I have a life simulator.

"Mr. Izaki?"

Just as he was about to go out to talk to the housekeeper about this, he didn't expect that the other person would come to the ward first, and his expression was even more serious than Kitagawa Ryo had imagined.

"Um, do I have some kind of terminal illness? Or did Mr. Izaki not sleep well last night?"

As usual, he made a joke and stretched his limbs:

"I feel pretty good now, can I be discharged from the hospital?"

Mr. Izaki glanced at Kitagawa Ryo, whose complexion was much better than yesterday, and nodded, saying:

"Let the doctor come and check again this morning. If everything is fine, we can discharge him. Young Master's physical condition is very good."

"Got it."

Kitagawa Ryo cheered, swinging his arms. He himself felt that his illness was a result of a combination of factors, with an extremely high degree of randomness.

"Huh? What's that umbrella doing here?"

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a black umbrella leaning against the corner of the wall. Kitagawa Ryo frowned and walked over to take a look. The I&K on the umbrella handle proved that it was Ichinose Honami's umbrella.

"It must be... Miss Ichinose forgot to bring it last night."

"Hey, who would forget their umbrella on a rainy day? They'd notice it when they get wet, right?"

Kitagawa Ryo leaned closer to the door of the ward and peeked out to look around:

"Or did Fanbo come by this morning?"

"But Ichinose-san really didn't take this umbrella last night. I saw it by chance at the lost and found at the hospital."

Mr. Izaki's overly calm narration made it impossible to tell that he was joking. He sighed and continued:

"Miss Ichinose has been acting a little strange lately, hasn't she? Has the young master really noticed that?"

"...So what if I notice? I'm leaving soon anyway. Who knows what will happen when I come back in a year? It might take more than ten years for people to become close, but a few months is enough to make them estranged."

Kitagawa Ryo pursed his lips, pretending to be indifferent.

"Young Master, would you like to hear my opinion on the relationship between the two of you? I've practically watched you grow up."

Mr. Izaki began by saying this, and after seeing Kitagawa Ryo nod, he continued:

“Ms. Ichinose has been afraid lately. What she has never realized is that your existence is far too important to her. In fact, she has always been very sensitive to the possibility of losing you. However, things are different now. Perhaps your presence has become too overwhelming? Therefore, she is terrified of the possibility of losing you. As a result, she has been behaving more out of line than usual lately.”

"Perhaps the young master doesn't think anything of it. You may think that Miss Ichinose hasn't changed much from before, because you still see her as a normal girl who is shy and coquettish. But this is unusual for Miss Ichinose."

"What does the young master think of her relationship with Miss Karuizawa?"

"Not very good? The two of them didn't really have much interaction to begin with."

"But Ichinose-san would have been much friendlier before."

"...She's not someone who has to be friendly to everyone, or rather, it's impossible for someone like that to exist. If she can learn to make the right judgments about others, even if she shows a little aggression, I think that would be a step in her growth."

"Is that so? So that's why young master chose Ms. Karuizawa?"

"Perhaps that was indeed my initial intention, just like when I lied to Honami and said that Maki had confessed to me."

Mr. Izaki was silent for a moment:

Is this considered a test?

"No, it's not."

Kitagawa Ryo ran his fingers along the delicate patterns on the umbrella handle, then looked directly at Mr. Izaki and said:

"I want Fanbo to seriously think about our relationship herself, let her... Doesn't that sound a little strange?"

He chuckled self-deprecatingly:

"Just like when I gave Hotaru to her, I kept emphasizing that this was her cat, just to let her know that she also has things that she can control, that she can create her own memories, that she can think about things before considering them... Ichinose Honami herself, I feel like I'm almost there, just one step away."

"If the young master has his own plans, then I won't say any more."

"But please allow me to ask one last question."

"If Miss Ichinose insists on walking in the rain and refuses to go home one day, how will you stop her, young master?"

"The easiest way is to get her in the rain, make her feel sorry for you, and then you can take her home with you."

Kitagawa Ryosuke swung open the large umbrella with a whoosh, the massive black canopy almost instantly filling Izaki's field of vision. He then raised the brim of the umbrella upwards:

"But what I did was give her an umbrella that could cover both of them."

Mr. Izaki nodded, then bowed slightly and said:

"I'll go get you breakfast."

As Izaki walked out of the ward, he recalled his conversation with Kitagawa Ryo. He didn't think he necessarily knew more about Ichinose Honami than Kitagawa Ryo, after all, it was Kitagawa who had been with her until now. But he still felt a vague unease. Izaki recalled the scene when he took Ichinose Honami out of the hospital last night. Unlike in front of Kitagawa Ryo, Ichinose Honami at that time was like a doll on the verge of collapse, as if some kind of spring inside her had stopped working, and the gears were making strange noises.

The personality that was born within her will inevitably destroy her emotions and lead her to ruin.

