The door to the dormitory was gently pushed open, revealing a warm and tidy room.
"Umm... excuse me."
Yamamura Miki stood at the entryway, her hands resting properly in front of her as she bowed slightly.
After changing into slippers, she didn't walk in immediately. Instead, she stood there, her clear eyes scanning Shikime Natsu's private space with a mix of curiosity and caution. It looked very tidy, and there was a faint fragrance that made one feel at ease. This allowed Yamamura Miki's originally somewhat apprehensive mood to relax a little.
In contrast, Morishita Ai appeared much more casual.
She changed her shoes, walked straight to a chair at the dining table, sat down with a plop, and then turned her head to look at Shikime Natsu.
"Shikime Natsu, your lifestyle is a bit healthier than I imagined."
Seeing her act like the host instead of a guest, Shikime Natsu couldn't help but find it funny. Even though it was her first time here, this guy didn't show any sign of restraint at all. This attitude reminded him of Sakayanagi Arisu and Horikita Suzune. Those two fellows weren't reserved at all during their first visits either.
"You two sit for a while, I'll get you some fruit."
Shikime Natsu opened the refrigerator, took out a few rosy apples, and after a simple wash and cut, brought them to the table.
"Eat something to pad your stomachs first; lunch will take a little more time."
"Thanks."
Morishita Ai didn't stand on ceremony. She picked up a piece of apple and stuffed it directly into her mouth, chewing with a crunch crunch sound.
"Mn... it's alright."
Listening to her slightly perfunctory thanks and evaluation, Shikime Natsu shook his head helplessly. Speaking of which, Morishita Ai really was a perfect combination of politeness and rudeness. Sometimes she would solemnly say things that sounded very well-bred, but other times she would complain about and evaluate others without any scruples, completely making herself at home.
This was probably the so-called... 'gap moe' unique to the 'denpa' type?
Shikime Natsu smiled, turned and walked into the kitchen, taking an apron out of the cupboard and tying it on, preparing to start today's cooking.
Just as he picked up the kitchen knife to prepare the ingredients, the sound of footsteps suddenly came from behind him.
Looking back, he saw the two beautiful girls had approached at some point, standing on the left and right of the kitchen entrance.
"What are you guys doing?" Shikime Natsu asked with some confusion.
"Hmph."
Morishita Ai crossed her arms, raised her chin slightly, and looked at him with a face full of dissatisfaction.
"Shikime Natsu, in your eyes, am I the kind of good-for-nothing girl who only knows how to mooch food and drink, is lazy by nature, idles about, and has a brain full of yellow waste?"
Shikime Natsu looked at her self-righteous appearance and almost couldn't hold back from nodding in agreement.
Before he could speak, Yamamura Miki at the side spoke up in a low voice, her face blushing.
"Umm... I also want to come and help."
She twisted her fingers together somewhat embarrassedly, but her eyes were extremely sincere.
"I have always received a lot of care from Shikime-san... so, I also want to help out a little bit with something. Although my cooking skills might not be very good, I have learned a little bit of cooking at home... even if it's just playing a supporting role. I hope to lighten Shikime-san's burden a little..."
Listening to these words that came from the bottom of her heart, a warm current couldn't help but surge in Shikime Natsu's heart.
Look, this is what you call a caring little padded jacket. What a sensible and kind good child.
Then look at that one next to her...
"Exactly."
Morishita Ai nodded with a face full of agreement, pointing at Yamamura Miki.
"Yamamura Miki is my mouthpiece. She said everything I wanted to say in my heart."
Shikime Natsu's mouth twitched slightly. Are you sure that's what you wanted to say?
Looking at Morishita Ai's expression of 'I am also very useful', Shikime Natsu subconsciously felt that this guy was definitely here to cause trouble. After all, no matter how you looked at it, this 'denpa' girl who spoke nonsense didn't look like the cooking type.
But when his gaze fell on Yamamura Miki again, seeing the girl's eyes full of anticipation, he really couldn't bear to refuse.
"Alright," Shikime Natsu sighed and said with a smile. "Since you guys are so thoughtful, then I'll trouble you."
He took two spare aprons from the side and handed them to the two.
"Yamamura-san, please help me wash these vegetables, and then cut them into small pieces."
"Okay! Leave it to me!"
Yamamura Miki took the apron and agreed happily, as if she had received some important mission.
"As for Morishita-san..."
