I have a life simulator.

So, let's tell one last lie.

This time, it wasn't for myself, but for him.

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

Last night, Kitagawa Ryo dreamed about things from the past.

Both Karuizawa Kei and he were still minors.

It must be because I saw Karuizawa Megumi at the wedding yesterday, which I hadn't seen for a long time.

In the first-class cabin of the plane bound for Tokyo, there was no one except for Kitagawa Ryo.

After all, it was an early morning flight, and Kitagawa Ryo wouldn't have booked it if he wasn't in a rush.

The plane departed from London and headed towards Tokyo.

Over the past decade, Kitagawa Ryo has been riding this route, probably over a hundred times.

Even though I'm used to the same scenery and the same set meals, it still feels different.

Kitagawa Ryo sighed softly, trying to prop his face up with his hand, but as soon as his fingers touched his face, he felt the hard, solid touch of the ring.

The wedding was just yesterday.

After all, she was already nearly thirty, and there was no way to delay any longer. Her parents kept urging her, so in the end she obediently complied with the marriage agreement.

Rather than marrying a complete stranger, it would be better to choose Horikita Suzune, whom he had known since then.

In the end, after going around in circles, we still couldn't get around it.

He exhaled white breath, which turned into mist and hit the glass window, only to be wiped away by Kitagawa Ryo.

It was late autumn in Tokyo at this time of year, and Kitagawa Ryo hadn't seen the autumn scenery there for a long time.

Over the past decade or so, although he has traveled between Tokyo and London, he has generally spent more time in London.

Kitagawa Ryo stared at the ring on his left ring finger; the $50,000 thing was still uncomfortable to hold.

The ring finger is said to be connected to the heart, which is why wedding rings are worn there.

【marry】

Even now, I don't feel a strong sense of reality.

The idea of ​​living with Horikita Suzune feels very distant; it's just a vague concept to me right now.

Even running back to Tokyo the day after the wedding was a form of escapism.

Kitagawa Ryo thought of the dream he had last night.

Under the dim streetlights late at night, on the street in front of an apartment building.

In the dim light, on the road where there were only two people, a boy and a girl.

He and she were still children, two people in a dream, longing to grow up quickly, but they just couldn't grow up.

Kitagawa Ryo and Karuizawa Megumi took a photo together there.

This is their second group photo; they actually only have three group photos.

The first one is placed in the "Alumni" section of the official website of an elementary school in Tokyo; no one would find it unless they specifically looked for it.

The third photo was tucked in his wedding album. Karuizawa Megumi, who attended the wedding as a 'friend' of Kitagawa Ryo, stood to his left, next to Shiina Hiyori.

Several scenes came to mind again.

The two of them leaned on each other's shoulders reading "The Little Prince," wearing all sorts of dresses—black, white, and blue—and a cake decorated with rose patterns.

And the final fireworks display.

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

For the past ten years or so, Karuizawa Kei had avoided contact with Kitagawa Ryo, so she returned to Tokyo the night after Kitagawa Ryo's wedding.

Whether she has some real potential or Kitagawa Ryo secretly took care of her, Karuizawa Kei has actually managed to survive on her own until now. Amidst the hustle and bustle of Tokyo, Karuizawa Kei is carrying groceries she just bought from the supermarket.

She didn't touch the huge cake with more than ten layers at yesterday's wedding; she plans to make one for herself today.

Karuizawa Kei was already quite skilled at making sweets for herself and then piping a rose with cream, but today she bought herself a real rose for the first time ever, its vibrant red blooming in her arms.

The thick layer of fallen leaves crunches underfoot, sounding as cold and brittle as shards of glass, incredibly sharp.

She stood on this side of the road—and suddenly a strong feeling came over her.

Through the vehicles and crowds, Karuizawa Kei seemed to see Kitagawa Ryo's figure.

But when Karuizawa Kei stood on tiptoe and looked in that direction again, the ambiguous figure had already disappeared.

Fallen leaves were swept into the sky by the wind, and Karuizawa Kei looked down at the rose in her arms.

