I have a life simulator.

Chapter 429: Youth is Fleeting (4k5)

Perhaps because she never expected Kitagawa Ryo's answer to be in such an ambiguous tone, almost like flirting, Asahina Nazuna stood there stunned, not knowing where to put her hands. All she could hear was the soft sound of the amulet on her wrist rubbing against the table.

"Please note that the meal time is about to end. Please leave the student cafeteria in an orderly manner."

What finally brought Asahina Nazuna to this inexplicable state of mind was the repeated mechanical electronic announcements broadcast throughout the student cafeteria two minutes later, reminding the students who hadn't yet left that their mealtime had ended.

"...I will think about this matter seriously, but I am not sure whether it will succeed or fail in the end, after all, there are quite a few people in Kiriyama who support me."

“If you’re willing to trust me, you should know that I never do anything I’m not sure of. As for Kiriyama… he’s different from you. One of you is a student in Class 2-A, and the other is a student in Class 2-B. The core of the second-year system is Nagumo, but the core is Class 2-A. In this respect alone, you have a natural advantage.”

After successfully using his emotional skills to win over Asahina Nagisa to his side, Kitagawa Ryo seamlessly switched to his rational side, deliberately walking slowly with Asahina Nagisa out of the student cafeteria while whispering questions to each other with their shoulders close together.

"But Kiriyama also has his advantages. After all, he is a member of the student council. Even if he is no longer the vice president, if Mizowaki, Tonokawa and Nagumo were to get into trouble together, he would be the one with the highest status in the student council among the second-year students."

As soon as Asahina Nazuna said these words, Kitagawa Ryo nodded in agreement. It was clear that the senior he had chosen was not just a simple, clueless newbie; she had a very thorough understanding of the system that had been operating in the second year.

In fact, the fact that the second-year students were able to create such a system in Nagumo's hands—a system that was unprecedented in the history of Tokyo Advanced Educational High School, which exploited both the school and all the students in the grade—was inseparable from Nagumo's own position in the student council. After all, the student council in Tokyo Advanced Educational High School already enjoyed a special status in the school's original special system, and it could even be said that it shared some of the school's power.

In other words, if a remake is to be made, then there must be someone in the student council during the second year. From this perspective, Kiriyama Ikuha is indeed more suitable than Asahina Nazuna.

However, Kitagawa Ryo naturally took this issue into consideration as well.

"The next student council president will definitely be one of my people."

"...Indeed, I had forgotten that the two newly appointed student council vice presidents are old acquaintances of yours, but Ryo, are you really sure they will be willing to help with this?"

"Yes, we all hope to see a more orderly and stable second year. As long as you can do that, both Arisu and Rin will probably agree. At worst, I'll go and talk to them on your behalf."

After Kitagawa Ryo meticulously answered all of Asahina Nazuna's questions and concerns, Asahina Nazuna's mental state seemed to improve considerably. However, at the end, she suddenly sighed softly with a touch of melancholy:

"Actually, rather than me becoming the leader of this grade, I would prefer that the situation in the second year be like when we first entered school, just like your current first year, where each class competes fairly based on its own abilities to determine the real winner."

Before Kitagawa Ryo could answer, Asahina Nazuna shook her head sadly.

"But, it's true, we can't go back."

With the third-year students about to graduate, the second-year students will also be spending their final year of high school at this school.

It is no exaggeration to say that in the past year or so, all four second-grade classes have been completely tamed by Nan Yunya's system.

First, there is the difference in class points between each class. Because the allocation of points for each special exam by the school is predetermined in advance by Nan Yunya and Class A, although Classes A, B, C, and D have more class points than the classes in the first and even third grades on the surface, the gap between them is more difficult to overcome than that of other grades.

Secondly, the lower-ranked classes, and even Class A itself, have partially lost the ability to cope with new special exams as individual classes. After all, in the past year, there has been no competition between them. They only cooperated under the coordination of Class A to figure out how to exploit loopholes in the school rules to get more benefits. In fact, this can be seen from the mixed training camp exam that was disrupted. Apart from the group led by Nan Yunya herself, the scoring efficiency of the other second-year groups was far inferior to that of the first-year and third-year groups.

