I have a life simulator.

What Amasawa Ichika wants to take revenge on is a phantom of Sakayanagi Arisu during the second simulation, but the one that actually exists here is Sakayanagi Arisu after three lives are superimposed. Although it seems like they are having a dialogue across time and space, the two still have common ground in their feelings, because the underlying nature of their personalities is indeed difficult to change, and it will be the same no matter how many times they start over.

For Kitagawa Ryo, the information gap was always a difficult hurdle to overcome between girls. It was alright for girls like Amasawa Ichika and Sakayanagi Arisu who shared a simulated memory, but the past troubles of Ichinose Honami and Karuizawa Megumi had bothered him for many years.

As time went by, Kitagawa Ryo became increasingly aware of an inevitable fact:

If he really wants to fulfill that excessively greedy wish, then it would be best to let all those who experienced it know what happened in the past.

There is never love or hate without a reason in this world.

Only when they know and understand this can they truly get along.

...After this special exam is over, I'll go back and ask Hotaru.

Of course, Amazusa Ichika was unaware that Kitagawa Ryo had made such a decision because of her. She was still deliberately provoking Sakayanagi Arisu's emotions, just like imitating the villains she had seen on TV when she was a child who would mock the protagonist, trying to stimulate the other person's potential and the bonds of friendship, family, and love.

But the more she did this, the calmer Arisu Sakayanagi became.

Or perhaps it's a kind of mild weariness.

Chess is inherently a mental game that requires thinking and predicting the opponent's moves. Reality is definitely not like light novels and anime, where the existence of a certain emotion can create extraordinary miracles, nor will there be any dramas where someone suddenly awakens and makes a divine move because of someone's existence.

She had doubted, been confident, tried, worked hard, and begged, but in the end, she also lost, failed, self-destructed, and cried bitterly.

So, where did her initial competitive spirit come from?

Is it due to her absolute self-confidence?

They have no doubt about their genius, the excellence of their genes, or everything they do, and take it for granted that it is right.

Perhaps this is the arrogance that Tianze Yixia was referring to.

At the end of the first simulation, Kitagawa Ryo used a single sentence to describe the style of behavior he had observed in Sakayanagi Arisu:

Knowing I was destined to be absent, I simply chose not to participate at all.

Perhaps this self-awareness is itself a manifestation of arrogance.

It's clear that what she learned from her father—the interaction between people and the warmth conveyed through skin—wasn't a bad thing, but she quickly and naturally wanted to become the one who led the way in spreading that warmth.

It's as if a story from a fairy tale has happened to her too. Someone is willing to spend at least two lifetimes' worth of effort for a seemingly unattainable goal, with a kitten leading her to obtain that gift from several lifetimes. For any girl, this is probably the most perfect process and ending.

She was naturally very moved and never doubted her feelings for Kitagawa Ryo and all of Kitagawa Ryo's feelings for her; he was the one destined for her.

But I still feel a bit conflicted that I can't quite put my finger on.

"I really envy you for being able to simply attribute all the reasons to the outcome of a game of chess."

Facing Amasawa Ichika, who was still chatting ambiguously with Kitagawa Ryo, Sakayanagi Arisu once again said what she had said an hour earlier.

She stood up wearily. The game on the board was beyond saving, and Sakayanagi Arisu resigned.

"The match is over."

The year-end special exams for Class 1-A and Class 1-B came to a close with these words spoken by Sakagami-sensei, who was quietly observing the results.

"Class B won the previous test. Therefore, the result of this final special exam is four wins and three losses—a victory for Class B. Of course, Class A also performed very well."

The outcome has been decided.

In the final moments before the command tower's communications were cut off, Kitagawa Ryo heard Amasawa Ichika's last words, but they weren't spoken to him; rather, they sounded more like a soliloquy.

"Hello,"

"I won Liang back."

Chapter 517: Towards Oneself, Towards Those Who Come After

Unlike the intense battle between Class A and Class B in the first year, which went to the very end, the match between Class C and Class D in the first year took an unexpected turn. Class C, who were highly anticipated before the match, found themselves struggling and outmatched as time went on.

After the score was tied 1-1, the third project for both sides was the academic ability-based [rapid mental arithmetic]. However, this time it was the project submitted by Class C, so the similar project submitted by Class D was also removed from the reserve pool.

Of course, this did not affect Class C of Grade 1 from still securing the point steadily. However, since the first three rounds of the project had already used up nearly 30 spots in the class, there were now less than 10 students left in the hands of Commander Katsuragi Kohei.

This includes Masayoshi Hashimoto.

In fact, although Kiyotaka Ayanokouji did not pay much attention to this special exam, he still informed Kohei Katsuragi before leaving school this morning. In addition to asking him to take over as the commander, he also left instructions regarding Masayoshi Hashimoto.

"If you feel you're going to lose, put him in the loser's bracket."

Kohei Katsuragi naturally understood the meaning of those words: if Class C won this special exam, they would find another opportunity to deal with Masayoshi Hashimoto; if Class C lost the exam, they would use this as an excuse to expel the other party from school.

