I have a life simulator.

"Then when I came back this time, I could clearly feel this. But who knew that the relationship between Honami-neechan and her brother would also progress rapidly during this period, which caused Maki's situation to be stuck in a limbo. That's why it fits the situation you described between Yuki-neechan and her sister."

After Hotaru finished telling the story of the Ichinose sisters, the three of them finally arrived at the playground.

Compared to the deserted student council and the nearly empty auditorium, the sports field was undoubtedly packed with people. As many sports clubs held friendly exchange matches here, many spectators and club members came to watch the excitement. The stands on both sides were already more than half full, and students from Dongyu and other schools could be seen competing in the field.

"Look, Honami-neechan is over there, and the girl next to her is Maki."

Even in the vast sea of ​​people, Ichinose Honami's long, golden-pink hair was the most dazzling sight, so Hotaru easily found her and reached out to introduce her to Sakayanagi Arisu and the others.

"I wonder what those two will say... It seems like the match is already over."

Because of what Ying had just said, Tianze Yixia was no longer able to look at the two sisters in front of her with normal eyes. Although it sounded a bit like hell, it just goes to show the advantage of not having a younger sister as an IVF baby.

Sakayanagi Arisu wasn't particularly interested in Ichinose Honami's family affairs. After all, the two of them didn't have much interaction, and based on her understanding of Ichinose Honami, even if the matter were eventually brought up, Honami herself probably wouldn't react much. The only person who could make her emotions change noticeably during this period was Yuki, or rather, Ryo, who was involved because of her.

Moreover, judging from what Hotaru said, in Ryo's relationship with the two sisters, the younger sister's attraction to him stemmed to some extent from her dissatisfaction with the older sister's inaction, giving the impression that she could replace her.

In other words, it's because Ichinose Honami hasn't confirmed her relationship with Kitagawa Ryo that her younger sister has developed unrealistic expectations, which is why they're stuck here now.

However, the situation is completely different for Yuki and Tsubaki Sakura. From the younger sister's perspective, from the moment Kitagawa Ryo appeared, he was already identified as one of her older sister's old flames. Moreover, Sakayanagi Arisu has no doubt that over the past year, her older sister has explained her relationship with Kitagawa Ryo to her younger sister countless times.

That's why Sakayanagi Arisu was so interested in seeing a scene where the younger sister would still develop some special feelings for her older sister's lover under such circumstances.

Just as Tianze Yixia described her.

It can only be said that after Kitagawa Ryo used the simplest and most brutal method to modify her personality, this is indeed the most suitable little revenge for Sakayanagi Arisu against Yuki.

Perhaps the tendency to be a fun-loving person is indeed contagious.

Sakayanagi Arisu suddenly began to look forward to seeing Yuki's expression back then.

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

"I'm back! Is it time for my brother to go on stage?"

Almost an hour later, Hotaru, who had left earlier, finally returned to the auditorium and sat down next to Karuizawa Megumi and Sakura Airi, curiously looking at the stage.

"It'll be over soon. The performance at Azabu Middle School is about to end. It was actually quite well done."

Karuizawa Kei made this casual comment, then turned to Hotaru and asked her:

"Have you been hanging around the student council area for so long?"

"I also went to the playground and the tea ceremony club. After the student council exam started, we weren't allowed to contact the outside world, so I didn't see Yuki-neechan and Horikita-senpai. But I did see Shiina-senpai. She seems to have changed a lot. She talks more and seems to be better at communicating with people. Before, she was a complete bookworm, and only my brother could talk to her."

As Hotaru spoke, she also showed the two the photos she had taken with her camera. She had captured the students crossing the finish line on the playground, the cheers from the stands, and the scene at the tea ceremony club. However, compared to Kitagawa Ryo and Sakura Airi's photography skills, her technique was undoubtedly much rougher, completely at a beginner level.

As the group was flipping through photos and chatting, polite applause erupted from the front row of the audience. It turned out that the Azabu Junior High School team had finished their performance and were taking their final bow.

"If you want to take photos, Ying should go to the designated shooting area on the right side of the front row. It will be clearer and the angle will be better there."

After handing the camera back to Hotaru, Karuizawa Kei pointed to an empty area in front of her. Hotaru nodded obediently, then took the camera, set up the scaffolding, and quietly waited for Kitagawa Ryo to take the stage.

She wasn't really interested in the play itself, and she had realized long ago that her brother didn't seem to be very interested in it either. But she had just heard about Yuki and Tsubaki Sakura from Sakayanagi Arisu and Amasawa Ichika, and she also thought that Tsubaki Sakura would be performing on stage with her brother this time. So she decided to stand here and take this opportunity to observe.

