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

After watching Fujiwara leave, Marina began to organize the ingredients on the shelves. Since many students like to stay in bed during the holidays and eat nearby, few people would deliberately take a detour to the bakery near the school building.

Therefore, the bakery can hardly serve more than a few customers a day. Although it is said that they help take care of the customers, Marina is just responsible for standing there to prove that the shop is still open.

With nothing else to do, Marina looked through Fujiwara's notes and insights while starting to recreate several classic snacks from the bakery. Since she was just killing time anyway, she might as well take this opportunity to improve her dessert skills. Amane's birthday was in two weeks, and Marina was going to make a big birthday cake for Amane herself.

Therefore, it's still necessary to warm up beforehand.

Ring ring.

The doorbell of the bakery rang melodiously, and Marina, who was practicing in the kitchen, quickly put down the desserts she was about to sample and came to the front desk.

"Welcome! What would you like to order?"

"Miss Marina?"

"Shiina-kun? What a coincidence."

When Marina saw that the other person was an acquaintance, a slight smile appeared on her face. However, when she remembered the promise, the smile on Marina's face instantly turned into a blank expression. Little did she know that Marina's stern face looked more and more like Amane's, almost like a mature version of Amane.

Shiina was shocked when she saw Marina. Only then did she realize that it was because of Amane that she had a vague feeling of familiarity with Marina during the exam in the forest. Shiina had initially thought it was because of Amane that she had this illusion of familiarity with Marina.

Looking back now, it wasn't for that reason at all. It must have been that she had seen Marina when she came to the bakery to buy bread before, which is why she felt like she had seen her somewhere before.

"It is quite a coincidence..."

Shiina responded to Marina somewhat guiltily. The moment Shiina saw Marina, her expression turned bitter. She hadn't been able to fulfill that promise in the end.

Originally, Amane didn't leave the base often during the later stages of the special exam, giving her enough time to deepen her relationship with Amane. However, Amane discovered Ibuki's 'affair,' which made their relationship seem a bit strained. As their mutual friend, Shiina Hiyori was caught in a dilemma. To consider Ibuki's feelings, she had to maintain a certain distance from Amane and couldn't be too intimate, otherwise Ibuki might feel uncomfortable and overthink things. Unfortunately, her punishment was to make Amane confess her feelings. If she distanced herself from Amane, forget about confessing; within a few days, Amane's side would be occupied by other girls.

Therefore, Shiina could only maintain a distance from Amane, neither too close nor too distant. From the moment she made this decision, Shiina never thought she could complete Marina's punishment in the special exam. However, to her surprise, a new girl appeared by Amane's side not long after.

Shiina felt a little like crying when she thought that even a first-year student could beat her to the punch. Fortunately, after returning to school, first-year and second-year students didn't have much contact under normal circumstances, so Shiina could barely accept it.

However, Shiina was still deeply troubled by Marina's punishment and didn't know how to explain it to her when she saw her in the future. Feeling depressed, she could only choose to go out for a walk to clear her mind, but she didn't expect to run into Marina just by casually strolling around.

Is this good luck or bad luck?

Shiina quickly realized that the most pressing issue was no longer whether he was lucky or unlucky, but how to explain things to Marina.

After much deliberation, Shiina decided to take the initiative and confront Marina first.

"I am very sorry that I was unable to complete the punishment that I had agreed upon with Ms. Marina. If possible, I am willing to make any compensation within my power."

Before Marina could even mention punishment, Shiina bowed deeply to her and sincerely expressed his willingness to accept any form of compensation.

Marina, who had originally planned to make things difficult for Shiina, saw her like this and decided not to be too petty.

"Forget about compensation. This was just a little punishment game. Since it wasn't completed, let's just leave it at that."

Marina didn't pursue the matter further. In any case, it seemed only a matter of time before Shiina was taken down by Amane, so there was no rush.

"Is this really okay? I did lose to Marina-san back then. If there's no punishment at all, wouldn't Marina-san be at a disadvantage?"

Shiina Hiyori wasn't a clueless girl. Of course, she knew that Marina had made that bet with her so that she would get closer to Amane. Now that she thought about it, the bet itself was probably tailor-made for her. How easy is it to find a master of deduction?

