I have a life simulator.

Just as Kiyotaka Ayanokoji was steadily pushing his plan toward its final step, Ryo Kitagawa had already left Tokyo.

To be precise, he is currently in Sapporo, the capital of Hokkaido, about 800 kilometers away from Tokyo.

Although the distance sounds intimidating, it is actually only an hour and a half flight from Tokyo's Haneda Airport to Hokkaido's New Chitose Airport. Kitagawa Ryo departed in the morning and arrived at his destination by noon.

As for why he came to Hokkaido in the middle of the special exam, we have to go back a day.

"A place where you can see snow at this time of day?"

Facing the girl who had traveled across several wards of Tokyo by subway to find him after finishing her part-time job that day, Kitagawa Ryo was a little confused and repeated the question she had just asked.

"But it's July now."

The blazing sun on the horizon made it clear that it was the height of summer, but Xue herself insisted:

"But I don't know when Ryo and I will be able to go out of school together for free again. Besides, it doesn't necessarily snow in Tokyo during winter. It didn't snow when Ryo went home for Christmas last year, did it?"

As she spoke, Xue pouted, looking a little aggrieved:

"I don't expect Ryo to put on a grand show for me at Tokyo Tower like she did for Arisu. I just want to go see the snow with Ryo one more time."

"Okay, okay, let me think... There should still be some snow left in the high-altitude mountainous areas of Hokkaido, and the ski resorts should also provide snow activities at this time by storing winter snow or making artificial snow."

Completely unable to withstand this attack, Kitagawa Ryo quickly came up with a solution. After doing a quick search on his phone, he showed the screen to Yuki:

"The Furano Ski Resort in Hokkaido has a special 'Summer Snow Hill' area for tourists during this season. Want to go?"

"I want to go, I want to go."

Xue nodded without hesitation:

"Anyway, Ryo and I both have protection points, right? It won't be a problem if we temporarily break the rules of this special exam and skip work for a few days."

At this point, she added, seemingly casually:

"If anyone else has protection points, they can come with us too."

Because she had done her research beforehand, Xue knew that among the girls around Liang, none of them had any protection points except for her. This made it perfectly logical to turn this special exam, which everyone was participating in, into a private world for just the two of them, a plan that was perfect in every sense of the word.

But what Yuki herself didn't expect was that when the two of them met again in the waiting hall of Haneda Airport the next day, there were two more girls that she knew very well by Kitagawa Ryo's side.

"What a coincidence, the company just happened to send me on a business trip to Hokkaido."

This is Amasawa Ichika, who started working at her family's company on the very first day of the summer special exams, perfectly embodying the meaning of the phrase "playing house as a rich girl."

"I was also visiting Hokkaido University at the same time."

Oh, this is another one, Sakayanagi Arisu, who's also playing house like a rich girl.

It can only be said that the three bonds of the last simulated ward riot are not so easy to get rid of. Faced with Xue's behavior of not even pretending, the other two chose to follow suit without hesitation.

What else can we say? Let's board the plane together and head to Hokkaido.

And so, Kitagawa Ryo and Yuki, who were using protection points to avoid expulsion, along with Amasawa Ichika and Sakayanagi Arisu, who took full advantage of the loopholes in the rules to come and keep a close watch on them one-on-one, effectively doubling their time together. The four of them took the same flight to Hokkaido.

Although the average temperature in Hokkaido in summer can reach around 20 to 25 degrees Celsius, the group was going to a mountainous area where the ski resort was located, so they specially prepared warm clothes before going and changed into them as soon as they arrived at the ski resort in the mountains.

It has to be said that Chiaki Matsushita's comment about Arisu Sakayanagi on the cruise ship last year was indeed correct. A petite and cute girl like Arisu Sakayanagi is definitely more suited to winter clothes than summer clothes. With a silver-white down jacket, brown fur gloves, and a small beret, Arisu Sakayanagi standing in front of Ryo Kitagawa at this moment really makes people want to lean in and kiss her little face.

Whether intentionally or not, the three of them deliberately chose similar color schemes for their down jackets, with the main color of each jacket matching their hair color. Arisu's was a dreamy silver-white, Yuki's was a caramel brown, and Ichika's was a brighter red. Combined with their already striking hair colors, they looked even more radiant in this snow-covered world.

