Am I being simulated by their love affair?

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"We're about to get on the expressway," she said with a smile.

“There’s no need to fill the schedule,” Jun Matsueda couldn’t help but say. “Don’t wear yourself out.”

"It won't get to that point. My manager and the company president both know what's going on." The girl looked at the television in front of her.

"And I really hate this feeling tonight, this inability to answer you with a straight face."

"So I need to work hard quickly so that I can stand in front of you without any burden."

"Let's not talk about this anymore—" She snatched the remote from the boy's hand, "Songzhi, how about we don't sleep together tonight?"

"What?" Jun Matsueda was forced to perk up.

"I meant watching TV, watching TV." The girl laughed mischievously. "After finishing the latest episode of 'Now That Things Have Come to This,' let's continue watching other things—TV series, movies, cartoons."

"Keep watching until I leave tomorrow morning."

"I'm about to enter a life where my feet don't touch the ground, so I want to indulge myself one last time."

"Can your body handle it?" Jun Matsuoka asked hesitantly.

"I can just slack off at the company tomorrow~" Kurusu Yosei said with a nonchalant expression. "I was the company's best newcomer last year, what's wrong with slacking off for a day!"

"it is good."

Since his mind had been in turmoil all day, he might as well continue to drift through the night in a daze.

So the girl pressed play, and the long-frozen scene finally started moving. The sixth episode begins with the protagonist and his senior having sex in a hotel.

"Wow—" Kurusu Yosei exclaimed, "Didn't they all leave at the end of the last episode? I thought the kiss at the station was the end of it."

"The author's perverse sense of humor," Jun Matsueda commented.

Two episodes of a TV series, ninety minutes in total. They watched it from 8:30 pm to 10 pm. Outside the balcony, there were sounds of pet dogs barking, crows cawing, and cars driving by on the road, before it finally became quiet again.

"You really went all out..." Yosei Kurusu finished his barley tea. "So this is how you start dating? To be honest, it feels a little strange."

“He was completely manipulated by his senior, so of course he could start a relationship on a whim.” Junya Matsueda picked up his glass.

The lights in the living room were off, leaving only the flickering light from the television and the starlight from the balcony.

Curling up on the sofa and watching TV in this not-so-pure darkness unexpectedly made him feel at ease—he didn't have to think about anything or do anything; he could just focus on the scene in front of him.

"Let's continue!" Yosei Kurusu picked up the remote control. "Let me think about what to watch next..."

She searched for a while and then played "The Night Is Short, Walk On Girl!"—a somewhat abstract art style, with a girl in a red dress drinking alcohol appearing before the two of them.

"Ah! I knew something was missing!" The girl clapped her hands together, opened the refrigerator door, and took out two bottles of wine from the back.

“We still need to drink to really enjoy ourselves~” She put the bottle on the coffee table, picked up the two glasses without saying a word, and went to the kitchen to pour out the remaining barley tea.

"Are you serious?" Jun Matsue turned around on the sofa and looked at the girl who came out carrying two empty cups.

"We'll be watching until dawn anyway, so two bottles of wine won't matter."

When Yosei Kurusu opened the bottle, the first thing he poured was the "Mount Fuji" sake that Jun Matsueda had brought back. There was still a bottle of the expensive sake that his manager had given him last time, so he set it aside for the time being.

"Drink slowly, it won't hurt." The girl raised her glass full of wine and looked at the boy beside her.

"Are you worried I might do something to you? You've been drunk in front of me before!" she puffed out her cheeks.

Watching the girl on the TV screen boldly take a big gulp, Jun Matsue also took the glass.

It's not spicy, has a rich flavor, and isn't bad.

So the two of them drank one cup after another.

When Jun Matsue first woke up, he was leaning on Yosei Kurusu's shoulder, and the girl was still drinking and watching TV, with one hand supporting his body.

"When you first got drunk, you leaned on me like this on the subway too~" Her breath carried a slightly sweet taste of alcohol.

"That's really bad..." The boy manipulated his body to fall to the other side.

