My daily life in love is too contrary to my character.

The other girl next to her silently closed her lips, which had just opened, and glanced at Chiyo.

"You actually know about the fox?" Shiraishi Zexiu asked, a hint of surprise in his eyes.

"I read occasionally." Her expression was well controlled; apart from Shiraishi Zexiu, no one could sense her smugness at that moment.

"That's great! I'm very pleased. You've made progress, and you haven't let me down. You deserve a reward!"

After speaking in an elder's tone, seeing the change in Chiyo's expression, Shiraishi Sawa immediately got into the car and urged the driver to start driving.

"I'm leaving now. See you tomorrow, Fox. See you tomorrow, President."

Shiraishi Sawa peeked out and greeted the two girls.

"See you tomorrow."

Even after Shiraishi Zexiu left the section of road, the other car parked at the entrance still hadn't started.

Chapter 228 The War That Started Simultaneously

"After the weekend's voting, our final choice for the school festival class project is... a homemade haunted house!"

During Monday's class meeting, Gennai Ichiro stood at the door, watching Hashimoto Nana explain the situation on the podium. He did not intend to participate in or interfere with the cultural festival, since it was originally an activity where students arranged their own themes.

Unlike the school trip, this announcement didn't spark any arguments or opinions among students. Instead, most acquiesced to the result, and even those who didn't vote on it over the weekend remained silent.

After all, fighting for this won't bring you any benefit.

"The application for the event venue has been submitted and will be approved soon. Therefore, our task now is to come up with a specific scare plan for the haunted house in the next two weeks, as well as how to make it easy to set up and dismantle."

At the same time, we also need a lot of haunted house NPCs to help us scare people, because the school festival lasts for a long time, three whole days, and it would be too much of a burden to just assign fixed students as NPCs.

Therefore, we will adopt a rotation system for the students in the class, especially the boys. Those who find it interesting can continue to serve as members. Those who want to participate in the school festival can serve for a sufficient amount of time—not too much—and then there will be no restrictions on the remaining time.

However, it's not entirely free labor. After the school festival, a portion of the surplus school festival funds and class funds will be used. Here, I would like to express my special thanks to Kuramochi for sponsoring the class funds.

Salary bonuses will be awarded based on working hours. Note: I estimate the salary level will be quite good.

These were all explained in the group chat over the weekend, because several boys were very interested in scaring people, so they were willing to serve as NPCs for two days.

In this way, the remaining time is averaged out to about two hours per person, which does not affect the overall experience of the school festival, so no one complained and considered it a contribution to the class.

The substantial donation from Kuramochi Sakura was also an important reason.

Shiraishi Sawa applied for a full day of NPC work so that he wouldn't have to deal with the tedious tasks of buying, designing, and moving costumes and props.

For him, doing these things is not as good as working a full day in peace.

Moreover, Shiraishi Sawa believes that two days is more than enough time to visit all the activities that interest him.

Regarding work hours, he specifically avoided the dance time that the dance club and the school cheerleading team had already announced—two of which he was quite interested in—and chose the next day.

It was a flawless plan; the last time a plan was flawless was during the Qixi Festival.

"Okay, now, does everyone have any ideas on how to scare people in a haunted house, how to design the plot and background?" After Hashimoto Nana finished speaking, the previously quiet classroom finally became noisy.

Everyone started talking at once, recounting what they had seen and heard in other haunted houses. Some of the boys seemed to enjoy scaring the girls around them.

"Kuramochi-san, are you afraid of these things?" Shiraishi Sawa noticed Kuramochi Sakura covering her ears and asked, but there was no response at all.

Yes, she's covering her ears now.

Shiraishi Sawah sighed at his own foolishness, then reached out and poked Kuramochi Sakura, only to see her tremble and look in his direction with a hint of panic.

"Kuramochi-san, are you afraid of these things?" Shiraishi Sawa found it hard to believe that Kuramochi Sakura, who could easily order his subordinates around and torture Takanashi Sumie to such an extent, would be afraid of this.

