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At night, somewhere in an office of a corporate building…

…Tapping away on a keyboard, with a fading glimmer coming from the display.

“Each tale should have a suitable beginning and a rich story. My duty is to collect them all and share them with those who purchased my game.”

I typed on the black keyboard, and the phrase slowly showed up on the screen.

Yup, then the game is almost done.

Being the one who programs and writes the script of the game, I decided to add this paragraph to it.

“Haa…”

I took a can of coffee, slightly tilted it, and dumped the contents into my mouth.

That silky feeling after the bitterness is always so energizing.

I looked at the empty cans of coffee beside me — they are showing my achievement of working 3 days non-stop. Finally, after such a lengthy amount of time, the RPG is nearly finished.

I stretched slightly and collapsed into sleep in front of my computer.

“Yuuki… Yuuki!?”

I finally woke up after an unknown amount of time.

Then I heard some pleasant sounds.

I immediately woke up after hearing these familiar sounds.

I can’t believe I just fell asleep…

I focused on my phone while I was waking up.

Sounds like the ringtone set by my fiancée.

I shook my head, trying to make myself sober up a bit.

Then I tapped the “Answer” button.

“Hi, hi?”

“Seriously? When will you come here, Yuuki!?”

A voice blaming me came out of the phone.

“…!!”

I immediately checked the date and time on the screen, no doubt it’s already the 5th of July.

It was the date we agreed to meet up, yet it was already 9:40.

I was already more than half an hour late, I stood up in anxiety.

I quickly saved everything and turned off the computer while replying to the girl.

“S-Sorry, I’m getting there… Just wait for a while!”

“10 minutes or I’ll never talk to you again!”

And the phone hung up.

She’s a girl who always keeps her word, if she said ten minutes, then you only have ten minutes, not a minute longer.

I rose and started running towards the toilet to wash my face.

Then I head to the elevator.

My name is Nikaidou Yuuki, a programmer and a script writer for an RPG game. My job is to start everything from the ground up. I have selected the best scripts from all the bestsellers for this massive RPG project. With my fine-tuning and my careful programming, I was really looking forward to its fruition.

The girl who contacted me a moment ago is my fiancée — Mayuko Mamoru.

Though she was explicitly specified for me by my family, we began to enjoy our relationship after getting along with each other for some time.

I was sprinting towards the direction of the park after I departed from the office, but my leg felt burdened, like tons of lead weighing it down.

That’s very likely caused by my prolonged session of staying up all night, but I have to be quick, I must be in Central Park in under 10 minutes.

“Haa, haa… Finally…”

I eventually arrived at the outside of Central Park after a lot of running. Exhausted, I picked up my phone from the pocket.

The time is: 9:48.

It was only 8 minutes! I felt relieved.
If I were late for another 3 minutes she would tear me apart!
I started dialing Mayuko, after ringing once or twice she finally picked up.

“Sorry, I’m here now, where are you?”
“Take a guess~”

From the other side was her joyful, prankish and somehow light voice, just like she was whispering.

“Didn’t you say 10 minutes? There are only 2 minutes left, stop joking. Tell me, where are you?”
“Uhuhu~”

Then a pair white, clean palms covered my eyes.

“Guess who I am?” The voice from the phone asked.

I replied with a grin:
“We don’t have much time to play around today, Mayuko. There are many things we planned for the day, right? And after that I have to get back to work…”

“You got me!”

Mayuko stuck her tongue out naughtily and turned her body towards me.

“You stayed up again? Your face looks pale…”

She noticed my look. Indeed my face is paler than ever after keeping myself up for 3 whole days. Though I didn’t notice it when I was in the restroom.

“Uhm… uh, no… that’s not important anyway, let’s go… I don’t have much spare time, so we only have today to pay ‘her’ a visit… Y’know you’re going to be her sister-in-law eventually.”
“Ah… Sure, of course. But it’s such a rare chance, wouldn’t it be nicer to go wandering around for a bit?”
“No. If I don’t finish my job on the scripts, my boss — your father — won’t forgive me for that…”
“You surely are a workaholic aren’t you…”
“I won’t argue with that either.”

I shrugged. My boss was already pushing me on that.

The game must be completed in 2 weeks — since the game was under planning for too long, my boss was pushing me to complete things ASAP.

“Though your father promised me a vacation after the project is done, then we can go pick a wedding dress and take some photos…”
“Sure? Promise me you will be with me then!”

She patted my shoulders and hugged my arms.

I smell a pleasant aroma coming from her body.

The soft feeling from her touch also made me a little nervous.

I scratched my hair and decided to change the topic.

“Let’s go and uhm… Buy her some flowers? My little sister really likes the flowers I gifted to her.”
“Hmm, let’s go to a flower shop then… in order to see my future sister-in-law.”¹

Though I remembered her expression of scorn when my aunt announced that I have a fiancée…
I didn’t even dare to look into her eyes.

After buying some carnations, we headed towards the hospital.

“Oh my, visiting your little sister today, Mr. Nikaidou?”

A nurse came out of her room exactly when we arrived in front of the door.

Since there weren’t many people visiting her, besides a few relatives, she easily remembered me.

“Hmm? You have company today? Is this… Mrs. Nikaidou?”
“No, not… yet. Maybe later?”
“Glad to meet you. Thank you for taking care of my future sister-in-law. I am Mayuko Mamoru, Yuuki’s fiancée.”

Mayuko bowed towards the nurse, taking the chance to introduce herself.

“Aww, you’ve got a cute girlfriend!”
“Ms. Tsukiko, how’s her mood today?”
“Kinda calm, she just finished her breakfast… A perfect time for your visit!”

Saying that, she left immediately while pushing the dining cart.

I pushed open the door and entered the room.

The girl inside the room had always been wearing a clean-white gown, in other words, a patient gown.

She has been suffering from a disease since she was born, so she could only live in such a prison-like place, merely extending her life.

Her disease was heartbreaking, especially now, when our parents had passed away.

Her so-called “relatives” are just trying to seize all the heritage left by our parents, nobody really cared about her.

So I might be the only real “family member” for her.

“Brother!…”

My sister — Nikaidou Rion — smiled happily when she saw me.

Yet her expression immediately darkened when she saw Mayuko coming in behind me.

“Why are you bringing her here?! Get out of my room! Uuuugh…”

Just after she finished her sentence she immediately held her chest. Her excessive anger must’ve triggered her heart defect.

—Yes, the congenital heart disease. The disease she has been suffering.

I’d have to say it’s surprising that I didn’t get the disease even though we both share the same parents.

My mother once told me, “Rion has borne my pain, that’s why you should take care of her.”

Thus, I decided to believe in this lie and started to take care of her ever since.

I spent several years with her. Maybe that’s why she started relying on me.

“Mayuko… Can you step outside, a bit?”

She probably can’t accept Mayuko for now, that’s why she was always so cold towards her.

I heard that she’s feeling better recently, that’s why I decided to bring Mayuko for the visit.

But I never thought she would be this triggered.

I fed her some meds, her symptom was somewhat relieved after swallowing them down.

“Feeling better?” I asked her. She loosened up a bit after gently patting her chest.
“Why did you save Rion? Don’t you want me to drop dead by bringing that woman to see me??”

I felt her fury from her eyes full of bitterness.

“You promised to be with Rion forever… Rion loved big brother so much… Rion would even do anything for big brother, why would you choose THAT woman? WHY? WHY? WHY WHY WHY WHY WHY WHY WHY WHY WHY…”

She constantly repeated only the word “WHY”, looking at me with her unfocused eye. I started feeling shivers down my spine.

“……”

Pulling the folding chair to her bedside, I sat down with clenched fists on my thighs. Yet I didn’t say anything. I hesitated on what I should say to comfort her.

“Ha, is that so?? I see now!! Everything makes sense now!! Brother fell in love with that woman… Indeed, with my current health condition, even brother would… but why!! Why would brother decide to leave me? First, father and mother, and now, my brother as well… Everybody is leaving Rion. It’s not like I wanted to be born like this either…”

“Haa…”

I sighed heavily. I felt helpless for such misfortune to fall upon my little sister.

“I, I wanted to spend my whole life taking care of you until you’re fully recovered, but it’s already—”
“Liar…”
“Eh?”

I sensed her spiritless voice, one spiritless enough to make somebody feel dread, so I turned my attention to her face. But her head was lowered, burying the darkened eyes with her black hair.

“Liar, liar, liar! My brother is a total liar!!”

I can’t argue with the fact, I broke the promise first.

1. Silva: Yandare alert, Yandere alert, turn back now before it’s too late!