Although the group had come to a ski resort where snow still lingered, none of them knew how to ski, so they could only practice in a chaotic manner at first. However, since they actually enjoyed the relaxed vacation atmosphere more than skiing, they soon dropped their skis and started having a snowball fight after Tianze Yixia's first sneak attack.

Amazawa Ichika, a graduate of the White Room, goes without saying. Although Sakayanagi Arisu had been training diligently for over a year, she couldn't compare to the accumulation of experience from the White Room gym since childhood. Yuki, the former White Room honor student, was carrying the body of someone who had spent several years in the hospital in the real world. Therefore, even after more than a year of rehabilitation, she couldn't fully recover to her previous level. As a result, she was quickly overwhelmed by Amazawa Ichika and they unconsciously formed an alliance, starting a righteous two-on-one fight.

While the three girls were exchanging snowballs filled with all sorts of personal grudges and grievances from past lives, Kitagawa Ryo was quietly starting his own snowman-building project.

The ski resort provides snowman-building tools such as plastic snowball makers, mini snow shovels, spray bottles, and food coloring. In addition, Kitagawa Ryo is indeed amazing in stamina. In no time, he had already built a huge happy... cough, kitten on the snow, which quickly attracted the attention of a large number of other tourists around him.

"Is that a firefly from the pile of cool grass?"

By this time, the girls, who were also tired from playing, gathered around and curiously examined the cat snow sculpture that had risen from the ground.

"Okay, let's take a picture to remember this moment."

As he spoke, Kitagawa Ryo used the food coloring in his hand to add a fluorescent hue to the frozen black bottle cap, then pressed it into the snow sculpture's eye with a snap. He then clapped his hands to announce that he had succeeded, and several children spontaneously clapped their hands.

After casually snapping a couple of photos, Kitagawa Ryo generously gave the kitten to the other children who were eagerly waiting to take pictures with him, and then went to the rest area to sit and relax.

A short while later, Xue also came over and sat down next to him.

"Ichika and Arisu went to try skiing on the beginner's track."

After all, the three of them could be described as sisters who have survived all hardships and can forget all their grudges with a smile when they meet again. So when Yuki herself expressed that she wanted to spend some time alone with Kitagawa Ryo, Amasawa Ichika and Sakayanagi Arisu very tactfully took their skis and walked away, giving the two of them enough space and time to chat alone.

Kitagawa Ryo saw through her intentions but didn't say anything. After Yuki came over, he took the initiative to reach out and grab her hand. Both of them had taken off their gloves beforehand. However, before she came over, he had already warmed his palm with a hot drink from the vending machine next to him for a while, a temperature that was enough to warm her up as well.

"Is it still cold?"

"Hmm—it's very warm."

Xue gently shook her head. There were still traces of the snowball fight on her forehead, and the melted snow water glistened on the ends of her hair.

"Looking back now, I realize that when I introduced my name to Ryo in the white room, I didn't give a comprehensive overview at all."

As she spoke, she rested her head on Kitagawa Ryo's shoulder again, but her eyes remained fixed on the snow-covered world ahead.

"I only told Liang that snow is white and cool, something that falls from the sky like a flower, but in fact it is also something that cannot exist for long on its own. When you eat it, it has no taste other than coldness. When it comes into contact with something warm, it melts away in an instant, as if it has never existed in this world."

"Moreover, snow is not necessarily pure white."

She glanced at the spray bottle of food coloring that Kitagawa Ryo had placed to the side, and at the little snow sculpture of a cat with ears and whiskers painted on it by him not far away. Then she rubbed against the person next to her a couple of times.

"I've already been stained with the color of coolness, haven't I?"

"According to this statement, I have actually been stained with the color of snow long ago."

"What's wrong with this? Isn't Liang satisfied?"

"I didn't say that. It's just Xue's own delusion. Besides, I've already heard Ying say that you tormented me quite a bit in some long delusion."

When Kitagawa Ryo suddenly revealed her biggest dark history, Yuki's expression stiffened slightly, then she bared her teeth and bared her claws like a puffed-up kitten, stubbornly retorting:

"So what? Does Liang think she's at a disadvantage? You can fantasize about me, no, just put it into practice. I'll definitely cooperate."

