Am I being simulated by their love affair?

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Mochizuki held his index finger tightly, while Matsueda Jun turned around to look in the other direction.

"Kurasu, you should also get some rest. I'll cook dinner tonight."

"I don't want to eat with her!" The girl behind him said angrily and walked straight towards the entrance.

After Mochizuki Haruka's figure disappeared with the heavy sound of the door closing, the living room fell silent. Matsueda Jun and the girl in front of him looked at each other in bewilderment.

"She's angry~" Kurusu Yosei blinked. "Aren't you going to check on her?"

The boy first put the knife back in the kitchen, then picked up a water glass from the table and drank two mouthfuls of ice water.

"Go ahead." The girl patted his shoulder. "If she hadn't reacted so strongly after I said just a few words, I wouldn't have bothered arguing with Mochizuki Haruka!"

Yosei Kurusu is very clear about her strategic policy; what she wants is Matsue's heart, and arguing with Haruka Mochizuki won't help her achieve that.

"Songzhi will prepare dinner. I'll chop the vegetables for you."

Jun Matsue was silent for a few seconds, then glanced at the time on his phone.

"Dinner will be served on time soon. Don't eat snacks, save room for dinner."

The girl made an OK sign and watched the boy walk towards the apartment next door. He closed the door very gently.

The security door to 506 was not closed, but left slightly ajar. It was unclear whether this was due to Wangyue's oversight or intentional.

Stepping inside, unlike the bright and airy living room next door, the floor-to-ceiling curtains on the girl's balcony were tightly closed, making the room dark and stuffy.

Following the uneven breathing sounds, Jun Matsue found Haruka Mochizuki lying motionless on the sofa, her head buried in a cat paw pillow.

"What are they doing?"

The boy gently patted her soft, bouncy buttocks, and the girl raised her legs and slapped his arm a few times.

"I thought you weren't coming." Mochizuki Haruka's muffled voice came through the cushion.

“How could that be?” Jun Matsueda sighed. “My girlfriend is upset, of course I have to come and comfort her.”

The girl sat up abruptly. "Then why haven't you broken up with Tomatsu Yuka yet?!"

"Why did you come back to Kisaki Yosei before you had even severed ties with Tomatsu Tomoka?!"

"Didn't I give you time to solve the problem?"

Her shouts weren't fierce at all; instead, they sounded somewhat helpless. Unable to speak, the boy chose to pull her into his arms.

Mochizuki Haruka didn't cry; she just hugged him exceptionally tightly, as if trying to meld herself into her beloved's body.

"Songzhi, haven't I always been obedient to you?"

“No one has been kinder to me than Mochizuki,” Matsueda Jun said softly.

But there are also people who treat him as well as Mochizuki.

"Then why do I still feel uneasy even though we're holding each other so tightly right now?"

The girl's trembling voice was like a sharp thorn, fiercely piercing his heart and bringing waves of intense guilt.

Wang Yueyao is a princess living a life of luxury in a city of steel and iron, pampered by her family. Apart from the birth, aging, sickness and death of her relatives, most of the grievances she suffers come from the person who keeps saying that he can't live without her.

Jun Matsue felt he shouldn't hide anything from this girl, even the fact that he couldn't let go of Tomatsu Yuka.

But just as the boy was about to open his lips, Mochizuki Haruka, as if sensing something, immediately raised her hand.

"Stop talking!" she covered the boy's mouth. "I just want to see Songzhi solve the problem, I don't want to hear your explanation!"

"...Didn't I tell you my patience is limited?"

The girl unconsciously tightened her grip on his cheek, and Matsueda Jun felt a little pain.

"summer vacation."

"This summer vacation is the deadline—Matsue must give me an explanation."

"..."

The cicadas chirping in the sunlight seemed afraid to step into the dimly lit room. Mochizuki waited for a while, but there was no response. She looked up and realized that the boy's mouth was still being tightly covered by her.

"Is Songzhi alright?!" She hurriedly let go of his hand.

"...Luckily, you didn't cover my nose." Jun Matsueda's smile was somewhat weak.

"I've remembered Mochizuki's reminder and will take care of everything before the summer vacation ends."

"Really?" the girl asked, still somewhat doubtful.

"I don't want to see you like this again." The boy reached out and stroked her cheek, the pain in his heart still lingering.

"So I try my best."

"I don't want someone to take the place next to you." Mochizuki Haruka bit his two fingers, leaving her teeth marks.

"Pine branch, don't let me down."

Kneeling on the sofa and hugging her cushion, the girl watched as Jun Matsue walked out of the living room.

"I'd rather not have dinner with Yosuke Kurusu," she said finally.

The boy turned around, his gaze questioning.

"She said she didn't want to show me any mercy, but I'm the one who doesn't want to put up with her anymore." A hint of arrogance returned to Mochizuki Haruka's eyes.

"Don't ask me to eat when she cooks for you in Qiyang in the future—it's like I'm being taken care of by her."

Jun Matsue nodded. "Then I'll bring your portion over later."

"And one more thing," the girl added, "I won't be hanging around your place for no reason until summer vacation is over."

"I don't want you to see Ryūki Yōse when you see me."

“…Okay.” Jun Matsue smiled. “It’s the same if I come to see you.”

After the boy closed the door, Jinzhi, who had been hiding under the sofa, immediately darted out and meowed twice as if she had survived a close call.

The atmosphere in the room was too oppressive, and its keen intuition led it to choose to lie low.

"..." Mochizuki Haruka bent down, brushed the dust off the cat, and picked it up.

"My request isn't unreasonable, is it?"

