Chapter 254: Yukinoshita, I Command You!

Friend?

Hey! Don’t act on your own! Did you ask me for permission?

Who would want to be friends with a person like you?

It was just too bad that this wasn’t the time to worry about things like that. Those words of Himekoji had to stay hidden inside and couldn’t come out.

[Ding!]

[The bomb’s power was fully checked—]

[The effective blast circle was thirty meters!]

Damn! Thirty meters?

That likely meant even the rescue car nearby would get hit!

What kind of killer was this? More like a terrorist!

The rescue plan the police had made clearly couldn’t be used now.

Even if they jumped off and left, they’d still be in the bomb’s blast circle.

Of course, he couldn’t leave, but Yukinoshita could.

“Yukinoshita.”

Himekoji called out her name.

The girl turned her head to look at him.

[I think you can read lips, right?]

Himekoji said this with lip movements.

Yukinoshita nodded.

[Let them get you out.]

[I can’t go. If I go, the bad guy would blow up the bomb right away.]

Yukinoshita showed Himekoji what she wanted to say by typing it into her phone.

[Listen, I’ll be fine. I have a way to get away, believe me!]

[Sorry, I can’t trust a pervert.]

Damn! That rotten woman!

Didn’t she just clearly say they were friends?

She doesn’t even trust a friend’s words!

Just how many times have you been tricked?

Time was tight. Every extra minute wasted brought more danger.

Himekoji had to use his brain as hard as he could to come up with every way to talk Yukinoshita into it.

[After you jump off, call my phone. I’ll turn on speaker, and you speak on the call. The bad guy won’t know you left.]

[That twisted sound won’t fool the bad guy.]

Yukinoshita was true to being Yukinoshita, keeping a clear and cool head even now.

Himekoji really had no way to trick her.

At times like this, it would be great if Yukinoshita was swapped with Yuigahama!

That big-breasted, air-headed girl—Himekoji was sure he could get her into bed with just two sentences… no, get her off the car!

“There’s no way, we might really die.”

While giving Yukinoshita eye signals to hurry up and get off, Himekoji still made a show of saying that to keep the bad guy steady.

Yukinoshita just shook her head calmly.

“It’s okay, Pervert-kun. Having a cute girl like me with you at the end of life, you should have no regrets.”

No regrets my foot!

If not for fear the bad guy might suspect something, Himekoji really wanted to jump up and scream at Yukinoshita.

This guy was really mean, still mocking him at a time like this!

And super low!

Since the bad guy was listening, Himekoji couldn’t argue back.

“Hahaha, so I guess I made something nice happen. High school lovers dying together? Thinking about it, it’s pretty romantic!”

The bad guy clapped happily over the phone.

“We’re not lovers!”

For once, they both agreed on something and said it at the same time.

“Oh? That’s the kind of match only lovers have. And you say you’re not lovers?”

Stupid jerk!

This bad guy was clearly an idiot who never dated.

If that simple matching made them lovers, then Himekoji would have a whole harem.

Can’t be bothered with that messed-up loner who used crime to feel less empty, Himekoji got back to trying to talk Yukinoshita into it.

[Are you freaking going to get off or not?!]

Himekoji was getting worried and couldn’t stop swearing.

He glanced at the fuel gauge. The warning light was on long ago—who knew when the car would run out of gas and stop.

If that time came, both of them would be finished.

They might even take the police who came to rescue down with them.

[I said, I won’t leave you behind alone.]

Yukinoshita still looked totally calm.

Just what was up with this woman?

Aren’t you scared?

She showed no fear of death, like there wasn’t even a bomb on the car they were in.

[I’m telling you! The bomb is real! We’re facing the danger of death right now, for sure!]

[What I said is true too, for sure.]

He remembered what Hiratsuka-sensei had told him long ago—

“Yukinoshita never lies.”

Meaning, calling him a friend now, not leaving him alone to go, were all from Yukinoshita’s real heart.

…

“Don’t always frown like that, Himekoji. You need to change that habit.”

This wasn’t typed—Yukinoshita said it out loud while looking at him.

And she didn’t call him Pervert-kun anymore.

Yukinoshita slowly reached out her hand, smoothing the crease between Himekoji’s brows.

Her fingers were cold and smooth, like pure snow.

Yet, strangely, Himekoji felt the spots where Yukinoshita’s icy fingers touched him burning hot!

“Also, stop trying to play the hero all by yourself. I won’t let you have your way, Himekoji,” she said.

Her hand moved from his forehead, resting gently atop his head to stroke his hair.

“Because now, I’m with you.”

I’m with you.

Gentleness and peace—things he only dared dream about—now rushed over him.

Enough to drown him completely in this very moment.

His heartbeat burst into a violent drumming, echoing fast and real across his chest, sharp with pain.

Right—this was the suspension bridge moment.

Stronger than any haunted house could ever deliver.

Facing death brought this racing pulse, nothing more. This wasn’t that feeling.

No, impossible. How could Himekoji have any feelings for Yukinoshita?

She was his most hated type.

Sarcastic. Flat-chested. Flat-chested. And flat-chested.

Seriously, though… Using words like this, doing things like this at a time like hers was cruel!

Then… today, let him be cruel too—

[Ding!]

[“Absolute Command”: Single-use Only. Confirm Use?]

“Use!”

Without a moment’s pause, Himekoji commanded the System inwardly.

The “Absolute Command” couldn’t be triggered by lip movement since the enemies listened through hidden devices and his phone. Speaking out loud wasn’t an option.

So… he grabbed Yukinoshita’s hand instead.

“What’re you doing?”

Yukinoshita flinched slightly at the sudden move.

Himekoji didn’t answer.

He only traced a single word carefully across her palm with his finger: jump.

…

“Don’t try to play the hero alone”?

But listen, Yukinoshita—only those standing completely alone ever truly become heroes.

Being beside someone felt nice… but that warmth wasn’t his.

He needed no one beside him.

Only by standing alone could he hold nothing back.

An Abnormal One isn’t ever meant to walk with the herd.

So—

“Jump, Yukinoshita!”

Himekoji roared the command soundlessly within his mind.

[Ding!]

[Absolute Command: Activated!]