I have a life simulator.

Meanwhile, Kitagawa Ryo, who had regained his mobility after the human wall disappeared, naturally wouldn't give the girls a chance to stay. Moreover, with Asahina Nazuna helping to block him, he vanished without a trace in the blink of an eye, leaving them only with a back view that was getting farther and farther away and could never be caught up with again.

With Kitagawa Ryo gone, there was no point in continuing to entangle with Asahina Nazuna and Kiryuin Kaede. After consoling himself with this rather self-deprecating explanation, Suzuki gathered the girls back together to prepare for their retreat, but as usual, he left behind a harsh remark:

“From today onwards, you are the traitors of the entire second year.”

"If I had to say, I was already one during the sports festival."

Kiryuin Fuuka simply whistled indifferently, while Asahina Nazuna, still trying to dissuade the girls, continued:

“Nan Yun is not the same Nan Yun as before. He no longer cares about the so-called class, grade, or even the school. Naturally, he wouldn’t care about you either. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have asked you to do something that would definitely violate school rules and could even lead to your expulsion.”

As it turns out, you can never wake someone who is pretending to be asleep. Even though Asahina Nazuna's tone was quite sincere and her words were reasonable, the other person still showed no intention of turning back. On the contrary, the more she was persuaded, the more her rebellious mentality was aroused, leading to a fantasy that she would not hesitate to offend the whole world for her brother. With several like-minded people around, Kiryuin Fuuka felt like she had watched a whole episode of how a fandom is formed.

"Forget about them, let's go."

Pulling aside Asahina Nagisa, who hadn't yet grasped the principle of 'giving up the desire to help others and respecting their fate,' Kiryuin Fuuka quickly led her away from the forest, preparing to continue forward to reunite with Kitagawa Ryo.

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

On the other side, Kitagawa Ryo, who had just dodged the first wave of attacks from the second-year girls, also breathed a sigh of relief. Because he had been delayed for a while, he should now be at the back of the group. Looking around, he could see mostly students from all grades with BMIs that were either too high or too low, walking and stopping frequently. However, there were also some who wanted to conserve their energy during the uphill section of the first half of the race to speed up in the second half. Then there were couples who wanted to take advantage of this mixed-gender outdoor training exercise to have a good chat with their partners.

"What's the situation now?"

To Kitagawa Ryo's surprise, Sakayanagi Arisu was also in this formation. After seeing him emerge from the forest from the side, she stroked a strand of hair behind her ear with interest, jogged over to his side, and asked him this question directly.

"We've passed the first hurdle, but I wonder what other tricks they have up their sleeves."

At this point, Kitagawa Ryo, somewhat curious, asked Sakayanagi Arisu a question:

"But what's Arisu doing here?"

"Just gathering information, and also conserving some energy, since I didn't sleep well last night."

As if to prove her point, Sakayanagi Arisu covered her mouth and yawned slightly, her eyes showing obvious signs of drowsiness.

“Arisu seemed to have returned to the dorm quite early last night.”

"Yes—I was pretty early, but my roommate Shiina hasn't come back yet. Do you think I'll be able to sleep?"

Looking at Sakayanagi Arisu, who was frowning and complaining in a drawn-out tone, Kitagawa Ryo really wanted to say something like, "It's a good thing you're not in the same dorm as Ichika, or you wouldn't have been able to sleep all night." But what came out in the end was just a simple word of comfort. Little did he know that Sakayanagi Arisu herself was also telling a little lie. After all, the reason she couldn't sleep last night, besides what she had told him, was actually because of the burning desire in her heart that she had stirred up and that Kitagawa Ryo had ignited. It had been burning hot in her chest and lower abdomen until the middle of the night.

"So, Arisu, have you gathered any valuable information yet?"

Seeing that Arisu Sakayanagi suddenly fell silent, Kitagawa Ryo assumed that she didn't want to delve any deeper into what happened last night, so he took the initiative to change the subject.

"Not yet... Never mind, Liang, you should set off quickly. I'll have someone notify you if there's anything urgent."

Somewhat agitated, Sakayanagi Arisu awkwardly turned her head away. Perhaps it was because the bizarre fantasies she had had in the early hours of the morning still lingered in her mind, making her feel uneasy when facing Kitagawa Ryo. It wasn't that she had lost the boldness she had a few hours ago; it was simply that she realized, or rather, she had noticed, that their relationship had been stuck at this point for a very long time.

