My Youth Romantic Comedy Is Wrong As Expected

Page 323

Their conversation ended after only two or three sentences. Isshiki gave a slight bow to the Minister of Revenue and then quickly walked towards Hayama and Miura. She probably made some request to the Minister of Revenue, who watched from behind, constantly tugging at his hairline, seemingly unsure of what to do.

Isshiki walked over to Hayama, who was standing next to Miura. They were probably planning to cross the plaza along this path.

Isshiki struck up a conversation with Hayama, who responded with great enthusiasm; the two of them seemed quite energetic. Miura, standing nearby, dragged his feet, clearly exhausted.

Yuihama and Ebina, who were following behind them, were still full of energy, chatting and laughing loudly.

I, who was lagging behind, was a little tired.

Yukino walked in about the same spot as me, her pace also somewhat slow. Her stamina was already rather poor, and with the park packed with people, her fatigue would only intensify.

Her slender legs looked heavy, and she let out a deep sigh as she walked.

"Are you okay?"

"fine."

I asked her, but received a cold reply. Whether it was due to exhaustion or an unbridgeable distance between us, she didn't even glance at us.

"Oh no!"

I heard Yuihama's voice coming from ahead, and I turned to look.

To ensure the smooth flow of the parade later, staff are preparing to close the road in front of the square.

Yuihama and Ebina sprinted forward, reaching the other side just before the road was blocked, while we, who were lagging behind, didn't have time to run at all.

They ran to the other side before remembering that we had been left behind. Yui turned around and waved, calling out "Hey—", and I raised my hand slightly in response.

"You go first, we'll follow later!"

"knew--"

She waved to us one last time, then continued searching for Hayama and the others. After watching them leave, I turned back to Yukino and said:

“…Let’s go.”

"Um."

Anyway, we knew where we were going, and even if we had to go around the square and take other routes, we would eventually reach our destination. However, due to road closures before the parade, the crowd on this side increased significantly.

Moreover, as night fell, the amusement park rides lit up with colorful lights, and many people stopped to take photos, which slowed our progress down as expected.

The last ride we had to take was "Waterfall Mountain," which took us quite a while to get there. However, Yui and the others weren't at the entrance.

Yukinoshita also looked around, and after confirming that no one was there, she whispered:

"Let's call and try contacting them."

"good……"

I took out my phone and dialed the only person in my contacts among that group. After three rings, the call was finally answered.

"Hello--"

Besides Yuihama, there was also a lot of chattering coming from the receiver, probably Hayama and the others talking.

"We've reached the door, where are you?"

"Oh, sorry, we've already come in."

"Oh, really..."

I thought they'd be waiting at the door, but they stood us up... I'm a little disappointed. Yuihama, sensing something was wrong, quickly added:

"No, it's alright! You guys take the fast lane, you'll catch up with us soon. There aren't many people now, the line is moving quite fast, so I thought it would be fine for you to go in first..."

Hearing her say that, I looked at the line.

The queue was indeed much shorter than usual, only extending to the 30-minute wait sign; judging by the speed of the queue's movement, the actual waiting time might be even shorter. Yui also mentioned that switching to the express lane would indeed allow us to rejoin them much faster. Some tourists who needed to use the restroom halfway through the queue also used this express lane, so we should be able to find Yui from there as well.

"understood."

"Okay, see you later!"

After ending the call, I looked at Yukinoshita.

"Go straight in and meet them."

Yukino nodded and we joined the queue.

The Fastpass clearly states the valid time, and staff will definitely check it, so we couldn't use the express lane from the start and had to join the regular queue with others. However, everyone was probably rushing to the square at this time to watch the parade, so the regular queue moved quite quickly.

"Anyway, let's move forward to where the line is stopped."

First, walk as far forward as possible, then switch to the fast lane, and you will soon meet up with Yuihama and the others.

Before we knew it, we had arrived at a place quite far ahead.

At this moment, a dispute broke out among a group of students wearing school uniforms. They had noticed that the queue thinned considerably during the parade and fireworks display, allowing them to ride the floats several times in a row. The argument centered on whether they were "originally in line" or "cutting in line."

Staff arrived quickly to check on the situation and promptly asked all the students to leave. After this incident, a slightly tense atmosphere filled the group.

Yukino looked at the front and back of the group.

"Even if there are friends ahead of me in line now, I probably won't be able to get out of line..."

"Yes, I'll contact them again."

I took out my phone and pressed the redial button, but this time the call didn't connect for a long time.

"Didn't answer..."

This is bad. All I know is Yuihama's phone number... Although I gave Hayama his phone number before, I don't have his contact information myself.

Do you have any other people's contact information?

On a whim, I asked Yukino, but she shook her head unsurprisingly… With no other option, we continued queuing and kept making calls. Before we knew it, the queue had moved so far that we could see downstairs. After turning the corner, we arrived at the boarding area.

"Since we're already in line here, taking a ride might be faster than going back the way we came. They might be waiting at the exit."

"...indeed."

Yukinoshita's voice sounded anxious. I glanced at her, and she immediately turned her face away.

"……What's wrong?"

"..."

She refused to speak no matter what.

