The Power of Money

Karuizawa Kei slowly opened the slip of paper she had drawn, not knowing which draw it was, and softly read out the words written on it—'Partner'.

"If confirmed."

She hesitated before speaking, then suddenly noticed Kanzaki Ryuji waving his phone at her from the crowd around them, and nodded.

"Teachers can open their phones now and search for my or Liang's Baidu Baike (Chinese Google. Then they can find it in the 'Interpersonal Relationships' section. Of course, if they wish, they can also find it in the 'Acting Experience' and 'Anecdotes' sections."

"Or you could search for 'Kitagawa Ryo / Karuizawa Kei' or 'partner' on Yahoo, and my name and Ryo's name should appear in the related searches."

Compared to the past, Karuizawa Kei, now a seasoned Actor, has mastered the art of controlling her emotions, so neither her facial expressions nor her tone betrayed any abnormality, as if nothing had just happened in front of her.

Perhaps it was because Karuizawa Kei's unhurried and confident speech was so convincing, or perhaps because the staff member had indeed heard of the two of them before, or perhaps she simply wanted to end the borrowing race as soon as possible, the referee decisively announced that Karuizawa Kei's answer had been approved. On the contrary, some of the students who heard these words began to search according to her instructions with curiosity.

The relationship between people can never be fully defined by a single label or word.

Watching Karuizawa Kei and Amikura Mako run away from the lottery box towards the finish line, Kitagawa Ryo couldn't help but have this thought in his mind.

Besides being her partner on stage, he can also be her therapist, drama teacher, sexual partner, and lover.

Of course, the reverse is also true.

Regardless of his past or present life, Kitagawa Ryo's favorite play remains Macbeth, and Karuizawa Kei is still the best actress to portray Lady Macbeth in his eyes.

It must be said that even after the girls' relay race ended, the students' discussions could still be heard everywhere on the playground. As soon as Sakayanagi Arisu came down from the platform, she could clearly hear the wailing of a group of boys from Class 1-C nearby.

"I feel like I can hardly concentrate on the later projects..."

"Me too, I can picture Ichinose and Kitagawa kissing the moment I close my eyes. Hey, I must be dreaming, right?"

"What? Weren't there rumors and gossip about the two of them before? They're from the same gang anyway."

"Rumors are rumors, but seeing it for yourself is another matter! My heart aches so much, this is Ichinose..."

"My Beichuan..."

"Hiss, who just said that? Were there any of them among us?"

"It's decided! From now on, I'll return to Kushida Kikyo's embrace. In this cold and materialistic world, only the gentle Kushida Kikyo is my true home!"

Ignoring the group of boys who were probably acting crazy, Sakayanagi Arisu casually sat down next to Kitagawa Ryo, who had just become the center of attention twice, and said in a lazy tone:

"How does it feel to be confessed to in public like that by Honami?"

"Ha, I wonder who it was this morning who came in third place and then jumped into my arms in front of everyone."

After successfully silencing Sakayanagi Arisu's sarcastic remark, Kitagawa Ryo casually waved the printed schedule of events for the Sports Festival.

The Sports Festival wasn't over yet, and the obstacle course race just now was merely a minor incident for Ichinose Honami and Karuizawa Kei.

"After Arisu, will there be no more projects?"

"Well, there weren't many events to compete in to begin with, and I didn't sign up for as many as Liang."

Sakayanagi Arisu reached out and took the form from Kitagawa Ryo's hand, resting her chin on her hand and saying with a touch of emotion:

"Let me see—you boys' group still have the 5000-meter race, the 110-meter hurdles, and the ball throwing individual events left, followed by the Four-Way Tug-of-War and the final 1600-meter relay, the two team events. Ouch—is the Sports Festival coming to an end already?"

Unlike the red-and-white tug-of-war between boys and girls held in the morning, the Four-Way Tug-of-War mentioned by Sakayanagi Arisu is a different event. The competition format has also changed from a large red-and-white group to a competition between four classes. Each class sends four boys and four girls to compete, making it a relatively small-scale team event.

"However, everyone has placed more bets on the events near the end of the second half, since it's the final stretch to determine the year's top scorer."

"In fact, as the race for the top scorer in the grade and even the whole school becomes clearer, I'm starting to worry that I'll fail."

At this point, Sakayanagi Arisu reached out and gently brushed Kitagawa Ryo's bangs, tenderly stroking his forehead, and finally lightly covering his eyelids.