"Alright, then I'll leave it to Arisu."

Kitagawa Ryo couldn't stay in the latter half of the team forever. After all, the second-year girls were targeting him to undermine his grades. If he hesitated because he was worried about what they might do to him, he would only be playing into their hands.

And so, after saying goodbye to Sakayanagi Arisu, who was hanging alone at the back of the main group, Kitagawa Ryo continued his journey. Although he wanted to call back his left and right protectors, he had no means of communication at the moment. Kitagawa Ryo could only greet the familiar Class A and Class B classmates he encountered along the way and ask them to inform the others when they saw Asahina Nazuna and Kiryuin Fuka.

Nan Yunya seemed determined to avoid him. Since the start of this mixed training camp special exam, Kitagawa Ryo hadn't had a single direct encounter with him. Instead, he kept sending his subordinates to harass him. First, it was Mizowaki and Tonogawa from the boys, and now it's the girls. Although their endless tricks haven't really hurt Kitagawa Ryo yet, they've certainly annoyed him. He felt it would be better to have a fair and square competition in front of the entire school, like the final event of the sports festival, the inter-grade relay race.

"Kitagawa!"

Just as Kitagawa Ryo was running forward, a somewhat familiar voice suddenly came from his side, calling his name in a very anxious tone.

However, this time it wasn't some unfamiliar senior from the second year, but rather Kamuro Masumi from Class C of the first year.

Although Horikita Manabu had warned him on the first night after the special exam officially began, "If you plan to aim for first place in the whole school, don't trust any student, even those in the same grade, class, or group," Kitagawa Ryo instinctively stopped and asked, thinking about his old friendship with Kamuro since the beginning of the school year (although he hadn't contacted him since).

"What's wrong?"

"This, this long-distance run."

Because she was running quite fast, Masumi Kamuro's voice was unusually stammering:

"Besides the second and third year students, don't trust any of the students in our C class or even the D class."

"Especially our class, because I heard that Ayanokouji and Nagumo Masashi made a deal. As long as we do as he says, the five or six million personal points that our class still owes him, including principal and interest, can all be canceled!"

Chapter 413: Sakayanagi Arisu’s Ambition

As the only class among the twelve classes across three grades at Tokyo Advanced Educational High School to be burdened with a debt of one million personal points, Class 1-C successfully advanced to the next grade after the cultural festival. However, the scar left from the sports festival was undoubtedly still unhealed. Especially after Nagumo Masaru used this debt contract to threaten and take away all the criticism votes during the special class election at the end of the school year, all the students who still wanted the class to improve realized the importance of solving this problem as soon as possible, otherwise they didn't know how they would be hindered in the future.

That is why, when Kiyotaka Ayanokouji offered to solve the problem that had been troubling the class for months, all the strength of Class C would be restored to a unified whole, just like when they were the superior Class A, firmly held in the other's hands and at his beck and call.

The apparent decline of Class C in 2019 was that Kohei Katsuragi, as the class leader, lost the trust of some students, especially the girls. However, this never meant that these students had really lost faith in the class as a whole, since they were the original Class A's configuration and student body.

Therefore, even Masumi Kamuro and Ai Morishita, who harbored resentment towards Kiyotaka Ayanokoji himself, could not voice any objections in the context of resolving the class's growing pains in one fell swoop. After all, the burden of millions of personal points debt made them feel restricted in every way, severely limiting the class's further development.

The interests of the collective can sometimes easily override individual thoughts, especially in an environment like Tokyo Advanced Educational High School. For example, Katsuragi Kohei and Kitagawa Ryo are good friends, but when it comes to issues related to class competition, neither of them will show any mercy to the other. This is also a necessary responsibility that they must bear as class leaders.

Kamuro Masumi also knew that she shouldn't have said these things to Kitagawa Ryo. Based on that alone, it wouldn't be surprising if she were labeled a 'class traitor' or a 'hidden spy'.

"...I'm just returning the favor I did for you when school started. I'm leaving now."

Perhaps feeling a little embarrassed by Kitagawa Ryo's gaze, or perhaps simply not wanting others to see her meeting with him alone, Kamuro Masumi whispered this rather tsundere-esque remark before running away like the wind. As the best girl in Class C in terms of physical fitness, her physical abilities were comparable to Suzune's.

