Shiina Hiyori and I Are Dating

"A very nice name."

Perhaps because of Kiryuin Fuka sitting next to her, Karuizawa Kei answered with a certain detachment.

"This is a second-year student from the Kiryuin."

Noticing Karuizawa Kei's reserve, Kitagawa Ryo took the initiative to introduce her.

"Nice to meet you, I'm Karuizawa Kei, First Year."

Karuizawa Kei quickly greeted her. The aura emanating from the other woman made her a little nervous. When the other woman's purple eyes lingered on her for a moment, her heart seemed to beat a little faster.

"Hello."

Fortunately, it was short-lived; Kiryuin Fuka withdrew her scrutinizing gaze and pouted, saying:

"Sit over there."

"Huh?"

Originally, Karuizawa Kei and Kiryuin Fuka were sitting side by side in a row, having a face-to-face conversation with Kitagawa Ryo. But now, Kiryuin Fuka gestured for Karuizawa Kei to sit next to Kitagawa Ryo, leaving her somewhat at a loss.

"She just likes a bit of space so she can cross her legs and stretch her arms."

Kitagawa Ryo chuckled and shook his head, explaining as he moved slightly to the left:

"Please come sit down here."

Karuizawa Kei nodded and sat down next to Kitagawa Ryo, holding her skirt.

Just as Kitagawa Ryo had predicted, Kiryuin Fuka unceremoniously crossed her legs, stretched out her arms, and leaned back on the cushion, asking:

"Karuizawa... I'll call you Karuizawa then. I remember you were one of the winners of the Werewolf Game."

"Over 20 million points, wow, I'm a little envious."

Stretching and showing off her beautiful upper body curves without reservation, Kiryuin Fuka closed one eye and sized up Karuizawa Kei:

Are you planning to transfer to another class? Or are you staying to avoid a possible expulsion?

"Of course, I was just asking out of curiosity. If you don't want to tell me, that's fine too."

Kiryuin Fuka didn't seem to intend to make things too Karuizawa Kei.

"..."

"I haven't decided yet."

So Karuizawa Kei deftly changed the subject, recovering from her earlier shock, and her tone became relaxed again:

"How do you plan to use Liang?"

Because they were sitting in the same row, Karuizawa Kei turned slightly to the side when she asked the question, and this small movement caused her calf to touch Kitagawa Ryo Karuizawa Kei's calf.

"I've already used it, otherwise you wouldn't be able to see Ying here."

Kitagawa Ryo answered while biting on a straw:

"I used 20 million points to buy Ying a student status. Theoretically, I can even take it to class."

Of course, Kitagawa Ryo wouldn't go so far as to do such a thing.

Karuizawa Kei probably didn't expect Kitagawa Ryo to spend 20 million Private Points so casually. She thought hard for a long time before finally commenting:

"It has a very cool style."

"It seems that Ryo really likes... 'Hotaru'?"

"When I passed by here just now, that kitten jumped into my arms, and I didn't even have time to react."

Karuizawa Kei skillfully used interpersonal communication techniques to bridge the gap between the two through shared topics.

"That being said, the name 'Firefly' really suits it."

Was it chilled?

I want to name it Firefly.

"Is it nice to listen to?"

Is it because its pupils are fluorescent?

"Perhaps there is one reason for this."

The girl tilted her head and touched the kitten she had just picked up a few days ago. It was bald in patches and looked terribly ugly. Because it had almost lost all its fur, the two of them couldn't even tell what kind of kitten it was. Its only distinctive feature was its fluorescent eyes.

That's why she named it Ying (萤) immediately.

"I think this name is great."

Kitagawa Ryo nodded:

Have you ever heard of the phrase "rotten grass turns into fireflies"?

"Huh? No."

Karuizawa Kei shook her head.

"It's an ancient China story. People used to think that fireflies were transformed from rotten grass roots, but in fact, they just lay their eggs there."

"Although it's a wrong way of saying it, I still think it's a beautiful mistake."

Even decaying weeds can serve as fireflies, illuminating summer nights throughout the year.

"I hope the little one... no, I mean, Hotaru, can survive this summer."

Some memories from the past flashed through my mind.

Kitagawa Ryo also turned to look at Karuizawa Kei, and the two of them were now facing each other again.

But it's different from sitting face-to-face at opposite ends of a table.

This posture, where people sit on the same side, turning their bodies to face each other, is very much like the prelude to a kiss.

Karuizawa Kei's eyes flashed with the most genuine question.

"Yes, I'm the one who gave it that name."

"Isn't it nice?"

The past is meaningless; let it be reborn like decaying grass turning into fireflies.

Chapter 55: I'm dating Shiina Hiyori

[Chapter 2 Completion Objective: Find and correct Karuizawa Kei's personality weaknesses until she can survive independently at Tokyo Koudo Ikusei High School]

Kitagawa Ryo always remembered his ultimate goal.

Similar to Ichinose Honami, both of them have a certain degree of personality distortion, and tracing back to their origins, they are closely related to their living environment from childhood. Both of their life experiences have a key turning point. The former committed the act of stealing hair clips for her younger sister, which indirectly led to her atoning mentality after entering high school, while the latter was the stab she committed in middle school.

The second simulation left a deep impression on him. It was the Karuizawa Kei was born after being bullied for three years. She seemed sensible and clever, but all of this was based on her dependence on others.

Karuizawa Kei is a girl with very strong endurance; in other words, she has a remarkably resilient personality.

The horror of school bullying lies in its unlimited backstabbing. Once the first person strikes, the victim is branded with a mark of humiliation, as if bees are signaling to their companions with their scent. Others will then swarm in to inflict further violence, because they know that the person has already been bullied.

They might think, "We've already been bullied before, so what's one more time?"

On the contrary, bullying someone who has already been bullied at school only makes them feel more at ease, because they don't feel it's their fault. On the one hand, this is because of the sense of security that comes from placing individual behavior within group behavior, since everyone else is doing it; on the other hand, it's because they can comfort themselves that since they didn't start it, the whole thing has nothing to do with them, and they're just joining in the fun and going with the flow.

Therefore, school bullying will basically only show a trend of increasing month by month, and the number of people involved and the degree of violence will only increase rather than decrease. Under such circumstances, being able to grit your teeth and persevere for a year is enough to prove that Karuizawa Kei is not such a fragile existence.

But that stab still pierced through all her defenses and self-deception.

School bullying is often disguised as "minor squabbles between classmates" or "jokes between friends." Emotional abuse and physical violence occur simultaneously. If an outsider who is unaware of the situation witnesses it, the bullies will naturally put their arms around the victim's shoulder and say that they were just playing around.

Unable to fight back, the bullied may even willingly accept this distorted narrative in order to survive, as if they were truly friends and just playing around. This may sound unbelievable, but if one doesn't believe it, even the slightest plea will cease to exist.

Passively waiting for the bullying to end, either separating after moving on to a higher school, or hoping the other person will suddenly change their mind, because no matter what they do, they will be abused, so they might as well hurt themselves first in order to gain a little bit of sympathy.

Kitagawa Ryo has seen many such examples.

Karuizawa Kei initially held the same idea.

Acceptance and apology.

I believe things will change in the future and the situation will improve.

Then all of that was destroyed by that almost fatal blow.

It truly made Karuizawa Kei experience the terror between life and death, and the concept of school bullying suddenly changed from "minor squabbles" to something deadly.

Even though that stab didn't take Karuizawa Kei's life, and even though she never encountered another bully who stabbed her in the abdomen in the two years that followed.

However, as long as the scar from that knife wound remains, it will be difficult for Karuizawa Kei to move on.

Like the Sword of Damocles, the scars will constantly remind Karuizawa Kei of her past.

Don't resist, just endure it obediently.

Otherwise, you might die.

All this information was obtained from the other party during the second simulation, so when Kitagawa Ryo entered Karuizawa Kei's personal chapter, his first thought was to avoid this attack.

Therefore, in the fourth simulation, he did his best to protect Karuizawa Kei, helping her emerge from the shadow of school bullying.

However, it still didn't end well.

Due to the influence of her innate "Single-minded," Kitagawa Ryo, who endlessly doted on Karuizawa Kei, became her most perfect host.

From that time onward, Karuizawa Kei's personal "independence" became nothing but empty talk.

From this perspective, the fourth simulation was already a complete dead end after the talent was completely extracted.

That's why Kitagawa Ryo didn't choose to retain the seemingly powerful golden talent "One Single-minded." It might suit Ichinose Honami, but it's not suitable for Karuizawa Kei.

In this instance, Kitagawa Ryo watched Karuizawa Kei grow up indifferently, initially having no intention of interfering.

However, in the end, he did not fully implement this idea and become involved in Karuizawa Kei's life.

The reason is simple.

On one hand, Ryo would suggest to himself that this was just a virtual world, and the character's experiences were stories written by scriptwriters, like puppets jumping on a stage. He didn't need to invest too much emotion in the characters in the story; he only needed to find the key points to pass the level.

However, it is precisely because this is a false world that Ryo is able to realize that he possesses the ability to change the course of events.

The need to survive forced Liang to skip his adolescence. Before he could properly experience youth, his time had already come to a hasty end, pushing him into a half-baked adulthood.

Everyone's life has several key turning points.

Time will push everyone through, whether actively or passively. Those who overcome obstacles through their own efforts will find their path becoming smoother, while those who are pushed and dragged along, stumbling and crawling, can only continue forward. Perhaps in the future, you will have the opportunity to patch things up.

But the dense stitches will only remind you that this is a sign of failure.

So at that moment, he snatched the knife from the girl's hand, turned around, and stabbed her in the abdomen.

"And then it's something you all know."

Ryuen Kakeru put down his cup. He didn't seem to like the bitter taste of coffee, and smacked his lips, saying:

"Beichuan was detained for assault. Because the incident caused a great stir at the time, the school was unable to suppress it."

"At that time, it seemed that one person was seriously injured and more than a dozen people were slightly injured. However, Kitagawa was also seriously injured, and the entire investigation and interrogation of the case took place in the hospital."

"But they wouldn't let people in. I wandered around outside for a long time but couldn't find a chance to go in."

Ryuen Kakeru glanced at the white-haired girl sitting beside him, elegantly sipping tea:

"You probably know more about what happened after that, Sakayanagi."

"Um."

"My family has some reputation in the education sector, so I heard about this case from my father."

Sakayanagi Arisu placed the teacup back, folded her hands on her lap, and replied:

"I got involved because I thought it looked interesting."

I hate your modifiers.

Ryuen Kakeru glared at Sakayanagi Arisu with some displeasure. His eyes were quite fierce, but Sakayanagi Arisu didn't seem to be intimidated at all. She just covered her mouth and chuckled softly.