The CP Master Returns to Their Throne!

"I graduated from Class A that year, so I had the freedom to choose whether to pursue further education or enter the workforce. At that time, I made a choice that was different from the rest of the class: I stayed at this school."

"I started as a teaching assistant, learning the ropes, and then gradually became a real teacher. Ten years have passed since then."

"It's fair to say that I spent my entire life after the age of sixteen at Tokyo Advanced Nurturing High School."

Kitagawa Ryo listened quietly to Mashima Tomonari's story, without asking any questions or interrupting.

What does Beichuan think of this school?

Faced with Mashima Tomonari's sudden question, Kitagawa Ryo immediately recalled the words Sakayanagi Arisu had said at the end of the last simulation, and then the truth about ANHS that he had discovered—as an important propaganda tool and a manifestation of the Onigashima Faction's political achievements.

"Very deformed."

In the end, the Kitagawa Family only gave a brief assessment.

"Yes, it's very deformed."

However, Mashima Tomonari seemed quite satisfied with this answer, and he chuckled, a rare occurrence for him.

"Actually, I only realized this after becoming the homeroom teacher of Class D. Over the past ten years, the fully enclosed management and competition at Tokyo Advanced Nurturing High School has not only led many students into a state of blind thinking."

"Many teachers were inevitably drawn into this atmosphere, and gradually came to regard that small world as their entire world."

Mashima Tomonari recalled the various situations of the four homeroom teachers in the office over the past few months and everything that had happened in the past, and couldn't help but smile bitterly as he said:

"Tokyo Advanced Nurturing High School empowers students with almost omnipotent initiative, encouraging them to discover information on their own, but this inadvertently amplifies the power of the homeroom teacher."

"They can brazenly cover up violence in the class, use students as tools to suppress others, and even abandon the most basic duty of a teacher: imparting knowledge."

"For example, when Class D had no hope of advancing to the next class, Chabashira did something like randomly drawing the scope and key points before the exam, and afterwards he even blamed the students for not noticing, and the school didn't punish him at all."

When Mashima Tomonari talked about this, he couldn't help but shake his head, muttering to himself:

"If even the teachers don't treat this place as a school, then naturally the students won't see it as a place to learn and grow."

To some extent, Mashima Tomonari's idea coincided with Sakayanagi Arisu's. Stripped of all the Special Exam, the so-called S System, and points, Tokyo Advanced Nurturing High School is still a school, and a prestigious one at that, a prestigious school where everyone has a chance to be admitted.

"So I'd like to ask Kitagawa-kun to do something that only you could do."

Mashima Tomonari's expression was very sincere:

"What is it?"

Kitagawa Ryo vaguely guessed Mashima Tomonari's thoughts, because he had already seen the white paper that the other party took out from his pocket, which showed the current Class Points and rankings of the four classes.

[Class 1-A: 548 points]

[Class 1-B: 501]

[Class 1-C: 272 points]

[Class 1-D: Midnight]

This is the class Class Points report after the Midterm Exam, something that Mashima Tomonari used to check every month.

But now, Mashima Tomonari says this:

"Kitagawa-kun, you must have deliberately kept Class D' s Class Points at zero, right?"

"... It seems that in Mr. Mashima's eyes, I am a key figure who can easily rewrite all of this?"

"Yes."

Mashima Tomonari readily agreed, but what he said next wasn't some silly wishful thinking about Kitagawa Ryo leading Class D to A.

However, in a sense, it's even more foolish.

"I hope that Kitagawa-kun can make Class D a class that doesn't resemble ANHS anymore, even if the Class Points remain at zero and we can't advance to the next class, it doesn't matter."

"If it really comes to that, I can cover the necessary living expenses for the classmates privately. I've also accumulated quite a few Private Points over the years, and the class advisor for Class A receives a very high bonus every year."

Upon hearing Kitagawa Ryo lightly tapped the table with his fingers in reply:

"Unlike the classes at ANHS School? What do you mean?"

It means exactly what it says.

After saying these words Mashima Tomonari seemed relieved. He stood up and looked at the night view outside the hotel, saying:

"After I finish teaching this class, I will probably resign from ANHS."

"It may sound a bit sentimental, but I hope to become a teacher who can take a photo with every class of students."

Every year during graduation season at Tokyo Advanced Nurturing High School, only Class A manages to create a joyful and enthusiastic graduation atmosphere.

