Sakura, you wouldn't want the whole school to find out about your gravure idol work, would you!

It had been several days since the last time he went out with Ichinose and the others. Every time Ju Ji looked back on it, he felt that she and Kikyo were truly the ones who knew how to liven up the atmosphere. And that was precisely something Ju Ji could not do.

In fact, Ju Ji had been experimenting with something recently: since Hypnosis Lv2 could hypnotize others, could it also be used on himself? The result was undoubtedly a success; in a state of self-hypnosis, he would adopt his ideal personality. But whether it was because the skill level was too low or due to the system's protective measures, the effect was not long-lasting. It only lasted for about ten minutes.

During this period, the study sessions were held as scheduled. Sudo and Ike were one thing; although they were idiots when it came to academics, they were at least diligent in their studies. Plus, with the 10% boost to the learning ability of targets affected by Taming Lv1, their progress was actually quite decent.

The only problem was the student named Sakura, who always curled up in the corner. She never took the initiative to ask questions, nor would she talk to them. Even when Ju Ji approached her, she would quickly retreat like a startled rabbit. It was impossible to get through to her, but all of that ended here.

"I really managed to capture something good."

It was a girl wearing simple, elegant makeup, looking energetic and cute. She was taking selfies with her phone inside the school building. Aside from a slight resemblance in temperament, she looked almost nothing like the Sakura in reality.

Even someone familiar with her would likely mistake the two for different people if no one pointed it out. But Ju Ji was different; he knew this fact. Installing cameras in the special building was specifically to capture this moment. Since he didn't know where she would take her selfies, he had set them up on every floor and performed routine checks every morning.

"It looks like things can be resolved now."

During the break after the first period...

"[Sakura, could you come out with me for a moment?]"

"Ah... yes."

Ju Ji's original plan was to take a gamble and see if Sakura would choose to obey him due to the suggestion. If that didn't work, he would use the photos he had temporarily saved on his phone as a threat.

But to his surprise, the moment Ju Ji issued the command, the light in Sakura's eyes suddenly vanished, and she gave a response devoid of any emotional fluctuation, like a marionette.

Hmm, at that moment, Ju Ji realized something: Sakura had been hypnotized by him. He had encountered this situation before when he bought the test papers from the upperclassmen. Otherwise, how could he have obtained the second and third-year papers using only 10,000 points each?

In fact, this hypnosis skill had only succeeded twice since the start of the school year. He didn't know if the skill was just trash or if his luck stat was too low. Still, being able to succeed in hypnosis saved him a lot of trouble.

"Who was that guy who called out Sakura?"

"Idiot, that's our classmate, Sakura. She's our classmate, after all; it's rude not to remember her name."

"Sorry, her presence is just too low."

"No, that's true. But it's rare for Shinomiya to call someone out. Could it be a confession?"

"No, that's impossible. Shinomiya has Horikita, how could that be?"

Perhaps because Ju Ji wasn't very active in class, the fact that he called Sakura out seemed to have caused quite a stir.

"Horikita, they say Shinomiya went to confess. What do you think?"

"Confession? Him? No, he wouldn't have the courage for that. Sakura is in Ju Ji's study group. Being called out probably has something to do with that."

"Horikita, you really understand Shinomiya well."

That's right; in both of their perceptions, it was impossible for Ju Ji to have the courage to confess to anyone. After all, he didn't even have the courage to talk to his own classmates. The number of people he could speak to in class could be counted on one hand. Both of them were among that number. In a sense, he wasn't much better than Sakura.

"But, what if?"

"Ayanokoji, if you have nothing to do, could you please preview the content for the next class?"

"Understood."

Horikita seemed to have been provoked by Ayanokoji's words, and her entire aura became terrifying. It was enough to make anyone back away; she looked like a dangerous person. Even Ayanokoji didn't dare to push his luck at that moment.

On the other side, Ju Ji brought the hypnotized Sakura to the rooftop of the school building. It was the only place without anyone during the break. If it were noon, there might have been students eating here.

Snap.

With the sound of a finger snap, Sakura instantly recovered from the hypnotic state. Because Ju Ji's current hypnosis ability could only achieve a shallow level of trance, the subject would recover if they experienced even the slightest stimulation. So, this or that kind of thing couldn't be done. What a pity.

"Ah... is this the rooftop? How did I get here... Shinomiya?"

"Don't worry, Sakura, I'm the one who called you here. Don't think about running away; I've already locked the rooftop door. Give up on struggling and listen to me properly."

Sakura, who had recovered from the hypnotic state and found herself in an unfamiliar environment, instantly fell into a panic. But after hearing what Ju Ji said, she unexpectedly calmed down. Although she was still curled up like a small animal, seemingly afraid of something, it was clear she wasn't as panicked as before.

"What is it... it was Ju Ji who called me here... is there something you need?"

"I'm truly surprised. You can actually stay calm in an environment like this. Aren't you afraid I might do something to you?"

"No, Shinomiya wouldn't... do that. I didn't... feel any sense of... terror from you?"

As could be known from the original work, Sakura seemed to have a very keen ability to perceive malice in others. Ju Ji had no intention of doing anything special to her, which was likely why she deemed him harmless. This clearly deprived Ju Ji of some amusement. The dark humor in his heart remained unsatisfied.

"Since that's the case, the next part will be easy to talk about. Sakura, look at what this is."

"This is a photo of me... why is it in Shinomiya's hands?"

"I naturally have my ways of obtaining it, and I also know your other identity on the internet: the gravure idol Shizuku. Sakura, you wouldn't want this to be known by the whole school, would you? Then listen to me carefully. If you do, I won't spread it."

"This is... a threat? You wouldn't make me... do anything excessive, would you?"

"That... is hard to say."

"How could you!"

And just like that, Airi Sakura doubted her intuition for the first time...