Actually, when Katsuragi Kohei drew the tea ceremony in the first round, he had considered whether to let Hashimoto Masayoshi lose. However, on the one hand, it was the first match, and losing it would be bad for morale, as it seemed like he was deliberately losing. On the other hand, Shiina Hiyori's tea ceremony was not an absolutely dominant sport like Sudo's basketball or Yamada Albert's judo.

With each win earning him an extra fifty class points, Katsuragi Kohei still wanted to be greedy. Unfortunately, the girl he sent out in the end failed to win, and in addition, he drew events in the second and third rounds that were almost impossible for Class D to win, which instead put Hashimoto Masayoshi in his hands.

The fourth round of research topics was quickly completed.

It was a dodgeball game submitted by Class D of the first year. The rules were roughly similar to those of the team dodgeball game submitted by Class C of the first year, except that the number of players had been reduced from more than ten to eight, and the scale had been reduced.

Therefore, Hashimoto Masayoshi's participation and the removal of Class 1-C's team dodgeball event became inevitable.

From the very beginning, Katsuragi Kohei suspected that Hashimoto Masayoshi was the spy who leaked information about Class C. After all, after the two sides completely broke up, the other side's attitude towards Class C was only hatred. Even if Ryuen Sho didn't give him any more promises about transferring to another class, he would still spare no effort to disgust Class C in his last moments before dropping out of school.

Rather than saying this was a case of an insider or a spy, it was a completely overt performance by Hashimoto Masayoshi, who was leading Class C to a crushing defeat in the dodgeball event, bringing the score back to a 2-2 tie.

At this moment, there are still three items left to be drawn, but there are only three items left in the pool to be drawn: two identical English exams and one social studies exam.

At first glance, all of them seem to be academic programs that are absolutely advantageous to Class C.

but……

Katsuragi Kohei simply shook his head in distress.

With a two-thirds probability, the fifth item drawn was an English exam.

Having already completed one round of player selection, Class C of the first year scored again without any difficulty, taking the lead and holding match point, changing the score to 3-2, and only one step away from winning this special exam.

"Since the remaining items do not support the number of items to be drawn, in accordance with the rules of this special exam, the next items will be randomly drawn from the backup items of both parties."

Holding the documents, Hoshinomiya Chie explained the rules to the command center of Class 1-C and Class 1-D.

Therefore, the ten shortlisted projects were added to the pool, from which the topics for the final two competitions of Class C and Class D in the first year would be selected.

So, how prepared was Class C of the first year for this kind of unexpected situation?

The answer is almost zero.

Because the rule is to choose five out of ten from the beginning, most students will not do any extra preparation for the other five items, which are just a pretext. After all, it takes a lot of time just to practice the five official items they submit and to guess the other party's five official items.

To everyone's surprise, Class D of the first year would use this method to exchange items with Class C, forcibly dragging the competition into the realm of randomized alternative items.

Even at this point, Katsuragi Kohei still couldn't figure out Ryuen Sho's intention in going through such a long and complicated process.

If Class D did this to catch Class C off guard, and the actual projects they prepared were all backup projects, then why not just submit the backup projects as official projects from the beginning? In the end, it all comes down to luck, doesn't it?

However, at this point, Katsuragi Kohei couldn't care less about such things anymore and focused all his attention on drawing the sixth item.

Undoubtedly, the best choice would be the official project [Social Studies Exam] that their Class C hadn't yet been drawn for, but the one in eleven chance was too slim. In the end, the result was not as Katsuragi Kohei had hoped. They were drawn for a simple rock-paper-scissors game that was purely based on luck, a project submitted by Class D of the first year.

In fact, when all ten items of both sides were first disclosed, many students in Class C, including Kohei Katsuragi, were convinced that rock-paper-scissors would definitely be the official item for Class D. After all, the other academic items seemed too abstract, and it was normal for Class D, whose class strength was obviously weaker than their Class C, to want to cheat in this kind of luck-based item.

That's why Class 1-C had actually practiced rock-paper-scissors a few times under Kikyo Kushida's guidance, and they never expected to actually draw this topic today.

However, it must be said that in this crucial match point, drawing such a topic is definitely a good thing for Class 1-C. If they are lucky, they can easily pass this special exam.

With that in mind, Katsuragi Kohei naturally selected three girls, led by Kushida Kikyo, as his players on the screen.

After all, Kikyo Kushida has quite a few friends in Class D, so she might run into a student who knows the other person's rock-paper-scissors habit.

With this in mind, Katsuragi Kohei nervously turned his gaze to the live broadcast screen. Sitting opposite him, Ryuen Sho still looked nonchalant. If it weren't for the rule against putting your legs on the table, he probably would have already done so.

In the rules of Class 1-D, the Command Tower's intervention in this event is very weak, with only one rule: "You can suggest a player what to play before the game of rock-paper-scissors." Naturally, Kohei Katsuragi would not exercise this completely useless Command Tower authority, and Ryuen Sho also had no intention of using it.

The match was a best-of-three series, and the outcome was decided in almost ten seconds. Class 1-C seemed to be a little less lucky, as two of them, including Kikyo Kushida and another girl, lost their match, ultimately losing to Class D with a score of 1 to 2, handing over the winning point to them.

