[Before Winter Vacation arrives, that is, in the next few months, although there will still be some contact, there won’t be any direct or pressing Crisis like the sports festival.]
[There won’t be any situations leading directly into the Personal Route for the next few months either.]
[For you, this is considered a relatively safe period.]
It was an unexpected relief.
Xiao Chun Miura let out a small sigh of relief.
After all, as long as she didn’t have to face a new survival Crisis immediately, she felt more at ease.
At least there was some room to breathe.
[But don’t let your guard down.]
At that moment, the System interjected.
[No matter what, being prepared in advance is never a bad thing.]
[If you do nothing and simply let time slip into Winter Vacation, when the Plot Trigger occurs, you might not have time to react.]
Xiao Chun Miura fell into thought.
According to the System, because the world had suddenly developed a problem… the resulting Data Deviation made even the System unable to predict what would happen in the Plot Trigger.
If, during these few months of the Buffer Period, she didn’t collect information, think of countermeasures, and establish enough of an advantage in advance—
[When the Plot Trigger for Winter Vacation begins, you might be caught off guard and face an unavoidable ending.]
The System stated Xiao Chun Miura’s internal conclusion at just the right moment.
The girl pressed her lips together.
Now, or rather, the next few months, felt like the calm before a storm.
Although there would be no immediate Crisis, if she didn’t use this time to gather information and build an advantage—
When that illusory storm truly arrived, she would only be swept away by the waves, powerless to resist.
Unknown Plot Trigger.
Unpredictable development.
These words echoed repeatedly in her mind, and a heavy pressure weighed on her chest.
It felt different from facing Kondo Haruka.
Was it because she had grown used to interacting with Kondo Haruka, making this new ‘opponent’ she had never spoken to before feel all the more unfamiliar?
She couldn’t say.
But Xiao Chun Miura could sense a cloud of unease lingering in her heart.
If only she could set up enough conditions to avoid a Crisis over the next few months.
I understand.
Xiao Chun Miura raised her head.
Though her heart remained clouded with confusion, her eyes regained their determination.
I’ll keep a low profile over the next few months and observe the situation.
[A rational decision.]
For some reason, Xiao Chun Miura felt the System’s attitude… was a little different from before.
But it was only a fleeting impression.
Because the System quickly continued with its next words, leaving her no time to think deeper.
[Since the information sync is complete, I should get back to work.]
[Good luck.]
With that, the screen’s light began to flicker, as if about to vanish.
Wait!
Before it disappeared, Xiao Chun Miura suddenly called out.
There’s one more question.
The girl paused, her gaze unconsciously drifting to the tightly closed door.
Her eyes wanted to see what was happening downstairs.
Downstairs… my parents.
What’s going on with them?
This was the biggest change she had experienced tonight and the thing she wanted to understand most.
It was a good thing, but she couldn’t help but feel anxious about gaining and losing it.
Before, there was never anyone at home. They only existed as voices on the phone.
She had thought they were just sound with no physical presence.
Why did they suddenly come back today?
Didn’t you say you needed to save computational power? Doesn’t generating two living people like that consume computational resources?
Xiao Chun Miura spoke carefully.
She was curious about the answer, but also subtly afraid.
It was only after she asked that she realized she was afraid of hearing the System reply coldly that they were ‘just insignificant secondary characters without value.’
Even though she knew it was false, even though she knew they couldn’t be her real parents.
But the warmth was too real.
It made Xiao Chun Miura develop a bit of greed she shouldn’t have had.
The System paused, floating in mid-air.
[They were originally ‘Placeholders’—useless data.]
Placeholders?
It was a bit hard to grasp exactly what the System meant, so Xiao Chun Miura repeated its words.
[Yes. In the underlying logic of this game world, even secondary characters possess their own relationships.]
[‘Xiao Chun Miura’ as a character is the same—she has parents.]
[But in the original game world, ‘Xiao Chun Miura’ was just a background character, so her parents never appeared, and that data was always in a ‘Hidden State.’]
[In other words, they were ‘Placeholders’—they existed, but not in their true form.]
The System explained.
[But now, the situation is different.]
[You entered this body and survived in this world. You made friends, had experiences, and needed anchors for your existence.]
[You’ve established yourself in this world. Your presence has grown from an insignificant background character to a valued entity.]
[To match your current presence and to make this world’s logic more consistent, those originally frozen relational data points were naturally activated.]
Those words left Xiao Chun Miura dumbfounded.
So… just because of that?
[They belonged to ‘Xiao Chun Miura’ as a character from the start.]
[Simply decompressing and releasing data that already existed doesn’t require generating new data, so… it doesn’t really count as consumption.]
[The effect on computational power is negligible—almost unnoticeable.]
[So, I just let them out.]
Let them out… so easily?
Xiao Chun Miura murmured to herself.
So that’s how it was.
Simply because she ‘survived,’ the world became more ‘complete’ as well.
What did this mean?
Was it a reward?
Would things keep changing in the future…?
No matter the reason, she felt grateful.
To be honest, she really liked that hot hamburger steak, and she was happy to hear those two words: ‘Good night.’
[If there’s nothing else, I’m leaving.]
Leaving those words behind, not even giving her a chance to respond, the blue screen flickered twice and vanished completely from the room.
Silence returned.
Xiao Chun Miura stood by the door for a while, staring at the empty room, unmoving.
Then, she walked to the bed and sat down in a daze.
Voices from her parents downstairs drifted up.
Xiao Chun Miura listened, her ear tilted.
She closed her eyes, unmoving, letting the voices wash over her.
It was mesmerizing.
In her mind, the System’s explanation about Data Deviation and the warning of the Crisis during Winter Vacation mixed with the warm smiles she saw on her parents’ faces when they parted downstairs.
Crisis and warmth.
Falsehood and reality.
In this world, the two were always so contradictory yet intertwined.
The System had just said not to stand out too much in the coming months.
That meant she couldn’t stir up another school-wide spectacle like this time.
Keep a low profile… huh?
Xiao Chun Miura gave a wry smile.
That should have been what she was best at, and what she most wanted to do.
All she had to do was stay away from Kanzaki Sou, that walking spotlight, and not draw attention to herself.
‘…But I can’t.’
‘Leaving Kanzaki Sou’s side… that’s impossible.’
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