I have a life simulator.

"That's impossible. What are you thinking?"

Xue tapped her younger sister's head without any hesitation. She knew that her sister's playful antics were just a way to ease the tension of parting, but in a sense, she was already quite satisfied.

After all, she was one step ahead of Sakayanagi Arisu this time.

This is a topic that will still be discussed twenty years from now.

The White House faction wins!

"Hmm... Ryo should hurry back too. There isn't a single Dongyu student in sight here anymore. It wouldn't be good if we delayed things."

As she spoke, Yuki turned her head back towards Kitagawa Ryo.

She really had nothing more to say to the other person. After all, she had already said everything she should and shouldn't have said, everything that could and couldn't be said, everything that could be approved and everything that couldn't be approved, in the past hour or so. All the emotions that she had suppressed and accumulated in her heart had been completely conveyed.

That's enough.

"It's okay, I'm not actually in a particular hurry."

Kitagawa Ryo simply shook his head. His mind was also a bit of a mess. Although he was physically exhausted, he couldn't compare to the days on the cruise ship. However, the psychological impact he had experienced was unprecedented, which made his gaze towards Yuki somewhat complicated.

"It's a pity it didn't snow today."

Yuki, who had been brooding over this matter since before the cultural festival began, glared at the darkening sky with a somewhat adorable expression that made Kitagawa Ryo unable to suppress a smile.

"It's only mid-November, it's not even winter yet, snow doesn't come to Tokyo this early."

"But I really want to see the first snow with Ryo again, so can Ryo come out during winter break this year like during summer break? Otherwise, I'll have to wait until next winter after I start school, which is more than a year later."

Upon hearing Yuki's coquettish request, Kitagawa Ryo subconsciously considered it for a moment.

The final exams for the second semester at Tokyo Advanced Educational High School are on December 22nd, a little over a month later, followed by the students' winter break.

"Around Christmas, I'll try to leave school... no, I definitely will leave school at least once."

Kitagawa Ryo made this promise.

On a treetop not far away, Hotaru watched the girl who had blossomed into a radiant smile in that instant and merely curled her lip in slight disdain.

Ah, a woman who only thinks one thing and does another.

The reason her brother left school that day was simply because it was her, Hotaru's, birthday.

Chapter 355: Please Continue

After bidding farewell to Yuki and Tsubaki Sakurako at the gate of Tokyo Advanced Educational High School just before the school closed, Kitagawa Ryo returned to his classroom in Class 1-A. By then, the school had already announced the final sales rankings for this year's cultural festival, which were then relayed to all students by the class leaders.

First place: Class A, Grade 1, with 300 class points.

Second place: Class 3A, with 250 class points.

Third place: Class B, Grade 3, earned 200 class points.

Fourth place: Class 2A, with 150 class points.

The fifth to eighth place winners are Class D of Year 1, Class B of Year 2, Class C of Year 3, and Class B of Year 1, respectively, and each of them receives 100 class points.

The ninth to twelfth places are occupied by Class 2-C, Class 2-D, Class 3-D, and Class 1-C, each receiving fifty class points.

To be honest, the rankings of each class were pretty much as Kitagawa Ryo had predicted. After all, the two projects, the confectionery shop and the tea stalk Sae, were enough for Class A to win the sales championship at this cultural festival. Moreover, the projects by Sakayanagi Arisu and Sotomura Hideo were equally outstanding, and their total sales were already top-notch even among the lower-ranked classes. With such strong support, securing first place was a foregone conclusion.

Class A and Class B of the third year had already participated in the cultural festival twice, so they were quite adept at it in every sense. In addition, Nan Yunya, a second-year student, took the initiative to give up pursuing sales and instead win people's hearts, so they were able to pick up a bargain.

To be fair, thanks to the large investment of their own money, the multi-functional media project for the gymnasium that Class 2-A ultimately produced was actually quite outstanding. It was this quality, achieved through personal investment, that allowed them to achieve fourth place despite the extremely low price. In a sense, this can be considered a form of high volume with low profit margins.

Moving on, it's a bit of a shame that Class 1-D is in fifth place. They really put a lot of effort into their maid café project. If it weren't for the unexpected appearance of Chabashira Sae, who betrayed them, they should have had no problem reaching the top four. There's a difference of fifty class points between fourth and fifth place, so it's still a bit of a pity.

