Tanaka Masao lightly coughed, interrupting their perfectly reasonable and precise conjectures.
"Alright, Fujiwara-senpai, you guessed wrong again."
"Wrong again?"
Fujiwara Chika showed no signs of discouragement; instead, she became even more determined.
"Hmm, this is a difficult problem, but it can't stump me.
It must be that fated bench, where, by chance, they sat on the same bench..."
Fujiwara Chika's words were cut off halfway by Tanaka Masao.
"Incorrect."
"A first meeting under the cherry blossom tree."
"Incorrect."
"Hero, no, Masao saves the beauty."
"Also incorrect, and why did you change 'hero' to 'Masao'?"
After several failed guesses, Fujiwara Chika was losing patience.
"This is wrong, that's wrong, it can't be that you two are childhood sweethearts, can it?"
Tanaka Masao widened his eyes, feigning surprise.
"Fujiwara-senpai, how did you..."
Seeing Tanaka Masao's reaction, Fujiwara Chika was also a little surprised.
"Did I guess correctly?"
She hadn't expected a random possibility she'd blurted out to be true; she truly was amazing.
Tanaka Masao's lips curled into a mischievous smile as he continued.
"You guessed wrong again."
Fujiwara Chika, who had just been a little smug, puffed out her cheeks in annoyance.
"Junior Tanaka is being mean and bullying people again."
Watching Fujiwara Chika's pouting expression, Tanaka Masao said with a hint of triumph.
"How about it, Fujiwara-senpai? If you really can't guess, you can beg me to tell you the correct answer."
Seeing Tanaka Masao's smug look, Fujiwara Chika was almost fuming.
"I would never beg a mean junior!"
Fujiwara Chika made a face at Tanaka Masao, then looked at Yukinoshita Yukino with a smile.
"Ne, Xuezhixia Classmate, could you tell me how you and Junior Tanaka met?"
Seeing Fujiwara Chika bypass him and go straight to Yukinoshita Yukino, Tanaka Masao accused.
"Ah, Fujiwara-senpai, you're cheating!"
Fujiwara Chika chuckled triumphantly; she was very pleased to have successfully flustered Tanaka Masao.
"Hehe, how is this cheating? There's no rule against asking others."
"Hmph, Fujiwara-senpai, do you think you've won just like that? It seems I'll have to use my trump card."
Tanaka Masao regained his composure.
Fujiwara Chika looked at Tanaka Masao's serious expression and couldn't help but swallow.
"Junior Tanaka, what are you going to do?"
"Xuezhixia Classmate, please don't help Fujiwara-senpai."
If conditions had allowed, Tanaka Masao would have been sliding on his knees right now.
Everyone: Your trump card is begging? How lame.
Fujiwara Chika: "You're also being unfair, Junior Tanaka! Xuezhixia Classmate, don't listen to Junior Tanaka, tell me!"
"Xuezhixia Classmate, this is a once-in-a-lifetime request, please don't say anything."
Caught between the two, Yukinoshita Yukino couldn't help but feel a headache coming on.
It felt like she was looking after two children fighting over candy; what was going on?
Although she found it a bit noisy, Yukinoshita Yukino surprisingly liked the feeling.
While the three of them were having a lively time, on the other side, Shirogane Kei and Fujiwara Moeha had approached Kashi.
Both were at an age where they loved cute things, so naturally, they couldn't resist the adorable little one.
And Kashi, being even more outgoing than Fujiwara Chika, quickly hit it off with the two of them.
By the time Shinomiya Kaguya came to her senses, the people present had quickly formed new groupings.
She looked at Tanaka Masao and the other two, who seemed to be flirting and bickering, then at Kashi and her two companions, who were laughing joyfully.
Looking left and right, Shinomiya Kaguya realized something serious.
[I've been isolated?]
She stood in the middle of them; although laughter filled the air around her, she felt an immense desolation.
She wanted to go to Fujiwara Chika's side, but she wasn't familiar with the other two, and she couldn't blend into that sweet, cloying atmosphere.
She wanted to go to Fujiwara Moeha's side, but the atmosphere and topics among the three girls made her reluctant to disturb them.
Shinomiya Kaguya felt a bit helpless, standing rooted to the spot.
[I don't have to have someone accompany me, you know.]
She shifted her attention to the pandas.
[Pandas are so cute. That's right, I'm concentrating on watching the pandas; I haven't noticed anyone else at all. It's not that I'm isolated, it's that I'm ignoring everyone else.]
Shinomiya Kaguya thought this to comfort herself, but only she knew how agonizing she felt at that moment, as uncomfortable as if ants were crawling all over her body.
[Time is passing so slowly. I want to find somewhere to hide.]
Shinomiya Kaguya's awkward predicament went unnoticed by the other six people present; the only one who noticed was Hayasaka Ai, who was not far away.
[Kaguya-douchi is so pitiful, all alone.
At this moment, she must be having a mental breakdown, crying and wailing, boo hoo hoo, so pitiful.
I really want to give her a warm hug.
Speaking of which, would it be better to call the President over now?]
Just as Shinomiya Kaguya was on the verge of collapsing, a voice as beautiful as a heavenly melody rang out.
"Attention, all visitors, the Panda Garden is holding an event today. Visitors interested in participating, please gather here.
The event is fun, and the prizes are generous. The first-place prize is half an hour of interaction with a panda!"
"Attention, all visitors..."
To ensure every visitor heard, the staff member shouted three times.
This announcement successfully caught everyone's attention.
Immediately, people started signing up.
Tanaka Masao and his group also stopped chatting.
Fujiwara Chika said excitedly.
"Let's participate too! The first-place winner gets to interact with a panda; it sounds really interesting."
Yukinoshita Yukino, hearing that she could personally interact with a panda, also became excited and nodded in agreement.
It was only then that Fujiwara Chika remembered her best friend, Shinomiya Kaguya.
"Kaguya-douchi, come with us too!"
Shinomiya Kaguya, who had been pretending to be indifferent while alone, had actually been straining her ears, waiting for Fujiwara Chika to say those words.
Noticed once again, Shinomiya Kaguya was so touched she almost cried.
[Fujiwara student, you truly are my best friend.]
She felt as if she had been pulled out of an abyss of loneliness.
Indeed, even Shinomiya Kaguya couldn't endure silent treatment.
"Let's go together."
The other three were also very interested in the event and all signed up.
In less than a moment, over a hundred people had signed up.
This was even with fewer visitors today due to some uncontrollable factors.
The Panda Garden was very spacious, more than enough to accommodate these people.
However, for a small event, organizing a hundred people at once was not very convenient.
But the organizers were well-prepared; they even had strategies for the usual crowded flow of visitors, which could perfectly resolve the current situation.
The staff gathered everyone together and shouted through a megaphone.
"Everyone, the event actually just started! Everyone has received a participation number plate.
Will the twenty contestants holding green number plates please step forward as the winners of the first round of the event!"