Be What You Wanna Be / Will Summer Snow Melt?

Slightly embarrassed by Kitagawa Ryo's straightforward praise, especially with other colleagues she'd been working with for over a week glancing in their direction, Asahina Nazuna deliberately cleared her throat twice to indicate that they should try to talk about work first.

"What kind of clothes does Liang want to order this time?"

"A decent formal suit, and some casual clothes for home."

Is it cold?

"Well, we need it for the shoot, and our studio doesn't have a perfect fit. Also, because of the character's personality, we thought it would be better to have a new one custom-made."

After finishing her work at the advertising company about Lotto 7, Kitagawa Ryo finally had some time to film her own short drama these past few days.

The two had only been chatting for a few minutes when the store manager, seeing that they seemed to know each other already, came over and assigned them a task: to have Asahina Nazuna measure Kitagawa Ryo's body dimensions.

"Okay."

After agreeing, Asahina Nazuna took out a measuring tape, a body measurement record sheet, and marker tape for temporarily marking key points such as shoulder and waist lines from the toolbox next to her. Then she glanced at Kitagawa Ryo's perfect posture and demeanor and felt that there was no need to use a level or plumb line to check whether Kitagawa Ryo's shoulders were level or whether he had a hunchback or other body symmetry.

"Then, Liang, stay in this position... don't move."

Asahina Nazuna is definitely not short, but she is still more than a head shorter than Kitagawa Ryo, who is over 1.8 meters tall. Therefore, when measuring her neck circumference and shoulder width with a soft measuring tape, it was necessary to stand on tiptoe slightly, and it was easier to measure her chest circumference.

Upon hearing this, Kitagawa Ryo also remained motionless, even slightly pausing his breathing, gazing down at the other's focused profile—eyelashes drooping, lips slightly pursed, fingertips carefully tracing the other's shoulder line, as if measuring some hidden secret.

After measuring all the core dimensions of the upper body—bust, waist, abdomen, sleeve length, and back length—and recording them on the form, Asahina Nazuna paused slightly before half-squatting down and focusing intently on re-wrapping the measuring tape around Kitagawa Ryo's lower body.

Waist circumference, hip circumference, pant length, thigh circumference, knee circumference, and pant leg circumference—I don't know if it's because the lower body parts do indeed have more significance than the upper body, or simply because of other ambiguous and suggestive thoughts, but it always seems to take much longer to measure than the upper body. Several times the measuring tape was crooked and tilted, and I was forced to measure it again to get accurate data.

"Alright!"

After a while, Asahina Nazuna stood up again to indicate that she had succeeded, raised her head, and reached out to massage Kitagawa Ryo's shoulder.

"Aren't you tired from standing still for so long? Sorry, I'm still a newbie, it took me a while."

"I was going to say no, but if saying yes means I'll get a massage from my senior, then I'll say yes."

"Then please sit down for now."

Upon hearing this, Asahina Nazuna pressed Kitagawa Ryo down onto the sofa in front of her with his back turned. She then placed both hands on Kitagawa's neck, her fingers spread and hanging down, while her two thumbs pressed slightly against the center of the back of his neck, as if measuring his neck circumference again, except this time she was using her fingertips instead of a measuring tape.

As this boy continues to grow and develop, and if she really decides to pursue this path in the future, there will probably be many more times like today where she has to measure other people's body dimensions, right?

However, Asahina Nazuna would prefer that the situation back then was closer to the current state of the two of them.

Run your fingertips across the skin to feel the circumference of the other person's neck.

... use your thighs to personally feel the other person's waistline.

P. S.: Thank you for reading and subscribing.

This is probably the last time I'll ask for leave for this book.

Something came up today and I can't update. I was originally planning to finish writing the main story in one go, but it seems like that's not going to work out. I think I'll just take a day off.

As you can see, the main text of this book will be completed at the beginning of next month, and additional chapters will be added to supplement the content.

I'll save everything else, including the new book, for the author's farewell in the final words. Thank you all for your continued reading and support.

Wishing all readers good health and all the best.

Chapter 84: Be What You Wanna Be

Standing once again beneath the iconic Red Gate of the University of Tokyo, Sakayanagi Arisu politely exchanged greetings and bid farewell to those who came to see her off before boarding the car sent by Sakayanagi Narimori, which was parked by the roadside, thus concluding her two-week visit to the University of Tokyo.

