[On this snowy winter night.]
[You encountered a child with nowhere to go.]
[Looking at his lonely figure.]
[You found yourself unable to abandon him and walk away.]
[You were conflicted.]
[To stand by and watch a young life freeze to death would weigh heavily on your conscience.]
[But you yourself were barely able to survive.]
[You didn't have extra money. All you had was the twenty thousand yen saved from your part time job at the music store after school. Enough for one carefree week if you were alone, but with a burden added, you would barely move a single step.]
[After thinking it over again and again, you decided that taking the boy to the police station would be a sensible option.]
[He was likely a runaway who'd gotten lost.]
[His parents were probably searching for him in a panic. Sending him to the police was reasonable on every level.]
Not afraid of trouble?
In Ijichi Seika's memory, her teenage self was a half rebellious girl.
Doing something like this was surprising.
[With your thoughts settled, you approached the little boy and asked if he would go with you to the police station to find his mother.]
["My mom died," he said.]
Huh?
So filial?
Seika was stunned.
Even if there had been a fight and he ran away,
A child cursing his mother as dead… hard to comment on. Maybe he didn't know any better?
[After questioning him, you learned he was an orphan, homeless and wandering.]
"An orphan…"
Seika's feelings grew complicated.
Japan's homelessness problem was worse than many imagined.
[You sensed trouble. If you helped him, it would be difficult. If you didn't help him, even worse… Should you send him to a welfare facility? But a child in such a place would likely face more than ten years of loneliness and might even be bullied during that time.]
[Your head in chaos, you decide: ]
[1. Take him to the police station and let the adults deal with it.]
[2. Bring him home and make him your sister's child fiancé.]
[3. Find a place to clean him up first.]
How to choose…
If she picked the first, the boy would almost certainly end up in a welfare facility.
The second…
Impossible. He was filthy right now. Bringing him home would shock her mom and Nijika.
The third…
"Ugh, so annoying."
Seika regretted everything. She should never have touched this cursed simulator.
Within half an hour of the start, she had picked up a walking burden. How was she supposed to play?
Choose 3!
Call it bad luck!
Call it miserable luck!
[You sighed, took his small dirty hand, and prepared to take him to a nearby internet café where he could bathe.]
[The boy looked up at you but said nothing, quietly following.]
[You thought that someday this child had better repay you for saving him, or you would feel seriously cheated.]
[After thirty minutes, you arrived at an internet café you often visited when running away from home.]
[The owner, who knew you well, didn't stop you from bringing the child inside. While he was bathing, you stepped out and used what little money you had left to buy him cheap winter clothing.]
[Ten minutes later, the boy came out wearing the new clothes.]
[He was young and still had a soft, childlike face, but his looks were good. His features were delicate, and his temperament gentle.]
[As a potential future husband for your little sister, he was quite an excellent pick.]
Make him a child fiancé?
As a devoted sister, this rubbed Seika the wrong way.
[That night, the two of you made physical contact.]
…?
I didn't do something illegal, right?
That would be a crime.
[You embraced.]
Good.
No moral lines crossed.
Seika had no intention of being thrown into prison or forced onto a sewing machine.
[Deep into the night.]
[Your conversation with him never stopped.]
[You did most of the talking while the boy listened quietly.]
[You treated him like a diary, venting the frustrations of adolescence.]
[How your dreams weren't understood by your parents, how your sister grew clingier by the day.]
[These feelings had been suppressed for too long, and saying them out loud left you much more at ease.]
[The next day.]
[You slept until late morning.]
[Since it was winter break, you didn't need to go to school.]
[Today, you would have to consider where to place the boy.]
[Going home was impossible. You had just fought with your mother yesterday. Returning the next day with your tail between your legs would be humiliating.]
[At seventeen, you feared nothing and believed that with your abilities, supporting a small boy would be no problem.]
Not a problem?
Yeah, right. You think children are houseplants?
Seika muttered internally.
After raising Nijika for years, she knew:
Children were troublesome. They did not grow by simply watering them like succulents.
[Your ambition lasted a few minutes.]
[Before you even made a plan, reality struck.]
[Your ideals were plump, but reality was thin.]
[You didn't have much saved. You could hardly move forward.]
[After buying clothes for the boy, almost all of your part time earnings were gone.]
[Because you left in a rush, part of your savings was still at home.]
[But...]
[Throwing away your pride, bowing your head and returning home to get the money was impossible.]
[So only one option remained.]
[Performance fees.]
[In the past few months, your live performance earnings had been entrusted to your drummer Lisa for safekeeping.]
[It was a considerable sum, enough to sustain your runaway life for a long time.]
"Why not go home?"
Seika couldn't understand.
What was so hard about apologizing?
[Your execution was swift.]
[Half an hour later, you arrived at your friend Lisa's apartment. She rented a single room in Tokyo. A small rich girl.]
Drummers were rarely poor.
Seika thought back.
Of all her old bandmates, drummer Lisa had been closest to her. Even now, they still stayed in touch.
The others had grown distant.
[Lisa opened the door, glanced at your messy state, then looked at the child holding your hand.]
["Seika, when did you give birth? He looks four or five already."]
[You rolled your eyes at her.]
["I found him on the street. You saw last night's snow, right? He was sitting outside in the middle of the night. If I left him there, he would've died."]
[After some talking, Lisa understood why you had come.]
[She knew your relationship with your mother wasn't good.]
[But a homeless child was no small matter. It wasn't something a minor should decide.]
["How about you go home and talk to your parents first? Let them help… Seika, don't look at me like that. Honestly, I don't think you can raise a kid alone."]
[You resisted.]
[You stubbornly refused.]
["You don't know until you try. Lisa, give me the performance money. I'll think for a few days."]
["Fine. If something goes wrong, call me."]
[Beside you.]
[The boy listened to everything you said, a trace of guilt flickering in his eyes.]
Hmm?
Guilt?
For some reason,
Seika felt something bad was coming.