Rebirth: The Universe's Hidden Heiress-Chapter 47: Cookie Bear

After class, the students gradually left the virtual training ground. Yuka stood still, waiting until everyone else had left. She then approached Kenji and asked him, "Is your genetic illness acting up again? You look pale."

Kenji replied, "No."

Yuka queried, "Then why did you ask me to stay?"

Kenji had whispered to her as he passed by earlier, "Wait here for a bit," which she heard. That’s why she let Ayoi and Alex go ahead, staying behind to wait for Kenji.

Kenji began, "I wanted to tell you about that planet. It’s connected to the space pirate leader, Deadman."

Yuka nodded. "I guessed as much."

Kenji continued, "Regarding that spaceship... do you know Bartland?"

Yuka nodded again. "I’ve heard of him. He’s your ex."

Kenji’s forehead tensed. He corrected, "Be more specific, okay? He’s the ex-Admiral."

Yuka shrugged indifferently. "What’s the difference?"

Kenji, not wanting to dwell on this, carried on, "The spaceship belonged to Bartland. After his death, the Alliance’s ship system didn’t clear the ship’s name and number, so the space pirates used it to infiltrate Capital Octoxis."

As Yuka listened, she wondered why Kenji was telling her all this. It didn’t seem to concern her. After Kenji paused, Yuka glanced at him and said, "Is there anything else? If not, I’m leaving."

As she was about to turn away, Kenji added, "I suspect Deadman is Bartland."

Yuka quickly turned back, "Are you sure?" Kenji admitted, "I’m not certain." freёnovelkiss.com

They fell silent for a moment. Yuka then asked, "Should I tell Alex?"

Kenji stopped her, "We can’t be sure yet if Deadman is Bartland. Don’t tell him for now."

"Alright, goodbye, sir," Yuka said to Kenji and then left the white classroom. Since the school was locked down for a week, preventing students from going out, Yuka and her friends had to stay on campus.

Alex told Yuka that Toru seemed to be at a fall camp and wouldn’t be back soon. The camp apparently had big shots from the Alliance’s Science Academy. If Toru could score first place there, he could get direct admission to the Academy.

With Toru away, Alex was bored in the dorm alone and asked Yuka if there were any fun games to play. Yuka pondered and asked Ayoi, "Ayoi, do you remember the question I asked you before? If one day, I had to do something against the school rules..."

Ayoi nodded. "I remember!"

Ayoi nervously leaned in and asked, "We’re not really going to drag Fred out for a beating, are we?" Yuka shook her head with a smile. "We’ll settle his bullying of Alex later. Right now, we have another matter to attend to."

Ayoi and Alex eagerly listened as Yuka shared her idea of sneaking books out from the restricted area of the library. Ayoi covered her mouth and whispered in astonishment, "Is it that thrilling?"

Upon hearing Yuka mention that there was only one indoor route to the restricted area, which involved passing through several doors, Alex frowned in thought. "Then our chances of successfully entering the library’s restricted area are very low, and the risk is high. We need a tight plan or find another way in."

Yuka suggested, "We can first take a look inside the library. If the inside route doesn’t work... maybe we could try looking around outside for another path?"

Thus, the trio arrived at the library, opting not to rush in but to observe from outside. To ensure ample lighting, each floor of the library had many windows constantly open.

Yuka pulled out her opticomputer, aimed it at the library, zoomed in, and snapped a photo of the top fifth floor, enlarging it for Ayoi and Alex to see.

Unlike the windows on the other four floors, the fifth floor’s windows were tightly shut and sealed with iron sheets. Forcibly opening them would inevitably create a loud noise, attracting the librarians. Furthermore, the library’s exterior had numerous cameras, making it nearly impossible for them to use this method to get in.

Alex suddenly remembered something and shared with Yuka, "Once, when I was chatting with Toru, he told me he borrowed a book from the library but forgot to return it. By the time he remembered, it was past the borrowing limit. Since it was his third time not returning a book on time, he was at risk of being blacklisted from borrowing again. So, Toru decided to sneak into the library to return the book."

