The Dating Game

Kitagawa Ryo once read the following statement in a book:

I dislike gentle girls. Gentle girls are actually gentle to everyone, but I mistakenly think they're only gentle to me.

What distinguishes romantic love from friendship is its unique and special nature.

Special people, special feelings, and therefore special treatment.

"I also hope to join Liang's group."

Ichinose Honami began by saying this.

"Okay, I've been waiting for you."

Kitagawa Ryo replied with a smile.

Chapter 134: Love Game

"So why can't I team up with students from other classes?"

Just as lunch break began, Kitagawa Ryo received a call from Karuizawa Kei, who sounded quite frustrated.

When Karuizawa Kei first heard that the rules for this year's Uninhabited Island Exam would be different from previous years due to the intervention of the Student Council Vice President Nagumo, Nagumo, she fantasized that, given Miyabi Nagumo's personality, the competition would be held across the entire grade, just like the previous Sports Festival, and that Class 1-B could legitimately cooperate with Class D. However, she didn't expect that the other party would completely disappoint her.

"Although there are group competitions and elimination rounds, in the end, it's still about letting the four First Year classes compete against each other."

"That's just the style of Tokyo Advanced Nurturing High School. After all, Horikita Manabu is still the Student Council president, so Nagumo can only symbolically add a little bit of his own 'Classroom of the Elite Studio' ideology. So, that's all we can do."

Kitagawa Ryo switched his phone from his right hand to his left, stopped in front of a vending machine by the roadside, and started choosing a drink while talking to someone.

"Has Hui assembled a team yet? Although the cards haven't been distributed yet, aside from the special card [Double-Edged Blade] which requires team composition to revolve around the opponent, I haven't been too concerned about the others."

It would have been fine if the topic of forming a team hadn't been brought up, but as soon as it came up, Karuizawa Kei's tone became dejected again, as if you could see her pouting and unhappy just by listening to her voice.

"Then I definitely can't form a four-person group in just three minutes like Ryo did. No, four people seems like the limit for Ryo."

Just imagining Kitagawa Ryo and three other girls setting up tents and lighting a campfire on Uninhabited Island at night, chatting and Matoba under the starry sky, made Karuizawa Kei feel as if a valve in her heart had loosened a little. Unexplained emotions flowed out from there like tap water, and then turned into words.

Karuizawa Kei had always thought she had maintained a relaxed mindset over the years, but in the last few days she realized that it was all just self-comforting rhetoric.

She had already failed twice, so this was her last chance. That's why she had to strive to become the best version of herself. Forgetting the past is an incredibly difficult thing. Karuizawa Kei thought she had let go, but in reality, everything she did, at its core, was still driven by the past.

It was as if he wanted to use this one breath to redeem everything from the past.

The last one is inherently related to the pursuit of words like 'ultimate,' 'absolute,' 'perfect,' and 'pure.'

However, the number of girls surrounding Kitagawa Ryo continued to increase.

Especially after her direct confrontation with Horikita Suzune a few days ago, Karuizawa Kei suddenly developed this strong sense of crisis.

"It's possible to encounter other groups on Uninhabited Island."

"I've always trusted the students in your Class B. If we run into each other, we could totally have a get-together tonight."

Kitagawa Ryo noticed Karuizawa Kei's slight mood and took the initiative to comfort her.

"Or we could arrange to meet in advance at the location of the assessment for a particular topic. Swimming or beach volleyball would be nice, after all, I gave Hui her swimsuit, so it's okay if I take a few more glances, right?"

"... Then let's leave it at that."

"Yes, it's just Special Exam that lasts fourteen days. Take care of yourself and have fun."

After ending his call with Karuizawa Kei, Kitagawa Ryo thought for a moment and then walked towards Class 1-C, which was not far away.

Unlike Karuizawa Kei's status in Class B and her own abilities, Kitagawa Ryo was undoubtedly more concerned about Shiina Hiyori's team composition in Class C. After all, although Shiina Hiyori had high academic ability, she was not strong in physical fitness, and was even below average.

The Uninhabited Island Exam, no matter what, fundamentally tests every student's physical fitness.

However, after thinking about it again, Kitagawa Ryo decided to turn around and go back to his room.

"Ayanokoji, can you tell me if you have a chance of getting into the top three in this Uninhabited Island Special Exam all by yourself?"

In Class 1-A, the class Katsuragi Kohei, unusually didn't call his usual follower Totsuka Yahiko Ayanokoji Kiyotaka alone. After making sure no one was around, he asked Ayanokoji Kiyotaka a serious question.

Similar to Class 1-D, Class 1-A also recognized the importance of this Special Exam. If they could secure first place in the class rankings and also sweep the top three spots in their group rankings, they could even directly obtain as many as 900 Class Points in this exam.

Of course, the above is only the most ideal scenario.

However, Ayanokoji Kiyotaka's abilities gave Katsuragi Kohei a glimmer of hope for this impossible outcome.

Although he is ostensibly the Leader of Class 1-A, only Katsuragi Kohei himself knows that Ayanokoji Kiyotaka is the most capable person in the entire Class A, which is why he asked such a question at this time.

As the strongest class overall, Class 1-A undoubtedly holds an advantage in the class rankings. He himself is also confident in forming a team to compete for a top-three position in the group rankings. If Ayanokoji Kiyotaka can secure another top-three ranking, Class 1-A will be the biggest beneficiary of this Special Exam.

Ayanokoji Kiyotaka replied calmly:

"Katsuragi, you trust me too much. In the end, we only know part of the rules; the information is incomplete."

Ayanokoji Kiyotaka knew very well that Katsuragi Kohei's purpose in saying that was not really to let him form a team alone. If he had nodded in agreement just now, Katsuragi Kohei would definitely have arranged for him to be teamed up with three of the less advanced students from the class.

With great power comes great responsibility. While Katsuragi Kohei has always lived by this motto, Ayanokoji Kiyotaka does not share this view.

The concept of 'companions' doesn't exist in the White Room; rather, it's more accurate to say that the greater the ability, the greater the power.

Seeing Ayanokoji Kiyotaka's reply, Katsuragi Kohei smiled wryly and rubbed his bald head.

"So Ayanokoji, what are your thoughts on forming a team?"

"I will still form a team by myself."

Ayanokoji Kiyotaka answered without hesitation, and then immediately explained to Katsuragi Kohei:

"Teaming up undoubtedly has its advantages. But that doesn't mean you can't win alone; on the contrary, you have the advantage of freedom of movement without being influenced by others. And depending on the situation, an individual's scoring efficiency might be higher than that of a multi-person team."

"The essence of team formation is to achieve complementary abilities. In other words, if a person's overall abilities are sufficient, there is no need to form a team with others."

Ayanokoji Kiyotaka stared intently into Katsuragi Kohei's eyes, emphasizing the pronunciation of the word 'single'.

"... So Ayanokoji, what kind of score can you get if you team up solo?"

Katsuragi Kohei also sensed Ayanokoji Kiyotaka's meaning and asked again:

"Number one?"

"As for first place, there's a 50% chance."

Ayanokoji Kiyotaka's explanation was vague, but Katsuragi Kohei couldn't help but click his tongue in amazement:

Even a 50% chance is still quite remarkable.

He didn't really doubt Ayanokoji Kiyotaka's words. After all, from Katsuragi Kohei's perspective, Class 1-A was the strongest class in Tokyo Advanced Nurturing High School, and Ayanokoji Kiyotaka was the strongest student in the class, naturally ranking first in the entire grade.

"Because there are only two possibilities: first or not first, it's naturally a 50% probability."

"What the heck..."

Ayanokoji Kiyotaka ended the topic of forming a team with a lame joke.

"In short, it's best to discuss the specifics of team formation after each student's cards are finalized."

"Okay, I understand."

Katsuragi Kohei noticed that there were more students around, and Totsuka Yahiko was waving at them from a distance, so he nodded and turned to leave.

Looking at the other person's imposing back, Ayanokoji Kiyotaka thoughtfully took a step in the same direction.

Actually, what I just said wasn't some kind of probability theory sophistry, nor was it a lame joke.

There are only two possible outcomes for a team to finish first in its group.

Kitagawa Ryo number one, or perhaps Ayanokoji Kiyotaka is number one.

That's all.

Theoretically speaking, this was Kitagawa Ryo's first time standing at the entrance of Class 1-C. Although he had spent a fairly pleasant time here during Karuizawa Kei's second mock exam, no one else besides him and Karuizawa Kei remembered any of this.

However, one achievement from that simulation still left a slight mark on that experience:

[Congratulations to the player for achieving the achievement "Class Promotion"! The initial favorability with Class 1-C has increased.]

Of course, besides this, what Kitagawa Ryo is even more concerned about is the ring that he has never taken out so far.

[A ring: It should be a pair, but you don't know who has the other one right now.]

This is an item he obtained after achieving the "[Heartbreaker]" achievement, so it's pretty much a no-brainer that the other ring must be in Shiina Hiyori's possession, since it was originally Confessions gift he gave her at that time.

Since meeting Shiina Hiyori, Kitagawa Ryo has never heard her mention anything about rings, and he himself would certainly not bring it up. If it weren't for the [Class 1-C] sign in front of him triggering some memories, Kitagawa Ryo would have almost forgotten about it.

The girls in Class 1-C were quite bold. Seeing a handsome boy from another class standing thoughtfully at the door of their classroom, they took the initiative to go up and strike up a conversation:

"Is that Kitagawa-kun from Class D? Are you here in Class C to see someone?"

Although he had taken advantage of the conflict between Ryuen Kakeru and Tokito Yuya within Class C at the beginning of the semester to make Class C suffer a loss, most of the students in Class C were unaware of the inside story. They just thought Kitagawa Ryo was quite pleasing to the eye and were quite familiar with him when they struck up a conversation.

As for why they recognized Kitagawa Ryo, you'd have to ask all the girls who compiled the list of the most handsome First Year.

"Yes, I'm here to see Hiyori."

Upon hearing this, Kitagawa Ryo put aside his thoughts, nodded, and smiled in response.

"So it's Shiina."

The girls seemed quite familiar with the name Shiina Hiyori, judging from their tone of voice:

"Shiina's seat is over there."

A girl pointed to a spot from the window for Kitagawa Ryo, then peeked inside and said:

"She's still reading. Come to think of it, she's been reading that same book since this morning. I'm a little worried she might not have heard the rules for the Special Exam."

"A few homemade snacks, thank you for taking care of Hiyori all the time."

Kitagawa Ryo took out a box of handmade desserts he had just retrieved from his room from the bag he was carrying and handed it to him sincerely.

"Ah..."

Now it was the girls who felt a little embarrassed. After all, to be honest, they were just ordinary classmates with Shiina Hiyori, and it was really hard for them to be told that she was 'taking care' of them.

I'll go in first.

However, Kitagawa Ryo didn't give them time to react. He placed the delicate little package in one of their hands and walked confidently into Class 1-C's classroom. Judging from his natural and familiar manner, it was as if he had returned to his own class.

Since lunch break had already ended, the students had either gone to the cafeteria for lunch or returned to their rooms for a nap. Apart from the few girls who had just left Class C, there were only two people left in the class.

Kitagawa Ryo glanced at it and, sure enough, it was Ibuki Mio.

It was entirely predictable that the other person had no friends either.

Ibuki Mio, who was napping at the table, didn't notice Kitagawa Ryo's slightly pitying gaze. On the contrary, Shiina Hiyori, noticed Kitagawa Ryo's approach.

However, Shiina Hiyori didn't close the book in her hand. Instead, she held it horizontally and slowly raised it to her forehead until her purple pupils were revealed.

"Is Ryo here to team up with me?"

"Wake up! This exam doesn't allow cross-class teams."

Kitagawa Ryo pulled up a stool and sat down in front of Shiina Hiyori. He habitually reached out to tap her forehead with his finger, but instead bumped into the spine of the book.

"And Then There Were None? Why are you reading this again? Hiyori must have read it countless times by now."

Noticing the book's title and Agatha Christie's name on the cover, Kitagawa Ryo asked with some confusion.

"I remembered it because our homeroom teacher mentioned the rules and content of the Uninhabited Island Exam this morning."

Shiina Hiyori nodded slightly, her silver-white hair swaying gently beside her ears with the movement.

"Look, aren't these all stories that take place on deserted islands?"

As she spoke, Shiina Hiyori placed the book she was holding on the table. The page she had turned to was none other than the most famous nursery rhyme in this mystery novel:

"Ten Little Soldiers went out for a treat; unfortunately, they choked, and only nine remained..."

Shiina Hiyori softly hummed this rather dark-sounding nursery rhyme.

But Kitagawa Ryo didn't find it terrifying, or rather, he hadn't even thought about it that way.

Just like the description of the person you like in "The Little Prince," when you are unique, I will think of you when I see any ordinary scene. So after the fox fell in love with the Little Prince, he would think of the Little Prince's bright golden hair when he saw the golden wheat fields.

Listening to Shiina Hiyori's soft humming, all he could think of were takoyaki, watermelon cutting, goldfish scooping, ring toss, the grand and spectacular drone show in the night sky, and those two rings.

It was a mystery game about love between two mystery novel enthusiasts.