Remember to Bring Hotaru Back / Another Unanimous Vote

Who told you that?

Seemingly realizing that continuing this back-and-forth questioning wouldn't yield an answer anytime soon, Ying took the initiative to make a pause gesture and spoke first:

"It was my seniors, Sakayanagi and Amasawa, who told me this."

"I guessed it myself."

They finally managed to change the subject, but then they both said the same thing in unison again:

So, is my guess actually true?

"So, do you really like my brother?"

Hotaru quickly made a pause gesture again, then gestured with her chin towards Tsubaki Sakurako:

"I asked the last question first, so you go first this time."

"... I have no idea."

Tsubaki Sakurako shook her head honestly:

"If my sister's feelings for Ryo-senpai are what you call 'love,' then mine definitely aren't."

Compared to Tsubaki Sakurako, who said nothing at all, Hotaru readily admitted:

"I definitely am."

Then, she let out a long sigh:

"It's so much easier to say it out loud—there are so many people in this world, whether online or in real life, who I don't even know, who can casually say things like 'I like Ryo!' 'I've always liked Ryo and I'll continue to like her,' but when it comes to saying it myself, I can never seem to. Isn't that strange?"

"I couldn't tell the difference before, but now I can tell the difference."

"Is it really harder to ascertain your identity than I am?"

P. S.: Thank you for reading and subscribing.

PS2: I saw that another Classroom of the Elite series on this site has finished. Mine should be coming soon too.

Chapter 51: Remember to bring Ying back

Just as Kitagawa Ryo left the backstage dressing room, wondering if his sister and Tsubaki Sakurako had gone towards the back door, a pure white figure suddenly darted past him. The figure ostentatiously made its way through each dressing room, and then, amidst the exclamations of the school staff, began to swagger away.

"How come there's a cat here?"

"Is it a stray cat from school?"

"No, it's the one that Chabashira-sensei from the second grade lost a few days ago! I've looked at the photo countless times, there's no way I could be mistaken. So it was hidden here? Let's catch it!"

Before Kitagawa Ryo could react, several staff members excitedly gathered from all directions and began chasing the suddenly appearing kitten down the corridor.

Ever since Chabashira Sae publicly posted a missing cat notice to the entire faculty and staff at the Valentine's Day matchmaking event, countless male teachers at Tokyo Advanced Nurturing High School have been thinking about a cat day and night, all hoping to become the savior who can help Chabashira Sae find her lost cat.

But three months have passed, and apart from occasional eyewitness testimonies from a few students and a few fleeting glimpses of pure white figures on surveillance footage proving the cat's existence, the faculty and staff, who were eager to find it, haven't been able to locate even a single cat hair. Now that they've finally discovered its exact whereabouts, they're all putting in their best effort and chasing after Ying in the direction she fled.

Without a doubt, this was yet another unexpected and unforeseen event that Ying had not discussed with him beforehand.

Kitagawa Ryo, through Chabashira Sae's words, not only gave Hotaru a barely legal identity but also tried to appease her. However, this did not mean that Hotaru had truly obtained a get-out-of-jail-free card and could move freely within the school campus. If she were caught, she would definitely be escorted back.

As for where she will be escorted back, it will definitely be to her current nominal master Chabashira Sae.

To be honest, Kitagawa Ryo doesn't want to get involved with the other party anymore. After all, Chabashira Sae's mental state is hardly healthy. She's like Yuki, a hidden dragon and a phoenix chick, and might just put on a classic scene like "You don't want your kitten back either, do you?" for him.

Thinking of this, Kitagawa Ryo had no choice but to put aside his sister's affairs for the time being. After all, the cat Hotaru was much more capable of causing trouble than his sister Hotaru. In fact, it was more accurate to say that the latter's current state was largely due to the former's guidance, as the Valentine's Day letter still bore her cat paw stamp as a mark of approval.

As Kitagawa Ryo turned and rushed out with the crowd, he could see that the group chasing the cat on campus had expanded again, now numbering five or six people.

Just as the kitten was about to run and jump into the grove of trees by the roadside, two teachers who felt they couldn't get the credit for finding the cat started calling Chabashira Sae. Firstly, to contribute the credit of tipping them off, and secondly, because they thought that perhaps their large group of strangers had frightened the cat, and that only Chabashira Sae, its owner, could capture it easily if she came over herself.

As luck would have it, Chabashira Sae was indeed located near the Great Hall.

She wasn't an advisor for any club, so today was essentially a day off. As she wandered around campus, she unconsciously thought of Kitagawa Ryo's Drama Club, which seemed to be performing here today. Subconsciously, she drifted over, watched the Drama Club's performance from a corner of the audience, and had just come out when her phone rang. A mix of text messages and calls informed her that the cat had been found and that she should come to the auditorium to claim it.

