Tokyo Soft Rice King.

It took a lot of effort, and with Tashiro Kyouka's guarantee, to convince Shion that Nishimura-senpai was a man. However, she still didn't want Kuroba Akira and Nishimura Tatsuya to be alone together, and she remained wary, probably because she was afraid that Kuroba Akira would be turned gay by Nishimura Tatsuya.

However, after seeing that Kuroba Akira was actually keeping a mistress, Nishimura Ryuya looked at Kuroba Akira with a very mocking gaze and revealed a teasing smile that said, "You're playing pretty big, kid." Kuroba Akira simply whistled and pretended to be stupid.

However, Nishimura Ryu didn't expose Kuroba Akira's two-timing. Although he was a computer geek, as an adult, he was more worldly-wise than the average student and had no moral bottom line. He wouldn't be angry at Kuroba Akira's actions for 'this little thing'.

It's no longer surprising to see wealthy men keeping young, beautiful women as mistresses.

From a cooperative standpoint, he hoped that Kuroba Akira wouldn't overdo it. Even if he did, he hoped to at least maintain his relationship with the eldest daughter of the Anri family. Otherwise, his side might be purged, or even disappear from Japan altogether. He didn't want to be caught in the crossfire.

Tashiro Kurenai was the only one who could tell at first glance that Nishimura Ryu was also a man. To be precise, it was Kurenai who could tell. It is said that because she had seen so many corpses, she could tell the difference in the skeleton just by looking at the body shape, and thus distinguish the gender of the other person.

Moreover, despite being usually shy, she didn't show any signs of social anxiety when facing Nishimura Tatsuya, a complete stranger she was meeting for the first time. Instead, she showed a nostalgic expression and even asked Nishimura Tatsuya if he was a Kabuki actor.

It seems that Xiao Hong had experience as an assistant makeup artist at a prestigious Kabuki theater company when she was in college.

Kabuki, a truly traditional art form, is performed entirely by men, much like male actors playing female roles in Peking Opera. This is supposedly because their voices have unique advantages over women in terms of strength and depth, and their martial arts movements are easier to execute.

Because Nishimura Ryuya looks more feminine than most women, Xiaohong's social anxiety didn't seem to flare up.

It was only then that Akira Kuroba realized that Kokoro's social phobia seemed to be combined with androphobia.

Unfortunately, when Xiao Hong asked if he was a Kabuki actor, Nishimura-senpai angrily denied it, scaring Xiao Hong away. She concluded that Nishimura Ryu was also a terrible and difficult person to get along with. Xiao Hong was helpless about this, but she also felt that it was fine, since she only needed Shirako as a man she could get along with.

Furthermore, after explaining the situation to Grandma Kobayashi, she allowed Tatsuya Nishimura to come and go from Kobayashi's house. She also mentioned that there was an extra small house not far from here that she could rent to Tatsuya Nishimura at a relatively cheap price, saving him the trouble of finding a house.

The old lady is indeed a super-rich landlady... Grandpa Lin, just how much do you spoil your wife? How much inheritance did you leave her?

What Kuroba Akira didn't expect was that Nishimura, who seemed unfriendly and acted like "I'm your father even if the King of Heaven comes," was actually very polite to Kobayashi's grandmother, even a little reserved, and used honorifics throughout.

Sure enough, this old woman is a user of the "Face Fruit" ability, isn't she? Up until now, everyone who knows her treats her with respect; she's practically the godmother of Tokyo.

Of course, the truly remarkable one has to be Grandpa Kobayashi. Now, Akira Kuroba is certain that Grandpa Kobayashi is not just a big shot who bought a house in Tokyo; this extraordinary man who appeared out of nowhere must have done something that could change the course of this country's history...

I just don't understand why the general public has absolutely no idea about him... Is he deliberately hiding himself? But is that even possible? He's a very important figure who can influence a country; how could he possibly remain anonymous? There's not even any record of him online... That would require distorting one's understanding, right?

It's very mysterious... However, Kuroba Akira doesn't have the means or the qualifications to know the truth right now, and he also realized that investigating this matter might not be a wise move. It's better not to know some things, otherwise, given Kobayashi's personality, she would have already been showing off her husband's glorious deeds.

Anyway, these kinds of things are things you'll be told when you're supposed to know, even if you don't want to. So Kuroba Akira suppressed his curiosity and stopped trying to find out the secrets of the Kobayashi family.

When Hijikata Isamu learned that Nishimura Ryu was also a man, he was initially a little surprised. However, he and Kuroba Akira came from the same world and had witnessed the chaotic world of LGBT+ rainbow monsters in their previous life. So, it wasn't particularly strange for a man who just looked like a woman. This was also one of the reasons why Nishimura Ryu admired him and was willing to give Kuroba Akira a chance at school.

