I have a life simulator.

"Send it to the next morning? The weather should be fine now."

"I'll eat breakfast with Arisu."

"...Sorry, we've never encountered this situation before, and we're afraid we can't help you with that."

Watching Sudo Ken and the others, who were displaying the same "Heh, so complicated, too bad I don't understand love" expression in front of him with perfect understanding, Kitagawa Ryo couldn't help but chuckle. After all, he hadn't mentioned that he still had to support Shiina Hiyori and feed her regularly every day.

"By the way, speaking of Horikita, has anyone noticed that she's changed a bit lately?"

While waiting for the food to be served, Akito Miyake also took the initiative to talk about Suzune Horikita.

"Horikita? I don't know. In my memory, she's always busy with student council matters. She basically goes there every time school is over. It seems like she's still working overtime to handle things even now that she's on vacation. She looks so tired."

Ken Sudo gulped down the hot water that had been brought in advance and casually remarked on what most of the students in Class A thought about Suzune Horikita.

"That's why I didn't join any clubs."

Albert Yamada nodded in agreement and briefly expressed his opinion in Japanese, which was much more fluent than when he started school. In fact, given his physical qualities and conditions, almost all the sports clubs in Dongyuli would have been open to him unconditionally. However, he had never been interested in participating in club activities, so he had not joined any of them.

"That's what they say, but I ran into Horikita on the street yesterday when I went out. She was actually talking to Sato from our class. Do you guys think something like that would have happened before?"

"Is that so? I remember that Horikita only talked to you, Kitagawa, in class, and didn't really talk to the other boys and girls."

"Um, I need to correct something here. Although I often tease Rinne for being completely unsocial, her personality and interpersonal skills are actually quite good."

Upon hearing this, Kitagawa Ryo raised his hand to defend his own Suzune.

Actually, compared to the original version of Rin, Kitagawa Ryo thinks that the current Rin is definitely not the kind of person who is difficult to get along with. However, she does have a naturally aloof face and a rather dignified temperament. In addition, she is indeed busy with student council work, so it is not surprising that she leaves such a general impression on her classmates.

"He's a gentle guy who will instinctively speak up for his girlfriend even when she's not around—"

"Where did they learn such strange talk? I'm speechless."

Kitagawa Ryo gave Miyake Akito a slightly amused glare and then took a sip of his water.

Through a few conversations with Sudo and the other two, he once again confirmed that in terms of popularity in the class, Suzune's base of support was indeed significantly smaller than that of Sakayanagi Arisu. After all, Arisu had a die-hard fan like Matsushita Chiaki to cheer her on, while Suzune had already started to campaign for herself in a premeditated manner, but in fact, she was already much slower to get started.

Before long, the dishes that each person had ordered were brought over by the waiter. The four boys were all big eaters, and they had been tired all morning, so they quickly finished their first serving.

Aside from Kitagawa Ryo, who needed to save room for her stomach, the three of them, still not satisfied, continued to place orders without stopping. Watching them earnestly studying the menu and enthusiastically recommending each other, Kitagawa Ryo relaxed and leaned back on the cushion behind her, stretching comfortably and preparing to close her eyes for a short rest.

But then, he felt a slight vibration coming from the glass next to him. The person standing there gently tapping on the glass window was none other than Horikita Suzune, whom he had just mentioned.

The other person was standing there straight, wearing a beige scarf made by the same person as him, and naturally the same style. When Kitagawa Ryo opened his eyes and noticed him, he subconsciously spoke up, but the glass in the restaurant was quite soundproof, so Kitagawa Ryo couldn't hear what the other person was saying at all.

But soon, Horikita Suzune came up with a solution.

She crouched down slightly, aligning her gaze with that of Kitagawa Ryo sitting inside. Then she gently breathed in his direction, her warm breath quickly forming a layer of condensation on the cool glass, blurring Kitagawa Ryo's vision inside the shop.

