After finishing dinner, they all went to sleep early.
The next morning, only Gongcheng Yue and Gongcheng Mu were sitting in the living room discussing business, while Gongcheng Yunling had rushed out early to find Hikigaya Komachi.
After washing up, Gongcheng Yuandu also took a seat in the living room.
On the table sat a plate of bread and a glass of milk. Gongcheng Yue motioned for Yuandu to take them, then resumed his discussion with Gongcheng Mu.
"Because Yamato Province maintains a high degree of autonomy, there are still many families and financial conglomerates. But in my view, the only ones that are truly our rivals are the Four Great Conglomerates, led by the Shinomiya Family. Still, a mighty dragon cannot crush a snake in its local lair, so we can only infiltrate step by step."
Raising an eyebrow, Gongcheng Mu thought deeply about this before replying, "That makes sense. What do you plan to do then? My idea is to unite the smaller local families here to gradually swallow up the Four Great Conglomerates. Of course, we can't devour them all in one bite; after all, a snake trying to swallow an elephant will choke on its own greed."
Gongcheng Yue shook his head. "I'm only here to scout the situation. The actual implementation will depend on Big Brother, but he won't be able to come here anytime soon."
"Isn't the eldest miss of the Shinomiya Family studying at Shuchiin?" Gongcheng Mu asked with curiosity.
"That's right. What are you getting at?"
Pondering for a moment, Gongcheng Mu offered his idea: "We could cooperate with her. After all, she also has a claim to inherit the Shinomiya Family."
"That's a very good thought." Gongcheng Yue praised the idea, but his very next sentence dashed Gongcheng Mu's hopes: "Unfortunately, Shinomiya Kaguya might not be the biological daughter of the Shinomiya Family head. So if we want to back her... the risks and rewards might not be proportional."
Gongcheng Mu clicked his tongue, deciding to drop the subject. "Whatever, it's Big Brother's job anyway. By the way, Shuchiin starts classes the day after tomorrow. Which class will Yuandu be transferring into?"
"Class 2-F... I believe."
Standing up and picking up his coat, Gongcheng Yue said casually, "Alright, if you don't have anything else to do, just stay at home with Yuandu. I have some business to attend to."
With that, he walked to the entryway to change his shoes, gave one last reminder, and left.
After finishing breakfast, Yuandu began washing the dishes.
When he was done, he greeted Gongcheng Mu and returned to his room. Since classes started the day after tomorrow, he intended to spend some time fixing his long-unused speech system.
As a transfer student, he would have to introduce himself, and he needed to make a good impression on his future classmates. Shuchiin was attended by the children of many prominent families, so he had to maintain the image of the Gongcheng Family—though he supposed he didn't strictly have to.
...
Two days passed in the blink of an eye. With his school bag on his back and wearing a white suit, Gongcheng Yuandu got into the car arranged by the Yukinoshita Family alongside Gongcheng Yunling to head to Shuchiin.
Because Shuchiin was an integrated school spanning from kindergarten to university, Gongcheng Yunling, a fifteen-year-old third-year middle school student, was transferring along with her fourth older brother.
Today, Yunling wore a pink dress paired with a beret, her cyan hair cascading down her back, looking exceptionally kawaii.
Looking out the car window at the boys and girls wearing the Shuchiin uniform, their faces beaming with youthful and radiant smiles, Gongcheng Yuandu gently stroked his left ear. He was entirely indifferent to such a scene.
The car stopped at the school gates, and both Yuandu and Yunling stepped out from opposite sides. Seeing this, the surrounding students began to whisper among themselves.
"Whose young master and young lady are those?"
"They're not wearing the uniform. Must be transfer students?"
...
Ignoring the murmurs around him, he parted ways with his younger sister and walked toward the high school section to find his classroom.
Along the way, however, he ran into an acquaintance.
Hikigaya Hachiman.
He poked Hachiman in the lower back from behind. The dead-eyed boy instantly went on guard, but upon seeing that it was Gongcheng Yuandu, his expression returned to normal.
He had already guessed that the person behind him was the rumored transfer student.
The young man looked at Hikigaya, who had resumed his dead-eyed stare, and couldn't help but twitch the corner of his mouth. Still, he forced the words out syllable by syllable: "Good... morning... Hiki... gaya."
Damn it, two days was still too short; it wasn't enough to get his speech working properly again!
Hikigaya Hachiman looked at the boy in surprise. He asked doubtfully, "You can speak?"
Scratching his head and struggling to read Hikigaya's lip movements, Yuandu simply shook his head and replied at a slow pace: "Not really. It's just been too long since I last spoke, so my speech system is a bit rusty... I only started practicing the day before yesterday."
I see.
Nodding, the dead-eyed boy continued on his way toward his classroom. At that moment, a female teacher wearing a white lab coat walked over. She glanced at Hikigaya Hachiman without paying him any mind, then told Gongcheng Yuandu to follow her.
Teacher Hiratsuka?
Without lingering on the thought, the young man walked into the teaching building.
Yuandu and Teacher Hiratsuka arrived at the office, where another young man was already waiting. Looking doubtfully at Hiratsuka Shizuka, Yuandu asked with a speech so hurried that his articulation was slightly unclear: "Should... we... go to the classroom?"
Hiratsuka Shizuka was well aware of the boy's physical condition. She looked at the young man standing before her, who was trying so hard to speak clearly, and spoke slowly with exaggerated lip movements: "When the bell rings, just follow me to the classroom. I will be your homeroom teacher as well as your Japanese and life guidance teacher."
The young man nodded and sat down in the chair next to the other boy, saying nothing more.
...
As the morning bell rang, Hiratsuka Shizuka took the lead in walking into Class 2-F. She looked down at the somewhat noisy students beneath the podium, tapped the blackboard, and said, "Quiet down, everyone."
The student body quieted down instantly at the sound of her voice. Seeing this, Hiratsuka Shizuka nodded with satisfaction and announced, "We have two transfer students joining our class today." With that, she waved toward the outside of the door, and Gongcheng Yuandu and the boy with the enchanting expression walked in right on cue.
"Introduce yourselves, please." To make sure the boy could hear clearly, she spoke slowly.
Nodding, the young man tried his best to calm his nervousness, took a deep breath, and finally spoke in a measured tone: "Hello everyone, my name is Gongcheng Yuandu. I look forward to your guidance in our studies ahead." As he spoke, he wrote his name on the blackboard.
The other boy also spoke up: "Jugglus Juggler."
It seemed he had no desire to say anything more.
"Gongcheng and Juggler, you two take the empty seats in the back row by the window."
Hiratsuka Shizuka pointed toward the windows on the left side of the room.
Without saying anything, the two of them walked straight to the spots indicated by Hiratsuka Shizuka, pulled out their chairs, put down their school bags, and sat down.
"Now, let's begin the class."
...
Gongcheng Yuandu had a persistent feeling that he shared some inexplicable connection with the person sitting next to him. This connection had nothing to do with blood ties or emotions; it felt more like the mutual link between members of the same faction.
As soon as class ended, Juggler stood up and left the classroom, leaving the students who wanted to strike up a conversation with no choice but to turn their attention to the other transfer student.
Although Gongcheng Yuandu wanted to interact with them, he was far more eager to figure out what this connection between him and Juggler was all about, so he got up and hurried out after him.
Hikigaya Hachiman tilted his head, cast a glance at the retreating figure with his trademark dead fish eyes, and then went back to reading his book.
Unfortunately, Gongcheng Yuandu failed to find his target by the end of the break. Instead, when he returned to the classroom, he found Juggler sitting leisurely in his seat.