I have a life simulator.

[Chapter 1 Completion Objective: Find and correct the turning point in Ichinose Honami's life]

"Simulation...start."

【Simulation starts】

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[Day 1: The date is July 9th. Early July in Tokyo is the height of summer. You stand at a street intersection, following the directions on your phone's map navigation to your home. The long-unseen cityscape feels somewhat novel. During summer vacation, you see many high school students on dates in pairs on the streets. Advertisements are scrolling on the large screens installed on the exterior walls of the surrounding buildings. The white cat on your shoulder pats your cheek with its paw, indicating that the light is green and you can cross.]

[This cat named Ying is a stray cat you found last year. You named it Ying because its pupils are a bright, fluorescent color.]

[You, who were living in the countryside, received a text message a couple of days ago from your friend Eiichiro Matsuo. He's someone you've known for two years, and you've been grateful for his help ever since. After hearing that you'd lost your memories, he actively helped you find relevant clues. His efforts paid off; he finally found your real name and address and sent the information he gathered to you.]

[Kitagawa Ryo, that's your name. Your address is a fourth-floor apartment in Nakano Ward, Tokyo. There's also a bank card registered under your name with a neatly stacked five million yen. Perhaps this is the gift your past self left for your present self.]

"Recently, Tokyo Advanced Nurturing High School held a press conference to respond to a series of issues, including accusations of occupying too many public resources. Chairman Sakayanagi spoke on these issues."

The news playing on the screen outside the building by the roadside caught your attention.

"Sakayanagi?"

You inexplicably feel that this surname is somewhat familiar; it's like a long-buried memory has been pried open a crack in the entrance to a cellar.

You shook your head, banishing the jumbled, aimless thoughts from your mind. Your priority now was to find that house quickly. If the neighbors remembered you, perhaps you could learn about your past from them.

"Phew, this is it." After another two hours of travel, you finally arrived at the small-looking apartment building.

"I remember Eiichiro sent me the address on the fourth floor." Just as you were about to check your phone to confirm the exact location, you suddenly heard footsteps coming up the stairs.

[At this moment, you are stuck in the stairwell between the third and fourth floors with a large bag of luggage. Realizing someone is coming downstairs, you quickly carry all your luggage up to the fourth-floor corridor. Just as you are carrying the last small bag and passing through the stairwell again, you see a girl who is about fifteen or sixteen years old, probably your age.]

[The first thing that catches the eye is undoubtedly her waist-length, golden-pink hair. Beneath her light bangs are a pair of bright blue eyes that are now filled with surprise and disbelief. Even though her summer clothes are loose, her breasts are still high and full, showing off their ample size. Her waist is cinched tightly, which contrasts with her breasts, giving her an exceptionally slender appearance. Her black skirt just goes past her knees, and you can faintly smell the fresh scent of green citrus.]

Noticing that the other person seemed to be staring intently at your face, you tilted your head slightly, somewhat bewildered, and Ying on your shoulder also tilted her head.

"Um, hello?"

[Unlocked Story CG: Goodbye, Years Have Passed]

[Goodbye for years: "Goodbye" means both farewell and reunion, so, it's been a long time.]

[Would you like to watch this cutscene? (This may be helpful for your subsequent gameplay)]

Chapter Twenty-Four: Years Later, We Met Again

Honami Ichinose began learning to write letters when she was ten years old. At an age when elementary school students of the same age were still struggling with writing compositions based on pictures, she could already write several pages of text on snow-white letter paper.

When her mother, Honami Ichinose, wrote letters, she would move a chair and sit next to her. A light bulb hung above their heads, casting two long shadows, one large and one small, across half the room on the wall.

At first, Honami Ichinose didn't even know the specific format of a letter. She could only find vague and ambiguous content in her limited reading and imitate it, just like the beginning of the letter that nine-year-old Vanka wrote to his grandfather:

“Dear Grandfather, Constantine Makarej! I am writing to you. Merry Christmas and may God bless you with all the best.”

Ten-year-old Honami Ichinose also followed suit and wrote:

“Dear brother, Kitagawa Ryo! This is Ichinose Honami. It has been two weekends since you moved away. I am very unhappy right now, so I don’t want you to be happy when you see this letter. If you are happy, you won’t know how unhappy I am.”

