CH 65

We arrived in front of the haunted house.

On the way, Shimizu-san showed interest in all the other attractions she saw and wanted to go, but Takayuki happily rejected all of them, saying, “Okay, maybe later.” I laughed a little at Takayuki’s happy dismissal of the idea, thinking that he was being rather ruthless.

But I smiled at their completely carefree relationship, and I was also a little jealous.

“Well, after you!”

When it was finally our turn, Takayuki took Shimizu-san, who was trembling and clinging to his arm, and quickly walked into the haunted house together, without discussing what to do.

There was an option for the four of us to go in together, but Shi-chan and I decided to stay outside.

“Then, let’s go, too.”

As a man, I thought I should lead the way here, so I gathered up my courage and took Shi-chan’s hand and walked into the haunted house.

But perhaps it was a bad idea to suddenly take her hand, because the moment I took her hand, Shi-chan was so surprised that she freaked out once.

I thought it was a bad idea after all, but then Shi-chan squeezed my hand back, so I was relieved to see that there was no problem.

When I entered the haunted house, it was quite dark and the temperature felt a bit cooler.

But since she didn’t have to worry about people seeing her here, Shi-chan put her sunglasses on her head and showed me her true face.

Oh man, …… she’s still so cute with her outfit today. ……

I guess it’s called the suspension bridge effect, and even though I’m always looking at her, she seems especially cute now.

“…… Takkun.”

“Hmm? What’s wrong?”

I was just admiring Shi-chan when she called out to me. I was so surprised that I ducked and answered her.

I can do it!

“You know? Do you mind if I hold your hand?”

“Eh my hand?”

By the way, I was still holding hands with Shi-chan.

In other words, Shi-chan was squeezing me, and it was correct that I couldn’t let go or anything.

But if I could hold hands with Shi-chan like this, it would be my wish come true, and I had no reason to refuse, so I replied with a smile, “Sure.”

Then Shi-chan sighed once, as if relieved, then smiled with a slightly troubled face and said, “Good, I’m a little scared.”

I was a little surprised that the person who wanted to go there was scared, but I thought that it was interesting because it was scary, so I went inside with Shi-chan holding her hand.

After a little while, I found a well at the end of a straight path that was blatantly suspicious.

I thought this was totally a pattern of something coming out from inside, and I wondered if Shi-chan was okay. I was worried and looked next to her.

Then, Shi-chan seemed to sense this and looked a little pale and trembled a little.

–not a little, but a lot scarier, right?

I thought to myself, “Isn’t that a little scary?” But Shi-chan’s trembling face was so cute that I couldn’t help but relax even though we were in a haunted house.

As I approached the well, a female ghost jumped out from inside.

“Kya!!!”

Shi-chan screamed in surprise and squeezed my arm as we held hands.

I was a little surprised that a ghost had come out of the well, even though I knew it, but to be honest, that was not the point.

–The scent of shampoo wafting from her swaying hair.

–And most of all, the soft touch of her arm.

My heart rate went through the roof.

Shi-chan clinging to me was much worse for my heart than the ghost.

I panicked a little at the sight of the ghost in front of me and Shi-chan’s trembling body clinging to my arm, but I hurried on, trying to calm her down.

Probably because there was a limit to how long I could stay here mentally, and if I didn’t get out of here soon, I was going to be in trouble.

“I-I’m sorry, Takkun. But please let me stay like this.”

I didn’t need to tell you the destructive power of Shi-chan, who was trembling and clinging to my arm, looking up at me with tears in her eyes.

I was more scared of Shi-chan’s destructive power than anything else.

But if she was so scary, why did she want to come here? I’d like to say, “Why did you want to come here if you’re so scared?” but for the sake of Shi-chan’s fear, I increased my pace so that we could get out of here as quickly as possible.

From then on, until we left the haunted house, Shi-chan was surprised by all the ghosts that popped up.

Every time she was startled, I could feel her clinging to my arm, and I could barely keep my composure.

In this way, Shi-chan and I succeeded in escaping from the haunted house, though for different reasons, each of us had to fight for our lives.

“W-What’s wrong?”

When we got out, Takayuki saw us looking so exhausted and asked us with a bit of a wince, but to be honest, we didn’t have the energy to answer him.

I looked next to her and saw that Shi-chan was also exhausted, but her cheeks were bright red and she had a satisfied expression on her face, as if she had done all she could.