I have a life simulator.

Emi Emi's message came back quickly, which immediately put Karuizawa Megumi's mind at ease:

"How about we go shopping together this afternoon? I've invited a few classmates, so it'll be a good opportunity for you guys to make up."

This should be considered the first invitation Karuizawa Kei received since the summer vacation. The huge shock even made her forget that Emi Eura had not contacted her at all in the previous month. Karuizawa Kei now urgently needed someone to listen to her anxiety. With the momentum and speed as if she was afraid that the other party would cancel the invitation if she replied too slowly, she hurriedly agreed to Emi Eura's request.

After agreeing on the time and place, Karuizawa Kei began to consider what to wear. If she wanted to change the situation of being bullied, she first had to change the atmosphere in the class, and this trip would be a great opportunity.

Karuizawa Kei pulled out a white sleeveless dress from her closet, a gift from Kitagawa Ryo. With summer approaching and temperatures rising daily, her previous light blue dress was no longer suitable for wearing outside.

This white sleeveless dress was a gift she received last summer when she and Kitagawa Ryo went to the beach. A year later, when she took it out and hung it on the closet, she could almost smell the slightly salty and humid scent of the sea breeze.

She and Kitagawa Ryo walked hand in hand on the beach at sunset, her white skirt swaying in the wind. Karuizawa Megumi twirled around with interest, the fluttering hem of her skirt drawing a white arc in the air. She adjusted her sun hat and asked Kitagawa Ryo with a touch of pride:

"How about it?"

"nice."

Kitagawa Ryo praised without reservation.

"Too easy."

Karuizawa Megumi tossed the sun hat to Kitagawa Ryo. Her smooth, glossy honey-colored hair flowed out as if it had been freed from its restraints, reaching her waist and fluttering in the sea breeze in front of Kitagawa Ryo. Seemingly dissatisfied with Kitagawa Hiro's words, Karuizawa Megumi's azure eyes revealed a hint of girlish emotion.

"If it doesn't pass, you have to answer how good it has to look."

Kitagawa Ryo shook his head somewhat helplessly. He took two steps forward, grasped Karuizawa Megumi's hand, and looked directly into her pupils, speaking earnestly:

"It's so good that I only wish I could see it alone."

"Okay?"

A gust of wind suddenly blew in through the window. Karuizawa Kei looked at the white dress swaying on the wardrobe and suddenly remembered something from the past. This sudden memory was like meeting someone who had been waiting for her for a long time and whom she had been waiting for for a long time on a narrow mountain path that could only be passed by one person at a time. There was a sense of relief at a long-awaited reunion and despair at having nowhere to retreat.

As the appointed time drew closer, the long white dress still fluttered in the breeze. Karuizawa Kei even vaguely felt that the other person was looking down on her, as if her past self was wearing that white dress and looking at her present self with disdain.

She hesitated for a moment, wondering whether to wear it or not. Karuizawa Megumi stared at the skirt silently for a long time before finally reaching out her hand to it.

Karuizawa Kei slowly changed into it, thankfully finding that even after a year, it didn't look obviously out of place. She meticulously smoothed out every wrinkle and unevenness, as if she were wearing not a dress, but a silver-white suit of armor protecting her fragile self.

But she had grown up after all, and her walk became somewhat uncoordinated. Some parts that used to be loose were now tight on her body. Karuizawa Kei slowly walked towards the mirror wearing this armor, as if the dress really weighed a ton.

Karuizawa Kei ultimately didn't dare look at herself in the mirror. She silently closed the door, said goodbye to her somewhat surprised parents, and went out.

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Hiyori Shiina quickly noticed that Ryo Kitagawa was writing a letter to someone, and one day when she and Ryo were leaving the library reading room together, she asked him about this fact that she had observed.

"Is Kitagawa-kun writing a letter to someone?"

If such an abrupt question came from someone else, it would make people feel like the other person was invading their privacy. However, after a month of getting to know each other, Kitagawa Ryo roughly understood the other person's personality. She was just used to this seemingly unconventional way of expressing herself.

how to say.

Kitagawa Ryo looked at Shiina Hiyori, who was calmly waiting for an answer, and a thought welled up in his mind: "This is natural."

"Yes, I'm writing a letter to my childhood sweetheart."

"Huh? Why not use a cell phone to contact each other? Is it because international calls are too expensive?"

