aircannonsinc Page 510
Page 510
"I'm only looking for you." Mochizuki Haruka glanced at him.
Relieved, Jun Matsue walked toward the window where the crowd was gathered and soon returned with a box of takoyaki.
"Wangyue, you should eat first."
The girl took the box, used a wooden skewer to pick up a takoyaki, and blew on it a few times.
"It's so hot," she mumbled, taking a small bite.
"Let's go."
"Eat slowly." The boy followed him toward the staircase in the distance. "Thanks for this time, Mochizuki."
Mochizuki Haruka chewed on a takoyaki and turned her head to the side—the corridor lined with windows was chilly, but her face showed a warm red glow.
"Thank me for what?"
Jun Matsue thought for a moment, "What about everything right now?"
Since Tomatsu said he didn't need to apologize to them, he could only say thank you.
The girl turned her eyes away willfully and stepped onto the stairs.
"Remember this afternoon, don't make your aunt angry."
Back in Class 3-6, Mochizuki Haruka handed the remaining two takoyaki to the boys and went out with the gyaru maid.
When the empty cardboard box cooled down, the melodious music that had been playing in the room also stopped. Jun Matsue, who was sitting in the corner, looked up and saw the girl who had put down her saxophone sit down next to him.
"I feel a little tired~" Tomatsu Yuka breathed a sigh of relief and naturally picked up the hot water that the boy had placed beside her.
Jun Matsue glanced at the customers around him chatting and drinking coffee. "Shall we find a quiet place to rest?"
She shook her head. "Just a sip of water is fine."
The girl tilted her head back and held the water glass in her mouth. Her fair neck rose and fell with the swallowing motion, and the curves were particularly beautiful under the light.
Setting down the paper cup, Tomatsu Yuka smiled again, "And Yamami-senpai should be arriving soon too."
"Is she on her way?" The girl leaned closer. "The brass band performance is at 10:15."
The boy blinked and picked up the phone that had just vibrated on the table.
"My senior said she's already at school."
Tomatsu Yuka tightened her grip on the paper cup slightly, placed it back on the table, and looked out the window at the school gate.
"Then...shall we go pick her up together?"
“Sure.” Jun Matsueda stood up. “I’ll send a message to my senior first.”
As the teenagers walked out of the school building, many parents who had come to visit cast their gazes at them.
The two walked side by side under the fading shade of the trees, their gleaming leather shoes making a soft, muffled sound as they stepped on the sparse fallen leaves.
"Does Jun-kun still not have any feelings for his senior?" Tomatsu Yuka suddenly asked.
He stared blankly at Matsueda Jun standing at the school gate for a moment, then asked, "What do you feel?"
The girl's smile was both playful and mischievous.
"Of course, it's the feeling of wanting to get back together."
"..." The boy glanced at her helplessly, "I helped her not because I wanted to get back together with her or anything."
“I know that.” Tomatsu Yuka looked at the figure that appeared at the school gate.
"But my senior is also a very charming person—although Tsunkun didn't have that thought, maybe he'll gradually be attracted to her after getting to know her?"
Jun Matsue smiled and said, "Unfortunately, I still have no intention of getting back together with him."
Tomatsu was less asking him a question and more reminding him that, after temporarily reaching a tacit understanding with Mochizuki to "share the world equally," the girl had raised her hidden wariness again.
The girl, now at ease, smiled even more sweetly. As they talked, they walked to the school gate, where the senior's figure came into view.
Neither a school uniform nor an adult's work attire, Yamami Maki is wearing a matcha-colored wool vest today, tucked into the waist of her wool skirt along with a puff-sleeved shirt underneath, giving her a warm and refreshing look.
"Matsueda-kun~" The girl quickly raised her hand and waved when she saw the boy approaching.
She quickened her pace, her coffee-colored wool pleated skirt swaying, revealing the pinkish hue of her knees.
As she walked up to Jun Matsueda, Maki Yamami smiled at the girl beside her.
"Good morning, Yuka."
"Welcome back to Haneoka, senior~" Tomatsu Yuka raised her hands and waved them like a cheerleader's pom-pom.
"Hello, senior." Jun Matsueda smiled back. "Haneoka High School's cultural festival this year was quite interesting."
He didn't focus on the girl's appearance, but rather on her face—
Her eyes were warm and bright, her skin was delicate and fair, and there was no sign of thinning in her cheeks.
The senior student looks good; it seems she's taking good care of herself.
"I'm kind of looking forward to it." Yami Maki smiled gently, then quickly remembered something and turned to look at the door.
"Kokoro-chan—hurry up—"
Kuroha Shin walked slowly from the school gate. She was wearing a thick, oversized hoodie that covered her shorts, leaving only a pair of warm gray stockings showing.
"They're here, they're here..."
The girl muttered to herself while looking down at the Switch in her hands. She had pulled up the hood of her sweatshirt, and the shadows that fell down covered her eyebrows and eyes—she looked like a teenager addicted to the internet being dragged out by her mother.
"Still playing games!" Yami Maki glared at her as she approached, both exasperated and annoyed. "Didn't you say you wanted to come with me?"
"The game just now isn't over yet..." Kuroba Shin put the game console into the waist bag slung across her body and then looked up.
"Isn't this a pine branch?" She raised her hand to greet them, her small hand half-hidden in her sleeve.
"It's been a long time."
The girl turned around again. "You're Tomatsu Tomohana, right? Maki told me about you, and I think I've seen you before."
Her attitude was somewhat casual; Tomatsu Tomohana smiled and nodded without saying a word.
“She’s my girlfriend,” Jun Matsue interjected with a smile, “and her grades are better than mine.”
Kuroba Shin's nonchalant expression quickly vanished, and she opened her eyes wide to examine her closely.
"...You're even better than pine branches?"
She didn't pay attention to the first half of the boy's sentence. Yamami Maki grabbed the girl's hoodie and waved the cultural festival brochure in her hand.
"Um, the brass band's performance is almost time, shouldn't we head over now?"
“That’s about right.” Jun Matsue naturally picked up where she left off. “We can just go straight to the auditorium; we’ll definitely make it in time.”
"I'm not going!" Kuroba Shin immediately jumped to the side.
"I'm already tired of listening to wind instruments! I just came to see what the school I was supposed to attend is like!"
Yamami Maki blinked. "Then I'll come find you later?"
The girl glanced at Jun Matsue beside her, "Just don't forget to come find me later."
She grabbed her handbag, turned and walked towards the teaching building, quickly disappearing into the shade of the trees.
"Let's go then." Tomatsu Yuka smiled at the two people beside her. "You look beautiful as always, senpai."
Yamami Maki habitually walked to the other side of the boy and followed in his footsteps.
"I really like it myself, and this wool skirt only costs two thousand yen!"
The girl paused, "This seems to be the first time I've heard such a low price from a senior student."
Jun Matsue, who was walking in the middle, smiled and said, "After all, you're an independent adult now."
"Master..." Yami Maki looked slightly troubled.
"Just a college student learning to be frugal."
Walking along the avenue to the auditorium, the three of them tacitly and restrainedly kept the conversation focused on the big and small things in each other's school life.
Yamami Maki didn't look at Yuka holding the boy's hand, and Tomatsu Yuka didn't ask about her senior's elegant yet expensive makeup—the girls, each with their own thoughts, were unwilling to break this slightly distant harmony.
It wasn't until Jun Matsue started talking about the brass band that things changed.
"The brass band's performance yesterday seemed to be very well received; I could hear a lot of people talking about it along the way."
“After all, this is this year’s national gold medal.” Yamami Maki smiled.
"I watched the live broadcast of the national competition, and Yu Qiu Gao performed really well on the spot."
She was quite happy when the brass band was mentioned—not only because of the competition results, but also because she had watched the competition that afternoon in a coffee shop with Tsunku and Aya.
"This year's brass band is a team that's good enough for major competitions," Tomatsu said, looking at the entrance to the auditorium. "They performed even better live than during practice."
"I have to admit, what you said earlier was correct." She looked at the girl on the other side.
"You won."
Yamami Maki's expression paused for a moment.
She turned her head to look at the boy in the middle who was holding Yuka's arm—the distance between herself and Tsunku was, of course, much greater than that.
"What does it matter who wins or loses?" The girl smiled softly and gently.
"Didn't Yuuka also put in a lot of effort to guide them? I saw Yuna-chan post a message thanking you."
"The best result is as long as everyone wins in the end."
Jun Matsue leaned forward, blocking their gazes from meeting.
"Watch out for the steps, don't trip."
"Good~"
The girls responded in unison, bowed their heads, and stepped onto the steps in front of the auditorium.
Maki Yami glanced sideways at the boy walking arm in arm with Tomatsu Yuka, and sighed silently in her heart.
I still have a long way to go before I can become a true winner...
Chapter 758 Who will deal with Yamami Maki?
At exactly 11:00 a.m., the last note in the auditorium drifted away, like a fallen leaf settling onto the stage floor.
What followed was a thunderous applause that resounded throughout the hall.
Jun Matsue sat in the front row. He lowered his hands and watched the girls on stage bow in unison with pride, then leave one by one in the shadows, instruments in hand.
"That's definitely at the national gold level..."
Sitting to his right, Yamami Maki looked up at the stage and sighed softly.
"We've relaxed a bit," Tomatsu Yuka chimed in from the other side. "But the national tournament is over, so maintaining this level of performance is pretty good."
Before entering the auditorium, there was a slight undercurrent in the atmosphere between the three girls, but they were all very focused on the music, and after the performance, the subtle barrier between them lessened considerably.
"Shall we go out and check on them?" Jun Matsueda looked at the small, closed door on the side of the hall. "Is Senpai going back to find Kokoro-chan right away?"
Yamami Maki shook her head. "Kokoro-chan isn't a child. She's a freshman in the same year as me at Ochanomizu University."
"Let's go then~" Tomatsu Yuka patted the arm of the person next to her and stood up first.
"Let's go check on Yuna-chan and the others again."
Leaving the main hall and entering the side corridor, the three quickly found the brass band's temporary preparation room, but Jun Matsue did not go in with the girls—he found it too troublesome.
With his back against the corridor wall, the boy smiled and gestured to the students' parents who were passing by in twos and threes.
After all, the atmosphere between Yuuka and her senior had only just become a little more natural. If she were there, unsuspecting juniors might ask some questions, and their moods would change again...
After waiting for seven or eight minutes and giving directions to the parents who were leaving the auditorium three times, the door next to him opened again. Matsueda Jun turned his head and saw that only Yamami Maki was walking out.
"Yuka is still inside." The senior smiled at him. "She's talking to Yuna-chan about the student council elections. Let's go to the teaching building first."
The boy blinked. "Should we go first?"
“Yes.” The girl nodded. “I was a little surprised too…”
Jun Matsue straightened up and left the wall. He took out his phone and sent a message to Yuka Tomatsu, and quickly received the same reply.
"...Will someone take over the shift?"