I have a life simulator.

If possible, she might inherit the will of a second-year student named Kiyotaka Ayanokouji and become a legendary observer.

But reality did not give her that choice.

This afternoon after school, Nanase Tsubasa received an anonymous text message on her phone. The message contained only a few words:

"Got you."

She was targeted by students from Ayanokoji's faction.

So it seems like my life at Tokyo Advanced Educational High School has never been peaceful from the very beginning?

Nanase Tsubasa took out her notebook, sighed, and flipped to one of the entries:

Minister Kitagawa is safe most of the time, and you can safely ask him for help if you encounter difficulties or get involved in the problems of other seniors.

Then please take some responsibility.

senior.

Chapter Sixteen: The People Who Begin to Intersect

"So, in conclusion, I also think it would be better for Arisu and Yuki to be partners in this special exam."

"Of course, rather than being partners, you are more like competitors on the same starting line. In this special exam, you two only need to think about how to get a higher score than each other. This way, your group ranking will naturally improve in the end, which is a win-win situation."

After listening to Kitagawa Ryo's idea, Sakayanagi Arisu casually raised her hand to indicate her agreement:

"I don't care."

In any case, rather than pairing Yuki with Kitagawa Ryo, it's better to forcibly bind her to herself, which in a sense is a kind of alternative one-for-one self-destruction.

"What about Xue's side?"

After Arisu agreed, Kitagawa Ryo turned his attention to Yuki:

"If Yuki wants to settle things with Arisu, I think this is the fairest and most appropriate way."

"So, who will Liang partner with?"

Without immediately agreeing or refusing, Yuki turned to Kitagawa Ryo and asked him:

"It's that new recruit from your drama department..."

"It's Sakura."

Before the snow question could be finished, Kitagawa Ryo answered first:

"Now you can rest assured, right?"

"Besides, she is also very academically gifted, so Xue doesn't need to worry about holding me back."

"...Sakurako never told me about this."

"That's because you didn't tell her your thoughts beforehand."

As he spoke, Kitagawa Ryo shook his head again:

"What can't sisters say to each other?"

"I'm just not used to it, okay?"

Yuki offered a somewhat complicated explanation, while Sakayanagi Arisu glanced at her with empathy. After all, among the three participants in the last simulation, apart from Amasawa Ichika, neither she nor Yuki were particularly comfortable with the return in the early stages. It was as if they had been abruptly loaded into another save file, without any weapons or equipment. The main quest was completely overturned, and the side quests were abruptly ended. It would take a long time to readjust.

As for Yuki herself, during the year she didn't enroll, she did spend a real year with Tsubaki Sakura. Their relationship wasn't like the two parallel lines in the simulation, and their feelings for each other were completely different from those in the simulation.

"Although I know that talking about this topic with Ryo will definitely not be of any use, sometimes I really don't know how to get along with my sister, it's that kind of direct kindness that comes from being family."

"Well, no one can give you advice on this, and every family's situation is different. Neither I nor Youqi can directly apply our experience."

When Kitagawa Ryo mentioned her, Sakayanagi Arisu nodded. Although she didn't have a younger sister, she had a father who doted on her since she was a child. People always have common feelings.

"Never mind, it's good that Ryo and Sakura are partners. She didn't like you much before, so it's good to get to know each other for the sake of the future."

Seemingly unwilling to discuss the topic in front of the two, Yuki ultimately agreed to Kitagawa Ryo's suggestion and formed a partnership with Sakayanagi Arisu using OAA in person, becoming their partners for this special exam.

"Speaking of which, are you two planning to start a study group or something?"

"Do you want me to teach her?"

"I feel like I'll become dumber if I study with a junior who has been lying in the hospital for years and whose OAA academic performance evaluation is only B."

"...Okay, just pretend I didn't say it."

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To be honest, it wasn't difficult for the Ayanokouji camp and the Kitagawa Ryo camp to find each other in their first year. As long as they checked the recruitment lists of the student council and the drama club one by one, they could quickly identify a few suspects.

For the former, Nanase Tsubasa and Tsubaki Sakurako, who have entered the drama club, are the two most obvious suspects.

"One is in Class A, and the other is in Class B. Ishigami and Takahashi are in your classes. What do you think? Are they really in Class A or Class B?"

At another karaoke group meeting of four boys, Baoquan and Chen from Class D, Year 1, flipped through their personal profiles on OAA and asked somewhat impatiently:

"If it's confirmed to be her, then find an opportunity to expel her from school."

"Tsubaki? She's pretty low-profile in class. Aside from joining the drama club, you'd never guess she's the sister of the guy from Class D who beat you up so badly."

As Takahashi Osamu drank his beverage, he seemed somewhat dissatisfied with Hosen Kazutomi's tone and retorted.

