"Doujinshi Society! Victory!!"
"Crunch, crunch."
Spencer and Jiang Yun easily defeated the Swimming Club. Standing on the sidelines, she wiped the beads of sweat from her face with a towel while pulling out the snack bag she had prepared.
Inside was a wide assortnt of chocolates and electrolyte water.
Yan Huan sat by the edge of the court, fulfilling his duties as a referee and adding points to the Doujinshi Society's score.
In passing, he took in everything happening before him.
"Spencer, since our eyes have t, let us have a fierce and exhilarating battle!!"
"Huh?"
Spencer had not even finished chewing the chocolate in her mouth before looking at the other clubs crowding around her again.
She took a gulp of electrolyte water and continued following them to draw lots.
As she walked past Yan Huan, her cheeks bulged, and she sneaked a glance at him.
Her footsteps paused slightly as she placed a golden Fried Egg Pig cookie on the armrest of his chair.
Having done this, she hurriedly jogged forward, not even daring to look at Yan Huan again.
"..."
Yan Huan picked up the cookie once more and could not help but ask Miao-chan in his mind,
'Miao-chan, how exactly do you think Spencer does it?'
'Do what, ow?'
Miao-chan suddenly materialized, its fluffy, small ball-like body appearing right in his arms, tilting its head up to look at him.
'She definitely did not know any of those people she plundered beforehand. So, how on earth did she distinguish whether they were hypocritical or not? Could it be because of the Modifier?'
Miao-chan looked at Spencer standing in the backcourt, resembling a God of War as drops of sweat scattered from her movents, and logically deduced,
'The Modifier highly likely would not grant her such an ability.'
'Then it must be because of her own reasons...'
Yan Huan looked down at the empty cookie wrapper in his hand, repeatedly folding it until it beca a tiny ball.
He vaguely sensed that this instinctive, innate ability of Spencer was sohow connected to the Modifier...
A debuff of disgust?
Miao-chan watched his actions, remaining silent for a mont before asking,
'...Are you feeling a bit better, Yan Huan?'
'Feeling better about what?'
Miao-chan turned back to look at Yan Huan, owing as it spoke,
'Because of Sakuramiya Hitomi, no, rather, because of the Modifier matter, you have been wound up incredibly tight lately. So of the emotions suppressed in your heart cannot be digested all on your own.'
'You did not say anything when you were with Tong Yingying, but instead, you let it all out here with Spencer. Perhaps this makes you feel a little better, or maybe not.'
Listening to Miao-chan's words, Yan Huan also recalled the harsh things he had yelled at Spencer at noon.
Even now, he still believed that regardless of whether those people were truly as hypocritical and disgusting as Spencer claid, it did not justify her actions of plundering them.
However, he also had to admit that among all those words he had said, only a fraction were the objective truth, while the rest was entirely him venting his own emotions.
Spencer had effectively beco a target representing 'all Modifier Hosts,' bearing the brunt of an anger that should never have been directed at her in the first place.
"Crunch."
Yan Huan tore open another wrapper and ate the golden Fried Egg Pig cookie.
"Doujinshi Society, victory!!"
"Pant, pant..."
Spencer wiped her sweat and walked back to her resting area, but before she could even sit down for a sip of water, another club stepped forward.
"Spencer, we wish to challenge your Doujinshi Society!"
"..."
Spencer wiped her lips, bit into another piece of chocolate, and stood back up.
Every ti she left the Doujinshi Society's spot to draw lots and walked past Yan Huan, she would sowhat guiltily slip a golden Fried Egg Pig cookie into his hand.
Yan Huan only ate two of them; he kept the rest in his palm, examining them.
"Doujinshi Society, defeat!"
"Haa..."
"Spencer! Get up..."
"Hey! Haven't you all had enough?! One after another, it never ends! We already have very few mbers, at least let us rest for a mont!"
Over at the Doujinshi Society's area, Jiang Yun glared furiously at the next club coming to challenge them.
"I am talking to Spencer. The rest of you are just useless deadweight anyway. This does not concern you, so why are you interrupting?"
Arakawa Kyoji and Nino remained silent, but Jiang Yun clenched her teeth so hard she was a hair's breadth away from lunging over and punching soone.
"What did you just say? Say that again?!"
"Senior Sister Jiang, calm down! Calm down!"
An Le hurriedly held Jiang Yun back to prevent the two groups from actually starting a brawl.
The successive Club Battles had already completely drained Spencer's stamina. Initially, they would secure a guaranteed victory whenever Spencer was on the field, while they lost more often than they won when she sat out to rest.
But later on, even with Spencer on the field, she began struggling to handle the matches.
