My love game with them that will lead to certain death

"Now, does the dear system need to come forward and explain what is going on?"

But even though Ming Hai kept this idea in his mind for a long time, the familiar voice did not appear again and give an answer - it seemed that the system was going to play dumb to the end.

"No, so I'm not the only participant in the third simulation? Eriri also has a personality with independent consciousness?"

In this case, the worst-case scenario comes into being.

"Could it be that the previous two times... were also..."

Thinking of this, Ming Hai could no longer remain calm and composed. If Yukinoshita Yukino and Goto Ichiri both retained their memories in the simulation like Eriri, then what he would have to bear would be too heavy to bear.

"Um... Eriri, let's first confirm that the world you experienced where "Sawamura Spencer Toru" existed was like a dream to you... right?"

Ming Hai, who had serious matters to discuss, certainly had no time to have some intimate physical interaction with his sister, so he slowly pushed away the blonde girl who was sticking to him like a piece of taffy with very light force and got straight to the point.

"Hmm... And it's the kind of dream where only certain details are clear at certain times, and the more you go back in time, the more you remember it."

Ying Lili rolled her eyes and tried hard to recall something. Although she was usually spoiled and willful, she was not a completely unreasonable person.

"Then do you remember how you entered that dream?"

Ming Hai continued to patiently persuade her to find out the truth. Eriri's experience would definitely serve as a criterion for him to judge what kind of game this entire simulation was.

"Did any strange voice suddenly appear in your mind and tell you that this might be a game... or something else?"

"Sound? No."

Unexpectedly, Eriri frowned slightly and shook her head like a rattle.

"To be honest, I can't remember how I ended up in that weird dream... Well, there weren't any strange noises or interference from others. By the time I realized it, it was already like a dream - but it was the kind of dream where I was the only one who felt something was wrong."

"Is that so... Then it seems the system's voice didn't appear in Eriri's mind."

But the system always appears in Minghai's brain, and even when it is not simulating, it will occasionally appear to chat with him... Could it be that this completely different treatment is due to some currently unknown reason?

"The most straightforward guess is... I am the only participant in this whole simulation, but the system has added other people's consciousnesses to it for some reason."

If you think about it carefully, the system never seems to say "This is a single-player simulation with no third party involved". If this is true, then things would be serious.

"...Eri, let's discuss something."

Although he is no longer the eldest son who is held in the palm of the Sawamura family's hand and carefully cared for, his close relationship with Eriri has not been greatly affected.

"What's up, Toru?"

"What are your plans next...?"

"Need I say that? Of course I want you to move back and live with me."

As expected, Eriri said the most embarrassing words with her innocent and pure eyes.

"If possible, please ask Mom and Dad to let you transfer back to Toyosaki Academy, so that we can get along like before! Eat together, go to school together, go home together... Isn't that great!"

Moreover, in her opinion, reality and simulated "dreams" cannot be separated.

This is not a good sign.

Chapter 88: Secret Relationship

I have to say that Eriri still seems a little naive when it comes to certain things.

Whether she didn't delve into why the "strange dream" could give her a brother out of thin air, or she naively imagined that her brother would come home and continue their daily life as siblings as before, she always seemed to naively imagine that all problems would be solved and that nothing was unsolvable.

But that was clearly not the case in Ming Hai's opinion.

"Even if you still remember everything about me, we are not siblings in the true sense of the word... Sayuri may not even remember my existence, let alone such nonsense as asking me to move back home."

He used the gentlest words possible to break his sister Eriri's vision of a bright future, even though this was not his original intention at first.

"Ah... now that I think about it, it seems so..."

Eriri, who was originally immersed in beautiful fantasies about the future, realized belatedly that the big picture she had painted was not feasible. She was not sure she could convince her mother to let her brother move back - after all, in her parents' eyes, Minghai was not their child, but just a suspicious boy of the same age brought back by their only daughter.

"I understand how you feel, Eriri, but it's hard for us to go back to the way we were before."

Ming Hai opened his mouth but still didn't say the words that were on the tip of his tongue: "After all, dreams are just dreams, that's all."

"Well...your originally blond hair has turned black, and it seems...it suits Tooru better."

Eriri raised her head and forced a smile from the corner of her mouth.

She was not someone with low EQ who could not understand what others said, so she could naturally understand what Ming Hai meant by that.

And it was just as she said, the combination of the short dark curly hair and the lake blue eyes gave a completely different look, yet it was also very natural, as if it was created by nature.

If this is what the "brother" she has been thinking about day and night really looks like...

"A bit disappointed?"

Ming Hai saw through her feelings, but a gentle smile appeared on his face.

"Your brother is not an all-round talent, nor is he a handsome guy with a graceful figure. He is just a bored high school student who lives in a student apartment of more than ten square meters and worries about his next meal."

If Eriri finds it hard to accept the huge contrast, he can understand that.

"I, I've never felt that way! It doesn't matter whether or not there are those things! Anyway..."

Anyway, he is still the brother who will resolutely accept the baptism of meteorites for himself, and this will not change.

"Anyway...I just know it."

Unfortunately, Eriri was unable to say this blunt sentence out loud. She just lowered her head and muttered to herself.

Compared to those things floating outside, Eriri knows what she really wants.

He wasn't some handsome guy with outstanding appearance, and certainly not a rich young man who would spend a fortune on her.

Is there anyone else in this world who is willing to stand in front of her and take the blame for the meteorite crash?

No one except my brother can do this.

"I don't care what Toru looks like, or whether the environment you're in is the same as before... Anyway, I know what you look like! As long as you're still the Toru I know, everything else doesn't matter!"

