Am I being simulated by their love affair?

Page 249

Everything except her weaves together the confusion in the lyrics of the song, while she brings the sorrow that lingers throughout the entire song.

"I hope you can always be by my side, that would be enough..."

When she heard the ending, Maki Yami began to regret that she was standing on the balcony of the Kamikochi Hotel instead of at the performance venue.

But the performance had already ended.

The girl continued to stare at the boy whose image was frozen at the end of the video, until a pop-up notification on the screen blocked her view.

She chose to answer Mochizuki Haruka's voice call.

"I've waited so long, you should have finished watching the video by now, right?" A girl's cool voice came through the receiver, and you could also faintly hear a woman humming a tune.

"I've finished reading it." Yami Maki's voice was a little hoarse.

"There will never be another Jun Matsue like this again—"

"Are you satisfied now that you've destroyed him?"

Before the girl could answer, the call ended, and Yamami Maki put down her phone.

Mochizuki Haruka didn't need her answer.

When Yamami Maki returned to her room, the girls had already turned off the lights and were getting ready to sleep. She quietly walked along the corner to her bed, wiping away the tears that had streamed down her chin to prevent them from wetting the sheets.

An hour later, the tearful girl sent a message to Jun Matsueda from the bathroom.

"Matsueda-kun..."

"We cannot fall in love."

The next morning, after listening to Maki Yami's voice message, Jun Matsue immediately called her.

The call was answered after a while, and the boy heard the sound of a train and the girl's somewhat disordered breathing.

Jun Matsue calmed down in time—his senior was definitely not in a good state right now, and if he couldn't stay rational, things would only get worse.

He paused for a second before speaking, "Where is my senior now?"

Yamami Maki seemed a little surprised; she hadn't expected the boy to ask that first. "...I'm on the bullet train from Matsumoto to Nagano."

"Are you planning to spend a day in Nagano City?"

"I'll stay for most of the day... then I'll go to Karuizawa in the afternoon."

"Okay. Has your mood calmed down, senior?"

"……Um."

"So now I want to ask—what was the meaning of the message you gave me last night?"

"..."

"Are you planning to break up?" Jun Matsueda stood by the bedroom window, gripping his phone tightly.

"...I feel that being with me is not, not possible for Songzhi to be happy."

The girl's voice trembled, and she struggled several times before she could finish the sentence.

The boy took a deep breath silently, and the steam he exhaled hit the window and turned into a blurry mist.

"I'm sorry..." Yami Maki's voice was trembling with tears. The voices around her were a little louder, as if a classmate was asking her something.

"Senior, calm down first," Jun Matsueda continued. "Do you really want to break up with me like this?"

"You broke up with me on the bullet train during a school trip, without even meeting me or seeing each other's expressions?"

"I don't want to..." The sound of a door closing came from the other end of the phone, and the girl fell silent again.

"Then you should try not to think about us for now. Anyway, you won't be back until tomorrow, and we'll see each other at the earliest tomorrow."

"Why don't you just enjoy this last school trip? We'll talk properly when you get back to Tokyo."

"...I will try my best."

Yamami Maki hung up the phone, and Matsueda Jun looked at the time displayed on the screen.

At 8:10, there were still fifteen minutes before Haneoka High School's morning meeting was scheduled to begin.

He didn't sleep well last night, and woke up later than usual this morning. He also lost a lot of time because of a phone call with his senior.

"Hurry up and brush your teeth and wash your face. If you sprint on your bicycle at full speed, you should still make it in time."

However, as he walked towards the restroom, the boy sighed.

"I don't want to go to school anymore..."

This was the first time in Jun Matsue's life that he had been late.

Chapter 441 Today is Full of Worries

When Jun Matsue appeared at the classroom door, everyone in Class 6 of Grade 2 turned their attention to him.

As a well-known top student in the school, Jun Matsueda has never violated any school rules, despite various rumors surrounding him and Tomohana Tomatsu and Haruka Mochizuki.

