Tokyo: Oreimo

She moved her lips.

"Choose who makes you happy, choose who dies, choose to let Okabe and Mayuri be together, choose to make Makise Kurisu destined to disappear from the very beginning."

"Just like I am in real life."

"You chose the Giantess."

"I chose her from the very beginning."

When Ling Nai said those words, it felt like something was blocking her throat.

When she saw Makise Kurisu die in the game, she felt that the ending was too cruel.

But now she suddenly realizes that perhaps what's even crueler is that Makise Kurisu never had a choice in the first place.

Her fate was chosen by Rintaro Okabe, by Ryosuke, and by the person sitting in front of the computer typing on the keyboard.

Send her a text message to let her live for a few dozen more hours, and then tell her at the end, "I'm sorry, you have to die because Mayuri is more important than you."

Ling buried her face in Ryosuke's chest, her eyes beginning to burn.

It's not because of Makise Kurisu.

It's because of her.

"...I don't want to be an assistant."

Her voice was squeezed out from between her teeth, trembling slightly.

"I don't want to be destined to disappear from the very beginning."

“I don’t want to be saved by you with a text message, only to be told at the end, ‘Sorry, you still have to die.’”

"I don't want to live for more than a few dozen hours in your story."

Her fingers gripped the front of his T-shirt so tightly that her knuckles turned white.

"I want to live on forever, to live in your story."

"The final outcome of surviving to the end."

"Live until the day you take your eyes off her."

As Ling Nai finished speaking, she suddenly felt like an idiot.

What's the point of talking to someone who's asleep? They can't hear you anyway.

When he wakes up tomorrow morning, he will still smile and say "good morning" to her, and she will still blush and reply with "good morning." Then the two of them will continue to pretend that nothing has happened and continue to maintain that thin, fragile "brother-sister" relationship that could break at any moment.

It's as if nothing has changed.

But she knew that some things had changed.

Things changed starting from Christmas Eve.

Can not go back.

There's no going back now.

Ling Nai lifted her face from his chest and looked at his face in the darkness.

She stared at that face for a long time.

Then, very lightly, like a thief, she pressed her lips against his.

"That last time doesn't count; you were kissing the Female Titan then. This time it really counts..."

Ling Nai blushed and pointed her index finger at Ryosuke's nose. She noticed that Ryosuke's eyelashes suddenly blinked because of her gesture.

The girl was startled by this.

She thought she had woken the other person up.

But after observing for a while, Ryosuke showed no sign of opening his eyes, which relieved him.

"What? Even if you're asleep, you still have to listen to me...."

The girl suddenly wished that Ryosuke was awake, so that he could know her feelings.

But she was also very scared.

If this guy suddenly opens his eyes, I might actually faint from fright.

It's just too embarrassing to say those words out loud.

The girl pressed her forehead against his chest again, her nose brushing against the fabric of his T-shirt, her eyes tightly closed.

"...Let's stay a little longer."

She said it very softly.

"I wish it could stay like this forever."

.....

The girl in my arms was breathing evenly, clearly falling asleep.

In the pitch-black night, something was reflecting the moonlight.

Ryosuke opened his eyes and held Ling Nai's hand. He could feel the softness under his fingertips. The girl's waist had not an ounce of fat, but he dared not make the slightest movement.

"This is a development I never dared to dream of..."

For two consecutive mornings, Ling Nai's hair appeared on the bed sheets.

One was accidental, but two made him suspicious.

Given the girl's unusual behavior these past few days, even if Ryosuke is slow to notice, he couldn't possibly be completely oblivious.

So tonight he was careful; the door was still locked, but he didn't actually fall asleep.

We caught them red-handed.

Something he found unbelievable actually happened.

Ling Nai has really launched a night raid.

It seemed that playing Steins Gate had put her in a bad mood; when she crawled into bed, you could hear the girl sniffling.

She probably cried.

He thought she was there to cause him trouble and planned to scare her before she woke him up.

But to my utter surprise, the guy just snuggled into my arms and rubbed against my chest.

When he was unsure whether he should wake up, he sensed the girl muttering something, and then it was as if he heard something he shouldn't have heard.

"That last time doesn't count; you were kissing the Female Titan then. This time it really counts..."

"..."

When Ling Nai kissed me, my heart almost jumped out of my throat.

"That time before...which time was it?"

So, this isn't the first time?

Ryosuke recalled that he had vague feelings the night before last, so if that's the case...

Could I have done something really bad to her the night before last?

I remember that I was in a dream, and I kissed Saori passionately.

"A sin!"

Ryosuke twitched the corner of his mouth.

Looking at the whorl of hair on the blonde girl's head in his arms, his mind was in turmoil.

There's no doubt that he likes Saori, but his feelings for Ayano don't seem to be the pure brotherly love he imagined.

Feeling the warmth in her arms, she could no longer treat Ling Nai as her younger sister under these circumstances.

Every word he hears tonight will become a thread, tearing open the thin "brother-sister" relationship between him and her, creating an irreparable rift.

He could continue to pretend to be asleep, pretend he didn't hear anything, greet her as usual the next morning, sit at the same table to eat breakfast as usual, and maintain that secure relationship that could break down at any moment.

Or he opens his eyes.

And then what? What could he say? Say, "I like you too"? And what about Saori?

Ryosuke finds that he can't choose any of the options.

It's not that he didn't want to choose, it's that he didn't dare to choose. He has written countless branching paths in his stories and designed countless choices for his characters, each choice leading to a different ending.

But now, lying on this bed with a girl curled up in his arms, showing him her heart, he couldn't even press a single option.

Because this isn't a game, there are no save files to load, no walkthroughs to consult, and no timeline that allows him to hold two people's hands at the same time.

At this point, all you can do is continue pretending to be asleep.

Chapter 221 "The Stone Gate of Destiny on a Boundary Level" (Chapter 4200)

Early the next morning.

Ryosuke was woken up by his alarm clock.

Just like the previous two days, at exactly seven o'clock, my phone started buzzing on the bedside table.

The difference was that he wasn't asleep at all.

He remained in the same position all night, his arm numb from being used as a pillow by Ling Nai, but he dared not pull it out.

The girl's breath brushed evenly against his collarbone, her golden hair cascading over his chest, rising and falling gently with each breath.

At 5:30 a.m., Ling Nai carefully slipped out of his arms.

He closed his eyes, listening to the sound of her gently opening the door, the soft rustling of her bare feet on the wooden floor in the hallway, and the click of the door next door closing.

Then he opened his eyes and stared at the ceiling until the alarm clock rang.

Ryosuke sat up and rubbed his numb arm. Two long golden hairs lay side by side on the bedside table. Including this one, it should be the third one.

He didn't pick them up again.

While washing up, the face in the mirror showed obvious signs of fatigue, and the dark circles under her eyes were no better than Ling Nai's.