The driver did not take her back to the Sakayanagi Family's mansion in Minato Ward. After all, students were forbidden from returning home during this Special Exam, and Sakayanagi Arisu was no exception. Therefore, after making two turns, the car stopped in front of a luxury hotel in Chuo Ward.

As its name suggests, Chuo Ward is located in the very center of Tokyo's 23 wards, forming the heart of Japan together with Minato Ward and Chiyoda Ward.

Although Tokyo is considered a true international metropolis and the top of the social hierarchy by people in other parts of Japan, the social hierarchy between different wards has never truly ended, even within Tokyo itself.

Many people from Minato Ward even bluntly say that apart from Minato Ward, Chuo Ward, and Chiyoda Ward, the rest of Tokyo is just the countryside.

Whether it's Bunkyo Ward, where various prestigious universities are concentrated, or the bustling Shinjuku and Shibuya areas, in their eyes they are nothing more than remote areas where schools are clustered together or entertainment areas for 'ordinary people' that are not respectable.

Sakayanagi Arisu neither confirmed nor denied this, after all, she had indeed grown up in a high-end residential area in Minato Ward, and even during her hospitalizations for health issues, she stayed in the best hospitals and VIP wards in the country.

While she was pondering, the car door was carefully opened by the driver who had gotten off first. Unlike before, when she didn't instinctively reach for her cane, Sakayanagi Arisu lightly got off the car with her suitcase and took the key card from the driver.

Sakayanagi Narimori had already prepared a room for her for the rest of the month, and all she had to do was organize her experiences and observations from the first half of the month at the University of Tokyo.

To Sakayanagi Arisu, when she went into her room, finished unpacking all her luggage, and was about to go to the hotel's buffet restaurant for something to eat, she ran into her father, whom she hadn't seen for quite some time.

Clearly, the other party was deliberately waiting for her here.

After placing some food on a plate, Sakayanagi Arisu sat down opposite Sakayanagi Narimori and called out, "Father."

"Arisu gained anything from this trip? Or what are your immediate feelings right now?"

Compared to the conversation between father and daughter, Sakayanagi Narimori now seems more like the current Chairman of Tokyo Advanced Nurturing High School, examining and observing the professional abilities of Sakayanagi Arisu, the next Chairman.

However, Sakayanagi Narimori is not really that kind of person; he immediately took back those two sentences as soon as they left his mouth.

"Of course, these questions are all based on the premise that Arisu is willing to take over ANHS in the future. If Arisu this idea, then let's just consider it a visit to the University of Tokyo for experience?"

He was never the kind of father who would insist on his daughter following in his footsteps. Although Tokyo Advanced Nurturing High School was indeed the property he inherited from his father, Sakayanagi Arisu's grandfather, the main reason was that he himself was quite passionate about the education industry.

Of course, given that the Sakayanagi Family Sakayanagi Arisu really wasn't interested in this, then it seemed that the only option left for him was to find a son-in-law to live with him. However, when he thought about how his daughter's chosen partner was from a family much better off than theirs, and might not even be interested in their small family, Sakayanagi Narimori felt a rare sense of unease.

However, Sakayanagi Arisu's answer quickly put him at ease.

"Father, don't worry about it so much. I took the initiative to choose University of Tokyo for this Special Exam, so you should know what I mean. As for the education profession... Grandpa nagged me so much when I was a child. I can't really let the hard work of the Sakayanagi Family and two generations of you be ruined in my hands, can I?"

As she spoke, Sakayanagi Arisu unconsciously recalled her experience in the last simulation. Back then, she had genuinely entered the upper management of Tokyo Advanced Nurturing High School. Although she had not yet directly taken over the position of Chairman due to her age, she was still truly involved in the management of ANHS.

When his daughter expressed her willingness to take over the mantle of the Sakayanagi Family and continue to work in the field of education, Sakayanagi Narimori nodded with satisfaction and then told her about his original intention in founding the school.

