Meanwhile—
In a private room at the spa, Kikyō Kushida and Mei-Yu Wang, covered only by bath towels, exposed their radiant skin to the air, enjoying a professional treatment from the therapists.
Kikyō Kushida: "Mmm~!"
Mei-Yu Wang: "This feels so good~!"
Kikyō Kushida covered her face, a little embarrassed. "Xiao Mei, is this really okay? The exam isn't even over and we're already here having fun."
Mei-Yu Wang turned her head in confusion. "What does it matter? Our group's exam is already over. We didn't even get to see our group members before it ended for them. When something like this happens, who can they even complain to? There's nothing they can do!"
Hearing her say that, Kikyō Kushida recalled her communication with Ryūen and realized that she hadn't intentionally revealed her identity, which set her mind at ease for the moment.
Just as she was about to relax, the screen of the personal terminal beside her pillow suddenly lit up, and a message popped up from the top of the screen:
『Yōsuke Hirata: Kushida-san, could I ask you for a favor?』
Kikyō Kushida paused, picked up the terminal, moved it in front of her, and typed a reply:
『Kikyō Kushida: Huh? If it's not too much trouble, then sure.』
『Yōsuke Hirata: It's like this—could I ask you to collect a list of the VIPs from the other classes? Just the ones that have already been exposed is fine.』
『Kikyō Kushida: ?』
Slowly typing a single question mark, Kikyō Kushida glanced at her endless stream of unread messages, clenched her small fists, and suppressed the urge to descend into darkness.
In that instant, the girl had her first firm goal for the future—she would join LINE, just so she could personally bury the company that brought the damned [Read] feature into the world!!!
The girl is typing a reply...
...
Wait, is that what I asked for?
The scene changes. The time is now ten in the morning.
On a sofa in a room on the fourth floor, Airi Sakura sat sideways, looking at Hiyori Shiina's phone screen:
On the video call, a silver-haired pixie was sitting properly in an empty library, a somewhat surprised expression on her face.
"Ara~ Hiyori-chan, it's been a while. You're with that child, I see."
Hiyori Shiina nodded. "Yes, I'm helping Airi with a photoshoot. Did you need something from me?"
"I heard about the VIP exam from Masumi-chan."
Arisu Sakayanagi spoke with a hint of regret. "It feels like it was Hiyori's one-woman show. It's a pity I found out a bit too late, otherwise I could have played the deduction game with you."
Hiyori Shiina tilted her head, and after a moment of thought, a gentle smile appeared on her face. "How long did it take you, Arisu? It took me less than a minute."
The smile on Sakayanagi's face froze for a moment before she spoke with a touch of resignation. "I focused most of my attention on the deliberately chaotic schedule… I overestimated the intelligence of the person who designed the test."
She had stared at the assembly times and room numbers for a long time, until she accidentally flipped to the group lists and almost had a heart attack from pure frustration—the answer was so simple it was infuriating.
Symon teased inwardly, Hiyori, this white-haired loli doesn't seem very convinced.
Hearing this, Hiyori Shiina blinked. "Filtering information and screening intelligence is also part of deduction, you know. Deduction is one of her greatest strengths, so a little competitiveness can be forgiven, right?"
"Is that so… Then I've lost this time." Arisu Sakayanagi thought for a moment and affirmed the girl's point.
At the same time, a pleasant female voice echoed from the ship's broadcast system:
『This is an announcement for all examinees—the exams for the Tiger, Snake, and Sheep groups have concluded early. The results will be announced in one hour. Please wait patiently.』
『I repeat…』
After the broadcast repeated three times, Hiyori Shiina recalled the class point standings for each year and spoke softly into the phone:
"It seems the results are already out. In that case, the gap between Class A and Class B seems to have widened to nearly 400 points again, hasn't it…"
"No, I didn't give the answer to Masumi."
A pleased curve formed on Arisu Sakayanagi's lips as she smiled. "Hiyori… Symon should be able to understand me, right? Class A needs a defeat. It needs sufficient pain to wake up those who are pretending to be asleep, immersed in their fantasy worlds, and make them truly see reality."
Symon thought for a moment before saying inwardly, Hmm… what this girl is saying makes a lot of sense, but in reality, it's just PUA.
Hiyori: "PUA?"
Symon casually explained: "It's about mentally and behaviorally manipulating others through methods like putting them down, invalidating them, and demeaning them. In short, don't you go learning it."
Hiyori tilted her head and said softly, "Symon-kun, you can't do anything right, so you have to listen to me obediently, okay~"
"Ahem~!" Symon was silent for a moment before pretending to be serious. "Very good. You've already grasped the essence of it."
The girl blinked. "So, did that make you unhappy, Mr. Ghost?"
Symon started to act tough. "I think… maybe… possibly… it was fine."
A smile danced in the girl's violet eyes. "I see. That means you like it."
Symon: "You could interpret it that way."
Meanwhile, on the other end of the call, Sakayanagi watched the girl's changing expressions and asked with a smile, "Say… Hiyori-chan, could you let me talk to him?"
"Dame yo~!"
"Alright then. In that case, can you tell me how he replied to me?"
Hiyori Shiina nodded. "He says he likes me."
"???" — Airi Sakura was completely baffled.
"?" — Arisu Sakayanagi slowly typed a single question mark.
Wait, is that what I asked for?
...
_____
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