I, the mastermind behind the scenes at Soubu High, refuse to be caught in a bloodbath.

Following the group to the platform, they boarded the assigned train carriage. As soon as they entered the carriage, someone immediately selected seats. Since there were only three boys in Class J, the girls seemed particularly relaxed. Himeko joined what could be called a girls' group, and the other two boys also teamed up with two girls, so it wasn't awkward at all.

However, the seating arrangement on Shinkansen trains is quite interesting. There are three groups on one side and two groups on the other. Well, most trains are like this, but it might be a bit uncomfortable for a group of four, because it means that one person will inevitably be isolated to the side.

This is not good, especially if the trip is arranged like this right from the start. It is easy to create a certain disconnect after arrival, which will lead to some things not being able to keep up.

However, it was just as well that he couldn't keep up with the conversation. Himekoji casually looked around and directly chose a two-person seat. He sat down in the aisle seat first. Hiramatsu and Haruna exchanged glances and suddenly pushed Yukinoshita towards Himekoji, almost pushing her down on him.

"Wait, wait a minute, what's wrong?"

"Well... there are many different situations..."

"I hope Yukinoshita-san can understand us a little... Oh, right, Yui, come here quickly!"

Haruna beckoned to another girl in the class. Himekoji vaguely remembered that when Haruna invited Himekoji to join her group that day, this girl named Yui was also secretly glancing at them.

So you guys are all in cahoots after all? Himeko thought to herself.

So Haruna, Hiramatsu, and Yui occupied the three-person seats in the row, while Himekoji sat in one of the two-person seats on the side. Yukinoshita had no choice but to ask Himekoji to give up her seat, and she went in and sat next to Himekoji in the window seat.

Haruna is a bespectacled girl with burgundy hair, Hiramatsu has a neat ponytail and fluffy gray-green hair, and the last one, Yui, is a petite and cute girl with short brown hair like Chibi Maruko-chan, and always has a happy smile. After the three of them sat together, they immediately started chatting enthusiastically, making it impossible for Yukinoshita or Himekoji to join in.

Yukinoshita glanced at Himekoji, silently took out a Jalan Kyoto magazine from her bag, skillfully flipped to the corner where she had folded it, smoothed the corner, gently brushed her hair, and began reading as if no one else was around.

"I think I should take a nap," Himeko thought.

Before he could even close his eyes for ten minutes, he heard a soft but clear voice from his right side say, "Don't you have any recommendations?"

"what?"

Ji Xiaolu immediately opened her eyes and asked in a low voice.

But Yukinoshita's eyes remained fixed on the magazine, her gaze constantly scanning the pages, occasionally smoothing her hair, as if she hadn't said anything at all.

"baffling..."

After muttering a few words, Ji Xiaolu squinted again, preparing to take a nap.

This time, less than three minutes later, his right foot, which was under the chair, was suddenly bumped by Yukinoshita. It was a very quick and brief contact, and although it wasn't forceful, it was definitely enough for Himekoji to notice.

He opened his eyes again and glared at Yukinoshita, who was still staring intently at the magazine, completely ignoring Himekoji.

At this moment, Ji Xiaolu noticed three pairs of eyes peeking at him from his left. He pursed his lips slightly, sat up straight again, and instead of looking at Yukino, took out his phone and sent her an email.

Himekoji: For example, Rokuon-ji Temple, Jisho-ji Temple, and the nighttime worship services held by temples and shrines. Going there at night creates a great atmosphere.

Yukinoshita's phone vibrated. After Himekoji had put her phone away for a long time, she took it out again and whispered in a voice that the three on the other end couldn't hear, "Why do you keep saying things that violate the rules, Himekoji... Nighttime operations are prohibited, aren't they?"

To prevent safety accidents and incidents, nighttime activities are strictly prohibited, not only for students but also for teachers. Teachers are responsible for supervising students and preventing them from going out.

"I am Himekoji Haruto, who can stop me? The class representative? Hiratsuka-sensei? I'm asking you, who else is there?"

"..."

Yukinoshita irritably rubbed her hair, put away her phone, and ignored Himekoji.

But at the same time, I also felt a little hopeful that it might be possible to visit the temple at night...

Chapter 220 Unexpectedly, [Yukino Yukinoshita] was slightly careless.

Snow has been to many places, but Kyoto is an exception. So, like most high school students, she was really looking forward to this school trip. She and Himekoji also had something in common: neither of them had ever participated in a middle school school trip before.

After all, Himekoji never attended junior high school, and Yukinoshita attended junior high school abroad, where there is no such thing as school trips.

"Ah, it's Mount Fuji."

Since Mount Fuji was on the side where the two of them were seated, the view from the window under the snow was naturally the most convenient. After glancing at it a few times, she asked Himekoji, "Aren't you going to take a look?"

