Yes—very regrettably, Narumi Tōru is someone who is completely tone-deaf.
Ever since childhood, he'd tried to change this tragic fact. He practiced diligently and dabbled in just about every instrument imaginable, but no matter what he did, improving his performance proved painfully difficult.
He'd also tried joining various music-related clubs. Without fail, after listening to him play, the members would put on polite yet awkward expressions and say something along the lines of, "We'd absolutely love to have you if you want to handle logistics for the club."
Who do you think you're looking down on? If this place won't have me, I'll find somewhere else.
"So, Hikigaya-kun," Yukinoshita Yukino said calmly as she elegantly blew on her tea, "does that mean you happened to pass by the guitar club, were struck speechless by Narumi-kun's awe-inspiring performance, and thus left with a deep impression—am I correct?"
"I thought the two of you already knew each other."
With that, Yukinoshita Yukino's second round of probing began—clearly loaded with subtext.
"Hmm… now that you put it that way,"
Hikigaya Hachiman frowned, straining to recall.
It was true that Narumi Tōru felt oddly familiar to him, but that was probably just the lingering impression from that one time he passed by the guitar club.
…No, wait. It really did feel like they'd met and talked somewhere else before. But where…?
"Maybe it's a bond fated since our pre-pre-previous lives,"
Narumi Tōru suddenly blurted out, cutting straight through Hikigaya's train of thought.
Naturally, the dead-fish-eyed boy's expression grew even more exhausted.
No homo, man…
"Even though I interacted with Hikigaya Hachiman in the simulation… it doesn't look like he retained any of those memories."
While outwardly joking around, Narumi was seriously observing the other two students' every move—well, to be precise, most of his peripheral vision was fixed on Yukinoshita Yukino as she calmly sipped her tea.
Was the long black-haired girl beside him truly the same Yukinoshita Yukino from the simulation—the one who acted tough on the outside but was fragile underneath, the one who made your heart ache?
Someone like Yukinoshita Yukino, a high-and-mighty flower on a distant peak, shouldn't have had anything to do with an unremarkable background character like him. If not for the simulation's setting—her being gravely ill—their lives probably would've remained parallel lines, never intersecting.
In reality, Narumi Tōru and Yukinoshita Yukino existed in two completely separate worlds.
Which meant that the proud, aloof Yukinoshita Yukino of reality and the Yukinoshita Yukino from the simulation—the one who awakened his protective instincts—were not the same person.
Even if they shared the same face and personality, different experiences shaped entirely different people.
If she wasn't the Yukino who had rushed into the sea without hesitation to grab his sleeve.
If she wasn't the Yukino who spent the entire night talking with him by the shore.
If she wasn't the Yukino who, despite her terminal illness, still clung fiercely to her will to live…
"…If I have to talk about liking someone, then I guess I really did prefer the Yukinoshita from the simulation."
Narumi clicked his tongue and let out a small, regretful sigh.
At the same time Narumi was lost in his mental storm, Miss Yukinoshita—who appeared to be quietly drinking tea and flipping through a paperback—was anything but idle.
"The smooth talk when chatting, the occasional inexplicable derailment… every trait matches perfectly."
She studied the curly-haired boy out of the corner of her eye as he propped his cheek on his hand and yawned out of boredom. The emotions flickering in her gaze grew increasingly complex.
Even if he looked a bit younger than the man she remembered, even if he didn't recall a single shared memory, a person's fundamental nature didn't lie. His mannerisms, his micro-expressions—those were unmistakable.
They were the same person.
Even without memories of her, even without having lived through that shared past, the essence of who he was hadn't changed.
Perhaps it was her wish—to see Narumi once more—that had been granted. Perhaps that was why he appeared in her life again, this time at the same age as her.
What Yukinoshita Yukino refused to admit was that she'd imagined it countless times:
If only I'd met Narumi before my sister did.
If only she could meet him with a body that wasn't frail.
With a more equal relationship.
If only she could be the first to step into his world.
This was fate's second chance.
And this time, she had to seize it.
Though seated at the same table, the two of them were thinking in completely opposite directions.
Only Hikigaya Hachiman, sitting at the edge, glanced back and forth in growing discomfort.
"Why did the two of them suddenly go quiet…?"
Club time—neither long nor short—slipped away in the blink of an eye.
Just as in the simulation, reality seemed to be following the same flow. If so, it was only a matter of time before a girl named Yuigahama Yui joined the club.
There was plenty of time ahead. Even if they couldn't understand each other right away, they could search for clues gradually through daily interactions.
After school, Yukino and Narumi—each with their own calculations—said goodbye to Hikigaya, whose route home differed from theirs. As they reached the fork in the road and prepared to part ways—
The Yukinoshita family's black sedan arrived right on cue.
The passenger-side window rolled down, and a familiar head popped out.
"Yukino~ Big sis is here to pick you up—hm?"
The insincere smile that had been plastered across Haruno Yukinoshita's face froze the instant she saw the curly-haired boy.
"And this… is…?"
Ah.
Haruno Yukinoshita and Narumi Tōru—former lovers in the simulation—locked eyes once again in the real world.
Yukinoshita Yukino, who had been planning to take things slowly, felt alarm bells blare in her head the moment she saw the shift in her sister's expression.