Although they are in the Ayanokouji camp with a common goal, their rivalry remains unchanged. Since realizing this, their relationship has become more superficial.

The main reason is that the mysterious senior, Ayanokouji Kiyotaka, who is most qualified to oversee the whole situation, has never come even once. In addition, the final round of student council interviews has not yet started, so the group has not taken the initiative to contact him as a precaution.

"Nanase...it's possible, it's possible."

Kyo Ishigami from Class 1-A had his hands crossed and rested on his chin, seemingly already starting to act as a riddle teller.

As the one who had the opportunity to speak directly with Ayanokoji Atsuomi and Ayanokoji Kiyotaka before the start of the semester, he naturally knew more information than the other three, including the fact that Nanase Tsubasa had once been on Ayanokoji Atsuomi's side to introduce Tokyo University, but it seems that she failed in the end.

Even so, Ishigami Kyo could not determine whether this was a deliberate arrangement by Ayanokoji Atsuomi on the fifth floor, to allow Nanase Tsubasa to infiltrate Kitagawa Ryo's camp in a natural way, so his tone was quite hesitant.

“Well, we have to choose someone to do it. I’m 100% sure that at least one of these two is from Beichuan.”

"I choose Nanase. After all, Tsubaki and her sister are on the same side. If I touch one, it will definitely affect the other. I don't want to go up against that she-devil from Class D at this time."

"Yes, I'll also choose Nanase."

Seeing the other three suddenly confirm in unison that they had started with Nanase Tsubasa, Ishigami Kyo wasn't surprised. After all, the other party was a student in Class A of the first year. For students in the latter three classes, being able to expel a student from Class A in the early stages and deduct those 300 class points was a sure-fire way to make money.

"Let's test the waters first."

"However, do not take any action before you are certain."

"The other party could also be on our side."

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Two days have passed since each class announced the rules for the first special exam, but there has been no significant activity in the team formation system that can be viewed on the OAA system. There are fewer first and second-year students who have completed team formation than expected, as if they are all observing something.

"Did the process not go very smoothly?"

Taking advantage of the time before the start of classes this morning, Kitagawa Ryo, after putting down his schoolbag, naturally asked Karuizawa Megumi and Ichinose Honami, who were in charge of the special exam strategy, for a question.

"Yeah, the price gouging in the first year is even more intense than we expected. Several other classes have also seen some students dropping out. Our Class A is still considered to be doing relatively well, since none of our students are particularly weak and would definitely not pass without an older brother to guide them."

Karuizawa Kei sighed and replied:

“We can indeed quickly get to know and search for first-year students through OAA, but conversely, first-year students can do the same to us. In addition, the pressure on second-year students this year is obviously greater than that on first-year students, so we are naturally at a disadvantage in negotiations.”

"Yes, actually, it wasn't that no students in the first year were willing to help for free at first, since they were all seniors they knew and relied on in the club. But later, someone in the first year spread a rumor that someone had earned 500,000 personal points for free because of this partnership. As a result, the trend in the first year has now become that not making money is a loss."

Honami Ichinose added from the side:

"But this so-called 500,000 personal points is completely fabricated. What second-year student would be so foolish as to inflate the price? It must be a first-year student orchestrating this whole thing."

"However, it can't be said that there has been no progress at all. After all, there are many first-year students who don't want to waste three months of personal points, even if their grades aren't good. Our class has recently been negotiating with students in Class C and Class D, where there are more students with lower academic abilities."

"But I see that there aren't many people who have confirmed their participation in the team yet."

"Because we wanted to finalize everything at once, to put it more bluntly, it was like a package deal? We'd have one high-achieving student from our class mentor a first-year student with lower academic ability, and then have the high-achieving student from their class mentor the low-achieving student from our class."

As she spoke, Honami Ichinose also frankly revealed some of her plans:

"Actually, although it seems that not many things have been finalized, we have already reached a secret agreement with many first-year students. This is mainly to lull the students in other classes into a false sense of security, so that they don't feel particularly anxious because everyone's team formation is not going smoothly."

"Of course, it's also thanks to the fact that Ryo hasn't established a partnership with anyone yet. We've managed to fool quite a few students because of this. It makes me feel like if Ryo were willing to hold a study session, all the students in Class A would have already found partners with academic abilities of at least B."

Honami Ichinose didn't seem to find Karuizawa Megumi's joke very pleasant, and awkwardly changed the subject:

"I didn't expect Liang to not team up with Xue this time."

"Well, there are various reasons, I suppose. What about Fanbo and Hui? Are you planning to try and improve your group's ranking this time, or are you going to help out the poorer students in the class?"

"The prizes for the top three spots do look pretty good and tempting, but they probably have nothing to do with the two of us."

