The Gemini Princess wants me to confess my feelings!

The confinement didn't last long; after just one night, Mori Kiyoha emerged as if nothing had happened.

Last night's unseemly moments were buried by the moonlight, and everything at home remained the same.

She left early, as if she was sulking.

He arrived at the classroom early and saw Li Changqing's smug face. He grinned lewdly and said, "I heard you got cornered. Are you alright afterwards?"

This time, Kirihara Akira didn't hold it against him. She patted him on the shoulder and said, "Thanks."

"Don't do this stupid thing." Li Changqing slapped his hand away and said disdainfully, "What happened next?"

"The teacher's here, what else can we do? It'll just be a quiet affair," Kirihara Akatsuki said. "How did you know I was in trouble?"

"I'm not stupid," Li Changqing said. "You're pretty reckless, going all by yourself."

"Hmph." Kirihara Akatsuki chuckled noncommittally, then continued, "Why did you end up with Kisaragi-sensei?"

"I bumped into her on the street. It was such a coincidence that I ran into her as soon as I came downstairs."

"That's true," Kirihara Akatsuki said. "I'm treating you to dinner today, are you coming or not?"

"Hehe, I have an appointment today." Li Changqing's smile became even more lewd.

Which girl?

"You've met him before, the one we went to karaoke with, Matsuda."

"You're pretty good, kid."

It just so happens that Kirihara Akira and Mori Shizue had an appointment today. They agreed last night that they would attend the detective club's activity today.

He said he was participating in an event, but he didn't actually intend to join the club; he was just there to join in the fun.

After finishing my afternoon classes, I went to the activity room and found that there were a lot of people there to join in the fun. The spacious activity room could hold about forty people. People were coming and going, just like a vegetable market with a high turnover of people.

The male student greeting newcomers at the entrance approached Kirihara Akira, saying somewhat listlessly, "Welcome to the Detective Club, student. What kind of mystery do you like? Classic? Unconventional? Or social realism?"

Kirihara Akira scratched his head and said, "I don't know much about it, but I wanted to come and take a look."

The male student gave him a meaningful look, as if to say: So you're one of them too...

He let out a long sigh and reminded her, "Mori Shizue-senpai isn't here today?"

For a moment, Kirihara Akira was stunned, not understanding how the other person knew about his relationship with Mori Shizue. It wasn't until another group of people left that he realized what it meant.

Among these people who came and went in a hurry, a considerable number were not proper scholars; they came for Mori Shizue.

Looking at the number of people, no wonder she's never seen at school.

This led the male students in the club to believe that Kirihara Akira was one of them... which wasn't wrong, as he did come here because of Mori Shizue.

Kirihara Akira smiled and said, "I'm here to learn about detective literature."

The male student gave him a knowing look and said, "Ah, I get it."

They're treating him like a bored guy trying to get close to Shizue Mori based on shared interests... which doesn't seem wrong.

Kirihara Akira shrugged and asked, "Is the club not allowing guests in today?"

"No, we don't even have enough volunteers... No, it's nothing, please come in, just keep quiet inside." The person gestured for them to enter.

……

Mori Shizue wasn't exactly an idol. While there are idols who are so obsessed that they chase after them all day, the people who flocked to her either wanted to curry favor with the Mori family, coveted Mori Shizue's beauty, or both. They generally wouldn't pester her relentlessly; they were just there to try their luck.

Once they'd made their presence felt, the busybodies went home.

The remaining few, who were more patient, along with members of the detective agency, divided the world into two separate areas.

Kirihara Akira strolled around inside, where many works created by club members were on display.

Although they call themselves a detective agency, they can't actually be detectives. Japan doesn't have Scotland Yard. Aside from doing some detective work under the guise of volunteering and playing house, the only thing that can satisfy their desires is, of course, writing.

Kirihara Akira looked through it for a while, but found it somewhat unexpected.

There are indeed a large number of imaginative works here, of varying quality, and none of them are particularly outstanding. What surprised him, however, was the part about playing house.

There are actually people who are seriously collecting intelligence, adapting some "real events," although most of them are not very sophisticated, like "Approaching Science" which is incoherent and full of sensationalism. But this does say something.

They even had a section in the Dongcheng High School's school newspaper.

Was there any credit for the information Mori Shizue gave him earlier?

As a form of self-entertainment for students, this is quite good.

Kirihara Akira flipped to today's school newspaper and saw an entry that talked about talent scouts and "deliverymen" from outside the school.

This proves that either these things have been brought to light, or these children have actually discovered something.

This is not surprising, after all, secrets can't stay hidden forever. No matter how secretive the underworld is, there will always be traces. These traces are blown around by the wind and form all sorts of rumors. After being filtered and summarized by Shizue Mori, they became that intelligence report. Then Akira Kirihara was in charge of collecting evidence and conducting investigations. It's not a big deal.

Akira Kirihara put the newspaper back where it belonged and prepared to leave.

Suddenly, someone appeared behind him and asked, "Excuse me, are you Kirihara Akira?"

"It's me." Kirihara Akatsuki turned around. "And you are?"

"Hino Tomiko, the president of the detective agency," the female student said, adjusting her glasses.

"Is there something you need?"

"You're blocking my way." Hino Tomiko lifted the book she was holding higher.

"oh."

Kirihara Akira stepped aside and watched as she placed the books on the bookshelf one by one. When she put down the last book, she glanced at Kirihara Akira.

Kirihara Akira seemed to realize something. After the other person left, she took out the last book that had been placed there and flipped through it casually. Sure enough, she found a note tucked inside.

……

……

The handwriting on it is that of Shizue Mori.

She wrote, "Thank you for choosing to believe her."

"I must confess that I had many distrustful things about you before, and I beg your forgiveness."

"People are all about comparison. People discover differences through comparison. Perhaps from a macro perspective, many of us are lucky, with wealthy families and comfortable lives, and a social status that can almost be called superior to others. Without comparison, we would never know what we lack compared to other happy families. So let's accept all the predetermined arrangements with equanimity."

"Actually, what we encountered were just some clichéd plots told in stories: rich girls, caged birds, lost freedom, commodified personalities. But just because they happened doesn't mean they aren't tragedies, and it doesn't mean we will accept them."

"Many people don't understand this, but you respected us and were patient. Thank you."

"There was indeed a reason for the attack on you, but Kiyoha believes that no matter how much is said, it's just an excuse. She insists on this point, and I'm trying to persuade her."

"Perhaps later, she will have the opportunity to explain the whole story to you in person."

That concludes the discussion on the front end.

Kirihara Akira let out a sigh of regret.

He admired the girl somewhat.

It's remarkable that a girl still in her adolescence can be so honest.

The note also contained the following: "Starting today, the situation outside is likely to become very chaotic. Existing plans can be put on hold for now, and we can make further plans later."

"It's really chaotic outside right now." Kirihara Akira shrugged as he looked at the police officers in the shopping street in front of him.

These police officers don't seem to be here to investigate a case; they seem to be controlling the scene and dispersing the crowd. They look like they're making quite a show of force. Could it be that some important political figure is coming to give a speech here?

Kirihara Akira composed herself, bypassed the police in front, and decided to go up to the shopping street through the back door.

Passing through the noise of the KTV, Kirihara Akira entered the studio.

Kisaragi Shiori looked up, her face showing surprise; she clearly hadn't expected Kirihara Akira to come.

"Why are you here?"

"Don't I come here every day?" Kirihara Akira said.

"It's so late today, I thought you weren't coming." Kisaragi Shiori nervously gathered the documents on the desk and stuffed them into the drawer.