Am I being simulated by their love affair?

Page 379

The boy answered the phone, and the same cool yet sweet voice of Mochizuki Haruka rang in his ears.

"Didn't Songzhi say she would reply soon? It's been half an hour." She was somewhat dissatisfied.

"...Sorry, I forgot."

"Forgot?" The girl could hardly believe that Jun Matsueda would say such a thing.

She immediately suppressed her initial emotions—Songzhi's current state was not quite right.

Are you in a bad mood? Did you have a fight with Yosuke Kurusu?

"It's nothing," the boy said, trying to calm himself down. "I'm just tired from singing."

"...Can I come over now?"

"Let's call it a day," Jun Matsue said softly. "We're almost done here."

When will you be back?

"I'll wander around a bit more and then come back."

"..." Mochizuki Haruka couldn't help but ask, "You'll be back before dinner, right?"

"Yes, I can." The boy glanced at the time on his phone; it wasn't even 3 p.m. yet.

"Then I'll wait for you at home."

The girl hung up the phone on her own initiative. When Jun Matsueda put down his phone, Yosei Kurusu's face appeared in front of him.

"Why aren't you going along with her anymore?" The idol girl's tone was almost defiant. "Is it that your likes can be changed so easily, or am I just too important to you?"

“I told you long ago I wouldn’t let her come.” The boy looked directly into her eyes.

"Stop trying to sow discord between me, Kurusu should think things through first—"

"Don't forget that you'll still be an idol after the holiday."

"..." Kurusu Yosei took the hat from the boy's lap, stood up, and put on a mask.

"Let's go back."

When checking out at the front desk, the girl didn't say a word, but just stood silently next to Matsueda Jun.

After the two left the karaoke bar, the clerk once again put away her standard smile and peeked out to look at the backs of the young man and woman.

"...Can you even break up while singing a song?"

It was still Jun Matsue holding the umbrella. The two stood at the sun-drenched intersection. The shadow under the umbrella hadn't grown any bigger, but the distance between them had increased slightly.

The boy took out his phone and the first thing he saw was a message from Mochizuki Haruka that he hadn't noticed while he was in the private room.

"I'll call a taxi."

"Take me to Aya-chan's apartment first." Yosuke Kurusu took out his phone and sent a message. "I don't want to go back and see Haruka Mochizuki right now."

"……it is good."

As he waited for a taxi under the shade of a tree by the roadside, Jun Matsuoka listened to the incessant chirping of cicadas overhead and felt a sense of relief.

Fortunately, the sound of cicadas made their silence less suffocating.

As a black sedan reflecting sunlight, bearing a taxi sign, appeared forlornly at the end of the winding, undulating road, a girl who was staring down at the ants at her feet suddenly spoke.

"Hey, Songzhi, when was the time you liked me the most?"

The boy's posture remained unchanged; he was still looking up at the sky, and he thought for a moment.

"...It was probably the first time I seriously watched your performance at the Shibuya Idol Theater."

"What if you hide in front of me?" Yosei Kurusu's intuition remained sharp.

"That time after school during a typhoon, when it was pouring rain, you came to pick me up with an umbrella."

"That was a long time ago..." the girl said, somewhat dazed. "Back then, I wasn't even an idol who had officially debuted yet."

"Mm." The boy nodded.

But back then, as he stumbled along pushing his cart in the rain, he encountered a soaking wet girl holding an umbrella who came to find him, and he really thought she was incredibly cool.

Whether Kurusu became an idol or not, or whether his career was successful, really doesn't matter much to his fans.

The black sedan stopped in front of the two. Jun Matsue opened the car door and stood aside, while the girl with the parasol got in first.

After getting on the bus, they each sat on one side, leaning against the door, looking out at the air that had been washed white by the sunlight.

The driver glanced at the two people in the rearview mirror before stepping on the gas and starting the car.

The young boy and girl, though separated by distance, still displayed a similar tacit understanding in their postures as they gazed out the window.

But it seems that the time when he was the only one with Kurusu Yosei, and the time when she was the only one with Matsueda Jun, can never be brought back.

Chapter 639 The Prelude to Being Shelved

A black sedan stopped on the side of the road outside the Sanyingtai residential area, under the traffic lights at the intersection.

"The total is 2,430 yen. The fare has increased because your route has changed."

The driver gave a polite smile to the only boy remaining in the back seat—the taxi had passed by here not long ago, but they had turned back just to drop off the pink-haired girl.

"Thank you." Jun Matsue took out banknotes and coins from his wallet and handed them to the driver for change.

Half a day's wages disappearing in a twenty-minute drive. Normally, a guy might complain or feel resentful.

But he's not in the mood to do that right now.

The wheels rolled away, and Jun Matsue turned and walked towards the apartment building. The dazzling and scorching sunlight beat down on his face, and the surrounding heat felt like being in a sauna, making everything inside feel restless and uneasy.

To avoid the direct sunlight, Jun Matsue walked along the shadows by the roadside—Kurasu had intended to leave the parasol to him when he got off the bus, but he didn't take it himself.

It's fine for the boys to get some sun, but it's better to save the parasol for use on Laiqi Road, that's what he thought.

As for whether this road was the way the girl returned or the way she left, Jun Matsue had never thought about that question.

Stepping into the apartment building, the winding stairwell was slightly shady. As the boy walked up to the fifth floor, a breeze blew in his face, bringing the fresh scent of tall trees.

Jun Matsue stopped at the entrance of the corridor. He leaned on the railing, felt the wind, and stared blankly at the deep shadows of the leaves swaying outside the building for a while before turning around and pushing open the door to 507.

Before I could even bend down to change my shoes, the clattering sound of slippers came from the living room.

"Matsue is back?" Mochizuki Haruka rushed to him, carrying the cat.

"You're back." The boy nodded and took slippers out of the shoe cabinet.

The plastic sandals landed on the ground with a crisp "thud." Jun Matsue bent down to change his shoes. The girl's smooth, white legs remained motionless, with only Kinchi's drooping tail swaying erratically.

The boy put his lightweight running shoes aside, looked up, and saw that Mochizuki Haruka was still standing there, looking him up and down.

"What are you looking at?" he smiled.

"Where's Kurusu?" The girl's gaze bypassed the boy's arm; the floor tiles in front of the door were bare. "Didn't she come back with you?"

“She went to play with Aya-chan.” Jun Matsue took the cat from her arms, walked into the living room, and sat down on the sofa.

The TV screen was completely black, and there were no snacks, drinks, comics, or records on the coffee table. It seemed that the girl hadn't done anything since returning to her apartment.

"Did you just get back?" The boy rubbed his cheek against the cat in his arms, a gesture that surprised Jinzhi, who exclaimed twice in surprise.

"It's been a while."

"Then what—"

Before Matsueda Jun could finish speaking, Mochizuki Haruka pushed the cat away and sniffed his chest and shoulders.

There was a scent on Jinzhi that smelled like a sun-dried quilt, and a faint lemon scent on Kurusu Yosei, but there was no strong hormonal smell, indicating that there was no sexual activity between them.

She breathed a sigh of relief, got up from the boy's arms, and soothingly stroked the cat that had been left aside.

"...What are you doing now?" Jun Matsueda asked with a complicated expression. "Kurasu and I were just singing."

"I have no idea!" Mochizuki Haruka said, sounding aggrieved. "You said you were outside with Kurusu Yosei, but you wouldn't let me go over, and you didn't reply to my messages—how was I supposed to know what you and she did?"

"I didn't have time to check my phone at the time; I was talking to Kurusu about something important. I'm sorry."

"Aren't you singing? What's so important?" The girl pouted. This was the first time she had been treated this way since she got together with Songzhi.

"Regarding the issue you're worried about, I had a serious talk with her." Jun Matsueda picked up the remote control, adding a bit of noise to the quiet room.

"Kurusu wants to be the person I like the most."

Mochizuki Haruka immediately widened her eyes, but the boy's next words quickly dispelled the sense of crisis that had risen within her.

"Of course I can't do it. She was very disappointed, so you don't need to worry."

"What do you mean?" The girl blinked. "She doesn't like you anymore?"

"I do not know."

The boy picked up the lemon black tea on the table, drank more than half of it in one gulp, and then let out a sound like an uncle chugging beer.

"Anyway, she probably won't be thinking about dating anymore anytime soon."

"You don't need to be wary of Kurusu anymore. Let her rest well and adjust her mood. After that, she will go back to being an idol."

"Really?" Mochizuki Haruka looked at him, her eyes full of surprise.

“Really.” Jun Matsue nodded, a wry smile on his face. “Look, she doesn’t even want to come back with me now.”

The girl sitting next to him smiled from the bottom of her heart. She gently patted the boy's thigh and rubbed her soft cheek against his arm like a cat.

"Don't be too sad for her, okay? It's not your fault."

"Isn't it ridiculous that a roommate who only comes back every few days says she hopes you like her the most?"

Matsueda Jun didn't answer, but silently took another sip of tea. Mochizuki Haruka glanced at him, stood up, cupped the boy's face in her hands, and gave him a sweet, unrestrained kiss.

From his forehead and the corners of his eyes, to the bridge of his nose and the corners of his lips, and then his tongue, which was filled with tea.

Jun Matsue wiped the dampness from his face with a tissue. "I was sweating, and you really don't mind."

The girl straightened up and licked her glistening lips with satisfaction.

"It's salty, and delicious!"

He glanced at her helplessly, then walked towards the refrigerator. "Let me see what we should eat tonight."

"I bought groceries!" Mochizuki Haruka followed behind him. "So, Kurusu isn't coming home for dinner tonight?"

Jun Matsueda glanced at his phone; neither Yosei Kurusu nor Aya Miyamura had sent him any messages.

It's impossible that Aya wouldn't message him; she must have been stopped by Kurusu—which means her emotions haven't subsided yet.

"Of course it can't be that fast..." the boy said to himself.

Let's just pretend she's not coming back.

"Then I'll cook dinner tonight!" The girl walked around to him, opened the refrigerator, and took out the prepared ingredients.

"I'll make you seafood rice. The head maid said the seafood was just caught this morning."

Her light steps were almost like skipping. Jun Matsue first composed himself, then smiled and walked into the kitchen with Haruka Mochizuki.

"Then I'll look forward to it."

That night, Yosuke Kuraki didn't return. She slept with Aya Miyamura in the small apartment, and the girls complained about how bad he was as an older brother and roommate until late at night.

That night, Jun Matsue and Haruka Mochizuki slept in the same bed, but the boy refused the girl's invitation and simply cuddled with her to sleep.

That way, he won't think about that person before he goes to sleep.

But the holiday with Yosuke Kuraki was not over.

To everyone's surprise, her temporary leave turned into a long period of being sidelined.

Chapter 640 Breaking News

On Thursday, July 17th, during lunch break, Jun Matsue was drinking yogurt while flipping through his notebook of mistakes, preparing for his math exam in the afternoon.

Whispers drifted from the front; a few restless girls were gathered around the podium, reviewing their answers to the morning's exam, their expressions as varied as comedians.

The first semester for third-year students is in its final week. Final exams started yesterday and will continue until Saturday, after which it will be summer vacation.

The boy lowered his head again and circled the question number in front of him, indicating that he had completely mastered it.

Closing his notebook, Jun Matsue crushed the yogurt container in his hand and got up from his seat.