You're One of My Countless Heart-Racing Moments (5k) / Guess Why I Became the General Director

"Alright, let's go to the infirmary together. After all, who knows if you guys might give this poor little thing a couple more nasty blows on the way? If the surveillance footage is wiped clean, then it'll all come down to your mouths."

Only after the group left the Gymnasium together did Asahina Nazuna, finally recovering, explain to Kitagawa Ryo with a slight headache:

"Actually, this is how it's been since the Sports Festival. After all, most of the second-year students lost a lot of Private Points because of Kiryuin. Although Nagumo is more responsible for this in essence, they did sign a contract with Nagumo, so they can only criticize him in private. Therefore, the target of their attacks has become Kiryuin. There have been several incidents like today where they've been picking fights and trying to extort money."

"Of course, there are actually quite a few students secretly supporting Kiryuin. After all, she's the only second-year student in the OAA with both academic and physical abilities at A+, which is just too outrageous."

Speaking of this, Asahina Nazuna remembered that the person standing next to her was also a monster with both academic and physical abilities rated A+ and overall abilities also rated A+, and she couldn't help but reach out her right index finger and tap Kitagawa Ryo's forehead:

"You geniuses are going too far!"

"Does the senior feel a lot of pressure?"

"No, that's not why I became friends with you."

"Why is that?"

"Hmm... because Liang's cat can do backflips?"

Touching the day at the beginning of the month

As the title suggests, it's customary to touch the door for one day at the beginning of the month.

Speaking of which, the new volume of the Classroom of the Elite of the First Year manga has practically confirmed the sisterly relationship between Tsubaki Sakurako and Yuki, which makes my writing much smoother. It's okay if you haven't caught up to the latest volume of the original manga and don't recognize the characters; I'll provide illustrations when they appear. The main purpose is also to lay the groundwork for the second-year arc of this book.

Happy May Day to everyone!

The new cover will feature Hiyori later; here's a sneak peek.


Chapter 327: You are the Countless Moments That Made My Heart Flutter (5k)

It must be said that, compared to the ever-changing and unpredictable situation before the Sports Festival, where the general public had endless new gossip to gossip about every day, the Tokyo Advanced Nurturing High School was quite peaceful during the preparation period for the Cultural Festival. Apart from Class 2-A occasionally putting on some exciting shows, all other grades and classes were generally making their preparations at a rather relaxed pace.

Firstly, the school didn't pull any surprise quizzes or guessing games this time, and the Cultural Festival had a friendly reward and punishment system with a guaranteed participation prize for everyone, so the atmosphere among students wouldn't be so tense. Secondly, Miyabi Nagumo was the most troublesome student in all of Tokyo Advanced Nurturing High School, was now the most enthusiastic person in the entire second year and even the whole school in preparing for the Cultural Festival, so the atmosphere in the entire academy was naturally much more peaceful.

Of course, the approaching Midterm Exam are also an important reason.

Compared to various Special Exam that only produce a few dropouts through a bottom-ranking elimination system, the midterm and Final Exam at Tokyo Advanced Nurturing High School are undoubtedly much simpler and more direct. The rule of expulsion for failing is always a Sword of Damocles hanging over the heads of many students with poor grades. Under such circumstances, everyone's desire to make trouble naturally decreases a lot. After all, even if you cram at the last minute, you still have to spend time cramming.

But in the end, even the First Year students have been struggling here for at least half a year and have taken two major exams. In particular, Class 1-A, who had learned a painful lesson in this regard, is particularly serious about preparing for the exam as if it were a major battle. After all, the six empty desks and chairs in the classroom are still watching them.

As it turned out, once Ken Sudō was willing to settle down and study diligently, the Midterm Exam didn't present them with too many difficulties. Especially since many students had earned extra points on the Written Exam exams through the Sports Festival rewards, the entire class passed this final test before the Cultural Festival quite smoothly.