When Jun Matsue woke up for the second time, the image on the TV screen was frozen, the credits glowing dimly. He looked up and saw Yosei Kurusu lying on the other side of the sofa, their legs crossed.

"..."

He didn't touch the girl, but simply got up from the sofa and casually started playing the next movie.

The opening credits of "The Alcohol Project" flash by, showing a group of young people carrying beer crates running wildly along a lake.

Jun Matsue picked up the orange bottle and drank it down, the shimmering light flowing freely over the beautiful body lying beside him.

When he woke up for the third time, it was already daylight.

Jun Matsue sat up from the sofa. The bright white living room made him feel somewhat uncomfortable.

The television screen froze again. He couldn't tell if it was a TV series, a movie, or an animation; it certainly wasn't the one that had been playing before he lost consciousness.

"Awake?" Kurusu Yosei came out of the bathroom, drying his wet hair. "I just took a shower. You should go take a shower too; you smell like alcohol."

He left the sofa and looked around the living room. Apart from a few empty bottles on the floor and some unusually messy cushions, there was nothing unusual.

"I thought I was going to throw up," the boy said, somewhat relieved.

"How much did we drink all night?" The girl rolled her eyes in a slightly seductive way. "I must have been sleepy to pass out."

When Jun Matsueda came out of the bathroom, Yosei Kurusu had already packed his things, pulling his suitcase, looking ready to go.

"Aren't you going to have breakfast before you leave?" He was somewhat surprised.

"The car is already downstairs." The girl shook her head. "I need to go to my apartment to put my luggage away first. I don't want to bring all this stuff to the company!"

Jun Matsue stood there for a while, went back to his room to change into his school uniform, then picked up her suitcase, and the two left the apartment and walked into the hallway.

After walking down one floor, the girl suddenly said.

"Actually, it might be because I can't let go of my dreams, so I deliberately let you make the choice."

"...It doesn't matter." Jun Matsueda said lazily, listening to the footsteps echoing in the hallway.

"Remember to pay my TV subscription fee—I'll definitely come to your place first when I go back to Tokyo, and I don't want to see a TV that doesn't work."

"Would you like me to record some more programs for you? You can watch them all at once when you get back."

The girl smiled and nodded.

As they approached the first floor, Yosei Kurusu suddenly stopped. The boy turned around and looked up at her standing on the steps.

"No other women are allowed in my room."

The girl commanded in a domineering tone.

"it is good."

When the agent met the two, their hair was still damp, and their faces showed obvious signs of fatigue.

"You...you didn't do it, did you?" The woman covered her mouth in surprise.

Yosei Kurusu had a radiant smile on his face.

"you guess?"

Chapter 446 Meeting

Jun Matsuoka knew perfectly well what he had done and what he hadn't done.

He was asleep, not unconscious. Besides, the living room was so clean. Even if there were any stains on the sofa, they were just spilled wine, not bodily fluids.

However, he did not refute her, but instead indulged the girl's wicked sense of humor—since he was leaving anyway, let her say whatever she wanted.

Watching the car carrying Yosuke Kurusu disappear at the next intersection, Jun Matsueda returned to his apartment building and took out his bicycle.

He took his schoolbag with him when he went downstairs so he could go straight to school. He ate breakfast at a convenience store—his brain seemed to be more alert after the hangover.

Perhaps alcohol isn't such a bad thing after all... The boy set off with this thought in mind.

Today is the 21st. It's already late October, and the temperature is colder than usual. The leaves on the trees outside the teaching building are also falling earlier than usual.

When Jun Matsue arrived at the school, he first received news that was neither good nor bad.

"The performance video of the song 'Moment' has now been viewed over 50,000 times." Mochizuki Haruka stood beside him, her tone a little more lively than usual.

"...So fast?" He took out his phone, and there were indeed quite a few chat records in the band's group chat.

The girl nodded. "This song might become a huge hit. If someone wants to buy the rights or anything, and you're unsure what to do, you can come to me."

"Could it be that you were behind this?" Jun Matsue asked, still somewhat doubtful.

"I'm not that free," the girl snorted. "Everyone knows whether it sounds good or not."

“Indeed,” Tomatsu Yuka interjected, “I saw the performance video in the brass band group last night, and everyone thought Matsueda sang incredibly well!”

"They sing more sadly than someone who's just broken up, even though they're not actually in a relationship." That's what they say.

"..."

"Moment" is not an uplifting song. Because Maki Yami was not present, Jun Matsueda on stage chose to fully express his emotions—this emotional tension is what allowed it to spread so quickly.

"So, did you see the performance video, senior?" Jun Matsue looked at the boys and girls playing around in front of the blackboard.

She's finally coming back today.

After the lunch break began, more and more people gathered in front of Jun Matsueda's seat, asking about the band and the performance. Unable to bear it any longer, he had no choice but to slip away to the infirmary for a nap.

When he woke up, the room was empty. The school nurse who had left had turned off the light, and the plain-colored curtains by the bed couldn't block the sun; they were so white they seemed to be glowing.

At this moment, Jun Matsueda felt as if he had finally emerged from a sleepless night. He picked up his phone; his manager had sent him a thank you message.

He stared at the "thank you" message for a while, then closed the chat window.

Aside from that, there were a few group chats with many people where people were talking about him and his band.

"Matsue has left the band." After Mochizuki Haruka, who rarely speaks, posted this message in the group chat, the chat interface fell silent.

Jun Matsue stopped looking at other messages and instead clicked on Maki Yami's profile picture to send her a message.

"What time will you arrive in Tokyo this afternoon, senior?"

It's time to meet.

At four o'clock in the afternoon, Jun Matsueda sat in a cafe across from Shinjuku Station, looking at the bustling intersection in front of him.

This is not far from the express bus station where he is staying for training. The building across from the traffic lights is the world's busiest station, with nearly two hundred exits. Even Tokyoites might get lost inside the station.

A veritable maze... He looked at the large crowd emerging from the station, among whom was a small group of people in school uniforms.

Jun Matsueda has excellent eyesight and immediately located Maki Yami—she was walking on the sidewalk opposite the coffee shop, chatting with the girl next to her.

It seemed to be the boy's imagination, but even though it had only been four days, he felt that the girl had obviously lost weight, and the faint smile that always graced her face was not as bright as before.

He watched as Maki Yamami waved goodbye to her classmates at the traffic light across the street, put her luggage into the car parked in front of her, and then stepped across the zebra crossing to the coffee shop window.

Jun Matsueda looked down at the menu, and when he looked up again, the girl was already sitting in front of him.

"Matsueda-kun, it's been a long time."

The boy didn't answer, he just looked at her. Yamami Maki turned her head to the side and took the hair that had been blown to her lips by the wind in front of the shadow of the French window.

"Matsueda-kun?"

"When I was looking at you from afar just now, I thought you had lost weight."

"It's not that exaggerated..." the girl said, waving her hand with a smile.

Yamami Maki hadn't lost weight, but her smile had lost some of its brightness, leaving him with nowhere to vent his emotions.

So Junya Matsueda smiled and handed over the menu, "What would you like to drink, senior?"

"...The caramel macchiato is ready."

"Me too."

The coffee was served quickly, and the two chatted about the girl's school trip. The air in the shop was warm, and the macchiato was quite hot. They sat in the best window seat with the view, where the sky was beginning to darken, the city was gray-blue, and people were hurrying through the intersection.

To onlookers, it's like a painting: a bleak autumn day in the background, a harmonious young boy and girl in the center, exuding a sweet atmosphere.

"If that's really the case," Jun Matsue put down his coffee cup.

"Senior, I didn't see any autumn leaves on Kamikochi."

Yamami Maki paused for two seconds, then said, "I'm sorry, although I tried to adjust, I still don't feel like taking photos."

It was as if a membrane had been peeled away, and the two of them finally began to breathe truly.

"Does the senior still have the same idea now?"