Most of the other rankings were unremarkable. Although Class 1-C suffered a dismal sales record at the beginning of the cultural festival due to a cheating scandal, it didn't really matter whether they were last, second, third, or fourth, since they could still get the ultimate guarantee of fifty class points.

After the cultural festival concluded, the class points for each first-grade class changed accordingly:

Class A, Grade 1: 850 points (originally 550 points).

Class 1B: 551 (formerly 451).

Class 1-C: 222 points (originally 172 points).

Class D, Grade 1: 248 points (formerly 148 points).

Since Class D's class points have surpassed those of Class C, starting next month, Class D, led by Kohei Katsuragi, will be promoted to Class C, while Class C, led by Sho Ryuen, will experience its first class drop since entering school, becoming the new Class D.

Although the difference of just over twenty points between the two classes makes it seem like the situation will soon reverse again, moving from D to C is still a step forward, which is very encouraging for the students in Class D.

However, when they look up again at the current class points of over 800 in Class A, they still feel a bit bitter and realize that it is still a long way off before the class can return to Class A.

From this perspective, this cultural festival was indeed of great significance to Class A of the first year. After all, it widened the gap with the classes behind them in one fell swoop, and truly established a significant leading advantage. This was a world of difference from the original Class B, who only managed to become Class A after the special exam on the deserted island.

In addition to class points, Class 1A also achieved surprising results in terms of individual points.

According to data released by the school, a total of 1,127 guests attended the cultural festival, including 669 adults and 458 minors. They spent a total of 8.98 million personal points on campus. Class A of Grade 1, as the top seller, took away nearly half of these points, generating a total revenue of over 4.38 million.

After Sakayanagi Arisu and Sotomura Hideo each took their share of the revenue from their projects, Kitagawa Ryo was left with nearly three million yen in income. After all, he was the one who ran the two major sources of income: the confectionery shop and the cat cafe. Although in the end, he passed the money to Horikita Suzune and then to Ichinose Honami.

Kitagawa Ryo wasn't particularly sensitive to the amount of his personal points. After all, unlike the outside world, there was always a limit to how much one could spend at Tokyo Advanced Educational High School, especially during regular school life outside of special exam periods. Even if he ate deluxe meals every day and bought top-of-the-line game consoles, the expenses were still limited. However, considering the personal points he earned at the Sports Festival using the points he had deposited with Nichiyori, his personal savings were already approaching the eight-figure level of tens of millions, which should place him among the top few in terms of wealth at Tokyo Advanced Educational High School.

However, for Kitagawa Ryo, there are more important things to do right now.

That is--

Hurry up and buy a new bed sheet and quilt before dark.

From any perspective, Kitagawa Ryo was absolutely certain that his bed was unlikely to be slept in until it was thoroughly washed, dried, and tidied up, at least not tonight.

But then, Kitagawa Ryo discovered another fact, much to his amusement and dismay.

Just like the previous sports festival, the faculty and staff of Tokyo Advanced Ikusei Junior High School are actually on a wonderful holiday today.

In other words.

The shopping mall is closed today.

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

Perhaps because they had been winning since the special exam on the deserted island, or perhaps because the whole day of cultural festival work had left them physically and mentally exhausted, the students of Class 1-A, who had no intention of making a big fuss, immediately dispersed after a short celebration and cleaning up the classroom. They chatted and laughed as they walked back to their dormitories, ready to grab something to eat, wash up, and go to sleep, since they still had to attend classes as usual the next day.

Compared to his classmates who were already stretching out their limbs and ready to go back to their dorm beds to roll around in bed and have a good night's sleep, Kitagawa Ryo was still worried about where he would spend the night.

Theoretically, he could still manage to hand-wash the sheets and blankets if he rushed back now, but considering the moon that was already peeking out from behind the clouds, Kitagawa Ryo thought it would be quite difficult to completely dry them before going to bed that night.

Why don't you ask Mashima's homeroom teacher for advice?

With this in mind, Kitagawa Ryo also took out his phone from his pocket, intending to contact Majima Tomoya, who had just left, to ask if he had any solutions. Maybe he just happened to have an extra set of seasonal sheets and blankets.

