I have a life simulator.

Unfortunately, the contestants who signed up for all the events really didn't have much free time.

"Be careful, Liang. I hope I can make it in time after my project is finished."

"it is good."

Kitagawa Ryo had barely taken a few steps away from Ichinose Honami when Sakayanagi Arisu silently reappeared beside him, smiling confidently.

"I've figured out Megumi's strategy for this sports festival. Ryo, would you like to hear it?"

"Huh? So fast?"

"I had already guessed this before, and today I'm just proving it. Maybe I'm even enjoying the process."

As if she had solved an interesting puzzle, Sakayanagi Arisu smiled and raised a finger, keeping Kitagawa Ryo in suspense for the time being:

"The answer is actually hidden in two numbers: thirty million and five."

After listening to Sakayanagi Arisu's words, Kitagawa Ryo, while stretching his muscles in preparation for the upcoming hurdles race, casually gave the answer:

"Hui did not place any bets in this contest, but instead opened a betting pool privately."

The two figures mentioned by Sakayanagi Arisu are: the former, 30 million, corresponds to the 30 million that Nagumo Masaru himself spent at this sports festival; anyone who could find out this information would vaguely sense that there was something subtly wrong with the total prize pool amount for this prediction, because with Nagumo Masaru spending so much money, the total prize pool amount, which originally seemed astronomical, seemed to be getting lower and lower.

The "five" refers to the rule that the school would charge a 5% handling fee on the prize pool after each bet, as stated in the betting rules from the beginning. This undoubtedly reduces the winnings for the bettors.

Adding these two points together, it becomes easy to conclude that some students are running their own gambling operations in order to avoid the fees charged by the school.

"I see. So it's Huihe Class A that's in charge? I can only say they're making money, but it's definitely not much, since most students still habitually use the school's platform."

"That's not necessarily true. Has Liang forgotten that there are other people in the school who have personal points?"

Then, Sakayanagi Arisu, turning to the audience members—employees of Tokyo Advanced Educational High School cafeterias, convenience stores, clothing stores, and other similar establishments—added a playful tone:

"The school's platform is not open to them, but there are always those who see it and are itching to try it out. It's a blue ocean market that has not yet been explored."

"...Now that Arisu has said that, I'm starting to think that the applause and cheers the audience gave me today weren't even from the heart."

"Who knows?"

Sakayanagi Arisu stretched slightly, but her expression immediately turned serious again:

"However, I haven't been able to figure out Fanbo's strategy yet. Apart from that horseback battle, I can hardly find any other actions of hers. She's like a suspect with the perfect alibi. I know she has a strong motive and must have taken action, and there are many suspicious points left behind, but I just can't find any evidence against her."

"You've got an alibi now, Arisu, have you been reading some mystery novels lately?"

"Because Ryo likes this, right? I remembered it when I went to the library, so I borrowed two books. Speaking of which, Ryo, do you know? There's a mystery writer whose name is very similar to mine."

"Is Arisu referring to Arisu River Arisu? The names do sound quite similar. His works are indeed quite suitable for beginners of the orthodox school of fiction. His country name series is also good, otherwise he wouldn't be called the Ellery Queen of Japan."

At this point, Kitagawa Ryo paused for a moment, recalling that Shiina Hiyori, a fervent mystery novel enthusiast who had read hundreds of mystery novels, had never read much of Arisugawa Arisu's work because of her name, which was extremely similar to Sakayanagi Arisu's. As a result, he usually didn't talk to her about the author's works.

Which two books is Arisu reading right now?

"The Mystery of the Swedish Pavilion and The Magic Mirror. Oh right, now that you mention it, I remember that The Magic Mirror contains a lecture on how to create an alibi to fool others."

"For example, if the witness himself is an accomplice or conspirator who deliberately lied, then it is because he was misled by the other party into having a related illusion of time and space."

Sakayanagi Arisu recalled and spoke bit by bit, revealing a thoughtful expression:

"The illusion of the time and place of the crime, the illusion of related physical evidence, the insight into the psychology of the victim or witness, and the inducement to fabricate testimony or evidence favorable to oneself..."

After squinting and thinking calmly for a while, Sakayanagi Arisu suddenly had a flash of inspiration and remembered something that happened before the sports festival: she and Ichinose Honami had both gone to see Sakura Airi, who had ten million personal points.

