I have a life simulator.

"Alright, Liang can talk now."

Hiyori Shiina is probably not good at playing the cold-faced type. Although she pouts, her soft tone always sounds like she's trying too hard to be aloof and is just being coquettish.

Perhaps realizing this herself, Shiina Hiyori deliberately coughed and cleared her throat in front of Kitagawa Ryo, her right hand loosely clenched to her lips, her mind probably already trying her best to recall the male protagonists of the dozens or even hundreds of hard-boiled mystery novels she had read.

"Please confess honestly, Liang. Resisting will be punished severely."

Will confessing lead to leniency?

"Confessing is admitting guilt, so the detective wins—"

Hiyori Shiina held up one finger, playfully adding a syllable at the end, but immediately realized the occasion was inappropriate and tried her best to straighten her face.

"Ahem, let's get back to the main topic. What exactly is the story behind Ayanokouji saying that Ryo is transferring classes?"

Whether intentionally or unintentionally, Hiyori Shiina deliberately shortened Kiyotaka Ayanokouji's "transfer to Class A" to "transfer to another class".

"This matter... actually started with me promising Hui that if she could accumulate 20 million transfer points, she would be willing to transfer to Class A. As for why Ayanokouji knew about it, it's probably because the current situation has become a bit too big."

In fact, just as Kitagawa Ryo didn't know when the spare key to his room had been given to each of the girls he knew, the speed at which this information spread was just as fast. It could even be said that apart from Horikita Suzune and Shiina Hiyori at the moment, all the girls, including Ichinose Honami and Amasawa Ichika, had already started taking action behind his back.

"Twenty million... I definitely can't raise that much."

Upon hearing Kitagawa Ryo mention the 20 million yen transfer fee, Shiina Hiyori simply sighed with her head tilted back. Although she had received a reward of one million personal points from the school for being the top-ranked team in the special exam group on the deserted island, it was undoubtedly a drop in the ocean compared to the 20 million yen figure.

"As for Hui, I'm not surprised at all that she would do that."

Shiina Hiyori's emotions were more stable than Kitagawa Ryo had imagined; she even smiled and shared an amusing anecdote from her time on the deserted island with him:

"I don't know if Ryo remembers, but during the special exam on the deserted island, there was a topic related to tea ceremony. I ran into Horikita from your group there, and I specifically asked her if she had run into Megumi in the past few days. She said she had, and then I asked her how Megumi was. She said she was in great spirits, and I thought that was really great, really amazing."

"I would not allow a girl to live alone on a deserted island. I would definitely feel lonely and scared, especially if I thought that the person I like was out camping with other girls."

At this point, Hiyori Shiina herself gave a slightly shy smile:

"Maybe it's because Ryo is my lover, so no matter how well Ryo performs, I take it for granted. Otherwise, how could I have fallen for him so much?"

"But Hui is quite different. As a friend, the most prominent feeling I have had since childhood is that it seems like there is nothing in this world that she is afraid of, and nothing that she cannot do. Liang should have heard Hui talk about how she stopped school bullying when she was in elementary school. That is something I can't even imagine. It was the same when she was studying acting in the theater troupe."

"So now when I hear that Megumi wants to transfer Ryo to her class, I suddenly realize that Megumi also feels lonely. What do you think, Ryo?"

"What Hiyori said might be one of the reasons why I agreed to Megumi's request."

Kitagawa Ryo nodded in agreement, but he didn't forget that Shiina Hiyori was standing in front of him, nor did he ignore the underlying tone in the long string of words the other had just spoken, which included the implication that "he was more afraid of loneliness than Megumi." Therefore, he immediately changed the subject:

"If possible, I would also like to be in the same class as Hiyori."

"Liang's statement is too cunning. After all, I can't gather enough personal points. For now, it's best to maintain the status quo."

Hiyori Shiina shook her head, her tone leisurely:

"Moreover, thanks to Liang's help on the deserted island, I have made a lot of new friends in Class C, and my days are actually very fulfilling."

"To be honest, many students in Class C have a really good impression of Ryo. Whether they are boys or girls, these past few days I have often heard them saying how bad Ryuen is, but at the same time thinking how great it would be if you were our class leader. It seems like they don't have much interaction with Ryo. Is it because Ryo's personal charm is too great?"

