I'm in a real religion, why are all the people who confess to me girls?

Therefore, she had a fairly good understanding of Class D. However, after Ichinose joined Class B, Horikita Suzune, who believed that Class D was completely unable to make a comeback, turned her energy to collecting information on Class A. At present, she was completely clueless about the power structure of Class D and could only roughly judge that Kanzaki was still in charge, but that was all.

As for the rest... Horikita Suzune really knew nothing about them. After all, many people in Class D had recently dropped out, and when she was gathering information, she always liked to focus on people who were relatively famous, such as Ichinose, Kanzaki, and Shibata. Now that Ichinose had transferred to another class and Shibata had been expelled, Horikita Suzune knew almost nothing about the other people in Class D except for Kanzaki.

This greatly limited Horikita Suzune's performance. In her opinion, to increase the probability of success of a provocative plan, one must first be very careful in selecting the personnel to carry out the plan.

The best course of action would be to provoke a simple-minded idiot who is all brawn and no brains; that way, Horikita would be confident that he could easily defeat the opponent.

But now she is indifferent to those underachieving students, which means she has no information about them at all. This makes Horikita Suzune hesitant to act rashly. As for Kanzaki, who is well-informed, Horikita has no idea what to do. After all, Kanzaki is a class leader. If he can't even see through this kind of scheme... Horikita feels that she needs to revise her opinion and evaluation of him.

Because Horikita Suzune judged that Kanzaki could easily see through her plan, she turned her attention to those less noticeable people in Class D.

After a day of intelligence gathering, Horikita narrowed down his attention to a few girls. These girls didn't seem to have very high academic abilities. Although an individual's academic ability cannot prove their overall strength, if they were strong enough, they wouldn't be unknown.

Take Longyuan for example. The school's evaluation of his academic ability was simply appalling. It wouldn't be wrong to say that he was the class leader with the worst academic ability in the entire grade or even the entire school.

However, when it came to a real fight, Horikita Suzune knew very well that she was unlikely to be able to outmaneuver Ryuen, that cunning and ruthless enemy. This also fully demonstrated that even if one's academic performance was not high, as long as one had the ability, one could shine on the stage of higher education and make a name for oneself.

The girls targeted by Horikita Suzune could all be considered 'nobodies'. The reason for this was that Class B had fought against Class D many times, and it could even be said that they had started to truly fight each other since the time they were on the deserted island. However, after so many battles, these girls had not been able to make Horikita Suzune remember their names. Apart from being nobodies and rookies, she really didn't know how to evaluate these girls.

With the chosen target in mind, Horikita naturally began to take action. Unlike Class B, who were in urgent preparation, Class D students had virtually no hope for the special exam because they didn't have anyone capable of leading the class.

Since they had no hope, they naturally ate and drank as usual, and didn't take the special exam in a few days seriously at all. As soon as school was over, the girls in Class D went to the Beech Tree Shopping Center in groups of three or five to see if there was anything they liked.

Although they are all penniless right now, it doesn't stop them from wanting to go shopping. In their opinion, they will receive points in a few days anyway, and as long as they are careful with their spending, they can always squeeze out some money to buy what they want.

As for whether all the class points earned in the last special exam will be lost?

That's not a problem they should be considering.

"Himeno-kun, what's wrong?"

Nanfang, who was chatting and laughing with her classmate, noticed that something was wrong with Ji Ye and asked curiously.

"We're being followed, it's so annoying."

Hime pouted unhappily. She didn't want to go out and participate in meaningless social activities in the first place, but she also knew that if she didn't get along with these idiots, they wouldn't listen to her when it came to the special exams or other activities. So, in order to support Class D, Hime had to force herself to suppress her annoyance and deal with these people.

Just as she was happily discussing with Nanami, Tsubane, and Kohashi in the clothing store what nice clothes they should buy when the points were handed out, Himeko immediately noticed that Horikita was following them.

It's not that Himeko's reaction was particularly quick-witted, or that her observation skills were particularly good, but rather that Horikita's disguise was just too poor. Have you ever seen a girl dressed in a neat school uniform appear alone in a shopping mall?

There are no rules in shopping malls that require students to wear school uniforms, nor are there any rules that prohibit wearing school uniforms. After all, school uniforms are clothing that can be worn anywhere in the school. However, if a group of people are wearing school uniforms while shopping, everyone can understand it. Perhaps they come here to shop right after school and don't have time to change into casual clothes.

Horikita Suzune was traveling alone, so she could have easily changed into casual clothes before coming here. You know, although the school uniform looks decent, it's not comfortable to wear at all. Plus, both boys' and girls' school uniforms are made of suit material and style. Who would go shopping in a casual mall wearing a suit school uniform?

This will only make you stand out more.

Therefore, Himeko immediately realized that Horikita was following them.

As for why Himeno was able to determine that Horikita wasn't there to buy anything but was following them, that's also quite easy to figure out.

"Would a normal person read a book in a shopping mall? Surely there aren't really weirdos like that?"

Seemingly uninterested in the mall's offerings, Horikita was actually holding a book, pretending to read while secretly observing Himeno and the others from a pillar not far from the clothing store.

Horikita Suzune believed that her disguise was flawless. She thought she had perfectly controlled both her expression and the timing of her secret observations. Even though the girls over there seemed to be looking in her direction, they probably couldn't guess her purpose.

"So what should we do?"

Nanfang glanced at Horikita, who was dressed strangely. Even though Nanfang had never been followed before, she could tell that the other party was up to no good. So, she asked Hime for advice with some fear.

"That person is Horikita Suzune. She seems to be a pretty smart girl, but I don't know why she made her intentions so obvious this time. There might be a trap. I may not be as smart as her. Anyway... I can only deal with it as it comes."

Hime shook her head, indicating that she didn't have any good ideas either. This was the advantage of having a great reputation. Horikita Suzune's fame had already spread throughout the school because of Amane. With such a great reputation, anyone who saw Horikita would be more or less wary, since in this school, those with great reputations were often truly deserving of respect.

For this reason, even though Hime was very confident in herself, she did not dare to be too overconfident at this moment.

Tsube and Kohashi, who were standing nearby, were so frightened that they didn't dare to say a word.

The fact that the leader of a rival class was following them was obviously not a good sign.

"Should we ask Kanzaki-san to mediate? We're probably no match for Horikita-san."

Tsube whispered to Himeno, "I suggest this."

For these girls, the best way to deal with this kind of situation is to seek help from boys. But the boys in Class D... don't have someone like Koenji or Albert who can immediately put the situation in check. Even if they were called in, it would probably just be another person who would lose face. So after thinking it over, Tsube could only hope that Horikita would let them off the hook for Kanzaki's sake.

There's nothing wrong with this suggestion; in fact, it could be considered the best solution at present.

The problem is...

"Sigh, calling Kanzaki-san is fine, but how should we tell him? Should we say that we were being followed by Horikita-san? What can we do if the other party doesn't admit it? If there's no evidence that Horikita-san is going to do anything to us, even calling Kanzaki-san won't help."

Hime sighed, feeling that the current situation was somewhat troublesome.

If Horikita did something to them, perhaps Kanzaki could be called in to act as a mediator, or even if a conflict broke out, Kanzaki could help mediate.

But right now, Horikita is just standing there, and even if you want to mediate, there's nothing you can do, because you have no idea what Horikita is going to do next, whether it's some kind of conspiracy or just simple stalking.

Besides, even if Horikita was planning to do something, they had already called Kanzaki over. Couldn't Horikita have chosen a different time to continue following them?

This will only make things more complicated and will not solve the problem at all.

"Then, what should we do? I heard that Horikita and Miyako are very close. What if Miyako is nearby...?"

As Xiaoqiao spoke, her eyes darted around with a hint of panic, as if afraid to see the name that filled them with utter fear.

Miyako Tenon.

Just hearing her name is enough to put all the students in Class D under immense pressure. Since Amane started helping Class B, she has never failed. With such a record, no one wants to mess with Amane easily. In addition, Amane's domineering presence during the Sports Festival makes it even more impossible for anyone to think they can compete with her.

Even Kanzaki was speechless during their last argument when he was told, "Their general is Miyako Amane! Kanzaki-kun, how can you talk about victory? You're really confident!" This shows just how devastating that name is to Class D.

"There's no need to worry about that."

Hime's expression remained relatively normal upon hearing the name Miyako Amane. This was partly because she had made a deal with Amane before and could be considered an 'old friend'.

On the other hand... she didn't believe Tianyin would hide.

"Eh? Himeno-san, you're not even afraid of Miyako-san? I still can't help but tremble when I think about how Miyako-san was covered in blood on the day of the sports festival."

Xiaoqiao's voice even trembled slightly when she spoke.

"Think about it, if Miyako really wanted to deal with us, would she need to hide? With her personality, she would probably just come directly to cause trouble for us. We definitely wouldn't dare to talk back, so why would she need to set any traps for us?"

To be honest, Hime's analysis made some sense and matched the D-class students' impression of Amane. They relaxed a lot after hearing Hime say that Amane wasn't nearby, but they didn't have a better solution for Horikita and his group in front of them for the time being.

Of course, there is a solution. Everyone could disperse and return to their dorms via different routes to effectively shake off Horikita. This solution is not hard to come up with. The main reason why these girls did not mention this solution is that they all believe that Horikita is targeting someone, and they are just innocent bystanders. Since that person has not come forward for so long, it must be something inconvenient.

If Horikita were to do something to that person after everyone disperses, the person who made the suggestion would inevitably be blamed by the other classmates. Even though there's no need for everyone to pretend to be good friends and play house after losing Ichinose, the apparent unity cannot be broken. So even though everyone wants to mind their own business, no one wants to be the unlucky one to stick their neck out.

"Since we can't figure out what Horikita is up to, we might as well just go up and ask him. If he's just gathering intelligence, that would be even better."

Seeing that everyone had fallen silent, Ji Ye had no choice but to take the initiative to bring up a topic to prevent them from losing their sense of direction and having any inappropriate thoughts.

"I also think we should ask her first. Although Horikita might not be willing to tell the truth, at least we should be able to tell whether she has any ill intentions towards us."

Nanfang immediately agreed with Ji Ye's suggestion.

Seeing this, Tsube and Kohashi also spoke up in support.

"The next step is for someone to talk to Horikita."

As soon as Ji Ye spoke, he noticed that the others were avoiding his gaze, clearly unwilling to deal with a renowned powerhouse like Horikita. Left with no other choice, Ji Ye had to accept the task himself.

"I made this suggestion, so naturally I should be the one to ask. But just in case, look at my gestures. If Horikita has ill intentions, then you should abandon me and leave immediately, understand?"

"understood."

The girls' unanimous answers startled Ji Ye for a moment, and then she realized that these people probably hadn't even considered what she would do if a conflict really broke out.

After letting out a deep sigh, Hime walked resolutely toward Horikita Suzune, who was still pretending to read a book.

"Horikita-kun."

"Oh? Do you know me?"

Horikita wasn't surprised to hear someone call her name. Because of Amane, countless people knew her. In addition, Class B and Class D were old rivals. Although Horikita had no impression of these insignificant people, it was impossible for the other party not to recognize her, Horikita Suzune.

"Of course I know Horikita-san. There shouldn't be anyone in this school who doesn't know Horikita-san. Let me introduce myself first. My name is Himeno Yuki, and I'm a first-year student..."

"Sorry, I'm not interested in getting to know small fish and shrimp."

Horikita's words left Hime, who had managed to force a smile, standing there awkwardly, speechless.

Hime was not very active before, so it was understandable that Horikita didn't know her. However, Hime did not believe that Horikita had never heard of her.

It's worth noting that Himeno was the one who helped Shibata try to seize power from Ichinose. Shibata had also worked with Horikita, so he should have mentioned Himeno's name more or less. With this connection, the conversation would have been much easier. However, to Himeno's surprise, Horikita pretended not to know and directly denied everything that had happened before.

This means that Horikita intends to handle things officially.

Seeing that Hime was speechless, Horikita slowly looked up from the book at Hime.

"What do you need me for? If not, please leave. I don't like making friends, and I don't like being disturbed by strangers while I'm reading."

Horikita's aloof and indifferent attitude almost made Himeko think that Horikita had no intention of following them at all, but Himeko realized it in just a moment.

It turns out that the rivalry between the two had already begun the moment she came over to say hello.

Chapter 212: Is it too late to back out now...?

"Actually, it's nothing much. I just came over to say hello when I saw you here, Horikita-kun. Since you're busy, we'll take our leave now."

