Youth Is Fleeting / The Spy Is Exposed

Perhaps because she never expected Kitagawa Ryo's answer to be in such an ambiguous tone, almost like flirting, Asahina Nazuna stood there stunned, not knowing where to put her hands. All she could hear was the soft sound of the amulet on her wrist rubbing against the table.

"Please note that the meal time is about to end. Please leave the Student Cafeteria an orderly manner."

What finally brought Asahina Nazuna to this inexplicable state of mind was the repeated, mechanical announcements broadcast throughout the Student Cafeteria two minutes later, reminding the students who hadn't yet left that their mealtime had ended.

"... I will think about this matter seriously, but I'm not sure whether it will succeed or fail in the end, especially since there are quite a few people in Kiriyama who support me."

"If you're willing to trust me, you should know that I never do anything I'm not sure of. As for Kiriyama... he's different from you. One of you is a student in Class 2-A, and the other is a student in Class 2-B. The core of the second-year system is Nagumo, but the core is Class A. In this respect alone, you have a natural advantage."

After successfully using his emotional skills to win over Asahina Nazuna, Kitagawa Ryo seamlessly switched to his rational side, deliberately walking slowly with Asahina Nazuna out of the Student Cafeteria while whispering questions to each other, their shoulders close together.

"But Kiriyama also has his advantages. After all, he is a member of the Student Council. Even though he is no longer the vice president, if Mizowaki, Tonokawa, Nagumo were to get into trouble together, he would be the highest-ranking second-year Student Council member."

Asahina Nazuna said this, Kitagawa Ryo nodded in agreement. It was clear that the senior he had chosen was not just a naive newbie; she had a fairly thorough understanding of the system that had been operating in the second year.

In fact, the fact that the second-year students were able to create such a system in Nagumo's hands—a system that was unprecedented in the history of Tokyo ANHS High School, which exploited both the school and all the students in the grade—was inseparable from Miyabi Nagumo's own position in the Student Council. After all, the Student Council in Tokyo Advanced Nurturing High School already enjoyed a special status in the school's original special system, and it could even be said that it shared some of the school's power.

In other words, if a remake is to be made, then there must be someone in the Student Council during the second year. From this perspective, Kiriyama Ikuto is indeed more suitable than Asahina Nazuna.

However, Kitagawa Ryo had naturally taken this into consideration.

"The next Student Council President will definitely be one of my people."

"... Indeed, I had forgotten that the two newly appointed Student Council vice presidents are old acquaintances of yours, but Ryo, are you really sure they will be willing to help with this?"

"Yes, they will. After all, we all hope to see a more orderly and stable second year. As long as you can do that, both Arisu and Suzune will probably agree. At worst, I'll go and talk to them on your behalf."

After Kitagawa Ryo meticulously answered all of Asahina Nazuna's questions and concerns, Asahina Nazuna's mental state seemed to improve considerably. However, at the end, she suddenly sighed softly with a touch of melancholy:

"Actually, rather than me being this grade Leader, I'd much rather the situation in the second year be like it was when we first entered school, just like your current First Year, where each class competes fairly based on its own abilities to determine the true winner."

Before Kitagawa Ryo answer, Asahina Nazuna shook her head sadly.

"But... there's really no going back."

With the third-year students about to graduate, the second-year students will also be spending their final year of high school at this school.

It's no exaggeration to say that in the past year or so, all four second-grade classes have been completely tamed by Miyabi Nagumo's system.

First, there is the difference in Class Points between each class. Because the allocation of points for each Special Exam by the school is predetermined in advance by Miyabi Nagumo and Class A, although Classes A, B, C, and D have more Class Points than the classes in the First Year and even third grades on the surface, the gap between them is more difficult to overcome than that of other grades.

Secondly, the lower-ranked classes, and even Class A itself, have partially lost the ability to cope with new Special Exam as individual classes. After all, in the past year, there has been no competition between them. They only cooperated under the coordination of Class A to figure out how to exploit loopholes in the school rules to get more benefits. In fact, this can be seen from the Mixed Training Camp Exam that was disrupted. Apart from the group led by Miyabi Nagumo herself, the scoring efficiency of the other second-year groups was far lower than that of the First Year and third-year groups.

