Love Comes After Simulation

[November. Snow had begun to fall in Yoshida Town. Nakajima Reina wasn’t the lively type, but she should have been carrying a sense of anticipation and restlessness, brimming with energy. Instead, the reality was quite the opposite. The girl seemed listless.]

[She had become drowsy, and even when awake, she lacked any vigor. She was like a flower battered by an overnight drizzle, its petals drooping.]

[The attending doctor conducted a thorough examination. A stainless steel stand was placed by her bedside, holding a small pouch of medicine. Droplets from the bag traveled through a clear tube, flowing into the girl’s slender wrist, piercing through a sharp needle, and into the pale blue veins beneath her skin.]

[One pouch emptied and shriveled, and another full one replaced it. Nurses came in periodically to check, as the intravenous needle lodged in Reina’s arm endured bag after bag of medicine.]

[The girl often slept. You had no heart to do anything else and sat by her bedside, watching the transparent medicine flow, one bag after another, into her delicate body. You wondered: could this concoction, a testament to humanity’s medical knowledge and innovation, transform into the elixir of life for her? You did not know.]

[You and Nakajima Yohei asked the attending doctor, but the doctor simply said further observation was necessary.]

[After five days of infusions, the girl’s spirits seemed to improve slightly. You raised the head of her bed so she could see the garden outside and the tall building that blocked the blue sky. Yet, her interest in them had faded.]

[Like you, her gaze unknowingly shifted to the hanging pouch of medicine. The sound of the dripping liquid was faint, but in your minds, it grew into a distinct, vivid echo. Both of you watched the flow with devout focus, silently praying that the clear liquid would bring the miracle of life.]

[Seven days later, the infusion stand was removed, but the girl’s condition showed no signs of improvement. She could no longer even walk within the ward.]

The memory scene appears.

In the medicine-scented hospital room, Minami Yuuki sat at the bedside. Nakajima Reina leaned against the propped-up bed, gazing at the garden outside.

It was winter now. The garden’s flowers had dwindled, leaving behind green shrubs of varying shades. What once was vibrant and colorful had become a patchwork of deeper greens. On a calm day, it might seem ordinary, but in moments of melancholy, it felt like a hint of fate’s workings.

“Why did they stop the IVs?” Nakajima Reina turned her head to look at Minami Yuuki.

Her face lacked any color, pale as snow, which only accentuated her refined elegance, as though she had donned a light layer of makeup for a solemn ceremony. Her voice, weak and ethereal, carried an air of noble detachment. The frailer she became, the more she resembled a regal consort perched atop the Golden Pavilion.

She glanced at the spot where the stand once stood. “I feel like if they’d kept the IVs going for another week, I’d be almost recovered by now.”

“Yes, another two weeks, and Princess Reina will have achieved immortality,” Minami Yuuki quipped with deliberate playfulness.

The girl let out a soft laugh. Her laughter was faint—a slight curve of her lips, a gentle flutter of her lashes. There was no clear, ringing sound, no hearty expression. She no longer had the strength to laugh so openly.

When the faint smile faded, she looked at Minami Yuuki again and asked, “Has it snowed in Yoshida Town yet?”

“No, it hasn’t.”

“You’re lying. I asked Mother yesterday. She said it already snowed.”

“Next year’s snow hasn’t fallen yet.”

“Will I get to see next year’s snow?”

Nakajima Reina’s question made Minami Yuuki pause. He didn’t know the answer.

But without hesitation, he replied, “You will.”

The girl turned her face back toward the window. She remained silent for a long time.

Minami Yuuki tried to come up with a lighter topic, but it took time for an anxious and restless mind to find and share something cheerful.

Before he could, Nakajima Reina spoke first.

“I just remembered something from when I was little,” she said softly. “I’ve already been to Yoshida Town.”

Minami Yuuki looked at her in surprise.

“I went to Hokkaido with my father and mother. There were so many mountains there. We stayed in a Showa-era town, just like something out of a TV drama, waiting for the first snow.” Ꞧ�

The girl spoke slowly. After each sentence, she needed to pause and rest, gathering strength for the next.

“The weather forecast said snow was coming soon—I don’t remember if it was the next day, the day after, or the following week. But I didn’t wait for it. That morning, I felt so cold and weak that my parents took me to the hospital. I never saw the snow in Yoshida Town that year. It must have fallen quietly while I was lying in a hospital bed.”

“Just like now.”

[Was the girl complaining? Mourning? Or was she simply sharing a memory that had suddenly surfaced? You couldn’t tell. Her words pained you. You leaned down and kissed her lips. Beneath your palm, her heartbeat pulsed faintly. It could no longer thrum with the same vigor as before.]

[The brief kiss ended quickly. You caressed her face. The faint blush that appeared on her cheeks reassured you, if only slightly.]

—

[By the following March, Nakajima Reina’s condition had not improved. The attending doctor called you and Nakajima Yohei aside. You were told it was time to make a decision.]

[Reina’s body no longer had the potential to recover to how it had been a year ago. In all likelihood, her condition would continue to deteriorate. Surgery had to be performed sooner rather than later, while her body was still relatively stable. Of course, there was another option: to forgo the surgery. With her current state, the procedure, already low in success rate, would face even slimmer odds.]

[Nakajima Yohei left the decision to you.]

[You didn’t hesitate. Just as you had a year ago, you chose surgery.]

[The operation was scheduled for May.]

[The night before the surgery, you sat by the girl’s bedside, holding her hand.]

A short memory scene appears.

“The surgery will succeed,” Minami Yuuki said, sitting at Reina’s side, her hand in his.

“You’re not the type to believe in words like ‘will,'” Reina teased him with a faint smile.

“That’s because we’ve already made a promise—to go see the snow in Yoshida Town together and visit the lake you can’t stop talking about.” Minami Yuuki placed his other hand over hers.

Yes, he didn’t believe in “certainty,” just as he didn’t believe in gods or miracles. But if faith was all he had left—his only hope, his only chance—he was willing to change his beliefs.

“You should give me a real incentive,” Reina said, looking directly into Yuuki’s eyes, “instead of speaking in such vague absolutes.”

“After the surgery, let’s get married,” Yuuki said, holding her hand tightly. “I’m not old enough to register a marriage yet, but that’s okay. We can hold the ceremony first.”

“Okay.” The girl’s cheeks flushed pink.

—

[The surgery lasted five hours. You and Nakajima Yohei waited anxiously outside the operating room, praying to every deity you had ever heard of.]

[When the operating room doors finally opened, Reina was wheeled out, still under anesthesia. You both anxiously asked about the results.]

[The lead surgeon’s face was grave. She told you the surgery had been a success.]

We are currently recruiting. CN/KR/JP Translators/MTLers are welcome!

Discord Server: .gg/HGaByvmVuw