"Actually, what makes me even angrier is that when I'm unhappy, I can't just go to your house and tell you I'm unhappy. Instead, I have to write you a letter. By the time you receive the letter, I might have already forgotten about it. And when you reply, I might have something new to tell you."

“I really don’t like writing letters. I’d rather look at your face, look into your eyes, and say these words to you.”

Ichinose's mother remained silent, not uttering a sound. She simply waited quietly for Ichinose Honami to finish writing the letter, and then answered her anxious daughter:

"He will receive it. If there is a reply, I will bring it to you."

"Liang will definitely reply; he said so."

After finishing writing the letter, Honami Ichinose would return to her normal self. Even though she had been frowning and pouting while writing, she would forget about these little emotions as soon as she handed the letter to her mother.

"Oh, he did say that."

Ichinose's mother calmly repeated her daughter's words. She could see a thousand of these childish promises in front of the elementary school gate every day, promises to play together forever, promises not to tell secrets, promises to give you things from home, and so on. Did she believe them?

Of course she believes it; what reason would she have not to?

In her view, if a woman has never believed a man's promises, she is already prematurely aging. Discovering that what she deeply believes in is slowly decaying is a necessary part of growing up, and she has no need to stop it.

Moreover, she also had a little illusion in her heart: her mother, seeing her daughter who often asked her if she had received a reply after the letter was sent, actually had a bit of expectation in her eyes, as if she wanted to make up for her past regrets.

However, unlike her daughter, as an adult, she knew better what had happened to the Kitagawa family next door. After the family was involved in a horrific car accident, only the little boy who often played with her daughter survived. Afterwards, there were only a few rumors that he had been adopted by other relatives of the Kitagawa family, but the location was in the United States.

Therefore, unlike her daughter's confident demeanor, the mother was already half-despairing when she sent the letter to that address. In the past, she had also contacted someone with great enthusiasm. At that time, she even had two children with him. But that man was nothing more than a kite held in her hand. All she could grasp was a thin string. With a gust of wind, he would break, and she couldn't do anything about it.

What if the address he provides is fake?

What if this address doesn't exist at all?

What if he didn't take that promise seriously at all?

The mother was even more nervous than her daughter, waiting with a mixture of fear and anticipation until she finally received a reply two weeks later.

"See, I told you he said it too."

In that instant, the mother even ignored Ichinose Honami's somewhat awkward words. When she took the letter out of the mailbox, she was enveloped by a tremendous sense of peace and reassurance. She handed the letter to Ichinose Honami and said in a joyful tone that she herself did not realize:

"Go and have a look."

Honami Ichinose and Ryo Kitagawa corresponded for a total of four years.

In her first year of junior high school, Honami Ichinose could no longer send her letters to that old address. This was actually foreshadowed. In the last few months of their correspondence, Honami Ichinose had already asked him to exchange contact information, or rather, to use modern communication tools, whether it was a mobile phone or a computer, or an email address or a mobile phone number. However, he remained vague about it.

He disappeared without a sound, like a moon sinking to the bottom of the water. Ichinose Honami reached out, trying desperately to pull him up, but in the end, all that landed in her palm was the distant shadow of clouds and moonlight, and the returned letter.

Honami Ichinose refused to believe it. She remembered how they hugged each other and cried when they parted. Children don't cry so much all the time, and as they grow up, they are even less willing to cry until their bodies convulse for someone. She didn't think he could laugh with other friends so many times and shed so many tears. Would he cry for every girl he met?

impossible.

So Ichinose Honami struggled to continue writing to him, as if she had escaped the realm of modern society. However, her mother was no longer willing to read her letters or mail them for her. But it didn't matter; Ichinose Honami had learned to go to the post office by herself. She affixed stamps to the letters and clearly told the clerk the address, which she had only realized after studying geography—it was on the other side of the distant ocean.

In the first year that Honami Ichinose didn't receive any replies, she wrote the most letters, a long letter every week. Honami Ichinose's knowledge was growing, and she became more and more adept at using various embellishments to express her feelings. She could also clearly list out the interesting things that happened at school one by one. Her writing skills were getting better and better, so her letters were getting longer and longer.

At that time, writing letters became the most important thing for Ichinose Honami during the week. It was as if her daytime self—whether at school or at home—was fake. Only when she sat down at her desk at night to write to him did she truly come alive. If the moonlight was beautiful that night, she would think that they should bathe in the same moonlight together. If her younger sister was noisy that night, she would write about her sister in the letter. Of course, it couldn't take up too much space, since Ichinose Honami wouldn't allow other girls to appear too much in her letters to him, even her younger sister.

Honami Ichinose was much calmer than her mother had imagined. She didn't care that letter after letter was returned, but she continued to send letter after letter to that vague address, and the frequency increased until she could no longer control herself.

Finally, a year later, Ichinose's mother forcefully stopped Ichinose Honami from sending letters.

As for whether Honami Ichinose is still writing letters to this day, her mother felt it was no longer her concern.

Seeing her daughter repeat her own mistakes, she felt both heartache for her daughter being deceived at the age of fifteen or sixteen and relief that her daughter had already been deceived at that age. She suddenly had a strange feeling of sharing hardships with her daughter.

Her mother felt that Ichinose Honami would grow up after this incident, and she was pleased with that.

But there was a faint regret in her heart. She had indeed hoped for something, but it was ultimately just wishful thinking.

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"Um, hello?"

Kitagawa Ryo, of course, had no idea what the girl, who was a few steps away from him on the stairs, was thinking. He even wondered if he was blocking her way, so he moved aside a little. But then he suddenly remembered the purpose of his trip and asked hesitantly:

"Does that mean you know me?"

Kitagawa Ryo suddenly became excited. Because he had lost his past memories, even though he had been working hard to learn interpersonal and social skills over the past two years, in some ways, his emotional expression was still as simple as a child's. He stomped down the stairs to Ichinose Honami's side, reached out and placed Hotaru on the ground, as if wanting the other to see him more clearly. He leaned closer and said:

"Sister, do you recognize me?"

During his two years living in the countryside, Kitagawa Ryo had become accustomed to various affectionate terms of address. He had only been able to survive thanks to the villagers, and in his mind, the only term he could use to address his peers, besides "uncle, aunt, uncle, and maternal uncle," was "older sister."

Of course, it may also be related to the fact that he has no female friends of the same age. Although Eiichiro always boasts that he has a childhood friend, Kitagawa Ryo has never met her in person, but has only seen two photos of the girl.

His gaze involuntarily drifted to the chest of the girl in front of him. In Kitagawa Ryo's worldview, there was no girl more beautiful than Eiichiro's childhood friend, but the girl he met today, who seemed to know him, seemed even more beautiful.

"……you."

"I?"

"My name is Kitagawa Ryo, but I only recently learned that name."

Kitagawa Ryo glanced at Hotaru, who was tugging at his trouser leg in protest, and had no choice but to pick her up again, waving her paws at the girl:

"This is my cat, her name is Ying, it's the name I gave her."

After he finished speaking, he and Hotaru stared at each other with wide eyes, seemingly waiting for Ichinose Honami to introduce herself. Ichinose Honami gazed into his eyes, which were still a pair of clean and beautiful black pupils, reminding her of the purest obsidian, just like the cat in his arms, lively yet revealing doubt.

"You wait."

As Ichinose Honami spoke, she began searching for something in the hidden compartment of her handbag. Even during this process, her eyes remained fixed on Kitagawa Ryo, as if afraid he would run away at any moment.

Kitagawa Ryo simply stood there obediently, holding Hotaru. As they got closer, the faint scent of green citrus became even more pronounced.

"for you."

Honami Ichinose handed you a photo, her slender fingers gently brushing over the picture, briefly touching your fingertips.

Two children are holding hands, with a huge road sign behind them. It seems to be a photo taken at the main entrance of a park, because the word "park" can be seen carved in bright red paint on their right sides. The two are giving the camera their best smiles.

The words "Kitagawa Ryo & Ichinose Honami" were written on the back of the photo in black oil-based pen, the handwriting beautiful and flowing.

