Sister, We're Not Going on a Date

Of course, in the eyes of the students in Class C, it was already a great joy that they could still gain fifty Class Points in this Special Exam. After all, their class Leader, Ryuen Kakeru, had been offline and unreachable for almost the entire second half of the Special Exam. Many students in Class C had actually prepared themselves for their Class Points to be reduced to zero. After all, from the second half onwards, Class C had almost secured last place in the class rankings, which would mean a real deduction of three hundred Class Points. Class C only had two hundred and seventy-two points in total.

The Class Points increased, but the class didn't drop to Class D. In fact, the Class D they were standing on became the once-lofty Class A!

What more could you want? Keep the music playing and keep dancing!

Ryuen Kakeru, who was also temporarily released by the school along with Chabashira Sae and will be subject to further investigation upon his return, seemed to be in a pretty good mood. Unlike his state during the first half of the Special Exam when he was playing a real wilderness survival game on Uninhabited Island with only a bucket and a fishing rod, he looked quite energetic and spirited in the school tent, where he was eating and sleeping well and even had time to fabricate evidence to confront the Class A students and their homeroom teacher. He was finally no longer the unshaven, greasy caveman he once was.

"I'll come see you again tomorrow, make sure you have time."

Seemingly wanting to learn more about the second half of the Special Exam that Kitagawa Ryo missed, Ryuen Kakeru quite decisively cut in from the Class C students, squinting and gesturing with his hands, before throwing out a sentence and, without waiting for Kitagawa Ryo's reply, went back and grabbed Ishizaki Daichi by the collar, who was smugly showing off how well he did throughout the exam. It seemed he intended to ask his underling for some general information first.

However, Kitagawa Ryo didn't pay much attention to Class C. After all, ever since the school staff reported all the results of this Special Exam, Class D had been shrouded in an atmosphere of relief and joy after all their hardships. All sorts of emotions were on full display on the faces of these sixteen- and seventeen-year-old high school students, which easily infected Mashima Tomoya witnessed the students of Class D all the way.

"... Should I faint too?"

Unlike his usual serious demeanor, homeroom teacher Mashima Tomoya made a rare little joke, raising his hands high in the air and clapping vigorously:

"Thank you all for your hard work. I'm so proud of each and every one of you."

So, from now on—enjoy this summer vacation to the fullest!

Two weeks later, Kitagawa Ryo had finally gotten his personal cell phone back, lay on his bed in his dorm room and subconsciously moved his right wrist, which was now empty. After the Special Exam, all the students' wristwatches were collected by the school, which made him, who was used to checking the group and class rankings regularly, feel a little uncomfortable.

After turning on his phone, entering the password to unlock it, and logging in, he immediately saw a remittance message from the school. However, it wasn't just the 500,000 Private Points he received for ranking second in the group; another, much larger sum of Private Points was also deposited into his personal account.

Thanks to the contract he signed with all the students in Class A before the Uninhabited Island Special Exam, in which "all Private Points earned in this Special Exam belong to me," this can be considered an extra source of income for Kitagawa Ryo compared to other students.

Class 1-A had eleven groups this time. Except for Totsuka Yahiko's group and another group that were in the lower half, the remaining nine groups all made it into the top 70%, and seven of them even made it into the top 50%. The basic Private Points they received from the school's rewards amounted to 1.31 million (8 x 20,000 + 23 x 50,000). With the boost from ordinary cards such as [Free Ride] or [Double], their total Private Points exceeded 2 million, reaching about 2.1 million.

It has to be said that Class 1-A's Special Exam was ultimately a complete waste of time and energy. Not only did the Class Points, dropping them from Class A to Class D, but they also lost all their Private Points. In addition Ayanokoji Kiyotaka had to pay Ryuen Kakeru a penalty of 5 million Private Points for breach of contract... It was so tragic that even Kitagawa Ryo couldn't bear to watch.

Although he thought this to himself, Kitagawa Ryo still decisively and without any guilt pocketed all the Private Points. He propped himself up slightly from the bed, but was immediately restrained by the soft bedding and lazily lay back down.