The vast majority of students in the lower-ranked classes have completely given up. Their only remaining purpose at Tokyo Advanced Educational High School is to gamble on whether they can draw a transfer ticket to Class A before graduation next year. Now, you're telling them to stand up, not to kneel, and to use their own strength to lead the class forward to advance to the next rank. They have lost both their ambition and their ability.

If we were to use a metaphor, the second year is indeed like an old man with deep-seated and incurable diseases. Everyone knows that change would be better, but the remaining time is not enough. The only option is to continue drinking poison to quench thirst and believe that they can draw a glimmer of hope to enter Class A in that last moment.

That is why they are only dissatisfied with Nagumo, not with the entire existing system. What they are thinking now is not to tear it down and start over, but to replace Nagumo, who has lost the support of the people, and let another capable and qualified student continue to run the system.

"If Liang could have come here a year earlier, that would have been great."

After they walked out of the student cafeteria in silence, Kitagawa Ryo suddenly felt a slight weight on his chest. Asahina Nazuna, who had been standing next to him, leaned her head against him. Along with these words, he also heard the sound of her soft sobbing.

When Ichinose Honami cries, she always makes no sound; when Karuizawa Megumi sheds tears, she unconsciously raises her voice; when Horikita Suzune sobs, she tries her best to suppress any sound that others might notice; and Sakayanagi Arisu generally doesn't choose to shed tears in front of him.

In all the Sims he had seen, Kitagawa Ryo had witnessed countless girls crying. However, compared to the different stories behind their tears, Asahina Nazuna's sobs were probably the most ordinary and commonplace he had ever encountered. Stripped of the aura of being a year older than him and called her "senior," she was simply sobbing against his chest in a normal way.

Because the two of them were standing near the entrance of the student cafeteria, even though there weren't many students around at this time, many students, including Sakayanagi Arisu, Horikita Suzune, and Ayanokoji Kiyotaka, still clearly witnessed the scene. Most of the students who didn't know the details felt that just seeing another girl with tears streaming down her face leaning against Kitagawa Ryo's chest made them want to turn around and go back to the student cafeteria for another bowl of rice.

"If Liang could have come here a year earlier, that would have been great."

Kitagawa Ryo seemed to hear Asahina Nazuna repeat herself again.

However, although the words are the same, the meanings are largely different.

Or rather, the sentence that follows is closer to what Xue once told him: "If only she could have enrolled in Dongyu a year earlier."

Youth is fleeting.

Missing a year means missing a full 365 days.

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When Kitagawa Ryo strolled back to the dormitory of the third group, unsurprisingly, his 'glorious deeds' at the entrance of the student cafeteria ten minutes earlier had already spread again. It just goes to show that while everyone was talking about love in the afternoon, they found out that he had already put it into practice. One can't help but marvel at the diversity of the world.

Because of tomorrow's rest day, the boys' dormitory was unusually restless tonight. After all, without the need to get up early, there was no need to go to bed early either. Anyway, even if going to bed early meant dying later, staying up late was just more fun. Ishizaki Daichi and his friends had already set up their decks again and started playing with those two decks of cards again.

"The tablet? I haven't drawn my prize for today yet."

"Here, here you go."

After watching with great interest for a while, Kitagawa Ryo suddenly remembered that he hadn't drawn the prize yet, so he reached for the tablet and entered his student account.

Over the past four days, he has accumulated a reward multiplier of 2.2. However, due to his poor performance in the field training this morning, ranking second to last, he can only get one guaranteed card draw today.

Perhaps feeling a little embarrassed, the other students, who were the 'culprits,' didn't crowd around him like they had in the previous days, eager to see what cards he had drawn. Kitagawa Ryo then sat back down on his bed and casually used his card-drawing opportunity.

Despite having gone through so many simulations and manifesting a whole bunch of useful and useless talents, Kitagawa Ryo doesn't seem to have ever actually obtained one related to luck. The closest he can recall is a blue talent called 'Four-Leaf Clover' that he obtained in Sakayanagi Arisu's first simulation, but because he didn't complete that simulation, he couldn't successfully manifest it.

Thinking of this, Kitagawa Ryo suddenly recalled the time Hotaru brought him last year, which resulted in the automatic simulation of an even more mysterious 'ultimate younger man-dominated' talent. He wondered if he could use this method to draw two more luck-related talents in the future.

