Stepping into the second Tuesday of September.
"Dubian, do you have any cool props?" Jiutiao Meijie asked during the class break, as she twirled her hair.
Dubian Che turned around and saw her slender, pale hands deftly flipping through her black hair before picking up a pen and inserting it into her hair, coiling her gorgeous long hair into a classical style at the back of her head.
With her black hair no longer covering it, her snow-white neck was exposed to the air, looking very tempting.
"There are ways to make the weather hotter," Dubian Che responded, picking up his Chinese Classics textbook and fanning her with it.
"When exactly is this typhoon supposed to come?" Jiutiao Meijie enjoyed the artificial breeze but flipped through the printed script—"The End of the World and the Cold Fairyland"—with some impatience.
Although she didn't take human life seriously and enjoyed giving orders, as an heir to a major family, she rarely did anything against the 'wishes of the ruled class' in class—like breaking school rules and deciding to turn on the air conditioning alone.
"I can think of a solution to that, want to know?" Dubian Che asked.
"Forget it." Jiutiao Meijie waved her hand dismissively.
With the help of Dubian Che's artificial breeze, the oppressive heat was slightly reduced, and she immersed herself back into the script.
While they were talking, the last and second-to-last members of the third group were also chatting.
"Ichiki, can we ask the Wind Instrument Club for help with the stage audio?" Kiyono Lin inquired.
"Of course you can!" Ichiki Aoi cheerfully turned away from Dubian Che, but upon seeing him, she turned in another direction without saying a word.
Jiutiao Meijie lifted her head from the script, her cold gaze fixed on Ichiki Aoi.
Dubian Che increased the intensity of his fanning, and Jiutiao Meijie ducked her head back down.
"Mr. Kiyono, if the drama needs help, please feel free to ask!"
"Thank you," Kiyono Lin nodded lightly, "We're short of one actor. If you're willing to join, please come to the Human Observation Department for an audition after school."
"Audition?" Ichiki Aoi blinked, then excitedly said, "Since there's an audition, does that mean there's an hourly pay?"
Poor high school students, already auditioning and still calculating their salaries like part-time jobs.
This was the kind of situation where they should have signed a contract of servitude and received a lump sum enough for a lifetime without worries.
"Hourly pay? No," Kiyono Lin coldly rejected the proletarian's request, "The drama tickets are tentatively priced at two hundred yen each; if you pass the audition, you can have them all."
"Wait! Minister!" Vice Minister Dubian indicated he had something to say.
"Go ahead," Minister Kiyono began the meeting right there in the classroom.
"All of it? Which kind of all? Divided into six parts, one-sixth of the all?"
"What do you need the money for?" Kiyono Lin asked as if it were obvious.
"...I have nothing more to say."
Kiyono Lin turned to Ichiki Aoi: "Is that okay with you?"
"Isn't that taking too much?" Ichiki Aoi asked with embarrassment in a low voice.
"Two hundred yen each, even if five hundred people watch, that's only one hundred thousand yen, not even enough for you and Mr. Dubian to eat sushi at 'Nishioi Town' four times."
"How does Mr. Kiyono know about the sushi?" Ichiki Aoi was startled.
"That person has no human rights in the club, so naturally, there's no right to privacy."
Dubian Che glanced at his hand that was currently fanning Jiutiao Meijie—the club member—and acknowledged he indeed had no human rights.
"Then..." Ichiki Aoi looked back and forth among the three, "Everything I said, you all know as well?"
"We only know it's about Mayi Asuka, not interested," Kiyono Lin stated blandly.
"I still can't figure out why you guys..."
"Ichiki," Dubian Che interrupted her.
Ichiki Aoi pursed her lips reluctantly but ultimately didn't continue.
The conversation ended there, and Kiyono Lin was busy—even if she wasn't, she wouldn't chat with Ichiki.
She took out a notebook and began to list the items that needed to be purchased.
After making the list, she said to Dubian Che, "Let's go shopping together after school today, I'll buy, you carry, any objections?"
"Mr. Kiyono, today is September 9."
"There are 113 days left until New Year's Day?"
"What does that have to do with anything? It's Meiji's birthday. And why can you spout off the days until New Year's Day like that?"
"Do we need to make a big deal out of it?" Kiyono Lin tilted her head.
"Indeed, it's not worth mentioning; let's talk about Meiji's birthday, you..."
"I was talking about that."
"You got an invitation, didn't you?" Dubian Che pretended not to hear and continued, "This time, no ball, just the three of us, plus the two madams, having dinner together. Got your gift ready?"
"I'll buy something casually on the way there."
"One gives an old book, another buys something casually, I too wish to be as carefree about gifts as you both," Dubian Che sighed.
"What are you getting me for my gift?" Jiutiao Meijie didn't look up, her gaze still on the script.
She'd unknowingly taken a pen and was scribbling on the script.
"You'll find out tonight. Besides the gift I've prepared, is there anything in particular you want?" Dubian Che asked her.
"Something in particular..." Jiutiao Meijie tapped her chin with the pen, a thoughtful look on her face.
Dubian Che's gaze again moved to her hair coiled up by the pen, then to her delicate ears, the elegant lines of her jaw, her creamy neck, and her rounded chest...
"Turn into a cat?" Jiutiao Meijie came back to reality, smiling.
Dubian Che took the pen from her, writing on a blank space of the script: "That's what I plan to give you for your birthday."
"Pick another," he said as he wrote.
Jiutiao Meijie glanced at it, and with a smile lifting her chin, she said in a pleasant tone, "A genie lamp?"
Dubian Che puffed up his chest, crossed his arms over it, and proclaimed grandly, "Mortal, state your wish. Whatever it is..." ᴛhis chapter is ᴜpdated by novel·fıre·net