But then, he saw Rin extend her right hand, place her slender index finger there, and begin to draw clear strokes on the layer of white mist until the clear characters appeared completely before Kitagawa Ryo's eyes:

"come out."

The girl's purplish-red eyes were clear and bright in each stroke of the brush. Her long, flowing hair was lightly tied around her neck with a scarf, the front of which was slightly curved near her profile. Combined with the fluffy bangs on her forehead, the soft curves seemed to complement and support her delicate face.

Kitagawa Ryo felt his heart race unconsciously.

He once again deeply understood why the firefly chose winter as the season for its bell sound.

Chapter 389: Foolish Couple

"What a coincidence, what are you doing here today, Lingyin?"

After greeting Kenjiro Sudo and the others and explaining the situation, Ryo Kitagawa also walked out of the restaurant and sat down side by side with Suzune Horikita on a bench next to the passageway outside the shop. In this shopping area, you can find such an area where customers can rest temporarily every two steps. Because it is winter, the school has specially installed soft cotton cushions and backrests, so the experience is quite comfortable.

"I came here to buy some things, but I didn't expect to see that it was cold."

Horikita Suzune pointed to the shopping bag placed at her feet, which seemed to contain some ingredients or seasonings.

"Actually, I also bought two jackets, but it was too inconvenient to carry them around, so I asked the store to send them to my dorm room by express delivery."

As one of the top high schools in the country, Tokyo Advanced Educational High School, situated on an entire artificial island overseas, is larger than many universities in terms of area. To ensure students' quality of life and shopping experience, almost all shops in the Keyaki Shopping Center offer home delivery services, so Kitagawa Ryo didn't pay much attention to it.

"Actually, there's no need to go to so much trouble. Just call me over. I'm strong enough to carry two bags for you, Lingyin."

Upon hearing Kitagawa Ryo's unwavering response, Horikita Suzune's face revealed a satisfied smile, but she still unconsciously uttered a haughty remark:

"After all, Ryo has felt like she's never had any time since winter break started. Before, I could spend time with Ryo during lunch and grocery shopping in the afternoon, but now she's nowhere to be seen... Hmm, is Ryo eating the food I cook properly?"

"Well, I managed to finish it all."

Faced with Horikita Suzune's 'accusation', Kitagawa Ryo himself was somewhat helpless. Even though he was a seasoned time management master, there were still 24 hours in a day, and he couldn't magically create one or two extra hours every day. Sometimes it was indeed difficult to take everyone's feelings into consideration.

"It's the same today. I was still thinking about this while I was eating with Sudo and the others inside, so I deliberately didn't order a second serving with them."

After Kitagawa Ryo gave her a brief explanation, Horikita Suzune's initial resentment dissipated considerably, and she readily and decisively apologized as well.

"...Well, I've been quite busy lately too, so you can't entirely blame Liang."

As she spoke, Horikita Suzune reached out and touched the scarf Kitagawa Ryo was wearing around his neck:

"Because it was rushed out at the last minute, there wasn't much time to put much thought into the style and patterns, but it should be practical. What do you think, Liang?"

"It's quite warm; I feel like I can't live without it all winter."

"Ah That's good."

After receiving a satisfactory reply, Horikita Suzune breathed a sigh of relief.

"And it's even a matching couple's item with Lingyin."

After glancing at the scarf that Horikita Suzune was wearing, which was exactly the same style as hers, Kitagawa Ryo added this comment.

"Can this really be considered a couple's outfit? They're just the most basic styles, and the colors are so monotonous."

Horikita Suzune seemed to have some difficulty understanding this kind of knowledge. She looked down at her scarf with a puzzled expression and her tone was somewhat doubtful.

"The so-called couple's outfits are just clothes that make it obvious to everyone that the two people are a couple. At least 70 or 80 percent of the students in the whole school know that Lingyin and I are dating. So, in reverse, no matter what style of clothes Lingyin and I wear, it can be said to be a couple's outfit."

