Am I being simulated by their love affair?

Page 266

"Come on, don't bother." The boy pulled the frosted glass door shut. "You don't need to worry about that."

The sound of a lock coming in came from the other side, and the girl knocked on the door politely again.

"If you can't sleep at night, whether you're sad or lonely, I'll come and keep you company."

It started raining heavily in the bathroom, and the frosted glass became fogged up.

"Go to sleep peacefully, and I'll wake you up at the same time tomorrow morning," the boy replied.

So Mochizuki Haruka obediently walked away. Before leaving 507, she took out her phone and sent a message.

"I feel like we can move on to the next step of the plan."

Her aunt replied to her calmly.

"Let me take a look~"

When Matsueda Jun walked out of the bathroom, Mochizuki Haruka had already left the room. The surroundings were quiet, with only the sound of water droplets from his hair falling to the ground.

He dried his hair, threw his school uniform, which still smelled of his senior, and other dirty clothes into the washing machine, and then opened the box containing laundry detergent pods.

The box was empty—he had used up the last one a few days ago.

He bent down and pulled open the cabinet under the sink, finding the laundry detergent he had bought a year ago.

Laundry detergent pods are the kind of delicate things that Yosuke Kurusu would buy. Before the girl moved into the apartment, he used laundry detergent that he bought on sale at the supermarket.

The boy glanced at the production date on the bottle. "It should still be usable, right..."

After pouring a translucent blue liquid into the washing machine, Jun Matsue pressed the button and, amidst a muffled hum, raised his toothbrush in front of the mirror.

However, after a short while, he put down the toothbrush, paused the washing machine, and picked up the laundry detergent that was on the floor again.

"Add a little more."

That night, Jun Matsue spent more time than usual falling asleep. The bright smile and melancholy downcast eyes of Maki Yami kept lingering in his mind, along with the image of the girl's skin, flushed pink with emotion, and its delicate touch.

If you're feeling down, you can go next door to chat with Mochizuki Haruka and watch a movie. If you want to vent your frustrations, you can do it yourself.

But Jun Matsue did nothing.

He thought that if he did it, he would lose.

The next morning, Jun Matsue and Haruka Mochizuki walked into the classroom together. The girl's expression was indifferent, while the boy had a smile on his face.

"Matsushige, can I borrow your homework?" Ken Sakamuro stopped him halfway.

"What did you do yesterday?" Jun Matsuoka asked with a smile.

"Don't even mention it! After school, I went to the high school next door to play a game, and then stayed up all night to watch it. The home team still lost!" The boy's answer was full of frustration.

The class monitor shook his head, choosing to protect him, and said, "Come and get it yourself."

Tomatsu Yuka watched as Matsueda Jun walked to the seat next to her and sat down. His figure was briefly blocked by Sakamuro Ken, who was standing, before he reappeared in front of her.

The girl found the boy's behavior today a little strange—not that it was abnormal, but rather that it was too normal.

"...Matsueda-san?" she asked tentatively.

"Is there something wrong with Tomatsu?" Jun Matsueda turned his head.

Tomatsu Yuka breathed a sigh of relief. At least the boy didn't change when he was facing her. It seemed that he had pressed the mask back on, which had been loosening a bit.

After all, it's unlikely that Matsue's meeting with her senior yesterday ended well, so this situation isn't entirely incomprehensible...

"Matsueda-kun—" The girl's face lit up with a somewhat alluring smile, but she was interrupted by the boy as soon as she opened her mouth.

"Oh, right, Tomatsu." Jun Matsueda suddenly remembered something.

"Your previous suggestion is no longer necessary."

“…Really?” Tomatsu Yuka was a little surprised; she knew what the boy was talking about.

"Is that all?"

Jun Matsue nodded.

That's good.

Chapter 471 Echoes

November 22nd, Saturday.

Since classes only last half a day, after midnight, the Haneoka High School campus is completely deserted except for students participating in club activities.

However, Jun Matsueda has not yet left the school. He is currently in a classroom on the fourth floor of the activity building, watching the performance of the No. 2 band.

The girl playing the drums by the window moved with fluid movements, causing the boy's feet to unconsciously tap the ground, attracting the attention of Natsumi Imokawa, who was standing in the corner of the room.

She was there to record practice videos for the band, but as she recorded, the girl's camera lens would always involuntarily turn to Jun Matsueda's sneakers as he slapped the bass drum rhythm.

"The morning when I open my eyes ~ the night when I close my eyes ~"

Aya Miyamura's clear and bright voice echoed in the room, shaking a withered leaf from outside the window.

"I hope you'll always be by my side."

"You'll always be there for me~"

"That's good—"

The music stopped a while after the girl finished singing the last line of the lyrics.

Miyamura Aya lowered her hand, which she had been pretending to hold the microphone, and placed it on her chest, which was heaving from speaking. She looked expectantly at the boy standing to the side.

"How are you feeling, Chun-ge?"

Jun Matsue did not speak immediately, but closed his eyes and thought for a while.

"..."

Silence fell over the room. The girls put down their instruments and looked at the boy leaning against the wall. Natsumi Imokawa adjusted the camera to capture this tense moment.

This was the first time the No. 2 Band had performed the song "Moment" since Jun Matsueda left the band.

"Feels good." The boy finally nodded, and the girls' voices of relief filled the room.

"Did my drumming disgrace Matsueda-senpai?" the drummer girl asked somewhat uneasily.

"Kaze-chan, don't say that!" Aya Miyamura ran behind the drum set and ruffled the girl's hair. "They've all performed at the school festival, and everyone really likes your drumming~"

The room became noisy. Izumi Mizuki dodged the tripwire-like electrical wires on the floor and walked up to the boy.

"Pine branch, you've caused us a lot of trouble."

"Although I don't know the specifics, I'd still like to apologize first." Jun Matsueda gave an apologetic smile.

The girl sighed, "I said from the beginning that 'Instant' would definitely be a hit, but I didn't expect it to be this popular."

In just over a month, the live video of "Instant" has been viewed over a million times, making the previously unknown No. 2 Machine band an overnight sensation.

“But you quit.” As the head of the light music department and the band manager, the girl said with some helplessness, “Your lyrics, my music, this is our band’s song, and I definitely won’t sell the copyright—it took me a long time to deal with those agents and specialists.”

"Thank you for your hard work." Jun Matsue said this as the girl with the camera walked towards him. He picked up the water bottle from the chair next to him and handed it to her.

"That's a small matter." Izumi Mizuki waved her hand, not paying any attention to Imokawa Natsumi standing next to the boy.

"The most crucial thing is that we can no longer perform the original 'Moment'."

Natsumi Imokawa put down her camera, remembering the boy who stood in the center of the stage that night, surrounded by the spotlight.

How could that calm, helpless yet sad and melancholic youthful voice, and those eyes that could convey all emotions just by gazing at you, possibly be imitated?

"Leaving aside the issue of emotional interpretation, Aya's voice is a very distinctive girlish voice, and the way she sings it is completely different from your original version. So I had to turn down a lot of live performance invitations—because they wanted us to perform 'Instant,' but we simply couldn't do it."

“We didn’t perform this song at our cultural festival~” Xiaoxing, who was playing bass behind the girl, chimed in.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry..." Jun Matsueda could only manage a wry smile.

"And you're not coming back, right?" Izumi Mizuki asked again naturally.

Miyamura Aya, who was chatting behind the drum set, and Imokawa Natsumi, who was playing with a camera, both secretly glanced at the boy who was talking to the girl with his head down.

“I won’t be coming back for a while.” Jun Matsueda nodded, but this time he didn’t smile. “Even if I do come back, I don’t really want to sing anymore.”

"Even if I sing it again, I might not achieve the same effect," he added with a smile.

The real reason is, of course, not that. Jun Matsueda is now somewhat resistant to singing on stage.

The first time she sang on stage, she developed expectations for a romantic relationship; the second time she sang, it marked the beginning of a tragic end to her love affair.

He figured it was best not to sing it again, since things shouldn't happen more than three times.

"Hmm, I understand." Izumi Mizuki nodded.

"So in order for the band to continue playing 'Moment,' we came up with this rearranged version today."

A round of applause suddenly broke out beside the two people having their conversation. They turned around and saw Natsumi Imokawa putting down her camera and clapping earnestly.

The girl was clearly the type who didn't clap much or know how to clap; the sound from her two fair hands was somewhat dry and the rhythm was strange.

However, Jun Matsueda still joined her, and the boys' applause was loud and enthusiastic, which Natsumi Imokawa naturally imitated.

"Celebrating the return of 'The Moment,' is a cause for celebration," he said with a smile.

Then the girls burst into applause.

After leaving the light music club's practice room, Jun Matsueda and Natsumi Imokawa went down to the first floor together, the wind in the corridor blowing through their hair.

"Aya and the others don't practice at Meidai-mae Station anymore..." The girl straightened her hair.

Jun Matsue nodded. "Aya-chan told me that she only let us use it for free because my senior wanted to repay a favor to me."

“Now that we’ve broken up, it would be a bit strange to go there again.”

"Ah..." Natsumi Imokawa realized that was the reason.

Not knowing what to say, she quickened her pace toward the newsroom.

Jun Matsue was two steps behind her; he turned on the light for the girl who was heading straight for the computer.

"I feel a little guilty," the boy muttered.

"What?" Natsumi Imokawa turned around.

"It's alright." Jun Matsue walked to her side and watched the girl copy the video.

There was no trace left in the room of the two of them whispering sweet nothings.

"By the way, why did Imokawa suddenly start clapping over at the brass band?"

“Uh…” Natsumi Imokawa stammered, “Because it seemed like Matsue wasn’t very happy as you guys were talking.”

That's why she wanted to interrupt their conversation that way.

"I won't say thank you." Jun Matsue smiled, pursing his lips. "Imokawa is getting stronger too."

"Of course!" The girl nodded seriously.

"I've always been learning and improving!"

Chapter 472 Aunt and Pine Branch, an Afternoon of Observing Each Other

Matsueda Jun and Imokawa Natsumi didn't stay in the clubroom for long. After the video was copied, the boy and girl said goodbye at the school gate and went their separate ways home.

After school at noon, Mochizuki Haruka went out to play with her friends. Today, Matsueda Jun rode his bike alone. He didn't need to control his speed and sped back to his apartment.

When he arrived at the bottom of the apartment building, the boy glanced at the timer on his phone: five minutes and fourteen seconds.

"It's even two seconds slower than before..."

After climbing the stairs, taking out his key to unlock the door, and entering the living room, Jun Matsue first turned on the TV, randomly selected a channel, and adjusted the volume to a level that wouldn't be too noisy. He then spread out his workbook on the dining table.

This is a new habit of the boy. He no longer likes quiet rooms. Since he also has to pay the TV bill for Laixi, and in accordance with the principle of not wasting anything, the sound of the TV has become his background music.

However, the background music didn't last long before some background noise appeared—a clear sound of a door opening rang out from the next room.

Jun Matsue, who was sitting with his back to the entrance, looked up.

Didn't Mochizuki go out to play? Why is she back so soon?

As the sound of high heels leisurely approached the door of 507, he knew the answer.

A woman's light knock sounded outside the security door—it was just a formality. Another beauty from the Wangyue family walked in and looked at the back of the boy sitting at the dining table.