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

Soon, news of the bear in the depths of the forest reached the other two exploration teams. After receiving Shiina's notification, they immediately led their team members to evacuate on the spot. Compared to the treasure hunt, their own safety and that of their team members were obviously more important.

After giving the message, Amane originally intended to let Shiina leave first, but Shiina insisted on staying with Amane. Helpless, Amane could only let Shiina follow her closely, and then she held the metal sword in both hands and walked step by step into the depths of the forest.

During this time, Shiina also tried to persuade Amane to give up the treasure hunt, but Amane persuaded her by saying, "If we leave now, we won't get evidence of the bear sighting. How can we prove that what we said wasn't true? Besides, if we only encountered one, you can take care of escaping, and I'll take care of killing it."

Shiina was deeply skeptical of Amane's claim that she could kill a bear, but out of trust in Amane, she didn't say much. Instead, she carefully followed Amane step by step, moving towards the direction from which the sound came.

"Awoo! Awoo!~"

The two walked for less than five minutes before discovering a strange object on the ground. The sound was coming from the box. Tianyin breathed a slight sigh of relief upon seeing the size of the box. In front of Tianyin was a box that was less than fifty centimeters tall. Even if it wasn't someone's prank but a real bear, Tianyin was absolutely confident in taking it down. So, Tianyin boldly opened it and quickly assumed a chopping stance. Immediately afterward, she saw a black creature that looked like a small dog, thrashing about on its back.

"So cute! Tianyin, is this a bear? It doesn't seem as scary as the ones on the news... Can I hug it?"

Upon seeing the bear cub, which was about the size of a puppy, Shiina instinctively reached out to touch it, but Amane quickly stopped her.

Amane first checked the surroundings to make sure there were no signs of an adult brown bear before carefully picking it up and playing with it a few times to make sure it wasn't aggressive before handing it over to Shiina.

"Wow, the baby bear is so cute! Could this be the reward for our treasure hunt?"

Shiina happily hugged the teddy bear and spun it around a few times before holding it up in front of Amane and excitedly asking, "What's wrong?"

Will the reward for the treasure hunt really be a baby bear?

Tianyin looked at the brown bear cub in front of her for a moment, then scratched her cheek with a slightly puzzled expression.

While bear cubs are indeed not dangerous, it's rather thoughtless for a school to use such an animal as a reward for a treasure hunt without anyone watching over it.

Shiina took out the notes she had kept about the treasure and began comparing them one by one with the bear cub in front of her.

"It has biological characteristics, is not human, cannot move, and is allowed to be kept as a pet... Hmm, at the moment, the only question is whether it can be kept as a pet, but I have never heard of bears being banned from being kept as pets, so the niche pet that Hoshinomiya-sensei mentioned should also meet the criteria, right? Then, the size is the same as cats and dogs, it is alive, cannot fly, and is furry, which seems to match all the clues provided by Hoshinomiya-sensei."

Tianyin frowned, held up the teddy bear and looked it over several times, then looked at the box again.

A box deep in the forest does seem rather out of place, and the bear cub in her hand does indeed fulfill all the clues provided by Hoshinomiya-sensei. Therefore, after careful consideration, Amane finally smiled.

"Then it's the treasure from the treasure hunt! It's so soft~"

Tianyin pinched the bear cub's face, which displeased the bear cub, causing it to continue barking.

"It looks hungry. Tianyin, do you have any food with you?"

"Food? Let me look for it..."

Tianyin put the bear cub on the ground and started searching her body, only to find a piece of chocolate in her pocket.

The treasure hunt ends right at lunchtime, so there's no need to prepare any food. Just bring some water and drinks. Also, each group's treasure hunt location is different, and many groups' treasure hunt locations are inside the ski resort, so basically you don't need to prepare anything.

"I only have one piece of chocolate left. Can bears eat chocolate?"

Amane's question stumped Shiina. Even though she was very knowledgeable, she didn't know whether bears could eat chocolate. However, Shiina suddenly had a flash of inspiration and took out her phone to start searching.

"Tianyin, wait a minute while I search... Oh dear, the internet says that bears can't eat chocolate..."

Shiina quickly obtained the search results, but it was too late. Looking at the cub, Amane Shiina sighed softly.

"Huh? Can't it eat it? But I saw it eating it so happily! Chocolate is delicious, right?"

Tianyin rubbed the bear cub's fluffy little head, and the bear cub cooperated by whimpering.

No matter how you look at it, it seems like they really like chocolate.

