Chapter 19: Not Ready to Make it Big Yet.
[You return home and rummage through your things, but you can't find anything suitable to give. You didn't bring much when you came from Ino County, and that childhood handkerchief was accidentally brought along.]
[In the end, you give Asano Nao a spare key to your apartment. Asano Nao takes the key and starts to giggle, like a pervert on a late-night show. Unfortunately, this pervert only has the intent but not the courage.]
[You slow down Asano Nao's treatment plan. Since meeting in person is too stimulating for her, starting with online meetings might be better.]
[The final exam results are out. You ranked in the top ten in your class. You video call your parents to show them your report card. They are very happy and ask you many questions about your life in Misaki.]
[Finally, they ask when you will return to Ino County.]
[Faced with their question, you choose]
[1. "I want to get into a prestigious university, so I'll stay in Misaki for summer classes."]
[2. "I want to get a girl pregnant, so I'll stay in Misaki and work hard."]
[3. "I'll be back in a couple of days."]
[4. Free simulation]
What the hell is option two!
Wait, this option seems to make sense?
Upon careful consideration, what seems like the most unreliable option, number two, might actually be the most truthful one.
But, people are artists of deceit, and truth has no place in this art.
Option two is ruled out first.
What's left are options one and three, one is staying in Misaki, the other is returning to Ino County.
From the perspective of personal desire, there seems to be no need to hesitate, just choose option one.
But feelings often aren't controlled by desires.
In previous simulations, he was taken back to Ino County and separated from Asano Nao for a month. This month apart didn't hinder their relationship; on the contrary, the longing and joy of reunion made their relationship make breakthrough progress.
Hmm, both physically and emotionally, it was a breakthrough.
Looking at it this way, perhaps leaving is the right choice.
What should he choose?
Minami Yuuki folded his arms and fell into deep thought.
He looked at his phone; it was already past ten. In another hour, he could go to Asano's house for lunch.
Forget it, don't torture that shut-in older sister anymore.
He chose option one.
[You tell your parents that you want to stay in Misaki for summer classes to aim for a top university. Your father is delighted and immediately transfers you the tuition fees for the cram school. Your mother misses you but agrees for the sake of your future. Only your sister has a strong opinion about it.]
[Using the money your father transferred, along with the money borrowed from Asano Nao, you enroll in a cram school's intensive training course. You and the other students will go to a mountain inn for a week-long closed training session.]
[Before the training, you explain the situation to Asano Nao. She is very reluctant and uneasy.]
[She always thinks you will suddenly leave her. Usually, when this unease arises, you would appear at her house to calm her down. Now, you will be gone for a week, and she cannot imagine the torment she will endure.]
[You borrow another sum of money from her, but this can only comfort her momentarily.]
[The intensive training is very rigorous, with almost no rest for the students. As soon as the bus arrives at the inn, the first class begins.]
[In the morning, you study theory, in the afternoon, you practice instruments, and in the evening, you have supervised self-study and one-on-one talks with the teachers. This reminds you of your previous high school life. Thanks to your previous life, you are well-adapted to this intensity.]
[During dinner, you finally find a moment to video call Asano Nao.]
The memory scene appears.
In the dark room, only a small night light emits a glow. Asano Nao lies on the bed, with a rolled-up quilt on the left, holding a laptop showing a secretly filmed video of Minami Yuuki, and on the right, a pack of tissues.
It's already dinner time, her stomach hurts slightly, and it growls, but she lacks the energy to get up.
Minami Yuuki left in the morning, and they have been apart for 10 hours and 36 minutes.
What is the boy doing now?
The sound of an ambulance siren comes from outside. The short rhythm stimulates Asano Nao's nerves. She sits up and goes to the window, lifting a corner of the curtain to look in the direction of the sound.
In the misty night, she can only see the gray outlines of cold buildings.
Yuuki-kun said he would take a bus to a remote mountain inn; will he be okay?
The mountain roads must be difficult to navigate, and there might be cliffs. The mountains also have various wild animals and poisonous insects.
Like a child worried about their parents' safety upon hearing a siren, she starts to worry.
The siren quickly fades away. Asano Nao reassures herself that Yuuki-kun is in the distant mountains and that this ambulance has nothing to do with him.
She opens the window for ventilation, takes her laptop, sits at the desk, and decides to play a game to distract herself.
But the protagonist, who flirts everywhere in the game, brings new worries.
She stares at the game screen. The witcher on horseback already has two lovers but ends up sleeping with a newly met sorceress.
Is Yuuki-kun really studying now? The mountains must be quiet, and there are many girls studying music, many of them pretty. Is he already doing something bad with a classmate in the dark woods?
The imagination solidifies into a powerful arm, squeezing her heart, making her anxious.
She turns off the RPG game and drives away her fantasies, starting a new casual game. This game doesn't even have humans, so it surely won't fuel her imagination.
She underestimates her own creativity.
As she controls the robot in the game to cut trees for wood, she sees the green leaves and her suppressed fantasies revive.
In a distant country, green seems to symbolize infidelity.
Is this game hinting at something?
She resists the fantasies with her willpower. At first, her armored willpower drives the fantasies to the corners of her mind, surrounding them.
But no matter how strict her orders, or how hard her willpower tries to clear them out, the fantasies never die. Eventually, her willpower grows weary, and the fantasies escape.
The fantasies grow wildly, even persuading her willpower. It's not enough that Minami Yuuki falls for another woman; the fantasies continue to add scenes.
Minami Yuuki promises another woman a future, flirts with many women but never her, grows distant after returning from cram school, kisses other women, gives other women gifts, marries another woman…
It's so painful.
She slowly slides off the chair, sits on the floor, and then moves to the corner between the bed and the wall, hugging herself tightly.
The wind from the window is cold, piercing her bones.
Why do I have to endure this pain? We got closer, and those days of peeping were so happy.
Why is it that there's only joy when we're apart, but pain when we're close?
Sure enough, it's me who has the problem. She buries her face in her arms.
At this moment, her phone rings.
It's a call from Minami Yuuki.