I have a life simulator.

"No, no, it's just that I thought Ayanokouji-san was a bit aloof before, and you didn't accept my invitations the previous few times."

"So it's really great to see Ayanokouji-san come to me on her own initiative."

Before Ayanokoji Kiyotaka could react, Kushida Kikyo had already grasped his right hand:

"This shows that Ayanokouji-san is willing to consider me a friend."

"……right."

Kiyotaka Ayanokouji still didn't quite understand the psychology of Kikyo Kushida, a socially adept social terrorist. However, she certainly lived up to her A rating in coordination. In just half a month since enrolling, she seemed to have made quite a few friends not only with her own class but also with students from the other three classes.

Kohei Katsuragi, Yosuke Hirata, and Kikyo Kushida were the three characters that Kiyotaka Ayanokouji had conceived from the beginning to be the face of Class A. With his help, Kohei Katsuragi had successfully become the class president of Class A, so Kiyotaka Ayanokouji set his sights on Kikyo Kushida.

Of course, he had another purpose in contacting Kikyo Kushida.

Katsuragi Kohei's stubbornness and conservatism were even more severe than Ayanokouji Kiyotaka had imagined. After spending some time in close contact with him, Ayanokouji Kiyotaka realized that the other party was completely like a rock. No matter how eloquently he spoke, Katsuragi Kohei was determined to maintain the status quo and believed that Class A was invincible. He resolutely disagreed with taking action against the other three classes and instead devoted himself wholeheartedly to the task of reforming Koenji Rokusuke.

"I heard that Kushida gets along well with students from other classes?"

"Just call me Kikyo."

Kikyo Kushida smiled warmly:

“I do know some students from other classes.”

Kikyo Kushida placed her finger to her lips and teased him mischievously:

"Does Ayanokouji-kun have a girl he wants to ask out?"

"..."

Kiyotaka Ayanokouji's silence confirmed Kikyo Kushida's thoughts, and she nodded, adding:

"Actually, Ayanokouji is quite handsome, but he's a bit gloomy. If he could improve that, I think quite a few girls would be willing to date him."

"Yes."

Since the other party had already said that much, Kiyotaka Ayanokoji took the opportunity to continue the conversation.

"There's a joint activity with another class after school today. If you're interested, Ayanokouji-san, you can come over."

"It's troublesome."

"fine."

Kikyo Kushida smiled again; she seemed to enjoy being asked to do something.

When the school bell rang, Kiyotaka Ayanokouji quickly caught up with Kikyo Kushida. Her phone had been ringing non-stop since get out of class ended. Kikyo Kushida was answering calls and replying to messages from three or four people at the same time, which made Kiyotaka Ayanokouji somewhat amazed.

Maintaining such a vast network of relationships would require an enormous amount of time, energy, and even points (money).

In this situation, she was still able to maintain her position at the top of her class in both academics and sports. In this respect, Kikyo Kushida is truly a rare talent.

When the two arrived at the Keyaki Shopping Center, Kiyotaka Ayanokouji realized that there were already five or six students chatting and laughing around him. None of them looked familiar; they must all be students from other classes. Kikyo Kushida chatted with each of them with ease while introducing Kiyotaka Ayanokouji to the others.

Because he was a boy brought by Kikyo Kushida, and was quite handsome, Kiyotaka Ayanokouji was quickly accepted by the students. Some of the boys in Class B even jokingly asked him if he was Kikyo Kushida's boyfriend. Kiyotaka Ayanokouji remembered that his name was Takuya Yagami, who was also a handsome guy with delicate features.

When the group arrived at the second floor of the Keyaki Shopping Center, Kikyo Kushida waved to the two boys waiting by the roadside. The slightly shorter boy in front responded excitedly, and almost tripped as he ran over, seemingly too excited.

"This is Ike and Yamauchi from Class D."

As the two approached, Kikyo Kushida introduced them with a smile, clapping her hands as she did so.

"Now that everyone's here, let's all go sing karaoke together."

At this moment, Kiyotaka Ayanokouji was still dealing with a girl who kept talking to him, but after hearing the words "Class D", he still glanced outside. Ike was a boy who looked frivolous, and the Yamauchi standing next to him was too lewd. Although he was not short, he hunched over and looked silly with his mouth wide open.

After Yamauchi and Ike joined the group, they started chatting on the way to the karaoke bar. When Yagami Takuya unintentionally mentioned Ayanokoji Kiyotaka, the conversation veered back to the topic. When they heard that Ayanokoji Kiyotaka was Kikyo Kushida's suspected boyfriend, Yamauchi and Ike immediately started talking about it.

