Zhou Bin, send me the links, thanks

"President, guess what? Something good happened!"

At noon on Wednesday, Yatsuhashi Ki suddenly pushed open the student council office door, making Yan Huan look up from his throne as "student council president."

Yan Huan was alone in the office. Hitomi Sakuramiya had gone home at noon today, apparently because the surveillance feed on the phone showed that something was wrong with the kitten named Mizuki at home.

Hitomi Sakuramiya's home wasn't far from school.

Yan Huan was currently sorting through materials to put together the study group the principal had requested.

Of course, he was mainly thinking about how to properly educate those two with Modifiers.

He hadn't made any progress. Bai Yi never came to school, and who knew whether she was using her Modifier to do bad things outside school?

As for Spencer, Yan Huan had originally planned to wait for her to make a demand, then deal with whatever she threw at him.

But two days had passed, and there hadn't been so much as a peep.

Judging by the intelligence behind her score of 66, she might have almost forgotten about it already.

So Yan Huan planned to take the initiative, especially since she was also someone who had been forced to join the study group.

Before he could send her an email, Yatsuhashi Ki's sudden entrance interrupted his thoughts.

He glanced up at Yatsuhashi Ki. The excitement on his face was impossible to suppress, but he was being all mysterious about it, insisting that Yan Huan guess.

Playing along, Yan Huan offered a plausible guess out of sheer boredom.

"Has Zhou Bin converted to all three teachings and become a devout, friendly hybrid believer?"

"Uh, that counts as good news too, but no. Guess again, President!"

Yan Huan sighed speechlessly, then continued.

"Either you got insanely lucky and pulled what you wanted on the first try, or the figure you preordered finally shipped?"

Yatsuhashi Ki shook his head, adjusted his glasses, and slapped two tickets down in front of Yan Huan.

Yan Huan looked down and saw the words:

"Linmen Jinghe Game Expo-admission ticket package."

After reading the text, Yan Huan raised an eyebrow.

"So?"

"What do you mean, 'so'?! President, do you have any idea how big this event is? Look, all the world-famous game developers are coming! Look how many famous guests they invited! It took me a ton of effort to get these two tickets!"

"I think you're just going for Shijo Ai."

Yan Huan glanced at the guest list on the back of the ticket and, sure enough, found a particularly conspicuous name in the "2D Section."

That was why Yan Huan made that rather speechless remark.

Shijo Ai was the Voice Actor for the Loli heroine in the 18+ Galgame Yatsuhashi Ki revered as a masterpiece, "《Lolis You Meet After Clocking Out at Eight-Thirty》."

It was one of her earlier works, from the Inner World, with plenty of explicit content.

By now, however, Shijo Ai had long since gone mainstream and become very famous in the Voice Actor industry.

Her signature youthful Loli voice could often be heard in the anime people watched in Linmen.

"Am I that kind of person, President?"

Yatsuhashi Ki looked perfectly serious, leaving Yan Huan at a loss for words.

"Heh."

Yatsuhashi Ki had once pulled off quite a feat.

Last semester, the school had organized an overnight class trip, and this absolute legend had set Shijo Ai's voice acting as his phone alarm, then forgotten to change it.

So the next morning, that tsundere Loli voice had given every boy in Class B a thorough tongue-lashing.

When he blearily got up to turn off the alarm, he accidentally pushed his phone into the gap beside the bed. He couldn't get it out for ages, letting the alarm moan its way into the Galgame's juicy bits.

And so Yatsuhashi Ki had given the Class B boys, waking up one after another, a little taste of otaku shock.

He had become famous overnight.

No wonder Piao Shuwen and the other girls in Class C had been able to pinpoint Yatsuhashi Ki's weakness. His reputation had long since spread.

"Go if you want. Why bring two tickets? Trying to drag me along?"

"Yep."

Yatsuhashi Ki nodded honestly and said,

"I bought them from a scalper who was selling them as a pair. Every other source was sold out, so I had no choice but to buy both. Since I've got an extra anyway, why don't you come with me, President?"

"I'll think about it."

Despite saying that, Yan Huan really had little desire to go.

He was busy enough already. Dealing with Modifiers and everything else had left him frazzled. Rather than spending his precious weekend squeezing through crowds at such a popular event, he would have enjoyed sleeping at home more.

"More importantly, any news about what I asked you to help with, getting Bai Yi from your class into the study group? She's never replied to the student council's emails."

Yatsuhashi Ki and Bai Yi were in the same class, but he rarely saw her at school either.

At the mention of this, Yatsuhashi Ki clapped his hands and explained the situation to Yan Huan.

"I can't reach her. She practically never comes to school. Forget me, even our homeroom teacher can't necessarily get hold of her. I think you'd have better odds trying to catch her backstage at the venue this weekend."

"Backstage at the venue?"

Surprised, Yan Huan picked up the ticket Yatsuhashi Ki had placed on the desk again.

His eyes swept over it, and sure enough, he found Bai Yi's name at the bottom of the "VIP guests" list.

Appearing alongside her were popular, good-looking influencers from home and abroad. Apparently, she had been placed in that looks-based category too.