"Well, I'll take a look then."

After moving slightly closer, Himekoji immediately smelled the familiar scent on Yukinoshita again. Because the two were very close, but after only a few seconds, just as Yukinoshita was about to lose her temper and chase him away, Himekoji immediately pulled away and casually said, "Ah, it is very beautiful."

"Yes...right?"

Yukinoshita responded somewhat flusteredly, smoothing her hair on the left side and adjusting her posture to sit up straight.

At the same time, the three girls on the left immediately started to chuckle.

Sigh—high school students are so boring. They laugh when they get a little close to each other, and blush when they miss each other. They're such a pathetic yet interesting group, controlled by hormones.

No longer paying attention to Yukinoshita, nor looking at Mount Fuji, Himekoji leaned back comfortably in his chair, closed his eyes, and decided to sleep for a while. At least he should rest his mind. With that thought in mind, he actually fell asleep.

The train gradually came to a stop in Kyoto.

Himekoji was also woken up by Yukinoshita and told to get his luggage and get ready to get off the train. Just then, Himekoji's phone suddenly vibrated and he received an email. He didn't have time to pay attention to the email for the time being, so he picked up his luggage and got off the train with Hiramatsu and Haruna. Yukinoshita was behind him.

It takes about two hours by Shinkansen from Tokyo.

As they stepped off Kyoto Station, feeling the biting cold, they headed towards the bus parking lot.

Kyoto is very cold in early winter.

It'll probably get even colder from here on out.

Because Kyoto is situated in a basin, it experiences hot summers and cold winters. In other words, due to this difference in temperature, this land boasts beautiful scenery in each of the four seasons.

In spring, pale pink cherry blossoms bloom on the mountainside. In summer, one can gaze at the lush greenery while enjoying the cool breeze along the Kamo River valley. In autumn, the mountains are adorned with crimson leaves, and in winter, snowflakes dance in the wind, showcasing the beauty of the snow-covered mountains.

This period coincides with the very end of the autumn foliage season, and occasionally snowflakes may drift down.

Because the first day was a group activity, each class had to follow the predetermined route. Each class boarded the bus and took their seats. Since they had already gotten used to this, Himekoji and Yukinoshita naturally continued to sit together. However, for some reason, Yukinoshita's gaze was a little evasive when she looked at Himekoji, and she would blush slightly when Himekoji looked at her, perhaps because she was cold.

Putting that thought aside, Ji Xiaolu took out her phone and checked her emails.

The email was sent by Haruna from the same group. Although Himekoji had never saved her email address, it would be very easy for her to get Himekoji's email address. In order to let Himekoji know who the sender was, she even added her own name at the beginning.

The contents of the email undoubtedly shocked Himekoji.

It's a photo taken with a mobile phone, showing Himekoji sleeping. But that's not all; besides Himekoji, Yukinoshita is also asleep next to him, leaning naturally on Himekoji's shoulder, creating a very serene and beautiful scene. At the end, Haruna wrote a sentence: Stop pretending, we've known you two were dating for a long time! You can't fool us! Hehehe (emoticon).

Himekoji's eyelids twitched. Because he had slept longer than Yukinoshita, he didn't know that Yukinoshita had fallen asleep on his shoulder shortly after he fell asleep. Moreover, she woke up just before he did, probably because she noticed that he had been leaning on Himekoji's shoulder while sleeping. Now, when Himekoji looked at her, she would occasionally feel a little embarrassed.

When did I start dating Yukinoshita? No way! But I'd better not show this photo to Yukinoshita, she'll probably bristle like a cat whose tail has been stepped on.

The road winds its way along the city center, sometimes climbing slopes.

The bus stopped in a spacious parking lot that was also full of other sightseeing buses. From here, you can climb Sannenzaka to reach Kiyomizu-dera Temple.

Even though the peak season for autumn leaves has passed, the number of tourists remains high. The area around Kiyomizu-dera Temple, one of Kyoto's most popular tourist attractions, sees spectacular crowds.

However, after everyone got off the bus, they had to take a group photo as a class. For Hachiman, this might be an occasion where he would need to use his skillful ability to hide from people, but Himekoji didn't need to. He stood confidently in the middle, surrounded by girls.

But before the queue was even properly formed, there seemed to be some inexplicable commotion coming from behind.

"Wait, hey...wait a minute, please don't push me..."

Yukinoshita's flustered voice came from behind Himekoji, accompanied by Hiramatsu and Haruna's cries of "Excuse me, excuse me!" Then, the circle of girls surrounding Himekoji gradually dispersed, and Hiramatsu and Haruna, with a "Hey!", pushed Yukinoshita towards them. If Himekoji hadn't grabbed Yukinoshita's shoulder just in time, she would have fallen headfirst into their arms.

