The Time-Management Master's Epic Failure / The World Is One Giant Boomerang (4.5k)

In some respects, Shiina Hiyori was actually in breach of contract first.

Even though she had Ryuen Kakeru deliver a message to Kitagawa Ryo that "if you have time, come find me in Class C, I have something very important to say," on the day of the Tokyo Advanced Nurturing High School's Cultural Festival, she seemed to transform into a detective who had finally deduced the truth of that unsolved case after a long period of time, and every minute and every second of waiting felt so long and unbearable.

On the eve of the Cultural Festival, Shiina Hiyori finally received a package sent from her parents, who were outside the school, by taking advantage of a loophole in the Cultural Festival rules. In addition to several mystery novels by Shiina Katsumi himself, which were used as a cover, there were also many other types of mystery novels. The letters from her family were secretly tucked into one of them.

As a family where the father is a mystery novelist and the daughter is a hardcore mystery novel fan, just like how Shiina Hiyori recently shared some questions about rings with her parents in the book review section of "A Study in Scarlet," Shiina Katsumi's reply was intentionally placed in a similar book, which can be regarded as a small interaction between him and his daughter from afar.

However, Shiina Hiyori was not stumped by her father's little test. She quickly and accurately identified Ayatsuji Yukito's "The Murder Notice at the Decagon House" from among those mystery novels. This was the debut work of this famous mystery writer. With the publication of this work, Japan mystery literature entered a brand new era of Shin-Honkaku. The year the book was published, 1987, is also known as the first year of Shin-Honkaku.

(But for those who aren't mystery novel fans, the more well-known work is probably Ayatsuji Yukito, <Another>. After all, this work was adapted into a manga, an anime, and a movie. Many veteran anime viewers should have a deep impression of the scene in the anime where the long-handled umbrella is used to kill someone; it's definitely one of my psychological traumas.)

Similar to A Study in Scarlet, The Murder Notice at the Decagon House is also a tragedy of revenge for love, and the direct motive for the first victim's murder is that she was holding a birthday gift that the murderer had given to his girlfriend.

It's the same ring, and it's engraved with the Romanized initials of the two people's names: KM & CN.

Sure enough, Shiina Hiyori quickly found her father's handwritten letter in the lining of this not-so-thick mystery novel. Since she had known for a long time that Kitagawa Ryo and her daughter's relationship was so good that they would talk on the phone every day even though they were on opposite sides of the world, Shiina Katsumi was not surprised by the progress of their relationship. After all, they were already high school students, and it was perfectly normal for them to be in a relationship.

Regarding Shiina Hiyori's mention of the ring and return gift, Shiina Katsumi told his daughter another matter in a letter, written in an almost novelistic style. He explained that after he left home more than half a year ago to enroll in Tokyo Advanced Nurturing High School 'Shiina Hiyori room as usual, she suddenly found a ring lying quietly in a corner of the desk drawer, as if it had been sealed away for a long time.

After repeatedly confirming that the ring did not belong to the couple, and then receiving an inquiry from Shiina Hiyori, they decided to include the seemingly divinely bestowed ring in a letter and send it to her. They even jokingly added at the end of the letter that since Hiyori said the ring she received from the other person fit her finger perfectly, perhaps this ring they found in her drawer would also fit Kitagawa Ryo perfectly?

Although Shiina Katsumi used a joking and humorous tone throughout writing these words, Shiina Hiyori had an incredibly strong premonition the moment she received the ring: that all the jokes her father had made might actually be true.

Shiina Hiyori became increasingly convinced that the ring she received from her father was the one that perfectly fit Kitagawa Ryo's finger size, because she could even clearly see herself giving it to Kitagawa Ryo on the rooftop in her dreams.

This morning, as I witnessed once again those drones taking off and leaving trails and huge promotional images in the air, certain memories that seemed to have existed but whose exact time I couldn't recall became increasingly clear in Shiina Hiyori's mind. It was as if a distorted, blurry old photograph was being gradually washed away, leaving all traces of the past, and the scenes and people suddenly became incredibly vivid.