Since she had not plundered anything from anyone else, the Modifier did not grant her any boosts. With her stamina becoming a severe disadvantage, she could not withstand such continuous, draining rounds.
The others had precisely calculated this point. In fact, the worse Spencer perford, the more eager they were to co over and snatch points.
Spencer clenched her fists. With a slightly pale face, she raised her head and glanced at the boy in front of her, startling him so badly he thought she was going to violently lash out.
"What are you doing? If you have the guts, let us settle this on the field. Do not try anything else, I am warning you!"
She panted for a few monts, resting her hands on her knees as she pushed herself up to stand.
"Fine, if we continue competing, then we..."
"Alright, that is enough."
Yan Huan's voice suddenly rang out, instantly grabbing everyone else's attention.
"President..."
He massaged his own shoulders, looking at the other clubs still lining up to challenge them, and declared,
"You guys have been competing match after match endlessly. Even if the Doujinshi Society is not tired, I am tired of sitting here. There is only half an hour left before today's matches conclude. Co back tomorrow; I have so business to attend to back at the Student Council."
"..."
The others considered this for a mont. Only then did they glance at the pale-faced Spencer before finally relenting,
"Alright, President, we will listen to you. We will co back tomorrow."
"Let us go, let us go check out the Track and Field Club."
"..."
The clubs surrounding the Doujinshi Society dispersed one after another. The tense, swords-drawn-bows-bent atmosphere also faded away, allowing all the Doujinshi Society mbers other than Spencer to heave sighs of relief.
"Little Huan, thank you..."
"Thank you, President."
A look of joy spread across An Le's face as she expressed her gratitude to Yan Huan.
Beside her, however, Jiang Yun looked at Yan Huan and asked,
"President, today's Club Battle is not over yet. Is it really okay for you to help us like this?"
Yan Huan glanced at her and shook his head.
"The fact that you were arranged in such an unreasonable position was originally a negligence on the part of the Student Council, and my negligence as well. So, providing you with a little help in return is nothing."
As he spoke, he offered An Le a faint smile and asked,
"I also have a piece of personal advice here. Would you care to listen?"
"O-Okay, Little Huan."
Seeing Yan Huan's smile, An Le's face turned slightly red. She imdiately nodded, giving off the distinct impression that no matter what he said, her answer would be a resounding "Okay."
"The Doujinshi Society has a major problem right now. To be exact, apart from Senior Sister Jiang, every single one of you has a problem.
"Spencer tries too hard to be brave and wastes her stamina, An Le, you lack assertiveness, and Arakawa and Nino have very low participation."
Yan Huan narrowed his eyes and pointed a finger at An Le, causing her to instantly stand at attention.
"You cannot just listen to whatever Spencer says simply because she is the president. On the contrary, you need to exert more effort and organize the club mbers.
"Determine who is most suitable for which match, how to distribute the team mbers' stamina, how to train the team's coordination..."
He pulled out a piece of paper and handed it to An Le. It was covered with circles and notes detailing every single match the Doujinshi Society had played.
The victorious matches were filled with notes on the disadvantages of Spencer taking the field, while the lost matches highlighted their primary issues.
"As for Arakawa and Nino, I know the club establishnt period has been very short. Expecting a strong sense of belonging to the club when everyone barely knows each other is a difficult demand...
"Therefore, I want to ask: Did you join the Doujinshi Society voluntarily?"
Arakawa Kyoji and Nino were slightly taken aback. They stole a glance at An Le and Spencer before hurriedly replying,
"Y-Yes, because... no other club was willing to take us in anyway..."
"Furthermore, Spencer bought us a lot of expensive things, so... we will definitely put in more effort from now on."
"Mhm..."
Yan Huan nodded and said,
"Good."
Having said all this, he finally turned his head to look at Spencer sitting beside him for the first ti.
Her long golden hair was sowhat disheveled from an entire afternoon of physical exertion, a bead or two of sweat still clinging to her forehead, and her small face was pale.
However, those sky-blue eyes of hers remained exceptionally beautiful.
Within Spencer's eyes, clear as the sky and the ocean, Yan Huan's enigmatic silhouette was perfectly reflected.
She did not seem to grasp the true aning behind Yan Huan's words, nor did she even know if he was still angry with her...
She rely felt that the gaze Yan Huan directed at her in this mont was incredibly transparent; he wore no mask, nor did he hide any ulterior motives.
When Spencer realized this, ripples began to gently sway within the reflection of the blue peacock in the eyes she used to gaze at Yan Huan.
At that exact sa mont, looking at the pale-faced Spencer, Yan Huan abruptly realized that his past, baseless feeling of disgust toward her had vanished.