Sakayanagi Arisu's request to Sakura Airi was for Sakura to send her a screenshot of her daily balance so that she could be assured that the enormous amount of points, which could change the course of the battle, had not been used. She then used these real-time updated balance screenshots to deceive several students who wanted to know inside information and make a fortune. She formed a small group to stir up public opinion on the forum and finally swindled all of their personal points in one fell swoop.

...Did Ichinose Honami, who went with her at the time, also think about how to make use of the ten million that had become unusable because of the promises made by its holders, Sakura Airi and Karuizawa Megumi?

Thinking of this, Sakayanagi Arisu quickly bid farewell to Kitagawa Ryo:

"I'm going to find Airi. Go Ryo in the 110-meter hurdles!"

Soon, Sakayanagi Arisu found Sakura Airi among the spectators waiting to watch Kitagawa Ryo's 110-meter hurdles and asked her about some of the details of what happened.

"Hmm, it seems like there was such a thing. Back then, Honami was even less trusting of you than Arisu. She said that screenshots weren't very reliable and asked me to send her the points from ten million people to see. I sent it, but it was returned to me two seconds later."

After listening to Sakura Airi's words, Sakayanagi Arisu's eyes lit up, feeling that she had vaguely grasped the clues left by Ichinose Honami.

If that's really what she thinks.

Ryuen Sho, who bet five million, also had to quickly and respectfully step down from his position as the most insane gambler at this sports festival and give way to Ichinose Honami.

...Perhaps she was the one who gambled everything on Kitagawa Ryo without hesitation.

Chapter 314: Honami Ichinose's Perfect Alibi (6k)

After roughly deducing in her mind Ichinose Honami's course of action before and after this sports festival, Sakayanagi Arisu immediately began to verify it.

First and foremost, it's important to understand that both Honami Ichinose and Megumi Karuizawa share the same goal: to interfere with each other's point-earning plans as much as possible while accumulating a large number of personal points, and to find ways to prevent the other party from disrupting their own point-earning plans.

At first glance, the easiest way for the two to earn personal points in this sports festival is through the school's betting games. Therefore, in Sakayanagi Arisu's initial plan, Ichinose Honami and Karuizawa Kei would probably design, test, confirm, and ultimately sabotage each other's betting projects, such as the first-year girls' horseback riding battle project, which was clearly manipulated by Ichinose Honami.

However, both parties involved clearly noticed this, which is why Karuizawa Kei opened up a new track, turning her attention to students who did not want to pay the school's fees and staff working in the school's various facilities and venues.

So, in the entire Tokyo Advanced Educational High School, besides the students and the staff such as security guards, cafeteria workers, cleaners, sales clerks, and convenience store employees, what other group holds a certain number of personal points?

The answer is teacher.

Tokyo Advanced Educational High School has its own independent financial system centered on individual points. Therefore, the salaries and bonuses that these faculty and staff receive from the school are also distributed in the form of individual points. This is why Majima Tomoya, the homeroom teacher of Class B, took the initiative to help the students of Class B survive in the school during the most difficult semester of Class B.

Scholarships, living allowances, academic progress awards... The fact that Class B, whose class points had been zero for a long time, didn't completely collapse in the first semester can be largely attributed to Majima Tomoya's earnest help and support.

Majima Tomoya can provide so much financial aid to his students, partly because of his sense of responsibility as a teacher, and partly because of his own savings.

After all, before Kitagawa Ryo proposed the exchange of class teachers for A and D classes, Majima Tomoya had already served as the class teacher for A class for two consecutive terms. Under the system of Tokyo Advanced Educational High School, the class teacher of A class is paid more than the class teacher of the lower class. This is also a way for the school to encourage class teachers to work hard to lead their classes to promotion.

Therefore, both Chabashira Sae and Hoshinomiya Chie should be able to produce a considerable amount of personal points.

The former is because she actually served as the homeroom teacher of Class A for more than a semester, and her personal life was quite frugal, or rather, monotonous. The latter, although her personal life was quite chaotic, can be viewed from another perspective. It is said that Chie Hoshinomiya has a wide network of connections within the faculty and staff of Tokyo Advanced Educational High School. After all, she can find an ex-boyfriend anywhere, and even if she only borrows a little from one person or another, she can probably still come up with a certain amount of personal points.

To find a breakthrough from these two individuals, it is necessary to understand their respective underlying psychology.

