"Hehe, Ashley, you really are the best."
"Best my foot, let go of
already. You're completely full of yourself!!"
"Eh?!"
Inside the Student Council Office, Yurianna and Ashley were still ssing around.
Yurianna kept puckering her lips and leaning toward Ashley to prove the intimacy of their relationship, terrifying Ashley so much that she pinched Yurianna's cheeks, squishing her face until she looked like a goldfish.
Sakuramiya Hitomi took a sip of her black tea, unable to hold back a slight smile.
However, when she caught a glimpse of Yan Huan out of the corner of her eye, her expression drastically changed.
"..."
Sitting behind his desk, Yan Huan was looking at his mobile phone with a faint smile playing on his lips, looking completely relaxed and happy.
This imdiately triggered Sakuramiya Hitomi's alertness, and she instantly focused all her attention on him.
'Sothing isn't right.'
'Did sothing happen to the President over the weekend while I wasn't around?'
'Why is he making that kind of expression while looking at his phone?'
Gripping her teacup, Sakuramiya Hitomi couldn't help but think with a sense of urgency.
In the past, when she had her hidden caras, she knew eighty or ninety percent of everything the President encountered. Therefore, no matter how he reacted, she could easily guess the reason.
Now, ever since the caras were dismantled, it was as if she had beco a stranger to him.
'I have absolutely no idea what the President is doing or thinking!'
'This...'
'How can I accept this?'
While she wouldn't call it a relapse of her old obsession, a sixth sense told Sakuramiya Hitomi that based on Yan Huan's recent reactions, sothing bad was happening behind her back.
That demon-like Aria Spencer, Bai Yi who had beco the President's idol...
The others were either overpowered monsters or completely broken with their unique chanics. anwhile, she had first lost her caras, then lost Nara, essentially leaving her completely nerfed and crippled.
"Alright, everyone..."
Just as Sakuramiya Hitomi was pursing her lips and letting her imagination run wild, Yan Huan suddenly spoke, cooling down the lively atmosphere in the office and interrupting her thoughts.
Yurianna, who had already pinned Ashley onto the sofa, turned to look at him. Yabashi Ki adjusted his glasses, and naturally, Sakuramiya Hitomi also gave him her full attention.
Yan Huan grabbed his phone, packed up his things, and stood up.
"Midterms are over. Yabashi and I will handle the sexual health class. The rest of you should just use this ti to prepare for the school trip."
Saying that, Yan Huan turned to look at Sakuramiya and added,
"I've always wanted to visit your hotown, Sakuramiya. We'll be unfamiliar with the place and the people once we arrive in Sakura Country, so we'll be relying on you."
Yurianna scrambled up and raised her fist.
"Yeah, yeah! Sakuramiya, I heard the temples there are super pretty... and there are the deer in Nara!"
Yabashi Ki adjusted his glasses and said mysteriously,
"I want to go to the Nobunaga Bookstore."
Ashley gave him a highly suspicious look.
"...Are you really that passionate about studying? You're going on a trip and you specifically want to visit a bookstore? You perverted lolicon."
Yabashi Ki did not wish to explain himself further. He simply lowered his head and unlocked his phone again.
"Sumr insects cannot understand the ice."
"Heh..."
While everyone was chatting enthusiastically, Sakuramiya gradually realized sothing as she listened.
Her sharp mind spun as she seemingly read the deeper aning behind Yan Huan's words.
'Wait, could it be that the President voted to go to Sakura Country for the school trip specifically to see my hotown?!'
At this thought, Sakuramiya's cheeks couldn't help but flush slightly, and her expression grew even more elegant and composed.
"Of course. I will be sure to host everyone properly."
"Host what, you idiot? Don't tell
you actually think the President chose Sakura Country for a clown like you?"
But right at that mont, the illusory Cold Sakuramiya suddenly appeared beside her, casting a mocking, sidelong glance her way.
These words caused Sakuramiya, who was just about to pick up her teacup again, to freeze. She maintained her smile but silently bit down on the rim of the cup, speaking in her mind.
'I would love to hear your brilliant theory, then.'
'Idiot. The President obviously said that to find an excuse to end the conversation and leave. As for what he's going to do... Let
remind you, the President looked extrely happy while checking his phone just a mont ago.'
'This...'
Sakuramiya Hitomi was still hesitating, but a second later, Yan Huan was already heading for the door. In passing, he said to Yabashi,
"Ms. Miyake is coming over later, right? Just send
a ssage when she arrives, and we'll go receive her."
"Okay, President."
"I still have so things to take care of, so I'll be leaving first."
"Alright, President! Bye-bye!"