It shivered in the wind.

Ultimately, it started but never finished.

[Congratulations to the player for achieving the ending: White Rose]

[White Rose: If you marry the red rose, over time, the red rose will become a smear of mosquito blood on the wall, while the white rose will remain the white moonlight; if you marry the white rose, the white rose will become a grain of rice on your clothes, while the red rose will remain a cinnabar mole.]

The longer you recall something, the more distorted it becomes.

Shiina Hiyori's IF route side story

The next decade

"dad?"

Kitagawa Ryo blinked, and his previously blurry vision gradually cleared. Along with the sound in his ear, a red sphere came into view. After staring at it for a moment, he realized it was an apple—or rather, an apple that had been peeled halfway. The lower half still retained its bright red peel, but the upper half revealed its white flesh. The object making the monotonous swishing sound as it peeled the fruit was a fruit knife, available in any store.

The hand gripping the black plastic handle was small and white, its palm even more translucent and whiter than the flesh of an apple. Because it was clenched into a fist, it looked like an adorable snowball. Following that hand, the next thing that caught the eye was the contrasting black.

It was a black sailor uniform that could be seen everywhere, with a decorative red tie fluttering in front of the chest. The face peeking out from the collar of the sailor uniform was as delicate as an elf, and with the dreamy silver medium-length hair draped over the shoulders, the contrast between white and black had reached a perfect level, even giving people a certain supernatural impression.

"firefly."

Kitagawa Ryo called out the name of the little girl in front of him, a name he and Shiina Hiyori had chosen together as proof of their love.

More than a decade ago, when Kitagawa Ryo first met Shiina Hiyori, the two had a cat named "Hotaru." This white cat accompanied them through junior high, high school, and university. However, just two years after they entered into marriage, Hotaru reached the end of her life. The year after Hotaru's passing, their child was born, who is now the eight-year-old girl standing in front of Kitagawa Ryo's bed—Kitagawa Hotaru.

"Dad drank too much again..."

Kitagawa Hotaru inherited her mother's silver hair color, but her eyebrows and eyes were exactly the same as Kitagawa Ryo's. When the two stood together, they were a pair of father and daughter that no one could doubt. She carefully peeled the apple completely, and as if she had accomplished something great, she presented the whole apple to Kitagawa Ryo's mouth.

Kitagawa Ryoya took a bite without hesitation. Although he had been a father for eight years, he didn't act like a parent in front of his daughter. Chewing on the apple with his cheeks puffed out, he asked:

"Your mother doesn't know I secretly ran away last night, does she?"

“Mom went back to London yesterday, saying she was going to see a Sherlock Holmes exhibit at the British Library.”

Kitagawa Hotaru tried hard to recall what to say, then, as if remembering something, she slammed the apple down, ran straight to her small table, pulled out a notebook, and then ran back to her bedside.

"Dad, who is your best friend?"

Kitagawa Ryo was still munching on his apple, taking bites here and there, when he overheard Kitagawa Hotaru asking him this question:

"Is it schoolwork again?"

"Uh-huh!"

Kitagawa Hotaru nodded, opening her notebook to reveal the requirements for the drawing assignment:

"Draw your dad, mom, yourself, and your dad, mom, and best friend."

Kitagawa Hotaru then turned to the next page, where three stick figures with oval heads and four lines for their bodies had already been drawn.

The large stick figure on the far left has a few short black strokes on its head, which should represent short hair. The small stick figure in the middle has a small star on its head. Kitagawa Ryo knows that it is the hair clip he gave to his daughter last year. And the stick figure on the right... why is the stick figure on the right bald?

Kitagawa Ryo's eyes widened, and he said in disbelief:

"Ying, aren't you really afraid your mom will be angry if she sees this?"

"certainly not!"

Kitagawa Hotaru pointed at the "bald" stick figure and said:

"I used a silver pencil to draw lots of hairs, but Dad can't see them!"

"I think it's really hard to see on a white sheet of paper."

Kitagawa Ryo's head was still throbbing from the hangover. He rudely lay back down on the bed, tossing the apple core he had just finished eating into the trash can in the corner with a perfect arc in the air. If Shiina Hiyori were home, she would definitely think he was setting a bad example for the children, but who told Hiyori to go out?

Thinking of this, Kitagawa Ryo became even lazier and didn't want to move at all, which made Kitagawa Hotaru so angry that she jumped onto the bed and stomped on his stomach, but it was no use.

"Ah...it seems I haven't answered the question I asked earlier."

Kitagawa Ryo said casually with his eyes closed:

"It's Horikita Manabu, your Uncle Horikita."

"Oh, it's Uncle Glasses."

Kitagawa Ryo silently lamented the impression Horikita Manabu had of his daughter. He should have called him "Uncle with a sister complex," but Hotaru was too young and couldn't see through his true nature like he had back then.

After getting the answer she wanted, Kitagawa Hotaru calmly returned to her table to draw a new stick figure. Just as Kitagawa Ryo had predicted, the new stick figure had a large pair of glasses on its face, but it was actually just two squares connected by a line.

After finishing Horikita Manabu, Kitagawa Hotaru began drawing another character, a stick figure with short hair, except for a winding, wavy line hanging down beside its head. Kitagawa Ryo finally couldn't help but laugh:

"If Lingyin sees this, she might never bring you food or toys again."

Kitagawa Ryo immediately recognized the drawing of Horikita Suzune drawn by his daughter. Considering how much she usually treated Hotaru like her own daughter, he couldn't help but want to take a picture and post it on social media.

Kitagawa Ryo searched around his pillow for a while but couldn't find it. He shook his head and looked down at the floor under the bed.

"Has Hotaru seen my phone?"

Kitagawa Hotaru blinked and took it out of the bedside table drawer:

"I put it here because I'm afraid Dad might roll over on it while he's sleeping."

"So nice."

Kitagawa Ryo patted his daughter's head, preparing to see if anyone had contacted him while he was fast asleep.

"dad……"

But Kitagawa Hotaru tugged at his sleeve, and with her other finger pointed to a photograph in the drawer, she asked:

Who are all these people in there?

It was an old photo that had turned yellow. The boy in the photo was full of vigor, and there was a boy and three girls standing next to him. It seemed to be a group photo taken in front of a school gate.

Kitagawa Ryo casually took the photo out of the drawer, and began to introduce it from left to right with his right index finger:

"These are photos of your mother and me when we were in high school."

"Tokyo Higher Ikusei Junior High School... Now that I think about it, more than ten years have passed."

Kitagawa Ryo and Kitagawa Hotaru lay down on the bed together, just like every night when Kitagawa Ryo would tell her a bedtime story:

"This boy's name is Long Yuanxiang. At that time, there were four classes in the whole school, and he was the leader of Class C."

"Oh...leader? Does that mean class monitor?"

Kitagawa Hotaru didn't seem to understand the word yet, so she dug out a synonym from the vocabulary in her mind.

"Roughly the same?"

Kitagawa Ryo vaguely glossed over the matter:

"These two girls were the leaders of Class A and Class B at the time... Class representatives, their names are Arisu Banyan and Honami Ichinose."

In the photo, one girl is standing to the left of Kitagawa Ryo, leaning on a cane, while the other is half-squatting in front of the group with a bright smile.

"I know! This is Rinne!"

"It's because of this title that I sometimes wonder if we're from the same generation."

Kitagawa Ryo scratched his head in annoyance. He couldn't figure out what was wrong with Horikita Suzune, that she would allow Kitagawa Hotaru to not use honorifics with her. According to her explanation, she didn't like being called "auntie," and calling her "older sister" would make her feel like she was a generation younger than Kitagawa Ryo. As a result, Kitagawa Hotaru ended up calling her "Suzune."

"Yes, it's Horikita Suzune."

Kitagawa Ryo glanced at the girl in the photo, whose hair was now short, and winked at Kitagawa Hotaru, saying:

"Actually, she used to have long hair."