Am I being simulated by their love affair?

Page 618

Chapter 842 The Moon-Gazing Family Crest, A Tale by the Sea

At noon, in a quaint courtyard on the east side of Qilibin.

The tall, handsome boy in a kimono was pushed out of the private room by Mochizuki Haruka. The door behind them was not closed—a well-dressed woman was leaning out of the door frame, her curious face showing no trace of a noblewoman's demeanor.

"So, they've sent Matsueda-kun away already?"

"He's Miss Yao's boyfriend, please introduce him to us!"

"That's right~ I'm still thinking about building a good relationship with the future head of the family!"

The sounds of the women arguing inside the private room drifted out from the door, which was then closed by Wang Yuehua.

"Okay, okay, that's enough!"

"Today is just to let you get to know her and know that our Xiaoyao is in a relationship."

"He hasn't even finished university, and he's already talking about being the head of a family..."

Matsueda Jun didn't hear what was said after that, firstly because his aunt had closed the door tightly, and secondly because Mochizuki had pushed him away.

The boy turned his head away, and Mochizuki Haruka stopped and released her hands from behind him.

"Are you going again?" Jun Matsue asked with a smile. "Isn't Mochizuki going back?"

"I'll walk you to the door before I go back." The girl pouted slightly. "This restaurant is very big, and it's all winding and I'm afraid you'll get lost."

The boy obediently continued walking, with Wangyue following beside him. The two walked through the wooden corridor, beyond which stretched unobstructed gnarled plum branches, carrying the fresh fragrance of grass and trees.

“No matter how winding the path is, it’s only a few steps. I remembered it after walking it once when I came in…” Jun Matsueda’s gaze drifted to his side.

"Is Mochizuki feeling threatened?"

Mochizuki Haruka gave a haughty snort, "They all want to touch you."

"That's because I said the kimono you picked was pretty." The boy raised his arm—

He wore a light gray "haori" that served as an overcoat for his kimono, with the wide, raised cuffs adorned with the golden crest of the Mochizuki clan, consisting of eight small stars surrounding a central full moon.

As for the inner kimono, the upper body is pure black, while the lower body, which resembles a skirt, is embroidered with large silver-white cloud patterns and dragon bodies, making it very stylish and imposing.

The girl gave a loud snort and pulled her boyfriend to the end of the corridor, turning a corner.

"You can't touch that!"

She raised an eyebrow in displeasure. "Do you have a good feeling about them?"

“No, not at all…” Jun Matsueda wrinkled his nose as he recalled the elegant ladies in kimonos in the private room.

"When they came closer, I felt like I was going to get dizzy from the smell of their perfume."

"Is that so?" Mochizuki Haruka nodded in satisfaction. "They're all very competitive, afraid that they're not pretty enough in their companions' eyes."

“People like Wangyue and my aunt don’t have this kind of trouble.”

"...Stop with the sweet talk." She smiled honestly.

"Anyway, it's good that you've met these people before. We don't have much contact with Kamakura, so you won't see them many more times in the future."

"Okay." After turning the corner, the two arrived at the courtyard entrance, where Jun Matsue stopped.

"Should we go back now, Mochizuki?"

"Hmm." The girl shook his hand. "It'll be a shame for Songzhi to eat alone."

"Or you could wait for me?" Mochizuki Haruka's eyes flickered.

“They spend a lot of time together, and I usually leave my aunt behind as soon as I finish my meal.”

"I'll eat less later and then come out to have dinner with you?"

"Sure," the boy said, glancing at the smiling maid outside the door. "Shall I wander around by myself and find some snacks?"

"Okay..." The girl's action of letting go showed a hint of reluctance.

"If you're hungry, eat first, don't worry about me."

As he watched Mochizuki disappear around the corner of the corridor, Jun Matsue turned and walked out of the courtyard. A maid in a simple kimono bowed to him.

“Mr. Songzhi, you can just tell me if you have such a need.” The woman with gentle features straightened up.

Would you like to dine now?

The boy shook his head. "I want to go to the beach."

The maid turned to look at the distant avenue where the restaurant was located. "It's about a kilometer from the coastline. Shall we prepare a car for you?"

“I can walk.” Jun Matsueda took out his phone. “Do you want to come with me?”

The woman smiled considerately and took out a smart watch from the leather bag slung over her shoulder.

"The watch has my contact information and that of other people in its address book. You can wear this instead."

The boy took it, put it on his wrist, and walked towards the coastline indicated by his phone's navigation.

Jun Matsuoka walked along a straight avenue, which was lined with restaurants, golf courses, clubs, various public facilities and educational venues, and mostly small detached villas with wide courtyards between them.

It seems that the Qilibin area is an affluent neighborhood... The boy glanced at his phone again.

He had just noticed that the road leading to the Wangyue family's mountaintop villa was not shown on the map—and the mountain itself had no name.

...Is the Kamakura family really surnamed Mochizuki? Or are there just too many wealthy people living here?

Jun Matsueda put down his phone, politely declined the advances of the young girl in front of him, and continued walking forward.

Wearing a kimono isn't unusual here, but a boy in this kimono walking down the street is just too eye-catching—he's like a black hole, and everyone who passes by can't help but look away.

The one-kilometer journey was not long, and Jun Matsue soon came into view the coastline at the end of the street—a shimmering, floating blue expanse.

The slope of the road gradually increased, and feeling the lightness under his feet, the boy's mood became simple and light as well. He took out his phone and started recording a video as he walked towards the shore.

After passing through the last 300 meters, the high school buildings and hotel buildings on both sides receded, and the suddenly open view was divided into three layers—

A clear sky with floating clouds, a bright blue sea, and a stretch of highway extending out beneath your feet.

The refreshing breeze carried a slight chill, and Jun Matsue tightened his haori and pressed the stop button on the video recording.

After sending the video to the newly created chat group for the three members of the Wangyue family and receiving one read and one unread message, he put away his phone, bought a fried fish cake from a stall across the street, and continued his walk along the coastal road.

Beyond the pedestrian railing lay a clean, soft, wet sandy beach. The boy, wearing padded "straw sandals," didn't go down. Instead, he ate hot, bouncy fish cakes while watching the girls on the beach gasp and dodge the undulating waves along the shore.

This is perfect for taking photos… Jun Matsue thought contentedly.

Imokawa would probably like it.

As if to remind him of his wandering thoughts, the phone the boy was carrying in his pocket suddenly vibrated twice. He took it out and saw that it was a message from a penguin icon.

What a coincidence? Matsueda Jun, munching on a fish cake, first opened a three-person group chat—

Mochizuki sent him a picture of a kaiseki meal, saying she wouldn't be out for a while.

Auntie's unread messages were now read, but she didn't reply. The boy exited the chat window with relief and clicked on the cute penguin avatar holding a camera.

Imokawa didn't say a word, but directly sent over a few photos taken with a mini camera.

Jun Matsue smiled and sent over the video he had taken while walking down the slope. The girl's reply appeared quickly—

"Where is this pine branch?!"

Kamakura.

The message quickly showed as read, but there was no reply. He blinked and looked at the voice call invitation that popped up on the screen.

The boy turned around and looked back at the intersection he had come from.

There was no sign of the Mochizuki family; only the tram rattled along the tracks.

Jun Matsueda turned around, a fish cake still in his mouth, and answered a voice call on his phone.

A sweet, red bean paste-like voice rang in my ears.

"Isn't Matsue at the orphanage? How did she end up in Kamakura?"

There were no greetings, no small talk, but even after a week apart, the girl remained as close to him as ever.

"If you're going to...go out and have fun, why didn't you invite me?" Natsumi Imokawa stammered a bit. "I've been really bored these past few days!"

The boy smiled at the flock of birds circling overhead. "Imokawa, did someone teach you to say that?"

The osprey chased the seagull in a circle before the girl on the other end of the line answered in a slightly shy voice.

"...It was my mother who taught me."

"She said that if she has nothing to do during the holidays, she should go see Songzhi more often, but I think you must be very busy, after all, you have three girlfriends to take care of..."

Jun Matsueda awkwardly tugged at the haori on his shoulder. "I'm not that busy."

"But I came to Kamakura today to see Mochizuki; they're spending the New Year here."

“Oh…” Natsumi Imokawa paused for a moment, then quickly changed the subject.

"Pine Branch, is it convenient for you to video call? I'd like to see the coastline you just filmed!"

"……Hold on."

Matsueda Jun first bent down to straighten his slightly askew kimono, then picked up the half-eaten fish cake in his mouth before opening the video call interface.

On the screen appeared Natsumi Imokawa's chubby, youthful face—she seemed to be lying face down on the bed, her full breasts, squeezed and deformed, spilling out from the loose neckline of her pajamas.

The boy blinked, and before he could speak, Imokawa exclaimed excitedly.

"Matsue looks so handsome in his kimono! He looks like a rich young master all of a sudden!"

Matsueda Jun then realized that his video feed was in the front-facing camera mode, so he switched to the rear-facing camera mode and adjusted the view of the girl's side to the smaller window.

"Oh, why was it changed?" Natsumi Imokawa complained.

"I don't want to see the sea anymore, I want to see the pine branches!"

Even though he knew she couldn't see him, the boy still waved the half-eaten fish cake in his hand.

"I'm eating right now, so it's not convenient to video chat."

That's obviously an excuse; the real reason is that the man and woman looking so much like a couple in the video, face to face, are just too much like a couple...

"Oh..." The girl's tone was somewhat regretful, but then she was drawn to the coastal scenery in the picture.

"There are trams by the sea! I feel like I've seen them somewhere before."

"Shichirigahama seems to be quite famous." Jun Matsueda held up his phone and turned it around halfway so she could see more.

"There are quite a few tourists. I only know that scenes from 'Slam Dunk' have appeared here."

"So it's Shichirigahama!" The girl propped herself up on her arms, her ample breasts, covered by her pajamas, swaying with the movement.

"When I was filming the island scene in 'White Line Flow,' I thought about shooting it here!"

“Huh…” The boy stared at the astonishing scene in the small window.

Is Imogawa another vacuum?

Since it was a video call anyway, Jun Matsue didn't bother to remind her, and just awkwardly looked away.

"Is Matsue going to spend the New Year here? Is there anything fun to do in Kamakura?"

"I'm only staying here for one day." Perhaps he was a little hungry, he took a bite of the remaining half of the fish cake.

"There's not much to do... It might be better to come in the summer, when you can surf, scuba dive, or something, but it's too cold now."

After walking only a few steps, the shallow water beyond the road ended, and Jun Matsue turned back. He slowly moved his phone horizontally, sharing the same scenery with the girl.

“But the scenery is really beautiful.” He held up his phone. “You can even see Mount Fuji.”

“You can see Mount Fuji from Zushi Coast, but it was blocked by clouds the day we went.”

The girl instinctively retorted, as if to say that the zuko she had chosen was no worse than the Kamakura of the Mochizuki family.

"Is that so? Let me think, what else might Imokawa be interested in?"

Jun Matsue turned his head to look at the low, gentle hills behind the seaside neighborhood.

“There seem to be quite a few temples here, and our accommodation is on a mountaintop. If the angle is good enough, we can see the hillside, the coast, and Mount Fuji in the distance all at once.”

“…Ooh!” Natsumi Imokawa made a sound like she had been hit.

"What's wrong?" Jun Matsue enlarged the video window, only to see the girl's black hair hanging down in front of her face and her huge pajamas swaying.