Nishimura Ryuya also realized that these two people really didn't care about his appearance at all. You know, even the members of the computer club took several months to get used to his appearance.

The reason he embraced the internet was because he could hide his gender online, which was much more comfortable than speaking face-to-face. This was also the reason he wanted to create a forum—to establish a platform for equal dialogue without discrimination.

Kuroba Akira and Hijikata Isamu initially showed some surprise, but quickly stopped caring and treated him like an ordinary person. This made Nishimura Ryu feel very comfortable, and he felt that he had not misjudged them. These two people had a great vision and magnanimity.

So after dinner, a very enthusiastic Nishimura Ryu pulled Kuroba Akira and Hijikata Isamu aside to chat about future plans and his ongoing, unfinished project.

He said he wanted to create an instant messaging 'chat software' that could be used on mobile phones, and that this chat software would ideally be linked to 'email' to expand its usage and completely eliminate the useless 'text messaging'. He also said that this software could also be used on computers, while the mobile version would be a simplified 'crippled version'... and he went on and on.

After hearing this, Kuroba Akira and Hijikata Isamu exchanged a glance, both seeing shock in each other's eyes.

What Nishimura Ryu wants to work on are those two national-level software programs from Tencent!

And they even want to swallow up the email market as well! It's like Tencent and NetEase are merging!

Although there are already monopolistic chat software in the world, there is still an opportunity for the underdog to overthrow the established order, because the advent of smartphones will bring about a major reshuffle in both the hardware and software fields.

Just like Nokia, which once held a 73% global market share in mobile phones and ranked first in global annual mobile phone sales for 15 consecutive years, thinking it was invincible, it died after the advent of smartphones because it was too big to turn around and was a step behind.

The same applies to the software industry. If you seize the opportunity, you might just stand out from the crowd, provided you have sufficient hard power...

Moreover, it can be used in combination with other cards.

First, develop the existing bullet-screen video website. Then, you'll have a natural promotional platform to promote your own chat software. Combine that with Nishimura Tatsuya's forum, convert forum users into chat software users, and you'll have a solid user base.

The more they discussed it, the more promising it seemed. Hijikata Isamu's ambition was also rekindled, and he declared that his real strength was big data search. If Nishimura Ryu could also create a national-level chat software, then he could promote his own search engine and carve out a piece of the pie from the current search engine giants.

Nishimura Ryu realized that the two of them actually fully supported his 'outlandish idea' and could even come up with very specific plans, which made him feel even more that he had not chosen the wrong side this time. Now they were truly in perfect agreement.

The result was that they talked all night long, without giving Kuroba Akira a chance to go back to his room to sleep, and they talked until the sun rose.

Actually, in the second half, Hijikata Isamu and Nishimura Ryu were also discussing the technology. Kuroba Akira couldn't understand it at all, but they wouldn't let him go back to sleep with Shion. They would ask him questions from time to time and make him make decisions because he was the organizer and initiator.

It felt like two prime ministers were forbidding the emperor from returning to the palace to sleep with his favorite concubines, and they kept submitting memorials, demanding that he issue an immediate decree.

Akira Kuroba realized that the little boat he had built, after recruiting an overly capable crew, was unstoppable and destined to sail towards the discovery of a new world...

So, in a daze, he impulsively decided to create a large-scale integrated website that would incorporate all these things, and the company was named "New World" in English. It was a bit cheesy, but easy to remember.

The original plan has been expanded several times over; now, it's not just about creating a bullet-screen video website, but also chat software and a search engine.

Then, after careful consideration, it became clear that there were still not enough people and money.

So the two of them looked at Kuroba Akira, meaning, 'You're not of any use in terms of technology, so the task of recruiting people and attracting investment is left to you.'

Therefore, Akira Kuroba, who was also the head of the personnel department and the finance department, had to find a way to bring in people and money again...

He was prepared to beg the class monitor for help, acting like a complete failure.

Help me, Class Monitor A-Meng!

I hope the class monitor can invest more, and I also hope she can use Anri's family's connections to poach some useful people...

I'm having a date with the class monitor today... but talking about these things on the date will probably make the girl very unhappy, right?

Maybe we should wait until after the cultural festival to talk about it. Today, let's focus on making the class monitor happy. It's also time for me to get up anyway...

After Hongjie got up to make breakfast, she came out of her room and heard a heated discussion still coming from Hijikata-san's room, whose door was not closed. She was surprised to realize that the three of them had not slept all night, so she came over to remind them. At this time, Hijikata Isamu and Nishimura Ryu realized that it was already dawn.

Kuroba Akira was extremely grateful; if it weren't for Sister Hong, he probably would have remained locked up here.

So the project was put on hold for the time being. They decided to merge the two bullet screen video websites first. Then, Hijikata Yu reminded Kuroba Akira to quickly find a designer to design the website and mascot, and also to draw emoticons.

