I am only one world away from Yukinoshita.

Kiyoshi tried his best to make himself look like a painting robot that only knew how to work, without any extra emotions.

“But the only person in that classroom who fits Kiyoyori’s aesthetic is that senior, right? And—” Reina paused, glancing at Kiyoyori, who was still looking down at the props, with a complicated expression, “Kiyoyori and that person from the Yukinoshita family, you know each other, don’t you?”

Reina is not from an ordinary family. Although Reina's mother changed her surname to Kousaka after marrying Reina's father, this did not diminish the influence that her original surname had on her and Reina.

Ignoring the paint all over Kiyoyori's hands, Reina gently cupped Kiyoyori's slightly trembling hand in her palm and said, "I'm sorry."

Kiyoshi forced a reassuring smile. "It's not Reina's fault."

Her tacit understanding with Reina was self-evident. Reina wouldn't press Kiyoshi about things he didn't want to share, but she would stand at a distance, always by Kiyoshi's side.

A warm feeling welled up in my heart.

"But I feel that Yukinoshita-senpai is very different from that person, and she is also Kiyori's type."

The warmth lasted only a moment before Reina couldn't help but say something more.

Give me back the emotion I felt just now!

Sometimes, the relationship between childhood sweethearts can easily go wrong.

"I just think that Kiyoyori could appropriately expand his social circle beyond us."

This rare display of coquettishness from Reina is a side of her that no one else has ever seen.

Kiyoshi fell silent.

Reina had always known that Kiyoshi had consciously avoided getting close to others since some point in his life. He only had a few close friends, but even when he was facing her, Kiyoshi would build a thick wall around himself, keeping her on the other side of the wall.

She knew that Kiyori had been hurt and had shed tears. Although she never asked about it, she had seen Kiyori's changes. The Tachibana Kiyori who used to show a bright smile without reservation had been lost along the way as they grew up.

"Ching Lai..."

Feeling the hand slowly slipping from her palm, Reina couldn't hold onto the other's hand tightly.

"As the head of the logistics department, doesn't Reina have any other work to do? Is it alright for her to just sit here and watch me draw?"

It was another awkward attempt to change the subject, but Reina only moved her lips slightly before saying nothing in the end.

"My biggest job is to supervise and clear up the traitors."

"Don't make such a flimsy excuse for your laziness!"

Their relationship gradually returned to normal.

"Because Kiyoyori looks like the type who would run away if left unattended."

"Although Reina is right, I am still very responsible for my job!"

Kiyoshi waved at Reina with feigned disgust, indicating that she shouldn't linger here, and Reina obediently walked away, which made Kiyoshi breathe a sigh of relief.

"Unnecessary worry..."

The paintbrush, splattered with paint, was slammed heavily onto the brown cardboard.

"That's not entirely true..."

P.S.: I'm unexpectedly tired today. Also, my phone is definitely not good enough for playing Genshin Impact... Ugh, time for work! Why haven't I been paid yet?!

Chapter 12, Section 234: Please, Qinglai!

The classroom was roughly divided into two camps: one side was the front-of-house staff who were rehearsing hard, and the other side was the back-of-house staff who were working diligently. The sounds were quite complex, with various lines being read aloud on one side and the sounds of hammering, assembling and sewing machines on the other.

Kiyoshi sat in the very center of the classroom, with heavy painting work under his hands and constantly dealing with any problems that might arise from the actors.

He holds multiple positions.

Fortunately, she usually helped Eriri with her drafts, so simply coloring the props wasn't too difficult.

Qinglai stretched languidly, wiped his hands with a wet tissue, and was about to stand up and stretch when someone called him from the doorway.

"Qinglai, someone's looking for you!"

The gesture of reaching down to pound her lower back froze on the spot. Qinglai glanced at the classroom door in confusion and saw a head of dazzling pink hair. She seemed a little down, her smile was stiff and forced, and even her waving gesture towards the classroom was very different from her usual energetic self.

After wiping his hands clean with a wet wipe again, Kiyotaka walked to the classroom door, thanked the classmate who had relayed the message briefly, and then followed Yuihama to the window in the corridor.

"Yuigahama-senpai, is there something you need from me?"

Qinglai leaned her elbows against the windowsill, her fingers interlaced. She glanced at the paint residue under her fingernails and quietly hid her fingers in her palm.

“Hmm,” Yui nodded, slowly uttering a single word as if hesitating about something, “There is something.”

Judging from the other person's expression, Kiyoyori vaguely guessed what Yuihama was going to talk about, "Is it related to Yukinoshita-senpai?"

"Ah..." Yuihama glanced at Kiyora in surprise, but quickly masked her surprise with a helpless sigh of relief. "Hmm..."

Perhaps it was because others had brought up Yukinoshita's affairs too frequently today, Kiyoyori was starting to get impatient, even though she didn't understand why. "If Yuihama-senpai's matter isn't very important, I still have things to do in my class—"

Kiyori was about to leave when Yui grabbed his wrist. "It's something very important!"

The earnestness in Yuihama's eyes made Kiyoyori stop in his tracks.

"It's a very important matter..."

Yuihama, feeling embarrassed by Kiyoyori's stare, let go of his hand.

"It's like this..."

