Chapter 16: Yamada Ryo, What Are You Doing?

[Your bond with Hitori Gotoh has deepened.]

[At a critical moment, you gave her courage, giving her the confidence to keep moving forward. She started spending more time with her band, but this also meant she had less time with you—something she found unbearable.]

[So one afternoon, she introduced you to the members of "Kessoku Band," hoping that between practice sessions in the "Starry Night" live house, they could also find time to teach you guitar.]

"Live house?"

This unfamiliar term caught Minami's interest.

He grabbed his phone from the nearby desk and typed in the keyword. Soon, he understood.

A live house served drinks like a bar, but it was different from an ordinary bar.

Live houses generally had top-tier musical instruments and sound systems, making them ideal for intimate live performances. Many underground rock bands relied on these venues to make a living and gain recognition.

[At first, learning guitar was just an excuse to get closer to Hitori Gotoh. But after spending so much time with her, your natural obsession with learning and self-improvement made you develop a genuine interest in guitar and music.]

[Your understanding of music deepened.]

[You met Nijika Ijichi, Ikuyo Kita, and Ryo Yamada.]

Unlike in your second life, where you only met the members of "Kessoku Band" as an adult...

In this third life, you met them during high school.

Things had completely deviated from your second life's trajectory.

However—

"Why does the younger Ryo Yamada look so familiar?"

Minami, who wasn't paying much attention at first, lingered over the simulated memories that kept surfacing.

In his mental world, he saw a quiet, blue-haired girl sitting in the corner, cradling her bass and seriously plucking its strings.

He stared at this scene for a long time until something clicked. He paused the simulation for his third life and jumped back to his first life—the one where he only cared about studying and had a failed romance.

In his first life, he had been so disciplined that he completely ignored the existence of the dating simulator, never interacting with Hitori Gotoh and missing his chance with her. Later, at a Tokyo University alumni gathering, he met a woman whose name the simulator had never even mentioned—a woman who could fulfill his "eighteen different needs" and didn't mind if he relied on her financially.

"That's Ryo Yamada, isn't it?"

Memories from his first life were fully unraveled.

Looking at the scene of his first life, where a blue-haired college girl stood with her arms crossed, yawning, and emotionlessly stating, "Learn bass in a year, and I'll date you," Minami rubbed his forehead.

So it wasn't just in his second life that Ryo Yamada had confessed to him.

Even in his first life, she had already fallen for him.

No wonder she was so persistent in his second life.

After all, if she liked him in his first life, there must have been something about him that attracted her.

"I really am too outstanding," Minami sighed.

As for the fact that he had actually practiced bass for a whole year in his first life just to successfully pursue Ryo Yamada…

Minami simply shook his head.

A whole year?

Honestly, he wasn't entirely satisfied with his first-life learning speed.

But that didn't matter.

Compared to the past events of his first and second lives...

What he cared about was what would happen next in his third life.

Taking his focus off a certain blue-haired, aloof girl—

Minami had no interest in her.

[Nijika Ijichi and Ikuyo Kita were shocked by your existence. They had only heard Hitori Gotoh talk about you, but they had never even heard your name before. So, for the longest time, they thought you were just an imaginary friend she made up.]

[Compared to Nijika Ijichi and Ikuyo Kita's surprise, Ryo Yamada didn't seem to care about your arrival at all.]

This is how it should be.

Worried that Yamada Ryo, who had confessed and even married him in the previous two timelines, might pull some unexpected moves, Minami finally felt relieved.

And then—

[But Yamada Ryo actually seems quite interested in you.]

Miss Yamada Ryo, what are you doing?

I was merely introduced by Gotoh Hitori, and that alone caught your interest?

At this moment, Minami truly couldn't understand what was going through the mind of the silent and expressionless Yamada Ryo.

[Yamada Ryo's high school goal was to get into the University of Tokyo. So, for her, someone who scored first place nationwide in deviation tests naturally caught her attention. For her, getting a perfect score on a test wasn't impossible, but it required her full focus, and the cost was forgetting all her bass-playing techniques during that time. Someone like you, who can balance both academics and music, intrigues her.]

I see.

That explanation was something Minami could accept.

But Yamada Ryo's goal was to get into Todai (University of Tokyo)?

Minami recalled the events of the first timeline.

In the first timeline, he remembered that Yamada Ryo, who eventually became his wife, didn't get into Todai.

The reason she appeared at the reunion of Tokyo University's medical department alumni was simply because her family ran a large hospital in Tokyo. With their extensive connections, one of the alumni invited her to expand her social network.

She was born into a wealthy family, used money lavishly, and even after marriage, she had to be restrained by him to tone it down.

But even then, this cold-faced girl spent money on high-end musical instruments like it meant nothing.

Though—having a wife willing to indulge in all "eighteen poses" at night was indeed amazing.

All things considered, it seemed that in the third timeline, Yamada Ryo still hadn't given up on her dream of getting into Todai.

This woman was actually quite ambitious.

Minami nodded silently.

He didn't dislike ambitious people. As long as they didn't interfere with him, he was even willing to offer Yamada Ryo some assistance within his ability.

And considering that in the first timeline, it took him a full year of hard work to win her over, he figured that in this timeline, he wasn't going to get involved with her so easily.

[You introduced yourself simply. Your humorous and cheerful demeanor quickly helped you blend into the atmosphere of Kessoku Band.]

[You continued to seek Gotoh Hitori's guidance on guitar, and your talent for learning gradually became apparent. At the same time, after practice sessions, Yamada Ryo occasionally asked you for help with schoolwork.]

[Yamada Ryo has developed some goodwill toward you.]

[Your relationship with Yamada Ryo has deepened.]

Seriously, Miss Yamada, what are you doing?