"Although Tokyo Advanced Nurturing High School and the White Room have been thrust into the spotlight and even become tools for two political factions to engage in verbal battles due to various reasons, I hope Arisu can remember that Tokyo Advanced Nurturing High School was never, and never will be, a school for politicians. This is completely different from the White Room."

At this point, Sakayanagi Narimori himself looked somewhat embarrassed.

"But I must admit that when the White Room project was first proposed, I was indeed swayed by Ayanokoji's sweet talk and helped him contact some zaibatsu for sponsorship."

"The purpose of this project is to Salvation as many children's lives as possible, even if it's just one more person, so they can receive the right education. That's why I wanted to create a special facility. I was also one of those who were deeply inspired by the Advanced Nurturing High School your father built."

"These are the words that Ayanokoji said to me back then. Thinking about it now, he must have inquired about my personality before coming to see me. When it comes to these things, I do tend to lose my composure."

Facing her father, who had honestly admitted his mistakes, Sakayanagi Arisu offered him a word of comfort:

"I've always felt that Tokyo Advanced Nurturing High School is a better educational institution than the White Room."

"That's true, but I also hope that Arisu can remember that the difference between our ANHS and the White Room is not about who cultivates true geniuses and who cultivates false geniuses, but something else entirely."

It was probably because of the experience of accompanying Sakayanagi Arisu to the White Room ten years ago that Sakayanagi Narimori such a deep impression on him. He was also afraid that his daughter might still remember those remarks from back then, so he emphasized it again.

"For many children with limitless potential, education is often the only opportunity in their lives to truly realize those potentials. What we need to do is to build the most suitable platform for them. This is the significance of ANHS's existence."

"Of course, in order to truly put this idea into practice, we have been making various attempts since your grandfather's generation."

"Yes, Grandpa also mentioned this to me, and I also mentioned it to Liang, because he once complained to me about ANHS's admission system."

"Haha, that's normal. After all, even I myself didn't quite understand my father's admission rules before I officially accepted the position at ANHS."

Ultimately, if we only consider external factors such as investment and school size, Tokyo Advanced Nurturing High School is in no way inferior to the elite schools in Bunkyo Ward that cater to the sons and daughters of wealthy families; in fact, it boasts an even larger scale of occupying an artificial Uninhabited Island.

However, Tokyo Advanced Nurturing High School did not develop in that direction. Instead, it expanded its enrollment to the entire country and emphasized a "no-holds-barred" approach, resulting in a diverse range of students from each cohort.

Although the unique Class Points and its resulting class division mechanism at Tokyo Advanced Nurturing High School generally concentrates these students with various deficiencies into lower-ranking classes such as Class C and Class D, their very existence is essentially a waste of teaching resources, and most students have indeed spent three years in the school in an unremarkable manner.

So much so that before Kitagawa Ryo and his class arrived, there had never been a story of Class D making a comeback to become Class A. In the end, the script for each year was just either Class A dominating or having a tug-of-war with Class B.

"But no one can say they haven't grown at all; Class Points are sometimes what distorts the actual contributions of each individual."

Just like how Class 1-D and Class 2-B can talk about who got MVP and who just got carried away, the relationship between the individual and the group is also a rather delicate topic at Tokyo Advanced Nurturing High School. Of course, Sakayanagi Narimori does not deny students who integrate into the group and progress together with the group, but he also hopes to see students who make progress little by little through their own efforts.

"That's why Father designed this Summer Special Exam, right?"

"Hmm, I want to see if this Special Exam format will be more effective."

While the Uninhabited Island were intended to develop students' comprehensive abilities and the Luxury Cruise Ship were meant to broaden their horizons, in retrospect, for most students, these were indeed good opportunities to expand their horizons. However, after they ended, they were just left with an anecdote to recount decades later, without any real benefit to them when they entered society or started working.

It was precisely for this reason that Sakayanagi Narimori, as the head of the entire Tokyo Advanced Nurturing High School, decided to make changes in this year's Summer Special Exam.

After all, while both cruise ship vacations and internships at large companies may seem like ways to broaden students' horizons, the latter, if used properly, can indeed bring tangible benefits to students' future.

Students who become blindly confident due to being completely immersed in ANHS's rules; students who become extravagant and consumerist because of the different difficulty in obtaining Private Points and yen; students who graduate from Class A simply because they are in a good group but are completely unable to perform their jobs...

Clubs that only spend money on external facilities and faculty but lack substance and have too few opportunities for external interaction; gambling dens that were propelled up by Tsukishiro and can still be seen on the campus forum; Student Council that wield more power than outsiders but are unwilling to take on the corresponding responsibilities and actively contribute to enriching students' campus life...

The problems that Kitagawa Ryo saw during his year-long time at ANHS University were also visible to Sakayanagi Narimori.

In a sense, this is a long-standing problem that ANHS has had since its establishment, so any changes will inevitably be a long process that cannot be rushed.

Fortunately, he still Sakayanagi Arisu after him.

"However, even though ANHS still has many shortcomings, I hope that Arisu will not change its cornerstone, which is the relevant regulations on admissions."

Faced with Sakayanagi Narimori's request, Sakayanagi Arisu nodded in agreement.

"I know, Father."

"However, if possible, I would still like to increase the number of students admitted each year. One hundred and sixty students in four classes per grade is indeed too few. In fact, there is still a lot of space that can be utilized in the entire ANHS campus."

"Your grandfather and I have considered expanding ANHS's enrollment before, but we faced challenges due to both the associated costs and the lack of policy support, especially since the current Prime Minister hasn't been officially appointed yet."

Although ANHS Sakayanagi Family is owned by the Sakayanagi Family, they couldn't have created it out of thin air without government support.

Ultimately, although it doesn't add "Tokyo Metropolitan" to the prefix of its full name like most public schools, ANHS Tokyo Metropolitan Advanced Nurturing High School still includes the words "Tokyo" in its full name.

"So, if Arisu really wants to further develop ANHS, in addition to Kitagawa's support, he also needs to get the Onigashima councilor officially in office. However, he has indeed been at a stalemate with the Naoe Faction recently. After all, at this crucial juncture, no one dares to make any small moves that might allow the other side to defeat them in one fell swoop."

"Yes, Liang will support me."

Sakayanagi Narimori mumbled something, and Sakayanagi Arisu only remembered the part about Kitagawa Ryo. After all, she was never interested in political topics. She simply agreed and then stopped talking. Instead, she vaguely remembered an English song that Kitagawa Ryo had shared with her a few days ago.

<Be What You Wanna Be>

Perhaps that's Liang's view on education.

It's not like the inscription by Ayanokoji Atsuomi on the desk above the White Room: "Give me a dozen healthy babies, and I can guarantee that I can randomly select one from them and train him to become any type of person I choose—a doctor, a lawyer, an artist, a tycoon, or a beggar or a thief, without regard to his talents, inclinations, abilities, ancestral professions, or race." Instead, it gives students the right to choose for themselves.

However, what Sakayanagi Arisu didn't know was that, besides her, Kitagawa Ryo had also shared this song with another person some time ago.

Meanwhile, the other person was humming the melody of this song as they assembled something in their hands.

"Doctor, actor, lawyer or a singer.

(Doctor, Actor, lawyer, or Singing)

Two polished metal tubes, each about 40 centimeters long and 5 centimeters in diameter, were placed side by side.

"Why not president, be a dreamer.

(Why not president? Be a person with dreams.)

The wooden boards, tape, and bolts are combined and fixed together to form a rough, camera-like structure.

"You can be just the one you wanna be.

(You can be anyone you want to be.)

The battery and wires were designed together to form a simple electro-ignition mechanism.

"Police man, fire fighter or a post man.

(Police officer, firefighter, or mail carrier)

Why not something like your old man.

(Why not someone like your dad?)

He stuffed gunpowder and shot-like pellets made of steel pillars, nails, and metal fragments into it, Ayanokoji Kiyotaka raised this crude-looking but deadly weapon and aimed it at the dummy in front of him for a test shot.

The unrifled bullet was launched in a scattered manner by the impact of the gunpowder explosion, followed by a shower of debris, and a large hole was ripped through the dummy's chest.

"You can be just the one you wanna be.

(You can be anyone you want to be.)

P. S.: Thank you for reading and subscribing.

PS2: This chapter can be enjoyed in conjunction with <Be What You Wanna Be>.

Chapter 85: Does Summer Snow Melt?