Am I being simulated by their love affair?

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"They're already resting at the coffee shop."

“What a coincidence, my dad and I are at a coffee shop too.” The girl sent a photo of the coffee bar counter, with the sign reading “Penguin Café”.

"We're at the Penguin Cafe at Sumida Aquarium!"

The boy thought for a moment, "The one under the Tokyo Skytree?"

"That's right, although it's not very big, it's very interesting."

Tomatsu Yuka sent a few more photos. In addition to penguins, there was a group of slender snakes poking their heads out from the bottom of the water, which looked quite adorable.

"This garden eel merchandise is so cute! I bought one for Tsunku too~ I'll give it to you when I get back to school!"

It seems Tomatsu is in a good mood... Matsueda Jun sent a nodding emoji, and just as he clicked send, Mochizuki Haruka's voice rang in his ears.

"Ice cream soda." The girl pushed a glass of indigo-colored drink in front of him, taking the opportunity to glance at the screen.

Who are you talking to?

“…Tomatsu.” Jun Matsueda chose to answer honestly, “Show her photos of the film crew.”

"Why don't you call her Youhua anymore?"

Mochizuki asked in a somewhat sarcastic tone, but the boy didn't answer. He lowered his head and focused on drinking his beverage.

"So Matsueda-kun hasn't broken up yet?"

The aunt across from me blinked, her surprise unreadable – was it genuine or just acting?

The silence on the table suddenly became abrupt. Natsumi Imokawa, who was sitting in the corner, peeked out and glanced at the three of them.

She secretly picked up her cup, tucked herself back into her laptop, and took a leisurely sip of her strawberry milkshake.

I should just focus on organizing my materials...

"We haven't broken up yet," Jun Matsue replied simply, looking into the woman's bright eyes.

That's just how it is, and there's no need to explain it.

Mochizuki Haruka glanced at him. "Matsue said it'll happen soon; they'll break up this month."

The girl's words weren't meant to urge her; she just didn't want to lower Songzhi's standing in her aunt's eyes.

"I see..." Wang Yuehua blinked. She didn't say much, but simply reached for the lemon soda in front of her niece.

"Give me a sip too, Auntie!"

Mochizuki Haruka pushed her drink over and took the initiative to change the subject.

"Are there any more passionate scenes in the later episodes?"

Auntie smiled and chewed on her straw without saying a word, while Jun Matsue gently kicked the girl's foot that was under the table opposite her.

"What?" Natsumi Imokawa took off her headphones in a daze.

"Wangyue is asking about the passionate scenes."

"Oh, oh." The girl looked at Mochizuki Haruka, her tone becoming cautious again.

"Well, it's called a love scene, but there aren't actually that many nude scenes..."

"It's just a shot of them hugging and kissing on a date, then they go to bed together, showing a front view of their shoulders, or a little bit of their backs, or even their thighs if that's not possible!"

"These can all be achieved using camera angles!"

As Natsumi Imokawa spoke with eager eyes, Haruka Mochizuki's little face hardened again.

"Like I said, I'll be on set then, and we'll discuss the specifics of filming on set later."

"Okay..." The girl breathed a sigh of relief; she was relieved that she hadn't been rejected outright.

Is this what it feels like to have your creative work controlled by capital? This thought suddenly popped into her head.

"Auntie, have you had enough to drink?" Mochizuki Haruka asked the woman sitting opposite her, pursing her lips.

"Alright, alright, here you go~" Auntie pushed the tall glass back.

The girl frowned unhappily, "You bit my straw flat."

"Let me get you another straw~" Wang Yuehua called over the waiter.

"Auntie, I'm not playing a happy character either, why are you jealous?" She inserted the new straw into her niece's glass.

"It would be such a shame if Xiaoyao's pretty face got wrinkled."

"Look, the fiancée doesn't even have a name, which means she's not important to Kashiwabara Hikaru at all."

"Later, near the end of the story, when Kashiwabara Hikaru heard that an earthquake had occurred near the island where Konno An lived, he immediately abandoned his fiancée and ran to the airport!"

"So she's pitiful too~"

After hearing her aunt's words, Mochizuki Haruka's tense face softened a little. She blinked, lowered her head, and drank her beverage through the straw.

"What do you think, Matsueda-kun?" Mochizuki Hana then looked at the boy sitting diagonally opposite her, gazing out the window. "No matter how you look at it, it's all Kashiwabara Hikaru's fault, isn't it?"

"Although he doesn't intend to be a scumbag, his behavior is a bit scumbag-like."

Just as Jun Matsueda was about to nod, his cell phone on the table suddenly rang, drawing the attention of the four of them.

On the lit-up phone screen, Yosei Kurusu's name flashed so prominently.

The conversation was abruptly interrupted as the boy answered the phone under the watchful eyes of three people.

"Hey, Kurusu?"

He watched as Mochizuki Haruka placed her right hand on the chair beside her thigh.

"...I'm outside right now. Filming in Imokawa just finished."

"Uh-huh……"

"Will you be back in a few days?"

The girl, who was drinking her beverage, bit the new straw flat.

"Okay, I'll tidy up your room for you when the time comes."

Jun Matsue didn't talk for long; he hung up the phone after hearing the girl's message.

Silence fell over the table again, the lonely sound of the straw sounding somewhat empty. The boy looked up and saw his aunt's meaningful gaze.

"Acting is acting, but Matsueda-kun, you can't become such a scumbag, okay?"

Chapter 562 A Premonition About May

May 12th, Monday.

With less than twenty days left until the end of May, Jun Matsue faced the back door of the classroom and this thought popped into his head.

Every month has an end. He is not one to feel sentimental about spring or autumn, nor does he have any special feelings about May like he encountered Mona Lisa. The reason he cares so much is only because of the repeated urging in his ear by a certain girl.

The boy sighed at the closed door, then pushed it open.

Tomatsu Yuka sat in her seat as usual, but with a slight difference: she had an orange and white striped mini pendant hanging on the side of her schoolbag.

"Is this the garden eel?" Jun Matsue sat down and took the initiative to ask the girl.

“Yes, it’s pretty cute, isn’t it?” Tomatsu Yuka nodded and took out another black and white spotted garden eel keychain from the drawer.

"This is for Jun-kun."

"Didn't Mochizuki come to school with you today?" she asked.

“She went home on Sunday.” The boy reached out and took it.

He squeezed the soft velvet pendant, then looked at its bright, sparkling eyes, and felt quite relieved.

"That's really strange." The girl said thoughtfully, "She seems to have been coming to school with you lately, hasn't she?"

Matsueda Jun's face was noncommittal. "Of course I have to go home."

Although he said that, he was more inclined to believe that Wangyue went home yesterday to talk to her aunt about relationship issues.

The boy looked up and handed the pendant back, saying, "Let's swap these two garden eels."

"Huh? Why?" Tomatsu Yuka blinked.

"Is that just a crying face? I think this cute expression suits you better."

He felt that if a girl was in a bad mood and saw her dolls crying like that, she might feel even sadder.

"Is that so?" Tomatsu Yuka smiled sweetly. Although she didn't know the boy's specific thoughts, she knew that Tsunku was definitely concerned about her.

"Then let's change it!"

The girl bent down and took off the charm from her bag. The two outstretched hands overlapped in the air—their skin touched by each other had a slight temperature difference, but this difference made their connected souls feel more comfortable.

Jun Matsue looked at the last keychain he received, a garden eel crying with its eyes closed. After thinking for a moment, he finally hung it on his pencil case.

"You must have had a good time the day before yesterday, right?" the boy asked.

“Yes!” Tomatsu Yuka nodded with a smile. “Dad took me to the aquarium and the Tokyo Skytree. He said he often comes here to relax and see the penguins and the sky these days.”

"I feel like I'm starting to understand him again."

"Afterwards, we went shopping in Ueno, and my dad bought me a few clothes—he thought my aesthetic sense was still stuck in junior high school, so he bought me all kinds of very fancy dresses and skirts."

Lolita Tomatsu... Jun Matsueda imagined it in his mind for a moment, and it didn't seem so bad.

"When it was almost time to get off work, we picked up my mother, and the three of us had dinner together. Finally, we went for a walk along the Sumida River to enjoy the breeze."

"Hmm." The boy nodded. "The night breeze the day before yesterday was indeed quite comfortable."

"Right?" Tomatsu Yuka smoothed her long hair behind her ear. "My parents' sudden enthusiasm makes me a little uncomfortable."

"They said they'd come to the parents' meeting in a couple of days."

"All in all, it must be a good thing." Jun Matsueda stared at the garden eel on the pencil case. "Like I said, compared to before, your life will definitely become happier."

"Mmm!" The smile on the girl's lips became even more pronounced.

When Mochizuki Haruka entered the classroom, the two people sitting in the back row were still chatting, but the topic had changed from weekend activities to math problems.

She walked past the two of them and quickly noticed that the boy's pencil case on the table had an extra keychain. The girl raised an eyebrow and exchanged a glance with the striped garden eel who was shedding tears.

"You're here quite early today." Jun Matsueda put down his exercise book and greeted her.

"Thanks to you waking me up every day." Mochizuki Haruka sat down by the window with her schoolbag. "It feels like it's hard to wake up late now."

The boy smiled and said, "That's a good habit."

The girl pouted, drew the curtains, leaned on the table, and squinted her eyes contentedly, looking at the boy's profile.

Last night she took a bath with her aunt. The two of them soaked in the spacious bathtub, drinking their bedtime drinks and chatting about the girl's sweetheart.

Auntie's final advice was that since Songzhi had already made his stance clear, there was no need to act too hastily. Such pressure would only push him into the arms of other women. When dealing with men, it's easier to win them over with a woman's pitiful and aggrieved demeanor after breaking her promise than with repeated urging before the promise is fulfilled.

"And I'm here too." As Wang Yuehua said this, she patted her chest, her ample bosom rippling softly in the bath.

"If you're worried, I'll put pressure on him."

Although what she said made sense, Mochizuki Haruka, who was lying in the classroom at the moment, had no intention of listening to her aunt.

The reason is simple: the woman sitting on the other side of the pine branch seems to be getting closer and closer to him.

So Mochizuki Haruka was naturally uneasy. She had seen how cold Matsueda Jun was to Tomatsu Yuka, yet this girl was like an unkillable cockroach, gradually returning to his side.

Modern girls certainly can no longer confidently claim that Tomatsu Yuka is just a rag.

So patience is useless, Mochizuki thought with her eyes closed.

Patience will only make the pine branch more and more soft-hearted, giving others a chance.

The bell for the morning meeting rang, drowning out the noisy chatter in the classroom. Kominato Shoko entered through the front door with a folder in her hand and coughed lightly twice on the podium.

"There are a few things I need to explain to everyone before Wednesday's parent-teacher meeting."

"After the grade-level meeting, there will be a three-way discussion, which involves a survey of everyone's progress, so parents are required to attend..."

It was something that didn't really concern him, so as Matsueda Jun listened, he quickly turned his gaze to the window.

Mochizuki Haruka wasn't paying attention either. She was lying on the table with her eyes closed, her cheeks rising and falling slightly. It was unclear whether she was really asleep or just resting.

After staring at the girl for a while, the boy looked up; the sky outside the window was clear.

As he watched the flocks of birds flying across the sky cut the clouds into all sorts of strange and wonderful shapes, Jun Matsue felt a clear premonition rising in his heart.