Start with Hayasaka Ai

"The cycle is too long, so forget it. I'm short of money right now, so I'll wait until I have enough money before venturing into the field of pure literature."

"Since you've already made some considerations, Mr. Kazama, I won't say anything more. Let's talk about signing the contract..."

When it comes to the very adult issue of money, Baiyin becomes 100% serious.

In addition to the basic share and copyright ownership, he also deliberately gave up some profits in exchange for an advance payment of royalties.

Kyosuke Takasaka did not haggle with Shirogane about this matter and agreed very readily. Moreover, seeing that Shirogane seemed to be in need of money, he paid an advance of 10 yen in royalties out of his own pocket on the spot.

Even though the contract had already been signed, Shirogane still overestimated Kyosuke Takasaka because he had such courage.

"Mr. Gaoban, it's a pleasure to work with you."

"It's a pleasure to work with you. I wish your work will sell well, Mr. Kazama."

Coming out of the cafe, the afterglow of the setting sun has already covered the streets with a warm orange gauze.

Baiyin put the envelope containing the contract and advance payment into his backpack. During this process, his fingers unconsciously stroked the edge of the envelope, and he felt that the touch was really reassuring.

The first thing I do after I have money is to go to a mobile phone store and buy a mobile phone. The configuration doesn’t need to be very good, as long as the commonly used software can be used without lag.

Wait until the subsequent royalties come out and then change to a better one.

"Senior Baiyin?"

When Baiyin is in a thinking state, he often has the habit of looking down at the road. This allows him to avoid most obstacles by relying solely on his body's instinctive reactions while his brain is idle.

At this time, he raised his head when he heard a slightly familiar voice.

Standing at the door of the mobile phone store was a black-haired girl in uniform, about 148cm tall, with a cute face that easily attracted strangers.

Hitomi Mishima, a junior from one of the places where I used to work, although she is still in junior high school, has already had a lot of work experience and can quickly learn and master anything.

Unlike people like herself who take the initiative to work, Hitomi Mishima has a very strange trait. She is not good at saying no, as if she is a born worker. She often encounters people saying, "What a cute girl, do you want to give it a try?" and then she is forced to work for no reason.

"It's Xiaotong, good afternoon." Baiyin greeted with a smile, "Are you working in this mobile phone store?"

"It's really Senior Baiyin!"

The unexpected reunion after a long time made Hitomi Mishima very happy. When she first started working, Shirogane often took care of her, and sometimes even took her home after working late.

In Hitomi Mishima's eyes, he is a very reliable and handsome big brother.

"Good afternoon, Senior Shirogane, but I'm not working right now. I'm here with a new friend to pick out a phone... Look, that's the girl who just came out of the bathroom—Hina, come here!"

Chapter 13 Hayasaka Ai is watching

"Hi, hi~ I'm here~"

The blue-haired girl named Hina walked over slowly, speaking slowly, her eyes half-closed as if she was sleep deprived, and she looked listless.

But when the other party approached, some of the hairs on Baiyin's back stood up. This was also the effect of the enhanced sixth sense, which could sense the approach of danger.

The girl in front of him didn't seem as harmless as her silly appearance suggested.

"Shirogane-senpai, this is Hina-chan, my friend."

Hitomi Mishima introduced both parties enthusiastically.

"Hina-chan, this is Shirogane-senpai, a very reliable older brother. You can ask him for help when you encounter difficulties~"

"Nice to meet you, thank you for your guidance." Like a robot executing orders, Hina Nitta bowed to Shirogane.

"Well, it's nice to meet you, Hina-chan."

Baiyin forced a polite smile, but his eyes inadvertently swept across the drooping hair of Hina Nitta. He noticed that there was a faint red scar on Hina's white and tender neck. It was thin and long, surrounding the neck, and looked like it was caused by wearing a collar for a long time.

"Then Senior Shirogane, please continue with your own things. Hina-chan and I will leave first." Hitomi Mishima smiled and waved goodbye.

Hina Nitta also naturally took Hitomi Mishima's hand.

"Bye~ Be careful on the road."