"...Besides, Liang knows that those are just all sorts of strange fantasies coming from his mind. We should judge by the actions, not the intentions."

Just like the descriptions of 'snow' that she had just added, for a long time in the past, Yuki did indeed add these vague perceptions to herself, just like when Kitagawa Ryo first took her out of the white room and she personally caught those pure white sprites fluttering down from the sky, that complex feeling that was both beautiful and fragile.

That's why, when she pushed Kitagawa Ryo into his dorm during last year's cultural festival, she whispered in his ear, "Ryo, you have to promise me that I will always be a rose, a white moonlight as pure as snow, not a rice grain... a cinnabar mole, not a mosquito bite."

Yuki didn't want a short-lived connection or relationship, or rather, she was afraid that her relationship with Kitagawa Ryo would turn out like that, like a snowflake that is stunningly beautiful for a moment but will soon disappear.

"Well, so I don't think it's a big deal. Although I know that Xuexin is still feeling uneasy, I can assure you that the thing you're most afraid of will not happen."

"For me, snow is not just snow, but also the sunshine on a Christmas morning, the little squirrels on the branches after the first snow, and the most beautiful snow camellia, also known as Hime-Shirayuki, whose flower language means perfect beauty."

Kitagawa Ryo was never surprised that Yuki cared so much about her name and pursued the imagery behind it almost blindly. After all, in a place like the White Room, time, actions, the future, and even one's own feelings... none of these things belonged to them; they were beings that could be manipulated at will. Only the name was different.

Without names, unless you are physically close enough to see and touch each other, you can't say "I like you" or "I like him" in the second or third person.

But if you remember someone's name, no matter where you are or who you're facing, you can say directly, "I like coolness, I like snow." That's the value of a name in a white room; it's the starting point for many kinds of emotions.

If you think about it carefully, the trio from the last simulation, who also accompanied him to the ski resort in Hokkaido today, all have names that contain some precious memories between them and him. These memories are part of what constitutes each of them and strongly proclaim their own existence.

He once stopped all time like the Mad Hatter to find the only solution for Arisu, who had mistakenly entered Wonderland. In the long years since then, he has been gently illuminated and enveloped by an everlasting summer. Finally, he dyed a snowflake that fell from the sky into his human world and was held in his palm with his own unique color.

For Kitagawa Ryo, he truly couldn't let go of any of his ties.

"Let's go back to the hotel after we rest for a bit, I'm a little tired."

Perhaps it was because the memory was a little hazy, or perhaps it was because the snow-covered scene before him had been seen too many times and he was a little tired of snow blindness, but Kitagawa Ryo spoke to the snow with his eyes closed.

"Hmm, I remember the hotel has a hot spring for couples to bathe together. If you're tired, Liang, let's go soak in the hot spring together in a bit."

Xue reached out and hugged him, whispering this suggestion in Kitagawa Ryo's ear.

She felt that it would definitely be warm by then.

Anyway, she's not like snow that can only live in her own little world and melts at the slightest touch of warmth.

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

PS2: The only spoiler I can give for the new book is that it will still be a youth romance slice-of-life harem story, but it will be an original work.

Chapter 86: I Will Have My Own Family

"Wow, this is where my sister usually works?"

"It's an internship... and it's only for this month. But I'll probably continue working here after I graduate from Tokyo Advanced Educational High School, so it's not really a lie to my mom."

Honami Ichinose took her younger sister Maki's hand and led her around her workspace for a short while before taking her to the staff cafeteria. She quickly obtained two meal tickets using her employee ID, picked up two set meals from the counter, placed one in front of herself, and pushed the other towards her sister.

"The food in the cafeteria here is pretty good, have some."

"Hmm, I'll try it... It's alright, better than the ones at our school."

After taking a couple of bites, Ichinose Maki casually asked, "..."

"Isn't brother with sister?"

"Ryo should still be in Hokkaido, but he should be back in the next couple of days, since there aren't many days left until the end of this special exam."

"That's it."

Ichinose Maki, biting her chopsticks, nodded as if she understood, then leaned over and whispered to her older sister:

"Actually, Mom came here specifically to ask me to tell you that you shouldn't... well, make her a grandmother while she's still in high school?"

