Date a Live:This is not the date I wanted! Chapter 436 436: Yumetsuki If—Reconciliation with Christmas

"Hmph... As expected, there are so many couples on Christmas."

Walking into the park, Yutsuki looked around and couldn't help but sigh.

Should she say it was expected? During this season, naturally, large numbers of couples gathered in flocks like migratory birds changing habitats with the seasons, surrounding this classic dating spot and unscrupulously scattering tons of sweet PDA to the passersby.

"Ah~ Normies should just explode—"

"Yutsuki..."

Looking at Yutsuki's cynical, resentful expression, Shido didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

"—Well, although I really want to grumble like that, I feel like if I say it, I'll be caught in the crossfire too, so never mind."

Looking at her right hand intertwined with Shido's, Yutsuki shrugged as if losing her fighting spirit and said with a bitter smile,

"Sorry, comrades, but I've actually graduated a step ahead of you."

"Who are you calling comrades?"

Shido asked curiously.

"The brave warriors all over the world who are strongly enduring a single Christmas."

After explaining solemnly, Yutsuki pondered for a mont, placed her left hand on her chest, and bowed her head reverently like a silent prayer.

"...Yutsuki, what does this action an?"

"Praying—I am currently praying that those comrades in arms will all be able to find their own happiness."

Yutsuki slowly explained,

"Furthermore, do not do unto others what you do not want done to yourself. The reverse is also true. If you want to receive blessings from others, you must first learn to wish others happiness. Gaining a sense of superiority or happiness by drawing a line between yourself and others is not a good thing."

"I see... That really sounds like sothing Yutsuki would say."

Hearing Yutsuki's words, Shido was a bit surprised at first, then seemingly convinced, he nodded in agreent.

Mimicking Yutsuki's action, Shido placed his right hand over his heart, closed his eyes, and prayed silently in his heart.

(I hope that the single people in the world will all quickly et soone suitable for them—)

At the very end, as if suddenly thinking of sothing, Shido silently added a sentence in his heart.

(Of course, I will not yield Yutsuki to them.)

"Welco, please take this."

Then, two staff mbers dressed as Santa Claus and a reindeer walked up to Yutsuki and handed a flyer to both of them.

"..."

"Thank you, what is this?"

Looking at Yutsuki, who lacked interest in the staff mbers, Shido had no choice but to take the flyer for her.

"A special Christmas event held by the amusent park."

"As long as you play at the attractions in different areas, you can collect the corresponding stamps~ If you collect them all, you can receive a limited Christmas gift provided by the amusent park."

"Now then, we wish you a rry Christmas~"

"Oh? That sounds quite interesting."

After listening to the staff's introduction, Shido looked at the flyer with great interest.

"Is it? It is nothing more than a comrcial event held by the amusent park to make money. Through this kind of suggestive psychological cue, it can prompt tourists who only bought an entrance ticket to spend more money playing a few attractions, and it can also prevent crowds from gathering at popular rides and causing congestion to a certain extent."

"Haha... Still the sa sharp perspective as always."

Looking at Yutsuki's thorny explanation, Shido couldn't help but smile bitterly.

Yutsuki was clearly very enthusiastic during other holidays, but on Christmas, her tongue beca quite unforgiving.

"But, it's a rare opportunity, how about we try experiencing it? You don't hate this kind of event, do you, Yutsuki?"

"Well... You could say I kind of like it. Sure."

Having no reason to refuse, Yutsuki thought for a mont and nodded in agreent.

"Then, where to?"

——————————

In the dilapidated, narrow corridor, the flickering, dim light of candles on the wall stretched into the distance, seemingly bottomless.

Eerie whimpers mixed with creaking footsteps echoed, like the wails of wandering souls.

Vague, ambiguous shadows drifted on the ground, as if ghosts were causing mischief from the dark, sending chills down one's spine.

"Kyaa—"

"A ghost—"

"Hoh, quite the atmosphere."

Hearing the terrified screams of the tourists ahead, Yutsuki said with great interest.

"The style is an old dieval Western castle. The candles... Ah, they are powered by electricity. That makes sense, real fire carries the risk of causing a fire hazard, and placing them high up is to prevent tourists from noticing and breaking the imrsion."

"You're really not scared at all, Yutsuki..."

Shido looked at Yutsuki with a bitter smile. Seeing the girl's calm attitude in evaluating the haunted house's layout, Shido knew Yutsuki wasn't the type to be afraid of ghosts.

"Mhm... If they were real ghosts or monsters, I might be a little scared. But the things in a haunted house are basically all fake. There are rarely any real ones, right?"