However, Toru was caught by the campus patrol.

Shrugging, Alex continued, "To avoid such situations in the future, Toru made an effort to gather information about the campus patrol."

Alex took out his opticomputer, scrolled through his chat history with Toru, and showed Ayoi and Yuka a particular message, "Right here."

The message revealed that all the library’s librarians were present only on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays, and Sundays. On Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays, the campus patrol team replaced them to maintain order in the library.

In addition to the library’s campus patrol team, the school also had a special patrol team for catching students climbing over the walls at night. It was rumored that this team once caught 15 boys in a single week, many of whom were trying to get from the boys’ dormitory to the girls’ dormitory to meet their girlfriends.

Yuka noticed that the name of the head of the campus patrol team was surprisingly Morris. She briefly considered asking Morris for help, but quickly got rid of the idea. After all, she wasn’t very familiar with Morris and didn’t know if he would be willing to make a deal with them. If she told Morris about her plan, Morris might even reported them.

"Kimiko hasn’t obtained the solution yet, so we’re not in a hurry," Yuka said. "y butler could temporarily hack into the school’s surveillance system to buy us some time, but it’s still best to choose a time when the campus patrol team is on duty."

Suddenly, Ayoi had an epiphany. "Oh! I’ve thought of the perfect time!" She logged onto the campus network and pointed at the school calendar, "Look, on this day in mid-October, the calendar is marked in red!"

She clicked on the date, which was specially highlighted in bold red: "University Anniversary Celebration Day".

the butler immediately searched for information about the school celebration and displayed it on Yuka’s opticomputer screen. Yuka forwarded the files to Ayoi and Alex, and they began reading together.

Ayoi read aloud, "On the Anniversary Celebration Day, there are no classes during the day, and at night, everyone has to go to the playground for a celebration."

Alex continued, "On this day, teachers will sing and dance with the students. No matter what excessive actions the students take or jokes they make, the teachers can’t get angry at them, and vice versa."

Yuka concluded, "That means, on this day, everyone will be at the playground. We can take this opportunity to sneak into the library quietly."

Yuka opened her contacts and shared this plan with Kimiko. Kimiko quickly replied, "Okay, I’ll try to bring the solution over before the Anniversary Celebration Day!"

After discussing their plan, Yuka and her friends entered the library, spread out to familiarize themselves with the entire internal structure of the library, and checked each window. After ensuring everything was in place, they left the library.

The next day was Friday, and Yuka had an art appreciation class with Mr. Kishi. She was still thinking about the woman she had seen in the crowd last time and, recalling the discovery of Pneyon in Kishi’s shop, found her even more suspicious.

"Everyone, today’s class is about making cookie bears. You’ll find all the necessary ingredients like flour, butter, and white sugar to your left," Kishi said with a gentle smile. "I’ll demonstrate how to make cookie bears on stage. Just follow my steps. As always, you’ll be grading yourselves, so no need to feel too much pressure."

With a perfectly measured smile, Kishi encouraged the students, "Good luck, everyone!"

Yuka began following Kishi’s steps to make her cookie bear. After a series of mishaps, involving two infantry specialization boys blowing up an oven, flour flying everywhere, and eggshells ending up in the cream, Kishi’s smile was barely hanging on.

An hour later, everyone finally baked their own cookie bears. Ayoi stared in silence at her burnt, unrecognizable creation. Alex’s cookie bear barely resembled a bear; he tasted his biscuit, made a series of expressive faces, and immediately spat it into the trash bin.

In contrast, Yuka’s cookie bears were adorable and golden brown, looking very appetizing. She generously shared her cookies with Alex and Ayoi. They bit into them and gave Yuka a thumbs-up, "Melts in your mouth!"

the butler, who had been covertly guiding Yuka, proudly puffed up its metaphorical chest, unsung and unacknowledged.

