In crossover anime, who isn't a childhood friend?

This doll was a gift from Chiya, which means...

What I did to Qianye in the past, so long ago, has now been returned to me in the exact same way?!

Hayasaka Ai immediately drew this conclusion.

After all, which legitimate plush toy manufacturer would add such a sensitive extra function to their products? Even if there were some special reason or for selling points, the manufacturer would definitely indicate the presence of this function in a prominent place on the outer packaging when selling it, rather than trying to hide it without mentioning it at all. There is absolutely no reason to do so.

Thinking of this, Hayasaka Ai quickly went to the desk and rummaged through the trash can.

She was extremely grateful that she discovered it early; the transparent plastic dustproof packaging that wrapped the fox-eared doll, as well as the card with specific production details, hadn't been thrown away yet.

She took out her phone, compared the details on the card with the appearance of the fox-eared doll, and made a precise search on the online shopping platform. She easily found the same doll she wanted.

Because the external fur and internal stuffing are made of high-quality materials, and because it comes with a sensor-based communication function—that is, there is a battery compartment under the doll's bottom, and tapping the sensor hidden in the head will trigger a variety of pre-set cute voices—it is priced as high as 28,000 yen on the official website, while some third-party shopping platforms sell it for a few thousand yen cheaper.

But that's not the point!

Hayasaka Ai contacted several online retailers selling this doll, and the responses she received were all quite consistent.

—Aside from the basic pat-response function, this fox-eared doll doesn't have any other extra functions.

After repeatedly confirming that she had received the information she wanted, Hayasaka Ai slowly put down her phone and looked at the doll leaning against her bedside with mixed feelings.

If her thoughts were just speculation before, she can now assert them with certainty.

A doll that wasn't equipped with a camera suddenly gained this feature.

If it has absolutely no connection with the manufacturer, the only remaining possibility is that someone purchased it and then modified it later.

Just like my past self...

Qianye, he... towards me...

Hayasaka Ai's face grew redder and redder as she thought about it, her eyes wavering drastically.

This is undoubtedly wrong, but from her perspective, having done the spying on others first, she has no right to reprimand or criticize it.

Besides... if she really followed her heart, she didn't find this kind of thing, which had essentially violated her privacy, particularly annoying.

If it were Chiya... she could...

You will also feel genuinely excited.

A distinct and thrilling sense of danger filled her heart, making her breathing involuntarily quicken.

No, no, no... I need to calm down a bit.

We don't know the specifics of Qianye's situation yet, so let's not show anything unusual for now. Let's figure out the current situation thoroughly and see if there's anything else we've overlooked.

Hayasaka Ai sat back down at her desk and examined the other gifts from Minamoto Chiya more carefully, but found nothing unusual about them like the dolls.

Indeed, other gifts, in terms of both purpose and specific shape, are not suitable for making such prior arrangements in secret; they would be too easy to expose. She herself considered it for a long time before deciding to use dolls as a cover for her silent spying.

Hayasaka Ai glanced discreetly at the doll on the bedside table. The eyes of the hidden camera were facing the foot of the bed, unable to capture the angle of the view from the desk.

She picked up her phone again and opened the surveillance footage from Yuan Qianye's side.

After a short loading time, the surveillance footage loaded smoothly. Yuan Qianye was doing squats in his room, as disciplined as ever, and he wasn't wearing any clothes on his upper body, revealing his well-defined muscles.

Hayasaka Aimi's eyes flickered. Normally, this would be her "relaxing" moment to release stress every day, but now she suddenly realized that what she had done to Chiya was being taken back by him. This made her feel complicated and she couldn't return to her usual rhythm so leisurely.

Looking at him on her phone screen, the complicated feelings she had just experienced when she first noticed something was wrong gradually subsided, and a different kind of worry, which she hadn't considered before, rose in her heart.

She suddenly realized that Qianye's method, so similar to her own, might not have been his true intention or had any other purpose. Perhaps he simply wanted to tell her that he had discovered her spying on him from his room, that he didn't like it, and that he didn't say it outright because he valued their friendship and wanted to save her face. He chose this indirect way to remind her to stop her current inappropriate behavior and get back on track.

Realizing this, and as the idea gradually became clearer, more logical, and more plausible, the maid's face gradually lost its color.

The gentle, always smiling Qianye in her heart suddenly had a phantom image appear behind her; that was his true attitude towards her.

He looked at her coldly, his expression full of disdain, his eyes icy, a mixture of contempt and disgust.

Hayasaka Ai's heart slowly sank to the bottom.

"Boom boom boom——"

Just then, there was a knock on the door, which startled Hayasaka Ai.

She quickly exited the monitoring screen on her phone, took a deep breath, and tried to regain her usual calm and composed demeanor.

"Which one?"

"Hayasaka, it's me." Kaguya Shinomiya's voice came from outside the door.

"Young Miss?" Hayasaka Ai was puzzled as to why the young lady would come looking for her at this time, but she still got up and walked to the door to open it.

But when I put my hand on the doorknob and pressed it to pull it in, I felt a noticeable resistance.

Kaguya Shinomiya pulled the door shut from the outside.

"No need to open the door, just stay here, I just want to say a few words to you!"

