Am I being simulated by their love affair?

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"Because this is the orphanage my family runs," the girl answered her question calmly, glancing at the two people who had just gotten off the bus.

Hmm... a fool who can't protect his home and a clumsy idiot, Mochizuki Haruka nodded in satisfaction.

The most reassuring episode.

Chapter 410 Change and Moment

"what?"

"Is the orphanage where Songzhi grew up run by your family?"

Yosei Kurusu sat in the cafeteria, looking surprised.

"Otherwise, why do you think I'm here?" Mochizuki Haruka glanced at the girl, picked up a piece of okra tempura, and put it in her mouth.

"I thought you came here to..."

Yosei Kurusu looked at the boy sitting opposite the two of them eating. Junsei Matsueda was eating while dealing with the chattering questions from the children around him, like a mother hen surrounded by her chicks.

Mochizuki Haruka snorted inwardly. Of course, she was after Matsueda Jun—she couldn't let go of any opportunity to seize a chance; this was the girl's latest strategy for winning someone's heart.

"What's with that expression?" Kurusu Yosei was a little annoyed. It had been a long time since they'd seen each other, and this guy was acting more and more strangely.

"It's nothing." The girl who had been trained like a house cat smiled. "I saw your ad. You seem to be very busy lately. What brings you here?"

Miss Idol drank the last sip of vegetable soup. There were no seasonings in the soup, only the pure sweetness of the vegetables. She licked her lips with lingering satisfaction.

"No matter how busy you are, you must balance work and rest."

Thank goodness she came, otherwise Matsue would have been tempted by that wicked Mochizuki again.

After lunch, the other band members arrived at the orphanage. Jun Matsueda led the girls into the courtyard, where the autumn lawn no longer reflected the dazzling sunlight, presenting a restrained green.

"It feels so comfortable to lie down on..." Natsumi Imokawa, who had been keeping to herself at lunchtime, finally spoke up, squatting down to take a picture.

"There weren't many audience members," Izumi Mizuki said, glancing at the children playing around the stage. "But they were very cute."

"Alright, alright, let's test the equipment first~" Aya Miyamura pulled the looking-around-the-pointing Koyuki onto the stage, "Everyone is really looking forward to our performance."

Xiaoxing watched the boys chasing each other with toys in their hands run past her. "The orphanage... is much better than I imagined."

"Ah!" She immediately covered her mouth. "Sorry, that's not what I meant."

“It’s alright.” Jun Matsue smiled. “Our facilities are considered quite good among welfare homes nationwide. We have to thank the Mochizuki Group for all of this.”

Standing next to him, Mochizuki Haruka tried hard to suppress the corners of her mouth from turning up, and nodded reservedly, "I'm really looking forward to your new song."

Yosei Kurusu, who had already circled the lawn, returned to them. "So where's Matsugi's drum set? I can't see it."

“It’s still in the room, I’ll go move it now.” Jun Matsue pointed to the building behind him.

"Before the show starts, I'd like to trouble Miss Idol to unleash her charm and help me take care of these little guys."

"Don't worry!" Lai Qi You Shi had already taken off her mask. She patted her chest and walked towards the girls who were looking at her curiously.

As Jun Matsue watched her being surrounded by girls, he stepped back a few paces to better appreciate the view on the lawn.

A wooden stage was set up in the middle of the grass. The girls spontaneously played melodies, attracting lively children who sat and played around in front of the stage. Yosei Kurusu was surrounded by girls of all heights. The idol girl was gesturing wildly, doing something unknown, but the girls were clearly having a great time.

The afternoon sun cast its rays along the edge of the lawn, bringing just the right amount of warmth. Everything in front of Matsueda Jun was enveloped in a dreamlike halo, making him reluctant to take a step.

"It's a beautiful moment, isn't it?" Natsumi Imokawa's voice rang in the boy's ears as the girl pressed the shutter button on his camera.

"Songzhi's expression was just right too."

"Thank you." Jun Matsueda smiled. "We should have taken more photos today."

"I brought three batteries with me!" The girl patted her bag. Just as she was about to say something more, an old man walked up to the two of them.

"It's so lively today," said Hiroya Chiomi, looking at the sunny lawn. "It makes me feel like the wrinkles on my face are slack off."

“Grandma doesn’t have many wrinkles on her face,” Jun Matsue said with a smile, turning to introduce her to the girl.

"This is the director who watched me grow up. You can call her Grandma Director."

"Just call me Grandma." The old woman waved her hand. "What a lovely little girl."

