Tokyo: Love Begins with Controlling the Rich Girl

I must not have slept well last night.

"Xiang-jun, I'm sorry to have kept you waiting."

After standing in front of Shimada Sho, Ayase Yuki looked up and greeted him.

Shimada Sho smiled slightly, "I just arrived too."

The two looked at each other, and Ayase Yuki was the first to look away.

In the past, whenever they had such eye contact, he was always the first to succumb to the girl's burning gaze.

This time she avoided the topic, and the atmosphere became somewhat awkward.

Shimada Sho observed again.

During our last date, she took the initiative to make physical contact with me under various pretexts.

But today she just stood two steps away, with her hands behind her back, showing no intention of getting closer.

“Let’s go.” Shimada Sho took the first step.

Yuki Ayase followed, walking beside him, keeping about an arm's length away.

The two walked along the street for a while without saying a word.

Shimada Sho glanced at her sideways.

Her gaze was fixed ahead, her face expressionless, revealing no emotion.

She's definitely not like that normally.

“Sho-kun.” Ayase Yuki suddenly spoke.

"Um."

Where would you like to go today?

"You decide." Shimada Sho was prepared to accompany her no matter what she wanted to do.

Her request was surprisingly simple: "Let's just walk around."

So the two of them started walking along the street.

Throughout the entire process, Yuki Ayase did not say another word.

Left with no other option, Shimada Sho stopped at a dessert shop and asked, "Want some ice cream?"

"Need not."

"There's a shopping mall over there, want to go in and have a look?"

"There's nothing I want to buy."

Shimada Sho remained silent.

Because of what happened at home, she has lost interest in everything.

The only reason I came out was to keep myself company.

Yuki Ayase's body is here, but her soul is not.

She was still thinking about things at home.

Shimada Sho thought for a moment and then stopped at a crossroads.

Ayase Yuki also stopped and turned to look at him: "What's wrong?"

"Let's change locations."

"Where to?"

"Amusement park."

Yuki Ayase paused for a moment. "Now?"

"Well, didn't you say you just wanted to take a walk? Let's go to the amusement park then."

"But……"

“No buts.” Shimada Sho interrupted her. “The tickets are on me.”

Yuki Ayase looked at him as if she had something to say, but in the end she just nodded silently.

The amusement park is about a ten-minute drive from Shinjuku, so we arrived quickly.

This amusement park isn't very big, and there weren't many people at this time of day.

Shimada Sho bought two all-day passes and went inside with Ayase Yuki.

The main entrance features a huge fountain plaza, flanked by souvenir shops and fast food restaurants.

Further in, you can hear the roar of roller coasters and laughter coming from afar.

Yuki Ayase walked beside him, her gaze sweeping over the amusement park rides, her expression remaining unchanged.

What do you want to play?

"It will be all right."

"..."

When a woman has no desires, there's really nothing you can do with her.

However, Shimada Sho is not without ways to help her get out of this low mood.

He pointed to a building ahead and said, "Let's go try this."

There was a dilapidated two-story building over there. The entrance was made into a stone archway, with dark red curtains hanging on both sides. The sign above read "Abandoned Hospital" in crooked, distorted characters that looked as if they were bleeding.

Haunted houses are considered one of the more thrilling attractions in amusement parks.

Even the most indifferent person will react to fear.

Yuki Ayase followed his gaze, and her expression finally changed slightly.

But she quickly regained her indifferent demeanor and replied calmly, "Mm."

The two walked toward the entrance.

The ticket inspector at the entrance was a young woman with deathly pale makeup. Seeing them approach, she gave them a sinister smile: "Are you two together?"

“Together.” Shimada Sho nodded.

The ticket inspector handed over two ticket stubs and pointed to a sign next to them: "There are live-action NPCs inside. They won't touch the visitors, but they might suddenly appear, so be prepared."

Shimada Sho glanced at the notice board, then at Ayase Yuki.

Yuki Ayase stood half a step behind him, her hands hanging at her sides, her eyes fixed on the dark entrance, her lips pressed into a thin line.

Shimada Sho pretended not to see and walked in on his own.

Seeing this, Yuki Ayase had no choice but to follow.

The entrance to the haunted house is a narrow corridor with old hospital beds and IV stands hanging on the walls on both sides. The lighting is dim, and the air is filled with a mixture of disinfectant and rust.

The overhead light bulbs flickered on and off, occasionally emitting a buzzing sound.

