The Meaning of Holidays Is Created by Humanity / On Corruption

After school again, Kitagawa Ryo, as usual, finished his Drama Club activities and, together with Horikita Suzune had also finished her Student Council work, pushed a shopping cart through the fresh produce section of the mall. As a duo who had insisted on buying their own groceries and cooking for themselves since entering school, the cashiers in this area had become quite familiar with them over time, and would occasionally take the initiative to recommend fresh vegetables that were in season to Kitagawa Ryo and Horikita Suzune.

Actually, if it were just to satisfy the cooking needs of the two of them, there would be no need to come here every day after school. However, neither Kitagawa Ryo nor Horikita Suzune makes simple single-serving portions every day.

Every morning, the former has to prepare breakfast for Sakayanagi Arisu and himself. The ingredients are of course made by Kitagawa Ryo. Although he always wants to complain that Sakayanagi Arisu learned to cook in the first simulation, she says that her brain remembers but her hands have become rusty. Therefore, he sits at the table with a clear conscience every day and waits for Kitagawa Ryo serve the food.

After morning comes noon, and Shiina Hiyori's portion is indispensable, while Kitagawa Ryo's portion is now contracted out to Horikita Suzune. In addition, she occasionally needs to teach her cooking apprentice Ibuki Mio. Therefore, although it seems like there are only two people, the ingredients are actually enough for about four people, so she naturally needs to go shopping every day.

Of course, besides that, Kitagawa Ryo and Horikita Suzune also quite enjoyed this kind of intimate time alone together.

"While I believe this Special Exam will proceed according to the collaborative model envisioned by Suzune, it must be based on a consensus reached by Class 1-C of Katsuragi."

Having discussed this matter with Suzune before, Kitagawa Ryo reached out to select radishes from the shelf in front of him, casually sharing his thoughts on the Special Exam with her.

"As for Class C, the two demands that are currently on the surface are already in conflict, namely the question of whether Totsuka Yahiko should stay or leave. But in reality, this is probably the easiest problem for Class C to solve."

"Well, mainly because Class C is arguably the First Year with the deepest ties to the upperclassmen right now... Take this one, it's the right size, we can use it to make soup—whether it's the debt we owe Nagumo, or the relationship between Ayanokoji and the third-year students."

Although they were discussing topics related to the Special Exam, Horikita Suzune's tone sounded more like casual conversation. She even took the time to think about the menu for tonight and tomorrow, skillfully selecting a perfectly round white radish from the basket and placing it contentedly into her shopping bag.

"Yes, at the very least, Nagumo will definitely try to intervene, and I'll most likely be his target."

"After all, Ryo caused his opponent to lose countless Private Points directly and indirectly at the Sports Festival, and then defeated him head-on in the final event, causing the newly appointed Student Council President to lose face in every way. He definitely wants to get his revenge."

At this point, Horikita Suzune shook her head as if denying herself:

"But this kind of self-evident idea is unlikely to happen. After all, Nagumo's only bargaining chip, or rather, his means of controlling Class C, is those debt contracts. Even if he offered to cancel all of these debts in exchange, all he would get in return would be the thirty-nine Criticism Vote from Class C. But those votes are not nearly enough to drag Ryo down to the bottom three in the grade. All we need is for all the students in our class to write Ryo's name on one of the three praise votes."

"Given such a high price, and with a high probability of not being able to get Liang expelled from school, if Nagumo could think about things a little more rationally, I don't think he would have chosen to take such direct action against Liang."

After listening to Horikita Suzune's speech, Kitagawa Ryo nodded in agreement:

"So in my opinion, if Nagumo really wants to target our class this time, he probably won't choose me, because those Criticism Vote he has are only most effective when the target is unclear."

Each student can only cast three praise votes for their classmates. In theory, each student can receive an average of three praise votes in the class. If we think of praise votes and Criticism Vote as attack power and defense power, then the attack power of thirty-nine against the defense power of only three is exceptionally effective.

"However, these are all purely theoretical optimal solutions, because I feel that Nagumo can't possibly control all thirty-nine Criticism Vote from Class C, after all, as Suzune said, Ayanokoji's connections with the third-year students are equally close."

At this point, Kitagawa Ryo smiled knowingly.

"Class 3-B hopes to use his abilities to defeat Class A and overtake them in the last semester before graduation. The Leader of Class C- Class D gave up their remaining time at ANHS Ikujyu early on, hoping to get a more realistic and tangible guarantee for their post-graduation life from Ayanokoji. But in any case, he now has the power to mobilize the third-year students, as was the case with the last Sports Festival."

"What Ayanokoji wants to do in this Special Exam is to use these resources to achieve her goal, which is the Protection Point reward for first place."

Hearing this, Horikita Suzune was also somewhat puzzled:

"Ayanokoji wants these Protection Point? With his abilities, unless Ryo finds something particularly damaging to him, no one should be able to expel him from here."

"That's true, but ANHS just had a Cultural Festival not long ago. Although I don't know exactly what happened between him and Ayanokoji Atsuomi, it must have been quite unpleasant. Therefore, for Ayanokoji, this Protection Point is both to prove his ability and to buy insurance for his future school life. He actually quite likes staying at ANHS."

After saying that, Kitagawa Ryo rubbed his temples, looking a bit of a headache.

"Look, we've already listed four different demands from Class C alone, and with all sorts of variables, we don't know what kind of proposal they'll come up with or what kind of vote they'll cast in the end."

"Forget it, I don't want to think about it anymore. It'll take time to make the soup. Let's hurry to the front desk to settle the bill—by the way, have we used up the food allowance I gave Suzune last time?"

"Even if you finish using it, you won't get hungry or cold."

"Then I won't send it?"

"Sure, but I'll have to write down every single Private Points Liang Qian gives me; each point counts as a favor."

"That sentence is very much like Suzune's old style, that kind of unreasonable feeling that if you eat my food, you're treated by me and have to accept my demands."

"That was a long time ago, but that's really what I thought back then. Now, thinking about it, I find it a little hard to understand myself."

"Anyway, I do remember that Suzune was trying to bribe me, the head of the Drama Club, with a bento box. I think it was Tom Yum?"

"Indeed, after hearing what Liang said, I want to make this dish again. Sigh, I really crave hot stews like this when the weather is cold. It's already winter before I know it."

As she spoke, Horikita Suzune tightened the scarf around her neck again before turning to look at Kitagawa Ryo, who was standing shoulder to shoulder with her, holding her hand and carrying shopping bags. Her breath formed a clear white mist in the early winter evening air.

"After this Special Exam, it will be Christmas. Do you have any plans for that day, Liang?"

Horikita Suzune never really cared much about these so-called holidays, but Christmas Day on December 25th was an exception, because that was the day she, in a simulation, chased Kitagawa Ryo from one end of the earth to the other, crossing an entire ocean, to truly Confessions her feelings.

From this perspective, what gives this special value to a full day that is no different from any other twenty-four hours is not some religious or folk imagery, but simply the two of them.

When Horikita Suzune suddenly asked about the day's plans, Kitagawa Ryo, who had been relaxed, immediately tensed up. In this emergency, he once again demonstrated his Time Management Master skills—a skill that wasn't explicitly listed in his talent list but was definitely acquired through learning. After quickly confirming all the details, he nodded in agreement.

"I'll probably be going out for a competition those two days, but I'll be back on the night of the 25th. I remember when Suzune Confessions me, it was also at night, and it was snowing quite heavily."

As he spoke, Kitagawa Ryo subtly changed the subject again:

"Come to think of it, since we started dating, I haven't heard Suzune say anything so bluntly anymore."

"It seems so. Ryo, do you want to hear it now?"

Easily distracted, Horikita Suzune leaned closer, and without even needing to prepare her emotions, naturally whispered something in his ear:

"Yes, I like you."

"Yes, Suzune's hairstyle looks beautiful today too."

Kitagawa Ryo responded with a smile, and for him and Horikita Suzune, this phrase was actually uniquely theirs. "The moon is beautiful tonight."

Student Council meeting room.

Unlike usual, after finishing his work today, Katsuragi Kohei was asked to stay behind by the chairman Miyabi Nagumo, and called to the conference room alone.

"Regarding this Special Exam for your First Year, what are your thoughts, Katsuragi? Or do you have any particular ideas?"

