The First Time

"Okay, imagine you have a jump rope in your hand... right?"

With Kitagawa Ryo demonstrating, Karuizawa Kei quickly grasped the key points of the movements and started jumping rope with him in place, empty-handed.

"That's right, get all the muscles in your body moving."

As the fitness coach who cares most about his novice students, Kitagawa Ryo adopted a very serious posture, staring intently at the two other spherical objects, much like an astronomer studying the movement of the Earth and the Moon. If one considered that the other party had forcibly drawn his gaze to them, it would be perfectly acceptable to call this observation of black holes.

"Phew—I do feel warm all over."

After doing a few simple warm-up exercises, Karuizawa Kei let out a long sigh of relief and sat down on a somewhat odd-looking chair nearby.

It's a bit odd because this chair-style exercise equipment has two roller-like rollers on the seat where you should be sitting, and the backrest is made of two square pieces of leather, but it feels a bit too high and not very comfortable to lean against.

"Does Liang know what this is for?"

Karuizawa Kei, who was sitting on it, was naturally curious about this strange-looking equipment. She stepped on the platform extending from the bottom with interest and took the initiative to ask this question.

"The Roman chair is mainly used for doing the hyperextension exercise, and it's not for sitting, it's for lying down."

As he spoke, Kitagawa Ryo smiled and stepped forward, gesturing for Karuizawa Kei to turn around. She placed her feet on the two bottom planks, her knees against the pulleys, and two leather backrests supported her thighs and pelvis, allowing her to lie face down on the equipment with her back to Kitagawa Ryo.

"Then, Hui tried to lower her upper body."

As he spoke, Kitagawa Ryo reached out and placed his hand on Karuizawa Kei's shoulder, pressing her down to a comfortable position before lifting her back up.

"Then return to the original angle, level with your lower body. This completes one hyperextension, which mainly works the four major muscle groups: erector spinae, gluteus maximus, hamstrings, and abdominal muscles."

With each word he spoke, Kitagawa Ryo reached out and gently touched Karuizawa Kei's back, his fingertips tracing a graceful, undulating line down her spine to her buttocks, leaving a subtle, undulating curve on the back of her form-fitting leotard.

Then he saw Karuizawa Kei slump completely onto the Roman chair, as if she had used up all her strength in a single stretch, biting her lip slightly and turning her head to give him a shy glare.

"Are you tired, Hui? The most important thing about this movement is to use your hips as the axis of your body to generate power, not your waist."

"If you find it a bit difficult, you can also train your thigh muscles and glutes through squats, which is the simplest way."

As he spoke, Kitagawa Ryo took an elastic band from a shelf nearby, slipped it between Karuizawa Kei's legs, and secured it up to her lower thighs above her knees. Admiring how the elastic band accentuated the firmness and roundness of her buttocks, he continued his explanation with a straight face:

"Resistance bands are also very useful training aids. Wearing them in this position and then doing a series of movements such as squats, jumping jacks, side walks, and hip abductions often yields twice the results with half the effort."

Perhaps still reeling from the electrifying, surging pleasure that had run down her spine from Kitagawa Ryo's touch, or perhaps simply from exhaustion, Karuizawa Kei's cheeks remained flushed, and her breath grew hotter. She reached out and wrapped her arms around Kitagawa Ryo's neck, who was now half-squatting beside her, pointing at the resistance band, and whispered a soft laugh in his ear:

"I understand--then please have Ryo teach me one by one."

Anyway, there's plenty of time.

They booked the entire Matoba for two hours.

After learning all sorts of amazing poses (just kidding) at the gym and sweating it out for a full two hours, Kitagawa Ryo and Karuizawa Kei's afternoon activities came to an end as dusk approached.

Whether it was the first half, where they reminisced about their past moments together in a private cinema using a long video edited by some loyal fan (who knows which one), from their first performance to their latest one, or the close physical contact in the gym later on, Kitagawa Ryo and Karuizawa Kei both sensed that their relationship was on its final stretch.

But before we can finally break through that final barrier, we need to solve the dinner problem first.

Thanks to the school's free breakfast and dinner service, the deck wasn't as crowded during dinner time as it was at lunchtime. Most students squeezed into the school's dining halls to enjoy their free dinners, leaving many restaurants that required Private Points deserted.

However, for Kitagawa Ryo and Karuizawa Kei, who had been working hard all day, this was obviously good news.

After easily finding a window seat with a view in a nicely decorated and atmospheric restaurant, the two, exhausted and with no time to think too much, casually ordered the day's special couple's set meal. Come to think of it, it really was because they saw the word "couple" prominently displayed on the set meal that they made this choice simultaneously in a short period of time.

The first thing the waiter brought out was the drink from the set meal: a large glass filled with brightly colored chilled juice, with two long straws twisted together and rolled into a heart shape in the center.

Without prior arrangement, they both leaned forward slightly and bit their own straws. Seeing that this action had suddenly brought them closer together, Kitagawa Ryo and Karuizawa Kei smiled at each other.

"Speaking of which, where did Hui book for tonight's activities?"

After quenching his thirst by moistening his throat, Kitagawa Ryo asked this question out of curiosity, before dinner was officially served.

"What would Ryo think if I told her I booked Ryo's room?"

Karuizawa Kei smiled and twirled her straw as she spoke, listening to the soft clinking of the ice cubes against the glass, before giving a teasing reply.

"Of course, no problem, and it'll save you some Private Points, right?"

In response to Karuizawa Kei's answer, Kitagawa Ryo reacted quickly, choosing to retreat as a tactic to advance.

"But there's nothing fun in a cold room, so let's put this proposal on hold for now."

Karuizawa Kei pursed her lips, propped her chin on her hand, and gazed at the sea view and the sunset on the horizon outside the window, muttering to herself:

"It feels like today went by really fast, even though it's only 24 hours. I never felt that way when I was on the Uninhabited Island."

"I feel the same way. Holidays always seem to go by faster than exam periods, especially when you're spending them with people you like."

Kitagawa Ryo nodded in agreement. Coincidentally, he saw a few Class A students who seemed to be passing by on their way out for lunch. He raised his hand to greet them briefly, but because of the thick soundproof glass between them, they could only exchange a smile and a nod.

"The atmosphere in your class is really great."

"Everyone already had a good relationship, and now that they've been promoted to Class A, it's normal for them to be so happy. After all, victory always unconsciously masks any potential problems."

Karuizawa Kei took another sip of her drink through the straw and casually brought up what happened last night:

"Last night, Ryo asked Himeno to take me back to my room, right? If Ryo hadn't seen Himeno, what would she have done? Would she have taken me to my room herself? No, Ryo doesn't even know where my room is... I feel like she would have taken me to her own room. Wait, could the timeline have changed because of Himeno?"

"So the shift in the world line is that easy? Even if Himeno wasn't there, I could just ask any girl in Class A, or contact the school to explain the situation."

"So, the option of taking me back isn't available, right?"

"A single room bed is still a single bed, please spare me."

Kitagawa Ryo twitched his lips upon hearing this. After all, Karuizawa Kei as Sakayanagi Arisu, who could be squeezed in. If they wanted to fit both of them completely on the bed, the only option would probably be one on top of the other.

"This problem is easy to solve. Just ask the school to upgrade you using points, like upgrading a cabin on an airplane?"

Somewhat to Kitagawa Ryo, Karuizawa Kei, who seemed to have prepared thoroughly for this, smiled brightly, pointed to him with one finger, and then continued speaking eloquently:

"I inquired with the school staff, and they said that for 10,000 Private Points, we can enjoy a larger and more comfortable luxury room for one night, which is cheaper than booking the entire place, since these are just vacant rooms on the cruise ship."

"Sounds good, I'll go and make a reservation."

Seeing that Karuizawa Kei had taken the initiative to offer this suggestion, Kitagawa Ryo did not hesitate to take out his phone, find the contact information of the school staff member he had just added that day, and ask him about the matter. He quickly received a positive answer.

After a brief conversation to confirm the relevant details, the other party sent him the following message:

"So, how many days would you like to book?"

"One day."

Just as Kitagawa Ryo was typing a reply, a new text message popped up in the notification bar at the top of his phone screen. The sender was Amasawa Ichika.

[I saw Ryo and Karuizawa having a happy Matoba, but Ryo probably hasn't forgotten our promise, right? I'll come see Ryo tomorrow! Actually, I can't wait any longer, hehe--]

"Okay, so the room upgrade service will be from 8 PM tonight to 8 PM tomorrow. Please confirm."

"... Um, could you change it to two days?"

"No, let's just go with seven days."

Chapter 246: The First Time (5k)

Although the student handbook, which is given to every student upon enrollment, mentions a rule that "relationships incompatible with the status of a high school student are prohibited," the explanation of this rule is quite vague.

Horikita Manabu, the Student Council President, had spoken to him about this issue. Generally speaking, as long as students don't engage in sexual activity in public or play games that might harm their physical or mental health, the school won't actively interfere with their relationships.

Compared to the school's attitude, it's more accurate to say that romantic relationships are a greater concern or interest among students. For example, the romantic progress or hobbies of the most popular boys and girls in the grade are topics that can be heard from other students almost every day.

Furthermore, due to the competitive mechanism among classes at Tokyo Advanced Nurturing High School, the gossip and psychological pressure among students are actually greater when it comes to interfering in romantic relationships. This is the main reason why most students in the grade are unwilling to try to have inter-class relationships.

To give a simple example, isn't Class D currently frantically searching for a mole within the class? If it were discovered at this time that Hashimoto Masayoshi had actually been dating a girl from Class B or Class A, he would naturally become a suspect. This is one of the inevitable consequences of cross-class romances.

This is just a typical cross-class romance between students. If both partners are Leader in their respective classes, the potential obstacles will naturally be greater. The relationship between Karuizawa Kei and Kitagawa Ryo is the same, it's just that it hasn't fully erupted yet.

On the one hand, when the rumors about the two of them started, they were in classes Class B and Class D, respectively. Because there was Class C in between, there was actually no direct competition between them.

On the other hand, many of the students in the original Class B were genuinely innocent high school students in the literal sense, especially with Vice Class President Kanzaki Ryuji leading the way. Therefore, they generally supported their class president's love life.

Furthermore, the fact that neither of them has officially announced their relationship to the public yet has created a strange atmosphere as if the whole world is supporting them.

However, this situation is clearly unsustainable, especially since Karuizawa Kei's Class B has become the new Class A, while Kitagawa Ryo's Class D has been promoted to Class B, and the Class Points between the two classes is less than one hundred points.

This means that the two classes will inevitably clash one day in a Special Exam, and at that time, it will be interesting to see which side they take.

Karuizawa Kei was also aware of this potential future problem. After Kitagawa Ryo booked the luxury suite for tonight, she proactively expressed her thoughts on this matter, or rather, made a statement:

"Then why don't I just buy the cold drinks and bring them to our class? That way, we'll be on the same side."

As she spoke, she waved her phone somewhat helplessly in Kitagawa Ryo's direction:

"I don't know what went wrong with Hoshinomiya's homeroom teacher at noon, or if she got drunk again or something. In the afternoon, she suddenly sent me a series of text messages that were full of grammatical and rhetorical errors, saying things like 'We'll make sure our class beats you next semester' and other nonsense."

"It seems like he had a meeting with our class's homeroom teacher Mashima, and Class D' s homeroom teacher, Chabashira? Didn't we run into Mashima before we went to the gym this afternoon? He mentioned it to me then."

Upon hearing this, Kitagawa Ryo repeated the theory about the super-rich and the ace that Mashima Tomoya Karuizawa Kei, then shook his head and expressed his opinion with a hint of helplessness:

"If we use their theory, ace cards are indeed important, but a bomb made of four identical cards can achieve the same effect and turn the tide. Overemphasizing ace cards... it feels like putting the cart before the horse."

"In competition between classes, one person or one trump card is not always enough to achieve a perfect comeback. After all, students are still students; they are not like playing cards that you can use to guarantee victory."

"Ahem, Liang, you didn't need to give such a long speech. Actually, I just wanted to give you another reasonable excuse to buy you later, and also to keep Hoshinomiya -sensei on hold so she can play as many roles as possible. Isn't that great?"

After waving her hand to stop Kitagawa Ryo from continuing to speak, who had suddenly entered his class Leader mode, Karuizawa Kei rested her chin on her hand and gazed thoughtfully into Kitagawa Ryo's eyes, saying:

"I feel that Liang is a little different now than before; I definitely wouldn't have said something like that when school started."

"So, does Hui think this change is good or bad?"

"It's not appropriate to draw such absolute conclusions now."

Faced with Kitagawa Ryo's move to pass the buck back to her, Karuizawa Kei smiled and used the knife and fork beside her to cut a small piece of the steak that the waiter had just brought out. She then used one hand to gently cup the piece and send it towards Kitagawa Ryo, gesturing for him to open his mouth in a gesture of "ah--".

After satisfying herself with the affectionate feeding, Karuizawa Kei withdrew her hand, sat back down, and tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear, which had become loose from leaning forward. Looking at Kitagawa Ryo's face, she softly uttered the rest of her reply:

"That's why we need to transfer Liang to our class, so I can get a closer look and confirm things properly—"

After a hearty and enjoyable dinner, when Karuizawa Kei and Kitagawa Ryo returned to the deck, they found that the crowds had returned. The students, who had rested all day, seemed to have regained their energy this evening, and groups of boys and girls could be seen everywhere.

It must be said that although the Uninhabited Island Special Exam was quite arduous in many ways, it also really honed and strengthened the character of many students and played a significant role in enhancing their relationships, especially for students in the same group who had shared joys and sorrows for two weeks. Naturally, this also led to the formation of several new couples.

Just by casually glancing around, Kitagawa Ryo could see many girls clinging to boys' arms like koalas, occasionally whispering laughter and acting coquettishly in his ear.

The students in the throes of new love sitting on the benches in the rest area seemed to have almost forgotten the existence of public areas, or perhaps they were deliberately showing off their passion to others. The two of them seemed to want to be intertwined like two snakes. Kitagawa Ryo even saw a girl who seemed to be from Class C straddle a boy's lap, and the two of them hugged each other's necks and kissed passionately as if no one else was around.

After looking around for a while, Kitagawa Ryo got a little bored and turned his attention to the shop windows next to him.

Indeed, before the real night arrived, his and Karuizawa Kei's plan after dinner was the simplest and easiest way to pass the time: shopping.

"That is..."

Just as Kitagawa Ryo was intently gazing at a red evening gown-style summer dress displayed in a shop window, imagining what Karuizawa Kei would look like in it, Karuizawa Kei, who was holding his arm beside him, seemed to have noticed something and hesitantly uttered this remark.

"What's wrong? Did you run into Hiyori again?"

"No, that's not it."

Faced with Kitagawa Ryo's teasing, Karuizawa Kei gave him a reproachful look, shook her head, and recounted the Matoba she had just witnessed:

"I don't know if I saw it wrong, but I think I saw Hashimoto from Class D with a girl from our class."

"Hashimoto? His injury seems to be healing quite well. But then again, it's been almost a week, so it probably wasn't that serious to begin with."

"Hmm, I'll ask again later."

Karuizawa Kei naturally wouldn't let this trivial incident affect her date with Kitagawa Ryo. She casually brushed it off and then took his hand as they walked into a nearby shop.

Perhaps because the cruise ship has a large swimming pool and bathing area, most of the clothing stores here sell Yukata, pajamas and swimwear. Kitagawa Ryo glanced at the price tags and easily noticed that the prices here were about half again as expensive as those at the Keyaki Mall on campus.

Karuizawa Kei is also very sensitive to prices and numbers, naturally noticed this as well. She put a garment back on the shelf while pursing her lips and muttering:

"This is such a bad deal."

Although neither of them lacked points, compared to the Private Points used for booking the entire venue, it was obviously less cost-effective to rip off by buying these obviously overpriced clothes, especially since she had already prepared better combat armor for tonight.

"Then let's buy some small souvenirs to take home."

Seeing that Karuizawa Kei didn't seem very interested in the clothes, Kitagawa Ryo nodded and pointed to another shop that seemed to be selling various small accessories, making a suggestion.

"Okay, what should we buy?"

As Karuizawa Kei spoke, she followed Kitagawa Ryo into the shop. Curious, she fiddled with a lamp-like ornament made of plastic pearls and small seashells hanging in the air. To her surprise, it actually lit up, casting a rainbow of light before her eyes.

"This feels good... but I don't know where to put it after I buy it."

"How about hanging it on the balcony? But it would be quite troublesome on windy and rainy days, mainly because this thing is too big."

Kitagawa Ryo also reached out and touched it. The chandelier-like ornament was indeed beautiful, but considering the size and decor of the dormitory at Tokyo Advanced Nurturing High School, it seemed there really wasn't anywhere to put it.