Only the homeroom teacher of Class A gets to be endlessly dragged around by the students to take photos with them under the cherry blossoms, as if it were some kind of badge of honor.

But this is clearly recognition that every teacher who cares about their students deserves.

Kitagawa Ryo stood up and sincerely extended his hand to his homeroom teacher:

I promise you.

After finishing his conversation with Mashima Tomonari, Kitagawa Ryo used the excuse of needing to go to the restroom to avoid going upstairs with him. Only after confirming that the other had returned to his room did he take the elevator.

The four of them stayed in single luxury suites on the same floor, as the organizers of this Drama Grand Prix were covering their expenses, so they naturally wanted to stay in comfortable accommodations.

Kitagawa Ryo slowly walked to his room. As soon as he took out his key from his pocket and opened the door, he saw a pair of neatly arranged slippers in the entryway. The pure white slippers formed an elegant main color scheme, but you could also faintly see the veins of cherry blossoms.

Each of the luxury suites here has a different style, and the one that Kitagawa Ryo stayed in was themed around cherry blossoms.

Cherry blossoms typically come in three colors: red, pink, and white. However, the cherry blossoms in this suite are all snow-white.

This was the room Kitagawa Ryo had chosen from the beginning.

The girl stood behind the glass window carved with cherry blossom patterns, as if she were standing deep within a field of blooming cherry blossoms, pure and stunning.

The room was dark, with only the thin, pale moonlight filtering through the curtains. It fell on her in a dull light, seemingly blending into her snow-white clothes, making them appear somewhat brighter.

I'm leaving tomorrow.

Kitagawa Ryo didn't seem surprised at all. He changed his shoes, turned on the light, and then lay down on the spacious and comfortable bed in the room, saying casually.

"I'll come back to see the snow when it snows again."

"But snow falls in winter, and it's so far away."

The girl's voice sounded a little aggrieved, like a child who hadn't gotten any candy.

"Then Xue can come find me herself, although it's too late this year."

"Okay, it's settled then. I'll apply to Tokyo Advanced Nurturing High School next spring."

The girl's tone and reaction were so childish that even Kitagawa Ryo himself felt like he was deceiving a little girl.

The reality of Yuki's situation was even more severe than Kitagawa Ryo imagined. Ever since she was eliminated from the White Room at the age of nine, she suffered severe psychological trauma. Even though she underwent long-term psychological treatment, her mental state and psychological age remained stagnant at that time.

Therefore, unlike how he treated Amasawa Ichika, Kitagawa Ryo chose not to let Yuki inherit that memory, but to replace it to a certain extent.

Although his and Yuki's simulated childhood wasn't exactly wonderful, it was far more heartwarming than everything Yuki experienced in reality. Unable to change the past, Kitagawa Ryo could only offer this kind of compensation.

Ultimately, he met the other person far too late.

I met the other person too late, after everything had already happened.

This Drama Club's competition outside the school was originally an operation planned by Kitagawa Ryo in order to see her. In the past few days, he first sent someone to the psychological clinic to see Yuki's father, and offered to provide Yuki with the latest psychological treatment in the name of the Kitagawa Family.

Although Yuki's father found the Kitagawa Family's arrival somewhat strange, he recalled the rumors he had vaguely heard about the Kitagawa Family and Ayanokoji Atsuomi over the years, and thought about his daughter's past experiences in the White Room. He then mentally rehearsed the whole drama and promptly brought his daughter over for treatment.

Although that so-called newly introduced treatment method was actually Kitagawa Ryo himself.

To Kitagawa Ryo's surprise, perhaps because she had been isolated in real life for too long, even after accepting that memory, Yuki would occasionally act like a child in front of Kitagawa Ryo, which was completely inconsistent with the impression she gave off.

But it fits Kitagawa Ryo's impression of her perfectly.

Snow seems to have never grown up; when she sleeps, nestled in Kitagawa Ryo's arms, she shrinks into a tiny little ball.

Kitagawa Ryo was tired of the fake simulation, but she wished that everything that happened to her was an illusion, as long as there was even a little bit of truth in it.

That's everything between them.

Chapter 127: The CP Leader, Back in Place!

As June arrived, the summer atmosphere intensified, and the swimming pool at Tokyo Advanced Nurturing High School gradually began to open to students outside of swimming lessons. Coupled with the rumors of an upcoming summer island vacation, many First Year students started thinking about buying a swimsuit.

Although Tokyo Advanced Nurturing High School also provides each student with a standard swimsuit for use in swimming class, pursuing beauty and being different is in the nature of students at this age. Even in Class 1-D, whose Class Points have been zero for two consecutive months, you can often hear them discussing it during breaks. Many of them are even planning to take a few more points from their already meager Private Points to buy a brand new swimsuit.

The other three classes, which had more points, were no exception.

Karuizawa Kei from Class 1-B had just finished an off-campus competition for the Drama Club, and on her first day back in class, she was surrounded by several of her close female friends.

As a second-time player, Karuizawa Kei revealed on the first day of school the information about Private Points and Class Points that Tokyo Advanced Nurturing High School had deliberately hidden during the first month. Coupled with the added advantage of being a famous theatrical Actor, it can be said that from the very first day, Class 1-B was already under Karuizawa Kei's control.

Of course, this is also related to the overall moderate atmosphere of Class B. The students in the class are neither as arrogant and self-centered as those in Class A, nor as full of troublemakers and delinquents as those in Class C.

Karuizawa Kei had previously thought that the usual atmosphere in Class B was due to Ichinose Honami's personality, but after she actually came to Class B, she found that the students in this class were indeed very friendly, no, they were even extremely close.

From Karuizawa Kei's perspective, this extremely peaceful, honey-soaked classroom atmosphere effectively eliminated any possibility of Class B advancing to Class A from the very beginning, because these students cared more about Class B as a group than about the so-called Class A.

It's practically blatantly exposing one's weaknesses to others.

But when kindness and sincerity become weaknesses in the eyes of others, it is the environment itself that should be rejected.

"I'm so envious of Hui, who gets to leave school once a month."

"This is what Amikura Mako, a girl with a high ponytail, said with a tone full of envy."

"If your club, Amikura, wins big prizes every time it competes, the school would be very happy."

Another short-haired girl Ando Sayo, also joked with a smile:

"And I saw on the news online that Hui seems to have won the Best Actor award this time."

The girls around her gasped in amazement. Shining on stage, it was a dream that girls of that age could never refuse.

"He was just lucky. Liang's scenes weren't enough to get a nomination. He used to monopolize this award."

Karuizawa Kei raised the corners of her mouth slightly, especially when she thought of Kitagawa Ryo, who had just sat in a chair throughout the entire play, without saying a single line or even showing his face. She found it amusing.

"It's Kitagawa-kun from Class D, isn't it!"

"I saw him once in the hallway, he's really super handsome."

"Right, right? This is the significance of being number one on our entire grade's list of the most handsome boys."

Whenever the topic of Kitagawa Ryo came up, the girls around me seemed to raise their voices several decibels, chattering away like a flock of birds.

Just as Karuizawa Kei was about to chime in with a couple of words and join the praise of Kitagawa Ryo, she suddenly received a call from Kitagawa Ryo and quickly stood up to apologize:

"I'm going out to take this call."

"If it's Kitagawa-kun, it's okay to talk about class."

Amidst a well-intentioned teasing remark, Karuizawa Kei couldn't help but smile, grabbed her phone, and quickly walked out of the classroom.

Seeing Karuizawa Kei leave, another girl suddenly spoke up:

"Speaking of which, I actually only saw this news this morning."

As she spoke, she discreetly took out her phone, tapped it a couple of times, and showed the page to the others:

Big news! Famous Actor Kitagawa Ryo and Karuizawa Kei were spotted returning to their hotel together late at night, their intimate behavior suggesting a possible relationship!

The inflammatory text was accompanied by several blurry pictures, barely showing a man and a woman, with the man's head resting on the woman's shoulder, as if they were whispering something.

"Speaking of which, what exactly is the relationship between Megumi and Kitagawa-kun from Class D? Are they really dating?"

The girl scrolled through her phone screen, reading the top comments under the news article sentence by sentence:

"Huh? They're not together yet?"

"Huh? Aren't we always together?"

"Are you trying to trick me into buying tickets for [Chenxi] again? This is clearly a marketing ploy. So, when is the next show?"

"That makes me want to watch another one of 'Youth Taboo Game'."

"<Youth Taboo Game>? It doesn't feel as good as Macbeth... it's more engaging."

"Indeed, Macbeth is a masterpiece. I started to acknowledge Karuizawa as Kitagawa's go-to leading lady from this play."

"Are you two dating? So when are you getting married?"

"Stop talking, stop talking, the Civil Affairs Bureau has already moved here."