Am I being simulated by their love affair?

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"It will always gently remind you that there is always someone who loves you and supports you."

For the girl on stage, it was a love she would cherish forever, and she hoped to carry this memory with her for the rest of her life.

"So please keep shining, and don't worry about anything."

"Because she will always love you."

"Thank you."

Sincere applause erupted from the audience. No one seemed to care about the slip of the tongue regarding "she" and "it." Only the girls in the audience could understand that Yami Maki had said it on purpose.

"What does she mean?" Mochizuki Haruka frowned. "Is she using this occasion to express her feelings to Matsue?"

"You're not still thinking about getting back together, are you?" the girl asked warily.

“Impossible.” Tomatsu Tomoka’s tone was firm. “Tsunku is not that kind of person.”

Jun Matsue watched as the girl on the stage bowed deeply and then walked towards him, her eyes shining with a sense of relief.

The boy had many questions he wanted to ask, but there was no time—Mitani had already walked onto the stage from the other side, and it was his turn to go on stage.

"Thank you for your heartfelt speech, Maki Yamami. Please have a student representative come up to the stage to offer their best wishes to their seniors."

Amidst the enthusiastic applause from the audience, Jun Matsueda could only ignore the girl beside him and walk step by step to the center of the stage.

The audience erupted in noise again for a brief moment. Even though the boy was only wearing a school suit, as long as he stood under the spotlight with his eyes downcast and focused, his demeanor was still rare and captivating.

"Hello everyone, I am Jun Matsue from Class 6, Grade 2. It is an honor to represent the current students and offer my best wishes to the graduating seniors."

Jun Matsueda looked down at the open notebook. Although he had an exceptional memory, he brought it on stage just in case.

"..."

The girl's skirt froze in his peripheral vision, and the boy remained silent for the time it takes to blink.

Jun Matsueda sighed and closed his notebook.

He didn't want to say anything more that was correct and without any problems.

"I'd like to ask the seniors in the audience, do you still have any regrets?"

A murmur of doubt arose from the audience.

"After three years of high school, there will always be some regrets left in your heart, no matter how many or how few," the boy continued.

"For example, we failed to qualify for the Winter Cup that year."

The basketball seniors sitting in the front row all raised their hands.

"For example, that summer when we were aiming for Koshien, I watched my teammates sprint towards the final inning, but they still fell at home plate."

A girl in the audience lowered her head, and the boy next to her said with dissatisfaction, "Songzhi, don't make our manager sad!"

Jun Matsueda and the others laughed together, "I know there are actually many regrets like this—a second attempt where I didn't perform well, a friendship that broke down because I refused to admit my mistakes, and missing my friends' vacation trips..."

"Of course, we will romanticize these things as part of our youth, and when we go to university or enter the workforce, we will describe these regrets at parties with a beautiful yet helpless tone."

"But what I want to say is that regret is regret, don't try to beautify it."

"Having missed that crucial opportunity and been forced to choose a future I didn't want, I can only try to embellish it with memories in order to accept it."

"But how wonderful would it be to catch it on the spot?"

"So it's better to be brave."

"At least you were brave enough, so you won't always be thinking about those beautiful things that seem so distant now when you wake up in the middle of the night or at parties, things that might have been within your reach."

"Don't let yourself regret it."

"I think we should start now."

The boy smiled, his gaze sweeping over everyone in the audience, but he missed the one on the stage.

"After the graduation ceremony, remember to confess to the person you like as soon as possible, so that no one else gets there first."

"Thank you."

Amidst thunderous applause and cheers that filled the hall, Jun Matsueda stepped off the stage. Behind the curtain, Maki Yamami was also clapping, her eyes filled with affection as she watched the boy walk towards her.

The two stayed backstage and sang the school song together with the wind instrument section, string section, and choir that came on stage.

The graduation ceremony officially ended, and the third-year students below the stage received their graduation certificates one by one, chatting with their juniors.

“Matsueda-kun.” Yamami Maki looked up at the calm-faced boy beside her.

The boy, hidden deep within her pupils, constantly tempted the girl's almost emotional rationality, even when he wasn't in front of her.

"Can I have your buttons?"

At graduation, girls would take the second button from the uniform of their favorite boys to express their feelings.

Matsueda Jun instantly understood why Yamami Maki ultimately chose Ochanomizu.

Because there are no male students at Ochanomizu University.

He looked at the girl in front of him. At the moment of their final parting, the senior student no longer concealed her true feelings.

She had decided to say goodbye, but she also wanted to stick to her feelings and make them never change.

She wanted to leave him, yet she also wanted to remember him.

"You really want to make this unforgettable, don't you?" Jun Matsue asked coldly.

The girl smiled sadly and nodded.

The boy was silent for a moment, then said, "Senior, Tomatsu confessed to me a few days ago."

Do you think I should accept her?

Yamami Maki was stunned. Her expression remained frozen for a long time before she nodded with difficulty and stiffness.

"That's great... She's always liked you."

Then Jun Matsueda turned around and walked off the stage.

He walked through the laughing and joking crowd and found Tomatsu Yuka standing in the classroom.

"...Matsueda-kun?" The girl's expression was somewhat puzzled.

However, upon seeing Yamami Maki's eyes glistening on stage, she seemed to understand.

Tomatsu Tomoka closed her eyes, tilted her head slightly, and met Matsueda Jun's lips as they fell.

