Hearing Katsuragi's words, Hiyori Shiina thought for a moment, a smile gracing her face, but she didn't say much.
The human heart is always the most complex thing. It's never a good idea to presuppose the actions of others and set one's expectations too high.
"So... Hiyori, do you have any ideas?"
She wanted to ask if she could be of any help.
Hiyori Shiina blinked and said in a gentle voice, "That needs to be kept a secret~ so I can't—"
"Mm," Airi Sakura nodded obediently, returning her attention to the dishes in front of her without saying anything more.
After their relaxing breakfast, Hiyori and Sakura took their digital cameras and began taking pictures at various spots around the cruise ship. Meanwhile, after peeling a shrimp stick and carefully offering it to her, Sakura confirmed that Katsuragi had walked far away and tentatively asked:
Click! Click! Click~!
—The continuous sound of the camera shutter.
By the cruise ship's railing, Hiyori held her digital camera, taking pictures of Sakura, who skillfully struck various poses.
Symon: "That camera presence... I guess it's to be expected from a former gravure idol, huh? Her professional skills are truly formidable."
From his perspective, Airi Sakura had her hair in twin tails, her face adorned with a lively and cute smile. She no longer had that timid, submissive look from before; it was as if she were a different person.
Hiyori Shiina silently agreed in her heart: "This girl really does have a talent for being an idol."
"Hmm... if she wants to develop in that direction, I'd suggest she practice a musical instrument or work on her singing, learn some music theory, that sort of thing. I don't think the school has a club like that."
Symon said casually, then suddenly changed the subject, teasing with a laugh, "If she really wants to reach the pinnacle of life, she could actually learn some Chinese from Mei-Yu. Then she'd definitely never have to worry about putting food on the table."
A Japanese idol who can speak Chinese, combined with Sakura's looks, figure, and that soft, sweet personality... her efficiency at milking otaku for their money would be off the charts.
"Mr. Ghost seems to be thinking up some mischievous ideas again..." Hiyori Shiina thought for a moment before offering this assessment.
"Alright, I was just saying it off the cuff."
While the two were chatting idly in her mind, Hiyori finished taking pictures of Airi.
She had just found a place to sit down and was about to sort through the photos she'd just taken when she saw him:
Ryūen, with his hands in his pockets, walked over. He lowered his gaze to scrutinize Sakura, who had changed her hairstyle and taken off her glasses, and asked in a calm tone, "Is that her? The gravure idol from last time?"
"That's right," Hiyori Shiina nodded, speaking in her gentle voice. "Shouldn't you know best, Ryūen-kun?"
"I don't pay attention to insignificant people."
Ryūen said this casually, tilting his chin up as he leaned down to look over Airi, who was huddled by Hiyori's side like a frightened little rabbit. He smirked, "Looking at her like this, she's actually not bad. Much more of a looker than Suzune."
Hiyori Shiina clasped her hands together and said with a smile, "Ara, please don't bully her, Ryūen-kun."
Ryūen shot her a sidelong glance and said coldly, "Only the weak draw their blades against those even weaker. I haven't stooped that low, as long as she doesn't try to provoke me."
He had no interest in docile, soft little lambs like her. It had to be a thorny rose like Suzune, or a poisonous dessert like Sakayanagi, to awaken his desire to crush and destroy them.
"In that case, that's for the best."
Hiyori glanced at Sakura, who had quietly let out a sigh of relief, and asked, "Are you here to see me now because of the special exam?"
Ryūen nodded, pulling two handmade charts densely packed with names from his pocket. He handed them to the girl, along with a red ballpoint pen, then leaned his body against the ship's railing and began to speak calmly:
"I'm guessing you also figured out from the teacher's explanation that there's a pattern to the VIPs. This is the known information compiled by Kaneda, along with the three VIPs from our class. See for yourself."
Hiyori Shiina nodded.
Without rushing to look at the charts, she turned to Sakura beside her, only to see the girl had adorably squeezed her eyes shut, looking terrified of accidentally seeing anything.
Seeing this, Ryūen raised an eyebrow and said in a playful tone, "I feel like... when it comes to methods for raising a pet, that woman Sakayanagi is probably a bit inferior to you."
Hiyori Shiina shook her head. "We're friends."
Ryūen (cold gaze): You think I'd believe that nonsense?
—Of course, he didn't say this out loud.
Seeing this, Hiyori Shiina didn't explain further and unfolded the charts in her hands to examine them seriously.
Meanwhile, in the girl's mind, Symon also took a quick look through her eyes:
There were two charts—
One was an 8x12 grid. The horizontal axis listed room numbers 201-208, and the vertical axis listed the meeting times for the 12 groups, from the Rat group to the Pig group. The corresponding cells were filled with the 40 names of the Class C students.
