I really don't want to have a girlfriend.

As soon as she blurted out those words, Yui Yuigahama quickly realized what she had said and instinctively covered her mouth with her hand, her pretty face turning red.

"I... I mean... well, after all, I'm not familiar with Yukinoshita-san, and you, Yuu..."

"Alright." Stepping onto the corridor leading to the special building, Tenkuji Yu interrupted her explanation and casually changed the subject, "Speaking of which, aren't you afraid of your friends gossiping about you coming all this way so openly?"

Yui Yuigahama's voice softened, no longer as confident as before. She lowered her head, her lips pursed, and said, "I... I just told them that I recently joined a really fun new club... If they ask, I'll just say you're a friend from the same club, that should be fine, right?"

"I see." Yuu Tenkuji nodded, then focused on continuing on her journey without saying anything more.

"..."

He didn't speak, so the girl with the bun hairstyle secretly glanced at his indifferent profile.

For Yui Yuigahama, an embarrassing situation that made her blush and squirm all over was about to unfold.

The breeze blowing from the corridor was fairly cool, but it couldn't suppress the sudden surge of excitement and joy that had just emerged.

There was nothing she could do; she still liked the person beside her.

She had been in unrequited love for more than three years. She didn't know how cold the wind or how cold the water would be to extinguish that feeling.

If I just stay by his side, these feelings will only burn brighter and brighter, right?

Although it's troubling, I'm unwilling to give up because I feel happy right now.

"Hey, Xiaoyou."

After a long silence, Yui Yuigahama spoke first, her clear and bright eyes reflecting his image.

"what happened?"

"Keep walking forward," Tenkuji Yu answered without turning her head.

"I..." She paused, her brows furrowing slightly, and gave a troubled smile, "...I wanted to ask you yesterday, why did you choose such a reckless plan?"

"Aren't you afraid that because you're too arrogant, the clubs you challenge will hate you, or they'll target you at school?"

"You asked a question that's very similar to what Hiratsuka-sensei asked."

Tenkuji Yu finally glanced at her in surprise, then touched his chin, a smile of interest spreading across his lips.

"Well, I have considered the possibility of my reputation being damaged."

"The tallest tree catches the most wind. If you want to do something that attracts attention, you have to think about the consequences of standing out—whether you will be lifted to the top of the pyramid or trampled underfoot by everyone else?"

Chapter 92 The Logistics Girl of the Service Department

“Our respected and beautiful Minister Yukinoshita should understand this.”

Service Department.

The girl by the window closed the book she had barely read, sighed helplessly, and tossed her long hair that had fallen over her slender shoulders.

Then, a pair of clear, clean eyes lifted up and looked at the boy who walked in with little warmth.

"Your attitude is too hypocritical. Even if what you say isn't a lie, it's still infuriating."

"Alright, looks like I can't praise you anymore."

Yu went to the storage area at the back to get a chair for Yui-hama, then walked to her usual spot and sat down, placing her schoolbag on the long table.

As if familiarizing herself with the surroundings, Yui Yuigahama stood there looking around for a while before carefully sitting down between the two of them and smilingly greeting Yukino Yukinoshita:

"Hehehe, good afternoon, Yukinoshita-san..."

"Good afternoon, Yuihama-san." Nodding, Yukino Yukinoshita responded politely but calmly, her gaze quickly passing over her and looking at the man.

"Tenkuji-kun, you just said 'I am respectable and beautiful,' which part do you understand?"

Yui blinked, surprised by Yui's narcissism, and then turned her gaze to Yuu Tenkuji.

"Be humble in your personal life, but ambitious in your work—you should understand this better than anyone else: to be superior to others in every aspect, yet not afraid of being isolated by them."

While saying this, Tenkuji Yu didn't look at anyone. He took out the club list from his bag and started writing and drawing.

"The 'Challenge Club' is actually the same as an exam. You can't deliberately get a low score just because you're afraid of being beaten up in the toilet by the bottom student, right? No school in Tokyo, let alone Soubu High, makes that kind of sense."

With her fingers gently touching her fair and delicate chin, Yukino Yukinoshita quickly realized that the two of them must have been discussing the club performance.

"So... Yuihama-san was worried that you'd get bullied because you're too arrogant, so you used me as an example?"

Yuihama blushed slightly, her fingers fidgeting with the hem of her skirt, but she didn't utter a word in rebuttal.

Yuu Tenkuji casually replied, "That's roughly correct."

"You're overthinking it, Yuihama-san." With a slight upturn of her cherry blossom-colored lips, Yukino Yukinoshita tilted her head, revealing a rather cute and cheerful smile.

"Someone like Tenkuji-kun, even if he doesn't challenge any clubs, as long as he reveals even a little bit of his true nature, there will still be people who dislike him, right?"

Before Yuihama could answer, Tenkuji Yu paused, glancing sideways at her.

"Experience sharing?"

"..."

Her smile froze on her face. As if recalling some embarrassing past, Yukinoshita covered her forehead with her hand and gritted her teeth in resentment and humiliation: "...It's based on experience."

"Forget it, I don't want to hear about your tragic past."

Yuu Tenkuji sighed, looked away, and continued writing numbers on the clubs on the list: "I just want to tell Yuihama that if Yukinoshita can survive until now without being beaten to death, then even if I am blacklisted by those clubs, I can still enjoy my school life."

"...Hey, you're third in your grade over there, didn't you learn proper manners?"

The black-haired girl's expression instantly turned ugly upon being mocked to his face. She glared at him with a chilling aura, as if she might unleash a blizzard in the clubroom at any moment.

Looking back and forth between the two, Yui Yuigahama, caught in the middle, forgot her unease and quickly tried to ease the tension:

"That's because Yukinoshita is very good-looking! Although you, Yu, might be considered handsome to some extent, boys and girls are ultimately different and cannot be compared!"

"Hey, aren't there too many uncertain words?" With a twitch of her brow, Tenkuji Yu put down her pen and looked at her irritably. "And what's wrong with boys? Can't boys be number one and trample all the students under their feet? You're not taking us boys seriously. Be careful, or you'll get attacked by martial arts masters."

"I...I didn't mean that..." Yuihama shrugged, touching the little bun on her head, and pouted at him with a very aggrieved expression.

“What a petty man.” After taking a few deep breaths, her expression softened slightly, and Yukino Yukinoshita spoke up for her, “Yuigahama-san just didn’t explain herself clearly, don’t label her so easily.”

Yui Yuigahama looked at her, deeply moved: "Yuki... thank you!"

"X-Xiao Xue? What kind of name is that..." Startled, Yukinoshita blinked and inexplicably dared not meet Yuihama's burning gaze. She quickly coughed twice and steered the conversation back on track.

"On another note, how is Professor Hiratsuka doing? Even if you don't care about the other students' reactions, if the school is afraid of causing a big commotion, it's very likely that your plan will be cut short."

"That shouldn't be a problem, Ms. Hiratsuka will handle it... You can ask her for details, anyway, I'm quite relieved."

Yuu Tenkuji didn't argue further. He handed the list of clubs to Yuihama, who then passed it to Yukinoshita at the other end of the long table: "What we need to do is simple. We just need to select the clubs we want to challenge, notify them in advance, and then defeat them one by one on the day of the club performance. We also need to attract as much attention as possible and try to get first place in the ranking competition."

"First?!" Yui Yuigahama's mouth gaped open, looking at him in disbelief. "Isn't that setting the bar too high..."

“If you’re going to do something, you should do it to the best of your ability, right?” Yukino Yukinoshita nodded in agreement as she took the list. “I don’t dislike your idea, even though the chances of it being possible are extremely slim.”

“That’s why it’s worth the challenge,” Yuu Tenkuji said lazily, his hands behind his head. “Anyway, I’m the main force, so you guys just need to watch from the sidelines. You don’t need to worry too much about this.”

“We’re clubmates, how could we not care!” Yui Yuigahama raised her voice, seemingly trying to prove herself, and began racking her brains for help. “There must be something I can do to help, right? Like, like…”

"For example, finalizing the time for the club's overall evaluation with the organizing committee, as well as preparing for some miscellaneous tasks."

“That’s right! That’s exactly it!” Yui Yuigahama’s eyes lit up, and she nodded vigorously in agreement.

"I just hope you don't hold us back... never mind."

Yukino Yukinoshita pressed her temples in exasperation, composed herself, and spoke to Yuu Tenkuji with a hint of lecturing in her tone.

“Tenkuji-kun, since you are the actor performing on stage, we, as the backstage staff, naturally have things we must be responsible for... Although we are somewhat reluctant, it has come to this point, and the concept of teamwork is very important.”

"That's why I showed you this list because I understand teamwork."

Tenkuji Yu smiled slightly, then suddenly picked up his schoolbag and stood up.

"So, I'll leave the task of communicating with those clubs in advance to you two, the two logistics staff... The clubs I've written down are the ones I've decided to challenge this time. Just notify them in advance and don't worry about their reactions."

"A strategy of diplomacy before force... Wait, where are you going?" Before he could think it through, Yukino Yukinoshita asked reflexively when she saw him about to leave.

Yui Yuigahama looked at him in surprise—the two of them had only arrived at the club a few minutes ago, and he was already leaving?

That's way too fast.

Tenkuji Yu shrugged: "I can't help it, I have to go to class after school lately, so I don't have much time for club activities... Let's talk about it at lunchtime, I have to go now."

"Class..." Yui hesitated for a moment, then changed her question to, "Yu, can I have lunch with you guys too?"

“After all, we’re members of the same club.” Tenkuji Yu walked towards the door, casually throwing a teasing smile at the girl by the window. “You agree, right? The club president who eats lunch here every day.”

Yui Yuigahama blinked and looked at Yukino Yukinoshita with a hint of anticipation.

She placed the list on the table, took a deep breath, and slowly exhaled, her flat chest rising and falling.

"...Okay, I have no reason to object."

He lowered his head and answered resignedly.

"Yay!" As Yui Yuigahama clenched her fist in delight, Yuya Tenkuji quietly opened the classroom door and stepped into the quiet corridor filled with the autumn breeze.

The gaze of the snow woman behind him stung his back, so he didn't turn around or greet her. Instead, he simply closed the door, blocking her view.

Hearing Yui Yuigahama complain to Yukino Yukinoshita after discovering that he had secretly left, Yuu Tenkuji looked up at the blank class sign and scratched his head in frustration.

"It's a bit more lively than before... but I don't know if it's a good thing."

Chapter Ninety-Three: Shameless!

Time moves slowly forward, much like the pages of a novel, where the rich content of a few days is flipped through by the reader in a mundane way.

In the morning, Yuu Tenkuji goes to school to study diligently, and at noon, she has lunch with Yukinoshita and Yuihama in the Service Club while discussing the autumn performances that weekend.

He was initially quite worried that if he put the Snow Woman Minister, who never minced words, in charge of diplomacy, it might directly stir up hatred and make the Service Department the target of everyone's hatred before the "battle" even started.

And as it turns out, that was indeed the case.

If it weren't for Yui Yuigahama's efforts to ease the situation, some clubs might have developed hostility towards the Service Club, or even started arguing.

After all, in Ms. Yukinoshita's mind, hypocrisy is self-deception, and gentle words are compromise with the world. If others don't speak to her properly, they should be prepared to face her sarcastic remarks and enjoy the feeling of being verbally attacked until they are completely defeated.

Yui Yuigahama once complained about this:

"I'm not saying Xiaoxue did anything wrong, but those people's tone was really annoying. If I could, I'd like to teach them a lesson... but it's really dangerous! If Xiaoyou were here, it wouldn't be a problem, but it's just the two of us girls going deep into enemy territory..."