They kissed in the crowd, surrounded by a tidal wave of gasps and cheers.

Jun Matsue embraced and kissed the girl in front of him, then looked up at the lonely figure on the stage.

This is your own choice.

And so, the tears that had been swirling in Yamami Maki's heart finally fell.

It hurt much more than she had imagined.

Volume Four: Intertwined Desires Lead Astray

Chapter 478 Rag

After the graduation ceremony, Jun Matsueda was stopped by Haruka Mochizuki, who had a blank expression.

He was stopped by the girl on his way back to the classroom. The two stood by the cherry blossom grove behind the teaching building. The tender green buds had not yet opened and did not attract much attention from the students.

The weather hasn't warmed up yet, but the sun is shining brightly today, giving the cherry blossom grove a refreshing scent that blends with the sounds of people outside the auditorium in the distance, creating a pleasant atmosphere.

However, Mochizuki Haruka's gloomy expression ruined everything. The girl's eyes still radiated coldness in the sunlight, as if her anger had been frozen into ice, making her awe-inspiring.

"Did you really kiss Tomatsu Yuka?" she asked, enunciating each word clearly.

When Jun Matsue and Yuka Tomatsu embraced and kissed, Haruka Mochizuki was not even there.

She was taking graduation photos with her seniors outside the auditorium at the time. She learned about the two of them from the hot girls—photos of the young man and woman kissing in the crowd had gone viral in various group chats at Yuukoka High School.

Upon hearing the girl's question, Jun Matsueda glanced towards the auditorium. He had barely managed to escape from the crowd of onlookers, while Tomatsu Yuka was now in a different place, surrounded by her friends again.

"It's true." The boy turned around. "I kissed Tomatsu Yuka."

"In the auditorium, in front of so many people?" The girl's tone grew colder.

“Yes.” Jun Matsue nodded without the slightest hesitation.

"..." Mochizuki Haruka stared straight at the boy in front of her without saying a word, while Matsueda Jun lowered his eyes and stared at the ground between the two of them.

He's already done it, so he's not going to offer any explanation.

A gust of wind blew by, and the branches of the cherry blossom tree next to it swayed, the buds on them trembling slightly, as if they could not bear the suffocating silence.

"What are you thinking about?" The girl's voice was flat. "I don't think you would fall for someone else so quickly, except for me."

Mochizuki Haruka crossed her arms, her scrutinizing gaze like that of a teacher standing on a podium.

"I was just annoyed by my senior's attitude." Jun Matsueda recalled Maki Yami's expression in the auditorium.

The little pity he had left was like a bruise on his skin, and a stream of pleasure flowed freely over it, without filtering out a trace of pain.

Perhaps this is the true taste of "revenge" that Tomatsu mentioned.

"Are you angry?" The girl frowned her delicate eyebrows; she quickly came to the answer.

"So you kissed Tomatsu Tomori to vent your anger on Yamami Maki."

"Mm." The boy nodded again.

Mochizuki Haruka's expression brightened slightly. "You can do such an ugly thing too?"

This selfish and willful behavior truly deserves the label of "ugly".

Her words carried a familiar barb, and Jun Matsue smiled. "I thought I wouldn't either, but it seems I don't understand myself well enough."

"So when will you announce the breakup?" Mochizuki Haruka breathed a sigh of relief. "Everyone's talking about your relationship right now."

However, the boy fell silent, and the girl's heart sank once again.

"What do you mean?" Her expression grew impatient. "You don't actually want to date her, do you?"

“We won’t be breaking up anytime soon,” Jun Matsueda said again.

"Firstly, it will affect the image of Tomatsu and me in everyone's mind. Getting together suddenly and breaking up after only a few days is too frivolous."

"Secondly, a quick breakup wouldn't be enough to hurt Yamami Maki."

"I don't want to end it so easily and then let her get back into the self-pity of clinging to love even after leaving."

This is what angers boys the most—it's a choice between two options: family or love.

Once you've made your choice, don't regret it. That way, even if you're on different paths, you can still offer each other blessings and support each other through life.

However, Yamami Maki chose family, but was unwilling to give up love. She still wanted to continue loving him and remembering him unilaterally, and continued on with a self-destructive mentality.

This is irresponsible, both to him and to the girl herself.

"Then so be it," Jun Matsue thought.

Use your new relationship to make her suffer to the very end.

"Then talk to me!" Mochizuki Haruka walked up to Matsueda Jun, her eyes urgent. "You just want to spite her, right? Dating me is just as good!"

"You've got one thing wrong, Mochizuki." The boy looked at her apologetically.

"I don't want to be in a relationship right now, or rather, I can't be in a relationship with this mindset."

Dating in this way is just as irresponsible, no different from Yamami Maki.

"...Then why is Tomatsu Tomohana allowed?" The girl grabbed the boy's sleeve, her head down, her tone no longer cold and hard, but somewhat aggrieved.

Jun Matsue sighed, suppressing his guilt.

"Because we weren't really in a relationship; we were just acting. Our only purpose was to get revenge on my senior, nothing more."

Perhaps Tomatsu Tomoka's purpose was not limited to this, but he didn't mind.

"Tomatsu is just a tool for me to get revenge on my senior. Even if it's a 'relationship' like this, do you still want to date me?"

"..." Mochizuki Haruka fell silent.

She was the eldest daughter of the Mochizuki family. Although the girl had lowered her guard a lot in front of Matsueda Jun, she was not without self-respect.