Once You're Caught, You're Not Allowed to Run / Do You Know What I Want for My Birthday?

Her name is Nanase Tsubasa.


Please take one day off.

I have something urgent to attend to and need to take a day off. Sorry.

Chapter 334: Once you're trapped, you can't run away.

Having decided to accompany Yuki through the entire Cultural Festival, Kitagawa Ryo, with a great sense of ceremony, took her back to the main gate of Tokyo Advanced Nurturing High School, preparing to thoroughly experience as many programs as possible for each grade and class.

Because the number of guests entering this year was the highest ever, even though more than half an hour had passed since the start of the Cultural Festival, the area in front of the main entrance was still bustling with people. Occasionally, you could see two or three customers who had probably missed the start time and were rushing into the school at this time.

Because the school specifically emphasized in the rules of this Cultural Festival that open flame cooking was not allowed indoors, most of the food stalls that required on-site cooking were set up outdoors. The dozen or twenty stalls from each grade and class were connected to each other, which gave it a strange feeling of strolling through a food street.

Since his stunning debut at the Sports Festival, Kitagawa Ryo has become famous throughout Tokyo Advanced Nurturing High School. In addition to the First Year students, the second and third-year students, especially those who have gained or lost a lot of Private Points from him, have a deep impression of him. Therefore, his appearance here quickly attracted a lot of attention.

"It seems like Liang is quite famous here."

Xue also noticed the many gazes converging on her from all directions, but she didn't seem embarrassed at all. Instead, she generously raised the hand that the two of them were holding tightly a little higher, turned her head slightly, and said something.

"I'm alright, Xue, is there anything you'd like to eat?"

Kitagawa Ryo was actually a little worried that the other Student Council from ANHS might suddenly start another discussion about how many girlfriends he had, but fortunately everyone was busy. After glancing at each other for a while, they either flipped the fried noodles on the teppanyaki grill or started smiling and promoting the roasted marshmallows in their hands, and began to concentrate on their class's Cultural Festival project.

Faced with Kitagawa Ryo's question, Yuki curiously looked around at the various stalls, but she clearly had no interest in the same old festival snacks. She quickly looked away, shook her head, and said:

"I just heard that Liang's class has a dessert shop project where Liang is the head chef? I'm not that hungry right now, how about we go eat there after we walk around over there?"

"Okay, I'll follow Xue's lead for this Cultural Festival. Wherever you say we should go, we'll go."

"It hasn't come to that."

Although she said that, Yuki was actually quite satisfied with Kitagawa Ryo's words, and even forgot most of what had just happened with Shiina Hiyori:

"Let's go over there first, it seems like there's more to do there."

Following the direction Yuki pointed, Kitagawa Ryo also walked with her into the campus of Tokyo Advanced Nurturing High School. Unlike the food stalls at the main gate, the stalls here were mostly entertainment facilities. Most of the activities for Class 1-C were in this area, and business seemed pretty good. It not only attracted many underage children, but also many middle-aged guests who seemed to have their childlike hearts awakened, happily playing ring toss or target shooting games.

"Want to play these? I think we could take home some souvenir prizes."

After experiencing the incident involving Shiina Hiyori and that ring, Kitagawa Ryo himself gained a deeper understanding of the idea that objects are carriers of memories. Therefore, he pointed to a ring toss stall not far away, where a number of dolls, statues, and figurines of various sizes were placed in the center. They looked quite exquisite.

"Yes, I want to play!"

For Yuki, who spent her entire childhood in White Room, both in simulations and in reality, these festival-style games were clearly more appealing than the snacks. She quickly walked to the nearest stall, chatted briefly with the students from Tokyo Advanced Nurturing High School who were working there, and soon returned with a large stack of ring toss games.

Just as Kitagawa Ryo was about to take out his phone to capture this precious experience of the other person's first ring toss, his phone suddenly vibrated in his pocket. It was a call from Ichinose Honami, the general coordinator of Class 1-A for this year's Cultural Festival:

"Hey, Honami, what's wrong?"

"Ryo, have you seen Hotaru? It seems to have slipped out of the shop. The others and I are looking for her everywhere."

Ichinose Honami, she knew very well how important this little cat was to Kitagawa Ryo. With so many people and distractions at the Cultural Festival, she was genuinely worried that something might happen.

"Fireflies?"

Compared to Ichinose Honami's panic, Kitagawa Ryo, who knew that the cat was actually his younger sister and a concept Kitagawa Ryo, was quite calm. He even immediately glanced around at the trees by the roadside and quickly locked onto a white figure hiding there:

"I've already found it, don't worry. By the way, how's business at the cat cafe?"

"Oh, that's good. Is everything going well at the cat café? The cats are all very well-behaved, and the advertising has brought in quite a few customers. It's almost full now."

Upon hearing from Kitagawa Ryo that Hotaru had been found, Ichinose Honami breathed a sigh of relief, then told him in a relaxed tone that he didn't need to worry too much about the cat café's operation.

"Liang, why don't you spend some quality time with that girl today? I think her name is Xue?"

"Yes, I understand. I'll hang up now. Honami, Fanbo."

"Bye-Bye."

After ending his call with Ichinose Honami, Kitagawa Ryo waved to a nearby tree under Yuki's somewhat puzzled gaze. Immediately, a kitten leaped over and skillfully slipped into his hood.

"Wow, is that the cat from the cat cafe? It seems so smart and affectionate... no, it's more like it's so affectionate towards me."

Yuki's attitude towards Hotaru, who suddenly barged into their date, was quite friendly and kind. After all, she wouldn't be jealous of a harmless and cute little cat. She even reached out and patted Hotaru's head, teasing her a bit.

Ying simply maintained a polite smile in response.

After all, one of the two people present could only stay at Tokyo Advanced Nurturing High School until 5 p. m. today, while the other could continue to stay after today's event. There was really no need to argue with the other party.

Moreover, just like the topic of "how many girlfriends Kitagawa Ryo has" that has become an urban legend in Tokyo Advanced Nurturing High School, Hotaru herself often thinks about how many Pooper Scooper she has. In the past, when there were fewer people, she could mark them with numbers like No. 1, No. 2, No. 3, etc., but now, with the number of people increasing, she has almost given up.

"Hotaru is definitely a little closer to me."

Because there were many other students and guests around, Kitagawa Ryo couldn't directly say that this was his own cat, so he vaguely mentioned it.

He himself was fairly clear about why Hotaru suddenly defected from the cat cafe. Besides the fact that there was no salary for working there (crossed out), and that Hotaru wasn't very good at this kind of business and just wanted to stick close to him, it was probably also related to the fact that his shopping trip with Yuki at the Cultural Festival reminded Hotaru of some things from their past.

Although Ryuen Kakeru mentioned to Kitagawa Ryo yesterday that he and the adults had made a lot of money using these kinds of entertainment facilities when he was a child, Kitagawa Ryo himself was a regular at these festivals and temple fairs before his rebirth and transmigration, just like Hotaru. He would basically sell the prizes he won on the spot, which could be considered another way to supplement his family income and entertain himself.

While Kitagawa Ryo was still reminiscing about distant memories, Yuki herself was already squinting at the prizes on the stall, calculating the distance and angle, as if she were about to throw the ring toss at any moment.

"Hey--"

After briefly aiming at a prize she wanted, Xue quickly and gently tossed the ring toss into her hand, and it landed perfectly on a colorful bracelet that was probably just made of plastic.

"The customer has a real talent for ring toss."

As soon as Xue successfully tossed the rings, the staff member next to her immediately went over to get her prize, and then replaced it with another bracelet of a similar style.

"How about it?"

Compared to the staff's polite compliments, Xue clearly wanted to hear something similar from Kitagawa Ryo. After taking the bracelet, she immediately raised her chin slightly at him, her pretty face clearly showing her inner desire to 'praise me'.

"This must be Xue's first time playing this; she's really talented."

Kitagawa Ryo, who had just snapped a photo, put down his phone and showed it to Yuki. Thanks to the purple photographer's talent he possessed, even using the camera that came with the school-issued phone, the final image quality was still quite good, which Yuki was very satisfied with.

"However, taking photos is a bit of a hassle. Xue currently has a special phone issued by the school that can only be used to spend Private Points, and I don't have anywhere to get it printed right now. If you really want to keep the photos, well... I'll borrow an Instax camera from one of the students in my class."

Seeing that Yuki seemed very interested in the photos of the two of them at the Cultural Festival, Kitagawa Ryo thought for a moment and quickly remembered Sotomura Hideo.

In addition to being responsible for promoting Class 1-A at this Cultural Festival, the boys in Sotomura Hideo's group also had the extra task of helping to take commemorative photos, so they specially used their points to purchase several instant cameras.

It's true that Class 1-A had too many extra points and were very wealthy. In fact, the price of an instant camera itself wasn't cheap, and there was also the extra expense of film. Kitagawa Ryo remembered that he had heard Ayanokoji Kiyotaka say that even though their Class 1-D had a maid cafe project that included a service of taking photos with customers, the class was still struggling to come up with enough money to only have one instant camera and the corresponding number of rolls of film, which was really quite meager.

While this was partly due to the exorbitant price of the maid outfits their class had rented, there was nothing they could do. This was Class 1-D's trump card for this Cultural Festival, so naturally they had to use their resources wisely, and there was no way to cut corners where necessary.

"Instant camera? You mean that camera that takes a picture instantly after you take a shot?"

When Kitagawa Ryo mentioned Polaroid cameras, Yuki seemed thoughtful. In fact, from the day she was 'reborn,' she had thoroughly searched through all of Kitagawa Ryo's social media accounts, looking at his posts about his life and work, and gradually felt a sense of reality about the world, able to settle down and feel at ease again.

In those posts or blogs spanning several years, Xue did see Polaroid photos, or rather, photos taken with Polaroid cameras. To be more precise, they were photos that Kitagawa Ryo specially posted on social media to boost the popularity of Sakura Airi, who had just debuted as an idol at the time. The photos were also decorated with cute autographs and signatures by Sakura Airi in various colors of colored pens.

Thinking about this, Xue's feelings became complicated again.

After all, based on her research and knowledge, there are still girls like Sakura Airi and Karuizawa Kei, who are practically inseparable from Kitagawa Ryo on some internet forums, whom she hasn't met. If everyone did something like Shiina Hiyori did this morning, she feels like her date today might as well not continue.

So, when Kitagawa Sotomura Hideo returned from borrowing a Polaroid camera from Kitagawa Ryo, he saw Yuki standing there, seemingly with a 'don't rush, I'm thinking' expression. A little confused, he went up and gently flicked Yuki's smooth, white forehead.

"What's wrong?"

"It's nothing, let's continue playing the game... Hmm, which one does Ryo want?"

Slightly flustered, Yuki snapped out of her daze and chatted with Kitagawa Ryo, but she unconsciously began to miss the previous timeline.

After all, back then there were only the so-called White Room Faction and the ANHS Faction. If we exclude Amasawa Ichika, who had not yet fully revealed her inner thoughts at that time, it was essentially a love triangle between her, Sakayanagi Arisu, and Kitagawa Ryo.

Now...

Goodness, there are already so many people and factions! It feels like "Genius Duel" could just switch to a talent show and let the audience vote and support it.

After making that subtle internal monologue, Yuki felt a strange mix of bitterness and embarrassment. But Kitagawa Ryo didn't answer her question immediately. Instead, he took the ring from her hand and suddenly slammed it over Yuki's head.

"Hmm--this is exactly what I wanted."

Chapter 335: Do you know my birthday wish?

As it turns out, like Amasawa Ichika, who also came from the White Room, Yuki is a girl who is quite easy to please.

Although Kitagawa Ryo and Sakayanagi Arisu had exchanged dozens, even hundreds, of similar lines on variety shows in the simulated world, suddenly, from the audience's perspective, she became the one being Confessions to so close to her. Yuki herself instantly forgot all her previous complaints about scripted scenarios, cheesy pick-up lines, and promotional couples. Her thoughts expanded and she imaginatively used the circle Kitagawa Ryo had put on her to quickly connect it to the Matoba a ring, which was also a circle but much smaller, was gently placed on her finger by him.

Even though it was already mid-November, late autumn, the girl could still clearly feel a noticeable increase in temperature on her cheeks and neck, and her earlobes were also a little hot. Even if it wasn't very visible, they must have been quite red. The series of events made the stall worker next to her twitch her lips involuntarily. She glanced at the hundred or so rings hanging on her arm for selling to customers and inexplicably felt a sense of bewilderment, like being fed dog food (a Chinese slang term for witnessing public displays of affection).

"Hmm... this one is cold even without a condom, so let's choose another one."

After a long while, Xue finally came to her senses and pointed to the prizes on the stall again.

To be honest, Kitagawa Ryo's room is now completely full in every sense of the word. After all, Hotaru has her own little nest, plus all sorts of gifts that the girls give him every day, especially during the summer cruise when almost everyone bought something for him from the specialty shops on board. His bedside table, desk, and cabinets were all covered with gifts.

However, this reason is obviously not something that can be said to Xue now. All that can be said is that the school only opened the teaching area to the public during this Cultural Festival, and the student dormitory area is not included, so there is no need to worry about Xue suddenly checking up on him.

However, just as Kitagawa Ryo was considering which little trinket to choose, Hotaru, who had been lying in his hood, suddenly sat up, climbed onto his shoulder, pointed with her front paws at a prize in the stall, and meowed twice.

"Hmm? Ying likes that doll? Okay, let me get it for you."

Hotaru's actions naturally attracted Xue's attention. Seeing that Hotaru seemed very interested in a certain doll that was placed in the middle of the stall, which was obviously the grand prize and much more exquisite than the other dolls or toys next to it, Hotaru confidently narrowed one of her left eyes, and after mastering the angle and force, she threw the ring in her hand out in a whoosh.

However, unlike her first attempt which yielded a result, Xue's second attempt unfortunately failed. The ring she threw landed with a thud between a doll and another plush toy, and was quickly retrieved by the staff.

After this failed attempt, Xue, unwilling to give up, threw the ring several more times in quick succession. She managed to get all the small objects around the ring to land on it, but the doll in the center remained unmoved.

However, the repeated failures also aroused her competitive spirit. After squatting and standing up with great focus, and muttering to herself for a while, before running out of rings, the last one she threw hit the target with perfect accuracy, making Yingdu clap twice involuntarily.

"I've got it, but I still don't know what Ryo wants. And Ryo hasn't even thrown one yet, right? Hmm... Should I go over there and buy ten more rings?"

After finally getting the doll from the somewhat reluctant staff member, Yuki hesitated for a moment before asking Kitagawa Ryo this question.

"It's okay, Hotaru wants what I want, and as long as Yuki is having fun, that's all that matters."

Kitagawa Ryo, who had been intently taking photos with the borrowed Polaroid camera since the beginning, replied casually without a care in the world, then waved a few photos with good image quality, angles, and expressions at the snow:

"Just leave me a few photos."

"Sure, but should I stick it to the headboard?"

As soon as she uttered those words unconsciously, Xue already regretted them. Perhaps it was because her initial emotional stirrings towards Kitagawa Ryo were forcibly imprinted in her mind through the almost brainwashing process of the White Room. She still retained the same methods or habits as the White Room back then. Although she no longer covered the ceiling and walls with these images and placed herself in a world where only his image existed, she was still keen on collecting all kinds of photos related to Kitagawa Ryo. In a sense, the reason why she had gone through all of Kitagawa Ryo's social media posts over the past few months was also for this reason.

However, Kitagawa Ryo didn't seem to notice Yuki's guilty conscience. He was always incredibly insensitive in these matters, otherwise he wouldn't still be unaware of how many limited-edition support outfits or stage outfits Sakura Airi had stolen from him over the past few years. Therefore, he simply took it as a joke from Yuki.

"No problem, actually, it can even be used as a screensaver."

"Uh-huh--"

Feeling that continuing on this topic would expose some of her fetishes, Yuki nodded quickly, then, as if she had thought of something, she waved the doll she had just received as a prize from the staff at Hotaru, who was perched on Kitagawa Ryo's shoulder, and said in a persuasive manner, as if offering a bribe:

"Could you please have Hotaru assist me for a little while? Just a moment, then I'll give this to you—"

As she spoke, Xue turned back and briefly negotiated with the staff at the ring toss booth. Then she handed over the Polaroid camera she had obtained from Kitagawa Ryo. With a click, a photo of the two people and the cat was quickly printed out, as the ANHS student, who was now convinced that he was part of the couple's play and was holding the Polaroid camera with a miserable expression, was taken.

Thank you.

After politely thanking the student from ANHS, Xue finally picked up the small group photo, which bore the exact same pose as the giant promotional photo that still floats in the sky and can be seen throughout most of Tokyo Advanced Nurturing High School, and held it up in front of her eyes.

It's clearly just a simple principle of perspective, but you have to admit, she still likes to fill her entire field of vision with this type of photo. Looking at the world through this lens, every blade of grass and every tree seems a bit more lush and verdant.

Just as Kitagawa Ryo and Yuki left the ring toss stall and were about to browse other game stalls nearby, a commotion suddenly broke out not far ahead. Accompanied by the sound of items falling, they soon heard a man cursing angrily.

As it turns out, people are never willing to miss out on something exciting to watch.

Before long, along with Kitagawa Ryo and Yuki, many guests from the vicinity and students from ANHS who were free at the time crowded over.

Thanks to their early arrival, they were positioned in the front row, allowing them a clear view of the scene and the two opposing sides.

After seeing everything clearly, Kitagawa Ryo subconsciously frowned slightly, because this was the same shooting range he had just visited yesterday, the one used by Class 1-C. However, one of the five cork guns that had been properly placed on the table for customers to practice with yesterday was now broken on the ground, and the scene was a complete mess.

The two sides facing off were a group of boys from Class 1-C, led by Ryuen Kakeru, and another burly man with brownish skin who looked fierce and menacing, like a thug.

Seemingly noticing that the number of people gathered here was increasing, the burly man spoke up loudly:

"The games at all these booths have been rigged; there's no way you can win the grand prize."

As if to prove this point, the man directly pulled a deflated cigarette case from his pocket, placed it on the shelf where the cork guns were placed, and then ignored the curses of several boys from Class 1-C. He picked up another cork gun and fired a shot at the cigarette case at very close range.

The bullet fired from the gun flew straight ahead as if by magic, hitting the target perfectly.

Surprisingly, the seemingly flimsy cigarette box, despite shaking violently twice, did not fall over completely, causing an uproar among the nearby onlookers.

The man seemed to be thoroughly enjoying the process, grinning widely at Ryuen Kakeru as he spoke:

"Ryuen, I didn't expect that even after coming to ANHS, you still only know such petty tricks?"

"I can pull these little tricks here, but some people might not even be qualified to come in. When you actually come to this school next year, Hosen, it won't be too late for me to teach you a lesson like before."