Seeing Horikita Suzune completely bewildered by his sophistry, Kitagawa Ryo smiled and leaned closer to her, whispering in her ear:

"Of course, there are actually better ways to make it obvious at a glance that they are matching couple scarves."

"what?"

As Horikita Suzune subconsciously muttered something under her breath, she immediately felt a lightness around her neck. The scarf that had been tied there had been untied and taken off by Kitagawa Ryo. Before she could even ask him a question, she saw Kitagawa Ryo take off his scarf on his own. Then she felt his hand, which had come around from behind and was resting on her other shoulder, exert a little force, and her entire center of gravity shifted towards him. When she came to her senses, Horikita Suzune was already wrapped in the warmth of the same scarf, her head close to Kitagawa Ryo's face.

"Look, this way, people can immediately recognize that this is definitely a pair of silly lovers in the throes of new love."

"...Is the reason for deliberately adding the prefix 'idiot' because you already know that you look quite stupid from other people's perspectives?"

"Don't worry about that—come on, Ringo, look at the camera."

Faced with Kitagawa Ryo, who had already taken out his phone from his pocket and opened the camera mode in front of her, Horikita Suzune could only awkwardly pull her gaze back from unconsciously shifting away to observe the reactions of the people around them. However, in this close and intimate situation, even such a small movement of turning her face slightly could clearly make her feel the touch of the other's skin. Even without deliberately glancing at the camera screen, just by listening to the whispers of the other students passing by, Horikita Suzune could clearly realize that her face must be flushed.

Having found the right angle and focused, Kitagawa Ryo easily took a pretty perfect headshot of the two of them. Although his daily presence is almost zero, he does have the mysterious talent of a 'photographer' who seems to be able to collaborate with the set of "Kaguya-sama: Love Is War". Taking such everyday photos is quite easy for him.

"I sent it to Lingyin. It's fine to use it as wallpaper or profile picture—"

After the little incident involving the scarf and the photo, the atmosphere between the two warmed up a bit. It's understandable, as Rin's personality is indeed a bit slow to warm up. However, teasing the other person from time to time because of this is one of Kitagawa Ryo's daily pleasures.

It has to be said that standing head to head with your boyfriend in a crowded shopping mall, tying the same scarf like idiots, is quite a test of courage. After a while, Horikita Suzune felt that she could ignore other people's stares and comments. Her brain, which was initially dizzy from embarrassment, gradually relaxed. She couldn't say anything and just stayed in that position with Kitagawa Ryo for a long time.

"...Does Ryo really think I can beat Arisu?"

A few minutes later, Kitagawa Ryo finally heard Horikita Suzune's question in his ear.

It can only be said that Sakayanagi Arisu had just asked him a similar question a few days ago. However, compared to the confident Arisu, Kitagawa Ryo could clearly feel that Suzune's confidence was slightly lacking. This was not because she was afraid of facing Sakayanagi Arisu before the battle, but mainly because there was an objective gap that did exist, and these gaps could not be bridged by simple determination and courage.

Therefore, when Horikita Suzune asked him this question, it wasn't like asking someone for courage in past simulations. What she actually wanted to hear was Kitagawa Ryo's opinion on the situation in Class A, as an 'outsider' who had already transferred to another class.

However, instead of providing a clear analysis of who had the upper hand and who was at a disadvantage, Kitagawa Ryo gave a rather vague prediction about the future situation of Class A:

"Both Suzune and Arisu actually had the opportunity to become leaders of Class A, or rather, for a period of time, before you two had both become leaders once, the first so-called nomination was actually meaningless."

Kitagawa Ryo was very clear about Sakayanagi Arisu's personality. Moreover, in Karuizawa Kei's simulation, he had experienced a period of life in the East Education Center that was different from the real world line. In that world line, Arisu was not interfered with by others, but was assigned to Class A, which led to a situation where two factions were opposed in Class A for a long time.

In fact, while Katsuragi Kohei was indeed an excellent student in all aspects, he was definitely not as good as Sakayanagi Arisu. However, Arisu was still willing to let him be the nominal leader of Class A for quite some time, like a cat playing with a mouse, until the other party led Class A to a crushing defeat in the special exam on the deserted island before he was able to unify the whole situation without bloodshed and become the true leader of Class A in the real sense.

In other words, Horikita Suzune is now somewhat like standing in the position corresponding to Katsuragi Kohei in that timeline. The outcome of her duel with Arisu can only be truly determined through an experiment called the Special Exam.

After all, the responsibility of a class leader is to lead the class through special exams, earn class points, and advance to the next class. Only through this path can all students be truly convinced. Neither Sakayanagi Arisu nor Horikita Suzune would want to accept a class like Class 1-C, which appears calm on the surface but is actually rife with hidden agendas and undercurrents.

After listening to Kitagawa Ryo's somewhat ambiguous words, Horikita Suzune frowned and pondered for a moment before understanding his meaning:

"That's it, I understand."

Then, she spoke to Kitagawa Ryo about something that happened inside the student council:

"Next semester, the student council will also be holding elections for vice president. If I can win, it will make things much easier for both my class activities and Liang's drama club."

Kitagawa Ryo nodded in agreement. Considering the timing, the promotion within the student council was indeed about to begin. After all, when they enrolled this April, the vice presidents were Nagumo Masaru and Kiriyama Ikuha, who had just entered their second year. So, before the new students enroll next April, a new batch of vice presidents would indeed have to be selected from among their first-year students.

"Theoretically speaking, Arisu, Katsuragi and Ayanokouji from Class C all have a chance to participate in this vice president election. However, the latter two joined the student council too late. They only became student council members in October of this year. They are not qualified enough in terms of both experience and grades. So, only Arisu and I are qualified to compete."

At this point, Horikita Suzune sighed again, somewhat helplessly:

"Actually, based on the situation in previous years, there should be two vice presidents. For example, the vice presidents in the last term were Nagumo and Kiriyama-senpai. Generally speaking, they should be the most disliked competitors. After all, there is only one president position. Whoever wins the election, the other person will either be kicked out of the student council as a loser or step down as vice president and become an ordinary member."

"But Liang should know about their relationship, so after Nagumo was promoted to student council president, Kiriyama's position did not change. This resulted in the vice president position, which should have been two vacant positions, becoming one when it came to our year. Otherwise, it would have been better if Arisu and I had filled in together."

"Moreover, unlike the election model for the student council president, the appointment of the vice president is basically directly promoted by the president. To put it more precisely, the president's preference will have a large weight in the actual election. Ryo is well aware that President Nagumo has been intentionally trying to curry favor with Arisu for quite some time now."

Horikita Suzune was naturally unaware of the meaning behind Nanono Masaru's actions. She assumed it was because her brother, Horikita Manabu, and the other party had never gotten along, but her tone was still somewhat melancholy.

Actually, before Kitagawa Ryo transferred classes, she didn't have any particular opinion about the vice president position. After all, Nagumo was unlikely to promote her, the younger sister of the former student council president who had opposing views. Anyway, when the next student council president election came a year later, Nagumo's interference would be minimized, and then they could compete fairly.

But plans do not always go as expected. With Kitagawa Ryo and Ichinose Honami transferring to different classes, at this delicate juncture where she has to compete with Sakayanagi Arisu for class leadership, the position of student council vice president, which Horikita Suzune originally did not care about, has become a somewhat crucial bargaining chip, and has instead become something she cares about.

"Actually, there's no need to worry too much about the ringtone."

"Hmm? Does Ryo intend to help me?"

"That won't do. My philosophy regarding this showdown between you and Arisu is to remain neutral. However, besides me, there will be others helping you. After all, he doesn't want the scales of victory to tip in one direction too early. Or rather, for him, the longer this division within Class A lasts, the better."

No sooner had Kitagawa Ryo finished speaking than Horikita Suzune astutely guessed the name of the other person he was referring to.

