Yukinoshita’s Method of Correction [17]

“About Higashigumo?” Hiratsuka Shizuka flicked a cigarette from her pack and clamped it between her lips. “What brought that up all of a sudden?”

“This is part of the correction process,” Yukinoshita Yukino answered flatly. “His behavioral issues are more severe than I originally anticipated. In order to find a method of correction that actually suits him, I need more background data.”

“Oh, so it’s for his correction.” Hiratsuka lit her cigarette. “Here I was thinking it was because you lost to him for lack of information, then got completely wrecked by one of his victory conditions, and now you’re just desperate to get even.”

“...” Yukinoshita’s gaze flickered faintly. In her ears, she could still hear her own voice meowing, vivid and all-too-recent.

That black cat-ear headband was still in her bag.

One day, she would...

“I won’t let a single win or loss distract me from the ultimate goal of correcting him.” Her tone was ice-cold. “Besides, when he shows incremental progress, it's only appropriate to allow him small victories as a way to stimulate intrinsic motivation. It helps pave the way for future correction.”

“Now that you mention it… he has been showing up to class lately.” Hiratsuka gave a rare nod of approval. “Looks like your ‘correction’ is showing early results.”

Yukinoshita’s frosty eyes narrowed. “This is only the beginning.”

“But honestly, I don’t know much about him either.” Hiratsuka tapped the ash off her cigarette. “He went to middle school in Nagoya. Moved to Chiba later because of his family’s job situation. Before that, all I know about him comes from a story his mom—who’s a friend of mine—told me about something that happened when he was little.”

“When he was little?”

“Actually, it was before he was even born…”

Yukinoshita: “...” That’s a bit too early.

“His mom was about six or seven months pregnant at the time. That stage usually requires regular monitoring of fetal heartbeat...” Hiratsuka paused. “You know what that is, right?”

“The baby’s heartbeat.”

“Huh. You actually knew. Anyway, they noticed some erratic patterns and rushed to the hospital to check. Turns out, little unborn Higashigumo was... bored. So he was playing with the umbilical cord. He ended up squeezing it too hard, passed out from lack of oxygen, then let go, woke up later—and started squeezing it again.”

“...” Yukinoshita had to admit—that did sound exactly like something he’d do. “And?”

“That’s all.”

“But isn’t his mom your friend?”

“She was a friend—after marriage, things changed.” Hiratsuka corrected. “She’s the kind of friend who’s at home taking care of kids while you’re drinking alone. The kind who brings up her son in every conversation when you call just to chat. The kind who’s five years older, already has a sixteen-year-old kid, and you’re still—”

Still single. Got it.

“So what about after he moved to Chiba?”

“He was already living on his own during middle school, and kept it that way after moving here. Just… didn’t attend classes much. Wait a sec—” Hiratsuka paused, stubbed out her cigarette, and stepped out of the room. When she returned, her arms were full of paperwork. “All of these are his.”

“You actually approved all these absences?”

“If I signed off, anything that happened to him outside was his responsibility. If I didn’t approve them…” She flipped through the stack of forms. “I’d be the one on the hook for it.”

These were…

Yukinoshita scanned a few pages and spotted the pattern. “Medical records?”

“Injury, hospitalization, discharge, repeat.” Hiratsuka exhaled with a sigh, relighting another cigarette. “He spent most of his first year like this.”

Yukinoshita flipped through carefully. “And the cause?”

“Helping others.” Hiratsuka pulled the first record. “Started when he got hit by a car. After that it was like he got addicted. A few days after he got out, he chased down a thief and got stabbed twice. Once that healed, he was at the gym and some idiot took the weight plates off one side of a barbell. The other side flipped, and he caught it before it could crush someone.”

Yukinoshita found the matching report. “Fractured arm…”

“Later, he even opened a kind of yorozuya—a do-it-all shop—to help people with their problems. A high schooler, spending every day dealing with adults...” Hiratsuka ran a hand through her hair, clearly frustrated. “When I went to pick him up once, he was being chased with a knife and jumped out a second-floor window.”

Yukinoshita understood now why Hiratsuka had been so irritated. “That’s why you brought him into the Service Club.”

“Helping others is good and all, but this? This is too much.” Hiratsuka pointed at her with her cigarette. “Then I thought of your club. The rest, well—you know.”

“Did you ever try talking to him?”

‘I enjoy watching other people’s lives fall apart.’
—That’s what he said.”

Hiratsuka clicked her tongue. “Didn’t sit right with me. Felt like he was only telling part of the truth.”

“He was,” Yukinoshita murmured as she sorted the medical files into chronological order. “He was confirming something.”

“Confirming… what?”

She handed over the now-ordered documents. “See anything?”

“Let’s see... broken leg, fractured arm, dislocated shoulder, thigh sprain, cut near the eye…” Hiratsuka flipped through. “Pretty broad range of injuries.”

Yukinoshita pointed out the key detail. “And not a single place was injured twice.”

“Huh?” Hiratsuka looked again. “You’re right. That’s... oddly specific. Coincidence?”

“If not,” Yukinoshita recalled the image of Higashigumo hanging from a steel bar, “then he’s testing the limits of his body. Or maybe…”

She paused.

“...trying to confirm that he’s still alive.”

“That sounds like something a self-harming psychiatric case would—” Hiratsuka’s voice cut off. She stared at the curling ash of her cigarette, dazed. When it finally dropped, she came back to herself and tapped her temple with two fingers, just like Higashigumo often did. “You think there’s something wrong up here? But all of those were accidents…”

“You know what he’s like physically,” Yukinoshita said coolly. “How controlled his movements are.”

“That’s...” Hiratsuka furrowed her brow. “If that’s true, then he needs professional help.”

“And your reason for that?” Yukinoshita looked up. “Because he’s selfless and brave, so you suspect he has a mental disorder?”

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This is a fan translation of 雪之下的矫正方式 by 微凉温热 All rights to the original work belong to the creator. Please support them by exploring their original work or sharing it with others if you can. Thank you for reading and supporting my efforts to bring this story to a wider audience!