Hisaki smiled.
“I didn’t expect Shiro to be so clever.”
“Then does Shiro want another one?”
Hisaki tilted her head. The sun hat and baseball cap stacked on her head formed a precarious little tower that looked ready to topple at any moment.
She pulled another brand-new hundred-yuan bill from her bag and held it between her index and middle fingers, waving it in front of Rina.
“One kiss, one hundred.”
Rina stared at the banknote.
Then she lowered her head and felt the 3,300 yuan in her pocket.
She was still short 700.
She had already kissed her three times.
What difference would one more make?
None.
In mathematics, this was called diminishing marginal utility. In psychology, it was called the sunk cost fallacy. Rina had neither concept in her head. All she had was one simple, primitive instinct:
Keep going.
She took the hundred-yuan bill from Hisaki, stuffed it into her pocket, then grabbed the linen fabric over Hisaki’s shoulder and rose onto her tiptoes.
“Done!”
Rina held out her palm in front of Hisaki, all five fingers spread, palm facing upward, looking completely justified.
“Pay up!”
Hisaki placed the last banknote in her palm, then reached up and touched her own right cheek.
A faint mark had been left there.
Her fingertips lingered on the spot for two seconds before she lowered her hand. She took off both hats, put the baseball cap back on Shiro’s head first, then put her own sun hat back on.
“Let’s go.”
She took Shiro’s hand.
Rina was busy stuffing the last banknote into her pocket and didn’t realize what was happening until she was already being led away.
By the time she came to her senses, she was standing at the entrance to Happy Valley.
“Hehe.”
She couldn’t help letting out a little laugh.
“Hehehe.”
Then she laughed twice more.
She patted the pocket of her hot pants, feeling the thickness and firmness of the stack of banknotes inside.
Four thousand yuan!
She was a little rich girl now!
Once she escaped, she’d find a hotel to stay in, have a proper meal, and then…
Then she’d complete the mission!
One hundred million yuan in cash!
A healthy body!
She would truly be free!
The more Rina thought about it, the happier she became. Even her steps turned into little hops, her silver-white hair bouncing beneath the baseball cap.
But…
She glanced at Hisaki walking ahead of her.
That kidnapper was definitely keeping an eye on her.
Running away directly was impossible. She had already experienced firsthand just how strong Hisaki was…
She had to wait until Hisaki let down her guard. Wait until she went to the restroom…
Please let it go smoothly.
Rina looked up at the kidnapper’s back.
If she were caught and dragged back…
Her instincts were warning her…
If her escape failed, something terrible would definitely happen.
Definitely.
Rina shuddered, then vigorously shook her head, forcing the ominous thought out of her mind.
It wouldn’t fail.
It definitely wouldn’t.
Just then, Hisaki stopped.
Rina almost crashed into her back.
“What’s wrong?”
Hisaki turned around. At some point, something had appeared in her hand.
It was a rope.
More precisely, it was something that looked soft, wrapped in colorful fabric, with a small safety clasp attached to one end…
A child safety leash.
Holding the leash, Hisaki smiled and walked toward her one step at a time.
“Y-you… Where did you even pull that out from?!”
Rina took a step backward.
Hisaki didn’t answer. She simply took one end of the safety leash…and clipped it onto the belt loop of Shiro’s hot pants.
“This way, Shiro won’t get lost.”
Hisaki slipped the other end—a wrist strap with an adjustable length—around her own wrist and tightened it.
Rina’s fingers began to tremble.
Hisaki tilted her head.
“Didn’t Shiro say she was afraid of getting lost?”
“When did I ever say that?!”
Rina opened her mouth, only to realize that she somehow couldn’t refute her.
“Take it off!”
Rina raised her head and glared at her with the fiercest look she could muster.
Hisaki shook her head.
“I said, take it off!”
“No.”
“You! You! You super-perverted yandere kidnapper! You’re treating me like a dog and putting me on a leash!”
Hisaki maintained her smile and reached out to touch the brim of Rina’s baseball cap.
“Shiro isn’t a dog.”
Her voice was unbelievably gentle.
“Shiro is someone very important to me.”
“Important enough that you have to put me on a leash?!”
“Important enough that I can’t let you get lost.”
“Let’s go.”
Hisaki gave the leash a gentle tug.
Rina walked along while silently cursing herself for being so pathetic.
More and more people appeared as they made their way into the park.
Rina lowered her head, pulling the brim of her cap down as far as it would go, but she could still feel…
The gazes around her.
People were looking at her.
It wasn’t her imagination.
Rina felt like her entire body was about to catch fire.
Once they entered the park, there were even more people.
The main avenue of Happy Valley was packed with visitors. Shops and snack stalls lined both sides, the air filled with the aromas of popcorn and grilled sausages.
In the distance, screams from passengers on the roller coaster rang through the air.
After walking for a while, Rina realized that the safety leash wasn’t actually as embarrassing as she had imagined.
Because there were far more people using them at the amusement park than she had expected.
Up ahead, there was a mother walking with two children, two safety leashes gathered together around her wrist.
She wasn’t the only person being leashed.
That realization eased Rina’s embarrassment a little.
But only a little.
Because the little boy beside her, who was being led along by his mother, was staring at Rina with a pair of round, wide eyes.
What are you looking at?
Never seen an innocent young girl being leashed by her kidnapper before?
Tsk.
Hisaki led Rina through the main avenue and into the amusement ride area.
Rina’s attention was gradually captured by her surroundings.
Huge roller-coaster tracks twisted overhead. Riders on the drop tower plummeted toward the ground at free-fall speed.
A pirate ship swung violently from side to side, each time reaching its highest point to the accompaniment of an entire boatload of screams.
Rina’s eyes didn’t know where to look.
She stopped in her tracks and craned her neck upward. Her sky-blue eyes were wide and round, her mouth slightly agape.
“Want to play?”