Since the performance was only a segment, and considering that it was intended for knowledgeable judges and members of the Azabu Middle School Drama Club, Kitagawa Ryo, who was completely unfamiliar with drama, did not come on stage from the very first act to deliver a devastating blow to her younger sister.

About five minutes in, Hotaru in the audience had completely lost track of the storyline and characters unfolding on the stage so close to her. She was lost in a state of confusion, wondering who she was, where she was, and what she was doing. She even forgot to take pictures and tried her best to keep up with the pace.

But probably because all the dramatic talent of the Kitagawa family was poured into Kitagawa Ryo, Hotaru still felt a bit dizzy and confused. Apart from being able to tell that the performance on stage was a comedy and that a couple of lines were indeed very interesting, she couldn't see anything else at all.

However, she had to admit that her biological sister, who looked very much like Yuki, did remind Hotaru of Karuizawa Kei when she first debuted. However, it wasn't about acting talent and skills, but rather that mysterious style.

Simply put, his scenes with Kitagawa Ryo were better than his monologues, but his expressions became a little subtly unnatural. It was as if he wanted to get into character but couldn't. He was filled with a complex mix of emotions: he felt like he was just acting and that it didn't matter what he said, but he also felt like he was really saying those words to Kitagawa Ryo.

The emotions in the play affected the emotions off-screen, and the emotions off-screen affected the emotions on-screen. When the two are not fully coordinated, a rather obvious sense of weightlessness and imbalance will occur, which is especially evident in front of the older brother who is performing a completely professional and immersive role.

Incidentally, all of the comments above were seen by Hotaru on the internet in her early years, but the person in question at that time was Karuizawa Megumi.

After all, she really didn't understand or have any interest in this kind of thing, and even when she looked at it, she would have the idea that contact with this kind of art would lead to unhappiness.

From this perspective, it seems like it's not so bad that the older brother was picked up by a large conglomerate as their heir...

Unconsciously, her thoughts began to wander again, just like a student in class who starts daydreaming about things she's not interested in. Hotaru's attention quickly shifted away from the stage.

Oh right, it seems that the cat Ying was kept in my brother's dormitory.

I remember it was room 408 in the second-year dormitory building?

Come to think of it, she didn't seem to have ever been to her brother's dormitory room at Tokyo Advanced Educational High School, and she wondered if he had framed her letter and put it on his bedside table so that he could make sure every morning that there was a sister like her in this world... cough cough, such wishful thinking seemed a bit too much.

Why don't we go take a look now?

After automatically turning on the camera to record video, Hotaru crouched down and tiptoed away from the front, quietly leaving the auditorium and heading straight for the dormitory building of Tokyo Advanced Educational High School.

Following the road signs, she quickly and successfully found her destination.

Although I don't have the room key, with the cat's intelligence, opening the door for itself shouldn't be a problem, right?

With this confident thought in mind, Ying was already standing at the door of dormitory room 408 in no time, and gently knocked on the door.

Sure enough, with a click, the door lock was opened from the inside.

What came into her view was a pair of familiar eyes.

Unlike the case of Amaze Ichika, where only the color was the same.

The moment Hotaru saw them, she could tell that they were exactly the same as her own pupils.

She is herself, and she is herself.

P.S.: Thank you for reading and subscribing.

Chapter 50: Sister and Sister

Meanwhile, Karuizawa Megumi and Sakura Airi, who were still watching the competition in the auditorium, did not notice that Hotaru had secretly left. The two of them were focused on the performance on stage, but they did not look very optimistic.

"As expected, the practice time was too short... There was a difference between our performance on stage and during rehearsals; both of us were nervous."

“It’s not just a matter of being nervous. Although I had thought about it beforehand, it seems that Tsubaki is still facing the same dilemma that I encountered back then.”

Karuizawa Kei squinted and observed the details on the stage for a while before shaking her head and making a definitive conclusion:

"Just like when I first shared the stage with Liang."

Then, she began to explain to Sakura Airi on her own initiative:

“A qualified actor must be able to distinguish between the two situations on stage and off stage. When you are on stage, you are the character, and the words you say are the character’s lines. All the interactions and dialogues between the two of you are plot segments set in the script. They are interactions between characters, not the actors themselves.”

"However, off-stage factors are always unavoidable. After all, unless an actor fully immerses himself in the role he is playing, he will inevitably have some degree of random thoughts on stage."