Subconsciously, he lightly touched the power button on the side of his phone, but the screen did not light up as expected. Only then did Kitagawa Ryo realize that his phone had been turned off by Yuki more than two hours earlier.

After pressing and holding the power button for two more seconds, when Kitagawa Ryo finally turned his phone back on, the first thing he saw was a series of missed call notifications, at least a dozen or twenty, densely filling the main screen. The bright red notification text all displayed the name Fanbo, which made Kitagawa Ryo feel a chill run down his spine for a moment.

"Liang, is there something wrong? You've been standing here the whole time."

As luck would have it, just as Kitagawa Ryo noticed the series of frantic calls on his phone, Ichinose Honami herself walked up behind him and leaned in with obvious concern to ask him this question. Her tone was completely normal, as if she herself had made those calls on his phone that were almost constantly interrupted.

"Yeah, because we were waiting for Fanbo. You really worked hard today. As the class's overall coordinator, the fact that our class got first place in this cultural festival is mostly thanks to Fanbo."

Having already devised a solution in an instant, the mine-clearing master Kitagawa Ryo showed a sincere smile without hesitation and naturally reached out to take the bag from Ichinose Honami's hand.

"It's not as exaggerated as Liang said. It's just that Liang's two projects were quite successful."

"Even the best plans are approved by Fanbo, right? And the cat cafe really had a problem today. I think that part of the revenue should go to Fanbo."

"Let's forget about this. After all, I wouldn't dare to misappropriate the transfer funds that Liang prepared for the class instructor, Chazhu."

Having gleaned a slight emotional shift from the other person's words, Kitagawa Ryo immediately and decisively stated his position:

"That's not true at all. Wasn't this just a story we conspired to tell Chabashira from the beginning? I never had any feelings for her from the start. I didn't even glance at her today when she was dressed as a maid."

Honami Ichinose just pursed her lips at this. Actually, she didn't think there would be anything between Kitagawa Ryo and Chabashira Sae at first either. But to be fair, putting aside all preconceived notions and just looking at it from a girl's perspective, Chabashira Sae herself is indeed a mature and beautiful woman. Especially after witnessing her maid outfit up close today and the extreme emotions she showed towards Kitagawa Ryo, she still had some doubts.

After all, there's a saying that goes, "It's like climbing a mountain for a man to pursue a woman, but like piercing a thin veil for a woman to pursue a man."

Of course, the potential dangers posed by Chabashira Sae can be set aside for the time being. Ichinose Honami is undoubtedly more concerned about the period during which Kitagawa Ryo went missing.

"Indeed, Ryo is extremely busy today. He didn't even have time to look at Chabashira's maid outfit, let alone answer my call."

"Hmm...actually, I think it was better that Fanbo didn't break through back then than that he did."

After making this subtle comment, Kitagawa Ryo, who really had no room for argument on this matter, could only helplessly admit:

"The main reason is that Xue turned off both my and her phones, so I couldn't answer Fanbo's call immediately. I really feel sorry about that."

Before Ichinose Honami could speak again, Kitagawa Ryo, wanting to regain control of the conversation, took the initiative and continued to ask:

"Speaking of which, did Honami call me about something urgent? You were with Chabashira today, right? Did something happen to her?"

"That could be the reason for the first phone call, but as for the later ones... Liang should know better than I do."

Perhaps reluctant to personally recount some of her true thoughts during those few minutes, Ichinose Honami gave a vague and ambiguous explanation, but Kitagawa Ryo didn't get caught up in it and continued to press her for answers with a clear mind:

"So, what exactly was Ryo doing back then, that she had to turn off her phone? And... ugh."

Before Ichinose Honami could finish speaking, Kitagawa Ryo suddenly moved closer to her face, using the simplest and most straightforward physical means to stop her from speaking. After a while, he released her, took a step back, and winked at her.

"Yes, that's how it is."

This wasn't the first time he and Ichinose Honami had kissed. In fact, more than a month ago, they had kissed during a relay race in front of the entire school. But unlike the wild speculations of the students on the forum, their relationship had only ever reached the stage of kissing.

In fact, if we really had to find the perfect moment for a breakthrough in their relationship, it would have been during their summer break when they left school. At that time, Honami Ichinose had just completely opened up to her mother, fundamentally resolving the deepest knot in her heart that had been lingering since their simulations.

