I have a life simulator.

When Karuizawa Megumi was in fifth grade, she finally understood this principle. Therefore, she was no longer willing to easily apologize for mistakes that weren't her fault. Since it was pointless anyway, there was no need to make such ingratiating gestures. This led to further bullying. This time, when she was truly physically injured, Karuizawa Megumi refused to seek help from her parents.

Kitagawa Ryo and Karuizawa Megumi were not originally in the same school. In fact, the elementary school Kitagawa Ryo attended was much more advanced than the elementary school Karuizawa Megumi attended, but this did not affect their relationship. Anyway, they were both eleven or twelve-year-old children wearing the same uniforms and carrying similar backpacks. When school was over, several streets were crowded with the same elementary school students. Everyone was chatting and playing together in the same way, so who could tell the difference?

However, after listening to Karuizawa Kei's words, Kitagawa Ryo suddenly felt a small sense of mission, so he said to Karuizawa Kei:

"I want to transfer to your school."

Karuizawa Kei was a little dizzy from this shocking statement, but of course she agreed and nodded.

She didn't know what those words meant, nor did she know if they were easy to achieve. But what Karuizawa Kei was certain of was that she really wanted to be in the same class as Kitagawa Ryo. Humans are social beings after all, and even if it was just Kitagawa Ryo, that would be enough. At least she could prove that she had friends. People with friends wouldn't be pitiful kids in class who had no one to team up with during PE class or no one to share their lunch with.

So, Kitagawa Ryoma transferred to Karuizawa Megumi's school and class the very next day.

As Karuizawa Kei watched Kitagawa Ryoko neatly write his name on the blackboard and introduce himself, a tremendous sense of peace and tranquility enveloped her, as if a castle had truly descended from the sky, with magnificent walls protecting her—she was the princess in the castle.

Within a week of Kitagawa Ryo transferring schools, he forcefully got into a fight with several boys in his class. Kitagawa Ryo fought four against one and ultimately won. Under the watchful eyes of the entire class, he stood next to Karuizawa Megumi. Kitagawa Ryo had controlled his strength very well; although the four boys were on the ground groaning in pain, they didn't seem to be seriously injured. In Kitagawa Ryo's words:

"Anyway, the thing teachers and schools like to do most is not to cause trouble. All incidents can be summed up as 'playing around' and 'being ignorant.' So, I, being ignorant, was just playing around with these boys in a friendly way."

Under Kitagawa Ryo's protection, Karuizawa Kei finally made it through the remaining year and a half of elementary school. In the graduation photo, she stood to Kitagawa Ryo's left, wearing a black and white uniform, and they secretly held hands under the cover of the crowd. This subtle thrill and excitement would still occasionally make her heart skip a beat long afterward.

Karuizawa Megumi enlarged a portion of the two of them from the graduation photo and made it into a group photo. She put it in a frame and placed it neatly in front of her desk.

However, after elementary school, Karuizawa Megumi had to accept the reality that she would not be able to attend middle school with Kitagawa Ryo. What made her even more anxious and uneasy was that Kitagawa Ryo was going to be taken abroad by his parents to receive his education. Not only middle school, but even high school and university in the future might not be held in Tokyo.

What's worse, within two weeks of their separation, they lost each other's only means of contact.

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After entering junior high school, Karuizawa Kei immediately became the focus of her class. The thirteen- or fourteen-year-old boys already had the desire and ability to admire her, and they began to gradually realize the difference between girls and boys. Therefore, the cute Karuizawa Kei was actually quite popular when she first entered junior high school.

"Don't you find all the boys in your class annoying, Karuizawa-san?"

When someone struck up a conversation with her in a group of girls, Karuizawa Megumi nodded in agreement.

"Ah... yes."

As if they had found a common topic, the girls gathered around and discussed the boys in their class who were both dull-witted and sharp-eyed. To the more precocious girls, boys of this age were like monkeys with an excessive desire to show off, always jumping around and making too much noise and disturbing the peace.

"But Yuda from the next class seems really nice. She's very polite and good-looking too."

A girl chimed in with a grin.

"Wow, I never thought Xiaoxi would like that kind of boy. With Yuda's figure that looks like he could be blown away by the wind, if he and Xiaoxi were in danger, Xiaoxi might have to carry him."

The girls talked about their hobbies and exchanged information, which was a kind of circle building. They first labeled others based on what they said, and getting to know each other was a matter for later. Remembering each person's characteristics was the priority.

What kind of boy does Karuizawa-san like?

Upon hearing this question, everyone turned their attention to Karuizawa Megumi, who was sitting in her seat. She seemed a little flustered, but then she overheard another girl next to her answer for her:

"Karuizawa had a very good childhood friend when she was in elementary school. I heard that she even got into a fight for her."

The girl named Emi Emura looked quite similar to Megumi Karuizawa. She smiled and spoke only after everyone's attention was focused on her again:

"It seems that no one in the class went to the same elementary school as Karuizawa. That incident caused quite a stir back then."

Wow, such a thing actually happened?

"What do you think of that guy? Is he handsome?"

"Fighting for your friends sounds kind of cool."

For these equally energetic girls, this topic undoubtedly excited them immediately, and they bombarded Karuizawa Megumi with questions.

"Um, Liang is studying abroad now."

Karuizawa Kei told them the truth about Kitagawa Ryo with some embarrassment, but the word "overseas" piqued their curiosity.

"But Liang might transfer here too. He transferred to my class specifically when he was in elementary school."

Although it had been almost two months since she had last contacted Kitagawa Ryo, Karuizawa Megumi still forced herself to speak. She was even a little annoyed that Emi Eura had brought up this topic. Faced with the girls' expectations, she had no choice but to slowly sketch out Kitagawa Ryo's image for them.

So from the first day of school, almost the entire class knew that Karuizawa Kei had a super handsome boyfriend who was studying abroad and might transfer back to China for her at any time. This shocking fact immediately made the classmates treat her with a sense of awe. Beneath this strange respect lay a curiosity that grew wildly every day. The girls, on the other hand, were filled with this bloodthirsty curiosity, wishing they could turn into insects and burrow into Karuizawa Kei's veins in order to uncover her deeper and darker secrets.

This attitude transformed into a strange aura, and Karuizawa Kei felt as if her classmates were vying to elevate her to a somewhat high position. Everything about her was embellished and spread, and her childhood stories became dramatic and fantastical in their mouths, which made her feel slightly smug amidst her panic.

As a result, within a week of starting junior high school, Karuizawa Kei became the center of the girls' group in her class, and even without Kitagawa Ryo by her side, she seemed to have escaped the risk of being bullied.

Karuizawa Kei is enjoying all of this.

Chapter 3: Plot Preview: A Familiar Face Returns (Part 2)

Karuizawa Kei began to pay more and more attention to her appearance, even though she was only thirteen years old. In the previous few years, her impression of cosmetics was limited to the bottles and jars that her mother kept in the bathroom cabinet. Although she had used some simple skin care products such as sunscreen before, after truly entering the circle of girls and even being unconsciously "worshipped" as the center of attention by her classmates, Karuizawa Kei had to learn and adapt to this knowledge and fashion.

"Karuizawa-kun, do you want to go to Ginza this weekend? The mall there just got a new batch of the most popular hair ties and clips this season."

During breaks between classes, she often received such invitations from her classmates. Karuizawa Kei could only reluctantly agree. Although she didn't know what brands the other person was chattering about, which consisted of English letters or even Latin letters, she could roughly tell that these things sounded expensive.

"Karuizawa-kun has such great skin, what brand of skincare products do you usually use?"

If the other person only asked that kind of question, Karuizawa Kei could still manage a smile. Just as she was about to say that she didn't use skincare products much, she heard the other person say:

"The brand I usually use is actually quite effective, but it's not cost-effective; it runs out in less than a week or two."

Once those words were spoken, Karuizawa Kei felt embarrassed to use her original answer anymore, because it sounded like she was mocking someone for using expensive skincare products but not having skin as good as hers. She could only try to recall a highly praised skincare product that she had seen in a TV commercial before, and somewhat uncertainly and tremblingly said its difficult-to-pronounce English name, even omitting a letter.

However, this did not prevent Karuizawa Kei from instantly receiving the girl's almost worshipful gaze. Perhaps in her eyes at that moment, Karuizawa Kei was a genuine young lady, as if she had an inexhaustible supply of expensive cosmetics placed in front of her dressing table every day, which the girl used one by one like a princess, showing off her swan-like long neck and confident smile in front of the mirror.

"Don't you think the school uniform is too old-fashioned, Karuizawa-san?"

One day, not long after the start of the semester, during a casual chat between classes, Jiangpu Huimei seemed to unintentionally bring up this topic:

“I used to think that the black and white uniforms for elementary school were ugly, but compared to the one I’m wearing now, it’s an excellent design.”

As if to add to her persuasiveness, she pointed to the somewhat old-fashioned blue ribbon on her chest:

“We’re not children anymore, yet we don’t even have the right to choose our own clothes.”

Karuizawa Kei once heard Kitagawa Ryo talk about three contradictions that everyone faces in life. One of them is the uniqueness of an individual and the social nature of having to submit to a group. Perhaps for these girls who have just entered the prime of their youth, it is indeed a difficult thing to accept to bind their beautiful side to the uniform of everyone.

Following Emi Jiangpu's lead, most of the girls complained about the imperfections of the uniform design, the school's lack of consideration, and how the uniforms were uninteresting and lacked any distinctive features. After the conversation had gone around in circles, it was theoretically time for Karuizawa Kei to give a final summary and draw a conclusion to the topic. So, she naturally chimed in, saying:

"That's right... I think so too. Actually, there might be a little bit of a reluctance to wear this, but sometimes uniforms are not bad, right? But everyone wants to dress up nicely, that's definitely true, right?"

After finishing this summary, which she herself didn't even know what she was saying, Karuizawa Kei decided to move on to the next topic. After all, girls usually spend their time chatting, and the time between classes and lunch breaks just flew by.

When everyone finally went out together for the first time, Karuizawa Kei once again fell into a frantic anxiety. She turned her closet upside down, and all sorts of shirts, skirts, sweatpants, and even underwear filled a bed. Although her family wasn't exactly wealthy, they could still provide their daughter with clothes for all four seasons. Plus, Kitagawa Ryo had bought her a few items before, so her inventory was quite plentiful.

For the first time in her life, Karuizawa Kei was troubled by her clothing and makeup choices. In the past, she never had to worry about these things. No matter what she wore, Kitagawa Ryo would never comment on her attire. Ryo, just like his name, always had a somewhat aloof demeanor. At first, Karuizawa Kei would ask a couple of questions, and he would politely reply that it suited her well. So, over time, she stopped caring about these things.

A white shirt with blue trousers, or a blue sleeveless top with black jeans—Karuizawa Kei hesitated between the two outfits. Everyone wore the same uniform at school, but if it were a casual outing, Karuizawa Kei suddenly remembered the discussions they'd had over the past two weeks. She hurriedly pulled out a light blue dress that Kitagawa Ryo had given her before he left, from the deepest part of her wardrobe.

This dress, given to Karuizawa Kei by Kitagawa Ryo as a birthday gift, was only worn once, on her birthday. Besides her parents, only Kitagawa Ryo had ever seen her in it. Karuizawa Kei touched the collar of the dress and sighed. Perhaps influenced by a story she had read somewhere where the heroine wore a dress only for the male protagonist, she had originally planned not to wear it anymore after Ryo left. She would wash it clean, fold it neatly, and leave it there, hoping that if Ryo came back someday and she could still fit into it, she would wear it to the airport to greet him.

Then, at the airport, she held the skirt, adorned with various delicate patterns and lace, and waved to Kitagawa Ryo, finally telling him with a smug look:

"This is the second time I've worn this dress."

"The first time was for you, and the second time was also because of you."

Unfortunately, the story progressed too quickly. Although Karuizawa Kei didn't recognize any brands or fabrics, she could clearly feel that the quality and comfort of this dress were countless times better than her own clothes. In other words, this was one of the few pieces of clothing that could match the image of "Karuizawa Kei" that she had sketched and constructed.

After changing into a dress, Karuizawa admired her appearance in front of the mirror. She bit her lip, lifted the hem of her dress slightly, and bowed, mimicking the gesture with her feet. It was as if at that moment, she had become a real princess, just waiting for a prince to hand her his white-gloved left hand at the ball.

She deliberately got up twenty minutes earlier the next morning. Karuizawa opened her mother's cosmetics collection and carefully examined them. She nervously pulled out a lipstick, but Karuizawa still couldn't tell the shade. In her eyes, it was all a bright red, a red that would attract everyone's attention, and it was no different from the red on the head of a white crane.

Karuizawa Kei squinted at herself in the mirror, putting on makeup for the first time in her life. Perhaps due to nervousness, she hadn't slept well the night before. When she washed her face in the morning and looked in the mirror, she noticed that her complexion was a little pale. However, she didn't care and applied the lipstick to her lips. The thin layer of red makeup on her fair face was like a red plum blossom in the snow, but it also unnaturally revealed an air that didn't belong to her age. As if trying to cover up this immaturity, Karuizawa Kei pursed her lips and lightly applied a layer of foundation to her cheeks.

Eyebrows and eyeshadow were naturally not to be neglected. Karuizawa Kei blinked her azure eyes, her long eyelashes fluttering like butterflies spreading their wings. She carefully drew her eyebrows. For the past two weeks, she had been diligently learning this technique, so the final result was quite successful.

Finally, after combing her honey-colored long hair, Karuizawa Kei meticulously styled each strand until her bangs achieved the perfect volume. Once everything was complete, Karuizawa Kei reached out in front of the mirror and gave herself a pep talk.

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Karuizawa Kei's lies were actually easy to expose. Emi noticed the girl's unnaturalness during many breaks between classes. Unlike the Karuizawa Kei herself portrayed, in Emi's eyes, Karuizawa Kei looked like a panic disorder sufferer desperately building walls around herself with all sorts of things, as if a huge disaster was about to happen at any moment. During this time, she even observed the so-called "core" of the girls in the class with an interesting mindset.

However, what she could never quite figure out was Kitagawa Ryo. As a student in the same elementary school as Karuizawa Kei, she had naturally heard about Kitagawa Ryo and Karuizawa Kei back then. She had even bumped into him a few times at school. This boy, who stood out among all the boys, had left a deep impression on her at the time. The only reason she hadn't completely shattered Karuizawa Kei's illusion to this day was because of this.

After all, when Karuizawa Kei talks about the other person, she always has an air of nonchalance but also a clear sense of confidence.

Jiangpu Huimei didn't want to become the boy who was surrounded by students on the playground, rolling on the ground begging for mercy.

"Hello, Hui arrived early."

When she came to her senses, the girl next to her was already cheering and running towards her. Jiangpu Huimei temporarily put aside her thoughts and silently followed.

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"No, didn't Xiaoxi arrive even earlier than me?"

With her usual natural smile, Karuizawa Kei immediately became the focus of all the girls' attention, just like at school. Especially today, her dreamy light blue dress even overshadowed her bright lipstick, forcefully entering everyone's field of vision first.

"Wow... Hui's dress is so beautiful."

"It really is! Standing here in the sun, it's like you're naturally glowing."

"The workmanship of this skirt is so exquisite, it looks like it was hand-sewn."

Seven or eight girls instantly swarmed around Karuizawa Kei, showering her with compliments as if they were free.

A girl pouted, a mixture of envy and jealousy in her eyes:

"No wonder Hui said the uniform was nice back in school. It turns out that when everyone was wearing the uniform, you couldn't tell anything, but once they changed into these casual clothes, it was impossible to take your eyes off them."

Another girl chimed in:

"She looks just like a princess, so beautiful."

Karuizawa Megumi finally breathed a sigh of relief, and she quickly thanked everyone for the compliments:

"Actually, everyone looks pretty. Isn't Xiaoxi's dress beautiful too?"

Successfully drawing everyone's attention back to Xiaoxi's excessively short skirt, Karuizawa Kei quickly tidied her hair, which had been messed up by the wind.

"Wow, I didn't even notice until you pointed it out, Xiaoxi's skirt is way too short."

Jiangpu Huimei looked at the jet-black mini-skirt whose hemline was two centimeters below the knee and approached with a grin:

"Are you wearing safety shorts underneath?"

For the past two weeks, she had mainly cultivated a persona of being assertive yet somewhat tomboyish, so her actions didn't provoke any resentment. Xiaoxi even playfully nudged her shoulder in annoyance.

"Definitely."

Then, as if announcing something, yet also as if she had said it unintentionally:

"It's mainly because Yuda-kun likes me wearing this."

The topic of love always resonates strongly among girls, and someone quickly asked:

"Could it be that Xiaoyu is really with Yuda-kun?"

"Hmph, I confessed first, and I succeeded by simply calling him out."

Xiaoxi made a V-sign with her fingers and whispered:

"Actually, after we started dating, I realized that although some boys may seem aloof, their faces will turn bright red as soon as they hold hands with someone wearing a short skirt. So dressing up is very important."

"But if I wear this, I feel like my legs will get cold and I'll suffer a lot. Even though it's spring, the temperature can still drop suddenly sometimes."

A girl next to me said with some concern.

"It's okay. If you really get cold, consider it the 'price of beauty'."

After Xiaoxi finished speaking, she turned her gaze to Karuizawa Kei:

"Megumi looks so cute today. If Kitagawa-kun were here, he would never take his eyes off you."

Seeing that the topic had returned to this point, Karuizawa Kei could only reply:

"Well, this dress was originally a birthday gift from Ryo, so it's normal that it looks good."

"Wow, I'm dazzled by Megumi and Kitagawa's romance again."

The girls nearby covered their eyes and joked as the group headed towards their destination, the shopping mall.

Just then, a cold wind suddenly blew by on the road. Late April spring does sometimes bring this biting chill. Xiaoxi suddenly sneezed, and everyone laughed and said that this was "the price of beauty".

As Karuizawa Megumi walked through the crowd, she suddenly remembered what Kitagawa Ryo had said to her when he gave her this dress on her birthday, March 8th:

"I asked the tailor to make this one thicker and longer, specifically to cover the knees."

"Springtime can be cold, so don't catch a cold if you're alone."