Marina clearly came prepared from the start. She was caught off guard and outmatched in skill, so Shiina was a little unwilling to accept losing the match. However, Shiina believed in the principle of accepting defeat. Since she had agreed to the punishment, she had to fulfill it. However, Shiina did not expect that Marina's punishment would be too difficult for her.

Therefore, failure is not something that is unpredictable, but if she does nothing after failing, that would be a breach of promise.

Looking at Shiina, who was eagerly trying to make amends, Marina couldn't help but find her a little cute. It was the first time she had ever met such a straightforward girl. However, Marina didn't want to take advantage of Shiina's desire to make amends to get her to deliberately get close to Amane. She would let the juniors handle their own affairs.

"It's not really a loss for me, since I haven't suffered any loss. But judging from your expression, you'll probably feel bad if I don't accept your compensation. How about this, let's have a taste of my freshly baked cookies and we'll call it even."

Marina took a large plate of cookies shaped like cute bears out of the oven.

Is that all?

Shiina carefully picked up a warm cookie from the baking tray, wearing disposable gloves.

Upon seeing that all-too-familiar shape, the first person Shiina thought of was Amane. She never imagined that someone could make the exact same cookies that Amane had made for her so long ago.

Shiina took a small bite of the cookie. The crisp texture and rich milky aroma spread through her mouth, and the freshly baked cookie was indeed more delicious.

"The bear-shaped cookies were delicious. Thank you so much for your hospitality."

Upon tasting the familiar flavor, Shiina bowed deeply to Marina once again with utmost sincerity.

“Bear biscuits? No, no, no, these biscuits aren’t called that.”

Marina revealed a meaningful smile.

"Huh? Isn't this the bear-shaped cookie created by Tianyin?"

Shiina picked up the cookie and examined it closely. She found that it didn't seem to be much different from the bear-shaped cookie she remembered. In addition, the shape was so distinctive that it was impossible for her to mistake it.

Just as Shiina was feeling puzzled and confused, Marina smiled and picked up the menu next to her, pointing to the line with a picture of a bear cookie but with an extremely long name.

"Could you please tell me its name, Shiina-kun?"

"OK……"

Although she didn't know why Marina wanted her to read the name of a cookie, Shiina did as she was told, only to realize what she had done halfway through.

This name seems familiar!

"Shiina Hiyori's Thumbs-Up Style Type II Bear Cookies!!!!"

This shameful name once brought back some unpleasant memories for Hiyori Shiina.

"How about it? Isn't the name of this cookie lovely? It's said that this cookie was specially made for Shiina by Amane, and it's one of the best-selling products at this bakery! It's also said that if you confess your love by the big tree behind the Keyaki Shopping Center and give the other person the Shiina Hiyori Like-a-Like Type II Bear Cookie, your chances of confessing will increase by 50%! So this cookie symbolizes love in our shop..."

"Please! Please stop... such an embarrassing name... I should have been firmer when I rejected Tianyin, now it's too late to regret it... Love and all that, this cookie doesn't have that kind of magic..."

Shiina gripped the cookie tightly in her hand, her face flushed and her expression flustered as she desperately tried to deny the cookie's special meaning.

"You're wrong, Shiina-san. It's not the cookie that has that kind of magic, but rather the magic of liking and admiring each other that makes two people want to understand each other better. If you have the chance, bring Amane here to try this cookie. Maybe something magical will happen~"

After Marina finished speaking, she placed the whole plate of bear-shaped cookies in front of Shiina, and then went back to the kitchen alone to continue researching how to make her birthday cake.

Only Shiina Hiyori remained by the shelf, staring blankly at the bear-shaped biscuit in her hand that had been crushed due to her excessive excitement.

Carefully put the crushed bear-shaped biscuit into your mouth and chew it slowly.

Shiina's thoughts seemed to return to that summer day, on that cruise ship, where Amane was comfortably resting her head on Shiina's lap, while Shiina watched the sleeping Amane with a smile on his face.

She still often recalls that beautiful scene, and Shiina finally made up her mind.

"I'm sorry, Mio."

Chapter 228: Swimsuit Birthday Party

Sizzle... sizzle... sizzle...

The sound of the phone vibrating woke Tianyin, who was still fast asleep.

"Rin-ne~ Could you turn off my alarm clock... Huh?"

Amane didn't even open her eyes. She mumbled incoherently as she instinctively reached out to hug Horikita, who was sleeping beside her, but her attempt to hug him back resulted in her hitting empty air.

Amane could only open her eyes and scan the room. Finding no trace of Horikita within her sight, she tilted her head in confusion before sitting down to wait for her brain to kick in. Once her mind cleared up a bit, she decided that she had to turn off her phone herself. Despite being drowsy, she began to wriggle on the bed. After finally managing to reach her phone, which was charging on the bedside table, she simply rested her chin on the table and quickly turned off the alarm clock with a few taps.

The moment the annoying vibration disappeared, the entire room fell silent. Tianyin, who was resting her head on the bedside table, was suddenly overcome with drowsiness, as if it were about to drag her into the abyss of deep sleep. A faint smile appeared on Tianyin's face. Just as Tianyin was about to drift off to sleep, she suddenly felt an electric shock from her hairline to her brain, which instantly woke her up.

Something's wrong! Something's really wrong!!

The dormant muscle memory within her body was awakened, and Tianyin instantly rolled out of bed and quickly went to the bathroom, which was empty, just as she had guessed.

There was no breakfast left for Amane on the table, which clearly meant that Horikita got up very early today and went out and never came back.

The reason for this conclusion is that Horikita only doesn't wake Amane up when she's exercising in the morning. Today, she didn't even know when Horikita left, so it was most likely around six o'clock, close to when Horikita was exercising.

"Since I came here, I've felt a bit lax and lazy..."

Amane picked up her phone and dialed Horikita's number, but as Amane had expected, no one answered.

However, Amane didn't seem anxious. Instead, she poured herself a glass of milk and sat down at the dining table to call Ichinose and Karuizawa one by one.

Sure enough, no one answered the phone.

If one person didn't answer the phone, Amane might worry that something bad had happened to Horikita, but since no one could get through to her, it was obvious that someone was deliberately trying to do something behind her back.

No matter how bad the school's reputation was, Tianyin didn't believe that the school would allow such a serious incident as the disappearance of several girls in one day to happen, which would be fatal for those board members.

Based on the existing clues, Tianyin glanced at the date again: September 1st, Tianyin's birthday. The whereabouts of everyone else were almost self-evident.

Tianyin was starting to feel a bit annoyed by her own slow reaction time. Judging from everyone's coordinated actions, they were probably planning to give Tianyin a surprise. If it were an ordinary girl, she might have been moved to tears by the birthday surprise.

But for Tianyin, no matter what kind of birthday surprise it is, it is hard for her to be moved, because she can see through the other party's purpose in the shortest time and can also figure out the real content of the surprise based on the clues.

In this way, the so-called surprise suddenly lost its meaning in her eyes, even though Tianyin wanted to stop thinking about these things so that she could show the same surprise and joy as an ordinary girl when she received a birthday surprise.

But... she couldn't do it. To Tianyin, birthdays, such a memorable day, were somewhat dull and tasteless. She remembered everyone's birthday and would send exquisite gifts and sincere blessings to others on their birthdays without fail, never missing a single one.

Because she felt that it was a meaningful thing to make others happy on their birthdays, she later learned from those people and laughed even more happily than others on her birthday.

But every time a birthday party ends, Tianyin will find a quiet place to stay alone for a few days, just so that the smiling mask on her face can return to its original state.

Birthdays are meant to be celebrated. If the person celebrating their birthday shows an unhappy expression, everyone else will also be unhappy. Tianyin doesn't like seeing the people she cares about unhappy, so she can only repeat the role of the happiest person year after year.

As for the reason... it can perhaps be traced back to a very, very long time ago.

In Tianyin's memory, her parents were never by her side for any of her birthdays before she turned six. Only the housekeeper and the maid who took care of her celebrated her birthday. The only person she could be familiar with was Aya.

Since entering the White House for training, her birthday celebrations have consisted of nothing more than a small cake and a day off, allowing Tianyin a moment to breathe after facing hellish torment.