Very clumsy speech.

But it must be said that such clumsy yet sincere words are the most touching - at least for Ming Hai.

"Is that what you think? I'm really flattered. I thought Eriri might dislike me a little."

"How could that be! Am I that kind of person?!"

That's right, Eriri Sawamura will no longer have any expectations of someone who completely betrays her feelings and affection.

"I just wish we could go back to the old days..."

It’s a very simple idea, but it’s also a dream that is difficult to realize at this stage.

"It's not impossible, but we have to make it less obvious."

Ming Hai winked at the somewhat dejected blonde girl, giving her another feasible measure of hope when she was most sad and disappointed.

"Because other people definitely won't believe it, right? Whether it's our parents or our teachers and classmates at school, they haven't experienced the same things as us, so they can't understand our feelings firsthand."

If Eriri continues to act on her own and says something like "We are real siblings", people around her who don't know the truth will probably think that Minghai has cast a spell on her.

"You can't even tell mom..."

"Well, I can't say."

"but……"

However, when she thought that the close parent-child relationship in the past would be shattered from now on, Eriri couldn't help feeling sad.

"Because not everyone can understand what happened to us, it's probably better for everyone to keep it a secret."

The curly-haired boy put his finger in front of his mouth and made a silencing gesture to Eriri.

"If you can promise me this, we can be brother and sister again."

"Hmm...are they the kind of siblings who hide this from everyone?"

Seeing that Eriri was still a little hesitant, Ming Hai continued to elaborate on his thoughts.

"After all, it won't do any good for us if we tell this to others. Besides, don't you think we need to keep this secret that no one else can know... It's very interesting, isn't it?"

“…Yeah.”

After thinking about it carefully, Ying Lili raised her eyebrows and suddenly found the merits of this suggestion.

“This feeling of knowing that no one else knows but only the two of us knows is very exciting!! It’s like playing a secret game!!”

Looking at the girl whose eyes suddenly lit up, Ming Hai shook his head with a somewhat amusing look. He knew that Eriri would be unable to stop visiting this special place.

"Then it's settled? Although we have recognized each other, if anyone asks about it——"

"It's a friend, yeah."

Ying Lili understood and nodded like a chick pecking at rice.

"But in fact, they are the closest siblings!"

"Remember to not let this sentence slip when the time comes."

"How could that be? Huh~!"

After the secret that was originally unspeakable gradually evolved into a secret that was known only to two people, the sense of responsibility that naturally arose became a tacit understanding that needed to be observed by both of them.

Even though the two no longer exchanged bodies and no longer had the body-swapping rules to regulate their behavior, the brother and sister still made a new contract very naturally.

"Anyway, I'll still ask the housekeeper to clean up the utility room."

When sending Ming Hai out of the Sawamura family's small Western-style mansion, Eriri stood at the door and looked at the boy who was about to get into the black car.

"Because, Toru, you will definitely come back one day."

The girl smiled, and a bright look bloomed on her slightly blushed face.

"After all, this is your home too!"

Chapter 89: Time of Reckoning

In fact, Toru Ming Hai has never been very clear about the concept of home. It was not until he entered the third simulation and experienced life with a younger sister that he gradually began to pay more attention to this originally vague concept.

Well, although he has always adhered to the philosophy of "let what happens in the simulation end in the simulation", but when Eriri, who still has the memory of the simulation, appeared in front of him alive, he found that he still couldn't treat her as a stranger.

Perhaps it was out of this kind of compassion that he chose to take such a risky way to expose his experience and meet Eriri.

Although he had already done a risk assessment before doing this - that is, whether exposing the fact that he had participated in the simulation would attract the attention of the system and receive a warning, but now that this was not the case, he finally felt relieved.

However, even though there is no "punishment" or "warning", it does not mean that this matter has come to a perfect end.

"Are you really not going to explain this to me, System-kun?"

[What do you mean? I am a little confused.]

Crickets are all on the same system, why are you pretending to be stupid?

"I don't remember you telling me that there were other people involved in this so-called future simulation, or would you explain Eriri's remaining memories as an 'accident'?"

It turns out that Eriri, who was drawn into the third simulation, was not a slice of consciousness, but a genuine human being - this is an incredible discovery.

Because if this is absolutely true, then someone in the previous two simulations might remember everything they experienced.

This would make things very serious.

"Eri remembers everything, from being involved in the simulation to having a brother and the body swap... Don't tell me she's not the only one who still remembers everything besides me."

[Oops, I originally planned to use this setting as a surprise Easter egg for you to participate in the simulation, waiting for you to dig it out by yourself in the later stages, but I didn't expect you to find it so soon, hehe. ]

What are you talking about? Stop trying to be cute when you don’t even show your face and you don’t even know your gender.

[But the fact that Ms. Eriri remembers this doesn't mean that the other simulated subjects are the same as her, right? Because everyone's experience during the participation process is different, everyone's memory is biased, which is also a normal situation that I cannot control. ]

"What do you mean... Could it be that your simulated deleted data beta test is also so unreliable?"

[Sorry, there is no internal beta version for this simulation. You are one of the earliest participants.]

"It's a simulation game that didn't even have an internal beta test. No wonder the final product is so rough...! There are too many things to change and bugs to fix, right? Isn't it a bit unreasonable not to give some maintenance compensation?"

[This channel is under maintenance. Please wait until the maintenance is over before opening this function. ]

It seems like this damn system is really determined not to admit its own shortcomings. Okay, okay.

"Let's put that aside for now. I'm going to take your words about 'this is all about me' seriously. Then why is Eriri involved?"