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

"It's nothing, I'm just in a bad mood so I wanted to clear my head."

That's what she said, but Asahina's slightly choked tone clearly indicated that she had suffered some kind of injustice.

"Feeling down? How about we grab a drink? I know a good place..."

Tianyin sensed something was wrong before she could finish speaking.

Asahina, who had been looking dejected, was now scrutinizing Amane with a suspicious gaze.

"Have a drink? Tianyin, you don't mean go for a drink, do you? As the vice president of the student council, I have the responsibility to supervise students to abide by school rules and regulations as well as social norms!"

Suddenly, in a split second, Asahina transformed into a maintainer of order and poked Amane's cheek with her finger.

"It's very bad for children to drink alcohol! And when they're drunk, they might do a lot of outrageous things, so drinking is strictly prohibited by schools. Speaking of which... it's unbelievable that someone would dare to sell alcohol to a minor like you, Tianyin, at school. That's already a violation of the law..."

Asahina Nagisa solemnly recounted the dangers of alcohol and related illegal and criminal issues, Amane seemed to vaguely sense something.

Asahina seems to be trying very hard to do something, but... things like selling beer to minors are being done secretly in many places.

It's just a change in terminology; it's unrealistic to expect society or schools to ban it.

The company that supplies beverages and alcohol to the school is a representative of a large corporation that paid a hefty price to become a board member. They have made significant investments in the school, so as the saying goes, "He who takes a man's money is bound to be grateful."

Even if a school that has received benefits knows that it is illegal for businesses to make a profit by selling overpriced alcoholic beverages to the student union, it is impossible for them to explicitly prohibit such activities simply because the student union reports them.

The other half will likely adopt a hands-off approach to deal with these kinds of problems.

Several decades have passed since Gaoyu was established. Tianyin does not believe that the student council's elite students have not discovered this matter, but the fact that they all chose to sit idly by speaks volumes.

For Asahina, who genuinely wanted to help the school manage everyone well, this attitude from the school would undoubtedly be a huge blow.

However, it's unrealistic to expect Tianyin to expose these hidden problems.

Because many of these properties belong to the Miyako family.

Tianyin also realized why that brand of tomato juice, which sold so poorly that it could only fool freshmen into buying it, was always available in the vending machines in the dormitory lobby, and always freshly made. The reason was that it was something that Tianyin invested in and produced herself. After discovering that Tianyin liked to drink it, they maintained small-scale production, making it almost a special product for them.

Just as Amane's thoughts had jumped from drinking to tomato juice, and then to somewhere else, Asahina's voice suddenly stopped.

"I'm sorry... I know you'll find my lecture very boring, right? I know this isn't the right occasion for this kind of thing, but I... I'm really sorry to have spoiled your fun, Tianyin."

Asahina lowered her head, and something unbearable seemed to well up in her eyes, dripping from her cheeks onto the ground of the playground.

She wasn't crying because Amane hadn't listened to her lectures, but because Asahina felt her existence was worthless, which caused her to break down in tears.

During the afternoon meeting, her performance was terrible. First, Ryuen saw through the school's plan and used it to blackmail her into talking directly to the school. Asahina was severely reprimanded when she went to report the situation to the school.

Presiding over such a large meeting for the first time already put Asahina under immense pressure, and with such a major blunder, she almost lost control of her emotions. However, she knew that at that moment she was representing the student council and the school, and if she couldn't handle the pressure and broke down, it would be a disgrace to the school and the student council.

So Asahina gritted her teeth and persevered, but to her surprise, Ryuen staged another fake live broadcast farce, leaving the board members in a sorry state. In the end, it was only thanks to Chairman Fujii's control that the matter was quelled, which can be considered a perfect solution to the various problems caused by this special exam.

However, since the board members had lost face, they needed to find someone to take the blame. Asahina, the vice president of the student council, was reprimanded and reprimanded by the board members in a small meeting after the meeting. They believed that the main reason for their embarrassing behavior was that, as the vice president of the student council, he had not thoroughly checked Ryuen when he brought her in, which allowed Ryuen to bring a homemade camera into the meeting room where filming was not allowed.

Such accusations left Asahina speechless. However, since Asahina felt that it was indeed her oversight, she did not choose to speak up to defend herself or shirk responsibility. But just as she was about to leave, a casual remark from a director became the last straw that broke the camel's back.

"They're both third-year students, so how come their work skills are not as good as Sakayanagi Arisu, the daughter of Director Sakayanagi? If it weren't for Sakayanagi wanting to avoid suspicion, who would choose such a useless person to chair such an important meeting?"

The word "useless guy" plunged Asahina into deep self-doubt. Not long ago, Asahina, a third-year student in Class B, had caused her class to suffer a crushing defeat in a special exam where they competed against other classes. The price of this defeat was that one student dropped out of school and the class was demoted to Class C.

In particular, the girl who was to be expelled was one of Asahina's few friends who were still willing to play with her after Nagumo left. Asahina bid farewell to her leaving the school where she had lived for two years with a very sad heart.

However, despite Asahina apologizing to the other party the whole way, the other party still could not forgive Asahina.

