I have a life simulator.

Chapter 332: The Time Management Master's Great Failure

In some respects, Hiyori Shiina was actually in breach of contract first.

Even though she asked Ryuen Sho to tell Kitagawa Ryo that "if you have time, go to Class C and find me, I have something very important to say," on the day of the Tokyo Advanced Educational High School's cultural festival, she seemed to have transformed into a detective who had finally deduced the truth of the unsolved case after a long period of time, and every minute and every second of waiting felt so long and unbearable.

On the eve of the school festival, Hiyori Shiina finally received a package sent from her parents outside of school by taking advantage of a loophole in the festival rules. In addition to several mystery novels by Katsumi Shiina himself, which were used as a cover, there were also many other types of mystery novels. The letters from her family were secretly tucked into one of them.

As a family where the father is a mystery novelist and the daughter is a hardcore mystery novel fan, just like how Shiina Hiyori recently shared some questions about rings with her parents in her review of "A Study in Scarlet," Shiina Katsumi's reply was intentionally placed in a similar book, which can be regarded as a small interaction between him and his daughter from afar.

However, Hiyori Shiina was not stumped by her father's little test. She quickly and accurately found Ayatsuji Yukito's "The Decagon House Murder Prediction" among those mystery novels. This was the debut work of this famous mystery writer. With the publication of this work, Japanese mystery literature entered a brand new era of Shin-Honkaku. The year the book was published, 1987, is also known as the first year of Shin-Honkaku.

(But for those who aren't mystery novel fans, the more well-known work is probably Ayatsuji Yukito's later novel, "Another." After all, this work was adapted into a manga, an anime, and a movie. Many veteran anime viewers should remember the scene in the anime where the long-handled umbrella is used to kill someone; it's definitely one of my psychological traumas.)

Similar to "A Study in Scarlet", the plot of "The Decagon House Murders" is also a tragedy of revenge for love, and the direct motive for the first victim being killed by the murderer is that she was holding a birthday gift that the murderer gave to his girlfriend.

It's also a ring, and it's engraved with the Romanized initials of the two people's names: KM & CN.

Sure enough, Shiina Hiyori quickly found her father's handwritten letter in the lining of this not-so-thick mystery novel. Since she had known for a long time that Kitagawa Ryo and her daughter's relationship was so good that they would talk on the phone every day even though they were on opposite sides of the earth, Shiina Katsumi was not surprised by the progress of their relationship. After all, they were already high school students, and it was perfectly normal for them to be in a relationship.

Regarding Shiina Hiyori's mention of the ring and return gift, Shiina Katsumi told his daughter another thing in a letter, almost like writing a novel. That is, after he left home more than half a year ago to enroll in Tokyo Advanced Educational High School, his wife would clean her bedroom every one or two weeks to ensure it was clean and well-ventilated. But at the end of last month, when she was tidying up Shiina Hiyori's room as usual, she suddenly found a ring lying quietly in a corner of the desk drawer, as if it had been sealed away for a long time.

After repeatedly confirming that the ring did not belong to the couple, and then receiving an inquiry from Shiina Hiyori, the two decided to send her the ring, which seemed like a gift from heaven, along with a letter. They even jokingly added at the end of the letter that since Hiyori said the ring she received from her could fit perfectly on her finger, perhaps the ring they found in her room drawer could also fit Kitagawa Ryo perfectly.

Although Shiina Katsumi used a joking and humorous tone throughout writing these words, Shiina Hiyori had an incredibly strong premonition the moment she received the ring: that all the jokes her father had made might actually be true.

Hiyori Shiina became increasingly convinced that the ring she received from her father was the one that perfectly fit Ryo Kitagawa's finger size, because she could even clearly see herself giving it to Ryo Kitagawa on the rooftop in her dreams.

This morning, as she once again witnessed those drones taking off and leaving trails and huge promotional photos in the air, certain memories that seemed to have existed but couldn't quite recall when they happened became increasingly clear in Shiina Hiyori's mind. It was as if a distorted, blurry old photograph was being gradually washed away, leaving all traces of the past, and the scenes and people suddenly became incredibly vivid.

In a sense, Shiina Hiyori was unconsciously pushed in front of Kitagawa Ryo by this overwhelming tide of memories.

In fact, the moment she saw the other person, all the emotions surging within her chest inexplicably calmed down, and many questions and words she wanted to ask vanished without a trace. Shiina Hiyori's consciousness jumped back and forth between past memories and present reality, as if trying to separate them. She reached out her hand to Kitagawa Ryo and uttered words completely opposite to those before:

"So this time, can I put it on Ryo myself?"

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Unlike the dessert shop located on the third floor of the teaching building, which is not yet very popular, the special teaching building, despite its remote location, attracted many interested guests who made a special trip here, thanks to the grand publicity that made a splash the moment the guests arrived. Even though the maid café on the first floor, run by Class 1-D, drew away many customers, the influx of customers still easily filled the corridor on the third floor.

Because they were delayed at the main entrance, Xue and Chunyingzi had to queue in the crowd for quite a while before they finally managed to squeeze to a relatively good spot at the front. But then they heard a sudden commotion that sounded like a commotion.

Unlike previous cultural festivals, Tsukishiro Tsuneo specially invited many junior high school students who were about to graduate to visit this year. These junior high school students were one of the main groups attracted by the promotional pictures of the cat cafe featuring handsome men, beautiful women, and cute animals. Therefore, when they saw Shiina Hiyori's actions in front of the shop, they subconsciously thought they had stumbled upon a confession scene by senior students from Toyu University, and they all started to make a fuss. This quickly attracted the attention of some guests who couldn't see what was happening in front of them.

"Excuse me, what's going on up ahead?"

"It seems like a senior from Dongyu University is confessing her feelings to a senior. The guy is the one in the promotional photo at the entrance... no, at first I thought it was a retouched photo, but he looks even more handsome in person than in the photo."

"Is this Kitagawa Ryo? Doesn't he have a girlfriend? I remember that's what they say online, something like Karuizawa."

"Are people really obsessed with online celebrity couples? Can you please tone it down?"

After barely catching some unverified explanations from the chatter of the crowd in front, Xue bit her lip, took a few deep breaths, and forcefully pushed her way to the front. The guests in front of her felt a sudden, powerful force and involuntarily parted to make way for her. A girl who was still helping her older sister out, saying "Sorry, sorry, excuse me" with a mix of helplessness and amusement, also squeezed through.

It can only be said that even Tsubaki Sakura herself doesn't know where her sister's mysterious confidence comes from. After all, even according to the incomplete information she has, which is known that Kitagawa Ryo and her sister knew each other in the past, her sister had already been taken home several years ago and had been living in the hospital receiving psychological treatment ever since.

Kitagawa Ryo reappeared this June, which is at least five or six years ago. You can't expect that his interpersonal relationships have been as blank as yours all these years.

Even if you two were very close in the past, to be honest, that was all in your childhood. Tsubaki Sakura herself has almost forgotten the names and faces of her elementary school classmates.

So this is a future that can be seen at a glance. After all, compared to his older sister who has been stuck in the hospital room and unable to integrate into society, this boy named Kitagawa Ryo will definitely meet new girls, experience new events, and develop new feelings during this period.

Although she knew this perfectly well in her heart, Tsubaki Sakurako still maintained an expression of indifference, silently following behind Yuki and casually glancing at Kitagawa Ryo, who seemed to have also noticed their arrival and was looking in their direction.

……hiss.

To be honest, Tsubaki Sakura herself had met Kitagawa Ryo several times in the past. Although most of the time it was just a brief encounter and a polite greeting, she had at least seen the handsome boy's appearance up close.

Even so, she could only sigh inwardly at the Creator's favoritism, and had no other feelings beyond that.

But today feels different.

Even though it had only been two months since their last meeting, Kitagawa Ryo seemed to have gained an infectious charm and attraction out of nowhere, involuntarily drawing Tsubaki Sakura's gaze and attention. This made the girl, who had been listless and seemingly unable to muster any energy since the start of the school festival, unusually attentive. The stick of the lollipop that had been dangling from her mouth stopped its playful wriggling and instead hung quietly to one side.

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As it turns out, even the most meticulously planned scheme can crumble in an instant due to some unexpected change, just like a time management master who was quite confident before the cultural festival.

The sudden arrival of Shiina Hiyori disrupted all of Kitagawa Ryo's plans. According to the plan he made yesterday, after quickly dealing with the two projects of the dessert shop and the cat cafe, he would take the initiative to find Yuki, who should be almost here looking for him. Then, under the cover of Ayanokoji Kiyotaka on the first floor, he would find a time to meet Shiina Hiyori.

But who knew that the one who would act out of the ordinary this time was Shiina Hiyori, who was absolutely neutral during the sports festival. Although Kitagawa Ryo had considered that Hiyori might have remembered some of the things in the simulation, Hotaru himself was vague about when Hiyori would remember. And most importantly, the information he got from Ryuen Sho was that Hiyori would wait for him to come over when he was free, which meant that the initiative should be on his side.

It can only be said that reality is not a mystery novel where logic is airtight and every step requires a reasonable motive. Under the sudden attack of Shiina Hiyori, Kitagawa Ryo could only compose himself and start thinking of a way to get through this long-awaited hellish situation.

This was actually to be expected. After all, through his long-term efforts, he had basically sorted out the interpersonal relationships of the girls at Tokyo Advanced Educational High School. The potential pitfalls of Ichinose Honami and Karuizawa Megumi, who were originally the most likely to trigger this kind of scenario, have also been eliminated (I don't know what happened at the sports festival).

In this situation, Xue, who lives outside the school, will undoubtedly become the catfish in the catfish effect, stirring up the originally calm situation again. After all, compared with other girls who can see him every day and spend wonderful campus time with him, the emotions that Xue has accumulated and suppressed in her heart, who can only wait outside the school for the start of the new school season next April, will only be more turbulent.

More importantly, similar to Amaze Ichika, who was in a similar situation, a significant portion of the memories they retained from that simulation were not pleasant. This is because most of their interactions took place within the white room. Even though Yuki and Ichika were freed from the white room and gradually integrated into society after it was destroyed, they inevitably inherited some of the trauma from their childhood in terms of emotions and personalities, which was then carried over to the two of them in reality.

To reiterate, for both Amazu Ichika and Yuki, the white-room life that permeated their entire childhood was hardly a beautiful chapter worth praising and repeatedly recalling. It was only because Kitagawa Ryo was there that his presence added a bright and dazzling warm hue to their pale memories. But in the end, it was just like shards of glass wrapped in honey; the deeper you go, the more you get hurt.

Therefore, Tianze Yixia still unconsciously acts coquettishly in front of him, which is inappropriate for her age, while Xue—

The smile of the first girl to learn to smile in this white room was so gentle and radiant, yet it was also full of warmth and a subtle emotion that he could not refuse.

Every night that Kitagawa Ryo met him after leaving school, she would stubbornly insist on sleeping in the same bed with him.

Just like now, naturally hug his arm with a force that seems to want to meld his whole body into your chest.

"Let's go, Ryo, didn't you say you'd come with me to the cultural festival today?"

Chapter 333: The World is a Giant Boomerang (4k5)

Just as Kitagawa Ryo had imagined, Yuki had no intention of hiding her intentions in front of everyone. Just like the magic cast on Cinderella would wear off after midnight, the only day she could openly meet Kitagawa Ryo until next spring was actually the school festival.

To be precise, it was less than six hours, until five o'clock in the afternoon.

So from the very beginning, she wanted to monopolize Kitagawa Ryo's time. She had already planned to remember every single moment they spent together, just as animals need to store up enough food before winter. Snow also needs to accumulate enough food for herself to survive the icy winter before the arrival of next spring, a kind of spiritual food called memories.

Shiina Hiyori, of course, did not recognize this girl who suddenly rushed over from among the guests, acting intimately with Ryo as if they were very familiar. She had known Kitagawa Ryo for a long time and thought she knew his family members and life experiences well enough, but no matter how hard she searched her memory, she could not find a girl with such a face.

But this thought only lasted for a moment. Having just recalled some experiences that seemed to not exist in the past, as if they happened in a parallel world, Shiina Hiyori quickly made a fairly accurate deduction by extrapolating from her own experience to the other person. She defined the other person as someone who had crossed paths with the boy in front of her in another world line unknown to her. After all, even though Kitagawa Ryo was being hugged so intimately by the other person, he did not show any sign of resistance, which clearly meant that he also knew her.

Even so, Hiyori Shiina still had no intention of giving up.

She wasn't actually a particularly bold or enthusiastic person when it came to showing off in front of others; otherwise, she wouldn't have made such a mess of Class C during the sports festival. But even now, in front of a huge crowd of guests, amidst the increasingly excited and noisy jeers and discussions caused by Yuki's intrusion, Shiina Hiyori still stepped forward again, almost touching Kitagawa Ryo's nose, and asked once more:

"This is the return gift I prepared for Ryo, so, may we exchange gifts now?"

During last month's sports festival, Kitagawa Ryo had planned to give Shiina Hiyori the ring she shared under the guise of a borrowing contest. However, he unexpectedly brought out another ring that didn't exist in reality, which triggered a chain reaction that caused Hiyori to regress in her memories. Coincidentally, Hiyori then completed the final piece of evidence and memory fragment at this cultural festival, giving Kitagawa Ryo the feeling that he was being targeted by some kind of world's will.

'Shall we exchange gifts now?'

In other words, this statement essentially means that he should take out the ring that Shiina Hiyori belongs to and give it to her again.

Considering that a certain girl was already very emotionally unstable and showed signs of dreaming about the White Room, clinging tightly to his arm, if Kitagawa Ryo were to take out the ring and exchange it with Shiina Hiyori at close range in front of her, he felt that something quite bad would happen.

It has to be said that Ying was still willing to lend a hand to her brother at this time. Just when the situation was a bit deadlocked, she shook her head, swiftly grabbed a cat cafe menu from the table next to her, and lightly jumped from inside the store to outside in a few steps. Standing on the ground near the three of them, she opened the menu, tilted her head back, and meowed a few times in a low voice, starting to act cute for the first time.

Kitagawa Ryo, of course, wouldn't let go of the great opportunity his younger sister had created for him. He immediately took the opportunity to bend down slightly and pick up Hotaru and the menu together.

“We’ve kept our cats waiting. It’s not good for the three of us to be blocking the way here. The cat café needs to operate normally. As for Hiyori, why don’t we go inside and talk?”

Then, Kitagawa Ryo turned to Yuki and spoke again:

"I've been preparing for this cat cafe project for a long time and put a lot of thought into it. I think it would be best if we started our cultural festival here."

Perhaps it was Hotaru's bright, watery, fluorescent eyes that made it impossible to refuse, or perhaps it was because they felt it wouldn't be right to continue in front of so many strangers, but the two girls exchanged a somewhat confrontational glance and ultimately chose to accept the stepping stone offered by Kitagawa Ryo, following him into the cat cafe.

As the three of them left, many customers who were engrossed in watching the commotion also rushed into the not-so-large cat cafe, eager to see the second half of the story. This jolted the students of Class 1-A, who were working as staff but had also lost track of time while engrossed in the drama surrounding their class leader's love life, into a daze. They quickly began to guide the customers into the cafe and take their orders in an orderly manner, following their pre-rehearsed routine.

But when the first group of customers actually entered the cat cafe, they found that they couldn't find the three people from before. Feeling a little disappointed, they could only order some drinks since they were already there. Their attention quickly shifted to the cute cats that Kitagawa Ryo had temporarily rented from outside the school. They finally remembered why they had come here in the first place.

After leaving the cat café with Yuki and Hiyori Shiina through the back door, Kitagawa Ryo put Hotaru down again and, before they could speak, said:

"So, could you please let me explain first?"

In fact, once Hiwa Shiina truly regained her past memories, there was little point in continuing to hide them.

Actually, there's not much need for Xue to explain further. After all, Kitagawa Ryo told her the whole truth the moment they met a few months ago. The unease she's showing now is essentially because she feels that Kitagawa Ryo didn't keep the promise they made back then. In a sense, she's been counting down the days until this day arrived.

"First of all, Hiyori. The inside story is indeed similar to what you imagined, but I've always felt that I didn't fall in love with Hiyori because of everything in those memories, and Hiyori certainly didn't fall in love with me because of those experiences that I only remembered today, right? That's why I've never told you these things. After all, in my opinion, it wouldn't have any other effect except to confuse you."

"And then, this is Xue."

At this point, Kitagawa Ryo paused. Although he now knew that the other party had taken back the original surname 'Tsubaki' after leaving the white room, he still habitually omitted the other party's surname because they only called each other by their first names in the white room.

"I understand. However, Ryo doesn't need to tell me about the story between you and her anymore. Of course, you're not allowed to tell her about our relationship either."

Before Kitagawa Ryo could continue speaking, Shiina Hiyori interrupted him. For a literary girl like her, one of the most romantic things in the world is to have a secret memory that belongs only to the two of them, only with their closest people. They would smile involuntarily when they saw things and scenes whose meaning only they knew, and the confusion and incomprehension of others would be the best explanation at that moment.

But Kitagawa Ryo's next words quickly startled Shiina Hiyori, who was quietly rubbing the ring on her palm.

"...Well, I do remember the benefits, I remember the days and the things I remember."

Having learned the painful lesson that hiding something could backfire unexpectedly, Kitagawa Ryo chose to tell the whole truth this time to avoid a repeat of the embarrassing situation he was in today.

Although Kitagawa Ryo's addition sounded a bit awkward at first, Shiina Hiyori quickly realized what it meant. Being an exceptionally intelligent girl, she immediately connected it to Karuizawa Kei's strange behavior and remarks during the special exam on the deserted island.

Then, Shiina Hiyori, with a complicated feeling, made a rare, obvious twitch at the corner of her mouth, as if she couldn't quite understand what kind of mentality Karuizawa Kei had held in becoming her good friend all these years.

As Shiina Hiyori and the others fell into a long silence, Kitagawa Ryo immediately turned to inform Yuki, who seemed somewhat excited, of something else:

"And then, regarding Yuki, besides me, Ichika and Arisu also remember those things with you."

So, Xue's smile froze, and she felt a little frustrated.

Putting aside the fact that she always thought she had no more contact with Kitagawa Ryo and that Sakayanagi Arisu had been buried in another timeline along with those variety shows and CP names that no longer exist, Amasawa Ichika had met with her several times in the past few months.

After all, every time Kitagawa Ryo met her, it was under the pretext of participating in a competition outside of school. As a fellow member of the drama club, Amasawa Ichika would come every time, but she never mentioned these things to her. On the contrary, Yuki herself felt naturally closer to her because of their past relationship and their shared connection from the White Room.

So you were sneaking off too, weren't you?

After explaining their situation in general, Kitagawa Ryo once again took the initiative to explain and inquire about Shiina Hiyori's situation:

"I made a promise with Yuki a long time ago to go to this cultural festival together. How about we save the gift exchange for a more suitable day? At least we don't want to lose out to the grand scale of that one."

Having keenly sensed Kitagawa Ryo's message that 'this girl named Yuki will only be here for one day,' Shiina Hiyori gave a small snort, gripped the ring in her hand again, adopted a "I'll let you off the hook today" attitude, pouted and looked away, muttering under her breath:

"Okay, but don't bring her to my place. Let Liang come over by herself, that's a different story."

After saying that, Shiina Hiyori turned around and walked away, looking back every few steps, before finally disappearing from their sight completely.

"Hmm... finally it's just the two of us left."

"Hey, where's your sister? I remember she was following you around the store entrance just now."

"Oh, you mean Sakura? I told her before I came that she would be going to the cultural festival with Ryo. She's a very sensible girl, and she's probably already going to see other things by herself?"

Seemingly quite at ease with her younger sister, or perhaps unwilling to waste any more precious moments between them, after casually offering this explanation, Xue couldn't wait to loosen her arms and hug Kitagawa Ryo tightly from the front, wrapping her arms around his waist and burying her head in his chest. Her tense nerves finally relaxed in the face of the familiar scent that rushed towards her.

Just as when you forget someone you remember vividly, the first thing you often forget is their flaws, memories are always being embellished.

The reason she still feels a morbid longing and reluctance to part with the white room is simply because only there, in that warm and safe embrace, truly belonged to her alone.

The answer to the question is actually hidden in the question that Ayanokouji Kiyotaka asked Yuki back then, "Why are you laughing?" It was simply because he was by her side, and she was by his side.

However, what Yuki didn't know was that while she was greedily enjoying this long-awaited time alone with someone, the legendary observer Ayanokouji Kiyotaka had actually taken his position and was carefully recording everything in front of him into his mind from a nearby corner.

Over the past semester, he had observed the daily interactions of countless couples, with Kitagawa Ryo being the most useful and reliable encyclopedia of love. Through observation and judgment of expressions, demeanor, and unconscious subtle body movements, he found that Yuki in front of him was no different from girls in the throes of love, and even more profound and passionate in her emotional expression.

The other party was not lying.

Even the test subjects rejected by the White Room can now like someone normally, and freely show the outside world those emotions that Ayanokouji Kiyotaka never imagined or had ever had, such as that obvious little jealousy.

After observing these things with satisfaction, Kiyotaka Ayanokouji quietly chose to leave. After all, the maid café on the first floor still needed his help, and if he stayed away for too long, the other students in his class would notice.

As he walked down the stairs and passed another group of guests who were chatting and laughing as they went up, a folded piece of paper was precisely slipped between Ayanokouji Kiyotaka's fingers. He took it without making a sound, glanced at it, and then threw it into his mouth.

It was Atsuomi Ayanokoji's instruction.

The note had several names written on both the front and back. If Kiyotaka Ayanokouji was not mistaken, the names on the front should have already been decided, like Takuya Yagami and Ichika Amasawa, who were directly arranged by Atsuomi Ayanokouji to be his collaborators, although one of them has now been eliminated and the other has betrayed him.

On the other hand, these were all people the other party asked him to pay close attention to, and Xue and Chun Yingzi's names were prominently listed.

In fact, during this cultural festival, only a handful of students like Yuki and Tsubaki Sakura received clear instructions directly. Essentially, he and Kitagawa Ryo were the interviewers for these students, selecting those they deemed suitable. These students would then be assigned to completely opposite withdrawal tasks based on their choices after enrollment next year.

Of course, if two people choose the same student, then the right to choose will return to the individual.

On this note, two students' names appeared on both the front and back, and were highlighted in black. The implication was that, theoretically, the other student's stance might be biased towards him, but their actual thoughts were unclear and required his personal evaluation and confirmation.

Kiyotaka Ayanokoji silently repeated the two names in his mind again.

The first one is Kyo Ishigami.

He had some recollection of the surname because the Ishigami family had been a strong supporter of the White Room project until it was forced to be temporarily shelved.

The second one.