Yukinoshita's Correction Method

"There's something wrong with this door. I couldn't get it open the first time either," the boy who opened it complained, then broke into a smile. "Haruno, you're late."

"I got here before you did." Haruno Yukinoshita led Dong Yunshan into the private room. "Someone can vouch for me, right, Riko?"

"Yep, yep. She even taught me how to play dice." The girl called Riko shook the maraca in her hand. "She only went out to pick up our little underclassman—so this is little Dong Yun?"

"Hello, everyone." Dong Yunshan greeted them with a businesslike smile. "I've been under a lot of study pressure lately, so I came out to relax. Sorry to intrude."

"Wow, he's pretty handsome." Riko blinked. "Feels like he'd be Naoko's type."

"I think so too!" The boy put down the microphone and shook Dong Yunshan's hand. "Hi, I'm Kazuya."

"Hello, I'm Dong Yunshan."

"High schoolers are this built these days?" Kazuya patted Dong Yunshan's arm. "Do you work out?"

"Just a little."

"I've been thinking about working out lately too." Kazuya let go of Dong Yunshan's hand. "Any gyms you'd recommend?"

"The closer to home, the better," Dong Yunshan said, following his lead. "Best of all, just work out at home."

"Makes sense!" Kazuya handed him the microphone. "Can you sing this song?"

"Just so you know, I'm pretty average."

"Then I'm relieved!" Kazuya resumed the accompaniment.

"How'd it go?" Haruno Yukinoshita glanced at the two dice cups on the table. "After I left just now, who won the most?"

"Me, of course." Riko lifted her chin proudly. "That's why Kosuke took on the job of picking up Naoko!"

Haruno Yukinoshita gave her a crisp high five. "Nicely done. My careful teaching wasn't wasted."

Just as a song ended, the door to the private room was pushed open all at once.

A girl with hair even shorter than Haruno Yukinoshita's walked in and raised a hand coolly. "Yo!"

"Naoko!" Haruno Yukinoshita waved. "You're so slow!"

"Kosuke." Riko glared at the boy behind Naoko. "Don't tell me you got lost?"

"How could I?" Kosuke protested. "If you're going to blame anyone, blame Naoko. She insisted on choosing this place."

"You mean..." Naoko glanced at him. "It's my fault?"

"I got lost." Kosuke raised both hands. "It was all my fault—this must be the little underclassman, right?"

Dong Yunshan greeted them politely, playing the part of the awkward little underclassman.

After a brief round of pleasantries, they ordered more snacks and drinks, eating and singing as they went, and the atmosphere grew quite lively.

When playing at a karaoke place, there were only a few things to keep in mind.

Don't hog the microphone, and don't refuse to sing even one song.

Sing the songs you picked yourself, and don't randomly sing the ones other people picked.

Don't change the order, and don't pick songs someone has already sung...

The rest was just eating and drinking, chatting and laughing, shaking bells and maracas to liven things up.

Compared with the commissions he had taken in the past, this one was the fairly easy type for Dong Yunshan.

After Naoko finished singing a heavy metal rock song and saw that the next one had been picked by Kosuke, she handed the microphone over.

"Why are there dice here?" Naoko noticed the dice cups on the table. "Added a new game?"

"Haruno taught me." Riko picked up a dice cup. "Here's how you play. Each person gets five dice..."

Naoko picked up the other dice cup and lifted it to look. "I only have four in here."

"Huh?" Riko froze for a moment. "Did one get lost by accident just now? I'll look..."

"Ah! Why is it with me?" Haruno Yukinoshita felt around on herself, then took a die out of the pocket of her jeans. "I must have been holding it when I answered the phone and just slipped it into my pocket without thinking..."

"Now there are enough dice." Riko took the die and explained the rules to Naoko. "Come on, let's try a round."

"No. You know the rules better than I do." Naoko's gaze shifted and fixed on Dong Yunshan. "Little underclassman, you heard the rules just now too, right?"