"I wonder if Ryo has noticed, but the situation on the second-year Kiryuin side has become quite fierce, and in fact, Ryo's current score is already clearly threatening Nagumo's position as the school's all-time leading scorer."

"Although I know that Ryo has probably considered everything I can think of and considered, I still can't help but want to tell you these things."

"Liang, you absolutely cannot be careless and think that Nagumo can't target you across grade levels. Even just the loan agreement he has with Class C and Class D is enough to make some students in those classes obey his orders, not to mention the outside tricks."

"Besides him, those students who didn't bet on Liang might also try to harm him for Private Points, and even... it's not certain that they might be from our own class."

Sakayanagi Arisu was unusually speaking in an almost rambling tone. Although she had said in the morning that she was just a fun-loving person who was stirring up trouble at this Sports Festival, she couldn't help but say these things when Kitagawa Ryo's safety was threatened.

"Okay, I understand. Thank you, Arisu."

Kitagawa Ryo listened quietly to everything Sakayanagi Arisu, then nodded and earnestly expressed his gratitude.

I think so too.

Another familiar voice came from the side. Although his vision was blocked by Sakayanagi Arisu's hand, Kitagawa Ryo immediately recognized the voice as that of Ichinose Honami.

Along with the sound, his free right hand was gently taken and placed in a warm Matoba, seemingly enveloped by Ichinose Honami's two hands, and then pressed against his forehead. He could clearly feel the other person's warm breath coming out one after another at his wrist.

"Before the last event of the Sports Festival officially ends, Ryo should not go to Matoba like the restroom alone, and should not drink bottled water brought from the class, even unopened bottles."

Ichinose Honami's voice flowed into Kitagawa Ryo's ears like lukewarm syrup, gentle yet carrying a firmness that left him no room to refuse.

"If you need to replenish fluids, you can drink what I brought first."

As these words were spoken, Ichinose Honami gently handed a cylindrical object to Kitagawa Ryo.

He slowly opened his eyes, gently removed Sakayanagi Arisu him, and then clearly saw Ichinose Honami's own personal water bottle.

It's a very ordinary style.

But what was tied to it instantly caught Kitagawa Ryo's attention.

That's his name.

To be precise, it was the name tag he handwrote during the name tag ripping exercise in the Uninhabited Island Special Exam, which was later taken away by Ichinose Honami:

Kitakawa Ryo (Kitagawa Ryo).

However, another name was added to the empty space on that name tag:

Ichinose Honami (Ichinose Honami).

Chapter 309: The Power of Money

"Attention students, the 5000-meter race for First Year participants is about to begin. All participants must proceed to the starting line to confirm their registration with school staff. To reiterate..."

Kitagawa Ryo had just received Ichinose Honami's water bottle when the announcement from the loudspeakers around the playground came that the next event was about to begin. He decided not to refuse anymore, unscrewed the cap, and slowly sipped some of the cool water in the bottle to replenish his body's fluids before putting the bottle down and handing it back to Ichinose Honami.

"Honami. I'm off to report now."

"Yeah, if I'm free after my project, I'll wait for Liang at the finish line. But Liang, please remember, even if I get there a little late, don't drink any water offered by other people. Consider it our agreement."

Ichinose Honami gently tucked a few strands of hair that had fallen to the side of her face and tucked them back behind her ears. Then, she carefully took the water bottle that Kitagawa Ryo had returned with both hands, leaned forward, and lightly touched the tip of his nose with her forehead.

"Good."

Kitagawa Ryo nodded in agreement, then turned around and jogged straight towards the starting line.

Only after his figure shrank to a dot in Sakayanagi Arisu's pupils did she turn her head and examine Ichinose Honami with a playful expression.

"If you weren't Honami, I definitely wouldn't have let Ryo drink the water you brought without saying a word, and wouldn't have made such an absurd promise."

As she spoke, Sakayanagi Arisu muttered to herself again:

"But didn't the other students think the same way? That's why they were easily fooled by you during the Cavalry Battle, whether it was Kamuro from Class D or Airi, it was the same for them."

No matter where you are, creating a rock-solid and deeply ingrained persona for yourself is always more beneficial than harmful. Even if some people sense something is amiss at that moment, they will naturally ignore it.