However, what made Kitagawa Ryo somewhat amused and exasperated was that because he had received so many bonus points for his Written Exam scores at the Sports Festival —dozens in total—and his grades in all subjects were also quite outstanding, basically on the verge of full marks, he ended up with a unique achievement of full marks in all subjects, unmatched by anyone else in the entire grade. As a result, the OAA System, which updated in real time after the Midterm Exam, added another two points to Kitagawa Ryo's academic ability score, bringing it to a staggering 99.

With the Midterm Exam officially over, Class 1-A was finally able to focus all their energy on preparing for the Cultural Festival, and the fourth project that was approved by a class vote was born at this time.

Unlike the previous three projects, this project, proposed by Sotomura Hideo, a boy in the class, is not actually a project, but rather a performance program with a promotional focus.

Although Sotomura himself is undoubtedly at the bottom of the class in terms of physical fitness among the boys in Class A, he is actually quite quick-witted. He possesses knowledge in electronics and computers that surpasses that of his peers, and is often jokingly called "Professor" by the other boys in his class. He has also joined the drone club at Tokyo Advanced Nurturing High School, making him a semi-tech geek.

In this project, which he clearly put a lot of thought into, Sotomura Hideo elaborated on the importance of publicity and first impressions.

During this Cultural Festival, each guest has a limited number of Private Points, and entry is only permitted through the main gate. This is why the booth fees in the main gate area are so expensive, since the main gate is the only place people will pass through, regardless of which route they take after entering the campus.

Correspondingly, the worst location is naturally the one furthest from the main entrance, which is definitely considered a remote Special Teaching Building even within Tokyo Advanced Nurturing High School. By the time the guests have strolled and eaten their way here, they probably won't have many Private Points left to spend.

In fact, students in Tokyo Advanced Nurturing High School are not unaware of this problem. Many classes will even buy a small stall at the main gate to make something on the spot, which is actually to promote their class's flagship project. For example, they might say a few words to the person collecting payment and give them Discount coupon.

Of course, the most basic and straightforward method is to hand out flyers. However, if too many flyers are received, the guests' desire to read them will inevitably decrease, so every year they end up being thrown into the trash can.

In this situation, Sotomura Hideo offered his own insights and ideas, which was to treat the publicity, which seemed like a side activity, as a formal project and design and arrange it in a way that would make a strong first impression and kick off the Class 1-A Cultural Festival.

Drones unfurled banners in the air, robots were deployed for guidance and food delivery, and a mini-program was created to allow guests to easily check their queue status at any time... Sotomura Hideo's various ideas can be described as well-thought-out, and naturally, they were highly recognized by the students of Class 1-A.

Kitagawa Ryo also strongly agreed with the implementation of this project. After all, the biggest and most obvious difference between this year's Cultural Festival and any previous one was the number of guests. While bringing a huge market, it also posed a challenge to the operation and promotion of each class. If Sotomura Hideo's project could be successfully implemented, it would have a positive effect on the benefits of the entire class.

Although Sotomura Hideo admitted somewhat embarrassedly that the project would definitely be expensive, they were able to manage it considering that Class 1-A's preparation funds were already quite sufficient. After all, the other three projects were not particularly costly.

Once all the plans for this Cultural Festival were officially finalized, all the students in Class 1-A were properly assigned to various positions under the coordination of Ichinose Honami, and began to work intensively to move the progress forward.

As it turns out, seemingly perfect plans are very likely to encounter a series of unexpected problems during actual execution.

The first project to suffer was the dessert shop, which was approved the earliest. Although Horikita Suzune spoke eloquently about the project and confidently stated that she and Kitagawa Ryo, two experienced dessert makers, would not need anyone else's help, their plans were thwarted, and they soon encountered all sorts of troubles.

First, there's Horikita Suzune. As a member of the Student Council, she must report to the Student Council and handle affairs on time every day. Moreover, now that the Student Council President has become Miyabi Nagumo, she, as the former Student Council President's sister, is undoubtedly in a somewhat awkward position. If any mistakes are made at this time, Miyabi Nagumo is very likely to use it to cause trouble.

For Horikita Suzune, who had decided to become the Student Council President since entering university and solidified this idea on the Uninhabited Island, and was planning to "catch" Kitagawa Ryo Ryoya into the Student Council once she took office, the Student Council work could not be easily abandoned or relaxed in order to avoid being found fault with. Not to mention, like Sakayanagi Arisu last semester, who joined the Student Council but did not report for a whole semester, after all, the situation had changed.

There are now four First Year members in the Student Council: besides her and Sakayanagi Arisu, there are Katsuragi Kohei and Ayanokoji Kiyotaka from Class 1-D. They are in a delicate atmosphere of "if you don't do it, others will," mainly because Katsuragi Kohei himself is also a top student and has a strong intention to use this platform to revitalize the morale of Class D.

As for Kitagawa Ryo, it wasn't exactly a victory either, since he still had to take charge of the cat cafe project. In the past two days, the cats he had temporarily rented from outside the school had been brought into Tokyo Advanced Nurturing High School, and his own room had almost turned into a giant cat bed. If it weren't for Hotaru keeping things in check there, and the fact that these tamed cats were quite well-behaved, Kitagawa Ryo probably would have given up on this crazy project on the spot.

Ying's assessment of this was:

Is it possible that you actually like me, not cats?

Kitagawa Ryo agreed, and then casually suggested that since she was just idling in her room, she could look after the kittens for a while. He added that there was no language barrier between them, thus sharing the task with Hotaru. The other half was left to Matsushita Chiaki and the other girls to take care of them. After all, with the school's endorsement and the Cultural Festival as a pretext, these animals could appear openly in public, even though people would soon guess that it was for a cat cafe or something similar.

However, even though the pressure on Kitagawa Ryo has been greatly reduced, Horikita Suzune shows no signs of improvement at all, and her workload has even increased significantly in the past few days.

Speaking of this matter, it wasn't actually Nagumo who started it. After all, he was currently focusing most of his energy on the major projects for the Cultural Festival. Moreover, if you really want to trace it back to its source, it's actually related to Kitagawa Ryo, because what has been increasing the workload of the Student Council lately is the troublesome situation between the second-year students and Kiryuin Fuka.

Just like what Kitagawa Ryo witnessed and heard when he accompanied Asahina Nazuna to the haunted house, Kiryuin Fuka naturally became the target of most second-year students and even students from other grades after the Sports Festival. She caused a dispute at the Student Council almost every two days, forcing the Student Council members to work overtime.

In truth, quite a few students lost a lot of Private Points at the Sports Festival because of Kitagawa Ryo, but conversely, quite a few students gained Private Points from him as well. Moreover, he was quite popular within the grade, and the troublemakers in Class C were firmly restrained by Ryuen Kakeru with a debt contract, so there were really not many people who would cause him trouble, especially not openly.

But Kiryuin Fuka is different. She didn't have many friends in the past because of her maverick personality. The only people who benefited from her at the Sports Festival were Kitagawa Ryo and herself. In addition, the second-year students generally thought that since Nagumo was the Student Council President now, it wouldn't matter if she caused some trouble. That's why Kiryuin Fuka was targeted to this extent.

Thinking of this, Kitagawa Ryo took out his phone and glanced at the time. He guessed that Horikita Suzune should be finishing her overtime work soon, so he left his room to go to the club building to pick Suzune up and discuss their thoughts on the way. After all, given their current situation, it was unlikely that they could complete the pre-arranged plan on time.

The weather was a bit gloomy today, and according to the forecast, there seemed to be a possibility of rain, so Kitagawa Ryo took a large umbrella with him when he went out.

Theoretically speaking, considering that Sakayanagi Arisu is also in the Student Council, he should probably bring one or two more umbrellas as spares. However, recently, during his routine morning exercise with Arisu, she had already told him that she and Suzune no longer finished their work at the Student Council at the same time.

Simply put, Sakayanagi Arisu basically doesn't need to work overtime, and can even leave early.

While it's true that Arisu herself wasn't as interested or enthusiastic about the Student Council as Katsuragi Kohei and Horikita Suzune, it was also, in effect, the tacit approval or even overture from the Student Council President Miyabi Nagumo.

As for Miyabi Nagumo now, although he has succumbed to the violent threats of the Acting Chairman Tsukishiro, after a long time he finally figured out another thing: no matter what, you are the Chairman, but you are only acting. This school is ultimately still the property of the Sakayanagi Family. So I might as well do the former Chairman Sakayanagi a good favor.

In this respect, he is probably the student who most supports Sakayanagi Arisu's father's return to the position of Chairman.

Of course, Sakayanagi Arisu and Kitagawa Ryo are not yet aware of the reasons behind this, but since they don't have to work overtime, Arisu naturally too lazy to stay any longer and clocks out and leaves on time every day.

As Kitagawa Ryo walked towards the club building, his thoughts in disarray, the rain began to fall precisely on Suzune. In the drizzling rain, Kitagawa Ryo accurately spotted Rin, who had just walked out of the club building and was slightly stunned, whether by the sudden rain or by seeing him.

For the scene of a man and a woman holding an umbrella together, there is a special word "matching umbrella" in Japanese to describe it. This scene of girls' feelings is always poetic and will always appear countless times in various love stories, and at the same time, it is in turn endowed with various meanings by the classic scenes in these stories.

However, for Kitagawa Ryo and Horikita Suzune, this was probably just an ordinary daily scene. Just like how she wasn't used to holding his hand while walking at first, but after holding it tightly and for a while, their palms would be connected as if they had been in the beginning, sharing the warmth they were so familiar with each other. Their fingertips would occasionally brush against each other's palms and rub against each other's hands. Horikita Suzune liked this feeling very much.

For a long time, she had always felt that she was not the type to gradually develop feelings for others through long-term interactions. For Horikita Suzune, developing feelings over time was never an acceptable option. What she actually hoped for was an instant, instinctive love for someone, something like the so-called love at first sight that only exists in fairy tales or even on the theatrical stage.

This childlike quality has been retained by Horikita Suzune since childhood, transcending her self-imposed strict sense of time and self-discipline, which even she finds somewhat unbelievable.

Even though Horikita Suzune knew very well that variables were a terrifying thing, because they meant that all the planned steps would be disrupted, the clear sense of time would be destroyed, the prepared backup plans would become invalid, and she would be forced into a state of panic.

But perhaps all the rebellious emotions she skipped during her rebellious phase were concentrated on this one point. Horikita Suzune just wanted a sudden attack, to stubbornly pursue the variables within variables, the thrills within thrills, and the fairy tales in reality in a love that was already full of unknowns and variables.

As the Cultural Festival draws ever closer, Horikita Suzune often recalls the two Cultural Festival she spent with Kitagawa Ryo before. Before everything has settled down, all her feelings are perhaps like the goldfish she tries to hold in a paper net. No matter how careful or confident she is, once she actually takes it out, it might still struggle and raise its tail, splashing a handful of messy water on her face.

"Let's go back together. I just thought of a new recipe on the way back. I'll try it out when we get back."

"Good."

Horikita Suzune nodded, took a step forward and stepped into the umbrella held up by Kitagawa Ryo, entering this small space isolated from the rain outside.

Countless heart-stirring moments, strung together, can form the length of a lifetime.

As if suddenly remembering something interesting, the girl pursed her lips and chuckled softly. Then, under Kitagawa Ryo's slightly puzzled gaze, she shook her head and reached out to grasp the umbrella handle with him.

The rain gradually intensified, with large raindrops pattering against the thick umbrella before flowing down its veins. The surrounding rain created a hazy, misty atmosphere, and the incessant sound of rain gave one the illusion of being submerged in water.

Just like when they practiced three-legged races before the Sports Festival, Horikita Suzune suddenly felt an urgent desire to kiss him.

Just like last time, she didn't suppress it this time either. Her steps honestly stopped, and her wrist slightly moved downwards.

The umbrella brim trembled, as if it were feeling shy, and lowered itself a little.

Chapter 328: Guess why I was appointed commander-in-chief?

As it turns out, some things cannot be won with just unwavering belief; otherwise, Miyabi Nagumo wouldn't have failed to achieve third place in the final event of the Sports Festival.

Just like how gritting their teeth and steeling themselves still doesn't work on math problems, Kitagawa Ryo and Horikita Suzune, after working non-stop for two more days, were finally forced to collapse on the ground and surrender.

Unlike the simulation back then, when Kitagawa Ryo was a genuine full-time student and the shop was definitely not large, now both he and Horikita Suzune have to attend classes, participate in club activities, and prepare for other projects. They quickly found themselves in a predicament where the project would never be completed without finding a new force to help them.

So here's the question: can we find even one reliable outside helper in Class 1-A?

After all, when it comes to cooking, most people have taken home economics classes in junior high and high school, and many have been taught by their parents. But when it comes to desserts, most students would look embarrassed and give up.

However, Kitagawa Ryo quickly suggested a good candidate to Horikita Suzune: Sakura Airi, a specialist who had focused all her culinary skills on dessert making.

As a former famous idol who was practically raised on sweets by Kitagawa Ryo since childhood, Sakura Airi's obsession with this is quite profound. After all, Kitagawa Ryo used this to first pry open the mouth of this quiet and shy girl in the Theater Troupe and then knock on her heart. In a sense, it can be considered a kind of "I will eventually become you".

Moreover, Sakura Airi herself has been under a lot of pressure, or rather, has been receiving a lot of attention during this period. After all, in the eyes of students from other classes, Class 1-A will most likely create a trump card program with this former professional idol as the absolute core at the upcoming Cultural Festival, so there will naturally be a lot of curious and prying eyes.

So, taking advantage of this opportunity, Kitagawa Ryo naturally pulled Sakura Airi into his and Horikita Suzune's group, expanding the group to three people. Then he also brought Amasawa Ichika over to do the physical labor, which finally relieved the current pressure a little. After all, compared to these two busy people, Sakura Airi and Amasawa Ichika had quite a bit of free time after school.

While the dessert shop project was finally on track and progressing steadily, Kitagawa Ryo's other cat cafe project also began to encounter difficulties in site selection.

In fact, with about two weeks to go before the Cultural Festival, most classes had already finalized their projects and plans, so the selection of a venue naturally became a formal matter.

Since the project was conducted indoors, Kitagawa Ryo's actual choices were limited to the regular school buildings, club buildings, and more remote Special Teaching Building. Among these options, the prices on the first floor were generally higher than those on the second floor, and the second floor was higher than the third floor, mainly due to the different levels of exposure.

On the same floor, classrooms closer to the stairwell tend to have higher rents.

Kitagawa Ryo looked at the electronic map on his phone, comparing the classrooms in front of him, and stepped onto the third floor of the Special Teaching Building.

Unlike before, thanks to the Cultural Festival, Hotaru no longer has to hide in the dormitory. She is now openly lying in Kitagawa Ryo's hood, occasionally perching on his shoulder and curiously peeking out.

"On the third floor, there are four classrooms that can be used to open shops. The cheapest is 5,000 points, and the most expensive is 8,000 points..."

In stark contrast to the prices on the third floor, all classrooms on the first floor cost 40,000 points. Considering the huge difference between the two and the limited number of points awarded to each class, how to allocate and average the expenses on rent and other items is indeed an unavoidable problem.

"Where do you think would be a better place, Liang?"

As the overall coordinator of Class 1-A for this Cultural Festival, Ichinose Honami naturally took the initiative to come along on such an important issue as site selection. After looking at all four classrooms on the third floor of the Special Teaching Building, she took the initiative to ask Kitagawa Ryo, who was standing at the window as if studying the distance and view.

"I think we should choose a place with cheaper rent, since our class already has a formal publicity plan. As long as the guests know that there are such facilities on campus, it shouldn't really matter where it is."

At this point, Kitagawa Ryo hesitated for a moment before adding:

"However, this statement mainly reflects confidence in the dessert shop project. After all, I am confident in my skills. As long as we can attract the first wave of customers, there is a high probability that word-of-mouth will follow. But the cat cafe idea is not so certain."

Unlike the dessert shop project, the cat cafe project was actually conceived by Kitagawa Ryo himself while chatting with Asahina Nazuna. Essentially, it was about letting Hotaru openly come out and get some fresh air. In fact, most of the subsequent project content and final approval were largely due to Ichinose Honami's significant contributions.

"But it's alright, we can just bring over Chabashira-sensei to generate buzz and create hype. How about a cat ear keychain? A cat-eared maid?"

"Hmm? The Chabashira homeroom teacher from Class D? When did Ryo get involved with her again? Or is it the same situation as last time at the Sports Festival?"

"Pretty much, but to be honest, this time it was the other party who contacted me first, and I'm counting on her to help me recoup my 700,000 Private Points."

Seeing that Ichinose Honami looked a little confused, Kitagawa Ryo briefly explained to her the hidden rule that teachers could be hired for this Cultural Festival.

"No, not that one. Go a little further back, to the line 'She approached you first.'"

However, Ichinose Honami seemed neither surprised nor concerned about this hidden rule. Instead, she urged Kitagawa Ryo to describe in more detail the specific circumstances of their meeting, and after listening, she nodded thoughtfully.

"Hmm... No wonder Ryo said before that there was a reason why Chabashira and Hoshinomiya could be considered sisters for so long. I feel that these two are quite similar in some ways, always having deep obsessions in some inexplicable way."

"It's best for Liang to stay away from women who are mentally unstable. Her current logic and way of thinking are beyond the comprehension of ordinary people."

"Yes, I'll be careful."

After chatting briefly with Ichinose Honami about the topic of Chabashira Sae, Ichinose walked into the classrooms on the third floor and carefully touched the walls, desks, chairs and windows. Just as Honami and Honami were about to go downstairs, we ran into a few students from Class 1-D.

The leader was naturally Katsuragi Kohei, the class Leader. Although his support rate in the class continued to decline due to a series of failures, his recent successful entry into the Student Council helped him regain some prestige. After all, it was really hard to find someone more suitable to lead the class than Katsuragi Kohei in Class 1-D.

Hirata Yosuke always saw himself as the second-in-command in the class, while Kushida Kikyo never expressed any desire to become the class Leader because she knew that she would offend people and then how could she build relationships with students from other classes?

Behind Katsuragi Kohei, besides his ever-present follower Totsuka Yahiko, were five or six girls, including Kushida Kikyo.

"Kitagawa, Ichinose, good afternoon. You're here to check out the Matoba the Cultural Festival, right?"

After a slight pause, Katsuragi Kohei extended his hand to greet the students of Class A in a friendly manner. He and Kitagawa Ryo had a good relationship to begin with, and moreover, he had recently received a favor from the other party. Just thinking about receiving a reply from his sister from outside the school in the next couple of days made the smile on this muscular man's face brighten even more.

"Hmm, you guys too?"

As he spoke, Kitagawa Ryo glanced discreetly at the girls behind Katsuragi Kohei, only to find that most of them were also secretly looking at him with slightly embarrassed expressions, and he could only respond with an awkward but polite smile.

Although Class 1-D is still keeping their project a secret, just like the other classes, Chabashira Sae had already told him all the details about their class. So, after a quick glance, Kitagawa Ryo could tell that this was someone involved in the maid café project.

It has to be said that with both Kamuro Masumi and Morishita Ai withdrawing from the project, the overall quality of the girls in Class 1-D seems rather disappointing. However, considering the presence of Kushida Kikyo, if other classes cannot come up with similar competing products, the final sales revenue shouldn't be too bad.