In a sense, Shiina Hiyori was unconsciously pushed in front of Kitagawa Ryo by this overwhelming tide of memories.

In fact, the moment she saw the other person, all the emotions surging within her chest inexplicably calmed down, and many questions and words she wanted to ask vanished without a trace. Shiina Hiyori's consciousness jumped back and forth between past memories and present reality, as if trying to separate them. She reached out her hand to Kitagawa Ryo and uttered words completely opposite to those before:

"So this time, can I put it on Ryo myself?"

Unlike the dessert shop located on the third floor of the teaching building, which is currently not very popular, the Special Teaching Building, despite its remote location, attracted many interested guests who made a special trip here, thanks to its grand publicity campaign that made a strong first impression on the guests upon their arrival. Even though the maid café on the first floor, run by Class 1-D, drew away many customers, the influx of customers still easily filled the corridor on the third floor.

Because they were delayed at the main entrance, Yuki and Tsubaki Sakurako had to queue in the crowd for quite a while before they finally managed to squeeze to a relatively good spot at the front. But then they heard a sudden commotion that sounded like a commotion.

Unlike previous Cultural Festival, Tsukishiro specially invited many junior high school students who were about to graduate to visit this year. These junior high school students were precisely one of the main groups attracted by the promotional pictures of the cat cafe featuring handsome men, beautiful women, and cute animals. Therefore, when they saw Shiina Hiyori's actions in front of the shop, they subconsciously thought they had stumbled upon a confession scene by senior students from ANHS University, and they all started to cheer. This quickly attracted the attention of some guests who couldn't see what was happening in front of them.

"Excuse me, what's going on up ahead?"

"It seems like a senior from ANHS University is confessing her feelings to a senior. The guy is the one in the promotional photo at the entrance... No, at first I thought it was a heavily edited photo, but he looks even more handsome in person than in the photo."

"Is this Kitagawa Ryo? Doesn't he have a girlfriend? I remember hearing that online, something like Karuizawa."

"Are people really obsessed with online celebrity couples? Can you please tone it down?"

After barely catching glimpses of what might be true or false from the chatter of the crowd ahead, Xue bit her lip, took a few deep breaths, and forcefully pushed her way to the front. The guests in front of her felt a sudden, powerful force and instinctively parted to make way for her. A girl, who was still helping her older sister out, said with a mix of helplessness and amusement, "Excuse me, excuse me," as she squeezed through.

It can only be said that even Tsubaki Sakurako herself doesn't know where her sister's mysterious confidence comes from. After all, even based on the incomplete information she has, which is known that Kitagawa Ryo and her sister knew each other in the past, her sister had already been taken home several years ago and had been living in the hospital receiving psychological treatment ever since.

Kitagawa Ryo reappeared this June, which is at least five or six years ago. You can't expect that his interpersonal relationships have been as blank as yours all these years.

Even if you two were very close in the past, to be honest, that was all in your childhood. Tsubaki Sakurako herself has almost forgotten the names and faces of her elementary school classmates.

So this is a future that can be foreseen at a glance. After all, compared to his older sister who has been stuck in the hospital ward and unable to integrate into society, this boy named Kitagawa Ryo will definitely meet new girls, experience new events, and develop new feelings during this time.

Although she knew this perfectly well in her heart, Tsubaki Sakurako still maintained an expression of indifference, silently following behind Yuki and casually glancing at Kitagawa Ryo, who seemed to have also noticed their arrival and was looking in their direction.

... hiss.

To be honest, Tsubaki Sakurako herself had met Kitagawa Ryo several times in the past. Although most of the time it was just a brief encounter and a polite greeting, she had at least seen the handsome boy's appearance up close.

Even so, she could only sigh inwardly at the Creator's favoritism, and had little other emotion.

But today feels different.

Even though it had only been two months since their last meeting, Kitagawa Ryo seemed to have gained an infectious charm and attraction out of nowhere, involuntarily drawing Tsubaki Sakurako's gaze and attention. This made the girl, who had been listless and seemingly unable to muster any energy since the start of the Cultural Festival, unusually attentive. The stick of the lollipop that had been dangling from her mouth stopped its playful wriggling and instead hung quietly to one side.

As it turns out, even the most meticulously planned scheme can crumble in an instant due to some unexpected change, just like that of a Time Management Master was quite confident before the Cultural Festival.

Shiina Hiyori's sudden arrival disrupted Kitagawa Ryo's plans. According to the plan he made yesterday, after quickly dealing with the dessert shop and cat cafe projects, he would take the initiative to find Yuki, who should be almost here looking for him. Then, under the cover of Ayanokoji Kiyotaka on the first floor, he would find some time to meet Shiina Hiyori.

But who knew that the one who would act out of the ordinary this time was none other than Shiina Hiyori, who was absolutely neutral during the Sports Festival. Although Kitagawa Ryo had considered that Hiyori might have remembered some of the things from the simulation, Hotaru himself was vague about when Hiyori would remember. And most importantly, the information he got from Ryuen Kakeru was that Hiyori would wait for him to come over when he was free, which meant that the initiative should be on his side.

It can only be said that reality is not a mystery novel where logic is airtight and every step requires a reasonable motive. Under the Shiina Hiyori, Kitagawa Ryo could only compose himself and start thinking of a way to get through this long-awaited hellish situation.

This was actually to be expected. After all, through his long-term efforts, he had basically sorted out the interpersonal relationships of the girls at Tokyo Advanced Nurturing High School. The potential pitfalls of Ichinose Honami and Karuizawa Kei, who were originally the most likely to trigger this kind of scenario, have also been eliminated (I don't know what happened at the Sports Festival).

In this situation, Xue, who lives outside the school, will undoubtedly become the catfish in the catfish effect, stirring up the originally calm situation again. After all, compared with other girls who can see him every day and spend wonderful campus time with him, the emotions that Xue has accumulated and suppressed in her heart, who can only wait outside the school for the start of the new school season next April, will only be more turbulent.

More importantly, similar to Amasawa Ichika, who was in a similar situation, a significant portion of the memories they retained from that simulation were not pleasant. This is because most of their interactions took place within the White Room. Even though Yuki and Ichika were freed from the White Room and gradually integrated into society after its destruction, they inevitably inherited some of the trauma from their childhood in terms of emotions and personalities, which was then carried over to the two of them in reality.

To reiterate, for both Amasawa Ichika and Yuki, the White Room life that permeated their entire childhood was hardly a beautiful chapter worth praising and repeatedly recalling. It was only because Kitagawa Ryo was there that his presence added a bright and dazzling warm hue to their pale memories. But in the end, it was just like shards of glass wrapped in honey; the deeper you go, the more you get hurt.

Therefore, Amasawa Ichika still unconsciously acts coquettishly in front of him, which is inappropriate for her age, while Xue...

The smile of the first girl to learn to smile in this White Room was so gentle and radiant, yet it was also full of Affinity and a subtle emotion that he could not refuse.

Every night that Kitagawa Ryo met him after leaving school, she would stubbornly insist on sleeping in the same bed with him.

Just like now, naturally hug his arm with a force that seems to want to meld his whole being into your chest.

"Let's go, Ryo, didn't you say you'd come with me to the Cultural Festival today?"

Chapter 333: The World is a Giant Boomerang (4k5)

Just as Kitagawa Ryo had imagined, Yuki had no intention of hiding her intentions in front of everyone. Just like the magic cast on Cinderella would wear off after midnight, the only day she could openly meet Kitagawa Ryo until next spring was actually the Cultural Festival.

