I have a life simulator.

"Maki accidentally scraped her knee during the competition, and she needs to take her younger sister to the infirmary first."

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Unlike Chabashira Sae, who has no work today and is essentially on holiday, Hoshinomiya Chie, the homeroom teacher of Class 2-A, also serves as the school nurse at the infirmary. Therefore, today she can only put on a white coat and start her shift at the infirmary to make the most of her time.

Kitagawa Ryo had no doubt that Chabashira Sae knew this, which was why she deliberately chose to bring him and Neko Hotaru here. After all, he had long since realized that he might also be part of the play between these two homeroom teachers who had been "plastic sisters" for more than ten years. So he just let them be and listened to their manzai in the infirmary with nothing to do.

"That's why I've already said I'm not a veterinarian, and Dongyu's clinic isn't a pet hospital. Get your cat out of here right now!"

"It's just a basic check-up, and don't you think it's a very cute kitten?"

As Chabashira spoke, she also specifically mentioned Kitagawa Ryo's name:

"Kitagawa thinks so too, right?"

"So why is Beichuan from our class here?"

"You should know this better than anyone, shouldn't you?"

Faced with Chabashira Sae, who appeared to be speaking in riddles but was actually practically taunting, Hoshinomiya Chie could only suppress her emotions and continue to mock him subtly:

"It's just a cat, Sae, that's all you're good for. The person is still here with me."

But Hoshinomiya Chie also knew that it was precisely because Kitagawa Ryo was still her student in Class 2-A that she was unable to verify her guess, or rather, the fact that Chabashira Sae had already slapped her in the face.

After all, she couldn't very well publicly report her class's top fighter for blatantly violating the rules of Tokyo Advanced Educational High School by keeping a pet in the dormitory. Even if this matter dragged Chabashira Sae down with her, if it really ended up getting both of them expelled, then there would be no point in her staying here.

"Check, check... Looking at its fur and build, you can't tell it's a stray cat that's been lost in the campus for three months. Or is the environment at Dongyu so good for people, no, for cats?"

Hoshinomiya Chie glanced at Hotaru twice, then crossed her legs again and rolled her eyes at Chabashira Sae:

"Just take it back."

"Issuing a health certificate."

"I already told you this isn't a veterinary clinic..."

Just as Hoshinomiya Chie and Chabashira Sae were about to start another round of bickering, the door to the infirmary was pushed open from the outside in once again.

Hoshinomiya Chie had initially intended to subconsciously put her legs down, but upon seeing that it was Ichinose Honami from her class who walked in, she simply left them there and casually greeted her:

"What's wrong?"

"Yes, my sister scraped her knee on the playground just now. She's already received some basic treatment on the sidelines. She'll come to the infirmary for a check-up and some rest."

As she spoke, Ichinose Honami leaned half her body out and carefully helped her younger sister, who was outside the door, into the room. Only then did she see Chabashira Sae and Kitagawa Ryo sitting inside, each holding a cat in their arms.

Before she could even ask a question, Kitagawa Ryo had already stood up to make room for the two of them. He took Ichinose Maki's other shoulder from next to Ichinose Honami and helped her to a seat. Then he squatted down to examine her exposed, bandaged knees:

"Long time no see, how did you manage to hurt yourself, Maki?"

Probably also surprised to see Kitagawa Ryo here, Ichinose Maki almost jumped up from her seat again, her voice stammering slightly:

"I...I'm fine. My brother is here too."

As Hotaru's best friend, whom she personally recognized as someone who could call Kitagawa Ryo "brother" when they were in the lower grades of elementary school, Ichinose Maki also calls Kitagawa Ryo the same way. After all, even disregarding her relationship with Hotaru, and only considering the relationship between Ichinose Honami and Kitagawa Ryo, this way of addressing him is just as appropriate as Hotaru's "Honami-neechan".

"Just happened to be here, um... it seems like nothing's wrong."

Having received over a decade of systematic medical education in Horikita Suzune's simulation and possessing related talents, Kitagawa Ryo quickly determined that Ichinose Maki's injury was indeed minor, and that it had already been properly treated by the medical team from Dongyu who were specifically assigned to guard the scene before she arrived, so there was absolutely no problem.

"Uh-huh."

Seeing her younger sister, who had said just ten minutes ago that there was absolutely no need to come to the infirmary, now completely silent and only nodding repeatedly, Ichinose Honami shook her head helplessly. She temporarily set aside her suggestion to help her sister to the bed inside to rest, letting the two chat about everyday topics, and then turned her attention to Chabashira Sae and Hoshinomiya Chie.

Of course, there's also Hotaru.

"Did the head teacher bring the cat here for a checkup?"

Having learned about part of the incident through the hottest posts on the campus forum before coming, Honami Ichinose took the initiative to ask.

"Well, it's not a problem. It seems that Ichinose's sister needs a quiet environment to rest, so I'll be leaving now."

