In Tribute to the Prestige of the Longest-Running Cover Girl (4.5k) / Welcome Party (4.5k)

"Since you still keep the ring from Hiyori... then all the time we spent together can't just be left as simple memories, can it?"

Faced with this situation, Kitagawa Ryo subtly nudged Hotaru, who was lying at the foot of the bed, with his toe. He remembered that Hotaru had a treasure trove of such trinkets.

As her brother's strong support, Hotaru pointed with her paw at a certain shelf on the bedside table, indicating that what he was looking for was there.

In fact, those four items were less treasures she actively collected from various simulations, and more items that Kitagawa Ryo already possessed from the beginning. He could even find them in the inventory of the simulator panel now.

Kitagawa Ryo turned over and, following Hotaru's instructions, opened the second shelf of his bedside table, where he found the group photo he had seen before, under a book.

That was the first photo he took with Karuizawa Kei after returning from his first mock exam with her, after several years of separation. At that time, she had fallen into an abyss called school bullying, becoming a fragile Paper Rose that still had to irrigate herself with blood to make herself bright red in front of him.

Kitagawa Ryo reached out and took the photo of the two faces pressed tightly together, taken under a dim streetlamp.

The name of the photograph suddenly flashed into his field of vision:

[Self of Karuizawa Kei]

It shares the same name as the reward he received after completing the Karuizawa Kei chapter; or rather, this is the true form of the reward item whose effect is to 'randomly upgrade one talent to the highest gold level before each simulation begins'.

Because the back of the photo has the exact same description:

A victim of bullying may become a bully, but they may also become a protector.

Kitagawa Ryo handed it to Karuizawa Kei beside him, then smiled and added his own answer:

"I'm glad Hui is the latter."

Chapter 382: A Tribute to the High Value of the Longest-Running Cover Actress (4k5)

"Wow, it really exists... Let me see."

With a hint of surprise, Karuizawa Kei took the old photo of the two of them from Kitagawa Ryo's hand. Her tone was involuntarily tinged with nostalgia and emotion as she carefully examined both sides of the photo several times.

"Although it doesn't quite compare to Hiyori's ring, it's still a nice keepsake, so I'll reluctantly accept it."

Faced with Karuizawa Kei's sudden display of arrogance despite her apparent contradiction, Hotaru, perched at the foot of the bed, couldn't help but roll her eyes again. It was as if she could somehow pull out something even better from those two simulations as a real-world reward—was she supposed to pull out Kitagawa Ryo and Horikita Suzune's wedding invitations and show them off?

After receiving the gift from Kitagawa Ryo with great satisfaction—a gift that proved those past times were not false or imagined— Karuizawa Kei carefully and cautiously placed the photo inside the deepest part of her wallet before pulling Kitagawa Ryo to sit up from the bed.

"Let's go, it's about time."

"Hmm, I remember we were supposed to meet at the entrance on the first floor of the Keyaki Mall, right? Have you made a restaurant reservation?"

"Don't worry about Liang. Hoshinomiya has already taken care of everything through internal staff channels, and she'll be covering all the expenses for this dinner."

"That's quite generous."

"After all, she's always been lusting after Ryo... Ugh, that's a really disgusting description. Anyway, Ryo probably can tell too. Just remember to stay away from her in the future. As a teacher, you can't just openly harass Ryo."

Faced with almost identical instructions from Karuizawa Kei and Mashima Tomoya, Kitagawa Ryo nodded quite sincerely, but he knew very well that if he wanted to continue to maintain the connection with Chabashira Sae, contact with Hoshinomiya Chie would be unavoidable. This was mainly because the two women shared a great deal of commonality in their inner logic of action, since their Fate and experiences over the past ten years had been intertwined.

"Although I have considered changing homeroom teachers, Ryo should know that homeroom teachers like Hoshinomiya and Chabashira are naturally popular in their classes, and there's no suitable way to make them popular. It's never a good thing for students to talk about their homeroom teacher. Wasn't Totsuka just kicked out of Class C for that reason?"

"Indeed, so for now we can only make do. After all, as Hui said, the other party is a teacher, and if they're thinking clearly, they're unlikely to do anything too outrageous... although I myself have my doubts about whether Hoshinomiya and Chabashira are thinking clearly."

"I remember Ryo told me that their relationship changed because of a very important Special Exam at the end of their third year. They were best friends who lived together for three years, but it all turned out like this because of that Special Exam."

"Actually, it's normal. Rather, it's precisely because it was Special Exam at the end of the third year that we, as First Year students, might not feel it as deeply. But when it comes to that crucial moment where the future is decided in a single thought, everything could get out of control."

As a witness who personally witnessed the entire incident in Sakayanagi Arisu's simulation, Kitagawa Ryo also showed a somewhat self-deprecating smile:

"Does Hui know? In that Unanimous Vote during the exam, the one who ultimately decided to step forward and sacrifice was the Leader had led Class B to catch up with Class A by only a few dozen Class Points. Faced with the initiative of this class's greatest contributor, almost all the Class B students, except for Chabashira, chose to vote for him. This situation alone speaks volumes about the mental and emotional state of the Class B students at that time."

"After all, that wasn't the third-year graduation exam; it was only the penultimate one. Even if Chabashira hadn't stubbornly opposed it, and the students of Class B had actually voted their class Leader out, would they really have had any chance of defeating Class A in the final graduation exam?"

At this point, Kitagawa Ryo also paused. Although he was able to discuss several better solutions with Sakayanagi Arisu Kitagawa Ryo, he felt somewhat disheartened after this Special Exam. He was now unsure whether Class A could deliver a better performance if they were placed in this situation.

Karuizawa Kei keenly captured Kitagawa Ryo's subtle emotions. In fact, from the time they entered school until now, even though they weren't in the same class, her delicate and sensitive nature allowed her to always perceive every subtle psychological change and emotional journey he had gone through.

Unlike Sakayanagi Arisu and the others, Karuizawa Kei had not only seen the fragile and vulnerable Kitagawa Ryo in simulations, but more accurately, she was the only girl in reality who had personally witnessed and felt the confusion and even self-destructive tendencies that he once possessed deep within his heart.

Karuizawa Kei was of course unaware that Kitagawa Ryo's crazy act of self-justification stemmed from his reactivation of the simulator a few years after his rebirth, which led him to doubt the authenticity of the world he was in and even himself. However, it is undeniable that even years later, she could not forget the image of Kitagawa Ryo, who was extremely weak both mentally and physically, when she saw him back then.

Perhaps that is why, throughout their long careers as theatrical Actor, the most acclaimed performance was always Macbeth.

What exactly was Kitagawa Ryo's mindset when he first enrolled here? Karuizawa Kei couldn't describe it clearly, but at that time, he definitely had a more free and easygoing style of doing things.

Although Horikita Suzune and Sakayanagi Arisu are currently labeled as completely unsocial, Kitagawa Ryo in the first semester was honestly not much better than them. This can be seen from the fact that he created Drama Club, but all the members were girls he knew and was close to. He was also definitely not concerned about class affairs.

According to Karuizawa Kei, the turning point for Kitagawa Ryo's mindset was precisely when Class D's Class Points plummeted to zero. His homeroom teacher Mashima Tomoya, truly moved him with his moral standards and actions befitting a teacher. The gears of Fate began to turn from that summer vacation until Class D became Class A.

"Put aside your desire to help others and respect their Fate," "Why promote students like this to Class A? Do they really deserve to graduate from Class A?" "But there are many others who haven't done anything wrong, aren't they also working hard for the class?"

Based on Karuizawa Kei's understanding of Kitagawa Ryo, all sorts of thoughts must still be swirling in the other's mind at this moment. This is perhaps a kind of dilemma where those involved are blinded by their own perspective, especially after listening to him recount the story of the Chabashira Sae class again, which further solidified this belief.

"If Ryo thinks this way, he has actually fallen into the same misconception as the class teacher Chabashira and many other students. That is, he has already placed too much importance on this school and the final graduation result. Individuals form a group, but the achievements of the group can never be attributed to the individual. Those who mistake the platform for ability will definitely run into obstacles."

This is actually caused by the different positions of the homeroom teacher and the students. As the homeroom teacher Mashima Tomoya is focused on the entire class, that is, the so-called collective. This idea has subtly influenced Kitagawa Ryo's cognition over the past period of time, which is why he has fallen into this kind of dead-end thinking dilemma.

"I still think that Ryo had the best understanding of Tokyo Advanced Nurturing High School when he first enrolled. In fact, there are only two types of students who only have eyes for Class A and those who only have eyes for themselves. This is our perspective as students."

"That's precisely why the collective achievement isn't the only standard for measuring individual progress. For example, even if Class A graduates with the grades of Class D, many of them won't necessarily have a worse life than the students who graduated from Class A."

As she spoke, Karuizawa Kei also took the initiative to open her heart to Kitagawa Ryo, saying some things that she, as the class representative of Class B, should never have said:

"Just like how I don't particularly approve of the current atmosphere in Class B, and the almost transparent way of doing things that makes it easy for others to see through me, I don't want to take the initiative to try to change it before the other students act on their own."

"Because I know very well that no matter what grades this class graduates with, the outcome will not have the slightest impact on my future life plans."

Similarly, I have never had any obsession with graduating from Class A, because students who graduate from there may not necessarily achieve what I have achieved in their future lives.

While she can't compare to Kitagawa Ryo, the heir to a conglomerate who has essentially completed life's challenges, Karuizawa Kei, as one of the most well-known new generation drama Actor in the industry today, has long since had her life set to a simpler mode.

The girl's clear blue eyes held no trace of confusion. Facing the disoriented Kitagawa Ryo, she simply stated matter-of-factly her unwavering wish since entering the academy:

"I enrolled here so that I could create memories of our youth with Ryo, memories that will make me smile involuntarily every time I think of them in the long years to come."

If you put her and Kitagawa Ryo into the same situation as Chabashira Sae, Karuizawa Kei definitely wouldn't have stubbornly opposed it to the end, because she would have chosen to drop out of school with him.

This isn't a question of whether someone is "love-obsessed" or not.

On the contrary, she knew very well that even if the two of them dropped out of school here, their future paths would not change in any way.

Like a player who has played through multiple playthroughs, Karuizawa Kei has laid the groundwork for herself over the past decade or so.

She found herself a job she now loves, one with a good salary and a bright future; she made friends with whom she can share pride and boast, but will also stay with each other until old age; she fulfilled a long-cherished wish that spanned many years; she erased the hideous scar on her abdomen; and she abandoned all lies and cowardice, transforming herself from the bullied and the bullied into the protector.

Everything is ready.

Her future depends entirely on him.

So all that's left to do is fill the countless hours she's finally managed to carve out with memories of the two of them.

That's all.

"Oh wow wow wow wow, I've found my target! We've already held hands!"

In front of the Keyaki Mall, a large number of Class B students had already crowded the roadside. At this moment, standing on tiptoe with his right palm on his forehead, playing the role of a scout, was none other than Shibata Sō, the class's athletic star. His personality was quite similar to Ichinose Honami's, but he also had some of the eccentricity typical of boys his age. As soon as Kitagawa Ryo and Karuizawa Kei appeared, he couldn't wait to call out and then rushed to the two of them, taking the initiative to greet Kitagawa Ryo first.

"You're finally here! Welcome to Class B. We'll be classmates from now on, so please take care of me!"

"Yes, I look forward to your guidance, Shibata."

Because of Karuizawa Kei, and because the students in Class B were among the most popular in the entire grade, Kitagawa Ryo was quite familiar with many of the students in Class B, even though he was in Class A before. Shibata Sō was naturally one of them. Moreover, he had sparred with him many times during the Uninhabited Island Special Exam. He even remembered being asked by Shibata Hayate with envy how he trained his waist and how his explosive power was so amazing.

However, contrary to his outstanding physical abilities, this Shibata might be a bit stubborn. Otherwise, when Kanzaki Ryuji came to negotiate with him, he wouldn't have only brought Himeno Yuki and Amikura Mako, but didn't ask him to come along.

As soon as he was mentioned, Kitagawa Ryo was already standing in front of Kanzaki Ryuji. Unlike his usual gloomy and taciturn demeanor, the vice-class representative of Class 1-B had a rare, faint smile on his face. He took the initiative to shake hands with him and said self-deprecatingly:

"With Kitagawa's arrival, it seems I can finally officially retire as the deputy squad leader."

As the student in Class 1-B who, besides their Hoshinomiya Chie, was most dedicated to pushing for Kitagawa Ryo's transfer, he had also put in a lot of effort. However, after seeing this fact confirmed before his eyes, Kanzaki Ryuji immediately felt that all his past planning had been worthwhile. He even started to consider whether to add a clause like "Kitagawa Ryo and Karuizawa Kei were also in the same class when they attended Tokyo Advanced Nurturing High School" when routinely maintaining and editing their encyclopedia entries.

"It's okay, we can just add another vice class monitor. The student Student Council has two vice presidents, after all."

Karuizawa Kei clearly wasn't going to let such a capable worker like Palu go so easily. She quickly rejected Kanzaki Ryuji's suggestion, as she had already discussed the matter with Kitagawa Ryo before coming over.

Kitagawa Ryo was transferred here from elsewhere, so even if the students in Class B recognized his abilities, he certainly couldn't replace Karuizawa Kei as class president right away. Therefore, he would temporarily serve as vice class president alongside Kanzaki Ryuji.

Moreover, when the time really comes...

Who will be promoted and who will be demoted, who will command whom, is not necessarily certain.

"Right, Liang?"

Facing Megumi, who turned her head to ask her a question, Kitagawa Ryo simply gave a relaxed smile.

"Yes, no problem."

The little frustrations in his heart had already been melted away by Karuizawa Kei's gentle comfort, which was only to be expected.

After all, even Macbeth, the executioner who had just carried out the assassination of the king, could fall asleep peacefully again with the gentle comfort of his wife.

Zhang Tui <My Future Daughter Provides Assistance While I 'Classroom of the Elite at Shijiazhuang>

Today is the beginning of the month, so I'd like to recommend a friend's book. He's a veteran writer who started Classroom of the Elite a long time ago, and his work on this site is very successful. The quality is guaranteed, and the updates are frequent. If you're interested, you can check it out.

Here's a brief introduction and link:

The allure of tuition-free and fully booked accommodations convinced Miyuki Shirogane to enroll in Advanced Nurturing High School, but from the day he entered, a different voice began to resonate in his mind:

[Take off! Take off! You've arrived at a school tailor-made for you.]

Tailor-made? You can see many seniors in schools who have struggled due to poverty.

Moreover, despite the promise of free living expenses, everything ended up costing money.

[Here you'll find exceptionally beautiful girls, one in a hundred, one in a thousand, for you to choose from.]

[Aloof, gentle and charming, a two-faced woman with a seemingly innocent facade, an introverted female idol, and a sickly girl with a cane—the list goes on.]

[You're starting to feel excited about the future; you'll find a girlfriend in high school!]

[I highly recommend the Frail Girl with a Cane; she's weak, helpless, and easy to win over!]

[You're starting to feel motivated!]

Completely lacking motivation... Wait a minute, is it really polite to prey on a sick and weak girl?

[Class 1-C, the starting point, let's begin our ascent!]

[Defeat the super genius Ayanokoji Kiyotaka, defeat the Tyrannosaurus Rex, win the heart of a beautiful and wealthy woman— Classroom of the Elite Studio!]

Um.

Miyuki Shirogane immediately realized that there was definitely something wrong with this narration.

Chapter 383: Welcome Party (4k5)

With a group of thirty or forty students, even in the most densely populated area of Tokyo Advanced Nurturing High School campus, such as the Keyaki Mall, the actions of the Class 1-B students were undoubtedly conspicuous. As a result, many other upperclassmen quickly recognized Kitagawa Ryo, the First Year student who had been making waves on campus in recent months. They cast curious and prying glances at them with interest, while quietly explaining the ins and outs of his transfer to his companions, who were not very familiar with the details.

On the surface, Kitagawa Ryo has indeed gone from being a student in Class 1-A to a student in Class B. However, considering that he personally guided the current Class A all the way up from Class D, most of the upperclassmen are quite confident that he will one day lead the current Class B back to Class A. After all, no matter how you look at it, the difficulty of that is no greater than bringing Class D previously had zero Class Points, to Class A, which now has 850 Class Points. The difference between Class 1-A and Class B in the first year is only 300 points.

Besides, if Kitagawa Ryo didn't have the ability, why would Class 1-B have spent all their savings, and even the class advisor's share, to scrape together 20 million Private Points to transfer him over? It couldn't be that everyone wanted to see the other person dating their class president while simultaneously putting an end to the forum discussions about 'how many girlfriends Kitagawa actually has,' could it?

"Alright, alright, stop crowding around here and making everyone watch the show. I've already booked all the seats; Class B has the whole place booked tonight. Let's go up there."

Seeing this, Hoshinomiya Chie teacher of Class 1-B, clapped her hands and greeted him with a somewhat helpless tone. Then, she walked up to Kitagawa Ryo and, with a smile, reached out and pushed his shoulder from behind to lead him inside.

"Of course, Kitagawa too. You're the main character today, let's go."

Because Hoshinomiya Chie had always had this easygoing and carefree personality in class, the other students in Class B didn't think much of it at first. However, Karuizawa Kei, who had been watching her closely, quietly stepped forward and earnestly took her arm:

"This time, we've really troubled our class advisor again with the expense. Booking the entire venue and reserving seats must have cost a lot of Private Points. Liang told me on the way here that he felt a little bad about having you cover the whole cost, since he still has some savings."

Karuizawa Kei spoke up, Kitagawa Ryo readily chimed in, casually turning around to free himself from Hoshinomiya Chie's hands on his shoulders, while simultaneously smiling and taking his phone out of his down jacket pocket.

"Yes, I know today's dinner was specially organized by everyone to welcome me to Class B, but it's not fair for you, the class advisor, to pay for it all. After all, we'll be classmates who will stand together through thick and thin from now on. Let me treat you today. Could you tell me how much it cost in total, Hoshinomiya class advisor?"

Seeing that Kitagawa Ryo had no intention of owing her this favor, Hoshinomiya Chie had no choice but to take out her phone and accept the face-to-face transfer. She glanced at her class president with some concern, feeling a little itchy in her teeth.

However, this little incident didn't attract much attention from the other students in Class B. In any case, it didn't matter to them who paid for the meal. But Kitagawa Ryo's explanation was quite pleasing to the ear. After all, no one wanted their class's star student, whom they had gone to great lengths to transfer to, to be disloyal.

To be honest, Kitagawa Ryo felt that the timing of his transfer was quite opportune. It was right at the end of the semester and the beginning of winter break, giving him a full month to get to know the Class B and some of its members. In terms of time, it was quite ample.

At this stage, there aren't many students in Class 1-B who have left an impression on Kitagawa Ryo. There's the vice class president and the shaman of the mysterious organization K&K, Kanzaki Ryuji; Karuizawa Kei's best friend and the guardian spirit, Amakura Asako, who was tricked by Kanzaki Ryuji; Amikura Mako, who inexplicably keeps running into him since summer vacation and even witnessed their class Hoshinomiya Chie, vomiting on the deck while drunk on a cruise ship, and who also happens to share a name with Yuki; and then there's Shibata Himeno Yuki, the athletic star of Class B who's known as the male version of Ichinose Honami and Hirata Yosuke, Shibata Sō belongs to the Soccer Club.

From the perspective of exceptional talents, Ayanokoji Kiyotaka's assessment of Class B as mediocre is not entirely wrong. Class B, whose student quality is second only to Class A, actually has fewer students who leave a lasting impression than the bottom-ranked Class D. Compared to Class C, they might be a bit better, but Class C, led by Ryuen Kakeru, completely outmaneuvers Class B in their style of doing things. It's a case of good students simply not being able to compete with delinquents.

The OAA system launched by Miyabi Nagumo is indeed a good system. In the short few minutes it took to go upstairs, Kitagawa Ryo had already matched the names of the Class B students with their real faces based on the information he had seen in advance on the OAA System. At least he would not repeat the embarrassing situation of remembering the wrong name of the other person after being classmates for several months.

Hoshinomiya Chie Kitagawa Ryo had been to the restaurant that Hoshinomiya Chie had booked before. After all, the Keyaki Mall is only so big, and apart from a few shops with obviously high prices per person, most of the students had been there before and were very familiar with the environment. They quickly took their seats, chatting and laughing.

Since it wasn't a spacious outdoor area, the restaurant naturally didn't have tables large enough for thirty or forty people to sit together. The students from Class B tacitly agreed to sit with their friends, leaving the central seats for Hoshinomiya Chie, Karuizawa Kei, and Kitagawa Ryo.

"Alright, before we officially begin today's dinner, let me just say a few words—no, I mean, a couple of words."