I have a life simulator.

"It's autumn now, and it looks a bit cold. You're working too hard."

The boy nudged his friend's arm; he had already come up with a plausible reason for himself.

However, the two were still hesitant. After all, for students of fourteen or fifteen years old, entering such a suggestive shop in public always created some psychological barriers.

Just as the two were having an internal struggle, someone walked out of a nearby shop...

No, it felt like I was pushed out, and I even stumbled a little!

Horikita Suzune really didn't know where Kitagawa Ryo bought such a leather suit; it felt like it was specially made to prank herself.

However, Kitagawa Ryo explained that the store's mascot is a kitten, so the promotional costumes naturally featured a kitten.

Horikita Suzune straightened her wig, trying her best not to think about the two ridiculously stupid cat ear decorations on her head.

Fortunately, it was completely covered up, and no one else could see inside. It was much better than the set I tried before.

So people are all about harmony, and Horikita Suzune suddenly felt that this outfit was actually not bad.

She tried hard to recall what she looked like dressed as a cat-eared maid in front of Kitagawa Ryo alone.

Horikita Suzune waved tentatively, or perhaps it should be called a paw pad.

"Um... welcome?"

Chapter Twenty-Five: Growing Up Again

Two months passed as quickly as two days. Autumn did not leave a deep impression on people. It seems that in the blink of an eye, it will be time to start wearing winter clothes.

Horikita Suzune sat at the front desk of a shop called "Hotaru" before it opened for business, propping her head up and looking out the window to her right.

There were five or six vases neatly arranged there. These vases, of various sizes and heights, were bathed in the first rays of the morning sun. Their ceramic surfaces shone with a warm glow. The sunlight filtered through the flowers in the vases, casting shimmering shadows on the windowsill. As the flowers swayed in the breeze, the shimmering shadows changed accordingly.

Over the past month, Horikita Suzune has developed a strange habit: she now enjoys lazily lying on the front desk counter, watching the changing light and shadows without moving.

Sometimes she would water the flowers herself. Horikita Suzune had also tried to plant a few seeds, but she didn't know what went wrong, and not a single sprout came out of the soil.

Even though Kitagawa Ryo could grow cabbages so well that they would bloom into tiny, rice-grain-like flowers, it was remarkable how they could grow so beautifully.

This was the first time Horikita Suzune had ever seen a cabbage flower.

The pale yellow flowers don't look particularly special, but they are quite novel.

It reminded Horikita Suzune of her first encounter with the world as a child, feeling a primal curiosity about every new change and a sense of satisfaction after learning about each new thing.

Perhaps, as Kitagawa Ryo said, she is simply growing up all over again.

Horikita Suzune has abandoned her old schedule. She still gets up on time, attends classes on time, and her academic performance remains excellent, but the pace of everything has unconsciously slowed down.

As the weather gets colder day by day, Horikita Suzune has gradually put on thicker clothes. Recently, she also bought a batch of custom-made earmuffs for her store. They look very warm and fluffy, and they are decorated with two cute cat ears, which are used to take photos for customers.

After all, this is a dessert shop with cats as its theme and mascot.

Hotaru lay down next to Horikita Suzune and lazily yawned.

Actually, Ying thinks the warmest place is the kitchen. The air is filled with a sweet warmth, like thick honey. You can soak in it and sleep comfortably all day long.

However, Kitagawa Ryo wouldn't allow cats into the kitchen, so Hotaru usually had to lie obediently at the front desk.

Horikita Suzune blew on her hands, then stood up and walked towards the kitchen.

The temperature in the kitchen was indeed much higher than outside. Since winter began, Horikita Suzune had become increasingly fond of the atmosphere here. She would squat next to the oven and watch Kitagawa Ryo bake various desserts in an orderly manner, which would bring her a rare sense of peace, and she would even become a little sluggish.

So sluggish that time seemed to stand still.

The sound of spreading cream, the sound of frying butter, the sound of opening and closing the oven...

You might even feel that this place is a piece that has been forcibly peeled off from the long river of time and space, so quiet that there is not a sound of people.

You can think about anything, or you can think about nothing at all.

Horikita Suzune dozed off in the corner of the kitchen, hugging her knees. Kitagawa Ryo didn't kick her out, and the two didn't speak to each other, which could be considered a strange tacit understanding.

In the past two months, [Hotaru] has finally established itself on this street. The beautiful and delicious pastries, desserts and drinks, the fresh and elegant decoration style, and the traffic brought by Hotaru's inexplicable popularity on the Internet because of her emojis have made it a good target for many junior high and high school girls in the nearby schools.

