"Horikita-kun, how did it go?"
Not long after, Horikita Suzune returned to the classroom, and Sato Maya immediately went up to ask her about the situation.
"I just finished talking with Chairman Tsukishiro. We can rent another classroom, and I've already signed the agreement."
Horikita Suzune said slowly.
"You've already signed it? That fast? Is it next door?"
"Yes."
"But wouldn't that cost a lot of points? Can we... afford it?"
Wang Mei Yu, who was standing nearby, asked with concern.
"It seems we passed another test. The chairman said we could get a second classroom for free if we rented one, so we got the classroom next door without spending any extra points."
Horikita Suzune explained.
"There's such a thing? That's... a bit too unbelievable, isn't it?"
Karuizawa Kei felt that this series of events was too coincidental and didn't make sense.
'Even Karuizawa noticed something was off? Why did I say "even"?'
Saiki complained in his mind.
"At first, I also thought these things were too unbelievable and hard to accept—but after hearing the chairman's explanation, I realized it makes sense. After all, this school is full of things that exceed our imagination."
Horikita Suzune, on the other hand, explained it to Karuizawa Kei.
"I see..."
Karuizawa Kei nodded, though she didn't fully understand.
"In that case, let's start practicing."
Horikita Suzune turned to Sato Maya.
"I don't have any experience being a maid, so I'd like to ask for your guidance."
"Sure."
Sato Maya said with a smile.
"First, follow me and say, 'Master, what would you like to order?'"
Sato Maya seemed very experienced in this area, her tone and demeanor exuding the暧昧感 of a real maid. If it were an ordinary otaku, they would probably be completely enchanted.
Horikita Suzune seemed hesitant, but after a few seconds of silence, she reluctantly said:
"Master, what would you like to order?"
"..."
After Horikita Suzune finished speaking, the entire classroom fell into silence.
Even as a maid, Horikita Suzune maintained her cold and aloof demeanor, and her words came out as cold and emotionless as a robot's.
[If this were a real maid café, Horikita would definitely be fired on the spot.]
Sato Maya complained in her mind.
'I agree with that.'
Saiki said quietly in his mind.
"Um, Horikita... you can't use that tone and expression when talking to customers. You need to be gentler, both in tone and expression. Try again!"
"Master, what would you like to order?"
After saying this, Horikita Suzune immediately thought to herself.
[This time, it should be much better than before!]
In Horikita Suzune's mind, her tone this time was much gentler than before.
However, in the minds of everyone else, it was no different—
[Horikita... there's no difference between the two times, right?]
The others stared at Horikita Suzune in a daze.
"Still not good enough?"
Horikita Suzune looked at Sato Maya in confusion. She had tried her best this time, but she didn't get any feedback from her classmates.
"It's still not quite there, Horikita-kun..."
Sato Maya sighed.
Making Horikita Suzune gentle seemed harder than climbing to the sky.
"I think it's fine as it is!"
At that moment, Aiura Mikoto chimed in.
"It's not ideal. If a maid can't satisfy the customers... that would be bad."
Sato Maya said seriously.
"That's true, but nowadays, a lot of people are starting to like Horikita's style!"
Aiura Mikoto quickly added.
"Cool and aloof girls are quite popular these days."
"Huh?"
Horikita Suzune's eyes were full of confusion. She didn't understand what Aiura Mikoto meant at all.
"I think everyone should just stay true to themselves. Having maids with different styles might become our selling point."
"That's true..."
At that moment, Horikita Suzune turned her attention to Saiki:
"Saiki-kun, since we're practicing here, I'd like to see your cooking skills. Since you said you'd handle the kitchen by yourself, then..."
"Oh, I've already finished."
"Huh?"
While Horikita Suzune was still confused, she noticed that several cups of coffee and a prepared salad were already placed in front of Saiki.
"What? When did you make these?"
Horikita Suzune's eyes were full of surprise. She had no idea when Saiki had done this.
"While you were practicing earlier, I finished it in passing."
Saiki said expressionlessly.
Using his psychic abilities, he knew that Horikita Suzune would definitely ask him to prove his speed today, so while no one was paying attention, he had already completed everything.
Horikita Suzune looked around in surprise, but no one else had noticed Saiki's actions either.
A psychic was more efficient than an entire professional kitchen team.
Horikita Suzune walked up in disbelief, took a sip of the coffee—it tasted fine—and then tried the salad, which was also perfectly fine.
She couldn't find any flaws.
"How is it? Any issues?"
"No, none at all."
Horikita Suzune shook her head. She was now truly convinced of Saiki's abilities, so she no longer opposed his decision to handle the kitchen alone.
At that moment, Saiki's phone rang. Seeing the caller, he was slightly surprised.
However, he didn't answer immediately. Instead, he turned to the others and said:
"I have something to take care of. You guys keep practicing."
With that, Saiki left the classroom and answered the call.
The caller was none other than Nagumo Miyabi.
"Saiki-kun, do you have a moment?"
"Didn't we agree after that exam that you wouldn't bother me anymore?"
Facing the student council president, Saiki immediately responded.
"I'm not bothering you. I just have something to show you. Come to the gym."