Just moments ago they were saying that maintaining the status quo was fine, but Shiina Hiyori's words showed no sign of stopping:

"Oh right, didn't Ryuen say he was willing to spend 20 million transfer points for Ryo back on the deserted island? So, should I cheer him on more at this sports festival and hope he wins big in the prediction contest?"

Seemingly realizing something herself, Shiina Hiyori pursed her lips and fell silent. After a long while, she whispered:

"Did I lose to Hui again?"

"There's no such thing as winning or losing. If we really have to talk about winning or losing, maybe in some parallel world that Hiyori doesn't know about, Megumi would have lost to Hiyori several times already."

"...Liang's words of comfort are really strange."

Shiina Hiyori made a subtle comment, then took out her phone from her pocket and tapped it twice. Kitagawa Ryo's phone rang, and when he opened it, he saw that Shiina Hiyori had just transferred 1,089,313 personal points to him.

"Never mind, from now on all my personal points will be stored with Liang. When I accumulate 20 million, Liang will obediently transfer them to Class C."

"What about daily expenses and other living expenses?"

In response to Kitagawa Ryo's question, Shiina Hiyori simply stood on tiptoe, wrapped her arms around his neck, and whispered in his ear:

"Actually, compared to the tough detectives who risk their lives to solve cases, I might envy more the armchair detectives who don't have to travel around, but can simply sit in a comfortable armchair, listening to and looking at clues in a murder case, and deducing the culprit—like Mrs. Jane Marple in Agatha Christie's stories—"

"so."

"Come and take care of me."


Chapter 286: From the initial rivalry to the current state of the two

In the student union's meeting room in the student association building.

Katsuragi Kohei bowed slightly and handed the documents in his hand to the student council vice president, Minami Aya, saying somewhat apologetically:

"This is the preliminary competition form for the first-grade classes A, B, and D. Class C's form is a bit messy, so it may take a little more time to prepare. As for the accuracy, we have done our best."

"Really? Let me see."

Nangumo Masa casually took the printed Class 3 competition form from Katsuragi Kohei's hand, and while flipping through the names on it, she said:

"Those of you in Class C, show me the part you've already compiled. I recently received a detailed one, so I can compare it with yours."

"Ok."

Although he was a little surprised at how the other party had obtained the competition form for Class C of the first year, Katsuragi Kohei was quite sensible and did not ask any further questions. Instead, he took out his phone and sent the information he had already compiled to Nagumo Masaru via email.

After a while, Nan Yunya, having reviewed the competition forms of the three classes, stared at her phone for several more minutes before finally letting out a sigh of relief:

"It seems there's no problem."

"Okay, your Class D doesn't need to investigate Class C's entry forms anymore. I'll send you a copy of this one in a bit."

As she spoke, Nan Yunya instructed the secretary, Dianhe, who was waiting behind her, to use the printer in the adjacent room to photocopy the C-class's competition form, and then handed it to Katsuragi Kohei.

"This is what Ryuen from Class C gave me a couple of days ago. I compared it with the part you collected, and there are basically no mistakes. It should be the genuine sports festival entry form from Class C."

"Long Yuanxiang? He's here to see Senior Nan Yun..."

"Don't worry, he has no intention of joining the student council, and even if he did, I have no intention of recruiting him."

Nagumo Masa patted Katsuragi Kohei's broad shoulder in a friendly manner:

"My promise to Katsuragi-kun remains valid."

"Now we have all the information on the other three first-year classes. As long as Katsuragi-kun completes the second half of the content as we agreed before, both of the student council's recruitment slots next month will definitely be given to Class D, and one of them will definitely be given to Katsuragi-kun himself."

"Yes, but..."

Upon hearing this, Katsuragi Kohei still looked somewhat hesitant, and just as he was about to speak with some difficulty, Nangumo Masashi interrupted him with a smile:

"What's there to hesitate about? After all, Katsuragi-kun can make sure that the students in the class don't use any of the personal points borrowed from this loan. They can return it to me in full after the sports festival. At most, they'll only have to pay me two million personal points in interest."

"I don't want to be too explicit, but if I hadn't always valued Katsuragi-kun's abilities, the two student council spots would definitely have cost more than two million if the news had been released, right?"

"...You're right."

Facing Katsuragi Kohei, who was still somewhat uneasy, Nagumo Masa continued to smile:

"And to be honest, Katsuragi-kun has already obtained the competition forms of the other three classes. If we use this information gap to play the betting game, it's not impossible to make an extra one or two million with the ten million personal points I lent you."

"I see."

Seemingly finally persuaded by Nagumo Masaru's words, Katsuragi Kohei ultimately nodded in agreement.

"Then, in a couple of days I'll have a classmate come and sign the relevant loan agreement with you, Senior Nagumo."

"No problem, but we need to hurry, since the guessing game officially starts next Monday."

Seeing that Katsuragi Kohei finally nodded in agreement, Nagumo Masa relaxed considerably and sat back down on the soft sofa, casually offering her suggestions:

"If Katsuragi really wants to participate in this contest, he might as well try releasing some information about the entry forms. It doesn't matter how lame the reason is. After all, if luck plays too big a role in a contest, it will make people hesitate to invest heavily. Only by increasing the psychological pressure on these supposedly shrewd customers can we truly control the game."

"Thank you for your suggestion, I understand."

"By the way, you can also ask Ayanokouji in your class if you need anything."

Just as Katsuragi Kohei was about to turn and leave the reception room, Nagumo Masa lazily added this sentence before waving her hand to let Katsuragi Kohei go out.

After the other party closed the door and their footsteps faded into the distance, the vice president of the student council took the paper from Secretary Dianhe, who had just printed out the competition forms for Class C. However, he didn't even glance at it before crumpling it up along with the documents that Katsuragi Kohei had handed over on the table and throwing them into the trash can.

He was certainly aware of that as well.

With the rule of rotation and substitution, even the most meticulously prepared competition schedule is nothing more than a piece of waste paper.

But what does this have to do with Nan Yunya?

Anyway, he never intended to participate in the first-year prediction contest. After making these two big deals with Class C and Class D, he just needed to wait for the payments to come in.

Moreover, Nan Yunya is not worried about not being able to collect these two debts. Just like people in society who borrow money from banks and have installment repayment methods, as long as the class points of the two classes do not drop to zero, or they all fail to earn any points in any special exam in the future, he can steadily collect these individual points back into his pocket, as long as they graduate from the third year.

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

Kitagawa Ryo's room.

Just as Katsuragi Kohei was meeting with Nagumo Masaru, Kitagawa Ryo, who had just gone upstairs to deliver lunch to a lazy girl posing as an armchair detective, opened his own door and Ichinose Honami, who had been elusive for the past few days, came into view.

"Ryo's been investigating things with the second-year students lately, right? I've also gotten some new information and have some new ideas, so I came straight over... Hmm, I hope I didn't disturb Ryo's nap?"

"fine."

Kitagawa Ryo gently lifted Hotaru, who was lying on her seat preparing for a nap, before sitting down and leaning forward slightly to look at Ichinose Honami on the other side.

For the girls around him, the schedule had in fact evolved into a combination of the overt sports festival and the covert 20 million yen event. And as far as Kitagawa Ryo knew, the girl in front of him who habitually wore that hair clip was one of the most active female protagonists acting on both of these events simultaneously.

"These past few days I've talked to some second-year female students I know, and I've discovered that Nagumo's weaknesses, or rather, his vulnerabilities, are actually quite obvious."

Unlike Kitagawa Ryo, who only met the two upperclassmen Asahina Nazuna and Kiryuin Fuka through Hotaru's unexpected encounter, Ichinose Honami easily obtained the information she wanted by utilizing the interpersonal relationships she had accumulated over the past semester and organized it.

"Although since Nagumo took control of the second year, the school's special exams have become a tool for him to manipulate and control scores at will, perhaps because he wanted to create an invincible image for himself in the grade and even the whole school, he always made sure to be number one in any project involving individual rankings, and if it was a team project, he had to lead the team that came in first place."

"To ensure this, even if there are times when the benefits might be higher, Nagumo never chooses other options."

"To give an example, just like when Ryo was taking the special exam on the deserted island, when the results of the top three groups on the last day could be manipulated at will, Ryo ultimately chose to let Hiyori's group be number one to maximize the win-win situation. But if it were Nagumo, he would definitely decide to let his group be number one."

At this point, Honami Ichinose paused slightly.

"So even though we know almost nothing about the second-year students, and we don't know all the events and personnel arrangements for the four second-year classes in this sports festival, one thing is certain: Nagumo will definitely hope that his name will be number one in the grade, or even number one in the whole school, because that would mean that he has surpassed Horikita, the third-year student."

