I have a life simulator.

Upon hearing Arisu Sakayanagi mention the name Yuki, Azusa Ichika herself showed a rare hint of embarrassment. Unlike Arisu Sakayanagi, who had already noticed her little scheme in the later stages of the simulation, Yuki had never realized her good friend's slightest ulterior motive. Instead, she seemed more like a traitor who had run away.

Seeing that Amasawa Ichika stood there stunned for a while without answering, Sakayanagi Arisu retaliated by adding fuel to the fire:

"Don't even think about saying that the two of them are going to stay out until the end of the cultural festival when Xue isn't around. Or do you really want to bring their biological father, who's been chasing after them, to point at Ryo and say something in front of Xue at the last minute—"

"I've actually slept with him, really, you can ask him if you don't believe me?"

Chapter 345: The Three of Us

As soon as she said those words, Sakayanagi Arisu began to regret them. After all, if you really think about it, her situation wasn't much better than Yuki's, and she had essentially dragged herself into the conversation.

It can only be said that this time travel from simulation to reality weakened her and Xue's physical abilities to the level of a chaotic battle in the hospital ward, while allowing Tianze Yixia, the sports student in the white gym, to successfully mature and ultimately achieve an unexpected overtaking.

The thought that while those two sickly girls were still struggling with rehabilitation and exercise, Amazawa Ichika had already easily won the trophy that they had been fighting for for over a decade in the simulation made even Sakayanagi Arisu feel a little resentful.

“Then Arisu will come with me.”

On the other side, Amazusa Ichika obviously didn't want to see the scenario described by the other party happen, or perhaps she felt that bringing Uesaka Yanagi Arisu along could help her share some of the firepower from Yuki, so she immediately made this suggestion without thinking.

"I've already met with them. You can go by yourself."

Sakayanagi Arisu immediately saw through Amasawa Ichika's thoughts. She had just managed to control her temperature in front of these two, and she was unwilling to do something that would only put her under pressure and offer no benefit.

"Hmm—how about this?"

Seeing that Sakayanagi Arisu was acting as if the matter had nothing to do with her and wouldn't get involved, Amasawa Ichika, equally quick-witted, offered her own bargaining chip:

"If Arisu is willing, I'll agree to do you a favor, like how about I teach that Nagumo a lesson? Hasn't he been buzzing around you like a fly lately? Arisu must be pretty annoyed by him too."

"You know about this too... Alright, deal done."

Sakayanagi Arisu glanced at Amasawa Ichika with some surprise. Nagumo Masaru had indeed been fawning over her in the student council lately. The reason was simple: the enemy of my enemy is my friend. This guy was currently being treated like a toy by the acting chairman, Tsukishiro Tsuneaki, and was eagerly waiting for the day when Sakayanagi Narumi would return to his loyal position as chairman of Tokyo Advanced Educational High School. So he had to build a good relationship with the other party's precious daughter in advance.

It can only be said that the once arrogant and domineering student council president, Nagumo, has indeed had his edges smoothed out by the years. He used to be a big fan of the power-first mentality that "dragons coil around me and tigers lie down for me" in Dongyu, but after being shattered by Tsukishiro Tsunesei's discipline and iron fists, he has become this somewhat subtle figure.

As for why Sakayanagi Arisu chose to agree to Amasawa Ichika's offer, besides the fact that Nagumo Miyabi had indeed been bothering her for the past month or so and affecting her daily life, the real reason was that she knew she couldn't keep hiding forever. Some things were better resolved by having the three of them confront each other face to face. After all, Yuki had already confirmed that she would be enrolling in school next April, which was just over four months away. If they dragged it out until then, who knew what kind of messy and unexpected changes might occur in the middle? It was better to be upfront sooner rather than later.

Moreover, with Tianze Yixia taking the lead, theoretically she can now stand on the same side as Xue again, so things shouldn't be as awkward as before.

"Okay, I'll go with you. Wait a moment."

After making up her mind, Sakayanagi Arisu gave a few more instructions to Matsushita Chiaki, who was serving as her deputy, and then walked towards the gymnasium with Amasawa Ichika.

"By the way, how are we going to get in later? I remember that the facilities and facilities in each class are not open to students from other classes, right?"

Before she had taken more than two steps, Tianze Yixia had already presciently thought of this problem.

"I can get in as a student council member, since the student council is responsible for supervising and maintaining order at this cultural festival. You'll have to figure it out yourself."

