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

“I understand. I will try my best to talk to Arisu, but I will not use my relationship with her to force her to do anything. If Arisu insists on going, even I may not be able to persuade her.”

From beginning to end, Arisu was always a close friend and equal to Amane. Even after they became lovers, the way they interacted never changed.

Therefore, no one can force anyone to do anything. However... if Arisu or Amane really asks the other to do something, the other person will definitely agree without hesitation.

Majima-sensei was clearly a little disappointed with Amane's answer. He hadn't expected that even Amane, who was so close to Arisu, couldn't guarantee that she could persuade Arisu.

"Well, then I'll have to trouble you, Miyako-kun, to persuade her. For her, health should be the most important thing. If she can't keep her healthy, then forget about experiencing a different kind of campus life, even being with the person she likes until the end will be a luxury."

"I will try my best to persuade her..."

P.S.: I'm very sorry, but I still have to update once today. I almost finished writing it ahead of schedule, but my computer suddenly crashed and stopped working. I'll have to find someone to take a look at it tomorrow. I typed this chapter out from memory and then posted it on my phone. I hope you can forgive me.

Chapter 281: Guess What?

The bell rang, signaling the end of lunch break, and the students of Class 2A left the classroom one by one, chatting and laughing. Many of the girls crowded around Tianyin.

"Tianyin, what should we eat today? The udon at that place last time was pretty good, do you want to come with me?"

"Udon? Megumi, you didn't forget to bring your lunch again, did you?"

"Hehe, I just can't get up. But that udon place is really delicious, Fanbo. Do you want to come eat with me?"

"Hmm...that's fine, I didn't bring a lunchbox today anyway."

"Huh? What?! You were slacking off too, Honami, and you're criticizing me~"

"N-no, I wasn't being lazy! I just forgot to bring it. Hui, you overslept, that's different!"

Watching Megumi and Ichinose tease each other, Amane didn't join in. Normally, Amane would have deliberately helped one of them bully the other, and then repeated what she had just done...

But today, Tianyin was unusually silent, sitting there dejectedly.

"Tenon, what's wrong? You look so down. I heard from others that you were called in for a talk by Majima-sensei. Did Majima-sensei criticize you?"

Horikita placed a bento box in front of Amane and asked with concern.

"That's not it..."

Amane hesitated for a moment, unsure how to bring this up with Horikita. However, even Horikita would surely think that it was somewhat difficult for Arisu to force herself to participate in the study tour given her physical condition.

"Is it tricky?"

Horikita opened the bento box, casually picked up a fried shrimp, and handed it to Amane's mouth.

Tianyin picked up a fried shrimp, chewed it slowly, and finally nodded slightly.

Seeing that Horikita and Amane had something to say, and that Horikita had already started feeding Amane, Megumi and Ichinose exchanged a glance, greeted the two of them, and then called Airi, Kamuro, Matsushita, and others to go to the cafeteria for a meal.

Suddenly, only Amane and Horikita remained in the class.

Are there really that many people eating in the cafeteria today?

Tianyin glanced around the empty classroom and asked with some confusion.

Although usually few people stay in the classroom at noon, it is quite rare for it to be just her and Horikita like this.

Horikita smiled and shook his head, reached out and touched Amane's forehead, then said to himself.

"That's strange, Tianyin, you don't have a fever, so why are you reacting so slowly today?"

Upon hearing Horikita's words, Amane immediately realized that the others must have mistakenly thought Amane wanted to discuss something important with Horikita, which was why they 'cleared the room'. Otherwise, how could there be so many empty seats in the classroom?

"I'm in such a bad state right now... Phew, Rinne, I'm going to go for a walk."

"Okay, remember to bring me a can of tomato juice."

Upon hearing the familiar product term "tomato juice," Tianyin's eyes lit up.

"Rinne, you..."

"I'm sorry, I forgot about our promise. Actually, I remembered it a long time ago, but I haven't found the opportunity to tell you about it. Although I'm not willing to accept it, if it's Sakayanagi Arisu... I still... quite approve of her."

After speaking, Horikita quickly turned her head towards the window, not wanting Amane to see her disheveled appearance.

Little did she know, Tianyin had already seen Jingbei bursting into tears through the window.

"Hey, Suzune, have you misunderstood something? I'm not the kind of person who starts something and then abandons it."

Amane sat back down next to Horikita and gently turned Horikita's head back. Seeing Horikita crying like a little kitten in just a few seconds, Amane could only sigh and gently wipe away the tears on Horikita's face with a tissue.

"Idiot! That's not why I'm crying!"