Had she taken a paid gig?

Yan Huan's interest immediately perked up. He rubbed his chin and began thinking.

Yatsuhashi Ki leaned over too, speaking as though he had suddenly remembered something.

"Speaking of which, President, I think Bai Yi's mother came to school today."

"You even recognize her mom?"

Faced with Yan Huan's confusion, Yatsuhashi Ki spread his hands and explained.

"Everyone in our class probably does. Someone saw her picking Bai Yi up from school before. Mostly because Bai Yi draws so much attention. Bai Yi's usually pretty friendly, without much celebrity attitude. Her mother, though, seems pretty fierce."

Yatsuhashi Ki shook his head as he spoke, sat down on the office sofa, and continued muttering.

"But her mother looked really frantic this morning. No idea what happened."

Hmm.

He didn't know what was going on, but it was a fact that Bai Yi rarely showed up at school. Who knew how far her Modifier had developed by now?

If he left her alone, would it have reached some absurdly outrageous level by their next meeting?

At that thought, Yan Huan reached out and took the game expo ticket Yatsuhashi Ki offered him.

"I'll go have a look with you this weekend. We'll confirm when to meet on Plane."

Yatsuhashi Ki's eyes lit up at that.

He was actually socially anxious. Having a trusted friend with him would give him more confidence for something like meeting his idol.

The main thing was that Yan Huan didn't know whether he intended to read Shijo Ai the love letter he had written to the Loli heroine in the Galgame.

If he did, well, that really would take a lot of courage.

"Sure, President. I'll message you then, and we'll-"

Knock, knock, knock!

Just as Yatsuhashi Ki was imagining the fun awaiting him that weekend, someone suddenly knocked on the student council office door.

Yan Huan looked toward the door and called,

"Come in!"

The person who pushed open the door was a girl from his class who chattered like a sparrow.

"President, something's wrong! Your... your desk! Something happened to it!"

"Something happened to my desk? What happened? Tell me."

"Oh, I can't explain it properly. Just come back to class with me and you'll see."

"?"

Yan Huan and Yatsuhashi Ki exchanged a glance. In the end, he slowly stood up...

"You're saying you went to get some water, and when you came back, my desk looked like this?"

Inside Class A's classroom, the sparrow-like girl from earlier looked around nervously.

At the moment, only Yan Huan, Yatsuhashi Ki, and the girl were in the entire Class A.

And something seemed to have happened earlier that had left her feeling particularly unsafe.

Yan Huan's desk had been doused in a mixture of several colors of paint. Even his chair was spattered with it, filling the classroom with a pungent smell.

On the desk, in an illegible scrawl, were written:

"Die!" and "Disgusting!"

Insults of that sort.

Looking at the paint marks on the desk, Yatsuhashi Ki clicked his tongue in wonder and said to Yan Huan,

"President, did you offend someone? But that shouldn't be possible, at school..."

"President, you... you must have offended a ghost!"

The girl behind him nearly made Yan Huan lose his composure the moment she spoke.

He turned to look at her and saw her covering her mouth as she said with utter seriousness,

"I came back because I wanted to get some water from the purifier outside. There wasn't a mark here when I came back for my cup, but less than a minute later, when I got back, it was covered in writing. It's exactly what happened to Mr. Zhou. President, you're definitely being haunted, just like him!"

Yatsuhashi Ki rubbed his chin, pondered for a second, and said,

"President, do you think this ghost might be a busty girl? The kind whose lingering obsession you have to purify at night so she can move on?"

Yan Huan glanced at Yatsuhashi Ki beside him with an expression that said, "You're beyond saving."

Actually, even without his female classmate's reminder, her description alone would probably have made Yan Huan connect this to Zhou Bin's ordeal last Friday.

The culprit could only be the person he and Yatsuhashi Ki had just been discussing:

Bai Yi.

But the confusion on his face was entirely genuine. He really didn't know what he had done to offend Bai Yi.

Counting every encounter, had he even seen her more than three times since enrolling?

What had he done to make her hate him this much?

Yan Huan was baffled, but just then, another crisp tapping sound came from the window beside him.

Clink!

Yan Huan turned and saw a small pebble roll down the windowpane.

"..."

"Ah! The ghost's here! This is definitely supernatural!"

The girl hid behind Yan Huan and started shouting.

Throwing little stones at people?

How old are you? Aren't you embarrassed?

Do you need your dosage increased along with Ye Shiyu's?

But when he looked outside, there was only a strip of landscaping separating the ground-floor classroom from the path. He couldn't see anyone at all.

It was as if an invisible ghost really was targeting Yan Huan from outside.

Where was Bai Yi?

He couldn't see her either.

Either she was really good at hide-and-seek, or her Modifier had leveled up while he wasn't looking, weakening his resistance enough that he could no longer detect her.

Surely this wasn't actually supernatural?

Zhou Bin, you there?

Can you send me the links for that stuff you're wearing? It's urgent.

Clink!

Several more pebbles hit the window. This time, even Yatsuhashi Ki couldn't take it.

