I have a life simulator.

"You dare to talk to me like that, even Kiriyama? Don't forget that I am the next president of the student council and the actual controller of the second year."

"You'll regret this, Nagumo!"

Seeing that the atmosphere was suddenly starting to resemble a scene from the Naruto anime "Konoha Village," the student council secretary of Class 2-A, Tonakawa, quickly stood up to mediate:

"Kiriyama, there's no need for you to get so worked up. You've already betrayed the class and Horikita Manabu to get the A-class transfer ticket that Nagumo promised, so why are you fussing over a few million personal points?"

Before Dianhe could have stopped things from getting better, his words reignited Tongshan's anger, which had just begun to calm down. Tongshan immediately launched into a tirade:

"It's okay? I did get the ticket to Class A from you. But do you know how much mental burden I carried for this? Including President Horikita, so many students believed that I, the former leader of Class A, could change the current situation. I even had to comfort them and put on an act. Do you know how much mental pressure I was under?"

From Kiriyama's glare at Nagumo, one could sense the genuine anger and emotions he had never revealed before.

"Just a few million? Even if it's only a few hundred thousand, that's still personal points that you, Nangumo, spent for your own entertainment. Didn't you ever think that if you used more of those points on your fellow students, you could increase the number of students who get promoted to A? But instead, for your own desires, for the battles you wanted, for your title and empty name as the ruler of the second year, you just casually spent the personal points that embody the expectations of all the second-year students? That's enough!"

Perhaps he had been influenced by the forum's rhythm lately, or perhaps he had been thinking about something similar from the beginning, but Kiriyama did not hesitate to seize the opportunity to launch an attack.

Faced with his righteous and stern words, Nan Yunya merely retorted with sarcasm:

"I never knew before, Kiriyama. You're so considerate of others. I thought those who got transfer tickets from me were all self-centered powerhouses who didn't care about anything else as long as they could graduate from Class A."

"From Horikita-senpai to Kiryuin, I'm just annoyed that second-year students have to waste unnecessary points and fight unnecessary battles for you."

"So, can I take what you're saying now as meaning you've decided to betray me?"

Faced with Nan Yunya's direct confrontation, Kiriyama inexplicably became timid again, his earlier assertive tone replaced by hesitation and stammering.

"...I was just pointing out your mistake, Nagumo."

"But hasn't your underlying message always been that you don't think I'll win?"

Nan Yunya stood up and patted Tongshan on the shoulder. Now that he had calmed down, he was not so averse to the other party's defiance. After all, this was the process of training a dog, and it was the same for him, Tongshan, and Yuecheng.

"It will win."

He made that promise.

Although his arrogance had been shattered by Yuecheng on both a physical and mental level, it had in turn fueled Nan Yunya's competitive spirit, especially in his second year when he was certain of victory.

Upon hearing this, Secretary Dianhe merely twitched the corner of his mouth, feeling as if the film set had suddenly jumped from Naruto to Jujutsu Kaisen, and the remark itself seemed rather ominous.

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Since the guessing game officially started, the students on the forum haven't put down their melons. They're not updating daily, and if they don't refresh the posts every hour, they feel like they'll miss the latest hot news.

While the buzz surrounding Kitagawa Ryo (5 million), Nagumo Masaru (4 million), and Kiryuin Fuuka (2 million) hadn't yet died down, another bombshell was leaked by an anonymous account:

"Ninety percent true, insider information: Sudo Kenji will be first in the first group of the first-year boys' 100-meter race. The reason is obvious to those who know, I won't say more, just watch and see."

There's been a lot of insider information circulating on the forum lately, but unlike many posts that offer a quick fix, this account has posted several detailed supplementary explanations:

"I don't recommend betting on any of Shibata Hayate's events in Class A, because he will be unable to participate due to an ankle injury the day before the sports festival, and someone is already planning to mess with him."

"100% genuine insider information. I spent 5,000 personal points to buy this, and now I'm sharing it for free: In many relay training races between Class B and Class D, Kiyotaka Ayanokouji and Ryo Kitagawa's split times were neck and neck. As long as the two don't run into each other, I suggest betting on one of them without hesitation."

"Bonus, a piece of funny news that's probably 50% true: Class 3-C is broke for this year's sports festival, and the whole class barely participated in the prediction contest."

"For more insider tips and accurate betting information, join the group below. You only need 20,000 points to join. All the carefully selected insider information is 90% accurate or higher. I wish everyone can make a fortune during this sports festival!"

Take a day off

Something urgent needs to be taken care of, so I won't be able to update today.