Izaki suddenly had this idea, but it was just his own imagination.

Ichinose-san has always stood in a place inaccessible to ordinary girls. Her personality is unimaginable to normal people, and shouldn't even exist in reality, yet it doesn't seem strange or unnatural at all. But if that's the case, those suppressed emotions will eventually erupt. Perhaps at some point in the future, she will abandon all her previous stances for someone.

Izaki sighed softly, looking towards the direction of the ward.

That person is most likely Kitagawa Ryo himself.

After the morning check-up, Kitagawa Ryo was told by the doctor that it would be best to rest in the ward for another day. With nothing to do, he could only look at the grass and flowers in the hospital courtyard. It had rained the night before, and the whole courtyard was filled with the unique earthy smell of the rain, which was neither unpleasant nor pleasant.

Karuizawa Kei arrived at 11:00 AM with Mr. Izaki. She didn't see anyone in the ward, and after wandering around, she finally found Kitagawa Ryo watching ants moving house in the courtyard.

"Are you feeling better, senior?"

Kitagawa Ryo looked up and saw Karuizawa Megumi standing prettily behind her. Today, she was wearing a sleeveless dress with white and blue as the main colors, which looked clean and refreshing. Seeing such a girl with a girl-next-door charm on a summer morning would indeed make one feel relaxed.

"I think I've reached the point where I can be discharged from the hospital."

Brushing the dust off his pants, Kitagawa Ryo stood up and stretched.

"I don't see Ichinose-san."

Karuizawa Megumi stood on tiptoe and looked around:

"But there was clearly an umbrella for her in the ward."

"That's what Fanbo forgot to bring last night. He should have come to get it today."

"Whoa whoa."

Karuizawa Kei took out two origami cranes made of folded paper from her bag:

"I forgot to tell my senior yesterday that when he fainted, he accidentally knocked over the glass bottle by the bedside. When the medical staff came in and lifted him onto the stretcher, they didn't notice that many of the origami cranes inside had been crushed. These are the two that I found from under the bed that are still relatively intact."

"is it?"

Kitagawa Ryo tried hard to recall, and it seemed that there was indeed a crisp sound of something breaking at the time.

"It's really fortunate that you weren't cut by the glass shards. The bottle landed right behind your heels. If you had fallen backward... Ugh, never mind."

Karuizawa Kei watched Kitagawa Ryo play with the two origami cranes and asked curiously:

"Did Ichinose-san give this to you?"

"Yeah, I was twelve years old then, and Fanbo even said he would fold 1,200 of them for me."

Kitagawa Ryo nodded at the origami cranes. These little guys were folded quite exquisitely. Even though he only received a few dozen in the end, it was clear how much effort Ichinose Honami had put in.

"I remember in the legend, if you fold a thousand origami cranes, you can make a wish."

Karuizawa Kei knew the symbolism of origami cranes; she had planned to fold them when she gave Ichinose Maki a gift, but gave up because she didn't have enough time.

"That's what they say, but it's the same principle as the marriage fortune slips in temples."

"It doesn't matter if you don't fold a thousand of them if you like someone. And you won't fall in love with someone you don't like even if you fold a thousand of them."

"If you insist on taking this kind of thing seriously, thinking that folding a thousand of them can save a patient's life or win back a lover's heart like in a story..."

Kitagawa Ryosuke released a paper crane from his hand, watching it be carried by the wind into the sky and disappear without a trace in a short while.

"It will fly away."

Chapter Twenty: Fireworks Fade Easily (Part Four)

Kitagawa Ryo sat at the table writing a greeting card. His phone was on his right and a steaming cup of cocoa was on his left. He held the pen with a hesitant look on his face. There were more than a dozen sheets of white paper piled up next to him for drafts, each with a different beginning.

He hadn't given Ichinose Honami a birthday present in a long time; five years had passed since he gave her that umbrella when she was twelve.

Kitagawa Ryo and Ichinose Honami started exchanging birthday gifts when they were seven years old. Throughout elementary school, they even developed a strange correspondence. For example, if you gave me a handmade item this year, I would definitely give you a handmade craft in return. What impressed Kitagawa Ryo the most was when he was eleven years old and had the whimsical idea of ​​making a pair of gloves for Ichinose Honami. In the end, Ichinose Honami received a pair of unknown yarn aggregates.

Of course, the return gift from Ichinose Honami that time was also completely unusable, something she called a "scarf." The gloves and scarf were eventually unraveled into yarn by the two who couldn't stand it anymore, and Hotaru got several yarn ball toys.

At that time, the two of them thought it didn't matter at all, because they would have many more birthdays to celebrate in the future. If it was only once a year, it would be enough for them to experience all sorts of firsts.

It is precisely because they believe there will be countless next times that they don't care about those first times.