"Now that we've got the treasure, let's hurry back. It looks like it might snow again soon, which will make going out more difficult."

As Shiina spoke, she reached out to take the bear cub from Amane's arms, but Amane was very alert and immediately hugged the bear cub to her own arms, refusing to hand it over to Shiina, saying that she was afraid Shiina would get scratched.

However, even Shiina could tell that Amane really liked the bear cub. Although she hadn't been able to figure out exactly what was so attractive about the bear cub to Amane, Shiina was still taking notes diligently.

Just as Shiina was about to add the bear name to Amane's preferences, she suddenly remembered that not long after she entered school, Amane had brought her bear-shaped cookies and wanted to be friends with her. In the end, she even gave the improved version of that cookie a rather embarrassing name, which led to strangers frequently visiting her OAA and even privately messaging her to ask how to make the bear-shaped cookies.

'I didn't expect Tianyin to have liked bear-themed items from the start? I thought her brown bear pajamas were just for fun...'

At Amane's insistence, Shiina stopped competing with her for the task of holding the baby bear, and the two quickly left the forest before it snowed.

Just as Shiina had predicted, as soon as the two left the forest, snowflakes began to fall continuously from the gray sky. Hokkaido has many advantages, such as famous ice skating spots, unique snow scenery, local specialty chocolates, and all kinds of parks, etc.

However, there is almost only one drawback: it snows here only occasionally, and often for several days in a row. This makes winter a terrible choice for tourists, because there is almost no way to enjoy or appreciate the snow country scenery outside except for watching the snow every day.

Amane and Shiina were the first to complete the treasure hunt, and the news that the treasure was a baby bear spread like wildfire. Soon, the ski resort was packed with people, many of whom gathered around to see the baby bear that Amane and Shiina had found.

"Is this your treasure? It's so cute! Tianyin, let me hug you~ If not, let me kiss you!"

Hui was about to give the baby bear a big kiss when Tianyin stopped her.

"Kiss me if you want! Leave my bear alone!"

"Huh? Don't you get to kiss them every day? I've never kissed such a cute little teddy bear before, just one kiss, okay?"

No matter how much Megumi pleaded and said what she wanted, Tenon wouldn't let Megumi kiss her. Meanwhile, Horikita looked at the little turtle in her hand with some resentment.

She had originally thought that her group's treasure was a cute little turtle and planned to bring it back for everyone to see. But when she got back, she saw the fluffy bear cub in Amane's arms, and Horikita suddenly felt that the little turtle in her hand was no longer appealing.

Besides a group of people asking to hold the bear cub, many more people kept bringing snacks and fruits from various places to feed it. But it seems that this bear cub only eats chocolate, which quickly made the shops in the ski resort crowded. The girls who wanted to feed the bear cub bought out all the chocolate in the shop. Fortunately, someone reimbursed them, otherwise, if these people only had personal points that could not be used, the shop owner would probably be so anxious that he would call the police.

Arisu didn't go up to join the fun. On the one hand, when Amane lived in her house, there were brown bear-shaped household items everywhere, which made Arisu think of Amane whenever she saw brown bear-shaped things. Over time, she no longer felt any excitement when she saw a real bear.

Moreover, Arisu was more concerned about Shiina and Amane's progress than about the bear cubs. While everyone was surrounding Amane, Arisu quietly pulled Shiina and the other girl aside to chat in a corner.

When Arisu learned from Shiina that there had been some progress, Arisu finally felt relieved.

Before everyone returned, she reviewed the progress of the other girls' relationships with Amane and the development of Shiina's relationship with Amane, and then came to a terrifying conclusion.

The pace of Amane and Shiina's development was far too abnormal, so slow that they were practically at the same level as snails. However, no matter how much Arisu tried to recall, she couldn't remember any of the things Amane had ever said to her that she was dissatisfied with Shiina. In other words, Shiina's performance was impeccable to Amane.

Why haven't Amane and Shiina confessed their feelings to each other? Is it because they haven't had enough opportunities to interact, or... does Amane not like Shiina?

Since Arisu was unaware of the bet that Shiina and Amane were still making, which prevented them from easily confessing their feelings, after repeatedly reviewing the situation, Arisu concluded that Amane might not like Shiina's type of girl, and there were no other possibilities.

Just as Arisu was about to test Shiina's reaction to her terrifying guess, Shiina unexpectedly brought her some good news.

The relationship between the two of them has actually progressed!

This discovery delighted Arisu. In her opinion, as long as Amane didn't dislike Shiina, Arisu was confident that she could successfully bring them together. Just as Arisu wanted to learn more about the situation from Shiina to provide ideas for the later plan, Hoshinomiya-sensei's exclamation came from afar.

"Huh? Isn't that a brown bear cub? So cute~ Tianyin, where did you find such an adorable little guy?"

As soon as Hoshinomiya-sensei said this, the entire lounge fell silent.

"Teacher Hoshinomiya, isn't this the treasure you asked us to find?"

"Huh?!?!"

Happy New Year everyone!!!

Chapter 315: Danger in the Forest

"Tianyin, a bear doesn't seem like a treasure in a treasure hunt, does it?"

Ms. Hoshinomiya looked at Amane, who was holding a teddy bear, with a troubled expression. As a teacher, she really wanted to tell Amane directly that the little guy she was holding had absolutely nothing to do with the treasures in the treasure hunt game.

However, doing so would violate school rules, and for a moment, Hoshinomiya-sensei didn't know how to prompt Amane. She could only deny Amane's idea that the bear cub was a treasure.

"You mean... it really isn't a treasure? Then why was it put in the box?"

Tianyin lifted the bear cub up and looked at it. The bear cub started waving its arms and legs and making "howling" sounds, looking very happy.

"The boxes? This time, the treasures are all guarded by the staff!"

Ms. Hoshinomiya took out a tissue and wiped the chocolate residue from the corner of the bear's mouth, then picked it up and started playing with it.

Compared to the harmonious scene with Hoshinomiya-sensei, Amane's expression was much uglier.

Although the treasure hunt is not over yet, the team members who returned early because Tianyin claimed to have found the treasure have submitted an application to end the treasure hunt. This means that Tianyin's team has become the first team to be eliminated.

"Alright, Tianyin, don't be too discouraged. At least this little bear is cute!"

Shiina, who was chatting with Arisu, noticed that Amane's expression wasn't good, so she quickly ran over to comfort her.

"It's okay~ It's just a little game, there's no need to take it so seriously. I actually want to hug that little guy! Mr. Hoshinomiya, please let me hug him!"

Ando, ​​on the other hand, took it all in stride and didn't seem to care about the unexpected setback. He happily surrounded Hoshinomiya-sensei, wanting to hug the teddy bear.

"Speaking of which, I think I saw Kiryuin-senpai go into the forest, and she seemed to be carrying something white in her arms."

While everyone's attention was once again drawn to the adorable bear cubs, Kushida leaned close to Amane and whispered something. Then, upon seeing Horikita walking towards them, he immediately turned and left.

Although the past has passed, it seems that Kushida and Horikita still don't get along. When Horikita saw that Kushida chose to leave, he didn't say much, but came to Amane's side and handed the little turtle in his hand to Amane.

"Although you found the wrong treasure, at least no one in the team got into trouble. Since you found bear cubs in the forest, it means there must be adult brown bears in that area. If you accidentally bumped into an adult brown bear, that would be no joke, so it's not necessarily a bad thing."

Horikita's reasoned and well-founded persuasion softened Amane's expression considerably. Her anger was not actually due to the group's poor performance or the fact that the bear cub in front of her was not a treasure.

Rather, it was some unscrupulous person who threw wooden boxes into the forest. If it were just a bear cub, Tianyin would never have mistaken it for a treasure. However, when this little guy appeared in a box, Tianyin couldn't tell it was wild. She mistakenly thought that the school had borrowed it from some zoo or bear park as a treasure hunt to surprise the students, which is why they chose a bear cub that wasn't very aggressive.

To her utter surprise, it turned out that a shameless guy had tricked her with a box he had carelessly tossed aside. How could Tianyin not be angry?

However, while Horikita comforted Amane from another perspective, she also made Amane realize the danger of the matter. Although she wouldn't be too afraid if she encountered a brown bear, since the two of them had fought with black bears before, she would have a relatively high chance of winning if she encountered a brown bear as long as she wasn't ambushed. But Yukimura and the others would be in danger. It would be a miracle if high school students like Matoba, Hamaguchi, and Ando, ​​who were physically strong, could withstand a paw from a bear and still move.

Not to mention students like Yukimura, whose physical condition is even worse. If he had actually run into a bear head-on, he might already be the bear's meal by now.

Albert might put up a fight, but without professional training, even with his racial advantages, he would likely just be a rather chewy piece of food in front of a bear.

