Why aren't you planning to study music anymore? You clearly bought a guitar, and that dream was so vivid and beautiful. Every time I fall asleep, it plays in my mind.
Aren't you supposed to borrow money from me to enroll in a music school? What's gone wrong?
Asano Nao panicked, her face turning pale, her fingers trembling.
Did she do something wrong?
She thought of the butterfly effect in movies, where even a small change could drastically alter the world line.
Was it her actions that caused the world to change?
What should she do next? Would Yuuki-kun still marry her and have Miu and Rikka with her?
Her mind went blank.
When Minami Yuuki asked her about the paper cranes, she mechanically walked upstairs, took the cranes, and handed them to the boy at the dining table. Even the boy's thanks did not snap her out of it.
Minami Yuuki should have noticed Asano Nao's odd behavior, but he was completely engrossed by the paper cranes.
[You've received a gift imbued with Asano Nao's feelings]
[+1 Simulation Attempt]
Why did it only increase by one this time?
He looked at the number of paper cranes, noticing not only had they not decreased, but there were also more of them. He picked up one, with sharp ends and perfect creases, no signs of cutting corners.
Then why did the number of simulation attempts decrease?
He thought back to his earlier hypothesis. The simulation attempts weren't based on the aesthetic of the cranes or the effort spent folding them, but on the feelings imbued in them.
The reduction in simulation attempts meant a reduction in feelings.
What caused the feelings to decrease?
Did Asano Nao fall for someone else?
He reached out to Asano Nao, "Give me the bank card, and I'll marry you."
Marry?
The word struck Asano Nao like a bolt of lightning, piercing through the darkness and chaos in her mind caused by the change in the world line. The lightning carried immense heat, evaporating the flood of catastrophe in her heart, restoring her clarity.
She quickly ran to the master bedroom on the first floor, retrieved the bank card, and gently placed it in Minami Yuuki's hand.
"I also need the property certificates," Minami Yuuki demanded. In Japan, property certificates are proof of real estate ownership.
Asano Nao returned to her room, retrieved two property certificates, and handed them to Minami Yuuki. One was for the Asano residence, and the other for the Yori Village house.
Minami Yuuki placed the property certificates and bank card on the table, feeling puzzled.
It seemed Asano Nao's love for him hadn't diminished, so why had the simulation attempts decreased?
After thinking for a while, he suddenly had a hypothesis.
Could it be that the "feelings" in the "gift imbued with feelings" aren't infinite and need time to recover?
The last gift was full of feelings, so it increased the simulation attempts by three at once. This time, the feelings hadn't fully recovered, so it only added one simulation attempt.
The more he thought about it, the more he believed this hypothesis was true. Verifying it would be simple, just experiment a few more times over several days.
Outside the window, students in the same uniform as Minami Yuuki's were gradually increasing, signaling it was almost time for class.
Minami Yuuki set aside the problem and prepared to head to school.
He thought, with only one simulation attempt added, it wasn't enough. There was also Ibuki Yuko at school who could provide simulation attempts. He could find a way to get some from her. Additionally, there was Ichinose Shiori, the girl he had a bond with in the previous simulation life, who might also be a simulation target.
Crossing the living room, he walked to the entrance. Just as he picked up his backpack, a hand reached out and tugged at his clothes.
Turning around, he saw Asano Nao looking up at him, pitifully.
"Marriage," Asano Nao reminded him, handing over the property certificates and bank card, reminding the boy of his promise.
"Huh? Did you really take it seriously, Sister?" Minami Yuuki looked at her in surprise. "No matter how you think about it, that couldn't have been a serious statement, right?"
His mention of marriage was sudden and out of nowhere. From Asano Nao's perspective, she should have thought he was joking. Handing over the bank card and property certificates was just her unconditionally fulfilling his request.
What he didn't anticipate was that Asano Nao, her mind darkened by his decision not to study music, couldn't discern his words at the moment. She took everything seriously, purely based on her trust and love for him.
