The lunch break was over. Carrying deep confusion, Ibuki Yuko returned to her classroom.
Minami Yuuki sat at his seat, his eyes following the teacher as they moved, but his mind was preoccupied with thoughts of Asagiri Mizuki.
Was Asagiri Mizuki really Mayu’s mother? He had so doubts.
At the sa ti, another thought lingered in his mind.
In the photo that Ibuki Yuko had shown, Asagiri Mizuki looked a lot like Mayu. Looking at it from another angle, Asagiri Mizuki, just like Mayu, was an outstanding beauty!
In other words, Asagiri Mizuki could be a potential simulation target! With Nakajima Reina’s free simulation nearing its end, it was ti to search for the next flower.
He needed to get close to Asagiri Mizuki in reality and establish at least a minimal connection first.
When the school bell rang, signaling the end of the day, Minami Yuuki walked out of the classroom with Chitose Kazumi. Ibuki Yuko caught up from behind, and they walked together, one on each side of him.
At the subway entrance, Minami Yuuki bid farewell to Chitose Kazumi. Upon reaching the sixth floor of his apartnt, he also said goodbye to Ibuki Yuko.
Sitting at his desk, he opened his laptop, logged into TWI, and searched for Kikuka Academy.
He quickly found a target—a young female teacher from Kikuka Academy who loved sharing her daily life on TWI.
Logging into his own TWI account, he tried sending her a direct ssage. Fortunately, her DMs were open to all users.
After about ten minutes, she had likely browsed through his past tweets and confird that he was a handso young man. She responded enthusiastically.
Minami Yuuki exchanged a few ssages with her via TWI DMs, then they added each other on LINE and continued chatting for a while.
Once the female teacher was satisfied, she got straight to the point—what kind of help did he need? She didn’t think it was herself that had attracted this good-looking boy.
Minami Yuuki brought up Asagiri Mizuki.
Her again? The female teacher sighed. She shared so information about Asagiri Mizuki—nothing too personal, just general facts that many people at Kikuka Academy already knew. She was careful with her words.
Among the details she provided, there was no ntion of Asagiri Mizuki’s family background. Minami Yuuki pressed further, asking if Asagiri Mizuki had a younger sister.
The female teacher hesitated for a mont before replying that Asagiri Mizuki probably didn’t have a biological younger sister. As for a non-biological one, she wasn’t sure. R
Minami Yuuki thanked her and ended the conversation.
Was Asagiri Mizuki really Mayu’s mother? He still didn’t have an answer.
Opening his notes, he recorded the information he had gathered from the teacher, then closed his laptop.
Kikuka Academy was quite far from Tsukimiya Middle School, but the subway made the commute fairly convenient.
When he had the chance, he would go and et Asagiri Mizuki in person.
Wait—maybe he could ask Mayu about it in a free simulation.
Important information from the future couldn’t be brought back, but if it was just a question about personal details, maybe it would work.
The sun, now weary, sank toward the horizon, its light turning gentle and dim.
By the ti Minami Yuuki finished dinner at Asano Nao’s house, the sun had set, and the moon cast a faint glow.
“Wanna go out for a walk later?”
As he helped clear the dishes, Minami Yuuki casually asked Asano Nao.
“Mm.” Asano Nao nodded imdiately, her heart full of sweetness.
“No hand-holding service,” Minami Yuuki added.
The light in Asano Nao’s eyes faded instantly. She anxiously glanced out the window—though it was already dark, there were still plenty of pedestrians outside.
“If you want extra services, you’ll have to pay extra,” Minami Yuuki added again.
And so, the light that had disappeared from this hobody’s eyes lit up once more. She dashed toward her bedroom, but Minami Yuuki quickly grabbed her hand.
“Not money in the conventional sense,” he said.
“Also, not that kind of paynt,” he added, noticing the blush spreading across Asano Nao’s face.
Asano Nao was puzzled. If it wasn’t about money or her body… then what was it?
“Paper cranes?” She thought of the things she had already folded for the boy several tis.
“That’s right, paper cranes are exactly what I want!” Minami Yuuki confird.
He felt embarrassed about always getting things for free, so he ca up with a system where paper cranes could be used to pay for a walking service. In his mind, he wasn’t asking for money, nor for her body—just a few paper cranes filled with sentint. It was a win-win situation. Asano Nao would definitely be happy.
If he had said from the beginning that he wanted paper cranes, Asano Nao would have indeed been overjoyed. However, because she first assud he wanted money, then thought he wanted her body, only to finally realize it was just paper cranes—while she was still happy about going out with him, that happiness had beco mixed with complicated emotions.
She would have preferred if he had asked for money or her body. Based on her observations, Yuko and Kazumi weren’t as wealthy as she was, and neither of them had as “abundant” a figure as she did.
But instead, the boy wanted sothing as simple as paper cranes—sothing anyone could fold.
Didn’t that an Kazumi and Yuko could also get the hand-holding service? As she washed the dishes, she wrestled with this thought. But when the entrance door opened, all those worries quickly faded. She was completely absorbed in the sensation of holding his hand.
The ti spent on their walk passed quickly. When she returned ho, she felt a slight sense of emptiness.
Heading upstairs, she took out the special colored paper she had bought just for origami and began folding one paper crane after another.
Suddenly, she found herself thinking that paper cranes weren’t so bad after all. Since they were for Yuuki, his face naturally appeared in her mind as she folded them.
The boy’s silhouette was like a gentle sun, shining down on the barren land of her heart, bringing warmth and life.
Even when she was cooking, his image would surface in her mind. But she had to divide her attention between seasoning and controlling the heat—she couldn’t imrse herself entirely in thoughts of him the way she could while folding paper cranes, where her fingers and wrist muscles acted on mory alone.
What is Yuuki doing now? she suddenly wondered. Is he thinking about too?
Minami Yuuki was reading manga.
After walking Asano Nao ho, he casually grabbed a stack of manga on his way back. It was a slice-of-life series with two adorable heroines, and he was completely absorbed in the story.
He wasn’t thinking about Asano Nao.
But there was soone else—not only thinking about Asano Nao but obsessing over her to the point of madness.
That person was Ibuki Yuko.
Recently, she had been busy trying to break up her mother and her current boyfriend. She had finally managed to capture solid evidence of the man cheating with three different won and was returning ho in high spirits. Of course, this joy didn’t show on her face—her expressions only shifted slightly for her mother and significantly for Yuuki.
As she neared the apartnt, she saw Minami Yuuki walking along the roadside, holding hands with Asano Nao.
Her good mood instantly evaporated.
She didn’t confront them. Instead, she hid and watched as the boy—her future husband—walked another woman ho.
And when Minami Yuuki followed Asano Nao inside, her mind instantly conjured up inappropriate scenes. Fortunately, the boy ca out again soon after.
Back in her apartnt, she sat deep in thought, wondering where exactly she had gone wrong.
She had just been a little careless—so how had things ended up like this?
Asano Nao.
She rolled the na over in her mind.
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