Am I being simulated by their love affair?

Page 282

"Shall we look around some more?" Jun Matsuoka stood up.

As the two walked along the large cherry trees surrounding the garden, a figure holding a camera came into their view.

"Imokawa?" The boy walked up to the girl. "Did you come alone?"

Natsumi Imokawa, who had been focused on the camera, was startled. She put down her camera, looked at the two people beside her, and only came to her senses two seconds later.

"Are Matsue and Tomatsu here to see the cherry blossoms too?"

The boy nodded, and Tomatsu Yuka glanced at the girl's clothes—Imokawa Natsumi was wearing a vest dress today, with a shirt underneath that supported her full chest, making her figure particularly eye-catching from the side.

"Um, I came with my parents, they're resting over on the lawn..." Seemingly noticing her gaze, Imokawa Natsumi decided to make an excuse to leave.

"Wait a moment."

But Tomatsu Yuka called the girl back. She looked at the cherry blossom tree in front of the three of them—a huge cherry tree that grew in one direction, with the pink of the petals gradually changing with the height, like a magnificent cascading waterfall.

"I'd like to take a picture with Matsueda-san, could you please do that, Imokawa-san?"

Natsumi Imokawa nodded woodenly.

So the two of them stood in front of the camera, and the girl raised the camera, having calmed down a bit.

What poses should we take?

Tomatsu Yuka looked at the boy next to her and asked softly, "Does Imokawa-kun know about us?"

Jun Matsue knew she wasn't asking about "couples," but rather "playing a role," and he nodded.

The girl narrowed her eyes slightly; it seemed that Tsunku and Imokawa's relationship was better than she had imagined.

"Can I take a picture of us kissing?" she asked the girl behind the camera with a smile. "Not a real kiss, just a forced kiss."

“Eh…” Natsumi Imokawa, who was staring at the camera screen, looked up. “You can take pictures, but you shouldn’t face the camera directly; you need to tilt it at an angle.”

The two adjusted their positions according to the girl's instructions. Jun Matsueda turned his back slightly to the camera, and Yuka Tomatsu's face was also shaded by the light cast by the cherry blossoms. Between their cheeks were dappled sunlight filtering through the branches.

"Just get your face as close as possible now," Natsumi Imokawa instructed, focused on filming.

As Jun Matsue watched the girl in front of him lift her cheeks and move closer to him, her cherry-colored lips magnified before his eyes, trembling with an alluring sheen. The soft, sweet scent in the auditorium became vibrant and fragrant once more, blooming in the boy's heart.

But he couldn't kiss her, otherwise this fake relationship would definitely crumble.

Before Jun Matsue could turn his face away, the girl stopped what she was doing. The two faces, slightly offset from each other, were so close that they were even sharing the same breath.

Before the cascading pink cherry blossom waterfall, they were just one heartbeat away from a real kiss, and Matsueda Jun clearly saw the sly smile in Tomatsu Yuka's eyes.

She wouldn't do anything that Jun-kun disliked.

"But perhaps this fleeting memory can overwrite the senior's memories?"

The girl asked softly.

Chapter 496 The Platform of Memories

Tomatsu Yuka looked at the camera in her hand and nodded in satisfaction.

"Imokawa-kun's photography skills are indeed very good."

The screen showed a scene of a boy and a girl kissing in front of a cherry blossom tree. The angle, lighting, and composition were all perfect, and the way they kissed looked completely natural in the sunlight.

"Thank you..." Standing next to the girl, Natsumi Imokawa looked down to the side, feeling a little uncomfortable with Tomatsu's praise.

"Would you like to take any more photos?" Jun Matsueda asked as he approached the girls.

"Is that enough?" Tomatsu Yuka leaned closer to the boy. "With a final photo to seal the deal, we don't need much more embellishment."

Then Matsueda Jun looked at the other girl, "Did Imokawa also come to Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden this afternoon?"

Natsumi Imokawa shook her head. "We arrived this morning. My mother likes to come here for picnics during cherry blossom season."

Is Mr. Imokawa here too?

"Hmm." The girl sensed something was wrong. "Is Songzhi going to see her father?"

The boy nodded. "I've met him a few times during the summer vacation. If it's convenient, it would be polite to say hello."

"..." Of course, Natsumi Imokawa wouldn't mind letting Jun Matsueda meet her father, but Yuka Tomatsu certainly wouldn't just stand there dumbfounded waiting for them.

In the girl's heart, Tomatsu-kun wasn't exactly a close friend, so it seemed strange that she would go with Matsue to meet her parents...

"Well, let's forget about it." The girl reluctantly refused Matsueda Jun's offer. "They'll definitely keep bothering you to chat, which will take up too much of your and Tomatsu's time."

Jun Matsue didn't seem to care much about it. "Then please give them my regards."

"Okay!" Natsumi Imokawa breathed a sigh of relief. "See you next time."

Tomatsu Yuka didn't join in the conversation until the girl turned to leave with her camera, at which point she waved to her.

"Goodbye, Imokawa-kun~"

"Since you're not planning to take any more photos, shall we go back?" Jun Matsue looked at the girl beside him.

"Hmm! Let's wander around a bit more and then head back."

At 3:30 p.m., the two boarded the train back home. Tomatsu Yuka sat at the very edge of the carriage, gently leaning against the boy next to her, and began editing a dating tweet she was going to post on her account.

"Ah, Imokawa-kun sent the photos."

Jun Matsueda turned his head; the girl's phone displayed a photo of the two kissing, plunging him into vivid memories of what had happened not long ago.

"Hmm..." Tomatsu Yuka's fingers tapped on the screen, displaying a series of selected photos.

"That's all for now. Let's have Songzhi review it first."

The girl handed her phone to the boy, leaning her upper body closer to him. Her long, black hair fell over his shoulders and neck, bathed in the warm glow of the sunlight.

Jun Matsueda looked at the photos, starting from the entrance of Ueno Park, where girls had taken candid shots of the two resting on the grass, and ending with their kiss in front of the cherry blossom tree. The ambiguous atmosphere gradually developed, the most standard kind of heart-fluttering feeling of adolescence.

"That's pretty good, let's just post it like this."

"Okay~" Tomatsu Yuka took the phone, pressed the send button, and the pop-up screen quickly refreshed with messages of likes.

"Now that we're on holiday, everyone's been checking social media a lot more frequently!"

The girl smiled, gathering her black hair, and the sunlight streaming through the car window behind them swayed slightly.

Do you think the senior will see it?

“I don’t have an answer.” Jun Matsue looked at the warm yellow sunlight in the carriage. “I don’t even know what she’s been doing lately.”

"That's true." Although she put her phone away, Tomatsu Yuka still held onto the boy's arm. "It's been a long time since you've posted anything on social media."

"But I've seen her in other people's posts. She must be on a graduation trip with her classmates. School starts in early April, so she should be back soon."

"A graduation trip?"

Jun Matsue blinked, and upon hearing the news about Maki Yami, he was calmer than he had expected.

The sunlight swept past them quickly, and ten minutes later, the two arrived at Meidai-mae Station, standing on the platform waiting for the Inokashira Line tram to transfer to.

The girl next to her seemed to be replying to friends who saw the post and wanted to chat with her. Jun Matsueda looked up at the advertisements for girls' bars and live houses on the building outside the opposite platform.

Among the many buildings blocked by the towering structure in front of us is "Denny's Studio," where the band used to practice frequently. However, that practice room, which belonged exclusively to Maki Yami, is now probably empty and has been deserted for a long time.

He turned around again, and on the other side of the platform, outside the wall, were a restaurant street and convenience stores.

The movie "Love Like a Bouquet" that I watched with my senior back then, the male and female protagonists met because they missed the last train to Mingda Station, and the two walked together past a FamilyMart convenience store near the station.

European curry, Italian pizza, barbecue after a first performance, izakaya for celebratory banquets... all these are gathered in this small neighborhood.

"My senior gave me a thumbs up!" Tomatsu Yuka interrupted his reminiscence.

Jun Matsuoka turned around and looked down at her phone.

The comments under the recently posted dating update were full of cheers and blessings, making Yamami Maki's silent like seem so inconspicuous in comparison.

"None of the relationship updates I posted before were liked by my senior." The girl looked up at the boy in surprise.

“...a masochist.” Jun Matsueda uttered these words.

Tomatsu Yuka smiled, put away her phone, and looked around. "There must be many memories of Tsunku around here, right? These days, I hardly ever stop here except to change trains."

The boy nodded.

"There must be many more places like this, right?" the girl continued. "How about you take me to those places where I made memories with my senior during spring break?"

"I'll record all these experiences and post them on my social media. It's both revenge on my senior and a cure for you—I'll help you erase all those sad memories, okay?"

Jun Matsue's face showed an ambiguous expression. "My memory is better than you think. No matter how hard I try to cover it up, I will still remember it."

“That’s okay!” Tomatsu Yuka walked away from the boy and stood in front of him. “Just like Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden—Tsunku used to only remember that we went there together, but now he also thinks about how he almost kissed me there, doesn’t he?”

"That way, at least when I'm reminded of her, my mind won't be solely occupied by her."

The Inokashira Line trams approached from afar, their distorted wind whistling into people's ears.

“An impeccable reason.” Jun Matsuoka nodded.

When spring break ends, it'll be time to say goodbye to my senior for good.

Chapter 497 Be Happy

When Maki Yamami saw Tomatsu's latest update, she was walking along the cherry blossom grove in the Izu Kogen region.

The girls in her class were planning a graduation trip around the Izu Peninsula, which Maki Yami hadn't originally planned to do. However, her mother seemed to have been in a bad mood ever since watching the girls' graduation ceremony, so she persuaded her to go out and have some fun with her classmates.

The girl once looked forward to leaving her parents and traveling far away on her own, but after that expectation disappeared, she had this trip that symbolized freedom—when she set off, Yamami Maki felt that this situation was somewhat ridiculous.

The Izu Peninsula boasts picturesque scenery. High school graduates who have successfully moved on to higher education enjoyed themselves to the fullest, accompanied by hot springs, cherry blossoms, seagulls, and azure waves.

However, Yamami Maki is not among the girls who let loose.

The beautiful natural scenery did indeed soothe her mind and body, but the girl only felt a wonderful emptiness in her heart. No matter how kind the people she met were to her, she simply accepted it all naturally. All the scenery she saw blended together and flowed by without leaving any trace in her heart.

After leaving Tokyo, she checked her phone much less often because it couldn't bring her happiness—whenever she opened a social media app, the girl would involuntarily look at Jun Matsueda's profile picture.

Even though the two never contacted each other again, his profile picture remained at the top of the list.

The boy's homepage is always empty. He is not someone who is keen on showing his life, but he always inevitably appears in other people's photos. So Yamami Maki will click on Matsumura Yuka's profile picture again.

The girl's homepage is much more detailed: the sky above her head, her pretty dress, the lunch she cooked herself, the cats on the street...

There used to be photos with her seniors, but now they've all been deleted, replaced by photos of male colleagues.

Front view, side view, back view; school uniform, sweatshirt, casual clothes... that is Tomatsu Yuka's rightful lover, and every picture carries her undisguised love.

Maki Yami felt like a prisoner isolated from the world, with the glamorous world she once lived in just outside the narrow skylight.

Every time someone checks the girl's social media, her only window becomes shrouded in continuous rain.

However, it was she who chose to push Matsueda Jun away and voluntarily walked into this cage.

Later, Yamami Maki forced herself not to go anymore, or rather, to only go once and then forget about it. So when the girls she was with were talking about Matsueda-kun and Tomoka's enviable date, she found herself to be the last one to find out.

The girl sat down on a bench by the roadside, gazing at the continuous pink and white cherry blossoms overhead. She took a few deep breaths to prepare herself before taking her phone out of her pocket.

Without needing to think, muscle memory opened the app with the camera icon, and the latest update of the cute bunny avatar appeared before her eyes.

They're enjoying the cherry blossoms too...

Maki Yami looked at things very slowly, like a herbivore slowly chewing its food, only reaching out to slide her finger across a picture after she had seen all the details in it.

A group photo at the entrance of Ueno Park.

The boys and girls sitting outside the crowd, cuddling together, can be heard cheering from the girls filming in the shot.

Two hands, one large and one small, intertwined, against a backdrop of slowly flowing crowds...

She couldn't help but imagine the scene of the two people in the photo walking among cherry blossoms and crowds—because the girl had also experienced it, this imagery was particularly vivid.

How to hold hands, how to walk in step with him, how to turn your head to steal a glance at his thick eyelashes, how to cling to his arm and act coquettishly...

When she saw the last picture, a scene of the two kissing in front of a cherry blossom waterfall, Yamami Maki held her breath.

When she was dating Jun Matsueda, the two never took any photos of themselves kissing—they always kissed in secluded places, and those kisses were always secretive.

A wave of suffocating bitterness washed over her chest. Yamami Maki zoomed in on the image, looking at the boy and girl in the center.

Did I have such a happy expression when I kissed someone back then?

The boy's back was turned to the side of the camera, his eyebrows and eyes blurred in the halo of light, and Yamami Maki could only search for his face in her own memories.

What terrified the girl was that, as time went by, the boy's face, which had been so clear when they kissed, along with the sweet feelings captured in that moment, seemed to gradually become blurred.