[One week later, you finished filling in the lyrics.]
[You named the song "Ichiban no Takaramono," weaving your fondness for everyone and your gratitude into the melody.]
[In late September, during the cultural festival at Shuka High School, you followed the plan and chose to sign up to perform.]
[During this period, your body was not in great condition, but in order to deliver this precious gift, you ultimately persevered.]
[Everything was ready.]
[Yet on the day you stepped onto the stage, something unexpected happened.]
[Because you practiced too frequently, your chest felt tight. At first, you did not take it seriously, but by the afternoon, just before the performance, you finally realized how serious it was.]
[Toru noticed your discomfort and suggested canceling at the last minute.]
[You reassured him that it was fine, swallowed a pill, and stepped onto the stage.]
[Inside the lively auditorium, all eyes fell upon you...]
[Behind the curtain, Toru was filled with worry.]
[You pressed down on the keys and played a heavenly melody. The piece was very long. At the beginning, you did not feel anything unusual, but halfway through, a dull pain in your heart made it difficult to breathe.]
[You did not stop singing. This performance was not the result of your effort alone. Toru had also devoted a great deal of time to it.]
[A month of hard work could not be wasted at the final moment.]
[Time passed.]
[Your vision began to blur.]
[The black and white of the keys blended together, and you began to play by relying on muscle memory.]
[Fatigue and exhaustion set in, and your condition grew worse and worse.]
[You did not know what happened in the end.]
[You only remembered a familiar figure appearing in your vision, then you collapsed weakly into his arms. First came his anxious voice by your ear, and finally the entire auditorium fell into chaos.]
You messed it up.
[When you opened your eyes again.]
[You found yourself once more in a familiar place.]
[A white hospital room, the scenery outside the window unchanged.]
[Aside from a few yellowing ginkgo trees, it was no different from spring.]
[On your wrist, the medication slowly flowed into your veins through the needle. The skin around it was dark and bruised. You could not even feel pain anymore, only numbness.]
["Tachibana-san, you're awake?"]
[While you were spacing out, Toru walked in.]
["I'm sorry..."]
[I ruined the performance.]
["Tachibana-san, you don't need to apologize. The performance went very smoothly."]
[You knew he was lying, but you did not expose it.]
[You clearly could have avoided this from happening, yet you still forced yourself onto the stage, and in the end ruined the carefully prepared gift.]
[Seeing you remain silent, Toru comforted you. "We can still go on stage next year. We're only in our second year of high school. Even though the third year is busier with studies..."]
["Kitahara-kun, it's not enough... I don't have enough time." You interrupted him with a dejected voice.]
[Opportunities only come once, and your body was getting worse and worse.]
[This time next year? Whether you would even be alive by then was uncertain.]
[You were racing against death. You could win countless times, but it only needed to defeat you once.]
[This was an unequal competition from the very beginning...]
["Everyone in the band really likes your song. They said that next time they go on stage for a live, they'll use it."]
[Those words lifted your mood quite a bit.]
["Mm." You nodded.]
[The following half month.]
[Toru came every day to take care of you.]
[Toru believed that it was his own negligence that led to you fainting on stage.]
[Therefore, he felt obligated to look after you.]
[This made you feel somewhat embarrassed.]
[His attentive care often gave you a sense of shame, as if you were being treated like a little baby, but your weak body could not resist his handling.]
[In the end, things went exactly as he wished.]
[Only after your condition improved somewhat did he reduce the frequency of his visits.]
[During this time, Hiroi Kikuri would also come by every few days.]
[The members of Kessoku Band were the same.]
[Your connection with Toru deepened.]
[In November, the second-year school trip was scheduled, with the destination set in the snowy northern country.]
[Although your condition had improved, going to such a frigid place was still explicitly forbidden.]
[The attending physician did not allow it, your parents did not allow it, and Toru did not agree either.]
[Once again, you became a canary trapped inside a cage.]
[Time flowed like water, and in the blink of an eye, the day they departed arrived.]
[On the Shinkansen, Toru started a video call with you, showing you the school trip through a livestream. Sitting beside him were Gotoh Hitori and Kita Ikuyo.]
[Along the journey, the three of them chatted and laughed. On the other side of the screen, you felt a trace of shared happiness.]
[And also...]
[A trace of jealousy.]
???
Why?
[After half a year of spending time together, your relationship with Toru had long surpassed the boundaries of friendship.]
[In other words...]
[Liking him.]
Li... liking?
Impossible!
How could I possibly like a boy my friend likes?
Inside, Tachibana Kanade shook her head in rebuttal.
But when she thought about how this simulator was based on reality,
and how so many affection-raising events had occurred,
Tachibana Kanade felt that the possibility of her liking Toru was actually not low.
She just found it a bit hard to accept.
...
[You had once asked about the relationship between Kita Ikuyo and Kitahara Toru, and the answer you received was simply "friends."]
[You also asked Gotoh Hitori, and the result was more or less the same.]
[If they were not lying, then in fact, Toru was still single.]
[In that case, stealing a man was not impossible.]
[However, you knew your physical condition better than anyone. Romance was a forbidden matter for patients.]
[But what should you do with these feelings that were so difficult to suppress?]
[You did not know.]
[Knowing that you were actually looking forward to the northern trip, Toru specially bought an action camera and strapped it to his forehead, livestreaming the journey from a first-person perspective for you, fulfilling the promise he made to you.]
[Under his guidance, you saw the snow-filled northern country and experienced high-altitude skiing once.]
Upon seeing the high-altitude skiing, Tachibana Kanade silently activated the observer simulator's first-person perspective.
The scene of rapidly racing downhill.
The biting cold air, a forty-degree steep slope, extremely difficult jumps.
The wildly surging adrenaline.
Every single part of it was thrilling beyond compare.
After more than ten minutes.
Exiting the simulation, Tachibana Kanade felt completely satisfied.
That was fun.
Toru's body, she liked it very much.
[On the third day of the school trip, he specifically took you to Otaru. The snow-covered, quaint harbor town was unexpectedly popular.]
[Scenes that once existed only in movies and books appeared before your eyes.]
[During the process, you listened to Toru's gentle voice, and your heart ached slightly.]
...
[From this day onward.]
[You began to hope for a miracle.]
[You began to long for a romance.]
————