Sakayanagi Arisu simply shook her head dismissively, almost as if to say that this was the confidence she gained from joining the Dongyu Student Council.

"Let me think—how about I borrow a phone from one of the guests and sneak in? I'll just cover my face with the hood, since they only check phones for tickets anyway."

"...Would any guest really be so trusting as to lend their phone to a student from Dongyu University? And why would they trust you? Or rather, what benefit would they get from lending you their phone?"

Faced with Amazusa Ichika's rather whimsical suggestion, Sakayanagi Arisu simply rolled her eyes slightly and casually made this sarcastic remark.

"How will you know if you don't try?"

But Tianze Yixia seemed quite confident in the plan, and quickly glanced around at the guests, swiftly locking onto her target:

"Look at that girl, she seems a bit dull and silly, but she's someone worth trying to be with."

Before Sakayanagi Arisu could utter another word of complaint, Amasawa Ichika had already swiftly run over to the blonde girl who was standing on a path near the stadium, looking somewhat troubled as she tapped and poked at her phone. After exchanging a few words and fiddling with his own phone a couple more times before handing it to the girl, Amasawa actually managed to get the guest-only phone from her and ran back with a smug look on his face.

"See? I told you there wouldn't be any problems."

Seeing the surprise and shock on Sakayanagi Arisu's face, Amasawa Ichika simply waved his phone at her in a showy manner:

"Got it."

"What did you say to her? Why did you agree so readily?"

"Well—it's nothing really. That girl had just spent almost all of the 5,000 points the school gave her, but she was hungry. So I told her I was in Class A of the first year, and there was a dessert shop on the third floor of the teaching building. If she was willing to lend me her phone, I would send a text message to my classmates and ask them to bring her some food for free. She readily agreed."

After briefly explaining the negotiation process, Tianze Yixia glanced at the personal information on the phone she had just received:

"Her name is Nanase Tsubasa, and her age matches. She might even enroll in Tokyo University of Education next year. We can look after her then—"

At this point, Tianze Yixia couldn't help but feel a little emotional:

"Actually, she and I are the same age. If the White Room hadn't forced me to come here early, I would normally have had to wait until next April."

Seeing that Amasawa Ichika's words were full of self-satisfaction despite having gotten a good deal, Sakayanagi Arisu just sneered:

"I hope you'll still say that when you see Xue later."

"Forget it then."

Tianze Yixia once again chose to follow her heart. After all, if she was the biggest beneficiary of age, then Xue was undoubtedly the biggest victim in this regard. Xue was originally the same age and grade as Kitagawa Ryosaka and Yanagi Arisu, but due to a series of coincidences, she was forced to enroll a year later. If she showed off in this aspect in front of her, it felt like the effect of breaking her defenses would be quite significant.

"Alright, now that we've got the phone, let's split up and meet up again once we're inside."

After speaking cautiously, Sakayanagi Arisu quickened her pace and soon distanced herself from Amasawa Ichika, who had mingled with the group of guests. She went straight to the second-year A-class student in charge of selling tickets at the entrance, casually waved the student council's banner and said a few words, and was easily let through, entering the gymnasium first.

Amazawa Ichika's trip went smoothly. After all, there were too many guests today. The students at the ticket booth had become mechanical, just swiping their phones to collect payments and handing out tickets for people to pass through. They had no interest in paying attention to the guests' specific attire and appearance. Besides, they really didn't expect that a student would do something like borrowing a guest's phone to sneak in. Amazawa Ichika successfully used Nanase Tsubasa's phone to sneak in.

Incidentally, it's thanks to Masaru Nagumo's incredibly low, almost free, ticket price that, without exaggeration, is probably the only place left for Tsubasa Nanase to freely enter and have fun during this cultural festival, given the limited balance on her phone.

After successfully meeting up with Sakayanagi Arisu, Amasawa Ichika and the other person began their search. However, after searching the entire rest hall, they could not find any trace of Kitagawa Ryo or Yuki.

"Looks like this is the only option."

After confirming that the two were not in the waiting area, Sakayanagi Arisu took out her phone from her pocket in front of Amasawa Ichika.

"Do you want to contact Liang directly?"

"How could that be? If we did that, Xue might drag Liang into playing hide-and-seek with us."

Sakayanagi Arisu shook her head, then skillfully opened an app installed on her phone. It was the same app that she and Kitagawa Ryo had been recommended to install when they bought sports rings together during summer vacation. The two of them had already linked their relationship on it and shared their real-time locations, making it perfect for finding someone at this time.

