Turtle Soup

After half a month of school, Amakusa U's campus life had settled into a simple routine.

School, fortune-telling, meals, sleep, and occasionally teasing Kamuro.

After he bought and set up a tent, business had actually gotten better. Privacy really was important.

Looking at the points on his phone, which had not only earned back his investment but left him with plenty to spare, Amakusa U felt an inexplicable rush of satisfaction.

[Name: U Amakusa

Gender: Male

Class: Class 1-A

Personal Account: 319480.

Actual Private Points: 14,617,342.]

Although fortune-telling cost a whopping 5,000 Private Points per session, Amakusa U also sold a few so-called lucky charms.

Because his readings were exceptionally accurate, the number of people coming to see him had not dropped by much. After all, the most important thing was that first-years weren't short on points yet.

Once this month was over, his earnings would probably fall. That was when the first-years would finally realize how important points were.

Aside from the first-years, most of those coming for readings were upperclassmen from Class A and Class B. A few came from Class C and Class D, but they were rare.

Well, nothing to do today. Time to tease Orange.

At dismissal, it wasn't Naoki Shimizu who got ditched by the other two this time. It was Amakusa U.

Satoshi Satonaka had to run off because the Soccer Club had an event today, and Naoki Shimizu did the same. He had joined the Literature Club.

Of course, was Shimizu the kind of guy who liked reading? Absolutely not. Amakusa U was certain of it.

The reason was simple: Ryoko Nishikawa was in the Literature Club.

The girl with glasses was in the Literature Club. Yeah, that made perfect sense.

The guy was going after that girl. Hmph, how shallow. How could such superficial beauty corrupt my pure heart?

We walked different paths; we had nothing to say to each other.

After judging Naoki Shimizu in his mind for a moment, Amakusa U glanced over at Kamuro, who was still in the classroom.

She was chatting and laughing with some of the other girls in class, as if they had made plans to do something together.

Well, it looked like they didn't need me over there, either.

Amakusa U had planned to give himself the day off, but he sighed. He might as well keep doing fortune-telling today.

After thinking it over, he decided against it. Once a promise was made, it couldn't be taken back. Yesterday, he had told his destined customers he wouldn't be working today.

"Alas, is this vast world too small to hold little old me?"

Shaking his head, Amakusa U remembered there was one other place he could go whenever he wanted. She might be there.

When he arrived at the library, Amakusa U wasn't looking for books. He was looking for a particular person.

And there she was.

Her silver hair, like a cascading waterfall, fell smoothly over her shoulders, shimmering with a moonlit glow.

He could tell from behind alone that it was her: Shiina.

She wore the same gray knee-high socks as she had on the bus. They hugged her slender calves, accentuating the graceful lines of her legs.

Wouldn't going straight over to talk to her make his intentions too obvious? Shiina was very clever, after all.

Picking a book at random, Amakusa U sat down across from Shiina and greeted her casually.

"Hey, Shiina. Long time no see."

Looking at her from the front, he saw skin as white as snow and exquisitely delicate features. Her small nose was straight and shapely. Though she was such a lovely girl, she rarely showed much emotion.

Shiina looked up and immediately recognized the connection they had made on the bus.

She slowly closed the book she had been reading and smiled. "Wouldn't people normally start with something like, 'What a coincidence'? Amakusa?"

"Is that so? So I'm a one-of-a-kind man, then?"

Shiina paused. She had thought of plenty of possible replies, but she hadn't expected Amakusa U to say that.

But she quickly composed herself.

"You certainly are one of a kind, Mr. Famous Suitor."

Uh...

Amakusa U felt a little embarrassed. Why did he get the feeling Shiina was kind of sadistic? Had her character setting gone wrong or something?!

"Let's not talk about that. How about we exchange contact information, Shiina?"

As he spoke, Amakusa U pulled out his phone. "By the way, I'm in Class A. It's a shame we're not in the same class."

"I already knew you were in Class A, Amakusa. You're really famous, after all. I'm in Class C."

"..."

Seeing Amakusa U fall silent, Shiina tried to change the subject.

"Amakusa, you've heard about the Smiling Mask and the Cat Mask, right? They did something really interesting."

That was me...

Amakusa U didn't want to keep talking about that, either, so he changed the subject again. "Shiina, what are you reading?"

"Oh, this?" Shiina raised the book in her hand. "It's a book with little games you can play by yourself."

"Games you can play by yourself?"

Shiina showed him the title: [Turtle Soup].

"Oh, that."

Amakusa U thought it over and made up his mind. "It'd be boring to play alone. Let's play together."

"Sure." Shiina naturally had no reason to refuse. In fact, a happy smile appeared on her face.

Her eyebrows curved like crescent moons, and a warm smile slowly spread across her face. The joy in her eyes made Amakusa U's heart flutter.

"Should I ask and you answer, or should you ask and I answer?"

"Either way is fine with me."

There didn't seem to be much fun in playing like that. Shiina wanted a fellow book lover, someone who enjoyed mystery novels.

Rather than having the two of them take turns asking and answering, it would be better to get a referee to present the riddles and answer their questions, so Amakusa U and Shiina could discuss them together.

That would make it more fun. Amakusa U didn't really mind either way, but he knew Shiina would want to discuss the puzzles.

For a mystery novel fan, getting to discuss a case with someone else must have been an incredibly happy experience.

Amakusa U stood up and said softly, "Shiina, could you wait here a moment?"

Shiina looked a little confused. Weren't they going to play Turtle Soup? But she swallowed her question. Maybe he needed to use the bathroom or something.

"Okay."

Amakusa U left with a clear goal in mind: to find someone who could act as referee and answer their questions about the Turtle Soup riddles.

Of course, Amakusa U didn't have many friends. Naoki Shimizu, Satoshi Satonaka, Kamuro, and Kosei Sanada, who sat in front of him and was also his neighbor, were the only people he was even somewhat close to.

But asking them to come over wasn't practical.

Fortunately, at this school, there was a way to solve any problem.

"Hello."

Amakusa U held out a hand to a staff member at the library front desk, as if to greet him with a handshake.

"Can I help you?"

"Could you do me a favor? I want to play Turtle Soup with a friend, and we need someone to present the riddle and answer our questions."

The name tag read Bu Xiang Quming. He frowned. "I'm still on the clock. I can't help you with that."

With that, he waved a hand, trying to send Amakusa U away.

Amakusa U simply smiled and tapped his hand lightly. "What if I said I could pay you in points?"

Bu Xiang Quming froze for a moment at that, then asked seriously, "You... what year are you in?"

"You don't need to know that, Mr. Bu. How about 2,000 Private Points per story? Each one will take no more than ten minutes or so.

What do you think? Your hourly wage is probably around 1,500, right? Isn't this a pretty tempting offer?"

Bu Xiang Quming thought for a few seconds, then agreed. It didn't matter whether Amakusa U was an upperclassman or a first-year; he couldn't afford to offend him.

The first-years were a little scary. The month wasn't even over yet, and the upperclassmen had points to spend like this. They clearly didn't care about losing a few.

And getting paid in points to do a job wasn't a bad deal for him, was it?