Shirogane didn't do anything unnecessary to Hina Nitta. Asking questions or testing her was troublesome, so he just pretended not to know.

After all, it seems that the other party has no ill will towards Hitomi Mishima, and even seems a little dependent on her.

After buying the phone, Baiyin went straight home.

Noon the next day.

Baiyin came to the rooftop to find Longzhutao as if he was familiar with the place, but the girl didn't seem to welcome him today.

As soon as they met, she looked at him with a wary look and put on her shoes in a very quick and decisive manner.

You know, before this, Longzhu Tao could lie on the picnic blanket as if nothing had happened, and swing her little feet in the air for a long time without any protection.

"Are you still concerned about what I said yesterday?" Shirogane was a little speechless. "I was just building a clever ladder for you and Shinomiya. Besides, I never said I was a foot fetish the whole time."

"who knows."

Longzhutao lifted her hair.

"After all, words are unreliable. The smarter a person is, the more likely they are to lie. And as someone who got perfect marks in all subjects and is top of the class, I don't even dare to think about how many words of truth there are in them."

"Then your statement is pure outrage. I've always been honest."

Baiyin didn't want to delve into this meaningless topic and pulled out his phone from his trouser pocket. "Longzhu, let's exchange contact information. It's too troublesome to always meet on the rooftop. We're not undercover, so there's no need to be so secretive."

He suddenly felt a bit of dazzling light.

Well, it’s not that hidden, and I don’t know who is so bored as to spy on this place with a telescope.

Could it be that he is some shady and perverted guy who has bad intentions towards Longzhu Tao?

Baiyin focused his eyes and looked over.

On the bell tower, another commanding height of Shuchiin, a blonde girl with a side ponytail was looking over here with a monocular telescope.

I have a vague impression of her. She was a member of a hot girl group in the class next door. She was a pretty girl.

That's a bit strange. Why would he enjoy his college life while peeping on the rooftop?

"Give me the phone."

Long Zhutao waved her hand, took the phone, opened the dialing interface and entered her phone number. After the number was dialed, it was saved as a contact.

"By the way," after glancing at the phone book which only had the contact information of his younger sister Kei, he chuckled and changed his note to Miss Dragon Ball.

The email address and line number are also given.

"Ok, if there's nothing else, I'll be leaving. Have a nice lunch break."

Baiyin walked down the stairs briskly, and when he reached the top floor of the clock tower, the blonde girl had disappeared.

There is no elevator in the clock tower and there is only one passage. Since the two people did not meet, the other party should have left when Long Zhutao took the phone.

I'm afraid he discovered that he had discovered her peeping.

She has a strong sense of vigilance and intuition, which is not something that an average high school girl can achieve.

There were no traces left at the scene, of course, for ordinary people.

Baiyin adjusted the sensitivity of his sense of smell and sniffed the railing.

"found it."

Just like the werewolf's W passive, you can feel the faint breath in the air.

Baiyin followed the trail all the way downstairs and looked in the direction of the smell. He didn't return to the mixed class early, but chose to continue lurking around.

It feels like a criminal returning to the crime scene after committing murder.

Baiyin left here with a swagger.

◇

"Really? Are you that sensitive? You're so far away."

After Shirogane left completely, Hayasaka Ai came out from the bushes, muttering to herself as she reached out and patted the dead branches and leaves stuck on her butt.

"It seems I need to be more careful next time..."

"Be careful of something."

Hayasaka Ai jumped up in fright at the male voice in her ears.

"who!"

She turned around suddenly and found Baiyin standing about five meters behind her with his hands in his pockets, looking at her curiously.

"So, classmate, we shouldn't have any intersection. What should you be careful about?"

"Eh?"

Hayasaka Ai instantly switched into JK hottie mode, with her fingers folded in front of her chest and a pitiful expression on her face.

"Hate it~ Shirogane-kun, scaring me like this, what if I get a heart attack? As for being careful, of course, be careful of mosquitoes and things like that."

Both the expression in her eyes and the curve of her mouth corners are the result of professional training and repeated practice, and they are absolutely effective when used against men.

