By my side

[System: Simulation Start!

You saw a blonde girl staring at you on your way home from school. Feeling puzzled, you wanted to find out why and decided to…

A.
Forget it—don’t even bother with her. People stare at me all the time; who does she think she is?

B.
Walk up and ask directly: “What are you looking at?”

C.
Accuse her of secretly photographing you and demand she hand over her phone for inspection.]

Lin Yuxuan felt completely drained just looking at these options. Honestly, they all seemed off.

The first option was definitely out of the question. If she wanted to build a relationship with the target, choosing this would only cause her to miss a valuable opportunity.

As for the third… seriously? Who says something like that? Only someone incredibly self-absorbed would even consider it.

Guess I’ll go with the second one. It does sound kind of confrontational, almost like I’m asking for trouble, but there’s not much else to choose from anyway.

[You chose Option B]

[You walked up to the blonde girl and asked, “What are you looking at?” Through the gap in her bangs, you saw her eyes widen in fear. She clearly thought you were picking a fight. In an instant, she took off running like her life depended on it. You couldn’t possibly catch up. You’d have to wait until the next day to see her again.]

[But the next day, you learned she had transferred schools. You’d never get to know why she was watching you.]

[End of simulation]

[Ending obtained: “What Are You Looking At?”]

[Evaluation: Your careless words completely shattered a girl’s courage to attend school. You didn’t mean any harm, but to this severely socially anxious girl, your words were like shoving a bomb into her arms.]

[Simulation Result: Poor
We’re sorry, but you did not receive any rewards this time.

Remaining simulation attempts: 2]

Huh? Sister?

So I wasted an entire simulation attempt? And got absolutely nothing out of it?

This is so unfair!

Plus, it feels like none of these options were actually reasonable to begin with…

[You may spend one simulation attempt to return to the previous save point and make a different choice.]

“Fine then, let’s try again.”

After all, there isn’t anyone else to simulate with right now.

[Simulation attempts -1, Remaining: 1]

[You saw a blonde girl staring at you on your way home from school. Feeling puzzled, you wanted to find out why and decided to…]

“This time, I’ll pick C.”

The first option is definitely out of the question—if I pick that, I’ll probably just waste another opportunity. So the best bet now seems to be the third.

[You chose Option C]

[You accused her of secretly photographing you and demanded she hand over her phone for inspection.]

[She tremblingly pulled out her phone and reluctantly gave it to you. When you opened her photo album, you were stunned—you saw

multiple pictures of yourself. Some were taken during class, some during breaks, and others along the way to school.]

Lin Yuxuan: ???!

Wait, sister, are you serious? You really did take secret photos of me?!

No wonder not picking this option led to a bad ending.

[You feel furious. You don’t understand why a girl would take so many pictures of you without permission.]

[Tang Yawen started crying pitifully. Sobbing, she apologized and even kowtowed before you, begging, “Please forgive me! I’ll do anything if you’ll just promise not to tell anyone! My whole life will be ruined if you do!”]

“Hmm? Really? Anything?” A gleam of excitement flickered in your eyes.

“Yes… as long as you’re willing, I’ll do anything…” she wept.

Lin Yuxuan felt the story heading toward something… rather unmentionable …

“You’re going to be my ‘personal plaything’ from now on. Be ready whenever I call~”

Your request was extremely unreasonable—almost dehumanizing—but by this point, she had no choice but to agree. You exchanged contact info, and at your insistence, she changed your contact name to “Master.”

Lin Yuxuan: ???

There’s no way I would ever act like this! I’m such a gentle girl! How could I behave so cruelly?

More importantly, this was all forced by the options! I didn’t even have a real choice!

Cut ties! Must distance myself from the version of me inside this simulator! Hmph!

[She explained her reasoning—she’s an artist. Her character designs based on your photos became popular, but when she used yourself as inspiration, no one cared. She can only draw things she has seen in real life, so she resorted to this last resort.]

[To you, though, the reason doesn’t matter. All you care about is that you now have a very useful “doll.”]

[You ordered her to come clean your house every day after school, cook for you, wash your clothes by hand—not in a washing machine—and each grain of rice must be perfectly sized, unbroken, and neatly arranged in the bowl. Her after-school hours and weekends were completely consumed by your demands. But to keep you quiet, she endured it all.]

“That’s so unfair…”

Yuxuan was nearly overwhelmed reading this. This was truly too much!

Yet again, she had no choices—once certain decisions were made, the simulator automatically continued the story without giving her any input.

In a way, this simulator was strangely similar to real life… your power to choose was limited, and most things were beyond your control anyway.

Well… since it’s just a simulation, not reality, might as well keep playing around with it…

“Does anything that happens in the simulator affect reality?” Yuxuan felt a pang of guilt. Even seeing these actions in a simulation made her feel awful—she was starting to feel reluctant to continue.

[Events within the simulator have no connection to reality. It’s just a text-based game; it won’t impact the real world.]

“Okay then, continue the simulation.”

[Simulation continues]

[You enjoyed how obedient Tang Yawen had become, always swallowing her anger silently. But soon, you found her growing numb and lifeless—like a doll. You didn’t like seeing her this way, so you decided to change tactics.]

“Finally having a change of heart? Sounds like things might get better now.”

Lin Yuxuan exhaled in relief.

[You decided to start by showing her some tenderness, only to later crush her completely. You wanted her to experience pain like falling from great heights. You understood that true suffering wasn’t simply despair—it was seeing hope, then losing it.]

“Aaaaah! Oh no! How am I this evil?!” (A cute girl’s expletive)

Lin Yuxuan lost her composure and cursed under the influence of the simulator.

[In the following days, you gradually began showing her smiles. You gently told her, “I’m grateful for everything you’ve done for me. Let’s forget the past—I forgive you. From now on, let’s be friends.”]

[Tang Yawen accepted your offer. Deep down, what she wanted most was a friend. Because of her quiet nature, she barely spoke to anyone in class. Naively, she considered you her “best friend.”]

“Yawen, don’t fall for the bad girl’s tricks!”

Yuxuan was getting anxious, but the events in the simulator wouldn’t change because of her reaction.

[Soon, your bond with Yawen grew stronger. The two of you were always together, inseparable—becoming the envy of everyone around. Yet deep down, you sensed something more than friendship in her feelings for you.]

“Eh? Help! There’s yuri here! Lesbian vibes are literally beside me!” Lin Yuxuan thought the story was once again taking a very strange turn.