This was all part of the discussion last night. The mascot and emojis are very suitable for promotion, making the website more recognizable. In order to increase its reach, there are more things to do.

At this point, Kuroba Akira, the leader, listlessly agreed like a corporate slave and said he would find a designer as soon as possible before they would let him leave.

After being freed, Kuroba Akira almost cried, but he couldn't ask for leave to slack off today, since he had made a promise to go to the cultural festival with the class president...

A real man keeps his promise!

But I need to catch up on some sleep first... I can't afford to die suddenly again.

Kuroba Akira quickly made the most of his time, skipped his usual morning run, went back to his room and fell asleep immediately, without even eating breakfast.

Ziyin seized the opportunity to affectionately cuddle with him, absorbing the scent and feeling fully charged early in the morning.

This is the reason why these two people have such contrasting mental states.

Because she felt sorry for Kuroba Akira's condition, Hongjie gave him money for the bus fare so he wouldn't have to walk to school today. Kuroba Akira was so touched that he wanted to call her "Mom".

After sleeping for a while in the car, Kuroba Akira arrived at school.

As soon as he got off the bus, Kuroba Akira saw that the campus was much more lively than usual, and his mental state improved slightly.

This is probably due to a change in mood; there's a faint sense of anticipation in my heart, stemming from a longing for youth and school life.

In his previous life, Kuroba Akira watched a lot of school-themed anime and longed for high school life in Japan. He thought that high school life in Japan was not only full of activities but also free to date, and that it was very colorful.

However, after actually being transported to Japan and becoming a high school student there, Akira Kuroba found that it wasn't all that great.

It's true that school starts and ends very early, but it's pretty much like university life, not as 'youthful' as you might imagine.

Of course, this is also because Kuroba Akira didn't speak the local dialect after his transmigration and spent a semester as a lone wolf, so all the excitement was someone else's and had nothing to do with him.

It's like scrolling through your WeChat Moments and seeing only photos of people traveling everywhere, making you wonder why they seem so carefree while you're living such a miserable life.

The truth is that no one wants to show others their boring, tedious, repetitive, and monotonous daily life, so all we see are glamorous photos of people traveling and enjoying themselves.

The same applies to school-themed anime; they don't depict boring daily life, but only show the 'interesting parts' to the audience, which is why they give people endless longing and imagination.

This is what they mean by "the unattainable is always the best," because fantasy gives reality the most beautiful 'filter'.

So Kuroba Akira had long since taken it all in stride. Going to school was just fulfilling Kuroba Akira's own duty. As for enjoying youth... is it more important than making money?

However, things are quite different today.

He was also caught up in the lively atmosphere.

Campus cultural festival...a student carnival...?

"Hey! Ah Ming! Good morning!"

Just as Kuroba Akira was in a daze, he heard cheerful voices greeting him. He turned around and saw Sumitomo Ryota greeting him.

"Oh... good morning."

"Why do you look so listless? Did you have too many deer last night?"

He also made a very lewd up-and-down motion gesture.

"Bullshit!"

Kuroba Akira rolled his eyes and punched him in the face, but Sumitomo Ryota caught it easily with a grin.

"Hehe, I'm not the same person I used to be! Those soft, weak fists can't touch me anymore!"

"Tsk... You've gotten so cocky just because you learned a little boxing?"

"I'm still a long way off, but I've found that counter-punches are really satisfying. If you time it right, you can knock your opponent's soul out of their body. No wonder that punch you threw at me hurt so much..."

Ryota Sumitomo seems to have really become obsessed with boxing; he usually has bandages wrapped around his hands, which looks quite childish.

"Hey, Amin, why don't you learn some boxing? Don't you think it's cool to protect the woman you love with your own fists?"

"Yes Yes Yes……"

This wasn't the first time Sumitomo Ryota had encouraged Kuroba Akira to train in boxing, so he just brushed it off casually.

To be honest, the protection provided by individual strength alone is limited. This isn't a world where strength reigns supreme; the strongest creature on earth, like Yujiro Hanma, simply doesn't exist.

Therefore, if you really want to protect your woman, you still need to have your own power. Grandma Xiaolin was well 'protected' by Grandpa Xiaolin, and no one dared to touch her after he died.

Just then, some classmates who happened to be passing by saw them and called out to them.

"Hey! Kuroba! Ryota, what took you so long! Hurry up and come help! Our class's haunted house is about to open! There's already a line!"

Ryota Sumitomo raised his hand and replied to the other party.

"Okay! Coming right away!"

Then he patted Kuroba Akira on the shoulder and walked forward first.

"Let's go, Amin! Let's have a blast today! This is one of the most important events of our high school years! Let's create some precious memories!"

"Ah... um."