People bring their own maids to the training camp

“That’s right, Princess,” Kushida said. “The boy from earlier will definitely submit an application to your fan club right away.”

"Don't mention that fan club anymore, what have I done to deserve this..." Chihaya was very helpless about the fan club that Hayasaka had set up, but the former emphasized its importance and said that it was a very important plan, so Chihaya had no choice but to let Hayasaka continue to run the fan club.

"Karuizawa-san, are you interested in joining? We're recruiting new members right now," Kushida said. "If there are too many people later, it might not be so easy to join, you know?"

“Then I…” Karuizawa looked very tempted and was about to agree immediately.

"Could you two please be considerate of my feelings? Although it's your prerogative, it would be best not to discuss this matter in front of the person involved, wouldn't it?"

"Okay, Kushida-kun, let's chat privately later."

"no problem!"

......

That night.

“How do you feel?”

"Wasn't Karuizawa supposed to be tough in Class D? Why is she so adorable today? She barely initiates any conversations, and even if it's because I borrowed points from her, her attitude is just too..."

"As expected of you, you noticed it right away."

"So, what happened?"

"actually......"

62. Love should be considered my heart.

"So, what happened?"

“Actually, her assertiveness in Class D is all an act; she’s not that assertive by nature,” Hayasaka said. “Moreover, her current assertiveness comes from her boyfriend, Hirata, which means that her authority in Class D is based on Hirata’s authority.”

“That’s not the point, is it?” Chihaya raised an eyebrow.

“Yes, I overheard Karuizawa and Hirata talking when I was with Kamuro, what they said when they were alone,” Hayasaka said. “In short, Hirata’s boyfriend is an imposter.”

"..." Chihaya frowned, seemingly not quite understanding, but he quickly figured it out. "Hmph, a pushover."

"That's right, as you thought, Karuizawa isn't assertive by nature, so she doesn't dare to be assertive when facing people from other classes, and is even a little timid—she was quite assertive when facing Kikyo in Class D, but today, facing both you and Kikyo at the same time in Palette, she showed her timidity."

"Is this some kind of 'powerful radar'?" Chihaya shook her head. "Do I look that scary?"

"You did look quite cold when you were staring at that person in Class C," Hayasaka commented. "You really gave off a high-and-mighty vibe, didn't you? Noble and aloof, you're usually so warm and gentle."

"...That's enough." Chihaya wasn't happy at all about this kind of praise.

Ever since she was a child, Qian has disliked this rather feminine face, and now that he's dressed as a woman, she dislikes it even more.

“Although you say that, your thinking is becoming more and more feminine, you know?” Hayasaka said, and then gave an example, “You see, you saw a scarf before and said it would go well with a sweater and trench coat, and it would be even better with a beret and over-the-knee boots.”

"..." Chihaya fell silent. So this was indeed what he said a few days ago when he and Hayasaka passed by a clothing store. At that time, the store clerk even joked that if they asked Chihaya to be the model and wear the outfit he mentioned, it would definitely be a big seller.

"By the way, your 'feat' on the color palette today was very effective, adding a total of 10 members, including Karuizawa."

Chihaya covered her face with her hands, unable to accept it.

"Congratulations, sister! The male-to-female ratio of members in the fan club is now overwhelmingly dominated by women."

"I don't want to hear this..."

"I'm sorry, this is a necessary report. Please listen carefully, as it concerns our points for the next three years." Hayasaka solemnly opened the tablet in his hand. "I symbolically ordered a small batch of fans with your name printed on them before, but they sold out immediately. The cost was very low, so I didn't actually earn many points per fan."

"Oh."

"However, this led me to discover that the members' payment rate was very high, so I designed your Q version image, which received unanimous praise."

"Let's get straight to the conclusion," Chihaya replied weakly.

"The conclusion is that I have cultivated a group of loyal fans with a very high rate of paying customers for your products. Now we can start to develop the fan economy."

"..."

"However, that's what we mean. We're not just exploiting them like韭菜 (leeks). It's very difficult to sustainably drain the pond to catch all the fish. Therefore, brand power and hard power are very important."

"So, are you really going to do the outfit and makeup stuff I mentioned before?"

“Of course.” Hayasaka nodded. “You just need to be the model, and I can handle the writing and layout.”

"You're really all-around amazing."

"Thanks to you, this is nothing. Even if you need me to steal documents from the chairman's office, I can do it. I have received basic special agent training."

"So that's why my maid took spy training!"

"Because you insist you don't need bodyguards, right?" Hayasaka blinked innocently.

"...I took down five bodyguards from the family all by myself. What would I need bodyguards like that for? I don't even go shopping." Chihaya rolled her eyes as she said this.

In the past decade or so of his life, apart from a brief period of schooling, he has almost always stayed at home, rarely leaving his family's residence. After all, his family is wealthy, and there's nothing he can't get online or with a phone call.

"It's precisely because I'm no match for you that I underwent this kind of training throughout my career; otherwise, I would just be your meat—mmm!"

Hayasaka was speaking when Chihaya covered his mouth with her hand.

"Can you please stop spouting these kinds of jokes? People who don't know you might think you're some kind of pervert."

“It’s alright, I’m your only devoted woman.” Hayasaka immediately pledged her loyalty after Chihaya moved her hand away.

"...There's no need for that." Chihaya sighed. "If you ask me, love should be considered my heart, right?"

"I am your...heart?" Hayasaka was stunned. She never expected Chihaya to say something even more impactful than a confession.

"I think that's a pretty accurate description, isn't it? I can't imagine a life without love."

"...Can we use a sitting position tonight?"

"...Surely you're not going to be moved! Stop making lewd jokes, okay?"

"It's because I was so moved that I couldn't think of a way to repay you for a moment, so I thought we could sit together and feel each other's heartbeats," Hayasaka explained in a very professional manner.

"Whatever makes you happy." Chihaya shook his head. Since everyone else was having fun, he naturally didn't care.

"Okay, then I'll try to finish this box today." Hayasaka clenched his fist to encourage himself.

"Are you planning to take the day off tomorrow?"

"It's a good idea!"

"No way!" Chihaya coldly refused. "Go to class properly! And didn't you sign up for the study group? Go and participate properly!"

"Tch, I knew I shouldn't have pretended about my grades. It's such a hassle to control my score to be in the median and then pretend to be stupid and find fault with others," Hayasaka clicked his tongue.

"That's why I said, it's okay to fake it, but try to rank higher—the class placement system in this school proves that academic ability is the least useful thing, otherwise those top students wouldn't be in Class D."

Thanks to Kushida's information, Chihaya also knew the grades of several top students, such as Horikita Suzune and Yukimura.

In a sense, Class D's academic strength is quite formidable—especially considering they have a top student from across the ocean. If it weren't for the fact that the student's Japanese is slightly weaker, their terrifying academic ability would surely allow them to easily crush everyone.

"In short, I will think about the Karuizawa issue again."

63. (Revised version) Something happened under the table in the library.

There are five subjects in the midterm exam: Social Studies, Chinese, Chemistry, Mathematics, and English.

Unlike quizzes where all five subjects are combined into one exam paper, this midterm exam consists of five separate exam papers for each subject, with each subject having a maximum score of 100 points, for a total of 500 points.

Class B's approach to the midterm exams was to hold study sessions.

Honami and Chihaya divided the participants in the study group into two groups, each containing both high-achieving and low-achieving students, so that the two groups could complement each other.

On the other hand, students who are weak in a particular subject can also receive targeted tutoring. For example, students who are good at math but bad at English can be paired up with students who are good at English but bad at math to complement each other.

On the surface, it is indeed a great idea, but putting it together in practice is not so simple: a series of issues such as personality and communication skills need to be considered, making it quite difficult to put together.

However, most of the time it was still a case of one person leading multiple others. Although it took some effort, we still managed to complete the grouping.

Although there were still more than two weeks until the midterm exams, everyone was taking it very seriously because failing meant expulsion. Almost every day after school, the coffee shops were packed – it was actually quite comfortable to study while sipping a drink.

However, Class B chose the library as their study location. Firstly, there were many students, and the library could accommodate them all. Secondly, compared to a coffee shop, the library had a better atmosphere and was less likely to be disturbed.

More importantly, without drinks and desserts to distract them, there's basically no fun to be had except looking at the pretty girls in their class.

That being said, the seating in Class B was basically separated by gender, with girls sitting on one side of the table and boys on the other.

Today's study session was also a rare one, with both Honami Chihaya and Kanzaki in attendance.

Kanzaki was naturally in charge of guiding the boys, while Chihaya and Honami were surrounded by the girls like stars around the moon.

Hayasaka naturally took the position to Chihaya's left—a position that was not only right next to Chihaya but also wouldn't interfere with his right-hand writing. It was a win-win situation.

For Hayasaka, whose actual ability is to score 100 points, but who has to score in the middle to pretend, attending such a study group is simply torture—it's not like Chihaya is attending today either, she's so bored she's going to die.

Therefore, Hayasaka's plan for today is to ask Chihaya a few math questions in a proper manner, and then do some fun things in private.

Once everyone was in their places, Chihaya and Honami got busy. As the top students in the class, it was natural for them to take on the responsibility of guiding others.

Chihaya didn't think too much about it; he was simply answering his classmates' questions and considering his next move. Therefore, he never expected Hayasaka to take this opportunity to do something—after all, it was a public place, and a library at that.

Therefore, when Chihaya noticed a small hand climbing onto her left leg, her first reaction was surprise.

He thought Hayasaka was going to use his hand as a pen to write on his leg to convey some message, but after feeling it for a while, he found that the other person didn't even use his fingers, but instead gently rubbed it with his palm.

Chihaya felt this was more like flirting than conveying a message.

Or to exaggerate further, the technique was like a pot-bellied middle-aged man stroking his young and beautiful female secretary—Chihaya had no doubt that if she weren't sitting down, his "Lushan's claws" would have moved to her buttocks.

Chihaya remained calm, continuing to write the steps on the draft paper with her right hand while explaining the problem to her classmates, but her left hand went to "war" with Hayasaka on her left leg.

Under normal circumstances, Hayasaka would definitely not be a match for Chihaya. It is written that the latter was preoccupied with the topic and could not spare the energy to deal with Hayasaka. Therefore, the outstretched left hand was equivalent to "a lamb entering a tiger's den" and was directly "captured" by Hayasaka on the spot.

Hayasaka then began to stroke Chihaya's hand, which would then slide down to her thigh and back to her hand, much like a child addicted to playing on a slide.

(Omitted, those who know, know)

Hayasaka played happily for five minutes, while Chihaya next to him finally had some free time.

Their eyes met, and Chihaya gave a half-smile. Hayasaka knew Chihaya meant for her to behave, but she pretended not to get it and blinked innocently instead.

"..." Chihaya immediately realized that he had been provoked by the maid, so he decided to teach this naughty maid a lesson.

He turned and went to find Fanbo.

"Fanbo, Ai and I are going to the restroom. Please take care of things with Kanzaki for now."