Love Comes After Simulation

[It’s been a week since the park incident. Together with Nakajima Yōhei and Honoka, you helped the girl undergo a simple medical check-up. The attending doctor reviewed the report and told you all that the girl had returned to her state from a week ago, so there was no need to worry anymore.]

[Nakajima Yōhei asked you to wheel his daughter back to the room, saying he and Honoka had some matters to discuss with the doctor.]

[Both you and Nakajima Reina were curious, wondering what they needed to discuss.]

[You soon found out part of the answer.]

[Half an hour later, Nakajima Yōhei returned to the room with a bag of medication. He pulled you into the attending doctor’s office, where the doctor taught you how to use the medication. Among them were injectable drugs, and the doctor guided you in practicing with the tools provided.]

[Nakajima Yōhei reminded you that if Reina faced the same situation as in the park, you would be responsible for her emergency treatment.]

Reading this far, Yuuki Minami was a bit surprised.

Not only had Nakajima Yōhei given him the medication, but he’d also entrusted him with the freedom to take Reina around.

Otherwise, the medication would serve no purpose. After all, in the hospital, any nurse would be far more professional than him.

It was just like Yōhei, who had played the role of his father-in-law several times in his simulated lives—always so thorough!

He sighed with admiration but then grew puzzled. The simulation text said this was only “part of the answer.” What else had the Nakajima couple discussed with the doctor?

He continued reading the simulation interface.

[After you left, Nakajima Honoka went into her stepdaughter’s room. She told her not to attempt anything beyond kissing with you and left her with some emergency tools.]

“…”

“…?”

Yuuki Minami was utterly stunned.

At first glance, this behavior seemed odd, but on closer consideration, it was perfectly practical.

Unable to suppress his imagination, the scent and warmth emanating from Ibuki Yuko beside him only fueled his restlessness.

Steeling his will to banish those thoughts and calm his racing heart, he continued reading the simulation text.

[On the way back, Nakajima Yōhei repeatedly reminded you that kissing was the limit, and going further was out of the question.]

[You promised him. His concerns were unnecessary—you did not harbor a beastly fervor for Reina. You cherished the girl, just as you would protect the delicate petals of a flower.]

[Nakajima Yōhei and Honoka left. You sat by Reina’s bed and asked her what she had discussed with Honoka.]

[She blushed, stammered, and refused to tell you.]

[You guessed part of it but could not have imagined how extreme Honoka’s methods were.]

[You patted your bag containing the medication and asked Reina if there was anywhere she wanted to go. She immediately mentioned two places: a nearby park and Mount Azuki.]

[Both were places you had visited before. You asked her if there were any other places she wanted to visit.]

[She thought hard for a long time, finally dredging up a small hope from distant memories.]

[It was from before she was hospitalized, a time when her condition hadn’t worsened yet. She was still resting at home, and her parents hadn’t divorced.]

[Was she four years old then? Or five? She couldn’t remember clearly, only recalling a conversation with her father.]

[In the early years of her hospitalization, this conversation echoed in her mind endlessly. Even as she grew older, it occasionally appeared in her dreams. She remembered it vividly.]

A short conversation played in Yuuki Minami’s mind, only the voices without any accompanying images.

“Reina’s health is improving! At this rate, you’ll be running and jumping around in no time!” That was Nakajima Yōhei’s voice.

“Then can I play in the snow?” This was Reina’s voice as a child.

“Of course! We’ll play in lots of snow! The snow in Misaki is too weak—when the time comes, we’ll go to Hokkaido! The snow there is big enough to bury you completely!”

“Are there hot springs?”

“Of course, and at a hot spring inn! Let me think… we’ll go to Yoshida Town. Among the places I’ve been, Yoshida Town is the most beautiful.”

“Does it snow the most there?”

“Not the most, but it has the most beautiful lake. The color of the lake is even deeper blue than the sky. The lake stretches into a small forest, and in winter, when the first real snow falls, the lake freezes into a jade-like blue. The trees turn into crystal-clear glass, and their branches, as delicate as fine glass, are covered with snow like a layer of sugar. The whole lake looks just like a blue sundae!”

“Can I eat it?”

“That’s just a metaphor, not a real sundae. Once you’re feeling better, I’ll take you out for a real sundae.”

The memory stopped there, but Reina’s emotions lingered. Yuuki Minami could feel the girl’s joy at hearing about the snow, her longing for the most beautiful lake, and her craving for a sundae.

Hokkaido’s Yoshida Town, huh? He made a mental note of the name.

[When she was little, her father promised her that once she was feeling better, he would take her to Yoshida Town in Hokkaido to play in the snow and see the lake he thought was the most beautiful.]

[Was that wish ever fulfilled? She couldn’t remember. Based on her guess, it remained unfulfilled. If she had already been to Yoshida Town, played in the snow, and seen that lake, she wouldn’t recall that promise so many times.]

[The fact that she now sat on a hospital bed proved that her condition hadn’t improved—in fact, it had worsened.]

[She fell into her memories, and you had to call her name twice before she snapped out of it.]

[The girl shared that memory with you, telling you she wanted to go to Yoshida Town, to see that sundae-like lake during the first snowfall.]

[You made a promise with her: you would take her there no matter what.]

[Aside from that, the girl had another place she wanted to visit, though it wasn’t an actual location with a name.]

[She wanted to attend a festival—not the grand, elaborate ones in Misaki, but the kind of small-town festival described in TV shows and novels.]

[You teased her, saying she was greedy for listing so many places at once.]

[The girl puffed her cheeks indignantly, insisting it was you who asked her to share so much.]

[She couldn’t refute you, though, because she really was quite greedy.]

[She lay down on the edge of the bed, looking at you with damp eyes. Her cherry-pink lips parted slightly. What she wanted was beyond words, and you leaned down to deeply kiss the girl brimming with passion.]

[For some reason, during a kiss, the girl’s heartbeat was always much faster than during any other action. Even if you pressed your face against her feet, took advantage of close contact, or whispered the sweetest words to her, nothing could match the speed of her heartbeat during a kiss.]

[You were a bit concerned, so you limited the frequency and duration of your kisses, which the girl often complained about.]

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