Although it could still not be called "affection," Yan Huan was acutely aware of one thing:
His feelings toward Spencer at this mont genuinely originated from himself. Neither his "disgust" nor any "liking" was the artificial byproduct of so external influence.
'Chant her na, chant her na...'
"..."
Upon realizing this, he could not help but freeze slightly, a surge of deeper confusion welling up in his heart.
Had the side effect of Spencer's Modifier—the one that instilled an artificial sense of disgust in him out of thin air—vanished at this mont?
Why?
And the demonic voice whispering in his ear seed to be reminding him that he had another thod available to uncover this secret.
"Little Huan?"
Right at that mont, An Le's voice drifted over from beside him, forcing Yan Huan to retract his gaze and reply,
"Then keep up the good work. I will be taking my leave now."
"Ah, okay, Little Huan."
An Le waved her hand at Yan Huan, while Spencer kept her eyes fixed firmly on his receding back view.
After a mont of silence, she suddenly stood up and hurried after him.
"Spencer, where are you going?"
"I... I'm going to the restroom."
Spencer waved her hand dismissively. An Le watched her leave without any suspicion. Instead, she rely recalled Yan Huan's words in her mind and hardened her resolve:
She definitely had to help Spencer manage the Doujinshi Society properly!
Top floor of the First-Year Departnt, the Student Council headquarters.
Yan Huan placed his hand on the door of the Student Council office but seed to suddenly recall Sakuramiya Hitomi's Modifier from earlier.
"..."
He paused in silence for a second. Instead of pulling the office door open, he turned his head to address the seemingly empty corridor behind him.
"Co out."
The very second he spoke, a pair of bright, sky-blue eyes peeked out from the edge of the wall at the corner of the corridor.
She tilted her head, revealing only the upper half of her face from the nose up.
Her long golden hair spilled out freely as she blinked and sized him up, appearing rather guilty.
It was none other than Spencer.
Yet, even after Yan Huan called her out, she remained clinging to the edge of the wall, simply watching him from a distance.
It was as if she was afraid he was still angry and that approaching him would only result in another scolding.
However, Yan Huan still did not speak; he rely stared at her.
As a result, her gaze began to dart around evasively, and she even shrank half of her exposed face further behind the wall, hiding it from Yan Huan's sight.
"You..."
"?"
"That... woo... any..."
"..."
Yan Huan was quite patient and just continued to look at her.
After waiting for a good while, Spencer finally stuttered out,
"I... gave everything back to them... and apologized too..."
"I know."
Spencer blinked, remaining hidden behind the wall and watching Yan Huan, still looking as timid as a mouse.
Yan Huan sighed and took the initiative to turn around and walk toward her.
With every step he took in her direction, her head shrank an inch further behind the wall.
By the ti Yan Huan was almost upon her, she only had half an eye left peering out.
Fortunately, in the next mont, Yan Huan stepped around the corner, taking in the full sight of her body hiding behind the wall.
Seeing that she had nowhere left to hide, Spencer finally straightened up and looked at Yan Huan with dodging eyes,
"...Didn't you... just say earlier... that I had a problem too? You never told
exactly what it was..."
Clearly, this was not the question she had originally wanted to ask.
But Yan Huan did not just brush off the question she threw at him either. He explained,
"You have two problems, though fundantally they are the sa..."
"...So is it two or one?"
"...On the surface, it is a matter of your stamina managent."
Yan Huan was already so accustod to her poor comprehension skills that he simply threw his point straight out, too lazy to elaborate.
"You clearly only need to use a fraction of your energy to win, yet you insist on going all out in every single match. You can get away with it for one match, but if you do it for every match, you are bound to exhaust yourself."
"I-Is that so..."
Hearing this, Spencer sneakily shot another glance at Yan Huan.
Within her eyes, there was clearly still an unfinished question.
Truthfully, Yan Huan could roughly guess what she wanted to ask; after all, this idiot practically had everything written plainly on her face.
But what truly made Yan Huan want to investigate was:
What exactly was the trigger for the side effects of her Modifier?
Why was she able to judge who was hypocritical with such pinpoint accuracy?
Thinking of this, Yan Huan finally decided to employ the ability he had recently acquired.
In the next second, he raised his gaze and stared straight into Spencer's eyes.
'Chant her na, chant her na...'
'Aria Spencer...'
Yan Huan silently chanted Spencer's full na three tis in his heart. Imdiately, the demon beside his ear let out an imnsely satisfied laugh.
"Hehe~"
That clammy, malicious laughter distorted bit by bit, twisting until it shifted perfectly into a voice identical to Spencer's, speaking three sentences:
"Yan Huan is actually quite handso."
"Is Yan Huan still angry? At noon, his peacock form was all twisted up, so he must have been truly furious..."
