Chapter 62

Having successfully completed the mock exam...

And then, a few days later, on a Friday.

At the end of October.

Early in the morning, Yuzuru was accosted by a pair.

"Yuzuru! Give us some snacks!!"

"We'll play a trick on you! Roar!!"

He was attacked by Aya, dressed as a vampire, and Chiharu, wearing fox ears and a tail.

Given that she was roaring, it was possible that Chiharu was playing the role of a werewolf, despite being a girl.

Of course, neither of them was dressed up seriously.

Aya was wearing a black cloak like a suspicious person and a hairband shaped like bat wings, while Chiharu had only decorative ears and a tail.

It was a modest costume...

But Yuzuru tilted his head, wondering if it was allowed by school rules.

"Why don't you go to Soichiro?"

Yuzuru mentioned the names of the two girls' owners.

If Soichiro knew about their actions, he would probably grab them by the collar and drag them away.

So it was likely that he hadn't come to school yet, or that they were doing this without Soichiro's knowledge.

"We're allowed to play tricks on Soichiro-kun."

"Actually, we kind of want to. But, I'd be in trouble if Yuzuru did it."

"Ah, I see. I'm sorry."

I wonder if that guy will ever get stabbed to death?

Come on, just say "Nice boat."

Yuzuru cursed Soichiro in his heart.

That said, Aya and Chiharu's behavior wasn't something new.

He had known them for a long time.

So, he had prepared some snacks.

"Here, have some treats."

Yuzuru threw them beautifully wrapped cookies from his bag.

The two caught them.

"Ah, these are good ones. As expected, Yuzuru."

"You're quite considerate, despite everything."

Then, they also took out snacks from their bags.

Aya had madeleines, and Chiharu had cupcakes.

Both were slightly yellow, probably because they had added pumpkin for Halloween.

"Made by hand."

"Please enjoy them."

"Sure, sure."

While receiving homemade treats from strangers would make one feel uneasy, Aya and Chiharu were trustworthy in this regard.

Both of them, despite appearances, were good at cooking, so he could expect good taste.

---

So, the early morning event passed.

And then, at lunchtime.

"Here, you guys. I have something for you."

Yuzuru and Soichiro received a set of assorted candies from Sei.

The candies weren't as fancy as what Aya and Chiharu had given.

They were just bags of store-bought snacks and chocolates.

However, the packaging was quite cute, with pictures of pumpkins and bats, and decorated with ribbons, showing a high level of femininity.

Yuzuru and Soichiro exchanged glances.

"Sorry, I didn't prepare anything in return."

"I didn't think you were the type to do this."

Yuzuru and Soichiro never exchanged gifts for birthdays or Christmas, finding it troublesome to prepare something in return.

Naturally, this applied to Halloween as well.

They thought Sei was similar to them.

More importantly, they never expected this delinquent-looking guy to be so whimsical and fond of festivals, to the point of preparing Halloween candies.

They had always thought he would mock Halloween as "stupid for a Japanese person."

"No, I don't need anything in return. It's creepy. ...I give out candies every Halloween. This is just a share of that."

Yuzuru and Soichiro immediately understood.

The knowledge that "yakuza give out candies on Halloween" popped into their minds.

"I see. ...By the way, are these just regular chocolates? They're not some kind of coded chocolates, right?"

"Are there any drugs in them?"

"What do you think I am?"

"Yakuza."

Yuzuru and Soichiro answered in unison.

---

After school.

On the way home, Yuzuru was stopped by a girl.

"Wait, Kosegawa-kun."

"Nagisa-san."

A tall, slender, and beautiful girl with long black hair.

Nagisa Amakusa.

She was holding beautifully wrapped cookies.

"Could it be..."

"Yes, Halloween. Ah, you don't need to give anything in return. I'm just distributing them to people I know to avoid being unfair."

Yuzuru took the cookies from Amakusa.

They seemed to be store-bought.

"Since they're store-bought, they don't have anything dangerous like Sei's."

"That's a relief."

Of course, Sei's candies were also store-bought.

Yuzuru didn't nitpick and put the cookies in his bag.

Then, he asked Amakusa.

"By the way... I'm very curious, is it okay from a doctrinal standpoint? Halloween?"

"Chiharu-san is giving them out too, right? She's a living goddess, after all."

"...Well, I think the Kounishi family is quite secular, so it's a special case."

Kounishi Chiharu.

Also known as "Kami-nishi."

The heir to a major shrine in Kansai.

Her family has an extremely rare matrilineal inheritance system and has maintained a very unique faith since ancient times.

Doctrinally, Chiharu is a living goddess, which is why she can walk through the middle of a torii gate.

That said, the Kounishi family is quite secular.

Their income from being the largest landowners in western Japan, and their control over the tourism, industry, and local politics in the Kansai region, far exceeds their income from the shrine, and they are more enthusiastic about managing those businesses.

They are now busier with "omotenashi" for foreigners than with rituals.

In fact, Nagisa is probably more serious about "religion."

(I don't know much about the Kounishi family's situation...)

Actually, the Kosegawa and Kounishi families had once been estranged.

About 150 years ago, the Kosegawa and Kounishi families, who were pioneers of the new government, had a large-scale conflict.

Since then, members of the Kosegawa family have been banned from passing through the torii gate of the Kounishi Shrine.

However, relations have been improving recently.

Yuzuru and Chiharu are childhood friends because of this background.

At one point, there was even talk of Yuzuru and Chiharu's "engagement," indicating that their relationship has improved.

That said, Yuzuru has never passed through the torii gate of the Kounishi Shrine.

"Of course, I definitely didn't put anything like marijuana in them."

"Reiterating that makes it suspicious."

If she really had distributed marijuana-laced candies, her family would have been shut down long ago.

So it's a joke.

...I hope it's a joke.

"Would you like to join our faith, Kosegawa-kun? It's quite fun, you know."

"I'm technically a Protestant."

He was a funeral Protestant, joining for convenience.

So he didn't have any particular attachment and wasn't absolutely against it...

But there was no point in converting.

"Oh, what a shame."

Since Amakusa was just joking, the conversation ended there.

Yuzuru decided to eat the potentially perishable candies from Aya and Chiharu that day.

Then, on the way, he thought:

(I wonder if I'll get something from Airi tomorrow?)

By the way, Tachibana is Catholic.

Satake is a samurai, so he follows Zen Buddhism.

The next chapter will be about Airi and Yuzuru's "trick or treat" episode.

Look forward to the candies and tricks.

I'll update the day after tomorrow.

---

If you don't give me candy, I'll play a trick on you!

So, if you enjoy the daily updates and want to maintain or even increase the speed, please bookmark the story and rate it (change the stars at the bottom of the table of contents from ☆☆☆☆☆ to ★★★★★).

Your support will help maintain and boost my motivation. Thank you.