Before He Transfers Classes

She went to Class 1-C, which had been promoted to Class B, and found Shiina Hiyori, who was sitting quietly by the window reading a book. It was another mystery novel that Karuizawa Kei knew nothing about, but Kitagawa Ryo knew like the back of her hand.

"You're still here?"

Seemingly surprised by Karuizawa Kei's visit, Shiina Hiyori, who had become increasingly indifferent after Kitagawa Ryo dropped out of school, rarely showed a look of astonishment.

Before I leave, I'd like to ask Shiina a few questions.

"I'm sorry, I'm not in the mood to answer your question right now."

When Karuizawa Kei spoke, Shiina Hiyori decisively refused, seemingly unwilling to speak to her any further. She stood up abruptly, closed the book she was holding, hugged it to her chest, and said in a cold voice:

"Goodbye."

"Wait... So Shiina, do you know why Ryo dropped out of school? No, that's not important. Shiina, do you know where Ryo went after he dropped out? Where can I find him after I get out?"

With a completely broken tone Karuizawa Kei grabbed Shiina Hiyori's shoulder from behind, asking questions haphazardly as if grasping at a last straw.

"I have no idea."

Shiina Hiyori simply shook her head.

"How could that be? Aren't you dating Ryo?"

Karuizawa Kei spoke instinctively, even forgetting that this was a fact she had always been unwilling to admit.

"Besides, Liang has left, aren't you planning to drop out of school too...?"

At this point, Karuizawa Kei subconsciously paused, because for a moment she actually felt a very subtle sense of satisfaction and smugness, as if she realized that the other party's official girlfriend was not as attached to Kitagawa Ryo as she was. This unconscious competition made Karuizawa Kei herself feel a little ashamed.

"I will continue to wait here for Liang."

Shiina Hiyori spoke calmly, yet with the certainty of a wise and composed detective in an armchair.

"Have you heard of the Twenty Rules of Detective Novels? That's a topic Liang and I love to talk about."

"Article 18 states that 'In a mystery novel, the event must never end as an accident or suicide. Such an anticlimactic ending is tantamount to playing an unforgivable joke on the reader. If someone pays for the work and finds that the content is such a deceptive lie and requests a refund, any fair court will side with them and severely punish the author who has deceived loyal readers.'"

Shiina Hiyori Karuizawa Kei, before finally revealing a faint smile at the end:

"My relationship with Ryo is definitely not like that."

Just as Sherlock Holmes dies in "The Final Problem," but is also Resurrection in "The Empty House."

Even after realizing the cruelest truth during their last time together at the Sports Festival, Shiina Hiyori still believed in Kitagawa Ryo.

Just like how you get the Book of Happiness after the Long Goodbye.

But this doesn't mean she has a good impression of Karuizawa Kei, because no matter how you look at it, the other party has only brought trouble to Kitagawa Ryo from the past to the present, and in a sense, it's like she's been restricting his life choices.

So in the end, Shiina Hiyori couldn't help but say these words:

"Of course you can drop out of school to go find Liang, but I also sincerely hope that Liang never has to see you again."

Thus, carrying with her Shiina Hiyori's prophetic words, Karuizawa Kei withdrew from Tokyo Advanced Nurturing High School two days later.

It's as if they vanished into thin air.

After dropping out of Tokyo Advanced Nurturing High School without permission, Karuizawa Kei didn't even care about facing her parents' scolding and incomprehension, but her heart gradually became more and more anxious as she searched day after day.

She was the one who had lost her memory and only recently regained those important memories, but everyone else in reality seemed to have become amnesiacs overnight, as if an invisible hand was slowly erasing the traces of Kitagawa Ryo from this world.

He is being forgotten by everyone except her.

If this were a storyline in a novel or movie, such a design would most likely be labeled as romantic, but when it actually happened in reality, Karuizawa Kei would still feel an indescribable sense of panic.

Because even she herself wouldn't believe that she was the heroine of that story. After all, you can't find a heroine like her in any story. It's even possible that the story ended from the very beginning, and everything that's happening now is just an extension of something that nobody cares about.

So Karuizawa Kei was also afraid, afraid that one day she would wake up and suddenly forget everything about him.