Kitagawa Ryo abandoned another start, carefully considering the rationale for sending handwritten greeting cards in modern society, but in the end he still scratched his head and continued to unfold a new one.

Karuizawa Kei sat next to Kitagawa Ryo, practicing folding origami cranes using the drafts Kitagawa Ryo had thrown away. She suddenly became interested in this skill and, without feeling bored at all, folded all the papers with random sentences written on them, such as "Happy Birthday Honami-chan," "I want you to see this card," and "When was the last time I gave you a birthday present?" into fluttering origami cranes. The side with the writing was folded inside, so there was no clue on the outside.

Kitagawa Ryo knew why he was distracted; he was waiting for Ichinose Honami to arrive. Even a phone call would have been enough. He felt that Honami couldn't possibly not come to get the umbrella. But even now, at three o'clock, the door to the ward hadn't been opened again, and there was no sign of communication on the phone on his right.

He was inexplicably stubborn. Since Ichinose Honami didn't call her, he wouldn't contact her either. Kitagawa Ryo twirled his pen, staring at the black screen of his phone, as if it would light up and show Ichinose Honami's picture the next second, but it never did.

Kitagawa Ryo lay on the desk, tapping his pen on the table. He slowly fell asleep. The biggest effect of his illness these past two days was probably excessive sleepiness, as if he was trying to make up for all the sleep he hadn't had before. This short nap wasn't long, but Kitagawa Ryo looked a little strange when he woke up.

"what happened?"

Karuizawa Kei finished folding all the origami cranes. She sat there examining her work. Unfortunately, compared to the one she had used as an example, hers were noticeably rougher. As she was agonizing over how to improve them, she looked up and met Kitagawa Ryo's thoughtful gaze.

"I just had a dream."

As Kei Karuizawa listened to Ryo Kitagawa recount his dream, in that world, he and Kei Karuizawa had virtually no interaction. Although he occasionally saw news about school bullying on television, he had never actually met Kei Karuizawa.

"Where's Ichinose-san?"

Karuizawa Kei pursed her lips, seemingly not quite satisfied with the dream.

"...just a neighbor whose name I know, someone who moved in not long ago."

Kitagawa Ryo herself was somewhat surprised. In her dream, Ichinose Honami did not have a childhood friend named Kitagawa Ryo. On her sister's thirteenth birthday, she chose to steal a hair clip as a gift for her sister, and was then dragged into a store by her mother to confess her sins by bowing deeply in apology.

This appalling development almost made Kitagawa Ryo feel uncomfortable from the bottom of his heart; it was an absolute nightmare.

"It's just a bizarre dream without any logic; there's no need to worry about it."

Karuizawa Kei gently coaxed Kitagawa Ryo, whose face looked rather unpleasant:

"In reality, everyone in the Ichinose family got a hair clip because of you, didn't they?"

"Ah."

Kitagawa Ryo responded in a muffled voice. He suddenly knew what to write on the birthday card. He picked up his pen and, instead of writing on a draft paper, began to write directly on the simple card:

"On Fanbo's sixteenth birthday, what I want to say to Fanbo is:

Time may fade memories into blurriness, but it also proves that the days we spent together were not a lie. As our bodies grow and our minds grow stronger, perhaps Fanbo will hate himself in the future. But I hope Fanbo knows that who he is now is not the end, and we will not end with who we are now.

I know Fanbo doesn't like reminiscing, and Fanbo always yearns for the future, but I still hope you can remember how you felt in the past:

To value someone's feelings; to like someone's feelings.

A gentle feeling, a warm feeling, a joyful feeling.

A feeling of sadness, regret, and pain.

I don't think these things are meaningless, because they constitute you.

Even if it's insignificant, it doesn't matter. I want these feelings to remain in your heart. I hope these feelings can become your will and your weapon.

However, I still hope you can become a more authentic person, and that you can find happiness like other ordinary girls. Fanbo is a person of outstanding talent, but sometimes I think it wouldn't matter if Fanbo were just an ordinary person, as long as you can smile. Even if you cry, even if you get angry, it's okay; you can throw tantrums, be willful, and even bother me.

I hope you can trust your own heart to make judgments. I hope you can care more about yourself. If a situation arises where you have to sacrifice yourself to save others, don't abandon yourself without hesitation. You are not an omnipotent angel, nor are you a prisoner born with original sin.

These hopes, though my pride, are also my most sincere wishes.

Happy birthday."

-------------------------------------

On her birthday, Honami Ichinose received the first bad news: her mother had collapsed at the company due to overwork. The coincidence of the timing even made Honami Ichinose wonder for a moment whether her mother had done it on purpose, but she quickly dismissed the absurd thought.

Stimulating her facial nerves with cold water to force herself to stay awake at four in the morning, Ichinose Honami walked tirelessly through the hospital corridors, registering, picking up medication, consulting, and communicating with people from her mother's company. By the time she finished everything, the sky was already faintly bright.