"Thank you, Grandma." Natsumi Imokawa blushed. "Um, I'll go take pictures of the others now."

The girl walked away in the other direction, and the old man watched her fleeing figure with a kind smile.

"Xiao Chun has brought even more girls again." She looked at the boy next to her.

Jun Matsue patted her on the shoulder. "Isn't it normal to make more friends the longer you're away from the orphanage?"

"Then why are all the friends you bring back girls?" Grandma laughed like a witch.

"...Then I'll bring a few familiar senior students back to visit later." The boy obediently nodded.

The old woman laughed even harder, her shoulders trembling. After a long while, she said, "Xiao Chun has changed a lot."

Like a flash of lightning in a hallucination, Jun Matsue recalled the girl's sobs in the rain.

"But before my eternal end, it was you who changed first..."

The hyperthymesia patient, who had become docile by the end of childhood, has recently become restless again for some reason. The old man's words pulled him back to reality.

“I’m not saying you’ve become glib.” She patted her back, which was bent over with laughter. “I remember back in junior high, you were very reluctant to talk to others about the orphanage.”

"But now you can easily tell me that you'll bring other people to see it in the future."

"Brother Chun, why haven't you gone to get the drum set yet?" The girl's voice came from afar on the other side of the stage.

"That's good, that's good." The old man patted him on the shoulder. "Go on, everyone's waiting for you."

Jun Matsue nodded, walked into the building, and pushed open the door to the most secluded room on the first floor, where the drum set was located.

Although it hadn't been used for almost a year, every part of it was spotless and shiny; I wonder who was maintaining it.

The drum kit was disassembled, loaded onto the trolley one by one, the door was closed, and the sound of pulleys echoed in the corridor.

He had indeed changed, Jun Matsue thought, gazing at the gleaming doorway at the end of the corridor.

He didn't want to talk to others about the orphanage back then, not because he was ashamed or vain, but simply because he found it troublesome—he had to explain this and that.

Moreover, at that time, he always harbored a sense of wariness towards everyone he encountered. He needed acting skills and a perfect image to ensure that he could control everything in his life. The orphanage was his Achilles' heel and weakness, which he naturally had to keep hidden deep in his heart.

But it is different now.

As Jun Matsuoka walked out of the corridor, the lively lawn came into view once again.

Acting skills and image are superfluous cloaks for pure human relationships. He has already been able to discard these and introduce the orphanage, the softest part of his heart, to the young girls.

"Pine branches, hurry up—"

Yosuke Kurusu jumped onto the stage and shouted at him, while Haruka Mochizuki walked towards him through the crowd.

"There's nothing we can do; heroes always make their appearance last," he said loudly with a laugh.

Laughter, shouts, and music on the lawn grew louder. Jun Matsue quickened his pace, pushing his cart from the hard, cold cement ground into the soft grass, which smelled of grass, soil, and sunshine, and was captured in the girl's camera shutter.

He will remember this moment forever.

Chapter 411 Her Anger

After the performance, which lasted for more than an hour, Jun Matsueda pushed the cart carrying the drum set into the corridor.

The indoor lighting was dim, and the singing, which had not stopped, came from behind the boys—after the band left the stage, Yosuke Kurusu and the girls had taken over the stage and were now performing a wonderful song and dance.

Jun Matsue pushed open the door to the empty room, pressed the switch next to the door, and a bright light appeared for a second before flickering.

"I need to report the light bulb for repair later..." He turned off the light and slowly began assembling the drum kit.

Although this set of drums, which everyone chipped in to buy, wasn't as high-end as his senior's special drum kit, his drumming, from its noisy, disruptive sound to its smooth rhythm, was all achieved under the witness of this "Emperor's Star" set. During his performance on stage just now, he even felt that his "old friend" performed better than before, and the feel of hitting it still evoked fond memories.

Actually, Jun Matsueda initially practiced in the basement of the orphanage because it was better soundproofed. However, many curious children liked to watch him practice, and the basement environment wasn't very good, so he moved his drum set upstairs.

Speaking of which, I once taught Aya to play the drums; I wonder how much she still remembers…

The sound of footsteps in the corridor interrupted the boy's reverie. The clattering of leather shoes stopped outside the door behind him, followed by the sound of the door opening.

Matsueda Jun turned his head, and Mochizuki Haruka, who had entered the room, closed the door and looked at him with her arms crossed.

"Have Kurusu and the others finished singing?" Jun Matsueda looked towards the lawn, but there were no windows in the room, so he couldn't see what was happening outside.

