Love Comes After Simulation

Chapter 146

In his sleep, Yuuki Minami found himself in the Dream Cinema.

First, he pushed open Nao Asano’s room, put on the VR headset, and relived a small fragment of his interactions with her. The VR couldn’t be controlled; it only allowed him to experience the emotions from his actions in previous free simulations. For Yuuki Minami, that was enough.

Leaving Nao’s room, he opened Yuko’s room.

Finally, he entered Reina’s—the dream that tied to reality.

—

In the morning, sunlight streamed through the curtains that hadn’t been fully drawn, gently waking him. He sat up and tapped the screen of his phone beside the pillow.

6:53.

It was still early. He rubbed his head, now clear from sleep, and slowly got out of bed to wash up.

The toothbrush swirled foam between his teeth, the minty toothpaste tingling his mouth. As he brushed, he recalled the events of the previous night and pondered his plans for the day.

Then he remembered something he’d forgotten to do last night—asking his sister Airi for the paper cranes to round out his remaining 1.5 simulation chances.

After washing his face, he dialed his sister’s number.

The ringtone buzzed for over ten seconds before the call finally connected.

“Hello?” Airi’s sleepy voice came through the speaker.

The girl had likely been woken by the sound of her phone ringing. From her groggy tone, Yuuki Minami could easily picture her lying in bed, eyes closed, taking the call under the covers.

“Still in bed? So lazy,” Yuuki Minami teased.

“What? How can you say that about me, Onii-chan? You’re the one who loves to sleep in the most!” Airi’s voice quickly grew lively, shifting from drowsy to indignant.

Now fully awake, she remembered the awkward situations she’d fallen into during their previous calls and warily asked, “What do you want this time, Onii-chan?”

“Actually, I’ve been really into paper cranes lately,” Yuuki Minami hinted.

“I knew it! You only think of me when you need something! I’m not folding any!”

“I’ll bring you lots of gifts when I come home.”

“I don’t care about your gifts!”

“Did you know, paper cranes were originally folded by a little sister to show her love for her older brother, inspired by his favorite bird, the crane? It’s said that the more paper cranes the brother receives, the more upright and healthy he grows, free from the influence of bad women outside.”

“Free from bad women outside?”

“Exactly. Every thousand cranes has an effect, and the effects stack. If you reach multiples of five, the effects increase dramatically.”

“Eh?”

“Just having it there makes my room feel so much nicer.”

“Wha—?”

Airi let out a series of short, surprised sounds, her embarrassment escalating with each one.

Having drunk the sweet wine of her brother’s compliments, her cheeks flushed bright red, and her mind became hazy.

“But...”

Yuuki Minami’s slightly regretful tone tugged at her heart, making her nervous.

“But what?” she asked.

“My nightstand is too plain. It doesn’t feel right to place such a cute photo there. If there were pink paper cranes to decorate it, that would be perfect. The ones you folded before didn’t have any pink ones.”

After that sentence, he added a long, sorrowful sigh. Both his words and the sigh carried an air of melancholy.

Airi immediately made a promise. “I’ll fold some right now!”

“Thanks a lot! About the same number as last time will do. Please make them quickly!”

With that, Yuuki Minami ended the call without delay.

If he didn’t hang up now, Airi’s wits would catch up.

He had underestimated her joy. Joy is an emotion, and emotion is the enemy of logic. By the time her feelings subsided and logic began analyzing the situation—concluding she might have been tricked—she would have already bought pink paper and folded a row of cranes.

Even if logic resurfaced briefly, her emotions would suppress it again. Maybe I wasn’t tricked after all! she’d think.

As she recalled the photo, her mind wandered back to the shy, sweet fantasies she had imagined a month ago when she secretly slipped it into her brother’s suitcase.

Would Onii-chan gaze at her photo in the quiet of the night, overwhelmed with homesickness?

Or worse... would he, in an effort to show off, casually let a friend see it? Would that friend ask, “Is this your girlfriend from back home?” and would Onii-chan respond with a playful, ambiguous smile?

If it were the latter, that might be a bit of a problem. She should’ve slipped a purer, more innocent photo into his suitcase as well.

Airi fretted over the scenarios playing out in her head. But this fretting, too, was her pleasure—her happiness.

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