"You... don't joke around. Kokushida has been my goal for a long time! We're like childhood friends who vowed to marry each other under a giant cherry blossom tree! This is a fateful reunion!"

"You're lying! You clearly promised to give me Okushida, and I knew it! I always knew you were lying!"

It's hard to imagine that the two of them could say such mindless things in front of the people involved. Even Kiyotaka Ayanokouji noticed that the people around them had unconsciously distanced themselves from the two of them, and the girls' eyes seemed to have pronounced their doom.

"What? Everything I said is true!"

Haruki Yamauchi pointed at himself and began to boast. If you completely believed what he said, then in just a few minutes, Haruki Yamauchi was an unimaginable, top-notch man who had a beautiful singing voice since childhood, had been scouted by foreign talent agents, became the ace of the choir in junior high school, and was even predicted to become a professional singer.

Unfortunately, the other party's hoarse voice wasn't very convincing.

Kiyotaka Ayanokoji showed no anger at being offended; in fact, he almost wanted to laugh.

The thought that this clown was in Class 1-D and was Kitagawa Ryo's classmate almost made Kiyotaka Ayanokoji burst out laughing.

Therefore, he wished those two were even more stupid.

In the end, it was Kikyo Kushida who calmed down the two idiots. Students from classes A, B, C, and D surrounded Kikyo Kushida and led her to the karaoke bar, where they booked the largest private room.

The shop was quite lively because of the many students, but there were almost no upperclassmen; most of them looked like first-year students.

Kiyotaka Ayanokouji observed the students coming and going, following in their footsteps. They exuded the unique innocence of freshmen, finding everything new and exciting.

"What is Kokushida going to sing?"

As soon as he entered the private room, Yamauchi, who couldn't wait to occupy the karaoke machine, asked at the top of his lungs.

"Everyone, please sing first! As for me, please ask Yamauchi to select 'Memory'."

"Um... that, is it very nice?"

"It means memories, m, e, m, o, r, y."

A murmur of laughter came from the side. Everyone except Kikyo Kushida watched Haruki Yamauchi's embarrassing situation as if he were a clown.

"Haha, so that's the word. I just didn't know which one Kokushida was talking about because there are so many homophones."

Haruki Yamauchi, however, seemed completely unfazed and continued boasting:

“I used to score 900 points in APEC.”

What is APEC?

One of the boys asked a question casually, and Yamauchi immediately showed a smug look.

"You don't even know this? It's a very difficult English exam."

"Uh, that's probably not APEC, it's TOEIC."

Kikyo Kushida gently corrected Haruki Yamauchi's mistake.

Another girl added from the side:

"By the way, APEC stands for Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation."

"They're like relatives, aren't they?"

"I think their relationship with their families and relatives is worlds apart..."

After this somewhat awkward interlude ended, Ayanokoji Kiyotaka heard the girl next to Kushida Kikyo ask:

"I haven't heard this song that Kikyo requested before."

"It's a song from the musical 'Cats,' it's really beautiful. I even rehearsed this show when I was in middle school."

"Hey, I remember Kikyo's junior high school was Azabu Junior High School, right?"

"Uh-huh."

"Now that you mention it, I think I remember. Your school's drama club is quite famous, right? I heard there's a super famous drama actor named—named..."

"It's Kitagawa Ryo, Kitagawa-kun, right? He's the head of the drama club. We're in the same year, and we're really close."

Upon hearing the familiar name, Kiyotaka Ayanokouji instantly tensed up, a chill running up his spine. He used the dim light inside the private room to observe Kikyo Kushida's smiling face from afar, listening to her say that they had a "good relationship."

He suddenly realized a terrifying possibility:

Everything about Class A right now—

Kikyo Kushida was covering her mouth and chuckling softly.

Perhaps it has already been completely exposed to the other party.

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

Haruki Yamauchi, Kanji Ike

Kitagawa Ryo wrote the two people's names on the whiteboard with a black ballpoint pen.

Class D's class points should have dropped to almost zero.

This demonstrates both the incompetence of Class D and another fact.

Kitagawa Ryo put a big X over the two names.

Now the matter is quite simple.

Involving Class A.

They were caught up in this expulsion storm that had become harmless to Class D.

Chapter 48: The Mantis Stalks the Cicada

"Is Kikyo referring to Kitagawa from Class D?"

Kiyotaka Ayanokoji subtly moved closer to Kikyo Kushida. Takuya Yagami, sitting to Kikyo Kushida's right, had already asked the question he wanted to know, and he wore a curious expression.

“My classmate Karuizawa is very close to him, and they even started a new club together.”

"I know about this too, because these two knew each other before, and they've supposedly been stage partners, but..."

Kikyo Kushida paused for a moment, then realized that apart from her own Class A, the other three classes probably didn't know the secret of the class division yet, which was why the students from the four classes had been meeting and exchanging ideas so frequently lately.

If the information about class assignments and class points is made public, the competition between classes will immediately become the most brutal. At that time, the clubs created by Karuizawa and Kitagawa may also be difficult to maintain. After all, Karuizawa is the class president of Class 1-B. Even if their friendship is strong, their classmates may prevent them from communicating closely.

"Ok?"

Yagami Takuya noticed Kushida Kikyo's pause, and Ayanokouji Kiyotaka, who was standing next to him, narrowed his eyes. He suddenly remembered that when they were assigned to classes, it seemed that Kitagawa Ryo had intentionally put Kushida Kikyo out for him.

Ayanokouji Kiyotaka only got two pieces in total. The other one was Koenji Rokusuke, who had always been a maverick in the class. With this in mind, Kushida Kikyo's identity suddenly became suspicious.

However, Kiyotaka Ayanokouji wouldn't jump to conclusions so quickly. If Kikyo Kushida really was Kitagawa Ryo's spy planted in Class A, he would have a chance to turn the tables on her.

"It's nothing, it's just a bit of a pity that these two weren't in the same class. After all, back in junior high, almost everyone in the drama club thought they were a couple."

While changing the subject, Kikyo Kushida also turned to the girl sitting to her left and asked:

"By the way, Matsushita-kun, has your class elected a class monitor?"

The class monitor of Class A is Kohei Katsuragi, the class monitor of Class B is Megumi Karuizawa, Class C is said to be led by a boy named Ryuen, while Class D is in complete chaos with no news at all.

Matsushita Chiaki, who had been quietly swinging her maracas in the corner and seemed almost invisible, was a student in Class 1-D. Upon hearing Kushida Kikyo's question, she smiled and replied:

"We don't have a class monitor, and everyone is used to being noisy and disruptive. If I had to say, Ichinose is probably the most popular."

Kiyotaka Ayanokouji nodded secretly to the side. He knew that Honami Ichinose was a girl who, like Kikyo Kushida, was rated A in coordination. He was not surprised that such a person quickly gained the support of her classmates.

"And then there's Sakura-san. Quite a few classmates were her fans before, especially the boys."

As if recalling something amusing, Matsushita Chiaki covered her mouth and chuckled softly.

"Is it that very famous idol?"

“My sister really liked her before.”

“I’ve heard of her name before, and I even went to her concert with my classmates. I never expected to be at this school now.”

The other students joined in the discussion, chattering away. Haruki Yamauchi grinned as if he wanted to say something shocking again, but after saying a few words, he realized that no one cared about him, so he had to shut his mouth again, feeling embarrassed.

Kiyotaka Ayanokouji silently made notes of the key figures from each class, which was why he chose to come here with Kikyo Kushida. He didn't consider himself a sociable person, but Kikyo Kushida's social gathering today truly made him see her value.

Out of caution, Kiyotaka Ayanokoji decided to postpone his interactions with Kikyo Kushida, at least until he was certain that she was indeed in contact with Ryo Kitagawa.

However, there were indeed things that could be done. Ayanokouji Kiyotaka glanced at Ike and Yamauchi, who were looking somewhat awkward in the crowd, and took the initiative to go up and start a conversation.

………………………………………………………………………

"I noticed it when school started, but I didn't expect you to actually choose Panasonic, Arisu."

Kitagawa Ryo teased the girl sitting in front of him while refilling his teacup with hot water.

"Because Chiaki is a very interesting child."

Sakayanagi Arisu said, holding her teacup. Today, she unusually chose not to drink coffee, but instead drank tea with Kitagawa Ryo. Since Shiina Hiyori joined the tea ceremony club, she would often bring Kitagawa Ryo various kinds of tea leaves and matcha powder. According to her, they were all distributed by the club and one person couldn't finish them all. Therefore, Kitagawa Ryo's cupboard was now full of tea leaves.

Kitagawa Ryo took a sip of hot tea. He wasn't surprised that Sakayanagi Arisu would find an assistant-type follower. Matsushita Chiaki's nature was actually similar to Kamuro Masumi, whom the other party had taken a liking to in Class A. After all, due to various limitations, Sakayanagi Arisu needed a second pair of eyes and legs.