Hime made a pre-arranged gesture to the waiting group, and Nanfang nodded and quickly led Tsunebe and the others out of the clothing store, intending to leave the shopping center via the elevator next to them.

"Oh?"

Noticing the departure of the other students from Class D, Horikita finally closed the book in her hand and took a closer look at Himeko in front of her. Actually, it was quite easy for her to figure out what Himeko was up to.

From the very beginning, Horikita had no intention of hiding her intentions; all she had to do was wait and see what happened by taking advantage of the misunderstanding.

After all, it's impossible for everyone in Class D to control their temper. If even one person falls for her trick, then her plan will succeed.

So when Hime arrived, Horikita was already planning her next move, but to her surprise, Hime not only saw through her scheme, but also openly chose to avoid battle.

Now that everyone else has left, they will likely be even more cautious and won't leave any loopholes for her, which limits Horikita's options.

Horikita's next options were either to find another group of D-class students and lure them into a trap, or to target Himeno, who was right in front of him.

However, Hime's actions have clearly shown that she is not an easy target. So what should be done next?

Horikita glanced at the time; it was almost dinnertime. If she gave up on taking action against this group, today's plan would be a complete failure. There were only five days left until the special exams began, and she planned to hold several more book clubs in the remaining time to improve the grades of those idiots. Right now, she couldn't afford to waste a single moment.

Since that's the case, she has no choice but to use the person in front of her as her target.

"Horikita-kun?"

When Hime heard Horikita make an "oh" sound, she turned her head and looked at Horikita with a half-smile, as if she was going to observe Horikita's next move.

"I'm getting sleepy from sitting here for so long, so I'm planning to head back anyway."

After saying that, Horikita didn't even try to hide it and strode towards the elevator, seemingly intending to catch up with the people from Class D.

Horikita's actions left Himeko somewhat bewildered. She hadn't expected Horikita to be so furious, so she quickly took the elevator to catch up with him.

But just then, a group of third-year girls also took the elevator downstairs. Hime was a beat too slow and didn't want to ask the third-year girls for passage, so she could only suppress her inner irritation and watch Horikita chase after the group in the south.

"Oh no."

Originally, it was just a guess that Horikita might do something to them, but now that the guess has been confirmed, Himeno is really not happy.

She intended to call Nanfang and the others to warn them to be careful of Horikita Rinne, but when she opened her phone's contacts, she discovered an important problem.

She didn't have any of the girls' contact information in her class. Before joining the class, she had no friends and was never invited out on weekends. Even for regular class gatherings, someone would organize the event so that everyone would sit together after school. There was no real contact between them in private, so naturally, they wouldn't have any contact information with each other.

This caused Ji Ye, who was already somewhat irritated, to blurt out a curse.

"Damn, I should have agreed on a meeting place. Who knows where Nanfang and the others will go?"

Since Ji Yecai's relationship with them has recently changed from ordinary classmates to friends, he is not very familiar with their habits and therefore cannot guess where they will go.

Then she can only prepare for the best and worst.

In other words, these people will be followed by Horikita, and after being provoked by Horikita, they might do something irreversible.

This kind of thing will definitely have a serious impact on morale for the upcoming special exam, so we must find them as soon as possible.

At this moment, Hime only thought that Horikita planned to demoralize the students of Class D by provoking them before the special exam began, without considering that Horikita actually wanted to prevent the students in her class from participating.

Because Himeno believed this was a minor skirmish, she gave up on communicating with Kanzaki. Her relationship with Kanzaki wasn't exactly good, and before Class B officially launched a full-scale attack on Class D, Himeno didn't want to say anything more to Kanzaki.

So Ji Ye decided to solve the problem by herself. She looked around and saw that it had been quite a while since school ended. It was just the time when everyone had finished playing and was heading back to their dormitories. The small first-floor plaza was now packed with boys and girls from all grades.

Looking at the crowded square, Ji Ye sighed helplessly, trying to find He Qi among the crowd of people, especially Nanfang and the other three...

Before Ji Ye could finish her internal monologue, she saw a figure in wine red jogging off in one direction.

If they were in the school building, Hime would have absolutely no interest in a girl in a school uniform, and might even subconsciously ignore girls dressed exactly the same due to visual fatigue.