“Let me see, the two of them are near our northeast direction—over here? They should be watching a theatrical performance inside.”

Following the directions on the map, Sakayanagi Arisu arrived at a 'theater' that had already stopped taking tickets and had been showing for about half an hour. She checked the showtimes and schedules displayed on the nearby screens before speaking to Amasawa Ichika:

"It'll be over in about half an hour, let's wait here."

"Ah."

After saying that, the two chose a resting spot directly opposite the exit of the theater and began their not-so-long wait in quiet, yet with different feelings.

Incidentally, since cats still can't enter the venue, Hotaru was once again placed outside.

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

"Means nothing……"

Even though the play on stage had reached its climax in the final chapter, Xue, sitting in the back row of the audience, still looked uninterested and disdainful, as if she was about to say something like, "It doesn't feel as good as—".

"That's already considered a very good level among high school students."

Sitting next to her, Kitagawa Ryo gave a fairly objective evaluation without any bias: Nanono Aya had indeed put a lot of effort into these programs, the students in Class 2-A were indeed of good quality, and with the expensive stage equipment, the performance was quite professional, at least better than the self-entertaining stage play project of Class 1-B.

"Isn't Ryo a high school student too?"

"You can't compare us like that, after all, I'm at a professional level."

"As for your profession, does Liang still plan to be a stage actress in the future?"

At first glance, it seemed like a very ordinary question, but the battle-hardened Kitagawa Ryo immediately sensed the trap in this somewhat deadly question and calmly replied:

"In the past, it was just to raise money for my sister's medical expenses. After enrolling, it was to establish a drama club and use the excuse of going out to compete to go out of school to see the snow. I definitely won't continue after graduation."

"That's true. After all, Ryo has been a theatrical actor for so many years. Retiring at the peak of his fame and fortune is indeed a good choice. How about we travel around together after graduation?"

“That’s great. I really want to go to Hokkaido with Yuki to see the snow, so you can get a better impression of it as something completely different from white brick walls.”

"Am I that stupid? I need to make that impression."

"Tch, do you want me to repeat what we said when we were just chatting about each other's names?"

At this point, Kitagawa Ryo himself couldn't help but recall the scene from back then.

"Hello, my name is Liang."

"Hello... I'm Yuki."

"I think Liang's name is better than mine."

"Ok?"

"Because you can tell what the name 'Liang' means just by listening to it, for example, when the wind blows on your body, it means 'cool'."

"Isn't the meaning of 'snow' quite clear?"

"I have not seen it."

"The book says it's white, cold, something that fell from the sky, like a flower. But I can only understand the first two, that is, white and cold."

"why?"

"Because the walls in the room are like that, white, and they feel cold to the touch."

"So, should I call you 'Wall' from now on?"

"...Actually, I don't feel there's any difference."

Memories are indeed things that are constantly beautified by the passage of time. The conversation that once felt inexplicably bitter and sad now feels somewhat nostalgic. Not only Kitagawa Ryo, but Yuki herself was also stirred up by his words. However, what she remembered was the scene when he first took her out of the white room to see the first snow in Tokyo.

The feeling of those cold snowflakes falling softly into my palm now feels incredibly warm.

The play on stage has come to an end.

"It's cold outside."

As the girl said this, she naturally turned her gaze toward the exit.

Chapter 346: Unbearable to Look At (4k5)

Since Arisu Sakayanagi was positioned right opposite the exit, Ryo Kitagawa had just walked out with the flow of the audience when he caught a glimpse of her. Of course, there was also Ichika Amasawa, who was pulling her hood down as low as possible, but he recognized her as wearing his jacket at a glance.

To be honest, it's not unusual for these two to work together, since they've been through a simulation together before. From the final challenge on the deserted island to certain periods of the recent sports festival, Sakayanagi Arisu and Amasawa Ichika have a history of collaborating. But right now, they are undoubtedly the pair that Kitagawa Ryo least wants to see.

What bothered Kitagawa Ryo even more was that since Ichika, who should have been resting in his dormitory at this time, had taken the initiative to come to the campus, it meant that something must have happened in the dormitory. Just as he had expected, Ayanokouji Atsuomi wanted to use this cultural festival to get rid of this open traitor in the white room.

However, this wasn't the time to think about Ayanokouji Atsuomi, because Yuki, who had come out with him, had also noticed Sakayanagi Arisu, who made no attempt to hide her intentions. She just didn't seem to have noticed that the mysterious hooded figure beside her was Amasawa Ichika, and with a slight frown on her handsome brows, she walked over and asked:

"Did they follow us all the way here? Or does Arisu really have some weird fetish, like secretly watching me and Ryo on our date?"

