I have a life simulator.

"It's not like we wouldn't stand out if we were just wandering around campus without school uniforms during class time. But it's true that it would be better to wear regular clothes or casual clothes. Shall I go get it for Lingyin?"

"Wow, does Ryo mean she's going to go into my room and rummage through my closet?"

"Why does it sound so perverted... Besides, Suzune, didn't you just do something like that to my wardrobe?!"

"Actually, I really wanted to wear a light jacket when I went out. After all, it's winter now, so a bigger and thicker one would be fine."

"I guess you can only wear boyfriend shirts in the dorm."

"Didn't you already wear it out during the Summer Cultural Festival?"

"Then you win."

Seeing Kitagawa Ryo raise his hands in surrender at the bathroom door, Hotaru, who had enjoyed a stand-up comedy performance that resembled a couple's comedy show early in the morning, happily wagged her tail. It can only be said that she had already started to rank the concept gods in terms of combat power in her mind.

Judging from the current performance.

Suzune in her romantic teenage form seems more intimidating than both the reborn Karuizawa Megumi and the healthy version of Sakayanagi Arisu. She's already on par with Ichinose Honami after reconciling with her mother and the past.

This led to the chapter title, originally "Horikita Suzune's Winter Dream," being changed overnight to "Horikita Suzune's Winter Romance."

This winter is no dream, it's just wonderful!

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

In the end, Horikita Suzune's outfit for today was still something she decided on her own: the inner layer was her own clothes, and the outermost jacket was a subtly different style provided by Kitagawa Ryo. However, it still looked good on the outside. After all, pretty people are natural clothes hangers, and compared to the shorter Amasawa Ichika, the taller Horikita Suzune actually looked better in Kitagawa Ryo's jacket.

"As expected, there's hardly anyone here."

Around eight or nine o'clock in the morning, while all the students of Tokyo Advanced Educational Junior High School were already starting their classes in the school building, a pair of truants, resembling street urchins, arrived on the forest path in the school area to ask for leave (crossed out) and skip class.

It's hard to imagine that, based solely on OAA's overall evaluation and ranking, these two individuals, who were idly strolling around outside during class time, were among the best of the best in their class.

"It would be strange if someone did. I feel like the only people we could run into at this time are faculty and staff. When we passed by just now, didn't that auntie who was trimming the flower bed give us a puzzled look several times?"

"really……"

Although she spoke with absolute certainty yesterday, now that she has successfully skipped class and has so much free time, Horikita Suzune is surprisingly at a loss for what to do with her plans and intentions.

"How about we go check out the Beech Tree Shopping Center?"

"I always feel like not many shops are open at this time, but it's okay, since I don't have much else to do anyway."

In fact, when most shopkeepers noticed the unusual pair of Kitagawa Ryo and Horikita Suzune at Keyaki Shopping Center, they assumed that the two were there to summarize or wrap up yesterday's celebration on behalf of the student council. However, after observing them for a while, they realized that they seemed to be simply shopping.

"If I remember correctly, today should be a normal school day, right?"

"I remember that too, and they were the only two people shopping in the entire mall. Wouldn't that be considered having the whole place to themselves?"

"……It really is."

"What are those two buying? I'm thinking of whether we should open the shop ahead of schedule, since these two are big spenders."

"Well, it seems like I've just been wandering around aimlessly, and I haven't bought anything yet."

Kitagawa Ryo and Horikita Suzune were unaware that the shopkeepers on the upper floors had already started chatting about their topic. The two of them were immersed in the mall, which was filled with an atmosphere completely different from usual, and experiencing this novel and strange feeling.

Even though it's the same place, the experience can be completely different depending on the time of day, just like how a school visited during the day feels particularly eerie at night.

"Lingyin, do you remember the question I asked you last year when we came here to buy swimsuits?"

Kitagawa Ryo turned to Horikita Suzune and asked her, meeting her pair of alluring purplish-red eyes that resembled both a fox and a cat.

"I asked Lingyin why girls tend to enjoy shopping and strolling around."

"Yeah, remember."

Horikita Suzune quickly recalled her original answer:

"I said at the time that shopping gives people a sense of reality. Whether it's a small market or a large shopping mall, the dazzling array of goods and the crowds always give people a sense of the bustling world, making them clearly feel that they are living in this world."

"And now? Right now, there isn't a single customer in the mall except for us."

In response to Kitagawa Ryo's question, Horikita Suzune simply smiled and asked in return:

"Does Liang remember that before this question, you actually asked me another question, which was how often I go shopping?"

"My answer at the time was that I had to come to the mall to buy daily necessities about every two weeks."

"For me in the past, shopping malls, strolling around, and shopping were just like that."

"After all, that's just other people's entertainment, it has nothing to do with me."

"But Liang is mine alone."

"It's my own lively, bustling, and celebratory atmosphere."

