Something Wrong with the Simulator

[Toomo Ayame (Rin) left—taking with her all your regrets and lingering feelings.]

[You’ve regretted it countless times.
Why didn’t you confess back then?
Were you afraid of being rejected, like Dong Qian?
Or was it something else?
You couldn’t say.
But one question haunted you:
If you had just said “I love you,”
could you have stopped her from leaving?]

“Not… you didn’t even give me a choice here…
How am I supposed to stop her?
Did I mess up earlier? Where did I go wrong?”

“Wait… this simulation feels off…”

“It’s… too normal.
No ecchi scenes, no morally questionable moves—
nothing.
It just feels alien, like a completely different simulator.”

“I have a bad feeling…
If this keeps going, I won’t win.”

[Rin left forever.
Even she didn’t know if she’d ever see you again.
You and Qian Qian could only rely on each other.]

“This sounds like… she’s dead…
And me and Class Rep ‘relying on each other’?
Now I feel like we’re some kind of orphan and widow…”

“Hmm, my chest is bigger than hers, so I must be the mom~”

Lin Yuxuan started thinking her usual shameful thoughts again…

[During this time, you and Dong Qian supported each other through your darkest days.]

[Even though Rin was gone,
you and Dong Qian didn’t stop training.
You kept moving forward.]

[“As long as we keep moving forward, the road will keep expanding.”
Dong Qian’s words stayed deep in your heart.]

[You walked side by side,
believing that somewhere far away,
Rin was watching over you across the sea.]

[Your bond with Dong Qian grew stronger.]

[Dong Qian slowly realized—her feelings for you weren’t just friendship.
She loved Rin, yes… but she loved you too.]

[On a certain Valentine’s Day,
Dong Qian confessed to you on the操场.
She prepared 99 roses—symbolizing eternal love.
The students around cheered, chanting for you to accept.
Faced with her confession, you choose…]

[a, accept]
[b, reject]

“This… I need to think…”

“Right now, this run is already lost.
I can’t win. So I might as well play around.”

“Compared to accepting her,
I’d rather reject her—
just to see what happens if I break her heart…”

Lin Yuxuan wanted to go wild.
After all, this team collapse was mostly Dong Qian’s fault.
A little payback was fair.
And hey—it’s just a game.

“I pick b. I reject!”

[You selected option b.]

[Though Dong Qian’s confession deeply moved you,
you still turned her down.]

[Dong Qian completely broke down.
This was her second failed confession.
The cheering crowd dispersed, disappointed.
Dong Qian threw the roses to the ground and ran away, sobbing.]

[You felt terrible—not for her, but for the roses.
They were innocent.
So you picked them up.]

“HAHAHAHAHA! I don’t care that Qian Qian ran away,
but I’m sad about the flowers?!
HAHAHA! I can’t—this simulation’s plot…
I’m losing it!”

[After this incident, Dong Qian transferred schools.]

[From then on, you never saw her again.
You never received another message.]

[You never made it to the end with Rin.
Or with Dong Qian.]

[Simulation ended.]

[Evaluating simulation results…]

[Simulation Goal: Complete Toomo Ayame (Rin)’s romance route — Failed]
[Challenge Mode Goal: Find the Golden Apple and give it to Rin — Failed]

“Not… I didn’t even see the Golden Apple!
Where the hell was it hidden?!”

“This simulation’s different from usual.
Normally, the game would’ve ended when Rin left.
But it kept going until both storylines concluded…
Could it be…
Dong Qian was actually a key piece between me and Rin?”

Lin Yuxuan thought this was very likely.

The story probably revolved heavily around Dong Qian.
She might be the crucial key—
but Lin Yuxuan still couldn’t figure out how.

[Your simulation result: Poor]

[Unfortunately, you earned no rewards this time.]

[Because you activated Challenge Mode,
drawing a consolation prize…]

“At least I turned on Challenge Mode.
Otherwise, this run would’ve been a total loss.”

[You obtained: “Guitar Level 1”]

“It’s only Level 1, but it’ll do.
I can use this in the next run.”

[Restart this simulation?]

“Restart.
Wait—since I don’t have manual save points,
which nodes can I choose?”

[System: The simulator has autosave.
Don’t worry.
Every decision point is automatically saved.
You can restart from any node with choices.
For repeated segments, you may choose to skip.]

“Perfect! I needed this feature!”

“Find me that branch where I could’ve picked Dong Qian.
This time, I’ll try her route.
Let’s see if the game ends differently.”

Lin Yuxuan’s logic was clear.
If the Rin route failed,
maybe she should detour to the Dong Qian route first.
If that failed, she could always try again.

[Recently, Rin seemed… off.
She often went alone to the rooftop,
standing in the cold wind.
Even you, her “other half,” couldn’t understand her thoughts.]

[So you decide…]

[a, go talk to her and find out what’s wrong]
[b, pay more attention to Dong Qian’s condition]
[c, assign Rin more practice—keep her busy so she forgets her sadness]

“Yes, yes, this is the part!
This time, I pick b.
Let’s see what happens on Dong Qian’s romance route.”

[You selected option b.
Compared to the mischievous Rin,
you felt Dong Qian—the sensitive, fragile one—deserved more attention.]

[One day, you went to Dong Qian’s house for your usual tutoring session.
You brought up Rin’s situation—
after all, she was the most common topic between you.]

[Dong Qian said she was worried about Rin too.
You shared your concerns.
But more than that, you wanted to know—
how did she truly feel about Rin?]

[Dong Qian confessed her love for Rin.
She’d been secretly in love with her all along.]

[Then, she pulled out a family heirloom—
a golden apple.
It was a sculpture made of solid gold,
luxurious and majestic.
Even the leaves were crafted from matte-finished gold.]

[She planned to give the Golden Apple to Rin as a token of eternal love.
It was her family’s tradition—
passed down to the one they believed was their true soulmate.
Now in Dong Qian’s hands,
this treasure had survived three generations.
Though weathered by time,
it still shone with dazzling brilliance.]

“Woah! The Golden Apple was in her hands this whole time?!
That damn simulator made me search for it—
I even got attacked by a ghost trying to find it—
WAAAH! All that suffering for nothing?!
This is bullying!”