After racking her brains to come up with the most tactful way possible, Ichinose Maki immediately began to observe her sister's reaction intently, trying to discern any subtle changes in her expression.

However, Honami Ichinose's facial expression control had indeed reached a level of perfection. After all, she had spent almost a month training in the bank's finance department, and her polite yet aloof fake smile was second nature to her. She simply nodded slightly in response.

“Maki, go back and tell your mom I know.”

"Or does she think I'm a child who doesn't even know what's right in these kinds of things? She's raised me for over ten years, so she should know this better than anyone. After all, isn't that what she used to claim?"

Ichinose Maki didn't seem to mind Ichinose Honami's sarcastic attitude. After all, theoretically, she was the one who was rebellious between the two sisters, and she knew that her older sister was just complaining a little. When her mother suggested visiting her internship location, she immediately made preparations and arrangements, and finally managed to send her mother home safely around noon.

As for why she didn't stay for a meal with her, her mother's reason was that the leftovers from last night were in the refrigerator and would spoil if they weren't eaten at lunchtime today.

Honami Ichinose's attitude is now very clear: she will go along with her mother's wishes as much as possible, and will never try to change her deeply ingrained ideas. She will try to find a balance between family and personal life that is acceptable to both parties.

This includes her current internship.

After several rounds of simulations and real-life experiences, Honami Ichinose finally figured out a few principles for getting along and communicating with her mother.

First, when it's time to express your emotions, you must do so appropriately; otherwise, the other person may not even know that you are genuinely upset or angry.

Secondly, if possible, one should even take the initiative to cry first, because for a girl like Honami Ichinose, if her mother shows signs of grievance and tears first, even if she is actually in the right, she will be overwhelmed by unconscious guilt and even remorse.

Third, try to show her your current growth and independence in a way that she can understand.

If her mother's expectation of her was worldly success, then Honami Ichinose was willing to show her that.

She would no longer explain the deeper purpose behind her entry into the finance department and her ambitions for the future; she only needed to let her mother see that she was working for a large bank or company with excellent benefits and high salaries.

After all, for someone her mother's age, she probably couldn't possibly distinguish what each of the many departments and sections in a bank was supposed to do. Perhaps in her eyes, the daily task of bank employees was simply to count banknotes over and over again in front of the money counting machine, just like what she had seen when she occasionally went to the bank to deposit or withdraw money.

The same goes for Ryo's situation. Ichinose Honami wouldn't explain every detail of what happened between the two of them to her mother, nor would she explain Ryo's family background or that he had other lovers besides her. She only needed to tell her mother that she had someone she liked who also liked her, that he was a good person, and that they planned to get married after they came of age.

Honami Ichinose hopes that her mother's later life will be better than her earlier one, and she is confident that she can make her mother's life even better.

Therefore, she also hopes that her mother can believe this.

I believe her daughter will have a better life than her mother.

After all, with the exception of a very small number of parents, most parents in this world do not want their children to live worse than they do, and Ichinose Honami's mother was no exception.

After going through these thoughts in her mind again, Ichinose Honami's facial features softened slightly as she reached out to wipe away the sauce that had accidentally gotten on her sister's lips.

Compared to her mother, who had already experienced everything before she was born and had almost no ideas or abilities to make a change in her remaining life, and could only stubbornly move forward alone along the established path, Ichinose Honami was naturally more willing to spend more on her younger sister, who was two years younger than her and whose values ​​had not yet been formally formed.

After all, if we only consider the rest of her life, her younger sister will be a companion who will go further with her on this path than her mother.

Although I feel that the other person's feelings for Liang are a bit strange now.

Honami Ichinose had considered nipping this budding romance in the bud, even though her younger sister herself wasn't sure about it. But then she thought that if she did that, she would be no different from her mother in the past.

So she chose to wait and see.

After finishing lunch and seeing her younger sister off, Honami Ichinose returned to her staff dormitory alone.

Chukyo Bank treated her, an intern from Tokyo Advanced Educational High School, very well, even assigning her a nicely decorated single room in the dormitory.

When Honami Ichinose was about to go back to her room to rest and take a nap so she could face her work in the afternoon with the best energy, she suddenly found someone waiting at her door.