I have a life simulator.

"When I was watching the OAA today, I suddenly noticed that Airi's flexible thinking ability seems to be deducting points."

"Well, it's normal that Arisu and Suzune are both gaining points."

Sakura Airi was quite indifferent to this, since the scoring for this category was different from the other categories. The scoring for flexible thinking was somewhat of a zero-sum game. In Japan, interpersonal circles are, to some extent, structured like a pyramid, and many students intentionally divide themselves into different levels. Terms like "shady character" and "high-class" that are commonly found in various light novels and manga originate from this. There have even been works like "The Weak Character Tomozaki-kun" that specifically develop this core setting in detail.

If Sakura Airi were willing to try to compete for the position of class leader in Class A after Kitagawa Ryo transferred away at the end of last year, the school would most likely continue to generously give her extra points in this regard.

"Has Airi never considered competing with Arisu or Suzune for the position of class leader?"

"I have neither the talent nor the idea in this regard, nor do I have any chance of winning this election. I would only make the already chaotic class even more chaotic."

When confronted with Kitagawa Ryo's question, Sakura Airi readily admitted her shortcomings:

"Rinne and Arisu can both do better than me."

“But I think Airi has always had the talent and the potential to win this election. What she lacks is just the idea.”

Unlike the Sakura Airi he glimpsed in Karuizawa Megumi's second simulation, Kitagawa Ryo has always held a highly positive attitude towards the Sakura Airi in this timeline.

On one hand, this is due to past inertia. After all, for a long time before, Sakura Airi, whom he brought into the entertainment industry, only had him as a supporter, whether you call her an agent or a fan.

On the other hand, Sakura Airi truly deserves such praise.

The entertainment industry has never been a pleasant place. Even Karuizawa Megumi, who was reborn, faced long-term cyberbullying and felt physically and mentally exhausted as a result. Sakura Airi, who is more famous, is no exception.

That's why she was able to remain calm and composed when faced with those malicious and filthy messages from stalkers upon entering school. No one is born this way; time and the experiences it brings are always the sharpest carving knives.

"Yes, Liang is right. Maybe I have these too."

After being so bluntly affirmed by Kitagawa Ryo, Sakura Airi herself asked him a question in a self-deprecating manner.

Ultimately, if we only talk about the election, all the abilities and promises ultimately point to popularity. Just like how Horikita Suzune, who is excellent in every aspect, struggles so much in Class A, what she lacks is this. And everything Sakayanagi Arisu did in the previous mixed training camp special exam was to obtain this.

This is precisely what Sakura Airi had within her grasp but never actually reached out to get it.

"But, just like Liang said, I just don't have that idea. Being a class leader has never meant anything to me."

"So Airi is satisfied with the current situation?"

"Would Liang want me to be satisfied?"

Upon hearing Sakura Airi's question, Kitagawa Ryo instinctively gasped, his steps faltering, and he turned to look directly into her eyes as he replied:

"I want to hear Ai Li's true thoughts."

"The truth is..."

Sakura Airi lowered her thoughtful eyes, but did not give herself an answer immediately.

To be honest, just as Kitagawa Ryo knew and analyzed last night, she has always been a child who really hopes, no, should be said to yearn to communicate with people, to be needed, to be expected of, and to be recognized. Even under her timid exterior in the past, she hid an urgent desire to receive positive feedback from others.

It was precisely because of this mindset that she was able to embark on the path of becoming an idol under the guidance of Kitagawa Ryo, and she has persisted in doing so ever since.

As she grew into a well-known idol, and after receiving a series of positive reviews from countless viewers and industry insiders, Sakura Airi's needs were essentially met. After that, it was only natural for her threshold to rise.

Just like Maslow's hierarchy of needs, the thresholds related to needs are things that fluctuate with circumstances. After achieving lower-level satisfaction, it is natural to pursue higher-level satisfaction.

If Sakura Airi was initially delighted by the sudden increase in praise and recognition, then after she became famous, as her threshold for appreciation rose and negative emotions surged, the only ways she truly craved and found positive feedback that could once again stir her emotions became extremely rare.

Or, to put it another way, this '几' can also be replaced with '一'.

Only one of its kind, and only one person with it.

Of course, this does not mean that Sakura Airi's popularity has dwindled to the point that she can only receive support and recognition from Kitagawa Ryo alone.

But as she experienced larger stages and more audiences, Sakura Airi, increasingly exhausted and on the verge of collapse, also realized one thing more and more clearly:

His support and recognition alone are enough to overshadow the crowds and excitement of ten thousand, one hundred thousand, or even one million people.

Or rather, this was the very reason she became an idol in the first place.

Just as some extreme fans always hold the idea that they don't want their idol to become too popular and to remain confined to a small circle, Sakura Airi, as an idol, also had similar thoughts.

