The Firefly Arc

So I answered that the main storyline starts at 200,000 words, because in my outline, it's about Karuizawa Kei's second mock exam to enter Tokyo Advanced Nurturing High School, and in the end, it's also around 200,000 words that Karuizawa Kei's second mock exam begins, and she enters ANHS School.

However, I later realized that I had misunderstood. The "main storyline" that readers wanted to see was different from the "simulation"—it was a real-life plot that actually happened. But at that time, I had already started the second simulation, so I had no choice but to bite the bullet and write it anyway.

The book was originally planned to have four simulated heroines: Ichinose Honami, Karuizawa Kei, Horikita Suzune, and Sakayanagi Arisu. The initial plan was to have them complete their simulations before moving on to the main storyline. However, due to constant pressure from readers (you can check the book reviews; there are at least a hundred questions about the main storyline), I had to add some of the originally planned simulation chapters for the latter two to Karuizawa Kei's second simulation, so that she could directly enter the main storyline after completing her simulation.

II. Regarding the plot of this volume. I wrote this volume with a lot of freedom and enjoyment because my principle for fan fiction is to avoid following the original storyline too closely. Otherwise, why would readers want to read fan fiction? So, whether it's the start with Class C, the scheme against Sudo at the beginning of the school year, framing Class B, leaking fake answers Midterm Exam, the four students from Class D dropping out, or the Uninhabited Island, it's basically all my own new design, and the response has been quite good.

The VIP Exam has always been the most difficult part to write in Classroom of the Classroom of the Elite fanfiction because the original work not only has complex rules but also ends very easily, leaving little room for entry. In fact, once you figure out the rules of the Japanese syllabary, you can basically pass the test. So, I designed a Werewolf myself.

As everyone knows, I ended up speeding up that part myself.

I'm quite satisfied with the Sports Festival. As a concluding scene, it filled in the storylines of Karuizawa Kei and Horikita Suzune, and completed the [torture of Nagumo] segment that's a must-have in Classroom of the Elite of the Three Kingdoms fanfiction. Then, the appearance of Hotaru, Ryuen Kakeru's struggle, Ayanokoji Kiyotaka's defection, Ichinose Honami's assistance—I wrote these scenes very smoothly because I had laid the groundwork beforehand. They all flowed naturally and didn't seem particularly abrupt.

The Boy's Abyss

Chapter 1: The Chapter of Hotaru

In August, this year's Fireworks Festival was finally held successfully after being postponed several times due to possible rainfall.

However, when it comes to Fireworks Festival, what usually comes to mind first is not fireworks.

Takoyaki, yakisoba, oden, balloon popping, ring toss, goldfish scooping, cotton candy, and Candy Apple.

For young children, these food and toys are probably more eye-catching.

Fourteen-year-old Liang swallowed hard, watching the aroma rising from the roadside stalls with the steam, before his eardrums were assaulted by children's screams.

Just as Liang was marveling at how energetic these five-, six-, seven-, and eight-year-old children were, how sharp their cries were, and how unreasonable they were when they ran around recklessly on the road, the little girl holding his hand shook his hand:

"Brother, I want to play that!"

Liang looked in the direction Ying was pointing and saw a ring toss stall. On the ground were either plush toys, glass products that looked very appealing under the lights, or plastic toys with gold or silver stickers. They were all little trinkets that weren't very popular but were liked by children.

Unlike the other pedestrians around them who were wearing Yukata, the brother and sister were only wearing identical white shirts and jeans, just different sizes. If you looked closely, you could see faint, now faded patterns on them.

"I want that bear."

In the very center of the stall stood a giant teddy bear, which stood out starkly against the surrounding trinkets. Liang couldn't help but Malice wonder if it was a secondhand item he'd found somewhere, but even if it was, it was probably the most valuable prize in this batch.

Many children are putting in a lot of effort to put the teddy bear on it, and it's hard for me to understand why some kids who aren't even as tall as the teddy bear are so obsessed with it.

"Because I felt that carrying such a big, big bear on the street would definitely make people envious!"

"Have you studied mind reading techniques?"

Liang twitched the corner of his mouth and looked at Ying, who was gesturing with her right hand beside him.

"Because my brother's thoughts are written all over his face."

The little girl looked no more than eleven or twelve years old. Her cheeks were somewhat thin and had an unhealthy pallor. What was most striking about her were her blinking eyes. Unlike the ordinary black pupils of the boy beside her, her pupils were a beautiful fluorescent color, so bright that they seemed to glow.

"Boss, how much for this ring?"

Although she complained that this kind of project was just a scam for kids, Liang could only shake her head and walk up to the stall owner because her younger sister was also a typical child who would throw a tantrum and whine when she saw something she wanted.

The numbers that came out of the other person's mouth immediately made Liang gasp for breath.

Almost subconsciously, he converted the money into an equivalent amount of food, or a fraction of a month's rent. Liang tried to maintain a smile and held up one finger to the stall owner in front of him.

"Ten?"

The stall owner chuckled and began removing the rings from his arms. He put all the rings on his arms, making him look like a tire man from a distance.

"One."

Liang said confidently.

"Minimum order of five."

Upon hearing this, the stall owner pursed his lips and stopped what he was doing.

"..."

Back beside his sister, he shrugged.

"I realized this was beyond our budget, so I rationally stopped this irrational purchase."

"Or we can think about it from another angle, for example, if Ying has ten rings in her hand right now."

"Smack."

"It's empty."

"Smack."

"Didn't hit the target again."

"Smack."

"All thrown away."

Before Liang could finish comforting Ying, another little girl next to them started sobbing first, pointing at Liang with her hand:

"Please stop talking, okay? Just say it once and I'll skip a slot..."

"Oh, I'm so sorry."

Liang wouldn't hold a grudge against a child, otherwise he wouldn't be able to take care of Ying by himself.

"What do you want? I can help you with that?"

"You... you just want to play around."

Although Liang appeared harmless at the moment, the little girl still clutched the remaining rings in her hands with a wary expression.

My dad is right next to me.

"My brother is really good at ring toss."

At this moment, Ying suddenly walked over and said, shaking her finger:

"If he can't get what you want, then I'll... I'll..."

Unfortunately, after struggling for a while, Ying still couldn't say what she was going to say, her face flushed. After all, the two of them together didn't have anything to offer as collateral.

"I'll let my brother be your brother for one day."

Seemingly to demonstrate the weight of this promise, Ying added, rather reluctantly:

"Daytime only."

The little girl holding the ring toss game asked in confusion:

What would I need your brother for?

"My brother knows a lot of things!"

When the topic turned to something she was good at, Ying raised her right hand high:

"She can do laundry, cook, tell stories... she can do a lot of things."

"Completely unappealing."

The girl flicked her ponytail and denied it.

"Ugh."

Ying pursed her lips, looking hurt and a little aggrieved.

Perhaps realizing she had gone too far, the girl suddenly softened and gave Hotaru a circle of space.

"Fine, here, you can have one."

"Thank you! Thank you so much for your concern for the Kitagawa Family. If..."

Ying quickly covered her mouth and spat a few times:

"Ahem, I've gotten used to saying it before."

However, the other person didn't seem to notice Ying's series of rather practiced social niceties. After giving Ying a ring toss, she skipped and hopped to the other side, seemingly thinking that direction was better for getting her desired trinket.

"Brother, brother!"

Having just received a ring toss, Ying quickly ran back to the stall owner and passionately debated whether a ring should be sold at all. Their arguments had already touched upon profound theological topics such as "Is the customer God?", "Shouldn't God be omnipotent?", and "Can God create a stone that He cannot move?"

Suddenly realizing that wasting time arguing here might mean spending more money on water to quench his thirst, Liang promptly stopped the debate.

Just then, Ying came over with the ring, tilting her head back, her eyes curving into crescent shapes with joy:

Someone gave me a ring.

"Oh oh."

He casually took the ring toss game from his younger sister, completely unaware that his day of freedom as an older brother was actually equivalent to the value of the ring in his hand. He squinted and aimed at the teddy bear in the center of the stall.

The stall owner remained calm and composed, as if he had everything under control.

Yingping held her breath and focused intently, not daring to disturb her brother in the slightest.

Three seconds later.

Ryo's freedom as the older brother has increased in value, transforming him from a circle into a teddy bear.

Under the somewhat dumbfounded gaze of the stall owner, Ying struggled to carry away the teddy bear, which was only slightly smaller than herself.

The fluffy texture against her face made Ying purr contentedly, just like a kitten that had found a toy.

Just as Ying had predicted, carrying such a large teddy bear in her arms attracted a 100% turn-around rate. Four- or five-year-old children passing by all looked on with envy, sucking their fingers. There were even parents who came over to ask the price, wanting to buy it.

Just as Ryo was worrying about where to put such a big teddy bear in their cramped home, Hotaru suddenly handed the teddy bear to another child next to her.

She quite naturally accepted the banknotes from the adult who looked like the other party's parents, and proudly waved them in Liang's direction.

"Just like that, it's sold."

Liang walked over, and Ying stuffed the money in her hand into his pocket. Her hands were empty again. The teddy bear had been in her hand for about twenty minutes.

"Anyway, there's no room at home."

Hotaru answered nonchalantly, but Ryo could still tell that she definitely liked the doll.

"Or perhaps we can think about it from a different perspective."

Ying then unceremoniously reached into Liang's trouser pocket and took out the few banknotes:

"For example, we never even went to that ring toss stall."

"Smack."

I found a piece of money.

"Smack."

"I found another bill."

"Smack."

"I found a lot of money."

Ying imitated Liang's earlier expression by shaking her head and swaying her body in a pretentious manner.

"I've decided to use the money I found to buy myself a free bowl of ramen!"

Is it possible that the ramen shop is closed tonight?

Liang ruthlessly shattered Ying's illusions. He checked the amount of money in Ying's hand and muttered:

"That's about the price of fifty ring toss games. If you're so capable, try spending fifty rings to win the grand prize!"

"Okay, I'll take it and buy you clothes."

He casually put the money back into his pocket.

"Let's go back and eat. The smells here are making me hungry."

"Oh, time to go home."

Neither of the siblings was interested in fireworks, and their attire was rather out of place in this increasingly noisy area, so they simply left the scene and headed home.

"I'm back."

Under the dim streetlights, Ryo and Hotaru walked back to their basement apartment. Facing the dark and cramped living room, Ryo inserted the key into the lock and spoke softly.

Welcome back.