"If there were real ones, they wouldn't be able to stay in business."

Shido roasted, not knowing whether to laugh or cry. To this, Yutsuki seed to understand sothing. Looking at him with a wicked smile, she said,

"It's really a pity you won't get hugged by screaming in terror~"

"I-I didn't choose this place with that in mind."

"Sure, sure~"

Seeing Shido's rebuttal, Yutsuki didn't press the issue and continued.

"What about Shido? Are you scared going into a haunted house?"

"I..."

Shido was about to subconsciously answer that he wasn't afraid. But thinking about it again, if neither of them were afraid, the fun of going through a haunted house would be cut by more than half.

"...I am a little bit scared. After all, even if you know it's fake, seeing it in person is still very frightening."

"Ah... Is that so?" Yutsuki looked at Shido with so surprise, then proposed, "Do you need to hide behind ?"

"Ah, that won't be necessary. As a guy, that would be a bit too embarrassing."

The two of them just chatted like this while walking forward in the haunted house. Suddenly, Shido noticed that there was an extra window on the wall not far away, and in a relatively inconspicuous location, the color of the wooden floorboards in the corridor was slightly different.

(It looks like so kind of chanism. Is this where the tourists ahead got scared?)

Noticing this, Shido decided to test it himself, pretending to be scared to amuse Yutsuki.

Then, Shido stepped on the chanism, pretending to be completely unaware. Suddenly, with a loud crash, a flash of light ca from the window, illuminating cyan-colored zombie arms and bloody handprints on the door.

"Ah— Ah! Wh-What is that!?"

Shido pretended to stumble back a step, pointing at the grueso sight on the door and screaming miserably.

"Mhm... Red paint and mannequins. The light outside the window seems to be a spotlight. Triggered by the gravity sensing switch on the floor."

After a brief analysis, Yutsuki turned her head to look at Shido.

"Are you okay, Shido?"

"Ah... I am fine."

"Your acting is very exaggerated."

"Uh... Did you see through it?"

Seeing his performance seen through, Shido awkwardly scratched his cheek.

"Did you think I didn't notice you staring at the floorboards just now? Plus, Kotori-chan ntioned before that when you went through a haunted house with her, you teased her so much she felt reassured."

"Ahaha..."

Shido could only reply with a forced smile.

"Why did you say you were afraid of ghosts? If you were afraid of ghosts but claid you weren't, I could understand, but this is a bit confusing to ."

Yutsuki asked curiously.

"Um... Didn't soone say, 'Guests getting scared in a haunted house are also part of the haunted house's entertainnt?'" Shido looked away and confessed awkwardly, "I was worried you might feel bored here, so I pretended to be scared to make you laugh a bit..."

"To make laugh..."

Hearing this, Yutsuki widened her eyes in surprise.

Imdiately after, Shido heard a soft chuckle from Yutsuki.

"...Yutsuki?"

Turning his head to look at Yutsuki, he saw that under her beautiful face highlighted by the faint candlelight, those amber, lustrous eyes were flickering with joyful laughter.

"Sorry, it was my attitude that caused you to misunderstand. It's a rare date, yet I keep saying unromantic things. Don't worry, I think it's very fun here."

"I see."

Hearing Yutsuki's answer, Shido breathed a sigh of relief.

"Besides..."

After glancing at Shido, Yutsuki inexplicably didn't finish her sentence. Instead, she changed the subject and said,

"Right, Shido. Since we both know these things are fake, why don't we add so backstory to the monsters that appear? It might be more imrsive."

"Add backstory?" Shido was a bit confused.

"Mhm... For example, this one."

Yutsuki walked up to a coffin they had just reached. Seemingly sensing the tourists approaching, the coffin popped open. Accompanied by the special effect of bats flying overhead on the ceiling, a vampire mannequin lunged at Yutsuki, baring its fangs and letting out a scream.

"Don't look at this vampire's current appearance. In reality, she used to be a nun who believed in God, with an incredibly devout faith."

Yutsuki pointed at the mannequin and said with a straight face.

"Eh?" Shido's face was full of bewildernt.

"The nun's mother was a prostitute working in the red light district. After giving birth to a baby girl, because she didn't know who the biological father was and didn't want to take responsibility, she abandoned her at the door of a convent to fend for herself."

"That parent is pure scum!"

"Fortunately, a kind nun at the convent took her in. In the convent, the girl spent a happy childhood, becoming a gentle, devout, and compassionate nun."

"That's wonderful..."

"However, when the nun turned fourteen, her body suddenly experienced an anomaly. She started to lose the taste of normal food, and for so reason, developed a strong craving for fresh blood."