Perhaps feeling that her project at the Cultural Festival had received unanimous praise from most of the guests (after all, it was really cheap), and having successfully made connections with many important figures, Miyabi Nagumo's confidence was starting to rise again. She leaned back slightly on the sofa in the main seat and casually asked Katsuragi Kohei a question.

"This seems to be an internal exam for First Year. Is President Nagumo also interested in it?"

Although Ayanokoji Kiyotaka had warned him beforehand that Miyabi Nagumo might interfere with Class C's strategy for this Special Exam, Katsuragi Kohei still hoped to play dumb and get away with it, only to receive a rather impatient response from the other party immediately:

"I am the president of the Student Council here. I have already reviewed your supplementary exam plan and rules for the First Year. However, to avoid any appearance of impropriety, the specific rules were not formulated or modified without the participation of the First Year students."

Although the truth is that Tsukishiro gave him a casual greeting, and he, as the Student Council President, simply approved it without changing a single word.

"You mean so? So, Chairman Nagumo asked this because he wants it?"

"Didn't I say from the beginning that I want to know if your Class C has formulated a suitable strategy? After all, this involves the expulsion of three students, so you should be extra cautious in everything you do."

Suppressing the thought, "You've had more than three students drop out in just half a semester of your second year," Katsuragi Kohei, having no other choice but to continue accepting the other's "well-intentioned guidance," could only lower his head slightly.

"I heard that you went out for a meeting with the Leader of the other three classes a couple of days ago?"

As she spoke, Miyabi Nagumo also raised her eyes to scrutinize Katsuragi Kohei, awaiting his reply.

"That's true, but Kanzaki from Class B isn't the class Leader, and we just happened to run into each other on the way."

"That's not important. What's important is what you actually talked about there. Was it about this Special Exam?"

"Yes, the main thing is that everyone wants to find common ground while respecting differences and reach a mutually acceptable outcome."

"Is that so? Well, you younger students have a pretty good way of thinking. Sometimes, when dealing with these unreasonable Special Exam from the school, the whole grade teaming up to exploit the rules and take advantage of the school is indeed a good solution."

As she spoke, Miyabi Nagumo raised her eyebrows again and continued to press him for an answer:

"And what was the result? Was any consensus reached, or was any plan finalized?"

"No, and even if there were, I don't think I could tell President Nagumo... after all, it's Special Exam for First Year students."

"Don't be so nervous. I didn't actually plan to interfere. I just wanted to know some information in advance so I could earn Private Points in that prediction contest. After all, I'm a bit short on cash right now, and I need Private Points to oversee all aspects of the second year."

Speaking in an ambiguous tone, Miyabi Nagumo stood up and patted Katsuragi Kohei on the shoulder:

"Katsuragi, you didn't want this either..."

Chapter 366: On the Matter of Corruption

Although he knew that the situation in Class 1-C was currently unpredictable and turbulent, Kitagawa Ryo did have a reason to make further contact with the other party, specifically, with Class 1-C's homeroom teacher Chabashira Sae.

As the primary contributor to the last Cultural Festival, Chabashira Sae played an outstanding role in Class 1-A's overwhelming victory in achieving the highest total revenue. She also inadvertently caused some trouble for her class, otherwise Class C would have had a good chance of making it into the top four and gaining those precious fifty Class Points.

Moreover, Kitagawa Ryo completely ignored him and left him alone all day on the day of the Cultural Festival. According to Ichinose Honami, who was supervising him, Chabashira Sae still harbored some resentment towards him for not showing up, and could even be said to be somewhat brooding over it. As a result, he hadn't come to see him since the start of the Special Exam for Class Vote. Before the last Cultural Festival, Chabashira Sae had been quite proactive in contacting him as soon as possible.

Judging from her attitude and reaction to this matter, Kitagawa Ryo is increasingly convinced that this homeroom teacher, who is actually approaching 30 this year, has indeed remained stuck in the past in certain aspects of her mentality, without any growth or progress. Simply put, she is still like an underage and immature high school girl.

For example, right now, when Kitagawa Ryo accidentally bumps into Chabashira Sae in the school building corridor after school, he can quite clearly feel the subtle emotions emanating from the other person, which are almost tangible, as if their whole body is writing, "Although I'm angry, I'm still willing to give you a chance to explain, so come find me quickly."

So, after leaving Chabashira Sae in that state for a while, and confirming that the time was almost ripe and that waiting any longer would be counterproductive, Kitagawa Ryo finally took the initiative to contact her, inviting her to their Drama Club's activity room.

Since most of the activity rooms for various clubs are located in the same club building, and each club is basically assigned a corresponding instructor, there are quite a few students and teachers coming and going. Kitagawa Ryo himself had to choose a later time, after all, thanks to the Cultural Festival, Chabashira Sae has been receiving a lot of attention lately.

The reason they didn't choose the Special Teaching Building as before was mainly because the newly appointed Acting Chairman, Tsukishiro, had added new surveillance cameras in many blind spots there, making it less convenient than at the beginning of the semester. Instead, the club activity room, where only he had the key, was more reliable.

The winter sun sets early, and by around seven o'clock in the evening, the deep night had completely enveloped the entire campus of Tokyo Advanced Nurturing High School. Most clubs, including the Student Council, had already finished their activities by this time. Chabashira Sae carefully entered the club building, controlling the sound of her steps, and slowly made her way towards the Drama Club's activity room where Kitagawa Ryo was.

The quiet corridor, the dim lighting, and the unconsciously accelerating heartbeat—all of this gave Chabashira Sae a strange and unbelievable complex feeling, like an affair.

When she finally tiptoed to her destination and gently pushed open the half-closed classroom door, what first came into Chabashira Sae's view was a two-story display case directly opposite the door, filled with all kinds of trophies of various sizes.

As the most famous high school in the country, without exception, Tokyo Advanced Nurturing High School's club development is among the best in the country. However, due to its short history, most clubs can only display flower pots and posters on their display cases or walls. Clubs like the Drama Club, which have already reaped numerous honors in just over half a year, are truly unprecedented.

In fact, if the Drama Club hadn't consistently achieved some success in competitions, Horikita Manabu and Horikita Suzune wouldn't have been able to so easily approve Kitagawa Ryo's applications to leave school Student Council time. Evaluating a school's overall strength always requires considering all aspects, and clubs that bring fame to the school will naturally receive overt or covert support.

The person who re-registered and brought ANHS, a club that had previously been shut down due to its lack of achievements, to its peak, turning it into ANHS's most popular club in the past two years, is now sitting leisurely in Chabashira Sae, smiling and raising his right hand to greet her:

"It's really kind of you, Teacher Chabashira, to arrive on time. Please sit down and rest for a while."

"Oh, um, um, okay."

Slightly reluctant to leave the trophies gleaming under the lights, Chabashira Sae nodded in agreement and sat down on a nearby sofa.

If her theory about Kitagawa Ryo being an ace, which she told her two homeroom teachers, Mashima Tomoya and Hoshinomiya Chie, on the cruise ship during summer vacation, was partly a form of self-comfort after the Uninhabited Island Special Exam that had just ended, then as Chabashira Sae tried more and more to understand Kitagawa Ryo as a student, she felt that what she said back then was even a bit conservative.

Compared to the Leader of other classes, Kitagawa Ryo was undoubtedly the most versatile. His academic ability was impeccable, and in the Uninhabited Island Special Exam, almost no one could compete with him on academic-related topics. Even Sakayanagi Arisu, who was completely lost in Class A at the time, was inferior to him.

In terms of physical ability, she is also outstanding. She won the championship with a perfect record in the Sports Festival. Chabashira Sae witnessed the scene of her defeating Miyabi Nagumo, who was from a different grade. She has far exceeded the scope of high school students and it is no exaggeration to say that she is at the level of a professional athlete.

Then, the most important thing for Leader is the ability to handle and command the Special Exam for ANHS, anyway, in Chabashira Sae has already fallen into a preconceived perspective.

In his eyes, the overall commander of Class 1-A from the Uninhabited Island Special Exam to the Sports Festival and then to the Cultural Festival was always just Kitagawa Ryo. He only deliberately hid behind the scenes to conceal his relationship with him and his true thoughts about transferring classes.

In addition, as the two rows of trophies she can see now demonstrate, her opponent is still at the highest level among her peers in terms of club activities. Although Tokyo Advanced Nurturing High School has a special mechanism, it does not pay special attention to students' achievements in club activities like ordinary high schools, and even specializes in cultivating students with special talents who are heading towards the professional arena.

Ultimately, club achievements are always an important factor in measuring a student's performance in high school. Whether it's the Private Points awarded by the school after winning an award or the additional preparation points based on club contributions during the Cultural Festival, it's clear that ANHS still places great emphasis on this aspect of development. Moreover, thanks to the high level of the platform, if a student achieves success at ANHS, the chances of directly advancing to the professional arena or a sports university are actually higher.

This all-around assessment was also confirmed by the newly introduced OAA System after the Cultural Festival. The flawless four dimensions and near-perfect overall evaluation even surpassed those of second-year student Miyabi Nagumo and third-year Horikita Manabu.

It is precisely because she fully understands these things that Chabashira Sae is even more determined to believe that Kitagawa Ryo is absolutely capable of leading the entire class to a higher rank, especially since he has already accomplished the unprecedented feat of going from D to A.

"... Was she seen by someone on the street, or did she see someone else? I feel like Chabashira-sensei's gaze is a bit strange."

Just now, Kitagawa Ryo filled two cups with disposable paper cups from the water dispenser in the corner of the activity room. As he handed one of the cups to Chabashira Sae, he asked her with some confusion.

"No, I just suddenly remembered something."

Unconsciously, the screenshot of Kitagawa Ryo's OAA evaluation, which she had seen countless times, flashed through her mind again. After taking the water glass, Chabashira Sae took a sip and placed it on the coffee table in front of her, her eyes fixed on Kitagawa Ryo's direction.

"Actually, I've always felt that Liang is my student."

Despite suddenly uttering something rather strange, Chabashira Sae continued speaking in a matter-of-fact, or rather, irrefutable tone:

"Judging from Liang's OAA and her performance in the first semester, Liang should have been assigned to my Class A at the beginning of the semester no matter what."

"Of course, maybe it's because Liang has some past I don't know about that led the school to assign her to Class D, but in fact, I was the homeroom teacher for Class 1-D for the entire year before this year's class."

"So, Ryo should have been my student in the first place, but things went wrong in various ways, which is why things turned out this way."

For Chabashira Sae, this world is probably the most unreasonable and illogical one. Perhaps it is precisely because she has accepted her own logic that she is so determined to believe that Kitagawa Ryo will really transfer to her class. In fact, this is just a matter of correcting this slightly flawed worldline back onto its original track.

Having already entered acting mode, Kitagawa Ryo completely forgot that the exchange between Chabashira Sae and Mashima Tomoya was his own doing, and responded to her remarks with an expression that seemed perfectly justified.

"Indeed, I also really like Chabashira-sensei... a homeroom teacher like him."

Then, before Chabashira Sae could ask about the Cultural Festival, Kitagawa Ryo preemptively explained:

"But that's precisely why I couldn't go to the cat cafe to meet Chabashira-sensei on the day of the Cultural Festival. There were too many people there, and it would be easy for my expression and actions to give me away, whether it was me or you, Chabashira-sensei."

At this point, Kitagawa Ryo also appropriately showed a hint of amazement, and then, as if feeling a little embarrassed, whispered:

"However, I later saw Chabashira-sensei's photos from that day at Honami. She looked absolutely gorgeous in her maid outfit, completely unlike any of the students in your class at the maid cafe. She really... left a deep impression."

"Is that so?"

As it turns out, as long as the praise comes from the person you want to hear it from, no matter how long it has been delayed, the moment you receive it, all those little emotions from the past—whether you call them grievances or indifference, they are undeniable and will vanish without a trace.

For some reason, even though the person being compared to was also a student in her class, Chabashira Sae didn't seem angry at all. Instead, she felt a genuine sense of joy that Kitagawa Ryo had so naturally compared her to a girl his own age and won, as if the age difference between them had suddenly been erased by those words.

"Yes, that's why I don't want to be like those viewers who can only watch from afar for a minute. If I have the chance, I'd rather enjoy Chabashira-sensei's maid outfit all by myself."