"The score between Class C and Class D is now 3-3, and the two sides will proceed to the final draw."

Majima Tomoya, who was serving as the proctor, said in a deep voice that even he himself did not expect that Class C and Class D would fight to the last moment before a winner was decided. Although it seemed that Class C had benefited from luck, he still felt that something was not right.

But Class D's good fortune didn't seem to be over yet. In the final draw, one of Class D's backup projects was confirmed on the big screen. However, the ratio of four to six was already close to 50/50. But at the last moment, which determined the outcome of the special exam, it still made people want to sigh.

【karate】.

This is the final project for Class C and Class D in the first year.

If that were all, it wouldn't be so bad, because Class C also has Hayato Kito, a student whose physical abilities are enough to rival those of Takeru Sudo and Albert Yamada from Class A, and Yosuke Hirata is also quite good.

However, this project was deliberately suffixed with "(Girls Only)".

Among the girls in Class 1-C who are relatively outstanding in terms of physical fitness, it seems that only Masumi Kamuro is the only one.

But this is definitely someone Katsuragi Kohei would find difficult to place in the decisive game.

Because the other party had already shown signs of betraying the class during the special mixed training camp exam, if nothing unexpected happens, after Hashimoto Masayoshi drops out of school, the next target for investigation in Class 1-C will be the other party.

However, according to the legendary observer Kiyotaka Ayanokoji, Masumi Kamuro might only show signs of betraying the class towards Ryo Kitagawa, and should still be trustworthy when it's unrelated to him.

Therefore, after much deliberation and hesitation, Katsuragi Kohei chose Kamuro Masumi and another girl from the class as the final participants in the event. Since Class D had already used their one-on-one spots for the tea ceremony, the karate event this time adopted a two-on-two rule.

It's just a ring battle format, where students who defeat their opponents can continue to the next round.

Kohei Katsuragi looked up at the screen. The confirmed members for Class 1-D were Mio Ibuki and Takeko Nishino.

Without a doubt, the key to victory and the focus of this match was the first round between Ibuki Mio and Kamuro Masumi, because neither of the two could defeat the victorious defender, given the significant gap in both physical attributes and skills.

The Command Tower's intervention power in this round was still negligible, merely granting it the ability to pause for ten seconds at any point in the game. However, this was consistent with Class 1-D's style in this special exam; the projects they submitted were designed with considerable caution in terms of Command Tower intervention, completely different from their usual approach of centering everything around Long Yuanxiang.

Within the scene, Masumi Kamuro and Mio Ibuki were each led into the competition venue by staff members and did some simple warm-up exercises.

Because it was the last match, and unlike the chess match between Class A and Class B next door, which required a quiet and enclosed environment, other students from Class C and Class D also came along. They wanted to witness the results of this special exam firsthand and also to cheer on their classmates up close.

"Consider it for the sake of Hiyori."

Before going on stage, Ibuki Mio heard Nishino Takeko pat her shoulder and say this to her from behind.

"I know, you've said it so many times, it's just that Class D won against Kitagawa this time and agreed to transfer to our class."

Ibuki Mio simply rolled her eyes at this:

"You know, I actually support Lingyin quite a bit."

"Then we should work even harder."

"what happened?"

"The news just came in that the special exams for Class A and Class B next door have all ended. Class B narrowly defeated Class A 4 to 3. If Class D loses this one, then Class C will surpass Class A."

"Is there such a thing?"

Ibuki Mio stretched her limbs, adjusting her body to its optimal state:

"Don't worry, I grew up in a dojo, and I was trained a lot by my elders when I was a kid."

"Even if the other guy, Kamuro, is about the same as me in terms of physical ability, he definitely can't beat me in terms of karate skills."

At this point, Ibuki Mio turned her gaze to Kamuro Masumi, who was also warming up across from her, and gestured with her chin toward Nishino Takeko:

"Moreover, I didn't feel that the other side had that particular desire to win, at least not as much as I did."

"...For whom do you hold this belief?"

"For Rinne, for Hiyori, and of course, for our class."

As she spoke, Ibuki Mio waved to the other Class D students behind her, eliciting cheers and encouragement, before turning back to continue her conversation with Nishino Takeko:

"Although I initially thought this class was terrible, it is also something I have been in for a year and will be in for another two years, something that has been with me throughout my three years of high school."

"Moreover, the changes in the class during this period have been quite good."

Why would Class D in Year 1 go to the trouble of having a head-to-head academic exam with Class C in this special test?

In the end, it all comes down to luck.

Ibuki Mio understood the answer that puzzled Katsuragi Kohei.

Because that wasn't a match against Class 1-C, but against their own team.

It is their proof to themselves, and also to Kitagawa Ryo, whether he comes or not.

"Well then, it's my turn to go on stage."

Finally, Ibuki Mio nodded vigorously at the camera and at the commander of the multimedia room, Ryuzono Sho.

The outcome will be decided in ten minutes.

Class D won the final event and took the year-end special exam against Class C with a total score of 4 to 3.

Take a day off