For those three years, Tianyin looked forward to her birthday every year. After wolfing down the cake, she could close her eyes and get some rest.

Every time Tianyin celebrates her birthday, she recalls that period of life that was worse than death, so naturally, she can't talk about being happy or anything like that.

Everything gradually got better after she reunited with Sakayanagi. The old man would have Aya bring her a big cake on her birthday. Sakayanagi and Kiryuin would celebrate her birthday with her every year. Seeing the smiles on Sakayanagi and Kiryuin's faces, Amane smiled in response.

In the end, all that remained of Tianyin's memories of her birthday was 'laughter'.

The fundamental purpose of celebrating a birthday is not simply to celebrate for the sake of celebrating, to make everyone happy, and to build closer relationships and social circles.

To Amane, all of this was just going through the motions, so when Sakayanagi asked her how she wanted to celebrate and what gift she wanted, Amane thought it would be best to keep it simple.

As long as everyone we know is here, that's enough for Tianyin.

After making a round of calls, no one answered. Tianyin focused her attention on the only number that hadn't been dialed yet. She smiled, shook her head, and then pressed the dial button for the number saved as 'Youxi'.

The call was answered very quickly.

"Hey? Tianyin, is there something you need calling me so early?"

Sakayanagi's straightforward question sounded no different from usual.

However, Amane smiled particularly happily, because Sakayanagi would never forget her birthday. Under normal circumstances, Sakayanagi's first words would definitely be to wish Amane a happy birthday, instead of asking in such an ordinary tone. It was obvious that Sakayanagi did this on purpose.

Since everyone has teamed up to give her a surprise, she should just pretend she knows nothing.

"Yousu Yousu!! Something bad is happening!"

Hearing Amane's anxious voice, Sakayanagi and Kiryuin exchanged a glance on the other end of the phone and smiled simultaneously.

Amane's acting is so fake! This guy! He clearly knew that Sakayanagi had given a flaw, but instead of exposing it, he cooperated with Sakayanagi's act. He's really wicked!

"How many times have I told Tianyin not to be so impulsive? Tell me, what happened this time? Did you break the doorknob or did you go and damage the innocent trees on campus again?"

Sakayanagi deliberately put on a serious face and spoke earnestly into the phone.

At this moment, Tianyin was filled with question marks.

No, she accidentally damaged a few doorknobs before, but she always paid for them at the original price. As for damaging innocent trees...

Ahem, Tianyin explained that she only occasionally breaks off a twig to practice various weapon techniques and sometimes picks a leaf to practice her dart throwing skills. Who would have thought that the school's surveillance cameras weren't doing anything useful all day but just watching her? And are the school's trees really that precious? She has to pay for even breaking a twig?!

What angered Tenon the most was that Arisu, that scoundrel! He actually brought up such an embarrassing thing in front of her. Right now, Arisu is probably surrounded by all the people Tenon knows, listening to Tenon's stories. Tenon didn't know how to respond to that.

After taking a few deep breaths, Amane decided to ignore Sakayanagi's questions and follow Sakayanagi and the others' script.

Anyway, according to their script, since Amane can only get through to Sakayanagi's phone, it means that this surprise was prepared by Sakayanagi. As long as she follows Sakayanagi's guidance, she will eventually see the 'surprise' prepared for her by everyone. Hopefully... it won't be a shock.

"That's not it! I can't get through to Rin, Honami, and Megumi on their phones, and I've been looking for them for ages without finding them. Arisu, do you know where they went?"

After Tenon pretended to be anxious and finished speaking, she chuckled silently. Tenon guessed that Sakayanagi would definitely say he didn't know, and then leave her clues step by step, so that Tenon could find them based on the clues...

It's a cute yet somewhat old-fashioned trick, but if everyone wants to play, she'll play along.

"Tianyin, so that's why you called. I know."

After saying that, Sakayanagi's lips curled up even more, as if she could already see Amane holding the phone and looking dumbfounded.

"Hmm? Arisu, you know her?"

Tianyin's eyes widened.

Something feels off about this script! Shouldn't this be a guessing game? Why did Arisu reveal the answer directly? Did Horikita and the others not communicate well with Arisu? Or... did Arisu deliberately leak the answer to make it easier for her?