The stages

After thinking it over at length, Lezheng decided to interview Horikita first, so he sent her an invitation from the Student Council's dedicated email account.

About fifteen minutes later, there was a knock on the reception room door.

"Come in."

Horikita pushed the door open. Her gaze paused briefly on Lezheng, but she still sat down straight-backed in the chair.

"Hello, Horikita. We invited you here today to tell you that your application to the Student Council has been accepted..."

After that, Lezheng asked a few simple, formulaic questions. In truth, by this stage of the process, the outcome was essentially settled, but they still had to go through the motions.

Ichinose went through the same process, but a small problem arose.

"Um, Lezheng..." Ichinose fiddled with her fingers.

"You can say whatever's on your mind. It's just the two of us here," Lezheng encouraged her.

"Actually, I have a secret..."

"Wait, you don't need to tell me your secret. Once you tell someone, it's not a secret anymore." Hearing that it was another secret, Lezheng hurriedly interrupted her.

As everyone knew, the word "secret" carried enormous consequences. The person telling it might feel refreshed, but the listener would have a lot more to consider.

"The thing is, I stole something once..." Ichinose grabbed Lezheng's arm and began telling a story in a soft voice.

Ichinose came from a single-parent family and had a younger sister. The wages her mother worked so hard to earn were only enough to cover their daily living expenses.

Later, her mother fell ill, and the family lost its income. As it happened, at that very time, her usually well-behaved younger sister asked her, as her older sister, for a limited-edition idol hair clip for the first time. She was too young to work, and seeing that the hair clips at the supermarket were almost sold out, she stole one in a moment of foolishness. In the end, her mother found out, and she kowtowed in apology in person.

Lezheng's reaction after hearing the story was: Ichinose is an absolute angel! Get over here and die, you bastard Kamuro!

"Why would you tell me? Strictly speaking, we're still enemies."

"Because I wanted someone to talk to. Everyone in Class B is a good friend... Ah, sorry, I didn't mean you aren't a good person!" Ichinose explained in a panic.

"So you've only told me?"

"Yes. Thank you for keeping my secret, Lezheng."

"Do you feel better now that you've said it?"

"Mm-hmm." Ichinose nodded.

In that case... could it be? She likes me! Lezheng's imagination started running wild again.

Fortunately, with Sakayanagi's example as a warning, Lezheng did not ask her outright.

"I'll let you know if there are any group meetings later." Lezheng exchanged contact details with Ichinose.

Although Ichinose was an angel, Lezheng still regarded her as a formidable opponent.

At a small two-person table in the library, Lezheng and Shiina sat opposite each other, quietly turning the pages of their books.

Five bookshelves away were the students from Classes B and C. They were getting along particularly well, probably because Ichinose had acted as a mediator, but there were always a few bad apples.

Yamauchi and the others passed notes among themselves, sleazy smiles on their faces.

The Class C students actually disliked them too, but Ichinose, the person involved, had chosen to forgive them, so the other students could hardly sour relations.

Perhaps something had occurred to her, for Shiina put down her book and fixed her purple eyes on Lezheng; noticing her gaze, Lezheng also looked up at her.

Lezheng blinked, and Shiina blinked too. After looking at each other for a minute, Shiina pointed toward the library door, and Lezheng nodded.

They returned their books to their original places and walked toward the door side by side.

"I found somewhere fun a few days ago," Shiina said softly.

"Want to go together?" Lezheng asked.

"Yes. It would be boring on my own."

"I happen to be free."

Their destination was an escape room venue.

The stages Shiina picked were mostly detective mysteries, and today's choice was The Missing Old Writer.

The first stage's setting: an old-fashioned mantel clock stood on a shabby desk, a pile of books lay scattered in a corner, and an oil painting of a sunset hung on the wall. There was also a locked wooden door, with a line of small print on its lock-after three attempts, the lock would lock permanently.

Upon entering the room, they exchanged a glance and a slight smile. Shiina went to search through the scattered books, while Lezheng examined the oil painting.

"Lezheng, these four books have numbers on the back." Shiina placed four books with numbers on their covers on the desk.

"Were they in any particular order when you found them?" Lezheng asked.

"They were stacked in order from top to bottom."

"Give it a try."

Shiina entered the code in that order. The lights on the wall began flashing, then went dark three seconds later.

"Looks like it isn't that simple." Shiina leafed through the four books.

"Shiina, I think I've spotted the problem." Lezheng pointed at the clock with one hand and the oil painting with the other.

"You mean set the clock to sunset?"

Lezheng nodded and set the clock's hands to six o'clock in the evening.

With a click, a small drawer popped out from the bottom of the clock. Inside was a sheet of paper bearing four arithmetic expressions. Lezheng worked out the answers in his head and entered them. The lights still flashed, but the door opened.

The second stage's setting was simpler: just a bookshelf, a table, two chairs, a single book sitting all alone on the bookshelf, and a locked door.

Lezheng took the book from the shelf and sat beside Shiina. They leafed through it together. The book told the story of the writer's tragic life.

In this stage, the designer intended to make the players empathize with a tragic story, thereby disrupting their train of thought.

"I've figured it out already, Lezheng." Shiina turned to smile at him.

"I think I've figured it out too." Lezheng winked at Shiina.

"Just like before, let me try first."

Shiina stood up and walked to the door, entering the months corresponding to the four seasons: spring, summer, autumn, and winter.

"Time for the final stage." Lezheng gave her a thumbs-up.

The final stage's setting: a person sat in a chair, with two sets of tables and chairs placed one meter apart in front of him.

"Congratulations on reaching the final stage. These are the rules for this stage."

The man took a folded poster from his pocket. The rules were as follows: each player had five cards in front of them, numbered 1/2/4/8/16. Next, the referee would deal two of those cards to them.

The product of the numbers on the two players' cards could only be 8 or 16. They were forbidden from stating their own numbers directly. They had only five minutes to guess the other person's number, and only one chance.

"Please take your seats if you're ready."

Lezheng held his hand out in front of Shiina. Smiling, Shiina took it without a word, and then they sat down.

"This is your number."

The man drew a card, glanced at it himself, and showed it to Lezheng before placing it facedown on the table in front of him. He did the same for Shiina.

Lezheng pondered how to give Shiina a hint when inspiration suddenly struck him.

"I don't know."

Shiina, who had also been thinking, froze for a moment before her eyes lit up.

"I don't know either."

Lezheng said, "I still don't know."

Shiina said, "I still don't know either."

"Hers is 4."

"His is 2."