Chapter 32: The Fourth Simulation Drifting Toward Failure
[Time flew by.]
[In the blink of an eye, you arrived in your second year. You used your vacation time to invest a portion of your funds into the stock market and the rest into the emerging IT industry.]
[Meanwhile, problems began to surface within the Service Club.]
[Although Yukino tried her best, the number of members in the 'Alliance of Outcasts' remained stagnant. Furthermore, many of the members' issues within the Alliance remained unresolved.]
[Hitori Gotoh's band plan remained perpetually in the preparation stage.]
[Shoko Nishimiya still couldn't break her habit of apologizing at the drop of a hat.]
[Kazusa Touma remained detached, drifting on the periphery.]
[Although Fumino Furuhashi and Rizu Ogata saw slight improvements in their weak subjects with Yukino's help, it was far from enough.]
[And you, the person who was supposed to act as the adhesive for the group, often disappeared without a trace.]
[The so-called 'Alliance of Outcasts' didn't seem to be showing any real results.]
Service Club.
Yukino massaged the space between her eyebrows in exhaustion.
Faint dark circles had appeared around her bright, clear eyes.
Helping Gotoh-san form a band and overcome her psychological barriers was incredibly difficult. Moreover, the other three members of the band each had their own defects. For instance, that Ryo Yamada's grades were problematic, and she seemed to be at odds with her family...
Helping Nishimiya-san gain courage was the hardest task of all. Yukino had tried every scientific method available, but Nishimiya-san's condition involved both psychological and physiological factors. So far, she had merely succeeded in making Nishimiya-san the "club mascot," loved by everyone inside. Even the awkward Kazusa Touma, who was cold on the outside but warm on the inside, wouldn't speak harshly to her. But once Nishimiya-san stepped outside, she still constantly apologized...
Kazusa Touma had major personality flaws, full of self-contradiction, and burdened by family issues. Yukino was too pressed for time to find a breakthrough point for her...
As for Fumino Furuhashi and Rizu Ogata?
The moment she thought of them, Yukino felt her headache returning.
'Reading comprehension? How am I supposed to comprehend this? According to the distance formula s=v*t, it's impossible for him to have walked to the riverbank that quickly...'
'2 times 3 squared plus (1+3)... Equations? What equations? Why are you combining two equations that have nothing to do with each other?'
Just as they were geniuses in their respective fields, they were utter trash in the opposite ones.
'Is this the defining characteristic of a partial genius?'
'Ah... then I really am lucky... to be an all-rounder...'
Under the weight of exhaustion, all sorts of nonsensical thoughts flew through Yukino's brain.
'Right... I remember I'm supposed to be just the assistant, right? So who was the main tutor again?'
Her sluggish brain seemed to jog a memory at this moment.
'Doesn't a certain someone only drop by occasionally to give a lecture?'
***
[You failed, but you also succeeded.]
[You had a knack for the stock market and acquired a certain amount of wealth, but your investments in the IT industry were a total wash.]
[In this place, the traditional factions held the real power, forming a world you simply couldn't step into.]
[You decided to change direction and follow the path of physical industries.]
[Recently, you have constantly felt like you are being followed.]
[Time continued to slip by.]
[Graduation was imminent.]
[The Alliance of Outcasts had already announced its dissolution.]
[The only ones left in the Service Club now are Shoko Nishimiya and Yukino Yukinoshita.]
[Hitori Gotoh's 'Kessoku Band' received a mediocre response. However, thanks to Yukino's efforts, Hitori could barely manage to speak to people normally now. She is currently continuing to struggle for the band with her friends.]
[Kazusa Touma quietly stopped coming and returned to being a loner.]
[As for Fumino Furuhashi and Rizu Ogata, although their other subjects improved slightly with your and Yukino's help, due to various reasons, they were ultimately ordered by Kirisu-sensei to return to the 'right path' of their stronger subjects.]
[Shoko Nishimiya's problems were not solved at the root. However, thanks to Yukino's efforts, she no longer likes to say sorry as much, and she is no longer targeted in class.]
[It's just that occasionally, when Shoko looks at the empty club room, she seems a bit lost, and the smiles on her face have become much fewer.]
