After a brief exchange of glances, Haruno gently placed one hand on the transparent window, gazing idly at the scenery below as if searching for a certain figure.
"Is Yukino down there?"
"Probably."
She was surely sitting upright in a chair, like a winter fairy from a fairy tale—not warm, but carrying a strict, dignified air.
— She was like a girl made of snow.
Yukinoshita Haruno narrowed her eyes, her voice turning faint and distant.
"Little Yukino is always like this. She wants something so much she can't let go, but rather than hurt others, she'd rather take all the pain onto herself and walk away. She's like Snow White—radiant, beautiful, and sorrowful."
Even if tears soaked her pillow in the dead of night and she woke up from her dreams again and again.
Even if all she had to do was reach out her hand.
She would still choose to let go, to cut it off with her own hands.
That was her little sister.
"Snow White?"
Kiyono repeated the name under his breath.
It was a strange comparison. Most people described Yukinoshita Yukino as a hero of justice, a flower on a high peak—perfect and aloof. No one had ever linked her to Snow White. Yet suddenly, he felt it was very fitting. At their core they were the same: pure, fragile, gentle, pushed around by the whims of fate. That was something only visible once you pierced through a deep layer of snow.
He spoke:
"If you describe her as Snow White, then who are you in the story?"
Yukinoshita Haruno's lips curved into a self-mocking smile.
"Of course, I'm the Queen with the Magic Mirror."
That was another comparison that sounded correct on the surface. At first, she loved her princess, then she grew jealous. She was Snow White's enemy—bewitching, proud, vicious, constantly wearing masks and hiding her true feelings—
Kiyono looked up at Yukinoshita Haruno. Her carefully styled medium-length hair swayed gracefully like flowing water, shimmering like starlight under the lamps and falling snow.
She was truly like an alluring Queen, the type who could captivate anyone without even trying.
He let himself sink into that feeling and continued, his voice clear.
"But even a wicked Queen is still family, right? If you show her your real feelings, she'll understand."
As soon as he finished, Yukinoshita Haruno frowned, then suddenly felt a rush of emotion—not anger, but a strange, suppressed excitement. Words she would never normally say almost slipped out, and that realization startled her.
…Why am I feeling like this?
It was as if anxiety and exhilaration were tangled together—the feeling of someone finally noticing her true self.
He seemed to be lifting a corner of her mask, trying to see the real her underneath.
No one had ever done that to her before. It was unfamiliar, and because it was unfamiliar, it rattled her.
This idiot… when did he get so bold?
He used to only dare talk in circles…
"It's too late now. I can't."
She rested her chin on one hand, her voice as light as falling snow. When dealing with different people, she always showed only fragments of herself—even to her family. Over time, she'd become trapped in that act, unable to tell which face was real anymore.
Is Mother like that too? The thought flashed through her mind.
Then she heard Kiyono say—
"Haruno, the way you are now, you're not a Queen who controls everything—you're a woman who can't even measure up to Snow White."
As expected of the man who was invincible within the Yukinoshita family, Kiyono always had a thousand ways to hit her where it hurt.
He knew very well that what Yukinoshita Haruno needed right now wasn't comfort or guidance, but to stop suppressing everything and let her real emotions out. So he couldn't offer her a gentle harbor. Instead, he had to light the fuse in her heart.
"Hm~? What do you mean 'can't even compare to the princess'? If you don't give the wicked Queen a satisfying answer, I'll stop trying to assassinate the princess and go straight for the prince instead, you know?"
Yukinoshita Haruno's chest tightened, and she smiled dangerously. She got up and slid into the seat beside him, slamming her palm against the wall. The carriage shook hard. It was genuinely dangerous—please don't do that.
"At least the princess has the guts to say she dislikes something," Kiyono snorted.
"I dislike you too, you indecisive Kiyono."
That sharp tongue after being provoked was exactly the same as Yukino's. They really were biological sisters.
Yukinoshita Haruno let out a long breath, then casually rested one hand on the young man's thigh, eyes hazy as she stared out the window. Her already fair profile seemed to glow with a pearly sheen, as if she were gazing into some distant future.
She could feel that the relationship between the three of them was inevitably going to change. As the older sister, she should have been the one leading everything, yet right now she couldn't even understand her own feelings. Her mother, her sister—everything left her tangled in a loneliness she couldn't put into words.
Maybe she was the one being left behind.
Annoying.
She brushed aside the melancholy and spoke in a teasing tone:
"If you absolutely had to choose between the two of us, who would Prince Charming pick?"
Yukinoshita Yukino, like a princess.
Me, like a witch.
"I choose…"
The word trailed off.
Just then, the Ferris wheel slowly reached its highest point.
The snowy nightscape of Chiba stretched out before them. Clear moonlight made the drifting snow sparkle, and the city below, lightly dusted with white, extended all the way to the horizon.
Clang.
The world fell silent.
The slowly turning sky and scenery outside the window came to a stop.
The Ferris wheel stopped.
When Haruno turned her head, the entire fairy-tale kingdom looked like it had been put on pause by a storybook witch. The dazzling lights dimmed, leaving only a field of snow. The roller coaster hung in midair like a slumbering dragon, and the carousel lost all of its shimmering magic.
For a moment, both of them were stunned.
Faced with this sudden malfunction, Yukinoshita Haruno wasn't afraid; instead, a twisted excitement rose within her.
A feeling she couldn't name surged up in her chest, and the demon inside her whispered softly.
