Am I being simulated by their love affair?

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"Remember to lock the door," he said without turning around.

"Ok!"

As he walked out of the unfamiliar apartment once again, the boy looked back one last time before leaving.

The fourth-floor corridor was quiet and well-lit, giving no indication that a mature yet somewhat impulsive young woman had just moved in that night.

Matsueda Jun took out his phone. It was already past 9:10. There was a message from Kurusu Yosei asking why he hadn't come home yet.

I'll be home before 10 o'clock. I brought you some snacks on the way.

A cute chibi-style nodding emoticon popped up in the chat box. The boy smiled and put his phone back in his pocket.

He had to hurry on his way, so he walked quickly toward the station.

I had to drive half an hour from the Middle Eastern Wildflower Park back to Luhua Park, where my bicycle was still parked.

Riding a bike home, it only takes a little over ten minutes if you're fast... Jun Matsue calculated the time.

That means there are still a few minutes to buy snacks. There are plenty of shops in both stations, so you can pick one along the way.

If that doesn't work, I'll just buy some oden when I get to the apartment building—if I get delayed on the way, I can use that as an excuse to buy some more time...

Back on the main road in front of Higashi-Nakano Station, the boy bought a discounted lemon cheese tart from a dessert shop that was about to close. He successfully used his sunny smile to get the yawning shop assistant to speed up the packing process.

Carrying the packaged desserts, he hurried into the station. At 9:16, he strode onto the platform, where he saw the open-air, cold-colored tracks.

The darkness between the buildings across the street wasn't deep; a cool breeze gently stirred it, causing Matsueda Jun's pocket to tremble as he took out his phone.

It was a message from Ikuka Yamami:

"My dad has been keeping an eye on me these past few days, so I haven't been able to visit Moji. Please take good care of her for me."

"No matter what, her sudden desire to leave the family must be partly your fault."

Miss Yuxiang didn't mention her indulgence of her younger sister at all, and the boy sighed helplessly.

He looked up and saw that the screen on the platform showed the train would arrive in one minute. He didn't reply to Ikuka Yamami, but put his phone away first.

As he watched the night outside the eaves illuminated by the city lights, changing in shades of darkness, he recalled the girl who had walked with him in the night not long ago.

Her naivety, her ignorance of the ways of the world.

Her rationality, her simple and innocent joy.

The bewilderment on her face, the unwavering determination in her eyes.

When the blinding glow of the tram's engine appeared far beyond the platform, Jun Matsueda withdrew his gaze.

He turned his head to look at the rapidly approaching light on the tracks and uttered the words he hadn't spoken in the rented room.

"If only you had always looked like this."

Chapter 708 A Sunny Sunday Filled with Change

The next morning, as Jun Matsue was washing up in the bathroom after waking up, his phone vibrated.

The boy dried the water droplets on his face with a towel, picked up his phone from the shelf, and looked at the message displayed on the lit screen.

"Good morning, Songzhi-kun! I'm already up!"

As he hung the towel on the rack with his phone and walked into the living room, Yamami Maki sent him another message.

This is what we're having for breakfast today!

The image was not displayed on the lock screen. Jun Matsue stopped in front of the refrigerator and opened the chat window on his phone.

It was the small dining table he had seen last night, with a rice ball and a carton of milk on it, and a banana in the background.

"Luckily, we had our own refrigerator and microwave; the warm rice balls tasted pretty good!"

"...Is this a daily report?" the boy muttered.

He sent a message saying "Good morning," and took a bag of toast and two eggs out of the refrigerator with one hand.

Yawning, Jun Matsue walked into the kitchen, put down the ingredients he was holding, and started typing on his phone with both hands.

"Did you encounter any problems last night?"

The girl quickly sent a voice message. Jun Matsue put his phone on the counter, heated oil in a pan, and listened to his senior's voice coming from the kitchen.

"I probably went to bed a little late last night because I was a bit excited." Yamami Maki's voice was a little grumpy from just waking up, sounding softer and sweeter than usual.

"But I think I slept pretty well—the bedroom is small, and lying in bed looking at the ceiling made me feel especially at ease."

"Is it small?" the boy muttered again. The two cracked eggs were poured into the pan, sizzling as they were poured in.

Although I haven't been inside the senior's bedroom, judging from the layout, room 507 should be about the same size as hers.

Seemingly because he didn't reply immediately, the girl's message turned into text.

"Has Songzhi-kun had breakfast yet?"

Jun Matsue scooped the fried egg out of the pan, threw in two small pieces of butter, and then put the toast back on the pan.

"It's being prepared. Breakfast is an egg sandwich."

"If you learn to make sandwiches, breakfast will be much more convenient." He typed two more lines.

"Actually, it's just frying eggs or bacon and ham in a pan, heating up some bread, and then adding some vegetables to sandwich it together."

He had even eaten his senior's fried eggs and croquette bento boxes before, sandwiches and the like, so it shouldn't be too difficult for a young girl to make them.

"Got it!" The parrot avatar sent a hopping little bird emoji. "I'll try to do it later~"

With no new messages, the boy's phone went silent; the senior student must have gone to focus on eating breakfast.

Jun Matsue flipped the toast in the pan, and the aroma of butter and bread slowly rose and spread around the stove.

Just as the kitchen was getting into the "just adding some vegetables and mixing them together" stage, a crisp sound of a door opening came from the living room, and Jun Matsueda turned around.

Yosuke Kurusu yawned as he walked to the kitchen door, reaching under his T-shirt to rub his belly.

"Pine branch, I want some mayonnaise~"

"Okay." The boy picked up the mayonnaise from the side, lifted the toast, and squeezed it on.

You got up later than usual today.

"It's Sunday today!" The girl rolled her eyes at his retreating figure. "Shouldn't we get some rest?"

Five minutes later, the two sat at the table, chewing sandwiches and listening to the morning news on TV.

Yosei Kurusu picked up the milk in front of her, tilted her head back, and took a sip, her fluffy pink ponytail swaying slightly behind her head.

"Speaking of which, the lemon cheese tart that Songzhi bought yesterday tasted pretty good." The girl licked the milk stains off her lips.

Where did you buy it?

Jun Matsue paused in his chewing motion.

"It's a bit far from here, so it's quite inconvenient to buy it."

"Never mind then." Miss Idol waved her hand. "So, have you found that runaway child?"

"found it."

"Did you manage to coax her home?"

"No, I can't convince her."

"Hmm?" Kurusu Yosei blinked. "With a face like yours, you could easily fool any little girl, right?"

"..." The boy eating breakfast looked up and glanced at her. "She's not a little girl, she's Yamami Maki."

"Yamami Maki?" The girl thought for a moment, then her eyes widened.

"Isn't that your ex-girlfriend?"

Jun Matsue didn't say anything, and took another bite of his sandwich.

"She ran away from home?" Miss Idol's voice rose, and the slight languor she had after getting up disappeared from her face.

"Is Songzhi going to get back together with her?!"

"I just went to check on her." The boy looked up, neither admitting nor denying it.

"...I don't quite believe it." The girl leaned forward a little and stared into his eyes.

"If that's how you think, then there's nothing I can do."

Jun Matsue isn't thinking about getting back together right now, but if it makes Kurusu feel a little threatened, he wouldn't mind if the girl speculated in that direction.

"So you came back so late last night, you didn't sleep with her, did you?" Kurusu Yosei raised his eyebrows.

I was careless last night; I should have checked the pine branches for the smell!

"How could that be?" The boy was speechless. "Her sister asked me to go over and check on her. I've been busy all night arranging accommodations for her."

"..." The girl continued to stare at him intently. "Suspicious."

“It’s none of your business if it’s really suspicious,” Jun Matsue said frankly, picking up the milk.

Miss Idol snorted loudly and kicked him under the table.

After finishing breakfast and washing the dishes, the girl began her daily stretching and vocal exercises. She lay on the yoga mat, watching the boy walk up to her.

She tilted her head back, letting the boy's gaze fall on the cleavage created by her sports bra.

"Has the lecherous pine branch finally lost control of his desires?"

Jun Matsueda gave him a "What are you talking about?" look. "I just came to borrow your tablet—weren't you going to write a song?"

"So fast?" Kurusu Yosei blinked. "Matsue has already made up her mind?"

He shook his head. "It's not that easy to write. Listen more first and find some inspiration."

The girl laughed, "The tablet is in my room, go get it yourself."

"Don't let it affect your studies!"

"No." The boy turned and walked towards her room. "I can do my homework while listening to music."

Back in his bedroom with his tablet, Jun Matsue drew back the curtains, letting the bright sunlight fall on his desk.

The boy opened his workbook, put on his headphones, propped up his tablet behind the book, and pointed to the first file in sequence.

The melody wasn't particularly catchy but had a slightly artsy feel to it. He glanced at the titles on the pages and mentally dismissed the first demo.

After finishing the first question, the music automatically switched to the next song, and the phone on the table vibrated silently before its screen lit up again.

Jun Matsue blinked. As expected, it was another message from his senior.

"I just received the property condition confirmation from the landlady—"

Unlocking the screen reveals a large table with numerous entries in the chat window.

"Although it's just a confirmation, it seems to be taking quite a bit of time. I plan to check the house according to the items in this morning."

"Remember the precautions I wrote down, and also take a video for record-keeping," the boy typed, adding.

The piece was alright; he wrote "demo2" on the draft paper beside him.

"Okay, record the video!" The girl sent a nodding chick and continued her report.

"I was planning to go out this afternoon, and Kokoro said she wanted to come see me. We can go shopping for autumn clothes together~"

Although the message was just text, Jun Matsue seemed to sense the carefree and joyful tone of Maki Yami's voice. He pursed his lips and sent a message to the girl.

"Remember to lock the door."

"I put a note saying 'Remember to lock the door' on the door, I definitely won't forget~"

The girl had temporarily disappeared, so Jun Matsueda put his phone aside and continued doing his homework and listening to music.

The morning, when his mind is clearest and his thinking is most active, is the perfect time to do math. After finishing a probability calculation and an analytic geometry problem, and jotting down the somewhat immature and melancholic "demo8" in his notebook, his phone lit up again.

"Matsueda-kun, I checked and it seems that self-service laundromats usually only accept 100 yen coins, right?"

The boy picked up his phone and said, "That's usually how it works, but in some cases, you can also pay directly with your phone."

"Are you going to do the laundry?"

"Yes!"

Jun Matsue thought for a moment, "You only seem to have one set of pajamas and the dress you wore yesterday, right?"