Kishi began grading each student. One buzz-cut boy enthusiastically offered his green-bubbly concoction to Kishi, who tactfully declined and quickly moved to Yuka’s side. "Yuka, how many points would you give yourself for this task?" Kishi asked.

Without hesitation, Yuka said, "Zero."

Kishi, looking at the perfect cookie bears and then at Yuka’s determined face, was puzzled. "What’s the reason for your dissatisfaction this time?"

Yuka answered cryptically, "These cookies didn’t capture the essence of a nice cookier bear. It’s like a shell without a soul."

Kishi and the cookie-snatching Alex and Ayoi were all confused. ’Cookies need a soul?’

Yuka, feigning heartache, explained, "These cookies weren’t made with the baker’s love and tenderness. Only when cookies are baked with the wish to bring happiness to those who taste them do they have meaning and soul. I made these only to complete a task. So, I deserve zero points."

Kishi, bewildered, asked, "Are you sure? Zero points?"

Yuka nodded, "I’m sure."

She had to lower her average score since she accidentally scored two perfect marks previously due to a momentary lapse in concentration!

Kishi recorded the score and hurriedly left the classroom, almost as if escaping.

After class, Yuka shared some of her cookie bears with Ayoi and Alex, then neatly packed the rest into a pink box.

Ayoi curiously asked Yuka, "Who are you sending these to?"

Yuka replied while filling out a courier slip, "To Mr. Kuba, as a thank you for rescuing us."

Ayoi and Alex exchanged glances, then also wrapped up their gifts using the classroom’s gift boxes, and asked Yuka to send them along with hers.

At the Alliance Army base, Kenji answered a call on his opticomputer. Hearing about the delivery, he frowned, "Can you check who sent the package?"

"The package is from Miss Taira Yuka," the courier replied.

A subordinate nearby offered, "Admiral, do you want me to check it for safety?"

"No need," Kenji responded.

He stood up from his chair, quickly went downstairs, took the package from the courier, and returned to his room. The subordinate discreetly left the room.

Opening the package, Kenji found three differently colored boxes. He set aside the pink one belonging to Yuka and first opened Alex’s gold-colored box. Inside was a note filled with gratitude and a black coin from the Grand Coliseum, made from Oniyon.

Next, he opened Ayoi’s brown box and found another Oniyon. Placing both boxes into his bookshelf, he then reached for Yuka’s pink box.

Upon opening Yuka’s pink gift box, Kenji discovered a bag of tempting cookie bears and a note. The note read: "Don’t worry, the cookies are not poisoned. You can eat them. This is for you as a thank you for rescuing us.’

Kenji smiled but his expression faded as he read the other side of the note: "Kishi seems suspicious. You might want to check her out; she could be with the space pirates. By the way, give up any hope of me joining the Alliance Army."

Kenji slowly folded the note back into the box. He stared at the cookie bears for a moment, then placed them on the table and returned the box to the bookshelf, stacking it with the other two.

He then turned back to his desk to continue with his work. After a few minutes, Kenji nonchalantly opened the bag of cookie bears and tried one. The flavor was just right – not too sweet, not too greasy, crispy and soft.

As a subordinate entered to report, he was surprised to see his usually stern and impartial superior, Kenji, enjoying the cute cookie bears. Worried about the implications of witnessing this unexpected scene, the subordinate rolled his eyes upwards, pretending not to notice anything unusual, and reported his work without glancing at Kenji.

Kenji nodded in acknowledgment, signaling that the subordinate could leave. As the subordinate reached the door, curiosity got the better of him, and he couldn’t resist looking back at his boss.

To his amazement, Kenji was still indulging in the cookie bears, nearly finishing the whole bag.

Muttering to himself as he left the room, the subordinate commented, "Eating such a big bag, doesn’t he find it too sweet?"

Little did he know that the Admiral had a liking for such treats.