The vast majority of students in the lower-ranked classes have completely given up. Their only remaining purpose at Tokyo Advanced Nurturing High School is to gamble on whether they can draw a transfer ticket to Class A before graduation next year. Now, you're telling them to stand up, not kneel, and to use their own strength to lead the class forward to advance to the next rank. They've lost both their ambition and their ability.

If we were to use a metaphor, the second year is indeed like an elderly person with deep-seated and incurable illnesses. Everyone knows that change would be better, but the remaining time is not enough. The only option is to continue drinking poison to quench thirst, hoping that they can pull out a sliver of hope to enter Class A in that final moment.

That is why they are only dissatisfied with Nagumo, not with the entire existing system. What they are thinking now is not to tear it down and start over, but to replace Nagumo, who has lost the support of the people, and let another capable and qualified student continue to run this system.

"If Liang could have come here a year earlier, that would have been great."

After they walked out of the Student Cafeteria in silence, Kitagawa Ryo suddenly felt a slight weight on his chest. Asahina Nazuna, who had been standing beside him, leaned her head against him. Along with these words, he also heard the soft sobbing of the other woman.

When Ichinose Honami cries, she always makes no sound; when Karuizawa Kei sheds tears, she unconsciously raises her voice; when Horikita Suzune, she tries her best to suppress any sound that others might notice; Sakayanagi Arisu generally doesn't choose to shed tears in front of him.

In all the Sims he'd ever been in, Kitagawa Ryo had seen countless girls cry. But compared to them, whose stories and tears were all different, Asahina Nazuna's sobbing was probably the most ordinary and common one he'd ever encountered. Stripped of the aura of being a year older than him and called her "senior," she was just sobbing quietly against his chest.

Because the two were standing near the entrance of the Student Cafeteria, even though there weren't many students there at this time, quite a few students, including Sakayanagi Arisu, Horikita Suzune, and Ayanokoji Kiyotaka, clearly witnessed the scene. Most of the students who didn't know the details felt that just seeing another girl with tears streaming down her face leaning against Kitagawa Ryo's chest made them want to turn around and go back to the Student Cafeteria for another bowl of rice.

"If Liang could have come here a year earlier, that would have been great."

Kitagawa Ryo seemed to hear Asahina Nazuna repeat herself again.

However, although the words are the same, the meanings are largely different.

Or rather, the sentence that follows is closer to what Xue once told him, "If only she could have enrolled in ANHS a year earlier."

Youth is fleeting.

Missing a year means missing a full 365 days.

When Kitagawa Ryo strolled back to the dormitory of the Third Group, unsurprisingly, his 'glorious deeds' at the entrance of the Student Cafeteria ten minutes earlier had already spread again. It just goes to show that everyone was talking about love in the afternoon, and now they find that he has already put it into practice. One can't help but sigh at the diversity of the world.

Because of tomorrow's rest day, the boys' dormitory was unusually restless tonight. After all, without the pressure to get up early, there was no need to go to bed early either. Anyway, while going to bed early might mean dying later, staying up late was just pure bliss. Ishizaki Daichi and his friends had already set up their decks again and started playing with those two decks of cards once more.

"Where's the tablet? I haven't drawn my prize yet."

Here, for you.

After watching with great interest for a while, Kitagawa Ryo suddenly remembered that he hadn't participated in the lottery yet, so he reached for the tablet and entered his student account.

Over the past four days, he had accumulated a reward multiplier of 2.2. However, due to his poor performance in the field training this morning, ranking second to last, he only had one guaranteed card draw chance today.

Feeling somewhat embarrassed, the other students, who were the 'culprits,' didn't crowd around him like they had in the previous days, eager to see what cards he had drawn. Kitagawa Ryo then sat back down on his bed and casually used his card-drawing opportunity.

Despite having gone through so many simulations and manifesting a whole bunch of useful and useless talents, Kitagawa Ryo doesn't seem to have ever actually obtained one related to luck. The closest he can recall is a blue talent called 'Four-leaf Clover' that he obtained in Sakayanagi Arisu's first simulation, but because he didn't complete that simulation, he couldn't successfully manifest it.

Thinking of this, Kitagawa Ryo suddenly recalled the time Hotaru brought him last year, which resulted in the automatic simulation of an even more mysterious 'Ultimate Attracted to Younger Women' talent. He wondered if he could use this method to draw two more luck-related talents in the future.

Of course, it would be even better if someone could be proficient in animal language, since it's really inconvenient for him to chat with Ying right now; he can only do so by looking at the cat's one-finger gesture on the keyboard.

Having been away from Tokyo Advanced Nurturing High School for so many days, he was starting to miss Hotaru, who was in the dormitory. After all, the last time they were separated for this long was during their time on the Uninhabited Island last year.

Just as Kitagawa Ryo's thoughts were unconsciously drifting towards ANHS, the tablet screen finally displayed the results of his gacha draw. Perhaps there really was Cat God's blessing in this world, because the number that appeared before his eyes was a large 0.5. With only one chance to draw, he actually succeeded on his first try and drew the grand prize with the highest multiplier in the prize pool.

After increasing his multiplier to 2.7, Kitagawa Ryo calmly returned the tablet, then climbed onto the bed and began to ponder Ayanokoji Kiyotaka's luck.

Unlike himself, whose lottery results are always closely watched, Ayanokoji Kiyotaka is the kind of person who is good at hiding his true abilities. If he hadn't made a big splash in front of the entire school this morning, raising his score to second place in the whole school, just behind him, he probably would have gotten away with this Special Exam again.

Ayanokoji Kiyotaka's performance in the past few days has been at the same top-tier level as his, and he should be able to get the maximum of three lottery cards each time. In addition, this morning, his opponent won first place in the entire school's field training exercise, so today's performance should also be three cards. In terms of the number of times he has drawn cards, Ayanokoji Kiyotaka has even drawn two more than him. It's just unknown how lucky his opponent is and how much multiplier he has accumulated.

"Tomorrow is a day off. Does anyone have any plans?"

After playing two rounds of poker with the others, Hashimoto Masayoshi couldn't resist bringing up the topic again. After these few days of private talks in the bathroom, he had successfully made contact with Ryuen Kakeru from Class D, securing a way out for himself. Therefore, his wariness of Ayanokoji Kiyotaka had eased somewhat. However, because he usually gave the impression of being frivolous, his smugness at this moment went largely unnoticed.

"What else can you do on a day off? Sleep and rest in your dorm, of course."

When confronted with Hashimoto Masayoshi's question, Ishizaki Daichi simply scratched the back of his head and gave a muffled reply.

"So, do you have any plans?"

"Yes, I already inquired with the teacher this afternoon. Although tomorrow is a rest day and we're not allowed to go out, all the classrooms on campus are free to use. The four topics for the Final Exam —'Zen (meditation),' 'speech,' 'Written Exam (morality section),' and 'Road Relay Race' —haven't they already been released? The first three are indoor activities, so I was thinking that everyone could go to the empty classrooms to familiarize themselves with the environment beforehand, just like a mock exam."

Hashimoto Masayoshi's suggestion tempted many students, as everyone wanted to cram before the exam. However, Watanabe Norihito and Hamaguchi Tetsuya from Class B frowned. In their opinion, given the uncertain situation, Kitagawa Ryo, who had become the target of everyone's criticism, should be lying in his locked dormitory like he was this afternoon, rather than going out to take this so-called mock exam.

"I think it's a good thing. This will help everyone get good results in the final Final Exam on the last day. Nagumo from the second year is leaving, so his group's results will definitely be affected. If we First Year work hard, we might be able to take first place in the group this time."

But Kitagawa Ryo acted as if he hadn't seen the hints in the eyes of his two classmates, and still nodded and agreed with a smile.

Most of the power within the First Year and second years has been divided and disintegrated by his students, which means that if they want to deal with him, Ayanokoji Kiyotaka can no longer continue to hide behind the scenes as before.

After Miyabi Nagumo left the scene, the other side has now lost the ability to control the second year. Ryuen Kakeru of Class 1-D dared not make any more rash moves because Class B had to help the students of Class D pay off the debts that bound them. Sakayanagi Arisu of Class 1-A ended up getting herself into trouble because of the rumors spread by Amasawa Ichika after her actions at noon.

Kitagawa Ryo is very patient.

Like slicing sausages, only a portion of the third-grade students were now visible to him.

After that, Ayanokoji Kiyotaka was forced to confront him directly.

This Special Exam is about to end.

At that moment, Kitagawa Ryo finally had a clear premonition.

Chapter 430: Spy Exposed

Just as sensational rumors among boys tend to spread to girls, many rumors among girls also tend to spread to boys. So, as soon as Kitagawa Ryo closed his eyes for a moment, the other boys started playing cards and chatting about the two wildly popular gossips that had suddenly spread among the First Year that afternoon.

Perhaps because one of the parties involved, Kitagawa Ryo, was still there, and he had already dissuaded and defended him once at noon, Ishizaki Daichi and the others tacitly avoided the matter of Sakayanagi Arisu, and instead discussed in perfect unison whether Kushida Kikyo was a spy from Class C.

As a social terrorist who dominated the top of the grade's social circle during the Ichinose Honami era, Kushida Kikyo's reputation among the boys was also surprisingly high. Before the three boys in Class C could even speak, almost everyone else expressed disbelief.

"Kushida Kikyo would never do such a thing."

"Some girl must be jealous of her and is deliberately spreading these rumors."

"Class C has really been tormented by this so-called spy. It's not just one or two people who've gone mad. Didn't they accuse their class teacher, Chabashira Sae, of being a spy last time? Shouldn't Katsuragi be next?"

Listening to the students playing cards below casually sharing their thoughts, Ayanokoji Kiyotaka, turned slightly to the side, gazing at the inner wall as he fell into thought.

To be honest, he wasn't surprised by the rumor that Amasawa Ichika had spread, because she was in the same group as Kushida Kikyo and they likely had a secret conflict before. So, if she wanted to confuse the issue, it was quite reasonable for her to bring up Kushida Kikyo again.

For Ayanokoji Kiyotaka, Amasawa Ichika was also the tight rein he tacitly placed on Kushida Kikyo. He had already received information from Yamamura Miki that the other party would intermittently go out in the middle of the night when under too much pressure. As the saying goes, to catch a thief red-handed, you need to catch an adulterer in the act. If he could catch Kushida Kikyo in this weakness, it would be very likely to be the opportunity and breakthrough to truly find the spy who had been hiding in the class.

With this expectation in mind, Ayanokoji Kiyotaka patiently waited until around midnight. Perhaps because they were exhausted from the field training in the morning, the boys who had been shouting to stay up and play a little longer just a few tens of minutes ago had already climbed into bed and fallen asleep, with snoring sounds heard everywhere.

At this point, Ayanokoji Kiyotaka quietly got out of bed. Kitagawa Ryo, who was on the lower bunk, seemed to be fast asleep as well, breathing evenly and without noticing his departure.

After nimbly leaving the Third Group's dormitory, Ayanokoji Kiyotaka quickened his pace in the forest courtyard at night and soon found Katsuragi Kohei, whom he had greeted at dinner time. Together, he climbed over the wall of the Girls' Dormitory and entered the forest in the dark, where Yamamura Miki was already waiting.

"According to past surveys, Kushida goes out the most during this time period. Because of the rumors, she spent a lot of time explaining herself to everyone this afternoon, so her stress level must be quite high."

Upon seeing Ayanokoji Kiyotaka and Katsuragi Kohei arrive, Yamamura Miki immediately stepped forward and quietly reported that, for reasons unknown, she did not tell Ayanokoji Kiyotaka that Kitagawa Ryo had caught her squatting in the men's restroom at noon that day.

"Then let's wait a while."

After listening to Yamamura Miki's report, Ayanokoji Kiyotaka nodded again to Katsuragi Kohei, who looked particularly nervous. He was clearly uncomfortable with sneaking into the girls' Girls' Dormitory in the middle of the night. If Ayanokoji Kiyotaka hadn't firmly stated that tonight's events were closely related to the class's future competitiveness and even the Fate of Class C, given his cautious and steady personality, he would never have done something that would result in social death if discovered.

"Kushida... really come?"

Even now, Katsuragi Kohei still harbored some doubts about Ayanokoji Kiyotaka's explanation, or rather, he was unwilling to believe the reality that might unfold. After all, Class C was already in turmoil. If Kushida Kikyo was confirmed to have betrayed the class and continued to confess that another spy was a student other than Chabashira Sae, then Class C could indeed pack its bags and leave. They had been infiltrated from top to bottom, inside and out. Perhaps if something happened in the class, he, as the class Leader, would be the one to receive the information secondhand. This made Katsuragi Kohei feel rather complicated.

"Nothing is absolute probability, but the triggering conditions have indeed been met today, so there's still a high chance we'll encounter it."

"At first glance, your words sound like you're talking about catching some rare Pokémon."

It must be said that, being in such a delicate Matoba at this time, Katsuragi Kohei couldn't help but feel inexplicably nervous, and kept trying to ease his unease by chatting with Ayanokoji Kiyotaka.

"Don't make a sound."

The next second, Ayanokoji Kiyotaka swiftly covered Katsuragi Kohei's mouth and pulled him to squat down among the bushes. Katsuragi Kohei had wanted to signal to Yamamura Miki, but found that she had disappeared without a trace.

Using both hands to shield his gleaming bald head, which seemed to reflect the moonlight, Katsuragi Kohei cautiously peeked out a little, and just as Ayanokoji Kiyotaka had said, he saw Kushida Kikyo with a gloomy expression.

Unlike the image he had seen before, the Kushida Kikyo in front of him seemed to exude a kind of visible black ferocity. As soon as she entered the grove, she kicked a sapling next to her.

"Ugh, this is so annoying!"

Unbelievably, the low, angry voice emanating from Kushida Kikyo reached Katsuragi Kohei's ears somewhat indistinctly, causing him to widen his eyes involuntarily.

"This is so annoying, it makes me so angry! Why doesn't this kind of person just die?"

As if chanting some kind of curse, Kushida Kikyo placed her hands on another tree and kept muttering curses under her breath.

"What's the point of worrying about betrayal or not? It's the rules and regulations of this crappy school that's problematic. Any student who cares about this kind of thing is crazy."

Hearing the word "betrayal" clearly from Kushida Kikyo's mouth, Katsuragi Kohei felt a chill run down his spine. After all, if Kushida Kikyo really was the spy in Class C, the damage she could inflict on the class would be far too great.

"Ugh--This is terrible. It's absolutely terrible, absolutely terrible, absolutely terrible. When will this utterly meaningless, idiotic exam that only leads to everyone arguing ever end...?"

Seemingly still unable to vent her pent-up frustration, Kushida Kikyo continued to complain, her feet never idle, constantly stomping on the grass blades on the nearby ground, spinning them forcefully as if trying to crush them completely into the mud.

As for Kushida Kikyo, she didn't think this was the work of Kitagawa Ryo or Amasawa Ichika. After all, they would be too busy to reveal their spy identities, even if they were trying to be good people. Just like the Chabashira Sae incident at the end of last year, even if everyone's first reaction was absolute disbelief, the seed of doubt would still be planted and would eventually take root and sprout. This was something Kushida Kikyo absolutely could not tolerate; she always pursued absolute perfection.

Seemingly worried about running into other girls who happened to be out getting up in the middle of the night, Kushida Kikyo's emotions seemed to have stabilized a lot after venting her frustrations. But just as she was about to leave, Ayanokoji Kiyotaka suddenly appeared in front of her.

"... what are you doing here?"

Completely different from their meeting in the grove that morning, Kushida Kikyo, having been caught in her true form, instantly lost all sleepiness. She coldly stepped forward and pinned Ayanokoji Kiyotaka down, pressing him down before he could even answer:

Did you hear everything just now...?

"Um."

As Ayanokoji Kiyotaka readily nodded in acknowledgment, Kushida Kikyo instantly raised her left forearm and unceremoniously leaned against Ayanokoji Kiyotaka's neck, shoving him against a nearby tree in one go, exuding a terrifying aura.

"If you tell anyone what you just heard, I will never let you off the hook, even if you become a class Leader."

These words were so cold that they didn't even seem like a threat.

What if I told you?

"Then I'll tell everyone that I was almost raped by you here."

"This is a fabricated charge, isn't it?"

"It's alright, because this isn't baseless."

At this point, Kushida Kikyo also gave a cold laugh:

"This is a girls' Girls' Dormitory where boys aren't allowed. If I yell right now, you won't be able to defend yourself even if you have a hundred mouths."

Seeing the situation rapidly deteriorating, Katsuragi Kohei finally understood the significance of Ayanokoji Kiyotaka having brought him along, and immediately stood up from the woods:

"Kushida, I'm here too."