In the end, since the library was a bit crowded, Symon looked around and could only lead Mei-Yu Wang by the hand to the coast behind the library.
Standing by the railing and gazing out at the sea, Symon spoke in a relaxed tone, "Mei-chan, just call me Shiina. I quite like this surname; it feels like everyone from the main family with this name is a beauty."
This was a belated response to Mei-chan sharing her nickname.
"Shiina-san is indeed very pretty too."
Mei-Yu Wang nodded, then turned to look "Hiyori Shiina" up and down for a moment before quickly lowering her head in realization.
"Right? I'm quite satisfied with how I look right now, too."
Noticing her gaze, Symon took advantage of the fact that Hiyori Shiina couldn't understand to say this. He then casually asked, "Judging by your accent, you didn't grow up here, did you? When did you transfer?"
"I transferred in middle school. I find it really hard to make friends. I can never quite grasp what they mean by 'reading the room'..." Mei-Yu Wang said, her expression downcast.
Symon turned around and said teasingly, "You looked like you were about to completely shut down just now. Good thing I noticed. You feel a bit more relaxed now, don't you?"
"I do feel much better..." Mei-Yu Wang sighed in relief.
The relaxed atmosphere, the candid sharing of feelings, and the underlying concern in his words gave her a comforting sense of being back home.
Seeing her relax, Symon was about to delve deeper into the topic when a sweet female voice came from behind, "Oh, my! It's Shiina-san, and Mei-chan too! What are you two doing...?"
Hearing the voice of an outsider, Symon turned and saw Kikyō Kushida approaching, presenting herself at a magical 8-degree tilt to the left with an adorable smile.
After a moment's silence, Symon immediately cried for help in his mind, "Hiyori, a little help here. This is the type of person I can't handle."
"Ara, it seems Mr. Ghost isn't very good at handling such enthusiastic girls."
"It's not that I couldn't deal with her if I had to, but I don't even have a body. Just let me have some peace and quiet."
"So it's not that you're unskilled, you just hate wearing a mask? If you want to rely on me, well, I suppose I could accept that."
Leaving those words behind with a soft mental chuckle, Hiyori Shiina took control of the body. She lifted the hand holding Mei-Yu Wang's, her eyes shimmering with a gentle light as she smiled at Kikyō Kushida and said:
"Can't you tell? I'm bullying her, you know!"
"Kushida-san, are you Mei-chan's friend? If you wish to rescue her from the clutches of the Demon Lord, are you prepared to become the hero?"
"A hero? That's a bit of an exaggeration,"
Kikyō Kushida laughed nervously, glanced at Mei-Yu Wang with a touch of concern, and clasped her hands together. "You can just call me Kikyō-chan, Shiina-san," she said with a smile. "In Class D, Mei-chan is only really close with me and Kokoro-chan. If you two are becoming friends, could I be one too?"
"I have no problem with that. Kikyō-chan, do you take good care of her normally? This girl always seems to give one cause for concern..."
A pointless conversation, a meaningless exchange, vapid politeness. This is why even someone as hardworking and brave as Mei-Yu Wang can't make friends—such was Symon's internal assessment as he observed Hiyori Shiina, Kushida, and Mei-Yu Wang exchange contact information.
For the first time, Symon felt that his current state of existence was not entirely unacceptable. At least he didn't have to endure this kind of ordeal, which was quite comfortable.
After an indeterminate amount of pleasantries, the three girls walked along a small path. Under Hiyori Shiina's deliberate guidance, the topic of conversation shifted to the current state of Class D.
Symon paid attention:
Since the very beginning of the school year, the situation in first-year Class D had been poor, existing in a state of severe fragmentation. It could be broadly divided into four groups:
The first group: the popular kids and good students, led by Yōsuke Hirata and Kikyō Kushida.
The second group: the gyaru clique, led by Hirata's girlfriend, Kei Karuizawa.
The third group: the lone wolves, represented by Suzune Horikita, Kiyotaka Ayanokōji, and Rokusuke Kōenji.
The fourth group: the delinquents and losers, represented by Ken Sudō and Haruki Yamauchi.
Of course, the above labels were kindly provided by Miss Mei-Yu Wang; Kikyō Kushida accepted no responsibility for them.
However, since the last violent incident, with the lone wolf and loser groups now short two key members, the atmosphere in Class D had started to show signs of improvement. Aside from that Kōenji fellow who remained as unsociable as ever, the rest of the students had been getting along fairly harmoniously during this period.
Finally, Kikyō Kushida also expressed her concern for Sudō and Yamauchi, who had been suspended for a month. Their suspension wouldn't be lifted until five days before the midterm exams, and their grades were already the two worst in Class D.
Listening to the information from Mei-Yu Wang and Kikyō Kushida, Hiyori Shiina, for once, couldn't resist softly commenting in her mind, "It sounds like Class D is even more chaotic than Class C."
"Don't even start. Class C isn't much better. Let me break it down for you," Symon said with a mental laugh.
"You have the dictatorial faction led by Ryūen, the neutral faction led by you, the gyaru faction led by Manabe, and the opposition faction led by Tokitō."
"It's the pot calling the kettle black; you're all the same. If Ryūen weren't keeping everyone in line, your class would probably be in worse shape than Class D. At the very least, you don't have a social butterfly like Kikyō Kushida."
"I wonder what the situation is in Class A and Class B. In any case, just looking at your two classes, this school is an absolute circus."
...
——————————————
Sunset.
At a white round table outside Pallet Cafe, Arisu Sakayanagi had set her cane aside. She elegantly held her coffee cup, quietly awaiting the appointed time. The sunset's afterglow scattered across her silvery-white hair, making it shimmer with a faint light.
Before long, Masayoshi Hashimoto, with his brilliant blond hair, came jogging over from a distance, an excited look on his face.
"Princess, I've got the exam paper you wanted."
Masayoshi Hashimoto excitedly spread the paper out in front of the silver-haired fairy and asked tentatively,
"Are we going to leak this? If we force the student council to change the exam, Class A's academic prowess means we'll be fine. As long as the other classes have students drop out, both their morale and their overall Class Point income will take a massive hit."
"No, I have other plans..."
Arisu Sakayanagi calmly set down her coffee cup with no intention of explaining. Waking the personal terminal by her hand, she found an account nicknamed "dragon boy" on the screen, a smile curving her lips.
Arisu Sakayanagi: 2,000,000 points in exchange for me not leaking this.
Arisu Sakayanagi: [Image—Tokyo Metropolitan Advanced Nurturing High School 16th Session First-Year First-Semester Midterm Exam Questions]
Half a minute later—
dragon boy: Heh, do as you please.
Arisu Sakayanagi: Ara, are you sure about that?
dragon boy: Trying to play me with a cheap trick like this? Sakayanagi, you really look down on people. If the exam paper can be leaked once, it can be leaked a second and a thousand more times. As long as someone wants it out there, it's bound to get out.
Arisu Sakayanagi: Hmm... I suppose Shiina-san told you that? It sounds very much like her style.
dragon boy: And I should thank you for saving me some points.
In a KTV room elsewhere, Kakeru Ryūen tossed his personal terminal aside, slammed his fist on the table with a bang, and snarled, "Sakayanagi!"
At the same time, back at the cafe, Arisu Sakayanagi casually turned off her terminal. "It's useless now," she said calmly. "Send it over to Kōhei Katsuragi."
Hashimoto scratched his head awkwardly. "Princess, it's Katsuragi."
Sakayanagi's eyes glinted with amusement. "My deepest apologies. It seems I misremembered."
"..."
____
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