After Masumi Kamuro came and went like the wind, Ryo Kitagawa began to ponder what she had just said.

If he wasn't mistaken, Kiyotaka Ayanokouji's confrontation with the entire Class C students must have taken place this morning, or rather, just now. If it had happened earlier, Yosuke Hirata, who was in the same group as him, would have warned him first. However, Kiyotaka Ayanokouji must have considered the existence of spies within the class, which is why he used this method of issuing a notice and taking immediate action to catch them off guard.

As for Kamuro Masumi's mention of Class D in addition to Class C, Kitagawa Ryo wasn't surprised at all.

To reiterate, the unique system of Tokyo Advanced Educational High School is what it is. Even if his relationship with Ryuen Sho is even warmer than that with Katsuragi Kohei, and even if the two of them had a tacit 80/20 split in the public bathhouse just a few days ago, just like how he used greater benefits to make Ryuen Sho a double agent between him and Ayanokoji Kiyotaka during the special exam on the deserted island, in this kind of special exam involving the interests of each class, personal feelings must give way. After all, even Karuizawa Kei spent almost half a year laying the groundwork and spending a lot of time and energy to transfer him to her class.

"Did they choose to join forces again, just like in the early stages of the deserted island incident last time?"

After muttering this to himself, Kitagawa Ryo rubbed his temples with a headache. In fact, the random group assignment mode of this special exam had already ensured harmony between classes as much as possible, since the number of students from each class in each group was equal. However, the problem lay in the individual ranking reward, which was separate from the group ranking and the overall group ranking.

While the 50 class points and 1 million personal points for first place may not seem like much at first glance, the extra rule of doubling the card draw bonus, combined with Kitagawa Ryo's ability to reach the daily limit of three card draws, means that after drawing two 0.3 enhancement cards and one protection card on the fourth day yesterday, his multiplier has increased to 2.2, doubling his total to 160 class points and 3.2 million personal points. Moreover, he still has two days' worth of cards to draw, and on the last day, he is guaranteed to get a 0.5 enhancement card. In the end, his class points will undoubtedly become even more terrifying, especially since his third group and third major group are both ranked high, allowing him to obtain some additional basic class points.

For first-year students who are not in Class B, the award for first place in the whole school can be won by second-year students and third-year students, but only Kitagawa Ryo, who is also a first-year student, cannot win it. It is no exaggeration to say that even the current Class A of the first year would not agree to it, because if Kitagawa Ryo gets the points, Class B may directly overtake them and pull them down from their leading position in less than a semester.

After all, although Kitagawa Ryo had a good relationship with them on the surface, and even kept the class group chat, Kitagawa Ryo was now a student in Class B. Since they didn't know or were not sure if he would transfer back to Class A, Class A naturally wanted to firmly maintain their position.

Unlike Chiyo Maezono last time, the current Class A students have a perfectly legitimate reason: to fight for the class.

In that instant, a thought suddenly flashed through Kitagawa Ryo's mind.

He and Suzune might have been tricked into going there by Arisu.

The bet between Sakayanagi Arisu and Horikita Suzune in this special exam was essentially a competition for the position of class leader. The outcome of the group was just a pretext. So while Suzune was being tricked into organizing the group to get points, Arisu went straight to winning people over.

But this is actually a second layer of deception.

Arisu's goal from the beginning was to compete for the class leadership.

Winning over girls is for the sake of prestige, but besides prestige, class leaders need even more important talents.

Then.

The quickest way to showcase your talents to your classmates...

"Of course, it's about defeating the previous leader of this class."

Kitagawa Ryosuke let out a breath; he finally understood what Arisu meant by 'gathering intelligence'.

The information collected by the other party, or rather, the information they need to confirm.

It's actually about his location and condition.

Chapter 414: Go and deal with Tianze Yixia

Just as Kitagawa Ryo suddenly realized that Sakayanagi Arisu was setting a trap, using Horikita Suzune as a cover to deceive him as well, Asahina Nazuna and Kiryuin Fuka, having finally escaped the clutches of the second-year girls, emerged from the forest and returned to the main path of their field training exercise. They happened to see a group of first-year girls jogging at a steady pace nearby. Asahina Nazuna's eyes lit up, and she quickly walked over, calling out one of their names in a cheerful tone:

"Matsushita-kun—"

"Oh, it's Asahina-senpai. Is there something you need?"