“…Young Miss, please speak.”

“I… I’m not some young lady anymore, but I’m talking to you as Kaguya Shinomiya, a friend of Ai Hayasaka.”

"Yes……"

"I'm sorry about what happened last night." Kaguya Shinomiya, standing outside the door, spoke in a weaker voice than usual, as if she were saying something extremely shameful: "What I did was wrong. I promise nothing like this will ever happen again."

Like a feather gently brushing against her heart, Hayasaka Ai was touched: "Young lady, you don't need to say that, we've already..."

"I must say, congratulations! I hope everything goes well for you in the future."

Hayasaka Ai's eyes darkened rapidly.

Now that things have come to this, is it really possible for everything to go smoothly...?

"I will always support you silently. You should keep going. It would be even better if you could introduce me to someone in the future. I also want to know what kind of person Hayasaka likes... That's all I wanted to say. Get some rest. Good night."

"Yes, goodnight, Miss."

Through the door, the master and servant had a simple yet heartfelt and warm conversation.

If this had happened ten minutes ago, Hayasaka Ai would probably have felt relieved and happy about it, but now, she didn't have time to think so much about what the young lady had said.

All that lingered in her heart was the worry of being disliked by Qianye, and the anxiety and sorrow that her situation might have been exposed.

She returned to her desk, looked at the gifts, and finally her gaze fell on the dolls quietly placed on the bedside table.

Once negative emotions surge forth, they are like water bursting through a dam, spreading uncontrollably.

After hiding it so cautiously for so long, was it finally discovered that my dark and twisted nature had finally been revealed?

"Buzz!"

My phone vibrated; a message had arrived, and the contact in the pop-up window was Yuan Qianye, whom I was paying special attention to.

[Yuan Qianye: Oh right, I almost forgot to tell you, the plush toy I gave you can have batteries installed under its bottom. Once it's powered on, gently tapping its head will make it say some really funny things. You should definitely try it!]

Hayasaka Ai stared blankly at the message with her dark eyes for a long time.

She didn't notice how coincidental the timing of the message was, arriving precisely when she was filled with sorrow and worry.

She only noticed the true intention that Qianye seemed to be hiding beneath the surface content of his message.

He reminded himself to electrify the doll.

In other words, he wanted to power up the camera.

Does that mean that my pessimistic thoughts were just wishful thinking, and that the actual situation might not be as bad as I imagined?

It was all just a coincidence. He had hidden himself well and hadn't been exposed. Qianye was the same as him, with no other thoughts. He simply wanted to steal... simply out of curiosity, wanting to observe his private situation.

[Hayasaka Ai: Okay, I got it. Luckily, I have batteries at home. I'll install them and try it out right away.]

The doll needed four batteries in total. Hayasaka Ai removed the batteries from the air conditioner remote and the alarm clock, and they fit perfectly into the doll.

After successfully powering on, Hayasaka Ai patted the doll's head, and the doll uttered a pre-set caring message.

She recorded the scene and sent it over.

[Hayasaka Ai: I tried it, and it's really cute.]

[Yuan Qianye: Cat's smug face.jpg]

Hayasaka Ai didn't reply further, and instead took her phone and ran into the bathroom.

A glimmer of hope welled up in my heart.

Yes, she overthought things from the very beginning.

She didn't need to overthink the truth; she could simply confirm it with her own eyes.

I took off my clothes and stepped into the bathtub, letting my body sink into the warm water. I also submerged my mouth below the surface and gurgled bubbles for a while, trying to calm myself down as much as possible.

After preparing herself mentally, she picked up her phone and reopened the surveillance footage from Yuan Qianye's side.

In the video footage, the lights in the room are still on, but Yuan Qianye is nowhere to be seen.

This happens often; perhaps they've gone out to get water or use the restroom.

Hayasaka Ai tried her best to remain calm and wait patiently.

Not long after, the video showed that Yuan Qianye returned to his room, and today, he did something he rarely did.

He locked his door from the inside.

This unusual action made Hayasaka Ai subconsciously slow her breathing and stare more intently at him on the screen, watching his every move.

Yuan Qianye stretched and walked to the window. He drew the curtains, returned to the bed, and leaned against the headboard.

He reached out toward the head of the bed, and then the lights in the room dimmed, leaving only the warm glow of the bedside lamp.

He took out his phone, but didn't unlock it or turn it on. He just held it in his hand and slowly rotated it, his slightly furrowed brows and focused posture suggesting he was thinking about something extremely important.

It didn't seem like a particularly special pose, but it made the maid, who was silently watching, so nervous that her fair, bare feet, which were soaking in the water, slowly contracted and tightened.

Finally, after several minutes of silence, Yuan Qianye made a move.

He unlocked his phone, and the screen that appeared after a few clicks almost made Hayasaka Ai lose her composure and drop the phone into the bathtub.

The camera she had hidden in his room captured everything clearly; what his phone was showing at that moment was a photo of her.

Each photo was taken in a different setting, covering various group photos taken when they went out together several times after they became acquainted and officially became friends.

She could clearly see that Yuan Qianye was enlarging her face in the photo with his two fingers, scrutinizing it intently.

"like……"