Dong Yunshan, who was eating fries, looked up. "Mm, I heard a bit."

"Let's try a round." Naoko pushed the dice cup toward Dong Yunshan. "Riko, you be the referee."

"Sure!" Riko nodded. "Good luck, little underclassman!"

Dong Yunshan took the dice cup. "I'll do my best."

"Just playing like this isn't very interesting," Haruno Yukinoshita suddenly said. "Why don't we bet something?"

Naoko's gaze roamed over Dong Yunshan. "How about this? The winner can make one request of the loser."

"Ooooh!" Riko poked Naoko. "Hide your ambition a little, okay? You'll scare the underclassman."

"No excessive requests allowed!" Haruno Yukinoshita said righteously. "Dong Yun is still young."

Naoko shook the dice cup. "I'll do my best."

Dong Yunshan shook his as well, then stopped at the same time as her.

The dice cup was lifted. Dong Yunshan hadn't even heard all the rules, but in any case, with Riko acting as referee, he won.

"Say it," Naoko urged. "What do you want?"

"I didn't get enough of that song just now." Dong Yunshan did not deliberately make things difficult for her. "Could you sing another song in the same style?"

"No problem." Naoko waved a hand. "Kosuke, give me the mic. I'm going to sing for our underclassman."

"I haven't finished singing yet..."

"Hurry up!"

Kosuke: "...Here."

It was another explosive heavy-metal rock song. By the time she finished singing, sweat had already appeared on Naoko's forehead.

The second round began immediately. This time, Dong Yunshan lost.

"A bet's a bet." Dong Yunshan narrowed his eyes slightly. "What do you want?"

Naoko said, "Take off a piece of clothing."

Dong Yunshan said, "Hm?"

"I object!" Haruno Yukinoshita crossed both hands, making a big X. "That falls under the category of going too far!"

Riko nodded again and again. "Exactly, exactly."

"That counts as going too far..." Naoko frowned slightly. "Fine, then. I heard from Haruno that you're very smart. I'll test you. If you answer correctly, you pass—and I'll help you solve another problem."

Dong Yunshan raised one eyebrow. "And if I answer wrong?"

"Then take off two pieces of clothing." Naoko's gaze burned. "Confident?"

Dong Yunshan glanced at Haruno Yukinoshita. "What's the question?"

"Guess..." Naoko's gaze swept over everyone in the private room. "Which two of us are a couple?"

Dong Yunshan looked at Haruno Yukinoshita, his eyes shifting slightly.

So that was it... Was this the real reason Haruno Yukinoshita had asked him to come?

Behind Haruno Yukinoshita's blank expression, Dong Yunshan faintly glimpsed a deep, shadowy figure looking down from above.

Kazuya had just finished singing one song. The accompaniment for the second song started, but no one opened their mouth to sing.

Haruno Yukinoshita, Naoko, Riko, Kazuya, Kosuke.

Amid the soothing music, the gazes of the three girls and two boys all fell on Dong Yunshan, waiting for his answer.

As expected, it was an easy commission.

As expected, it was a heavy commission.

Dong Yunshan picked up a tissue and wiped his mouth, took a sip of his drink, and gave his answer. "The couple is... Riko and Kosuke."

"Huh?" Kazuya froze. "Seriously?"

Haruno Yukinoshita looked at Dong Yunshan suspiciously. "Have you met them before?"

Kosuke opened his mouth. "He probably guessed—"

"Shut up." Naoko shot him a sideways look, then stared at Dong Yunshan. "What's your basis?"

"The dice." Dong Yunshan briefly organized his thoughts. "The first people to arrive at the private room were Kosuke, Riko, and Yukinoshita-senpai. Yukinoshita-senpai taught the two of them the dice game, then left the room to pick me up. Before Kazuya arrived, what were the two of them doing?"

"Didn't Riko just say it?" Kazuya was puzzled. "They were playing dice. Riko won, so the task of picking up Naoko was given to Kosuke."