To be precise, it was less than six hours, until five o'clock in the afternoon.

So from the very beginning, she wanted to monopolize Kitagawa Ryo's time. She had already planned to remember every single moment they spent together, just as animals prepare enough food before winter. Snow also needs to accumulate enough food to survive the icy winter before the arrival of next spring, a kind of spiritual nourishment called memories.

Shiina Hiyori, of course, did not recognize this girl who suddenly rushed over from among the guests, acting intimately with Ryo as if they were very familiar. She had known Kitagawa Ryo for a long time and thought she knew his family members and life experiences well enough, but no matter how hard she searched her memory, she could not find a girl with such a face.

But this thought only lasted for a moment. Having just recalled some experiences that seemed to not exist in the past, as if they happened in a parallel world, Shiina Hiyori quickly made a fairly accurate deduction by extrapolating from her own experience to the other person, defining the other person as someone who had crossed paths with the boy in front of her in another world line unknown to her. After all, even though Kitagawa Ryo was being hugged so intimately by the other person, he did not show any sign of resistance, which clearly meant that he also knew her.

Even so, Shiina Hiyori still had no intention of giving up.

She wasn't actually a particularly bold or enthusiastic person when it came to showing off in front of others; otherwise, she wouldn't have made such a mess of Class C during the Sports Festival. But even now, in front of a huge crowd of guests, amidst the increasingly excited and noisy jeers and discussions caused by Yuki's intrusion, Shiina Hiyori still stepped forward again, almost touching Kitagawa Ryo's nose, and asked once more:

"This is the return gift I prepared for Ryo, so, may we exchange gifts now?"

During last month's Sports Festival, Kitagawa Ryo had planned to give Shiina Hiyori the ring she shared under the guise of a borrowing contest. However, he unexpectedly brought out another ring that didn't exist in this reality, which triggered a chain reaction that caused Hiyori to regress in her memories. Coincidentally, Hiyori then completed the final piece of evidence and memory fragment at this Cultural Festival, leaving Kitagawa Ryo with the feeling that he was being targeted by some kind of world will.

'Can we exchange gifts now?'

In other words, this statement essentially means that he should take out the ring that Shiina Hiyori belongs to and give it to her again.

Considering the girl who was already emotionally unstable and seemed to be clinging tightly to his arm, White Room Kitagawa Ryo felt that if he were to take out a ring Shiina Hiyori at close range in front of her, something quite bad would happen.

It has to be said that Ying was still willing to lend a hand to her brother at this time. Just when the situation was a bit deadlocked, she shook her head, swiftly grabbed a cat cafe menu from the table next to her, and lightly jumped from inside the store to outside in a few steps. Standing on the ground near the three of them, she opened the menu, tilted her head back, and meowed a few times in a low voice, starting to act cute for the first time.

Kitagawa Ryo, of course, wouldn't let go of the golden opportunity his younger sister had created for him. He immediately seized the opportunity and bent down slightly to pick up Hotaru and the menu together.

"We've kept our cats waiting. It's not good for the three of us to be blocking the way here. The cat café needs to operate normally. Hiyori, why don't we go inside and talk?"

Then, Kitagawa Ryo turned to Yuki and spoke again:

"I've been preparing for this cat café project for a long time and put a lot of thought into it. I think it would be best if we started our Cultural Festival here."

Perhaps it was Hotaru's bright, watery, fluorescent eyes that made it impossible to refuse, or perhaps it was because they felt it wouldn't be right to continue in front of so many strangers, but the two girls exchanged a somewhat confrontational glance and ultimately chose to accept the offer from Kitagawa Ryo, following him into the cat cafe.

As the three of them left, many customers who were engrossed in watching the commotion, eager to see the second half, crowded together into the not-so-large cat café. This startled the students of Class 1-A, who were working as staff but had also lost track of time while engrossed in their class Leader's romantic gossip, and they quickly began to guide customers into the café and take orders in an orderly manner, following their pre-rehearsed routine.

But when the first group of customers actually entered the cat cafe, they found that they couldn't find the three people from before. Feeling a little disappointed, they could only order some drinks since they were already there. Their attention quickly shifted to the cute cats that Kitagawa Ryo had temporarily rented from outside the school, and they finally remembered why they had come here in the first place.

After leaving the cat café with Yuki and Shiina Hiyori through the back door, Kitagawa Ryo put Hotaru down again and, before they could speak, took the initiative to say:

"So, could you please let me explain first?"

In fact, once Shiina Hiyori truly rediscovered those past memories, there was little point in continuing to hide them.

Actually, there wasn't much need for Xue to explain further. After all, Kitagawa Ryo had told her the whole truth the moment they met months ago. The unease she was showing now was essentially because she felt that Kitagawa Ryo hadn't kept the promise they made back then. In a sense, she had been counting down the days until this day arrived.

"First, there's Hiyori. The inside story is indeed similar to what you imagined, but I've always felt that I didn't fall in love with Hiyori because of all those memories, and Hiyori certainly didn't fall in love with me because of those experiences that only came to mind today, right? That's why I've never told you these things. After all, in my opinion, it wouldn't have any other purpose than to confuse you."

"And then, this is Xue."

At this point, Kitagawa Ryo paused. Although he now knew that the other party had taken back the original surname 'Tsubaki' after leaving the White Room, he still habitually omitted the other party's surname because they only called each other by their first names in the White Room.

"I understand. However, Ryo doesn't need to tell me about what happened between you and her anymore. Of course, you're not allowed to tell her about what happened between us either."

Before Kitagawa Ryo could continue speaking, Shiina Hiyori interrupted him. For a literary girl like her, one of the most romantic things in the world is to have a secret memory that belongs only to the two of them, only with their closest people. They would smile involuntarily when they saw things and scenes whose meaning only they knew, and the confusion and incomprehension of others would be the best explanation at that moment.

But Kitagawa Ryo's next words quickly startled Shiina Hiyori was quietly rubbing the ring on her palm.

"... Well, I do remember the benefits, I remember what I remember from the Hiyori."

Having learned the painful lesson that concealing something could backfire unexpectedly, Kitagawa Ryo chose to be quite straightforward this time, revealing the whole truth to avoid a repeat of today's embarrassing situation.

Although Kitagawa Ryo's addition sounded a bit awkward at first, Shiina Hiyori quickly realized what it meant. Being an exceptionally intelligent girl, she immediately connected it to Karuizawa Kei's strange behavior and remarks during the Uninhabited Island Special Exam.

Then, Shiina Hiyori Karuizawa Kei had held in becoming her good friend all these years.

As Shiina Hiyori and the others fell into a long silence, Kitagawa Ryo immediately turned to inform Yuki, who seemed somewhat excited, of something else:

"And then, regarding Yuki, besides me, Ichika and Arisu also remember those things with you."

So, Xue's smile, which had just turned up, froze, and she felt a little frustrated.

Putting aside the fact that she always thought she had no more contact with Kitagawa Ryo and that Sakayanagi Arisu had been buried in another timeline along with those now-defunct variety shows and CP names, Amasawa Ichika had seen several times in the past few months.

After all, every time Kitagawa Ryo met her, it was under the pretext of participating in a competition outside of school. As a fellow member of the Drama Club, Amasawa Ichika would come every time, but she never mentioned these things to her. On the contrary, Yuki herself felt naturally closer to her because of their past relationship and their shared experience in the White Room.

So you were sneaking off too, huh?

After explaining their situation in general, Kitagawa Ryo once again took the initiative to first explain and inquire about Shiina Hiyori:

"I made a promise with Yuki a long time ago to go to this Cultural Festival together. How about we save the gift exchange for a more suitable day? At least we don't want to lose out to the grand scale of that event."

Having keenly sensed Kitagawa Ryo's message that 'this girl named Yuki will only be here for one day,' Shiina Hiyori gave a soft snort, gripped the ring in her hand again, adopted a "I'll let you off the hook today" attitude, pouted and looked away, muttering under her breath:

"Okay, but don't bring her to my place. Let Liang come over by herself, that's a different story."

After saying that, Shiina Hiyori and walked away, glancing back every few steps, before finally disappearing from their sight completely.

"Hmm... finally, it's just the two of us left."

"Um, where's your sister? I remember she was following you outside the shop just now."

"Oh, you mean Sakurako? I told her before I came that she would be going to the Cultural Festival with Ryo. She's a very sensible girl, and she's probably already going to see other things by herself?"

Seemingly quite at ease with her younger sister, or perhaps unwilling to waste any more precious moments between them, after casually offering this explanation, Xue couldn't wait to loosen her arms and hug Kitagawa Ryo tightly from the front, wrapping her arms around his waist and burying her head in his chest. Her previously tense nerves finally relaxed in the face of the familiar scent that rushed towards her.

Just as when you forget someone you remember vividly, the first thing you often forget is their flaws, memories are always being embellished.

The reason she still feels a morbid longing and reluctance to part with the White Room is simply because only there, in that warm and safe embrace, truly belonged to her alone.

The answer to the question was actually hidden in the question Ayanokoji Kiyotaka then, "Why are you laughing?" It was simply because he was by her side, and she was by his side.

However, what Yuki didn't know was that while she was greedily enjoying this long-awaited time alone with someone, the legendary observer Ayanokoji Kiyotaka had actually taken his position and was carefully recording everything that was happening in front of him into his mind from a nearby corner.

Over the past semester, he had observed the daily interactions of countless couples, with Kitagawa Ryo being the most useful and reliable encyclopedia of love. Through observation and judgment of facial expressions, demeanor, and unconscious subtle body movements, he found that Yuki in front of him was no different from girls in the throes of love, and even more profound and passionate in her emotional expression.

The other party was not lying.

Even the test subjects rejected by the White Room can now like someone normally, and freely show the outside world those emotions that Ayanokoji Kiyotaka never imagined or had ever experienced, such as that obvious little jealousy.

After observing these things with satisfaction, Ayanokoji Kiyotaka quietly chose to leave. After all, the maid café on the first floor still needed his help, and if he stayed away for too long, the other students in his class would notice.

As he walked down the stairs and passed another group of guests who were chatting and laughing as they went up, a folded piece of paper was precisely slipped between Ayanokoji Kiyotaka's fingers. He took it without making a sound, glanced at it, and then threw it into his mouth.

It was Ayanokoji Atsuomi's instruction.

The note had several names written on both sides. If Ayanokoji Kiyotaka wasn't mistaken, the names on the front were already decided, like Yagami Takuya and Amasawa Ichika, who were directly assigned by Ayanokoji Atsuomi to be his collaborators, although one of them has now been eliminated and the other has betrayed him.

On the other hand, these were all people the other party asked him to pay close attention to, with Xue and Tsubaki Sakurako's names prominently listed.

In fact, during this Cultural Festival, only a handful of students like Yuki and Tsubaki Sakurako received clear instructions directly. Essentially, he and Kitagawa Ryo were the interviewers for these students, selecting those they deemed suitable. These students would then be assigned to completely opposite withdrawal tasks based on their choices after enrollment next year.

Of course, if two people choose the same student, then the right to choose will revert to the individual.

On this note, two students' names appeared on both the front and back, and were highlighted in black. The implication was that while the other student's stance might theoretically lean towards him, their actual thoughts were unclear and required his personal assessment and confirmation.

Ayanokoji Kiyotaka silently repeated the two names in his mind again.

The first one is Ishigami Kyo.

He had some recollection of the surname because the Ishigami Family had been a strong supporter of the White Room project until it was temporarily shelved.

The second one...