He grabbed Yan Huan in a hug, looking utterly terrified.

"P-President, protect me!"

Could you stop hugging me, Yatsuhashi? This really is about to become a bottom-spilling incident.

Regardless, Yan Huan first activated Perfect Facial Expression Control.

He took a deep breath, looking surprised as well by the stones coming from the empty path outside, but still forced himself to remain calm. He stepped back and said,

"You two leave the classroom first. I'll go outside and take a look. Keep your distance from me. It feels like that thing is after me..."

Clink!

As Yan Huan spoke, he suddenly caught a faint glimpse of translucent black hair in the bushes to the right of the window.

He took a deep breath, then suddenly opened the window and looked outside.

He happened to see a translucent girl squatting under a tree, wearing a bucket hat and a pair of sunglasses, with a small pebble still clutched in her hand.

There were bigger stones too, but apparently she couldn't throw the larger ones that far, so she had simply abandoned them.

It was Bai Yi!

Looking at Bai Yi squatting under the tree like a village girl, Yan Huan was speechless inwardly as he adjusted his expression.

He furrowed his brows and, wearing a puzzled expression, shouted outside,

"Don't move!"

With that, he vaulted straight over the ground-floor windowsill and headed outside.

"President!"

Behind him, Yatsuhashi Ki instinctively tried to follow, but his shut-in body was like a rusty puppet.

Even lifting his leg was a struggle, let alone nimbly planting a hand on the windowsill and vaulting over it.

So he could only give up and turn to leave through the corridor outside the classroom.

Holding a stone, Bai Yi had just been about to throw another when she looked up and suddenly saw Yan Huan vault over the windowsill and run outside with a cold expression.

Startled, she fell onto her backside, then suddenly remembered that Indifference was still active on her.

So she simply sat there without moving, watching Yan Huan come running out and stop a short distance from her.

Yan Huan.

Sure enough, no matter how many times I see that face of yours, I still find it so annoying.

Bai Yi pressed her lips together, her gaze growing increasingly irritated as she watched Yan Huan a short distance away.

As she stared at Yan Huan's face, a filthy thought suddenly rose in her mind.

It was a thought that even she, who had activated the modifier, found filthy.

She looked Yan Huan up and down, unaware that Yan Huan, who was pretending to look around in confusion, was also studying her.

Studying the irritation on her face that even her sunglasses could not hide.

Yan Huan genuinely had no idea what he had done to offend her enough to make her do this.

Ye Shiyu's actions were actually understandable. At least they could be analyzed. But you, Bai Yi...

Could you be the type who goes crazy at random?

The next second, the translucent Bai Yi suddenly stood up, her face cold.

She pressed her lips together and actually began inching toward Yan Huan.

Yan Huan did not know what she intended to do, but his instincts told him it would be best to stay away from Bai Yi right now.

However, just as he was about to pretend his search had turned up nothing and turn to leave, a police siren suddenly sounded at the school gate.

Yan Huan and Bai Yi both froze, turning toward the school gate.

They saw a tearful middle-aged woman holding a phone step out of a police car, along with several police officers.

"Officers, please help me. My daughter went out last night, and we have no idea where she went. We checked the surveillance footage too, but we couldn't find her anywhere. I'm really worried, worried about her."

"Don't panic, ma'am. Let's take this one step at a time."

The police?

Did Bai Yi...

Run away from home?

Yan Huan blinked. He was just about to look for Bai Yi behind him out of the corner of his eye when he realized she had already vanished at some point, and he had no idea where she had gone.

In the corridor, Yatsuhashi Ki had just come running out and was about to turn toward the exit of the school building when he nearly collided head-on with a very busty female student walking with her head lowered.

"Watch out!"

He hurriedly dodged aside, then tried to pass her, only for her to step in front of him again.

Yatsuhashi Ki paused slightly and looked at the girl before him, whose fair face was hidden beneath thick black hair.

"Hey, you..."

He was just about to ask when the girl before him seemed to muster tremendous courage and held out a plain white letter without any decoration.

"Um... um... Yatsuhashi..."

Her words came out as indistinctly as a little animal's, so Yatsuhashi Ki could only look at the letter she held out.

On it were the words,

"To Xiao Huan"

"An Le"

Another one asking me to deliver a love letter to the president?

Under normal circumstances, Yatsuhashi Ki might genuinely not have known how to turn a girl down, even one who seemed more socially anxious and timid than he was.

But the situation was urgent. How could he spare any attention for this?

So he gently reached out and pushed the offered letter back, then hurried outside under her anxious gaze.

"President, wait for me!!"

"..."

An Le's mouth hung open. She stammered for a long time without managing to say anything, and could only look pitifully at the undelivered letter in her hands.

Was the timing wrong?

An Le felt a little discouraged, but that discouragement was overwhelmed by her desire to have Xiao Huan recognize her.

Then...

I'll try giving it to him again later.

An Le plucked up her courage and made that decision in her heart.

However, when she turned to return to class, An Le suddenly saw several girls in the corridor with their arms folded, looking her over.

At their head was her classmate, Piao Shuwen, with a sneer on her face.