I, the mastermind behind the scenes at Soubu High, refuse to be caught in a bloodbath.

"The guitars are over there, all tuned. You can choose any one, or you can use your own."

After sitting down, Himekoji pointed to the guitars on the instrument rack and said.

"Oh, no need, thank you. I'll use my own."

Kitahara plugged in his guitar, pulled up a chair and sat near Himekoji's piano. Himekoji glanced at him and asked, "Ready? Say OK and I'll start."

“Hoo—,” he said, taking a deep breath, “ready.”

So, Himekoji began to play in sync with him.

But the first attempt was quickly halted by Kitahara's hesitation. Himekoji took a breath and said, "Let's do it again."

I got stuck again on the second try.

The third time, it still got stuck, stuck in the same place as the previous two times.

Because the results were unsatisfactory after three attempts, Kitahara became a little ashamed. Himekoji twisted his neck and cracked his wrists, making a "slap slap" sound, as if he wanted to beat him up. He sighed and held out his hand to Kitahara, saying, "Give me the guitar."

"Ah... okay."

Kitahara obediently handed him the guitar, and Himekoji hugged it to his arms, adjusted his position slightly, and then plucked the guitar strings.

The song flowed exceptionally smoothly.

"I just can't figure out why you keep getting stuck on that spot. But based on the initial checks, the results are not good. Okay, let's continue. If you still can't get past that hurdle in half an hour, I'll have to go now."

Ji Xiaolu pointed to the duo practicing exceptionally well over there and sighed.

But Kitahara seemed determined not to play this simple piece, "White Album," smoothly. So Himekoji kept his word and let him continue practicing on his own for half an hour, while he went back next door, picked up his guitar, and began to play along with Kazusa and Setsuna.

Autumn is a season of many troubles; otherwise, why would there be a Chinese idiom for it? Soubu High School's sports festival, cultural festival, and school trip all take place in autumn and winter, which makes the student council's work much more demanding. Even if Himekoji is not in charge of guiding the cultural festival executive committee, he still has to do his job as student council president, and that will not change unless he stops serving as student council president.

The very next day, as soon as Ji Xiaolu arrived at the classroom, he noticed that the seat of Yukinoshita, who always arrived earlier than him, was empty. Not only was there no one there, but even her bag was gone. After looking around, just as he put down his bag and was about to sit down, his phone started vibrating.

Upon taking it out, I saw that the caller was the weakling, Yukinoshita.

As Himekoji answered the phone, she walked out the door. On the other end, Yukinoshita said in a small, weak voice, "Himekoji, please ask for leave for me today. I might not be able to go to school."

"You can, but shouldn't you call the teacher?"

"Sometimes we should make use of available resources, that's what you taught me, isn't it?"

"So, what's wrong with you? You sound like you're about to die."

"I'm just feeling a little unwell, don't worry about me, just ask for leave for me."

"Alright, goodbye then."

After Yukinoshita hung up the phone first, Himekoji shook her head helplessly, discussed the matter briefly with her homeroom teacher, and then left the school.

After getting into Ms. Reiko's car, Himekoji sped all the way to the vicinity of Yukinoshita's house. After buying some gifts at the supermarket, she went to her apartment complex. However, this time, for some reason, there was no registration or notification, and the car drove directly into the complex. Himekoji found it strange and wondered if the license plate had been automatically registered because she had been there a few times before.

"Then I'll go up first. You can go ahead as you please, Sister Lingzi."

Carrying the gifts for Yukinoshita, Himekoji left the car and went directly to the waiting hall downstairs at her house, pressing the doorbell for number 1507.

No one answered.

I kept pressing the button, but still no one answered.

Just as Himekoji was about to call Yukinoshita again after pressing the button about five times, the walkie-talkie crackled with static, accompanied by a weak, almost inaudible voice.

Chapter 194 On History, [Yukino Yukinoshita] is Confident

"Excuse me...?"

"It's me, Himekoji Haruto. How are you now?"

"It's alright... So—, um... why did you come?"

"That's because some idiot dialed the Strongman Summoning Hotline, so I have to show up as promised."

"...So all I wanted was for you to help me ask for leave, there was no need to make such a fuss."

"Enough with the nonsense, open the door now."

"Okay, please wait for me for fifteen minutes."

She pressed a button near the doorbell, and the iron curtain in the waiting hall slowly retracted, revealing luxurious sofas for waiting. There were also several vending machines nearby. Ji Xiaolu glanced at them casually and saw that they sold not only umbrellas but also disposable temporary underwear. This was really comprehensive.