Just like this Uninhabited Island Special Exam was different from the one he had simulated, the Luxury Cruise Ship they were traveling on was also different from the Kitagawa Ryo remembered. According to Horikita Manabu, whom they met by chance, this cruise ship seemed to be prepared for a large-scale Special Exam that multiple grades would participate in together in the future, so the facilities and scale in all aspects were larger. In addition, with the consideration of rewarding the First Year students who had gone through two weeks of hellish special exams, the school had prepared super comfortable luxury single rooms for the students.

The sleeping bags and tents used for camping were obviously not comparable to those used now. Gently wrapped in the bedding provided by a top-tier brand Kitagawa Ryo unconsciously began to feel sleepy. He simply set an alarm on his phone for two hours later, preparing to take a comfortable nap first.

This is probably what most First Year students look like right now. Although the cruise ship has a large swimming pool, screening room, concert hall, shopping area, open-air cafe, restaurants and other entertainment facilities, the students who have just finished their Uninhabited Island Special Exam obviously don't have the energy to play now. Anyway, they can stay on the cruise ship for seven more days, and it's not too late to start having fun tomorrow...

Just as Kitagawa Ryo was drifting off to sleep under the covers, his phone on the bedside table suddenly vibrated. With his eyes still closed, Kitagawa Ryo half-opened one eye as he held the phone to his face. The lit-up screen displayed Karuizawa Kei's name.

"Hello, this is Kitagawa."

Kitagawa Ryo answered the call by tapping the screen, yawning slightly as he did so.

"Is there something you need when Hui calls now?"

"What should I do? I really want to say something like, 'Can't I call you if there's nothing wrong?'—that classic line from TV dramas."

"... Didn't I already say that?"

"So Ryo also agrees that I can call you anytime, right? How many seconds have passed now? -- Phew, the Uninhabited Island Special Exam is over, and there's no longer a three-minute communication limit."

"Okay, okay, I agree. Besides, let's not even talk about making phone calls. Don't you all have a spare key to my dorm at Tokyo Advanced Nurturing High School? It's almost made the guys on my floor afraid to go out in their shorts during the day."

After exchanging a few casual words with Karuizawa Kei, and hearing her familiar voice and laughter on the other end of the phone, Kitagawa Ryo's drowsiness dissipated somewhat. He turned to his side, finding a more comfortable lying position.

"So what exactly happened? Hui must be exhausted, considering she was doing almost everything by herself for the first half."

"It's nothing much, it's just that our class advisor Hoshinomiya, woke up and is full of energy, preparing to throw a celebration party for our whole class to celebrate our promotion. He specifically asked me to invite you to come along, you big-hero?"

"Oh, what about Chabashira? Is she awake? Didn't they both faint together?"

"I'm not sure about that. Anyway, the reasons for Chabashira's and Hoshinomiya's dizziness are different. Anyway, Ryo, come over now. See you in rest area B on the third floor--"

After saying that, Karuizawa Kei hung up the phone in a lighthearted tone.

Kitagawa Ryo, who had planned to have a good rest that night, was suddenly interrupted by an unexpected schedule. He had no choice but to struggle free from the constraints of the bedding, change into some casual clothes, turn off the air conditioner and lights in the room, and leisurely leave his dormitory, heading towards the location sent by Karuizawa Kei.

Just as Kitagawa Ryo had anticipated, there were hardly any students on the cruise ship at this time. Most of them were heading towards the open-air public bath. After all, everyone's first thought after the Uninhabited Island Special Exam was to take a good shower. However, taking this into consideration, Kitagawa Ryo chose to take a shower in the private bathroom in his dormitory, planning to enjoy the public bath properly later when there were fewer people.

When Kitagawa Ryo reached the B rest area on the third floor, he immediately saw Hoshinomiya Chie, who was shaking a champagne bottle and spraying champagne everywhere, even though the so-called celebration party hadn't started yet. She looked more like a student Hoshinomiya Chie. However, the students from the former Class B, now in the Class A, seemed to love her approachable and friendly demeanor, and cheered and shouted in unison.

Kitagawa Ryo was initially puzzled as to why they were making such a ruckus without worrying about disturbing students in other classes. However, after glancing around, he noticed that apart from the teachers and students of Class A, there were no other students in the area.

"Hello, this area has been booked out by Hoshinomiya-sensei and the students of Class 1-A. Without permission..."

Just as Kitagawa Ryo was deep in thought, a waiter who had noticed him approached and bowed politely to explain. However, before Kitagawa Ryo could explain himself, Karuizawa Kei, who had been watching them closely, quickly came over, naturally took his hand, and explained to the waiter with a smile:

"These are guests invited by our Class A."

"OK."

After Karuizawa Kei's explanation, the waiter politely bowed again, placed his hand on his chest, and slowly retreated to the side.

As the class representative of Class 1-A, Karuizawa Kei's every move was naturally observed by many people. Therefore, as soon as Kitagawa Ryo entered the venue, many students from Class B started to applaud in a jeering manner. The vice class representative Kanzaki Ryuji, even shook off the gloom of being swept out by Ayanokoji Kiyotaka before the final assignment began, and stood up on his own initiative with a moved expression.

"It's Kitagawa-kun, he's here!"

However, there were others who reacted even more enthusiastically than Kanzaki Ryuji. Before Kitagawa Ryo could even find his seat under the guidance of Karuizawa Kei, Hoshinomiya Chie of Class A who had been opening champagne and even seemed to have taken quite a few sips, put down her champagne and rushed towards him.

"... Hoshinomiya, you've had too much to drink."

As if she had anticipated her homeroom teacher's actions, Karuizawa Kei intercepted her with a precise mid-air maneuver, stepping slightly forward to block Kitagawa Ryo. Although in the eyes of the other students in Class B, their Hoshinomiya Chie, was just a beautiful, gentle, and kind teacher who liked to drink and was occasionally absent-minded, her excitement this time was only because she was happy that they had been promoted to Class A.

But Karuizawa Kei is different. She knows the true nature of her homeroom teacher. Neither the class nor the students in the class matters to her, because her life goal is only to destroy Chabashira Sae. The reason she is so enthusiastic about Kitagawa Ryo is simply because she thinks Ryo has extraordinary talent and ability in targeting and attacking Class A.

What she's happy about now isn't that her class has been promoted to Class A, but that Class A, which was taught by Chabashira Sae, has been demoted to Class D. In this respect, Hoshinomiya Chie is not exactly an excellent or competent homeroom teacher either.

Just as she chose to spend a fortune on a celebration banquet tonight simply because of her excitement and the fulfillment of her wish, Kitagawa Ryo could sense the suppressed fatigue on the faces of the Class B students with just a casual glance around. At this time when the Uninhabited Island Special Exam had just ended, even their Class B had chosen to let the students rest for a few days first and hold the celebration banquet later.

Sensing keenly the subtle distance and disinterest in Kitagawa Ryo's gaze—different from his gaze towards others— Hoshinomiya Chie decisively abandoned her usual method of seduction and enticement, instead smilingly adopting the demeanor of a gossipy young girl and proactively asking:

"Oh my, this is the first time I've seen our class monitor and a boy so close. Are you two dating?"

Before Karuizawa Kei could answer, Hoshinomiya Chie raised another finger, feigning concern, and suggested:

"Cross-class romances are really tough. Why don't you just transfer to our class, Kitagawa-kun? We're currently in Class A, it's a win-win situation!"

"If what our Hoshinomiya teacher Hoshinomiya said is true, then after our class becomes Class A, it wouldn't be a problem for me to transfer in, right?"

After responding with a smile, Kitagawa Ryo Hoshinomiya Chie any longer, turned around and ignored her. He sat down cross-legged with Karuizawa Kei and started chatting and laughing with a few familiar Class B students.

Hoshinomiya Chie was left out like this by Kitagawa Ryo, wasn't particularly annoyed. This was mainly because she was in an excessively good mood. Although Kitagawa Ryo had retorted, he hadn't denied the fact that he was dating Karuizawa Kei, the class president. If she could grasp this factor, then Karuizawa would never be able to side with Chabashira.

After all, she knew about the rumors surrounding Kitagawa Ryo and several girls in her class, and had also heard about his pairing with Karuizawa Kei from her class. She was also aware of his ambiguous relationship with Shiina Hiyori from Class C, but as for his relationship with Class D...

No, there really isn't.

While Class D isn't without its pretty girls—like the most popular one, Kushida Kikyo, who has many admirers and secret admirers throughout the First Year and even the upper grades—it seems there's really no word on any relationship between her and Kitagawa Ryo. As for the other girls, forget about them. Are we going to have that Chabashira guy personally use his beauty to seduce them?

Feeling completely at ease, she took another swig of beer from the beer she had grabbed from the side. Without any grace Hoshinomiya Chie lay down on the sofa next to her. Her brain, which had been overly excited, finally succumbed to deep fatigue, and she soon fell asleep again.

Noticing that their homeroom teacher had already fallen asleep, Karuizawa Kei took the opportunity to dismiss the already exhausted Class A students, saying that they would have a celebration party later after everyone had rested. This relieved the Class A students who were almost asleep but had to go along with the class atmosphere.

"... Yawn, actually I'm tired too, let's call it a day."

After entrusting other school staff to escort her homeroom teacher back to the other party's dormitory, Karuizawa Kei herself yawned slightly and waved goodbye to Kitagawa Ryo.

"Okay, goodnight, Hui."

Kitagawa Ryo nodded in agreement, but the next moment he saw the other person carefully lean closer, tiptoe slightly, and whisper in his ear:

"Did Liang notice that just now?"

"That's right. The rule that you can buy everything with your Private Points on this cruise ship also applies, including tonight's private screening. I asked our class advisor Hoshinomiya, and a two-hour private screening here costs 20,000 Private Points."

"Cinemas, public bathhouses, swimming pools, spas and massage parlors, gyms, theaters..."

Warm breath, accompanied by a voice that gradually heated up to a burning tone, brushed against Kitagawa Ryo's earlobe. The facilities and location were ordinary, but coming from Karuizawa Kei's mouth, they suddenly took on a seductive quality.

"Which place does Liang think is best--"

"Would it be more suitable for the two of us to book the entire venue?"

Chapter 240: Sister, We're Not Making a Date

For ordinary First Year students, the cost of renting out an entire venue, often starting at tens of thousands of yen, is undoubtedly a rather extravagant and even embarrassing expense. However, for Kitagawa Ryo, who had just made a fortune in the Uninhabited Island Special Exam, and Karuizawa Kei, who also received a reward of 300,000 Private Points for making it into third place in her group, they were quite willing to spend such Private Points to create a quieter and more private atmosphere for their date.

While the most convenient and free place would be their respective rooms if only these two points were considered, Kitagawa Ryo, who had gotten used to returning to his dorm room over the past semester to find several girls already sitting there as if no one else was there, clearly didn't trust that kind of environment. If they really chose that place, a scene of "You dare to do this? You dare to open the door?" might immediately unfold, so it was better to avoid it in advance.

Besides, compared to places with larger spaces, more complete facilities, and a plethora of elements and activities that you can easily imagine, single rooms and single beds always feel inferior.

After thinking for a moment, Kitagawa Ryo readily agreed, planning to go with Karuizawa Kei to the school staff the next day to inquire about specific details such as the venue and time limit for the private event.

After quickly reaching a consensus, Karuizawa Kei finally felt relieved. She left a light kiss on his neck, accompanied by a mumbled "goodnight," before taking a step back and waving goodbye to Kitagawa Ryo. Having completed the entire fourteen-day Uninhabited Island Special Exam, her physical strength was indeed somewhat exhausted. However, she had been suppressed by her mental excitement, and Matsushita, she unconsciously felt a wave of drowsiness wash over her, making her steps appear somewhat unsteady.

Still a little worried, Kitagawa Ryo personally escorted Kei to her dorm room. However, since the surrounding area was occupied by other girls from Class A, he couldn't escort her all the way. In the end, he asked a girl from Class A named Himeno Yuki, who had just returned from somewhere, to help him take the seemingly asleep Karuizawa Kei into her room.

Kitagawa Ryo didn't actually know much about this girl. Although her group had run into theirs during the Uninhabited Island Special Exam, only the other three girls from his group participated in the "Draw and Guess" project; Kitagawa Ryo himself wasn't there.

To Kitagawa Ryo's surprise, after hearing his request, the other party didn't say or look at him at all. He just nodded coldly in agreement and then quickly led the somewhat dazed Karuizawa Kei into the corridor.

Although most of the girls in Class A are kind-hearted and not as outgoing and gossipy as the girls in Class C, many of them are still quite interested in the relationship between the vice class president and Karuizawa Kei after a whole semester of proselytizing. Otherwise, they wouldn't have received such cheering applause when they arrived at the celebration party tonight.

But that's fine too. After the two figures completely disappeared from his sight, Kitagawa Ryo subconsciously took out his phone from his pocket and glanced at the time displayed. It was almost nine o'clock at night. However, perhaps because Karuizawa Kei's advice was still faintly echoing in his ears, he was not sleepy at all. He simply walked towards the deck at the stern of the ship, preparing to enjoy the evening breeze and look out at the sea at night.

Theoretically speaking, there shouldn't be anyone else at this time and place, but just as Kitagawa Ryo was leisurely strolling over here alone, he suddenly saw another woman who had arrived earlier. She was leaning against the railing of the ship's side with her back to him. Her familiar clothes and the high ponytail flying in the wind made Kitagawa Ryo easily recognize her. It was Chabashira Sae, the homeroom teacher of Class 1-D.

Unlike her Hoshinomiya Chie, who generously paid out of her own pocket to host a lavish celebration banquet, Chabashira Sae showed no obvious emotional fluctuations. She stood there motionless like a statue, which subconsciously reminded Kitagawa Ryo of the phrase 'nothing is more sorrowful than a broken heart,' which seemed quite fitting here.

To be honest, because Kitagawa Ryo accidentally learned about Chabashira Sae and Hoshinomiya Chie's past during Sakayanagi Arisu's simulation, he could quite understand Chabashira Sae's feelings about being stuck in Class A for ten years. After all, it had only been one semester since she almost miraculously achieved her ten-year dream and returned to Class D. It was quite dramatic, like watching her rise to prominence, her entertain guests, and then her fall.

The feeling of gaining something and then losing it is perhaps more cruel than constantly wanting something and never getting it.

However, Kitagawa Ryo still didn't approach her to talk. Although many boys in the original Class A, now Class D, and even the entire grade had normal hormonal impulses towards this beautiful homeroom teacher, he obviously wasn't one of them. Otherwise, he wouldn't have initially suggested to Ayanokoji Kiyotaka that the homeroom teachers of Classes A and D be switched.

But just as Kitagawa Ryo was quietly preparing to leave the area, his phone suddenly rang. It was the alarm he had set for two hours later before Karuizawa Kei called him out, when he was planning to take a short nap.

Although the wind and engine noise were loud, Kitagawa Ryo and Chabashira Sae weren't far apart. The sudden noise naturally attracted her attention immediately. Seeing her turn around, Kitagawa Ryo had no choice but to turn off his alarm clock and politely greet Chabashira Sae, who was a faculty member.

"Good evening, Chabashira, your homeroom teacher."

After saying this basic greeting, Kitagawa Ryo prepared to leave without saying another word. After all, in his mind, Chabashira Sae was just as troublesome as her best friend Hoshinomiya Chie. This could be considered a real case of birds of a feather flocking together.

"Hey... wait a minute."

A hoarse and short voice, like someone who had just cried, came from behind Kitagawa Ryo. He paused slightly and turned around, only to meet the eyes of Chabashira Sae, who had been standing right behind him in an instant.

In fact, during the past semester, Kitagawa Ryo had already noticed, or rather confirmed, a fact: contrary to his physical maturity and growth, the other person's mind was still stuck in the third year of high school ten years ago, still trapped in the nightmare of ten years ago. What was reflected in his behavior was his excessive enthusiasm and fear for the original Class A, as if he was afraid that everything in front of him was Phantom Dream that he could wake up from at any time.

This is also why Kitagawa Ryo was able to easily frame Chabashira Sae during the Uninhabited Island Special Exam. All of Chabashira Sae's actions throughout the semester had been observed by her colleagues. Moreover, she herself did indeed have the intention of leaking the exam questions to protect Class A. Therefore, she was able to easily divert the school's attention and allow Ryuen Kakeru, who had become the target of everyone's criticism, to breathe a sigh of relief.

But now, all of that has changed.

Good news: The nightmare from ten years ago will no longer replay in Chabashira Sae's dreams.

The bad news: because ten years later, Kitagawa Ryo personally created another, even larger, deeper, and more memorable nightmare for her.

During her two previous terms in office, Chabashira Sae initially tried to look forward, work hard, and dream, hoping to fulfill her unfulfilled wish and achieve a reconciliation with herself and the past by leading her students to Class A.

But after several setbacks, Chabashira Sae would fall into a cycle of self-deception. She would rapidly reduce her potential help to the class as the homeroom teacher, then begin to shirk her responsibilities, and eventually even actively use her authority to withhold information about exams from her students, then comfort herself by attributing all of this to one idea:

This is just a test, an examination, and an attempt to identify whether there is a leader in the class who can guide the whole class forward. Once such a person appears, she will then act as a homeroom teacher to truly help him until he is promoted to Class A.

But if it's not available... then there's nothing we can do.

It's practically the perfect mindset to shirk all responsibility.

If Kitagawa Ryo hadn't shown up, she might have been able to keep escaping until a suitable sucker appeared.

But everything Kitagawa Ryo did completely tore away her last veil of pretense.

Because of his own wrong choice, the class missed a golden opportunity to be promoted to Class A, which was a wish that Chabashira Sae for ten years.

Now, having finally achieved her goal, she personally led the original Class A to Class D in just one semester. If she herself were still as lazy and irresponsible as before, it wouldn't be so bad, but Chabashira Sae believes that she is working very hard as a homeroom teacher.

She stopped playing games with her students, shedding her former Aloof, and was willing to learn from Hoshinomiya Chie to communicate with her students in a more approachable way; she no longer deliberately concealed or even changed the specific scope of each exam from her students, but explained everything to the whole class in great detail each time.

And that's how this mess came about.

This is almost a veiled denial and destruction of everything she has achieved so far. For Chabashira Sae, this is a reality that is even harder to accept than the moment she made the decision ten years ago.

If Chabashira Sae could still hypnotize herself over the past decade by denying the quality of her students, then all excuses and reasons for that have now vanished, because she is now leading a genuine Class A.

In fact, Chabashira Sae has already gone through the four steps proposed by United States psychologist Martin Seligman in his book "Learned Helplessness". Through repeated failures in this semester, she gradually developed the cognition that she "cannot control the consequences of her behavior and external events", which then gave rise to a sense of helplessness that she could not achieve results even if she tried. This further damaged her motivation, cognition and emotions, and led her into a state of self-denial.

However, over the past ten years Chabashira Sae had become accustomed to never denying herself and only blaming everything on external factors such as the quality of students. The sudden appearance of Kitagawa Ryo ignited all of Chabashira Sae's emotions, which were filled with contradictions and helplessness at this moment.

In the deep darkness of the night, she observed Kitagawa Ryo, the student who had manipulated the entire Uninhabited Island Special Exam, almost forcing the school to change the rules for him alone, and who had also pushed her, originally from Class 1-A, into the abyss. Then, a strange thought suddenly occurred to her:

"It would be strange if a student like that wasn't in Class A, wouldn't it?"

The moment this thought arose, past thought patterns took over all of Chabashira Sae's thought processes, then quickly took shape and produced a completely self-consistent set of logic:

"Isn't this the student she's been waiting for—assigned to Class D, leading the whole class forward, and carrying her dream towards Class A?"