After deciding to give up, I became popular

“Phew, that’s good…” Hearing Eriri's words, Xia Chuanzou breathed a sigh of relief. Just as he was about to say something more, he suddenly heard a faint noise behind him.

“……”

“……”

The two exchanged a glance, and then unanimously chose to stand up, facing the direction from which the sound came.

The sound of "rustling" and "rustling" grass entered their ears from time to time. As the sound grew louder, an unknown creature quietly approached.

“You get behind me, walk slowly, don't rush, then move a little further away, but don't run around…” Xia Chuanzou whispered, then picked up a wooden stick that was still handy as a weapon.

He originally wanted to quickly run away with Eriri, taking advantage of the fact that this unknown creature had not yet appeared, but considering that Eriri had a foot injury, and he didn't know if there were other similar creatures around, he chose to wait and see.

Perhaps they were making a fuss, but after all, this was considered a "deep mountain forest," and it was possible for all kinds of strange creatures to appear. He had to be on high alert to deal with the crisis in front of him.

Eriri also knew the seriousness of the matter, and didn't dare to speak or make noise, just nodded silently and did as she was told.

The two of them were like this, one in front and one behind, slowly retreating while waiting to see the true face of this sudden uninvited guest.

175. I Like You the Most!

Without letting them wait long, the creature in the darkness quickly revealed its true colors—

A cat, at least it looked like a cat, with four feet on the ground and bright eyes, which made it particularly noticeable in this dim environment…

“What, it's just a stray cat…” Eriri immediately breathed a sigh of relief, then moved her steps to come closer.

“Wait, you can't go over yet.” Xia Chuanzou quickly reached out to stop her, “It looks… not very friendly.”

In their eyes, the suddenly appearing “stray cat” immediately became alert after discovering the two of them—its tail swayed unnaturally, its entire body arched forward slightly, and its eyes stared at them intently.

“……” Xia Chuanzou frowned, then took a few steps back with Eriri.

For this kind of creature that excels in speed, it's better to keep a little distance. And he was already able to determine that this was definitely not a "stray cat," but a very pure "wild cat."

Although both are existences without owners, the former would never be so wary of humans. Even if they don't want to be contacted at the moment, they won't make such a defensive action, but the latter is different. They are almost completely nocturnal creatures, and they hold at least a vigilant attitude towards humans, just like now.

“This should be a wild cat, and a very aggressive one. I just don't know what kind it is… Eriri, pay attention to your surroundings and see if there are any others. I have to keep an eye on it now,” Xia Chuanzou reminded.

Unlike the silly Eriri who seemed to want to get close, Xia Chuanzou was very nervous at the moment.

Logically speaking, wild cats usually act in groups. Although he hasn't seen any other individuals yet, it's always good to be careful.

Especially since he is currently in a state of having consumed a lot of physical strength, it is questionable whether he can handle this "beast" that he has never faced before in a 1V1 situation, let alone Eriri, who looks even more "weak" behind him… It can only be said that sometimes 1+1 does not necessarily = 2, and may even be \u003c1.

Fortunately, Eriri wasn't really that stupid. After hearing his very serious words, she also began to get nervous, but she still carefully helped Xia Chuanzou to be wary of the surrounding areas.

“I didn't see any other wild cats here…” After carefully observing her surrounding and confirming that there was nothing unusual, Eriri turned back and said to Xia Chuanzou in a low voice, “So what should we do now?”

“……” Hearing Eriri's reply, Xia Chuanzou obviously breathed a sigh of relief, but the actual crisis was still not resolved, and he still had to be on high alert. “In short, let’s stall for time first, it’s best to stall until it leaves on its own…”

“Okay, I'll listen to you…” Eriri nodded obediently, then she moved a little closer, making a look of wanting to advance and retreat with Xia Chuanzou.

She originally didn't intend to do any extra actions to cause trouble, but after getting closer and seeing Xia Chuanzou's body tensed and his arms trembling slightly, she couldn't help but hold his hand, wanting to convey some sense of security.

“……”

Xia Chuanzou naturally felt what happened, and subconsciously wanted to remind her to hide behind him, but in the end he just gently pulled her back a little: “You also pay attention to yourself.”

“Okay.” Eriri nodded obediently.

Unlike the "love is in the air" scene here, the lone wild cat on the other side looked obviously jealous at the moment. Its expression suddenly became much more anxious, and it made low growls from time to time. Its actions also changed from the initial vigilant posture to a posture ready to attack.