When Kitagawa Ryo was the only one in the audience, she was his idol.

When the audience grew larger, she was still able to spot the unique support color that stood out in the crowd.

But as the crowd roared and cheered, Kitagawa Ryo became a drop of water swept into the sea of ​​people, a tree lost in the forest.

From this perspective, the answer Kitagawa Ryo received was not wrong, because Sakura Airi's decision to announce her graduation from idol school and transfer to Tokyo University of Education stemmed from a sudden and rapidly spreading sense of fear that arose from the depths of her heart at a certain moment.

"I……"

Sakura Airi was still hesitating.

As mentioned above, because the positive feedback Kitagawa Ryo could give her exceeded the sum of hundreds, thousands, or even tens of thousands of people, conversely, the negative feedback he could give her was also magnified to such an extent that it would engulf and submerge everything like a tsunami.

That's why Sakura Airi is so hesitant. Because being real always means being imperfect, but everyone wants to show their most perfect self to the person they like. Just like how she still won't admit that all the idol support clothes that Kitagawa Ryo mysteriously lost during middle school were taken back by her without permission.

But at that moment, another fact clearly emerged in Sakura Airi's mind.

That means if they don't take this step, their relationship will go back to square one.

It had been three months since she last tasted that wonderful feeling of positive feedback. It was during the preparations for the cultural festival when Kitagawa Ryo, who was short-handed, asked her to help research and bake a new menu for a dessert shop.

It wasn't winter yet at that time.

Spring is almost here.

A season passes by like sand slipping through your fingers.

How many more of these precious seasons, which could be wasted at will, are left between them?

The moment she realized this, Sakura Airi finally spoke her true thoughts to Kitagawa Ryo.

As if anticipating her choice and subsequent answer, Kitagawa Ryo spoke simultaneously with her, as if in a question-and-answer session.

"...I want to help Shang Liang."

"I want Airi to help me."

"And... I'm sure I can help Liang."

“I also believe that Airi can help me.”

If this were in the context of an RPG game, the two of them would probably already be hearing notifications and music indicating a new member has joined the team. But realistically, they should have been on the same team from the start.

Seemingly having confirmed something through Kitagawa Ryo's two sentences, Sakura Airi raised her head and continued to express her feelings to him with a firm tone:

"From the very beginning, Liang got one thing wrong."

"After graduating as an idol, I didn't choose to enroll in Dongyu University because I wanted to experience campus life as an ordinary student. Rather, if I really wanted to celebrate youth, Dongyu University was not a good choice at all, was it?"

"Ryo may indeed feel that I am physically and mentally exhausted from my idol activities over the past few years, which is why I want to break away from the identity of Shizuku and live a simple daily life as Sakura Airi. I do not deny that myself."

"But every stage of life is not something that can be cut off and discarded at will. Didn't Liang himself say that those past feelings and experiences were never meaningless? On the contrary, they are what make up who we are today?"

"So, I am both the idol Shizuku who has already graduated and Sakura Airi who is standing in front of Ryo now. They are both me because my feelings remain the same."

"It was Ryo who made me go from Sakura Airi to Shizuku, and then from Shizuku back to Sakura Airi."

“Please take responsibility for this.”

she said so.

Chapter 500: Mark Twain was right.

“So, starting today, Airi is officially joining our group, which is one that feels like it should have a party name but we feel it's unnecessary so we haven't come up with one yet. Anyway, our goal is to support Suzune to become the student council president.”

"What a long name..."

"Actually, there's only one thing to do: get everyone to vote for Suzune-nyan."

"What's the deal with this verbal tic?"

"No, this is not a verbal tic, but a suffix of 'Rin'. It forms a word with 'Rin'. The correct punctuation should be 'Please vote for Rin' Nyan,' not 'Please vote for Rin, Nyan.'"

"What if I feel like the explanation just makes things worse?"

"Do you know why Suzune kept the fact that she performed in the musical 'Cats' at the cultural festival three years ago? By the way, Hotaru and I were her instructors back then."

"...So this is actually the style of a strategy meeting?"

"I have lost confidence in my future and that of the student union."

Inside the drama club's activity room, the Horikita Suzune group, which had expanded from a three-person team to a four-person team, maintained a fairly cheerful atmosphere of teasing and banter. Sakura Airi, who had just been brought in today, quickly adapted to the environment and seamlessly joined in the teasing as well. After a while, the group put away their playful and joking thoughts and began to discuss the matter seriously.

"First of all, I need to make it clear that since this student council election also uses anonymous voting, barring extreme cases, most students will have their own voting rights, not to mention the unexpected involvement of the investment and financial management mini-class."

"Therefore, this student council election is actually similar to last year's sports festival. Every student is quite proactive. We can't just focus on getting promises from class leaders. We have to fight for every vote. I can't even guarantee 100% that Class B will give all their votes to Suzune in this election. The same goes for Ryuen from Class D."

