Love Comes After Simulation

【After exiting the subway station, you transferred to a bus and, after another fifteen minutes, arrived at Azuki Mountain.】

【It was nearing noon, and Nakajima Reina was worried that the nurse delivering the meals might notice her absence, but once they entered the forest, her anxiety was quickly soothed by the rustling of the lush green trees.】

【After the heavy rain, the scent of the earth and trees mixed in the wind, fresh but somewhat pungent—a smell only found in the mountains. Water droplets clung to the leaves and pooled in depressions, sparkling in the gentle sunlight.】

【As you walked along the trail, a woodpecker tapped away on a tree trunk behind you, while two grayish-white birds fluttered and played among the treetops ahead.】

【Nakajima Reina was captivated by this new world. For forty minutes, she said nothing, her eyes moving from the treetops to the tree trunks, then to the leaf-strewn ground. Even the dust on the trail, the floating leaves in the puddles, and the few stones by the roadside fascinated her.】

【The relatively gentle trail only reaches two-thirds up the mountain. Beyond that are long staircases.】

【You left the wheelchair by a small, unattended shop at the bottom of the stairs and continued up, holding Nakajima Reina’s hand.】

【After thirty steps, the girl’s breathing grew rapid.】

A memory scene appears.