Of course, it may not be out of jealousy, but simply because the actions of the two people were too obvious, which led it to believe that the two were "discussing tactics," so it couldn't sit still and prepared to take the initiative to attack.

Xia Chuanzou immediately felt as if he was facing a formidable enemy, and immediately raised the wooden stick in his hand, trying to make a gesture of driving it away.

Perhaps it was because his physical functions were working due to facing danger, but while waving the stick, he suddenly recalled a trivia he had seen somewhere—when facing an attack from wild animals, try to stretch your hands to the maximum to make yourself look tall and ferocious, and at the same time try to make a fierce expression on your face.

At that time, he felt that it was better to honestly pick up a wooden stick or something to fight for a chance, but now that he was in the situation, he felt that this might be a very useful method! So he immediately executed it.

“Awoo!!!”

He definitely didn't learn it well, but he was better off with his voice being loud enough.

So sure enough, the wild cat looked obviously frightened, retreated a few steps slightly, and at the same time no longer maintained a posture ready to attack, and began to wander around, but even so, it still had no intention of retreating.

And Xia Chuanzou naturally couldn't be stupid enough to think that this was the time to retreat. Whether it was running away with his back exposed or walking backwards on this uneven grass, it would be a very stupid decision, so he still maintained a menacing posture.

The two sides were in a stalemate for a while.

In the end, the size advantage of being human played a role in front of this small creature. After pacing back and forth and observing the two for a long time, this wild cat finally chose to avoid the battle, jumped back into the bushes it came from, and disappeared after a while.

But even so, Xia Chuanzou didn't dare to act rashly, for fear that the other party would use some tactics to pretend to retreat, and then suddenly jump out from somewhere when they relaxed their vigilance, so he still held Eriri in place and waited for a while, and finally confirmed that there was really no more movement before pulling Eriri slowly back to the original stone road.

“Phew…” Xia Chuanzou breathed a sigh of relief, and the always tense nerves were finally able to relax.

“I didn't expect to actually encounter wild animals, or that kind of ferocious wild cat…” After randomly finding a stone slab and sitting down, Xia Chuanzou complained.

Although he hadn't actually consumed any physical strength just now, the mental pressure was real. At this moment, the mental energy consumed was completely no less than completing a full marathon.

“So why did we suddenly encounter a wild cat? Could it be that the roadside inspection here is not being done at all? What the hell is the school doing…”

Although he also understood that this was because they were too far away from the "main road" here, and that they shouldn't have climbed over the fence and gone so deep into the forest, Xia Chuanzou still wanted to complain, otherwise he would always feel very depressed.

“……”

However, Eriri, who was squatting next to him, didn't seem so unhappy. On the contrary, she even felt that what happened tonight could become a beautiful memory for her whole life.

Even now, watching the other party still showing a state that was inconsistent with his usual stable image, Eriri was not disappointed, but even curved her eyebrows.

Her Chuanzou is really so handsome even when he's complaining!

The most important thing is… Chuanzou he… even if he is nervous and scared, he will protect her behind him…

Idiot… I really like you the most!

176. Ah Haha~~~

After complaining fiercely, the depression in Xia Chuanzou's heart was finally vented.

Honestly, he originally thought that Eriri would say something, but she didn't say a word until he completely calmed down, so Xia Chuanzou thought that she was still in shock and hadn't recovered.

“Eriri, are you okay? Are you alright?”

“Ah… me? I… I'm okay…” She was probably a little too engrossed in watching, and Xia Chuanzou called her several times before she reacted.

So this absent-minded look confirmed Xia Chuanzou's guess about her condition.

“You don't look okay at all…” Xia Chuanzou frowned, then shook his head and said seriously, “Otherwise… I'll take you to the infirmary? At least you have to have a place to recover.”

Although they are now far away from the previous "no man's land", the surrounding scenery is too similar, and the same unchanged weeds will inevitably bring Eriri the same tension as before.

Of course, his main idea is—the scene just now was a bit too stimulating for him, and even now his heartbeat hasn't completely calmed down, and his mind will subconsciously flash the scene just now from time to time, especially the last pounce that the wild cat tried before retreating, it was like an oil painting printed in his mind and couldn't be dispelled.

And this also means that Eriri, who is timid and has a more careful heart, will naturally find it difficult to relax from the encounter just now.

