Classroom of the Elite, I Have a Life Simulator Chapter 39

Emi Eura replied quickly, which immediately put Karuizawa Kei at ease:

"Do you want to go shopping together this afternoon? I've invited a few other classmates, too. It'll be a good chance for you all to make up."

This was arguably the first invitation Karuizawa Kei had received since the summer break began. The sheer impact of it made her forget the fact that Emi Eura hadn't contacted her at all over the past month. Karuizawa Kei was now in desperate need of someone to listen to her anxieties. With a sense of urgency—as if she feared the other girl would cancel the invitation if she didn't reply fast enough—she hurriedly accepted Emi Eura's request.

After agreeing on the time and place, Karuizawa Kei began to consider her outfit. If she wanted to change her current situation of being bullied, she first had to turn the tide of opinion within the class. This outing was a golden opportunity.

Karuizawa Kei rummaged through her closet and pulled out a white sleeveless dress, also a gift from Kitagawa Ryo. Now that summer had arrived, the temperature outside was rising day by day, and the light blue dress she had been wearing was no longer suitable for going out.

This white sleeveless dress was a gift she had received while playing at the beach with Kitagawa Ryo last summer. A year later, as she took it out and hung it on the closet door, she felt as if she could still smell the faint, salty scent of the sea breeze.

She and Kitagawa Ryo had walked side by side, holding hands on the beach under the sunset, the white hem of her dress swaying in the wind. Karuizawa Kei had spun around with interest, the flying hem tracing a white arc in the air. Pressing down on her sun hat, she asked Kitagawa Ryo with a hint of smugness:

"How do I look?"

"Beautiful."

Kitagawa Ryo praised her without hesitation.

"That's too simple."

Karuizawa Kei tossed the sun hat in her hand to Kitagawa Ryo. Her smooth, lustrous honey-colored hair spilled out as if released from a bind, cascading down to her waist. It fluttered messily before Kitagawa Ryo's eyes in the sea breeze. Seemingly dissatisfied with his response, a touch of the small, unique emotions of a girl flickered in her azure eyes.

"Not good enough. Ryo has to answer exactly how beautiful I am."

Kitagawa Ryo shook his head helplessly. He stepped forward, took Karuizawa Kei's hand, and looked directly into her eyes, saying earnestly:

"Beautiful to the point that I only wish for me to be the one to see it."

"Is that good enough?"

A gust of wind suddenly blew in through the window. Karuizawa Kei looked at the white dress swaying on the closet door and was suddenly reminded of the past. This sudden memory felt like meeting someone you had waited for—and who had waited for you—on a mountain path so narrow that only one person could pass at a time; it carried both the relief of a long-awaited reunion and the despair of having nowhere left to retreat.

As the appointed time drew closer, the white dress continued to flutter there. Karuizawa Kei even felt a faint sense of condescension from it, as if her past self were wearing that white dress and looking at her present self with disdain.

She hesitated for a moment, wondering whether to wear it or not. Karuizawa Kei stared at the dress in silence for a long time before finally reaching out her hand toward it.

Karuizawa Kei put it on bit by bit, feeling relieved that even after a year, it didn't feel noticeably ill-fitting. She meticulously smoothed out every wrinkle and crease, as if she weren't putting on a dress, but a suit of silver-white armor to protect her fragile self.

Yet, she had grown since then. As she walked, she felt a slight lack of coordination; parts that had been loose in the past were now somewhat tight against her body. Karuizawa Kei walked slowly toward the mirror in this armor, the dress feeling as heavy as a thousand pounds.

In the end, Karuizawa Kei didn't dare look at herself in the mirror. She silently closed her bedroom door, greeted her parents—who were quite surprised—and headed out.

Shiina Hiyori soon noticed that Kitagawa Ryo was writing a letter to someone. One day, as they were leaving the library reading room together, she curiously asked about this fact she had been observing.

"Is Kitagawa-kun writing a letter to someone?"

If such an abrupt question had come from anyone else, it would have felt like an intrusion into his privacy. However, after a month of getting to know each other, Kitagawa Ryo had roughly understood her personality; she was simply accustomed to this seemingly detached way of expressing herself.

How should he put it?

Kitagawa Ryo looked at Shiina Hiyori, who was waiting for an answer with a calm expression, and the thought, This is just how she is, welled up in his heart.

"Yes, I'm writing a letter to my childhood friend."

"Eh? Why not use your phone to contact her? Is it because international calls are too expensive?"

Kitagawa Ryo shook his head at this:

"It's not that. It's just that, for certain reasons, I lost her contact information."

"To be precise, her family changed their landline number because they moved."

"Oh."

Shiina Hiyori nodded thoughtfully:

"Then, if they moved, wouldn't Kitagawa-kun's letter fail to reach her as well?"

"Yes, so I'm just writing the letters; I'm not actually sending them. In the end, I just want to record the things I've wanted to say to her over the past few days."

Kitagawa Ryo nodded, acknowledging his somewhat childish behavior:

"Because we left so hastily at the time, I hadn't even met my father and mother before that. I was suddenly told that they were actually famous people... By the time I realized what was happening, I had already been brought to the United Kingdom for school."

"That sounds like the plot of 5 Centimeters per Second."

Shiina Hiyori remarked with a squint, but immediately followed up with an explanation:

"I don't mean that Kitagawa-kun won't end up with that girl; I just think that this kind of childhood romance is very rare in reality."

"That's why it's worth cherishing, I suppose."

Kitagawa Ryo replied casually. He looked up at the sunset clouds on the horizon and said:

"I have something to do next Friday, so I won't be coming here."

"Hmm, is something the matter?"

Facing Shiina Hiyori's inquiry, Kitagawa Ryo smiled at her:

"Because I also intend to be like the protagonist in 5 Centimeters per Second and secretly travel a long way to see her."

He cast his gaze toward the edge of the horizon, where a blood-red sun was slowly sinking, large and serene, between the city's high-rises:

"But the protagonist in the story only took a train from Tokyo to Tochigi Prefecture in the Kanto region. I, on the other hand, am secretly running all the way from London, United Kingdom, to Tokyo."

Kitagawa Ryo tightened his grip on the letter in his hand, as if speaking to Shiina Hiyori, and as if speaking to himself:

"Just for this sincerity, no unscrupulous scriptwriter would give us a worse ending, right?"

Shiina Hiyori opened the calendar on her phone, brought up the schedule for next Friday, and changed "Recommend a novel to Kitagawa-kun" to "Reading alone." Next Friday's date was August 9th, and she was already starting to think about skipping that day.

She squeezed the backpack behind her. Shiina Hiyori had a habit of carrying books she wanted to recommend to others in her bag, so she could lend them directly after recommending them. However, since Kitagawa Ryo already had plans, she could only smile and say:

"We will definitely be together."

"By the way, what kind of person is Kitagawa-kun's childhood friend?"

"Kei?"

Her question brought back memories for Kitagawa Ryo, who, in his enthusiasm, began to introduce her:

"Kei is a girl who is both weak and strong, perhaps someone who would make people feel pity and disappointed."

"That sounds contradictory."

"Because people are inherently contradictory beings. No one's personality can be defined by a single label. In fact, one's self in every moment is actually different. This is the uniqueness inherent in people."

Kitagawa Ryo casually found a bench by the roadside and sat down:

"I want to correct Kei's bad habits, but that idea is too presumptuous."

"So, all I can do is stay by her side and watch her grow."

As if thinking of something unpleasant, a hint of ferocity appeared in Kitagawa Ryo's eyes, but he quickly said as if nothing had happened:

"Actually, growth itself is quite strange. Everyone says that the pain and hardship during growth are necessary. They even attribute their success after growing up to hardship, and even thank hardship for tempering them. This is simply too strange."

"Does a person who has experienced bullying and domestic violence since childhood, and then grew up to be a mentally sound adult, still have to forgive and acknowledge the people who abused and bullied them?"

Kitagawa Ryo turned his gaze eastward, slowly closed his eyes, and when he opened them again, his face had regained its familiar smile:

"Hardship can lead to growth, but growth doesn't necessarily require hardship, and it certainly doesn't require gratitude for hardship."

"I just hope that the people I care about can grow up healthy and safe with me. If any unreasonable hardship comes knocking, I'll knock it down."

"If Kei can't do it, I will."

Chapter 7: The Difference Between Horikita Suzune and Karuizawa Kei

[Day 1: Under the premise of keeping it from your parents, you received help from your butler, Mr. Izaki, and finally found a time when they were too busy with work to watch you. Mr. Izaki led you onto a flight from London, United Kingdom, to Tokyo.

You looked out through the airplane window. The clouds floating in the sky were thick, clumped together, but without a clear form. They constantly changed every moment and never stayed in the same place, their outlines blending ambiguously with the azure background.