No matter how smart a man is, once his blood boils and he is influenced by his instincts, his intelligence will be diverted towards reproduction.

This is the weapon called beauty.

Unfortunately, Baiyin was immune to this and remained unaffected. He continued, "I think that considering someone who chose not to flee after committing a crime but to lurk nearby in the bushes, a heart attack should be as far away as the sun going out."

"Well, calling me a criminal or something like that is really annoying, Shirogane-kun. I came here specifically to look for lost things, otherwise why would I be willing to crawl into the dirty bushes."

"Are you still playing dumb? It's true that you spied on me and Longzhu from the top of the clock tower just now. Stop making excuses. I want to know your true situation. Who sent you here? What's your purpose?"

Baiyin stared into the girl's eyes and said, "Answer me."

Chapter 14 Hayasaka Ai: This is my escape route!

The midday sun covered the campus with a layer of bright orange gauze, making the floor tiles in the backyard of Xiuzhiyuan shine.

Shirogane crossed his arms, his sharp gaze like a searchlight, piercing directly at Hayasaka Ai. His voice was filled with an undeniable sense of oppression: "Stop trying to hide it. Who asked you to follow me?"

Baiyin didn't sense any malice from the other party, so he thought they must have been sent by someone else.

"No, no one asked me to come here..." Hayasaka Ai's body trembled, her delicate lips slightly opened, and her clear and bright eyes quickly filled with tears, like the dewdrops hanging on the flower petals in the early morning, swaying precariously.

However, beneath this pitiful appearance, Hayasaka Ai is very calm inside.

As a professional maid trained as such, she knew she couldn't lose her composure in this confrontation, and her brain was working rapidly, trying to think of a way out.

The mere beauty attack doesn't work on him?

Hayasaka Ai blinked her watery eyes, pondering inwardly. She knew that some straight men were immune to these kinds of low-level seduction tactics, and a boy like Shirogane, who was quite popular on campus, might have already seen through all the advances, so such a trick would naturally be unlikely to work.

Fortunately, she also prepared a Plan B - disguise herself as a fanatical fan and fool people with an attitude of admiration.

"Originally, I was just planning to watch you from a distance, Shirogane-kun, and that would satisfy you. There's really nothing I can do. Now that you've discovered me..." Hayasaka Ai's voice became smaller and smaller, and her movements became awkward in an instant.

A blush quickly appeared on her fair cheeks, spreading from her ears to her neck, as if dyed by the sunset glow.

Her toes rubbed unconsciously on the ground, and her slender white fingers tightly twisted the Pikachu pendant on the phone, and the pendant swayed gently with her slightly trembling hands.

"I, I'm a fan of yours, Shirogane-kun! I really like your piece 'Snow Country'! I copied it and read it over and over again."

As Hayasaka Ai spoke, she carefully took out a notebook from her pink shoulder bag. There was indeed Shirogane's composition copied into it, and there were dense comments written next to it.

This is a lie.

If you compare the handwriting in the notebook with Hayasaka Ai's homework, you will know that it was not copied and annotated by her at all, but by Shinomiya Kaguya!

"Before, I tried to write you a love letter, but I never got a response. I thought I had no chance." The girl's voice was choked with sobs, and there was a look of loss in her eyes.

"Later, I heard from classmates that you often went to the rooftop to meet Longzhu."

Hayasaka Ai leaned forward slightly, her voice unconsciously lowered, "I couldn't help it, so I wanted to follow you and spy on you to see if you were already dating..."

As she said this, her youthful and energetic body trembled violently, and tears burst out like a flood, rolling down her fair cheeks, sparkling with crystal light in the setting sun.

At this moment, a few girls happened to pass by in Hayasaka Ai's field of vision, and she immediately raised her voice on impulse.

"Private Marseille, if it bothers you, Red Bean Paste Private Marseille!!"

Hayasaka Ai bowed deeply, and while lowering her head, she didn't even notice the branches around her. Her hairband fell off, and her long hair fell like a waterfall, covering the expression on her face at the moment.