Listening to Yurianna's carefree farewell, Sakuramiya Hitomi finally caught on. Her eyes widened as she turned her head to look at the Cold Sakuramiya beside her.
She saw her alter ego spread her hands and smirk dismissively. The aning was crystal clear.
'Skill issue!'
"..."
Mocked to her face, blue veins bulged on Sakuramiya Hitomi's forehead. But by now, Yan Huan had already pushed the door open and walked out of the office, making her gaze anxiously at the doorway.
'What on earth is the President going to do?!'
'If I still had my caras here, I would...'
'What are you spacing out for? You don't have caras, but do you not have eyes either? Hurry up and follow him!'
Just as Sakuramiya Hitomi was standing there helplessly, the Cold Sakuramiya behind her finally couldn't help but issue a reminder.
Snapping out of it, Sakuramiya Hitomi hastily stood up and forced a smile.
"...I'll be taking my leave now, too."
"Okay! Sakuramiya, I'll go with—"
Yurianna and Sakuramiya Hitomi were in the sa class. Seeing Sakuramiya leave, she assud she was heading back to the classroom and planned to accompany her.
However, halfway through her sentence, Sakuramiya Hitomi shot her a terrifying glare, prompting Yurianna to tactfully sit back down.
"Hehe, Ashley and I will just stay here and hang out a bit longer..."
"Who wants to hang out with you..."
"Besides, there aren't just two of you. Aren't I here as well?"
"Eh? Yabashi-kun? When did you get here?"
"Screw you!"
Unable to bear watching them any longer, Sakuramiya Hitomi turned around and left.
Watching Sakuramiya Hitomi's clumsy retreating back, the Cold Sakuramiya sitting on the sofa inside the room scoffed in disgust and cursed.
"How did she beco such a useless failure... Acting like a naive, sweet little idiot. Did she throw the Sakuramiya family teachings into the Pacific Ocean?"
"Don't say that..."
The Kind Sakuramiya climbed onto her head at the perfect mont, tugging at a strand of her hair as she tried to persuade her.
"Don't forget, she is your future, and you are her past... You chose to beco the future her, not the other way around..."
"..."
"You understand, right? It's precisely because she found sothing far more important that she abandoned all that past darkness."
Cold Sakuramiya didn't refute this, rely letting out a cold snort.
"Hmph. But right now, being a naive little idiot isn't going to win the President over."
"Exactly..."
The Kind Sakuramiya let go of Cold Sakuramiya's hair. With a wave of her hand, the exact scene the real Sakuramiya was looking at materialized before their eyes.
Staring at that scene, the Kind Sakuramiya smiled and said,
"And that's why we appeared~"
...
...
Stare~
At this mont, the real Sakuramiya Hitomi was stealthily plastered against the wall, her gaze glued to Yan Huan's back not far away.
'Just as my Persona Mask guessed, the President didn't head towards his classroom at all!'
'Where is the President going while looking at his phone?'
Watching Yan Huan turn into the corridor connecting the First-Year Departnt to the faculty building, Sakuramiya Hitomi took a deep breath, preparing to follow. Suddenly, a panicked cry rang out right next to her ear.
"Vice President Sakuramiya?!"
"Ah!! No... I wasn't peeping! It's not , I didn't do it, don't talk nonsense!"
The person hadn't even said anything else yet, but the sudden voice triggered Sakuramiya Hitomi's PTSD. She frantically covered her face, turned her head away, and fired off a rapid triple-denial.
"Wh... what peeping?"
Hearing the confusion in the other party's voice, Sakuramiya Hitomi belatedly realized that the newcor hadn't actually caught her in the act.
She quickly lowered her hands and looked to the side.
There, she saw Bai Yi. Her face was pale, dotted with cold sweat, as she panted heavily and stared wide-eyed at Sakuramiya.
"Bai Yi?!"
"It's ..."
"What... what are you doing? You scared
to death, you know that?"
"I..."
Bai Yi wanted to say sothing, but it was as if she suddenly recalled sothing terrifying.
"Th-there's no ti to explain! Let's get out of here!"
"Huh?!"
Sakuramiya Hitomi observed the sheer panic on her face and imdiately realized she wasn't joking.
Calming down, she allowed Bai Yi to grab her hand and drag her forward. Coincidentally, they were running toward the faculty building—the exact sa direction Yan Huan had gone.
Upon entering the building, Sakuramiya Hitomi glanced around but couldn't spot Yan Huan anywhere. She let out a helpless sigh, looking at Bai Yi to complain.
"So what exactly is wrong with you? Who in this school could possibly force you to hide like this?"
Bai Yi peered outside the building. After making sure there was no one following them, she whispered,
"It's no one else but that An Le!"
"An Le? The President's childhood friend?"
