I have a life simulator.

Similar to the previous sports festival, the faculty and staff of Tokyo Advanced Educational High School were also granted the right to participate in this cultural festival. This time, they enjoyed the same treatment as the guests and could freely use the 10,000 personal points issued by the school.

For teachers in each class, an additional rule was added: teachers cannot use any points in the grade they teach, but their other rights remain the same as those of ordinary guests.

These are the only two rules regarding teachers in this cultural festival.

Among the hidden rules of the cultural festival is one that guests can also participate in projects organized by students. Kitagawa Ryo, who helped Horikita Gakuen two years ago, can be said to have a lot to say on this point.

The rules state that "teachers are treated the same as guests" and "teachers cannot spend points in the grade they teach." Equating teachers with guests reveals that teachers also have the right to participate in student projects during this cultural festival. After all, this does not violate the second rule. She did not spend points in the grade she teaches; she was just helping out. As long as the recipient agrees, there is no problem.

After pondering for a moment, Kitagawa Ryo truthfully told Chabashira Sae about it. What he needed to do now was to continuously increase his importance in the other party's heart until Chabashira Sae regarded his value as more precious than the entire Class D.

As expected, as soon as Kitagawa Ryo said those words, Chabashira Sae's pupils visibly brightened even more. She, who had been keeping a distance from Kitagawa Ryo, subconsciously took a few steps closer to him, almost to the point where their shoulders were touching and their breaths were almost touching.

"Yes, that's exactly what you said."

With a mix of excitement and a bit of loss of control, Chabashira Sae reached out and grabbed Kitagawa Ryo's shoulder. Her breathing became slightly erratic, and her full breasts displayed the magnanimity of adulthood, leaving Kitagawa Ryo unsure of where to look. He could only stare at Chabashira Sae in front of him.

"Among the hidden rules the school gave our class advisor, there was one that allowed us to hire someone for an hour with 100,000 personal points."

"I'm not sure if any of the students in the class saw through this and asked me for help at the last minute."

"So—Kitagawa."

"Quickly, buy me first."

Chapter 324: So it's been said that objects are carriers of memory.

After Chabashira Sae delivered her information-packed speech with great urgency, Kitagawa Ryo's brain also began to work at lightning speed.

The cultural festival runs from 10:00 AM to around 5:00 PM, which is about seven hours. According to the statement that it costs 100,000 person points to hire Chabashira Sae for one hour, Kitagawa Ryo only needs to pay 700,000 person points to buy all of the first-year class D teacher's free time on the day of the cultural festival.

Seven hundred thousand yen is definitely not a small amount, but after weighing the options, Kitagawa Ryo decided to do as Chabashira Sae suggested, seizing the initiative that could affect the outcome of the cultural festival.

The reason, of course, was the information I learned from the other party that Class D of the first year was going to open a maid cafe at this cultural festival. The first selling point of a maid cafe is naturally the maids, but if we really talk about the girls' looks, Class A of the first year dares to say that they are second, and the other three classes cannot say that they are first.

Although Class 1-D had a beautiful girl like Kikyo Kushida to hold its own, the profits from opening a maid café weren't actually that high after other pretty girls like Masumi Kamuro and Ai Morishita declined. After all, you can't really expect Kikyo Kushida to be the receptionist, waitress, and even take photos with the customers all by herself.

Given this clearly difficult prospect, the fact that Katsuragi Kohei, as the class leader, was still willing to approve and earnestly promote this maid café project suggests that he and Ayanokoji Kiyotaka must have some other trump cards up their sleeves.

If we continue reasoning along this line of thought, Chabashira Sae becomes the obvious answer and solution.

As one of the two youngest and most beautiful female teachers in the faculty of Tokyo Advanced Educational High School, Sae Chabashira's reputation and impression are undoubtedly the opposite of Chie Hoshinomiya's.

After that special exam, Chabashira Sae, who seemed to have sealed her heart and locked away her love, was always seen by her colleagues as aloof and unapproachable. She was only a little gentler during the few months that spring when she was parachuted in as the homeroom teacher of Class A. However, after summer, when the class fell to Class D, she returned to her original self, although she was a different person in front of Kitagawa Ryo.

In fact, the more casual and even chaotic Hoshinomiya Chie's private life is, the more it makes her, her so-called best friend, appear dignified and unapproachable, especially for the staff and teachers at Tokyo Advanced Educational High School.

And coincidentally, they are also a significant consumer group at this cultural festival.

Kitagawa Ryo was certain that if he were in Katsuragi Kohei's or Ayanokoji Kiyotaka's current positions, after seeing through the hidden rule about teachers at this cultural festival, he would absolutely not miss the opportunity to use homeroom teacher Chabashira Sae to significantly increase sales.

If Katsuragi Kohei and Ayanokouji Kiyotaka truly held such thoughts, then hiring Chabashira Sae in advance would undoubtedly disrupt their entire plan.

Of course, even if we take a step back and assume that all of the above is just Kitagawa Ryo's own wild and unfounded speculation, he could still turn the tables and use Chabashira Sae's "high popularity" in a certain sense. After all, his dessert shop and cat cafe both need staff or signboard girls, and he could let Chabashira Sae take on these jobs. Maybe the revenue he earns in the end will be more than the cost of 700,000 yen.

Seeing that Kitagawa Ryo hadn't given a positive response to her request for quite some time, Chabashira Sae, as if afraid that he would refuse, took out her phone from her pocket to transfer the money to him, but Kitagawa Ryo quickly stopped her.

"No need, I can still come up with those hundreds of thousands of points."

Although he didn't earn a lot from the recently concluded sports festival, and the more than one million yen he earned by betting on himself as the top scorer using Shiina Hiyori's deposited points was simply left untouched, thanks to Kiryuin Fuuka winning the second-year top scorer award, Kitagawa Ryo's one million yen bet on that actually yielded a return of nearly two million yen. With the points he currently has, he can easily come up with seven hundred thousand yen.

Moreover, Kitagawa Ryo did not want to leave such a large transfer record between himself and Chabashira Sae, since at certain times, this level of evidence would be enough to easily stir up a storm of public opinion.

"Then I'll go find someone to finalize this matter right now."

Seeing that Kitagawa Ryo had finally relented, Chabashira Sae's emotions stabilized somewhat, but her words and actions still revealed an eagerness to prevent any changes from happening. She immediately took out a pre-prepared contract from her bag. If Kitagawa Ryo hadn't been so clear about the thought process of this beautiful homeroom teacher, whose mental age was probably still around that of a high school girl, he probably would have thought this was some kind of new scam.

Even so, Kitagawa Ryo carefully checked the rather simple employment contract before signing his name on it:

"That'll be fine."

As he spoke, Kitagawa Ryo took the initiative to look up and ask:

"By the way, Chabashira-sensei, can you accept cats?"

"...Cats? I've never owned one because I might have some allergies to them."

Chabashira Sae was also taken aback for a moment upon hearing this, somewhat confused as to why Kitagawa Ryo suddenly asked such a seemingly random question, but she still gave her answer honestly.

"I see. Then I'll contact you again on the day of the cultural festival, Chabashira-sensei. After all, it cost me 700,000 personal points. I hope Chabashira-sensei won't object to working on our class's facilities?"

"Work? I'm fine with myself, but what if my classmates see me..."

"It's okay. Just say that I found a loophole in the rules and used it against you. It wasn't your own intention at all. Maybe it can even give your Class D a morale boost of fighting together against the enemy."

In response to Chabashira Sae's concerns, Kitagawa Ryo simply waved his hand dismissively.

"As for the job details, you'll find out when the time comes."

So, what kind of job is it exactly?

"That is certainly a very important job, and in my heart, only you, Mr. Chabashira, can perfectly handle it."

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

Perhaps because he has been interacting with Chabashira Sae more and more, Kitagawa Ryo is now becoming more and more adept at playing the role of an irresponsible, non-rejecting, and non-pushing scumbag in front of her, and he feels no psychological pressure.

But then again, perhaps this was also a source of psychological comfort and a last resort for Chabashira Sae. In a sense, their relationship actually started with the other person's self-deception.

However, just as Kitagawa Ryo couldn't predict Ayanokouji Kiyotaka's future at this stage, he was also unclear about and unwilling to think about the matter between him and Chabashira Sae. After returning to his dormitory room, he lay down on the bed in a starfish position, feeling a little tired. But within seconds, Hotaru lay on top of him in the same starfish position on Hotaru's bed. For a moment, the room was quiet except for the sound of their breathing and heartbeats.

Just as Kitagawa Ryo was enjoying this rare moment of peace, Hotaru, who was lying sprawled on his chest, seemed to suddenly remember something. Her tail, which had been drooping limply over Kitagawa Ryo's belly, suddenly straightened up and did a backflip, landing directly on Kitagawa Ryo's face. Her small paws gently patted his eyelids a few times, forcefully waking up Kitagawa Ryo, who was already feeling sleepy.

"Huh? What's wrong?"

Kitagawa Ryo was still a little groggy when he opened his eyes and saw Hotaru leap off him and onto the computer desk next to the bed. Hotaru started typing on the keyboard with practiced ease, as if she wanted to tell him something.

"Achoo... You didn't secretly turn on the automatic simulation again behind my back, did you? Didn't I tell you last time not to do that for a while?"

Because the scene in front of him looked too familiar, Kitagawa Ryo's sleepiness instantly dissipated by more than half. He rubbed his eyes and walked to the computer desk to sit down, wanting to see what new tricks his troublesome younger sister had up her sleeve.

"Hmm, let me see—Shiina Hiyori, what's wrong with Hiyori?"

Kitagawa Ryo let out another lazy yawn, then casually glanced at the computer screen and immediately saw a name that Hotaru had painstakingly typed out.

"Is it because of the ring I gave her at the sports festival? This one?"

After briefly recalling recent events related to Hiyori, Kitagawa Ryo leaned to his left and took the ring that Shiina Hiyori had returned to him back then, which he was now keeping on a ring pillow, and waved it in front of Hotaru.

"Meow meow meow."

Hotaru nodded firmly, and then continued her super slow one-finger typing mode. If it weren't for the fact that the scene of a cat typing was quite amusing, Kitagawa Ryo probably would have fallen asleep while waiting.

While he was half asleep and half awake, his mind wandering to whether he should take a picture and add a caption to make a meme that says, "My cat read the beginning of my novel, got up all night to delete it, and revised the outline for me," Hotaru finally finished typing the second sentence after a lot of effort:

"Objects are carriers of memories."

As if to prove this point, Hotaru lightly jumped off the computer desk and ran back to her little home in a few quick steps. Then, under Kitagawa Ryo's somewhat surprised gaze, she dragged out a few trinkets.

A small wooden stick engraved with "One more," a dimly lit photo of two people under a streetlamp, a tattered paper net used for catching goldfish, and a USB drive filled with medical plans related to the pathology of congenital heart disease.

These were all treasured items that Hotaru had carefully selected from the simulations. Just seeing them made Kitagawa Ryo's memories begin to blur. Memories of the past, whether beautiful or sad, but certainly memorable, flooded his mind in an instant. It took him a while to come back to his senses.

"So, does Ying mean that this ring is essentially a token of the same nature as these?"

Considering Hotaru's previous actions and the words she typed on the keyboard, Kitagawa Ryo tentatively made his own speculation.

"Meow."

Hotaru tilted her head slightly and let out a soft cry. Then, as if it were a precious treasure, she carefully put all the little trinkets back into her little nest. Finally, she nestled into Kitagawa Ryo's arms, blinked her firefly-colored eyes, and nodded her little head vigorously.

She directed Kitagawa Ryo to look again at the description of the ring in the inventory.

[A ring: It should be a pair, but you don't know who has the other one right now.]

In fact, the answer lies within the riddle itself.

These are two rings that come in a pair. So when Kitagawa Ryo kept the one he was holding hidden and never took it out, the other ring would also be hidden away in the long river of time and memory, and no one could find its trace.

Once it truly finds its owner, the remaining one will reappear in the world in its place, and through a series of coincidences, it will reappear again as part of the patching of the world's consciousness.

Was it a coincidence?

Kitagawa Ryo wasn't too bothered by Hotaru's explanation. After all, every time he successfully simulated and materialized his talent, it would cause some changes, big or small, to the world. For example, the problem of congenital heart disease had already been solved in this timeline.

However, what Kitagawa Ryo is most concerned about right now is not how this new patch will deliver the other ring to Shiina Hiyori, but another problem that is even more troublesome just to think about.

"According to Hotaru's theory, will Hiyori be able to recall that related experience through this medium? That is, what happened during Megumi's second simulation?"

Faced with Kitagawa Ryo's question, which had a rare, subtle shift in tone, Hotaru simply patted her brother's shoulder with her front paws, her expression clearly saying, "You chose him, right, idol?"

"Hmm... but it should be fine, right? After all, my relationship with Hiyori is the same as it was back then, isn't it? We're still lovers, so it should be okay... I guess."

As he spoke, Kitagawa Ryo lifted Hotaru up with both hands, shaking her up and down as if checking if she was hiding any similar gadgets, while pretending to be fierce and demanding:

"Hey, you didn't steal something like the knife that Fanbo used back then, did you? That's terrifying."

"Meow (gone)."

In response, Hotaru simply rolled her eyes at Kitagawa Ryo with a hint of resentment, as if to say that nothing would have happened if Kitagawa hadn't suddenly decided to give that ring to Hiyori.

"...I'd rather run the entire sports festival again now."

Just as Kitagawa Ryo was rubbing Hotaru's head to vent his slightly irritated mood, there was a sudden knock on the dormitory door.

It has to be said that compared to the sound of knocking, Kitagawa Ryo is more used to the sound of a key being inserted into the lock and the door being opened with a snap. After all, there are quite a few girls who can do that, and he has experienced this scene countless times.

"Who?"

With swift movements, Kitagawa Ryo stuffed Hotaru's little nest and Hotaru herself under the bed. Kitagawa Ryo responded and walked to the door in his slippers to ask.

A calm reply came quickly from outside the door:

"Ayanokouji."

"I have something to tell you."

Chapter 325: Because of You, I Developed Unnecessary Emotions

"Ayanokouji?"

Upon hearing the visitor introduce himself, Kitagawa Ryo was also somewhat surprised. After all, their relationship wasn't one where they could casually visit each other. However, he also knew that Ayanokouji Kiyotaka wasn't one to make baseless accusations, so he chose to slightly open the door and continue talking to him from inside.

"Can we talk about this here?"

It was probably because, over the past semester, the girls who came to his room were aware of Hotaru's existence, and the boys in the class were also reluctant to visit him because of this. Over time, this made Kitagawa Ryo somewhat less vigilant. After all, with the room layout that he had just hastily tidied up, it was hard for the observant Ayanokouji Kiyotaka not to notice certain clues.

However, Kiyotaka Ayanokouji didn't seem inclined to peek inside. He remained standing respectfully at the door, merely shaking his head slightly in response to Ryo Kitagawa's words.

"This is the only thing I want you to know. If you're worried, then come to my room, okay?"

"Okay, I'll pack up and come over."

Kiyotaka Ayanokouji's dormitory was on the same floor as his, but it was room 401, which was on a different corridor. Ryo Kitagawa remembered this very clearly as well.

"I'll leave the door open for you."

After confirming that Kitagawa Ryo had no intention of refusing, Ayanokouji Kiyotaka's expression seemed to soften slightly. He left after saying this, but after taking only a few steps, he seemed to suddenly remember something, hesitated, stopped, turned back, and added another question:

"...Would you like something to drink?"

"Nothing is needed, thank you."

"it is good."

Perhaps he was born without the capacity for embarrassment or awkwardness, or perhaps he had anticipated Kitagawa Ryo's rejection, but Ayanokouji Kiyotaka's face remained calm and indifferent as he continued walking away.

Meanwhile, Kitagawa Ryo closed the door again, called Hotaru out to give her a few more instructions, changed his shoes, and left the dormitory room.

After closing the door and making sure it was locked, Kitagawa Ryo put the key in his pocket and walked at a leisurely pace to Ayanokouji Kiyotaka's room. As the other party had said, it was only slightly ajar, and it opened completely with a gentle push.

"excuse me."

Although he had visited the rooms of several male classmates he knew well before, he felt a slightly different feeling this time. The moment he entered the room, Kitagawa Ryo began to habitually look around at the furnishings.

monotonous.

This was the first thought and adjective that came to Kitagawa Ryo's mind.

Although the dormitories assigned to each student by the school are the same in terms of the layout of the bed, kitchen, and bathroom, after half a year, each student's room has inevitably been transformed into a nearly personal private space according to their own preferences.

On Karuizawa Megumi's desk still sits the small, conch-shaped lamp he bought for her on the cruise ship; on Sakayanagi Arisu's bedside table lies a small harmonica with sheet music; and even in Yamada Albert's room, which Kitagawa Ryo had only visited a few times, the walls are adorned with various national flags that left a deep impression on him. This burly man was, in fact, a geography and flag enthusiast.

However, Kiyotaka Ayanokouji's room is quite different from the above. It is almost entirely devoid of any personal decorations and is not dirty or messy, but rather quite tidy. Yet, this only further accentuates the monotony of the overall atmosphere. The large expanse of undecorated pure white walls and ceilings makes it hard for Kitagawa Ryo not to think of the term "white room," after all, Kiyotaka Ayanokouji was born there.

"Please come in."

Despite Kitagawa Ryo's action of standing there and looking around the room after entering, Ayanokouji Kiyotaka, who came out of the kitchen, remained unmoved. He carried two glasses of water into the living room, placed them on the table, and then sat cross-legged on the inner side, gesturing for Kitagawa Ryo to sit down.