediately saw through the wooden door to the situation inside.
Nino was holding her head, falling to the ground with reddened eyes, looking as if she was about to cry.
Haruto didn't hesitate any longer. He placed his hand on the door and used his superpower to open it.
Hearing the sound, Nino immediately looked up. When she saw it was Haruto, she quickly raised her hand to wipe away her tears.
Haruto crouched down, focusing on her head: "Did you hit your head? Let me see."
Without waiting for her response, he gently took her hand.
The room was dark, with only a dim wall lamp.
In fact, this wasn't really a room. More accurately, it was a small nook with just a few old wooden crates in the corner.
Though the light was faint, Haruto could see clearly, even in total darkness.
He raised his hand. "Hold still, it won't hurt in a second."
"Oh~"
Nino responded obediently, then felt a warm sensation coming from his hand.
The sharp pain gradually faded.
Nino stared blankly at him.
Haruto looked back at her. "What is it?"
"Nothing."
Nino averted her gaze. After a moment, she couldn't help but whisper, "Kuromori, if I ever get lost again in the future, will you still come find me? Like today?"
"I won't." Haruto calmly replied, "Because I won't let you get lost."
If he wanted to find someone, even if they hid at the ends of the earth, as long as they were still on this planet, he could easily locate them.
So getting lost was impossible.
Hearing his answer, Nino sighed in relief, then bit her lip, suddenly making a decision.
"Kuromori, I lik—"
Just as she was about to say something, Nino noticed a strand of ahoge hair poking through the door.
That ahoge swayed gently.
Itsuki?
Sure enough, a moment later, a head peeked in—it was Itsuki.
Nino's voice abruptly stopped.
Itsuki quietly wiped the corner of her mouth and asked curiously, "Nino, are you okay?"
Nino shook her head. "I'm fine."
Today was really her unlucky day!
Itsuki entered, shyly saying, "I couldn't help it and ate a piece of chocolate. Anyway, Nino, weren't you about to say something?"
Nino replied nonchalantly, "I was just about to say that the moon is beautiful tonight."
In Japanese, the word for "like" (suki) sounds similar to "moon" (tsuki), but only a little. If heard clearly, it's still easy to distinguish between the two.
However, Itsuki was lost in her culinary world, so the chance that she didn't hear clearly wasn't low.
Of course, it was also possible that Itsuki pretended not to hear. But that seemed unlikely.
After all, the ahoge on her head swayed happily!
Haruto looked away.