Hearing this highly unexpected na, Sakuramiya Hitomi paused, her expression instantly turning suspicious.
Both of the girls present had a deep connection with Yan Huan, so there was no need to explain who An Le was. But who didn't know that his childhood friend was utter trash, had an attack power of zero, and was basically invisible?
When the three major factions ford the Anti-Spencer Alliance, they hadn't even bothered to notify her. That alone proved how little they thought of her.
'You're being chased by an existence like that?'
'I think you should just give up and surrender.'
"..."
As Bai Yi gulped nervously, her face flushed red the mont she saw Sakuramiya Hitomi looking at her with such intense pity. Gripping Sakuramiya's arm, she desperately shook her head and explained.
"Sakuramiya, she... she isn't what we thought she was! You don't understand..."
"I don't understand what?"
Bai Yi took a deep breath and hurriedly said,
"Last week, when Ye Shiyu and I were drinking milk tea with Yan Huan, An Le suddenly showed up. She pinned Ye Shiyu down and beat her up all by herself. I couldn't even stop her...
"And the day before yesterday, on Saturday, when I invited Yan Huan to attend my charity concert at the oncology hospital, An Le was there too..."
Bai Yi didn't plan on ntioning anything about herself or An Le having superpowers. She simply wanted to illustrate to Sakuramiya that An Le was no longer the weakling they once knew.
Smack!
But as she listened, Sakuramiya Hitomi's eyes widened, and she suddenly swatted away the hand Bai Yi had on her arm...
However, the slap felt more like a tickle to Bai Yi. It didn't force her to let go at all. In fact, Bai Yi even looked at her with a thoroughly confused expression.
She was wondering why Sakuramiya Hitomi had suddenly caressed her hand.
Seeing this, Sakuramiya Hitomi grew even more infuriated.
"...You and Ye Shiyu went out to drink milk tea with the President in private? And you even invited the President to watch your performance alone over the weekend? Why didn't I know anything about this?!"
"I..."
Faced with these questions, Bai Yi was utterly dumbfounded.
That was right. They had agreed to form a secret alliance. Until Aria Spencer was defeated, no one was allowed to sneak a bite for themselves.
But look what happened now. Chased by the terrifying An Le, Bai Yi panicked and accidentally exposed her own secret dates.
But it wasn't just Sakuramiya who had a right to be angry; Bai Yi felt incredibly wronged as well.
'I wanted to sneak a bite, yes, but when Yan Huan brought An Le along, not only did she hunt
down, but she also ended up saving the charity concert from disaster, and then even went ho with Yan Huan afterward...'
'She stole all the spotlight! I didn't even get a single bite of Yan Huan!'
"N-now isn't the ti to argue about that! The main issue is An Le! Not only does she have inappropriate designs on Yan Huan, but more importantly, it feels like she's hunting us down!"
"Hunting? What kind of nonsense are you sprouting?"
She even used the word "hunting," and threw in an "us." Sakuramiya and An Le had no grudges or enmity whatsoever. Bai Yi was definitely just trying to drag her down with her.
"I'm serious! This morning, I went to the Second-Year Departnt to look for Ye Shiyu. I wanted to talk to her about how An Le blasted her last week. But it turned out An Le was also at the door of Class 2-A, and it looked like she was looking for Ye Shiyu too!"
"...And then?"
"And then... then she spotted , and actually switched targets to chase after ! I ran all the way here!"
"..."
Sakuramiya Hitomi narrowed her eyes, instantly extracting the key information from Bai Yi's fragnted explanation.
This ant that An Le had originally gone to find Ye Shiyu, but upon seeing Bai Yi, she imdiately shifted targets.
Therefore, in An Le's eyes, Ye Shiyu and Bai Yi were exactly the sa kind of enemy. No wonder An Le had blasted Ye Shiyu during the milk tea outing last week and then thoroughly beaten up Bai Yi at the charity concert.
That An Le...
Since when did she beco so fierce?
Sakuramiya Hitomi instantly figured everything out. She even started guessing whether An Le had discovered their secret alliance. After all, An Le was Aria Spencer's best and only friend.
Otherwise, Ye Shiyu and Bai Yi appeared completely unrelated on the surface. Why else would An Le treat them both equally as enemies?
Having thought of all this, Sakuramiya Hitomi ultimately let out a disdainful smirk and said,
"So what does this have to do with ? Neither of you thought of
when you were secretly contacting the President behind my back. But now that you're being chased by An Le, you suddenly rember I exist?"
"I..."
"Yan Huan, I'm over here!"
Often, nothing unifies warring factions quite like a common external enemy.
And this was exactly that kind of situation.