The girl didn't speak, she just shook her head. She took two steps forward, and the boy, sensing something was wrong, turned around to observe her expression.

Mochizuki Haruka usually has a stern face, and when she has no expression, she always gives people a cold feeling. However, those who know her well know that this is just a girl's unique tsundere charm.

However, the girl standing in front of Matsueda Jun now was different from usual. The girl had furrowed her delicate eyebrows and pressed her thin lips tightly together, with an expression that was about to burst out in anger.

The boy put down his tools. "Who made you angry?"

The answer was right in front of him. Mochizuki Haruka's voice was somewhat low, "You're leaving the band?"

The girl only learned of this news while chatting with Natsumi Imokawa backstage.

Jun Matsue paused for a moment; he seemed to be answering this question quite often lately.

"Well, at the latest by the end of this semester."

"why?"

The girl immediately asked a question, her hands clenching the hem of her dress, leaving wrinkles on the black skirt.

"...Sit down first?" The boy didn't answer her question immediately, but instead moved a chair from the corner.

When Matsueda Jun didn't answer the question immediately, Mochizuki Haruka already knew the answer. She watched the person in front of her wiping the chair with his head down, and a long-suppressed and long-awaited anger rose from the bottom of the girl's heart.

She reached out her right hand and grabbed the boy's arm, forcing him to turn around and look at her.

"What's so great about Yamami Maki?!"

Mochizuki Haruka shouted out what she had wanted to say for a long time, a question that Tomatsu Yuka had asked not long ago.

She gave him a hard shove, and Matsueda Jun, who lost his balance, sat down in the chair. His arm, which was pulled up, hit the unfinished cymbal, and the metal piece fell to the ground with a sharp sound that echoed in the enclosed space.

Matsueda Jun looked at the girl standing in front of him, and her anger rushed towards him like a wave, waking him up from a dream.

You found out?

"I already knew!" Looking at the boy's expression, Mochizuki Haruka felt for the first time that he was dull-witted, even incredibly stupid.

“After the celebration party for the band’s first performance, my aunt told me that there was definitely something wrong with the relationship between the two of you.”

“When you went back to the orphanage during summer vacation, I asked Yamami Maki and found out that you two liked each other.”

"I saw you kissing with my own eyes back in Kyoto!"

The girl pressed on his shoulders, shouting so loudly that it even made Matsueda Jun's eardrums sting.

"Brother Songzhi?" A boy's questioning voice sounded from outside the door. A boy passing by knocked on the door. "Are you in there?"

Mochizuki Haruka let go of his hand, and Matsueda Jun stood up and opened the door a crack. "It's me. I was just setting up the drum kit, and a cymbal fell to the ground. It might be a bit noisy."

"Be careful, Pine Branch Bro!"

The boy closed the door, turned around and looked at the girl's black silhouette. For a moment, he didn't know what to say.

“…So you already knew.” Jun Matsue smiled helplessly. “Keeping it hidden for so long doesn’t seem like you.”

"What's the point of telling you?" Mochizuki Haruka immediately turned to look at him. "Is it to make you wary of me or distance yourself from me? Or is it so you can openly show affection in front of me?"

If they pretended not to know, at least the two could maintain their previous relationship, and the girl would still have a chance to win his heart.

“But that’s not what I’m angry about right now.” Mochizuki Haruka’s anger subsided a bit. She took two steps back and walked to the drum kit that hadn’t been assembled yet.

"While you were away, I regularly had someone come and maintain your drum set. It performed quite well on stage just now, didn't it?"

Matsueda Jun was somewhat surprised, and the girl continued.

“Matsueda, I really like you on stage, so I asked Natsumi Imokawa for all your performance recordings.”

"Looking at you sitting in front of the drum set, every movement exudes undisguised confidence, even arrogance."

“I’ve always believed that this is what you will become—you have talent and ability, you’re willing to work hard, you deserve admiration, envy, and applause.

"I want to see you win scholarships left and right, finish the game with a single burst of energy, and let the drumbeats you strike dominate the heartbeats of thousands of people. You will become the talk of the town, and everyone you know, whether they like you or not, will be unable to ignore your presence. That's your charm."

"Your future shouldn't just be that of a successful politician, scholar, or entrepreneur; there are far too many people like that in the world."

"And the only person I like, and who I hope can live freely, is you."

Mochizuki Haruka stepped forward and tightly gripped the boy's arm with both hands. Matsueda Jun could feel her deep sadness and regret.