People bring their own maids to the training camp

B Hayasaka Ai

C. Kushida Kikyo

D-Princess Chihaya

"Huh? Is this kind of question okay?" Shiina looked at Horikita Manabu.

“Gathering intelligence is also a part of testing one’s knowledge base,” Horikita Manabu replied.

"This is too far-fetched..." Shiina muttered softly, "It's definitely not D, so I'll choose A."

"The answer was wrong. Shiina is third, and Sakayanagi is second," Tachibana Akane announced the rankings.

"Ahhh, Sakayanagi-san is so cunning, giving such a question!" Shiina looked at Sakayanagi.

"If we're talking about malicious intent, wouldn't the person over there who used lipstick shades as the topic be even more cunning?"

"So, I'm the only one honestly setting the questions..."

"I apologize to both of you, I only relied on what I'm good at a little bit." Chihaya said very frankly.

"As expected of Sei-ei's older sister, Princess Consort is quite skilled at makeup, isn't she?"

"It's embarrassing."

After a few casual words, Horikita Manabu adjusted his glasses and tapped the table in front of him.

This action immediately silenced the three of them.

"Congratulations everyone. The first reward for this competition is a refund of the registration fee," Horikita Manabu said. Seeing that the audience didn't react, he continued, "The remaining rewards will be announced via SMS. If you have any objections, you can discuss them with the student council. That's all, dismissed."

After saying that, the boy left without looking back, while the latter smiled encouragingly at the three of them and jogged a few steps to catch up with Horikita Manabu.

"It seems we'll have to wait a while to find out the specific rewards." It was Sakayanagi who broke the silence. "Heh, what an interesting 'knowledge' competition."

“It’s definitely different from what I expected,” Chihaya replied. “It’s…unique.”

Do you two enjoy reading mystery novels?

“I have indeed read two of them in my spare time,” Sakayanagi replied. “However, I only answered your question correctly because I knew about the movie.”

"I see..." Shiina seemed a little disappointed, then turned her expectant gaze to Chihaya.

"I have read works like 'And Then There Were None' and 'Murder on the Orient Express'."

"Could you two please exchange contact information with me?"

"of course can."

23. Rewards

"Oh dear, Masumi-san, you weren't waiting for me here all this time, were you?" Sakayanagi asked, feigning surprise.

"Huh? I just thought it was cooler here." Kamuro Masumi looked impatient, but her body language betrayed her as she stepped forward to support Sakayanagi. "How come it's over so soon? You weren't the first one eliminated, were you?"

"Masumi-san seems to lack confidence in me."

"That's right, then you must be number..."

"I'm second."

Before Kamuro could finish speaking, Sakayanagi interrupted her, his smiling expression suggesting he didn't care much about winning or losing.

"Huh? If you're not number one, then who is?" Kamuro asked in surprise. "It can't be that beautiful but unremarkable person, Himegami Chihaya, can it?"

"Isn't Masumi quite clever? She guessed the champion right away."

"No way? It really is that concubine..." Kamuro clicked his tongue in amazement. "Could she really be that clever?"

"Does Masumi-san have any stereotypes about Himegami-san?"

"That's not true."

"By the way, Masumi-kun, do you know which Dior lipstick shade is a true red?"

"Huh? How would I possibly know about that! You should ask someone dressed like a hot girl." Kamuro immediately replied, "Why ask that? It can't be that you want to put on makeup, can it?"

“No, that’s not it~ Himegami-kun, she’s a very interesting person,” Sakayanagi said.

"What about Shiina from Class C?" Kamuro saw Shiina enter the examination room because he had been waiting for Sakayanagi.

“Shiina is someone who’s immersed in her own world, so there’s no need to worry about her,” Sakayanagi said nonchalantly. “Next, I’d like Masumi to do me a small favor.”

"...Could it be another stalking attempt?" Kamuro immediately became alert upon hearing "help," recalling the incident with Katsuragi the other day—

"We don't need to continue with Katsuragi-san. In contrast, could you please take care of Himegami-san's situation?"

"Do I have the right to refuse?"

"Then it's settled?" Sakayanagi said with a smile, making the final decision.

Kamuro pursed his lips and didn't say anything more.

----split line----

"Such a thing is indeed a piece of cake for you."

Back in the room, Hayasaka briefly inquired about what had happened.

