Am I being simulated by their love affair?

Page 347

She walked up to the boy, took his hand without hesitation, and continued forward.

"I thought Tsun-kun had already gone far away~" the girl's tone became cheerful.

"I went to check out the shrine down there." Jun Matsueda pointed to the path below, without letting go of the hand he was holding.

"Where's Wangyue?" He turned around and glanced back.

Tomatsu Yuka's smile was slightly mischievous. "I pushed her off the cable car."

"..." The boy stopped in his tracks.

"Just kidding~" The girl laughed even harder. "She was delayed taking photos with her friends at the foot of the mountain, so she should still be on the cable car now."

The two then slowly made their way along the trail. The boundless azure sky seemed to freeze into a still backdrop, and the flat mountaintop, having lost its former majesty as a volcanic crater, began to leisurely circle beneath their feet.

"Phew—" Tomatsu Tomoka took a deep breath. "The air at the top of the mountain is especially fresh and cool."

Jun Matsue looked out from the mountaintop. The Izu Plateau lay sprawled at their feet, and the city's buildings became neatly shaped red, white, and gray spots, disappearing into vast expanses of deep green.

Looking further into the distance, you can see the coastline of the Izu Highlands, and the Kinosaki coast we'll be visiting this afternoon should also be hidden there. The blue of the ocean stretches out and fades, eventually blending with the transparent white of the sky, leaving only a lone cloud drifting by at the boundary.

The boy also took a breath.

"Although it's not a particularly spectacular or magnificent view, the vastness of the landscape truly broadens one's mind and expands one's horizons."

The girl smiled and shook his arm, "I think so too~"

Tomatsu Yuka could certainly talk a lot, but now that she was holding the boy's hand, all she could think about was "agreeing with him."

A young girl's love is enough to give rise to many words, but the countless unspoken words have already shone brightly in the darkness of her pupils.

The two stopped at the highest point of the mountaintop circle. Jun Matsueda turned around, and the coastline of Ito City rippled and shimmered in the sunlight. Further away, there was a hazy gray, which was the rain cloud covering Tokyo.

Tomatsu Yuka squinted slightly, sketching her beloved's face on the clearest, most transparent canvas of the sky.

"Did you see anything interesting at the Asama Shrine on the mountain, Jun-kun?"

The boy shook his head. "There's nothing there except the altar and the offering box."

"I see..." The girl looked across the circular trail; Mochizuki Haruka must have already reached the summit.

"I heard that the shrine here enshrines Princess Iwanaga?"

“That’s correct.” Jun Matsue recalled the information plaque he had seen earlier. “It seemed to be a goddess related to safe childbirth and marriage.”

"Does Jun-kun know that she and the Konohana Sakuya-hime enshrined at the Asama Shrine on Mount Fuji are sisters?"

"Oh?" The boy turned to look at her.

“Although they are sisters, they don’t get along well…” Tomatsu Yuka continued, facing the sunlight.

"Because the two sisters were married to the same man, but the elder sister, Iwanaga-hime, was not favored and was ruthlessly returned."

"So, filled with resentment, she cursed her own sister."

Jun Matsue blinked.

“But I won’t hold a grudge or anything~” the girl smiled at him, “because Tsun-kun will never abandon me.”

"So I don't plan to hold anything against Mochizuki-san." She gently nudged the boy's shoulder.

"As long as I can stay by Jun-kun's side, that's enough."

Looking at the pure white clouds on the sea, Tomatsu Tomoka smiled silently.

Unlike at noon, this time, it was Tsun-kun who held her hand tightly.

If patience brings more happiness, then she doesn't mind continuing to be patient.

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy.

Chapter 600 Chewing on Emotions, the Taste is Like Wasabi

After circling around the verdant mountaintop, the bustling cable car station appears at the end of the trail.

"It's time to get ready to go down the mountain..." the girl said with a hint of reluctance.

The boy glanced at his phone. "It's not time yet, we can stay a little longer."

As Tomatsu Yuka nodded happily, a young girl walked straight from the opposite side, stopped in front of the two of them, and took their clasped hands.

"You're walking too slowly!" Mochizuki Haruka said to the boy in front of her with dissatisfaction.

“…Isn’t it written inside the cable car station that it takes at least twenty minutes to go around?” Jun Matsue glanced at Yuka Tomatsu beside him.

