I have a life simulator.

"It's nothing, it's nothing. Liang and I are very close, it's just a small favor."

As Asahina Nazuna spoke, she also curiously observed the girl in front of her. Although she couldn't say she knew all the first-year students, it was impossible that she hadn't heard of such a pretty girl since she enrolled. So she must be a guest who entered the school for this cultural festival. After all, there were indeed many junior high school students who were about to graduate today, and she had seen quite a few herself so far.

But compared to the admiring, expectant, or curious gazes of the other students, this junior student, who was also invited to visit Tokyo Advanced Educational High School, gave Asahina Nazuna a completely different first impression. Compared to Tokyo Advanced Educational High School, which is shrouded in mystery for outsiders, especially junior high school students, the other person's attention seemed to be more focused on people, or rather, on Kitagawa Ryo.

In a sense, this can be seen as a reverse version of Nan Yunya. After all, the current student council president, who has become increasingly distant and unfamiliar with her, has been embracing the guests since the start of the cultural festival in the morning. At this moment, he is humbly introducing himself as the student council president to those he considers 'adults,' following them around like a tour guide, trying to get closer to them.

"Thank you so much, senior. This is Asahina Nagisa, a student in Class 2-A. She has always been very kind to me, her junior."

Since Asahina Nazuna had mentioned his name, Kitagawa Ryo couldn't pretend nothing had happened, so he took the initiative to introduce the two of them as well.

Deep down, he had a premonition that this process would be repeated several times over for the rest of the day.

"And then, this is Xue, my girlfriend. She came to visit me at school during the school festival."

Kitagawa Ryo knew and trusted Asahina-senpai's emotional intelligence and personality quite well. If he had run into another Kiryuin-senpai, he would probably have had to change his words.

As expected, Asahina Nazuna merely blinked twice with a half-smile, then gracefully extended her hand to Yuki:

"I see. No wonder I thought you two looked like a good match at first glance. Good luck getting into Dongyu University next year!"

"Yes, yes—I hope you will give me your guidance then, Asahina-senpai."

After Kitagawa Ryo decisively declared that she was his girlfriend, Yuki's initial slight unease stemming from Asahina Nazuna's comment, "Ryo and I are very close," vanished instantly. She lightly shook hands with Asahina-senpai and then eagerly pointed to the entrance of the haunted house:

"Then let's go in."

"it is good."

After successfully completing the ticket check at the official entrance, about half a month later, Kitagawa Ryo finally stepped into the haunted house project set up by Class 2-A once again.

Compared to the previous half-finished product, this time the haunted house that is officially open to the public is undoubtedly much more complete and detailed. The interior seems to have been deliberately cooled down with air conditioning, which, combined with the dim lighting and faint background music, creates a chilly and eerie atmosphere.

It must be said that this artificially created dark environment is indeed a breeding ground for desire in a certain sense. Kitagawa Ryo and Yuki almost simultaneously felt their heartbeats subconsciously accelerate slightly, and their hands, which were holding each other, unconsciously interlocked their fingers, as if exchanging each other's warmth.

"Um, it's too dark inside. To keep a good eye on you, I'll stay a little closer, is that alright?"

But immediately, Asahina Nazuna, who had been following them at a distance, suddenly closed in.

All I can say is that Kitagawa Ryo clearly remembers how this cool senior, who now volunteered to come inside and supervise them, was so scared back then that he had to drag her out of this half-finished haunted house.

"Ah."

Although she was a little disappointed that the atmosphere and feeling she and Ryo had worked so hard to build up had been abruptly cut off by Asahina Nazuna's words, Yuki still understood and agreed. Then she gently shook her head, determined to temporarily forget the fact that she and Ryo had a third wheel following them, and to enjoy the haunted house trip to the fullest.

It was indeed her first time visiting a haunted house, but she was mentally prepared. Perhaps she was more interested in seeing what interesting little reactions Ryo would have, who was also visiting a haunted house for the first time. It would be best if she could be scared even a little bit, because they were each other's cotton mothers, and they survived together in the white room by drawing on each other's gentleness and kindness.

However, unlike when they were children when there was almost no height difference between them, now it feels a little awkward to bury Liang's head in his lap...

Just as Xue entered the haunted house and began to seriously consider the specific steps, the first sound came even faster than she had expected.

But it wasn't Kitagawa Ryo's voice.

While she was still figuring out how to comfort Kitagawa Ryo, another little quail had already rushed into her arms.

Xue silently took a deep breath.

The episode with the white room that I miss the most.

Chapter 340: A Long Time Has Passed

"Oooo--"

From the shadows around the corner, another ghost, disguised as a student from Class 2-A, jumped out with a shriek. The mask on its face shimmered with an eerie light, and it seemed to be mentally prepared to startle the person opposite it.

But when he suddenly appeared in front of the tourists using the mechanism, the first thing he saw was a face so plain it seemed he couldn't even see him. Only a pair of fiery red eyes glanced at him subconsciously. The pupils, seemingly unfocused and exceptionally empty and deep, startled the ghost, making him even more clumsy as he retreated back into the wall. After a while, he shakily peeked out again to examine the backs of the three figures who had already walked past.

Kitagawa Ryo estimated that they should have completed about half of the haunted house.

The good news is that Asahina-senpai's screaming frequency has dropped to almost zero.

The bad news is that, because she has completely regressed to the stage of a mollusk, she has, in a sense, lost her ability to speak and act independently.

If the last time the two of them strolled around, Kitagawa Ryo had a koala hanging next to him, now he could only be considered a slime, limply sprawled there.

At this point, she couldn't even be called a third wheel anymore. Xue was starting to wonder if she was the one who had come in to supervise the two of them. What was originally a somewhat interesting haunted house had now become a boring activity that she just wanted to finish quickly.

How did Tokyo Advanced Nurturing Junior High School end up like this?

Liang had just introduced himself to this senior as her lover, but her current actions clearly show that she doesn't take this relationship seriously. Or is this senior, Asahina, the type who likes to target juniors who already have partners?

Just as Yuki's mind started wandering to random topics like "the girls outside the white room are all man-eating tigers" and "you know, I've always been a white room advocate," Asahina Nazuna, having recovered her composure, finally noticed her awkwardness and the strange atmosphere that had become so embarrassing that she was no longer afraid of haunted houses. She immediately darted away from Kitagawa Ryo, cleared her throat slightly, and coughed twice, feigning composure.

"I'm sorry, my reaction just now was a bit too much. Please don't mind it."

"It's okay. Senior, you're so afraid of haunted houses, but you still volunteered to be our guarantor so that Xue and I could come in. Thank you so much."

Kitagawa Ryo slightly moved his left arm, which was almost numb, and quickly offered the other party a way out, while also quietly comforting Yuki:

"I didn't expect Xue to be so unafraid. I even practiced several ways to carry you out comfortably before today."

"Tch—I'm not afraid of haunted houses that bad."

Although she said the same thing, a hint of excitement showed on Yuki's face, clearly indicating that she was interested in Kitagawa Ryo's words.

However, she is not the kind of girl who is good at being willful and coquettish. In this respect, she may be better at enjoying being wronged and gaining a morbid sense of self-satisfaction by suppressing her true feelings. This was true in the white room, and it is true at today's cultural festival.

No girl can truly bear the thought of her carefully planned and patiently awaited date turning into a variety show about how many good older and younger sisters she has. Even during the week Kitagawa Ryo spent on the cruise ship during summer vacation, most girls would wisely choose to avoid meeting each other.

"But I'm a little scared now, can Xue come and hug me?"

Faced with Xue walking forward with her eyes downcast and head down, Kitagawa Ryo, somewhat shamelessly, stopped first.

"...I can't carry you."

She muttered this to herself.

"It's okay. As long as I hug Xue, I won't be afraid to walk out of here again."

"All right--"

Xue responded with a sound of agreement, and then she stood straight and hard behind Kitagawa Ryo, arching her head upwards against his back as if dissatisfied for a while, before wrapping her arms around his waist and hanging there like a burden.

She was different from Amazusa Ichika and Sakayanagi Arisu. Although in a sense, Kitagawa Ryo had brought their consciousness through time and space to this new world that did not completely match her own memories, the latter two naturally adapted to the current situation by gradually revolving around Kitagawa Ryo.

In private, Amasawa Ichika and Sakayanagi Arisu could exchange jokes that only they knew, for example, on the deserted island. However, the only person Yuki could feel comfortable talking to was Kitagawa Ryo, who could only come out for a day or two every now and then. Even when facing her own parents and sister, she had to carefully consider her words each time, and there was often a subtle sense of distance between them.

Fortunately, the real-life Xue already suffered from a rather severe and almost incurable mental illness, which allowed her to gradually reshape the personality of Xue according to her own memories without causing confusion for her family. After all, for them, even if she wanted to go out and do something now, it was better than being trapped in the nightmares of the past in the hospital room day after day.

In fact, Kitagawa Ryo himself was well aware of this, because no matter how you look at it, he was being irresponsible. In fact, the whole incident could be said to have started because of his own self-pity. He insisted on thinking that this was some kind of salvation or redemption, and arbitrarily used the final prize for clearing the game on Yuki and Ichika in the last simulation.

Theoretically, there shouldn't be any problems up to this point, because even if the simulated Yuki also spent her entire childhood in a white room, she should be better off than the real Yuki who was eliminated early and developed a serious mental illness. However, the problem lies in the fact that her simulation takes place after she enters Tokyo Advanced Educational High School. Once she misses it, she has to wait almost a year to see it again.

Even though Kitagawa Ryo had tried his best to use the excuse of the drama club going out to compete to see Yuki as much as possible, compared to Sakayanagi Arisu and Amasawa Ichika, or other girls, he was definitely the most irresponsible one when it came to Yuki.

But for Yuki, this was something she had always feared. After all, in the simulation, she could only watch helplessly as Kitagawa Ryo was taken out of the white room and returned with Sakayanagi Arisu by his side.

As it turned out, the haunted house meticulously designed by Class 2-A didn't scare Yuki for a second, but these inexplicable fantasies and the appearance of Asahina Nazuna did make her feel a genuine sense of fear.

At this moment, Yuki recalled what Kitagawa Ryo had done to her not long ago at the ring toss stall.

So she tightened her arms around him, their interlocked fingers forming a circle that physically bound him inside.

Yuki hugged Kitagawa Ryo from behind, gradually following in her mother's footsteps like a little animal that had been left behind in a time tunnel, afraid of being abandoned. She finally came to her senses when the scene in front of her suddenly turned from dark to light and the voices around her gradually became noisy.

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

This was the first time Tsubaki Sakura had ever seen her older sister like this.

As someone who had been repeatedly reminded before the cultural festival, it's undeniable that although she was indeed a little bit attracted to Kitagawa Ryo for a short while, Tsubaki Sakurako still kept her promise to her sister and quite tactfully chose to leave before their date began.

She wasn't really interested in the Tokyo Advanced Educational High School's cultural festival. After wandering around casually, she just wanted to find a quiet place to kill the rest of her time. Her initial target was the cat cafe in Class 1-A, which had lost its popularity. But who knew that the cafe would suddenly use some trick to attract a large number of customers, forcing Tsubaki Sakura to find another place to go.

After much deliberation, the large-scale concert and drama performance held by Class 2-A in the gymnasium caught Tsubaki Sakura's attention. Firstly, the tickets were inexplicably cheap, and secondly, the venue was large with plenty of seats, so there was no need to worry about not finding a place to sit and rest. As for the third reason, it was probably related to the fact that her older sister had suddenly dragged her to watch Kitagawa Ryo's drama performance video twice that morning.

At least she could still watch the dramas starring Kitagawa Ryo with some enjoyment.

However, it wasn't long before Tsubaki Sakura realized why only Kitagawa Ryo had such a big reputation in the theater world. The stage effects and performance level of Class 2-A were indeed outstanding among high school students of that age, but for Tsubaki Sakura, who had already seen such a masterpiece, it seemed a bit too boring. That's why she chose to slip out of the venue during the intermission and walked aimlessly to the waiting hall.

As a result, they bumped right into Kitagawa Ryo and Yuki, who were walking out of the haunted house.

The projects prepared for the second graders were mostly inside the gymnasium, so the different venues were connected by roads. Those who wanted to go through the haunted house went in from the east gate, while those who wanted to go directly to watch the show went in from the west gate. After finishing the haunted house, they could easily reach the waiting hall in the middle. That was roughly the design.

To Tsubaki Sakurako's surprise, her older sister emerged from the exit in a subtle manner, lying on Kitagawa Ryo's back with her arms wrapped around his waist. Behind her was a girl with a complicated expression, who seemed to be from Tokyo Advanced Educational High School.

However, it's not accurate to say that this was the first time she had seen her older sister like this. To be precise, the first older sister she actually saw was like this.

It's almost as if they've lost all subjective consciousness and thinking ability.

However, due to the other party's amazing improvement over the past six months, Tsubaki Sakurako has almost forgotten what her sister used to look like.

Just as Tsubaki Sakura was about to go forward and ask about the specific situation with some concern, she suddenly saw her older sister reach out and press down on Kitagawa Ryo's shoulder. As a result, the other party also understood and half-squatted down a little, letting Yuki's arms go around his neck, and resting his head on his shoulder and turning slightly to the side, as if they were saying something to each other.

So they're just showing off their love again? Was she just scared in the haunted house? So even she's afraid of these things? Or is she just acting all lovestruck and pretending to be weak? I guess there are girls like that.

Without making a sound, Tsubaki Sakura put another lollipop in her mouth, stopped in her tracks, and stood at a distance with great interest, watching.

But not long after, she herself blushed for no apparent reason.

Although Tsubaki Sakura and Yuki weren't twins, as biological sisters, they looked remarkably alike in both hair color and facial features. Just as she had felt a pang of sympathy and concern when she saw this face, so similar to her own, spending its days in the hospital ward in misery, she now saw this pretty face, now grown up but still bearing a striking resemblance to her, shyly whispering secrets to another boy. Even Tsubaki Sakura, who usually hid her true feelings beneath a lazy and seemingly indifferent exterior, couldn't help but feel a strange warmth in her heart, as if something was pricking at her heart.

"Does Liang think I'm being a little annoying to you today?"

"No, not at all. If anyone should apologize, it's me."

Kitagawa Ryo didn't expect that the first thing Yuki said to him after leaving the haunted house would be this, but he still gave her his reply without hesitation.

Just like Ichinose Honami back then, Yuki now also needs his after-sales service. The end of the simulation never means that the story has entered a happy ending, nor does it mean that the heroines who have gone through all this will become perfect from now on.

On the contrary, some of them feel even more awkward, some still hold a grudge to this day, and some even want to go back to that time.

Because they have a long life ahead of them, and plenty of time to do whatever they want, what Kitagawa Ryo needs to do is accompany them on their journey and listen to all the new troubles they encounter along the way.

"Um……"

Xue simply nodded.

She could finally confirm that her love for him wasn't the result of any artificial implantation or brainwashing in the White Room, but the moment she most wanted to openly, honestly, and without any confusion tell Kitagawa Ryo these words and confirm this was still far off—

Actually, it's been a long time.

Chapter 341: A Pinch to Make an Oath

"How come students from other classes have come in here?"

"That's Kitagawa from Class A of the first year, right? How come he's here with us?"

Compared to the faces of the other guests, Kitagawa Ryo, who had just exited the haunted house and entered the waiting hall, soon attracted the attention and vigilance of the second-year students. Soon, a student found Tonakawa from Class 2-A, one of Nangumo Masaru's confidants and the student council secretary.

"Hey, Tonakawa, Kitagawa, a first-year student, has come to our facility. Should we inform Nagumo?"

The student sounded quite nervous, probably because he had suffered a major setback at the sports festival a month ago at Kitagawa Ryo's place, as if he was afraid that the other party would ruin their cultural festival achievements this time as well.

"Chairman Nagumo is not here right now."

Secretary Dianhe simply shook his head and lowered his voice to explain to the classmate who had come to him:

"He's over at the faculty and staff building right now. He said he's accompanying the chairman to entertain some important guests. You guys just need to keep an eye on Kitagawa. With so many guests in front of him, he shouldn't be able to cause any trouble."

"I see. As expected of President Nagumo. I didn't receive this kind of treatment when Horikita was the student council president."

After listening to Secretary Dianhe's explanation, the boy chose to believe him without hesitation, followed by a barrage of familiar praise.

After he left with this instruction, Dianhe himself sighed helplessly. Although Nan Yunya's actions could temporarily fool the other second-year students, as her confidant, he was very clear about the real situation of Nan Yunya suddenly abandoning the entire second-year A class project and running straight to the faculty building.

There was no such thing as accompanying the chairman to receive important guests. It was just that Nan Yun had gotten some rumors from who-knows-where and was trying to get in touch with some big shots in the political and business world. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that he was desperately trying to get in touch with them.

To be honest, from Asahina Nagisa to him and another secretary, Mizowaki, they had all noticed that Nagumo Masaru's personality had changed drastically, but this was something that no one could stop, because the current Nagumo was countless times more stubborn and suspicious than before. Holding the idea that "it's impossible to persuade a damned ghost," they could only go along with him.

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

Nan Yunya was knocking on the door in a very gentle and cautious manner. As the student council president, he had been to this chairman's office more than once in the past, but none of his feelings had ever been as uneasy as they were now.

"Please come in."

It felt like a long time had passed, or perhaps only a few seconds, before a reassuring reply finally came from inside, allowing Nan Yunya to breathe a sigh of relief. He slowly pushed the door open, his head already lowered subconsciously, before finally looking up at the door.

Perhaps because she was entertaining guests today, or perhaps it was just Nan Yunya's own feeling, the desk that she was used to seeing was polished to an exceptionally high shine today, almost to the point of being reflective, like a lake. On the lake was a middle-aged man who looked to be around forty or fifty years old. His appearance was not outstanding, and the wrinkles on his face were faintly visible. However, his sharp eyes, like those of a hawk, made Nan Yunya subconsciously look away.

"I am Masashi Nagumo, the current student council president of Tokyo Advanced Educational High School."

Nan Yunya kept her head down and gave a clear self-introduction.

But the man sitting behind the desk only glanced up at him, without saying anything or showing any extra expression on his face. He simply nodded slightly to indicate that he had heard what he said.

This familiar expression and gesture inexplicably reminded Nan Yunya of himself. After he became the vice president and president of the student council, he would sit there calmly and collectedly during every student council recruitment, only casting a few glances at the cute and pretty female students who passed the initial screening.

"Excuse me, may I ask how I should address you?"