He was told to wait fifteen minutes, but in reality, it took about twenty minutes for Yukinoshita to finally get ready and open the elevator door for him. Himekoji stepped into the elevator, pressed the button for the fifteenth floor, and went up. After coming out of the fifteenth floor, he could hear Yukinoshita unlocking the door at home.

Because she is a girl living alone, this door can be described as being secured with an absolute lock. When Himekoji came last time, she paid a little attention and found that there were three locks inside the door that could be seen at a glance.

There was no nameplate on the door of Yukinoshita's house, only the number 1507, which Himekoji was already very familiar with.

Just as Himekoji arrived at Yukinoshita's house, she unlocked all the doors, opening them almost silently and peeking out.

"Phew—please come in."

As if she had made a very difficult mental decision, she resigned herself to let Himekoji go in, and then locked the door with a "click-clack".

Upon entering the room, you can immediately smell a faint scent of soap.

Yukinoshita gave off a different impression than usual. She was slender, and her delicate white knit sweater was slightly loose, with sleeves that were too long and completely covered her hands, revealing her collarbone from the neckline. Her long black hair, tied in a ponytail, fell to her chest, concealing the neckline of her sweater, and her long skirt almost touched her ankles.

Seriously, isn't this the "You're in danger, madam!" hairstyle that screams "Deadly wife hairstyle"? You look like an old woman hanging herself, tired of living! (Yukino)

"I bought you some fruit, sweets, juice, and some pain relief patches..." After placing the gifts on the dining table, Himekoji clapped her hands slightly and asked the somewhat dazed Yukinoshita, "Have you had breakfast yet? If not, I can make you some fresh."

"So... who exactly are you...?"

Completely confused, Yukino felt dizzy and shook her head while leaning against the wall.

"Well, as a way of repaying you for helping me with my workload, you can just think of it that way."

"Sharing the workload... To be honest, I basically do all the slightly more important tasks. And you know perfectly well that Sagami-san isn't up to the task of executive committee chairperson, so why did you put her in that position? Because of this, my schedule has been disrupted, and now my sister is adding to the chaos..." Despite saying "not complaining," she kept complaining as she spoke. Noticing her unusual behavior, Yukinoshita immediately shut up, sighed, and said, "Never mind what happened earlier."

Before blaming me, didn't you consider your own problems at all?

Ji Xiaolu took out a strawberry egg tart and handed it to her, then casually sat down on her sofa and asked.

"I...I've already worked very hard, do you, as the student council president, have any other objections?"

“So my opinion is—” Himekoji glanced at her sideways, tapping her fingers on her leg as she said, “You’ve gone a bit too far, I mean you’re going to spare no effort in helping Sagami Minami.”

"This is a request from the Service Club... I find it strange that you, as a member, are not helping."

After playing with the egg tarts for a while, Yukinoshita removed the covering film and leaned against the wall to eat them in small bites.

The cats all seemed to be in the bedroom; Himeko could only hear faint meows but couldn't see them.

"Isn't it a form of complacency, or even arrogance, to offer help to anyone who asks for it, no matter how hopeless they may be?"

"Oh dear, does the person who arbitrarily entered the number 'Strong Warrior Himekoji' into my phone and told me I could call this number if I had any difficulties have the right to say such a thing?"

"Because you are capable and not beyond redemption, I won't casually lend a helping hand to anyone. The cost of asking me to help can sometimes be very expensive."

“Then I don’t think I need to hire such an ‘expensive’ helper as you.”

"Under the snow, do you know about the Medici family from the Renaissance period?"

"What does this have to do with what we're talking about now?"

“Of course,” Himekoji knew that Yukinoshita must know something about this, so she explained directly: “The Medici family was the ruler of Florence at the time. They were extremely wealthy in the wool industry and banking, and were a prestigious family with a long history. This family recruited countless famous artists. Under Lorenzo de' Medici’s deliberate cultivation, those young but exceptionally talented artists enjoyed a prestigious treatment, with endless wine, endless marble to carve, and endless precious pigments (and an endless supply of prostitutes...). Tell me, why did the Medici do this?”

"Because their patriarch, Lorenzo de' Medici, was a romantic who admired art."

Yukino took a couple of breaths and sat down a few dozen centimeters away from Himekoji, having already finished the egg tart in her hand.

“That’s one of the reasons,” Himekoji shook her head and continued to explain, “When it comes to ‘debt,’ poor people would rather owe others than lend things to others, while rich people would prefer to be owed debts. This ‘debt’ can take any form, such as wine, marble, paint, women, money, it doesn’t matter, because they know that they will reap something several times more valuable than these things.”

“I think I understand,” Yukinoshita said weakly, leaning against the sofa cushions thoughtfully. “So all you’ve been doing is just so-called ‘early-stage investment’?”

You could understand it that way too.

"So with this mindset, the Medici family eventually declined and was defeated by the Borgias."

Yukinoshita gave Himekoji a confident smile, as if she had already checkmated him. (In real history, Borgia did not defeat the Medici; let's just consider this a parallel world.)

Chapter 195 Hypnosis Needed, [Yukino Yukinoshita] is a Panda

“Yes, but I’m not a Medici,” Himekoji stood up and walked toward the kitchen, then turned back and said, “So my initial investment wasn’t just any investment, but it was because you are Yukinoshita that I did it. Just as you, Yukinoshita, consider yourself an extraordinary being, I think so too. Someone who can say, ‘No matter how hopeless someone is, if they reach out to me for help, I will save them,’ will definitely respond to everything I do. Compared to the Medici’s romanticism, I prefer Borgia’s pragmatism.”

"How complacent you are! No, this could even be called arrogance, Himekoji."

Yukinoshita rubbed her temples and shook her head helplessly.

"Whether it's complacency or arrogance, a girl named Yukino Yukinoshita will more or less harbor such feelings, so I feel that we are somewhat similar, but also very different."

"I admit there's a similarity, but what are you doing?"

Yukinoshita left the sofa and walked towards Himekoji.

"I've prepared breakfast for you. Oh, by the way, haven't your cats had breakfast yet? I just bought some things for them."

As she spoke, Himekoji took out a box of fine salmon sashimi from the bag of gifts she had brought from Yukinoshita's house, and walked toward the room from which the meowing sound was coming as she removed the plastic shell from the shell.

"Wait, wait a minute, hello..."

Yukinoshita hurriedly chased after her. Himekoji glanced at her in confusion and continued forward, but Yukinoshita seemed determined not to let Himekoji go that way. She grabbed Himekoji's arm, causing several pieces of fish from Himekoji's sashimi box to fall to the floor. In the ensuing commotion, Yukinoshita stepped on one of the pieces, and the slippery fish was instantly flattened and crushed on the wooden floor. Accompanied by Yukinoshita's scream of "Whoaaaaah!", she knocked Himekoji over.

Incidentally, Himekoji's shoulder bumped against the door that Yukinoshita had been preventing him from going in. The half-closed door creaked open, and Himekoji and Yukinoshita fell to the floor with a thud, half of their bodies landing inside the house.

"Clatter, clatter."

Several pieces of fish that had flown into the air fell back down, scattering and hitting the two of them, with one even hitting Yukinoshita on the head.

"Ouch, ouch, ouch, ouch... Yukinoshita, have you gone mad?"

Feeling the weight of the snow pressing down on her, Ji Xiaolu barely managed to lift her head, rubbing the back of her head and squinting as she chuckled and cursed.

"...Uh..." Already weak from illness and disoriented from the fall, Yukinoshita clutched Himekoji's clothes at the chest, struggling to lift her head to look at him. Her smooth black hair flowed into his arms. One of her slippers had already slipped off, and she curled up against Himekoji like a kitten. When she finally managed to face Himekoji, she appeared unusually flustered and shy.

"I'm so sorry..."

Yukino quickly moved away from Himekoji, but because her slippers were missing, she couldn't stand up straight. Just as she was looking around for her slippers, Himekoji stood up, casually reached out and put his arm around her knees and under her armpits, and picked her up.

"Hello...hello!"

Yukinoshita glared at Himekoji, but Himekoji only gave her a →_→ look. After carrying her to the sofa, he brought her slippers from a distance, knelt down on one knee, grabbed her exposed ankle, and slipped them on her small feet. Then he stood up, rubbing the back of his head and grinning, "Sickly girl, you'd better stop messing with me. Thanks to you, my head hurts terribly from hitting it."

"I, I—," Yukinoshita kicked off her slippers, curled up on the sofa, glared at Himekoji, and pointed to the room, saying, "Don't go into that room, don't look..."