"Ayanokouji?"

"Yes, he and Nanyun have been in contact since the first semester. If he can find out Nanyun's current psychology, he will have the perfect excuse to take advantage of him."

At this point, Kitagawa Ryo smiled:

"After all, I've already demonstrated it to him once with a summer."

Without delving further into the topic, Kitagawa Ryo reached out and untied the scarf that resembled a red thread tied around his and Suzune's necks, gently retying it for them. He then put on his own scarf, took her hand, and stood up from the bench.

"Let's go, help Lingyin carry those two coats she bought back."

"Of course, it would be even better if I could take a look in the changing room first."

Chapter 390: On How to Subtly Express My Interest in Going to Your Room

A month-long winter vacation may not seem short, but as you actually spend it, it feels like the days slip through your fingers like sand, and before you know it, they've all gone. Especially after the new year ends and January begins, time seems to fly by. Looking back in a daze, you realize that less than half of the vacation is left.

Taking a sip of his hot drink, Kitagawa Ryo couldn't help but feel a pang of nostalgia as he watched the bustling crowds outside the window. Turning his head slightly, he noticed that Horikita Manabu, the person who had invited him over for a short visit, was also intently gazing out the window. The light from the shop reflected off his glasses, making it impossible for Kitagawa to discern what the leader of Class 3-A and former student council president was thinking.

"Heave-ho—all the food has been retrieved."

With two soft sounds, Tachibana Akane and Horikita Suzune, who had brought back their lunch for the four of them from the food counter with their receipts, carefully placed their trays on the table before pulling out chairs and sitting down. They quickly placed the food each person had ordered in front of them, along with the cutlery.

"Thank you, Lingyin."

Taking the spoon and chopsticks from Horikita Ryou, Kitagawa Ryo naturally thanked her. His future brother-in-law was indeed quite concerned about the progress of his relationship with Ryou. Almost every time he asked him to come out, he would make sure to bring Ryou along, emphasizing the need to create more time for the two of them to spend together.

However, such experiences will become memories of the past after a while. After all, with the arrival of the new year, the third-year students, including Horikita Manabu, only have less than three months left at Tokyo Advanced Educational High School. They will officially graduate from here at the end of March, which is just over two months away.

This was both their first winter and winter break at this school in their first year of high school, and the other's last winter and winter break at this school in their third year of high school.

Thinking about this, Kitagawa Ryo suddenly understood why his sister had said she didn't want to go to Dongyu when she left school to celebrate Hotaru's birthday not long ago. After all, Dongyu didn't have any rules or regulations related to repeating a year. Enduring two years of separation for a year of reunion was indeed a losing proposition.

"The main reason I invited you here today, Kitagawa, is to ask you about someone."

Perhaps it was because of the family precept of not speaking while eating or sleeping, or perhaps it was just a personal habit, but after finishing this lunch, which in a sense could be considered a family feast, Horikita Manabu took out a tissue to wipe the corner of his mouth and took the initiative to ask Kitagawa Ryo.

"Horikita-senpai is asking about Ayanokoji Kiyotaka, isn't he?"

Even after Kitagawa Ryo blurted out the name he wanted to ask, Horikita Manabu didn't show any surprise, simply nodding to confirm:

"It seems you really know him very well."

As he spoke, Horikita Manabu reached up and adjusted his glasses, which were perched on his nose, his gaze sharpening.

“Starting from winter break, or rather, even earlier, Ayanokouji has been interfering in various matters concerning the third-year students. If it was just minor interference at first, after the sports festival, it was as if he had suddenly grasped the three lower-ranked third-year classes in his hands.”

"Yeah, I don't know what's wrong with them. They seemed like they were going to accept the current situation and just lie down until graduation, but then they became very active again and kept causing trouble for our Class A."

As soon as Horikita Manabu finished speaking, Tachibana Akane, who was sitting next to her, added a remark with some dissatisfaction, looking rather troubled.