My Simulation… Why Is It Turning into a Real Romance?!

Kazami Haru gently stroked the soft, smooth gray hair of Takamatsu Tomori. Her adorably anxious expression made it impossible for him to leave her be. If they weren't surrounded by people, he would've kissed her then and there.

Apparently, the little penguin could tell what he was thinking. Her cheeks flushed, and she gave a small, earnest nod.

Dammit, at this rate he was going to die of cuteness.

"Alright already~ Haru, you're being way too sappy!"

Unlike Tomori, who was silently firming her resolve, Chihaya Anon managed to force a serious expression, just enough to keep Haru from worrying.

Because this performance wasn't just about winning or losing for her. The very thought of what might happen if they failed was enough to make her nerves spiral out of control.

As the girls prepared to go on stage, Haru waved toward Shiina Taki in the distance.

Still holding her drumsticks, Taki raised an eyebrow in confusion. Once the others had moved ahead, she walked quickly over. Being alone with him made her feel oddly tense.

To hide it, she put on her usual aloof mask and spoke flatly. "What is it?"

"Shiina, I'm counting on you to stay sharp out there."

"Huh?"

She responded instinctively, a little confused, but the next moment the meaning of his words clicked.

Raana, their lead guitarist, was highly unlikely to make mistakes. As the drummer, Taki naturally held the responsibility of being the band's "core," maintaining the rhythm at all times.

Both Haru and Taki knew this well.

But just in case, Haru continued calmly.

"Taki, when it comes to reacting in the moment, you're the one I trust the most."

"If you notice something going wrong during the performance, it's up to you to pull the rhythm back on track. I can't be on stage to coordinate with you this time, so you'll need to trust the others to respond too. If you react, Raana will definitely pick up on it."

He… trusts me most?

Taki felt her cheeks flush slightly. She crossed her arms over her chest as a soft pink tinge spread across her pale skin. She quickly waved a hand, trying to brush it off with her usual haughty expression.

"Tch. You sound like an old granny."

"Even if you're not on stage, I can hold things down. Instead of worrying, maybe go practice your keyboard for once. You haven't touched it in ages, have you?"

Before Haru could reply, Taki (unable to hide her true feelings) turned and strode off, leaving him with a cool, nonchalant wave of her drumsticks.

Haru, who had still been a little worried, let out a long breath.

With a personality like Taki's, if he ever confessed to her, she'd probably tsundere her way right past it.

...

Anon, already standing in front of the curtain with her guitar in hand, slapped her cheeks repeatedly with the palms of her hands. She didn't stop until the force had reddened her fair skin, and only then did the faint tension in her chest begin to ease.

Staring at the red curtain trimmed in gold, she couldn't help but swallow hard.

"We're going to win."

She murmured the words under her breath, a quiet reassurance that helped her summon a bit more courage.

As the curtain drew open, the view of over a thousand audience members in the grand auditorium unfolded before them. MyGO, never having faced such a large crowd before, froze for just a moment. But they quickly pulled themselves together and braced for what was to come.

Takamatsu Tomori stood with the microphone in her hand, eyes locked straight ahead. A quiet determination had already taken root in her heart.

"Hello, everyone. We are the band MyGO!!!!!!"

"We may still be rough around the edges, but we're giving this performance everything we've got…"

She drew in a deep breath. The girl with the short, gray hair spoke once more.

"Please listen to our song: Blooming Blue Snowflower."

The moment the words left her mouth, Taki began striking her drumsticks together. The next second, Raana squinted her eyes and launched into a cold, aloof intro on the lead guitar. Their flawless start sent a ripple of excitement through the crowd.

Especially Anon's classmates, they were already waving glowsticks.

Clutching her guitar, Chihaya Anon's body was stiff as she began shifting chords. Realizing she was nervous, she kept trying to adjust her state of mind. But before she could settle, it was already time to join Tomori in the first harmony.

As expected, her voice came out stiff, echoing awkwardly through the microphone.

What was she doing?

Get a grip!

Shiina Taki immediately picked up on Anon's shaky state. She tightened her grip on her drumsticks, ready to adjust at any moment. But then Anon, panicking from her mistake, rushed her strumming and played half a beat too early.

"…"

From the audience, Togawa Sakiko frowned as she watched the group. As the composer of the song, she was especially sensitive to these subtle rhythm issues.

At this rate, they were bound to mess up again.

And just as Sakiko predicted...

In past performances, when things went wrong, Kazami Haru on the keyboard would always compensate and correct. But this time, with no one to back her up, Anon's already fragile nerves were crumbling. She missed two more notes in the melody.

Behind her, Nagasaki Soyo already on edge because of "Forget-Me-Not" was thrown off even more by Anon's mistakes. Now she wasn't sure how to play either.

With both rhythm guitar and bass experiencing small slips at the same time, Taki had no choice but to slightly shift the tempo to match the bass. But this put her out of sync with Raana on lead guitar.

The performance was starting to fall apart.

"Yuki ni umoreta hana…"

Tomori, naturally, noticed Anon's trouble. She adjusted her breathing and poured more feeling into her voice to try and cover for her.

Raana, seeing Tomori's effort, narrowed her cat-like eyes. She took the initiative to play part of the rhythm guitar section herself, buying time for Anon to recover.

But a performance couldn't be salvaged by just the vocalist and lead guitarist alone.

"Is this really okay…?"

Already changed into her casual clothes, Ijichi Nijika spoke with concern. Despite her earlier declaration that she would win no matter what, seeing her friends struggle on stage made her instinctively anxious.

Kita Ikuyo, usually cheerful and chatty, remained silent. Her brows furrowed slightly as she watched Chihaya Anon on stage. Whatever was going through her mind, no one could read it from her face.

"…"

Yamada Ryo stood still, her brilliant golden eyes gleaming with something unreadable.

Normally so aloof and composed, the ice-cold beauty now wore a troubled frown, something entirely unlike her usual self. But in the dim lighting of the auditorium, no one seemed to notice.

On stage, MyGO's performance slowly approached its end.

As the final note faded, only sparse applause trickled through the auditorium.

Compared to the thunderous ovation Ends had received earlier, the difference was striking. Chihaya Anon stood frozen, her mind blank. The pick she had been holding had already fallen to the floor, unnoticed.

A complete defeat.

There was no doubt about the outcome.

"This… could be a problem."

Backstage, Kazami Haru let out a slow, heavy breath.

Truthfully, he had prepared himself from the beginning, he knew one side would lose. He had steeled himself to comfort whoever came out on the losing end.

But the problems on MyGO's side were far worse than he'd expected.

Shiina Taki was the first to step offstage, pressing her lips tightly together. Her eyes flicked toward Haru with a complicated expression, and when his gaze met hers, she couldn't even lift her head.

She had been trusted.

But she had completely failed to live up to that trust.

She'd experienced this before, this crushing feeling of being relied on and letting someone down and now she had done it again.

She hadn't grown at all.

That deep sense of guilt and inferiority was like a black hole, devouring what little rationality she had left.

Tomori followed behind her, eyes shimmering with tears and hands trembling in confusion. Then came Soyo with a furrowed brow, Anon with a blank stare, and Raana with her usual indifferent face.

Looking at them all, Haru could only sigh inwardly.

He had some serious damage control to do.

What baffled him most was...

Their rehearsal just before the show had gone perfectly. So how had everything unraveled the moment they stepped on stage?

"So boring."

A bored voice rang out like that of a child who had lost interest. Raana, clutching her guitar, pursed her lips and turned toward the exit.

Wait a second, Kitty, are you Kotomine Kirei or something?

Kazami Haru, just about to say something to comfort the others, was left stunned.

In the blink of an eye, the stray cat had vanished. And with that, the remaining girls' expressions darkened even further. Haru, who'd already been feeling a bit drained, now felt a sharp pain pounding in his temples.

Still, he forced himself to stay calm. He took a deep breath and spoke slowly, trying to steady the mood.

"This live performance isn't the end of the road for you. With your potential, none of you are less than anyone else out there. Just take this as a lesson. Go home, train hard, secretly grind it out and make sure everyone's blown away next time."

"I just got paid too, so let's go out for some barbecue. In exchange, each of you owes me a meal later. That's fair, right?"

The moment Haru's words of comfort landed, a few expressions shifted. Even Shiina Taki, pale-faced, couldn't find anything to say right away.

Haru's lips twitched faintly as he was about to continue, but then Anon, who had been silent all this time, gave a small, bitter smile and quietly apologized.

"Sorry, everyone… this was all my fault. I made too many mistakes. I'll definitely reflect on it. But… I suddenly feel a little dizzy, so I think I'll head home and rest…"

Without waiting for Haru to reply, she turned and left as if fleeing the scene.

"…"

Haru frowned slightly as he watched Anon's back retreat. MyGO's first real failure had hit hard, anyone would be upset in this situation.

He'd expected her to panic and break down in tears. The fact that she didn't… somehow made him even more worried.

Normally, he would've followed her to offer support, but right now, Taki and Tomori looked like they were about to explode. Their situation was clearly more delicate.

Thankfully, Soyo still seemed composed, saving him at least some trouble.

"I didn't think things would turn out like this."

Even Nagasaki Soyo's usual warm smile had vanished from her face. Seeing Haru again filled her chest with a faint bitterness. A wave of quiet dissatisfaction crept into her heart.

"Actually… maybe we were the ones better suited to perform 'Forget-Me-Not'?"

Her loaded words made Shiina Taki's deep violet eyes snap wide open. Her voice edged with frustration.

"Soyo, what are you saying?"

Was Nagasaki Soyo trying to blame the choice of song? Was she implying this was Haru's fault?

"I didn't mean anything by it. I just feel a little off, so I'll be heading home too."

Soyo's tone cooled as she idly played with the ends of her light brown hair, then turned and walked out the door.

She was frustrated, yes but there was no way she could bring herself to blame her beloved husband.

Even though "Forget-Me-Not" held deep meaning for her, for Haru it probably didn't mean much at all. If there was blame to place, it was on herself. She hadn't moved fast enough.

If only she'd captured his heart sooner, then a song (ten songs) written for her would've been inevitable. Her frustration was rooted not in him, but in her own shortcomings.

Still, that bitterness was building. Someday, it was going to erupt.

"…I didn't think this through enough."

Haru rubbed his aching temple. Seeing the weariness on his face, Taki flinched, biting her lip hard.

"Haru, this is all my fault…"

"I was too arrogant. Without you… I couldn't do anything."

Her deep, beautiful violet eyes shimmered with tears, her expression fragile and vulnerable. Shiina Taki, usually spiky and guarded like a hedgehog, now stood before him utterly defenseless, as if she might shatter at the slightest touch.

Haru froze. He never expected Taki to be the one to apologize first.

He almost wished she'd just scowl at him like usual, anything but this.

"Taki, calm down. This performance wasn't your fault."

"Then what? Are you saying it's yours? You've already done more than enough, Haru!"

The same Taki who just moments ago had been trembling with guilt suddenly snapped, her eyes blazing. Her tightly pressed lips had already begun to bleed slightly from how hard she'd bitten them. In her eyes, a devastating inferiority complex flickered.

Toward the end of the song, her drumming had completely unraveled. She hadn't been able to bring Anon and Soyo back into sync. Worse, she herself had made a critical error, throwing off the song's final rhythm.

"…Take care of Tomori for me. I'm heading home too."

With those words, Taki turned on her heel and walked off without looking back. She didn't want to dump any more of her insecurity and weakness on him.

Haru didn't owe her anything.

As she too disappeared, Haru's headache only worsened.

He never expected a single performance to blow MyGO apart like this. And now the most fragile one, Takamatsu Tomori, was still standing beside him. There was no way he could leave his girlfriend behind and chase after anyone else.

"Haru… it's all my fault…"

"If it weren't for me, none of this…"

Tomori's voice trembled as she stood beside him, eyes swimming with tears, guilt etched all over her face like a child who knew they'd done something wrong. Haru couldn't even imagine what might happen if he left her alone in this state.

Tomori wasn't at fault. She'd done everything she could to save the performance.

"It's okay. I'll figure something out."

Haru gently pulled the little penguin into his arms and held her close, already turning over solutions in his mind.

Was it his fault?

Had he carried too much of the burden himself, shielding the band from real pressure? Was this collapse simply the result of them finally facing failure on their own?

Chihaya Anon knew very well: it was her mistakes that had thrown the entire band off rhythm.

Losing this performance meant she had to follow through on the "bet", step away from Haru.

The thought was suffocating. Like the sky had fallen.

It was over. It was all over.

"What the hell am I doing… Am I really that much of an idiot?"

Wandering the streets, Anon's eyes were unfocused. Every step she took brought back pieces of that dream...

The one where she dated Haru, married him, and grew old together.

It was supposed to be like that.

But that beautiful future had been ruined by her own hands.

"I don't even know what to do anymore. I can't stay by Haru's side…"

Devastated, she wandered aimlessly until she somehow returned home. She didn't even remember how she got there.

Curling up on her bed, hugging her pillow tightly, the room around her felt unfamiliar and cold.

There was no more hope. Staying by his side would only drown her in sorrow.