I have a life simulator.

"Ah... Karuizawa didn't mention this to me yesterday either."

Kitagawa Ryo stirred the ice cubes in his glass with a straw. He really didn't know that Horikita Suzune would collapse on the spot after the exam on the deserted island. After all, he hadn't looked into the information about Class D in the past few days. The only few pieces of information he had were revealed by Karuizawa Megumi during a casual chat yesterday.

"Actually, I think Horikita put too much pressure on himself, especially because his mistakes caused the class to lose points."

Ichinose Honami analyzes Horikita Suzune's behavior from her own perspective, but Kitagawa Ryo knows very well that this is not the case. Horikita Suzune is a girl who only feels that her existence has meaning when she is recognized by specific people. Whether you say she cares about everything in Class D or not, she actually wants to achieve the final result by leading Class D to Class A. If you have to summarize it, you can be considered a leader who does not understand people's hearts.

Oh, the leader of Class D is no longer Horikita Suzune.

Thinking back to how Horikita Suzune was annoyed when school started by being assigned to Class D, a class full of flawed students, and now she can't even be among the leaders in Class D, she wondered if she had really been too harsh on her.

Kitagawa Ryo thought to himself as he sipped his cold drink.

"Kitagawa-kun, would you like to go visit Horikita-kun together?"

Honami Ichinose tried to extend the invitation in this way, and the concern in her eyes didn't seem like she was being dishonest.

"Did Fanbo call me here today just for something like this?"

"Huh? What else?"

Kitagawa Ryo gripped the glass, now covered in water droplets, and sighed as he felt the cool touch on his palm.

"Isn't Fanbo curious about the final results of the special exam on the deserted island last time? For example, why did the scores of each class become like that?"

I always feel that Ichinose Honami becomes very slow to react when it comes to things that require questioning. In the special exam on the deserted island, Class C scored 181 points despite almost everyone withdrawing, which clearly shows that they have control over all the leaders of the three classes. In fact, the other three classes don't need to ask other classes for verification. They only need to look at their own class's contract with Class C to deduce that Class C signed a contract with all the classes in this exam. In essence, it was a selfish act of betraying everyone.

I heard that Katsuragi from Class A has been trying to find an opportunity to confront Kitagawa Ryo about betraying his ally these past few days. However, Kitagawa Ryo has been keeping a low profile these past few days, but he has been bothering Ryuen Sho for several days. Yesterday, Ryuen Sho complained that he had his first time having a high-end spa treatment, and the person lying on the next bed was a bald, muscular man.

Kitagawa Ryo initially thought that Ichinose Honami from Class B had called him out for this matter as well. After all, Class B had adopted a near-total defensive strategy during this operation, and apart from Kitagawa Ryo, almost no members from other classes had approached Class B's camp. Given this impregnable defense, the fact that information about Class B's leader had been leaked would normally lead anyone to suspect that Kitagawa Ryo had tampered with it.

"Regarding the uninhabited island incident, although there were discussions in the class about whether Kitagawa-kun leaked information about Class B, I was the one who invited Kitagawa-kun to stay at Class B's camp. So, if we're going to investigate, I should be the one primarily responsible. In addition, although Class B was temporarily surpassed by Kitagawa-kun's Class C in this special exam, we still achieved second place, which significantly narrowed the gap with Class A."

Honami Ichinose replied with a smile. She seemed genuinely not planning to pursue the matter on the deserted island. Was this the mindset of an optimist?

"However, there is one thing on the deserted island that I am somewhat concerned about."

Then, as if remembering something, Honami Ichinose spoke again:

"Did Kitagawa-kun take the sachet I gave him as a return gift back to the ship? I was a little concerned because I couldn't find it at the camp after the exam."

"Yes, I got it back."

Kitagawa Ryo nodded:

"Should Fanbo take it back?"

"Uh...that's not what I meant."

Honami Ichinose quickly waved her hand, then simply smiled reassuredly and clasped her hands together in front of her chest, saying:

"Kitagawa-kun, please keep it. If it can be of any help, that would be great."

"When I first met Kitagawa-kun, he gave me an iris. But I'm not particularly good at growing flowers, and I didn't want to see it wither away, so I bought some more and made a sachet together."

"I think this is the best way to preserve the fragrance of a flower for the longest time."

Honami Ichinose's tone was very gentle, and a faint sense of satisfaction shone in her azure eyes. This transmission of kindness must have been the most beautiful thing for her.

"Has Kitagawa-kun read 'The Little Prince'?"

"Seen."

Kitagawa Ryo nodded. He had not only read it, but upon closer reflection, Ichinose Honami was the third girl to discuss the book with him.

"In the part where the fox asks the little prince to tame him, the little prince asks about the meaning of taming. Although there have been different interpretations of this plot, in my opinion, it is about asking about the meaning of establishing a connection, a process of building memories."

