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

"I...I didn't see it with my own eyes, I just...I only heard similar sounds..."

Shiina's voice became much softer from being startled by Amane's serious tone.

"You can't just make things up without seeing it! I'm so chaste, and you're saying I'm messing around with the opposite sex? Wait, could it be that you wanted to be in the same class as Amane but I snatched her away, and you've been holding a grudge ever since? Shiina Higashi really misjudged you!"

Chapter 262: So, do you like me?

"No, I didn't have that thought... but I really heard it that day..."

Before Amane could ask any questions, Ibuki grabbed Shiina's shoulders.

"When did you hear anything? Shiina Hiyori, look me in the eye and explain yourself clearly. Am I the kind of person who would sleep around with other people?"

"During the special survival test, that morning you were doing *that* with someone in the makeshift toilet... I heard it all, and you even told that person to speed up and push harder... I really heard it all! Mio, just tell Amane the truth!"

"..."

Ibuki's expression suddenly turned extremely ugly, and when faced with Amane's questioning gaze, she waved at Amane.

She only told Tianyin about what happened that day after Tianyin leaned close to her ear.

That was the party they had before their breakup that morning.

At the time, Amane knew that Ibuki had used the excuse of not having brought sanitary napkins to send Shiina and the other two away so that they could escape.

Both Amane and Ibuki felt a little embarrassed when that matter was brought up.

So the two exchanged a knowing glance and then made their choice...

"Okay, then I'll forgive Mio."

"That day, Tianyin bullied me in the bathroom."

???

Shiina blinked a few times in confusion, her large eyes already glistening with tears, seemingly not understanding the more complicated situation she was now in.

This complete lack of coordination made Tianyin cover her face, unable to bear watching.

She initially thought that Ibuki's suggestive look meant she wanted to let the matter drop and make the best of a bad situation.

Who knew that Ibuki's hint was actually that confession would be the best policy?

If you're going to be honest, then what's the point of hinting?

Amane decisively chose to let Ibuki explain her actions herself.

When Ibuki heard that Amane's words were different from her own, she immediately knew that something bad was going to happen. However, before she could blame Amane, she saw that Amane had already moved away from her and Shiina with Airi in her arms. It was obvious that Amane had sold her out. Ibuki was so angry that she couldn't help but give Amane the middle finger.

As a result, Tianyin raised two fingers and made him blush.

"So... what exactly happened that day?"

Shiina wiped away the tears from the corners of her eyes and asked Ibuki in a serious tone.

"The situation was rather complicated that day..."

"It's okay, I'm particularly good at organizing things with complex logic."

"It could take a very long time."

"Then let's get to the point."

"Okay, I admit it! That day I got up to go to the bathroom and bumped into that bastard. She grabbed me and did this and that to me and then made me help her... Anyway, that's how it was. You should understand, right?"

After Ibuki finished speaking, she wanted to slap herself. She was completely confused by her own vague and ambiguous words. It would be a miracle if Shiina could understand her, unless Shiina was a genius.

"So that's how it is..."

"what?"

Ibuki was incredibly surprised to see Shiina looking thoughtful.

Is Shiina really a genius? No normal person could possibly understand that explanation, right?

"Although it was just a misunderstanding, your deception and concealment caused me a lot of worry. Just now, I even knelt down to Tianyin to ask for your forgiveness... Xiaomiao, don't you plan to compensate me for my losses?"

Ibuki readily agreed to Shiina's request for compensation. After all, she currently has over 200,000 personal points a month, which is more than she can spend, let alone spend, for someone like her who lives paycheck to paycheck!

"Hiyori, what kind of compensation do you want? Just name whatever you can buy. After all, you've always taken care of me before, so consider this a small token of my appreciation..."

Ibuki still remembers the awkward scene when she was short of money and could only give Shiina a greeting card as a gift on her birthday.

At the time, Shiina didn't mind the greeting card that had typos and was written crookedly, not at all like a girl's handwriting. Instead, she thanked Ibuki and gave her the biggest piece of cake.

Although everyone had a very happy day, only Ibuki knew how bitter the cake tasted to her. Even though Amane gave her a lot of pocket money later, and Ibuki saved up for a long time to buy Shiina a lot of detective novels and a detective outfit as compensation, Ibuki still felt that this level of compensation was nothing at all.

Since Shiina rarely wants anything right now, Ibuki decided to give her this as compensation for the rather meager birthday gift she received for Shiina's previous birthday.

"Let me think about it... I'll accept this doll as compensation."

Shiina stuffed the frog doll into Ibuki's arms.

"But this..."

"If you still say it's ugly, I'll really get angry!"

"..."

Shiina's feigned anger successfully persuaded Ibuki to accept her gift.

Seeing that Ibuki had finally accepted the frog doll, Shiina finally showed a happy smile.

"That's right! If you need anything in Tianyin's class, you can ask Tianyin for help. Even though you broke up, I don't think Tianyin is the kind of person who gets bored easily..."

"She's fickle? She wants both the new and the old together... Hmph, I'm perfectly fine in Class A, I don't need her help!"

Shiina had no good way to deal with Ibuki's stubbornness. Just as Shiina was trying to persuade Amane to take better care of Ibuki, he turned around and found that Amane had already disappeared.

"Huh? Tianyin was just here a moment ago, where did she go?"

Shiina looked curiously at the bench and then glanced at the playground, but there was no trace of Amane.

Finally, Ibuki sighed and pointed in the direction of the dormitory building.

"I was just about to say that Amane was trying to run away, but you insisted on shoving the doll into my arms, and now she's gotten away... Damn it! She's the one who caused all this trouble, so why do I have to be here making up for it with Hiyori?"

"Hehe, I think it's probably because Amane also thinks that you and the doll are a good match! So she specially saved it for you."

"what?!!!"

……

While Ibuki was being held back by Shiina, Amane quietly pulled Airi back to the dormitory building. If Shiina caught her and questioned her about why she and Ibuki had lied to her, it would be a huge problem.

Because all Tianyin can answer is...

"Because I wanted to see Mio being bullied while chatting with her best friend..."

Such an answer would definitely be considered a pervert by Shiina, who would then report it to the school.

Based on Amane's understanding of Shiina, this kind of thing was definitely going to happen, so while Shiina was still causing trouble for Ibuki, Amane and Airi secretly ran back.

Amane originally wanted to hide at Arisu's place, but when she got to the elevator, Airi said, "Why don't you go to my room instead? I have the key." This immediately changed her mind.

Sitting on the warm cushion, Tenon felt a little uneasy, not because the milk Airi had prepared for her didn't taste good, nor because the room was too cold.

It was because Airi sat in front of her for a full half hour without saying a word. This silence made Amane unusually nervous. If she had to describe it, it was probably like a game that Arisu had played with her before.

Arisu hides a candy in her palm and moves it around, then asks Amane which palm has the candy. If she guesses correctly, she gets a candy; if she guesses wrong, she has to kiss her.

At that time, Amane was so nervous that she didn't dare to breathe. In the end, she successfully guessed the hand with the candy by simulating and recreating Arisu's movements thousands of times in her mind.

Then Arisu ate the candy right in front of her, and at that time Amane said that Arisu was being unreasonable.

It wasn't until several years later that Tianyin began to regret it.

It wasn't until later, when Kaede told her that Arisu had been cursing Amane for being a blockhead on her way home, that Amane realized that Arisu wasn't really interested in the candy at all.

Although the situation is different now than it was back then, Tianyin has rediscovered that feeling of tension that made her nervous.

After hesitating for a while, Tianyin decided to take the initiative to break the atmosphere that made both of them feel extremely uncomfortable.

"Airi, is there something you want to tell me?"

"Amane, do you like Shiina and Ibuki?"

Amane was surprised that Airi asked such a question that had nothing to do with Airi herself as soon as she opened her mouth.

"of course."

Tianyin's answer was straightforward; she simply said she liked it. No one could dislike the existence of a beautiful girl, even if she was a bit stubborn or had a bad temper… *cough cough*

"Why don't you just confess to Shiina and Ibuki? If you confessed to them directly... I think they would accept your confession."

Airi was not surprised by Amane's answer. Through long-term observation, Airi's ability to read Amane's gaze, movements, demeanor, and expressions was almost on par with Megumi's.

Moreover, Hui was able to guess Tenon's thoughts through some subtle actions because she was familiar with Tenon's personal habits and style of dealing with people. Airi's difficulty was even higher. She learned the cold reading technique specifically for Tenon by constantly observing and summarizing experience every day.

Amane's relaxed, accommodating, and tolerant attitude towards Shiina and Ibuki led Airi to conclude that Amane liked both of them. However, what Airi couldn't understand was why Amane didn't confess her feelings.

If Amane were to confess to either of them, Airi is confident that both Ibuki and Shiina would accept her.

However, Amane did not do that. It seemed that this matter had nothing to do with Airi, but Airi's intuition told her that the reason why Amane was unwilling to respond to her confession might be found in this matter.

"Confess? Hmm... let me think. I would say the timing isn't right yet. Liking someone isn't something you can just do on a whim. There are many things involved that need to be carefully considered. This is being responsible to them and to myself."

Tenon's answer clearly did not satisfy Airi.

"But Amane, aren't you and Ibuki already...? Then why haven't you confessed yet, even though you're already so close?"

Airi shyly touched her two thumbs together lightly, as if to indicate that kind of thing.

Amane was surprised to be asked about this by Airi, and for a moment she found it difficult to answer Airi's question.

Ibuki's initial purpose in approaching her wasn't entirely pure; it was somewhat similar to Hashimoto's two-way investment. Ibuki felt that Ryuen's way of governing wouldn't allow Class C to go any further, so she set her sights on Amane, who had stood out in the two special exams on the deserted island and for the privileged students.

Their relationship was originally based on mutual exploitation, but then an unexpected event occurred...

Amane would occasionally give Ibuki some pocket money, and then have Ibuki give some of it to Nishino so that the two of them could become the eyes monitoring Class C. As time went by, her relationship with Ibuki gradually deepened, but apart from physical intimacy, they rarely communicated or interacted. The main reason was to avoid Ryuen noticing anything unusual about Ibuki, and they couldn't keep in touch by phone because Ryuen would check their phones from time to time.

This led to the two having in-depth conversations and then quickly leaving each other. Later, Ryuen gave up pursuing the responsibility of Ibuki and Nishino, the two monitors, in order to teach Hosen a lesson, but demanded that Amane not give them any more monitoring tasks.

Amane agreed and announced the end of her relationship with Ibuki. As a result, the two became habitually affectionate whenever they met, which led to a lingering connection. Amane wanted Ibuki to have a normal relationship with her, but at the time, Ibuki refused to be in the same class as Amane but made Amane promise to send her to Class A when graduation was approaching.

This is equivalent to Tianyin promising her 20 million personal points.

It was because of this incident that Amane gave up dating Ibuki, which led to the 'breakup'.

If we're really talking about who's right and who's wrong, Amane feels that neither she nor Ibuki is right. But the situation is different now. Ibuki has voluntarily entered Class A and doesn't need to pay 20 million personal points. Logically, the relationship should be able to progress normally. However, at this moment, everything is in Amane's favor. If she takes the initiative to confess to Ibuki, it will only make Ibuki think that Amane 'needs her'.

Therefore, no matter what, Amane does not intend to confess first. Ibuki must confess to her in person and admit that it is Ibuki Mio who needs Miyako Amane before their relationship can continue.

In short, the situation on Ibuki's side is too complicated, and Amane can't explain the unsavory things behind it to Airi in a clear way. On the other hand, Shiina's situation is too simple, so simple that Amane is afraid that Airi won't believe it.

Amane had already planned to confess to Shiina, but before the special survival exam started, Shiina suddenly told her that he would personally conquer Amane, make her fall in love with him and confess to him, and even said that whoever confesses first is the loser...

This aroused Amane's competitive spirit. Amane, who had long wanted to do something naughty with Shiina, unusually restrained her desire and insisted on waiting for Shiina to confess to her and admit defeat first.

The former involves complex and intertwined conflicts of interest, while the latter resembles children betting against each other, waiting for the other to admit defeat first. It must be said that there is some reason why Ibuki and Shiina could become good friends.

Seeing that Amane remained silent for a long time without answering, Airi was a little disappointed. She had not been able to get the information she wanted from Amane, but she, Sakura Airi, had no way out.

"Then...Tianyin, do you like me?"

Chapter 263: Please Eat Me

"Then...Tianyin, do you like me?"

After countless struggles, Airi finally asked the question that had been hidden deep in her heart.

It was a simple straight shot, yet it gave Tianyin no chance to dodge.

No, perhaps from the very beginning, Tianyin never intended to avoid this straight shot that they were bound to face sooner or later.

"Airi, you finally asked me. I thought... you would ask me something like this when you were about to graduate."

Tianyin's tone became somewhat gratified, but also mixed with some indescribable emotions.

Airi has been working silently behind the scenes to catch up with Amane. Amane is not unaware of Airi's efforts, even though Airi's efforts are as insignificant to Amane as a grain of sand in an hourglass.

Amane had seen it all from beginning to end, but she never made any comments about it. She neither encouraged her to chase after her own shadow, nor did she give Airi a wake-up call like Horikita Manabu did by completely denying Horikita Suzune's pursuit.

Instead, he watched quietly as Airi grew step by step, like an observer. Now Airi has grown to the limit of realizing all her talents and has finally seen the insurmountable distance between herself and Tianyin. Airi finally realized that she had gone in the wrong direction from the beginning when she had already completed half of her campus life, and even forgot her original purpose in the pursuit.

Why did she pursue Tianyin?

Unlike Horikita's pursuit of recognition, Airi's pursuit was simply to get Amane to look at her more. Wouldn't that be more effective than silent effort and pursuit by directly communicating with Amane herself?