If it was now, then anything would be possible, right? Betrayal, indulgence, reason yielding to instinct, the two of them plunging together into a lightless abyss—
Amid the deep snow, beneath the stars and moon.
She shoved the young man into the corner of the carriage and pinched his chin.
The pristine snow, the bright moon, the warped emotions in her heart, the trembling thrill, the warmth of his body, the beauty reflected in her eyes—all of it tangled together—
"Prince, you have no choice."
Like a witch chanting a spell, her moist, bewitching eyes looked down at him.
"—Let's die together."
? 110. Go to Hell Together? [7K1]
At a height of 136 meters, the falling snow gave everything a dreamlike quality. When the power went out, the lights inside the carriage shut off as well. In the dimness, her face was more strikingly beautiful than ever.
Kiyono had always known Yukinoshita Haruno was stunning, but the woman before him now was on another level—she was breathtaking.
Her earrings gleamed seductively, her eyes shone with moisture, her lips—redder than usual—parted slightly, and her dangerous breath brushed against his cheek.
She had said, let's die together.
Her posture was as fatal and enticing as a spider lily in full bloom.
This woman is serious, he thought.
Objectively speaking, the situation wasn't dangerous; things would be back to normal in ten minutes at most. But she was deliberately ignoring that, surrendering herself entirely to this fabricated atmosphere of death.
If he agreed now, Yukinoshita Haruno might really consider dragging him into some stunt in midair, leaving everyone else behind with a lifetime of regret. He would gain Haruno's feverish, undying devotion—at the cost of destroying them both, like a bad ending route in a game.
Her fingers traced from his chin up to his cheek.
"Isn't it romantic? The eldest daughter of the Yukinoshita family and a literary master committing lovers' suicide together. We'd go down in history, wouldn't we? Everyone would spin a tragic, beautiful story for us."
Her heart had been a mess lately. Even her finely tuned self-control was fraying at the edges. Everything felt meaningless; the lake inside her was sometimes mirror-still, sometimes violently boiling.
More than once, alone in the depths of the night, she'd wanted to simply stop thinking, to lose control and destroy everything around her.
In the end, it had been this boy in front of her who held her together.
Now she had this opportunity.
She wanted him to fill her world.
She wanted to pour all her long-stifled emotions into him.
She wanted to embrace her loneliness and drown in this night, thinking of nothing else—just getting lost at the end of the world with someone who mattered.
Even she didn't know how much of what she felt was genuine.
Some of it was escape. Some of it was trouble. Some of it was hope.
Then she heard Kiyono's voice:
"If we both died, what would happen to Yukino?"
That name snapped Yukinoshita Haruno back to reality. Family, her sister, her mother—everything spun through her mind. She became a member of the Yukinoshita family again, unable to keep lying to herself. Irritated, she cupped his face in both hands and squeezed hard.
"Anyway, she's Mother's favorite daughter. We don't need to worry about her."
She flopped back into her seat with a snort. No matter who it was, everyone always thought only of Yukino.
"Mother would be sad too, you know," Kiyono said, looking at her profile.
"Maybe. Even a pet you've had for years creates a bit of attachment," Yukinoshita Haruno said, lifting the corner of her lips in a mocking smile.
Her resentment was clearly deeper than it looked…
The air went stiff for a moment. The same scenery looked completely different depending on one's mood. One moment it had felt like a special night; the next, she was wondering when things would just go back to normal.
"I wish this Ferris wheel would suffer some irreparable malfunction," she muttered.
Yukinoshita Haruno stared lazily out at the one-of-a-kind snowy view, radiating world-weariness and surrender, as if she were wishing for the future literary master to turn toward grim, depressive fiction.
Kiyono refused to sink into this dangerous fantasy with her. Once they stepped off this ride, she would still have to face everything waiting for her: troubles, worries, her tangled family, feelings that couldn't be put into clear words… it was all so annoying.
How nice it would be if all of that could just end… But unlike her, Kiyono had a long road ahead of him. She couldn't really drag him down into her mess.
The air was so still that it felt like you could hear the snow landing.
Kiyono let out a quiet breath.
"Haruno."
He called her name softly.
It was a tone she wasn't used to hearing from him—serious, like a true summons, filled with sincerity.
That voice made Yukinoshita Haruno turn her head almost reflexively, blinking at him.
Kiyono seemed to be weighing his words, thinking for a moment before speaking:
"I'm sorry. I can't do something that foolish with you right now."
From what you said just now, I already knew, you idiot, he thought. This kind of moment only comes once, you know? If we let it pass and your feelings cool, you won't be able to do something this crazy again… right?
Yukinoshita Haruno let out a soft "Eh?" then slowly understood what he meant, an ambiguous, familiar smile curling on her lips.
"'Right now'? Does that mean you'll do it with me later?"
The world was so quiet it felt like only the two of them remained. To make sure they wouldn't be separated on this night, Kiyono faced her and slid his hand under hers.
It was like holding fresh snow that could melt away at any moment.
"If, after you bravely and firmly tear off your mask—after you still can't see any hope in the future, and all that remains in your heart is deep despair and unbearable pain, and after you've repeatedly and carefully thought through all the consequences, you still truly believe this is the best choice and decide on it without hesitation…"
Moonlight poured into the carriage, making both of their eyes glitter.
"—Then let me go to hell with you."
Kiyono looked straight at her as he spoke, his voice gentle and unwavering.