Matsushita Chiaki, whose name was called, stopped in her tracks, looking somewhat surprised. She was a student in the third group, just like Horikita Suzune, and belonged to the same large group as Asahina Nazuna. Therefore, she had interacted with Asahina Nazuna during the training camp exams over the past few days, and could be considered a friend.

"Have you seen Liang... no, I mean Beichuan from your old class?"

"Kitagawa? I haven't run into him, but I heard from someone that he was being bothered by a few second-year girls. They said he deliberately bumped into one of them while running, and they're probably arguing about it now. Apparently, they're going to call school staff to settle the matter."

After hearing Matsushita Chiaki's words, Asahina Nazuna's heart tightened instinctively. After a brief thank you, she hurriedly ran back to Kiryuin Fuuka's side, relayed what Fuuka had just said, and then anxiously asked:

"Should we turn back and check the situation quickly? Maybe we can help Liang a little."

"Don't worry."

Compared to the somewhat flustered Asahina Nazuna, Kiryuin Fuka remained calm and rational. As one of the very few second-year students who had never integrated into the group since entering school and had never signed a contract with Nagumo Masaru, the fact that she had been able to stay at Tokyo Advanced Educational High School without Nagumo Masaru finding an opportunity to expel her was not only due to her outstanding talents, but also inseparable from Kiryuin's seemingly carefree but actually meticulous personality. Especially after experiencing a series of pranks and traps by second-year students after the Sports Festival, her vigilance in this regard had reached an unprecedented level.

"We have no way of knowing whether these words are true or false right now. Are you very familiar with that first-year student?"

“We are students in the same group. We have met in class these past few days. She is also a student in Class 1-A and has a good relationship with Horikita and Sakayanagi.”

"That's not enough."

Faced with Asahina Nazuna's explanation, Kiryuin Fuuka simply shook her head, showing no intention of believing her at all.

"Given the current situation, even the students in Class B, where Kitagawa is currently, might not be able to fully trust him, let alone the students in Class A."

"Have you considered that if she gave us false information, and Liang is actually waiting for us up ahead, it would directly cause us to go in completely opposite directions and miss each other?"

As she spoke, Kiryuin Fuka turned her head and glanced back into the forest.

"Actually, I sensed someone was spying on us when I was inside. And the fact that we ran into a first-year student who knew where Kitagawa was right after we came out... It all seems too coincidental. And Asahina, didn't you notice that there wasn't a single student from Class 1-B among this group of girls? They were all girls from Class A, Class C, and Class D."

"Now that you mention it, it's true... Wait, I remember you, Kiryuin, didn't have any interaction with the first-year students at all, so how could you recognize which class they were in?"

Seeing the astonished look on Asahina Nazuna's face, Kiryuin Fuka simply waved her hand dismissively:

"I have to thank that student council president, Nagumo, for this. The OAA system is indeed quite useful in some aspects."

"...You didn't memorize all the students' information, names, and appearances, did you?"

"Is it that difficult? Kitagawa should have done that a long time ago."

"That's okay."

After being persuaded by Kiryuin Fuuka, Asahina Nazuna also abandoned her idea of ​​following Matsushita Chiaki's advice to turn back and find Kitagawa Ryo, and instead took the initiative to ask Kiryuin:

"What do we do now?"

"Just keep moving forward. Actually, compared to first and second grade, third grade A class is a more convenient source of information for us."

"it is good."

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

"Go and stall Tianze Yixia."

"Ah, me?"

Meanwhile, in another secluded grove, when faced with the sudden appearance of the new leader who seemed poised to officially take over the entire class and make this request, Kikyo Kushida was also momentarily stunned, her small mouth slightly agape, revealing an expression of extreme astonishment and even disbelief.

"Is there a problem? She's in the same group as you, so it's easy for you to find a reason, like she has bad living habits and makes a lot of noise at night, keeping all of you in the dorm from sleeping. Then just bring your friends who are willing to stand up for you over there."

