The sweet dream… suddenly vanished...
Sitting on the soft cotton futon, the girl stared blankly ahead. When she came to her senses, the worn curtains beside her were already glowing with the light of morning, the reflected shimmer intertwining with the brilliance of her amber eyes.
Sakiko reached out and gently touched her cheek. The tender, real sensation travelled from her fingertips to her mind. Her waterfall-like pale blue hair slipped lightly from her white shoulders, her flawless skin tinged faintly pink.
"…It's already morning?"
From the uninsulated window came the chirping of birds. Never before had the girl felt her body so comfortable upon waking, her spirit was as refreshed as if it had been cleansed.
What happened last night?
Of course, Sakiko couldn't possibly forget that endlessly looping "dream" from last night, nor could she brush off such an extraordinary event as an ordinary dream. She knew exactly what she had experienced.
"... Sure enough, I really did write everything down last night."
Sakiko picked up the black notebook by her side and flipped it open. Behind the portrait Haru had drawn of her with his own hands, she found the "record" she had written last night, dense black handwriting that captured nearly every detail of what she had gone through.
She had left this special note out of fear that she might forget by morning.
She had gone through dozens, hundreds of loops.
Every one of them had been caused by her own mistakes. Those failures had driven her to the lowest point of her life, until she became the "Ojou-sama" who was equally weak and decadent. These mistakes, she would never forget.
Originally, Sakiko had thought she would be trapped in this "loop" forever. She never expected that, in the end, he, the one who was supposed to be the [capture target], would personally pull her out.
Her awkward pride, the inner words she tried so hard to hide, the weakness and despair she buried deep inside, every bit of it had been laid bare before Haru. And as her husband, he had accepted it all.
"…That's right, my husband!"
"My name is Kazami Sakiko! That's one thing I'll never forget, even if I die!"
What Sakiko had experienced wasn't just dozens or hundreds of "time loops", she also remembered everything that happened after Haru pulled her out of that room.
The adversity she had faced was a trial, a tempering, a forge for the strong. Having overcome it, she had seen with her own eyes the happy life awaiting her, the vivid scenes of life after marrying him!
They had known each other, understood each other, fallen in love and even though her own selfishness and weakness had repeatedly led to failure, Haru had still reached out to pull her from despair.
She had already liked him before… now she loved him so much she couldn't stop herself!
Thunk thunk thunk…
Shyness and affection surged through her at once, and the girl knocked her smooth forehead repeatedly against the wooden floor. Tears welled at the corners of her eyes from the pain, mingling with the cherry-blossom pink of her cheeks, creating a beauty as vivid and alluring as a rising tide.
Getting married was the most natural thing in the world. After all, she and Haru truly loved each other!
But after marriage… had she really been that shameless?
Right now, "Kazami Sakiko" and her "future husband" hadn't even properly held hands, yet she'd imagined such indecent scenes, not just trying every position possible, but even exploring… even more outrageous, shameful places.
That kind of "knowledge" didn't even exist in her mind before!
"…Could this… could this be 'destiny's' hint?! Giving me the bitter 'trial' of the dream to temper me, and then... when I finally cleared it, rewarding me with the memories of my future with Haru?!"
Yes, this was proof that they were truly partners bound by fate!
"Haru and I… we are absolutely fated soulmates!"
The tips of her snowy ears flushed scarlet as she muttered lines no ordinary person could understand. Then she picked up her ballpoint pen and began scribbling furiously in her notebook, the scratch of pen against paper filling the room.
But then, her hand suddenly stopped, and she snapped back to reality.
"…No, no! I can't waste time on this!"
"While it's still early, I have to go confess to Haru right now!"
In the "dream," after looping over a hundred times, Sakiko had still never managed to confess to Haru with her own lips before they started dating.
But the real her had changed completely, she had already become his wife, had even given birth to three children with him.
In front of him, she could lay aside her pride and her fears, and throw herself into his arms in her weakest moments without hesitation. At this point, she could walk straight into a hotel with him without blinking, so what was a simple confession compared to that?
"Once I accept my own weakness… I'm invincible!"
Taking a deep breath, Sakiko tied back her pale blue hair with a black ribbon.
Now, she was going to confess!
....
2:00 PM
After several hours of sleep, Haru slowly opened his eyes. His calm gaze fell on the familiar ceiling, and after a moment's silence, he sat up unhurriedly.
Yesterday's simulation had run from 9 PM until around 6 or 7 in the morning. The intense concentration of running over a hundred loops had left him exhausted.