"Class is about to start, I'm heading out now. See you this afternoon, Sister!" Minami Yuuki slung his backpack over his shoulder, grabbed his lunch bag and the paper bag filled with origami cranes, and opened the door.
As the sound of the door hinge echoed, the brilliant sunlight streamed in. Asano Nao squinted her eyes, watching Minami Yuuki's figure disappear into the brightness. Then, the door quickly shut, blocking the sunlight with a snap, leaving her standing alone in the shadowy interior.
Was the marriage a joke? The real estate certificate slipped from Asano Nao's hand and fell to the floor. She stumbled upstairs to her bedroom, collapsed on the bed, and clutched her blanket.
The marriage was fake, and Yuuki-kun didn't want to study music anymore.
How did it come to this? He was supposed to get into Misaki Arts University, then date, and have Miu and Rikka.
Could it all be my delusion? Was it my twisted mind, festering in the dark and damp corners, that conjured up such despicable, wretched fantasies?
Does Yuuki-kun even truly exist? She opened the shrine, seeing, touching, and smelling the handkerchief enshrined inside, and felt relieved.
The handkerchief was real, so Yuuki-kun must be real too.
But that dream was fake. Even if it was real before, it has now turned false because Yuuki-kun no longer studies music.
She lay back on the bed, staring blankly at the ceiling. Was the house always this dark? she wondered.
Oh well, a little more darkness isn't so bad.
Minami Yuuki was the moon she longed for, the story of their love in her dream movie was a porcelain basin with beautiful patterns. She poured her feelings into it like clear water, placing it under the moonlight to reflect the moon's image. For days, she admired the basin, feeling that the moon's reflection in the water was something she held close, from which she drew happiness and security.
Just now, Minami Yuuki's words about not going to a music school were a verdict, declaring the dream movie's falsehood. The porcelain basin shattered, water spilled, the moon's reflection on the surface broke, and the water seeped into the ground, disappearing without a trace.
Only the moon's reflection vanished, the moon still hung in the sky, but Asano Nao no longer dared to look up.
If she couldn't even hold onto the moon's reflection, the moon in the sky would one day leave her too.
At this moment, the fear of the moon's disappearance tormented her more than the joy of gazing at it.
She didn't know what to do. Maybe she should lower her arm reaching for the moon, return to a corner where the moonlight couldn't reach, and resignedly sneak a peek at it.
Amidst this mental torment, she slowly fell asleep.
She found herself back in the dream cinema, with the gigantic screen before her.
"Yuuki and Nao"
[Director: Minami Yuuki, Asano Nao]
[Starring: Minami Yuuki...]
Stop!
Asano Nao mentally halted the film, deciding she would no longer be lured by its falsehood.
She got up from her seat, intending to flee the cinema and return to her former, disillusioned state.
As she turned, she noticed a small square table beside the seat, with a... VR headset on it?
Was this an instruction outside the movie?
Thinking of Minami Yuuki's face, she couldn't resist and put on the VR headset.
The next moment, her vision brightened.
She was startled to find herself sitting on a couch in an unfamiliar living room, folding clothes.
Startled by the bright windows and the unfamiliar environment, she wanted to escape and find a dark corner to hide in.
But her body didn't obey her.
Of course, she was watching a VR movie.
This movie was too realistic, closer to reality than her dream film, no, identical to reality.
After folding two pieces of clothing, "she" looked up at the man in the garden.
Asano Nao immediately recognized him as the grown-up Minami Yuuki. The sight of Yuuki-kun with stubble lying on a sun lounger made her heart race.
"She" picked up the blanket beside her, walked to the garden, intending to cover the sleeping man. However, the man pretended to sleep, grabbed her wrist, and pulled her into his arms.
The incredibly realistic visual, auditory, olfactory, and tactile sensations overwhelmed Asano Nao's nerves, making her tremble. Despite knowing it was an illusion, she felt an immense joy.
The matured Yuuki-kun lowered his head, completing the missing taste.
A happiness more vast than the universe enveloped her.