In fact, looking at all of Yuecheng Changcheng's actions during his time as acting chairman, it is clear that he has been intentionally or unintentionally guiding something, especially in influencing each individual student.

On the bright side, this can fully unleash the initiative of each student, cultivate their independent personality and thinking ability, and encourage many students who originally only followed the general trend of the class and acted according to the instructions of the class leaders to start acting as individuals.

Conversely, this is also sowing discord between individuals and the class. In the past two semesters, apart from Class B, which was united or at least showed unity, the other three classes in the first year all experienced internal conflicts, disagreements, and backstabbing incidents to varying degrees. Even Class D, which originally controlled the entire class like a tyrant, had to be dealt with by Long Yuanxiang using a combination of carrot and stick tactics, employing debt contracts to stabilize his position.

"That's one of the reasons why I hope Lingyin can go from class to class and club to club to campaign for votes. At least she needs to create an opportunity to talk directly with everyone so that she can move them."

After Kitagawa Ryo finished speaking, Horikita Suzune nodded in agreement.

"Yes, this election is not a competition that can be decided by the leaders of a few classes or grades sitting down and discussing it. Every vote is something we need to fight for. Just as there may be students in Class B of the first year who do not vote for me, there may be students in Class D of the first year who are willing to vote for me."

Tianze Yixia chewed her bubble gum and quickly caught up on the conversation:

"Of course, the main reason is that there are only so many students in the three grades of Dongyu, so this meticulous approach is feasible. If there were several times more, it would be impossible to manage them all."

As she spoke, she glanced at Sakura Airi beside her with a grin.

“Actually, we were still racking our brains yesterday about how to win over these swing voters. Now that Airi is here, the problem should be easier to solve.”

"But we need a reasonable approach. I can't really have to tell every single student, 'Please support Lingyin, thank you, meow! Please support Lingyin, thank you, meow!'"

Sakura Airi readily accepted Amaze Ichika's high regard, but she was still a bit troubled about the specific promotional methods.

"Simply provide a screenshot of your vote for Suzune to enter the lucky draw, with prizes including but not limited to Shizuku's autograph and limited-edition support clothing..."

Tianze Yixia lightly touched her lips with her finger, and in no time she burst out this long string of words.

"Stop, stop, stop! Where did you learn all this?"

"Hey internet surfing, by the way, did you guys see any posts about the Tokyo Tower on Valentine's Day a couple of days ago...?"

"Ahem, this is the time for the student council president election campaign meeting. Tianze Yixia, please do not bring up irrelevant matters."

Kitagawa Ryo quickly coughed twice to interrupt Amasawa Ichika's instigating chant, and then turned to Horikita Suzune to express his thoughts:

"In my opinion, the students of Dongyu University mainly expect the new student council and its next president to accomplish something and what specific benefits it can bring to them."

"Take our Valentine's Day celebration we just held recently, for example. Just based on that alone, even if Nagumo could come back and compete with me now, he would definitely lose the votes to me."

At this point, Kitagawa Ryo turned his gaze to Sakura Airi again:

"Airi is an idol with extremely high popularity who has already graduated, and in the past year she has never actively identified herself as such in front of others. So, under these circumstances, what would her fans among the students of Dongyu University most like to see?"

"Kids, I'm back! Resurrect by pressing '1'..."

"If you mention those stale internet memes again, I'll confiscate your keys."

"That's definitely the performance of Ai's temporary revival that I'm most looking forward to—"

"That's roughly the idea."

Kitagawa Ryo snapped his fingers, then added:

"But we must attribute the credit for this to Suzune, and create an atmosphere that only by electing Suzune and making her the president will there be more similar entertainment activities and performances in the future, and only then can Idol Shizuku be temporarily revived."

"In short, it boils down to one sentence: sparing no effort to add an aura of 'capable, renowned general!' to Suzune."

Just as the discussion among the group was getting into a good mood, a sudden message interrupted Kitagawa Ryo's train of thought.

"I need to get back to the student council first."

After reading the details of the information, Kitagawa Ryo reluctantly stood up from his seat:

"Rinne is with me too."

"What's wrong?"

"There's been a new development in Masayoshi Hashimoto's case."

"To be precise, he took the initiative to expose what happened on the deserted island last year."

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

In fact, Hashimoto Masayoshi's case has never been limited to just the emotional dispute with a second-year student. The intentional injury case that occurred on a deserted island last summer has also remained unresolved, and in the end, it was only temporarily brought to a close with the resignation of the then chairman of the board, Sakayanagi Shigemori.

Whether it was who pushed Hashimoto Masayoshi and caused him to fall off the cliff, or whether the homeroom teacher of Class A at the time, Chabashira Sae, leaked exam questions to the students in her class, the school has not been able to find conclusive evidence to this day.