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

Sato took out her phone, opened the camera, switched to selfie mode, and smiled as she looked at her beautiful face in the phone's camera.

"The reason I confessed to Yosuke is, of course, because I like Hirata Yosuke!"

Sato was very satisfied with the coquettish tone and the way she deliberately swayed her waist to show off her figure.

"Maya, good luck! I'll use this expression to charm Hirata when he comes back, but what if he still doesn't agree? If possible, I really don't want to go to that woman Amane... I've got it! If Hirata doesn't agree, I'll show him my feminine charm. I remember someone saying that a woman's body is also a weapon, right?"

Maya Sato excitedly told herself about her upcoming plans to the camera.

……

A tent with a cute two-bear-ear-like logo sits quietly not far from the sea.

Inside the tent, Hiyori Shiina waited expectantly for someone to arrive.

Shiina Hiyori didn't tell anyone about her being paired with Amane; only she and Ryuen knew about it.

Normally, she should have proactively shared this with Horikita, informing her that Amane might return to school to participate in the physical fitness test.

However, Shiina did not tell Horikita about this. Reason told Shiina that if Amane really came here, then she would definitely not be able to keep it a secret no matter what.

But... everyone has selfish desires, and Shiina is no exception.

The opportunity to be alone with Tianyin is something many people dream of.

But now she has it.

Perhaps this was destiny...

Just as Shiina was starting to have wild thoughts, the tent flap was suddenly pulled open.

"Sorry, I'm late."

"It's okay, I just finished setting it up myself... Who... are you?"

Chapter 147: The Little Bear Cookie of That Day

Shiina Hiyori looked at the woman in front of her, who felt both familiar and utterly unfamiliar to her, and couldn't help but feel wary.

The reason why the other person felt familiar was that the woman in front of him had long, silver-white hair exactly like Amane's, plus those purple gem-like eyes. If you were to ask who Gao Yuli would think of first if he saw such a face, it would undoubtedly be Miyako Amane.

However, Shiina Hiyori was 100% certain that the woman in front of her was not Amane, based on the woman's figure. Although Amane's figure was already quite outstanding among women, the woman in front of her seemed to be even better in terms of figure and also had a mature woman's temperament.

This temperament is somewhat similar to Tianyin's, but it gives people a much gentler and more low-key feeling, completely lacking Tianyin's dazzling and undeniable temperament.

Because the woman in front of her looked so much like Amane, Shiina Hiyori, who often reads mystery novels, once suspected that she was Amane from the future when she grew up.

Otherwise, how could anyone in the world look so alike? Shiina also knew that Amane had a younger brother named Masahiko, but Masahiko and Amane only looked about three-tenths similar in appearance. This level of similarity meant that for someone who wasn't particularly familiar with Amane, they wouldn't associate Masahiko with Amane at all upon first meeting him. Even if you told that person Masahiko's identity, they would probably have to observe him carefully for a long time before giving a vague and ambiguous evaluation like "they do look a bit alike".

But such a problem simply did not exist for the woman in front of him; just by standing there, she gave people the illusion of seeing a grown-up version of Amane.

"Did I scare you? It's understandable. You were supposed to be paired with Amane, but now you suddenly see me as your partner. It would be strange if you weren't surprised at all. First of all, please allow me to introduce myself. My name is Kiryuin Marina, and I'm Amane's... Anyway, nice to meet you, Shiina-kun."

Marina Kiryuin gracefully touched her chest and bowed, her fluid movements so fast that Shiina didn't even have time to react.

Marina noticed Shiina's unusual behavior and looked up at Shiina, who was standing there in a daze.

When Shiina's gaze met Marina's, Shiina seemed to wake from a dream and hurriedly returned Marina's greeting.

"Please take good care of me as well."

After returning the greeting, Shiina cautiously raised her head to examine the woman who called herself Kiryuin Marina. From her few words, Shiina was quite certain that the woman and Amane should have some kind of blood relationship. However, judging from her age, she didn't seem to be Amane's elder. Shiina felt an immense headache. She was both curious about Marina's identity and knew that the woman's deliberate avoidance of her identity meant that it was inconvenient to reveal it. In other words, no matter how she asked, the probability of the woman answering was almost zero. This made Shiina Hiyori, who was full of curiosity about everything unknown, extremely distressed.

"Um... how did you know my name? And... are you going to take Tianyin's place in this physical fitness test? Regarding the school..."

Shiina had many questions she wanted to confirm with Marina, who was sitting in front of her. However, considering that this was their first meeting and Marina was undoubtedly her elder, asking too many questions would only make her seem impolite. So Shiina could only choose a few appropriate and simple questions to start the conversation with Marina.

Only when the other party is willing to communicate with her will she have the opportunity to ask all the questions she wants to ask.

"Knowing your name... is that so difficult?"

Mari looked at the phone that she was holding in her hand with a puzzled expression.

The OAA software was open, and the name Shiina Hiyori was prominently displayed in the random matching section.

Shiina followed Marina's gaze and saw her photo and basic information on OAA. In an instant, Shiina Hiyori's cheeks turned red.

"Oh, it was shown on OAA. I almost forgot about it..."

Seeing Shiina Hiyori blushing with embarrassment, Marina couldn't help but sigh inwardly at the beauty of teenage girls, then a slight smile appeared on her lips.

"Actually, I got to know Shiina-kun not just because of the information on OAA, but also because of another little thing."

"Another... little thing?"

Shiina tilted her head, seemingly not quite understanding why her name would be associated with something small. Could it be that she had lost something that revealed her information and it was picked up by the other person? If that were the case, it would make sense. But the problem was... the other person didn't seem to be a student of the school or a high-ranking official. Was it really such a low-probability coincidence?

Marina sensed Shiina's confusion from her eyes and tone, but instead of revealing the answer, Marina gestured with her hand to form a small bear-shaped object.

"I met Shiina-kun through a cute bear-shaped food product."

"Huh? You don't mean 'Shiina Hiyori Like-Thumbs-Up Type II Bear Cookies'?"

"Huh?"

Shiina's offhand answer left Marina in disbelief, considering that she had only seen the name of the bear-shaped cookie by chance on a menu from the past.

Even Marina herself never tasted what that bear-shaped cookie actually tasted like.

"Is not it?"

Hiyori Shiina looked at Marina with hopeful eyes.

She seemed to really want Marina to answer 'no.'

Unfortunately, Marina first heard the name Shiina Hiyori from that strangely named bear-shaped biscuit.

"That's it. At first, I was curious why there would be a bear-shaped cookie with such a strange name. I thought the shop owner used his own name on the cookie. Now that I think about it, the name left on that cookie must be Shiina-kun's name, right?"

Marina keenly noticed that Shiina Hiyori's gaze had become complicated, as if it was mixed with a lot of emotions. Marina had not received any psychology training, so she couldn't tell what Shiina Hiyori was thinking for a moment. But one thing was certain: this was something worth remembering for Shiina Hiyori. Otherwise, after saying such an embarrassing cookie name, Shiina, being such a simple girl, would have blushed and lowered her head or run away covering her face.

It would be absolutely impossible for Hiyori Shiina's face to show such a happy expression of reliving memories at such a young age.

There's probably a story behind the name of this little bear cookie that only a handful of people, including Hiyori Shiina, know.

Considering the expression on her face when she called Amane's name, Marina had already guessed the answer pretty accurately.

There's a reason why Tianyin is so popular with girls.

The real reason Marina was so sure that Shiina and Amane's relationship was unusual was largely due to Shiina Hiyori's reaction. No normal person would say such an embarrassing and strange cookie name, right? Moreover, Marina had only described the shape of the cookie, and Shiina blurted out that strange name. All signs indicated that Shiina and Amane had a good relationship and were in a strange phase.

Similar to... a couple living together without getting a marriage certificate?

……

Mari, what a strange analogy that is!

Marina was having a headache from her own wild thoughts. Since she had nothing better to do anyway, she decided to help this cute girl named Shiina Hiyori.

After all, Shiina was a customer who had bought rice balls from her bakery.

"That name was chosen by Tianyin, and I objected at the time... but Tianyin wouldn't listen to me at all... I just feel so ashamed to give Biscuit such a name!"

Shiina Hiyori gently patted her cheeks, which were burning from embarrassment. Even without looking at her face on her phone, Shiina Hiyori could guess that she was blushing bright red.

Especially when she thought about someone buying the bear-shaped cookies, she said she wanted 'Shiina Hiyori Likes Edition Type II Bear Cookies'.

I couldn't help but want to get up and run away.

