I have a life simulator.

"There's no other way. After all, the hidden rule of hiring teachers is there. If we can use it, Kitagawa can use it too. Chabashira-sensei probably has no other choice either."

After saying this, Ayanokouji Kiyotaka, without waiting for Katsuragi Yasuhira to ask where he was, immediately continued speaking at a rapid pace:

"I have other things to do, I'll hang up now."

As the last syllable faded from his lips, Kiyotaka Ayanokoji hung up the phone almost simultaneously, refocusing his gaze on the screen in front of him.

This is the scene of another project of Class 1-A, a large-scale sale of exam questions and a question-solving challenge competition led by Arisu Sakayanagi.

Unlike the scene where faculty and staff flocked to the special teaching building, this place was filled with invited junior high school students who were about to graduate. For them, who dreamed of applying to Dongyu University next year, buying a few sets of test papers or taking a temporary test here was quite attractive. In particular, Sakayanagi Arisu brought out the popular ranking system, which further stimulated the desire of many students to become test kings after doing the test and seeing their rankings.

Although Kiyotaka Ayanokouji was well aware that the entrance exam for Tokyo Advanced Educational High School actually accounted for a very small percentage of the overall evaluation criteria, it did not prevent him from carefully observing the academic level of these students. After all, this was still a high school, and good academic performance was definitely a stable advantage, especially in the special exams that primarily tested academic ability.

Since the start of the cultural festival, the top twenty spots on the leaderboard have been completely filled, and the rankings below them continue to change rapidly over time.

But the name of the first place has been fixed there for a long time.

Kyo Ishigami.

What bothered Kiyotaka Ayanokouji even more was that after the other person finished answering the questions and left, as they brushed past each other, he clearly caught what the other person said:

"Ms. Ayanokouji will be meeting you in the chairman's office in half an hour."

Even now, Kiyotaka Ayanokoji still doesn't know what Atsuomi Ayanokoji will do.

He never truly understood the other person, just as the other person never truly understood him.

Although they are father and son, in terms of the level of trust between them, Ayanokoji Kiyotaka's Atsuomi Ayanokoji is not as trusting as Kitagawa Ryo, whom he has only known for more than half a year.

Just like it is now.

Half an hour had almost passed, but Ayanokouji Kiyotaka still showed no intention of leaving.

Finally, Kitagawa Ryo and Yuki appeared in his field of vision as they chatted and laughed intimately and walked towards him.

The other party kept their unspoken agreement.

Kiyotaka Ayanokouji finally relaxed a little, and even unconsciously raised the corners of his mouth slightly, revealing a barely perceptible smile.

Now he may finally understand the answer to the question he had when he was a child about the only girl who would smile in that white room: she simply wanted to smile.

Perhaps it's about expressing one's attitude towards something, or perhaps it's about showing one's feelings towards someone.

If we only consider this moment, his reasoning is probably almost identical to that of the girl not far away.

They both belong to the latter category.

Chapter 338: When there are too many people, a chaotic scene is unavoidable.

In fact, as early as when he learned that Yuki would be entering Tokyo Advanced Educational High School during this cultural festival, Kiyotaka Ayanokoji had already conceived the idea of ​​collaborating with Ryo Kitagawa.

In a sense, this is actually a follow-up to the bet the two made during the special exam on the deserted island, because Kiyotaka Ayanokouji was actually betting that Ryo Kitagawa hadn't lied to him, and that Yuki, who was also a member of the fourth generation of the White Room, had indeed gotten rid of the shadows of the past and was not still troubled by various psychological problems like the other experimental subjects eliminated from the White Room.

For Atsuomi Ayanokouji, the White Room project, which has been temporarily suspended, may not be successful, but it absolutely cannot be labeled as a failure. At the very least, it must produce some results, after all, he has devoted his prime years as a politician and a huge amount of personal connections and financial resources to this project over the past ten years.

Kiyotaka Ayanokouji, who is considered the White Room's greatest masterpiece to date, is the most important sample that he took out and displayed to others, which is why he personally invested the largest amount of money in this gamble.

In this situation, Xue's stance and attitude undoubtedly appear quite delicate.

Because she was one of the students eliminated from the White Room.

Of course, the White Room has eliminated countless children over the past ten years, and at least among the fourth generation, including Kiyotaka Ayanokouji, he was the only one left in the end.

