Touka was dazed and confused, unable to react for quite a while.
Gao Yu held her hand, occasionally rubbing it.
Whenever Touka wanted to make a fist, he would slip his fingers into her palm and let her hold his fingers.
Touka’s body stiffened slightly, warmth spreading from her chest.
Even a warm cup of coffee on a winter day could not compare to the warmth she felt in her body at this moment.
Out of the corner of his eye, Gao Yu saw Touka sitting obediently, a blush coloring her face.
Gao Yu chuckled and held her little hand in his own, playing with it.
Touka was really cute.
A series of notification sounds rang out from her pocket.
Touka’s thoughts were flying everywhere, and she did not notice them at all.
Too much of a good thing can be counterproductive.
Gao Yu held her for a while, feeling that it was about enough, then patted her hand.
“It’s a message from Yoriko, right?”
Touka came back to her senses and pulled her hand back.
Gao Yu did not look at Touka’s embarrassed and angry barrage.
On the other side, Yoriko was completely dumbfounded.
Seriously, girl, I kindly reminded you to add a little interaction and not waste the good opportunity to hold hands, and this is how you repay me?
Yoriko felt aggrieved and ran off in tears.
Touka did not make things difficult for Yoriko, stopping after saying several dozen words.
She was annoyed that the atmosphere just now had been interrupted, but she felt that her heart was beating too fast in that kind of atmosphere, and she could not quite handle it.
The timing of the interruption was just right.
Yoriko: “???”
“Let’s look around somewhere else.”
Gao Yu stood up and walked out of the gymnasium, aimlessly wandering around the school.
Touka was beside him, her gaze frequently falling on Gao Yu’s large hand.
Whenever Gao Yu looked over, she would stare straight ahead.
The feeling of holding hands was very strange, strange enough that she wanted to experience it again.
Just simply experience it again.
Gao Yu found it amusing and moved slightly closer, his large hand enveloping her small hand.
Touka turned her gaze away from Gao Yu, looking at the trees and then the ground, as if there were gold there.
Yoriko watched in shock from behind a tree, scratching her head and feeling as though her brain was itching.
It seemed she did not need to give them advice after all.
The atmosphere between these two naturally reached this point.
There was no need for her to push things along at all.
Oh no, she was the clown after all.
Yoriko felt discouraged, but then her gossip-loving heart began to burn.
Her eyes darted around, and she quietly followed behind them.
Gao Yu held Touka’s hand and stopped after walking around the school once.
“Not walking anymore?”
Touka asked blankly, the warmth from her little hand spreading pleasantly.
“That’s about as far as we need to go.”
Gao Yu smiled.
After looking again later, it was just like that.
“By the way, Yoriko, aren’t you coming out?”
Gao Yu waved toward Yoriko, who was hiding behind a tree.
He had noticed from the beginning that Yoriko was following behind the two of them, but he had not bothered with her.
Touka’s senses were sharp, so she had naturally noticed Yoriko as well, but she did not call her out.
Otherwise, what would they do if they could not hold hands?
Make her compensate them?
The two of them deliberately ignored Yoriko, and both got to experience a pretty good feeling.
“Ehehe, I’ve been discovered.” Yoriko walked out from behind the tree and embarrassedly scratched her head.
She thought she had hidden herself very well.
“Yoriko! Didn’t you say you had something to do and needed to go home early? Why are you still at school?”
Touka released the hand that had been wrapped around hers and fiercely rubbed Yoriko’s face, saying unhappily, “Were you secretly following us?”
Yoriko’s gaze darted away as she stammered, “N-No way. I just forgot… Right, I forgot my homework at school and happened to run into you two!”
Gao Yu looked at this secluded corner, with the wall right beside it, and said amusedly, “That really is quite a coincidence. I didn’t expect you to forget your homework in the storage room.”
Touka gave her a chop on the head.
If she was going to make up an excuse, she should at least find one that made logical sense.
“Wuwu, that hurts. Touka-chan is mean, Gao Yu-senpai is mean.”
Yoriko crouched on the ground with teary eyes, drawing circles on the ground.