"Huh? What's the reason? I don't think I did anything to make you angry, Suzune..."

Horikita glared at Amane, but seeing that Amane was still staring at her with a puzzled expression, she couldn't help but sigh softly.

"Honestly, sometimes Tianyin, your intuition is terrifying, but other times you seem as slow as a block of wood. Even though I've been with you for over a year, I still don't understand which one is the real you."

Today, I'll take this opportunity to test how much you know about me.

Tianyin, what do you think is the reason I'm crying?

Horikita quickly seized control of the conversation and posed a question to Amane that would be considered quite tricky by anyone.

To understand someone's thoughts, you can make a rough judgment based on various factors such as their personality, habits, family background, etc.

But if you ask someone to guess why another girl cried, the difficulty immediately increases to the highest level.

There are many reasons why a person cries, such as relationship problems, mood, environmental influences, or even boredom or simply wanting to cry for no reason. These can all be reasons for a girl to cry.

However, Horikita only gave Amane one chance to answer the question.

In other words...

Tianyin has absolutely no room for error.

That's why Tianyin's answer had to be carefully considered, which also shows how well Tianyin understood herself.

Horikita cornered Amane with just a few words.

Frankly speaking, this crisis is greater than all the difficulties that Amane has ever encountered in total. The reason for this is that difficulties can be resolved, but there is no standard answer to the question raised by Horikita.

Whether Amane's answer is 'right' or 'wrong' is entirely in Horikita Suzune's own hands.

"That's a really tricky question. If it were someone else, they definitely wouldn't be able to answer it, Suzune."

Horikita raised an eyebrow, quite intrigued by Amane's words.

"Oh? Tianyin, do you mean you've already guessed why I was crying just now? You had the answer in such a short time. Should I say you know me too well, or should I say... you just want me to admit that your answer is correct?"

Horikita immediately blocked the simplest way to pass the level: since Horikita himself judges whether the answer is correct or not, then as long as Horikita says that Amane's answer is correct, then it is correct. Rather than solving a problem where the probability of answering incorrectly is infinitely close to 100%, it is better to directly eliminate the person who set the question.

At first, Horikita hadn't considered this possibility, but seeing that Amane found the answer so quickly, Horikita, after rapid thinking, finally discovered a way to quickly bypass the essence of the problem and pass the level, and then immediately blocked this method.

Unfortunately, Tianyin still wore that confident smile, as if she really knew the reason for her crying.

Horikita's heart began to race. She hoped that Amane would give the correct answer, but she was also worried about hearing a disappointing answer from Amane.

It was only then that Horikita realized that the person she was trying to embarrass with was not Amane at all, but rather she was torturing herself. Perhaps she shouldn't have asked such a question that might have put Amane in a difficult position.

Just as Horikita was about to give up on getting an answer and find an excuse to drag the question out until both she and Amane forgot about it, Amane leaned close to Horikita's ear.

"The reason you cried, Horikita..."

Tenon whispered something in Horikita's ear.

The next second, Horikita suddenly stood up, looking at Amane with a face full of horror as if she had seen a ghost.

“I admit I deliberately wanted to make things difficult for you, Tianyin, but how did you know…”

"Given your personality, this is probably the only thing that could make you cry, right?"

"Tsk, you passed. Alright, now you should go and do your thing."

"Lingyin, you're not angry, are you?"

"How could I dare to be angry with you? But if you keep hanging around in front of me, then we might change our minds. I think it's been a long time since I've used any punishment on you, Tianyin?"

"No way! I used it just last time with Airi! Cough cough... I have something to do~"

Amane took a bite of the fried shrimp that Horikita threw at her in anger, then turned and ran away without looking back, leaving Horikita dumbfounded, staring at Amane's hurried departure, not knowing what to say for a moment.

"Really, how come... Tianyin was able to guess it..."

Horikita couldn't help but start complaining when he recalled what Amane had just said.

Now she finally knew her truest feelings: she didn't want Tianyin to give her the answer that would hurt her.

You're heartbroken because my first confession to you wasn't from the heart, but rather because of a promise.

Tenon's words echoed in Horikita's ears once again.

That's right.

Horikita was initially very dissatisfied with Amane's overly familiar manner, and even considered pushing this "annoying" Amane to someone else, because she was Horikita Suzune, and she didn't need any friends.

Not to mention a friend who's always worried about her health.

So Horikita spoke harshly to Amane, asking her to leave her side briefly. But without Amane's annoying chatter in her ear, Horikita felt something was missing.