Honami Ichinose propped her head up with her hand and looked out the window at the first-year students laughing and playing freely.

"It doesn't necessarily have to be interpreted as love; any emotion can create unique memories."

"Just as the fox said, after the little prince tamed it, the golden wheat field became special to it, because whenever it saw the golden waves of wheat swaying in the wind, it would think of the little prince's golden hair. This was a tacit understanding between them, giving ordinary things extraordinary meaning."

The girl turned her head back and looked directly at Kitagawa Ryo, saying:

"When Kitagawa-kun started school, he told me a lot of things, but after a semester, I feel that Kitagawa-kun hasn't done what he said he would do."

"Like a robot, he leads Class C, always making the right decisions and never doing anything unnecessary or meaningless."

Honami Ichinose said this:

"While there's nothing wrong with this approach, it doesn't quite resemble the proper way to live a campus life."

"Even if it's just wishful thinking on my part, I was still quite happy for Kitagawa-kun when I heard that he and Karuizawa-kei went to the swimming pool together yesterday. After all, it's really too much for him to lock himself in his room. Otherwise, I wouldn't have asked you out today."

Kitagawa Ryo stared at Ichinose Honami's smiling face, and suddenly laughed:

"That really fits Honami's personality."

"Since Kitagawa-kun always uses such a familiar tone, then I'll assume that we're fairly familiar with each other."

Honami Ichinose returned the smile with a bright smile as well:

"Just as the fox gives special meaning to the golden wheat field because of the Little Prince, I hope that we can also build our own memories and imprints."

The girl winked playfully with her left eye.

"Is that sachet something like this?"

"If Kitagawa-kun thinks that way, that's fine too."

Honami Ichinose nodded seriously, and added:

"I specifically looked up the meaning of irises; they symbolize good news, messengers, and missing you."

“Because one day we will all graduate from this school, and if Kitagawa-kun sees irises by the roadside someday and is reminded of these memories we have built, I think that would be a wonderful thing.”

Kitagawa Ryo thought for a moment, then nodded seriously and said:

"Since we're getting to know each other, shall Fanbo call me by my first name from now on?"

"Is it cool...? It does feel more intimate this way."

"Ah."

Kitagawa Ryo reached out his hand under Ichinose Honami's somewhat strange gaze. He seemed to be doing it unnecessarily, yet introduced himself with utmost seriousness:

"I'm Ryo, Honami."

"What's wrong with you? You're acting like a little kid."

Honami Ichinose chuckled, but she didn't refuse and still held Ryo's hand:

"Hmm, it's cold."

After completing this childish ritual, which resembled that of kindergarteners, the two simultaneously withdrew their hands. After all, it was rather awkward to solemnly extend one's hand to shake hands in a coffee shop. Kitagawa Ryo, as if trying to alleviate his embarrassment, finished off the rest of his drinks in one gulp.

"Shall we go visit Horikita?"

It's not so much that Honami Ichinose brought up the old story again, but rather that she had this as her initial intention when she asked Ryo Kitagawa out.

"Yes, let's go take a look together. After all, if you think about it carefully, I also bear some responsibility for her falling ill."

Horikita Suzune's face flashed through Kitagawa Ryo's mind. Although he hadn't seen her fall, he could roughly imagine her expression at the time. He wondered if Suzune, with her personality, could get along well with the other roommates. But perhaps, given Suzune's personality, she would probably get out of bed and pour herself a glass of water if she wanted one.

Just as Honami Ichinose and Ryo Kitagawa were about to step into Suzune Horikita's room, their cell phones suddenly rang at the same time.

The sharp, high-pitched sound indicates an instruction from the school, as this is the email ringtone used only when there are changes to the program.

Under this forced contact, even if the phone is on vibrate or silent mode, it will still make a sound, so that students can receive school notifications as soon as possible.

Is there really a second special exam?

"Could this be a second special exam?"

Honami Ichinose and Ryo Kitagawa spoke up almost simultaneously, speculating that as leaders of their respective classes, this was the first thing they thought of.

Almost simultaneously, an announcement was made inside the ship.

"This is to inform all students that the school has just sent out an email with contact information for all students. Please check your mobile phones and follow the instructions. Also, if you haven't received the email, please contact a nearby faculty or staff member. Because the information is very important, please make sure you check carefully. To reiterate..."

Kitagawa Ryo and Ichinose Honami exchanged a glance:

"Looks like I won't have time to visit Horikita-kun right now."

"Let's see what tricks the school will pull this time."

Kitagawa Ryo followed the instructions broadcast and opened his email on his phone. The email contained the following content:

[A special exam is about to begin. Students are requested to assemble in their designated rooms at the designated time. Those who are more than ten minutes late will be penalized. Please assemble in room 204 on the second floor before 8:40 PM tonight. The exam will take approximately twenty minutes. Please use the restroom, etc., and turn your mobile phone to vibrate mode or turn it off before coming to the assembly point.]

