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Chapter 316: Miss Nishikigi’s LV5 Execution Ability
🕑 Added 2025-04-29 13:35:42 +0000 UTCMinami had a dream.
A dream so sweet and filled with happiness that it made him reluctant to wake up.
In the dream, he had overcome all of life's obstacles.
He was married to the girls he loved and they had children together. Their shared, beautiful creations of love.
It was, without a doubt, a dream celebrating pure happiness.
In the dream, each girl had reached the perfect ending, almost like in the ideal simulations he had experienced.
There were no regrets.
No sorrow.
Minami felt a kind of happiness he had never known before.
The beautiful, gentle wives.
The adorable children who loved him as their only father.
It was a world free of tragedy and regrets...
Here, Hitori was no longer plagued by anxiety or inferiority.
Yamada Ryo's father had never fallen ill.
Chisato Nishikigi had a strong, healthy heart.
Rio Futaba was never lost.
Satou Matsuzaka had no self-destructive tendencies, loving him wholeheartedly.
Everything was perfect...
Staring at the radiant faces of his wives around him,
Minami couldn't help but feel—
This is too perfect. It almost feels fake.
He reached out his hand instinctively.
"Uh?!"
He snapped awake with a start.
Opening his eyes, Minami sat up slightly, holding his head.
Looking around, there were no wives by his side.
There were also no children clinging around him.
All that surrounded him was the familiar ceiling of the first floor of STARRY,
and the hardcover romance novel he had left open on the round table the night before.
Everything he had just experienced felt like a mirage.
The moment he reached out for it, the dreamlike world shattered like a soap bubble.
But when he looked back, it still felt like it had truly happened.
"Haa..."
Minami shook his head.
But even that small gesture couldn't drive away the vividness of the dream.
It truly felt like just moments ago, he had lived as the Minami in that dream.
Married to the girls he loved, living a perfectly happy, smooth life.
"What... was that?"
He didn't ignore the strange experience.
Frowning, he pressed his fingers to his temples.
The lingering sense of reality still hadn't faded.
It felt almost like he had unknowingly conducted a "Direct Simulation" inside the dream.
But when he reached out to open his simulation page—
There was no change in the Affection Points.
And it didn't have the concrete, grounded sensation that came with the real "Direct Simulations."
The dream was hazy, like mist.
Even now, Minami could only vaguely recall fragmented pieces of it.
This surreal feeling...
It reminded him of what the girls had told him after each happy ending simulation:
It felt like a vivid, real dream... as if, just once, they had truly lived those happy days together.
But...
"Hitori, Chisato, and Ryo don't have simulators in their possession..."
Minami shook his head again.
Right.
If Yamada Ryo, Hitori, and the others had the same simulators as him,
then it would make sense for him to share dream-like memories of their happy endings.
But based on his long observation...
Neither the members of Kessoku Band, nor the girls at LycoReco,
nor even Akane, Rio, or Satou had anything that resembled a simulator.
So then...
"Could it be the 'Hearts of Love' that caused it?"
Minami tilted his head and swiped to open the simulator page.
Under his gaze—
the item inventory slowly opened.
The "Hearts of Love," sorted starting with "Dependence," then "Loyalty," "Passion," "Devotion," "Admiration," and "Trust," were neatly lined up.
Without even realizing it, he had already collected six Hearts of Love.
And throughout this time, Minami had been wondering what their purpose was, but he had found no answers.
Even after gathering more than half, there was still no clear effect.
But—
"If that dream just now was caused by the Hearts of Love..."
He fell into thought, his clear eyes glancing over the Hearts of Love displayed.
The idea that the dream came from the Hearts of Love... was only a guess.
After all, it was just a dream.
A dream that felt much more vivid than usual.
Thinking that,
Minami shook his head again, putting the idea aside for now and getting up to wash.
Today, his destination was LycoReco.
Not to collect more Hearts of Love.
But because, after all the time he had spent preparing for exams,
he had been neglecting Chisato and Takina a bit.
Since he still had a few days before going to Akita,
he planned to spend time at LycoReco—
and maybe even invite Chisato, Takina, and Satou to visit Akita together.
After all,
there was no rush to complete the Heart collection.
"No need to hurry."
Exactly.
No need to hurry—
Finishing his morning routine and throwing on a jacket,
Minami raised his hand.
Time to head out!
To LycoReco!
And then...
"Ah?"
Minami let out a surprised noise.
Because standing right in front of him was Mika, the manager.
And beside him—
Chisato Nishikigi was grinning brightly at him.
Takina Inoue sighed softly,
but her gentle eyes were locked warmly onto Minami.
And behind them—
Satou Matsuzaka was blinking her wide, pure pink eyes,
curiously looking at him and the other girls she had seen in her dreams.
But none of that was the main point.
The real kicker was—
"System Notice: Host has collected the girl's Heart of Love (Future)."
"System Notice: Host has collected the girl's Heart of Love (Tranquility)."
"System Notice: Host has collected the girl's Heart of Love (Purity)."
Three consecutive notifications popped up on his simulation page.
Minami, who had intended to take it slow, was utterly dumbfounded.
He hadn't expected that besides Chisato and Takina—
even Satou Matsuzaka would show up at LycoReco.
He had wanted to slow down his progress.
But in an instant, everything had leaped forward.
Minami could only stand there speechless, thinking back to how he had just arrived at LycoReco...
Traveling from his room at STARRY to LycoReco? He had needed to take a train, then walk about 500 meters into a residential district.
It took about 40 minutes total.
In Tokyo, where transportation was highly developed, this distance wasn't anything significant.
After getting off the train and walking a little more, the familiar LycoReco sign had appeared before his eyes.
Unlike the quiet and struggling shop it once was, thanks to Minami's hands-on training,
Takina Inoue, who had always had some talent for cooking, was now capable of managing the café to a decent degree.
Now...
Even though it was just around 10 AM,
LycoReco already had a good number of customers sipping coffee and tasting desserts.
The change was dramatic.
Minami smiled, feeling satisfied.
Even without him, LycoReco could now stand on its own.
Very good. Very nice.
Thinking so, he had pushed open the door.
The cheerful chime of the entrance bell rang.
And immediately—a bright, lively voice full of infectious energy greeted him:
"Welcome! How many in your party—ah! Minami-kun!"
It started as a cheerful greeting,
but ended in a burst of delighted surprise from the golden-haired girl.
"You're here!"
Chisato practically bounced over to him,
her bright crimson eyes shining like dancing flames.
"Yeah."
Just looking at her, was enough to sweep away any lingering gloom from his day.
Minami nodded, patting her head,
and then glanced around curiously.
"By the way... where's Takina?"
Normally, the black-haired Takina would be behind the counter helping out.
But now, there was no sign of her anywhere.
Even in the back kitchen.
That felt very strange.
Takina Inoue wasn't the type to vanish during working hours.
Minami, puzzled, swept his gaze around.
Noticing his searching look—
Chisato giggled mischievously.
Her lively eyes sparkled as she whispered:
"Don't worry about Takina.
Since you're here now... you'll get a biiig surprise~!"
"Surprise...?"
Minami raised an eyebrow and glanced at Chisato Nishikigi.
He noticed a mischievous, satisfied smile playing on her face, as if this golden-haired girl was secretly plotting something behind his back.
Minami couldn't help but arch his eyebrow higher.
Without a shred of hesitation, he reached out and pinched her soft, delicate cheeks:
"Chisato, what exactly are you scheming?"
"Mm-mm-mm!"
Chisato's eyes widened in panic.
"N-no! I'm not scheming anything!"
It was obviously a lie.
Just a moment ago, she had been grinning at him for no reason.
And now she wanted him to believe nothing was going on?
Minami didn't buy it for a second.
Still, since he couldn't get anything out of her mouth for now,
he decided to change his approach.
"Where's Takina?"
He let go of Chisato's cheeks and asked.
"Um... she's with Manager Mika."
Chisato mumbled, rubbing her reddened cheeks.
This time, at least, she told the truth without trying to cover anything up.
"Oh—so in other words, you're saying whatever you and Takina are scheming also involves Mika-san?"
Minami deliberately dragged out his words, putting extra emphasis on "scheming."
"Uhh..."
Under his scrutinizing gaze, Chisato's eyes clearly flickered with panic.
But she quickly covered it up with an innocent expression like,
"Eh? What are you talking about?"
"Nooo, Minami-kun, Mika-san is just helping Takina with some stuff—
how would I know anything about it?
Eh?! Minami-kun, wait! Don't go upstairs! There's really nothing up there!"
Seeing Minami wordlessly striding toward the second-floor manager's office,
Chisato panicked.
She lunged to stop him—
but only grabbed at air.
Minami was already stepping up the stairs.
"Really, there's nothing there!"
"Listen to me, Minami-kun! Don't look inside!"
"Okay, okay! I'll confess!
I just wanted Takina to sign a marriage registration form with you!
So I asked Mika-san to help! It's probably already done,
so seriously, you don't need to check!"
"..."
Minami.
Listening to Chisato's flustered, half-truths, he was more convinced than ever...
This girl clearly had never heard of "The Boy Who Cried Wolf."
Her credibility with him was sinking fast.
Completely ignoring the desperate, energetic Chisato trying to stop him,
Minami strode straight to the manager's office door.
"Noooo—Minami-kun!"
Chisato cried out, frantically throwing out wild excuses:
"There's a top-secret government operation hidden in there!
We're actually undercover national-level agents!
If you open that door and expose our secret, it could cause an irreversible catastrophe!
I'm serious! You have to trust me!"
She looked so serious, as if the next second, secret agents would burst out of the door and arrest him.
However—
Minami really wanted to tell Chisato:
This isn't the set of Lycoris Recoil.
This is a slice-of-life series.
Rolling his eyes, he gently pulled the golden-haired girl aside.
Without hesitation, he placed his hand on the doorknob.
Turned it.
And pushed the door open.
And then—
he saw it.
Inside the manager's office,
Takina Inoue was speaking quietly with Manager Mika.
Their expressions were focused, serious, as if discussing something important.
But that wasn't what caught his attention.
What did—
was the pink-haired girl standing nearby,
listening intently to their conversation.
And in front of them, Mika seemed to be explaining something seriously.
"Satou...?"
Seeing Matsuzaka Satou unexpectedly standing inside LycoReco,
Minami immediately pieced things together.
He couldn't help but glance sideways at Chisato,
who had turned her head away in guilt.
As expected of Miss Nishikigi.
LV5 Action-Taking, LV5 Execution Ability, LV4 Social Skills—
a powerhouse.
She had somehow managed to find Matsuzaka Satou,
despite only having faint dream memories to go by,
and even brought her to LycoReco...
It was simply incredible.
