I have a life simulator.

"Yes, each guest will be assigned a fixed number of points upon entry. Adults will receive 10,000 points, while minors will receive 5,000 points. One point is equivalent to one yen."

"In other words, it's like pocket money given to everyone by the school. Since it can't be exchanged for cash after the semester ends, just enjoy spending it all."

After listening to the staff's explanation, Horikita Suzune thanked them and walked back to Kitagawa Ryo's side, saying with emotion:

"Tokyo Advanced Educational High School is indeed spending a lot. There are at least five hundred guests today, which means that the expenditure on this alone is several million yen."

"After all, every few days we are being questioned for taking up too many public resources."

Kitagawa Ryo nodded and explained:

"Tokyo Advanced Educational High School only admits 160 students a year. The total number of students in all three grades combined is probably less than the number of guests today."

Are you going to see your brother?

Hearing Kitagawa Ryo's question, Horikita Suzune shook her head. This was her first time in such a lively place. Not far from the school gate, she could see various stalls set up by students from different classes, offering everything from food to entertainment facilities. The bustling crowd had created a festival atmosphere.

Let's wander around here for a bit.

Horikita Suzune turned her gaze to the special building not far away. Apart from the two classes that had bought out the prime section of the road from the school gate to the special building, the remaining classes basically held their cultural festival celebrations on the first to third floors of the special building.

The November weather was already a bit chilly. Horikita Suzune was wearing a thick coat and cotton boots today, with a hand-knitted scarf wrapped warmly around her neck, making her pretty face look even smaller.

Incidentally, this scarf is the first successful piece that Horikita Suzune learned to knit herself; before that, there were several messy balls of yarn... Hotaru had a lot of fun with it.

Kitagawa Ryo also wore gloves today. He didn't wear the scarf that Horikita Suzune gave him. Compared to his neck being cold, Kitagawa Ryo was actually more sensitive to the temperature of his hands, so he never chose the kind of gloves that exposed his fingers or partially exposed his fingers. Instead, he always wore the warmest wool gloves that tightly wrapped his hands.

Along the long corridor, the third-year students, who were enthusiastically shouting for class points, quickly noticed Kitagawa Ryo and Horikita Suzune approaching. Although adults had more points, underage children were much easier to fool than adults, and two girls immediately came over.

"Little brother and little sister, would you like an apple candy? We also have cotton candy."

Just as Kitagawa Ryo was about to ask about the price, Horikita Suzune nodded first.

Seeing that a sale had been made, the two upperclassmen girls hurriedly took two candied apples from their stall and gently handed them to Kitagawa Ryo and Horikita Suzune after Horikita Suzune paid at the card reader.

"It's a hundred yuan more expensive than outside."

After glancing at the balance displayed on the card reader, Kitagawa Ryo subconsciously spoke up.

"Anyway, it's something the school gave away for free."

Horikita Suzune ate the candied apple in her hand in small bites. Her movements were a little clumsy, and the apple on the bamboo skewer was wobbling precariously, making one worry that it might fall to the ground at any moment.

Faced with this crisis, Horikita Suzune quickly came up with a solution.

Eat it in rotation.

Although a possible tragedy was avoided, the price was that an apple candy was eaten, and Horikita Suzune's mouth and cheeks were covered with juice and sugar granules.

Taking the tissue Kitagawa Ryo handed her and wiping her face clean, Horikita Suzune then set her sights on the entertainment facilities.

After all, eating is just about trying something new. To be honest, it's better to save room for Kitagawa Ryo's cooking when we get back. The apple candy we just had is nothing compared to Kitagawa Ryo's desserts.

It has to be said that they were quite well-prepared, having confidently booked an entire street of classes. They not only had the usual festival activities like goldfish scooping, shooting, and ring toss, but they even managed to get a large inflatable trampoline from somewhere. It seems they were determined to fleece the children.

Although Kitagawa Ryo hadn't counted them himself, he could estimate that the ratio of adults to children among the guests was probably about one to one. If he could trick most of the children out of their seats, the festival's revenue would definitely be good.

Moreover, judging from the current situation, the opponent's strategy can be considered a great success.

All the stalls were deliberately set up along the passageway from the school gate to the special teaching building to ensure that they could attract the children's attention at first glance. With the snacks and entertainment facilities working together, Kitagawa Ryo had already seen many children who had unknowingly spent all of their 5,000 points and were now begging their parents for help.

"Liang, I want to play that."

Following the direction Horikita Suzune pointed, what came into view was a huge inflatable trampoline. Children around five, six, or seven years old were jumping around in the inflatable castle, and laughter and screams could be heard from time to time.

"Uh, isn't Rin's age a bit inappropriate?"

Kitagawa Ryo imagined a scene where fourteen-year-old Horikita Suzune mingled among the children, throwing balls at each other, sliding down the slide, and chasing each other.

"...It's the one next to it."

Horikita Suzune twitched the corner of her mouth and pulled Kitagawa Ryo's sleeve, walking towards a small stall to the left of the inflatable trampoline.

The two people, bundled up tightly, trotted around like two clumsy penguins.

"Two hundred and several dozen paper nets."

The person sitting at this goldfish scooping stall is a third-grade boy, who happily explains when a customer comes in.

"Take ten nets."

Feeling a sense of déjà vu, Kitagawa Ryo realized he had seen the scene before in the last simulation when he saw Horikita Suzune squatting in front of the bucket, eager to try it out.

Horikita Suzune's goldfish catching results seem less than ideal.

Before she could even finish her thought, Horikita Suzune had already torn three paper nets.

"Let me teach you."

Taking off his gloves, Kitagawa Ryo clasped his hands together, breathed into them twice, rubbed his palms until they were warm, and then took a paper net.

"The technique for catching goldfish is actually very simple: go slowly, keep your hand steady, and use the water flow and anticipate the fish's swimming direction..."

Kitagawa Ryo suddenly remembered that he used to teach Hotaru how to play these games, but back then the two of them didn't really like catching goldfish because even if they caught a lot, they didn't have room to keep them at home.

In a brief moment of distraction, Kitagawa Ryo's movements became a little more agile. The goldfish that he had almost scooped up also noticed the abnormality and wiggled its tail up and down.

Just as Kitagawa Ryo's paper net was about to break and the goldfish was about to return to the water, Horikita Suzune timely placed her own net underneath Kitagawa Ryo:

"Be careful, take them out slowly together."

Horikita Suzune, putting her learning to practical use, stared intently at the goldfish. She moved closer to Kitagawa Ryo, and the two of them, shoulder to shoulder, slowly moved their arms together until they successfully moved the goldfish out of the net.

"I have completed my apprenticeship."

Horikita Suzune declared this with absolute certainty.

Her movements became increasingly skillful, and she hit the target with every single one of the last six nets.

However, because carrying a bag of water was too troublesome, Horikita Suzune ultimately did not choose to accept the goldfish. After all, for her, the enjoyment was only in the process, and the final result was actually irrelevant.

After walking this stretch of road, the two officially entered the special building.

The first floor, being the second most attractive section for customers, housed two classes. Kitagawa Ryo and Horikita Suzune glanced at them; one class seemed to be running a haunted house, while the other had a maze. Neither of them seemed particularly interested in either project, and after politely declining the students who came to hand out flyers and promote the business, they headed up to the second floor together.

"Come to think of it, I haven't seen Sakayanagi-san for a while."

As they were going upstairs, Horikita Suzune suddenly asked:

"They seem to have disappeared after bringing the two of us in."

“Arisu is not feeling well, and Chairman Sakayanagi is worried about letting her come in.”

Kitagawa Ryo paused in his steps.

"I remember you said she had a congenital heart condition?"

"Yes, it was inherited from her mother. It was a rather troublesome congenital heart disease that could not be cured by corrective surgery. Arisu's mother also passed away because of it."

"Yeah……"

The atmosphere suddenly became quite heavy because of this topic, and the two of them fell into silence.

However, the silence didn't last long. As soon as they reached the second floor, the rousing, even somewhat jarring, background music quickly caught their attention. It seemed to be a concert being held by some class.

Large posters covered the walls of the corridor, and girls dressed in revealing idol outfits struck various poses, attracting a considerable number of male guests.

"...Would they really go to such lengths for revenue? In the end, it's just a school cultural festival."

Horikita Suzune covered her face, feeling a headache coming on, while still holding onto Kitagawa Ryo with one hand:

"Liang is absolutely not allowed to go in."

"Although I didn't plan to go in anyway."

Kitagawa Ryo stroked his chin, examining the posters on the wall:

"I feel... not as good as Rinne."

"Shut up, I would never wear something like that."

"Even though Rinne wears a maid outfit with cat ears..."

With her embarrassing past exposed once again, Horikita Suzune blushed and immediately covered Kitagawa Ryou's mouth with her hand.

"Don't say it! Don't say it!"

"Ok."

After the little incident, the two continued forward along the corridor. The rent on the second floor was much cheaper than on the first floor, and the location was better than on the third floor, so the second floor was where most classes chose to perform at the cultural festival.

Maid cafes, butler cafes, and all sorts of shops selling desserts and tea, and offering photo services, came into view after a turn.

However, Horikita Manabu was nowhere to be seen, and none of the shops had signs for Class 1-A.

In other words, the other party will be on the third floor.

Perhaps sensing this, Kitagawa Ryo clearly felt Horikita Suzune's pace quicken.

Kitagawa Ryo and Horikita Suzune quickly passed the second floor and walked side by side toward the third floor.

"We still don't know what kind of celebrations the school will organize."

Kitagawa Ryo still hoped to alleviate Horikita Suzune's doubts and nervousness as much as possible, so he casually joked:

"It might be a butler's café, with the butler dressed in his uniform respectfully serving us the menu. Just thinking about it makes me excited."

Hearing Kitagawa Ryo's witty remark, Horikita Suzune's lips curled into a smile. She was indeed still a little nervous about facing Horikita Manabu, but the morbid longing and pursuit she had in the past had long since dissipated.

Horikita Suzune wasn't sure if Horikita would accept herself in this state, but the Horikita Suzune she was now was the one who pleased herself the most.

"My brother probably wouldn't open a butler's café; he's a very serious person."

"Didn't Liang say that your brother's piano skills are better than yours? Maybe it's at a concert."

Kitagawa Ryo shook his head with amusement. He didn't refute, but just pursed his lips:

"Who knows."

The two chatted as they finally stepped onto the third floor, the cheapest location, but also the most remote. Only two classes chose to hold their cultural festival here, and the number of guests was quite small.

After all, the two of them skipped the first two floors and went straight here, so they were among the first guests to arrive.

Quietness has its advantages. Ishikura, the leader of Class 1-B who booked three floors of empty classrooms, initially set his sights on the secluded and quiet nature of the third floor. He mobilized everyone in the class who could play musical instruments to hold a concert there.

In Ishikura's view, a considerable number of the school's staff should be elites and upper-class individuals, so neither maid cafes nor snack stalls should be able to attract them.

But concerts are different!

Let's put aside whether it sounds good or not, let's just talk about how sophisticated it is.

However, the third floor was indeed too far off-center. I yawned several times out of sheer boredom before I saw guests coming up.

A boy and a girl, who both appear to be underage junior high school students, might have been tricked into joining.

Hoping for a successful start, Shicang hurriedly walked towards the two with the flyers. He had just finished rehearsing his speech when the other party turned and walked away in the other direction without looking back.

That was the venue for Class A of the first year.

Thinking of Horikita's methods, Ishikura reluctantly retreated.

When school started, he thought the gap between Class B and Class A wasn't that big, and that as long as all the students worked together, they could eventually surpass them. However, more than a semester later, under Horikita Manabu's leadership, Class A quickly widened the gap with the remaining three classes.

Barring unforeseen circumstances, this pattern is unlikely to change for the next two years or so.

Especially after Horikita Manabu joined the student council as secretary and there were rumors that he might take over as vice president, the other three classes finally realized the severity of the situation and there was a growing trend of the three classes uniting to deal with Class A.

Ishikura licked her lips. This cultural festival was the first attack.

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

Horikita Manabu stood at the entrance of the venue where Class 1-A was located. Kitagawa Ryo glanced into the classroom, seemingly because there were no guests yet and the performance had not started.

It was pitch black inside, and all you could see was the stage, which occupied half the size of the classroom.

It's probably something like a stage play.

Noticing the two approaching, Akane Tachibana was about to step forward to greet them and explain their class's performance, but Manabu Horikita raised his hand to stop her.

He personally came forward and greeted Horikita Suzune.

To be fair, the long-awaited reunion between Horikita Suzune and Horikita Manabu wasn't anything as exciting as a collision of planets.

Kitagawa Ryo stood in the corner with his arms crossed, leaving the space to the brother and sister.

"elder brother."

Horikita Suzune took a step forward.