Yuki's aggression was undoubtedly quite strong, but Sakayanagi Arisu was not so easily swayed by those two sentences. On the contrary, Amasawa Ichika, who was next to her, was a little offended and choked a bit. After all, she had actually followed Karuizawa Megumi and Kitagawa Ryo on the cruise ship for a whole day, and was almost ready to secretly wait outside in a corner at the end.

However, her commotion successfully drew Yuki's attention, so she took the opportunity to pull her hood up slightly and greeted Yuki in a tone so intimate that even Kitagawa Ryo felt it was shameful to act cute:

"Long time no see—Xue, sister?"

It can only be said that if it were half a year ago, Xue would probably have been fooled by this sweet greeting. But after learning this morning that the other party had also completely preserved the memories of the past simulation, the image of Tianze Yixia in her mind suddenly changed from a younger sister type who stood on her side and could help her to complain about Sakayanagi Arisu to a rather subtle inferior woman.

"Oh, isn't this Ichika? I heard from Ryo that you were feeling unwell and took the day off to rest in your dorm. What brings you here now?"

Upon hearing this, Sakayanagi Arisu merely pursed her lips, feeling that Yuki's aggression towards Amasawa Ichika was not as strong as hers. She could only say that she still hadn't noticed that the size of the clothes the other person was wearing was wrong. No wonder Amasawa Ichika was able to keep it a secret from her so many times that she didn't even know that the person she was holding hands with had taken advantage of her.

However, upon closer reflection, it's hard to tell which situation is more devastating: simply being unaware or being completely powerless to stop it, and having her occasional outbursts of possessiveness on the cruise ship only to be treated like a child by Kitagawa Ryo.

"Because I kept thinking about how Sister Xue was coming today, all my discomfort suddenly disappeared. Hug—"

As it turns out, Amazawa Ichika was indeed a master at pretending to be innocent and childlike. Even Ichinose Honami didn't notice anything amiss with her. Otherwise, she wouldn't have been able to let Amazawa Ichika slip through her defenses during the special exam on the deserted island, where she was single-handedly defending against Karuizawa Kei during the day and Horikita Suzune and Sakayanagi Arisu at night. In the end, Amazawa Ichika's literal and despicable actions almost allowed her to gain the upper hand before Karuizawa Kei could.

Xue probably didn't expect Amaze Ichika to suddenly hug her so affectionately. However, compared to Tsubaki Sakura, her biological younger sister, she actually treated Amaze Ichika more like a younger sister in the simulation. Although she was definitely influenced by Kitagawa Ryo at the beginning, she did have a kind of empathy and compassion for the children from the White Room.

In a sense, she also poured some of her unexpressed maternal instincts into Amaze Ichika. It was a remnant of the White Room Rhesus Monkey Project. However, Kitagawa Ryo, who should have been the one to bear these emotions, fled the White Room halfway through. When they met again, he was no longer the sickly child who could be held and comforted by Yuki.

That's why, when Tianze Yixia pounced on her so simply and directly, Xue, who had been arguing with him, instinctively caught him and let him give her a big hug.

But then, Kitagawa Ryo saw Amasawa Ichika, who was resting her head on Yuki's shoulder and rubbing her cheek and ear against him, mouthing a few words to him, gesturing for him to look at the phone in her pocket.

The timing was perfect; the text message that Tianze Yixia had set to be sent on a timer arrived on Kitagawa Ryo's phone. Kitagawa Ryo quickly took it out and scanned it again, quickly gaining a certain understanding of the current situation.

The next second, Tianze Yixia skipped away from Xue's embrace again, and a little embarrassed, pulled her hood down lower.

"Sorry, sorry. Since I sneaked out of the dormitory, it's best not to be seen by anyone else."

But to her surprise, Xue responded with a kind smile:

"So—is this why Ichika is wearing cool clothes? Or is Ichika some kind of Doraemon from the future who doesn't have his own room and can only live in cool closets now?"

To be honest, Kitagawa Ryo really wanted to complain at this moment that the other person clearly had his own bed in the white room, but still kept coming to the lower bunk to sleep with him. However, his strong survival instinct and the atmosphere that suddenly became somewhat oppressive as he said this successfully stopped him from speaking.

Incidentally, the first and only resident of Kitagawa's wardrobe so far is a certain kitten that was left outside again at this time.