So even Kominato Shoko, who was standing on the podium, had a surprised expression on her face.

"I'm sorry, teacher, I'm late." Jun Matsue said, standing at the front door with his head slightly bowed.

"Come in," the female teacher nodded. "Everyone told me you just went to the restroom..."

The boys in the classroom winked at him, lamenting the failure of their cover-up. Matsueda Jun smiled, picked up his bag, and walked to the back of the classroom.

"Then I'll continue." Ms. Kominato cleared her throat. "The notice for the parent-teacher meeting has already been sent out. This Friday..."

Tomatsu Yuka and Mochizuki Haruka turned their heads in unison to look at Matsueda Jun sitting between them—his hair was a little messy from the wind, his suit jacket was not fully buttoned, and his tie was not tied tightly.

While this also has a unique kind of cool, it's obvious that he's not in a good mood today; the girls all had the same thought.

When the bell rang, before the girls could get up, Kominato Shoko walked up to Matsueda Jun first.

"What's going on today? The teacher has never seen you late before."

"I didn't hear my alarm this morning." The boy scratched his head.

"So pine branches can do that too." Ms. Kominato wasn't angry; instead, she smiled.

"Please be more careful next time!"

After she left the classroom, Jun Matsue looked around and saw that the girls sitting on either side of her were still staring at her.

"Do you think I'd believe that?" Mochizuki Haruka pouted. During the time she lived in 507, the boy would get up earlier than the alarm clock every day.

"Is it because of what happened to Yang Shi-san yesterday?" Tomatsu Yuka leaned out and asked in a low voice.

Jun Matsuoka pulled a textbook out of his book and said, "No comment."

Hmm... Tomatsu Yuka glanced at the girl's indifferent expression on the other side, it seems there's something else going on.

Mochizuki Haruka wouldn't be so kind as to update her with information, so she'd have to gather intelligence herself.

The three of them spent the morning peacefully, but for Matsueda Jun, the morning felt exceptionally long.

Yamami Maki stopped sending him messages. It was unclear whether she had temporarily forgotten about their relationship after listening to his words, or whether she intended to push him further away.

The boy is pessimistic—perhaps he did convince the senior on the phone that morning, but once the distance is restored and the girl retreats into her own world, her negative thoughts may regain control.

Just before leaving home that morning, Jun Matsue had considered asking for leave to visit Maki Yami—but he quickly dismissed the idea.

Since I had already agreed with my senior to put this matter aside for the time being, showing up again would only add pressure to her.

Moreover, Jun Matsueda did not want to become someone who would abandon everything for love; he also had to be responsible for everything outside of love.

He never arrived late or left early for ten years to set an example for the children in the orphanage who were still in school. He started working early to tell his companions who had left the welfare home that even if they were alone, they should find a way to live an upright life.

He didn't suddenly disappear from the school, also so as not to cause unnecessary trouble for those who were concerned about him.

More importantly, he didn't want the girls to think that Matsueda Jun could easily reject them, yet also run headlong to another person without hesitation.

Mingming Yamami Maki did no more than them.

All morning, a jumble of random thoughts swirled in his mind, like fallen leaves outside the window, rising and falling with every gust of autumn wind, only to be swept away again by another gust of wind from a different direction.

So when the girls invited him to have lunch at the cafeteria, Jun Matsueda refused once again.

"Why?" Mochizuki Haruka asked innocently, showing off her purity. "That guy is no longer here."

“It has nothing to do with her.” Jun Matsueda frowned. “I want to go and ask Imokawa about what happened last night.”

The girl pursed her lips, while Tomatsu Yuka smiled and spoke from the other side.

"Should we bring lunch for Matsueda? The cafeteria is selling a limited-edition autumn pan-fried mackerel rice ball, and it tastes pretty good."

He hesitated for a moment, then nodded. "Thank you for your help."