Shikime Natsu turned his head, looking at Morishita Ai who was clumsily tying her apron.
"Peel these garlic cloves."
Saying that, he handed over a large handful of garlic.
Originally, he thought that if he had onions, he would let this guy cut onions to properly fix this arrogant 'denpa' beauty and make her weep bitterly in the kitchen.
However—
Just as this thought surfaced in his mind, Morishita Ai, who was fiddling with the garlic, suddenly stopped her hands' movements.
She abruptly took a step back, opening the distance between her and Shikime Natsu, and stared at him vigilantly.
"Shikime Natsu."
She narrowed her eyes, speaking in a serious tone.
"My crisis radar just sent out an alarm. I sensed strong malice coming from you."
Shikime Natsu couldn't help but freeze. This guy's intuition... was it really that accurate? She could actually sense even the small criticism in his heart? Is this the so-called maiden's intuition?
Of course, on the surface, he still wore that harmless smile.
"How is that possible?" He spread his hands with a face of innocence. "Morishita-san must have sensed it wrong, how could I have malice?"
"Really?"
Morishita Ai maintained a skeptical attitude.
"Truer than real gold."
Although there were two more people in the kitchen making it a bit crowded, it also became much livelier. After a bout of noise and excitement, a sumptuous lunch was finally placed on the dining table.
Looking at these dishes that were perfect in color, aroma, and taste, Yamamura Miki couldn't help but let out a sigh of admiration.
"Wow... so amazing..."
She looked at Shikime Natsu, her eyes full of worship.
"Shikime-san is simply like doing magic! They were originally just some very ordinary ingredients, but in Shikime-san's hands, they suddenly became so tempting... It really looks like it was made by a master chef!"
"You flatter me." Shikime Natsu untied his apron, smiling as he invited the two to sit down. "I hope it suits your tastes."
Morishita Ai, on the other hand, sat on the chair, staring at the food before her for a long time, then raised her head again, looking at Shikime Natsu with a scrutinizing gaze.
"Shikime Natsu," she suddenly asked. "You didn't put medicine in the food, right? Like that kind of strange drug that makes one obedient or makes the body hot and want to take off clothes after eating it?"
Shikime Natsu rolled his eyes.
"Of course not. What are you thinking? Morishita-san. Weren't you guys watching from the side the whole time I was cooking just now?"
Of course, if it were only Morishita Ai alone, Shikime Natsu would absolutely ruthlessly increase the dosage.
But now with the pure and flawless Yamamura Miki present, in order not to accidentally injure the innocent, he could only be an upright chef.
"I'll trust you for once."
Morishita Ai nodded, picked up her chopsticks, picked up a piece of pork rib, and put it into her mouth.
*
Meanwhile.
Keyaki Mall, at the entrance of a certain Karaoke box.
The atmosphere appeared somewhat tense.
Ryuuen Kakeru leaned lazily on the sofa, a playful smile hanging on the corner of his mouth.
In front of him, two burly boys, Ishizaki Daichi and Yamada Albert, were like two door gods, deadlocking the exit of the box. Blocked inside was a boy who looked somewhat thin and weak, with a flustered expression. He was a student of Class 2-D, Sato.
"W-What do you guys want to do?" Sato looked at these first-year freshmen who clearly didn't come with good intentions, his voice trembling a little. "I'm already leaving! Move out of the way!"
"Hehe, Sato-senpai, don't be in such a rush."
Ryuuen Kakeru chuckled lightly, walking over slowly.
"It's rare for us to meet, why not stay and let us have a good chat?"
"There's nothing to chat about!" Sato said loudly, trying to conceal the fear in his heart. "I have to go quickly now! I have very urgent matters!"
"As long as Senpai answers a few small questions of mine, I will let you go very soon." Ryuuen Kakeru extended a finger, shaking it in front of him. "Very simple questions, it won't take up too much of Senpai's time."
"D-Do you know what you are doing?!" Sato rebuked angrily. "This is illegal confinement! If the school finds out..."
"Of course I know."
Ryuuen Kakeru interrupted him, his face still wearing that annoying smile.
"I just want to have a friendly exchange with a second-year senior. Moreover... the surveillance cameras can't film here."
Sato's face instantly became very ugly.
He realized that he was being threatened. And the other party had obviously come prepared.
