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

If only Tianyin were here. Although Tianyin is the culprit that makes the room so messy all the time, she is quite useful when it comes to cleaning. She is excellent at both cleaning and physical labor.

Horikita was even considering whether to give Amane a good talking-to and make her do more housework.

"Well, forget it. I should be thankful that guy didn't tear down the dorm. Looks like I'll have to do it myself."

Horikita casually tied up her newly grown long hair, changed into a simple white T-shirt and denim shorts that would make cleaning easier, and just as she picked up the broom to get started, the doorbell rang.

"Wait a mininute."

Horikita put down the broom and walked curiously toward the dormitory door. No one had greeted her or asked to visit her today. As for Amane, she had slipped out early in the morning and probably wouldn't be back until tonight. Who would come looking for her at a time like this?

Horikita opened the door, and then her expectant gaze dimmed instantly.

Good morning, Lingyin!

Tianyin, whose clothes were a little disheveled, stood outside the door awkwardly waving her little paws at her.

"Were you robbed on the way?"

"There was no robbery, but I got splashed with water..."

"This is the first time I've heard this version of the story. Come in and tell me about it slowly."

"Hehe... Eh? Rinne, are you getting ready for a big clean? Um, I suddenly remembered that Megumi seemed to have called me to say she had something to say..."

As soon as Amane entered the room, she saw various cleaning tools laid out. Realizing that she had returned at the wrong time, Amane tried to slip away to avoid being conscripted, but she was too late. Horikita, who was prepared, grabbed Amane by the back of the neck and pulled her back.

"What? You're really unwilling to share the housework with me?"

"How could that be! Of course, Rin's matter is the most important~ I just wanted to tell Megumi that I would be helping Rin with the cleaning and might not be able to keep our appointment..."

Before Amane could finish speaking, Horikita took out her phone and pressed it against Amane's face. Just before Horikita made up her mind to clean, the two of them had made a phone call to arrange to go shopping at Keyakizaki Shopping Center next Monday with Ichinose and the other two.

"Lying is something only bad kids do. By the way, Tianyin, what were you trying to say to me? I don't think I heard you clearly."

Horikita looked at Tenon, whose forehead was beginning to bead with cold sweat, with amusement.

"I said I wanted to help Lingyin with the housework! It's my duty!!"

"That's great. I'll leave the big cleaning to you, Tianyin. And while you're at it, explain to me what those teeth marks on your neck are all about."

After shoving the broom into Amane's hands, Horikita went to boil water and make coffee. After making herself a cup of instant coffee, Horikita took out the snacks she had scavenged from Amane and began to enjoy them, while also giving Amane a gesture that she could start.

As Amane tidied up the blankets and other belongings, she recounted the events of the day to Horikita.

Ahem, of course, the version that Amane and Horikita told was the abridged version. The part about Kaede's insistence on becoming the master, her failure to do so, her being beaten badly, biting Amane a few times, and then kicking Amane out of the dormitory was naturally omitted.

Logically speaking, Amane's actions were somewhat understandable, but Horikita was almost speechless after hearing about Amane's magical experience that morning.

Because Amane omitted the scene with the maple blossoms in her narration, it became that a third-year senior wanted to be Amane's boyfriend for half a year in order to advance to the next grade. After Amane refused, the senior not only splashed Amane with tea but also made a huge scene. Amane slapped the senior to stop her outburst, and then the senior bit her...

After hearing the whole story, not only was Horikita stunned in her seat, but even Amane herself didn't know what she was talking about.

In the end, Horikita was the first to recover from the shock.

"I'm sure the teeth marks were from a girl, but it's not that bad... What is all this nonsense? Tianyin, do you want to get some rabies shots? Or get checked out?"

Horikita could no longer imagine what kind of girl the other person was; just the fact that she had a temper as bad as a bulldog made Horikita think that Amane was right to reject her.

Otherwise, a brainless girl like that who falls into Sakayanagi's hands will eventually be played to death by Sakayanagi.

Oh, right, Sakayanagi Arisu...

"Speaking of which, Amane, it seems you haven't seen Sakayanagi since you came back. Have you two been having a falling out lately?"

Horikita's question startled Amane, who was grooming her brown bear doll, and she suddenly covered her cheek.

"Oh no! I forgot about that!!!"

"what?"

……

"The water temperature is a bit cool today. Autumn is coming soon, so we'll raise the water temperature a little next time."

Sakayanagi slowly walked to the bedside with her cane, then picked up a hairdryer and carefully dried her hair. Sakayanagi's hair color and texture were quite good. One reason was that she inherited her hair from her mother, which made her hair very smooth from a young age. In addition, Sakayanagi usually paid attention to maintenance, so her hair color also gave people a very comfortable feeling.

If one had to find fault with Sakayanagi, it would probably be her hair volume. Actually, Sakayanagi's hair volume isn't small, but it can never reach the length of those beautiful girls with hair that reaches their waist.

It's not that Sakayanagi is pursuing the beauty of long hair; it's simply because Amane likes girls with long hair.

Just as Sakayanagi's thoughts began to drift away, a sudden, urgent knocking on the door startled her.

Thump thump thump thump! ! ! .

"???"

The familiar knocking made Sakayanagi almost instantly recognize who was outside. In the entire school, only Amane would knock on her door so roughly.

The thought that her beloved Tenon was right outside the door made Banliu's face light up with joy almost instantly.

However, Sakayanagi's last shred of rationality was still desperately suppressing her joy.

Even though she's been back for several days, Tenon hasn't come to see her even once, not even sending a single message. This has left Banliu staring at her phone's chat window every night until she falls asleep.

She needs to settle this score with Tianyin properly!

Having made up her mind, Sakayanagi patted her cheeks forcefully, making herself look much more serious. Satisfied with her expression, Sakayanagi had just picked up her cane and was about to open the door for Amane when she heard someone use a key card to open the door.

This heavenly sound!!!

Sakayanagi, holding a cane, and Amane, who was peering into the room, met each other's eyes.

"You...you actually knew I existed."

Sakayanagi had perfected her expression management to the extreme, appearing indifferent and detached, which could easily fool those who didn't know her well. Even the students from Class A probably wouldn't be able to detect any change in Sakayanagi's expression.

Only Amane noticed at a glance that Sakayanagi's lips were trembling slightly.

"Arisu! I miss you so much!!"

"Tianyin, you..."

Before she could even stand up straight, Amane lunged forward and pounced into Sakayanagi's arms. Sakayanagi tried to hold Amane back, but Amane pushed her all the way onto the bed.

Watching Tianyin nuzzle affectionately against her chest, her hypocritical mask gradually melted away like the ice and snow of harsh winter meeting the warm sun of early spring.

"Alright, alright, I know you miss me. You're so old now, why do you still act like a child? Mingyin, you were so mature for your age when you were little."

Sakayanagi gently stroked Amane's hair to comfort her in his arms until Amane had vented her emotions. Then he patted Amane's ahoge (cowlick) to make her be serious.

"It's been so long since I've seen Arisu. You have no idea how much I've been doing it every day..."

"We last met 22 days ago at night, which means it's been 563 hours since we last contacted each other. Tianyin, what's wrong?"

"N-nothing... Arisu, you even remember things like this so clearly?"

When Tenon saw that Sakayanagi had even specified the exact hour of the time they hadn't seen each other, she immediately sensed something was wrong.

"Of course, I remember telling you before that I remember everything about you perfectly. But never mind, since you've come all this way, don't keep talking about me. Judging from your appearance... you didn't come from some girl's place, did you?"

Sakayanagi touched the mark that had faded considerably but whose traces were still faintly visible.

Amane's cheeks flushed slightly. She noticed that both Horikita and Sakayanagi were observing this matter quite carefully. You should know that this mark was located just a tiny bit in front of the back of her neck. If you didn't look at it yourself, you shouldn't be able to see it from the front.

Even such a hidden location was discovered by the two of them immediately, which shows just how meticulous their care for Tianyin was.

"I came from Lingyin's place. This was left for me by Fenghua..."

"Maple flowers?"

Upon hearing the name, Sakayanagi tilted his head in confusion.

"Wait! Arisu, you don't even remember who Kaede is, do you?"

When Tenon saw that Sakayanagi's expression was off, she quickly pressed down on Sakayanagi's shoulders and shook him violently twice.

"Stop shaking, Maple... Come to think of it, that name sounds familiar, but I can't remember where I've heard it before."

Sakayanagi tilted his head, trying to make a cute expression, but this trick was no longer effective on Amane. After saying "kawaii" and giving Sakayanagi a kiss as a reward, Amane started shaking Sakayanagi again.

Anyone can forget that, but maple blossoms are something we absolutely cannot forget!

"Please stop shaking me, Tianyin. If you keep shaking me like this, I'm really going to faint."

Amane stopped shaking Sakayanagi only after hearing what he said.

Sakayanagi patted her chest and it took her a while to recover her complexion. If Amane had continued to shake her, she was afraid she would have thrown up her lunch.

"Maple Flower is still alive? I haven't seen her for so long, I thought she had been expelled from school for some special exam."

"Huh? Arisu, you're really not concerned about Kaede at all! She's still alive and kicking."

“Look, Tianyin, you said she’s lively and energetic, so there’s naturally no need to worry about her.”

"..."

Amane opened her mouth, feeling that something was not quite right, but after thinking about it carefully, she felt that what Sakayanagi said seemed to make sense, so she stopped worrying about it.