"It's actually quite dangerous." Chihaya poured herself a glass of water. "Although it's supposed to be a 'knowledge' competition, the student council seems to be quite lenient with the scope of the questions... um...?"

"Your lipstick question would not pass in any serious knowledge competition."

"That's probably why Sakayanagi used a forum question to test Shiina," Chihaya pondered. "This Sakayanagi in Class A is no ordinary person."

“Young Miss, if my memory serves me right, I feel like I’ve heard the surname Sakayanagi somewhere before.”

"It's probably related to some business dealings with family. If it were important, I shouldn't be unaware of it."

While the two were chatting, Chihaya's phone rang.

"It's a text message from the school," Chihaya said to Hayasaka. "The prize for the champion is 15000 points, plus a score bonus?"

"Score bonus?" Hayasaka repeated. "Does it mean a privilege that adds points to the exam? Did it say how many points?"

"5 points."

"It's not a lot, but it's not a small amount either."

Chihaya remained noncommittal, stood up, and picked up her school uniform jacket.

Are you going out?

“Go to the student council,” Chihaya replied. “I think it’s best to hear what they have to say about the specifics.”

"Let me just confirm for now, you probably don't intend to hide your abilities and deliberately not get a high score, right?"

"Wouldn't that be too stupid?" Chihaya replied without thinking. "If you really want to hide your strength, you should focus on getting good grades on the exam. Don't aim for first place; ranking between 4th and 10th is enough."

"You seem quite skilled at this, Miss."

"Think about it, if you always rank in the 20th or 30th place in the class to hide your grades, and then suddenly rank first when you need the grades, even a fool would know there's something wrong."

"..." Hayasaka remained silent at the right moment, she could tell that Chihaya was eager to express herself.

"Therefore, the real way to hide your strength is to hide your core competitiveness - just having good exam scores is meaningless. No matter how good your grades are, if you are not good at interpersonal communication, you will still be called a 'bookworm'."

"Just express fewer opinions or only offer conventional opinions on decision-making matters. After all, a person's overall qualities are more important. Just having good grades will cause a lot of trouble in the future."

Are you an HR person from somewhere? Is this some kind of recruitment announcement? Hayasaka thought to himself, without interrupting Chihaya.

"Okay, that's settled then. I'll go to the student council, you can continue with Kushida's side."

"Understood, I will act at the appropriate time."

"Oh, right, love."

"I'm here."

"Since you said you recognize the surname Sakayanagi, let's investigate it while we're at it."

"Please leave it to me."

24. Student Union

After parting ways with Hayasaka, Chihaya went to the student council.

Chihaya hadn't walked far when she realized something was wrong—it seemed like someone was following her.

The other party's tracking technology was very poor, but it's understandable from the perspective of a high school student, since high school students generally don't specifically study this kind of thing.

Chihaya thought for a moment, then took out her phone and pretended to reply to a message, slowing down her movements considerably.

Since the stalker is following along the same route, if he starts to slow down, the other party will definitely need to change their course as well.

This also tests the tracker's adaptability.

Faced with this sudden change, the tracker subconsciously slowed down a few steps, but immediately adjusted and crossed Chihaya at a normal pace.

In the few seconds it took for him to pass by Chihaya, she was looking down at her phone typing something, but she was observing the pursuer's appearance out of the corner of her eye. And because her long hair was hanging down, the other person didn't notice her movements.

With her long purple hair tied in a side ponytail, Chihaya silently memorized the other person's features.

He then put away his phone and continued on his way to the student council office. Since he was acting openly and honestly, there was no problem with others knowing that he had been to the student council.

It doesn't matter if others know that I received a five-point reward.

He hadn't originally planned to do anything, but since someone had come to him, he naturally had to treat them well.

......

Shortly after, Chihaya arrived at the student council room and knocked on the door.

"Please come in." The indifferent voice was clearly that of Horikita Manabu.

"Excuse me." Chihaya pushed open the door and entered.

There were three people in the room at that moment: Horikita Manabu, Tachibana Akane, and a blond boy.

"Greetings, everyone. I'm here to inquire about something related to text messages." Although she didn't know them, Chihaya still greeted them.

She had been wondering before, how could the student council of such a big school only have the president and the secretary?

The fact that the president had to personally host such a small event with few participants is practically a blatant display of the student council's incompetence.