Ironically, when she had forgotten everything, Kitagawa Ryo was always within reach, but when she remembered everything, Kitagawa Ryo was far away and out of sight.

Karuizawa Kei wanted to find Kitagawa Ryo while she still remembered, not even intending to find out the truth, but simply to see him one last time.

However, for the next two years, Karuizawa Kei never found Kitagawa Ryo again. To prevent her family from thinking she had some kind of mental illness, she transferred to another high school at her parents' arrangement, where she lived almost like an ordinary high school student.

But whenever she has free time, Karuizawa Kei begins her search.

During high school, she couldn't leave the city, so her most common method was to take a bus that circled the city, ride it from the starting station to the terminal station, and then ride it back.

She would find a seat by the car window, and from the moment she got on, she would use all her focus and eyes to search every corner of the city, from Chenxi bright morning light to the neon-lit night.

More than two years passed in this way. In April of the third year, Karuizawa Kei had just graduated from high school, once again stood in front of the gates of Tokyo Advanced Nurturing High School, waiting for Shiina Hiyori, who was graduating in the same year as her.

She could clearly see that the other person also quickly scanned the crowd the moment they stepped out of the school gate, paused briefly, then silently lowered their head, brushed past Karuizawa Kei, and walked towards their parents who seemed to have come to pick them up.

As a mystery novelist, Shiina Katsumi immediately noticed the ring on his daughter's hand and instinctively asked about it.

However, Karuizawa Kei could no longer hear the conversation on the other end. She simply lowered her head slightly, breathing very softly, her beautiful eyelashes trembling incessantly, a bitter pain starting from her heart and spreading upwards little by little.

She was now certain that she would never forget all her memories with Kitagawa Ryo, because in that instant, she realized that those memories were like thorns stuck in her heart, impossible to remove, and would remain there for the rest of her life.

This is a story that even Kitagawa Ryo didn't know after he left.

So even though many years have passed, Karuizawa Kei still believes in this.

It was the day she saw Kitagawa Ryo again at the theater.

Only then did I truly feel like I had been reborn.

A single glance, a lifetime.

Chapter 294: Before He Transferred Classes

"Now, let's begin the third discussion about how Class A should proceed in this Sports Festival."

It was the familiar karaoke room again, and the trio of Kanzaki Ryuji, Himeno Yuki, and Amikura Mako were back. However, this time, the fourth person in the room had changed from Karuizawa Kei to Kitagawa Ryo. And judging from Karuizawa Kei's opening remarks, it seemed that this wasn't the first time the four of them had discussed this issue.

"Because Shibata needs to rest and recover in his room, he will be absent today. He asked me to inform everyone."

As soon as Karuizawa Kei finished speaking, Kanzaki Ryuji raised his hand.

"Actually, we could use voice or video calls. After all, Shibata only injured his ankle, so normal thinking and communication shouldn't be a problem."

Himeno Yuki covered her mouth slightly and yawned a little, then casually offered a suggestion.

"That seems feasible. I'll contact him and see."

So, after a brief period of fiddling around, and with Kanzaki Ryuji successfully connecting with Shibata Sō in his dorm room by propping up his tablet on the table, the meeting expanded from four to five people.

Theoretically speaking, an odd number of people is always more reliable than an even number, since it avoids the awkward situation of a tie in the final voting process.

After confirming that Shibata Sō could receive the audio without delay and that the microphone was working properly, Kanzaki Ryuji nodded and began by reporting some information from his side:

"I currently have a total of about 4.81 million Private Points. Although it's possible that some classmates might have some points hidden away, the possibility is very small. So this should be the limit that Class 1-A can offer right now."

Unlike Class B, which didn't want to ruin the class's hard-won collective atmosphere, Class C, where most students were independent and didn't follow orders, and Class D, which had many internal conflicts and low morale, Class 1-A First Year probably the only one of the four classes that could and was able to collect all the students' Private Points.

Especially after class monitor Karuizawa Kei and class Hoshinomiya Chie ended their differences and reached a consensus, Class 1-A naturally did not resist the class decision made by the two of them together. Although Karuizawa Kei did not directly force others to show their mobile phone and balance information like Ryuen Kakeru did, and focused on mutual trust, most of the Class A students did not keep their Private Points.

"Including what Hui has on hand, the total amount of funds that Class A can mobilize this time is only around five million?"