Next, Amane vividly described to Sakayanagi how she excelled in the special survival exam.

Every time she got to the key points, she would elicit exclamations and comments from Sakayanagi. In the end, Sakayanagi even praised Amane highly and gave her a kiss as a reward for Amane's hard work in her second year. This made Amane feel like she was floating on air for a moment.

Little did anyone know that Sakayanagi had already begun using most of the hidden surveillance cameras to track and film Amane's every move after she entered the base. Not only Amane's amazing performances, but Sakayanagi also carefully evaluated and compared Amane's sleep time and food intake. Only after confirming that Amane's food intake was the same as usual during the special exam did Sakayanagi feel relieved.

In addition to what Amane told her, Sakayanagi also learned about Nanase. Before Amane came to find her, on the very day that the first and second-year students returned from Hida, Sakayanagi met with Nanase.

The two talked for about two hours before leaving, and Sakayanagi even gave Nanase a very high score of 99.

Even Horikita was only rated 93 points in her mind, which shows how highly Nanase was regarded by Sakayanagi.

As for why it's not 100 points?

This score refers to her compatibility with Amane as a lover, and the only one with a perfect score is Sakayanagi herself.

Although Sakayanagi doesn't like to compete, show off, or prove anything about her and Amane, as the girl who has been with Amane the longest, she is undoubtedly the one who deserves the highest score in Amane's heart.

This is what Sakayanagi Arisu is most proud of.

Seeing that the topic of Amane was about to veer into eroticism again, Sakayanagi suddenly thought of something very important.

"Your birthday is in two weeks, Tianyin. Is there anything special you'd like as a gift?"

Chapter 227: Bear Cookies

"Birthday present? Something casual will do. I'm planning to just prepare a cake and a big meal, like before. As long as everyone can come, that'll be enough... By the way, Arisu, isn't it a bit inappropriate to ask me what I want so directly? If you know what a present is in advance, it loses its surprise!"

Amane doesn't seem to care much about birthday parties. In the past, she usually celebrated her birthday alone or with Sakayanagi and Kiryuin. Last year's birthday was more lively, with many familiar faces and people she wasn't very familiar with at the time.

At that time, everyone disregarded each other's classes and happily celebrated Tianyin's birthday together.

This year's birthday party should be similar in form to last year's, but the scale may be a bit larger. After all, a year has passed, and I've made a lot of new friends this year, including some from different grades. Even Tianyin thinks it would be a bit of a pity if we didn't have a big, lively celebration.

But where can you find such a large venue?

While Amane was still pondering where to hold her birthday party to accommodate all the people she wanted to invite, Sakayanagi was muttering words like 'surprise' over and over again.

"It's decided! This year, I'll prepare a gift for you, Tianyin, that will be full of surprises!"

"Huh? Arisu, are you sure you're not just shocked?"

Looking at Sakayanagi's malicious smile, Tenon asked with some concern, "Gifts are best when they're a surprise, but for Tenon, something ordinary is fine. If it's something shocking, Tenon is afraid her little heart can't handle something too outrageous."

"Don't worry, you'll definitely like it, Tianyin~"

Sakayanagi reached out and gently stroked Amane's nose, her words revealing her confidence in the mysterious gift, which made Amane eager to see what was to come.

"Then I'll be looking forward to your gift, Arisu. By the way, before we receive your gift, is there anything else we can do? Like..."

"Don't even think about it! By the way, from now on, Tianyin, you are not allowed to get close to any girl, nor can you do 'that kind of thing' with anyone. Keep it like this until your birthday party, and I will make it up to you properly after that."

After pushing away Amane who was leaning close to her face, Sakayanagi suddenly remembered something and quickly gave Amane the order not to be lewd. After saying that, Sakayanagi mysteriously touched Amane's lips, giving Amane endless fantasies. However, after realizing that she was about to leave the fragrant girl and the lewdness that was good for her physical and mental health, Amane couldn't help but hug her head and let out a scream.

"Eh!!!"

……

"Then I'll leave the shop to Marina for a while. I'm going out to get some stock and I'll be right back."

"No problem, please leave the bakery to me. Mayumi, please be careful on your way."

"OK~ I'm a mature, stable, and reliable adult. I won't act recklessly like a child..."

Inside the bakery, Ms. Fujiwara greeted Marina, who had changed into her shop assistant uniform, and then, carrying a thick stack of purchase lists, strode happily toward the school gate. However, she tripped and almost fell to the ground. Fortunately, Ms. Fujiwara's reflexes were quite good, otherwise her shopping trip would have been canceled before she even left the shop.

Watching the unreliable Fujiwara-san stagger away, Marina felt that it was still necessary for Chairman Fujiwara to take care of her.

'Mayumi Fujiwara isn't very reliable when it comes to anything other than desserts.'