"I am so hungry. I wonder if An Le has any more food. The Pink Little Pig's character setting says it loves to eat..."
Peacock?
What the hell?
And what the hell is a Pink Little Pig?
Except for the first sentence, Yan Huan could barely understand a fraction of the remaining two.
Wait a minute, are you just too obsessed with playing "Angry Pigs"?!
"..."
Yan Huan's face darkened. He shot a skeptical glance at Spencer, not even wanting to bother determining which of those sentences was true or false.
Because he could not understand any of them anyway.
Yes, Yan Huan was already beginning to regret using mind reading on her.
Seeing Yan Huan's expression suddenly turn so colorful, Spencer shrank back slightly toward the stairwell again.
Looking at her expression—terrified that he would open his mouth to scold her again, yet equally terrified that he would say nothing and ignore her—Yan Huan could not help but sigh,
"Spencer, I really was angry this afternoon. I will admit that I crossed the line with so of the things I said."
"..."
Spencer blinked, looking at Yan Huan with a slight pout, and whispered,
"I-I forgive you. It is okay."
Hearing this, Yan Huan's face darkened even further, almost letting out a laugh of pure exasperation,
"I am not apologizing, so please read the room, OK?"
Spencer peeked at him surreptitiously before hastily withdrawing her gaze,
"...Oh."
"Furthermore, Spencer, I stand by what I said. Just because others are wrong does not an you are right."
"..."
"Ask yourself honestly: if you had just restrained yourself a little, would you and your Doujinshi Society be struggling this much within the school? If you want to win, win fairly and squarely. Do not use petty tricks to intentionally provoke others."
"..."
Yan Huan retracted his gaze and gave her a final wave of his hand, saying,
"Things that are plundered must be returned one day, and they will be paid back a hundredfold, with interest."
"..."
Just as Yan Huan was about to turn around and leave, Spencer quietly grabbed hold of his sleeve from behind.
Yan Huan froze slightly and turned his head.
He saw her offering another golden Fried Egg Pig cookie. As she looked at him, he asked,
"...How many of these have you given
this afternoon?"
"Are they delicious?" she asked.
"...They are alright."
Hearing this, Spencer could not help but laugh, "Hehe, these are my absolute favorite cookies."
"..."
Hearing her say that, Yan Huan found it hard to refuse and reached out to accept her little pig cookie.
"Does this an we have made up?"
"We were never on good terms to begin with."
"...Anyway, just... do not be mad anymore. I did not an what I said at noon on purpose..."
Spencer raised her eyes to look at him and added,
"I do not know why you did that to Sakuramiya Hitomi, but... I just felt like you were a bit exhausted at the ti..."
"..."
"I get very exhausted after my matches too, but eating a little cookie makes it all better."
Yan Huan glanced at the light little cookie in his hand. Finally, he offered a faint smile and said,
"...Thank you."
"..."
Watching the smile bloom on his face once again, Spencer blinked, rely staring at him.
It was only after a long mont that she snapped back to reality. She hurriedly turned around and sprinted down the stairs,
"Bye-bye!"
"..."
Yan Huan watched her receding back view without a word, simply clutching the cookie as he walked back into the Student Council office.
"Click."
The office door opened; it was completely empty inside.
He sat down on the sofa and placed the little pig cookie on the table.
Looking at the cartoonish appearance of the "Golden Bomb Pig" on it, he finally recalled the contents he had gleaned from mind reading earlier,
"Birds and pigs? Angry Pigs?"
Yan Huan pondered for a second before opening his phone's app store, entering the keywords, and downloading Spencer's version of "Angry Pigs".
The mont he opened it, he almost lost his composure.
"The little birds lived in beautiful fortresses in the sky, while the little pigs lived on the muddy, filthy ground.
"The birds lured the little pigs with hypocritical lies, telling them:
"Because we are born with beautiful feathers and you are naturally hideous, it is only right and proper that you serve us."
Yan Huan stared at the first stage—a painfully familiar level where one used a slingshot to launch little pigs at the birds' fortress—and could not help but remark,
"Isn't this just a pirated version of 'Angry Birds'?"
"President, why are you playing this braindead ga just like Spencer?"
Right as Yan Huan made his remark, Ba Qiaomu's voice suddenly rang out from beside him, giving him a fright.
"...Yahashi? When did you get here?"
"I just arrived. Things are already wrapped up over there."
Ba Qiaomu sat down next to Yan Huan. Looking at the interface on his phone screen, he comnted,
"Ah, what an old art style. But it is incredibly rare that you actually know about 'Angry Birds', President."
"...Wait a second, that actually exists here?"
Yan Huan originally thought this was just the Parallel World's version of "Angry Birds
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