Therefore, Tianyin's decision to have the other teams withdraw from the forest in advance was quite correct. Otherwise, an irreparable tragedy might have occurred. The thought that she might have indirectly saved the lives of the other members of the group made Tianyin feel much better. Just as Tianyin was looking at the little turtle in her palm, a voice that she knew very well came from afar.

"Miyako Ten'on!"

Maple's angry voice reached Tenon's ears from more than ten meters away. Tenon, holding the little turtle, took a few steps forward to see what Maple wanted to ask her for. Then Tenon remembered the information provided by Kushida.

"Could it be that Maple Blossom is coming..."

"Idiot, idiot, idiot!!! How could you even pick the wrong treasure? You think you can get first place in the group? Hmph, the group I joined back then was the best at treasure hunting!"

While Fenghua was boasting, Tianyin subconsciously ignored Fenghua's words and turned her attention to the small white animal in Fenghua's arms.

"A ferret? Why would a treasure be a ferret? Isn't that even stranger than a Bichon Frise?"

Faced with Tianyin's questioning, Fenghua blinked in confusion.

"What are you talking about? The treasure is a ferret! Look how cute this little guy is~ By the way, Tianyin, what did you just say? A bear? Don't be ridiculous, how could there be a bear here..."

Before Maple could finish speaking, Hoshinomiya-sensei was already happily waving a teddy bear in front of her.

"Look, Kiryuin-kun! This is a teddy bear that Amane-kun picked up! Isn't it cute?"

"Ah...it is cute...but bringing back a bear is such a hassle..."

After a moment of hesitation, Maple Flower first stuffed both the ferret in her arms and the turtle that Amane was holding into Horikita's hands, and then quietly pulled Amane to a corner of the lounge.

"Hey!! Are you kidding me? You're playing a treasure hunt and you ended up raiding a bear's den? You didn't kill the brown bears and then steal their cubs, did you?"

Maple Flower shook Tianyin excitedly. In Maple Flower's opinion, it was obviously illogical to find a bear cub just by wandering around the forest. Based on Maple Flower's understanding of Tianyin, it was more likely that Tianyin would directly break into the bear's den and snatch the bear cub out.

Tianyin, whose brain was almost shaken by the maple blossoms, quickly stopped them. She leaned against the wall for a while before she overcame the dizziness.

"Do you really think I'm that kind of person? I just found him in the forest, what could I do? Besides, do you think finding a bear is a good thing? I even lost all my games because of that little guy!"

"Pshaw! I don't believe it was found, unless you take me to find one too."

Now Tenon finally understood Maple's little secret: she wanted to raise a teddy bear because the one in Hoshinomiya-sensei's arms was so cute.

But the school would never approve of raising bears... Hmm, it seems that Maple is graduating next March.

Tianyin suddenly remembered that Fenghua was about to graduate, and felt a little sad. She and Fenghua had never spent much time together, and since the third graders usually didn't include the first and second graders in their activities, there weren't many opportunities for them to cooperate or compete. Two years had passed in the blink of an eye, and Fenghua had unknowingly reached the point where she had to leave the school.

"Tianyin? Are you even listening to me? If all else fails, you could just give me that bear cub, I wouldn't mind..."

"No, that won't work!"

Tianyin pointed a finger at Fenghua's lips, signaling her not to say such things again.

"I found the bear cub by accident, so I have an obligation to return it. This means I can't give it to you as a gift, Maple. If you really want to raise a bear, how about we adopt one together sometime in the future?"

"How about we adopt a bear cub together? That sounds like a great idea. We can name the bear Arisu!"

When Maple Flower heard Tianyin refuse, she was already thinking of giving up. Originally, her idea of ​​raising a bear was just a spur-of-the-moment thing, and she might forget about it in a few days. The reason she made this request was partly because bear cubs are really cute, and partly because...

When Maple sees anything related to bears, the first thing that comes to mind is Amane, whose love for bears is something almost everyone knows.

So Maple thought that if she had a bear or something by her side, it would be no different from seeing Amane every day.

However, after making the request, Maple realized that it was simply wishful thinking. Putting aside the various obstacles she might encounter, she simply didn't have the patience required to raise bears.

Ask her to raise bears? She doesn't even want to raise Tianyin, let alone bears.

But Tianyin's suggestion cheered Fenghua up. She thought that if one day she and Tianyin could really adopt a bear, wouldn't that bear become proof of their love?

Isn't this much better than Arisu constantly showing off her relationship with Amane?

Maple Flower has even thought of a name for the bear cub she will adopt in the future: Arisu.