Before Sakuramiya Hitomi and Bai Yi could even settle their argunt, a bright, energetic voice from upstairs suddenly barged into their ears.
"Spencer?!"
Both of their faces changed at the exact sa ti as they raised their eyes to look upstairs.
Aria Spencer was back today!?
And she was actually calling the President's na so cheerfully?!
Hearing this, Sakuramiya Hitomi and Bai Yi exchanged a glance. Setting aside their conflict in an instant, they moved upstairs with tacit understanding.
When they reached the third floor, Spencer seed to have already entered a room with Yan Huan. As a result, their conversation was far less clear than when she was shouting in the corridor.
"Hehe, Yan... up... my mom and I... so many..."
"..."
Listening to the muffled voices coming from the distant room, Sakuramiya Hitomi swallowed nervously and softened her footsteps.
Beside her, Bai Yi didn't imdiately follow suit. Instead, she squeezed the hard, pocket-watch-shaped object hidden in her embrace.
Croak~
A faint croaking sound of a toad suddenly echoed, making Sakuramiya Hitomi frown and shoot Bai Yi a strange look.
'Why is a toad croaking from Bai Yi's body?'
'Is it an illusion?'
Tap, tap, tap...
Just as Sakuramiya Hitomi zoned out, a series of footsteps echoed from the stairwell, causing Bai Yi's face to instantly turn pale.
'Is An Le coming in for the kill again?'
She didn't dare take the gamble. Frantically grabbing Sakuramiya Hitomi, she dragged the petite girl around the nearest corner to hide.
...
...
"Ahahahaha! Far Moon Academy, I, Aria Spencer, have returned!"
Inside the massive club activity room, Spencer stood atop an abandoned desk with her hands on her hips, laughing loudly enough to expose her canine teeth.
Underneath her jacket, she wore a black tracksuit. Standing up high like that gave off the distinct vibe of a king returning to claim her throne, or a smug ani villain.
Standing below, Yan Huan watched her manic display without getting annoyed. Instead, he simply leaned against a nearby desk with an amused smirk and asked,
"So, you ca back but didn't return to the classroom, and instead asked
to co find you here?"
ntioning this made Spencer feel a bit awkward.
In truth, she originally planned to wait for Yan Huan in the classroom and then co here together.
But thinking about An Le being in the classroom, she suddenly didn't know how to face her. So, she skipped going to class and ca straight here instead.
"I went out to have fun with my mom during this ti, and I brought you a gift!"
"What is it?"
Spencer leaped off the desk and pulled a box out from her jacket.
Yan Huan took a quick glance and noticed four large words written on the box: "Respectfully Presented to Linn".
The calligraphy was incredibly elegant, looking anything but ordinary.
"It's a fountain pen my mom received when she went to dine at the Presidential Palace. It should be super nice to write with. Seeing how she just tossed it randomly on her desk after bringing it ho, I figured she wasn't going to use it, so I brought it over for you."
"..."
Hearing this, Yan Huan's face instantly darkened.
'You stole sothing the President of Linn gave your mother to give to ? Do you think my life is too long?!'
However, eting her clear, sky-blue eyes, Yan Huan could ultimately only let out a faint sigh.
'The little bull ans well, Yan Huan is just bad.'
"I appreciate the thought, but I really can't accept this. You should take it back and return it to your mother."
Looking at Spencer, Yan Huan gave her a slight smile and said,
"When we go to Sakura Country, how about we both pick out a gift for each other and swap them?"
Spencer blinked, then smiled happily.
"Okay!"
"So, what exactly did you call
here for?"
"Ah, it's about..."
"It is to clarify your responsibilities as the campus educational counselor we discussed before. Additionally, I will be conveying Chairwoman Elvira's instructions, student Yan."
Hearing the voice, Yan Huan turned his head to look behind him, just in ti to see Ms. Heather from before walking into the classroom with a briefcase in hand.
As she walked toward Yan Huan, Heather handed him a docunt.
Taking it, he saw that it clearly listed the various tasks he was required to perform.
This included, but was not limited to, supervising Spencer's class attendance, formulating a study plan, overseeing the completion of her coursework, and providing extracurricular tutoring.
'Private extracurricular tutoring?'
'Hiss, this kind of developnt...'
'Why does this sound exactly like the plot of those unspeakable stories between a private tutor and his beautiful female student?'
"..."
Pausing for a second, Yan Huan managed to snap himself out of his past life's degenerate thoughts and asked Heather,
"So, what exactly does Chairwoman... Aunt Elvira want to convey?"
Hearing this, Heather offered a slight smile and replied,
"There's no rush, student Yan.
"I will inform all of you once your other colleagues arrive."
'What?'
'Colleagues?'
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