In practice, I can issue tasks to my master.

However, after taking a few steps, Long Yuan picked up his phone again and sent a message, then immediately blocked and deleted the other party.

At the same time.

Another series of banging sounds rang out from a girls' dormitory.

Volume 1: Chapter 64 Nangong Cheng: You actually chose to call me Dad for my brother's sake?

the other side.

Nangong Cheng and Horikita Suzune left the student council and were on their way back to the student dormitory.

Unlike Nangong Cheng, who immediately shouted "xx seems to have a bright future" after leaving the student council, Horikita Suzune seemed quite silent.

"Snapped!"

Unable to bear it any longer, Nangong Cheng clapped his hands together near Horikita Suzune's ear.

He's back to life!

"..."

Horikita Suzune was startled, and then glared at Nangong Cheng, but it was to no avail.

She sighed.

"you say……"

"Don't say it."

Nangong Cheng reached out to interrupt the girl's impending words of regret, saying, "I'm actually quite curious whether I've ever mentioned that you're actually very easy to understand."

"Your brother said he doesn't blame you anymore, and he even had a rare moment of honesty to encourage you... but then you turn around and feel that it's still your own fault."

"Then wasn't that a waste of time saying that?"

Horikita Suzune pursed her lips.

She rarely retorted, saying, "You don't understand."

"Oh right, I don't understand."

"Because I'm an orphan, I have no family, so I can't understand your deep sibling bond. (Red Bean Paste, private message)"

"..."

Horikita Suzune clenched her fists.

She could tell at a glance that Nangong Cheng was being sarcastic towards her again, but what he said happened to be the truth.

"If you really feel bad about it, you should listen to what your brother is saying and prepare the graduation gift he requested."

"Instead of wallowing in self-pity."

"……you're right."

Horikita Suzune let go of her hand again.

She looked at Nangong Cheng and saw a resemblance to the soft, sweet younger sister she had been in front of Horikita Manabu: "But I wasn't helpful at all this time."

"It won't make a difference if we do it this once more."

Nangong Cheng shrugged, looking nonchalant: "Besides, it's not just this once. You'll be busy for the next three years."

"Because you know me, I'm too lazy to care about things unless they're really important, so most of the time you'll be in charge of everything in the class."

Horikita Suzune hugged her other arm and looked down at her shadow on the ground.

She suddenly said, "But are these things you've made me do really useful?"

"Where is it no longer useful?"

Nangong Cheng counted on his fingers for Horikita Suzune: "Improving social skills, improving team management skills, providing observation and judgment skills...aren't these all benefits?"

Horikita Suzune frowned.

She wanted to refute it, but couldn't find any arguments.

"I feel like you're just dumping all the troublesome things on me, and then calling it 'training my abilities'."

"Holy crap, you actually found out!"

Nangong Cheng uttered a boastful "national essence."

But he quickly put on a serious face: "But tell me, have your abilities been developed?"

"...That's a fallacy."

Horikita Suzune twitched her lips, then changed the subject: "Have you seen the messages in the class group chat?"

"Oh? What did they say?"

Although Nangong Cheng didn't really care what the girls in Class D thought of him, except for Horikita Suzune and a few others, he still had to do something about the malicious attacks he was being attacked.

Otherwise, people will really think you're a coward.

"Those conspiracy theorists are typical idiots who think they have brains but are completely unaware that they are just acting on subjective emotions."

Horikita Suzune is incredibly blunt when it comes to criticizing others, but that's not what she really wanted to say.

"But they've always been like this, so we don't need to worry about them for now... The most important and urgent problem to solve right now is—who exactly is the mole in the class?"

"A mole?"

Nangong Cheng stroked his chin.

There's only one truth, but he doesn't know whether he should tell Horikita Suzune now.

After thinking it over, I finally chose a compromise.

"The only people who know that Karuizawa Kei intends to confess to me are you, Kushida, and the girls in her own little group."

"Leaving aside the possibility that Class C has been following her, you can just check them one by one. It's not a lot of work."

Horikita Suzune was speechless for a moment.

If only things were that simple.

"Didn't you say you'd intervene in special circumstances?"

"So, do you think it's better for me to take charge, or for you to expose this mole yourself and prove to yourself that you've finally grown up a bit?"

Oh my god, why didn't you say so earlier?

Horikita Suzune understood.

But why do I feel like I've been tricked again?

"Alright, Karuizawa and I will start investigating slowly later."

Nangong Cheng smiled and said, "What? Didn't you consider the possibility that she orchestrated this herself?"

Horikita Suzune shook her head.

Just take it as a gut feeling.

"walk slowly."

Nangong Cheng is also willing to believe in metaphysics occasionally, and this matter really has nothing to do with Karuizawa Kei.

Then, after thinking for a moment, he suddenly asked, "What do you think our relationship should be now?"

"?"

What I mean is, don't you think our relationship still seems a bit distant?

Horikita Suzune paused in her steps.

She stared into Nangong Cheng's eyes and said seriously, "I can't control whether you want to play with Sakura, Karuizawa, or even Ichinose's feelings, but don't mess with me... I'm begging you."

"Hey, you..."

Nangong Cheng indicated that he had truly gained control over you.

I haven't issued any tasks yet today.

"Your brother at least paid your tuition, so you'd better think carefully about what you should call me now."

"Teacher?" Horikita Suzune thought she had misunderstood Nangong Cheng when she heard this: "You want to hear this?"

"if not?"

Nangong Cheng said irritably, "But I don't really like this title either. It makes me sound old."

Horikita Suzune, unaware of the seriousness of the situation, pressed on, "So what do you want to hear?"

“In my hometown, there’s a saying—'A teacher for a day is a father for life.'” Nangong Cheng looked sincerely into Horikita Suzune’s eyes and said:

"Can you call me 'Dad'?"

"..."

Silence is the pinnacle of development tonight.

Horikita Suzune took a deep breath, decided to ignore Nangong Cheng, and quickened her pace to return to her dormitory to rest.

"Horikita, if you ask me, you still have one flaw: you're too thin-skinned."

"You'll definitely suffer for doing this in the future, you know that?"

Nangong Cheng wasn't in a hurry, and just followed closely behind Horikita Suzune, buzzing like an annoying fly.

Until the girl finally broke down.

"Nangong, do you think this has any direct connection with whether someone has thick skin or not?"

"You haven't even denied that you've been toying with Sakura and the others' feelings."

Putting aside whether she can develop a thick skin, Horikita Suzune felt that spending more time with Nangong Cheng would definitely improve her self-control significantly.

Looking at Nangong Cheng's serious expression and eyes, she tried to keep herself calm.

"I can't stop you from calling Ichinose 'Mom' if you want; I can understand that it's your personal quirk."

"But what do you mean by wanting me to call you 'Dad'? Can I take that as you deliberately teasing me?"

Nangong Cheng shook his head.

It's definitely not something like teasing or playing pranks.

He's not a shameless person who seeks amusement; if he really wanted to have fun, he'd go after Nagumo, Ryuen, and Kushida.

The reason for saying this is, of course, what everyone often says—that the dumplings were specially made for this dish of vinegar.

However, given his current style of behavior, it does sound quite unsettling. It was similar to when he called Ichinose "Mom".

It's just that Ichinose is too gentle. If it were Horikita Suzune from the early days, she probably would have just poked him with a compass.

"Calm down, Horikita."

"Don't you know me? Am I the kind of person who likes to prank my own people?"

Horikita Suzune remained silent, only offering a cold laugh.

Nangong Cheng could only change his approach: "Then let me ask you this—is your family a loving father and a strict mother, or a strict father and a loving mother?"

"Or were both parents very strict?"

Horikita Suzune frowned, instinctively sensing that Nangong Cheng was about to unleash another bombshell.

"...What are you trying to say?"

"What I meant was that your brother, or rather, President Horikita, is still too gentle with you."

Nangong Cheng spread his hands and said, "Of course you might argue that I'm gentle, but the president is the type who is not good at expressing his emotions. His most obvious characteristic is that he has a sharp tongue but a soft heart."

"Think back carefully about how he interacted with you in the past. Doesn't he fit this description?"

"And then I'll say something harsh that you don't want to hear—your whole family probably has serious psychological problems. First your parents influenced your brother, and then your brother influenced you."

"..."

Horikita Suzune remained silent, but her smile vanished.

Although I hate to admit it, the hypothesis that Nangong Cheng mentioned is indeed possible.

"So what does this have to do with you wanting me to call you 'Dad'?"