People bring their own maids to the training camp

"Thinking about these things now is useless. Before we fully understand what the school is up to, let's focus on gathering information." Chihaya shook her head. "By the way, about points?"

"Progress is going very smoothly, and we should be able to turn a profit in about two weeks."

"Wow, that's really fast! How many points did you invest?"

"It'll be less than 10000 points," Hayasaka replied. "The expected profit is 100000 points."

"Ten times?" Chihaya was very surprised. "Loving you isn't a risk-free business, is it?"

“Miss, I have invested 10,000 points. I definitely did not rob people along the way to collect protection money.”

"What can make so much money?"

"You'll know the answer in a few days, and you'll be quite surprised then." Hayasaka deliberately left the question unanswered.

"Keep it a secret, huh? Then I'll wait and see."

"By the way, I will launch a second wave after the funds are recovered, and I will be able to earn even more then."

"Is there really such a profitable business? And it only requires an initial investment of 10,000 points?"

“Yes, Miss,” Hayasaka replied neither humbly nor arrogantly. “From now on, you only need to be responsible for spending money.”

"He's so reliable, darling."

"You flatter me."

17. Preliminary Round

After the registration deadline, Chihaya received a text message from the school specifying the time and location of the competition, along with some additional notes.

The exam was held in the library, and the preliminary round consisted of a test paper prepared by the school, with a total of 100 multiple-choice questions that had to be completed within 20 minutes. The top three finishers advanced to the final round.

There are 100 questions and 20 minutes. That means you need to answer 5 questions per minute to finish, leaving only 10 seconds for each question.

In addition, one point is awarded for each correct answer and one point is deducted for each incorrect answer.

If you participate in this competition just for fun, you'll definitely waste your 10000 points registration fee. Unless you're incredibly lucky and can get everything right, the penalty system for wrong answers might even turn your score into a negative one.

Therefore, completing 100 questions in 20 minutes seems exaggerated, but in reality, accuracy is more important than speed.

Getting 50 questions right is definitely better than getting 60 questions wrong with 20.

Chihaya wasn't worried about this; he was confident in himself, and he wouldn't have any complaints even if he didn't get a ranking.

More than rankings, he was more interested in gathering intelligence during the competition.

On the day of the competition, Chihaya arrived at the designated location in the library half an hour early, and there were indeed not many contestants.

Looking around, he found there were fewer than 10 people.

She was the only one from Class B; she didn't know which class the rest of the students were from.

However, he was a little surprised by a girl wearing a beret and carrying a cane, because she didn't seem to be very suitable for a boarding school.

The girl in the beret seemed to notice Chihaya's gaze and smiled at him.

Chihaya could only smile in response, then found a seat and waited quietly.

Ten minutes before the exam was scheduled to begin, two students carrying file folders appeared.

"Hello everyone, I am Horikita Manabu, the student council president, and this is Tachibana Akane, the secretary. The student council is in charge of this exam. We will now call roll. Those whose names are called, please answer. Those who do not answer will be considered to have forfeited the exam."

Horikita gave a concise and clear explanation, and then took out the roster to take attendance.

"First-year Class A, Sakayanagi Arisu."

"Here," came the beret-wearing girl.

Sakayanagi? Chihaya vaguely recognized the surname, but not very clearly.

"Class 1-B, Princess Chihaya."

"Here." Unexpectedly, the second one was Chihaya.

Is there only one person signing up for Class A? Is it out of caution, or is it because...?

"Class 1-C, Satoru Kaneda and Hiyori Shiina."

"arrive."

"arrive."

The bespectacled boy with the beetle-shaped hairstyle is Kaneda, while the one with long, gray hair who looks very lazy is Shiina Hiyori.

"First-year Class D, Suzune Horikita, Teruhiko Yukimura, and Kikyo Kushida."

Three students from Class D actually signed up.

A girl who shares the same surname as the student council president and bears a striking resemblance to him.

The male character is Yukimura, and the one with short hair and a full bust is Kikyo Kushida.

Chihaya's lips subtly curled up slightly when she noticed Kikyo Kushida.

"A total of 7 people participated in the preliminary round, and the three with the highest scores will enter the final round. The exam papers will be distributed now." After Horikita Manabu finished speaking, Secretary Tachibana Akane opened the file folder.

Although classmates participated together, no two students sat together, so Horikita Manabu directly instructed Tachibana Akane to distribute the test papers instead of reassigning seats.