However, unlike the other eliminated children, Yuki has a confirmed history of psychological and mental illness, but has gradually recovered in the past six months. She was approved by the doctor to be discharged from the hospital and can integrate into modern society. She is also a guest who was able to enter this cultural festival through Kitagawa Ryo and her family.

To be frank, Ayanokouji Atsuomi would definitely not want to meet with a former White Room test subject who is so well-rounded, because it would be quite unseemly for something serious to happen in public.

After all, some things are only light before being weighed, but once they are on the scale, even a thousand pounds might not be enough to stop them.

Kiyotaka Ayanokouji had thought it through very clearly. Under the completely closed management model of Tokyo Advanced Educational High School, apart from cultural festivals and other events open to the public, it was actually very difficult for Atsuomi Ayanokouji to directly extend his influence into the school. Regardless of whether the chairman of the board was Shigemori Sakayanagi or Tsukishiro Tsuneshige, especially the latter, after two brief encounters, Kiyotaka Ayanokouji had already seen through the other party's style of acting in a neutral and opportunistic manner.

So as long as we can get through today, that's fine.

Thinking this, Ayanokouji Kiyotaka stared at Kitagawa Ryo's figure for a while longer, then continued to stand there until a familiar voice came from behind him again:

"Aren't you planning to leave now?"

"This is none of your business, Ishigami."

“It was Ayanokouji-sensei who asked me to inform you. If you don’t go, it will naturally be related to me.”

Ayanokouji Kiyotaka turned around and took a closer look at the boy named Ishigami Kyo. Although the boy was a year younger than him, he was very tall and handsome. He was calmly looking at him with his hands folded together.

Although he had heard that the other party had admired Ayanokouji Atsuomi since childhood, Ayanokouji Kiyotaka still subconsciously frowned at the other party's constant use of the title "Ayanokouji-sensei".

“Then go back and tell him that I’m doing something more important right now.”

"Does the more important thing mean just watching the show here?"

At this point, Ishigami Kyo also became somewhat impatient:

"I was sent by Ayanokouji-sensei to assist you, that's all."

"Conversely, if the other party's instruction is to exclude you, then I will do so."

"But you don't need to worry about that at all, because Ayanokouji-sensei has never had any intention of making you drop out of this school, not even for a moment."

Ayanokouji Kiyotaka remained silent. Of course, he understood this. After all, just as mentioned earlier, just as Ayanokouji Atsuomi certainly hadn't met Yuki yet, as the White Room's greatest masterpiece, he would never be forced off the stage to be replaced, even if he lost his last piece, before Kitagawa Ryo took the initiative to end the duel.

However, what Ishigami Kyo and Ayanokouji Atsuomi failed to understand was that his current state of mind and thoughts were actually different from when he enrolled. Ayanokouji Kiyotaka no longer wanted to stay at Tokyo Advanced Educational High School, but rather hoped to study and live there as an ordinary student. This was also the reason why he subtly indicated to Kitagawa Ryo that the two were not on opposing sides.

"The last person as confident as you was Takuya Yagami, and he dropped out of school here almost half a year ago."

After a moment of silence, Kiyotaka Ayanokoji spoke.

"Don't make such pointless comparisons between me and the experiments in the White Room."

"is it?"

Kiyotaka Ayanokouji simply asked that question in return, then gestured for the other person to look at the screen displaying the leaderboard.

Ishigami Kyo, who had been at the top, has fallen to second place, replaced by a simple single-character name that doesn't even have a surname—'Yuki'.

"These are the rejected students from our white room."

Ayanokoji Kiyotaka said this.

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

"Hmm... As expected, compared to the body, the mind doesn't need much rehabilitation."

As soon as Xue came out of the room where she was taking the test, she saw her name at the top of the list. She stretched and walked back to Kitagawa Ryo's side with a relaxed and carefree attitude.

She was essentially reborn with the memories of the simulation, so compared to her body, which had been lying in a hospital ward for several years and whose physical functions had greatly declined, the knowledge in her mind was perfectly inherited.

The difficulty of the assignments for the fourth generation of the White Room students was ten times greater than that of the later generations. As the student whose overall performance was second only to Kiyotaka Ayanokouji, the greatest masterpiece, Yuki was naturally the king of assignments. Taking a high school entrance exam assignment was indeed a piece of cake for her.