[And you, at this moment, already own multiple physical storefronts and have a considerable amount of savings. You are just waiting to get into university to use its resources to really take off. But just as graduation approached, you encountered a big problem.]
Inside your room.
Haruka frowned as he looked at an email.
The content of the email was basically one thing: recruitment.
The offer was extremely generous.
Guaranteed entry into a prestigious Tokyo university, an executive position at a certain company immediately after graduation, luxury cars, real estate, scholarships... a total tilt of resources in your favor.
It could be said that with this kind of treatment, even a mediocrity could rise to the top.
However, there was a precondition for all of this.
Join the conglomerate.
Become a "retainer."
The thought of kneeling before some old man, bowing and scraping with total subservience...
Haruka felt a wave of nausea.
He'd always been the rebellious type by nature!
[You refused the recruitment offer.]
[You did not suffer any direct retaliation.]
[Graduation came.]
[You successfully entered the School of Commerce at Meiji University with excellent grades.]
[However, upon arriving here, you seemed to be subject to some kind of restriction.]
[No academic cliques contacted you. The resources you have access to are not as vast as you imagined.]
[You felt depressed. One day, you accidentally ran into Shoko Nishimiya.]
Walking on the street, Haruka felt frustrated and unfulfilled.
Prestigious universities had plenty of resources, yet he couldn't access them. He understood it now—with his grades, it was impossible for the academic cliques not to contact him. So, the trouble was with him.
The only thing he could think of was his refusal of the conglomerate.
The academic cliques didn't fear the financial cliques, but for his sake? It wasn't worth the fight.
His career had basically stagnated.
The anime industry and the high-tech computer industry he longed for... he had no connections to enter them.
He could only start from the bottom.
"Ah, so annoying."
He arrived at an Italian restaurant named "The Garden of Words."
Haruka suddenly froze.
He looked at a waitress.
"Nishimiya-san?"
That's right.
It was Shoko Nishimiya.
That familiar sakura-colored hair.
"?"
Shoko turned around and looked at Haruka curiously. Her gaze gradually changed.
Confusion, curiosity, surprise, joy, hesitation...
The expression on her face shifted constantly.
She pursed her lips.
Her cheeks puffed up slightly.
It looked a little cute.
Shoko walked over.
"Hello, Kasugano-san?" she signed with her hands.
Back in the Service Club days, Haruka, Yukino, and the others had all learned sign language. Haruka learned exceptionally fast—mastering it in half a day, as if he had learned it before—even outshining Yukino. So, Haruka knew sign language.
"It's me. Nishimiya-san, how have you been?" Haruka signed back.
Shoko revealed a gentle smile. It seemed that seeing Haruka made her very happy.
"..."
"..."
The two chatted for a while.
But it didn't look intimate.
It was just a scene of ordinary friends reuniting.
"Are you still in touch with Yukino and the others?" After chatting for a bit, Haruka suddenly remembered those events from their high school days.
Shoko paused, nodded, then shook her head.
"You mean, you're still in touch with some, but lost contact with others?"
"Mm."
Subsequently.
Shoko explained briefly.
Yukino Yukinoshita had returned to Chiba. She had originally gotten into a prestigious university, but something seemed to have happened at home, and she was called back. Now they only communicated via phone, and her current situation was unclear.
Hitori Gotoh was still persisting with the band, but some of her bandmates seemed unable to continue due to family or financial reasons. She wasn't in a good mood lately.
As for Fumino Furuhashi and Rizu Ogata.
Rizu was doing okay. She got into university and usually helped out at her family's udon shop. She was arguably doing the best out of the group.
Fumino Furuhashi wasn't doing so well. She had a huge fight with her family. Previously, she wanted to major in Astronomy, which caused a falling out. In the end, she was forced to attend a university for Literature. Now, she was going through university like a walking corpse.
As for Kazusa Touma, Shoko didn't know much. Her contact information had changed a long time ago.
After listening to Shoko's words.
Haruka's eyes filled with melancholy.
Life truly was unpredictable.
"What about you? Shoko, how is your life now?"
-----
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