"Is this me as a child?"

This was the first time Kitagawa Ryo had seen a photo of himself from the past. Although several years had passed, there was indeed a resemblance to himself in the boy's eyes and brows in the photo, but his mind remained a blurry blank.

"Then you are..."

Turning to the back of the photo, next to his own name, the girl in the group photo, Kitagawa Ryo looked up and murmured:

"Ichinose Honoki."

The name seemed to have a magical power that lingered in your heart. You stared into the other person's azure eyes and saw your own reflection in them. In the dimly lit hallway, Ichinose Honami seemed to want to confirm something as she approached Kitagawa Ryo. What answer was she waiting for, or was she facing some kind of judgment?

"Do you remember it?"

By the time Kitagawa Ryo came to his senses, he had been cornered against the wall by the girl in front of him. Kitagawa Ryo turned his head away, somewhat at a loss, trying to get away.

"Ichinose Honami, do you remember?"

Her eyelashes and the tip of her nose were lightly touching Kitagawa Ryo's chin. The subtle contact between their skin allowed Kitagawa Ryo to see the girl's stunning curves with just a glance down. Before that white, full figure could take over his vision, Kitagawa Ryo decisively closed his eyes.

However, he quickly realized the mistake of his actions, because Kitagawa Ryo clearly hadn't learned a certain theory—

When a person closes their eyes, the brain, having lost vision as its primary source of information, naturally enhances the sensitivity of other senses to help acquire information about the surroundings, just as people deliberately close their eyes when listening to music attentively.

Kitagawa Ryo felt his right hand being pressed against the wall, the back of his hand against the wall sending a cool sensation through him, but his palm was soon filled with softness as the other person's fingers forcefully squeezed between his. Meanwhile, her other hand caressed Kitagawa Ryo's chest, as if trying to listen to his heartbeat, and her head gradually leaned closer.

Ying was pushed aside and could only jump onto the stair railing.

"Ichinose Honoki."

"Is she my older sister or my younger sister?"

Kitagawa Ryo felt that such intimate hugs should be limited to family members, so he tentatively asked him about it.

"no."

"It should be my girlfriend whom I haven't seen in a long time."

Honami Ichinose tiptoed and whispered in his ear, her lips brushing against Ryo Kitagawa's earlobe. The electric-like stimulation flew from the tip of his ear all the way to the tip of his heart.

[Story CG: Years have passed since we last met. Read the full story.]

Chapter Twenty-Five: Dream Weaver

[Year 7, Day 1099: When you wake up in bed, a deep sense of unease envelops you. The bedroom looks unfamiliar, and the wallpaper on the walls has a pattern you've never seen before. You don't know where you are, or even how you got here.]

This place is not the home you remember. Even though you have no memory of the past, you still made this judgment.

Is this a hotel?

A woman's voice caught your attention. You straightened up, bending your arm to see what it was—a flat-screen TV hanging on the wall. The woman's voice you heard was just a news anchor broadcasting the morning news.

You rubbed your eyes. For the past sixteen years, you've always maintained a high level of confidence in your eyesight. Whenever other children lined up to see the eye chart, struggling with those crooked E's and stammering or even making things up, you could always calmly tell the examiners:

"Just point to the very bottom row."

Your eyes gradually adapted to the environment, and they didn't disappoint you; you could see things just as clearly as before. The first thing you saw was a large wardrobe on your right. Hanging on the wardrobe door handle was a men's bathrobe. The jet-black robe looked both light and handsome. You touched it with your right hand; the material was of good quality, but judging from the size, it should be the clothing of an adult man.

On the bedside table to your left is a neatly stacked stack of books. You pull out two and look at them; they are textbooks related to preschool education. A small lamp hangs in the center of the headboard. You guess the owner of the books probably reads while half-lying down at night.

You open the title page of the first book, and there's a name you don't recognize at all:

【Ichinose Honami. 】

You look at the uncovered blanket on your right, still warm to the touch. Someone must have been lying there not long ago. You surmise it might have been the owner of this book: Ichinose Honami—it sounds like a girl's name.