Classroom of the Elite, I Have a Life Simulator

The Hotaru beneath you says in your mind:

"Actually, Master, if you just realized that this isn't Ichinose Honami's dream at all, you could wake yourself up the next second."

"No way. Since it's my own dream, I'll do whatever I want."

You roll around on Hotaru's soft back:

"I've always wanted to dream of a day where Hotaru could talk again and be big enough to carry me around."

"Ah... how childish. This should really just count as you talking to yourself."

"Hey, hey, you can't say such buzzkill things inside a dream."

You give Hotaru a firm pat and close your eyes, lying in its soft fur:

"Actually, I should have noticed when I woke up the first time. Ichinose Honami isn't the type to entrust her illusory ideals to a beautiful dream; she's the kind of brave and strong girl who would grit her teeth and overcome things no matter how difficult the situation."

"I was actually close to reaching that conclusion at the time, but my thinking was influenced by my own nightmare, which is why I inexplicably chose to commit suicide and restart."

"Because I didn't jump out the window too early when I woke up the second time, I found quite a few clues at home. As a result, I accidentally deduced that this was my own dream—or rather, my own dream overwritten by the dream of Sakayanagi Arisu."

"In fact, there are only three types of key handwriting in the house: my own, written on the two notes I left for myself before entering the dream."

"Sakayanagi Arisu's handwriting, written on the prescription, the love letter, and the whiteboard."

"And the handwriting of Ichinose Honami in Sakayanagi Arisu's disguised state; other things in the house, like the text on that wedding photo, are in this style."

"I really didn't expect Sakayanagi Arisu to play the role of Honami in the dream, and she was even being intentionally malicious. The note I left for myself saying 'Do not trust Ichinose Honami' had 'Kitagawa Ryo' added to it as a signature, which misled me for quite a while. If I hadn't accidentally noticed that this handwriting was exactly the same as the 'Kitagawa Ryo' on the wedding photo, I could have been trapped for a while longer."

"As long as you realize that the whole house has nothing to do with Ichinose Honami, you'll naturally think of Sakayanagi Arisu."

You lie on Hotaru, stroking its white fur one strand at a time.

"But she still left you the clue character, the psychiatrist Sakayanagi Arisu."

"That's normal. Didn't she let me go at that time too? Sakayanagi always looks like that on the surface, but she's actually quite good to me."

"Actually, every time I enter a dream, I leave myself an anchor to detach. The reason I was trapped in the dream for so long this time was because of those two inexplicable nightmares!"

You complain with some indignation.

"Hey, Hotaru, do you think dreams are really another world line?"

"I already told you, you're asking yourself. I'm just an incarnation of Hotaru that you imagined in your dream; it's just a cat!"

You pout, feeling a bit bored:

"Those fragments of dreams... they were too real, as if I had really experienced those things with Honami."

"Ah, come to think of it, did I accidentally drag Honami into this when I entered the dream this time..."

"No way!"

You collapse onto Hotaru, looking like you want to cry but have no tears:

"Doesn't that mean everything I saw, Honami saw too? Whether it was the first nightmare I watched as a bystander, or the second nightmare where I was killed by her with a knife."

You stroke your forehead and wail:

"And this damn dream where my dream and Sakayanagi Arisu's are intertwined!"

"My life... is over."

"Ah, you've woken up."

Sakayanagi Arisu notices Kitagawa Ryo slowly opening his eyes in front of her.

Your smile freezes on your face the moment you see her.

"Am I still dreaming?"

"No, you and she have both woken up."

Sakayanagi Arisu points to Ichinose Honami, who is also slowly waking up beside you:

"It's time to talk about our affairs."

She reveals the same devilish smile she had at the beginning in front of you.

[Plot branch point reached, judgment will be made based on the player's held talents]

[Detected player talent: Dreamweaver (Gold)]

[Entering hidden ending branch]

[Branch 1: Face Sakayanagi Arisu, this branch leads to the hidden ending—Oedipus Rex, unlocks plot CG "Fate"]

[Branch 2: Escape from Sakayanagi Arisu, this branch leads to the hidden ending—Salvation, unlocks plot CG "Masterpiece"]

[Judging player's entry into branch based on held talents...]

Chapter 32: The Dream is Over

[Judging player's entry into Branch 2 based on held talents]

[Triggered plot CG: Masterpiece]

[Masterpiece: Do it again, do it again, do it again! Until I defeat you.]

[Would you like to read this plot CG? (This may be helpful for your subsequent game progress)]

"...If I said I don't remember anything at all, would Sakayanagi believe me?"

Kitagawa Ryo spoke while glancing at Ichinose Honami, who was still dazed and lingering in the afterglow of her dream. She didn't have his extensive experience with entering dreams; having several inexplicable memories stuffed into her mind all at once meant it would likely take her some time to digest them.

"Oh my, then I should be grateful that Ryo can still remember my name despite his amnesia. That is truly worthy of praise."

Sakayanagi Arisu sat there with her legs crossed. After Kitagawa Ryo woke up, her interest had undoubtedly risen several levels higher than before. In her deep purple pupils, what Kitagawa Ryo saw was a smile she could barely contain... along with a sense of possessiveness.

"Actually, over the past two years, I have quite missed the days when Ryo was still around."

"After all, Ryo gave me a great surprise from the very beginning. If things had continued to develop at that pace, perhaps the title of 'Masterpiece' of the White Room might have fallen to Ryo instead."

She covered her mouth and chuckled softly. Every gesture she made allowed Kitagawa Ryo to deeply realize the growth Sakayanagi Arisu had undergone over the past two years.

"I'm thinking, if Ryo had truly become some sort of 'Masterpiece', wouldn't the educational philosophy of the 'White Room' have been a complete failure?"

"The factual result is that I am nothing more than a fake genius, not even as good as those systematically cultivated in the White Room. Sakayanagi must realize this by now, too. After all, I lost to you zero to seven back then."

Kitagawa Ryo straightened his body. It looked like he was just changing to a more comfortable position, but in reality, he was quietly leaning toward Ichinose Honami and the direction of the door.

"...Your body is being dishonest."

Sakayanagi Arisu used her cane to gently tap his restless leg. She stroked Kitagawa Ryo's forehead, revealing an incredibly sweet smile:

"Since your sister is here, why are you looking at other characters?"

"Hey, hey, the role-playing game ended two years ago."

Kitagawa Ryo wanted to swat her hand away, but he found that he seemed truly unable to resist her words. Memories of working hard for her on that bed as white as feathers resurfaced in his mind:

"...How could such a thing happen."

He gritted his teeth and said.

"It seems that even in the two years since leaving the White Room, Ryo has not escaped the influence of that suggestion."

"But then again, in the six years that Ryo has memories of, nearly four of them were spent acting under the direction of that suggestion."

Sakayanagi Arisu opened her arms toward him. Even though she stretched her hands out as wide as she could, because of her petite frame, she just looked like a child.

No, perhaps she was deliberately trying to present herself in this posture.

"Big brother... come back to my side."

She issued such an invitation, filled with a sweet scent, to you.

"I will properly educate you into my most successful opponent."

"And then, let us have another match."

"Please wait a moment."

The one who spoke up to interrupt Sakayanagi Arisu was Ichinose Honami, who had already regained her senses.

She still seemed a bit uncomfortable, clutching her head as she got out of bed, but she walked straight to the front of Sakayanagi Arisu and then stood between Kitagawa Ryo and Sakayanagi Arisu.

"No matter what happened between you and Ryo in the past, that was under circumstances I didn't know about, but I am here now."

Ichinose Honami spread her arms. Unlike Sakayanagi Arisu's embrace, this was a posture of shielding the person behind her.

"If Ryo doesn't intend to go with you, I won't just watch you take him away."

Ichinose Honami looked straight into her own heart. The uncontrollable longing was pouring out from within. The emotions from the dream were turning into a tangible, heartfelt truth called 'like', overflowing bit by bit.

"Ah."

Sakayanagi Arisu narrowed her eyes. She slowly retracted her arms. Even though she was significantly shorter than Ichinose Honami, her presence, just by sitting there quietly, even faintly overwhelmed Ichinose Honami.

"--Is that really true?"

"But for Ryo, he basically has no memory of you. In his eyes right now, you are just a somewhat familiar stranger."

Sakayanagi Arisu signaled for her bodyguard to drag a large box from the floor outside the ward. She walked over and opened it.

Inside were neatly stacked letters, so many that they almost completely filled the large suitcase.

"You aren't his girlfriend either, and even the correspondence during those four years was fake."

The window was blown open by the wind. This gust of wind sent those sheets of letter paper fluttering into the air, swirling and landing all over the ward.

"You don't even understand it yourself, do you?"

Sakayanagi Arisu picked up a letter at random:

[I have read the reply Ryo sent me over and over again. Just as Ryo said, even though we are thousands of miles apart, and even though we can only communicate through letters, every time I read a letter from Ryo, I feel warmth and heartfelt joy.]

"Which parts are true feelings, and which are derivative illusions?"

Sakayanagi Arisu closed her eyes. Immediately after, the deep purple pupils that opened no longer held a hint of a smile, piercing toward Ichinose Honami like a sharp blade:

"Or perhaps, are they all fake?"

"That's enough."

Kitagawa Ryo cast a cold gaze toward Sakayanagi Arisu; it was likely the first time he had ever looked at her with such eyes. Even back when he discovered she had been impersonating Ichinose Honami to deceive him, Kitagawa Ryo had never felt such negative, pitch-black emotions.

He reached out, took Ichinose Honami's hand, and gave her a reassuring smile.

In the end, Kitagawa Ryo took one last deep look at Sakayanagi Arisu:

"I'm sorry."

He apologized to the girl who was still unaware of the situation, stepped forward, and returned her cane to her.

"Honami."

As Kitagawa Ryo held Ichinose Honami's hand, for a fleeting moment, Sakayanagi Arisu even felt as though the two were planning to flee. However, their direction was not toward the ward door, but toward the window ledge at the other end.

"If you trust me."

Kitagawa Ryo placed his foot on the window sill and smiled at Ichinose Honami:

"Then jump with me!"

Although Ichinose Honami did not understand what was happening, she followed Kitagawa Ryo's movements almost without hesitation. Hand in hand, the two leaned half their bodies out of the window. The people below seemed to have noticed their presence, and they were exclaiming in alarm, trying to stop what looked like a double suicide.

"And so, Sakayanagi Arisu's dream ends."

Kitagawa Ryo and Ichinose Honami's bodies plummeted from the high floor, and in mid-air, he squeezed the hand of his most important childhood friend.

"This dream I constructed for you... the one where you defeated me two years ago."

"Now, let us return to where it all began."

The howling wind rushed into the ears of Kitagawa Ryo and Ichinose Honami. In the air, Kitagawa Ryo adjusted his posture to shield Ichinose Honami in his arms:

"That is the true story... of Ichinose Honami and me."