Kitagawa Ryo shook his head upon hearing this:

"No, it's just that I lost her contact information for some reason."

"To be precise, it seems that their family changed their landline phone number because they moved."

"Oh."

Hiyori Shiina nodded thoughtfully:

"If we move, won't Kitagawa-kun's letters still not be able to be delivered?"

"Yes, so I just wrote a letter, but didn't send it. In the end, I just wanted to record what I wanted to say to her these past few days."

Kitagawa Ryo nodded in acknowledgment of his somewhat childish behavior:

"Because I left in such a hurry, I had never even met my father and mother before. Suddenly I was told that they were actually famous people... By the time I realized it, I had already been brought to England to study."

"It sounds like a scene from '5 Centimeters Per Second'."

Shiina Hiyori squinted and sighed, but then immediately explained:

"It's not that Kitagawa-kun and that girl won't end up together, it's just that this kind of childhood friendship is rare in real life."

That's why we cherish it.

Kitagawa Ryo gave a casual reply, then looked up at the sunset clouds on the horizon and said:

"I have something to do next Friday, so I won't be able to come."

"Well, what's wrong?"

In response to Shiina Hiyori's question, Kitagawa Ryo smiled at her:

"Because I also plan to secretly go to a faraway place to see her, just like the male protagonist in '5 Centimeters Per Second'."

He cast his gaze toward the horizon, where a massive, serene crimson sun was slowly sinking between the city's skyscrapers.

"However, the male protagonist in the story only took the train from Tokyo to Tochigi Prefecture in the Kanto region, but this time I secretly ran away from London, England to Tokyo."

Kitagawa Ryo clenched the letter in his hand tighter, seemingly speaking to Shiina Hiyori, yet also seemingly speaking to himself:

"Just because of this sincerity, no unscrupulous scriptwriter would give us a worse ending."

Shiina Hiyori opened the calendar on her phone, pulled up the schedule for next Friday, and changed the "Recommend a novel to Kitagawa-kun" she had already written to "Read a book alone." The date for next Friday was August 9th, and she was already thinking about skipping that day.

She squeezed the backpack behind her. Shiina Hiyori had a habit of carrying books she wanted to recommend to others in her bag, so she could easily lend them out after making the recommendation. However, since Kitagawa Ryo had already made up his mind, she could only smile and say:

"We will definitely be together."

"But what kind of person is Kitagawa-kun's childhood friend?"

Is it a good deal?

Startled by Shiina Hiyori's question, Kitagawa Ryo enthusiastically introduced her to the topic:

"Hui is a girl who is both weak and strong, and probably makes people feel sorry for her and that she is very disappointing."

"That sounds contradictory."

"Because humans are inherently contradictory beings, no one's personality can be defined by a label. In fact, we can say that we are different every moment, and that is the uniqueness that humans possess."

Kitagawa Ryo casually found a bench by the roadside and sat down:

"I hope to correct Hui's bad personality traits, but that idea is too presumptuous."

"So, all I can do is stay by her side and watch her grow up."

As if recalling something unpleasant, Kitagawa Ryo's eyes flashed with a hint of hostility, but he quickly followed up with a nonchalant remark:

"Actually, the process of growing up is strange in itself. Everyone says that the pain and suffering during growth are necessary, and some even attribute their success to hardship after they grow up, and even thank hardship for tempering them. This is just too strange."

"Does someone who has experienced bullying and domestic violence from childhood and still managed to grow into a mentally sound adult necessarily have to forgive and accept the people who abused and bullied them?"

Kitagawa Ryo turned his gaze eastward, slowly closed his eyes, and when he opened them again, his face was once again adorned with that familiar smile:

"Suffering can help people grow, but growth does not necessarily require suffering, nor is it necessary to be grateful for suffering."

"I only hope that the people I care about can grow up healthy and safe with me. If any unreasonable hardships come my way, I will defeat them."

"If Hui can't do it, then let me do it."

Chapter Seven: The Difference Between Horikita Suzune and Karuizawa Megumi

Day 1: Without telling your parents, you received help from your butler, Mr. Isaki, and finally found a time when they were too busy with work to look after you. Mr. Isaki then took you on a flight from London, England to Tokyo.

Looking out the airplane window, you see thick clouds floating in the sky, clusters upon clusters, but without any clear shape. They are constantly changing, never staying in one place, their outlines blending rather ambiguously into the azure background.

A child, probably only six or seven years old, sitting next to you is leaning against the windowsill, excitedly saying to his mother:

"This one looks like a flower, this one looks like the family dog, this one looks like a broom..."

Although you couldn't discern any fixed shape from the clouds the other person was pointing to, it might be precisely this uncertainty that makes people associate it with something else.

People are simply projecting their emotions onto these tiny water vapor aggregates. Once you realize this, when you look at these clouds, you naturally think of fluffy cotton candy, and of reaching out to wipe the sugar strands from a girl's lips on a night of fireworks.

You prop your head up and look at the clouds, a smile slowly spreading across your face.

In the formless realm, shapes are depicted through tangible will, and one's own vision is placed upon them, whether it be clouds or stars, creating objects or constellations. This is the unique imagination of humankind, or rather, the lie we tell ourselves.

The plane arrived in Tokyo on the morning of August 9th.

[Unlocked Story CG: Lying]

[Lying: I don't need to lie, why should I lie?]

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

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"So, my parents already knew about my secret trip to Tokyo with Grandpa Izaki?"

Amidst the surging crowds at the international airport, Kitagawa Ryo pushed his suitcase in front of him, stuffing all his important documents and credit cards into the innermost pocket of his lining, and asked the man next to him, who looked to be in his fifties, with a hint of helplessness.

"Of course, otherwise Young Master wouldn't think I really have that much influence to secretly take you abroad, would he?"

Mr. Izaki patted Kitagawa Ryo's head. For the past thirteen or fourteen years, he had basically raised Kitagawa Ryo on his own. Although Izaki was entrusted by the Kitagawa family, he and Kitagawa Ryo had long developed a familial bond through their years of living together. Before Kitagawa Ryo met his parents, he always addressed Mr. Izaki as "Grandpa" without his surname.

"...Does Grandpa Izaki know why they did this?"

"It might be compensation for the young master. I don't know the specifics. There might be other things the young master needs to do."

Mr. Izaki tried to steer the conversation away somewhat vaguely:

"But didn't the young master come to Tokyo this time to find the Karuizawa family?"

"Yes! I came here to see Hui."

Upon hearing the surname Karuizawa, Kitagawa Ryoya immediately became excited:

"Did Grandpa Izaki find out where their family moved to later?"

"It's still in progress, but we should have news soon, in two hours?"

Mr. Izaki glanced at his phone and estimated the time:

"Let's put our luggage down first and then find a restaurant to eat."

Kitagawa Ryoya knew that being impatient now would be useless, so he nodded and agreed.

"I've also been asked to do something by my teacher, so I'll wait here for now."

"Horikita Manabu?"

Mr. Izaki recalled this steady young man who often visited his home:

"It seems that the young master has a good relationship with him. However, the other party's character and ability are indeed outstanding, and he is a friend worth making."

"Although Xue is only two years older than me, he is really amazing, and I heard that he will be entering Tokyo Advanced Educational Junior High School next year."

Kitagawa Ryo frankly acknowledged what Mr. Izaki had said.

"However, he also has his own headaches. You could even say that it was because of these problems that he chose to go abroad during junior high school and attend a highly developed, closed-campus high school during his senior high school years."

"Is it related to the matter he asked you to do, young master?"

"Ah."

Kitagawa Ryo and Mr. Izaki finally emerged from the airport, dragging their suitcases. The temperature in Tokyo in early August was still quite high, so Kitagawa Ryo unzipped his jacket. The two chatted as they searched for the driver they had arranged to pick them up.

"Xue has a troublesome younger sister who seems to be the same age as me. Since we haven't seen each other for many years, he hopes I can go and see if she is still the same as before."

"The same as before? What do you mean?"

"He didn't explain it to me clearly. Anyway, Xue told me to go see her from afar, find out about her life, and then send the information to him."

"Really? Should we check the other party's specific information?"

"No need, Xue has already given me her name, school, and address."

After finding the driver who was supposed to pick them up, and loading their luggage into the trunk, Kitagawa Ryo, who was sitting in the back seat, took out a picture of a girl from his bag and handed it to Mr. Izaki:

"Horikita Suzune."

He read out the girl's name.

"Let's go to this restaurant. If the information we received is correct, Horikita should be eating here around this time."