Love Comes After Simulation

[Your gaze at the sky is distant. The fireworks no longer bring you the shock and emotion they did two years ago. In the interplay of light and shadow, you remember something.]

[Time and expectations made you overlook it, but now, the unease in your heart helps you rediscover that memory.]n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

[In another worldline, in a future where you stayed at Chikusa University Hospital for surgery, Reina Nakajima passed away during your second semester of freshman year.]

[In just over half a month, the second semester is about to begin.]

[Whether you’ve changed the future, whether fate has shown mercy to Reina, will soon be revealed.]

[On the hillside path, you carried her on your back. She said she wanted to have a child with you, but you refused, unwilling to let her take such a risk.]

[She mentioned Yoshida Town again. That name, tied to a specific moment in time, falls within the second semester. You feel uneasy.]

[After spending a week in a small town, the two of you returned to Misaki.]

Stopping his reading, Yuuki Minami tilted his head back to look at the fluorescent light on the ceiling. He reached out and turned off the light, letting the bedroom return to darkness.

There was no need to feel anxious anymore, no need to strain his eyes to gaze into the future. The simulation text had already foreshadowed the outcome.

Having gone through so many simulations, Yuuki Minami was well aware that the simulator never wasted words on trivial matters. Such a lengthy focus on unease must have a purpose, and its only likely purpose was to predict Reina Nakajima’s future.

Of course, whether it was Nao Asano or Yuko Ibuki, he had gone through many trials and errors before achieving a happy ending. For Reina Nakajima, it couldn’t possibly be that easy.

He resumed reading the simulation interface.

[At the end of August, your wife woke up later than usual. You thought she might be tired from her recent busyness.]

[You encouraged her to rest and go to bed early.]

[She continued to wake up late, sleeping for almost half a day. When you asked her about it, she shook her head and said she was fine. She let you feel her heartbeat—it wasn’t particularly strong, but it wasn’t weak either.]

[She refused to go to the hospital for a thorough checkup, not wanting to trouble you, especially since tomorrow was the start of your new semester. She suggested you keep observing if you didn’t believe her.]

[Sure enough, over the next two days, she didn’t sleep as much. Everything seemed like an illusion caused by your excessive worry.]

[On the third morning, after your wife helped you get dressed and handed you your school bag, you left the house. However, instead of heading to school, you went to a nearby café and sat for an hour before returning home.]

[Opening the door, the house was silent. You walked softly down the hallway, past the living room, and upstairs.]

[In the dim bedroom, your beautiful wife lay on the soft bed. You sat by her side, watching her serene, lovely face as she slept.]

[By the time your morning classes were over, the phone by her bedside began to ring. The ringtone played for more than ten seconds before she slowly opened her eyes. Her dark pupils blinked once, then closed again. Her hand reached out from under the blanket, searching for the phone.]

[You held her outstretched hand.]

[Startled, your wife sat up in bed, looking at you with eyes full of unease and guilt.]

A short dialogue scene followed.

“Let’s go to the hospital.”

Yuuki Minami reached out to grasp Reina’s shoulders, but today, the usually gentle and obedient wife refused to let him touch her.

She frantically retreated to the edge of the bed. Whether from shock or fear, the color drained from her face.

“No,” she shook her head.

“Just a quick checkup. A few pills and you’ll be fine.”

“That’s impossible. The doctor said that if something happens again, it’ll be serious.”

“It might just be something minor.”

“It’s not minor. I can feel it—it’s just like last time!”

“Then we have all the more reason to go to the hospital.”

Reina’s emotions grew increasingly agitated. Yuuki Minami knelt on the bed, gently cupping her cheek.

“In just two months, it’ll be November. We promised to go to Yoshida Town to see the snow!”

Tears streamed down Reina’s soft cheeks. She had pieced together fragments of the doctor’s words and the sensations within her body. She already knew her fate—she was going to die.

She didn’t resent the force that had toyed with her life so many times. She concealed her weakness, the stabbing pain in her heart, just to hold out until November, to finally witness the first snow in Yoshida Town that she had missed time and time again.

She knew that once she entered the hospital, she would never leave.

She thought of her childhood, of two years ago—how fate had repeatedly pulled her away from that snow, again and again pushing her into a pure white cage. This was her last chance to fight back.

Leaning against Yuuki’s chest, her tears flowed freely.

“I’m sorry,” she apologized to her husband.

—

[You took her to the hospital. After half a day of complicated tests, the attending physician asked you to arrange for your wife to be admitted for surgery. In her hospital room, the familiar IV bag was hung up.]

[Your wife fell asleep. Yohei Nakajima and Honoka arrived at the hospital, with Yuko trailing behind them. You entrusted your wife to them and went to the doctor’s office.]

[The doctor told you the worst news.]

[Reina’s condition had relapsed. Having already undergone one surgery, she couldn’t undergo another in such a short time. At this stage, they could only hope for a miracle.]

[A week of IV therapy didn’t revive Reina’s spirits. She spent half her days asleep, and during her waking hours, she could only open her weary eyes and speak softly.]

[A month of conservative treatment failed to bring the faint miracle. Reina’s condition showed no improvement.]

[The doctor asked you to make a choice: allow Reina to wait for death peacefully, or send her to the ICU to keep her alive.]

[You couldn’t make the decision immediately.]

[Returning to the ward, you sat by Reina’s side.]

—

A memory scene appears.

“Cough, cough…”

The illness had drained Reina of her strength and spirit. Even her coughs were as faint as the early snow of winter, melting without a trace under the relentless sun of the following day.

Yuuki held her hand tightly.

“Does this mean I won’t make it to Yoshida Town?” Reina turned her face toward him and asked softly.

Yuuki couldn’t answer her.

“It looks like I’ll have to wait until my next life.” She smiled and made a playful remark. “Hey, Yuuki, you’ll still marry me in the next life, right?”

Yuuki opened his mouth, but the words caught in his throat. What came out wasn’t a voice, but uncontrollable tears.

“Don’t cry,” Reina said. “You’re ruining the image of you I have in my mind.”

She struggled to prop herself up with the bedframe, then cupped Yuuki’s face in her hands, wiping away his tears.

Her own eyes were glistening too, but to keep Yuuki from seeing, she pulled his head into her arms.

“What did the doctor say? Tell me.”

Pressing against her chest, Yuuki no longer smelled her familiar fragrance—only the scent of medicine.

He told her the doctor’s options.

“I won’t go to the ICU,” Reina said. “They’ll stick all kinds of tubes into me, won’t they? And shave off all my hair. That’s too ugly. If I end up looking like that, I wouldn’t dare let you come see me.”

“I wouldn’t mind.”

“But I would,” Reina said softly.

She ran her fingers through Yuuki’s hair, murmuring, “I want to die beautifully.”

Outside the window, the sky was gray and heavy clouds hung low over the buildings. The glass curtain walls, which normally reflected the blue sky, were now dull and somber.

Reina wiped away the tears on her face. “Besides, I’ve already spent enough time lying in this hospital. Spare me the ICU.”

---

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