“Can we go to the rooftop?”
Gao Yu asked.
From the school rooftop, half the school could be seen below, offering a different kind of scenery.
When he was studying in the past, he always liked going to the higher floors, simply because looking down at the school from above felt very comfortable.
“I don’t really go to the rooftop. I don’t know if it’s locked.”
Touka shook her head.
At school, she basically avoided places with lots of people.
One reason was that she found them noisy, and the other was fear.
She did not know whether her identity as a ghoul would be discovered.
Touka glanced at Gao Yu from the corner of her eye, her fist unconsciously tightening.
The warmth of being enveloped earlier was now being brushed by the cool wind.
Touka tightened her clothes and suddenly felt a little cold.
“I have a key. Come on, come on.”
Yoriko’s eyes sparkled.
The rooftop!
That was one of the top three locations in all the legends of romance, an essential area waiting to be unlocked for romance.
“Where did you get the key?”
Touka was utterly confused.
Yoriko was with her almost every day, and she had never seen her participate in club activities or anything like that.
“Hehe, didn’t our class hold a photography competition before? I specifically went to ask the teacher for permission to use the rooftop. The competition results aren’t out yet, so I haven’t returned the key.”
Yoriko explained.
“A photography competition? That sounds pretty interesting.”
Gao Yu said with interest, “Yoriko, send me the photos you took later so I can have a look.”
“No problem~”
“Can I see Touka’s photos?”
The three of them finally arrived at the rooftop as they wished.
Gao Yu grabbed the railing and looked down, taking the entire school into his view.
The students below did not exactly turn into black dots like ants, but the sight of the crowds moving around made him chuckle.
The rooftop was large and very clean.
It was obvious that someone frequently cleaned it.
The rooftop was originally a place for certain clubs to conduct their activities, so it was naturally cleaned often.
The protective fence was built quite high, so under normal circumstances there would be no danger.
“The scenery here is really nice.”
Gao Yu leaned against the railing.
One wish fulfilled +1.
Before transmigrating, whenever he watched anime, there were always scenes on rooftops.
Any romance anime that did not go to the rooftop at least once could hardly call itself authentic.
He had also thought about overlooking the school from the top of a school building.
However, the rooftops of school buildings in China were not open to students, so this wish naturally had no way of being fulfilled.
“It is pretty nice.”
Touka stared blankly below, her eyes lowered.
Her hand was suddenly held.
Touka turned her head to look at him, and Gao Yu smiled.
“You have to talk about unhappy things so that your heart won’t become unhappy too.”
Touka’s heart warmed slightly.
She gently returned the squeeze with the hand he was holding, while her other hand was held behind her back, occasionally lightly kicking the railing.
“I’m not unhappy.”
“Really?”
“I’m not, so I’m not.”
“Alright, alright.” Gao Yu squeezed her little hand.
“If you’re unhappy, tell me. I’ll treat you to the coffee you brewed yourself.”
“Hey, hey, hey, why do you have to treat me to coffee that I brewed? If I want to drink it, I can brew myself a cup.”
“Then do you want it?”
“…I do!”
Listening to Gao Yu’s laughter, the gloom in Touka’s heart gradually dispersed, replaced by golden, dazzling sunlight.
On the other side, Yoriko had crouched down nearby long ago, her eyes shining as she watched the warm atmosphere between the two of them, which seemed to be bubbling with pink hearts.
Ah, this feels great.
This is the fun of watching the drama unfold in person.
But why couldn’t she feel happy?
Yoriko’s expression remained calm, though the corners of her eyes twitched.
Thinking about how she had nothing herself, she did not want to be a third wheel, so she crouched off to the side without disturbing them.
In the end, she had eaten a huge bowl of dog food.
Maybe she should stop watching romance unfold in person in the future.
Yoriko looked at the time and said, “It’s almost six. Let’s go have dinner together.”
Touka froze completely.
She did not even notice that her fingers were trembling.
…
(For those who noticed that I dropped the chapters here on Webnovel, I was dealing with some technical issues on my end. But hey, we’re back! Thank you so much for your patience and understanding~)