As the crowd gathered on their way to the cafeteria, Jun Matsueda left the classroom first. After the boy's figure disappeared, Yuka Tomatsu took a step toward the girl beside her and whispered in her ear.

"What did you say to Yamami Maki this time?"

Mochizuki Haruka smoothed her hair. "Some things I have to say."

When Jun Matsue entered the news department, Natsumi Imokawa was sitting in front of the computer browsing videos while eating small bites of bread, looking a bit like a hamster.

"What happened last night?" The boy pulled up a chair and sat down next to her.

The girl naturally moved aside to make room. "After you left, the atmosphere was a little strange at first. Later, Aya called Kazane over, and they went to a karaoke bar together. They ate and sang, and had a lot of fun."

"That's good." Jun Matsue stared at the girl's cheeks puffing out with each chew. "Why 'them'? Didn't you go with them?"

“I was recording this from the side.” Natsumi Imokawa always enjoyed this observer’s perspective. “Let’s not talk about that now, Matsueda, look—”

The girl put the half-eaten red bean bun aside, pointed her finger, and only then did Jun Matsue look at the computer screen, which was the band's account backend space.

"I edited together the highlights of last night's performance and posted them first. They've already been viewed over 10,000 times in just half a day!"

Jun Matsue looked at the video's cover, which was a close-up of him sitting behind the drum set singing, and it was incredibly captivating.

The video cover that Yami Maki saw last night was also this one.

"What do you mean by 'essential part'?"

"It's your final version of 'Moment'!" the girl said excitedly. "The number of views is increasing even faster now than this morning."

"It might become a hit!"

"..." Matsueda Jun's feelings were somewhat complicated.

It's ironic that when you're about to give up, fate suddenly starts to enthusiastically try to keep you.

So he spent another afternoon in even more confusion, and almost forgot that he needed to buy groceries on his way home.

As he walked out of the supermarket, he glanced at his phone. Yamami Maki still hadn't sent a message; their chat window was still showing her voice message.

Luckily, it was a voice message, otherwise it might have been deleted because it was too offensive...

As he went up the stairs, Jun Matsue clicked on the girl's profile picture in the chat box and aimlessly scrolled through her past posts.

However, he quickly put down his phone and looked at the girl in the corridor.

His roommate, Lai Qiyang, was standing at the entrance of apartment 507.

Chapter 442 The Relationship Furthest From Love

When Jun Matsueda met Yosei Kurusu at the apartment entrance, she was leaning against the railing in the hallway, looking lost in thought.

The girl's forearms were folded on the stone railing, like the posture of students in class, looking well-behaved and quiet.

Jun Matsue rarely saw the "quiet" Yosuke Kurusu; he wasn't referring to the girl's physical movements, but rather to her overall demeanor.

Yosei Kurusu always exudes a certain energy that influences everyone around him.

And now she is temporarily lying low.

The girl was wearing a loose gray sweatshirt, black shorts that barely covered her thighs, and dark gray knee-high socks, a more casual outfit than any Jun Matsue had ever seen her dressed.

She didn't notice Jun Matsue standing at the end of the corridor. Instead, she changed her posture, bent over slightly, and let her arms bear more of her body weight. The girl looked up, gazing at something. Outside the corridor, the autumn wind was blowing and the trees were rustling, sounding like it was raining.

Matsueda Jun approached the girl. A gust of wind blew into the corridor, making her long hair flutter. Kurusu Yosei blinked, staring at the falling leaves drifting gently down in front of him.

When the boy's footsteps reached her ears, Yosuke Kurusu turned around and looked at Jun Matsueda, who was standing still.

"I didn't think you'd be back so soon." Jun Matsue suddenly felt a little tongue-tied, unsure of what to say.

The girl deliberately put on a stern face, with an arrogant expression, "Why can't I come back? You're my roommate, this isn't just your home, it's mine too!"