However, the group leaving the school at that time was accompanied by the supervising teacher, Sima Kedian, and Yuki, who had been lying in wait in front of Kitagawa Ryo, was also hiding in Kitagawa Ryo's room. Ichinose Honami's recent emotional rollercoaster and her personality, nurtured in a traditional family, prevented her from taking any bolder or more radical actions. Instead, she let the time pass by, and after returning to school, she was caught up in the back-to-back sports festival and cultural festival.

Therefore, just as Kitagawa Ryo was habitually thinking that the two of them would end their day here, Ichinose Honami suddenly reached out her right hand and gently stroked his cheek.

Then, with a little force from her warm palm, she turned Kitagawa Ryo's face completely towards her, bringing their eyes close together in mid-air.

"Then what……"

"There's more to it than that."

Honami Ichinose raised her head, a few slightly messy strands of hair clinging to her fair forehead, below which were her slightly raised, shimmering, sky-blue pupils.

"Please continue."

Chapter 356: Treasures Should Have Someone to Hold Them.

“I don’t think that’s something we can continue doing here.”

When confronted with Ichinose Honami's question, Kitagawa Ryo simply shook his head calmly.

"Unless Honami wants to drop out of school with me tomorrow."

This little joke eased the tension between them slightly, and Ichinose Honami looked away again, lightly stroking Kitagawa Ryo's cheek with her fingers before sliding down to the corner of his lips:

"That's true, let's go back to the dorm first."

As she was saying this, just as Ichinose Honami was about to let go of her hand and turn to take Kitagawa Ryo's right hand, she suddenly felt a strange sensation on her fingertips. She touched the wound that Yuki had left there, and at the same time, she noticed Kitagawa Ryo's subconscious slight contraction of his facial muscles and his inhalation.

"Liang is injured? Here?"

In an instant, all of Ichinose Honami's nerves tensed up again, and she immediately moved closer to examine it carefully for a while before finally discovering the tiny, almost unnoticeable wound.

"It's not even a minor injury, Fanbo, you don't need to worry about it."

"When I touched you just now, Liang clearly felt pain, right? Let me check again, is there any bleeding? At that time."

"It's just a little bit, Fanbo really doesn't need to worry about it. In fact, I deliberately let someone bite through it."

"I don't understand what Liang is saying at all..."

"It's just a psychological problem, similar to what happened when Fanbo first enrolled, only the specific form it manifested was different."

Kitagawa Ryo reached out and grasped Ichinose Honami's carefully held right wrist. However, he could understand why the other was so tense and on edge. After all, if Yuki and Sakayanagi Arisu both harbored a deep-seated desire to see him bleeding, weak, or unable to walk again in order to once again bestow their maternal love upon him and indirectly fulfill a morbid desire for control, then Ichinose Honami was the complete opposite.

She was probably the one who least wanted Kitagawa Ryo to suffer even the slightest physical or psychological harm or trauma. The weight of this feeling was even greater than that of Amasawa Ichika. In a sense, it was this fear that prevented her from doing anything out of line for a long time after her rebirth, until she changed her mindset after the summer vacation half a year ago and launched a series of powerful attacks at the sports festival and cultural festival.

"……I see."

After hearing Kitagawa Ryo use his past mindset as an example, Ichinose Honami nodded with some understanding, but her tone was still quite stiff, clearly indicating that she already had a slight opinion about the girl she had never met.

Even though she said that, Ichinose Honami's hands didn't stop moving at all. She glanced at Kitagawa Ryo's neck again with some concern, and then directly pulled his shirt collar open a little. The 'strawberry' that hadn't faded over time was quite conspicuous, and a few faint teeth marks could be found on his collarbone.

"Don't these hurt?"

"I don't feel anything anymore."

"...You two are really exaggerating."

Although Honami Ichinose didn't know what had happened between Ryo and the other person, and she also knew very well that this level of wound was not even worth mentioning in the little romantic gestures between lovers, she still felt a little lost, as if someone had carelessly and without a care left a hole in her treasured possession.

Just moments ago they were talking about recreating the scene between the two of them, but now Ichinose Honami has completely lost interest in it: