People bring their own maids to the training camp

"..." Chihaya was speechless for a moment, and had no choice but to put down what she was holding.

After saying "You are my heart" to Hayasaka that day, Chihaya felt that Hayasaka had changed a lot.

The most obvious change is the rate at which a certain 002 book is being consumed. Secondly, the number of times Hayasaka makes lewd jokes and pretends to be jealous has increased significantly—for example, right now.

Chihaya's assessment is that while she feels somewhat helpless, she is generally pleased with the outcome, as it makes Hayasaka a bit more "lively."

"What are we having for dinner tonight?" Chihaya asked casually.

“If you wish, you can eat me right now,” Hayasaka said in a serious tone.

"Then the dinner in the pot will definitely burn, right?"

"It's okay, we can eat out or order takeout."

"Don't waste food," Chihaya said. "By the way, tomorrow, disguise yourself and find an older student to ask about their midterm exam pass rate in their first year of high school."

"Understood," Hayasaka said. "How about getting a few of their exam papers while you're at it?"

“Sure.” Chihaya nodded. “Aren’t you part of that cool and aloof fan club? If you get any old questions, send them to them too.”

"I'm so touched. I never expected you would still care about the fan club."

"...Put down the onion you're holding!"

"I've been found out." Hayasaka put down the onions and turned to work on the steak on the cutting board.

"Can love be cut into beef cubes?" Chihaya suddenly asked.

"As you wish." Hayasaka immediately picked up the knife and cut the steak in the blink of an eye, just like a modern-day master butcher, his knife movements even leaving afterimages.

Chihaya went to pour himself some tea, satisfied. He had been talking all afternoon and was indeed quite thirsty, not to mention he had gone to the restroom for some aerobic exercise.

"Why do you suddenly want to eat beef cubes?" Hayasaka asked.

"That way, it's less likely to smudge your lipstick, right?" Chihaya replied matter-of-factly. "It's also more convenient to eat with chopsticks."

"Let's not delve into your reluctance to use a knife for now. What surprises me is that you would think of smearing lipstick on your lips. It seems that this has become a part of your life."

"..." Chihaya was stunned, only then realizing that she had unconsciously said something that was very feminine in thinking.

"Besides, you'll still get lipstick on your lips if you use chopsticks, right?"

"Let me calm down."

"Because you said it so naturally, I almost didn't realize it."

"By the way, according to research, a woman will consume 4 pounds of lipstick in her lifetime due to this, which is 3.6 kilograms, or about 300 lipsticks."

"I don't want to know this kind of trivia at all. I really want to book a full-body checkup right now." Chihaya covered her face with her hands.

“It’s impossible for you, Miss Chihaya. Even if we squeezed every last drop of Kikyo’s money, we still couldn’t afford a full-body checkup that meets your standards,” Hayasaka said. “And please rest assured, the lipsticks you use are all perfectly safe. It’s not like inferior lipsticks can cause illness if ingested.”

"Okay, Ai, let's stop talking about the lipstick!"

"If you have a negative feeling towards lipstick, you can use lip gloss instead."

"...There's no real difference, is there?"

"The makeup effect is completely different. You should know that very well. Your makeup artist is a very famous makeup artist in the entertainment industry."

"Are you implying that she didn't recognize my true gender in your next sentence?"

“You are so smart, young lady.” Hayasaka gave a thumbs up. “I am so proud of you.”

"..." Chihaya decided to ignore Hayasaka for the time being until dinner was served.

So he leaned back on the sofa, closed his eyes, and prepared to take a short nap.

Hayasaka in the kitchen also consciously moved quietly so as not to disturb Chihaya.

......

"Miss, it's time for dinner."

"Oh, I see."

Chihaya wasn't asleep; she was meditating, reflecting on her recent actions.

He opened his eyes after hearing Hayasaka call him to eat.

"Love."

"Young Miss, I'm here."

"I suddenly remembered something. The teacher mentioned before that you can buy things in this school with points, right?"

"Yes."

"So, would it be feasible for someone to pay points to buy my score?"

"That won't work, will it? After all, theoretically, there's a possibility that you'll get all the questions wrong and get 0 points. From a probability perspective, that's not a certainty."

"But I got 5 points in the last knowledge competition that I can allocate freely, right?"

“Since the score was already determined before the exam, there’s really no reason to refuse.” Hayasaka suddenly realized, “So you’re planning to sell those 5 points to a certain class?”

“That’s right.” Chihaya nodded. “You mentioned before that the class points would be increased depending on the results of the midterm exam, right? So what are the criteria?”

"They'll probably use the class average as a reference, right?"

“Yes, for example, an average score of 50 or above gets 50 class points, and 60 gets 60 points,” Chihaya explained. “At the same time, the top student in each of the four classes will receive additional bonus points.”

"Therefore, the importance of average scores is beyond doubt."

"Yes, so even just 5 points might be enough to change the situation, raising it from 59 to 64 and meeting the 60 level."

"It could also be used to help students who fail, since it's still unknown whether dropping out would affect the class."

"The impact of information asymmetry is too great." Chihaya sighed, picked up her chopsticks to eat, and said, "I'll contact Ryuen from Class C later, using anonymous emails first."

"Why Class C?" Hayasaka asked, puzzled. "I can understand that Class D doesn't have money, but they can only get a good price by selling to Class A, right?"

"Until Sakayanagi and Katsuragi have determined who is superior, it's best not to make any deals with them for now, otherwise we'll be in an awkward position if they change leaders."

"I thought you would take this opportunity to boost your favorability with Sakayanagi, after all, he's a 5-point guy."

“Ryuen is probably the kind of person who will stop at nothing to achieve his goals, so it would be more meaningful to investigate him. As for Banliu, she seems like a person who just wants to have fun. As a second-generation official, she is just here to experience life. It is pointless to compete with someone like her.”

66. The plan begins

The next day, Hayasaka made a simple change of clothes, still dressed as a girl, but changed the most noticeable parts such as her hair color.

Her goal today was to find an older student to inquire about the archaeology questions.

Normally, this level of disguise wouldn't require any special effort, but considering that Hayasaka's features are too obvious and easily associated with Chihaya, it wouldn't be good if she had to sell her name or be asked some outrageous request just for an archaeological question.

At dinner time, Hayasaka appeared in the cafeteria, holding his phone as he approached the voucher machine. However, he stopped a few steps away from the machine, pretending to be replying to a message.

Since she wasn't standing in front of the machine, the students who came to eat naturally bypassed her and went straight to the machine.

Hayasaka pretended to be typing, seemingly waiting for someone, but her eyes were actually fixed on the other person's ordering machine—she wanted to find an upperclassman who would order the mountain vegetable set meal to complete this plan.

Older students who don't have much to offer are more likely to cooperate, rather than thinking about unrelated things. For them, a mid-priced meal might be enough to solve the past exam questions, making them very easy to manage.

After waiting a while, the target finally appeared. A student ordered a mountain vegetable set meal and then walked towards the food pick-up window.

Seeing this, Hayasaka quickly ordered a set meal that was slightly inferior to the deluxe set meal, picked up the meal ticket, and followed.

"Excuse me, senior!" Hayasaka sat down directly next to the other person. "Good afternoon, senior!"

"A freshman? I shouldn't know you, right?" the boy said after looking Hayasaka up and down, but because of his good looks, he immediately straightened his back as if to put on airs.

"It's alright, I came here specifically to get to know you, senpai," Hayasaka said with a smile. "This is for you, senpai."

He then handed the meal voucher he had just purchased to the other person.

"...Meal vouchers?"

"The mountain vegetable set meal doesn't taste good, does it? I tried it once out of curiosity, and I couldn't stand it at all."

"Just say what you have to say. You wouldn't invite me to dinner for no reason, would you?"

"It's so kind of you to be so nice to me! Actually, it's like this, the midterms are coming up soon, right? But if I fail, I'll be expelled—so I was wondering if any kind senior would be willing to lend me a set of past exam questions or something."

“An archaeology question.” The upperclassman immediately smiled. “What a smart girl, junior.”

"Thank you for the compliment. Considering this set meal, you shouldn't refuse the cute junior's plea, right?" Hayasaka said, looking at the other person expectantly.

"I have no reason to refuse my junior, but this meal might not be enough." The senior didn't reach for the meal ticket, but just glanced at it.

"So, how much do you intend to ask for, senior?"

"...Considering this meal deal and the fact that you were the first person to come to me, here's 20000 points!"

This price far exceeded Hayasaka's expectations. Ordinary archaeology exam papers couldn't possibly be worth this much money. After all, papers that have already been publicly tested can only serve as a reference when reviewing. If you have a good relationship with someone, it wouldn't be a problem to give them away for free.

"It's just an archaeology question, you're asking for way too much!" Hayasaka pretended to look disgusted.

"It seems you don't understand the true purpose of past exam questions." The boy looked around, then lowered his voice, "The first midterm exam in the first year of high school is always the same, so past exam questions are equivalent to buying answers. Do you understand now?"

"Oh! I see!" the girl exclaimed, feigning sudden realization. "But 20000 points is really a lot, senior. You can sell them to other people repeatedly!"

"20000 points for you not to drop out of school, that's a very good deal." The other party remained unmoved and insisted on 20000 points.

"How can you guarantee the accuracy of the questions? What if I buy your exam paper and the result is completely different from my midterm exam? Wouldn't that be terrible?"

"You can find out if I'm telling the truth with just a little inquiry. I can tell you my class and name. If you have any questions, you can bring me the test paper you got from somewhere else, and I'll give you a full refund."

After hearing what the other person said, Hayasaka nodded with some doubt, seemingly believing it.

“I understand the value of the test paper, but I had a lot of expenses last month, so this month is actually quite risky,” Hayasaka said. “I can give you 10000 points, and I can make up the rest through other channels.”

"You can borrow money from your friends."

“No, they’ll definitely demand I share it for free.” Hayasaka said this with a look of disgust. “I don’t want that.”

"So what else can you give me besides points?"

"I know a blind spot in the surveillance cameras, how about we go over there?" Hayasaka deliberately stretched, displaying the graceful curves of her body—and since she had deliberately padded her heart when she changed clothes, this stretch was extremely alluring.

"..." The boy looked very conflicted and struggling.

"If you don't decide quickly, you'll only have 8000 points left, right? There are plenty of people with exam papers everywhere, aren't there? If I approach your classmate, you might become a laughing stock."

“…Let’s go to the place you mentioned!” The boy put down his chopsticks, stuffed the meal ticket in front of him into his pocket, and then stood up.