Amikura Mako rested her chin on her hand, her tone somewhat melancholy.

Although five million Private Points doesn't sound like a small amount, it's still the total amount that nearly forty people in a class pooled together. Moreover, the forum has already produced a four-million-point millionaire, Ryuen Kakeru, and a mysterious five-million-point millionaire in the past two days. Compared to them, five million naturally feels a bit insufficient.

"Hmm, does anyone have any suggestions on how to use this five million? Do you think it's better to spread it out and invest it in one or two projects?"

Karuizawa Kei didn't think she had the same ability as Kitagawa Ryo or Sakayanagi Arisu to calmly design strategies for each Special Exam, so from the beginning she placed great emphasis on teamwork and collective wisdom among the class members, which, in a way, perfectly matched the overall situation of Class A.

For Karuizawa Kei, what she inherited from her past experiences and the miracle of rebirth was more of Unwavering Perseverance will and a tenacious learning ability. Moreover, she herself had also withdrawn during the Sports Festival in the last simulation, so she could not be considered a max-level player speedrunning a second playthrough. In addition, the situation in Tokyo Advanced Nurturing High School in this world, including class division, was completely different from that in the simulation.

In this respect, both she and Kitagawa Ryo were trying to become qualified and then excellent class Leader. The difference was that the former developed a sense of responsibility under the influence of her classmates, while the latter was moved by the class teacher's unremitting efforts.

But to be honest, this time it was less for the class and more for her own personal feelings. It was only with the help of Kanzaki Ryuji that she was given this noble halo, which increased her legitimacy.

However, as Kanzaki Ryuji once told Karuizawa Kei in private, the trust that the students in Class A, including him, had in her was not built overnight. If it weren't for Karuizawa Kei's performance over the past semester, no one would have been so willing to give her their points. So there was no need to be overly concerned or even feel guilty about it.

"I think we can concentrate our betting."

The first to speak was Shibata Sō, who was in his room. His voice, transmitted clearly through the tablet's speaker, reached everyone in the room.

"Although the prediction contest at this Sports Festival was very lively, in reality, 70-80% of the Private Points were concentrated in the few projects with the highest popularity and discussion, and the final distribution was also based on the percentage."

Shibata Sō's words were reasonable and well-founded, and the other three nodded in agreement. After all, just as he said, Class 1-A was aiming for a big win in this betting contest, so it was naturally faster to get involved in projects with huge total prize pools.

"Yeah, that's pretty much what I was thinking too."

Karuizawa Kei nodded, and then began to present some information she had compiled:

"If we were to categorize the predictions for this Sports Festival based on the total prize pool, the only S-tier would be the overall top scorer of the entire grade. With the four million bets placed on Nagumo and the five million bets placed on Ryo, the total prize pool has now surpassed sixteen million Private Points."

"Next up is the relay race, which also involves competition between different grades. The total prize pool for this event is around eight million, so let's tentatively classify it as A+."

"Then, it's time to determine the top scorer among the First Year students in Class A and the first heat of the First Year boys' 100-meter race. The former currently has a total prize pool of six million, and the latter has five million. It's worth noting that nearly four Private Points of these six million are placed on Class 1-B, namely the participants Ken Sudō and Miyake Akito."

At this point, Karuizawa Kei's phone, which was on the table, suddenly vibrated. After picking it up, unlocking it, and glancing at it, she added, pursing her lips:

"A new update: the prize pool for the second-year top scorer contest, which was originally rated A-, jumped from four million to six million five minutes ago. Someone has placed another two million Private Points on Miyabi Nagumo, so he and Kiryuin Fuka are now tied at four million to two million."

"Finally, there are the team events for each grade and the highlight events featuring seeded players. Examples of the former include the First Year White Team's Pole Toppling and saddle-riding competitions, while examples of the latter include the pitching match between Yamada Albert from Class 1-B and Kito Hayato from Class 1-D. The total prize pool is estimated to be between one and three million."

After recounting several major events from the Sports Festival, Karuizawa Kei returned to her seat, took a couple of sips of her drink to moisten her slightly dry throat.

"Looking at it this way, the first heat of the boys' 100-meter race in the First Year was really exaggerated. After all, compared with other high-profile events, it seemed like a competition with very little impact."