Chapter 493: Forget the past and look forward!

Since most of the shops hadn't officially opened yet, Kitagawa Ryo and Horikita Suzune, who only browsed the shops that were already open, quickly walked from the first floor to the fifth floor.

To their surprise, a small shop that they thought had been closed for some time suddenly opened for business. It was the "Investment and Financial Management Classroom" that the school had opened there before last year's sports festival.

Although this little shop has only offered betting twice since it opened, once during the sports festival and once during the final exams of the second semester of the first year, countless students are already obsessed with it, though it's a love-hate relationship.

After all, there are not many legitimate ways for students to obtain personal points throughout Tokyo Advanced Educational High School. Apart from receiving points from the class quota each month, performing well in special exams, or achieving results in their respective clubs, there are almost no other methods.

It's actually quite contradictory. Theoretically, if personal points were truly linked to money, many students would definitely earn more personal points through the three methods mentioned above than ordinary high school students would earn by working after school. However, a considerable number of students who live paycheck to paycheck are still very resentful of the school's rule against working, as if this unreasonable rule is the reason they haven't been able to save personal points and often feel short of money.

From this perspective, Dongyu School really should offer courses on consumer values ​​to its students.

However, acting chairman Tsukishiro Tsuneaki chose to accelerate the process instead of following the trend. This shop, which advertises itself as an "investment and financial management mini-class," is the best proof of this and the biggest irony.

"Students actually coming at this time?"

The staff member who was busy working on the computer inside the shop seemed startled when Kitagawa Ryo and Horikita Suzune walked in. After muttering something in confusion, they casually greeted them:

"The event won't officially start until noon. We'll notify all students on the forum then. Please leave now."

"Since it will be announced to all students at noon, it shouldn't be a problem to let us see it in advance, right?"

Kitagawa Ryo simply smiled and shook his head, then walked over and glanced at the other person's computer screen.

"Isn't this just a student council election? I'm still serving as the acting student council president."

"Well... you always have to prepare in advance, after all, I'm just a worker."

The staff member just smiled awkwardly upon hearing this, then continued typing rapidly on the keyboard without looking up, and said:

"Even though you saw it, it's best not to post it on the forum beforehand, or I'll get my salary docked, please—"

"Don't worry, but I don't think it's a secret. Quite a few people probably guessed it beforehand."

"Knowing is one thing, but actually telling others is another. Alright, alright, I still need to work overtime to finish debugging the last part of the program. You two should go and look around somewhere else. Thanks for closing the door behind you."

Seeing the staff member politely thank them, Kitagawa Ryo pulled Horikita Suzune, who hadn't spoken since the beginning, out of the room and gently closed the door behind them.

"So there really are betting odds for this..."

As soon as she stepped out of the store, Horikita Suzune muttered a somewhat helpless complaint:

“Every time this thing comes out, things that were originally very simple become complicated. It’s like this during the sports festival, and it’s also like this during class voting and special exams.”

As the candidate with the biggest advantage in this student council election, Horikita Suzune naturally hoped that the election would go smoothly without any trouble. However, she never expected that a high school student council election would make her enjoy Mark Twain's short story "The Election of Governors" again.

"Forget it, let's not think about these things for now. We're not allowed to think about work today, Liang too."

"Well, we'll deal with whatever comes our way."

Although Kitagawa Ryo readily agreed, the images he had just glimpsed from the computer screen kept flashing through his mind.

Those were the base odds set by Tokyo Advanced Educational High School for the four candidates. Even though these odds would change quickly as individual points were added, they still reflected the school's initial optimism about these four individuals.

The highest odds are for Katsuragi Kohei.

Then there's Kiyotaka Ayanokoji.

Next is Sakayanagi Arisu.

The one with the smallest number, and therefore the most favored, is Horikita Suzune, who is currently patting her cheeks and muttering to herself not to think about these things.

But to be honest, being so highly regarded from the start isn't really good news.

His experience at the sports festival serves as a cautionary tale.

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

"We've finished shopping at Beech Tree Shopping Center—is there anywhere else you'd like to go, Lingyin?"

"I want to go check out the club building, but it's not the student council building, it's the drama club."

After thinking for a moment, Horikita Suzune also locked onto her target.

"The drama club's activity room, I feel like Suzune has been there quite a few times, but she always comes as a student council member."

Kitagawa Ryo stroked his chin and raised an eyebrow at the other person:

"Actually, I've always thought it would have been great if Rin hadn't joined the student council and had come to the drama club from the start, since you really do have a background in that area."

"Tch, Ryo makes that sound so easy. Doesn't she realize that if I hadn't joined the student council, would your drama club have been able to get away from school so smoothly every time? Besides, to survive better in Tokyo Advanced Educational High School, connections with the student council are always indispensable. Ryo should understand that better than anyone else, or rather, acting student council president?"

Kitagawa Ryo could only shake his head helplessly, and as he and Horikita Suzune headed towards the club building, he casually remarked:

"Anyway, I think that even if Suzune really intends to change some school rules after becoming the student council president, it's best not to bring it up during the election campaign."

"Liang is referring to the rule that student council members cannot join other clubs, right? Actually, I was being a bit idealistic about that. After all, from the perspective of other students, they certainly wouldn't want to see someone acting as both referee and player."

At this point, Horikita Suzune herself also felt somewhat disappointed:

"But I always want to try out other club activities."

For most high school students in Japan, clubs have always been as important as studying. However, Horikita Suzune herself did not feel this way because of this. She simply felt that the student council was too inconvenient for experiencing youth or dating.

The girls in the drama club can rehearse freely with Kitagawa Ryo after school, and they can even go out of school to compete every now and then. Shiina Hiyori in the tea ceremony club has almost turned Kitagawa Ryo into an unofficial member. Even in the basketball club, you can see Kitagawa Ryo playing a couple of games with Sudo Ken and others. But all that's left for her is to pick up and drop off at get off work.

If Kitagawa Ryo hadn't suddenly become the acting student council president during this period, the two probably wouldn't have seen each other much in the student council offices over the past year. They were practically just tools for stamping and approving the drama club's applications to participate in competitions outside of school.

"Actually, it's not that you can't experience youth while in the student council. It's mainly a matter of the style of the past two student council presidents. Our Valentine's Day celebration yesterday was very well received, wasn't it? We should organize more similar events in the future."

"Of course, just don't go there to volunteer anymore."

"It sounds like something embarrassing coming from Liang's mouth."

"Because I really feel it's a dark history, and I guess only Rin could do something like that."

"Oh, we're here, the key—"

As they walked and talked, the two soon arrived at the door of the drama club's activity room. They unlocked the door with their key and went inside.

The first thing you see when you enter is the familiar trophy display case. As one of the witnesses who watched it grow from scratch to its current size, I am still slightly shocked every time I see it, even though I have seen it many times.

The drama club's ability to frequently participate in competitions and silence gossip is largely due to this display case filled with honors. After all, the Dongyu School administration isn't stupid; if they couldn't produce results, even if Horikita Suzune stamped her seals to the brim, she still wouldn't be able to get the drama club's applications approved every time.

Although they were recently outmaneuvered by students from other clubs who used hypothetical scenarios and ignored the facts, since the other clubs now claim that the drama department is using competitions as practice, they are sure to win many awards if their club has so many opportunities to participate in competitions.

Horikita Suzune could only respond with a "heh."

"If it weren't for what happened a few years ago, would Liang have considered pursuing a career in theater?"

Looking at the trophy bases engraved with various award names, Horikita Suzune subconsciously asked the question.

After all, before she met Kitagawa Ryo in real life, she had already heard about Kitagawa Ryo as a theatrical actor from Horikita Manabu, so this identity of Kitagawa Ryo was actually more of a preconceived notion.

Kitagawa Ryo, of course, knew that the incident Horikita Suzune mentioned a few years ago referred to being approached by a zaibatsu to claim kinship. Although this incident was ultimately due to Suzune's own influence, since her talent was manifested in reality because of her one-time completion of the game.

But if, as they say, that didn't happen...

"I don't think so."

He ultimately gave a negative answer.

This was clearly an answer that took Horikita Suzune somewhat by surprise.

"Actually, for me, theater isn't something I'm really passionate about, something I'd want to dedicate my life to. Although it might sound like Versailles, I might actually hate it."

After all, before his transmigration and rebirth, he was always a talentless actor, even giving up simulation games. The direct reason why he was knocked here by a classic otherworldly truck in a daze was that 'acting prowess' that was full of mockery to him.

After being reborn, all he wanted to do was use this manifested talent to earn basic living security for himself and Ying, as well as funds for their subsequent medical treatment.

Of course, Kitagawa Ryo does not deny that he was very happy during his time in the theater troupe, but that happiness was not actually brought to him by the stage and acting. Rather, it was brought to him by the troupe leader and other colleagues who always took care of him, by Karuizawa Megumi who chose to challenge herself in the industry in order to get closer to him, by Ichinose Honami who never dared to make any changes and only dared to accompany him in a superficial way, and by Sakura Airi who was forced into the theater troupe by her parents to learn acting but was actually more suited to being an idol, and who eventually succeeded with his help.

Those heartwarming experiences form an important part of who Kitagawa Ryo is today.

After entering Tokyo Advanced Educational High School, forming a drama club and acting were merely convenient means for him to leave school.

From this perspective alone, Kitagawa Ryo could probably say that he has never felt happy acting.

"Perhaps he used up all his enthusiasm for this a long time ago."