Karuizawa Kei shook her head upon hearing this, then held up a few fingers:

"First, there's Ryo and Sakurako's group. It wouldn't be hard to find a first-year junior with strong academic ability on Ayanokouji's side. Arisu and Yuki are obviously very competitive as well. There are three of them just by counting."

Because Hoshinomiya Chie specifically emphasized that this written test contained extremely difficult questions that would be impossible even for students with an A grade in academic ability, Karuizawa Megumi naturally did poorly, since her academic ability wasn't that high.

"I'd really like to give it a try, and I've already chosen Nanase as my partner. She's doing quite well, so maybe we'll have a chance to get into the top three."

Unlike Karuizawa Megumi, Ichinose Honami, who has higher academic ability, intends to take this special exam seriously and test her own level.

Unlike Karuizawa Kei, who has decided to continue her career as a theatrical actress, she doesn't possess the talent or the hard work she's put in. Therefore, she has decided to continue her studies at university after graduating from high school, and naturally, she will focus on maintaining good academic performance.

"Nanase, what does Honami think of this child?"

"It's fine, but it seems a little...afraid of me?"

"Oh? So there are people who are afraid of Honami."

"That's normal. After all, I'm not the same as before, and I have been getting inexplicably angry lately. Although it's not directed at her, she should have noticed it."

Honami Ichinose rubbed her forehead in exasperation, but she didn't seem to have any other thoughts about the change. In fact, it seemed rather abnormal and morbid that she used to be so universally loved.

Just as the three of them finished talking, the bell rang for class, and after a morning of classes, it was lunchtime.

Shiina Hiyori arrived at Class 2-A as scheduled, but today, unlike usual, she didn't eagerly open her surprise bento. Instead, she first asked Kitagawa Ryo:

"Is Ryo really close to that girl in Class D of the first year... Tsubaki?"

"Hiyori was talking about snow, right? Hmm, what's wrong?"

Kitagawa Ryo slowed down the movement of picking up food with his chopsticks, chewed slowly and swallowed the food in his mouth before nodding in reply.

Perhaps because of her shocking actions in Class D of the first year, the news of Yuki's actions had already spread to the second and even third year students. However, unlike the first year students who called her a "female demon" or "violent girl," many second-year students secretly called her "Female Dragon Garden," which was truly a double insult.

But the main reason is that the two of them dominate the class in a very similar way. However, in terms of their record, Xue's performance is much more impressive. After all, Baoquan and Chen look much stronger than the boys in Class C. The level of their opponents is different.

Incidentally, even though both methods involved beating people into submission, Yuki's reputation was actually much better than Ryuen Sho's. It just goes to show that beautiful girls do have privileges. If Ryuen Sho were also a beautiful, tall, red-haired girl, Class C would probably have had far fewer rebellions.

"I want Class C to form an alliance with Class D in this special exam, in a class-to-class format."

Hiyori Shiina began earnestly:

"So, I hope you can help me introduce him."

Chapter Seventeen: Farewell to the Language of Flowers

Kitagawa Ryo quickly agreed to Shiina Hiyori's request to negotiate with Class 1-D. He arranged for the two to meet after school that day, choosing the classroom of Class 2-A as the intermediary.

"Hello, I'm Hiyori Shiina from Class 2-C. I heard from Ryo that you're actually the same age as us, so you don't need to call me senpai or anything. I'll just call you by your name, okay?"

After a year of living in Tokyo, Hiyori Shiina had developed her social skills considerably. Upon seeing Yuki, she immediately extended her hand to her with a smile, showing her her goodwill.

"Alright, Shii... Hiyori, classmate."

Facing the poised and confident Shiina Hiyori, Yuki felt somewhat uncomfortable. Rather, from the moment they met, she had been thoughtfully observing the other person with a complex and subtle expression, as if she had seen the answer she was seeking replicated in someone else.

Shiina Hiyori didn't think too much about it. After all, she didn't know Yuki before, and she was only there for the sake of the class, so she quickly got to the point:

"It seems that no student in Class 1D has paired up with a second-year student yet. This must be Xue's intention."

Although everyone criticizes Lung Yuen-hsiang, this extreme approach is indeed brutal and effective. Before the next challenger emerges or the leader himself makes a major mistake, few people will be willing to be the first to take the lead.

"Well, actually your Class C should be the second one to come knocking on our door."

Xue lowered her gaze and sat down opposite Shiina Hiyori, speaking to her face to face.

“Someone from Class D has come here before.”

"Class D?"

"Yes, but their demands were a bit excessive, so in the end we couldn't reach an agreement."

At this point, Xue didn't show any regret. After all, she was very clear about the situation of each class in the second year. Although Class D, which was originally Class A, now looked pitiful, even a lean camel is bigger than a horse. In terms of academic ability, it was naturally beyond reproach. By taking the initiative to find Class D in the first year, she naturally put herself in a position of 'helping the poor'.