Yukinoshita’s Method of Correction [2]

“Thanks, man!”

The middle-aged man who had been so furious earlier was now clasping Higashigumo Sugi’s hand, his face full of gratitude.

Hiratsuka Shizuka: ...Okay, maybe it is possible after all.

“Just doing my part.” Higashigumo pulled his hand back. “My clothes...?”

“Right here.”

The woman handed him his things.

“Thanks for your trouble.”

“It was nothing.”

Higashigumo took the clothes and walked into the bathroom.

Shizuka felt like her brain couldn’t keep up anymore.

“Can someone please explain to me what’s going on here?”

The husband and wife exchanged a look, then brought over a video camera.

“Just watch.”

On the screen was footage of the woman and Higashigumo chatting.

“I started to feel uneasy when I realized my husband had a borderline obsession with NTR fantasies… That’s an easy fix. In most cases like this, the best cure is firsthand experience. The pain of actually living it usually crushes the fantasy. I had a friend who used to draw NTR doujinshi—after his wife cheated on him, he switched to pure love stories...”

The video continued with footage of them staging the aftermath: Higashigumo in boxers, wrapping a towel around himself before lying on the bed. The woman sat waiting on the couch for her husband to return… and accidentally dozed off.

Then came the phone call that woke Higashigumo. The noise stirred the woman. The husband came home, walked into the bedroom...

“After going through all that, I realized I couldn’t stomach the feeling at all.”

The man gripped his wife’s hand tightly.

“Good thing it was fake. I’m calling the neighbors over later to show them this video—warn them not to fall into the same delusional hole I did.”

“Hold on...”

Shizuka blinked.

“You’re showing it to the neighbors?”

The man scratched his head. “Better than letting them get the wrong idea, isn’t it?”

Honestly? That was fair.

Higashigumo walked out of the bathroom, fully dressed.

“Well, we’ve imposed long enough. Bye now.”

“Drop by again sometime!” the man called cheerfully.

Higashigumo waved as he stepped out. “Sure—next time, I’ll make sure you’re home.”

Shizuka: ...You actually plan to keep coming back?!

...

Back in the red sports car, Shizuka lit another cigarette.

“Why’d you take such a big risk to help them?”

“Because they needed help.”

Higashigumo paused, then added, “And I trust my physical capabilities. It wasn’t really a risk.”

“Why do you like helping people so much?”

“Because it sucks to have no one there when you need help.”

Shizuka’s eyes softened. “So you can’t bear to see others struggling?”

“Actually, it’s the opposite.”

Higashigumo lit her cigarette for her and waved away the rising smoke.

“I enjoy watching other people’s lives fall apart.”

“You enjoy it so much you made a Yorozuya out of yourself—an all-purpose problem solver so people with crap lives would come to you for help.”

Shizuka blew a stream of smoke out the window, her eyes sweeping over him with a new kind of interest. Her earlier irritation faded, replaced by amusement.

“Whatever your motives, the truth is you do help people. And no matter how confident you are in your strength, danger is still danger.”

Higashigumo started sensing trouble. “So...?”

“I’m not going to stop you from helping people. But I won’t let you throw yourself into danger recklessly.”

Her eyes sparkled, and even her lips curled into a grin—clearly, she’d thought of something fun. “Since you barely attend class, I’m guessing you’re not in any clubs either?”

“None that caught my interest.”

“Then start one, kid.”

She clapped him on the shoulder. “There are plenty of students at school who need help too. Stay off the streets—do your do-gooding here. As for the name… let’s call it the Service Club.”

“That’s a pretty suspicious name...”

“If you refuse, I’ll tell your mom.”

Shizuka narrowed her eyes dangerously, her smile turning wicked.

“Now, what kind of story should I make up...?”

“Things went off the rails the moment you decided to make something up.”

Higashigumo plucked the cigarette from between her fingers—already nearly burned down—and snuffed it out.

“If this is the kind of help you need, then as your student, I’m honor-bound to accept.”

“Good boy~”

She gave his cheek a playful pinch and started the car. “Back to school.”

...

Sōbu High School was a public high school located in Chiba City, and the top-ranked school in the region based on deviation scores.

On either side of the campus walkway stood the main classroom building and the special activities building. The second floors of both were connected by an overhead corridor. From above, the floorplan looked like the kanji for “工” —or arguably “口,” if you looked at it with a slightly pervy imagination.

Higashigumo followed Shizuka into the special activities building, stopping at one of the classrooms.

She took out a key and unlocked the door. “This’ll be your clubroom from now on.”

The back of the room was piled high with desks, chairs, and miscellaneous junk. It looked more like a storage closet than a classroom—clearly unused for quite some time.

“My clubroom, huh...”

Higashigumo stared at the mound of abandoned furniture thoughtfully.

“So I’m free to decorate as I like?”

“Within school rules,” Shizuka added. “Anything you damage, you pay for.”

“No problem.”

He began inspecting the boxes stacked in the corners, reading the labels.

“Could you let the relevant clubs and classes know? If they don’t pick their stuff up within three business days, I’ll be repurposing it.”

“I’ll handle the paperwork too.”

Shizuka gave his shoulder another firm pat, her smiling face radiating clear menace.

“But in exchange, as the Service Club president, you’d better be in here whenever a student comes for help.”

“Sounds like a velvet cage.”

Feeling her slender fingers tighten ominously around his shoulder, Higashigumo smiled back.

“In that case, as the teacher who proposed the club, you need to make sure it’s worth existing. If no one shows up with requests, this would be a criminal waste of youth.”

“I don’t get where you got this ‘fear of youth slipping away’ at your age...”

“You wouldn’t understand.”

Higashigumo sighed. “Give it time. When you’re my age, you’ll get it.”

A vein bulged on Shizuka’s forehead. “I wish I could!”

...

To relive youth...

Higashigumo had once dreamed of it. He never thought it would actually happen.

After watching Shizuka leave, he pulled out a long table and set it up. After a few light stretches, he slipped underneath it, grabbed the table’s edge with both hands, and straightened his body—his toes and fingertips the only things touching the ground.

Perhaps an infant’s body couldn’t contain an adult’s soul. For a long time, his past life’s memories had been nothing more than fragmented dreams, only recently pieced back together.

A powerful body was necessary to house a powerful soul. That theory had driven Higashigumo to start training relentlessly.

As his body grew stronger, the rush that came with unleashing strength at the soul level became addictive—pure and deeply satisfying.

Engaging his core, he raised his heels off the ground, suspending himself horizontally beneath the table, perfectly parallel to the floor.

The pump in his muscles was real—his blood vessels throbbed with vitality.

With a body this healthy, maybe I won’t drop dead so easily this time.

Shifting the angle of exertion bit by bit, he pushed against the tabletop and slowly lifted his body—until he was standing upside down, a flawless handstand on the surface of the long table.

Like a sugi tree, deeply rooted in the earth—
Sturdy. Vibrant. Alive.

---

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!