Of course, it would be even better if someone could be proficient in animal language, since it's really inconvenient for him to chat with Ying right now; he can only do so by looking at the cat's one-finger gesture on the keyboard.

Having been away from Tokyo Advanced Educational High School for so many days, he was starting to miss Hotaru, who was in the dormitory. After all, the last time they were separated for so long was during their time on the deserted island last year.

Just as Kitagawa Ryo's thoughts were unconsciously drifting towards Dongyu, the tablet screen finally displayed the results of his gacha draw. Perhaps there really was a cat god's blessing in this world, because the number that appeared in front of him was a big 0.5. With only one chance to draw a card, he actually succeeded on his first try and drew the grand prize with the highest multiplier in the prize pool.

After increasing his multiplier to 2.7, Kitagawa Ryo calmly returned the tablet, then climbed onto the bed and began to ponder Ayanokouji Kiyotaka's luck.

Unlike himself, whose lottery results are always closely watched, Kiyotaka Ayanokouji is the kind of person who is good at hiding his true self. If he hadn't made a big splash in front of the whole school this morning and raised his score to second place in the whole school, just behind him, he probably would have gotten away with this special exam again.

Ayanokouji Kiyotaka's performance in the past few days has been at the same top-tier level as his, and he should be able to get the maximum of three lottery cards each time. In addition, this morning, his opponent won first place in the entire school's field training exercise, so today's performance should also be three cards. In terms of the number of times he has drawn cards, Ayanokouji Kiyotaka has even drawn two more than him. It's just unknown how lucky his opponent is and how much multiplier he has accumulated.

"Tomorrow is a day off. Does anyone have any plans?"

After playing two rounds of poker with the others, Hashimoto Masayoshi couldn't resist bringing up the topic again. After these few days of private talks in the bathroom, he had successfully made contact with Ryuen Sho from Class D, leaving himself a way out. Therefore, his fear of Ayanokouji Kiyotaka had eased a bit. However, because he usually gave people the impression of being frivolous, his smugness at this moment went largely unnoticed.

"What else can you do on a day off? Just sleep and rest in your dorm."

When confronted with Hashimoto Masayoshi's question, Ishizaki Daichi simply scratched the back of his head and gave a muffled reply.

"So, do you have any plans?"

"Well, I already asked the teacher this afternoon. Although tomorrow is a rest day and we are not allowed to go out, all the classrooms on campus are free to use. The four topics for the final exam, 'Zen (meditation),' 'speech,' 'written test (morality part),' and 'road relay race,' have already been released, right? The first three are indoor activities, so I thought everyone could go to the empty classrooms to familiarize themselves with the environment beforehand, just like a mock exam."

Hashimoto Masayoshi's suggestion tempted many students, as everyone wanted to cram before the exam. However, Watanabe Norihito and Hamaguchi Tetsuya from Class B frowned. In their opinion, given the uncertain situation, Kitagawa Ryo, who had become the target of everyone's criticism, should stay in his locked dormitory like he had this afternoon, instead of going out to take this so-called mock exam.

"I think it's a good thing. This will help everyone get good results in the final exam on the last day. Nan Yun from the second year is leaving, so his group's results will definitely be affected. If we first-year students work hard, we might be able to take first place in the group this time."

But Kitagawa Ryo seemed oblivious to the warning glances from his two classmates, and nodded in agreement with a smile.

Most of the power within the first and second years has been divided and disintegrated by his students, which means that if they want to deal with him, Ayanokoji Kiyotaka can no longer continue to hide behind the scenes as before.

After Nan Yunya left the scene, the other side has now lost the ability to control the second year. Ryuen Sho of Class D dared not make any more rash moves because Class B had to help the students of Class D pay off the debts that bound them. Sakayanagi Arisu of Class A ended up getting herself into trouble because of the rumors spread by Amasawa Ichika after her actions at noon.

Kitagawa Ryo is very patient.

Like slicing sausages, only a portion of the third-year students were now visible to him.

After that, Kiyotaka Ayanokoji was forced to confront him directly.

This special exam is about to end.

At that moment, Kitagawa Ryo finally had a clear premonition.

