Chapter 251 – I’m a book

Yukio had no idea that Karuizawa would be up all night dreaming. After ending the call with her, he turned naturally toward Shiina.

Shiina gazed at him with an elegance that was uniquely hers. Her amethyst-like eyes brimmed with playful amusement—completely different from the delicate and cloud-like gaze she usually had.

If, when they first met, Shiina's expression resembled a drifting cloud, aimlessly wandering across a vast azure sky, her gaze distant and unfocused—

Then now, she was like a cloud finding a mountain to rest upon. Yukio had become that mountain in her life, grounding her. She still retained her cloud-like ethereality, but her gaze now carried the emotions and complexities of the human world.

This was why Karuizawa was bound to feel ecstatic tonight, while Yukio might not necessarily share her joy.

How could he have known that while Shina was doing her room-check today, Karuizawa would also call to chat? Initially, when Shiina visited, the two of them were casually talking, discussing how this special exam was simply a matter of waiting for time to pass until it officially ended, with no further twists expected.

But then Karuizawa's call came through. Witnessing this, Shiina had laughed like a cat that had just caught a fish, utterly delighted while motioning for Yukio to answer the call quickly, so as not to keep Karuizawa waiting.

Yukio, ever the bold one, wasn't fazed in the slightest. Not only did he answer the call right in front of Shiina, but he even put it on speaker.

After hanging up, it was time to face Shiina.

"Ahem, Hiyori," Yukio began, clearing his throat. "Actually, there's something I've never told you before. Kei is, well, my undercover agent in Class D."

"Even though she's officially a student of Class D, her loyalty lies with our class. She's helped us several times. For instance, during the uninhabited island exam, she was the one who told me the identity of the Class D leader tied to the magnetic card."

"And during the VIP special exam, it was thanks to her that I managed to secure the identity of Class D's VIP, which ultimately led to our victory in the exam. She's a great asset to our class."

"Of course, this is a top-secret matter. Since you know now, please help keep it confidential."

"Pfft." Who would have thought that Shiina completely ignored Yukio's earnest explanation? Instead, she burst into laughter, her joy as genuine and unrestrained as a drifting cloud revealing its brightest core. "Yukio, you're so weird."

"I didn't even ask you anything, yet you just started explaining all on your own."

Yukio chuckled softly to himself. Oh, trying this on him? He had already anticipated Shiina's retort, which was why he deliberately only mentioned the undercover agent and avoided talking about emotions. "Is that really so strange?"

"The fact that I arranged an undercover agent in Class D is something only I knew. Now, I've shared it with the person I trust the most—you, Hiyori. Asking for your help in keeping it a secret doesn't seem unusual, does it?"

Shiina's eyes darted around, realizing she couldn't refute that point. Instead of bothering to come up with a counterargument, she opted for the ultimate move reserved for girls: "Yukio, are you trying to reason with me?"

"…" Yukio froze. He was well aware of the inherent differences in how men and women think. Put simply, men are guided by logic, while women are guided by emotions.

No matter the situation, men tend to analyze and reason things out, while women prioritize their feelings.

Take the most common example: when faced with a problem, women often vent to their friends or those around them, sharing their frustrations. Men, on the other hand, tend to bottle things up, silently analyze the issue to see if it can be resolved, or bury it deep inside without saying much.

This is a typical scenario.

So, when Shiina played this card, what could Yukio do? Insist on logic? That would be insane. No matter how sound his argument, the root cause was still his own greed. His reasoning wasn't exactly righteous either.

"How rare~ Yukio, you actually look troubled," Shiina teased, not pushing things too far. She leaned in, wrapping her arms around Yukio's and resting her head on his shoulder. "Actually, I just want you to understand."

"Don't be fooled by how I'm usually different from most girls—quiet, composed, and understanding. Hehe, maybe this sounds a bit self-flattering, but at the end of the day, I'm still a girl. I still… get jealous."

Yukio knew that Shiina wouldn't let him be troubled for long, but he couldn't take her gentleness for granted and leave her without a sense of security.

So, tilting his head, he leaned closer to her, settling into the most typical posture of a couple—nestling together. "I know, I've always tried to be mindful."

In truth, he had intended to take the call elsewhere, but wasn't it Shiina who had insisted he answer it in front of her? Of course, voicing that aloud would be pointless. Shiina had already accepted his greed; saying such things now would only hurt her feelings.

For this, all he could do was promise to be more careful moving forward.

Sensing the shift in Yukio's mood toward doting on her more, Shiina's eyebrows curved into delicate crescents, like a pair of smiling moons. At last, the script was playing out as planned. 'Success √.'

'Thank you, Karuizawa-san...'

In fact, this was yet another small trick Shiina had learned—pretending to be unreasonable and difficult at first, only to quickly become understanding and considerate again. This cycle of push and pull would only make the boy more indulgent toward her.

Shiina silently thanked the book The Memoirs of Catherine the Great. This little strategy was something she had picked up from its pages.

"Hiyori," Yukio called, completely unaware that the Shiina leaning against him was now smiling even more brightly. If before she was like a cat that had caught a fish, now she resembled a sly fox that had stolen a chicken.

"Hm?" Shiina composed herself, leaning thoughtfully against Yukio.

After some hesitation, Yukio decided to confess his own greed. "Actually, during this special exam..." He began recounting the story of himself and Karuizawa, from exchanging information in the stairwell to expressing his feelings and even their date at the cinema.

Facing someone as pure and cloud-like as Shiina, Yukio felt he could shoulder the truth and laid everything bare.

Shiina, however, was somewhat surprised that Yukio would be so forthright. But what of it? She had long prepared herself mentally for this. Not just Karuizawa—wasn't there also Kushida from Class D? And Ibuki from their own class?

She didn't dwell on these "rivals." Instead, she snuggled closer and nestled into Yukio's arms. "Yukio, do you know something?"

"Ever since I was a child, I've loved, loved reading books. Through the stories in books, I would experience all kinds of lives, following the protagonists on journeys through entirely different worlds, living completely different stories."

"As I kept reading, I even began to think that I, myself, was a book born of love. A book that was special only in that it could leaf through the pages of other books."

"For the first fifteen pages of my life, it seemed like I was just reading endlessly. But in truth, those pages were so dull, so monotonous. If I turned directly to the next page, I feared the tedium would suffocate me."

"But oh~ then a miracle happened. On the sixteenth page of my life, you appeared, Yukio. Because of you, that sixteenth page became vibrant and colorful. It was no longer dull. I no longer needed to leaf through other books to experience new stories."

"Within the pages of my own book, I could now read and savor all the beauty you brought into my life."

"So, even if not every page about you is filled with perfect, beautiful words, I still hope that every page from now on will have you in it."