After listening to Karuizawa Kei's summary, Amikura Mako, who was holding her drink in both hands and taking small sips, stopped what she was doing and unconsciously sighed.

"After all, it was the first match of the Sports Festival, and there was that anonymous post leaking information. Plus, both Hirata from Class D and I got into trouble on the same day. It's no wonder it got so much attention."

Half-lying on the bed, Shibata Sō shrugged helplessly, his expression carrying a hint of gritted teeth:

"You really think this little injury can stop me from winning first place? Trust me, I'll be Resurrection in top form by the time of the Sports Festival!"

Even if you say that, Shibata, we can't bet on you.

Himeno Yuki, who didn't seem to be a fan of shonen manga, just pursed her lips and continued, her eyes darting around:

"Even if you recover these next couple of days, don't go out and wander around. If you're really being targeted by someone with ulterior motives, they might do something like that again before the Sports Festival."

"Himeno is right, our class really can't touch this project."

After letting her voice rest for a while, Karuizawa Kei expressed her opinion in the same firm tone:

"If we take into account the possibility of athletes getting injured, then this event really tests the depth of the team's roster."

"For example, even if Hirata from Class 1-D is injured or his condition is affected by someone's scheme again the day before the Sports Festival, the class Leader of Class 1-D can simply replace him with a substitute on the day of the Sports Festival, before the game begins."

"Perhaps because of the forum's pace, many students who placed bets have subconsciously treated this project as a three-way competition between you, Hirata, and Sudo. But this project is different from the top scorer; the bets are not actually placed on an individual, but on the winning class."

"Using the same example again, if I were the Leader of Class D, I would be very happy to see everyone pressing down on Sudo from Class B. Even if Hirata can't participate, they can still send out a student like Ayanokoji. In fact, this is probably Class D's hidden trump card, although they might run into Ryo in the end."

After analyzing the possible actions of Class D, Karuizawa Kei turned the topic back to their own class, shaking her head with a hint of regret:

"But we are different from Class D and Class B, especially in the men's 100-meter race. If Shibata can't compete, we can't find a competitive and decent substitute."

This can be considered a drawback of Class 1-A. High emotional intelligence means that everyone is above average, while low emotional intelligence means that they are quite mediocre. Below Shibata Sō is Kanzaki Ryuji, but with a sports ability rating of B, he obviously cannot participate in such a high-quality field that starts with an A rating.

The girls' situation was actually worse than the boys'. Their top combat strength was actually the class president herself. She was originally in Class D, but she was able to pull out Onodera Kayano from Class 1-B, in addition to students like Horikita Suzune Amasawa Ichika.

It can only be said that when it comes to this level of competition, Class 1-A is severely lacking in manpower in every aspect.

After explaining the details of the 100-meter sprint, Amikura Mako, who had been somewhat slacking off, suddenly had a brilliant idea:

"So, how about we weaken the rosters of other classes too? For example, Class B's core player is Kitagawa, right? How about we trade one for one with him, or even prevent him from coming to the Sports Festival?"

As soon as Amikura Mako said this, Shibata Sō, whose leg injury hadn't fully healed, quickly stopped her through the screen:

"Hey, hey, hey, that's not a good idea. Even though I was tricked like this, the culprit definitely isn't Kitagawa, right?"

"Don't rush me, I haven't finished yet. I'm not planning to hit him like everyone else did to you, Shibata."

Amikura Mako rolled her eyes at Shibata Sō on the other end of the tablet, then held up a finger and continued with her suggestion:

"Anyway, our girls' group isn't particularly outstanding in terms of either skill or the hype surrounding the predictions, so what will happen then..."

At this point, Amikura Mako suddenly turned around mysteriously, leaned on the shoulder of Karuizawa Kei sitting next to her, and whispered a few words.

"--It hurts, it hurts."

Then, she received a rather speechless flick on the forehead from Karuizawa Kei, and covered her forehead, pouting and complaining:

"They already did it back on the cruise ship, didn't they? My room was right next to Hui's, and Hui didn't even... on the first night."

"You'd better shut up for now."

This time, it was Himeno Yuki who made the move. She somehow managed to get around to the other person and quite decisively covered their mouth, physically stopping Amikura Mako's big revelation.