Although Horikita Suzune didn't know exactly how much money Kitagawa Ryo had made in the past two months, she heard from her father's occasional revelations that the other party had already recouped all the costs.

From this perspective, while children of the same age were still battling it out on a test paper at school, Kitagawa Ryo had already gone far on a different track.

However, Horikita Suzune didn't have too many thoughts about it. She had already learned her lesson from her genius brother once, and when she met the other one, she had already learned her lesson.

Maybe it's because she knows that this seemingly perfect guy also sleeps in late, is picky about food, and has nightmares at home.

Looking up or down is bad for your neck; it's best to just look at everyone at eye level.

This is what Horikita Suzune learned while handing out flyers and doing promotions.

As agreed with Kitagawa Ryo, in the first few days after the store opened, in order to attract customers, Horikita Suzune had to wear a cat costume and hand out flyers outside the store for several days.

She couldn't remember exactly how many times she said "Hello," "Thank you," and "Welcome." At first, Horikita Suzune felt a little awkward, but fortunately, the thick leather suit helped to cover up a lot of it.

So in the end, Horikita Suzune was finally able to speak these most common but also most important words in daily communication fluently, although she still didn't think it was of any use.

Horikita Suzune is still learning Aikido and piano, but she is no longer in a hurry to make progress. She spends more time reading books, and her interests are quite broad. She does not have any particular hobbies.

While dozing off, Horikita Suzune suddenly felt something being fastened to her ears. Without even opening her eyes, she knew it was Kitagawa Ryo putting earmuffs from the shop on her.

However, she was too lazy to make a sound or take any action. In any case, the other party had seen her in an even more embarrassing state before. At this moment, Horikita Suzune just wanted to sleep peacefully.

So this childish prank only made Horikita Suzune shake her head slightly, as if expressing her dissatisfaction.

The cat ears on the girl's head and her beautiful long hair swayed slightly together.

Horikita Suzune did not choose to cut her long hair, because, in her words, she had not yet seen her own heart clearly.

Just like the words Kitagawa Ryo used to stop her, Horikita Suzune still couldn't tell whether she simply wanted to go back to her past self and cut her hair short, or if she just wanted to regain Horikita Manabu's approval, or if she was driven by a strange desire for revenge.

Two months passed, and Horikita Suzune still hadn't found an answer.

But there's still a long time ahead, so there's plenty of time to think about it later.

Kitagawa Ryo squatted down in front of Horikita Suzune, observing her sleeping posture. The girl was squatting in her usual corner, curling her petite body into a ball. Her long black hair spread out on both sides of her shoulders because of her posture, as if she had grown a pair of black wings.

Incidentally, Horikita Suzune has a very refined sleeping posture. Once she falls asleep, she stays completely still like this, without any of the bad habits of kicking off the covers.

Human thought cannot transcend the present.

Because things from the past are always magnified.

Kitagawa Ryo fiddled with the cat ear decorations on Horikita Suzune's head a couple of times.

Although it's just a game of playing the family, at least until the simulation ends.

He would always look at the other person.

-------------------------------------

Cultural Festival.

The Tokyo Advanced Educational High School holds a large-scale event every November. Similar to the sports festival in October, although it is not officially a special exam, it also involves changes in class points.

The rules are very simple: each class will be assigned a fixed number of individual points, and they will use these points to organize the cultural festival.

Restaurants, haunted houses, mazes, concerts, theatrical performances...

The twelve classes across the three grades will be ranked based on their final sales figures. The top four classes will receive 100 class points, the fourth to eighth classes will receive 50 points, and the ninth to twelfth classes will receive no reward.

The rewards were modest and there were no punishments, which shows that the school did not put too much pressure on the students. After all, the cultural festival is one of the rare open events at Tokyo Advanced Educational High School, and the school did not want the atmosphere between classes to be too tense.

Horikita Manabu, a student in Class 1-A, rubbed his temples.

As the leader of Class 1-A, he has demonstrated an extremely high level of ability since enrolling six months ago. Class 1-A has gradually consolidated its advantage in these special exams and has slowly widened the gap with the other three classes.

Preparations for this cultural festival have entered the final stage. From any perspective, Class 1A should be in a vibrant and thriving state.

However, Akane Tachibana, a classmate who joined the student council with Horikita Manabu, keenly noticed Horikita Manabu's mental state. As the cultural festival approached, Horikita Manabu, who was usually unfazed even by a collapsing mountain, became somewhat unsettled.

Horikita Manabu hadn't experienced such strong emotional fluctuations during the previous special exams.

Noticing the worried look that Tachibana Akane was giving him, Horikita Manabu shook his head to indicate that he was fine.

He was indeed somewhat worried about the upcoming cultural festival, but not because of the festival itself, but because of news he had just learned from outside sources a few days ago.

Although Tokyo Advanced Educational High School claims to be under a completely closed management system, it does not prohibit students from browsing social networking sites. Whether it is SNS or blogs, students on campus can maintain a certain level of connection with the outside world.

The girl who approached Horikita Manabu a few months ago posted a cryptic message on her social media platform a few days ago:

"She decided to come again."

Others might be confused by this statement, but Horikita Manabu knew exactly who "she" was in the message.

Horikita Suzune, her biological younger sister who is two years younger than her.

Horikita Manabu had sensed immense talent in Horikita Suzune when she was young. Although she was not yet mature, he could still see the brilliance of a rough stone.

At that time, he had not yet realized how much influence he would have on his sister. He only hoped that soon, Horikita Suzune, this rough stone, could be polished and gain power that could surpass his.

However, the final result was that Horikita Suzune was completely bound by the phantom named Horikita Manabu, arbitrarily believing that she was inferior in skill and that it was impossible to surpass him, and thus gave up, choosing to personally abandon her own space for development.

This is something Horikita Manabu absolutely cannot forgive.

Perhaps that's why he chose to stay away from Horikita Suzune and come to this Tokyo Advanced Educational High School.

Hoping that the other person might be able to become independent if she were separated from him, Horikita Manabu unexpectedly learned about Horikita Suzune's recent situation two months ago.

That was the answer I got from the daughter of the chairman of the board, a girl named Arisu Sakayanagi.

It is said that Horikita Suzune hoped to use her connections to get here during the cultural festival.

At that time, Horikita Manabu simply asked Sakayanagi Arisu to confirm Horikita Suzune's hair length. If it was short, he would accept it gladly; if it was long, he would give a different explanation.

Once the conditions are met, different options will be available.

This was a lie that Horikita Manabu had set up beforehand, with the aim of verifying whether Horikita Suzune was still haunted by his phantom after he left.

The final result disappointed him. Horikita Suzune still had beautiful long hair that reached her waist. In a sense, the hair growing from short to long could be seen as a symbol of growth, but in Horikita Manabu's eyes, it was a sign that his sister had not grown at all.

Horikita Manabu originally thought that his words would make Horikita Suzune back down, but to his surprise, Horikita Suzune still hadn't given up and still decided to come see him on the day of the cultural festival.

He was certainly not an older brother who didn't love his younger sister, so he was instead caught in a daze at this moment.

What attitude should I adopt when facing her?

Despite Horikita Manabu's headaches, time continued to move forward day by day until the day of the cultural festival.

The cultural festival was scheduled to start at 9:00 AM, but the school required students to prepare half an hour in advance. In addition, the gates of Tokyo Advanced Educational Junior High School were opened at 6:00 AM to move some of the supplies purchased by the students.

The visiting guests were all relatives of school staff. Starting at nine o'clock in the morning, as the school broadcast a school-wide announcement, all the guests who had registered and been verified in advance entered the campus one after another through the main gate.

"What should I do? I'm a little nervous."

"After all, I haven't had any contact with anyone outside since I entered this school."

In the hallway, you could hear girls from other classes talking anxiously.

Horikita Manabu strode confidently. He had already found the best window spot to observe the school gate. The class's cultural festival activities had been rehearsed countless times, so his temporary departure wouldn't cause any problems.

He quietly observed each guest, searching for Horikita Suzune's figure among them.

To be honest, it had been almost a year since the two last met.

Horikita Manabu patiently watched as one group after another of guests passed through security and entered the campus, including the elderly, middle-aged people, and quite a few children.

He quickly found his target.

Even though they had been apart for a long time, Horikita Manabu immediately spotted Horikita Suzune in the crowd. With her long hair, she had grown quite a bit taller than before.

To Horikita Manabu's surprise, she didn't come alone, but the person accompanying her wasn't the girl named Sakayanagi Arisu, but another boy.

The two were chatting and laughing.

Akane Tachibana, who had discovered that Horikita Manabu was missing, had come all the way here. She was just about to call Horikita Manabu back to the class to take charge of the cultural festival, but then she rubbed her eyes in disbelief.

Horikita Manabu, who is usually calm and expressionless, was actually smiling at this moment.

He gazed out the window, a bright smile curving his lips.

Ringtone... has made friends.

Chapter 26: The Cultural Festival with Horikita Suzune

"Points?"

Horikita Suzune looked up with some confusion, and the school staff immediately and kindly explained: