Love Comes After Simulation

Chapter 158

[The woman’s surname was Asagiri. A year ago, she had been hospitalized due to kidney disease. She was divorced, and her only daughter was cared for by her aging grandmother, living in a remote rental apartment.]@@@@

[It was practically a slum—a five-story building divided into tiny single rooms, with no internal staircase. Instead, a rusty iron staircase clung to the outside, creaking loudly with every step.]

[You hired a private investigator to find out when the elderly woman usually took her granddaughter outside. Then, you waited on the street and finally saw the girl.]

[You were certain—that was Mako.]

[Back home, you confessed part of the truth to Reina. You told her that you owed a girl a great debt and needed to make amends.]

[Reina was startled. She had been watching a family drama recently, and for a moment, she thought the girl you mentioned was a romantic rival—that “making amends” meant starting a second family outside your home.]

[But when she saw the little two- or three-year-old girl, she was relieved. And after asking about the girl’s blood type, she relaxed even more.]

[The girl was playing on the swings in the park when Reina approached her and asked for her name.]

[Asagiri Mayu. That was Mako’s real name.]

[Mayu’s grandmother returned from the market and mistook you for prospective adoptive parents trying to take Mayu away. For months now, her daughter had been talking about putting Mayu up for adoption. Lowering her head, the old woman held Mayu tightly and quickly walked away from you.]

[You didn’t pursue Mayu further. Instead, you shifted your focus to her mother—the woman hospitalized at Takeomi General Hospital.]

[You reached out to a friend at Takeomi Hospital and asked about the woman’s condition.]

[She needed kidney surgery. Because of her frail constitution, what should have been a relatively affordable procedure had doubled in cost. The post-surgery recovery expenses were also overwhelming. She couldn’t afford it.]

[You paid for the surgery and the necessary medication for her recovery. The operation was scheduled for the following month, with the best doctor at Takeomi Hospital as the lead surgeon.]

[Two days later, your friend contacted you—there was a problem.]

[The surgery required the woman’s consent and signature. You hadn’t expected that she would refuse this heaven-sent opportunity.]

[A sudden gift from fate made her uneasy. She wanted to know who was helping her.]

[Your expertise in cardiac surgery was world-renowned. Under your leadership, your research institute had successfully cultivated fully functional artificial biological organs based on heart valve technology. Except for complex organs like the heart and lungs, most organs could now be grown and replaced. This breakthrough revolutionized medicine, rendering many traditional procedures obsolete.]

[Yet, despite the immense profits from your research institute, you continued investing in what would inevitably become outdated—conventional cardiac treatments.]

[The medical community couldn’t understand your reasoning. But the funding you provided was substantial, and though artificial heart cultivation still had a long way to go, surgical advancements made it a promising field. Many scholars were willing to join your research efforts.]

[Mayu became part of this research.]

[Ichinose Shiori saw through your intentions. She asked if you could still travel back to the past. You confirmed her suspicions and asked if there was anything she wanted to say to her younger self. She shook her head, believing she needed no guidance from the future.]

[At sixty, you witnessed Ichinose Shiori being elected as Prime Minister. She held office for eight years before resigning due to political turmoil.]

[During her tenure, she once made a private visit to your home. Nakajima Youhei happened to see her. He thought back to over forty years ago—to how easily you had arranged Reina’s surgery, and to how you hadn’t been in the hospital on the day of her operation. A troubling realization formed in his mind.]

[He chose to forget it.]

[At sixty-eight, Nakajima Youhei and Honoka passed away.]

[At seventy-one, Ichinose Shiori made a political comeback and became Prime Minister once more.]

[At seventy-seven, your father passed away. The following year, your mother followed him.]

[At the end of your life, your research was finally complete. Under Mayu’s leadership, the medical team—supported by your research institute and guided by your surgical theories—used an unfinished artificial heart as a test subject. Through numerous surgical trials, they successfully demonstrated that surgery alone could have cured the heart condition that once plagued Reina.]

[At ninety-two, Reina passed away in your arms. An artificial valve could never compare to a healthy heart.]

[Together, you followed her into the world that had once loomed over her like a shadow.]

[Your gravestones were placed by the shores of Sora no Ike.]

[Simulation End.]