"But the die was on Yukinoshita-senpai, and there was one die missing from the private room. The game couldn't be played, so naturally there was no way to determine a winner." Dong Yunshan turned his gaze to Riko. "You weren't playing the dice game. But there was no need to lie about that, unless... you were doing something else that was inconvenient to talk about."

For example, a little game between lovers.

"If it was inconvenient to talk about, it'd also be inconvenient to let people see, right?" Kazuya pointed at the door. "I could've come in at any moment."

"But there was something wrong with this door," Dong Yunshan explained. "You said just now that it didn't open the first time you pushed it. The time you spent spacing out was already enough for the people inside to adjust themselves in time."

"It sounds like you've got evidence and logic," Naoko said, shaking her head. "But as long as they don't admit it, you still have to take your clothes off."

"This KTV has audio and video recording functions, and can also do cross-room duets through the internet." Dong Yunshan pointed at the camera. "We'll know once we check."

"...No need to look." Kosuke smiled. "Dongyun is right."

"Well, well!" Haruno Yukinoshita pretended to be angry and went to tickle Riko. "Secretly dating without telling us, huh?"

"Don't... stop it..." Riko twisted her body. "We wanted to give everyone a surprise!"

Kazuya expressed his admiration to Dong Yunshan, then started making a fuss for Riko and Kosuke to sing a love song together. The atmosphere quickly heated up again.

Only after everyone was tired did they say goodbye to each other and head home.

Dong Yunshan got the contact information of several of them. Naoko specially reminded him that if he ran into any trouble, he could come to her for help. She would do what she said.

"Ahh~" Strolling along the neon-bright street, Haruno Yukinoshita stretched lazily. "That went even better than I imagined, underclassman. If there's another chance next time, let's all go out and have fun together again."

"Will there really be a next time?" Dong Yunshan turned his head and looked at the youthful girl beside him. "The application scenario for an ignorant individual should only happen this once, right?"

"Hmm?" Haruno Yukinoshita stopped walking. "You noticed."

"Kosuke and Riko are secretly dating, and you wanted to expose that. But people inside the circle couldn't say it outright, since it would affect future socializing, so you needed an ignorant outsider to make an appearance." Dong Yunshan stopped as well. "The one who planned it... was Naoko."

"Because she organized the gathering?"

"She even deliberately chose a private room with a faulty door." Dong Yunshan thought back over what had happened. "She pushed the door open straight away the first time, which means she knew the room's condition very well."

"Just from that?"

"And there was the question she asked. It was far too pointed." Dong Yunshan tapped his temple lightly. "Naoko wanted to expose their secret relationship. In other words, the fact that Riko and Kosuke's relationship wasn't public was a problem for her—Kosuke was pursuing Naoko."

They were in the same circle, and their families might even have business dealings with each other, so Naoko couldn't reject him too harshly without damaging relations.

Unless... Kosuke had already confirmed a relationship with someone else.

In that case, if Kosuke continued pursuing Naoko, it would be blatant cheating.

No matter how coldly Naoko reacted, it would be perfectly reasonable.

To expose Kosuke and Riko's relationship without affecting surface-level social interactions, four people's cooperation had been needed.

Naoko, who arranged the venue, organized the gathering, and raised the question;

Haruno Yukinoshita, who took away the dice and brought in the ignorant outsider;

Dong Yunshan, who was ignorant but could discover the truth through the dice;

And... Riko, who took the initiative to get intimate with Kosuke and wanted to make their relationship public.

The most innocent person in the private room had probably been Kazuya.

"Kosuke and Riko like each other... but their family situations are too similar. Riko can't marry into Kosuke's family, and Kosuke can't marry into hers either." Haruno Yukinoshita walked lightly with her hands behind her back. "Compared to her, Naoko, as the second daughter, is a more suitable person for Kosuke."

From a personal standpoint, Kosuke and Riko were in love.

From a family standpoint, Kosuke had to pursue Naoko.

But neither Naoko nor Riko was willing to accept something like that.