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Chapter 281: The Things That Must Be Done in the Future!
🕑 Added 2025-04-11 07:01:04 +0000 UTCThe simulation continued forward.
[Matsuzaka Satou's emotional deficiency had greatly improved.]
[And now, the path before you was clear—you had to decide…]
[1. Introduce her to 'Kessoku Band,' 'LycoReco,' and the other girls. If you truly love her, you shouldn't deceive her. Temporary secrecy won't build a lasting relationship! A lie requires another lie to cover it up, and maintaining that facade would be exhausting.]
[2. Wait until her emotional stability is fully restored before introducing her to 'Kessoku Band,' 'LycoReco,' and the others. It's best not to overwhelm her while she's still recovering.]
[3. A pure love warrior does not perish on the harem route! Dedicate yourself to pure love for a hundred years and elope with her alone!]
[4. Simulate it yourself.]
Three clear choices neatly lined up before Minami.
This confirmed what he had anticipated—now that Matsuzaka Satou's emotional condition had stabilized, introducing her to the other girls in the simulation had become the next major challenge.
Minami's fingers slid across the simulation screen as he analyzed the situation.
"In the previous timeline, the reason Matsuzaka Satou fell into despair, leaving no children behind before passing away from depression, was because her emotional deficiency was never resolved."
But this time—things were different.
With Matsuzaka Sayuri's cooperation—
And his own efforts—
Matsuzaka Satou had gradually regained her emotions.
She was becoming her own person.
So, theoretically—
Even if he introduced her to the other girls in this timeline, there shouldn't be a major problem.
More importantly—
Now that she had started to awaken emotionally, she had already begun asking him about the other simulation targets.
"Keeping it a secret with option two won't work."
Minami let out a breath.
He had already witnessed Matsuzaka Satou's terrifying investigative abilities—how she would follow people, hire lawyers, and track them down.
There was no way to deceive her.
As for option three—the Pure Love Warrior route…
Well, there wasn't anything inherently wrong with it.
From a moral standpoint, choosing pure love was absolutely the right call.
"But… Gotoh-san, Yamada-san, and even the one lying beside me right now—Chisato-san—aren't they all pure love too?"
Minami tapped his fingers against the simulation screen.
His playthrough couldn't just be like the early days—just randomly testing things out.
He needed to find a way to make all the simulation targets coexist.
So even though option three seemed like the right choice—
He had to set it aside for now.
There was no way he could actually abandon the others and run off with just Matsuzaka Satou.
He wasn't that heartless.
With that thought—
Minami chose the first option.
[You realized that keeping the other girls a secret from someone as naturally investigative as Matsuzaka Satou was meaningless.]
[Rather than attempting to deceive her with lies, it was better for you to introduce them to her personally.]
[Your decision was correct.]
[The day before you planned to introduce her to the other girls, you accidentally caught a glimpse of her writing something on a piece of paper.]
[Even though it was only for a brief moment, your keen eyesight allowed you to see what was written—it was a memo detailing her plans to investigate the other love interests you had mentioned.]
[If you had chosen to keep it a secret, things might have taken an entirely different turn.]
[Understanding this, you no longer hesitated and arranged a proper meeting for her to meet the other girls.]
The memory sequence of the event flashed through Minami's mind.
It seemed to be a café somewhere in Tokyo.
Since this was an important conversation—
Minami had reserved an entire private room.
At the same time—
He made sure to inform Matsuzaka Satou about the nature of the meeting.
"Minami-senpai…"
Standing in front of the café's entrance, the pink-haired girl hesitated.
"Hm?"
Minami turned his head toward her.
"…Am I going to be okay?"
For the first time—
Matsuzaka Satou, who rarely showed any emotional turmoil, wore a nervous expression on her delicate face.
After all—this wasn't just any meeting.
She was about to meet the other love interests of Minami.
In other words—
It was as if she were the youngest sister, meeting the older 'wives' of a household for the first time.
How could she be at ease?
After all—
In TV dramas or the shoujo manga that Hida Shouko loved to read—
There was always a common scenario:
A normal girl falls for a charismatic, handsome male lead, only to be thrown into his world and immediately bullied, ignored, mocked, and pushed aside by those already in his circle.
And the worst part—
She knew nothing about these girls.
The uncertainty was what scared her the most.
Beyond the thin wooden doors of the private room—
She could already hear whispers of conversation.
So many people actually like Minami-senpai…?
For the first time—
Matsuzaka Satou wanted to back out.
Maybe she should at least learn more about the personalities of the girls inside before meeting them…
However—
"What's with that reaction?"
Beside her, Minami laughed as he saw her nervous expression.
"Didn't you always want to meet them? You even wrote in your memo that you wanted to meet them. So why are you backing out now? That's not like the Matsuzaka-san I know."
"…I…"
Matsuzaka Satou lifted her pale face.
If this had been the old her—
She might have expressionlessly pulled out a bag full of 'tools' and eliminated the competition one by one.
But now that she had gained emotions—
She couldn't bring herself to do that.
Standing in front of this door—
She felt an unexplainable pressure.
What if she didn't fit in?
What if she wasn't accepted?
"It's fine."
Minami understood her concerns perfectly.
After laughing, he comforted her.
"No matter who's inside, they're all easy to get along with."
"…Really? Minami-senpai?"
She whispered.
"They won't exclude me, ignore me, mock me, or try to drive me out?"
Hearing her words—
Minami almost burst out laughing.
What are you, the protagonist of a shoujo manga?
Did you watch too many soap operas?
Minami shook his head.
It seemed like being in love really made girls overthink everything.
"Don't worry. No one's going to ignore you, exclude you, or bully you."
Minami reached out and patted her head.
"…Okay."
Hearing his words—
Matsuzaka Satou finally relaxed slightly.
Taking a deep breath—
And with Minami's encouragement—
She pushed open the door.
[There was no bullying or hostility waiting for her inside.]
[On the contrary, most of the girls were surprisingly easygoing.]
[In fact, Gotoh Hitori even tried telling a few jokes to ease the atmosphere—though it only made things more awkward.]
[Of course, not everyone was so easygoing—one or two girls were eager to establish their 'seniority' over the newcomer.]
[Leading the charge—was Yamada Ryo.]
[She told Matsuzaka Satou that if she wanted to 'survive' in their group, she needed to pay a 30,000-yen monthly membership fee to the Minami Fan Club.]
[Just as Yamada Ryo extended her hand to accept the money, Ijichi Nijika quickly stopped her, laughed, and warmly welcomed Matsuzaka Satou into the group.]
[Thanks to Nijika, Kita Ikuyo, and Nishikigi Chisato keeping the mood light—]
[The meeting went exceptionally well.]
[And Matsuzaka Satou secretly let out a sigh of relief.]
[She had originally been thinking about what methods she should use to gain acceptance if any of the girls refused to acknowledge her.]
[But now, it seemed that the 'improper tools' she had acquired from Matsuzaka Sayuri wouldn't be needed after all.]
"...?" Minami.
Improper tools?
From Matsuzaka Sayuri?
"Sayuri was already questionable enough before… The 'tools' she gave Satou… they're not, like, ropes or some kind of sedative, are they?"
Minami looked at the simulation screen and shook his head.
It was a good thing that Yamada Ryo's reckless behavior had been stopped by Ijichi Nijika.
Otherwise, there was no telling if Matsuzaka Satou would have ended up tying someone up for a 'bondage game.'
Setting that aside—
"It looks like Option One was the right choice after all."
Minami nodded in satisfaction.
Everything was proceeding smoothly, just as he had predicted.
Just as he had anticipated—
Now that Matsuzaka Satou had gained emotional awareness, she was finding it much easier to interact with the other girls.
But—
That didn't mean he could let his guard down.
The biggest reason for Matsuzaka Satou's emotional stability was that he was always by her side.
"If the day comes when I have my own matters to attend to… if I get too busy to be with her… will she still be able to remain stable?"
That was an issue he couldn't ignore.
A love where one person's entire existence revolved around another was certainly romantic in theory—
But in reality, it was deeply unhealthy.
It wasn't the love of a whole, independent person.
So aside from himself,
Minami hoped that Matsuzaka Satou could find another purpose.
Thinking this, he stroked his chin and turned his attention back to the simulation screen.
New content had appeared.
[Now that she had gained her own emotions, Matsuzaka Satou easily integrated into your circle with the other girls, thanks to your guidance.]
[Her emotions became richer, and her self-awareness grew clearer.]
[She was even able to interact with the others smoothly, even when you weren't by her side.]
[This change was something that brought both you and Matsuzaka Sayuri great relief.]
[Your relationship with her also progressed more smoothly than expected.]
[She was already obedient to you, rarely ever arguing. Even when you teased her, she would only blush without ever getting angry.]
[But you knew—her emotional stability was entirely dependent on your presence.]
[Whenever you were absent for extended periods, her mood would fluctuate.]
[So, you decided to help her cultivate interests outside of you.]
"Have you ever thought about doing something else?"
Sitting on the cushion, Matsuzaka Satou tilted her head upon hearing Minami's question.
Then, she nodded.
"Yes."
"Oh? What is it? Tell me."
Minami's interest was piqued. He put down his phone.
"Being with Minami-senpai."
Her response was almost instantaneous.
Minami couldn't help but sigh and shake his head.
"I meant something that you want to do."
He deliberately emphasized the word "you."
But—
"This is what I want to do."
Matsuzaka Satou blinked her pink eyes and replied without hesitation.
"…Then what about something other than being with me?"
"Hmm…? Going shopping with Minami-senpai."
A thoughtful response.
"…And?"
"Watching the summer festival fireworks with Minami-senpai."
"…And?"
"And with Minami-senpai—"
"…Okay, okay, that's enough."
Minami shook his head, speechless, and cut her off.
"What I meant is—aside from me. Something that doesn't involve me. Do you have anything else you want to do?"
"…No."
Her response was instant.
Matsuzaka Satou tilted her head and asked with confusion,
"If I can't do it with Minami-senpai… what's the point?"
To be fair—
Being relied on this much by a girl did give Minami a slight sense of pride.
But—
It didn't change his goal.
"It is meaningful."
Minami took her hand, using the gesture to focus her attention.
"Now that your emotions have returned, you shouldn't only be thinking about feelings."
"Look at Ryo, Hitori, and the others. They like me, sure. But they also have goals for their future—like their careers as rock musicians."
Yes.
Aside from loving him—
Every girl in the group had a personal goal.
That was what made them whole, independent individuals.
So now that Matsuzaka Satou had gained emotions—
What was the first thing she wanted to do?
Minami hoped she would think about it—
Seriously.
Not because of him.
But from her own perspective.
