I have a life simulator.

Although the methods were indeed despicable, in this meritocratic school, not being in Class A meant having nothing.

Ishikura lowered his eyes. As the class closest to Class A, Class B had to lead his classmates to the top.

While deep in thought, Ishikura noticed Kitagawa Ryo walking towards him from the other end of the corridor. Although he didn't know why Kitagawa had separated from his female companion, Ishikura, thinking that even a business deal was still a business deal, quickly went to meet him.

"Would you like to try our concert? Since you're our first customer today, we'll give you a 50% discount. We also have a collaboration with the maid café downstairs. It's almost noon, so if you bring your concert ticket, you can enjoy a 20% discount."

Kitagawa Ryo held up his phone to indicate that he was still on the phone. Ishikura, who was standing next to him, then realized that he hadn't noticed the other person was on the phone because he was too excited, and smiled awkwardly for a moment.

"Ok, I know."

"Okay, no need to explain, that's just how it is now."

Kitagawa Ryo avoided the passerby and walked to a corner of the wall.

"How is Arisu's health?"

"Yes, if I have the chance next time, I'll take her to explore the cultural festival properly."

"There's no need to apologize. I really like my sister."

"I'll go see Arisu. Bye."

Seeing Kitagawa Ryo put away his phone, Ishikura immediately planned to start his sales pitch again, but to his surprise, Kitagawa Ryo walked downstairs without even turning his head.

As he watched Kitagawa Ryo's retreating figure, he suddenly realized that the voice he had just heard from the other person's phone sounded somewhat familiar.

It sounds a bit like the chairman's voice I heard at the opening ceremony.

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

Having overheard almost the entire situation, Horikita Suzune roughly understood the current predicament. She asked with some confusion:

"Doesn't my brother also play the piano? Since there's sheet music, then it shouldn't be a problem, right?"

"..."

Horikita Manabu turned around, and after a moment of silence, he said:

"I have never studied piano."

"Huh? But Liang clearly said..."

Horikita Suzune paused, then instinctively glanced to the side.

The boy who had been standing there was gone.

Chapter Twenty-Eight: Walk This Path With Me

"Hey, Liang, where have you been?"

Horikita Suzune looked left and right but couldn't find Kitagawa Ryo, so she took out her phone and dialed his number. The good news was that Kitagawa Ryo answered almost instantly, which made her breathe a sigh of relief.

"Oh, I have some things to take care of here. I didn't want to interrupt you because I saw Lingyin and Xue were chatting so intently."

Kitagawa Ryo's tone was as calm as ever, but Horikita Suzune felt something was off. She gripped her phone tightly, trying to keep her voice light:

"I just asked my brother, and he doesn't know how to play the piano at all. It seems that Ryo's information isn't always 100% accurate."

"Don't make excuses for me. I just made up this lie, and this wasn't the only lie I told Suzune."

Kitagawa Ryo shook his head and denied it.

This was the strategy he initially came up with.

Through Karuizawa Megumi's simulation, Kitagawa Ryo understood a principle:

Intentionally exaggerating a certain kind of harm will only cause that harm to gradually lose its authenticity, and the pain caused by this distorted harm will be reduced or even numb.

So he chose to deliberately exaggerate Horikita Manabu's excellence. Since Horikita Suzune had already conceived of Horikita Manabu as an unsurpassable goal in her mind, he might as well make this idol even more dazzling.

They gilded him with even thicker gold powder and placed his shrine even higher.

Doing so would actually help Horikita Suzune to proactively re-examine Horikita Manabu and discover her own mistakes.

"I'm waiting for you downstairs at the special building."

Some things really should be said face-to-face, Kitagawa Ryo thought, and hung up the phone.

After doing all this, he nodded to the driver in the front seat, the back door of the car opened, and Kitagawa Ryo pushed open the door and got out again.

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

"Ring tone."

When Horikita Suzune came downstairs, she looked up and saw Kitagawa Ryo waiting at the exit. It was noon, and most of the guests were having lunch in the shop, so it was much emptier than in the morning.

