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

Hayasaka's words made Amane hesitate several times. The thought of being secretly photographed by those annoying paparazzi made Amane feel a little uncomfortable. However, the hospital was located in a remote seaside area, and it was impossible for someone to be watching the place all day long. Moreover, the area around the hospital was full of trees that were not as tall as the buildings, so even if someone wanted to take pictures, it would be difficult, not to mention the probability of accidentally photographing her swimming.

and so……

Why don't we try our luck?

After a while, Amane, who had changed into her swimsuit, happily walked onto the small diving platform that Hayasaka had specially prepared for her and then jumped into the bathtub filled with water.

Despite the blazing sun overhead, Tianyin didn't feel too hot thanks to the extra-large sunshade and the cool bath water. Before she could even take a few dips in the water, a large rubber duck-shaped inflatable lifebuoy flew towards her.

"What is this? Hayasaka, can't you swim?"

Looking up, Amane, who was holding the giant rubber duck, looked at Hayasaka in confusion. How could a former top student from the assassination department not know how to swim? It didn't sound very reliable.

"That's for you, Miss."

"For...me?"

Tianyin pointed somewhat uncertainly.

“That’s right. To prevent your arms from coming into contact with the water while still allowing you to swim in the bathtub, the current solution is the best I can think of.”

Hayasaka's explanation surprised Amane for a moment.

She was swimming in a fish tank, and by putting on a rubber duck swimming ring, she could avoid touching the water with her hands as much as possible. In a sense, what Hayasaka said was indeed true.

but! !

"Putting aside whether you can even enjoy swimming while wearing this giant rubber duck swim ring, the outfit itself is just so embarrassing!!!"

Whose young lady swims in a fish tank wearing a giant rubber duck? Just saying that would be laughable, right? And if Sakayanagi and Kaede found out…

"So, what do you intend to do, Miss?"

"At the very least, they should... change the look, right? I think the bear is much cuter than the rubber duck."

"I'm sorry, we have a limited budget, so I'll have to make do with this."

"Don't skimp on such weird things! Wait, that's not right. The budget approved by the family shouldn't be so stingy with things like this, dear Hayasaka-chan~ Just how much kickback did you take?!"

"About 30%."

It's about 30%.

About 30%.

Right.

"Thirty percent! Okay, okay, I was wondering why you made me use the giant rubber duck. I'm going to report you later."

When Amane saw Hayasaka brazenly talking about how he'd eaten up 30% of the budget right in front of her, her ever-righteous indignant reaction made her want to rush up and bring this scoundrel to justice right then and there. Candles, whips, cough cough cough...

Only through her strict upbringing could Hayasaka break the bad habits he developed at such a young age.

"Report me? Miss Tianyin, where do you plan to report me? You signed the bill, and besides, I only received this as a fee for my hard work."

"A fee for your trouble? I'd like to see just how...tough you are."

Just as Amane was about to go upstairs to cool off before coming back down to continue swimming, Hayasaka took off her maid outfit, revealing an incredibly shabby swimsuit underneath.

Hayasaka used her fingers to untie the red ribbon binding her hair, and her high twin ponytails cascaded down from mid-air like a red waterfall, finally hanging down to Hayasaka's slender and firm waist.

Hayasaka sat on the small bleachers and slowly dipped her feet into the bathtub. The white silk over-the-knee stockings began to fade in color the moment they touched the water, making them look as if they had blended into her thighs.

"Miss Tianyin, could you please help me take off my socks?"

This kind of behavior—having someone with an injured hand help take off their socks—is simply...

Amane, dressed as a giant rubber duck, swam right up to Hayasaka.

While helping Hayasaka take off her socks, her eyes kept getting drawn to the other of the Four Divine Beasts—besides the Black Tortoise, Azure Dragon, and Vermilion Bird—that were faintly visible beneath Hayasaka's overly simple swimsuit.

Hayasaka's lips curled into a beautiful smile, and then, pretending not to be properly seated, Hayasaka accidentally slipped into the giant rubber duck's lifebuoy as well.

Looking at Hayasaka, who was pressed against her, Amane finally understood why Hayasaka had chosen such a large lifebuoy.

"Even if you wanted to bribe me, it would be impossible."

“I’ve locked the door to the rooftop. The soundproofing here is also quite good. Last time, Miss Tianyin, you thought my voice wasn’t loud enough. Perhaps you could try it here.”

Hayasaka whispered in Amane's ear in that alluring voice.

The warm body in her arms made Tianyin's heart beat faster instinctively.

"Hayasaka, you bastard! Everyone knows I'm a decent person. I won't fall for your tricks. You're probably planning to blackmail me into not reporting you after that. I've seen through your little scheme! Don't try to test me with this. Who can't withstand a swimsuit test?"

Tianyin wiped her nose, and after confirming that she hadn't embarrassed herself when she said those words, she deliberately puffed out her chest, trying to make herself look more impressive.

"How about horseback riding? I heard Miss Tianyin say last time that you wanted to ride a horse. Although there's no horse farm nearby, I can find a spirited pony for you to ride. All the props are prepared perfectly, including a real ponytail!"

Gurgle.

As Amane looked at Hayasaka's red hair, she unconsciously began to merge with the little devil, Amane.

Damn it!!

Could it be that Hayasaka has been possessed by Amasawa? When did Hayasaka, who's always working so hard, become so adept at all sorts of tricks?

"Uh, what kind of horse? You know I'm very picky about horses."

"Of course, it's the red pony. As for being picky... well, let's have you try it out first~ mua~"

Chapter 140: Know Yourself and Your Enemy

After a thoroughly enjoyable test ride, Tianyin said the experience was excellent, except that the little horse hadn't yet adapted to its owner's pace and soon became breathless and rested on the side.

Looking at Hayasaka, who was slumped in her arms, Amane felt a little indescribable. The two of them hadn't even developed any feelings or ambiguity yet, but they had already done almost everything they were supposed to do. In a sense, Amane was becoming more and more of a sinner.

"Aren't you working too hard? I remember your salary is quite good, right? Even if you don't have to be tied to me, it wouldn't be a big problem for you to live a good life on your own."

The Miyako family's expenses for 'Aya' are quite enormous. Because all of Aya's members are women, the expenses are much higher than for men. All the expenses combined amount to an astronomical figure each year. Moreover, there is a rule that Aya must retire when she reaches a certain age.

After retiring, Aya took on other relatively safe roles within the family. The family took care of every aspect of Aya's life, so as long as she didn't develop any strange hobbies, she basically didn't have to worry about making a living.

However, Hayasaka is an exception. Despite receiving Aya's top salary and being registered in the Hayasaka family, it would be easy for her to marry a man from the Hayasaka family or a branch family in the future.

Even if she didn't consider marriage, she shouldn't have to worry about financial problems, but Hayasaka was constantly thinking about how to earn more money and secure her future by binding herself to her.

It's almost unreasonable to say that we should plan ahead.

Hayasaka, lying in Amane's arms, moved her lips, but in the end, she shook her head with a wry smile.

There are some things that cannot be told to Tianyin.

For example, terminating the contract with the Miyako family.

She herself was an abandoned child who was adopted. Although she was very grateful to the Miyako family for raising her, she felt that this kindness was not enough to justify sacrificing her life for the family.

Her adoptive mother, Liang Tian, ​​had sensed her thoughts, which is why, even though she knew that Hayasaka was currently the strongest shadow in the Miyako family, she insisted that she inherit Aya's leadership at an early age.

As long as she remained in that position, she would never have the opportunity to betray him. However, by chance, she was given the surname Hayasaka by Kuninori Miyako and tasked with monitoring Miyako Masatomi's illegitimate son, Miyako Masahiko.

Because of a specific long-term mission, Hayasaka relieved Aya of her duties as leader, which meant she finally had the opportunity to leave.

The reason she was able to leave was rather ironic: she resigned.

That's right, Aya can resign. As long as she signs a confidentiality agreement and pays a large training fee to the Miyako family, she can choose to leave Aya.

In other words, everyone has a price to redeem themselves from, and as long as they can afford that price, they can leave the Miyako family's control.

The more capable and higher the position of a member of Aya, the higher the price.

It's reached an unattainable level; for example, Hayasaka's severance package was in the eleven figures.

It was as long as her phone number, or even a bit longer.

This amount is simply not something one could save through normal work, especially after taking on the task of caring for Amane, leaving only her pure salary. Although it would be an unattainable sum for an ordinary person, without high commissions and allowances, she would never be able to save enough to leave the Miyako family peacefully in her entire life.

So she could only try her best to please Tianyin, hoping that Tianyin could give her real freedom, or that Tianyin could give her more time to raise the money before retiring.

If an adult had such thoughts, perhaps no one would be too surprised, since such thoughts, though very dangerous, are understandable.

After all, people can empathize with each other's desire for freedom.

But Hayasaka Miyabi, who has such mature ideas, will only be sixteen years old this month.

Hayasaka was afraid to tell Amane the truth, because doing so would mean she would be forever bound to the Miyako family's ropes until death.

"Money is a good thing; no one will ever complain about having too much."

Hayasaka's answer was not the answer Amane wanted, but Amane could tell from Hayasaka's reaction that the other party did not want to bring up the issue. They had just fought a bloody battle together, and it would be too much to make the other party angry as soon as they entered a sage mode.

"That's true. Next time, let's find something that will allow you to earn more money for your hard work, Hayasaka?"

"What else are you planning to do? Your family is very angry about the expenses. Mr. Shen even wants you, Miss Tianyin, to personally explain to them why you built such a flashy but impractical bathtub."

Amane couldn't help but let out a soft hum when she heard Hayasaka say that.

"Don't worry about them. Just report the amount. No matter how much they complain, it will still be approved. They think they can let me indulge in materialism for a mere tens of millions of yen? Those old guys are underestimating me."

Amane's disdainful tone made Hayasaka's eyelids twitch.

"Mr. Shen only hopes to reduce unnecessary expenses and has no intention of targeting Miss Tianyin..."

"Unnecessary expenses? Ha, he says he's worried about spending money, but that's just an act he puts on in front of you. Those people are hoping I spend more money. What do they mean by liking women? What do they mean by liking money? The stronger my desires are, the more they like me. Do you believe that if I suddenly became without desires, they wouldn't be able to sleep all night? Which is easier for them to control: a genius without desires or a genius immersed in pleasure and material desires?"

Amane licked her dry lips, took a sip of Hayasaka's drink to quench her thirst, and then continued speaking.

"In fact, they know very well that the Miyako family cannot do without me. From the day the Miyako family was founded, the heads of the Miyako family have always known one thing: ordinary people are not qualified to lead a family to prosperity. Just like Oda Nobunaga and Tokugawa Ieyasu, their families were unknown before they became famous, or only had local fame. However, once a true leader arrived, the whole family would soar to new heights. Therefore, the heads of the family have always known what their mission is: to accumulate strength and wait for a talented person to arrive."

"And so, the Miyako family, an insignificant family that couldn't even be considered a third-rate family, managed to survive for hundreds of years. Finally, my grandfather arrived, and he led the Miyako family to the pinnacle of the country in one fell swoop. This was the first time the Miyako family understood what power at the top was like. But how could the Miyako family, having breathed the fresh air of the top, accept falling into the abyss again? So they began to desperately establish themselves. To this day, the Miyako family has more than 400 people holding mid-to-high-level positions in the country, and countless others at the lower levels are dependent on the Miyako family. After gaining power, the Miyako family began to swallow up everything like mad dogs. Whether it was a financial group or a monopoly, once the Miyako family set its sights on something, it either had to kneel down and beg for mercy under the Miyako family's power or die."

"But even with economic support, the Miyako family still wasn't satisfied. They set their sights on the truly powerful families, hoping to maintain their current status forever or directly join the ranks of the top-tier families. Thus, they began a decades-long series of intermarriages. Thanks to my grandfather's evergreen political career, the Miyako family has now barely become a top-tier family. But that's just a shell. Without the test of time and the accumulation of experience, even if they've taken root in the soil, they're still just a shell that can be easily knocked down. So the Miyako family desperately hopes to produce another strong figure like my grandfather to rule the family."

"This is the only chance the Miyako family has had in hundreds of years. As long as the Miyako family can complete the top-level power transfer between two generations of strongmen, it doesn't matter if the political power is a little less than when my grandfather was alive. The most important thing is that the Miyako family cannot be without capable people. The Miyako surname must remain active in the political arena for at least another fifty years to be considered a truly great family. And I am the only choice for the Miyako family. Those old fogies are now both afraid that I am a madman who, like my grandfather, wields power and kills people for fun when he is in a bad mood, and also worried that I am not mad enough to frighten them."