"After class today, everyone started preparing for the cultural festival activities. Our class, like Xiaoqinglai's class, is also preparing a play," Yuihama noticed the scene in Class 1-J as soon as she walked in. It was just like her own class. "Everyone has their own work to do, so there isn't much time to prepare, and the work isn't easy."

Although cultural festivals are important, serving as a crucial opportunity for a school to showcase itself to the outside world, they can even influence enrollment rates. This is especially true for key schools like Zongwu High School, which is known for its high college entrance examination pass rate. Most students focus on getting into university, and academics are their primary goal. While the school has a good reputation, it lacks some club honors, particularly national awards that can be won in the school's name. Therefore, the fact that the wind band has made it into the national competition has garnered significant attention from the school.

However, the cultural festival is still just a cultural festival. Regular classes cannot be neglected, so students can only use their spare time to prepare for the activities, and sometimes they also have to squeeze out their private time.

“But, Sagami-san,” Yuihama said through gritted teeth, “because she joined the executive committee and became the student council president, she wasn’t assigned any class duties, but—”

Kiyoyori's heart sank. Ever since Sagami was instigated by Haruno to say those words, she had guessed that this situation would happen in the future, but she did not expect it to come so soon.

"Sagami-kun is the nominal student council president, but he pushes all the work onto Yuki," Yuihama's clenched fist trembled slightly, even her voice was tinged with anger, "He says he'll help the class, but he just loafs around in the classroom, not only not helping, but also causing trouble for everyone—"

Yuihama's chest heaved violently, and her eyes turned red.

"Yuihama-senpai, please calm down."

"How can I possibly calm down like this!" Yui shouted, attracting many surprised looks, but she didn't care at all. "I heard from Koji that the committee is basically being held up by Yuki alone. Many people are taking advantage of Sagami-san's excuse to skip work without reason, and there are hardly any executive committee members left to do their jobs!"

“Even small businesses have to bring committee documents home every day, let alone Xiaoxue…”

Yuihama was still talking intermittently about the committee's situation, but Kiyoyori became more and more irritated as he listened.

She couldn't understand what Yukinoshita Haruno was trying to do. Given her strategic thinking, it was impossible that she hadn't considered the current situation. Moreover, given her habits, she must have already planned out the subsequent developments before taking action. She knew perfectly well that Sagami was an incompetent fool, yet she deliberately stirred up Sagami's emotions and induced him to say those kinds of things.

This wasn't an unexpected ending, but rather part of Haruno's plan from the start.

If Haruno only wanted to cause trouble for Yukinoshita-senpai, then everything would be easy to explain, but everything she did that day contradicted her previous behavior.

The reason Yang Nai took such a big detour at the fireworks festival that day was to force Mizore to confront the issue and then push things along to resolve the request.

So what exactly is this woman after?

Kiyoshi unconsciously bit the knuckle of his right index finger, leaving a small row of shallow teeth marks on his skin.

"So, Yuihama-senpai contacted me because she wanted to...?"

"I..." Yui grabbed Kiyori's hand, startling him so much that he took a half-step back. "I really like Yuki!"

"Huh?!"

Kiyoyori was momentarily at a loss for what expression to make. "I thought Yuihama-senpai liked Hikigaya-senpai..."

"Huh?!" Yuihama seemed startled as well, then her face flushed red. "No! I, I didn't mean that..." She suddenly became flustered, even her words became stammering, "I like Yuki, but, but not that kind of liking!"

Knowing that Kiyoyori's family was rather special, it was easy for Yuihama to think in that direction, she explained shyly.

"Of course, small businesses too..."

The sound suddenly became very soft.

"Anyway!" Yuihama looked much more energetic than before. "If possible, could you please ask Kiyori to help Yuki?"

"what?"

Kiyoshi thought the other party wanted him to participate in the committee and asked her for advice, but he didn't expect to be asked to make a request he had never thought of.

"Little Qinglai, I'm counting on you!"

P.S.: Sorry I'm late. The author is very unhappy today, very unhappy. So I have nothing to say.

Chapter 13, Section 235: The Deceitful Bad Boy

"This……"

Kiyoyori couldn't bring herself to say it, even though she had thousands of reasons not to, especially after responding to Haruno's provocation in a fit of anger. She felt guilty for causing trouble for Yukino.

Although she comforted herself that Yukinoshita would come to her for help when she was in trouble, she actually knew that with Yukinoshita's personality, it was probably impossible for Kiyori to wait until Yukinoshita asked her for help.

That's why she can continue doing her own thing with such peace of mind.

However, this self-deceiving illusion was exposed so quickly.

Kiyoshi never expected that the person who would expose this illusion would be Yuihama.

"Yuihama-senpai, why don't you go help Yukinoshita-senpai yourself?"

Before she could finish speaking, Yui Hama's face fell visibly. "Because I'm not qualified..."

It takes immense courage to walk alongside someone like Yukino Yukinoshita, who is an all-around prodigy. She is beautiful and talented, and although she has a sharp tongue, she is actually a gentle girl. Yui Yuigahama, on the other hand, is just an ordinary person.

An ordinary person, as ordinary as can be.

While admiring Xiaoxue for her charm, he couldn't help but feel jealous of her ability to easily steal the spotlight from others.

“If we’re talking about qualifications,” Kiyoyori’s thoughts clearly differed somewhat from Yuihama’s, “Yuihama-senpai is the most qualified, isn’t she…”

After all, she was the person most doted on by Yukino Yukinoshita.