"Didn't Senpai also agree to come for the sake of those ten thousand points?" Ryuuen Kakeru continued, his tone carrying a few hints of mockery. "What? You haven't got the money yet, and upon hearing we want to chat, you're in a rush to leave?"
At the mention of these ten thousand points, Sato felt even more angry in his heart.
Originally, Ishizaki Daichi had found him, saying that to thank him for a small favor before, he wanted to invite him to Karaoke to sing, and give him ten thousand points in person as a thank-you gift. For him, who wasn't well-off financially, this was undoubtedly a windfall.
But who would have thought that as soon as he entered the door, let alone a thank-you party, he didn't even see a bottle of water. Instead, it was this man named Ryuuen Kakeru who, straight to the point, wanted to extract intelligence from his mouth.
How was this thanks? This was clearly a Hongmen Banquet (a trap)!
Sato naturally couldn't agree. If that tyrant Nagumo Miyabi who controlled the second year found out, he would definitely not be able to survive in this school.
So he wanted to leave immediately.
But he hadn't expected to be forcibly blocked by these two big hulks. He was alone; although he was a senior student, in the face of absolute strength, he had no chance of winning at all. If he wanted to rush out forcibly, he estimated he would be thrown back like a little chick by that black guy.
"Phew..." Sato took a deep breath, forcing himself to calm down. "What exactly do you want to know?"
"Very simple."
Ryuuen Kakeru snapped his fingers.
"Tell me the content of the upcoming exams."
Since suffering setbacks at Shikime Natsu's hands a few times, Ryuuen Kakeru had also learned to be clever. As long as it was from the senior students who had experienced these exams, he could also obtain intelligence. That was why he meticulously designed this trap to trick this Sato, who looked timid and fearful of getting into trouble, into coming here.
"Exam content?" Sato froze for a moment, then smiled bitterly and shook his head. "Even if I told you, it wouldn't be of any use. Because the questions for every batch's Special Exam are different. The school adjusts them every time to prevent cheating."
"Is that so?"
Ryuuen Kakeru raised an eyebrow, clearly not believing this rhetoric.
"Then what about the quizzes? As far as I know, our quiz this time, and the quiz questions from when you second-years were freshmen, were exactly the same. Even the punctuation marks hadn't changed. Is this also 'different'?"
"..."
Seeing Ryuuen Kakeru's posture of 'I won't let you leave if you don't explain clearly', Sato sighed and chose to give up resistance. Anyway, just saying some common sense that everyone knew shouldn't count as breaking the rules, right?
He spoke helplessly.
"Midterm exams, final exams, these written test scores are indeed very important, but this isn't the entirety of this school's assessment. Or rather, for class competition, these are just the most basic things; as long as you pass, you can avoid expulsion."
"As for Class Points..."
Sato paused, then continued.
"I reckon it's only for your midterm exam this time that the school, in order to look after the freshmen, linked the midterm exam with Class Points. But from then on, ordinary exams cannot increase Class Points."
"Oh?"
Ryuuen Kakeru keenly captured the keyword. Ordinary exams?
"Besides these conventional exams, there are other forms of exams?"
"Of course there are."
Sato nodded.
"Those are called Special Exams. However, just as I said just now, the content, rules, and forms of the Special Exams are completely different for every batch. Even if I tell you what we tested on last year, it won't have any reference value for you."
"It doesn't matter."
Ryuuen Kakeru waved his hand with complete unconcern.
"Whether it's useful or not is for me to judge. You just need to say everything you know about the Special Exams."
Under Ryuuen Kakeru's oppressive gaze, Sato could only tell him the details of the several Special Exams he had experienced, one by one.
Listening to Sato's narration, the expression on Ryuuen Kakeru's face changed constantly, from the initial calmness to a sudden realization, and finally turned into a cold and sinister sneer.
"So that's how it is..."
"Special Exams... This is the true beginning of the competition between the various classes."
The true face of this school had finally been unveiled before him.
"Interesting..."
Ryuuen Kakeru licked his lips, his eyes flashing with the light of a poisonous snake.
In his mind, that hateful face of Shikime Natsu, always wearing a calm smile, instantly surfaced.
Shikime Natsu, the reason you can always be so arrogant is just because you saw through the rules earlier than us, right?
But now, I have also obtained the admission ticket.
"Well then..."
"Let us have some good fun in the upcoming Special Exams. I will personally drag you down from that high and mighty position and let you taste the flavor of defeat!"
____
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