From Sakayanagi Arisu's perspective and intelligence gathering, the girls' Cavalry Battle would actually end in a victory for the Red Team. This is because, apart from Class 1-C who had lost their will to fight, the Class 1-B group, which consisted of only her and Amasawa Ichika, was not remotely controlled by Ichinose Honami beforehand.

And as it turned out, although her group and Amasawa Ichika's group could create a huge lead for the entire White Team, they would also be besieged and targeted, so they would definitely not survive to the final endgame stage.

Actually, when Sakura Airi's group suddenly indicated that they were running out of energy, Sakayanagi Arisu from the sidelines, had already noticed it.

While at first glance it might seem that Sakura Airi is chosen as the rider because of her high reputation and popularity in her class, a closer look reveals that the girls riding the three horses beneath her are also members of Ichinose Honami's social circle, like a subset included within it.

So even if it wasn't Sakura Airi but Horikita Suzune's team left at that point, they would definitely have run out of energy before the two-on-one advantage was about to arrive, and then Ichinose Honami would have personally delivered the last point, ending the entire match.

Judging from the prediction results, this single match did indeed earn Ichinose Honami over one million Private Points, making it a resounding success.

But precisely because her well-established persona was so solid, most of the students present immediately believed that Sakura Airi's group was truly exhausted, and that Ichinose Honami did indeed make a mistake in the final competition. Who would criticize her for that?

"If we only consider this point, I really wouldn't hesitate to speculate on the worst Malice of your actions, Honami. For example, you didn't bet on Ryo in events like the year's top scorer, so you wanted to weaken his performance here. You even added something to the bottle of water you're holding now, and the name tag you deliberately put on it was to lower Ryo's guard... You just need to say afterwards that you didn't know anything and that someone else might have tampered with it, and Ryo definitely won't pursue the matter."

Despite being bombarded with so many unfounded and Malice speculations by Sakayanagi Arisu in front of her, Ichinose Honami maintained her calm and peaceful expression, even reaching out to slightly adjust the position of the hair clip on her head.

"But I always felt that Honami would never do something like that to Ryo. Although I wasn't able to go off-campus with your Drama Club during the summer vacation, you guys must have had a wonderful and fun time, right?"

Sakayanagi Arisu casually stroked the ring on the middle finger of her left hand, then looked up and asked Ichinose Honami this question.

As one of the members of the same group as her during the Uninhabited Island Special Exam, she could clearly sense the changes that Ichinose Honami had undergone before and after this summer vacation. Connecting this with Ichinose Honami's words on the Uninhabited Island, Sakayanagi Arisu easily realized the truth.

It was as if a piece of porcelain on the verge of breaking had suddenly transformed into a brand-new, unglazed piece, completely erasing all the old, worn-out smells that were trying to be hidden yet overflowing.

Just as the reason she stood so clearly against Karuizawa Kei this time was not simply because they were incompatible or because of unforgettable past events, but because she clearly expressed and revealed her emotional inclinations and strong desires.

"So, what does Arisu mean by telling me all this now? Are you trying to stop me?"

Faced with Sakayanagi Arisu, Ichinose Honami simply threw the question back at her. She held the water bottle with name tags bearing both of their names wrapped around it in both hands, unscrewed the cap, and pressed her lips to the rim of the bottle, taking a shallow sip to moisten her throat.

"... Sometimes I really want to know what exactly happened between you and Ryo."

Sakayanagi Arisu also didn't directly answer Ichinose Honami's question. Instead, she suddenly said something a bit nonsensical, and then seemed to lose the will to continue the conversation. She nimbly jogged to the starting line to cheer for Kitagawa Ryo. After all, unlike Ichinose Honami, she hadn't signed up for the next event for the girls.

After Sakayanagi Arisu left, Ichinose Honami breathed a sigh of relief, but her eyes immediately hardened again. She shook her head slightly to temporarily put aside everything related to Sakayanagi Arisu and focused her attention on Karuizawa Kei was a little further away.

After all, she still hadn't truly confirmed where the other party had placed their large bet. This was mainly because the total prize pool for this Sports Festival prediction was too huge, and with Miyabi Nagumo's extravagant spending, her and Karuizawa Kei's five million bets, split between them, seemed to have barely made a splash. It was indeed quite troublesome to carefully identify the source.

However, she needs to be careful about Liang's safety right now.

The higher the sunk cost, the more inevitable it becomes that one cannot turn back.

The prediction is as follows.

Perhaps the same applies to relationships.

Therefore, Ichinose Honami will only have one love in her life, which is both the first and the last.

Unlike previous events where each class sent two people to form a group of eight, with ten groups per event, the 5,000-meter race now only has one group per grade, taking into account the duration and students' physical fitness. Each class still sends two people to participate, but the total number of runners is only eight.

Although he had seen the list of participants in this event on the competition list posted by each class beforehand, when he got near the starting line, Kitagawa Ryo still habitually glanced at the other students around him. Apart from a boy from his class who was participating with him and belonged to the sports club, he hardly saw any familiar faces.

But thinking about it, it's understandable. After all, even in a regular high school, long-distance running is always the least popular event during the Sports Festival. Running 5,000 meters is not the same intensity as running 100 or 200 meters. Instead of wasting a lot of energy on this, it's better to sign up for other smaller events to get points.

While athletic prodigies like Ken Sudō or Hirata Yosuke, with their exceptional endurance and stamina, might be willing and able to sign up for such events, under the rules of Tokyo Advanced Nurturing High School's Sports Festival, class Leader would often politely decline their proposals at this point. After all, the 1600-meter relay race, which had the highest score and was the only multi-grade competition in the entire Sports Festival, was waiting for them later.

But Kitagawa Ryo himself is the class Leader of Class 1-B, then it doesn't matter.

Perhaps because the controversy caused by Ichinose Honami had not yet completely subsided, the moment Kitagawa Ryo appeared, the surrounding discussions never stopped. Even though the competition was about to begin, several contestants from other classes were whispering and casting curious glances in his direction.

The referee standing by the track glanced at his watch again, and after confirming that there was only one minute left before the start, he raised his megaphone. But just as he was about to remind the runners to get ready for the start, a commotion suddenly broke out in the field. A student from Class C collapsed on the track, clutching his stomach in apparent pain.

"What happened?"

"Ouch... it hurts so much, my stomach suddenly hurts so much."

After asking a few questions, the referee used a walkie-talkie to call over his colleagues from the medical team, and they quickly lifted the student onto a stretcher.

The school is always the one that can't afford to gamble. Even when they know that many students are faking illness, they still have to rush around checking them one by one, fearing that something might go wrong. As far as this referee knows, the situation in the second and third grades is even more serious than in their First Year, and it can be said that accidents happen frequently.

"So, are there any substitute players from Class 1-C who would be willing to pay 100,000 Private Points to take their place on the field?"

After watching his medical colleagues swiftly carry the student from Class C away, the referee raised his megaphone and repeated the same message twice to the other students in Class 1-C.

Although he didn't think anyone would spend 100,000 points to run 5,000 meters and suffer, it was a rule set by the school, so he could only follow the rules.

In stark contrast to the referee's languid tone, the atmosphere off the court in Class 1-C was almost harsh, as if the air itself were frozen.

From the moment the Class C boy on the field collapsed to the ground clutching his leg and groaning in pain, Ryuen Kakeru had initially been just watching the show, suddenly turned cold. He abruptly turned around and scanned the faces of every boy behind him, almost squeezing out each word from his throat:

Who did it?

Ryuen Kakeru had anticipated from the beginning that Kitagawa Ryo might be targeted by others starting in the afternoon. Therefore, although the competition schedule for Class 1-C was extremely chaotic and arbitrary, he still did his best to place his trusted confidants in these afternoon events. His purpose was not to participate in the competition, but to keep an eye on Kitagawa Ryo during the competition.

The student who is currently lying on the ground and being taken away by the medical team is one of those he personally arranged to be taken away.

With the exception of a few boys such as Ishizaki Daichi and Kaneda Satoru, most of the boys in Class 1-C remained remarkably silent at this moment.

It must be said that at this moment, they joined forces to give Ryuen Kakeru a unique and realistic lesson.

The students in Class 1-C who accepted Nagumo's loan, hoping to make a fortune at the Sports Festival and even secretly colluding with unfamiliar upperclassmen, did not succumb to his violence as Ryuen Kakeru had envisioned.

Or perhaps, it was simply that their desire for Private Points (money) that made them forget and suppress the emotion called fear.

Perhaps from the very beginning, the class that was most severely swayed by the consumerist offensive launched by Tokyo Advanced Nurturing High School during the summer vacation was Class 1-C.

It's just like what Shakespeare depicted in his plays: money can turn black into white, ugly into beautiful, wrong into right, lowly into noble, old into young, and coward into hero.