"Talking, peeking at other people's exam papers, and using electronic devices are strictly prohibited during the exam." Horikita Manabu explained the prohibitions according to the procedure. "Finally, you can use any book in the library for reference, provided you think you have enough time."

Twenty minutes is already a very tight timeframe, why look for a book? There are no specific reference books for knowledge quizzes, Chihaya couldn't help but think.

Soon, the exam officially began.

While everyone was answering questions, Shiina Hiyori suddenly stood up, went to a bookshelf, took down a book, and leisurely returned to continue answering questions.

This made Chihaya admire the other party's courage in her heart.

Some books do contain a lot of interesting knowledge, but first you need to be familiar with the library and know where the books are located, and then you need to understand the content of the books—this is a lot of work, especially since the text message after registration did not mention the rule that you can browse books in the library.

The only explanation is that this girl is exceptionally familiar with the library.

Twenty minutes passed in the blink of an eye, and soon it was time to collect the papers.

"The exam results will be sent to your mobile phones via SMS tonight. Please follow the instructions in the SMS."

Then the chairman and secretary left with the file folder.

----split line----

"How was it? How did you do on the exam?" As soon as Chihiro stepped out of the library, Hayasaka shoved a cup of coffee into her hand.

"The accuracy rate should be quite high, but I don't know about the others."

"There were seven people in total. Oh, and I saw an old friend today."

"is it?"

"But she probably doesn't recognize me now."

"Haha, that's for sure, isn't it?"

The two chatted casually for a while, then moved to a blind spot in the surveillance footage.

"Do you remember Kikyo Kushida?" Chihaya's voice turned cold. "She's the junior high school I attended for a month."

Yes, I remember.

She's in Class D.

"So, what should we do with her?" Hayasaka asked.

"Of course, when old friends meet, they should naturally catch up."

"Should I go and make contact?"

"Let her come to my room in a few days," Chihaya said after thinking for a moment.

“Understood, leave it to me.” Hayasaka nodded. “I’ll give her a reason she can’t refuse.”

Since it was unclear whether Kikyo Kushida would recognize Chihaya, there was still a certain risk involved, even though she had changed her surname and dressed as a woman.

The best solution is to nip the risk in the bud.

"Let's also investigate what she's been doing. Her brain is useless for taking this exam; she must have her own agenda."

"Understood." Hayasaka nodded again, then asked a question that almost made Chihaya spit out her coffee, "So, do you need to replenish that thing under your pillow?"

"...Why do you ask this?"

"I think this kind of physical persuasion is the most direct and simplest way, and it also reduces my workload."

"Can you not be so blunt, girl?" Chihaya thought to herself.

“No need to add anything!” Chihaya decisively rejected Hayasaka’s suggestion.

18. To stir up trouble and alert the enemy.

While having lunch, Hayasaka began investigating Kikyo Kushida through various channels.

"According to preliminary investigations, Kushida's current position is very similar to Ichinose's. She is almost called 'Little Angel' in Class D, and she can talk to the lowest-ranking boys in the class on an equal footing." Hayasaka reported the results of the investigation to Chihaya. "There are people in every class A, B, and C who have a good personal relationship with her, and she is also ranked very high on the list of girls that the boys want to date."

“Just the fact that she treats all boys equally is already quite remarkable. There are always a few boys in every class that you don’t want to deal with.” Chihaya snorted. “This mask is perfect. It makes boys have the illusion that ‘if she were an easy girl to talk to, would I also have a chance?’”

"That's it, and then there's the reason she participated in this exam."

"Ah."

"Kushida seems to pay a lot of attention to Horikita Suzune, who is also in Class D. He often tries to talk to her, but he is usually rejected. He probably joined us this time because Horikita was participating."

“This woman, who wouldn’t do anything without a reason, wouldn’t be so persistent in pursuing someone just to make friends; there must be something going on,” Chihaya said. “But have you seen a picture of this Horikita Suzune?”

"some."

"I saw her during the exam today. I guess she's the current student council president's sister, but we don't seem to be very close."

"Isn't it common for siblings in ordinary families to have poor relationships?"

“But this is a school that claims to prioritize merit,” Chihaya emphasized. “However, we have not yet obtained any evidence to support this claim.”

"That's true...but..."

"Let's put Horikita's problem aside for now. I'll stick to the plan and talk to Kushida, and maintain a good relationship with her." Chihaya paused after saying that, "Then I'll add a little 'fuel' and we can reap the rewards in a few days."