After wandering around in a bit of a daze, Chabashira Sae just happened to stumble upon a group of people performing a chaotic performance art piece on a tree inside, while on the treetop, a small cat sat there looking extremely smug.

"Chabashira-sensei is here."

"Make way for Chabashira-sensei —let her call the cat down."

"Chabashira-sensei, actually, I was the first one to spot this cat because I have sharp eyes."

Upon seeing Chabashira Sae arrive, the group made way for her, some of the more eager ones already acting like they wanted to show off in front of this rare and beautiful teacher at Tokyo Advanced Nurturing High School.

However, Chabashira Sae herself was a little scared. Only after she actually got there did she belatedly realize that she regretted it. After all, she didn't know the cat at all, and she was never the owner of the cat.

... If you can't get them to come down on your own in a little while, then you can only make excuses by saying that they've been away for three months and their hearts have become wild.

Just as Chabashira Sae approached the tree with some trepidation, she suddenly caught sight of Kitagawa Ryo, who was among the crowd that had gathered nearby to watch the commotion. Their eyes met briefly in the air, and he nodded at her, as if to indicate that everything was alright.

Once she had settled down again, Chabashira Sae awkwardly called out the kitten's name, "Hotaru," twice. She tried her best to act like her owner, waving her hand at her in the treetop. The kitten twitched its ears, its fluorescent pupils darted around, and then it lightly leaped down from the tree, landing directly on Chabashira Sae's chest.

In that instant, the kitten felt an immense squeezing force that was in no way inferior to, and perhaps even slightly exceeded, that of Ichinose Honami, prompting her to quickly pull her head out and breathe in some fresh air.

"Even though it was lost for three months, it's still so close to Chabashira-sensei. It seems that Chabashira-sensei took good care of it in the past. I'm also planning to get a cat recently. I wonder if Chabashira-sensei would be willing to share some of his experience in this area?"

"Get lost! Your dorm is filthy and you still keep a cat? Chabashira-sensei, let me tell you, when that cat suddenly darted out of the auditorium, I was the first to spot it, and I was the first to call you."

Seeing that the scene was about to turn into a large-scale courtship event, Chabashira Sae felt a chill run down her spine. She quickly picked up the well-behaved kitten in her arms and politely waved her hand, saying:

"Everyone helped in finding Ying. Thank you all so much for your help during this time. But since the kitten has been missing for three months, I need to take her to the vet to check if she has any parasites or other diseases."

After saying that, Chabashira Sae quickly left with the kitten in her arms, giving Kitagawa Ryo a wink as she went, indicating that it was too crowded and inconvenient to communicate right now, and that they should arrange another time later.

Watching Chabashira Sae casually carry Hotaru away, and Hotaru obediently being carried away by Chabashira Sae, Kitagawa Ryo could only shake his head, feeling completely baffled as to why his little cat had put on such a show.

She wouldn't actually want to see a scene like, "You don't want your cat to get into trouble here, do you...?"

"I'm back, huh? Where's my brother?"

Meanwhile, after reaching a somewhat subtle consensus with Tsubaki Sakurako, or rather, after giving her courage by example and pointing out the way for her, Hotaru returned to the backstage dressing room with her, only to find that Kitagawa Ryo was nowhere to be seen.

"The minister just went out to chase after you. Didn't you run into him?"

"They've gone after us?"

Hotaru didn't react much to this, since she had already done it on Valentine's Day. On the contrary, Tsubaki Sakurako was startled and her expression changed slightly. After all, she wasn't prepared for this yet, or rather, she hadn't even confirmed her true feelings.

"Yeah, but judging from your expressions, you probably didn't run into them. There were a lot of people shouting 'cat, cat' outside just now, so I guess the minister went to join in the fun."

Seeing that Tsubaki Sakurako's expression and behavior were normal, Nanase Tsubasa finally felt relieved and casually made a hypothetical statement for Kitagawa Ryo.

As one of only two girls in the room unaware of Hotaru's existence, Tsubaki Sakurako breathed a sigh of relief and nodded in acceptance of the assumption. After all, watching the spectacle of a cat was much more acceptable than actually following behind them and overhearing their entire conversation.

"Speaking of which, have the results of this Special Exam come out yet?"

"Yes, the judges have just given their scores. It's a bit of a pity."

This time, it was Karuizawa Kei who answered Tsubaki Sakurako. Her tone was deliberately casual, as if she wanted to gloss over the failure and not put too much psychological pressure on her two juniors.

However, perhaps Hotaru's private conversation earlier really worked, as the tense atmosphere around Tsubaki Sakurako eased considerably, and she apologized very sincerely:

"Yes, I know. I performed terribly this time. I'll keep practicing hard."

"Me too, me too."

