The Light of My Life / The Fire of My Desire

Turning around, I saw it was Morishita Ai from Class 1-D, whom I had met a few times on the Uninhabited Island.

I don't know if it's because I don't know many of them or if there's some kind of mystical power, but including Kamuro Masumi, this is the second girl in Kitagawa Ryo's original Class A, now Class D, who has a bit of a Suzune vibe to her. Especially with her long, straight hair, her naturally Aloof and aloof air, and her subtly disdainful eyes, I almost miss her now.

"Is there something you need? We haven't really crossed paths before, have we?"

"Really? But in the Uninhabited Island Special Exam not long ago, our group was completely out of the top three competition because our group was sniped by Kitagawa's group all day long."

His nonchalant tone seemed to elicit a slight annoyance from the other person, but overall they remained calm and continued to try to maintain control of the conversation.

I feel like she's a lot like Suzune in this respect... I'm so hungry, I definitely didn't eat enough for breakfast, I want to eat Suzune's cooking.

Perhaps noticing that Kitagawa Ryo was completely distracted during their conversation, Morishita Ai went straight to the point and asked him:

Do you know Ayanokoji Atsuomi?

The moment the name Ayanokoji Atsuomi was uttered, Kitagawa Ryo instinctively dropped his lazy expression, turned around, and carefully examined the girl in front of him, but did not immediately answer her question.

In that instant, he suddenly remembered a piece of information he had seen about the girl, Morishita Ai, during the Uninhabited Island Special Exam: she always called him by his full name, Ayanokoji Kiyotaka, instead of his usual surname or a more affectionate first name, which made her quite unique among the students in Class D.

"It seems you know."

Morishita Ai nodded thoughtfully, then immediately asked:

"I've noticed you've been spending a lot of time with Ayanokoji Kiyotaka lately."

"Then, what is the relationship between the other party and Ayanokoji Atsuomi?"

Although it's unclear what kind of relationship Morishita Ai has with Ayanokoji and his son, Kitagawa Ryo can clearly sense that the answer to this question seems to be quite important to her.

After briefly considering Morishita Ai's current attitude towards Ayanokoji Kiyotaka and Ayanokoji Atsuomi's own experiences, and recalling all the information he had gathered about the other party and the White Room during the final simulation, Kitagawa Ryo ultimately chose to tell her the truth:

"Father and son."

Ayanokoji Atsuomi's deeds are not exactly a secret in some circles, and naturally, two opposing camps have emerged within them.

Among the data and intelligence that Kitagawa Ryo found in his final simulation, there were people like President Ishigami and his son Ishigami Kyo, who approved of or even admired the other party's methods; children like Kanzaki Ryuji, whose parents favored Ayanokoji Atsuomi; or Sakayanagi Narimori and Sakayanagi Arisu, who had differences in opinion with the other party; and of course, there were also many like President Amasawa who completely regarded the other party as a useful tool for dealing with illegitimate children or as an investment tool.

So, which faction does Morishita Ai belong to?

Then, he saw a clear flash of disgust in the girl's eyes.

She disliked Ayanokoji Atsuomi and everything he did.

As a result, even the surname 'Ayanokoji' was categorized as something she disliked.

This is why Morishita Ai always addresses Ayanokoji Kiyotaka by his full name. She feels disgusted by using only his surname, while using only his first name, being an intimate way of addressing him, would cause unnecessary trouble or misunderstandings.

Although she had noticed the name Ayanokoji Kiyotaka since the start of the school year, considering that the surname Ayanokoji is rare, and that the two might not be related at all, Morishita Ai didn't have any particular thoughts about Ayanokoji Kiyotaka himself.

But things are different now.

"I understand, thank you for letting me know."

Seeing Morishita Ai slightly in thanks to him cleanly and neatly, Kitagawa Ryo simply nodded.

I have a feeling that there are more and more moles in Class D.

... Katsuragi, Ayanokoji, good luck!


Chapter 257: The Light of My Life

"Matsushita -kun, could you please come here for a moment?"

After saying goodbye to Morishita Ai from Class 1-D, Kitagawa Ryo seemed to have thought of something and carefully scanned the surrounding area. Sure enough, he soon spotted Matsushita Chiaki standing by a vending machine not far away, seemingly buying a drink.

As he had expected, Sakayanagi Arisu really valued their date today. Even before the scheduled time, he had his most capable assistant in the class Matsushita Chiaki, come to stand guard early, revealing an insecurity that he was afraid someone would snatch the date away.

"... Is there something you need, Kitagawa-kun?"

Looking at the girl in front of him who usually didn't stand out in class, Kitagawa Ryo was a little puzzled about which scoring mechanism the school followed in class assignment, because no matter how you looked at her academic ability, physical education, or personality, Matsushita Chiaki shouldn't have been assigned to the original Class D.

After much thought, the only possible answer is that the other person's act of pretending to be a nobody was so successful that they even fooled the interviewers.

In a sense, this child and Ayanokoji Kiyotaka might have a lot in common. After all, every time Kitagawa Ryo saw the other boy getting average grades while slacking off, and the girls in his class like Sato Maya and Shinohara Satsuki exchanging compliments, Kitagawa Ryo had a hard time understanding the other boy's specific thoughts.

The good news is that Matsushita Chiaki, a girl who grew up in a well-educated and smooth-sailing environment, actually has a restless psychological complex that craves mystery and excitement. When it comes to an atmosphere of mystery or even pretentious mystification, Sakayanagi Arisu was clearly the most eye-catching one when she first entered the school. This led to their later hit it off and the strange relationship they have today that is neither purely friendship nor purely platonic.

Although Matsushita Chiaki felt that around some point before summer vacation, her young lady Sakayanagi started to speak more like a human being, she thought it was probably because the two of them had become more familiar with each other. However, Matsushita Chiaki did not dislike this change in Sakayanagi Arisu, and even found it interesting to observe the process of her transformation.

I bombarded her with phone calls and text messages for almost three hours last night, and Arisu was quite cute when I asked her for advice on what to wear. It was a stark contrast to her usual self.

However, Matsushita Chiaki still felt that offering advice was somewhat like crossing a river by feeling the stones, since she herself had never been in a relationship, nor had her close friends Sato and Shinohara.

Secondly, in terms of clothing, her and Sakayanagi Arisu's styles are completely different. To give an inappropriate analogy, many dresses or Lolita styles that look cute on Sakayanagi Arisu would look like pure and seductive styles on her.

Summer is such a cruel season. If it were winter, I'm sure Matsushita Chiaki could completely wrap Sakayanagi Arisu in scarves, hats, and down jackets, making her look like an adorable and cute girlfriend. But in summer, if her chest and butt can't fill out the clothes, it's really despairing, especially since there are no children's clothes for sale on the cruise ship.

Did you hear the specifics of my conversation with Morishita just now?

Soon after, Kitagawa Ryo's question interrupted Matsushita Chiaki's reverie.

She shook her head without hesitation in denying it:

"No."

Kitagawa Ryo and Morishita Ai's conversation was already quite quiet, and since Sakayanagi Arisu hadn't asked her to monitor or eavesdrop on Kitagawa Ryo, Matsushita Chiaki only noticed Morishita Ai from Class D coming to talk to him, without paying much attention to the specific content of their conversation.

Of course, if Kitagawa Ryo is talking to people like Karuizawa Kei or Horikita Suzune, she still has to keep an eye on them.

"That's fine."

After receiving an affirmative reply from Matsushita Chiaki, Kitagawa Ryo nodded. He naturally trusted Arisu's judgment of character, and since Matsushita Chiaki was Arisu's most trusted assistant, he would not question his words either.

"By the way, you were there yesterday when Arisu participated in the Treasure Hunt Game, right, Matsushita -kun? Could you briefly tell me about what happened?"

Taking advantage of the last bit of free time before Sakayanagi Arisu arrived, a bored Kitagawa Ryo asked Matsushita Chiaki about what happened yesterday.

Although he was not present yesterday, judging from Matsushita Chiaki's account, Arisu's plan was not much different from what he had imagined. She sold the twenty or thirty QR codes collected from students in Class B and other classes for prices ranging from five thousand to twenty thousand Private Points, and the final profit was about two or three hundred thousand Private Points.

Although the amount wasn't huge, it wasn't small either—roughly the same as the 'date expenses' that Sakayanagi Arisu mentioned in the text message—considering that it was points scavenged from students in other classes, the exchange of points actually weakened the other party's strength. Moreover, it was just a casual gain in the first place.

Incidentally, the grand prize of one million was never won by the students. However, most students simply thought that everyone was unlucky and did not consider the possibility that the school had never actually intended to give out the one million.

However, to Kitagawa Ryo's surprise, he also heard a little anecdote about the aftermath of the Treasure Hunt Game from Matsushita Chiaki. After the event, Horikita Suzune, who seemed to have appeared out of nowhere, contacted several students who were determined not to spend a single penny of the money in their prize cards and instead waited until the end of the exams to earn their Private Points. She then used her Private Points to buy their prize cards at a price slightly higher than the school's 2:1 exchange rate, seemingly preparing for some kind of expense on the cruise ship.

Hey, hey, hey, you really know how to live frugally, Suzune.

Although Kitagawa Ryo also liked this aspect of her personality.

After a brief chat with Matsushita Chiaki about the daily lives of the other students in the class, as the agreed time drew closer, Matsushita Chiaki tactfully retreated back to the vicinity of the vending machine, leaving the space clear in advance.

Then, five minutes before the appointed time, Kitagawa Ryo, who had been waiting for almost half an hour, finally met Sakayanagi Arisu.

Round-toed leather shoes, pure white garter stockings, and above that, a blue and white Lolita outfit, with a small hat on her head that slightly elevates the girl's figure.

The meticulously dressed Sakayanagi Arisu undoubtedly attracted everyone's attention the moment she appeared, but she seemed oblivious to everyone else, focusing her gaze on only one person from a distance.

Without a cane, nor needing one, the proud Sakayanagi Arisu a little princess, walked up to Kitagawa Ryo with her hands slightly behind her back. Then, she extended her right hand and lifted the brim of her pink hat, revealing it completely to him. A sweet and innocent smile instantly bloomed on her pretty face.

"So, Liang, do you think it looks good?"

From the moment before until now, Kitagawa Ryo, who was now Sakayanagi Arisu's outfit. After a brief moment of distraction, he smiled and patted the little hat on her head.

"Arisu really suits this style, she's so cute."

Thanks to her petite frame, Sakayanagi Arisu's figure is almost perfectly suited to this cute Lolita outfit. The abundant lace and fabric pleats create a dreamlike atmosphere around her, making her look like a cute, sweet, romantic, and innocent doll.

Moreover, unlike many women in their twenties who still dressed in Lolita fashion to appear young that Kitagawa Ryo had seen before, Sakayanagi Arisu was nearly seventeen years old, did not completely fit the strict definition of a true Lolita. However, her delicate face, her slightly frail figure that evoked a strong desire to protect her, her exquisitely smooth silver hair, and her beautiful, jewel-like purple eyes made her utterly stunning.

"That's good. Let's go, it's getting cold."

Sakayanagi Arisu seemed quite pleased with Kitagawa Ryo's reaction, and her smile involuntarily brightened even more.

"Um."

Kitagawa Ryo's tongue moved upwards in three steps, from the roof of his mouth down to his teeth, and then gently landed on his teeth, uttering her name:

Alice.

Their day officially begins at this moment.

Chapter 258: My Burning Desire

Completely different from their dates with Karuizawa Kei and Amasawa Ichika the previous two days, Kitagawa Ryo and Sakayanagi Arisu's first stop today was a concert hall, which was even quieter than the gym, a less popular but still somewhat crowded place.

Although it was mentioned earlier that the Luxury Cruise Ship is also equipped with a large concert hall and theater that meet its standards, the school is clearly aware of where the interests of the current passengers on the cruise ship lie. Therefore, they have no intention of using these two facilities to launch cultural activities such as concerts and theatrical performances. After all, it is obvious that few tickets would be sold, and the school does not intend to do such a loss-making business.

However, even though that's the case, when you actually rent or book the entire venue, the school will still charge you the Private Points. It's the same price that Kitagawa Ryo and Karuizawa Kei inquired about for booking the theater the day before yesterday. The price of 25,000 yen per hour is even more expensive than popular student activities like private swimming pools.

Don't ask, the answer is simply that the venue is large, the equipment is complete, and the maintenance and cleaning costs are high.

"However, there are actually ways to avoid paying Private Points."

After paying the entire amount at the front desk with the prepaid card she won in yesterday's Treasure Hunt Game, Sakayanagi Arisu asked Kitagawa Ryo with great interest:

"Does Liang know what method that is?"

"Have no idea."

Although he had a vague suspicion in his heart, Kitagawa Ryo still shook his head on his own initiative, greatly satisfying Sakayanagi Arisu's little vanity.

"That means coming over in the middle of the night."

Sakayanagi Arisu smiled and revealed the answer to Kitagawa Ryo's question, then added:

"Although there are many surveillance cameras in the corridors of the cruise ship, the school staff do not check the situation at every intersection 24 hours a day, and the teachers' night patrol ends at midnight. After that, if you sneak out of your room, you can try to sneak into this concert hall with the door unlocked."

"... Arisu knows way too much, doesn't she? She even knows the deadline for the teachers' night patrols?"

Seeing Kitagawa Ryo's genuinely surprised expression, Sakayanagi Arisu sighed helplessly.

"Students who sleep a little later can usually notice this information from the footsteps and voices that disappear at specific times in the corridor if they pay attention. Has Ryo become so lax now? I thought Ryo would do what she did at school and find out all the blind spots of the surveillance cameras and the safe times on the first day."

"Because it's a vacation, the reason is the same as why I didn't go with Arisu to the Treasure Hunt Game yesterday – I just wanted to completely relax."

Kitagawa Ryo casually crossed his arms behind his head, speaking nonchalantly as he walked leisurely onto the stage. With interest, he opened the keyboard cover of a piano in front of him, made a few minor adjustments, and as the elegant purple light of 'Pianist' in the talent bar began to shine, a piece that Sakayanagi Arisu began to play in the empty and desolate concert hall.

Für Für Elise.

Sakayanagi Arisu stood behind Kitagawa Ryo, watching the boy's shadow cast by the sunlight streaming through the window onto the mirror-like floor. Her gaze naturally rose, and the first thing that caught her eye was the boy's fair and nimble fingers, and his rounded and neatly trimmed nails that shone with a white luster under the soft light.

She stared at those beautiful, slender hands, seemingly born to dance on those black and white piano keys, and for a moment, she was stunned, her mind reeling.

Just as Karuizawa Kei could never understand Ichinose Honami's complex feelings towards her, Sakayanagi Arisu would naturally not know that Kitagawa Ryo had actually played this classic Beethoven piece for Horikita Suzune in her simulation, and that the strange interaction between the pronunciation of their names and the title of the piece had even caused Suzune an emotional crisis.

For Sakayanagi Arisu, her deepest impression of this beautiful and moving world-famous song, which seems to tell a love story in just a few minutes, actually exists in an e-card that automatically loops a certain melody when opened.

In a sense, that represented her first failure.

It was also a complete and undeniable failure.

She couldn't save Kitagawa Ryo, who was suffering from ALS, and could only watch him grow weaker day by day until he finally died in front of her.

The next second, Kitagawa Ryo's playing was interrupted by Sakayanagi Arisu in an almost brutal physical way. His right hand, which was dancing on the keys, was forcefully pressed down by her two outstretched hands, and then carefully and earnestly lifted up and held in front of her eyes.

Just like the difference in their heights, the size of his and Sakayanagi Arisu's hands also formed a stark contrast at this moment. After a while, Kitagawa Ryo saw Arisu gently wrap his ring and little fingers with his right thumb, index, and middle fingers, as if to confirm something with his own hands, and gently press them together towards his palm little by little.

The most profound memories stubbornly remain in place amidst the torrent of time, solidifying into reefs and then building castles. Although if only one person keeps them, they will eventually become worthless relics of time, but if two people jointly hold and preserve them, they will become landmarks for tracing back to the past.

Those familiar gestures, scents, or words are the keys to reopening the castle gates.

Therefore, in just a brief moment, Kitagawa Ryo understood the intention behind Sakayanagi Arisu's somewhat strange action. So, with a smile, he pointed all his fingers downwards, clenched his fist, and tightly grasped Sakayanagi Arisu's hand in his own palm, simultaneously saying:

"I'm fine. That bout of ALS disappeared long ago, just like Arisu's heart condition."

"Um."

Although she nodded in agreement, I could tell that Sakayanagi Arisu was still feeling a little uneasy.

Just like that night in the second half of the Uninhabited Island Special Exam and his candid thoughts, as the female protagonist of the chapter with the shortest simulation time, perhaps Sakayanagi Arisu is the one who still hasn't recovered.

However, this is also related to the overall tone of her two simulation experiences. Not to mention Sakayanagi Arisu, even Yuki and Amasawa Ichika, who only received the memories of the second simulation, are still hard to call normal children. Kitagawa Ryo can be said to have a lot to say on this point.

Compared to the other two, Sakayanagi Arisu experienced an even more tragic worldline, resembling a dark fairy tale.

Perhaps, just like the footnote to the simulated ending, "[May I find one heart], you are my dark fairy tale, a beautiful dream in my dreams, and a nightmare when I wake up," Sakayanagi Arisu the illusion that everything happening now is real.

The sweeter the dreams one has while sleeping, the stronger the melancholy one feels upon waking.

Sakayanagi Arisu suddenly recalled the time before this summer vacation when she gained all her simulated memories. Physically freed from her congenital heart disease, but still psychologically stuck in the past, she had stumbled and breathed erratically, throwing away her cane for the first time in her life, feeling the continuous surge of blood and emotions from her heart along her blood vessels to her brain, running all the Matoba to Kitagawa Ryo's room.

In that instant, she finally understood how she had felt.

She wanted to, and couldn't wait to, confirm Kitagawa Ryo's existence.