So Xia Chuanzou was very worried, afraid that she would suffer from PTSD or something, so he wanted to do his best to help her calm down.

“Eriri, you don't have to be so nervous all the time, that wild cat will definitely not attack us again.” Xia Chuanzou comforted softly, “After all, people have been walking here all the time, and the strong popularity is enough to dispel the wild cat, let alone there has always been animal repellent spray around, so don't worry…”

“I told you, you don't have to… and I… I'm not worried about that kind of thing at all…” Eriri retorted softly.

She finally managed to have a private date, so how could she waste time in the infirmary? It won't trigger any plot that will increase her favorability…

Eriri thought about it carefully again, and felt that she should give up. Compared with the courage test that might cause the suspension bridge effect and the infirmary where a lucky pervert incident might break out, it might be more suitable for her to hook her arms with each other, walk and talk.

After all, a lot of things have happened to them in the past few days, but even so, she vaguely felt that this was of no help to improve her love status in the other party's heart, and even felt that if she continued like this, she would one day be reduced to a "pet type" character with no chance of winning.

Isn't that the same as a "blonde loser"?!

So she had to think of better ways to show her charm, to attract Chuanzou, to express her feelings to him, and if all the methods were used and he still couldn't understand—then she could only rush up like a suicide truck.

But doing so would mean there was no way out. If she was rejected, she would really never be able to stay by Chuanzou's side…

“So I have to work harder…” Eriri muttered to herself.

“What?” Xia Chuanzou turned his head and asked.

His nerves were still in a highly concentrated state, so naturally he didn't miss the movement made by Eriri, but the sound was too light to be heard clearly.

“It's nothing…” Eriri shook her head, then cheered up again, took the initiative to hook Xia Chuanzou's arm and walked forward, “Let's go back the same way from here, it's not too far from the entrance.”

“Slow…?” Xia Chuanzou originally wanted to remind her, but found that Eriri was walking very happily, not at all like she had a foot injury.

“What's wrong?” Eriri turned her head to look at him.

“Your foot… is it okay?” Xia Chuanzou pointed his finger, then looked at her very suspiciously.

“…!” Eriri also immediately reacted.

But it's too late to pretend now, it will only deepen suspicion, so she can only find a reasonable reason.

“Uh…”

“……”

“Actually…”

“……”

“Actually, I don't know what's going on, my foot suddenly doesn't hurt anymore… Ah haha…”

“……”

Xia Chuanzou didn't know what to say, he could only keep muttering in his heart, as expected of Eriri, she is too easy to see through.

He even suspected that even if there hadn't been the incident just now, this golden retriever might have exposed the fact that she wasn't injured at all at some point because she was so carried away.

As for why she lied, it's easy to guess—it's simply because she's timid and afraid of haunted houses, so she didn't dare continue playing. But she's too proud to expose this in front of him, so she pretended that her foot was injured and "reluctantly" chose to give up.

The evidence is that this little blonde has shown a fearful attitude all the way. However, what puzzled Natsukawa Kanade was that she was very brave when she encountered that wild cat, and even put on a look of advancing and retreating with him... Perhaps it was because she was too far away, or because she was nearsighted and couldn't see its ferocious state clearly?

But in any case, her intention still made Natsukawa Kanade very grateful, and even added a lot of courage at the time.

"Since your foot is fine... where do you want to go next?" Natsukawa Kanade glanced at the blonde, watching her eyes wander, not daring to look at him, and chuckled, "I mean, after leaving the venue, is there any place you want to go to?"

"Um..." Eriri swallowed, becoming a little hesitant.

She was originally ready to explain it again, but the other party didn't ask... Could it be that Kanade has already guessed it?

So she turned her head to look at him, but found that the other party was also staring at her gently, with that kind of unbeatable smile on his face...

"W-what... What are you smiling so stupidly for..." Eriri's eyes became erratic again, but this time it was because she was shy.

It was obviously a stupid smile that she used to see often, but now when she sees it, it makes her feel so excited that she can't help herself...

"What's wrong?"

"I-idiot! Don't come so close now!"

"Uh, but you're still holding my hand..."

"One thing is one thing! I-in short, don't come any closer..." Eriri said with shame and annoyance.

She really, really is afraid that she will not be able to help herself because of this...

177. First Meeting with Teacher Kashiwagi Eri

They didn't encounter anyone on the way back, presumably because the thoughtful partners had already set off.