For Chabashira Sae, Ichinose Honami's level of danger or trouble was only slightly less than Hoshinomiya Chie's, after all, the constant surveillance during last year's school festival was still fresh in her mind.

But Ichinose Honami clearly had no intention of letting her go, and immediately stood up to follow, saying, "Let me see you off," which made Hoshinomiya Chie, who was standing next to her, look at her with some surprise.

The two had only walked a short distance from the infirmary when Ichinose Honami proactively extended her hand to Chabashira Sae:

"Give me the firefly, this is a cool cat."

“He didn’t even ask me for it, or rather, it was originally something he left with me.”

Chabashira turned around, showing no intention of returning it. She even deliberately hugged the kitten in her arms tighter, once again exerting pressure on Hotaru, who was an adult.

"It's just nominal foster care, Hotaru, come back."

Honami Ichinose reached out and beckoned to Hotaru, but the little cat seemed to be asleep at the moment and showed no intention of looking up to respond.

Chabashira Sae also took this opportunity to declare once again:

“I will return it to Kitagawa later, but not now. If you take the cat back now and people see it, it will cause unnecessary gossip.”

"Besides, this was Kitagawa's idea in the first place. Otherwise, this cat wouldn't have jumped into my lap on its own today, even though it was nearby."

"Hotaru would have been in trouble if she had actually jumped into Ryo's arms back then. This was just a temporary measure. Hey, Hotaru, come back."

Honami Ichinose persevered and continued to call out to Hotaru.

She had raised this cat for a long time in the previous simulations, and in the second simulation, she had raised it from birth to its natural death. She should at least be closer to her and listen to her.

But Ying still didn't respond.

If she could know what Ichinose Honami was thinking at this moment, she would probably roll her eyes at her and think, "I've been a wingman in that simulation for so long, and I still haven't seen you actually win her over."

However, her actions today have not been instructed by Kitagawa Ryo so far, but rather entirely according to her own will.

After resolving her beloved younger sister Hotaru's issue, Hotaru once again took a comprehensive look at Kitagawa Ryo's interpersonal relationships, and immediately discovered the one most likely to cause problems in the sum of all the relationships her brother had built up in his life so far.

If Kitagawa Ryo intentionally guided and resolved the psychological problems of other girls to varying degrees, then Chabashira Sae was undoubtedly the only girl that her brother indulged and even exploited to the end... woman?

But in Neko Hotaru's eyes, this is bound to be a ticking time bomb that will definitely explode in the future, while Kitagawa Ryo has shown no intention of taking it seriously so far. Ever since that fake missing cat notice on Valentine's Day, he has avoided communicating with the other party.

That's why, after meeting another firefly today, she chose to run away.

If Kitagawa Ryo has indeed figured out how to deal with Chabashira Sae, then she will naturally take the initiative to sneak back again.

But if her brother really has no intention of doing this at all, then she'll have to put pressure on him.

Just as Hotaru was leaving with Chabashira Sae, the student council finally finished their exams for the morning.

Horikita Suzune frowned slightly and almost immediately cast an inquiring glance at Yuki as soon as she stepped out of the room, wanting to discuss whether they were facing the same challenges.

She didn't encounter the content design for the large-scale special summer exam that she had initially anticipated, but rather a subject with completely different rules.

The name of the research project is—

The entire audience was in agreement.

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Chapter 53: A Special Exam with Interlocking Steps

A special exam with unanimous approval.

Horikita Suzune had heard Kitagawa Ryo mention a similar name in the past. It is said that the special exam held eleven years ago with the unanimous approval of the entire audience was the reason why the relationship between Hoshinomiya Chie, the current homeroom teacher of Class 2-A, and Chahashira Sae, the homeroom teacher of Class 2-C, had deteriorated to this point.

Because within the rules of this special exam, any stubborn and domineering student in the class could potentially cause a devastating blow to the class as a whole. Chabashira Sae was the culprit who completely shattered Class 3B's dream of becoming Class A back then, and also caused her then-classmate, Hoshinomiya Chie, to hold a grudge to this day.

"How's the situation over there?"

Horikita Suzune tried to ask Yuki a question, but what Yuki said was a completely different matter.

"I was directly asked about the special summer exam, such as the location, format, and assessment objectives. The example given was the special exam you experienced on the deserted island last year. I was asked to analyze its advantages and disadvantages and to explain that these experiences and lessons would be applied to this large-scale special summer exam."

Having been asked so many questions and needing answers throughout the morning, Xue mentally organized them all, then extracted some of her own thoughts before continuing her explanation:

"The school seems to be still hesitant about the location for this special summer exam, and there seems to be a change in the format as well."

"Place?"

"Ah."

Yuki nodded, then lowered her voice and whispered to Horikita Suzune:

"What I can confirm now is that this special summer exam will likely be a cross-grade competition and cooperation model, involving not only first and second graders, but most likely all three grades."