"When she actively detaches herself from the role, she will unconsciously detach herself from the other people on stage as well. The interaction between the characters will suddenly become the interaction between the actors in her mind, and then those emotions that do not belong to the character will naturally arise, which will then affect her own performance."

"Was Hui like this from the beginning? It's hard to tell."

"Because my idea at the time was to simply use the emotions outside the stage to directly replace the emotions that the characters should have on stage. So when performing various love-themed dramas, I could naturally get away with it. After all, although the love in Romeo and Juliet and Macbeth is different, the essence is the same. They are just different branches extending from the same root. However, it doesn't work for other plays. Later, I really didn't take any shortcuts and practiced diligently for a long time."

As she spoke, Karuizawa Kei looked up at the stage again:

"In fact, being completely immersed in or out of character doesn't make the performance of a play look particularly uncoordinated or awkward. It's precisely this kind of stage, where you're stuck in a rut, constantly switching between being immersed and out of character, that's the most disastrous."

Although she was reluctant to admit this fact from the perspective of the vice president of the drama club, Karuizawa Megumi still gave her own judgment:

"They were probably going to lose. Liang's appearance only made the situation more out of control... Having worked with him for so long, I had forgotten that Liang was a notorious "stage killer" in his early days. Any actor who acted opposite him was criticized, and several eventually left the troupe due to excessive pressure."

Drama is not a sport that can be won simply by having an older brother to lead you. In fact, if the skill gap is too large, it will only make the situation more embarrassing. The honors of the drama club this year have always been contributed by Kitagawa Ryo and Karuizawa Kei. You can't have every performance highlighting only one person's solo act.

"Why does Hui's statement sound a bit Versailles-like?"

"Hmph—it's just stating a given objective fact."

After a brief moment of smug satisfaction, Karuizawa Kei sighed again:

"I need to think of how to comfort them later, especially Sakura. I can tell she still really wants to win this match... It seems like I should just go up and cross-dress."

"After all, they've only been formally studying for less than two months, and this competition is just a friendly exchange. I hope they won't be too discouraged."

"I feel it also has something to do with the play I ultimately chose. 'Much Ado About Nothing' is indeed a bit too difficult for a beginner. Not only are the lines frequent, but the male and female leads also have their own unique characteristics. If I had chosen a role where the female lead wasn't so outstanding, and let her be naturally swept away by the 'cooling down' trend, it would probably have been better."

Sakura Airi could only offer an awkward yet polite smile. After all, although Karuizawa Kei was saying this now, as a friend she had known for a long time in the theater troupe, she knew the other person's personality best. In the past ten years or so of Karuizawa Kei's life, what she valued and was most proud of was her status as Kitagawa Ryo's leading lady. So even though she chose a romantic play this time, she deliberately chose "Much Ado About Nothing," which has a stronger comedic element, and she also selected the scenes from the first half where the male and female leads were basically bickering.

However, Sakura Airi herself has no reason to object to this. After all, no one is a true saint. Even if one can choose to be tolerant in many things, one will still unconsciously want to preserve each other's unique memories, and she is no exception.

"It seems like Ying is gone?"

After sentencing the drama club to death in this special exam, Karuizawa Kei was slightly distracted and soon realized that only the camera remained in the photography area and the people were no longer there.

"Did you go to the bathroom? Or did you just find it boring? Hasn't Hotaru never liked watching dramas since she was a child? Even if it's Ryo herself acting, she's always yawning and dozing off."

"That's true. But now that you mention it, I just remembered that Hotaru, who always seems to fall asleep at our theater, is always full of energy when she's with Airi."

"Elementary school girls would definitely prefer idols to dramas."

The two chatted for a while about some interesting things from the past. As the drama club's performance on stage came to an end, Hotaru, who had been gone for some time, carefully circled back at just the right moment and was caught red-handed by Karuizawa Megumi and Sakura Airi.

"Look, Hotaru is back."

"He looks very happy with his smile, it seems like something good has happened."

"Should we call her?"

"Never mind, the performance will be over soon, we can go together then."

After another two minutes, the drama club finally finished their performance and took their bows on stage. Karuizawa Megumi and Sakura Airi then stood up from their seats and walked towards the backstage area, calling Hotaru, who was adjusting her camera, over with them.

In the backstage dressing room, the atmosphere was indeed somewhat somber, just as expected. After all, as the performers on stage, Nanase Tsubasa and Tsubaki Sakurako were aware that their performance was not quite satisfactory. However, it seemed a bit strange to apologize to Kitagawa Ryo, since this was originally their first-year exam, and Kitagawa Ryo was just a senior member of the club who came to help out of kindness.