The VIPs were spread across three rooms—203, 201, and 206—and their names were specially marked among them. They were:
[Tiger]Tiger Group: Mami Kadomatsu
[Snake]Snake Group: Yūji Kondō
[Goat]Goat Group: Kaoru Hatanaka
After getting a full view of the chart, Symon did a quick calculation in his mind, only to see Hiyori Shiina had already switched to the second one. He couldn't help but ask with a smile, "Finished already?"
"Mm, there's no valuable information here," Hiyori Shiina replied softly in her mind. "The meeting times and room numbers are completely randomized. I can't see any pattern for now, so it's better to look at the next one."
The first thing Hiyori saw when she got the chart was:
Rabbit (卯) Group, meeting time 6:00, meeting room 201.
And her group, the Dragon (辰) Group, had a meeting time of 8:40 and meeting room 208.
As two adjacent zodiac signs, the Rabbit and Dragon groups should have been sequential, but they were assigned such unrelated times and locations. Combined with the lack of any pattern in the VIPs' rooms, she could only set it aside for now.
Hearing this explanation, Symon thought for a moment and didn't say much more, following Hiyori's gaze to focus on the second chart:
The second was a 4x12 grid. The horizontal axis listed the 4 classes from A to D, and the vertical axis listed the 12 groups from Rat (子) to Pig (亥). The cells in between were densely packed with the 159 names from the four classes, and the three VIPs had also been specially marked.
Symon couldn't help but snark in her mind, "This is a massive undertaking. It'd be wrong if Ryūen doesn't kowtow to Kaneda for this."
"Mmm... he really was a huge help."
A flicker of amusement crossed the girl's light purple eyes. She looked up at Ryūen and asked casually, "By the way... have you thought about how you're going to thank Kaneda-kun, Ryūen-kun?"
Ryūen raised an eyebrow. "Is it useful?"
Hiyori Shiina nodded, and with the red pen in hand, she marked 12 names on the chart—
[Rat]Rat Group: Class A's Yūsuke Ishida
[Ox]Ox Group: Class B's Yume Kobashi
[Tiger]Tiger Group: Class C's Mami Kadomatsu
[Rabbit]Rabbit Group: Class D's Kei Karuizawa
[Dragon]Dragon Group: Class D's Kikyō Kushida
[Snake]Snake Group: Class C's Yūji Kondō
[Horse]Horse Group: Class D's Setsuya Minami
[Goat]Goat Group: Class C's Kaoru Hatanaka
[Monkey]Monkey Group: Class B's Kozue Minakata
[Rooster]Rooster Group: Class A's Chikako Motohito
[Dog]Dog Group: Class B's Susumu Moriyama
[Pig]Pig Group: Class A's Momoe Rokkaku
After doing this, Hiyori handed the paper and pen back to Ryūen and said with a smile, "The results are already in."
Ryūen was stunned for a moment. He took the chart and looked at the twelve names that had been singled out. He let out a cold laugh on the spot, took out his terminal, and in front of Hiyori Shiina and Airi Sakura, made a call:
"Hello! Kikyō-chan here!" The voice on the other end was Kikyō Kushida's, highly recognizable.
Ryūen said coldly, "It's Ryūen."
"What do you want." The tone of Kikyō Kushida on the other end of the line instantly turned cold, making both Hiyori and Sakura, who were listening to the speakerphone, tilt their heads in confusion.
Ryūen sneered, "You're the VIP of the Dragon group, aren't you."
Kushida, shocked: "How did you know!!!"
"Then there's no problem."
Saying that, Ryūen casually hung up and pocketed his terminal. He looked at Hiyori and said in a teasing tone, "I never knew you had this kind of skill."
"I'm quite good at deduction, you know," Hiyori Shiina said with a smile.
Receiving such a perfunctory reply, Ryūen didn't mind and asked casually, "Any thoughts? About this exam."
Hiyori Shiina shook her head. Under Ryūen's somewhat puzzled gaze, she took out her personal terminal, her fair knuckles tapping lightly on the screen.
Ding~! —Message sent successfully!
Hiyori Shiina held up her hand to show him, her light purple eyes shimmering. In a soft voice, she said, "Because this is the optimal solution."
At the same time, an announcement came over the ship's broadcast system:
『Attention all students. The exam for the Dragon group has concluded early. Please maintain order and do not disturb the exams for the other groups.』
『I repeat...』
Hearing the broadcast, Sakura couldn't help but open her eyes, and then she saw:
Ryūen raised an eyebrow. "You woman, you wouldn't even hesitate for a second, would you?"
Hiyori Shiina shook her head. "I wouldn't..."
Ryūen couldn't help but twitch the corner of his mouth—as expected, an ordinary person couldn't afford to provoke this woman. She was too ruthless.
...
____
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