I really don't want to have a girlfriend.

"Live as if you were going to die tomorrow, and love as if you were going to lose it tomorrow."

"Love is not an easy thing. If you meet someone who makes you subconsciously forget the weight of life, then hold their hand with all your might."

"Remember the rhythm of your heartbeat, and let our love blossom and bear fruit."

The ending, of course, is a happy one where the male and female leads get together. They eventually have a daughter, and they take one character from the second female lead's name as their daughter's name. Every year, they take their daughter to her grave to offer incense.

Kasumigaoka Utaha turned to the last page, blinking as tears streamed down her face. The image of the male and female protagonists holding their daughter's hands and smiling at each other remained vividly in her mind.

Although accompanied by exquisite illustrations, for some reason, their faces gradually changed and began to look increasingly familiar...

Perhaps because she was too immersed in the role, she seemed to see herself as the female lead, happily holding someone's hand.

"How...why am I being so presumptuous?"

Kasumigaoka Utaha silently mocked herself, closed the book, wiped the tears from her cheeks, and sniffled.

It's not just that "Kasumigaoka Utaha," who's either about to disappear or still trying to matchmake him with her in this way at a time like this, who's deluding herself, but also herself, who, after reading two romance novels, starts fantasizing about the only man in her life.

A flutter of the heart? Love? Don't be ridiculous. What woman would knowingly jump into a trap set by a player like that?

"Are you OK?"

A gentle, concerned, magnetic voice sounded close to my ear.

Tenkuji Yu turned his head and looked at the girl who had just been crying, her head resting on his shoulder, her eyes staring blankly into the distance, seemingly lost in thought for a long time. He was a little worried that she might have suffered some kind of mental trauma.

Was it because "Love Metronome" was so well-written, or was there another fact she hinted at in the book that she found unacceptable?

Unsure of what had happened, he could only take out his handkerchief and offer a piece of comfort: "Close your eyes and calm down. Say what you want to say. I can be your dumping ground for now."

"If this place isn't suitable, let's go back now."

"..."

Hearing his tone, so gentle it was almost heart-melting, which was completely different from his usual voice, Kasumigaoka Utaha gradually came back to her senses, subconsciously biting her lip and looking at his profile with complicated emotions.

She didn't know how to describe her current feelings; two different emotions were intertwined and conflicting in her chest—she must have been too deeply affected by the plot of the book.

Otherwise, why would this guy suddenly have a pink filter on him?

Before her heart began to race, Kasumigaoka Utaha looked away, her fingers lightly gliding over the cover of the final volume of "Love Metronome," without taking the handkerchief he offered.

As if by some strange twist of fate, she suddenly asked, "Which do you choose, your daughter or your son?"

Yuu Tenkuji was stunned and stood there for two or three seconds.

He frowned slightly, not knowing why she asked the question, but he still answered from the bottom of his heart: "Of course it's a daughter. Who doesn't want a sweet little girl? As long as my future wife agrees, I don't plan to stop until my daughter is born. Anyway, I can support a football team."

"You're exaggerating too much..."

Kasumigaoka Utaha's lips twitched slightly, but she couldn't help but laugh. Under Tenkuji Yu's questioning gaze, she relaxed her shoulders and put on a relieved smile.

...Sigh, it really is a daughter?

Was his other self deliberately using this method to make her see him as the male protagonist in the story, and then be deeply influenced by the female protagonist's perspective?

It was originally useless.

She can distinguish between reality and fiction, and she won't fall for someone based on a small misconception, regardless of whether he's a jerk or not...

But ironically, the person who knows her best insists on pushing her off a cliff.

And yet, he was there for me at this very moment, speaking to me in such a natural and gentle tone.

Is it the suspension bridge effect? ​​Or a more subtle and gradual change?

—At this point, none of this matters anymore.

"I'm fine, but I'd better go home."

Kasumigaoka Utaha stood up refreshed. If it weren't for the lingering redness in her eyes, no one would have guessed that she had just been reading a novel and had been struggling with her feelings for a while.

Holding two books in her hand, she hesitated for a moment, but finally decided to take them to the counter to pay.

"It's good that you're alright... So, did you find any information in the book?" After confirming that she was really okay and didn't seem to be putting on a brave face, Tenkuji Yu didn't press further. As she got up, he reached for "Love Metronome".

"On another note, the novels you wrote after you grew up can actually make you cry now. Just how much has her writing improved... Let me take a look."

"do not want!"

With a firm and decisive refusal, Kasumigaoka Utaha hugged the two books to her chest, and with her free hand, she directly grasped his hand, which had not yet withdrawn, and gradually tightened her grip.

At that moment, she was genuinely surprised—

The warmth of your palms can reach right to your heart.

The roughness of the fingertips is irresistible.

The strength of the joints brings a profound sense of security.

This wasn't the first time we'd held hands.

But only now, because of this fact, do I find myself smiling involuntarily.

No matter how eloquent the words, they cannot describe Kasumigaoka Utaha's feelings at this moment.

She only knew one thing:

'I like this hand.'

She loved the feeling of holding his hand, and without a single thought of denial, she was certain of this fact.

She is neither the female protagonist in the memories.

She is not the female protagonist in the novel.

At this moment, Kasumigaoka Utaha begins to understand this gradually changing feeling.

"Let's go pay the bill together."

Without letting go of his hand, Kasumigaoka Utaha walked lightly toward the counter, saying without turning her head, "The novel didn't explain anything important. Maybe she really intends to show off to me her writing skills, which will improve to almost perfection in the future?"

Tenkuji Yu glanced at her hand, which was being held tightly, and gave up, too lazy to pull away. She simply asked in confusion, "Then why won't you let me see?"

"Ugh! I'll get shy!"

She said in a high-pitched, coquettish voice, before returning to normal before Tenkuji Yu could complain, and casually said, "The reason is simple—I hope that after I finish writing my 'Love Metronome,' you can see the difference between what she wrote and what I wrote."

"Your 'Love Metronome'?" Tenkuji blinked, looking at the back of her head with surprise. "You're not planning to finish writing it in the next two days, are you?"

"How is that possible? Even if I were covered in tentacles, I couldn't do that... I guess?"

"So, what do you plan to do?"

"How to do it?"

When faced with Yu's question, she simply turned her head and smiled, her eyes crinkling.

Like ripples on a clear spring in the forest, or the sound of a wind chime on a summer afternoon, that gentle smile touched the heart and eyes of Yuu Tenkuji, and remained there forever.

"We have plenty of time, so let's do what we need to do. You're not going to put me on a blacklist as soon as we get back to reality, are you?"

"That's not necessarily true..."

"Tch, so clueless. Shouldn't you be giving a firm and definite answer right now?"

Glancing at him unhappily, Kasumigaoka Utaha huffed and turned her head away, her black hair billowing in a beautiful arc, exuding the sullen charm of a girlfriend.

As she pulled him along, Yu's expression shifted from surprise to bewilderment. After hesitating for a long while, he finally couldn't help but ask:

"I'm telling you, with this attitude... you really don't like me, do you?"

Kasumigaoka Utaha didn't turn around, nor did she seem to want to answer him. She simply stared ahead nonchalantly, humming a tune he had never heard before, as if talking to herself:

"La la la, just how thick-skinned do you have to be to ask a question like that? I'm really curious~"

Nevertheless, she was unaware that the blush on her ears, visible through her hair, had already betrayed the girl's feelings.

Yuuki Tenkuji wisely stopped asking questions, pursed his lips, and fell silent with a slightly complicated expression.

For some reason, he felt the books in his hands inexplicably heavy, and conversely, he felt a sense of relief, as if he had finally given up on something and no longer had to be on guard against it.

'So this is how it ended up...?'

'Dating shouldn't be enough to change her mind, so it must be the "Love Metronome" that's to blame?'

Having pretty much confirmed this, Tenkuji Yu couldn't help but give a wry smile.

—The adult version of the senior from another world really used all her knowledge to bring the two of them together!

Chapter 141 Since we're after excitement, let's go all the way!

Group 4⑧87④97⑨9

Every time Yuu Tenkuji gazes at the sunset gradually sinking below the horizon, he feels that the boundary between reality and illusion blurs in that instant.

The brief and hazy parallel world, just like the memories I currently retain, is a fake created by someone else.

Even so, it cannot be said that they have no weight at all.

Existence itself is its own justification; the moment they leave their mark on one's life, it is destined that they are not simply counterfeit goods.

The evening air is filled with a golden breeze and the lingering warmth that has dispelled the chill before nightfall…

Even the two elongated shadows under the setting sun, and the gradually shortening distance, are by no means fleeting moments.

As long as the memories endure, the moments they shared with each other might just spark an unprecedented miracle—

"What are you thinking about?"

"Interludes full of artistic flair."

After casually replying, Yuu Tenkuji pushed open the door and entered his apartment on the tenth floor.

Even her previously annoying, perfunctory answers now seemed cute and carefree in Kasumigaoka Utaha's eyes.

—The changes in mood are truly amazing.

"Welcome back, both of you."

The silver-haired girl always managed to prepare all the meals just before they returned.

She took off her apron, smoothed her always neat and smooth short hair without a single split end, and calmly accepted the shopping bags from their hands. They could sit down to eat after washing their hands.