Chapter 430: Spy Exposed

Just as sensational rumors among boys tend to spread to girls, many rumors among girls also tend to spread to boys. So, as soon as Kitagawa Ryo closed his eyes for a moment, the other boys started playing cards and talking about the two wildly popular gossips that suddenly spread among the first-year students that afternoon.

Perhaps because one of the parties involved, Kitagawa Ryo, was still there, and he had already dissuaded and defended him once at noon, Ishizaki Daichi and the others tacitly avoided the matter of Sakayanagi Arisu, and instead discussed in perfect unison whether Kushida Kikyo was a spy from Class C.

As a social terrorist who dominated the top of the grade's social circle during the post-Ichinose Honami era, Kushida Kikyo's reputation among the boys was also surprisingly high. Before the three boys in Class C could even speak, almost everyone else expressed disbelief.

"Little Kikyo would never do such a thing."

"It must be that some girls are jealous of her and deliberately spread these rumors."

"Class C has really been tormented by this so-called spy. It's not just one or two people who've gone mad. Didn't they accuse their class teacher, Chabashira Sae, of being a spy last time? Shouldn't Katsuragi be next?"

Listening to the students playing cards below casually sharing their thoughts, Kiyotaka Ayanokouji, sleeping on the upper bunk, turned slightly to the side, gazing at the inner wall as he fell into thought.

To be honest, he wasn't surprised by the rumor that Amasawa Ichika had spread, because she was in the same group as Kushida Kikyo and they had likely had a secret conflict before. So, if she wanted to confuse the issue, it was quite reasonable for her to bring up Kushida Kikyo again.

For Kiyotaka Ayanokouji, Amasawa Ichika was also the tight rein he tacitly placed on Kushida Kikyo. He had already received information from Yamamura Miki that the other party would intermittently go out in the middle of the night when under too much pressure. As the saying goes, to catch a thief red-handed, you need to catch an adulterer in the act. If he could catch Kushida Kikyo in this weakness, it would be very likely to be the opportunity and breakthrough to truly find the spy who had been hiding in the class.

With such expectations in mind, Kiyotaka Ayanokouji patiently waited until around midnight. Perhaps because they were exhausted from the field training in the morning, the boys who had been saying just a few tens of minutes ago that they wanted to stay up and play a little longer were now all in bed and asleep, with snores heard everywhere.

At this point, Kiyotaka Ayanokouji quietly rolled out of bed. Ryo Kitagawa, who was on the lower bunk, seemed to be fast asleep as well, breathing evenly and without noticing his departure.

After nimbly leaving the dormitory of the third group, Kiyotaka Ayanokouji quickened his pace in the forest courtyard at night and soon found Kohei Katsuragi, whom he had greeted at dinner time. He led him over the wall of the girls' dormitory and entered the forest in the dark, where Miki Yamamura was already waiting.

"According to past surveys, Kushida went out the most during this time period. Due to the influence of the rumors, she spent a lot of effort explaining herself to everyone this afternoon. Her stress level must have been quite high."

Upon seeing Ayanokouji Kiyotaka and Katsuragi Kohei arrive, Yamamura Miki immediately stepped forward and quietly reported that, for reasons unknown, she did not tell Ayanokouji Kiyotaka that Kitagawa Ryo had caught her squatting in the men's restroom at noon that day.

"Then let's wait a while."

After listening to Miki Yamamura's report, Kiyotaka Ayanokouji nodded again to Kohei Katsuragi, who looked particularly nervous. He was clearly uncomfortable with sneaking into the girls' dormitory in the middle of the night. If Kiyotaka Ayanokouji hadn't firmly stated that tonight's events were closely related to the class's future competitiveness and even the fate of Class C, given his cautious and steady personality, he would never have done something that would result in social death if he were discovered.

"Will Kushida... really come?"

Even now, Katsuragi Kohei still harbors some doubts about Ayanokouji Kiyotaka's explanation, or rather, he is unwilling to believe the reality he might face. After all, Class C is already in turmoil. If Kushida Kikyo is confirmed to have betrayed the class and continues to confess that another spy is a student other than Chabashira Sae, then Class C can indeed pack its bags and leave. They have been infiltrated from top to bottom, inside and out. Perhaps if something happens in the class, he, as the class leader, will be the one to receive the information secondhand. This makes Katsuragi Kohei feel rather complicated.