Are you sure you can do it?

Himekoji gave a →_→ look, while Yukinoshita blushed and looked around, only to find everyone staring at her and chuckling as they looked. In the end, she had no choice but to puff out her cheeks and stand next to Himekoji.

If they were to dodge at this point, it would be a laughing stock, and Yukinoshita clearly understood this as well.

As for the other two boys... they were completely marginalized by the more than thirty girls in the class, one on each side and one in the middle, just right.

Now, every class has to go to Kiyomizu-dera Temple first.

Each class leader led the way in drawing lots to determine the order of action. This meant that the ten classes had to enter in turn, but the order was determined by the draw. Himekoji's class leader drew the sixth one, which was neither the first nor the last. It seemed that Hachiman's class was the fourth one.

If everyone entered according to class order, it would obviously be the last class, J, which is the best. That would be unfair, so everyone drew lots, and now everyone would be satisfied.

Chapter 221 Big Idiot, [Himekoji Daphne] Clumsy

While queuing with Yukinoshita, Himekoji received an email from Reiko. Upon opening it, he couldn't help but smile.

It's a series of seven photos, and the living creatures in them are probably—the Yukinoshita family's cat, the Himekoji family's duck, and Himekoji's mother.

The kittens in the Yukinoshita family were chasing the duck all over the room, while Himekoji's mother, worried about her duck getting hurt, kept chasing after it with a long face. In the end, she tripped over the hem of her dress because it was too long and fell flat on her face on the soft carpet.

Of course, the mother cat couldn't be released with the ducklings, otherwise the ducklings would probably be in trouble, so she stayed obediently in the cage.

"Hahahahaha..." Himekoji kept laughing, which made Yukinoshita very curious, but she suppressed her curiosity and continued to say sarcastically, "Please stop making that kind of weird laugh, okay?"

"No, no, no, look at this."

Himekoji moved her phone closer to Yukinoshita, who leaned over and tilted her head to look at it. Himekoji scrolled the email to the front and slid down from the beginning. At first, Yukinoshita just found it amusing, not that funny, but after seeing the image of Himekoji's mother lying flat on the carpet, she couldn't help but turn her head away, cover her mouth, and shrug her shoulders repeatedly.

Because she was smiling with her head turned away, she happened to notice Yui and the others slipping out of the class line. She tugged at Himekoji's sleeve, pointed over there, and said, "What are Yui and the others doing over there instead of lining up? Are you going to go and stop them?"

"Why interfere? You're young, you should be brave and have fun."

"What...is that over there?"

Yukinoshita pointed to the small shrine that wasn't far from the entrance to the shrine and said.

"Ah, that's Qiu Suitang. They have a project called 'Womb Walk'. Why, would you like to go check it out?"

"Anyway, we still have to wait in line for a long time... but is it really okay to go?"

Yukino looked cautiously at Himekoji, who smiled and shook his head. The moment Yukino showed disappointment in her eyes, he took her hand and walked over there.

"Um... that—?"

Because she had suddenly separated from the group, Yukinoshita kept looking back, and seemed a little flustered. But then she realized that the source of her fluster was the hand that Himekoji was holding. She wanted to pull it back, but she didn't know what was wrong with her. It was as if she wouldn't have the courage to keep up with him and leave the group if she let go.

So Yukino lowered her head and walked along, being pulled along by Himekoji the whole way.

When they reached the waiting room, Hachiman and the others who had arrived earlier had already gone inside. Standing at the queuing line, Yukinoshita looked down into the darkness and felt a little apprehensive. She looked up and said guiltily, "Should we... maybe we should go back? It's not good to keep them waiting too long... and what if all the other classes go in first..."

"The people from Class F who were in front are still here, what are we afraid of?"

As Himekoji said this, he released Yukinoshita's hand, but less than a second later, Yukinoshita, gazing at the darkness, immediately grasped Himekoji's hand again and carefully walked behind him.

"Um... Yukinoshita, please take off your shoes first."

Himeko pointed to the sign next to her, saying that not only did she have to take off her shoes, but she also had to pay a fee, although the fee wasn't much.

"Ah, yes, you have to take off your shoes first."

Yukinoshita blushed deeply and quickly let go of Himekoji's hand, took off her shoes, paid the money first, and put the shoes in the shoe cabinet. After everything was tidied up, she and Himekoji walked in step by step.

As soon as they stepped down the stairs, Himekoji instinctively grasped Yukinoshita's sweaty, nervous hand—small, smooth, just like Mariya's.

After turning the corner, the darkness deepened. After a few steps, the light completely disappeared from sight. There was no difference between seeing with your eyes open and closed; this was complete darkness. In this darkness, Yukinoshita held Himekoji's hand tightly, staying close to him and not daring to leave his side for even a moment.