The short-haired Rin looks pretty good in the anime, but unfortunately I'm a long-hair fan and can't give up Rin's long, straight black hair.

As you can see, there are still many unfinished parts in the outline of this book, and even several foreshadowing elements, including the second year, have been laid. Based on previous lessons, I definitely won't be starting a new book until this one is finished. Please don't ask me to write fanfiction of Mygo or any other twisted works in the group or private messages, although I do like them quite a bit myself.

After the sports festival comes the cultural festival. I still hope to write my own things within the framework of the original work, and I also hope to witness this story with everyone to the end. Thank you all for reading and supporting me so far.

Chapter 292: Was it really a war between seven kingdoms? (4k5)

The day after the anonymous post was published, Shibata Hayate from Class 1-A, who was mentioned by the post, was suddenly injured during the soccer club's daily training. In the presence of many eyewitnesses, he was immediately rushed to the school clinic on a stretcher by other members of the soccer club and the instructor.

Although subsequent updates revealed only a minor ankle sprain that would resolve itself after a few days of rest, Shibata Hayate's injury, identical to the one previously reported, still caused a huge uproar at this sensitive time. Even though the exact timing didn't match, many people still pushed the post to the forum's homepage through the latest comments, urging the poster to reveal two more.

In this atmosphere of inexplicable fervor, where those who bet on Class A were filled with regret and those who bet on other classes were beaming with joy and certainty of victory, for a time no one, except for the students of Class A, cared about the specific circumstances and cause of Shibata Hayate's injury.

As the class representative of Class A, Karuizawa Kei rushed to the infirmary to visit her as quickly as possible. When she arrived, the other students from Class A had already gathered around Shibata Hayate's bedside with concern, but upon seeing her in person, they immediately made way for Karuizawa Kei to get close.

"Are you alright? What exactly happened? Was this done on purpose?"

Karuizawa walked to the bedside and first glanced at Shibata's right calf, which was still swollen and looked quite serious despite the treatment. She also remembered the post that had caused such a stir on the forum yesterday.

"It's nothing serious, just a minor injury. That's how it is when you play soccer. It should be fine in a couple of days. The sports festival is still five or six days away, enough time for me to recover."

Despite his injury, Shibata Hayate still wore his usual sunny smile, which unconsciously put the other Class A students at ease. With the quick thinking of Vice Class Leader Kanzaki Ryuji, the other students were asked to leave so that Shibata Hayate could rest quietly for a while. Soon, only he, Karuizawa Megumi, and Shibata Hayate on the hospital bed remained in the infirmary.

At this point, Shibata Hayate's smile, which had been comforting his classmate, vanished, and he frantically scratched his hair.

"...Actually, I also want to think that this was just a simple accident. After all, as I said, injuries often occur during our football team's practice. But yesterday's post is there, and it does feel a bit strange."

"From the very beginning of training today, whenever I dribbled the ball, several second and third-year students kept trying to tackle me. The competition felt much more intense than usual. I twisted my ankle because I was tripped while dribbling, but in the end, it wasn't a second or third-year student who tripped me, but Yamanaka from Class C of the first year."

After listening to Shibata Hayate's account of the incident, Karuizawa Megumi and Kanzaki Ryuji exchanged a glance, both feeling troubled. According to Shibata's account, it seemed as if a small group of students from three different grades were targeting him.

Whoever benefits the most from the incident is naturally the most suspicious.

Since her closest lovers and friends are all die-hard mystery novel fans, Karuizawa Kei was also able to come up with some ideas in this regard. However, this statement obviously cannot solve the current problem, because if that's the case, every student who didn't bet on Shibata Hayate could benefit from this.

Not everyone would expose their betting page on the forum like Long Yuanxiang. When anonymity is allowed, almost all students choose to bet anonymously. In such cases, even the person involved often doesn't know who they are betting on.

"Kansaki and I will investigate this matter carefully. Shibata, you should just focus on recovering. But don't push yourself too hard. If this sports festival causes any hidden dangers or greater damage to your body, it will be a loss."

Unable to find a solution, Karuizawa Megumi could only offer Shibata Hayate a word of comfort before leaving the infirmary with Kanzaki Ryuji.

"Kanzaki, what do you think about this?"

When asked by Karuizawa Megumi, Kanzaki Ryuji also squinted and pondered for a while before slowly revealing his thoughts:

"Shibata participates in many events, but if you only look at the most popular predictions, it's nothing more than the first group of the men's 100 meters, which is the first event of the entire sports festival; then there is the mixed 1600-meter relay, which is the last event of the entire sports festival and the only event with cross-grade competition; and finally, there is the first-year top scorer, in which Shibata also ranks very high."

"Among these, if we were to pick the one where Shibata has the greatest competitiveness or advantage, it would definitely be the 100-meter dash."

Karuizawa Kei quickly understood Kanzaki Ryuji's meaning. To put it bluntly, in the latter two projects, Shibata Hayate and the overall level of Class 1-A were not actually up to the standard of competing for the championship. Therefore, it was not worthwhile for others to target Shibata personally, as the benefits and risks were not symmetrical.

If Kanzaki Ryuji's reasoning is correct, then the small group targeting Shibata is eyeing the first 100-meter race for the first-year boys. Shibata's most direct competitors in that race are Sudo Ken from Class 1-B and Hirata Yosuke from Class 1-D, both in terms of actual strength and the prediction data.

"I remember that anonymous post on the forum yesterday also mentioned this match, and it said that Sudo would definitely get first place. If they wanted to manipulate the match results, it would make sense to target Shibata."

As if to further strengthen his persuasiveness, Ryuji Kanzaki brought up yesterday's post again.

"But I don't think the person who posted the message and the person who attacked Shibata are necessarily the same group of people, because I remember that the post specifically pointed out that Shibata would get injured the day before the sports festival."

Upon hearing this, Karuizawa Megumi simply shook her head, quite calmly pointing out a misconception revealed in Kanzaki Ryuji's statement:

"Actually, even without this post and without Shibata's injury, if we only look at their actual strength, Sudo from Class 1-B was originally the strongest contender for first place in this event. If we only look at that point, the other party was simply making the most reasonable guess that most people could come up with."

"I see."

Ryuji Kanzaki nodded, somewhat realizing what was happening.

"It seems that many students have been misled by this post. In that case, Sudo must be under a lot of pressure. After all, at first glance, people will think that he did it, which makes them forget that he actually has the advantage in a fair fight."

Just as the two were vaguely sensing that they had grasped a clue, another bombshell piece of news reached their ears.

Also a seeded player in this sports festival, Yosuke Hirata from Class 1-D seems to have accidentally eaten some expired food and developed symptoms similar to food poisoning, such as vomiting and diarrhea. They were sent to the infirmary for treatment in the afternoon.

Before the troubles surrounding Shibata Hayate had subsided, Hirata Yosuke was now embroiled in controversy. The moment these two names appeared together, even the most oblivious students couldn't help but turn their attention to the project in which the two were appearing together, and then naturally looked at the only one of the three favorites who was still unscathed.

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

Thanks to the fact that Sakayanagi Arisu, who was in charge of the sports festival, had already predicted to the whole class that Hirata Yosuke might also be in trouble as soon as the news about Shibata Hayate came out, and expressed his support for Sudo Ken's innocence, and everyone had seen the changes in Sudo himself in the past few months, the atmosphere and mood of Class 1-B remained stable overall.

"Aren't you going to the basketball club today?"

The school bell had just rung when Kitagawa Ryo quickly packed his bag and walked straight to Sudo Kenji, who was still sitting in his seat, chin in hand, staring blankly out the window.

"Oh, it's Kitagawa. Well, I won't go today."

Sudo Takeru, who was somewhat lost in thought, paused for a moment before snapping back to reality. He casually waved his hand, glanced at Kitagawa Ryo's face across from him, and gave a wry smile.

"Now I think I understand what you meant when you told me before, Kitagawa, or rather, I've come to understand it firsthand."

When the betting rules were first announced, Kitagawa Ryo said some things to Sudo Ken, who at the time was only thinking about winning everything. At the time, I couldn't quite understand them. But now, the scenarios he described have actually come true for Sudo Ken.

"Is it because of Shibata and Hirata?"

"Well, although no one in the class suspects me, I still feel a bit lost. I don't know how to describe it, but I just feel that things shouldn't have developed to this point... Now I don't want to, or rather, I'm afraid to go to the basketball club."

In front of Kitagawa Ryo, Sudo Ken slowly revealed his thoughts, his usually straightforward and cheerful face now showing a rare hint of confusion and melancholy.

"The basketball club's instructor sent me a message before school ended, telling me not to participate in club training before the sports festival, saying that it might cause unnecessary disputes and accidents."

"He is protecting you."

Kitagawa Ryo offered this words of comfort to Sudo Ken.

With Hirata Yosuke's incident, all the criticism on the forum has now been directed at Sudo Ken, and there has been a noticeable increase in students rushing to join the attack, blatantly lying.

The reversal of public opinion was that easy, because when only Shibata Hayate was in trouble, the group celebrating with champagne were mostly students who had bet on Hirata Yosuke or Sudo Ken, making the odds two to one.