But ever since his skill [Endurance] had reached Lv.5, even exhaustion that would floor an ordinary person was nothing more than a small matter for him. Just a few hours of rest, and he was fully recovered.
"…Oops. Looks like I accidentally skipped school today."
Seeing the time on his phone, a faintly awkward expression crossed his face.
There was less than an hour until dismissal, his little fiancée was probably still at school.
Since skipping was already a done deal, he didn't care much. After the simulation ended yesterday, he'd gone straight to sleep, without even running the final results calculation, so he still had no idea if the simulator had changed.
Closing his eyes, he focused on the simulation panel.
"Yesterday's 'simulation' was the last one. Now, all capture targets have at least passed once with the minimum 60 points. Sakiko's run also used up all her attempts."
[Simulation Ended]
[Score: 99 – Perfect]
[Evaluation: Once you have seen the vast ocean, no other waters will do; once you have seen the clouds of Mount Fuji, no other clouds will suffice! The love between you and her is bound by destiny's thread. Her heart had long been barren and broken; the innocence she once had was gone. But you tore open the darkness within her, letting new sprouts grow even in the soil where life could not take root.]
[Her feelings for you deepened naturally; her love for you was self-willed, but even so, you did not abandon her true self. You pulled her from the black abyss into the light, choosing to become her one and only salvation.]
[Your souls seemed to fuse completely. The pure love between you let you run toward each other without hesitation. From the moment fate tied you together, your worlds became eternal, until even death could not part you.]
[You have achieved the rating "Perfect"! Simulation reward settlement commencing.]
[[Legendary Musician Haru] Composition Lv.5 (As a legendary musician, Haru has surpassed the greatest composers of centuries past, establishing an entirely new concept and structure for classical music. He has mastered symphonies, concertos, sonatas, and more at the highest level.)]
[[World-Class Pianist Haru] Piano Lv.5 (As a world-class pianist, Haru's lifelong mastery has earned him 18 Grammy nominations. His unparalleled technique and fresh musical interpretation have made him a legend whose name is etched in history.)]
"…Huh?"
He had been thinking about which of the seven "simulation rewards" to pick, but the simulator had just thrown the settlement at him with no further choices. Still, the two skills it gave him made his eyebrows rise.
Two Lv.5 skills at once?
In this simulation, he had honed two talents to their absolute peak, piano & composition, and now he'd inherited them directly from the simulation. It was as if he'd absorbed the entire lifetime's worth of mastery.
"I've never had a 99 before… could it be that 99 is actually special?"
Lowering his head, Haru began to think. Come to think of it, that would fit the simulator's style.
A score of 60 in a simulation was a pass, 80 was excellent, but the rewards for surpassing 90 and achieving a "perfect" simulation were on a completely different level.
This time, with Sakiko as the final simulation target, Haru got his first-ever score of 99.
"But it's still only ninety-nine?"
Haru frowned slightly. He found it hard to imagine what it would take to get a full score.
In fact, if even resolving all of Sakiko's regrets couldn't yield a perfect score, then he truly had no idea how one could get full marks or maybe there wasn't really such a thing as a "full score" at all.
"…Whatever. At least this means I've completed all eight simulation targets."
Shaking his head to clear his thoughts, Haru refocused on the simulator.
Previously, the simulator had already shown signs of malfunctioning, and the number of available targets had mysteriously hit its limit. Now, he was curious whether clearing all of them would somehow break through that limit.
"…?"
Less than two seconds later, Haru fell silent.
"You've got to be kidding me."
When he tried to check his remaining [Simulation Attempts], it was just a mess of garbled symbols. Not only that but every single simulation target was grayed out, and no matter what he tried, he couldn't start a new one.
Lowering his head in thought, Haru found himself at a rare loss.
No matter what he did, the simulator wouldn't respond. It was like when a mod-scuffed copy of Mount & Blade hits a fatal system conflict freezes, error pop-ups, crashes, and even kills the game in the process.
After a moment, Haru let out a long breath.
"…Forget it. If it's dead, it's dead."
For him, the simulator had long since stopped being "just a game." The memory fragments it brought back each time were painfully real. These days, he no longer started simulations casually.
If the simulator had broken and could never be used again, that was almost a relief.
His most important connections began in simulated, reality-based scenarios… but maybe, at first, it really had just been the simulator that made him notice these girls. What truly changed him, though, were the countless small moments they shared in real life.
"It's about time I put all my focus on reality. That's the true 'hands-on simulation' that never stops."
With a light sigh, Haru stretched lazily. Feeling refreshed, he pulled open the curtains and in an instant, dazzling sunlight streamed in, making him squint against its brilliance.
A brand-new classical piano sat in his bedroom. Almost without thinking, Haru let his fingers brush across the cool keys, a strong urge to play welling up from somewhere deep inside him. The techniques that came to mind felt like they'd been etched into his genes and muscle memory.
If he sat down right now, he could probably perform a top-tier classical concerto on the spot.
He knew this was his Piano Lv. 5 skill at work, he'd inherited the lifetime's worth of technique he'd gained in the simulation. In pure performance, he was now undeniably a master.
"…" , Haru murmured.
After a moment's thought, he pulled his hands back, glancing at his long, well-defined fingers.
The simulator was broken, but it had still given him the final rewards properly?
Could it be… the handiwork of some strange youkai with the power to manipulate "boundaries"?
"…", he chuckled wryly at the absurd thought.
Just then, the faint vibration of his phone pulled his attention back.
Pausing for a moment, he glanced at the screen.
[Uika]: School's almost over~ I'm really looking forward to seeing you at the primrose garden today.
"Wait, it's December 9th already?"
In Sakiko's first simulated route, he'd promised Uika a date at the planetarium on December 9th. After hundreds of simulations, his sense of time had gotten fuzzy, he'd almost forgotten this arrangement.
Rubbing his temples, Haru couldn't believe he'd nearly let it slip his mind.
[Want to be fertilizer?: Got it.]
Sending a quick reply, he began getting ready to head out.
He didn't come to school.
That morning, full of confidence, Togawa Sakiko had made a bento and brought it with her, but now she was restless and a little deflated.
Her plan had been to ask Haru to meet at lunch and confess to him on the spot.
But when she'd gone to Class A during the lunch break, she'd learned from the sunny and cheerful Kita-san that he hadn't come to school today at all, a completely unforeseen development that threw her off balance.
Still, Sakiko wasn't the type to give up so easily.
"…Did you really think my hundreds of 'loops' were just a waste of time?"
Murmuring to herself, the blue-haired girl lifted her pale neck ever so slightly, holding her schoolbag elegantly in both hands as she strode quickly through the courtyard of Haneoka High.
At the 3 p.m. dismissal bell, she didn't hesitate for a moment, determined to leave school as fast as possible.
In the dream loops, she'd experienced more failures than she could count, losing to other people over and over for every imaginable reason. But now, after so many trials, Togawa Sakiko feared nothing.
"Let's just go to his place. It's been a while since I last visited his apartment."
Recalling that small but warm home, she couldn't help but smile faintly.
In high spirits, her light steps quickened.
But just as she was about to step through the school gates, a familiar voice called out.
"Eh? Isn't that Sakiko?"
"…!"
Sakiko turned instinctively and her eyes immediately locked with a dazed, beautiful gaze.
Standing not far away was a petite girl in the same light-gray Haneoka uniform. She looked a little surprised to see Sakiko. Beside her stood someone else Sakiko knew, a striking figure with long, vivid cherry-pink hair that stood out even in a crowd.
The moment she saw them both, Togawa Sakiko reflexively took two steps back.
Wh–why would I run into them here?
That familiar pairing of short gray hair and cherry-pink hair instantly reminded Togawa Sakiko of those two from the "dream."
In that dream world where personalities could reverse, both Chihaya Anon and Takamatsu Tomori had, at one point, harshly scolded her because of Haru. Cold, angry stares that had left Sakiko with a lingering shadow in her heart.
Even though their real-life selves were much easier to get along with, Sakiko still felt an instinctive flicker of fear toward them.
"Tomorin! I thought the two of us were already the fastest ones out of the gate, but someone actually beat us here?"
Chihaya Anon's crystal-like light-gray eyes widened in surprise.
The two of them, as Haru's girlfriends, had naturally worried upon hearing he'd suddenly skipped school today, so they'd rushed out the moment classes ended to check on him in person.
But they hadn't expected anyone to be ahead of them, least of all Togawa Sakiko.
That woman had come to his classroom at lunchtime to look for him!
Anon's "bad-woman radar" started quietly buzzing. Truth be told, she'd never been entirely fond of Sakiko in the first place, and now that she'd caught on to what Sakiko might be up to, her wariness and irritation were steadily rising.
As she was still deciding what to do, Togawa Sakiko, standing across from them, spoke in a calm tone:
"Good afternoon, Chihaya-san, Tomori."
"You two are going to see Haru as well?"