Shimada Sho's feet made a slight sound as they stepped on the floor.

Footsteps echoed in the narrow corridor, sounding particularly clear in the enclosed space.

He took a few steps forward but didn't hear footsteps following behind him.

Looking back, I saw that Yuki Ayase was still standing at the entrance without moving.

"What's wrong?" Shimada Sho asked, looking at her.

"……nothing."

Yuki Ayase shook her head and followed hesitantly.

When she walked up to Shimada Sho, she deliberately stood in the same spot as she had outside the corridor, keeping a half-arm's distance between them.

At the end of the corridor was a half-open door, through which a dark red light shone.

Shimada Sho walked over and pushed open the door. Inside was a simulated operating room. In the center was a rusty operating table with a mannequin in a hospital gown lying on it. The mannequin was covered with a white sheet, and its head was covered with a cloth, revealing a pale fake hand.

The light shone down from the overhead fluorescent lights, flickering on and off.

Just as Shimada Sho was about to walk forward, he heard a very soft inhale behind him.

He turned around and saw Yuki Ayase standing at the door of the operating room, looking at the mannequin on the table with a blank expression, but she had stopped walking.

"Scared?" Shimada Sho asked with a smile.

"...I'm not afraid."

"Then why are you standing still?"

“I’m observing.” Ayase Yuki looked away, her voice a little stiff. “The design of a haunted house needs to be realistic. The layout of this operating room is problematic; it doesn’t conform to reality…”

"You're analyzing the layout of the haunted house?" Shimada Sho couldn't help but laugh. "And what did you figure out?"

Yuki Ayase's lips moved as if she wanted to say something, but just then, the mannequin on the operating table suddenly sat up.

The white cloth slipped off its body, revealing a pale face with black paint on its features and a crooked arc drawn at the corner of its mouth.

Its hand reached towards Yuki Ayase, and a sharp sound came from its throat.

"ah--!"

Yuki Ayase instinctively took two steps back, her shoulder slamming against the corridor wall with a dull thud.

Her expression remained calm, but her breathing became noticeably rapid, and her eyes widened.

She took a deep breath, reached out and patted non-existent dust off her skirt, her voice regaining its calm: "This mechanism is quite well-made, although it's scary, but..."

Before she could finish speaking, another ghostly hand reached out from under the operating table and grabbed her ankle.

This time she couldn't hold back and jumped back half a step like a cat whose tail had been stepped on. However, she realized she had lost her composure as soon as she jumped away, so she quickly stood up straight and tried to make her expression look natural, but her hands, which were gripping the hem of her skirt, had unconsciously clenched tightly.

Seeing her putting on such a brave face, Shimada Sho couldn't help but smile.

"What are you laughing at?" Ayase Yuki's tone carried a hint of displeasure, but she still pretended to be calm.

"I'm laughing at you for pretending to analyze the haunted house layout when you're clearly terrified."

"I wasn't afraid."

"Yes, you're just getting too absorbed in your analysis."

Yuki Ayase opened her mouth to retort, but just then, a rustling sound came from the depths of the corridor, as if something was dragging a chain.

Her shoulders visibly hunched, and she swallowed back the words that were on the tip of her tongue.

She stood in the middle of the corridor, clutching her skirt with both hands, her gaze fixed on the darkness ahead, neither moving forward nor backward.

Looking at her like this, Shimada Sho suddenly found it both funny and annoying.

Someone who's usually so proactive has been keeping their distance ever since we met.

Once inside the haunted house, they were like nails stuck in the ground, so scared that they wouldn't take a single step forward or even get close.

He never thought girls were so hard to coax.

“Yuki.” Shimada Sho decided to take the initiative to speak.

Her gaze followed the sound.

"Shouldn't you be coming over and taking my hand at a time like this?"

The moment the words left his mouth, the corridor seemed to freeze for a second.

In the dim light, Yuki Ayase's eyes widened slightly.

It seemed unexpected that he would say something like that.

But after recovering from her surprise, she still silently took a step forward.

Then he looked around and took another step.

After getting close to Shimada Sho, she reached out and gently grasped his wrist.

Feeling the warm, smooth touch on his wrist, Shimada Sho didn't make any movement, letting her hold it.

"Let's go." Ayase Yuki's voice regained a little warmth.

Shimada Sho nodded and slowed his pace to lead her out of the operating room.