With Hirata Yosuke's downfall, the only ones left to open the champagne were the students who had bet on Sudo Takeru, instantly turning the tide from one to two and reversing the tide of the game.

Nobody wants their bets to go down the drain. As the saying goes, it's not scarcity that's the problem, but inequality. The forum is now filled with the atmosphere of settling scores with Sudo Ken. There are many voices calling for Sudo Ken to prove his innocence and to "voluntarily" get hurt so that the betting can be fair again. Various anonymous accounts are also making a lot of harsh remarks, implying that if you're not dignified, we'll make you dignified.

However, despite saying that, looking at the real-time updated betting data, with both Shibata Hayate and Hirata Yosuke unwell, the amount of money on Sudo Fitness was naturally increasing rapidly. It can only be said that despite the complaints, everyone's hands never stopped placing bets.

Takeru Sudo himself had also noticed this, and until five minutes ago, the heavy expectations he carried had reached two million.

He was betting on himself to win, because Sudo Ken didn't think he would lose the 100-meter race, even if his opponents were Hirata Yosuke and Shibata Hayate.

However, with the dramatic changes in the situation, what Sudo Takeru is now facing is a fact that makes him both laugh and cry: as more and more people favor him, if he ultimately wins, the number of personal points he can get will actually decrease.

Because the total prize pool amount has almost stopped increasing, since no one would bet on someone else at this time. As a large number of personal points are flowing into him, the proportion of personal points he has bet on himself will become smaller and smaller, and his profit will naturally become smaller and smaller.

Just before school ended, another anonymous message was sent to Takeru Sudo's phone along with the club's advisor:

[For example, if the 100-meter race is deliberately lost to allow Class D to win, and the individual points earned afterwards are split 50/50, the total is estimated to be no less than one million.]

Just as Kitagawa Ryo had predicted, when the benefits of match-fixing were significantly higher than winning a match normally, someone did contact him, and he did indeed have a fleeting moment of temptation.

But it was only for a moment.

So, after a brief hesitation, Takeru Sudo finally spoke up and explained the matter to Ryo Kitagawa, scratching the back of his head and laughing as he gave his answer:

"It has nothing to do with personal points or class points. I just feel that if I agree to fix a match now, I will never be able to become the professional athlete I always wanted to be when I was a child."

"Although I don't know what you and the others are planning, this is my action plan for this sports festival."

"I bet on all the games I played, and I believed I would win."

"Then, I won't think about anything anymore."

"For me, all I need to do is run at full speed on the day of the sports festival and surpass my past achievements."

Finally, Takeru Sudo grinned, seemingly regaining his spirits, and quickly packed his schoolbag.

"If club activities are suspended, then I'll just go to the gym to work out. There should be fewer distractions there. I can always get a membership. Bye."

Bye-bye, good luck!

Watching Kenzo Sudo quickly pack his bag and leave the classroom, Ryo Kitagawa nodded with a hint of satisfaction. Arisu Sakayanagi, who had been watching the whole thing from behind, quietly approached and gestured with her chin.

"I thought Ryo would have Sudo pretend to agree to go fishing."

"He's not cut out to be a spy. Just like he said, he should just focus on his work. That way, he'll be more likely to surprise the class at the sports festival."

At this point, Kitagawa Ryo glanced at Sakayanagi Arisu with a hint of suspicion:

"Although I don't really intend to interfere in the affairs between you girls, it's best not to actually harm the mental and physical health of other students."

"Tch, Ryo doesn't think we did what Shibata and Hirata did, does he?"

Responding to Kitagawa Ryo's veiled words, Sakayanagi Arisu rolled her eyes at him with some displeasure, then sat sideways on the desk next to him, staring at and fiddling with the sports ring on her left middle finger, and dismissively said:

"Whether it's me and Ichika, or Honami, or Megumi and the others, none of us should be the mastermind behind this. Rather, this incident clearly involves upperclassmen and should be within Ryo's purview."

"I was just asking. Of course I know who did those two things, and I've already had someone else handle it."

Kitagawa Ryo just smiled when he heard this. What he said just now was indeed just a test, but he did not expect to extract a huge amount of information from Arisu's answer.

At first, he really thought it was just a battle of 20 million between Karuizawa Kei and Ichinose Honami. Turns out it wasn't a battle between two heroes at all, but some kind of seven-nation war?

Zhang Tui's "The Afterglow of the Lamplight"

Book Title: The Last Glow of Light

Synopsis: When humanity first looked up at the sky, it longed for the stars. But after the stars fell and the Outer Gods tore the world apart, no one dared to look up at the starry sky again.