I have a life simulator.

On the one hand, it might indeed be quite difficult for her to jump directly from this cliff to Kitagawa Ryo's front.

On the other hand, although she could try to speak up to stop her, it was questionable whether her voice could reach Kitagawa Ryo's ears from this side.

And most importantly, it might not be so bad for Kitagawa Ryo to see that letter.

Anyway, it's something I'll have to say to him sooner or later.

Just as Shiina Hiyori was lost in thought, a broadcast suddenly came from the other side:

"Due to unforeseen circumstances, this project will be delayed by 15 minutes. As compensation, all participating students will receive additional ingredients as a reward after the project is completed."

"In addition, this project will officially begin in ten minutes. Please be prepared and do not be anxious."

Hearing the broadcast, Kitagawa Ryo also instinctively stopped what he was doing, stuffed the message in a bottle into his pocket, and climbed up the cliff from the other side. He ran to Horikita Suzune and Shiina Hiyori and explained:

"The person who handled my application for the project was Senior Sister Ju. She told me that there was a bit of a problem with the [Tea Ceremony] project. I was a little worried about the two of you, so I came over by jet ski."

Horikita Suzune, who had just checked her watch and discovered that her group's score had plummeted, initially wanted to question Kitagawa Ryo, but upon hearing his reason, she softened. She stood there with her arms crossed, her fox-like purplish-red pupils shifting uncertainly over Kitagawa Ryo, while her mouth continued to say:

"Nothing's wrong. It seems like one of the judges just suddenly felt unwell. We even saw the helicopter land here just now."

"Yeah, but it's really great that Liang came."

Meanwhile, Shiina Hiyori smiled, her eyes crinkling as her gaze kept drifting over the message in a bottle held by Kitagawa Ryo. She breathed a sigh of relief, but then frowned her beautiful eyebrows in slight distress.

"Ryo didn't know you were worried about the [tea ceremony] topic, so you're probably worried about me too."

Horikita Suzune snorted coldly, and at the same time asked Kitagawa Ryo:

"Is this how it is, cold?"

"Ha... Actually, I met Ishizaki from Class C in the [Piano Performance] project. He said he saw Hiyori in the [Tea Ceremony] project as well."

Kitagawa Ryo reacted quite quickly, pushing Ishizaki Daichi forward. After all, Ishizaki Daichi had indeed been involved in the "Piano Performance" project, and Horikita Suzune didn't know if he had actually met Shiina Hiyori.

That's why I said I was worried about the two of you.

Just as Kitagawa Ryo finished speaking, the announcement came over the loudspeaker that the project was about to begin and that participating students should take their positions as soon as possible.

"Alright, alright, none of that matters. The project is about to start, so Suzune and Hiyori should both do their best."

So Kitagawa Ryo smoothly ended the conversation, clapped his hands lightly, and pushed the two of them forward, one in each hand:

"I'll be watching from the sidelines too."

Unexpectedly, these words acted as a catalyst, and Horikita Suzune immediately shook her head and said firmly:

"I'll let Ryo see that I got first place."

Shiina Hiyori, who had spent the entire semester in the tea ceremony club, was equally determined and raised her voice slightly:

"I, I am number one."

Then, she suddenly leaned in and whispered in Kitagawa Ryo's ear, her warm breath and shy words reaching his ears:

"That message in a bottle is mine, you're not allowed to look at it."

At this moment, Shiina Hiyori's heart was like this deserted island about to be battered by a storm. On the letter was a confession line from Shakespeare's play "The Tempest," which she had long ago prepared:

“I dare not give you what I am willing to give you, nor dare I accept from you what I desire, but these are all meaningless words.”

"The more you try to hide it, the clearer it becomes."

"Go forth, you cunning shyness! Let pure and sacred innocence guide my words!"

"..."

"If you're willing to marry me, then I'll be your wife."

Chapter 152: A Stormy Night

To Kitagawa Ryo's surprise, there were quite a few groups participating in the "Tea Ceremony" project. Including Horikita Suzune and Shiina Hiyori, there were a total of five groups of students gathered here. They were all discussing the upcoming heavy rain in the afternoon with some concern.

The weather at sea is indeed prone to being unpredictable. Kitagawa Ryo remembered that he had also encountered a rainstorm when he took the exam on the deserted island last time. At that time, he even took advantage of the special environment of the rainy day to scheme against Horikita Suzune and Ayanokoji Kiyotaka.

However, the rainstorms always come and go quickly. Since the school did not require the students to evacuate the uninhabited island but only suspended their research for an afternoon, it means that the amount and intensity of the rainfall should not be too high. Moreover, the material exchange office promptly supplied a batch of raincoats, waterproof mats, waterproof tarpaulins and other rainy day items at extremely low prices, almost like free gifts.

If the students in a group cooperate and look out for each other, and find a campsite on higher ground in advance, they should have no problem getting through this storm.

Since a girl from Class B happened to come over and ask about this, Kitagawa Ryo took the opportunity to share some of his experiences with outdoor camping.

However, the other party also reminded him that in such bad weather, individual groups would probably be under the most pressure.

There were only three groups of individuals for this deserted island test. Kiyotaka Ayanokouji came from the White Room, and Sho Ryuen had extensive experience in wilderness survival. Moreover, Ryo Kitagawa had already witnessed Sho Ryuen survive alone on a deserted island during a rainstorm. Neither of them had any problems.

However, Kitagawa Ryo is currently unable to contact Karuizawa Megumi, and has no idea which cell she is in. He can only secretly hope that she is safe.

Just as Kitagawa Ryo was feeling a bit worried, Horikita Manabu suddenly walked up to him, a cold glint flashing in one side of his glasses. Noticing the B-class girl who had just walked away, he calmly spoke:

"Don't worry about Karuizawa-san. The school will help the solo groups in this storm by pairing them up with other nearby multi-person groups."

Then, Horikita Manabu abruptly changed the subject:

"So, let's take a look at the bell in front of us first... this topic."

"I see."

Kitagawa Ryo trusted Horikita Manabu very much, and since Horikita was currently a fake staff member seconded by the school, his information should be quite reliable. Therefore, he nodded and turned his attention back to the center of the field.

The participants in this project were all five girls, and they didn't seem to be just there to fill a spot; each of them was skilled and graceful.

"I heard that you taught Suzune's tea ceremony, Kitagawa?"

While watching his younger sister's skillful tea-making techniques, Horikita Manabu stroked his chin and asked Kitagawa Ryo a question.

"Yes, how do you feel?"

"very good."

Horikita nodded, but soon hesitated again:

"It just doesn't feel like Rin's voice anymore."

Completely different from her usual aloof and cold demeanor, Horikita Suzune's movements at this moment were full of gentleness.

"Does Xue prefer the kind of girl who looks down on you with cold eyes and pretends to be reluctant to make you tea?"

Kitagawa Ryo nodded thoughtfully:

"It seems I need to report this information to Senior Tachibana."

Even the composed Horikita Manabu twitched the corner of his mouth slightly at this moment:

"Perhaps only someone like you could turn Rinne into this."

"I am over-flattered."

Kitagawa Ryo, while remaining humble, turned his gaze to Shiina Hiyori, who was standing next to Horikita Suzune.

Compared to Horikita Suzune, who has had a complete simulation experience and has been learning the tea ceremony for more than two years, Shiina Hiyori has only been involved in the tea ceremony for one semester, starting from when she joined the tea ceremony club.

Although her technique was fairly decent, compared to Horikita Suzune beside her, it always gave people a strange feeling of lack of coordination.

Unlike the previous impromptu poetry recitation, the topic of tea ceremony tests more the accumulation of years of experience and that almost instinctive proficiency.

Human emotions can indeed add a unique feeling to the tea in one's hand, but this time the judge is not Kitagawa Ryo.

The temporary judging panel, consisting of four third-year students excluding Akane Tachibana, was not actually familiar with the first-year students, so they simply made their choices from an objective perspective.

Horikita Suzune easily won first place with an absolute advantage. Her tea ceremony skills also received unanimous praise from the judges. The small pot of black tea she submitted was also drunk up in no time.

Hiyori Shiina received only a mediocre evaluation and ranked third.

Just as Horikita Suzune was excitedly preparing to collect her first-place food reward, she happened to see Shiina Hiyori also happily refilling a cup of the remaining black tea she had brewed for her project—tea that the judges had only taken a sip of—and handing it to Kitagawa Ryo with a smile, saying:

"Liang must be thirsty standing here for so long, right?"

"……is a bit."

Kitagawa Ryo accepted the tea under Horikita Manabu's thoughtful gaze, took a sip, and then realized something.

In the past, when he and Hiyori Shiina held tea parties together in the tea ceremony club's activity room, they would bring their own homemade tea snacks. Because there is a saying that sour goes well with black tea and sweet goes well with green tea, and their favorite is sour blueberry pie, they usually drink rich and strong black tea.

But this time, the tea type provided in the exam question was green tea.

Perhaps when Shiina Hiyori saw the types of tea, she already felt that it would be difficult to surpass Horikita Suzune, so she simply chose the flavor that Kitagawa Ryo usually liked to drink, and the overly strong green tea naturally did not receive high approval from the judges.

Kitagawa Ryo couldn't help but chuckle at this thought, and without any hesitation, he drank all the tea that Shiina Hiyori had brewed in one gulp.

"Isn't that enough to drink?"

Hiyori Shiina was very nervous.

"When we go back, it will be enough if it's just the two of us."

Kitagawa Ryo returned the cup and then patted Shiina Hiyori's hair.

"Okay! I'll make you as much as you want to drink when it's time to cool off."

Shiina Hiyori nodded vigorously, seemingly wanting to say something more, but was pulled away by Ibuki Mio to collect her reward, since the third-place prize also included ingredients.

After speaking with Shiina Hiyori, Kitagawa Ryo didn't forget Horikita Suzune either. Seeing her standing to the side with a bag full of ingredients looking in their direction, Kitagawa Ryo went over and took the ingredients from her. After giving them a perfunctory look, he then dramatically shouted:

"They even have wheat miso! People in Kyushu really like this sweet flavor. How about I make some sweet and sour pork ribs for Suzune tonight? We happen to have a rack of pork ribs."

"...Why are you so excited?"

Horikita Suzune instinctively retorted.

But she quickly pursed her lips, tugged at Kitagawa Ryo's sleeve, and leaned closer, saying:

"Do... a little more."

Kitagawa Ryo raised the corners of his mouth upon hearing this.

In fact, the culinary philosophy he taught Horikita Suzune and Shiina Hiyori was essentially the same thing:

Food has no fixed taste; what suits one's palate is precious. Put yourself in others' shoes and treat them as you would like to be treated.

Kitagawa Ryo glanced at the teapot, which was now completely empty, and turned back with satisfaction.

And, don't waste.

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

After the "Tea Ceremony" project concluded, Kitagawa Ryo and Horikita Suzune bid farewell to Shiina Hiyori's group and returned to the meeting place they had initially agreed upon.

Because the "tea ceremony" topic was delayed by almost half an hour, Ichinose Honami and Sakayanagi Arisu had already finished their "historical knowledge test" topic.

"Finally home."

Upon seeing Kitagawa Ryo and Horikita Suzune, Ichinose Honami breathed a sigh of relief.

"If Liang doesn't come back soon, I'm going to go find the teacher in charge."

On the other side, Sakayanagi Arisu suspiciously noticed a subtle problem:

"I remember that Ryo and Horikita went to different research projects, so how come they came back together?"

“There was a little trouble with Lingyin’s project, and I was a bit worried about her, so I rented a jet ski to go see her. But in the end, everything was fine, and Lingyin even won first place and brought back a lot of ingredients.”

Kitagawa Ryo tried to steer the conversation away from the topic with a bright smile.

"So that's why our group's score suddenly dropped by 1,100 points."

Sakayanagi Arisu sighed with her head down:

"Ichinose and I got first place and third place, and we only earned 1,200 points. And what about the motorcycle?"

"Because a heavy rain is expected later, the school has taken them back for safekeeping in advance."

Kitagawa Ryo answered cautiously.

"All right."

Sakayanagi Arisu stood up, patted her knees, and handed over the backpack that was placed to the side with a smile:

"I'll trouble you to take extra care of setting up the tent and waterproofing it later."

"Cough cough... It's my duty, it's my duty."

Kitagawa Ryo knew he was in the wrong, since he had used the team's score first. After taking Sakayanagi Arisu's backpack, he casually opened the team score page on his watch:

"Actually, we have quite a few points, look, we still have..."

"and many more."