"Nothing is absolutely probable, but the triggering conditions have indeed been met today, so there is still a high probability that we will encounter it."

"At first glance, what you're saying sounds like you're talking about catching some rare Pokémon."

It must be said that, being in such a delicate setting at this time, Katsuragi Kohei couldn't help but feel inexplicably nervous, and kept trying to ease his unease by chatting with Ayanokoji Kiyotaka.

"Don't make a sound."

The next second, Kiyotaka Ayanokouji quickly covered Katsuragi Kohei's mouth and pulled him to squat down among the bushes. Katsuragi Kohei wanted to signal to Yamamura Miki, but found that she had disappeared without a trace.

Using both hands to shield his gleaming bald head, which seemed to reflect the moonlight, Katsuragi Kohei cautiously peeked out a little and, just as Ayanokoji Kiyotaka had said, saw Kushida Kikyo with a gloomy expression.

Unlike the image he had seen before, the Kikyo Kushida in front of him seemed to exude a kind of visible black ferocity. As soon as she entered the grove, she kicked a sapling next to her.

"Ugh—this is so annoying."

Unbelievably, the low, angry voice emanating from Kikyo Kushida reached Kohei Katsuragi's ears somewhat indistinctly, causing him to widen his eyes involuntarily.

"This is so annoying, it makes me so angry. Why doesn't this kind of person just die?"

As if reciting some kind of curse incantation, Kikyo Kushida placed her hands on another tree and kept muttering curses under her breath.

"What's the point of caring about betrayal or not? It's the rules and regulations of this crappy school that are problematic. Any student who cares about this kind of thing is sick."

Hearing the word "betrayal" clearly from Kikyo Kushida's mouth, Kohei Katsuragi felt a chill run down his spine. After all, if Kikyo Kushida really was the spy in Class C, the damage she would cause to the class would be far too great.

"Ugh—this is terrible. It's absolutely terrible, absolutely terrible, absolutely terrible. When will this utterly meaningless, stupid exam that only makes everyone argue ever end...?"

Seemingly still unable to vent her pent-up frustration, Kikyo Kushida continued to complain, her feet never idle, constantly stomping on the grass blades on the ground nearby, spinning them forcefully as if trying to crush them completely into the mud.

As for Kikyo Kushida, she didn't think that this was the work of Ryo Kitagawa or Ichika Amasawa. After all, they would be too busy to expose their spy identities. Even if they were trying to be good people, they wouldn't do it this way. Just like the Chabashira Sae incident at the end of last year, even if everyone's first reaction was absolute disbelief, the seed of doubt would still be planted and would eventually take root and sprout. This was something that Kikyo Kushida absolutely could not tolerate. She always pursued absolute perfection.

Seemingly worried about running into other girls who happened to be out getting up in the middle of the night, after venting her frustrations, Kikyo Kushida's emotions seemed to have stabilized considerably. But just as she was about to leave, Kiyotaka Ayanokouji suddenly appeared in front of her.

"……what are you doing here?"

Completely different from their meeting in the grove that morning, Kikyo Kushida, having been caught in her true form, instantly lost all sleepiness. She coldly stepped forward and pinned Ayanokouji Kiyotaka down, pressing him down before he could even answer:

Did you hear everything just now...?

"Ah."

As Ayanokouji Kiyotaka readily nodded in acknowledgment, Kushida Kikyo instantly raised her left forearm and unceremoniously leaned against Ayanokouji Kiyotaka's neck, shoving him against a nearby tree in one go, exuding a terrifying aura.

"If you tell anyone what you just heard, I will never let you off the hook, even if you become a class leader."

These words were so cold that they didn't even seem like a threat.

What if I told you?

"Then I'll tell everyone that I was almost raped by you here."

"This is a fabricated charge, isn't it?"

"It's alright, because this isn't unfounded."

At this point, Kikyo Kushida also gave a cold laugh:

"This is a girls' dormitory where boys are not allowed to enter. If I shout now, you won't be able to defend yourself even if you have a hundred mouths."

Seeing the situation rapidly deteriorating, Katsuragi Kohei finally understood the significance of Ayanokouji Kiyotaka having brought him along, and immediately stood up from the woods:

"Kushida-san, I'm here too."