"What happened?"

"It turned out, the nun's father was a vampire whose very na terrified the world.So the nun inherited his vampire bloodline."

"What an ultra developnt... And it actually sohow makes sense."

"The completely oblivious nun thought she was possessed by a demon and constantly restrained her urge to suck blood. Every night, she was tornted by intense hunger to the point of being unable to sleep. Finally, she couldn't endure the pain and fainted. When she woke up again, the most beloved livestock in the convent had suddenly died, drained of their blood. Realizing what she had done, the nun had no choice but to leave the convent to avoid hurting anyone else."

"She must have been in so much pain inside..."

"However, the vampire curse didn't let her off that easily. To alleviate her thirst, the nun wandered from place to place, secretly drinking livestock blood to survive. But after a period of ti, she still attracted the attention of the Church, and they dispatched a demon hunter knight to hunt down the nun."

"Yutsuki, please let her off already."

"The nun was originally about to die under the knight's sword, but perhaps her final tears touched the knight's heart. He spared the nun, placing her in a remote, abandoned convent, and taught her how to control her instincts to live."

"That's great..."

Hearing this sentence, Shido couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief. But Yutsuki's backstory supplent didn't seem to have ended; she continued.

"After finishing everything, the knight prepared to leave. The nun anxiously asked where he was going. The knight just smiled, affectionately patted her head, and swore to God that he would return soon."

Hearing this, Shido had a bad premonition.

"Just like that, the nun lived in this convent. During the day, she sucked a little fresh blood from animals, and at night, she repented her sins before God, while waiting for the knight's return."

"A week passed."

"Two weeks passed."

"A year passed..."

"Ten years passed..."

"A hundred years passed..."

"Bitter winters blew past, winter left and spring ca. After experiencing countless changes of the four seasons, the vine covered statue of God seed unable to endure the erosion of ti and collapsed, leaving only the nun kneeling on the ground like a stone statue."

"Silent tears slid down her cheeks. The girl, who had lost all spiritual support, said..."

At this point, Yutsuki gently bit her lip, lowered her head, placed her hands in front of her chest, and made a praying gesture.

Then, a choking sob reached Shido's ears.

"...Liar."

"Nunnnnnnnnnnnnn!!!"

Shido's emotional defenses were instantly shattered.

"—Well, sothing like that. Try adding so backstory to the settings. Instantly feels a lot more interesting, doesn't it?"

Yutsuki looked up and said calmly, as if those words just now weren't spoken by her at all.

"Too heavy! The backstory is too heavy! Also, Yutsuki, this isn't just at the level of 'adding backstory'!"

"Hm? Is it? I think I held back. Otherwise, the part where the nun left the convent, I originally planned to make it so the rest of the people in the convent were subconsciously killed by the nun."

"...Are you a devil?"

Sighing tiredly, Shido turned to look at the vampire. He didn't know if it was because he was influenced by Yutsuki's added backstory, but instead of being scared by the hideous expression on the mannequin's face, Shido felt a surge of pity.

"In the end, why didn't the knight co back for her?"

"Who knows. I didn't think too deeply about that part. Normally, it would be concealing the truth or dying on the road or sothing. In reality, even if he hadn't left, the nun ultimately wouldn't have been able to attain salvation. Vampire curses basically all end like this."

"Is that so?"

"Exactly."

"But still..."

"Sigh, I really can't deal with you."

Looking at the sentintal Shido, Yutsuki shrugged helplessly. She picked up a relatively large skull model next to the coffin and narrated with deep emotion.

"Actually, this skull is the remains of the dead knight. After going through countless hardships, he finally returned to the nun's side right before he died."

Saying that, Yutsuki placed the skull inside the coffin, then closed the coffin lid.

"Alright, now the two are reunited. Congratulations~ Congratulations~ Alright Shido, let's keep moving forward."

"Yutsuki, you really... Forget it."

Hearing Yutsuki's perfunctory ending, Shido didn't know whether to laugh or cry, but knowing she was trying to accommodate him, his heart softened a bit.

(Let's just hope this doesn't count as vandalism.)

Original author's PS: Um... I originally planned to write this as sweet fluff, really. But halfway through, I unknowingly let myself go...

For example, this section below:

"Speaking of which... Yutsuki."

"What is it?"

"This vampire... seems to be male."

"..." After a mont of deep thought, Yutsuki said with a straight face, "He changed gender due to extre sorrow!!"

"That explanation is too convenient!"

"And then he used magic to go back in ti, and in a mont of indulgence, he slept with his own biological mother!"

"Don't turn a beautiful tragedy into a horror thriller!!!"