Kitagawa Ryo nodded in agreement, continuing to quietly play the role of a listener, attentively listening to Ichinose Honami's speech.

"The second-year students' predictions will definitely be stagnant this time, because knowing that Nan Yun can manipulate the results of the competition, almost no students, whether from this year or from the first and third years, will actively participate in predicting their side's events."

"On the other hand, once a large amount of external points are injected, those hidden second-year students will flock to it. After all, the contract with Nagumo has not deprived them of all their points. It is precisely this state of being neither high nor low that makes them more willing to take such a gamble."

"Because they are the ones who trust Nagumo the most, as long as someone chooses someone other than Nagumo in the 'Who do you think will be the final scorer among the second-year students?' such as the Kiryuin senior whom Ryo highly regards, they will definitely feel that this is a pure and profitable bonus that gives them personal points."

Seeing that Ichinose Honami seemed a little thirsty after saying so much, Kitagawa Ryo stood up voluntarily:

"I forgot to get Fanbo a drink. Would you like some more cocoa?"

"Hmm, it's getting cold."

A few minutes later, Kitagawa Ryo returned from the kitchen with the prepared cocoa. Because the autumn heat had been intense these past two days, he had added a few ice cubes, which made a slight crisp sound as they collided against the glass.

Perhaps she was really thirsty, because Ichinose Honami drank half a cup in one go before finally letting go of the straw in her mouth with a satisfied look. After glancing at the time on her phone, she continued the topic she hadn't finished talking about earlier.

"Then there's the personal points that Nan Yun has, though the exact amount is unknown, it should be no less than 20 million. In fact, it is this huge amount of points, plus that contract, that forms the basis for his dominance over the second year."

"Ryo should know the specifics of that contract, right? The reason why the last three classes of the second year are willing to follow Nan Yun's orders and instructions is because he used the school's 20 million transfer mechanism to draw a pie in the sky for these students, creating something from nothing. After the position of Class A is unshakable, most students will be tempted by this pie in the sky. After all, even the smallest expectation is higher than a complete zero."

"It is precisely for this reason that, although Nanyun's reputation among the second-year students is not good, there have always been quite a few people who genuinely support him. As a result, Nanyun did give these students, who had no hope of graduating from Class A, an opportunity, and these people constituted the foundation for Nanyun's dominance over the second-year students."

"So the clause that '75 percent of personal points must be handed over', which seems unbearable to students of other grades at first glance, is actually nothing to them, because Nagumo's pretext is to use these points to make the transfer pie bigger, so that more students can win transfer tickets before graduating from the third year."

"So from this perspective, the points on Nanyun are more like public property temporarily held in his possession by the second-year students. This is also the most important reason why the students who want to rebel against Nanyun are hesitant to expel him. After all, Nanyun himself has said that once he withdraws from school, these personal points will also disappear. This is what is called sunk cost."

Watching Ichinose Honami speak more and more fluently, Kitagawa Ryo himself was a little dazed. After all, this was the first time he had seen Honami so confident in the more than one semester since he enrolled.

"However, precisely because of the special nature and importance of this asset, Nagumo is also in a position of being hesitant to act rashly. He can use these points to make moves, but he can only win and cannot afford to lose."

"Winning means making the pie bigger for everyone in the second year, so that everyone can draw one or two more transfer tickets when they graduate in the third year. Everyone will be happy and won't care about the outcome."

"But if you lose, you'll be in the most troublesome situation in an instant."

"As I said before, firstly, Nagumo's personality doesn't allow him to fail, and secondly, the special nature of this huge asset also determines that the second-year students cannot allow Nagumo to fail."

"They want to win, but they are also afraid of losing. However, if they win, everyone benefits, but if they lose, only Nagumo has to take the blame. After all, everyone who signed the contract can say how much they believe in Nagumo, which puts them on the absolute moral high ground."

"Therefore, as long as we make good use of the group psychology of the second-year students and Nagumo's own personality weaknesses, this sports festival can be a preliminary battle against Nagumo."

Honami Ichinose finally finished speaking. She let out a soft breath, then bit down on the straw in front of her again and drank the rest of the cocoa in her cup.

"I understand. Thank you for the suggestion, Fanbo. It's very helpful."