[People always notice their aging in a single moment.]
[At sixty.]
[Time began to pass much faster.]
[Toru was still full of energy, yet you could no longer keep up with his passionate pace. You went out less often, spending most days at home reading. It was funny in a way. When you were young, you hated studying more than anything, yet in your old age, you fell in love with writing, fell in love with books.]
[Spring left and summer arrived.]
[Your niece Kitahara Shio was close to graduating from university. She still clung to you, sweetly calling you Auntie as if she were a child who would never grow up.]
[Her parents loved each other, her family was happy.]
[Little Shio lived in a spotless white paradise, so her personality naturally grew as pure as an angel.]
[Toru adored his daughter and feared she would fall for the wrong man and be deceived by some scumbag.]
[But actually.]
[What he feared would never happen.]
[Because as a devoted father's girl, Shio would never fall for a second man.]
Phew, good grief.
That only made it worse.
This was an ethical problem.
As a newcomer in her first simulation, Seika had no idea.
In the Kitahara household, a daughter falling for her father had happened more than once.
In the later stages of every simulation, Toru had to be careful around his sweet daughters.
To stop them from pushing him down.
In the last simulation, if not for Yamada Ryo acting as a troublesome mother, Kitahara Suzune would probably have succeeded and ended up together with her father.
[At seventy.]
[Toru stepped away from the company and stayed close to you and his wife. His life had been plain and steady, without any dramatic waves. His name was not known by the world, and he never mastered any exceptional skills. Put him among a crowd of people, and aside from his handsome looks, he was just like anyone else.]
[Sometimes you would talk with him about the days when you were young.]
[You wondered why he had been so persistent about you back then, even ignoring the twelve year age difference.]
[Toru gave this answer]
[The two sides of love are like two icebergs drifting in the sea. Sometimes they meet, sometimes they drift apart, completely beyond their control. To me, being an iceberg means quietly loving the ocean currents and the wind, and when I happen to touch another iceberg, loving it with all my heart.]
[The reason was not complicated.]
[On that freezing winter night, he fell in love with you. Even if you were the larger iceberg, the boy still loved you wholeheartedly.]
[Until the currents pulled you apart.]
[Unable to touch one another.]
[Many years later.]
[In a warm spring.]
[Under the eyes of your family, you passed away at the age of eighty four.]
[After your death.]
[Toru often opened your book Snowbound Youth and read this love letter written just for him.]
[Perhaps he still carried regrets from his youth. Sadly, by the time he realized it, the two of you had already walked toward different endings.]
[Simulation ended.]
"That's it."
Seika let out a long breath.
The simulator was like a delicious poison. Even knowing it blurred the line between reality and fantasy, she could not deny how sweet it tasted.
[Game over.]
[Your life was filled with confusion.]
[As a teenager, you chased your dream and abandoned your family. Not until your mother and brother were hospitalized did you finally wake up.]
[In middle age, when your dream collapsed, you abandoned your lover. Not until your younger sister painfully let him go did you finally pick up the pieces.]
[In old age, seeing through the vanity of the world, you abandoned music and rock and stepped into literature, achieving modest success.]
[Your entire life was full of struggle and confined by society.]
[You represented countless ordinary people, always forced to choose between a wrong answer and another wrong answer.]
[Simulation rating A (for a first attempt, you worked very hard).]
[Advice: do not worry about the age gap. Be brave in pursuing love.]
[Ordinary people may never reach a transcendent state of mind, but the simulator believes that breaking free from society's judgment is something players can easily do.]
[Processing rewards.]
[Growth ability E] (As the big sister, you were raised into a hopeless mess by your younger brother. Absolutely incurable.)
[Growth impact B] (A thousand mile horse can run a thousand miles, but what does that have to do with you? You did nothing except feed him grass.)
[Emotional depth S] (Pfft, hilarious. Even with a god tier opening you managed to crash it. In the end you could not even keep your main wife status.)
[Emotional height S] (He really loved you so much, I could cry.)
[Bonus reward Sisters' Bond] (Bonus +100%)
[Since this is your first playthrough, your reward choices have been greatly increased. You may choose any three of the following six rewards]
[1. Master level guitar performance (You once stood on the Budokan stage, so you have quite the talent.)]
[2. Beautiful memories of your family from this simulation (You will love this. Memories will be gently delivered through dreams.)]
[3. Ageless beauty (Aging speed minus one hundred fifty percent. Before death, your appearance will never drastically change, remaining around thirty years old at worst.)]
[4. The engagement ring given by Toru (Wearing it on your left ring finger will steadily enhance your physical abilities up to three times. It carries the sincere feelings of the boy whose love you once rejected and whose affection had long been left to gather dust.)]
[5. Three hundred million yen (Toru sees money as dirt, but you might enjoy it.)]
[6. Physical strength times 1.6 (The foundation of all revolution.)]
The rewards were excellent.
Seika had spent her spare time reading various power fantasy light novels.
Compared to them, the simulator's cheats were not necessarily inferior.
Though this was partly because it was her first run, and well, the matter of sisters sharing…
Anyway, she needed to decide.
The first option, she was long past chasing dreams, so she had little interest.
So she passed.
The second.
No need to think about it.
The third.
Ageless beauty…
No woman would reject that, and Seika was no exception.
She kept reading.
The engagement ring…
Yes, the one he offered back then when she refused his proposal.
But it only worked if worn on the ring finger?
She should consider it carefully.
Next.
Three hundred million yen?!
Even as an adult who had run a live house, Seika could not help feeling shocked by that much money.
Steady, she could not choose it.
The last one, enhanced physical strength, was appealing too.
"All of them are good. How am I supposed to choose?"
Seika thought for a long time.
In the end.
She decided that choosing 2, 3, and 4 was best.
The ring and the physical strength boost overlapped, so after weighing her options, she chose the engagement ring.
She could always wear it privately and take it off when going out.
If necessary, she could claim she did not know the meaning of wearing it on the ring finger.
No one knew the simulation's contents. Even if her younger brother discovered it, nothing serious would happen.
Alright, this would do.