"Shame...is it the kind of shame that comes from feeling dissatisfied, angry, or even disgusted because your name is being maliciously used on merchandise?"

Marina smoothed her slightly curled white hair behind her ear, a sly glint flashing in her eyes.

"Of course not! Although I feel embarrassed that Tianyin named that bear-shaped biscuit, I have never been angry with Tianyin about it."

Shiina mistakenly thought that Marina had misunderstood her words, and even forgetting her shyness, she hurriedly spoke up to explain for herself.

"I see. So if it's not because you dislike this behavior, then the only reason you feel ashamed, Shiina-kun, is because you like it. You like the name Amane gave the biscuit, so you feel shy when it's mentioned. Am I right this time?"

"This……"

Shiina felt that something was off, but she couldn't quite put her finger on it.

"I don't think I like that kind of person... I guess I just don't dislike them..."

"Isn't not disliking it the same as liking it? I think I also heard Amane say that she really likes Shiina Hiyori... the Type II bear biscuits with thumbs up."

"..."

Seeing Shiina's face turn as red as if it were steaming, Marina finally ended the topic with satisfaction. There are many things she only needs to hint at. Only by leaving enough room for the other person to imagine can the feelings be further warmed up and eventually hatch into love.

Yes, she learned all of this from books.

She herself had never experienced anything like romantic love, but... Marina had heard a saying that the more unattainable something is, the more precious it is.

The affection and love that she couldn't even hope for must be priceless.

"Regarding your second question, I took the physical fitness test in place of Tianyin simply to ensure that Tianyin had enough points to participate in the competition. Tianyin's injury was an accident, which was not expected by the school. Especially since this time, she suffered a serious injury during a competition with an instructor hired by the school, requiring at least a month of leave to recover. This kind of egregious incident not only violates the school's basic rule of protecting student safety, but also risks damaging the school's reputation if the scandal of a student being injured by an instructor at school gets out. This would have a very serious impact on the large-scale special exam live broadcast that will be held during the summer vacation. Therefore, after discussion among those important figures, it was decided that I would take the test and complete all the test content in Tianyin's place to ensure that Tianyin has verifiable results in all tests, so that she would not miss the exam due to the school's mistake and thus be unable to participate in the special exam."

Marina's answer revealed almost everything without reservation.

Upon learning of Amane's injury, President Fujiwara was frantic, like an ant on a hot plate. In order to ensure that Amane received the best medical care, President Fujiwara borrowed the medical resources of the Miyako family, which was not far away. As a married woman from outside the family, the consequence of using the Miyako family's medical resources was that her actions were immediately reported to Kunihiro Miyako. Kunihiro Miyako even put down his work to personally arrange Amane's hospitalization and recuperation, and summoned President Fujiwara for a severe reprimand.

However, having finally gotten past Miyako Kuninori, she now faces an even more troublesome situation. What should Amane do? It's important to know that Amane's absence this time wasn't without reason; she was beaten by the instructor to the point of needing hospitalization. Just this incident alone makes it impossible for the investigators responsible for verifying whether students meet the physical requirements to participate in the special exam to allow Gao Yu to conduct the outdoor special exam again.

The reason is simple: if students can get injured at school to the point of being hospitalized for a month, who can guarantee that your special exams outside of school won't lead to even more serious consequences?

If these investigators can't be appeased, all of Gao Yu's preparations over the past year to gain the trust and support of his superiors for the special outdoor exam will be in vain. So, after discussing it, the board members came up with this unreliable solution: have someone take Tianyin's place in clocking in every day, while that person takes the written exam and physical fitness test and credits the results to the real Tianyin. This way, once Tianyin recovers from her injury, she can directly obtain a spot to participate in the special exam, which wouldn't be considered unfair to Tianyin. Of course, there will definitely be some private compensation, but this is something that can't be discussed openly.

So, President Fujimori had no choice but to bite the bullet and approach Marina. After learning the reason, Marina readily agreed. Originally, according to the initial rules, Marina was not required to show her face in public, as this would only increase the probability of her being discovered. However, to Marina's surprise, the school's evaluation found that a large number of academically gifted students might be screened out. In order to give more academically gifted students a chance, the school shamelessly announced that this test was a physical fitness test, but in reality, it was a test with more intellectual games. Marina was very dissatisfied with this lenient behavior.

However, she probably didn't expect that such a lenient test, which was designed to favor students with strong academic abilities, would expose her directly to Hiyori Shiina.