However, Horikita Suzune was confident that even in a densely packed crowd, she could spot the other person at a glance.

When she worked at the dessert shop "Hotaru" before, she complained that Kitagawa Ryo should go out and solicit customers himself, at least he could easily attract 70-80% of the female students in the neighborhood.

"Is there some problem with their studies? I saw some students from their class running around anxiously downstairs just now."

Before Horikita Suzune could even ask Kitagawa Ryo why he had suddenly left, the other party had already taken the lead in the conversation.

"...There was a problem with my brother's class's performance. Apparently, one of the lead actors and one of the pianists went missing, and some of the props used in the performance were also deliberately destroyed."

"That does present some trouble."

Kitagawa Ryo was somewhat surprised, after all, he didn't know Horikita Manabu's specific experiences in his first and second years. When he himself entered Tokyo Advanced Educational High School, Horikita Manabu was already in Class 3-A.

However, at that time, there were not more than forty members in Class 3-A, which can be inferred that their first and second years were not as easy as imagined, and there were even students who dropped out of the class.

Although Kitagawa Ryo himself had never experienced the cultural festival, he had at least been to this school, so he could probably guess that the content of this exam would be related to the final sales revenue.

Based on this reasoning, it's likely that Horikita Manabu's Class 1-A was targeted by a lower-ranked class.

Similar to the sports festival that Kitagawa Ryo himself experienced, as long as you find out the performance items and list of the opposing class in advance, and then target the key figures, you can often easily ruin the efforts of an entire class.

"Because there is a time limit."

Kitagawa Ryo looked towards the third floor of the special building with a somewhat solemn expression. Many guests who had finished their meals on the second floor were already heading towards the third floor. If the performance couldn't start immediately, the customers would be completely drawn away by other shops on the other side.

"It's probably too late to learn this time."

After assessing the time, Kitagawa Ryo made this deduction. He knew very well that Horikita Manabu was more of a passive defender than an active attacker, but this style was also in line with Class A's position.

Horikita Manabu is an outstanding talent, but that doesn't mean he's invincible.

After this, he will likely pay attention to the joint actions of the other three classes, at the cost of Class 1-A's defeat in this cultural festival.

Horikita Suzune's expression was calmer than Kitagawa Ryo had imagined, but considering that Horikita Suzune had already had a deep conversation with Horikita Manabu, it was understandable.

Compared to the emotional impact of Horikita Manabu's failure, Horikita Suzune's eyes at this moment revealed a more resentful look.

This shows that she wanted to help, but found that she didn't have the ability to do so.

Kitagawa Ryo smiled; he felt he could probably relax now.

"After all, Lingyin couldn't have known in advance that something like this would happen, and we've only been here for less than a day."

He offered a word of comfort to Horikita Suzune, paused, and then continued:

"I should be leaving after today's cultural festival."

"Huh? Why?"

Horikita Suzune's heart tightened slightly. She turned her head and looked directly into Kitagawa Ryo's pupils, as if trying to catch some clues from his expression.

"Because I have already achieved my original purpose for coming here."

Kitagawa Ryo showed a relaxed smile:

"Rin has already defeated Gaku, hasn't she?"

"Moreover, it was personally verified by the academics. There is no more convincing fact than this."

"Lingyin has paved the way ahead of Xue, even if it is only a prototype, even if it is only a step, but she has already surpassed her opponent."

Horikita Suzune seemed to want to say something, but was quickly interrupted by Kitagawa Ryo.

"I have to admit that although I initially approached you with the intention of using Rinne, and sometimes I didn't expect Rinne to defeat Manabu, I just wanted to see the sibling rivalry, but in the end I became friends with Rinne, which was a really novel experience."

Kitagawa Ryo's words extinguished a budding emotion in Horikita Suzune's heart that she herself had not yet recognized.

Horikita Suzune nodded seriously:

"I'm also very happy to have met Liang."

"After all, I was Lingyin's first friend. Even if Lingyin makes many more friends in the future, she shouldn't forget me, right?"

Kitagawa Ryo is drawing Horikita Suzune's heart. He has avoided any possibility of ambiguous behavior in his interactions with Horikita Suzune. Although they live under the same roof, all Horikita Suzune can recall now are the little things from their daily lives.

No problem at all.

Although Horikita Suzune herself felt something was off, she simply followed Kitagawa Ryo's words and attributed these feelings to her being the "first" friend of her "first".

After all, she had never experienced or thought about romantic feelings before.

"I'm going to visit other countries this time, so I might not be able to contact Lingyin for a while, but I'll definitely call her when I have time."

Just like the parting between friends seen in books, Horikita Suzune is completely unaware of the true nature of her feelings and can only suppress everything in her heart for the time being.

"Well, I see."

So Horikita Suzune simply agreed. After her vision broadened, countless paths had already stretched out in front of her, and this was not a matter of life and death.

"How long will Liang be gone?"

"I can probably wish Suzune a Merry Christmas in advance."

Horikita Suzune was somewhat disappointed:

Does that mean you won't be back until after Christmas?

"Maybe, after all, it's going to a very far place. I want to open my own dessert shop all over the world."

Kitagawa Ryo's familiar witty remark brought a smile to Horikita Suzune's face. His breath formed a faint white mist in the air before disappearing silently.

Then they parted ways.

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

It's Christmas again.

Horikita Suzune overheard the children around her excitedly discussing the story of Santa Claus, how the white-bearded old man with a red hat rode in a sleigh carrying all sorts of gifts down the chimney and put them into the red stockings hanging by the bed.

From their expectant tone, one could imagine that the children were eagerly anticipating the arrival of the two sleighs pulled by the reindeer.

Horikita Suzune breathed on her palms as she clasped them together. As midnight approached, the crowds on the street visibly thinned out.

What comes into view is the pure white snow and starry sky; these quiet things are everywhere.

It was a crystal-clear night, as if it were contained in a glass bottle.

She thought she had developed a fondness for this holiday around the age of fourteen, and in that sense, it should be a day to remember the past.

After all, a full ten years have passed.

Horikita Suzune stood up, intending to walk around and warm herself up. She had declined invitations to gatherings from friends and family today, but they probably had no idea that she was now wandering around here alone.

The ground was covered with a thick layer of snow, and Horikita Suzune, wrapped in thick winter clothes, carefully wiped it off, like a clumsy penguin.

Some of the shops on both sides of the street were still open, and colorful Christmas trees adorned with small gifts lined up in front of each shop, almost forming a forest.

The glass windows were painted with colorful paint and spray paint patterns of "Merry Christmas," and shop assistants dressed as Santa Claus were still working hard to attract customers.

Horikita Rin learned about Kitagawa Ryo's background from her parents the day after Kitagawa Ryo left. In fact, Kitagawa Ryo had no blood relation with the Horikita family; he was originally an adopted child.

His biological father was Sakayanagi, the chairman of Tokyo Advanced Educational High School.

In other words, Sakayanagi Arisu is Ryo's biological younger sister.

Kitagawa Ryo's departure was merely a return to the Sakayanagi family.

Horikita Suzune didn't think this was bad news. On the contrary, she even felt that with the support of the Sakayanagi family, Ryo might be able to realize his dream even faster.

Who knows, one day we might actually see each other's dessert shops spread all over the world.

At first, the two did maintain a friendly relationship. However, to Horikita Suzune's dismay, Kitagawa Ryo did not choose to apply to Tokyo Advanced Educational High School like her. After thinking it over, Horikita Suzune simply gave up on enrolling in Tokyo Advanced Educational High School as well.

Because Horikita Suzune knew very well that even without the resources of Tokyo Advanced Educational High School, she was confident enough to achieve her goals; Tokyo Advanced Educational High School was just a good stepping stone.

Kitagawa Ryo later chose to attend a high school affiliated with a famous medical school, while Horikita Suzune stayed at another high school in Tokyo with a high academic deviation score, aiming for a literature-related major at the University of Tokyo.

Horikita Suzune still kept her hair long. As she grew older and her appearance matured, more and more boys began to express their feelings for her, but she never accepted any of their confessions.