Nanase Tsubasa certainly wouldn't let Tsubaki Sakurako take all the blame for the failure, so she quickly chimed in with a couple of lines, effectively turning the page on this Special Exam Drama Club exam.

At this moment, Kitagawa Ryo finally returned to the lounge, belatedly explaining where he had been, and then nodded to Hotaru:

"I need to go to the infirmary in a bit. Would you like Megumi and Airi to accompany you to explore other places?"

"Okay, brother, go do your own thing."

Ying nodded understandingly upon hearing this, and then waved at him again:

"Remember to bring Ying back--"

P. S.: Thank you for reading and subscribing.

Let's organize the outline of the last part.

There should only be two or three major plot points left. However, as long-time readers know, each major plot point in my book is particularly long, and it's also Summer Large-Scale Special Exam (emphasis added), so there should still be a lot of content. The final version should be around 3.5 million words, which is roughly one of the two longest fanfictions in Classroom of the Elite" Classroom of the Three Kingdoms" genre.

Thank you all for your continued reading and support. I hope that, barring any unforeseen circumstances, we can all witness the end of this story together in the first half of this year.

Chapter 52: Farewell, the Unanimous Vote

"Huh? So Hotaru knew about Hotaru?"

Although the sentence was quite awkward and difficult to understand for Nanase Tsubasa and Tsubaki Sakurako who were completely unaware of it, Karuizawa Kei still subconsciously asked Hotaru in surprise after Kitagawa Ryo left.

"I know."

Ying answered casually.

"... So this is how nonchalant the younger sister's reaction was when she found out her brother named the cat after her?"

"Should I now make a disgusted face and drawl out 'disgusting--'?"

Hotaru tilted her head in confusion. She and Hotaru were originally one, so naturally they should share the same name.

"Um—excuse me for interrupting, although this is a bit sudden, could you please explain briefly?"

Nanase Tsubasa nearby, raised her right hand:

"I just checked the school forum, but the cat that the minister mentioned that went missing and was found should belong to the Chabashira class teacher of Class 2-C, right?"

"That's a cat that my brother is temporarily fostering... no, I should say it's nominally fostering at her place. After all, Tokyo Advanced Nurturing High School's rules prohibit students from keeping pets, but there's no such restriction for faculty and staff."

"I see. So the minister has been secretly keeping a cat in his dorm room?"

"That's right, but you probably haven't been to my brother's room yet, so it's normal that you don't know."

"Can we go next time? Just to see the cat."

"This reason has definitely been used by others before, so it's a no-go. Besides, we don't even know if Ryo can get Hotaru back."

It was Karuizawa Kei who initiated the defensive counterattack. Whether it was the earlier incident where she deliberately revealed the information about the cat-like Hotaru, or now, she was testing her sister's thoughts and observing her reaction.

"Indeed, Hotaru must have had her reasons for sneaking out this time."

"It sounds like you're talking like a human being..."

"Well, after all, Hotaru has always been a very clever little cat... otherwise, she wouldn't have been able to stay obediently in ANHS until now without being discovered by anyone else, right?"

Feeling that the deeper the conversation went on about this topic, the more information would be revealed, Ying quickly changed the subject, waving her camera in hand:

"It's almost noon, let's go have lunch first. The food at ANHS School should be much better than ours at school. Looking forward to it--"

"The cafeteria, huh? I haven't eaten there in a while. Let's go, I'll treat you to the most expensive deluxe set meal! Tsubaki and Nanase too, you've both worked hard this morning, so lunch is on me today."

"Let's invite them both together. After all, I'm considered a senior. Oh, and could I see Hotaru's camera? I want to check the photos from this morning's shoot."

"Okay, here you go."

As she spoke, Sakura Airi reached out and took the camera Hotaru handed her, beginning to examine the photos and videos inside with practiced ease.

"Could you send me a complete copy later? Many of them are quite good; I'll do some minor post-processing and then send them to the parties involved."

"Okay, thank you for your help."

Hotaru herself knew that compared to herself, who knew nothing about this, Sakura Airi was undoubtedly more experienced, so she readily agreed, but still gave one more piece of advice:

"Especially that photo of me and my brother, please! I want to use it as my phone or computer wallpaper later."

"Speaking of wallpapers, I remember Honami's phone wallpaper is a photo of him and Ryo. Speaking of which, did Hotaru see her and Maki when she went out just now?"

"They're still over on the field, but the competition should be over by now. Should I send them a message and invite them to lunch at the cafeteria?"

"Then I'll send it."

Sakura Airi received a reply to her message shortly after it was sent.

"Let me see... Honami said it's not possible for the time being."

"What's wrong? The competition isn't over yet? Track and field events can't drag on longer than our drama club, can they? Or do you need to do activities with the club members?"

"None of them."

Sakura Airi shook her head, then read aloud Ichinose Honami's reply: