Am I being simulated by their love affair?

Page 489

"What's wrong?"

The girl pushed open the door and went inside without hesitation.

A three-sided wardrobe surrounded the woman in the center of the room. Wang Yuehua was trying on a black dress in front of the full-length mirror. She turned around, and the neckline, which was not yet fully tied, partially concealed her full breasts.

"Why are you trying on clothes again?"

Mochizuki Haruka walked to her side and glanced at the open wardrobe.

She pointed to a pair of Victorian-style velvet shorts and a lantern-sleeved shirt, thoughtfully paired with a pair of fishnet stockings.

"This outfit looks pretty good. Do you have my size?"

"Didn't this brand's autumn clothes all arrive at your bedroom yesterday?" Auntie rolled her eyes at her. "Xiaoyao didn't notice, did she?"

"Oh." The girl moved closer to her and tightened her aunt's skirt.

"I feel like my waist has gotten thinner!" Wang Yuehua looked at herself in the mirror and gently lifted her chest.

"My chest seems firmer too, is this the effect of exercise?"

"..." Mochizuki Haruka glanced at her, "Probably."

My aunt's waist has gotten a bit thinner, but her breasts haven't changed much; they're just as perky as before.

However, she didn't intend to point it out; she would just consider it as giving her aunt more motivation to exercise.

The woman put on her dress, turned around in front of the full-length mirror, and nodded in satisfaction.

"So what does Xiaoyao want from me?" She turned around and hugged the girl. "Weren't you sunbathing upstairs?"

Mochizuki Haruka pushed away the large, soft mass squeezing against her, her impatience mirroring that of a cat.

"The video that Imokawa filmed before has already been released."

"Oh?" Mochizuki blinked in surprise. "Is it the short film I also acted in?"

The girl nodded.

So Auntie quickly finished trying on the clothes, keeping the ones she liked and letting the head maid take the ones that didn't fit. She soon changed into a fitted knit sweater for home and sat in front of the big TV with her niece.

The screen already displayed the "Imokawa's Camera" channel, and Mochizuki Haruka selected the latest video to play.

Jinzhi jumped onto the sofa, trying to climb onto its owner's lap, but the girl pushed it away in disgust. It curled up into a golden ball of fur in the corner of the sofa, feeling wronged.

The large screen quickly projected bright colors onto the faces of the aunt and niece.

When the white text of the opening sequence appeared on the river surface where the sky and cherry blossoms floated, Mochizuki sighed.

"The photos are actually quite decent."

Mochizuki Haruka didn't speak; she simply placed her bent legs on the sofa and silently wrapped them around her arms.

The girl knew what was going to happen next.

Hikaru Kashiwabara and Anzu Konno will confess their feelings to each other, only to reject each other in return. There will likely be a segment interspersed with a period of their deep childhood friendship, followed by a special graduation ceremony in reality, a farewell where joy is overwhelmed by sorrow.

At first, Mochizuki Haruka felt quite uncomfortable watching Matsueda and Tomatsu Yuka act together, but now, looking at the young and innocent boys and girls on the screen, she feels calm and indifferent.

After all, they're already deeply in love in real life, so the heart-wrenching separation and death scenes in the story become all the more palpable...

On the screen, the boy who had changed out of his uniform watched the girl walk toward her family waiting at the station. He waved with a smile, but clutched his brand-new, clean shirt tightly.

The next second is from the boy's perspective, with the tram roaring out of the station. The frame-by-frame footage is choppy, like the protagonist's frozen inner world.

Wang Yuehua blinked and leaned closer to the girl beside her.

"They parted ways, and then it's Xiaoyao's turn to appear, right?"

Mochizuki Haruka nodded, watching the second scene on the television.

Then, the girl named "Fujii Kaede" appeared.

Hikaru Kashiwabara first met Kaede Fujii on his university campus, by which time he had already adapted to life without Anzu Konno—it had taken him a whole year.

"The only difference between Japanese men from ten to thirty years old seems to be the different suits and shirts they wear..."

The boy's self-deprecating monologue echoed in the ears of the two people in front of the TV.

But the petite girl who was struggling through the crowd and hurrying toward him had already seen him by the river at Fujimori High School.

It was late spring last year, when cherry blossoms were falling like rain, and the girl had just entered university.

One afternoon when she had no classes, Fujii Kaede was strolling along the river near her home when she spotted a tall boy leaning against the railing on the opposite bank.

At that time, Kashiwabara Hikaru did not notice her. The boy just leaned silently against the railing, just like countless other afternoons when he couldn't shake off his feelings, watching the shimmering waves flowing in the river day after day on the opposite bank of his alma mater.

It was those deep, melancholic eyes that shone with a captivating light, like an inky vortex under the clear sky at the turn of spring and summer, that drew Fujii Kaede's gaze away, making it impossible for her to look away.

She instinctively stopped, as if unwilling to disturb the untimely solitude on the other side. Only when the boy turned to leave did the girl hurriedly take her steps.

"and many more!"

However, her words did not reach the shore. By the time Fujii Kaede arrived at the spot where the boy had been, he had already disappeared.

The girl was also filled with melancholy. She wandered back and forth on the riverbank for a long time before leaving dejectedly.

However, one question remained in Fujii Kaede's mind.

What was he thinking at that time?

It wasn't until two months later, when she spotted that unforgettable figure in the crowd in the school's central square, that the girl's regret and sorrow transformed into excited and thrilled steps.

"This is destiny," she thought firmly.

She will fall in love with him, get to know him, and eventually enter his heart.

Hikaru Kashiwabara, who had been in university for a year, met his junior classmate in this way.

