I really don't want to have a girlfriend.

"We met during summer vacation, dated for thirty-three days..." Sky Temple paused, then looked at her tentatively, "The story is a bit long, are you sure you want to hear it?"

“Let’s talk about it later.” Yuuki Asuna shook her head, her bright, clear hazel eyes looking over. “I have so much to say to Yuuki, let’s leave other people’s business aside for now.”

"In the future?" Yuu Tenkuji couldn't help but chuckle. "You won't remember in the future, unless the system goes crazy again and makes me your boyfriend a second time."

"If it weren't for the gods, you wouldn't like me?"

"Even if I fall in love with you again, it doesn't necessarily mean I can date you." Yuu Tenkuji leaned back, seemingly having come to terms with everything, and said resignedly, "Until the system disappears, my possibilities will always be controlled by it... No matter what I choose, the result may not be correct."

"So, I'm sorry, Asuna."

He looked up at the church’s magnificent ceiling, his eyes reflecting a cool light that seemed to emanate from nowhere.

His calm voice fell on the air, carrying a certain profound emotion.

“After this ‘injury break’ is over, you and I will become strangers… For the sake of the missions to come, I probably won’t take the initiative to contact you. At most, I’ll ask about your situation through your brother.”

"Since you don't know who I am anyway, please let me do it."

Feeling like she was making her final arrangements, Yuu Tenkuji couldn't help but smile, her tone finally becoming more relaxed.

"From now on, make decisions for your own life and don't blindly follow others' advice—remember this well, and even if you forget it after today, act on it instinctively."

"Don't let my efforts of the past seventeen days go to waste. You're my girlfriend, the grown-up Yuuki Asuna. I'm sure you could do this even without your memories."

While muttering these hurtful words to himself, Yuu Tenkuji sighed softly and turned to look at Asuna.

I don't know why, but she still watches over me, who is performing a one-woman show, with those gentle eyes that seem to encompass and forgive everything.

"Yu-kun, why are you apologizing?"

"...Huh?" Somewhat bewildered, Tenkuji Yu opened his mouth in a daze.

Asuna suddenly took his left hand and naturally slipped the crystal ring from her pocket onto his ring finger.

“I’ve never been angry with you, nor do I feel that you’ve wronged me in any way. At most, I’m just a little dissatisfied… Who told you to be so dishonest with me even at this point?”

"I didn't say that!" Yuu Tenkuji cried out innocently, "I swear, everything I'm saying to you now is the truth, I'm not acting..."

"And what about yourself?"

"..."

In front of the suddenly silent Tenkuji Yu, Yuuki Asuna pressed his hand against her cheek, using its warmth to melt the coldness in her palm.

An extremely earnest voice fell into the air.

"Yu-kun, I'm angry at that 'God'."

"It told me the truth all by itself, which bothered the people I like."

"It manipulates other people's lives without any reason, forcing the people I love to deceive themselves."

"It led me to my boyfriend, but then broke us up at our happiest moment."

"It led me to the most important person in my life, yet it forces me to start tomorrow... to ignore him."

The voice recording ended with a slight sob in it.

Yuu Tenkuji seemed to forget to breathe, staring blankly at the sorrowful girl in front of him, her face filled with resentment.

She swallowed the bitterness in her throat, blinked rapidly at her reddened eyes, wrinkled her slightly twitching nose, and forced out a sound:

"This is so unreasonable, isn't it? Why do we have to encounter something like this?"

"And why is it that when Yu-kun was at his lowest point, I couldn't help him at all, and even made you apologize to me?"

"The person who is currently in the most pain, the one I least want to forget, and the one who most needs to be angry with—"

"It should be you, Yu-kun!!"

Yuu Tenkuji: "..."

He seemed speechless for a long time before finally managing a forced smile and speaking in a dry voice: "Asuna, don't make me sound like the biggest victim... It's not like I didn't receive rewards from the system. I was quite happy when I got the money and other things, I'm not that pitiful at all."

“I’m not pitying you.” Asuna shook her head, wiped away the tears that had rolled down her cheeks with her thumb, and stared straight at him.

"Yu-kun, is our relationship a one-way street?"

Tenkuuji Yu: "...Now it is, and it will be in the future."

"Yu-kun, can you really accept this ending? I'll forget you, while you continue to date other girls and continue to be forgotten."

Yuu Tenkuji: "...Of course, I'm almost used to it too."

"Yu-kun, do you really think this is okay?"

Tenkuji Yu: "...Don't underestimate me. I've already made the necessary resolve."

Yuuki Asuna suddenly laughed.

Like a rainbow after the rain, it bloomed brightly and gently before him.

"It was all a lie."

Chapter 119 Looking to the Future Based on This Agreement (24/27)

"..."

Like a "bullet of words" shot out, it pierced his heart and destroyed all the walls he had built.

After staring wide-eyed for a few seconds, Tenkuji Yu pursed her lips, looked away, and remained silent.

At some point, his white suit transformed back into casual home wear, no longer appearing so dignified, formal, or handsome.

Ordinary, fragile, and delicate, once that confident and carefree facade is gone, they are no different from ordinary people.

It seems like clouds are drifting by outside the window.

The bright, white church was shrouded in shadow, and the air felt heavy on our shoulders.

"Yu-kun, it must be really painful to be in a relationship that will eventually end, right?"

Her clear voice dispelled the silence as the girl opened her arms and hugged him, whispering in his ear, "Because, no matter which world we're in, just as I love you, you love me too."

"True feelings can never be faked."

"..."

Tenkuji Yu rested his head on her chest, closed his eyes as if asleep, and then slowly opened them again after a short while.

Then he decisively stood up from the bench and left her overly warm embrace.

"I always feel like you're treating me like a child... Don't overthink it. If it weren't for the trouble caused by the system, I would have finished this mission long ago and started thinking about how to win over the next girl. I don't have time to be upset over there."

"Well, let's just say that's how it is!" Undeterred by his displeased glare, Yuuki Asuna tilted her head slightly, smiling warmly. "In fact, Yuuki-kun's lack of frankness is quite endearing!"

"hiss……"

Yuu Tenkuji took a deep breath, seemingly suppressing his boiling frustration, yet unwilling to vent it on Asuna.

So he turned his attention directly to the culprit and shouted into the air, "System, how much longer is the injury recovery time?!"

Asuna answered first, a mischievous smile appearing on her face: "There are still more than ten minutes left, according to God... 'that system guy'."

"Why did it only talk to you and not me?" Yuu Tenkuji stared wide-eyed in disbelief. "I'm the host! What the hell is this new type of minotaur?!"

"I don't know either." Asuna shrugged like him, looking indifferent. "Anyway, we still have time to talk, and I have a lot to say to you too."

"Tsk..." Tenkuji Yu's expression twisted for a moment, then he raised his hand to rub his cheek and sighed heavily. "Stop teasing me. Just say what you want to say."

He wanted to sit back on the bench, but Asuna stopped him.

"Let's talk outside. I wanted to go out and see the world before the wedding, and it seems like there's a vast grassland outside."

"whatever."

Having already broken down, Yuu Tenkuji was too lazy to struggle anymore and followed Asuna out of the church.

As far as the eye can see, there is a boundless expanse of green grassland.

Pure white clouds floated in the vast sky. Although the sky was bright, the sun seemed to be hiding behind the clouds, silently radiating light and heat.

There were no extra people, no chirping of insects or birds, only the occasional breeze that ruffled the hair and swept across the impossibly neat, lush green lawn.

Asuna Yuuki pulled Yuu Tenkuji down to sit, and for some reason, she was smiling very happily.

"Mmm, this view is really nice!"

Tenkuji Yuu really couldn't understand how she could still have the mind to reminisce about the scenery.

He gave a slight smirk and offered a tentative explanation: "This should be the original scene of the game, but it has been borrowed by the system."

"Is that so?" Asuna nodded, seemingly uninterested in the underlying principles. "Well then, Yu-kun, you'd better listen carefully to what I'm about to say."

"Alright, I'm all ears."

With her shoulder resting on his, Tenkuji Yu looked up at the sky.

Then, a gentle voice, as warm as a spring breeze, softly rang out beside me.

"Didn't you promise me that as long as I don't hate you and don't forget you, you won't break up with me and you'll stay with me no matter where we are?"

“I made a similar promise to Yukino Yukinoshita.” Yuu Tenkuji immediately retorted, “As you saw at the time, although she acted with me, it was all for her own sister. She has forgotten everything about me, and she didn’t say anything after she found out you were my girlfriend… After your injury recovery period ends, you will be the same.”

Asuna shook her head gently, saying calmly and firmly, "I don't know about others, but mere memories won't stop me from being with you."

Faced with her stubborn attitude, Tenkuji Yu was speechless and could only continue to look up at the sky.

“Yu-kun, you know what kind of person I used to be.” She also looked up, hugged her knees, and looked at the sky with the floating clouds, and continued, “escaping reality, cowardly and boring, not knowing what I was striving for, just moving forward according to orders, my life was as if it were not my own.”

Then one day, you appeared and told me many things.

"Believing in yourself and facing challenges bravely makes you the coolest person in the world."

“If you want something, just reach out bravely; if you keep going, you'll always see different scenery.”

“Instead of telling me why I should give up, I should list the things I can do… There are so many things. Even though you encouraged me like that, when I encounter setbacks, I still can’t help but look back, run away, lie to myself, and use high-sounding reasons to convince myself.”

Even so, I've made up my mind.

Retracting from the false sky, Asuna Yuuki turned her gaze to his face.

Her brow furrowed seriously, her gaze sharp and unwavering, and she spoke, word by word:

Even if I forget you, no matter how many times, I will always remember you.