In the end, Horikita chose to accept Amane as someone who was more than a 'friend'—or, to be precise, a 'pseudo' relationship that transcended friendship but did not officially become lovers.

In fact, their relationship was no different from that of lovers, but they never went public with it or confessed their feelings. Apart from the time they reconciled when Horikita was inexplicably taken advantage of by Amane, they did not exhibit any other characteristics that lovers should have.

They didn't have any meals, dates, movies, walks hand in hand on the playground, or even a proper kiss.

At that time, Horikita's circle of friends was not ideal, with only Amane. So if Amane wanted to go out with other people, she had to leave Horikita alone in the dormitory. After weighing the options, Amane gave up many friends with whom she should have had a good relationship long ago, such as Ichihashi Ruri, and... Kushida Kikyo.

Faced with the ambiguous relationship between herself and Amane, Horikita made a test to Amane one day. Both Horikita and Amane believed that the test was the 'first confession' that truly stabilized their relationship.

Horikita asked Amane the same question back then, and coincidentally, that question was equally fatal.

Having already tasted the benefits of O, Horikita seized a crucial opportunity to ask Amane a question.

'Tianyin, do you like me?'

Unlike this time, where the question required guessing, Horikita's question was very simple and clear, yet exceptionally fatal.

If the answer is even slightly contrary to Horikita's wishes, the relationship they have just established, which is more like a casual fling than a romantic one, will instantly collapse.

In particular, the timing of Horikita's question was crucial. Horikita suddenly stopped midway through their philosophical discussion and asked this question. The reason she chose this moment to ask Amane if she liked her was that Horikita had read in a magazine that animals are prone to excitement and loss of reason when they are in heat. Therefore, as long as she asked Amane the key question when she was at her most excited and did not give her time to think, she would have a high probability of hearing the closest to the truth from Amane.

Although Horikita's logic at the time was so illogical that even she herself found it unbelievable in retrospect, she thought it made perfect sense at the time and immediately put it into practice.

Tianyin answered without hesitation.

"I like Horikita Suzune the most."

It was at the moment she heard Amane answer that she liked her that Horikita completely fell for her... But when she recalled the time she had threatened Amane, making Amane come up to greet her even when she showed that she disliked her, and that Amane was absolutely not allowed to dislike her, Horikita almost immediately thought of that confession that was Horikita's true first love.

Although Amane didn't consider it a real confession, Horikita Suzune undoubtedly felt it was.

Because she said she liked me the most.

But what if a premise is added to this statement?

For example, if Amane is ordered not to tell a girl named Horikita Suzune that she dislikes her, then...

Would her answer be that she likes it?

This matter has been weighing on Horikita Suzune's mind. She doesn't know whether she should ask Amane for confirmation of this statement, but it has plunged her into deep self-doubt. Several times she almost wanted to tell Amane about it, but each time she felt like she had a fishbone stuck in her throat.

Today, she finally had the chance to ask Tianyin to confirm her confession from that time.

At that very moment, Horikita Suzune felt afraid.

She was afraid that Tianyin would give her an answer that would drive her to despair and collapse, and she was also afraid that Tianyin would give an answer that showed she didn't understand her at all.

Horikita Suzune even considered giving Amane the green light, saying that whatever Amane answered, she would agree, even if Amane's answer disappointed her slightly, it would be better than experiencing greater pain or losing Amane.

To her surprise, Tianyin, who didn't seem particularly reliable or in her best condition, miraculously guessed the matter that had been bothering her.

Horikita can swear that she never mentioned that matter to Amane at any time, and Amane at most only knew that she remembered the promise they made back then.

Even if Amane knew that Horikita remembered their promise, how could she possibly guess that Horikita's tears were because the first time Amane told her she liked him weren't from the heart?

No matter how hard Horikita racked her brains, she couldn't figure out where she had been exposed.

Or is it that... Tianyin really understands her to such an unbelievable degree?

As for how Amane guessed the answer, we can only find out by Horikita asking Amane himself.

After calming herself down, Horikita began to enjoy her bento box. The fact that she could still eat lunch so calmly after Amane admitted that the feelings Horikita had taken as her first confession were not genuine showed that, in a way, Horikita Suzune had surpassed her once proud brother, Horikita Manabu.

The reason why Horikita didn't pursue the matter further is quite simple. Amane said that she was not the kind of person who would abandon someone after starting a relationship, so abandoning her was even more impossible. Moreover, the fact that Amane could accurately guess what Horikita was sad about shows that Amane probably already knew what Horikita was afraid of.

That's why they took the initiative to expose this nightmarish existence that had been deeply troubling Horikita.