"Three grades?"

Since they had heard from their homeroom teacher at the beginning of the school year that the special exams would be conducted more across grade levels, Horikita Suzune wasn't too surprised. She nodded and gestured for Yuki to continue.

"Then comes the location."

"The second-grade exam was held on a deserted island last year, right? Apparently, there was an incident that was suspected of being intentional assault."

"Hmm, the chairman of the board, Sakayanagi, also temporarily stepped down because of this incident. Does that mean the exam will not be held on the deserted island this time? I thought the first summer special exam for first-year students every year would definitely be held there, since it's the same for us second and third-year students."

"It's not certain yet; there may be variables."

Xue recalled the complex, interview-like questions she had dealt with and answered that morning, and offered her own insights:

"I even suspect that this summer's special exam will be held in a city, in a completely different location than the previous deserted island."

"The city... sounds more like a school trip."

"That's right, it's a school trip. It does feel very strongly to me, but as I just said, it's just a vague guess. It feels like the school itself hasn't reached a consensus."

Upon hearing Yuki mention the word 'unity,' Horikita Suzune's eyes flickered slightly, and she proactively shared the information she had gathered with her:

"The exam I'm handling is a special test called 'Unanimity.' The general rules are simple: several questions are presented, and if everyone can agree on them, you pass; otherwise, you fail."

"The whole room was in agreement... I think this is a prelude by the school to test our students' special summer exam. Maybe we will choose the format and location of this special summer exam through this unanimous special exam."

Horikita Suzune also agreed with Yuki's conjecture and added some of her own thoughts:

"It's the end of May now. The special summer exams are usually held between the end of July and the beginning of August, which is quite a long time. They will most likely be held in June."

"Is the workload for this year's first-year students really that high...? If that's the case, then on average, there's a special exam every month since they started school in April."

"Because your class skipped the tutorial, you got the information we only got a month after the start of the semester, a few days before the semester started. Also, the two special exams in April and May weren't very intense."

After the two of them complained for a while, Horikita Suzune turned her gaze to the other three first-year students who had come out of the room and were also huddled together. They were talking to Ayanokoji Kiyotaka.

However, just as she and Yuki wouldn't share information with them, it seems unrealistic to expect to get information from Ayanokouji's side at this stage.

"There's still a second half of the event this afternoon, let's eat first. I brought a bento box, and I made an extra one for you too."

"Thank you then. Ryoko told me long ago that besides him, Suzune, your cooking skills are the best."

"It depends on whether it suits your taste. If there are any foods or seasonings you like or dislike, you can tell me this time. If I had to say, the key reason why my dishes are highly rated is this: I try my best to consider everyone's specific ideas."

"I'm fine, I'm not a picky eater. If I had to say, I probably just don't like carrots, maybe because I eat a lot of them in the white room."

When it was time to eat, Horikita Suzune and Yuki's conversation naturally shifted from the special exam to everyday life. Having worked together in the student council for over a month, their relationship could be described as quite good.

"I just glanced at the campus forum, and it seems that the results of many club competitions have already come out. It feels like there are more losers than winners, and even the drama club, which was considered weak, lost."

“I remember that Ryo was going to perform in person this time… But it’s certainly possible that it was a drama. Although I only worked with Ryo for a short time when I was in junior high school, I’ve seen many scenes where pairing with Ryo turned into a disaster.”

"Was Suzune a member of the drama club at Azabu Middle School when she was in junior high?"

"Yes, that's when I met Ryo, and so did Hui."

"Karuizawa-san?"

"Yes, but she wasn't in the same school as us back then, and she would only come occasionally when we had club activities."

"That's it."

Xue put down her chopsticks, wiped the little bit of sauce off her lips with a tissue, and then asked another girl:

"What about Ichinose-san? How much does Suzune know about her?"

"Fanbo should have met Ryo around the same time as Hui. However, I didn't have much contact with her back then. We only really got to know each other after I enrolled in Dongyu. But to be honest, Fanbo has changed quite a bit in the year or so since she entered Dongyu."

Recalling her encounter with Honami Ichinose on the deserted island last year, Suzune Horikita added:

"Although she is still gentle, you can sense that she has become more assertive in some areas."

"I don't know if she was gentle or not, but I definitely felt her domineering side. Although I do have some faults now, locking someone in the door with a security chain is a bit too much."

Clearly, even after nearly two months and having been indoctrinated with Kitagawa Ryo's spirit, Yuki still harbored some resentment about what happened on the first day of school and was determined to make Ichinose Honami experience what she felt back then.

"Anti-theft chain? Locked at the door?"

Horikita Suzune was hearing about this for the first time. After listening to Yuki's rambling explanation, her expression and feelings became complicated. She didn't know whether to smile or frown, so she simply buried her head and took another big bite of rice, using the chewing motion to suppress her expression. After a while, she gave a brief comment: