Am I being simulated by their love affair?

Page 312

He silently walked into the entryway, found the slippers he had worn before on the shoe rack by memory, then closed the door and turned on the light switch on the wall.

But no light came on. Jun Matsue pressed it twice more, but there was still no response.

However, Natsumi Imokawa's footsteps had already returned to the living room, and he asked the girl:

"Is the light by the door broken? I've pressed it several times and it doesn't work."

"Ah, it needs to be opened this way."

The room suddenly became bright. Jun Matsue blinked and watched as the girl lowered her arm. She had just pressed the switch on the wall behind the sofa.

“My dad used to like working with only one desk lamp on. He was particularly annoyed by guests and assistants turning on the room lights as soon as they came in, so he deliberately broke the light switch in the entryway.”

“People who create art often have some strange habits, which is understandable.” The boy nodded and looked at Natsumi Imokawa standing under the light.

The girl changed into a light blue striped short-sleeved shirt with a knitted cinnamon dog pattern on the chest. However, due to some physical factors, the originally cute cinnamon dog was somewhat deformed.

She wore light gray shorts, a typical loungewear style, the fabric covering a short section of her thighs and revealing a large expanse of fair skin—the girl's legs weren't particularly thin, and the soft flesh tucked into the hem of the shorts struck a perfect balance between health and sexiness.

Matsueda Jun's mind flashed back to Imokawa Natsumi's previous outfit—if Mochizuki Haruka wearing a suspender top was a pure temptation, then Imokawa Natsumi's suspender top was simply the beauty of the flesh, and even a fleeting glimpse was enough to linger in a boy's mind.

"Imokawa hasn't washed up yet, has she?" He suppressed his wandering thoughts and walked up to the girl.

“…Hmm.” A little redness still lingered on Imokawa Natsumi’s cheeks. “Matsue, sit in the living room for a while. I’ll go wash up first.”

The girl turned and walked towards the other side of the corridor. Jun Matsue watched as she pushed open the bathroom door and pulled back the curtains at the end of the corridor. The originally gloomy and narrow space immediately became bright and warm.

The boy looked away, glancing at the large sofa in the living room on his right, then turned to look at the work area on his left. It seemed to have changed quite a bit since his last visit.

Since we're just waiting anyway, we might as well take a look around first.

Jun Matsue walked toward the long table, and the first thing he noticed was the several mannequins on it. They were small wooden figures without specific facial features, only movable torsos and limb joints, probably for girls to use as a reference for movements.

Three wooden figures were placed in front of the computer. One of them was noticeably taller and had the word "Jun" written on its face, which is pronounced "chun".

So this is his villain?

As the boy looked down to examine the scene closely, the sound of the girl's slippers clattering behind him came from behind.

"What is Songzhi looking at?"

He turned his head. There were still water droplets on Imokawa Natsumi's face that hadn't been wiped dry. Her hair, which had been sticking up from sleeping, had become neat and tidy, sliding down her neck and onto her shoulders.

Looking at the rounded, natural face in front of him, Jun Matsue realized once again that Imokawa could be considered a beautiful girl.

"I'm looking at your model." He turned to the side, letting the girl see the wooden figure in front of the computer. "Is that the tallest one me?"

“Yes!” Natsumi Imokawa nodded.

She walked past the boy, sat down at the table, and tapped the little man's head with her finger.

“This is pine branch. The shortest one next to you is Mochizuki, and the other one is Tomatsu.”

"These are the ones I bought based on your approximate heights before filming began, so it would be easier to imagine the scenes when you interact."

"For example, like this."

The girl opened miniature Matsueda Jun's arms, letting it hug miniature Mochizuki Haruka beside her, and then pressed its head down.

"For things like kissing, you have to consider the height difference, and whether bending over will affect the aesthetics of the scene."

She pointed to the two wooden figures kissing on the table, "So if Mochizuki were to kiss you, it would look better if she stood on her tiptoes rather than you bending over."

“…There’s no such scene in the script.” Jun Matsue watched as Natsumi Imokawa pressed down on the little figure’s head with her fingers, nodding it little by little, as if imitating a bird nodding.

"I just display it for fun," the girl said enthusiastically. "I've tried this kind before!"

She swept the miniature Mochizuki Haruka aside, and the little figure wobbled and fell to the ground. Then she picked up the miniature Tomomika Tomomi and laid it flat on the table. Finally, she let the miniature Matsue Jun's body lie on top of it.

"Wait, wait," Jun Matsue called out to her. "It's one thing to study standing and sitting postures, but why are you studying this?"

“Because Dad wasn’t an action movie director before…” the girl muttered softly, “I’m a little curious about what it’s like when he’s designing action sequences for his movies.”

"Stop being curious," the boy said irritably. "Hurry up and eat some breakfast, then record."

“Oh.” Natsumi Imokawa nodded obediently. She walked to the door on the other side of the long table and took out a bag of red bean toast and a carton of milk from the kitchen.

"You eat this for breakfast?" Jun Matsueda's desire to take care of others began to stir.

"It's almost ten o'clock now." The girl returned to her seat. "I'll eat a little something and it'll be lunchtime soon."

"Has Songzhi had breakfast yet? Would you like some too?" She pushed the toast on the table toward the boy and asked cautiously.

Jun Matsue didn't want to eat it, but Natsumi Imokawa's innocent, childlike eyes stared straight at him, with a hint of ingratiation.

The boy sat down helplessly. "I've already eaten breakfast, so I'll just try half a slice."

The girl happily tore off the piece of toast she was biting and handed him most of it.

"..."

He silently put it in his mouth and chewed. The sweet red beans had a sandy texture, which, combined with the light aroma of the toast, was indeed quite good.

"It tastes pretty good, but it's not very nutritious."

"There's milk too!" Natsumi Imokawa brought him the milk she had just drunk a couple of sips of.

“…I’ve already had breakfast, and I’m not thirsty.” Jun Matsueda pushed the milk carton back.

The thought that Iokawa's sense of distance was definitely problematic popped into the boy's mind again.

However, in thinking this way, he seemed to have forgotten that he had just said a few days ago that he didn't mind indirect kissing.

So the girl stopped talking and lowered her head to eat her bread seriously. Jun Matsue watched her chewing slowly.

After Natsumi Imokawa picked up the red bean residue that had fallen on her chest and put it in her mouth, the boy had no choice but to look away.

"The work area in Yuchuan has changed a lot since the last time I came here." He decided to find something to talk about.

"Mmm!" the girl mumbled, taking a sip of milk.

"Dad moved all his things out, so this place is completely mine now!"

“No wonder.” Jun Matsuoka looked around at the bookshelves. There were far fewer CDs on them, and the storyboard drafts that used to be posted on the whiteboard wall were gone. In their place were photos of the film crew on set—all of them about “White Line Flow”.

There were far fewer notebooks on the workbench. He flipped through them casually; they were all scripts and storyboards written in white lines, just marked with different versions, and they all seemed to be discarded drafts.

"So you stayed up all night last night to edit the video?"

The girl nodded and finished off the last small piece of bread in her hand.

"The main task was to organize the materials. Just matching the audio and video together accurately was very time-consuming. Only a small part of the final product was cut."

“You can’t stay up late all the time.” Jun Matsueda frowned slightly. “It will cause health problems.”

"I just slept in a little later during the holiday..." The originally excited girl shrank her neck. "When I was in school, I basically went to bed early and got up early, and my mom would often come to check on me!"

"Anyway, you need to take good care of your health. You've only just started your professional career, and you'll be filming for a long time to come."

As Jun Matsue spoke, he felt as if he had become half a father to Imagawa.

"Mmm~" Natsumi Imokawa didn't seem to mind at all; on the contrary, she smiled contentedly. "I know Matsueda is doing this for my own good~"

"You can get ready to record!" She stood up from her seat, tilted her head back, and poured the last bit of milk into her mouth.

Jun Matsue watched her rather bold actions. The girl had only eaten two slices of bread, but had drunk 900 milliliters of milk—if she had been drinking like this since she was little, no wonder she had developed such a magnificent figure…

Natsumi Imokawa put down the cardboard box in her hand, licked the milk stains from her lips, and walked towards the hallway in the living room.

"Pine branch, follow me~"

The boy followed her to her feet and walked into the corridor where the girl had fled in panic. The window at the end of the corridor let in a clear light, which shone on Natsumi Imokawa's youthful body, who was wearing a tank top and shorts, making her seem to glow as well.

"Imokawa, has anyone ever confessed their feelings to you, or had any crush on you?"

"Huh?" The girl turned around in surprise. "Why is Songzhi suddenly asking this?"

"I'm just a little curious."

Jun Matsue recalled that Imokawa said she didn't have many friends, and it seemed to be true. However, neither her appearance nor her personality suggested that she was the kind of person who was unattractive.

"No..." she recalled, "If someone contacts me, we usually only chat for a few minutes and then there's no next time."

“They seemed to think I was strange—I was never focused on the conversation, my eyes kept wandering, and what I said had nothing to do with the original topic.”

"You were thinking about what we could photograph around us, weren't you?" The boy was already quite familiar with the girl's pattern. "It's not good to be distracted while chatting with others, you know?"

"Well, there's nothing I can do about it." Natsumi Imokawa pouted slightly. "They're not as interesting as Matsue!"

Well, Matsueda Jun realized he was overthinking it. It didn't seem so bad if Imokawa just continued to do things his own way.

Anyway, I'm already in her world, aren't I?

Chapter 549 Immersion

Pushing open the door, the girl pressed the switch beside the door, and the soft darkness before Matsueda Jun's eyes suddenly became bright and clear.

The room in front of me was the size of a normal bedroom, but it was quite spacious. There was only a long table with a computer, recording equipment, two pairs of headphones, and small speakers on either side.

"Matsue, sit here." Imokawa Natsumi sat down in front of the computer and patted the office chair next to her.

Jun Matsue glanced at the black sound-absorbing panels on the walls and ceiling, then at the opaque curtains on the exterior wall and the white soundproof cover in front of the window, before pulling out the chair next to the girl.

"It feels a lot like the recording studio where I recorded songs in Kurusu, only a little smaller."

The boy sat on the chair and stepped on the carpet. It was thick and soft, and made no sound.

"Are you going to the place where Miss Laixi records her songs?" The girl blinked curiously. She turned on her computer, and the two monitors on the table lit up at the same time.

"Yes, the space is quite large, the walls have uneven brick surfaces, and there are pillars and such in the corners."

"It should be the bass module and the treble module." Natsumi Imokawa manipulated the mouse, displaying the recording software and the video footage they had previously shot on the two screens.

“Recording songs requires a better environment, but we only record narration, so we can do it at home.”

The girl put on headphones and looked somewhat like a girl addicted to the internet.

"Proper sound insulation and sound absorption are essential to prevent noise from entering through the windows and doors, and also to keep our voices from going out. That should be enough."

Jun Matsueda glanced at the girl who was busy adjusting the equipment, then turned to look at the closed door.

It sounds a bit like imprisonment...

"Alright." Natsumi Imokawa placed the microphone in front of the boy and adjusted the height of the stand and the tilt angle of the microphone.

"Pine Branch also put on his headphones and said a couple of words to try it out."

Jun Matsue picked up the headphones next to him and put them on. The sound of the computer case running under the table immediately disappeared. He stared at the microphone in front of him, with the girl's expectant gaze beside him.

"Meiji Delicious Milk - The deliciousness of fresh raw milk is that simple."

He was reading the advertising slogan from the milk carton the girl had just drunk from, and Imokawa Natsumi couldn't help but smile.

"Don't use such an affected tone when you're talking about pine branches. Just be natural, like when we're having a chat."

Although all the sounds around him disappeared, Natsumi Imokawa's earphones also had microphones, so the only girl's voice left in Jun Matsueda's ears was exceptionally clear. Even the sound of her breathing and saliva was very distinct, making the boy feel a little strange.

"Imokawa just finished that carton of milk in one go, which left a deep impression on me." He casually started a conversation.

"Mmm..." The girl closed her eyes and listened to the sounds in her ears. "Because I drank some of that milk yesterday—I have to drink milk for breakfast and before bed. My mother has always told me that."

"From a young age? No wonder..." Jun Matsue nodded.

"No wonder what?" Natsumi Imokawa opened her eyes.

"It's nothing," the boy waved his hand. "Is there something wrong with your voice?"

"Hmm..." The girl clicked the mouse twice, frowned slightly, and listened to it again.

"Is everything alright? Let's record it once to test it out."

She picked up the script that was beside her, turned to the first page and placed it in front of Matsueda Jun, then brought up the video on the computer screen.

"Let's play the first part first, the scene where you and Tomatsu part ways."

The boy gave her a strange look, and the girl belatedly exclaimed "Ah!"

"The scene where Hikaru Kashiwabara and An Konno part ways."

"Are the pine branches ready?"

Jun Matsue nodded, looking at his own face on the screen, and entered the body of Hikaru Kashiwabara, who was about to say goodbye to his childhood friend.

Natsumi Imokawa lightly clicked the mouse, and the still image began to move. A crowd of people holding graduation certificates emerged from the school gate, where cherry blossoms swayed in the breeze. Among the faces filled with laughter and tears, the boys and girls walking hand in hand stood out.

When the camera zoomed in and only the two holding hands remained in the frame, Jun Matsue took a soft breath and looked at Yuka Tomatsu's undisguised sorrowful smile on the screen.