"Ichika! Time to get up!"
"Ugh~ Yu… five more minutes, let's sleep together?"
Sleepily, Ichika pulled the blanket closer to herself and, reaching out, dragged the person waking her into her arms.
But the moment she hugged them, Ichika felt that something was wrong.
The person in her arms smelled nice. Although Nakano Yu also smelled good, his scent was very fresh. But the person she was holding now carried the fragrance of camellia.
"Hm? Miku?!"
Opening her eyes, Ichika wondered whether Nakano Yu had secretly used Miku's shampoo, when she was surprised to discover that the person in her arms was actually Miku.
"Ichika, hurry up and get up, Yu has already prepared breakfast."
Miku's cheeks were slightly flushed. She knew that Ichika had the habit of sleeping naked, but… she felt that Ichika seemed a bit more mature than her—no, no, now really wasn't the time to think about such things.
After urging Ichika to get dressed, Miku stood up, found her clothes, and then left the room.
"I have a feeling… something isn't quite right?"
Holding the blanket, Ichika watched Miku leave the room, narrowing her eyes suspiciously and murmuring.
She didn't know whether it was just her imagination, but she felt that Miku was very happy today and… very strong?
Just now, when Miku got up, Ichika had still been holding her, but Miku, who usually didn't have much strength, broke free in an instant.
Something was off, Ichika felt that something was happening.
"Ichika, hurry up and come down to eat!"
Just as Ichika was thinking about what was wrong, Nakano Yu's urging voice came from downstairs, forcing Ichika to quickly get up and go downstairs.
"I'm coming!"
After breakfast, the group naturally headed toward school. Unlike usual, today there was one more person in the car.
Yes, exactly—literally on the car. On the roof of the limousine, Tsurara, the Snow Woman, was leisurely eating the breakfast Nakano Yu had prepared for her.
It was a sandwich that had been frozen overnight and already had bits of ice in it.
Still, Tsurara was quite curious. How did Nakano Yu seem to know so much about the habits of Snow Women, even knowing that they didn't eat ordinary food?
But thinking about Nakano Yu's powerful strength, Tsurara no longer found it strange. After all, it was normal for strong people to know many things.
Since they had avoided the morning rush, Edo soon arrived at the gate of Shuchiin Academy.
Watching Nakano Yu and the others enter through the gates of Shuchiin Academy, Edo finally let out a sigh of relief and drove away.
"The roof kept making noises during the drive, I should probably go to the service center first."
On Nakano Yu's side, as soon as they entered the academy, the group saw a crowd of students gathered in front of the notice board.
"Wow, it's really lively over there, what are they doing?"
Looking at the crowd in front of the notice board, Yotsuba's eyes shone with curiosity.
At Sobu High School, the journalism club often posted gossip on the notice board, and she always went to read it.
She remembered that the last piece of gossip was something like… "Monsters Spotted During the Test of Courage!"
However, Yotsuba thought it was fake, because she had also participated in the test of courage, and it was all just students pretending. Although the atmosphere was good, it certainly wasn't scary.
"Yesterday's exam results and rankings should come out today, but… isn't it too fast for them to be posted already in the morning?"
Nakano Yu also looked toward the crowd and said. He remembered Kirisu Mafuyu telling him yesterday that the results would come out in the afternoon. Wait? That wasn't the ranking list!
Frowning, Nakano Yu used his height and excellent eyesight to see what was posted on the notice board. It was clearly the newspapers of the Shuchiin Academy News Club!
In addition to some new academy regulations, they also contained various eavesdropped gossip, tools used by the VIPs of Shuchiin Academy to control public opinion within the school.
But now, public opinion was obviously directed at him.
The biggest headline printed in those newspapers was none other than Nakano Yu and Shinomiya Kaguya!
[Shocking! Because of one young man, the eldest daughter of the Shinomiya family is willing to have an abortion!]
Looking at the headline in the newspaper, Nakano Yu frowned. Fine, very fine—people from Shuchiin Academy were really bold, daring to pin something like this on him.
But… they dared to target Shinomiya Kaguya?
Rubbing his chin, Nakano Yu vaguely sensed something.
In Shuchiin Academy, even if Shinomiya Kaguya didn't currently have great prestige, her identity as the daughter of the Shinomiya family and a VIP of the academy was enough to intimidate petty schemers.
Not to mention that Shinomiya Kaguya's methods had now become sharper and she was gradually establishing authority among the students.
Nakano Yu didn't believe that a small journalism club would have the courage to direct public opinion against Shinomiya Kaguya. If Shinomiya Kaguya got angry, she could disband that club with a single move.
Unless… there was a force behind all this that was above Shinomiya Kaguya.
However, Nakano Yu couldn't guess who it was for the time being, because he only knew a handful of people who weren't afraid of the Shinomiya family's influence, and they had no reason to do something like this.
It seemed he would have to find an opportunity to talk to the head of the Shuchiin Academy News Club.
"Yu, did you see anything?"
At that moment, Nino walked over and grabbed Nakano Yu's arm, asking quietly.
"No, there are too many people, I can't see."
Shaking his head, Nakano Yu withdrew his gaze and said.
"Really? Then it's probably some unimportant little thing, let's go to the classroom first."
Nino nodded. She wasn't interested in such things. She assumed it was just grades and rankings, and since she wasn't good at studying anyway, she naturally didn't care.
"Mm."
Nodding, Nakano Yu glanced invisibly at Tsurara, signaling her to take down the newspapers from the notice board, then led the Five Sisters toward the classroom.