However, this first love did not go as smoothly as Fujii Kaede had firmly believed—

A year after we met.

“Kashiwabara always drinks the same beverage…” the girl watched as he opened the cabinet door.

"Hmm." The boy shook the chocolate milk in his hand, his voice gentle. "This is pretty good."

Konno Anzu and he used to drink this often after school when they were in high school.

"What should I drink..." Fujii Kaede squatted down in front of the beverage cabinet, her fingers twirling between the chocolate milk (one carton was missing) and the plain milk.

The footsteps faded behind her. "Take your time choosing. I'm going to pay the bill first."

The boy's shadow disappeared from the glass cabinet door. The girl was stunned for a moment, and then a bitter look welled up in her eyes.

On the lush green grass, Fujii Kaede suddenly confessed her feelings.

"Hey, Kashiwabara, do you know that every time I see you, I feel a little scared?"

"...Why?" The boy was a little surprised.

"Because every time, the desire in my heart is eager to be fulfilled."

"But I always feel like you're not in front of me—your gaze always passes right through me and looks somewhere I don't know."

The girl looked at the chocolate milk in his hand.

"So every time I'm by your side, my heart aches, but when I see you, I feel happy, and I can't help it..."

"Kashiwabara, what are you looking at?"

"Can't you even look at me a little longer...?"

She could accept her own heartbreak, but she couldn't accept that in the boy's heart there was always an impossible shadow that was far away.

Therefore, this was destined to be a one-sided love that ended in sadness.

When the television screen froze for the last frame, the two women from the Mochizuki family on the sofa were stunned for a moment.

"If I had known the photos would turn out this well, I would have shown my face back then," Auntie said with a touch of regret.

Because the intention was to show that her character wasn't special to Hikaru Kashiwabara, Natsumi Imokawa deliberately avoided showing Miss Hana's face in the shot.

Mochizuki Haruka, who was standing to the side, rolled her eyes at her.

"...Let everyone know that the head of the Mochizuki family came here to film something like this? Is Auntie joking?"

Wang Yuehua waved her hand with a smile, "So it's okay for you to be on camera?"

The girl paused for a moment, then turned her face away and pursed her lips.

Anyway, I can't possibly cut ties with him.

Her relationship with Songzhi is far closer than theirs in the story.

Her aunt was engrossed in reading the comments, while Mochizuki Haruka sat motionless on the sofa—the girl's lowered eyelashes fluttered, and her expression was somewhat hesitant.

She gently nudged the soft thigh of the person next to her, and the woman looked up.

Mochizuki Haruka lowered her head and spoke softly.

"I feel like... I'm about to give up."

As time went on, the girl's defenses became increasingly weak.

Chapter 740 Little by little, entering each other's lives

Jun Matsueda walked out of the Minami-Asagaya station at 10:50 a.m.

The morning dew and dampness had long since receded, and the sunlight, close to late October, was neither too hot nor too cold, just enough to clearly illuminate everything on the road.

Ignoring the infatuated gaze of the girl he was facing, he quickly left the station and walked towards the coffee shop a few hundred meters away.

Pushing open the glass door, you're greeted by a girl standing behind the cashier—Yamami Maki had already spotted the boy, and a long-awaited smile appeared on her gentle face.

Welcome to 'mani'~

After the standard greeting, she waved to the boy at the door, a small wave that seemed very friendly.

Good afternoon, Songzhi!

"Hello, senior."

Jun Matsue closed the door and went inside.

He stopped in front of the cashier and, looking at the person in front of him through the computer on the table, began to examine their attire.

Today, Yamami Maki was wearing a black shirt and a brown apron, a very ordinary outfit for a coffee shop.

The girl thus gained a more approachable and friendly feel, like a gentle older sister next door—although the senior sister didn't dress extravagantly before, her outfits were always unique and sophisticated, and that fresh and romantic style was something that most people couldn't pull off.

Yamami Maki's eyes sparkled with delight. "What do you think, Matsueda-kun?"

She gently patted her uniform, then spun around behind the counter, revealing her hair tied up at the back of her head.

Her long, jet-black hair was braided into a beautiful style, coiled into a round and full bun, and tied up by the girl with a wide matcha-colored ribbon, giving her a clean and gentle temperament.

Jun Matsue paused for a moment, then looked around the counter.

"Why is my senior working here?"

"Isn't Cai Jiang in the store?"

Before the girl could answer the question, Aya Miyamura stood up from behind the counter carrying a full can of coffee beans.

"Welcome to 'mani'~" She winked at the boy, her tone lively and mischievous.

"Brother Chun arrived so quickly!"

Jun Matsueda glanced at Maki Yami, who was smiling brightly beside the girl, and said, "I was relatively free at home today, so I came over after receiving your message."

He knew he had to come and check on his senior who had suddenly started working.

Yamami Maki glanced at the brother and sister beside her and tapped the menu on the bar with her index finger.

"Since you're already here, Matsueda-kun, won't you order a coffee?"

"...a hot latte."

After making eye contact with her, the boy accepted his role as a guest.

The young barista beside him began brewing coffee with an air of nonchalance, her movements carrying a hint of showing off. Jun Matsueda rested one hand on the bar counter and turned to survey the shop.

The coffee shop where Cai Jiang works is only about the size of two storefronts. Because it mainly sells coffee and doesn't have many desserts, and it was lunchtime on a day off, there weren't many customers. Only one lady was sitting in a corner drinking coffee and reading a book.

Since there weren't many customers, Jun Matsue was able to turn around and chat with the girl behind the counter without feeling guilty.