Chapter 22: Do you seem to have a lot on your mind?

As the project leader, Yukinoshita Haruno received a call on her phone shortly after the construction site accident occurred.

"It collapsed!?"

Yukinoshita Haruno thought she misheard and raised her voice a bit,

"What do you mean it collapsed?"

"Uh, literally, Miss Haruno... The site is now cordoned off by the fire department, and they are investigating the cause of the collapse."

A voice with a mix of complexity and subtle absurdity came through the phone.

"I got it, I'll head over right away."

After hanging up, a subordinate at the scene thoughtfully sent a photo of the site.

In the photo, the construction site was surrounded by a circle of caution tape. Several firefighters in helmets were busy, some with police dogs searching for possible victims, others checking for fire hazards. There were also many curious onlookers, and the old office building had turned into a pile of rubble.

"Huh?"

Even the clever Yukinoshita Haruno couldn't understand how the building, which was fine in the afternoon, collapsed in just a couple of hours.

She suddenly remembered her sister Yukino was nearby in the afternoon and quickly made a call.

"Beep beep... Hello, sister?"

Yukinoshita Yukino's cold voice came through the phone, sounding like nothing was wrong, which made Haruno breathe a sigh of relief.

"Yuki-chan, where are you now?"

"At home, why, what's up?"

The voice on the phone sounded a bit strange, with a hint of guilt.

"The office building our company rented collapsed for some reason. Were you and your classmates at the scene? Are you hurt?"

"..."

After a strange silence, Yukinoshita Yukino's voice came again,

"Collapsed? Wasn't it fine in the afternoon? We were just passing by and didn't stay there."

Instinctively sensing something was off with her sister Yukino, but unable to pinpoint it, Yukinoshita Haruno decided to temporarily set aside her small doubt and said,

"It's good that you're okay. Maybe the building was too old. I don't know either, the cause of the collapse is still under investigation."

"I have to go to the site, I'll hang up now."

After hanging up, Yukinoshita Yukino put down her phone, her face stiffened for a moment before she slowly breathed a sigh of relief.

"You really can't lie, can you?"

Hayashizaki teased,

"Weren't you quite good at faking a call to get a leave from Hiratsuka-sensei?"

"Hiratsuka-sensei is no match for my sister..."

Yukinoshita Yukino felt like she was completely overpowered when facing Haruno.

When Yukinoshita Haruno called, Yukinoshita Yukino's mind went blank. While she was still struggling with how to hide the truth from her sister, Hayashizaki took over her body and used her voice to bluff through.

If Yukinoshita Yukino had answered the call herself, she would probably have stammered for half a day without saying a word, and it would have been just a matter of time before she was exposed.

"But I must say, with this acting, you could win an Oscar."

"It's amazing how you can glorify lying like that."

After a small retort to Hayashizaki, Yukinoshita Yukino, sitting on the sofa, lowered her head slightly, her eyes a bit lost,

"So my sister can actually talk to me nicely."

At some point, Yukinoshita Haruno's tone when talking to her became either teasing or seriously conveying their mother's wishes. Yukinoshita Yukino hadn't seen Haruno's anxious look on the phone just now for a long time.

"What are you talking about? Isn't it normal to worry about your sister?"

Hayashizaki followed the girl's words, hoping to distract her from the fact that he had cut down their Yukinoshita family's building.

Yukinoshita Yukino didn't notice Hayashizaki's ill intentions and continued in a daze,

"Normal..."

Can her family still be considered normal?

Although to her, a strict mother, a kind father, and an excellent older sister seemed quite normal.

"It seems like my sister has liked teasing me since I was a child. Although I've somewhat gotten used to it now, I still can't handle it."

Yukinoshita Yukino said softly, as if recalling her childhood, with a hint of nostalgia in her eyes.

In her memories, Haruno wasn't like this when they were young. Although she liked to tease her, the two sisters were still very close. Until they graduated from elementary school and she went abroad for middle school, they often slept in the same bed and kept in touch frequently while she was abroad.

When did their relationship start to change?

The girl leaned on the sofa, looking up at the chandelier on the ceiling. The warm light blurred into fuzzy crosses in her eyes.

"It seems like you have a lot on your mind?"

Hayashizaki advised,

"You should live more freely."

"Yes, if I could be carefree like Mr. Parasite and just enjoy making people angry, I might live more freely too."

Yukinoshita Yukino said with a light laugh, suddenly finding Hayashizaki somewhat similar to her sister.

Thinking of Hayashizaki and Yukinoshita Haruno, she remembered Haruno's phone call just now and then thought of the old office building that Hayashizaki had cut into pieces.

Her anger flared up.

"By the way, don't you have something to say to me?"

Yukinoshita Yukino said coldly.

"Blah blah?"

"Don't play dumb!"

The girl scolded softly, frowning.

"Is this how you talk to your savior!?"

Hayashizaki tried to turn the tables, shouting,

"This was supposed to be a trial for you and that boy Hikigaya. If you could defeat that curse spirit, nothing would have happened!"

"Putting aside the facts, don't you have any fault at all!?"

"I..."

For a moment, Yukinoshita was intimidated by Hayashizaki's momentum, her tone weakening,

"Even so, there were better choices, right?"

"Do you want me to cut that curse spirit into tiny pieces?"

"Wait, were you just making excuses?"

Yukinoshita Yukino finally realized,

"What do you mean by putting aside the facts?"

"Please explain yourself properly!"

"I know you're in a hurry, but calm down first,"

Hayashizaki decided to take it easy and explain things to her.

"Although I accidentally demolished the building, think about it. If I hadn't acted, the building wouldn't have lasted long under the curse spirit's attack. It would have collapsed sooner or later. I just sped up the process."

"On the bright side, maybe the building was going to be demolished and rebuilt anyway. I just saved your sister some demolition costs. You should thank me."

"Lastly, thanks to me noticing the curse spirit there, if construction had started, the workers would have been killed by the curse spirit. Maybe even your sister would have been harmed. Considering this, you should thank me even more."

As Hayashizaki spoke, he became more confident, completely ignoring Yukinoshita Yukino's darkening expression.

...

...

"Have they found out why the building collapsed?"

Yukinoshita Haruno, who had just returned to her place in Tokyo, drove back to Chiba.

Her subordinates were already waiting at the scene and quickly approached her.

"Not yet, but we found something strange."

"Something strange?"

Yukinoshita Haruno frowned.

"Yes, the firefighters found that the break in the wall was too smooth, like..."

He hesitated for a moment before continuing,

"like it was cut by a knife through butter."

"Are you kidding me?"

Haruno was about to say more when she noticed something more concerning.

Outside the police line, a bicycle was parked alone by the roadside.

If she remembered correctly, the boy with Yukino this afternoon was pushing a bicycle exactly like this one.

...

...

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