"So it really is a special exam?"

Kitagawa Ryo quickly recalled what Ryuen Sho had mentioned to him before: the small conference rooms on the second floor with a large number of surveillance cameras.

He checked the email again. It only mentioned the meeting place. Considering that there were only twenty minutes, it probably wasn't an on-site exam, but more like an exam instruction manual or something similar, since there was no text in the email about the exam content.

"This is what my text message contained."

Honami Ichinose showed Kitagawa Ryo her emails. Surprisingly, the content of the emails she received was almost identical to Kitagawa Ryo's, except for the location and time, which were both 8:40.

At the same time, the class chat group erupted in excitement. Through the jumbled messages, Kitagawa Ryo realized that all the students on the ship had received the email simultaneously, just at different times. Ryuen Sho quickly understood this and used his administrator privileges to have each student speak in turn, reporting their time. A few minutes later, a definitive conclusion was reached—

There are a total of twelve time slots. There are about three to four students in Class C in each time slot. The different time slots can be regarded as a kind of grouping. If we extrapolate from this, there are twelve groups in this special exam, which is a huge number.

Those grouped with Kitagawa Ryo at the same time slot—8:40—were Ryuen Sho, Shiina Hiyori, and Kaneda Satoru. Together with Kitagawa Ryo, they formed almost the strongest lineup in Class C on the surface. It seems that the school's grouping was not random.

However, with so little information available, Kitagawa Ryo couldn't draw any effective conclusions. Ichinose Honami was also texted by a student from her class asking about her, so Kitagawa Ryo said goodbye to her and arranged to meet again at 8:40 p.m.

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

"Sakagami, you seem to have a lot of confidence in your students this time."

In the bar on the upper deck of the cruise ship, since the first-year students are not yet of legal drinking age and can only order lemonade, almost no one comes here. The usually deserted bar is unusually occupied by four adults today. They are the four homeroom teachers of classes A, B, C, and D, and the one who speaks is Majima Tomoya, the homeroom teacher of class A.

"This year's Class C is indeed very promising... no, it should be called Class B now."

Class B's homeroom teacher, Hoshinomiya, was slumped over the bar, sighing without any decorum:

"Ichinose is really bad at dealing with those glib-tongued brats."

"However, Class A this year doesn't seem to have the same dominance as before. If they fail this special exam again, there might be a miracle where Class A is demoted at the end of the first semester."

This is what Chahashi Sae, the homeroom teacher of Class D, said. For a homeroom teacher like her who is determined to promote Class A, Kitagawa Ryoma is an outstanding candidate. It is very rare for Class C to be able to surpass Class B in the first semester and even pose a real threat to Class A now.

“When school started, I felt that Beichuan was an excellent child.”

Kazuma Sakagami smiled "calmly," but he seemed unable to contain himself and quickly covered his grin with his wine glass.

"Alright, alright, what do you think of this list allocation? Although the school has said that it will concentrate outstanding talents in the Chen Group, this time it is indeed very stressful."

Class A's homeroom teacher, Tomoya Mashima, reluctantly avoided the topic.

"I hope Ichinose can hold on."

Hoshinomiya yawned and turned his gaze to the assigned lists of groups:

[Class A: Katsuragi Yasuhei, Nishikawa Ryoko, Toba Shinji, Kamuro Masumi.

Class B: Honami Ichinose, Ryuji Kanzaki, Yuki Himeno.

Class C: Kitagawa Ryo, Shiina Hiyori, Ryuen Sho, Kaneda Satoru.

Class D: Karuizawa Megumi, Hirata Yosuke, Horikita Suzune.

"Kosae still believes in Horikita Suzune."

"Let's do it one last time."

Chabashira sighed and lit the lady's cigarette in her hand.

Chapter 39: This is a golden opportunity to get freebies!

Around 6:20 p.m., the first batch of students who had entered the second-floor conference room began to emerge one after another. However, most of them looked bewildered, and many were scratching their heads and muttering something like "one, two, three, four."

"How about it?"

Kitagawa Ryo and Ryuen Sho, who were waiting outside the conference room, immediately stood up and asked, "Komiya and the others from Class C were among those who were asked to assemble at six o'clock. In order to get the information first, the leaders of Class C had also gathered on the second floor early."

"Boss, the recording is here."

Unlike the students in other classes, the students in Class C seemed much more relaxed. Although they were all only vaguely aware of the rules, Kitagawa Ryo had instructed them beforehand to turn on their phone's recording function before entering the meeting room. This would save them time when repeating the information and ensure they could grasp all the details without missing anything.

"Ah."

He gestured for Komiya to send the recording to the chat group, and Kitagawa Ryo placed his open laptop on his lap on a chair in the corridor, plugged in his headphones, and intended to listen to what the school had said in the past twenty minutes.