On the surface, Hoshinomiya Chie and Chabashira Sae both seem to be aiming to recruit Kitagawa Ryo into their respective teams.

Therefore, the former temporarily reached a consensus with Karuizawa Kei, resolving the differences between Class A before the sports festival.

The latter was due to Kitagawa Ryo's own hypnosis and Chabashira Sae's somewhat abnormal mental state, to the point that she readily agreed to Kitagawa Ryo's absurd request to train together with the B and D classes who were not in the same group.

However, upon closer examination, it becomes clear that Hoshinomiya Chie's demands are actually hierarchically structured: 'punishing Chahashira Sae' is at a higher psychological level than 'getting Kitagawa Ryo transferred to Class A,' since the latter is ultimately just a matter of...

The means and the end are still to achieve the former.

Karuizawa Kei exploited Hoshinomiya Chie's psychology, using the pretense that Kitagawa Ryo would transfer to Class D to deceive Hoshinomiya Chie and give her command over the entire Class A in this sports festival.

As the details of various events gradually pieced together in her mind, just as Sakayanagi Arisu was getting closer to the truth, Ichinose Honami appeared in her field of vision. She seemed to have just finished the girls' group activity and was wiping the sweat from her forehead as she walked towards the boys' group.

"Hey, Honami."

Sakayanagi Arisu extended her hand in greeting, her tone filled with strong confidence and the joy of solving the mystery:

"I know the strategy you're using for this sports festival."

Before Ichinose Honami could respond, Sakayanagi Arisu added:

"But I won't interfere with your plans. Besides, I've only seen through the first half of your plan so far. As for how to finish it off... well, I haven't figured it out yet."

"So Arisu contacted me just to say this? I still have to go see Ryo."

Ichinose Honami showed no sign of panic despite Sakayanagi Arisu's comment. She responded calmly and then strode past her.

"Wait a minute, there's one more thing I want to confirm, just to satisfy my own curiosity. If Fanbo agrees, consider it a favor I owe you."

Just as Ichinose Honami was about to leave, Sakayanagi Arisu suddenly reached out and grabbed her sleeve, earnestly proposing a deal to her:

"Let me see your personal points balance on your phone right now."

It has to be said that Ichinose Honami was quite tempted by the deal proposed by Sakayanagi Arisu. After all, as a classmate and friend, she was one of the people who knew the girl's talents best. If the girl hadn't been completely in a fun-loving, inflammatory manner at the sports festival, the difficulty of carrying out this plan would probably have been several levels higher.

Moreover, since the other party has taken the initiative to ask to see her account balance, it means that, just as she herself said, Sakayanagi Arisu has almost completely seen through most of her actions.

"If Arisu promises me I won't do anything out of line, I can show you."

After hesitating for a moment, Honami Ichinose finally relented.

"I promise Fanbo."

Sakayanagi Arisu's eyes sparkled as she waited for the mystery of the halfway point to be fully revealed.

Then, she saw the phone screen that Honami Ichinose had shown her. The time and date in the upper right corner were correct, and the screen responded when touched. It was not a screenshot.

"Sure enough."

Sakayanagi Arisu nodded in realization, a slight smile playing on her lips.

What appeared in her field of vision was a huge sum of fifteen million points.

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

If Karuizawa Kei directly bypassed the school and opened up a brand new track, then Ichinose Honami was no less impressive. She actually only participated in the girls' group's horseback battle event, which cost her about one million personal points, which she had saved up and borrowed.

That was actually a smokescreen she threw out, because Ichinose Honami believed that Karuizawa Kei would definitely see through her blatant acting in that team match, thus making the other party think that her strategy for this sports festival was to directly use her past persona and network of connections to quietly manipulate and control the match to gain benefits.

but it is not the truth.

From the very beginning, Honami Ichinose devised a crazy plan to get something for nothing.

After investing almost all her points in the girls' group's horseback riding and war guessing game, her initial investment was practically zero.

Then, the first payment came from five million personal points borrowed from Kohei Katsuragi of Class D.

After receiving the five million, Honami Ichinose immediately went to find Hoshinomiya Chie, the homeroom teacher of Class 1-A, and proposed a second deal to her.

She also discerned Hoshinomiya Chie's psychological level, so she immediately brought up the topic, following the other party's current understanding, and also pinned the blame on Class 1-D, making Hoshinomiya Chie further convinced of the authenticity of the information that Kitagawa Ryo was indeed going to transfer to Class D.

Then, Honami Ichinose shared her thoughts with her.

In fact, Hoshinomiya Chie is not an adult who can be easily fooled, but Ichinose Honami's words to her are impeccable in terms of motives, emotions, and practical considerations.

She wants to keep Kitagawa Ryo in Class B, so she is raising 20 million personal points to protect him.

Next, Honami Ichinose showed Hoshinomiya Chie her current results.

That was 15 million personal points lying quietly in her account balance.

Hoshinomiya Chie, of course, had no idea that ten million yen would be transferred back to Sakura Airi exactly as it was just seconds after she showed it to her for confirmation. Before she could even react, Ichinose Honami seized the opportunity and made her own request:

"But this is the limit I can raise on my own, and to ensure safety, I will not use it for the sports festival betting."

"I want to keep Liang in our class and by my side in the safest and most reliable way, so after thinking it over, I decided to come to you."

Without a doubt, Honami Ichinose's natural performance captivated Chie Hoshinomiya.

"...So how can I help you?"

"Please lend me another five million personal points, Mr. Hoshinomiya. With these twenty million, even if Class D manages to raise twenty million points for this sports festival, I can still keep Ryo in Class B."

Hoshinomiya Chie couldn't refuse such a proposal. After all, for her, this was equivalent to having double insurance from Karuizawa Megumi and Ichinose Honami. Even if the former failed to raise 20 million yen in the end, the latter could guarantee that Kitagawa Ryo wouldn't transfer to Class D. Moreover, it was just a loan, not a gift of 5 million personal points.

Although five million is not a small amount for Hoshinomiya Chie, she can still scrape together the money.

And so, with the principal of five million borrowed from Class D, Honami Ichinose successfully obtained a second five million from Chie Hoshinomiya.

Then, when she found Chabashira Sae again and used the same trick, the balance she showed to her had actually become 20 million yen (again, she asked Sakura Airi to transfer the money for a few seconds under the pretext of confirmation).

"So, Chabashira-sensei should understand now, even if Class D raises enough 20 million points at this sports festival, Ryo still can't go to your class."

“We will transfer him back. Moreover, the homeroom teacher of Class A, Hoshinomiya-sensei, and the leader of your class, Katsuragi-kun, do not want Ryo to go to Class D. You see, the ten million personal points here were lent to me by them. Otherwise, we really wouldn't have been able to raise them.”

After showing the two loan certificates, deliberately listing Hoshinomiya Chie and Katsuragi Kohei's names side by side, with just a little provocation, Chabashira Sae will fall into a quagmire of suspicion on her own.

Never try to verify what you already believe.

After the incident on the deserted island, her mental state became somewhat unstable. In addition, Chabashira Sae, who was deceived by Kitagawa Ryo in a scumbag manner, had already accepted the fact that the other party was in love with Class D. With this preconceived position, she found things even stranger.

Not long ago, Kitagawa Ryo took the initiative to get close to Class D on the playground, offering to lead them to make money from the inside stories of the upperclassmen. Why did Katsuragi Kohei seem so resistant? Did he really think that the other party would take away his leadership position after transferring to another class?

Kitagawa Ryo first proposed that Classes B and D train together to improve, but why does Class D always act like they're guarding against thieves during training? And Katsuragi Kohei even secretly sold information about the training match between the two classes.

However, this was merely a casual move by Ichinose Honami. She quickly seized the opportunity when Chabashira Sae was in a state of confusion and pressed her advantage by presenting her own ideas to him:

"But there's still room for maneuver in this matter. Chabashira-sensei should know very well that I want to keep Ryo in Class B, simply because I want to keep him by my side so I can see him every day, talk to him, and eat together..."

"Moreover, if I were to use those 20 million to offset the 20 million that your Class D might be able to raise, it would actually be a zero-sum game and a losing proposition for both classes."

"So, Chabashira-sensei, what do you think of my idea of ​​transferring to your Class D with Ryo? Anyway, as long as Ryo and I are in the same class, it doesn't really matter which class we're in. If Chabashira-sensei is willing, I can immediately return this ten million to Hoshinomiya-san and Katsuragi-kun."

Faced with Ichinose Honami's smiling suggestion, Chabashira Sae simply frowned and replied:

“I don’t have enough personal points to make up for your ten million shortfall. Besides, our class may not be able to raise the twenty million personal points needed for Beichuan to transfer to another class this time.”