Tokyo: Starting with a fake boyfriend

"Master, Fukuhara just contacted us, saying it's about the task I assigned last time."

Upon hearing his subordinate's report, Hojo Ryoma immediately got into the third car and began reading the investigation report on the tablet computer handed to him by his subordinate.

Shiratori Osamu's Observation Report

He opened the file and began to read it.

"After helping Xiaoxue get a divorce, this kid was able to resist temptation, knew the importance of knowing when to back down, and actively kept his distance from Xiaonan, never going back to that house again... He's brave, resourceful, and self-aware; he's truly a talented person."

Hojo Ryoma finished reading and was very satisfied.

He truly deserves the title of "seven-day speedrunner of the Yamabuki family"—the talent who cured his daughter's love-struck brain is extraordinary.

He then opened the second document.

"Miss Minami's Report on Shiratori Osamu"

"The overall assessment is infatuation... Konan is infatuated with Shiratori Osamu. Every day after school, she seems to want to invite him to walk home with her. She gets very sad and upset every time she is rejected. Today, she finally succeeded in inviting him and can't stop smiling."

Hojo Ryoma, who was initially in high spirits, became uncertain after reading the report, unsure whether to be happy or sad.

The good news is that he has completely dealt with Yamabuki Tomoya today, avenging his great grudge and ensuring that his daughter's romantic obsession will not relapse in the future.

What's worrying is that this tendency to be obsessed with love seems to be hereditary, and now it's his granddaughter's turn.

Chapter 102 Minami Yamabuki is very happy

The same words can evoke completely different feelings in different contexts.

Just like the school bells on Mondays and Fridays, they are exactly the same, but the former makes people feel long and tormented, while the latter makes them feel liberated and free.

"I'm planning to go to the beach this weekend, do you want to come?"

"Great! Let's go to the beach before summer vacation starts, otherwise it'll be too crowded during summer vacation."

"Final exams are next week, how about we hold a study session together?"

In Class 1, Grade 3 of Takeno High School, whether they were top students or poor students, everyone was invigorated after the school bell rang and began to make arrangements for the weekend.

"I wonder if Professor Shinonome will give me extra lessons this weekend..." Listening to everyone's discussion, Shiratori Osamu was also looking forward to this weekend.

After triggering the turning point of fate, "Shionome Mizuki's Revenge," he realized that all four options offered the reward of winning the heart of the beauty. He had figured out that Shionome-sensei had feelings for him.

To be more precise, it should be that Ms. Shinonome harbors romantic feelings for him.

After realizing this, Shiratori Osamu's affection for her skyrocketed.

There's an old saying that goes, "It's like climbing a mountain for a man to pursue a woman, but it's like piercing a thin veil for a woman to pursue a man."

Although Shinonome-sensei didn't pursue him, it was enough for him to sense that she had those feelings for him through the reward at the turning point in his life.

Why don't guys like pursuing girls anymore?

On the one hand, girls are becoming increasingly difficult to pursue; on the other hand, there's the fear of having one's sincerity misplaced.

Because boys are very realistic and self-aware, they usually estimate the success rate based on existing conditions before setting goals and taking action.

If the estimated success rate is lower than expected, people will assume it's hopeless and give up.

"There's a high probability that Ms. Shinonome will want to tutor me, even though she can't do anything but accompany me. But wasn't that what happened last Sunday?" After some thought and deduction, Shiratori Osamu quickly came to a conclusion.

Although he was studying at home alone this weekend, which was the most efficient and fastest way to learn, as he could skip the commute, people are always greedy.

He not only wanted to study and improve his grades, but also wanted to spend more time with Mr. Dongyun and develop a relationship with him.

After arranging his weekend, Shiratori Osamu looked up at the slender, graceful figure in the first row of the classroom: "Before that, I need to make an appearance at the Yamabuki family's place."

After these few days of polite refusals, the class monitor should have begun to realize his attitude of "not contacting unless necessary and not renewing the lease when the term expires."

Actually, he was also heartbroken when he saw how sad and upset the class monitor was after he rejected her... because he didn't like hurting others, especially such a good girl as the class monitor.

But there was nothing he could do; the fault lay not with him, but with the class monitor.

He maintained a distance from both sides from the very beginning, so that when the mission ended, it would be easier to say goodbye, like parting ways with a smile and saying 'It was a pleasure working together'.

As a result, the class monitor, for some reason, secretly slept next to him while he was in bed, and it even escalated to the point where they would sneak into each other's rooms at night.

If the class monitor's dependence wasn't frighteningly high, far exceeding his expectations, and if the strategy of "better to suffer a short pain than a long one" hadn't been so ineffective, he wouldn't have done this.

"Why does she sleep next to me? There's half a bed between us, she's shy, she's timid, and she even needs a lot of courage to hold my hand during her desensitization training... Is her sleeping posture really that bad?"

Thinking again about Yamabuki Minami's perplexing behavior, Shiratori Osamu was completely baffled, feeling as if he had overlooked something, but he couldn't figure it out.

While pondering, he brought up the system panel and found the page where the world lines had been converged.

[Minami Yamabuki's Family Crisis (Continued)]

[Option 1: Help her to the end, continue to help Minami Yamabuki, and pretend to be her boyfriend (the blond guy) to accompany her home to deal with her father.]

(Rewards: Character design - Sincerity, Minami Yamabuki's study notes, Minami Yamabuki's private tutoring, sharing a bed, 60 yen per month)

Sharing a bed and pillow.

Not sharing a bed, but sharing a pillow?

"No way, is the system really that cunning? It really is exactly what it says."

Upon rereading the options and rewards from that time, Shiratori Osamu was completely stunned after realizing what had happened.

In retrospect, the Perfect Worldline system actually foreshadowed the current situation from the very beginning, but he simply didn't think about it in detail back then.

There was nothing he could do. He wasn't a narcissist, so how could he have imagined that even though he had been so restrained and hadn't even considered doing this, a shy girl like Yamabuki Minami would actually take the initiative to come close to him and share a bed?

"From now on, the system's options must be carefully considered word by word, and cannot be understood using habitual thinking."

Upon realizing that he had unknowingly fallen into a trap again, Shiratori Osamu gasped and secretly made up his mind.

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

Outside the school building, Minami Yamabuki, carrying her schoolbag, stood under the shade of a tree as usual, watching over the school building entrance.

"What if Xiu Jun doesn't come to my house today?"

"No, no, he promised he wouldn't leave."

"It's Friday today. Xiu Jun has been busy for so long, he should be done with his business by now. He will definitely come."

"Xiu Jun didn't intend to leave me, nor did he intend to go anywhere. He was just too busy."

As school was about to end, Minami Yamabuki, having been rejected three times in a row, felt uneasy and could only keep encouraging herself.

"Xiu Jun has come out!"

After waiting for a while, Minami Yamabuki suddenly saw someone walk out of the school building, and her heart skipped a beat.

As usual, Xiu Jun quickly found her.

After successfully making eye contact, Minami Yamabuki took out her phone, woke up the screen, and sent the message she had prepared beforehand.

Minami Yamabuki: "Shu-kun, are you free today?"

As soon as the message was sent, Minami Yamabuki looked up at Osamu Shiratori, who was also holding a phone in the distance. Her fingers were so tight that they turned white, and she was extremely nervous.

If Xiu Jun still refuses to come to her house on Friday, even if she is unwilling, she will have to consider one possibility.

That is the possibility that 'Xiu Jun is a big liar; he is not a trustworthy person.'

Soon, Minami Yamabuki's phone vibrated slightly a few times.

"Gurgle..."

The appointed moment arrived once again. Because of being rejected three times in a row, Minami Yamabuki was so nervous that she swallowed hard and didn't dare to look at the messages.

However, no matter how scared she was, she had to watch.

"Xiujun, please, don't lie to me..."

After pleading silently in her heart, Minami Yamabuki finally looked down at the smartphone screen.

"!!!"

When Minami Yamabuki saw the contents of her phone screen, her body suddenly trembled, tears welled up in her eyes, and she couldn't help but cover her mouth with her hand.

These are not tears of sadness or grief, but tears of joy.

Xiu Jun: "I'm free."

This reply was brief, yet it was more beautiful than any love confession in the world.

Upon seeing this message, Minami Yamabuki's heart, which had been tormented by fear and anxiety and was on the verge of collapse, was once again filled with an unparalleled sense of security.

"That's great, that's great! Xiu Jun really wouldn't lie to me. He really has been busy with other things these past few days."

After days of anxious waiting, she finally received the reward she deserved. At this moment, Yamabuki Minami really wanted to cry because she hadn't trusted the wrong person and hadn't misjudged him.

Xiu Jun is different from his father; he is not a liar.

Although everyone says that Xiu Jun used to fight, smoke, drink, and race cars, always surrounded by women, changing girlfriends as quickly as changing clothes, and was a particularly promiscuous and bad guy... she knows that Xiu Jun is essentially a good man, and he is different from others.

Just as she was about to cry with excitement, her phone vibrated again; there was a new message.

Xiu Jun: "Let's go to your house, but it'll attract too much attention if we go together. Follow me on the way home from school."

After reading the message, Yamabuki Minami looked up and saw that Xiu-kun, who was a few dozen meters away, had walked away as usual.

Seeing this, Minami Yamabuki didn't stay where she was this time. She wiped away the mist from the corners of her eyes and followed after them with a heart full of joy.

Maintaining a distance of several dozen meters, her face was beaming with an inescapable smile, her mouth agape in a wide grin.

"Hehehe... Xiu-jun is finally done with his work. He can come to my house again from now on."

"It's been a while since we did any desensitization exercises. Can we hold hands with him again today?"

"It felt really comfortable hugging Xiu-jun last time. Actually, in theory, hugging can be considered a desensitization exercise for couples, right?"

"Mom will be very happy to see Xiu Jun and me going home together later, since she has been wanting to thank Xiu Jun properly these past few days."

"Mom said that Grandpa will be coming when we move tomorrow. I think Xiujun will be very happy to hear that, right?"

Gazing at the tall figure ahead, Minami Yamabuki's mind was racing.

Four days, four days!

She doesn't know how she got through those four days.

She hadn't been able to speak to Xiu Jun since that Tuesday morning.

Although they were classmates, she could talk to Xiu-jun if she wanted to.

However, she was worried that if she suddenly ran over to talk to Xiu Jun in the classroom, it might cause trouble for him and disturb his studies, so this is how things turned out.

The four days without Xiu Jun were really hard to get through. I felt lonely and isolated, but it's okay!

Because after waiting for several days and finally getting what she wanted, she was completely convinced of one thing.

"Xiu Jun is the most trustworthy person!"

Gazing at the figure she had longed for day and night, and thinking of Xiu Jun returning to her side, Yamabuki Minami's smile was as radiant as a blooming flower, her heart filled with joy and excitement, and even the air she breathed tasted sweet.

At that moment, she felt truly happy, as if she possessed the whole world.

Chapter 103 doesn't seem like acting.

Shibuya, Meiji Jingu Gaien, luxury apartment building, 16th floor, Hojo family.

After several days, once the property was formally divided, the house number that had previously been marked with the Yamabuki surname was now changed to the Hojo surname.

Wearing a purple, fitted knitted dress, Hojo Yuki, with her jet-black hair flowing naturally, nestled on the black sofa in the living room, her gentle and delicate face filled with worry.

"It's Friday today, will Shiratori-kun come?"

Hojo Yuki looked up at the wall clock, realizing her daughter would be back soon, and couldn't help but sigh softly.

"Why did Shiratori-kun suddenly stop coming?"

"What exactly has he been busy with these days?"

"Is it because he has too strong a sense of boundaries? It's just me and Xiaonan in this house, and he feels it's inconvenient for him to visit as a grown man, so he doesn't plan to come again."

"What if he never comes again? I haven't properly thanked him yet, nor have I asked him what he meant by that sentence."

She's been very troubled and disappointed these past few days, and every day she thinks that Shiratori-kun will come back with Minami.

However, for four consecutive days, Shiratori-kun was nowhere to be seen.