The girl smiled and seemed not to intend to hold his hand anymore, but she also showed no sign of leaving his side.

"Didn't Mochizuki take a stroll around the mountaintop?" His gaze returned to Mochizuki Haruka in front of him.

The girl shook her head. "Wouldn't that mean I'd be chasing after you the whole time? I might as well just wait for you where I am."

It was indeed something that the eldest daughter of the Mochizuki family would do, and Matsueda Jun had nothing to say.

"When are we coming down the mountain?" Mochizuki Haruka asked, fanning herself with her hand. "It's so sunny up here."

"How about we take a picture to remember this moment, and then head down the mountain?" Tomatsu Yuka suggested—her earlier reluctance seemed to vanish in an instant.

So the three of them walked towards the viewing platform by the roadside, where a large wooden sign lay across the smooth, soft grass—

"Izu Peninsula Geopark National Designated Natural Monument"

"Mt. Omuro"

『Elevation 580m』

Standing in front of the memorial plaque, Jun Matsueda looked into the distance.

"Ito is closer, and then there's the coastline of Atami, right?"

He looked at the undulating blue land and the sea, which was located in a corner, and further away, the sky was obscured by clouds and mist.

"It's a pity it's the rainy season now, otherwise we should be able to see Mount Fuji if the weather is good."

Tomatsu Yuka walked up to him and said, "Perhaps it's because Tsunku is standing on Mount Omuro that the gods don't want you to see Mount Fuji?"

"...What are you talking about?" Mochizuki Haruka asked, frowning.

"It's nothing," the girl smiled. "Let's take the picture quickly."

Standing behind the memorial plaque, Tomatsu Yuka reached out and placed her hand on top of it. She looked at the boy in front of her and asked, "Tsunku, aren't you going to take a picture with me?"

Jun Matsue paused for a moment, then took two steps around to stand beside her.

The girl looked to the other side, "Aren't you going to take pictures, Mochizuki-san?"

Mochizuki Haruka turned her head, her chin seemingly about to touch the surface of the sea, "Taking a picture in front of this sign, looking completely dazed."

"Then let's find someone to take a picture for us..." Tomatsu Tomoka looked around and spotted Sakamuro Ken, who had just walked out of the mountaintop shop.

"Sakamuro-san—" she waved, and the boy walked over.

"Could you take a picture for us?"

Sakamuro Ken first glanced at Mochizuki Haruka standing to the side, then looked at the boy and girl behind the memorial plaque—Matsueda Jun winked at him, his face calm and indifferent.

“No problem!” The boy grinned, showing off his white teeth. He took the phone from Tomatsu Yuka and squatted down to point it at the two of them.

"Include the sky and sea in the background, right? That's how I see girls taking pictures."

The boy and girl in the video didn't answer his question, but simply smiled knowingly.

"Wait a minute." Mochizuki Haruka stopped Sakamuro Ken's hand from the shutter button, quickly stepped into the frame, and stood on the other side of Matsueda Jun.

The boy looked at her indifferent yet sweet face, "Uh... is everything alright?"

Jun Matsue stared at the camera lens. "Go ahead and take the pictures."

After a few clicks of the shutter, Ken Sakamuro nervously put down his phone and handed it back to Yuka Tomatsu.

"Let me make it clear first, my photography skills are just so-so."

"It's okay~ Thank you, Sakamuro-san," the girl smiled and looked at her phone screen.

As a trio who could make a living with their looks even without putting in any effort, their photos certainly wouldn't be too bad—the boy and her smiles blended harmoniously with the distant sea and sky, while Mochizuki Haruka, with her tense little face, looked like a daughter reluctantly dragged by her parents to take a picture.

However, coincidentally, the girls all took a step forward and pressed their arms against Jun Matsueda's arm while taking photos.

When posting updates later, just Photoshop out any trace of Mochizuki Haruka... Tomatsu Yuka put away her phone, looked up, and smiled.

"Let's go down the mountain~"

As Jun Matsue boarded the cable car down the mountain, he had just fastened the buckle on his seat when Haruka Mochizuki eagerly took his hand.

"...Please don't move around while riding the cable car." The boy repeated what he had said when they went up the mountain.

This time, he didn't ride the cable car with Ken Sakamuro. While waiting in line, Haruka Mochizuki stayed close to him, while Yuka Tomatsu went to find a girl from her class—the girl knew when to stop, and if she didn't give up her spot on the cable car, someone might get impatient and cause her trouble again.

"We're just holding hands, there's no movement at all," Mochizuki Haruka pouted her thin, moist lips and lowered her head to sniff their clasped hands.

"It all smells like Tomatsu..." The girl wrinkled her nose in disgust. She took out a scented wet wipe from her pocket, unfolded it, and kept wiping their hands.

Matsueda Jun looked at her bangs as she looked down and said, "Is Mochizuki not interested in the school trip? You seem too lazy to move all day."

“…No way.” Mochizuki Haruka’s gaze drifted to the undulating green waves of grass beneath her feet. “I’ve even seen the South African savanna, so I’m not really interested in these small plains and matcha pudding-like mountains.”

This is a lie. In fact, the girl was just conserving her energy for tonight's plan.

“That’s understandable.” Jun Matsueda looked at the matcha-colored earth that was gradually approaching.

Because the Aso volcano grass senri he had seen before looked just like that.

Returning to the foot of the mountain felt like falling from the clouds back to the ground; the carefree and exhilarating feeling vanished, and a sense of loss inexplicably arose in everyone's hearts.

Jun Matsueda waved the three-colored pudding-shaped Omuroyama amulet in his hand and looked at the simple-looking dessert shop under the large torii gate behind him—"Omuroyama Ice Cream Shop".

"How about some dessert? I heard that wasabi ice cream is a specialty of Izu."

"Hmm...that's right." Tomatsu Tomoka looked troubled. "But the taste might not be good, you know?"

Grind the wasabi root into a fine paste, and you get the wasabi used in Japanese restaurants to dip sashimi.

"I want to give it a try." The boy walked towards the kind-looking uncle at the shop entrance.

“Then I’ll go too!” Mochizuki Haruka followed behind him without hesitation.

"..." Tomatsu Yuka gave a slightly troubled smile and helplessly followed the two figures.

Finally, adhering to the principle of not wasting food, Jun Matsue was forced to eat three servings of wasabi ice cream.

Chapter 601 Waves of Day and Night

After touching the capybara at the Cactus Zoo next to Mt. Omuro, Haneoka Taka's bus headed southeast.

The terrain became increasingly low and flat along the way, and the wind gradually picked up, filling the carriage with a salty, sea-like scent.

At three o'clock in the afternoon, Jun Matsue stood at the entrance of a tree-lined path, with a long stone tablet in front of him that read "Kozaki Coast" in large characters.

"This is the last stop for today!" Kominato Shoko waved vigorously by the stone monument. "After we go in, everyone follow me along the seaside path, don't fall behind!"

Jun Matsugae brushed aside the branches above his head and stepped into the dense forest. The sunlight immediately dimmed, and the sound of the waves mingled with the sea breeze sweeping through the jungle.

"It feels like I've entered a tropical rainforest!"

The girl's voice rang in his ears, and Tomatsu Yuka followed, smiling as she shook the small yellow bottle in her hand.

"Jun-kun, would you like some mosquito repellent spray? There must be a lot of mosquitoes here."

“He doesn’t need it.” Mochizuki Haruka immediately answered her, taking the initiative and spraying the boy with a spray from her fanny pack.

"..." Jun Matsueda wrinkled his nose and waved away the spray in front of him. "Can we continue on our way?"

The three continued forward with the main group, surrounded by students from Yugaoka High School. They chatted as they walked along the forest path, where golden sunlight shone through the sparse trees, creating a dreamlike effect through the swaying branches.

A few minutes later, the shady bushes came to an end, and through the dazzling sunlight that made you squint, the vast, undulating sea appeared before you.

"Wow..." Someone in the crowd couldn't help but sigh.

Stepping onto the large rocks by the sea, the crashing waves surged powerfully, shattering into white foam at the base of the rocks. A few drops of water flew into the air and landed at the feet of the young boy and girl.

Tomatsu Yuka squatted down, looking at the deep blue seawater so close to her.

"It's such a blessing to be able to walk across the mountaintop and along the coast in one day."

Mochizuki Haruka didn't speak, but simply brushed a stray strand of hair behind her ear and squinted her eyes contentedly, her expression like that of a cat sunbathing on the balcony.