I have a life simulator.

Chapter 387: Sakayanagi Arisu is still training

The holiday time did indeed pass leisurely and quickly. After all, during the summer vacation, we had to deal with special exams from the school. After returning to school, we could use the swimming pool that the school had opened to students. There were even some novel and eye-catching limited-time shops such as fortune-telling shops. It can be said that every day was quite fulfilling.

But winter break is different. Winter is indeed a season when people unconsciously start to feel lazy and slack. When we're in school, we can force ourselves to struggle out of bed every morning, but once the holidays start, the sealing magic of the blankets seems to be strengthened, making it so that we don't want to move a single finger after waking up. You can tell from the time when the class group is active that most students are still reluctant to leave their beds in the early morning or even the morning.

Speaking of class groups, theoretically, Kitagawa Ryo should have left his original Class A group after transferring classes. After all, the students' daily affairs exchanged in the group could be considered information in a certain sense. However, since they felt that the transfer was not Kitagawa Ryo's own doing, after a brief discussion, the students in Class A created another group that did not include him. In short, the point was that although he had transferred classes, everyone was still classmates and friends, and that had not changed.

As for Class 1-B, they immediately added his account to the class group chat. Kitagawa Ryo was greeted with a barrage of welcome messages the day he joined.

It has to be said that the activity level and message refresh frequency of Class B in the first year are indeed much higher than those of Class A. After all, Kitagawa Ryo also saw it during the last special exam. Various small groups among the girls in Class A are quite common. Compared to chatting in a large group chat, they prefer to talk in their own small groups. Class B is the opposite. They share what they ate for lunch in the group. The usual atmosphere is also the classic praise group mode. To be honest, it is quite healing to watch. Even Kitagawa Ryo, who doesn't usually check the chat, unconsciously felt the urge to share.

So, after another winter morning workout with Sakayanagi Arisu, Kitagawa Ryo casually uploaded the exercise data, including time, distance, pace, and calories burned, from the app linked to his fitness tracker to the class group. Soon after, he received a series of replies, although Kitagawa Ryo guessed that they were probably all lying in bed on their side playing on their phones right now.

"The atmosphere in Class B is really great."

Because she was a little concerned about Kitagawa Ryo's tendency to glance at his phone every now and then after his morning exercise, Sakayanagi Arisu took the opportunity to peek over on tiptoe, and then nodded in relief, remarking with a sigh.

After training for a period of time, Sakayanagi Arisu has gradually adapted to the winter environment. Although the data on the OAA system has not been updated much since the summer vacation started, judging from the various sports data, Sakayanagi Arisu has made great progress compared to herself before the summer vacation. At least she has reached the average level of physical fitness of an ordinary high school student.

However, perhaps because of this, Kitagawa Ryo could clearly feel that Arisu, who had finally calmed down for a while, had recently started to stir again, giving the impression that he felt he was all that was left after the storm had passed.

Watching Sakayanagi Arisu adjust the tightness of her scarf after her workout, intending to get some fresh air, Kitagawa Ryo unconsciously touched the scarf around his neck as well. It was a gift from Horikita Suzune just yesterday. He had only mentioned it briefly on Christmas Eve, but in just a few days, she had actually hand-knitted one for him from scratch.

Seemingly noticing Kitagawa Ryo's unconscious movement, Sakayanagi Arisu let out a soft hum:

"Do you like it that much?"

"Lingyin's craftsmanship is really good. Although the design is quite simple, it is warmer than the ones sold in stores."

Because Sakayanagi Arisu's expression was excessively cute at that moment, Kitagawa Ryo couldn't resist teasing her again, but immediately changed the subject after the teasing subsided:

"Speaking of which, how are things going with Arisu and Suzune lately?"

"Is there any need to ask? In the end, I will definitely win and become the new leader of Class A."

Faced with Kitagawa Ryo's question, Sakayanagi Arisu merely displayed a calm expression of confidence, responding in a matter-of-fact tone:

"Rin's biggest asset in the class is that she is a member of the student council, but I have the same identity. When the two are canceled out, she has no advantage left."

As she spoke, Sakayanagi Arisu gave him another threatening glance:

"But I'm telling you beforehand, just like the competition between Megumi and Honami at the sports festival last time, Ryo absolutely cannot interfere this time either, not even a little bit."

She was well aware of the influence this man had in Class A. Even though he had transferred to another class, many students, including Amazusa Ichika, Sakura Airi, and Sudo Ken, still cared a great deal about Kitagawa Ryo's opinion. If he showed even the slightest inclination or stirred things up, Sakayanagi Arisu's process of winning over the entire Class A would be greatly affected, and it was even possible that the scales of victory would tip in the opposite direction.

"Don't worry, I definitely won't interfere in your battle for class leadership, but I can't guarantee that for others, like Kiyotaka Ayanokouji from Class C."

"Why are you suddenly bringing up Ayanokouji? Wasn't his target Ryo from the beginning? Now that Ryo has transferred classes, shouldn't the focus naturally shift to Class B?"

"It's very simple. He saw through my plan to transfer back to Class A, so he seized the opportunity while I was away to give you a good beating. He's probably planning to leave some lingering effects or hidden dangers in Class A that won't disappear even after I come back."

At this point, Kitagawa Ryo helplessly shrugged, since he himself couldn't prevent this situation from happening either.

After he transfers to another class, Ichinose Honami will have to leave with him, so Class A will definitely fall into a brief period of chaos, because in fact, the only two people who are the most popular choice to lead Class A are the two of them.

Kitagawa Ryo couldn't stop Sakayanagi Arisu and Horikita Suzune from vying for the vacant position. After all, once they entered the second year of school next year, the two of them would begin competing for the power of the student council and the positions of vice president and president. The battle for class leadership was, in essence, a preliminary battle for the president position. After all, if you've never even been a class leader, how can everyone feel comfortable electing you as the student council president to carry out leadership work?

What's more, these two are, to put it bluntly, rivals in love. Although Suzune has always been relatively mild in her attitude towards Arisu, Arisu is now preoccupied with becoming the class leader so that she can have a couple more rounds of competition with him, so there's nothing she can do about it.

“Ayanokouji… I see. But I have been having Chiaki keep an eye on him recently, and I have found some clues. At least he is no longer fighting alone.”

"Did you find anything?"

"Well, it's probably because he's been quite active lately. Or is it that expanding his social circle inevitably leads to him revealing his weaknesses? Based on the intelligence gathered and my assessment, he's probably already planted his own pawns in Class C, preparing to further interfere with the class's decision-making."

"Ryo should know about the boys, it's Hashimoto. But besides him, Katsuragi seems to be wavering because of Totsuka Yahiko's withdrawal from school. If Ayanokouji is willing, he will most likely hand over the leadership of the class directly to him."

"As for the girls, it seems like he's getting along quite well with Kushida lately? Their interactions were originally limited to the beginning of the semester, but now they seem to be getting closer. But to be honest, the more suitable pawn that Ayanokouji has chosen is probably Yamamura Miki from his class."

"A mountain village?... Is there even a student like that in Class A?"

Upon hearing Sakayanagi Arisu mention the girl's name, Kitagawa Ryo instinctively showed a puzzled expression. Fortunately, he possessed the golden talent of photographic memory, and casually recalled the information of all the students he had seen on OAA, quickly retrieving a somewhat unremarkable face from his memory.

"I do remember, but I always feel like the other person doesn't have much of a presence in Class A."

"Oh yeah, but on the other hand, maybe it's precisely because she's a girl with almost no presence that Ayanokouji approached her?"

Sakayanagi Arisu snapped her fingers lightly and explained to Kitagawa Ryo in a quick voice:

"Actually, the structure of the girls in Class C is quite similar to that of our class. Kikyo Kushida is roughly equivalent to Honami's position, standing at the top of the popular circle in the entire class and even the grade. Below her are all sorts of small groups. Since the class leader, Katsuragi, is a boy, and his personality isn't the kind that's easy to talk to girls, the command of the girls basically relies entirely on Kushida and Hirata. But both of them are, at least on the surface, soft-hearted and easy-going. This led to the awkward situation where, after Class C's defeat, Katsuragi, having lost the trust of the girls, could hardly command them."

After listening to Arisu Sakayanagi's words, Ryo Kitagawa nodded in agreement. After all, since the end of the special exam on the deserted island and the spy investigation, the lack of cooperation from Class C had become quite obvious. Just like the saying goes, "If the hearts of the people are scattered, the team is hard to lead," Kohei Katsuragi's influence was indeed difficult to encompass the girls in the class. The repeated setbacks of the maid cafe project at the last cultural festival were a clear indication of the problem.

"So, although I don't know what triggered Ayanokouji recently, all the evidence does indicate that he is trying to exert more personal influence over the entire Class C... Sigh, it was all Ryo's fault, but now he's just washing his hands of the matter and walking away, leaving me to take the blame."

At this point, even the usually confident Sakayanagi Arisu revealed a hint of distress in her tone. After all, she was not currently in charge of a complete Class A, and under such internal and external troubles, it was indeed not an easy task to maintain the foundation laid by Kitagawa Ryo.

"What, do you think you're going to lose?"

"Tch, I'm just worried that something might go wrong with Rinne and she might be used as a pawn."

Of course, in front of Kitagawa Ryo, Sakayanagi Arisu wouldn't easily show this worry, so she simply changed the subject directly:

"What are Liang's plans for today? Is he going to do the same team-building activities with the students from Class B as the past two days?"

"I didn't make plans with them today. I've had enough time these past few days to get to know most of the students in the class. There are actually quite a few interesting students, but they haven't shown much in the environment of Class B. They're all very youthful in every way. I've already learned a lot of gossip about Class B in just these two days."

"Is youth... a topic for romance?"

"Yeah, come to think of it, I've been asked all sorts of dating advice by a lot of the boys in my class. They all want me to teach them how to pursue girls, how to confess to girls, and how to test a girl's feelings for them."

"...To be honest, from my perspective, hearing about this topic of 'cool talk' makes me feel a bit conflicted."

Sakayanagi Arisu let out an exaggerated sigh, the breath instantly turning into a thin white mist in the cold wind.

"So, Ryo's schedule is free today?"

"No, that's not it. Sudo and Miyake invited me out to play."

"Okay, have fun."

"Arisu, what are your plans for today?"

"It seems like there's nothing particularly important to do. I'll probably stay in the dorm all day and check the contents of the USB drive Liang gave me."

"Hmm...can you understand it?"

Kitagawa Ryo asked a question through his very soul.

"can't read."

Sakayanagi Arisu is quite honest.

"Then let's continue watching."

As soon as he said that, Kitagawa Ryo was glared at hard by Arisu.

"I wasn't really looking at those technical terms and medical jargon; I was just trying to imagine what Ryo was like and what she was feeling when she wrote these things, since Ryo must have had it that time..."

Sakayanagi Arisu didn't finish her sentence. She simply reached out and grasped his little finger, then scratched his palm, as if to confirm that warm blood was still flowing in every vein and that every nerve was clearly responding to her touch.

She has always felt that there is only one reason why she has been able to persist in getting up early every day to exercise to this day.

Kitagawa Ryo would wake himself up at her bedside every morning without fail.

In this way, no matter what your dream was like last night, it will instantly turn into the sweetest dream the moment you wake up.

He was her fairy tale, a reality that, whether it was a beautiful dream or a nightmare, she could embrace without longing, fear, worry about loss, or dread waking up, a reality she could reach out and hug countless times without ever being afraid.

Chapter 388: The Sound of Bells in Winter (4k5)

"boom--"

With a clean back-to-the-basket move, Kitagawa Ryo deftly tossed the basketball into the overhead hoop. The ball landed with a crisp sound, bounced, and was finally caught by Miyake Akito on the sidelines.

"Hey Kitagawa, if you were in the basketball team, you'd probably be their absolute ace by now. I feel like Sudo wouldn't stand a chance against you."

"really."

On the court, Takeru Sudo received the ball thrown to him by Akito Miyake, and with a graceful three-pointer, he wholeheartedly echoed:

"If Kitagawa were in our basketball team, we probably would have won first place in the summer tournament this year. It was such a pity about that game."

"It's not that exaggerated. I don't play basketball much. I basically don't know anything about tactics and teamwork. I just have an advantage in one-on-one situations because of my physical attributes."

Faced with praise from Takeru Sudo and Akito Miyake, Ryo Kitagawa simply shook his head modestly. He then glanced unconsciously at Albert Yamada, who in some ways should have more of this racial talent. Albert thought Kitagawa wanted water and casually took a bottle of purified water from his backpack on the sidelines and handed it to him.

"Oh, thanks."

After receiving the water from Yamada's large hands, Kitagawa Ryo sat down on the sidelines to rest for a while.

Compared to the biting cold outdoors, the environment inside the gymnasium was undoubtedly much warmer. However, there were still very few students willing to come out to play sports at eight or nine o'clock in the morning. At least in the basketball court area, Kitagawa Ryo didn't see many students other than his group.

The guys who invited him out to hang out today—Ken Sudo, Akito Miyake, and Albert Yamada—are among Kitagawa Ryo's closest friends in Class A. So, he's quite relaxed right now, enjoying the rare moment of sweating it out with the boys.

About an hour later, the gymnasium gradually became lively. Soon, Kitagawa Ryo spotted several familiar figures coming from the volleyball court next door. They were the boys from Class 1-B, led by Shibata Hayate, the class's sports enthusiast.

"Hey, Kitagawa, you're here too. Looks like you've been here for a while. No wonder you're in such good shape. If there's any betting next time at the sports festival, I'll definitely bet all my money on you."

Shibata Hayate also spotted Kitagawa Ryo and jogged over to greet him cheerfully, then extended an invitation with a bright smile:

"Want to play together? We were thinking of splitting into two teams but we didn't have enough people. If you join us, it will be just right."

Because the invitation was extended to their group, Kitagawa Ryo didn't accept immediately. Instead, he turned around to ask Sudo Ken and the others for their opinions. However, the three of them responded even faster than him. Before Kitagawa Ryo could even ask, they had already patted their chests and rubbed their hands together in agreement, seemingly ready to have a good match with Class B.

At this moment, Shibata Hayate was clearly unaware of the intentions of the three members of Class A. After they agreed, he jogged back to the other side of the volleyball net, signaled from afar that the match had begun, and then deftly jumped up to serve. It seemed that this official member of the soccer club also played volleyball quite a bit on a regular basis.

However, what he was facing at this moment was the three A-class musketeers who were already thinking about proving to Kitagawa Ryo whether it was easier to win with them or with the others. Before Kitagawa Ryo could even react, the three of them had already clearly divided up their roles and determined their positions. The strongest and best jumping Sudo Ken was the main attacker, the tallest and heaviest Yamada Albert was the main defender, and the most agile and fastest Miyake Akito took on the role of libero, responsible for saving the ball everywhere. They won the first three rounds with overwhelming momentum.

Seeing that Class B was routed right from the start, Kitagawa Ryo shook his head helplessly. He quickly raised his hand to signal the two teams to switch people slightly, moving the two Class B students to Sudo's group while he went to Shibata's side.

After this substitution, the situation on the field changed from one-sided to a relatively balanced one. Shibata Hayate's athletic ability is indeed among the best of his peers, and he is also the kind of person who is quite versatile. Otherwise, he wouldn't have been favored by so many students in his grade at the sports festival and considered to be one of the strong contenders for the championship.

After playing for about half an hour with this lineup, the Sudo team, who were almost exhausted, were the first to say they wanted to rest. After all, they had played basketball for a long time before Class B arrived, and their stamina was not at its peak. The two sides ended this volleyball friendly match, which could barely be called a match between Class A and Class B, with a very close score.

Of course, in Sudo Takeru's eyes, the fact that the two sides ended up in such a close match was entirely due to Kitagawa Ryo's substitution. Therefore, as soon as the match ended, he couldn't wait to speak out:

"If Kitagawa hadn't switched places with you, we would have won by a large margin long ago."

"A one-sided match is no fun, and to be honest, there might be a special exam later that involves this kind of competition, so you guys need to get used to this kind of matchup in advance."

When Kitagawa Ryo said those words, Sudo Ken belatedly realized that the other person had already transferred to another class and left. He fell silent and drank his water in a sullen voice, the plastic bottle making a slight crunching sound as he gripped it.

Thanks to the special system of Tokyo Advanced Educational High School and the existence of class points, collective interests are undoubtedly placed above individual interests more naturally. Therefore, students who give up collective interests for personal gain are more likely to be criticized by other members of the class. This is also why Ryuen Sho was driven off the stage by his classmates after the special exam on the deserted island.

That's why, even knowing that he and Sudo Ken were on good terms in private, Kitagawa Ryo didn't want his personal feelings to influence the other person's choices and judgments at a crucial moment involving class competition. After all, the necessary prerequisite for the two survival rules that Kitagawa Ryo proposed in Tokyo Advanced Educational High School was to successfully survive here for three years and graduate smoothly.

Many students at Dongyuli do not actually have the so-called backup plan that allows them to drop out without affecting their future plans, like him and Karuizawa Kei. Whether they want to use this top-notch platform and abundant educational resources in the country to improve their abilities and horizons, or aim to graduate from Class A, they must first ensure that they can stay here for three full years.

This is also why Kitagawa Ryo almost completely cut off contact with Hirata Yosuke, who was in Class C, after the start of the second semester. Although Hirata always said that with the help Kitagawa had given him before, he could completely disregard the consequences of being discovered as a spy by the class, Kitagawa Ryo still chose to let Hirata do nothing and quietly lie low. Moreover, Hirata's work was now being helped by Kushida Kikyo and Chabashira Sae, who were the kind of people who would be fearless even if they were exposed.

Seeing that the atmosphere in the room had suddenly become somewhat dull, Miyake Akito glanced at the time on his phone and took the initiative to change the subject:

"It's almost 11 o'clock. I've been tired all morning. Let's find a nice restaurant to have a good meal at noon."

"Yes."

Albert Yamada nodded in agreement.

"Okay, shall we go check out the Beech Tree Shopping Center then?"

As he spoke, Kitagawa Ryo took out his phone and opened the school's online forum:

"Let me see, I think I saw a post on social media that the family restaurant on the fourth floor had new dishes."

"Oh, I saw that too. There's a new package that seems to be quite cost-effective."

Seeing that the other three had changed the subject to appease him, Takeru Sudo scratched the back of his head and gave up on continuing his emo, also grinning as he joined the discussion about today's lunch.

After saying goodbye to Shibata Hayate, who was planning to play a little more, the four of them strolled from the gymnasium to the Keyaki Shopping Center, chatting and browsing. Once they found a shop they liked and sat down, Kitagawa Ryo proactively handed them the menu.

"You guys order first, I'll just grab something to tide me over."

"Hmm? What's wrong? Don't you have anything you want to eat here?"

"Not at all."

At this point, Kitagawa Ryo couldn't help but sigh:

"I'll need to eat another bento box when I get back."

Seeing the other three looking quite puzzled, Kitagawa Ryo briefly explained to them:

"Rin prepares my lunch every day now. I've been hanging out with the students from Class B for the past few days, and we usually find a place to eat together at noon, just like today. But Rin always makes me a meal, so it's been like this for a while now."

"Can't we save it for dinner?"

"These past two nights, Hui has been calling me over to give her special treatment."