But before Xue's smile could last long, the event's organizer, Arisu Sakayanagi, appeared gracefully in front of her and Ryo Kitagawa.

Although she knew the other person was there to give her the prize for the event, ever since she learned from Kitagawa Ryo that morning that she and the other person actually shared memories, facing the person in person now made her feel somewhat complicated and subtle.

"Congratulations to this guest for becoming the number one on the leaderboard for this event. These are your participation prizes. If you maintain your ranking until the end of the cultural festival, we will send you even more generous prizes."

Sakayanagi Arisu's attitude was quite normal. After handing over the participation prize, which was actually just a stationery set, to Yuki in a businesslike manner, she glanced at Kitagawa Ryo with a half-smile. It felt like a role reversal, except that Yuki was no longer making any declarations about her origins from the White Room.

"haven't seen you for a long time."

After handling her official business as the organizer's representative, Sakayanagi Arisu greeted Yuki elegantly rather than politely. However, the thought of how Yuki had been teased by her and Amasawa Ichika in perfect unspoken understanding over the past six months made her smile a little hard to suppress.

"It really has been a long time since I last saw her. I feel that Arisu is different from before."

After being thwarted by Nanase Tsubasa, Yuki finally regained her advantage with Sakayanagi Arisu. Although she was noticeably sickly compared to her contemporaries during the simulation, she was now considered to be developing normally compared to the current Sakayanagi Arisu.

"Ah, same to you."

Sakayanagi Arisu naturally understood Yuki's unspoken meaning. In fact, she herself was quite speechless about this matter. Unlike herself in the simulation, who had completely cured her heart disease in childhood, in reality, although she had indeed cured her congenital heart disease due to the butterfly effect caused by Kitagawa Ryo, she had only improved from a patient to a sub-healthy level. It can only be said that if she hadn't exercised a lot with Kitagawa Ryo during this period, her complexion would probably be even worse.

Looking at the two girls in front of him, one of whom had been receiving psychological treatment in the ward for several years and whose skin was still somewhat sickly pale, and the other of whom needed a cane to help her walk just half a year ago but were now bickering happily, Kitagawa Ryo inexplicably felt a subtle atmosphere of a chaotic battle in the ward, and even thought about pulling a certain self-proclaimed armchair detective over to join the team.

"By the way, where's Ichika?"

After reuniting with the familiar yet unfamiliar Sakayanagi Arisu, and briefly reigniting the verbal battle between the Toyu faction and the Shiroya faction, Yuki finally took the initiative to ask about Amasawa Ichika's situation, though it sounded almost like she was gritting her teeth.

After all, during the simulation, she really didn't regard this girl, who was a year younger than her and looked like a younger sister, as a rival in love like Sakayanagi Arisu. Even if she had a vague feeling, she only regarded her as the kind of affection that the fifth generation of the White Room had for Kitagawa Ryo, and did not think about it in a romantic direction at all.

"Ichika did not participate in this cultural festival. She was not feeling well and was resting in her dormitory."

Sakayanagi Arisu shook her head, her tone tinged with regret. She knew all too well what kind of relationship Amasawa Ichika and Kitagawa Ryo had reached. Looking at Yuki, who was already somewhat disgruntled, she felt that if Yuki knew about this, she could storm straight to the dormitory building, though she might end up empty-handed. Because Sakayanagi Arisu didn't even need to guess; there was a 120% chance that Amasawa Ichika was currently in Kitagawa Ryo's room, practically having sex.

As for her reason for asking for leave at this cultural festival, it was quite simple. On the surface, Amazawa Ichika was the most innocent traitor of the White Room. There were also a large number of guests at this cultural festival, and Kitagawa Ryo had to accompany Yuki. If a few of Ayanokoji Atsuomi's people were mixed in and found an opportunity to kidnap Ichika directly out of the school, it would be quite troublesome. So she simply found a reason to ask for leave. Besides, she herself was a little embarrassed to face Yuki.

After all, among Sakayanagi Arisu, her, and Yuki, she was the only one who did something wrong.

"Alright—I'll come find her again when I enroll in school. Liang, I'm leaving."