A child next to you, about six or seven years old, was leaning against the window sill, excitedly saying to his mother:

"This one looks like a flower, this one looks like our dog at home, this one looks like a broom..."

Although you couldn't see any fixed shapes in the clouds the child pointed to, perhaps it was precisely this uncertain existence that made people associate them with something.

People simply projected their emotions onto these clusters of fine water vapor. After realizing this, and looking at the clouds, you naturally thought of fluffy cotton candy, and of the night of the fireworks festival when you reached out to wipe the sugar from the girl's lips.

You propped your head on your hand, watching the clouds, and a smile gradually appeared on your face.

In unformed shapes, by using tangible will to depict shapes and entrusting one's wishes upon them, whether it be clouds or the starry sky, creating them into objects or constellations – this is the unique imagination of humans, or rather, the lies we tell ourselves.

The plane arrived in Tokyo on the morning of August 9th.]

[Unlocked Story CG: Lies]

[Lies: I don't have to lie, why should I lie.]

[Do you want to read this story CG? (This may be helpful for your subsequent game progress)]

"So, my parents already knew that I secretly came to Tokyo with Grandpa Izaki?"

Amidst the bustling crowds at the international airport, Kitagawa Ryo pushed his suitcase in front of him, all important documents and credit cards stuffed into the innermost pocket of his lining. He asked the man beside him, who was about fifty years old, with a hint of helplessness.

"Of course. Otherwise, would you think I really had that much influence to secretly take you out of the country?"

Mr. Izaki patted Kitagawa Ryo's head. For the past thirteen or fourteen years, he had basically raised Kitagawa Ryo alone. Although Mr. Izaki was entrusted by the Kitagawa family, after thirteen years of constant companionship, he and Kitagawa Ryo had long since developed a familial bond. Before Kitagawa Ryo even met his parents, he had always called Mr. Izaki "Grandpa" without a surname.

"...Does Grandpa Izaki know why they did this?"

"It might be compensation for young master. I'm not entirely sure, but there might be other things young master needs to do."

Mr. Izaki vaguely tried to change the subject:

"But aren't you here in Tokyo this time to find the Karuizawa family?"

"Yeah! I'm here to find Kei."

Upon hearing the surname Karuizawa, Kitagawa Ryo immediately became excited:

"Has Grandpa Izaki found out where their family moved to later?"

"It's still in progress, but we should have news soon. In two hours?"

Mr. Izaki glanced at his phone, estimating the time:

"Let's go drop off our luggage and find a restaurant to eat first."

Kitagawa Ryo knew that being impatient now was useless, so he nodded in agreement:

"As it happens, Manabu asked me to do something for him, so I'll just wait here for a bit."

"Horikita Manabu?"

Izaki recalled the composed young man who often visited their home:

"It seems you have a very good relationship with him, young master. He is indeed a person of excellent character and ability, a friend well worth having."

"Although Manabu is only two years older than me, he is truly remarkable. It is said that he will be enrolling in Tokyo Advanced Nurturing High School next year."

Kitagawa Ryo frankly acknowledged Izaki's words.

"However, he has his own headaches to deal with. You could even say that because of this issue, he chose to go abroad during middle school and opted for the strictly managed Tokyo Advanced Nurturing High School for his high school years."

"Does it have something to do with what he asked of you, young master?"

"Yes."

Kitagawa Ryo and Izaki finally dragged their suitcases out of the airport. The temperature in Tokyo in early August was still quite high, so Kitagawa Ryo unzipped his jacket. As they searched for the driver they had already contacted, they chatted idly:

"Manabu has a troublesome younger sister, who seems to be the same age as me. Since they haven't seen each other for years, he wants me to check on her in his stead to see if she is still the same as she used to be."

"The same... as she used to be? What does that mean?"

"He didn't explain it clearly to me either. Regardless, Manabu told me to just take a look at her from a distance, find out her current living situation, and send the information to him."

"I see. Do you need us to look into her specific background?"

"No need. Manabu has already given me her name, school, and address."

After finding the driver and loading their luggage into the trunk, Kitagawa Ryo sat in the backseat and pulled a photo of a girl from his bag, handing it to Izaki:

"Horikita Suzune."

He read the girl's name aloud.

"Let's go to this restaurant. If Manabu's information is correct, Horikita should be eating at this restaurant around this time."