As Kiyotaka Ayanokouji continued to add instructions in a calm tone, he was still carefully observing every change in Kushida Kikyo's expression and every detail of her movements. After all, he had never believed that the only traitor in Class 1-C was their homeroom teacher, Sae Chahashira. Among the remaining suspects, Kushida Kikyo had always been one of the most suspicious.

Especially after recruiting Yamamura Miki, a student with an extremely low profile but who was exceptionally talented at tracking others, among the girls in Class A, Ayanokouji Kiyotaka finally realized the other side hidden beneath Kushida Kikyo's glamorous exterior. It was precisely because of this that he wanted to test her further, which led to his words just now.

After all, Kiyotaka Ayanokouji himself knew Amazawa Ichika's background. Not to mention Kikyo Kushida, even if they sent the most capable and best-fighting girl in the class, Masumi Kamuro, and the most physically strong boy, Hayato Kito, together, they might not be able to stop this outstanding member of the fifth generation of the White Room.

However, if the goal is to target Kitagawa Ryo, Amasawa Ichika is someone who must be dealt with, since he is a troublesome individual who genuinely doesn't belong to any class or any other faction and is simply on Kitagawa Ryo's side.

"...Perhaps Ayanokouji-san doesn't know much about Amasawa-san's personality. This girl is actually a violent maniac. If we confront her like this, it might very well trigger an unnecessary violent incident, especially since we're still in the midst of special exams, right?"

Seeing that Kikyo Kushida was hesitant and trying to decline the assignment, Kiyotaka Ayanokouji simply lowered his eyes and continued to ask in a calm tone:

"Is that so? But how did Kushida-san know that Amasawa-san is a violent person? Have you ever been beaten up by her?"

"It's just an unpleasant experience from the past. Ayanokouji-san, there's no need to be so aggressive. Although everyone in the class follows your orders because they believe you can resolve the class debt issue with Student Council President Nagumo, it's still too much to act like this towards your classmates. Are you suspecting me of being the spy in the class?"

It must be said that Kikyo Kushida is indeed very strong in terms of mental fortitude. After a brief moment of distraction, she quickly regained her strength and tried to take back control of the conversation. She opened her mouth with a familiar set of smooth little moves: "Let's not talk about the matter first, is there something wrong with your attitude?" which left Kiyotaka Ayanokouji a little caught off guard.

After Ichinose Honami's reputation was inevitably affected by her confession and class transfer, Kushida Kikyo already considered herself the most popular girl in the entire Class C and even the entire grade. To put it bluntly, if she hadn't been unwilling to be the class leader who was prone to offending people, this position would never have been given to Katsuragi Kohei or even Ayanokouji Kiyotaka. It was precisely because she realized this that Kushida Kikyo found it somewhat unbearable that Ayanokouji Kiyotaka showed such an ordinary or indifferent attitude.

“I didn’t mean that. If Kushida-san really finds it difficult, I will naturally arrange for someone else to do it.”

Having obtained the information he wanted, Ayanokoji Kiyotaka did not intend to push Kushida Kikyo to her limit at this point, and thus, knowing when to stop, he also took a step back.

"Then I'll take my leave."

说罢，绫小路清隆也是毫不犹豫地转身离开，虽然从体育祭时他就已经看出来了栉田桔梗和天泽一夏之间可能存在着什么龌龊，不过到了今天也是终于得以确认，看来这位在班里人人敬爱的小天使应该是在过去的什么时候被天泽一夏给踏踏实实地痛揍过一顿，而且是那种足以留下心理阴影的地步。

As for the timing, it's not hard to guess. It's most likely during the special exam on the deserted island, because when she was at school, Kikyo Kushida's schedule was always packed, and she had almost no interaction with Ichika Amasawa.

So a new question arises: what exactly were the reasons that Amasawa Ichika chose to assault Kushida Kikyo? Was this action her own choice or was it instigated by Kitagawa Ryo? How much was the connection between the impetus for Kushida Kikyo's betrayal and this act of violence?

After observing for such a long time, Kiyotaka Ayanokouji believed that he had figured out part of Kushida Kikyo's personality. What she was pursuing was the vanity of being the center of attention. Even someone like Totsuka Yahiko could be treated with a gentle smile. In this respect, what she should fear was having this mask ripped off. This was Kushida Kikyo's weakness, and to control her, one should start from this point.