“I can be greedy and lustful, fickle, cunning and treacherous, and even decisive and ruthless. But I cannot be capable. As long as I am capable, nothing else matters. Those old fogies have already prepared everything for me. My mission is to give up my life as a ‘human’ and become the symbol of the Miyako family. In other words, as long as I am willing to give up having children and promise to be the symbol of the Miyako family for the rest of my life, they can fulfill all my demands. This is the most perfect exchange.”

Amane opened her arms and told Hayasaka about things she had never known before. Hayasaka's calm gaze began to change as Amane spoke, then to surprise, then to shock, then to horror, and finally to deep fear.

A madman is a genius who has lost his mind, and a genius is a madman with reason.

As Tianyin herself said, she was a madwoman with reason, and this was the true face of a genius who stood above all other geniuses.

However, Hayasaka noticed something else in Amane's narration.

"But aren't you afraid they'll choose Young Master Yan?"

Miyako Masahiko is also a genius. Although his strength is not as good as Amane's, he is still remarkable in many aspects. Most importantly, Miyako Masahiko has an absolute advantage: he is male.

This has nothing to do with gender discrimination. Rather, it's because female heads of families need to exert considerable effort to suppress dissent within the clan, while men are more likely to gain support. Additionally, if a family elects a woman as its head, others might ridicule the Miyako family for lacking capable members.

Therefore, in some respects, Miyako Masahiko seems to be more suitable than Amane.

"Jiang Yan? Indeed, he has an advantage over me as a man, but he also has the biggest disadvantage."

Tianyin scratched open the skin of her left arm with her fingernails, and a trickle of blood slowly seeped from her snow-white skin. That bright red was so glaring.

“I am of the bloodline of the Kiryuin and Miyako families, while Masahiko is an illegitimate child. The direct bloodline of a large family is not something that can be shaken by an illegitimate child in some melodramatic novel. Moreover, if the Miyako family chooses Masahiko… I can consider going back to inherit the Kiryuin family.”

“My dear grandfather has hinted to me many times that I should go home more often. Although the Kiryuin family has become a vassal of the Miyako family, their foundation is far superior to that of the Miyako family. The reason they have bowed their heads is simply because they are waiting for the Miyako family to fall from grace.”

Hayasaka felt a chill run down his spine upon hearing that the Kiryuin family had actually laid hands on Amane.

"You wouldn't be willing to give up the Miyako family, would you?"

"That's hard to say. Compared to the Miyako family crest 'Thorns of a Caged Bird,' I actually prefer the Kiryuin family's 'Crane Carrying a Plum Blossom Branch,' although their additional conditions are a bit..."

Amane muttered something under her breath, but Hayasaka, who was in a daze, couldn't hear her clearly.

In fact, the Kiryuin family's condition was that she had to change her surname to Kiryuin and marry into the Kiryuin family. Whether she had children or not didn't matter; the marriage was mandatory. After hearing that Amane wasn't very interested in boys, Amane's maternal grandfather planned to sell her a fool named Kiryuin Kaede...

"The thought of having the same surname as Kaede makes me feel like I'm marrying into another family. No, no, it's fine as it is now. But it's a pity to give up Kaede... Eh? Why not just kidnap Kaede? Tsk tsk, as expected of me."

……

While Tianyin was still shamelessly enjoying herself in the open-air bathtub, a special physical fitness test had already quietly taken place at the forest school.

Last week, Class A only came in second place in the wooden warehouse building competition. Class D came in first place. Kanzaki was in top form on the day of the competition and led Class D to complete the construction of the wooden warehouse with a huge advantage of more than 40 minutes over Class A.

In the exam, Class B came in first place, while Class A remained in second place, which made everyone in Class A, including Horikita, extremely frustrated.

If it were just a regular exam, that would be fine, but the key point is that these weekly tests offer class points as a reward.

Now that Class B has taken first place, they are undoubtedly one step closer to Class A. If they don't find a way to win in the remaining two written tests and physical fitness tests, they will fall from Class A's position without even waiting for the special exam. Even with the pressure of the cross-grade exam hanging over everyone's heads, no class intends to hold back in the face of class competition.

"First of all, I'm glad everyone finished the written test for the second week. But the upcoming physical fitness test is a bit different from the first week. You can treat this physical fitness test as a special mini-exam, and the test is called 'Know Yourself and Know Your Enemy.'"

Chapter 141: Questions and Answers