"Qi, how many times do I have to tell you before you understand? You're not Nagumo, you don't have the ability to lead everyone, do you understand? You fell from Class A to Class B, then from Class B to Class C, and what's next? You're about to be in Class D, right? Being expelled now is probably a good thing. The thought of graduating as a Class D student makes me feel incredibly ashamed. As your friend, this is my last piece of advice before I leave."

"Stop trying to help everyone. They're not as bad as you think. Class C doesn't need you to carry the burden. It has wheels. Without your obstruction, it might go even further. Just remember that you're a useless guy. Maybe that will make you happier... Well, judging from your expression, you're not going to listen. That's fine then. Goodbye, Nasu."

At the time, Asahina didn't take what the other person said to heart. She thought the reason why the other person said such hurtful things was because of her resentment towards her for causing her to be expelled from school. Asahina thought she understood the other person's thoughts, so she didn't think much of it.

Instead, they worked even harder.

The result was almost identical evaluations from the board members.

It was only then that Asahina truly understood the words her friend had said at their parting, and at the same time, Asahina began to seriously consider whether she was truly a useless person.

As a result, she discovered that Tianyin had been unknowingly led astray by the school's bad atmosphere (drinking), and she had no way to stop this situation except to lecture Tianyin.

This caused Asahina, who had already begun to feel that he was a useless person, to completely break down.

Asahina's soft sobs made Amane unable to resist looking away.

Diligent and hardworking people suffer greatly in this merit-based school because its essence is to cultivate cogs that can perfectly fit into the workings of society. In other words, the school itself is a miniature society.

Managing such a place is simply not something that can be done with just enthusiasm.

This is no longer a question of who is right and who is wrong.

"Nigiri-senpai, you may have misunderstood something. I didn't feel that anything was off-putting. The reason I was distracted just now is because... serious Nagi-senpai is so cute. I was so focused on watching Nagi-senpai that I didn't lose focus. I'm really sorry."

"Huh? Cute? I don't think I'm that cute..."

When Asahina heard Amane say that she had been distracted because she was too cute, she looked up in surprise.

Even though the tear stains on her face were still clearly visible, her cheeks had already turned bright red.

"Whether someone is cute or not isn't something you can decide for yourself, Natsumi-senpai. Anyway, I think Natsumi-senpai is cute, and that's enough, isn't it?"

"Oh, I see... Tenon, you're cute too, but even if you're cute, you can't drink! Children shouldn't drink alcohol!"

When Amane heard Asahina bring up the topic of drinking again, Amane realized that she had successfully changed the subject once more, and quickly took the opportunity to explain.

"When I said 'have a drink,' I didn't mean alcohol. It was a beverage called wheat sparkling water! I'm a very good girl."

Tianyin spoke confidently.

The reason why Amane was so confident that Asahina would be fooled by her was because she had recently convinced that idiot Nanase of what she said.

I feel that Asahina's naivety is about the same as Nanase's in her normal state, so she should be able to fool her too... right?

"Hmm? Don't let my appearance fool you, I'm not stupid. If you think you can fool me, your tricks are no match for me!"

what? !

It's unbelievable that Asahina could see through a child's lie. It seems I misjudged her by thinking of her as being on par with Nanase.

Just as Tianyin's brain was racing, trying to come up with another explanation.

Asahina suddenly moved closer to Amane, then leaned her head towards her, her delicate nose twitching slightly as if she were sniffing Amane's scent.

"Senior Qi...isn't this progressing a little too fast...?"

"Heavenly Sound!"

"Yes!"

"Now the evidence is conclusive, you smell strongly of alcohol! Tianyin is such a bad kid! And... why do you smell like other girls? Did you lure other girls to drink? Confess to your senior now and you might get some leniency!"

Upon hearing this, Amane's eyes widened suddenly. Was her sense of smell really that sharp? She had even sprayed some perfume to cover up the smell of alcohol... Could it be that Asahina Nagisa had secretly gone to exchange techniques with Horikita Suzune?

Chapter Sixty: I'll help my senior change into her pajamas

As it approached nine o'clock, the largest residential facility on campus, the Beech Tree Shopping Center, was already pitch black, and the lights on the shop signs on each floor had all been turned off.

If the lights outside the shopping mall weren't still on before closing time, the entire mall might have already blended into the night.

The second floor of the shopping center used to be the liveliest place on campus besides the arcade and movie theater, thanks to its numerous restaurants and affordable buffet. However, at some point, the restaurants on the second floor began to close down and be transferred one after another. This unusual behavior even prompted the shopping center to send management personnel to the site to investigate.

However, after on-site assessment, the management did not get any answers, because the barbecue restaurant on the same floor was still doing very well and was not affected by the other stores at all.

This has led to all sorts of strange rumors circulating about the second floor of the shopping center in the Gaoyu business district.

This incident deterred many restaurant owners who wanted to open restaurants on the second floor, but Jinbo, the owner of a barbecue restaurant, didn't care at all and continued to run his business successfully.

Just like any other day, Mr. Jinbo, who was closing his shop precisely at nine o'clock, was already thinking about where he should go to have some fun that night. He was humming a strange tune and was about to lock the door when he heard the sound of the elevator running.

Jinbo glanced at his phone; it was indeed nine o'clock. There shouldn't be any students coming to shop at this time.

Although the shopping center is supposed to close at 10 o'clock, most shops close and go home when the number of customers begins to drop sharply at 8 o'clock due to the very limited number of customers throughout the school.

There are also a few shops with very little customer traffic that close as early as 7 o'clock.

So even though there's still an hour until the designated closing time, the entire Beech Tree Shopping Center should already be closed. Anyone who wants to come out at this time to buy clothes or eat is destined to make a wasted trip.

Although he didn't know which unlucky guy would appear at this time, Jinbo was already feeling a bit smug.

But then again... at this hour, if someone really wanted to eat something, they'd probably just grab something from the supermarket, right? It's unlikely anyone would choose to come all this way to eat... and coming to buy clothes late at night would be even more absurd! Oh, right! If someone's school uniform suddenly broke, they'd probably still come here to try their luck, even knowing they might make a wasted trip.

Thinking about this, Manager Jinbo lost interest. If the other party had an urgent matter, there was no need for him to add fuel to the fire.

drop.

The elevator stopped on the second floor.

Immediately following was the sound of light footsteps rushing towards his location.

"Hey?! Uncle, are you closing the door?"

When the store manager saw that the person who had run over late at night was actually Amane, sweat immediately started pouring down his forehead.

'No overtime! No overtime! No overtime!!'

Unfortunately, his prayers had no effect. As soon as Amane opened her mouth, Manager Jinbo knew that Amane was planning to have an extra meal that night.

Although he could use excuses like "we're closed" to ask Tianyin to come back tomorrow, he gave up on that idea after seeing a girl he had never seen before behind Tianyin.

If Tianyin were to introduce a customer to him, and he were to use the excuse of closing time to turn the customer away, it would definitely make the customer feel disappointed.

"Oh, it's Xiaotianyin. I was just about to close up shop, but if you're planning to order something extra, I'm happy to work overtime."

Manager Jinbo greeted Amane with a hearty laugh.

"Tianyin, isn't this a bit inappropriate? They're clearly about to close..."

"Well, if it's too much trouble for you, sir, we can come back tomorrow."

"What's the trouble? Why would we turn down a customer who comes to us? It's just working overtime. Come on in."

Manager Jinbo reopened the store door, turned on the power switch, and asked Amane and Asahina to wait aside.

Asahina originally only jokingly asked Amane to confess whether he had been drinking with other girls, but she ended up being recommended this barbecue restaurant by Amane, saying it was pretty good.

This tempted Asahina, who hadn't eaten anything that evening because she was feeling down, but considering it was already late and the yakiniku restaurant might be closed, she didn't think about coming over.

But for some reason, Tianyin insisted on dragging her over to take a look, so in order to get here before closing time, the two of them ran all the way through the campus.

"It would be too much trouble for them. I told them I could just buy some food at the supermarket."

Asahina felt a little embarrassed looking at the boss who was busy in the kitchen.

Being called back to work when you've already left work would make anyone unhappy.

"Uncle hasn't left yet, has he? Don't worry! Uncle Jinbo won't mind such a small thing~"

Seeing that Amane seemed to be quite familiar with the owner of the barbecue restaurant, Asahina didn't say anything more.

"Senior, is there anything you'd like to eat? The ingredients at this restaurant are pretty good."

"Tianyin, just keep an eye on things, I'm not picky about food... By the way, is there any water here? I feel a little thirsty..."

After wandering around the playground for half a day, Asahina was dragged by Amane all the way to the shopping center. Her physical fitness was already average, and she felt like her throat was about to burst into flames.

"Then I'll go find something to drink first. Senior Sister Qi, you can start ordering the food first."

Before Asahina could answer, Tenon quickly got up to get a drink.

"Hey, Xiao Tianyin, is this your new girlfriend? Do you change girlfriends that fast?"

Just as Amane was about to order a few beers for Asahina, Manager Jinbo poked his head out from the kitchen with a gossipy look on his face and asked.

How long has it been? At most, it's been less than an hour since Tianyin left after finishing her meal. In such a short time, Tianyin actually changed girlfriends and came back to eat here again. Just this audacity alone makes Manager Jinbo have to give Tianyin a thumbs up.

"Uncle, you're getting more and more gossipy! Neither this one nor the previous one are my girlfriends. We're just friends!"

"Yes, I understand."

"..."

Tenon chose to ignore the shopkeeper's winking and gesturing.

"Senior, how about we drink this?"

……

Looking at the familiar liquid in the glass in front of her, Asahina's expression towards Amane was incredibly strange.

"Tianyin, you've got some nerve! You actually dared to drink in front of me. Aren't you afraid I'll take a picture of you drinking and report you?"

Asahina deliberately opened her phone and pretended to take a picture to scare Amane, but she didn't expect that Amane wouldn't be afraid of such an obvious joke.