After leaving this message, Nagumo Miyabi hung up—
But even so, Saiki wasn't planning to go, as he hadn't agreed to anything.
Just then, Nagumo Miyabi sent another message:
Nagumo Miyabi: I have early access vouchers for the latest limited-edition flavor of cake.
'Yare yare, you should've led with that, Student Council President!'
Saiki immediately rushed to the gym at top speed...
...
At that moment, the gym was covered with many curtains. Saiki had heard earlier that Nagumo Miyabi, as the student council president, had spent a huge amount of points to rent the entire gym, apparently to create a combination of a haunted house and a maze.
[The third-years are working on something incredible!]
[Turning the entire gym into a haunted maze must have taken a lot of time and points.]
[Only the student council president could pull this off.]
The attraction wasn't open to the public yet, but many people had already gathered outside the gym, showing great interest in the haunted house.
However, Saiki's heart remained unmoved.
He had long since lost most of his emotional reactions. He could see through any traps or mechanisms at a glance, and he could hear the thoughts of anyone hiding in the shadows.
A haunted house held no excitement for Saiki.
But just then, Nagumo Miyabi noticed Saiki's arrival and smiled, quickly walking over to him:
"You finally came, Saiki."
"What do you want?"
"You're the only one who dares to talk to the student council president like that. But it's fine, I'll allow it."
Nagumo Miyabi maintained his smile.
"Our Class 3-A's cultural festival project is a haunted maze. I'd like to invite you to take a look as part of our trial run."
The third-year students had started preparing for the cultural festival a week earlier.
"Your feedback would be invaluable to us."
Nagumo Miyabi said.
[Maybe we can scare Saiki. Even though I lost to you and promised not to bother you anymore, if I can capture the moment you get scared, I can turn the tables!]
'Of course, it wasn't out of goodwill. But as the student council president, aren't your methods a bit too childish?'
Saiki complained in his mind.
However, when he saw the cake vouchers in Nagumo Miyabi's hand, he finally nodded and agreed to participate.
"You're the only one here today!"
As he spoke, Nagumo Miyabi led Saiki to the entrance.
There was a sign there listing various rules.
'No phones allowed inside. Please set them to vibrate.'
'No loud noises.'
'No lingering for too long.'
'Do not touch the props.'
"Any questions?"
"No."
With that, Saiki walked straight in.
The entrance to the haunted house was indeed very narrow, and the lighting made visibility poor.
But for Saiki, he could clearly see everything.
Still, he had to admit that for third-year students, creating a haunted house of this level was quite impressive. It was even better than many professional haunted houses.
The haunted house primarily used carefully arranged decorations to create an atmosphere, with most of the scary elements being manually operated.
The long neck of a rokurokubi was controlled by a student hiding behind the curtains, jumping out at the right moment.
The fallen samurai with a spring-loaded knife was, of course, handled by someone else.
Although there were still several props clearly under construction, as long as they were finished before the official opening, the quality would improve even further.
However, none of these mechanisms stirred any emotions in Saiki.
[So hot and tired...]
[I'm going to scare this guy to death.]
[Hey, hey, hey, give us some reaction!]
Since Saiki could clearly hear their thoughts, the terrifying atmosphere was completely ruined. Moreover, Saiki already knew the locations of all the mechanisms, so there was no suspense at all.
'This is a bit boring. Should I pretend to be scared? No, there are cameras around. I can't let Nagumo capture that. I'll just hurry through and get it over with.'
As Saiki thought this, he quickened his pace.
Just as Saiki followed the sign's instructions to turn left, a shadow passed by in his field of vision.
He instantly saw someone dart past him.
"Whoa, ahhh!!?"
It was a student playing the ghost, and Saiki had already known about their presence.
The ghost tripped over a step and fell to the ground in a spectacular fashion.
In that moment, Saiki felt that the person looked somewhat familiar.
It seemed to be Asahina Nazuna from Class 3-A.
A year ago, Saiki and Asahina Nazuna had met once, but they hadn't exchanged more than a passing glance before going their separate ways.
'Is this part of the show? No, it doesn't seem like it. This person really fell hard. But is the "tripping over nothing" trope still popular?'
Saiki complained in his mind as he reached out to help the person up.
"Ouch, that hurts!!"
"Are you... okay?"
"Ah, thank... ouch!"
Asahina Nazuna had just stood up when she fell back down due to the pain.
"Should I take you to the infirmary?"
Saiki immediately asked.
"If you could... ouch, ouch... please help me get there... it hurts so much! Wait!"
Asahina Nazuna seemed to realize something and turned to look at Saiki with wide eyes.
"Hey! Aren't you Saiki-kun? Ouch, ouch!"
'Yare yare, even in this much pain, you're still focused on my identity?'
Saiki felt a bit helpless about the senior in front of him, but he nodded anyway.
"I remember you. We almost bumped into each other last year, remember?"
"You were the one who tripped over nothing, senior."
"Ah, was it you who returned my charm? The security guard said it was a guy with glasses and a hairpin, so it must've been you, right? Ouch..."
"Yeah..."
"What a coincidence. No wonder Miyabi suddenly decided to do a trial run today and only invited you. You really gave him a hard time during the uninhabited island exam."
"It was just luck..."