The girl met the gaze of the magnificent golden eyes before her, and the only response she received was a bewildered meow.

Back in the corridor, Jun Matsue leaned against the stone railing for two minutes in a daze before finally pushing open the door to room 507.

The sound of chopping meat coming from the kitchen stopped, and Yosuke Kurusu poked her head out to look into the entrance hall. The thin kitchen knife in her hand had been replaced by a wide cleaver.

"Has Songzhi finished comforting Mochizuki?"

“…Hmm.” Jun Matsue picked up the remaining ice water on the table and drank it all in one gulp; the ice had already melted.

"I'll take care of the rest." He walked into the kitchen, took the kitchen knife from the girl's hand, and Kurusu Yosei obediently took off her apron and handed it to him.

"I plan to cook Mapo Tofu and okra salad for dinner tonight, and then make an egg custard."

"Okay." The boy nodded and looked at the half-chopped minced meat on the cutting board.

Why didn't you buy ready-made minced meat from the supermarket?

The girl waved her hand dismissively, "The minced meat from the machine looks like earthworms, it's pretty disgusting~"

"Besides, those minced meat pieces are all leftover scraps, so the quality isn't very good. It's safer to buy a good piece of meat and chop it yourself."

She gave a playful wink, "Now that I have money, I should improve my quality of life a bit!"

Looking at the smiling face in front of him, Jun Matsuoka was slightly lost in thought when the girl waved her right hand.

What is Songzhi thinking?

"I'm wondering why you're so strong... It's like no matter what happens, you can always come back to me with that smile."

"No way!" Kurusu Yosei raised his eyebrows and glared at him. "I was quite embarrassed in front of you the other day."

The girl refers to the afternoon the two spent at the karaoke bar.

“I will feel sad when I need to—I’m not without bad emotions right now.” She touched her fingertip, which she had accidentally scraped.

"But being sad all the time is useless. If you want to hold onto what you love, you have to keep working hard."

"No matter what kind of effort it takes—money, time, or sweat."

Of all the things my mom said, only these few make sense.

"..." Matsueda Jun was silent for a while, "I'm a little unsure how to get along with you now."

The relationship between the two is a bit complicated now. He is like a married man being pursued, but they were originally roommates who got along well, and he is also the number one fan of the girl's career.

Yosei Kurusu tilted his head. "Why does Matsugi have to think so clearly?"

"Do you really have to categorize our relationship into some kind of identity?"

"Just do whatever makes you feel most comfortable and at ease, isn't that the best approach?"

Then his own romantic relationships would be in complete disarray... Jun Matsue laughed self-deprecatingly.

"Let's make dinner first."

"Good luck~" Yosei Kurusu walked out of the kitchen.

"I'm just waiting to eat. I'll see how badly Sakurai Masahiko is being scolded right now~"

Jun Matsue closed the kitchen door, picked up two cleavers, and chopped them alternately on the cutting board, his movements resembling those of a drummer.

He laid all his emotions on the cutting board: self-blame, confusion, anxiety, greed...

Examining them, the boy raised the knife in his hand and quickly chopped them into tiny, indistinguishable pieces, mixing them together without any distinction.

He heated the stove, turned on the range hood, and, holding the trembling machine, surrounded by its old and loud hum, Jun Matsuoka stared blankly for a while.

Two more days of exams, and this semester will be over.

He suddenly felt a pang of resentment towards the arrival of summer vacation.

Chapter 643 Observing

At 11:00 a.m. on July 19th, a bell that sounded completely different from usual rang out in the teaching building of Haneoka High School.

The exam was rushed, tense, and serious, signifying its end and the conclusion of the test. Jun Matsue picked up the black pen lying diagonally in the center of the exam paper and stuffed it into his old, faded pencil case.

This was a world history exam. The boy finished answering the questions early as usual, but he checked his answers one less time than before.

It's unclear whether the inspection was slow or if he was distracted during the process.

The students in their seats stood up, like a birch forest rising from the ground. Only after the most anxious group left the classroom did Jun Matsuoka stand up.

"The world history questions this time were a little difficult," said the girl who walked up to him.

The boy nodded. "The test was indeed a bit tricky."

"It seems that the difficulty of all subjects has increased this time, probably because they don't want everyone to relax too much during the summer vacation."

"The teachers are a little mischievous~" Tomatsu Yuka smiled and bent down to smooth the hem of her sailor uniform.

"Does Jun-kun remember the last multiple-choice question? The one about historical wars in South America. I'm a little unsure of the answer."

"..." Jun Matsueda looked at the air conditioning vent on the ceiling and recalled for a moment.

"It should be C - during the Falklands War, Britain occupied the Falkland Islands by prior occupation and was the first to claim sovereignty over them."

"That's good." The girl patted her chest in relief. "I chose this one too~"

The two walked out of the classroom with their stationery. The sweltering air made the girl wrinkle her nose, but the crowd of people in front of them, like a birch forest, did not dry up. Instead, they swayed with vitality.

"it's over--"

"Hurry home, I want to sleep in the air-conditioned room all afternoon!"

"Let's go get a cantaloupe sundae! A new dessert shop just opened near Kugayama Station, it looks really good!"

"Finally, it's a holiday..." Tomatsu Tomoka said with a sigh.

"Are you tired?" Jun Matsue turned his head and picked up the folder from her hand.

"Hmm~" The girl raised her arm and stretched a little.

"Although it wasn't that difficult, I still feel quite tired after writing so many test papers."

"I just want to go home right now, collapse onto the bed and do nothing but quietly space out."