Seeing Nakano Yu wink at her, Tsurara scratched her head in confusion, but quickly understood that he was telling her to take something from the notice board.
She exhaled an icy breath that pierced to the bone, and soon the students gathered around the board couldn't withstand the cold wind and scattered back toward the school building.
After everyone left, Tsurara lightly walked over to the notice board.
"Huh?! The Student Council President had an abortion because of Master Nakano?! Is that true?!"
"Humans really are absurd creatures. So young, yet not even a hundred years old…"
When Tsurara saw the newspapers on the board, she let out a sigh, then raised her hand to cover half her face with her sleeve and laughed softly, reaching out to take down the newspapers.
But not far behind Tsurara, a silver-haired girl wearing a beret yawned as she walked toward the school building.
That girl was none other than Ryuju Momo, the daughter of the widespread violent group [Dragon Pearl Group], who was feeling relaxed after resigning from the Student Council!
"I'm so sleepy, seems like I still haven't slept enough."
Ryuju Momo yawned and muttered. Over the past few days, she had been constantly sleepy, and her sleeping time had been increasing. But her old man still kept saying things like, "Daughter! You're the only intellectual in our group, you have to study hard!" and sent her to school.
"I'll find somewhere to take a nap later."
Murmuring to herself, Ryuju Momo suddenly stopped, staring at the notice board with a shocked expression.
She thought she had just seen the newspapers slide down the board on their own, float in midair for a while, and then completely disappear.
After staring at the board for a few moments, Ryuju Momo shook her head, rubbed her eyes, and continued toward the school building:
"It really is from lack of sleep these days; I'm starting to hallucinate."
"Damn it! How dare those idiots from the Journalism Department do something like this?! They dare to publish such fabricated false information?!"
In the Student Council of Shuchiin Academy, Shinomiya Kaguya looked at the newspapers Fujiwara Chika had brought, her expression extremely dark.
"Damn it, damn it, damn it, damn it! Those damned worms from the Journalism Department, I really should sink all those clowns who poke their noses into others' privacy into Tokyo Bay! Damn it, parasites wasting air and living in this world!"
Shinomiya Kaguya cursed darkly, almost uttering every swear word she had learned in her life.
Fortunately, Shinomiya Kaguya was alone in the office; Fujiwara Chika said she had gone to look for Nakano Yu.
Shinomiya Kaguya was now filled with rage. She had long felt that the Journalism Department of Shuchiin Academy was a cancerous growth, but she had never had a good reason to disband it.
However, the incident caused by the Journalism Department today gave her an opportunity.
While contemplating the various ways the head of the Journalism Department could die, Shinomiya Kaguya did not lose her composure to anger.
On the contrary, Shinomiya Kaguya knew that the more critical the situation, the calmer she had to be.
Although the Journalism Department had spread gossip before, they rarely targeted VIPs like them at Shuchiin Academy. Most of their reports were about things like the neighbor's dog A-Huang cheating on the cat Xiao Hua.
Oh, by the way, A-Huang is a dog, and Xiao Hua is a cat.
"It seems someone is pulling the strings, but… who could it be?"
Crumpling the newspaper in her hand into a ball, Shinomiya Kaguya toyed with the paper ball as her mind rapidly considered who might be behind it.
There weren't many people in Shuchiin Academy who dared to offend her; most of them were VIPs of the academy. However, Shinomiya Kaguya knew that those 290 VIPs wouldn't do something like this; they were highly educated people who despised using such methods within the school.
Moreover, she hadn't touched their interests, so there was no reason for them to act against her.
But if it wasn't the VIPs of Shuchiin Academy, then who could it be?
Frowning, Shinomiya Kaguya couldn't guess who the mastermind was for the moment.
"It seems I still have to visit the Journalism Department."
With a sigh, Shinomiya Kaguya finished speaking, casually tossed the crumpled paper ball into the trash can, picked up a pen, and reduced the Journalism Department's monthly activity budget by nine-tenths.
Although she wanted the Journalism Department to be disbanded, the earliest that could happen would be next month, and she couldn't wait that long.
"So, Fujiwara Chika, do you think someone wants to snatch Shinomiya Kaguya's position as Student Council President?"
In a corner of Shuchiin Academy, Nakano Yu looked at Fujiwara Chika, who had come to look for him, and asked.
"Yes, yes! Their target isn't Yu, that wouldn't bring them any benefit."
Fujiwara Chika nodded. As the eldest daughter of a political family, she could still discern such obvious things.
"I have a feeling something isn't right."
However, Nakano Yu shook his head while looking at the newspaper. He felt that this report wasn't strongly aimed at Shinomiya Kaguya; on the contrary, it was aimed at… him.
It seemed like… they were using public opinion to pressure him into taking responsibility for Shinomiya Kaguya's abortion.
"Interesting."
Narrowing his eyes, Nakano Yu said with interest.
"Hey, Yu, did you and Kaguya… really have a child?"
Just as Nakano Yu was curious about who was behind these tricks, Fujiwara Chika, seeing Nakano Yu smiling at the newspaper, asked cautiously.
"Idiot! How could that even be possible?!"
Hearing this, Nakano Yu immediately slapped Fujiwara Chika on the head with his hand and said irritably.
"I knew it! How could Yu have a child with Kaguya? Yu and I are the ones who will have them! And we'll have fifteen!"
Holding her head, Fujiwara Chika giggled, then made a gesture toward Nakano Yu.
"That's only in a board game."
"But that's still Yu's flesh and blood! Masaka?! Yu, are you really going to abandon the sixteen of us, mother and children?!"