...Wait a minute, wait—wait—wait—wait a minute—this scene seems familiar, and it's happened several times before...A bad thought popped into my head, so I cleared my throat and said to her:

"Now, let me confirm one thing first."

"What's up?"

Yukino looked at me with a serious expression, and I looked directly into her eyes, not missing any subtle reaction, and asked:

"Are you helpless with this kind of thing?"

A moment later, both of us fell silent, staring at each other expressionlessly. Then, Yukino slowly shifted her gaze to the side.

"...It's not like we're out of options."

Upon hearing this, I immediately remembered. It was a complete rehash of her past statement that she was "helpless against dogs."

Ah—I knew it—it was definitely my familiar Yukinoshita-style logic—thinking about it, when she came out of the Cosmos Mountain earlier, her steps were a little unsteady. I think the real reason wasn't that she "couldn't stand so many people," but simply that she was afraid to ride those kinds of thrilling amusement park rides.

"Why didn't you say so sooner... Let's go back."

"It doesn't matter."

"Forget it, don't you dislike sitting?"

At this moment, Yukinoshita frowned unhappily and emphasized, "..."

"Didn't I say it didn't matter?"

"Fool, why are you forcing yourself? What's the point of this?"

My tone hardened.

Snowfall's shoulders trembled, and her gaze fell to the ground.

"...No, I really am fine."

Her voice suddenly sounded as delicate as a child's—no, Yukinoshita just usually acts very mature; in reality, she's a girl the same age as me.

She spoke hesitantly.

"Although I'm not very confident... if I was able to ride the Space Mountain with Yuihama-san before, this shouldn't be a problem either."

There's no clear reason behind this statement, and it misses the point, quite unlike her usual theoretical approach. But perhaps it's precisely because it's illogical that it's closer to her true feelings. In that case, I should respect it.

"Okay, since you've put it that way..."

She still kept her head bowed beneath the snow. She clearly didn't dare to sit, and in this state, it was best not to ride at all, so why was she forcing herself...? I scratched my head, thinking of words to help her relax.

"Since you're going to sit, just relax. It's not like anyone's going to die."

"Y-yes."

When she heard me say that, she looked up at me.

"...I'm really not going to die, am I?"

Just how worried are you...?

"Don't worry, at least I've never heard of anyone actually dying."

The group continued forward, with Yukino following step by step. After turning the last corner, they finally arrived at the boarding area.

When it was our turn to board, I sat down in the carriage first. Yukino clenched her fists, prepared herself, and then stepped in. As soon as she sat down, she gripped the handrail tightly, so tightly that her whole arm was trembling.

As the train slowly started moving, she remained in the same position.

Beautiful, melodious music flowed out, accompanied by a story of a weasel and a ferret. Each blink of the robotic weasel produced a clicking, mechanical sound. However, Yukinoshita paid no attention, her gaze fixed intently ahead.

"...We haven't reached the waterfall yet, so there's no need to rush to grab the handrail."

"Ah, um, yes..."

She then let go of the armrest and let out a weary sigh.

"It seems you're really not good at this type of thing..."

I knew this all along, but I didn't expect it to be this serious. Yukinoshita gave a self-deprecating smile.

"Yes. Because my sister used to..."

"Hmm? Oh, your sister, right?"

It was that same person again...

Yukinoshita's older sister, Yukinoshita Haruno, possesses abilities surpassing hers, making her a perfect devil superhero. Speaking of which, lately Yukinoshita seems to be seriously lacking in perfection... though she's still incredibly talented.

However, her sister was superior to her.

When Yukino brought up the matter, she no longer seemed so tense and began to observe her surroundings. A group of frogs were playing in the pond, splashing water everywhere.

The train continued its leisurely journey, and Yukinoshita continued speaking slowly.

"When I was little, my older sister would always cause trouble for me whenever we came to a place like this."

"I can imagine..."

Haruno has a cheerful and outgoing personality, and even now she still enjoys causing trouble for her younger sister. She must have been tormenting Yukinoshita in almost abusive ways since they were little.

Hearing me say that, Yukino chuckled softly. This was the first time she had smiled since entering the carriage.

"Yes. When we ride the Ferris wheel, she makes the car sway all the time; when we ride the roller coaster, she pries my hand off the handrail. There are countless examples of things like that. Oh, and when we ride the teacup seats, she ignores my warnings and keeps spinning the seat around, and she seems really happy about it..."

As Yukinoshita spoke, her expression grew increasingly grim, and I couldn't help but gasp. So, Yukinoshita's fear of these amusement park rides was all because of her sister?

"My sister is always the same..."

She murmured forlornly.

The carriage moved through the darkness, and the vulture robot beside us spoke ominously. I looked up and saw a large hole in the ceiling, the starry sky covering my head. The carriage clattered as it began to climb, soon reaching the top. Under the snow, I stood frozen, completely still.

I thought the carriage would slide down, but it remained horizontal and stopped in mid-air.

From this vantage point, you can see the scenery beyond Disneyland. The active volcano-shaped rides at Ocean Park emit red light and wisps of smoke rise, the hotel area is decorated with Christmas lights, and further afield, you can even see the night view of the new city center.

The sea of ​​light created by countless lights shimmered like a starry night sky. This is the night view of Disneyland.

Looking down at the scenery below, Yukinoshita let out a soft sigh.