Chapter 33

Having stayed up all night finishing the book Shiina recommended, Yuan Yuyuan dragged his battered body into the classroom the next day. Unlike Yuan Yuyuan, who arrived just as the bell rang, Ichinose had been in the classroom for a while. Seeing Yuan Yuyuan looking half-dead, she asked curiously, "Good morning. Did you not sleep well again last night, Yuyuan?" "Oh, I was drifting in the ocean of knowledge for too long last night and lost track of time. Don't worry about it." Ichinose nodded; so it was just reading. She had been worried something had happened to him. Yuan Yuyuan felt that the morning classes were completely unworthy of his attention, as not a single word managed to enter his ears.

"Wake up, idiot. School's out." Seeing Yuan Yuyuan still slumped over his desk without moving, Himeno Yuki grabbed his shoulder and prepared to shake him. Yuan Yuyuan was actually already awake, just feeling sleepy and wanting to linger a bit longer, but the moment he felt the hands that had once gripped his throat now resting on his shoulder, he snapped wide awake instantly. "No, no, no, I'm up. Please, Lady Himeno, have mercy." "Stop clowning around, let's go." "Coming, coming." Yuan Yuyuan wasn't a masochist, but he actually quite liked this attitude from Himeno Yuki. Kanzaki was far too serious; despite being friends, he acted like a superior, which always gave Yuan Yuyuan the feeling that he was living in a Lu Xun novel.

The two dealt with their business briefly before parting ways. Yuan Yuyuan still had one very important thing to do: go on a date between honor students with Shiina... or so he claimed. By the time Yuan Yuyuan reached the library, Shiina was already sitting there reading, and she had no dark circles under her eyes. It seemed she hadn't waited until the last day to remember their appointment like he had. "You're early, Shiina-san." "Yuan-kun, you're here. Please, sit." As soon as Yuan Yuyuan sat down, Shiina looked at him with sparkling eyes. He knew exactly what that meant, so he took out the book she had recommended and said, "Shall I go first? Let me start with my review: it is indeed a rare and excellent book. Master James M. Cain truly lives up to his reputation, and I am very grateful to Shiina-san for giving me the honor of reading this masterpiece."

Seeing Shiina smile so brightly because of his polite flattery, a rare sense of guilt surged in Yuan Yuyuan's heart. But since he had set the tone so high, he had no choice but to continue: "Especially the title; it's incredibly profound. The original meaning of The Postman Always Rings Twice was to prevent the recipient from missing the knock, but it also served as a secret signal between the protagonist Cora and her lover after they murdered her husband to secure the insurance money. Yet, the character of a postman never actually appears in the book. However, when combined with the content—like the Greek man who died after two accidents, the protagonist who died after two car crashes, and the male lead who was finally sentenced to the gallows after two trials—it makes one sigh at the idea that good and evil always have their retribution. It's as if the wicked can hide from the first day, but they can't hide from the fifteenth."

After Yuan Yuyuan finished, even Shiina couldn't help but applaud him softly in the library. "I didn't expect you to notice all of that. It seems Yuan-kun really read it very carefully." "You flatter me. This is the first book Shiina-san ever recommended to me, so of course I had to appreciate it properly." Yuan Yuyuan didn't blush or skip a beat while lying. He had only finished the book overnight to avoid failing Shiina's test; he hadn't had any time to think of a real review. These words were actually things he'd searched for on his phone while eating with Himeno Yuki. He was lucky his memory was good, or he never would have remembered such a long passage.

When Shiina spoke with genuine emotion about her feelings after reading Boy's Life, Yuan Yuyuan felt sorry for her again. But there was nothing he could do; because he suffered from intermittent amnesia, sometimes he just couldn't remember these things (confirmed). Seeing Yuan Yuyuan lost in his own thoughts, Shiina thought she had said something wrong and asked cautiously, "Um, Yuan-kun, do you think what I said was incorrect?" "Not at all. I just feel that compared to you, my understanding is still too shallow. I am truly ashamed." "No, no, I should be the one thanking Yuan-kun..." Seeing the library about to turn into a mutual-praise society, Yuan Yuyuan quickly interrupted Shiina's spellcasting: "Why have you become so distant with me, Shiina-san? Is it because of my slip of the tongue a while ago?" "Yuan-kun, stop teasing me! Let's just read." Thinking back to the scene where she recommended the book to him, Shiina still blushed a little.

"Alright, alright. Because a shy Shiina-san is just too cute, I couldn't help myself." "Stop saying that..." Yuan Yuyuan didn't push it too far, and the two began to read as they had before, though Shiina, who usually shared interesting passages with him, seemed exceptionally quiet today.

ps: Shocking! This chapter was flagged for violation three months after I posted it???

"Farewell, cage!" After school, Yuan Yuyuan, who attended class only to wait for it to end, started to smile. Shiina was very cute, but because she was too timid when shy, the two didn't say a single word to each other beyond nodding when they parted. He was truly bored. Just then, Yuan Yuyuan's phone chimed with a notification. He pulled it out and saw, to his surprise, a message from Prime Minister Horikita.

Prime Minister Horikita: [Are you free tonight?]

Yuan Yuyuan suddenly regretted opening the message. Was this guy going to drag him off to do manual labor? But he had already seen it, and the message status had changed to "read," so he couldn't blame him for being blunt!

Yuan Yuyuan: [Unread.]

He hadn't expected this stranger saved as Prime Minister Horikita to be so persistent.

Prime Minister Horikita: [Come to the Student Council in half an hour. I have something very important to discuss with you.]

...Rank has its privileges, and since it was something important, he had no choice. Yuan Yuyuan finished his meal, which tasted like wax, and walked with heavy steps toward the office of Manabu Horikita. This time, he didn't bother knocking; he just pulled the handle and walked in. "You're here. Sit." Before Manabu Horikita could even say it, he was already lying on the familiar sofa. Manabu Horikita knew Yuan Yuyuan was a lazy bum and didn't waste any time with small talk. "Suzune says she wants to talk to me. What do you think?" "??? I thought you'd caught Nagumo in a trap. That's it? That's the 'important thing' you called me here for?" Having had his free time hijacked, Yuan Yuyuan didn't care at all about Manabu Horikita's gloomy expression. "You say you're a sister-complex, but would it kill you to just lay your cards on the table? Calling me here for something like this—doesn't your conscience hurt?" "Perhaps you're right. Suzune really hasn't grown up at all." "Hey! Don't ignore what people are saying!" "Everything she does is merely to chase after me. Coming to Advanced Nurturing High School, wanting to reach Class A, even her long hair is only because of a single word I said." This really perked Yuan Yuyuan up. He had always thought Horikita Suzune was just clumsily imitating Manabu Horikita. He never expected her to be in the late stages of a brother-complex. Suddenly, he felt a bit turned off—what was going on? "Ahem, since you asked so sincerely, I'll tell you. Do you remember what I said to you when we went to eat last time?" Manabu Horikita didn't know why Yuan Yuyuan brought that up, although...