With a somewhat disappointed sigh, Yuki took Kitagawa Ryo's left hand, who had been standing to the side, wisely keeping quiet and trying to avoid making mistakes, and then casually handed the stationery set, which was the participation prize, back to Sakayanagi Arisu.

"It's too much trouble to carry this around. I'll come back to get it before we finish shopping."

Having finished speaking, Yuki, having freed her left hand again, wrapped both arms around Kitagawa Ryo's arm once more, deliberately raising her voice slightly in front of Sakayanagi Arisu:

"How about we go check out the stadium next? I want to go to the haunted house with Ryo. It'll be my first time going to a place like that. Where's Ryo? Where's Ryo?"

"Hmm... I guess this is the first time."

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

"welcome--"

As Kitagawa Ryo and Yuki approached the vicinity of the gymnasium, the second-year A students who were in charge of selling tickets at the entrance began to enthusiastically greet the guests. However, when they caught sight of Kitagawa Ryo, they subconsciously showed a puzzled expression. After all, they knew this popular first-year student, but they never expected that the other party would have the time to accompany the guests around on the day of the cultural festival.

Could this be a new person they've just started dating?

Without making a sound, the student from Class 2-A glanced again at Xue, who was smiling like a girl in love, and made the same guess in his mind. Then he gasped.

Dude, the cultural festival has only been going on for a few hours, is it that fast?

"Um, I want to buy a ticket for the haunted house..."

Xue, of course, had no idea what the student at the ticket counter was thinking. As she spoke, she took out her phone to pay, but then seemed to remember something:

"By the way, can Liang come in with me?"

Unlike the other stalls they had visited before, this was the first time the two had come to a facility that required tickets for entry. Therefore, Kitagawa Ryo, who was not a guest and could not buy a ticket, became a new problem.

"Um, theoretically speaking, if you're willing to pay for the customer..."

The student from Class 2-A didn't think too much about it and was about to tell Xue to pay for both of them when another ticket seller stopped him, frowning and shaking his head, saying:

"No, only guests who have purchased tickets are allowed to enter."

Then, he explained the reason to his companion in a low voice:

"Are you stupid? This venue was carefully prepared by Nan Yun. You're letting students from other classes, or even Kitagawa, sneak in like this? What if something goes wrong? How will you take responsibility?"

Seeing that her plan to visit the haunted house with Kitagawa Ryo was about to fall through, Yuki tried to talk to the two of them. The commotion quickly attracted the attention of another enthusiastic student from Class 2-A nearby, which made Kitagawa Ryo's heart skip a beat.

Sister, why are you here?

After listening to her classmate's story, Asahina Nazuna quickly offered her own advice:

“It’s definitely not good to push the guests out. Since you’re worried about something going wrong, let me go in with them. That should solve the problem.”

No problem my foot.

Kitagawa Ryo secretly rolled his eyes in his mind.

Of all the students here, you're probably the one most afraid of this haunted house, right?

Chapter 339: You know, I've always been a White House supporter.

Seeing that things were showing signs of turning around, Yuki, who was eager to go to the gymnasium with Kitagawa Ryo, seemed afraid that Asahina Nazuna would change her mind, so she quickly nodded and agreed:

"Yeah, yeah, if you're really worried, you can just have this senior student watch over us, right, Liang?"

With things already discussed to this extent, and given that their group, who were at the very front of the line, hadn't entered yet, the other guests in the line behind them were starting to complain. The students of Class 2-A had no choice but to temporarily approve the proposal. After all, it was Asahina Nazuna who suggested it, so if anything went wrong, they wouldn't be held responsible.

"Alright, then let Asahina lead the two of you inside."

After handing the two haunted house tickets to Kitagawa Ryo and Yuki, the boy from Class 2-A had mixed feelings. They were all students at Tokyo Advanced Educational High School, so how come some of them could go out and date with pretty girls at the cultural festival, while he could only be a ticket seller here?

"Phew—finally I can get in."

After successfully obtaining her and Kitagawa Ryo's admission tickets, Yuki breathed a sigh of relief. After all, the programs and facilities for the four second-year classes were basically located in the gymnasium. If they couldn't visit them together, it would be equivalent to missing out on about a third of this year's cultural festival.

"Thank you so much, Asahina-senpai."

As she spoke, Yuki politely thanked Asahina Nazuna again. Since she had just heard the other person's surname from a student in Class 2-A, she naturally addressed her by that name.