"It's...it's alright." Kuramochi Sakura stammered, her guilty conscience obvious to anyone with eyes.

Shiraishi Sawa naturally knew the answer, but he was still a little confused:

"Wait a minute, Kuramochi-san, if you're afraid of this, why did you sign up to be a staff member?"

Because of Kuramochi Sakura's special status, she was not included in this class's rotation work. However, she spoke up in the group chat, saying that she wanted to be a staff member.

Moreover, it also took a whole day of work, and in the end, I casually donated some money to the class fund.

“First of all, I’m not that scared!” Kuramochi Sakura emphasized.

"Okay, okay, I understand." Shiraishi Zexiu nodded seriously.

"As for the staff, I signed up to control the lights and music, not to be a costumed character to scare people."

"Didn't they say that if there was enough funding, they could install surveillance cameras and watch the students' reactions in the control room? I just want to see how everyone reacts when they're scared; that would be really interesting."

As she finished speaking, it seemed as if she had imagined that scene, and the corners of Kuramochi Sakura's mouth couldn't help but turn up.

I understand. Although I'm scared myself, I enjoy seeing others get frightened.

Shiraishi Sawa nodded, indicating that he understood Kuramochi Sakura's thoughts. There was a psychological basis for this behavior, though he had forgotten the specifics.

Class meetings for first grade A group rarely produce any truly decisive results, and today was no exception. Even after the meeting ended, everyone was still discussing amongst themselves, and some of the discussions had even strayed from the topic.

The three people in the last row were the most outrageous; they were actually discussing some indecent movies because the female lead in one of them was a ghost.

--

Under the gaze of the two girls, Shiraishi Sawa took out his keychain and opened an activity room opposite the two activity rooms.

Only he has the key.

Today we were supposed to discuss going to the recording studio this weekend, but neither Chiyo nor Sakuragi wanted to go to the activity room next door. Fortunately, Shiraishi Sawa had cleverly applied for the room across the street a long time ago.

Chiyo was quite satisfied with the image of Shigure Sohma above her.

The interior layout was very simple, with a beechwood table and a circle of chairs, nothing more, after all, it was just a transit station.

The curtains were bathed in the afterglow of the setting sun, turning a transparent red. Dust particles intertwined and tangled in the beams of light spilling from the gaps.

"So, what's the plan for this weekend?"

After the three people sat down, Shiraishi Zexiu asked.

"I've already booked the recording studio this Saturday. I've reserved a whole room for the entire day, and it comes with a sound engineer." Kuramochi Sakura took out her phone and pushed it to the center of the table. The screen displayed information about a shop.

Shiraishi Sawa took a serious look and recognized it as a shop in Shibuya Ward called 'Dain Music'.

Shiraishi Zexiu didn't understand this, and he was just there to relax and have a meal, so he didn't say anything.

“Okay,” Chiyo nodded. “This one will do. I have no objections.”

“However, there’s a problem,” Kuramochi Sakura said. “Since I think Takanashi and I are both pretty good singers, we should be able to finish recording in half a day at most, so I only booked one room. Is the remaining half day enough for you?”

“Sakura Rei-san, you seem to have forgotten one thing. There’s only one person at this table who’s so stupid he can’t sing,” Chiyo Ichiryu said with a smile.

Shiraishi Zexiu, who said nothing, was innocently dragged into the mess.

"Can't you sing? Did I eat your rice? Fox, don't even think about asking me to sing for the group chat again. You'll never hear it in your life."

"I'm sorry, baby dog. Please sing for me next time." Chiyo bowed slightly to Shiraishi Sawa to express her apology.

"Your speed in admitting defeat is comparable to mine," said Shiraishi Sawa, watching Ichiyo apologize at lightning speed.

"Because one becomes corrupted by one's surroundings."

"It's true that you become like those you associate with, so don't use words carelessly. Alright, Kuramochi-san, you can continue." Seeing that Kuramochi Sakura still had something to say, Shiraishi Sawah wisely ended the conversation.

“Okay,” Kuramochi Sakura nodded, “Because high-end recording studios don’t have very large spaces to prevent noise.”

People who don't record usually just sit in the mixing room and wait. Since our two clubs can't record together, it's better for one club to come in the afternoon than to go together in the morning.

So! You wicked woman, let's duel and see who can earn the right to come this afternoon! Let's play Tic-Tac-Toe!

A fighting spirit suddenly ignited in Kuramochi Sakura's eyes.

Shiraishi Sawa was initially puzzled, but then realized that both young ladies had difficulty getting out of bed, and understood.

Chiyo looked up at Kuramochi Sakura, then sighed helplessly and said:

"Kuramochi-san, did you just learn how to be invincible in Tic-Tac-Toe?"

Although it is a question, it carries a sense of certainty.

"What...what invincible method!" Kuramochi Sakura denied it.

“Alright, no need,” Chiyo waved her hand. “You booked the recording studio. As the young lady of the Ichiri family, you know some basic manners, so the decision is yours. You can choose to go in the morning.”

Shiraishi Sawa and Kuramochi Sakura both looked at this 'polite' young lady, their eyes filled with disbelief, as if asking, "Are you sure?"

"What are you talking about? Have you even learned the manners of a young lady? If I've decided, then you can have it. Come back this afternoon!"

"Thank you." Just as Kuramochi Sakura was halfway through her sentence, Ichiyo stood up. After she finished speaking, she took Kuramochi Sakura's hand and began to shake it.

"Thank you for your understanding, Miss Kuramochi. See you this weekend afternoon."

“You…” Kuramochi Sakura froze, her mouth slightly open, and Shiraishi Sawa could see her pink tongue hanging there without moving.

Kuramochi-san, give up. You'll never be able to defeat this vicious fox in your entire life.

By this time, Shiraishi Sawa knew perfectly well that the so-called etiquette was just another trap set by the fox Chiyo. Unexpectedly, Kuramochi Sakura walked right into it without even turning her head.

"Thank you, Sakura-chan," Chiyo waved her hand a few times in a 'friendly' manner, then sat back down with a teasing smile. "What's wrong, Sakura-chan? Want to back out?"

"No regrets!" After saying this loudly, Kuramochi Sakura glared at Ichiyo with puffed-up cheeks, but the other seemed completely oblivious to the gaze, smiling calmly.

"Um, can I come this afternoon?"

Shiraishi Sawa, who hadn't slept in for weeks, joined the fray, trying to pursue his small wish—a morning when he could wake up naturally.

Like a volcano erupting without warning, Kuramochi Sakura turned around abruptly, her two beautiful amber eyes glaring angrily at Shiraishi Sawa.

"No, Shiraishi-kun, you're still an important member of the elite study club. You have to be there Saturday morning! We need to record your voice-over. Besides, can you really bear to let Yuko go to Shibuya alone so early in the morning?!"

Hearing Kuramochi Sakura's voice distorted by anger, Shiraishi Sawa Hide felt a little helpless, but then found it slightly amusing, and nodded, saying:

"Understood. I will shoulder the responsibility of being an important member of the club and a good roommate, dear Director Kuramochi."

Clearly, the title of 'director' could not make up for the frustration of being trapped in Chiyo's formula once again; Kuramochi Sakura's drooping lips remained unchanged.

"You wicked woman, just you wait. When the cultural festival starts, you'll see what the difference is." The fighting spirit reignited in Kuramochi Sakura's eyes.

"Well, it's war again." Chiyo rested her hands on her cheeks, elbows on the table. The soft flesh of her cheeks shifted outwards under the pressure, slightly protruding, adding a touch of cuteness to her usually alluring face. Shiraishi Sawah really wanted to pinch her cheeks.

"There's war here and war there, it's really troublesome. But it's okay, I've never been afraid since I joined Chiyo. It just so happens that the screening rooms we applied for are connected, so we'll see which side gets more viewers."

"No problem. When you see your screening room empty and ours packed with people, don't cry!"

"No, I'll buy tickets for a few classmates to watch the movie I made." Chiyo yawned.