Chapter 148: Approval from Marina

"I didn't expect the school to do something like this. But if you put yourself in their shoes, you would probably try everything to cover up the accidental injury of a student. After all, it's only been less than a year since that incident, so it's understandable that the school would take some special measures."

The incident that Shiina Hiyori was referring to was the special exam she took on a deserted island when they were still first-year students, although for Shiina's Class C, it was practically like a vacation.

However, for other classes, it was a serious situation that almost endangered the lives of the students. In particular, the forest fire almost completely devoured the entire A class camp. The school immediately used helicopters to drop water and mobilized all teachers and students to work together to barely control the fire. In the end, the fire was extinguished by the fire brigade.

Even today, those students who experienced the forest fire still have nightmares from time to time, and the mention of the deserted island makes them feel uneasy. For these young people who have grown up in relatively safe environments, the fire that almost took their lives has cast a shadow over their lives.

Because of the fear surrounding that forest fire, even after the school was allowed to conduct special exams outside the school under supervision, it dared not easily choose any island for the exams, for fear that another fire would cause loss of life and property. In that case, one of the school's unique features, the special exams outside the school, would have to be canceled.

It is said that, according to the investigation, the fire started because the students in Class A did not send anyone to watch over the charcoal fire, which caused the tent to catch fire and thus started a forest fire. This led to the school issuing a notice strictly prohibiting the use of charcoal fires, and even if charcoal fires are to be used, they must be supervised by the class teacher.

This shows how significant the impact of that fire was.

Shiina could somewhat accept that the school took the matter so seriously and went to such lengths as to cover up Amane's injury, even resorting to methods similar to cheating.

What she didn't expect was that she would be matched with Tianyin's replacement as her partner. Should she say that she was lucky or unlucky?

Just as Marina was about to say something, her phone suddenly rang.

"Excuse me, I need to take this call."

"Please go ahead."

Marina picked up the phone and stepped out of the tent. Before she could answer, she saw a figure standing on the beach not far away, waving at her.

Marina glanced around to make sure the students were busy preparing dinner before quickly walking toward the figure.

"I never expected Rin to show up here."

"Oh? Why can't I be here? Isn't it normal for the school's chairman to check on the students' physical fitness test progress? Logically speaking, this should be Mayumi's responsibility, but that guy... is probably studying her pastries again at this time, right?"

The mere mention of Mayumi Fujiwara, the principal of the high school, gave the chairperson a terrible headache. The chairperson position was originally rotated among the standing directors, but she was brought in temporarily to take the blame after Chairperson Sakayanagi resigned for her poor handling of the sports festival.

As compensation, the Fujiwara family received the coveted position of principal of the high school. Chairman Fujiwara carefully selected Mayumi Fujiwara, a genius in every aspect, from among the younger generation of the Fujiwara family to serve as principal for this term.

To her surprise, this younger member of the Fujiwara family was clearly more enthusiastic about making pastries than becoming the principal of a prestigious school. This almost drove the chairman of the Fujiwara family crazy. In the end, he half-forced Fujiwara Mayumi to take the position of principal. However, although Fujiwara Mayumi was sitting in that position, her heart had already flown to her little bakery.

If she were the chairperson, she might be able to turn a blind eye to Fujiwara Mayumi's half-hearted attitude. However, once her one-year temporary term is over and a new chairperson takes over, Fujiwara Mayumi's passive and uncooperative attitude will definitely prevent her from holding the position of principal for long. In addition, Mayumi may also leave the school after Mayu has graduated.

She's barely able to manage her own family affairs; does she really have the energy to fulfill her promise to her father?

Perhaps... it would be more reliable for Marina to protect Amane than for her, an elder who is no longer a member of the same family.

"I think Mayumi just has a great passion for the things she likes. Her methods of handling school affairs are just as trustworthy as her methods of making pastries."

Marina has a crush on Mayumi Fujiwara. In Marina's eyes, Mayumi Fujiwara is a pure pastry chef who is willing to spare no expense to create world-class desserts that her students can enjoy cheaply.

Many of those who graduate from here will likely never have the chance to taste such expensive and delicious food again in their lifetime.

To be able to do something so selflessly for a group of complete strangers, even Marina couldn't help but feel immense admiration for Fujiwara Mayumi.

"Perhaps I was too demanding of her."