“There’s no need to keep quiet like this. Actually, both of you performed better than I expected today, especially Sakura. You’ve only been training for less than two months. If you can seamlessly adapt to the stage, then all those years of training by Megumi would have been for nothing.”

As the head of the drama club and a senior in the second year, Kitagawa Ryo naturally had to step forward to comfort his two juniors. Since Nanase Tsubasa seemed to be doing well, he also took special care of Tsubaki Sakurako.

"Um...I know, I know."

However, this comforting words didn't have much effect on Tsubaki Sakurako for the time being. She was still in a low mood, which made Nanase Tsubasa look at her with some concern. This wasn't the first time she had seen her like this, but compared to the last time in the hotel, Tsubaki Sakurako seemed to be more devastated this time.

At this moment, Karuizawa Megumi, Sakura Airi, and Hotaru, who had retrieved the camera, also came over. The former two naturally blurted out all the comforting and encouraging words they had prepared beforehand, while the latter, having barely watched any performances, couldn't really comment on the content. Therefore, she simply looked at Yuki's younger sister with curiosity, hesitated for a moment, and then took the initiative to speak to her:

"Um—I don't know if it's convenient, but could you come outside with me and we talk alone for a bit?"

Perhaps she didn't want to stay in the current atmosphere any longer, or perhaps she was also curious about what Hotaru wanted to say when she suddenly called her out alone at this time, Tsubaki Sakura quickly nodded and left the backstage dressing room with Hotaru.

"...Minister Kitagawa's sister called Sakura out alone."

Nanase Tsubasa seemed a little confused about what was happening, looking at her club president with a bewildered expression, as if she wanted to get an answer from him.

"I don't know either. Sakura and Hotaru didn't have much interaction before. She's more familiar with Yuki, but she's basically never seen Sakura."

Kitagawa Ryo couldn't quite figure out Hotaru's thoughts at that moment. After all, he himself had only gradually become familiar with Tsubaki Sakura in the last two months. In fact, when he first did this, he had a purpose in mind, thinking that she could help him solve the problem of snow before he took the initiative to approach her.

"They probably won't say anything too offensive, right..."

Seeing that Kitagawa Ryo couldn't give a clear answer, Nanase Tsubasa was also a little worried. After all, she and Tsubaki Sakura had been friends in the same club for two months. Seeing that the other party's mental state seemed a bit off, she was also worried that she might be subjected to some kind of further shock.

"That's definitely not the case. Hotaru isn't that kind of person, and she doesn't even know Sakurako. I'd rather believe that she's trying to get closer to Yuki because of her...maybe."

Perhaps because he had developed a psychological trauma from Hotaru's antics over the past two months, Kitagawa Ryo suddenly became a little worried that his younger sister might repeat Ichinose Honami's attitude towards Yuki when school started, and give Tsubaki Sakura a taste of her own medicine.

"Actually, ever since the last special exam, Sakurako has really wanted to prove herself to the captain through this special exam."

"Last time... I already told her not to worry about it."

Hearing Nanase Tsubasa point this out, Kitagawa Ryo felt somewhat helpless. He could only say that he really couldn't control other people's thoughts, especially for Tsubaki Sakurako, who had no past data to support her and had only spent the last two months with him.

But in reality, the other person was never just an accessory to Yuki, but a living girl with delicate and sensitive inner thoughts. Kitagawa Ryo knew that he was aware of this, but he deliberately ignored it because he felt that caring too much would only cause more trouble for Yuki.

In this respect, he felt much like Karuizawa Megumi at this stage, but after Nanase Tsubasa pointed it out so bluntly, it seemed that he could no longer pretend to be oblivious.

However, the situation with Xue has improved somewhat compared to when school started. Let's adjust our plans a little and see how they react.

"I understand, I'll go out and take a look."

Taking a deep breath, Kitagawa Ryo nodded to Nanase Tsubasa, who was staring straight at him, and also stepped out of the lounge.

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

After leaving the backstage dressing room, Hotaru and Tsubaki Sakura walked a short distance down the corridor until they finally stopped near the back door of the auditorium.

Although the two had never communicated before, they both believed they had grasped each other's deepest thoughts. In addition, given their relationship with Kitagawa Ryo and Yuki, the atmosphere wasn't particularly awkward, and they both chose to get straight to the point.

Do you like your brother?

Do you like my brother?

After asking the question, both of them simultaneously took a half-body step back in surprise, and then their tacit understanding was once again at its peak:

"Who told you that?"