Am I being simulated by their love affair?

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"Is the boy sitting next to Yamami Maki blocked from view? Is he not clearly visible?"

Mochizuki Haruka put away her phone and looked out the window with the girl. Her tone was no longer calm, but carried some dark emotions rising from the bottom of her heart.

"It's okay, it's almost over. Once they come downstairs, you'll see everything clearly."

As they spoke, the two figures by the window disappeared. Mochizuki Haruka withdrew her gaze, and hurried footsteps echoed in the coffee shop.

Tomatsu Tomoka had already run out.

Chapter 383 Empathy

Yamami Maki stood downstairs at the library, watching the boy next to her unlock his bicycle.

The girl's eyes were full of tenderness. After returning from Kyoto, her feelings for Matsueda Jun transformed from the morning mist that permeated the forest into dewdrops that condensed on the grass, gradually sinking down in the calm of daily life.

As was his usual routine, Jun Matsueda would push his bicycle to take his senior to the station. The two would slip into an alleyway to hold hands, perhaps even hug and kiss, before parting sweetly and promising to meet again next time.

But today, just as the two took their first steps, a familiar voice rang out behind them.

“Matsueda-kun.”

Yamami Maki turned her head first, her mouth agape in surprise.

"Youhua?"

She subconsciously took a step to the side, maintaining a normal distance from the boy, but the panic on the girl's face was still undeniable.

Jun Matsueda put down the car lock he was holding, looked up, and saw Tomatsu Yuka walk to his side.

The girl's silence was so brief it was almost an illusion; a smile, no different from usual, appeared on her face.

"Good afternoon, Songzhi-san."

"What are you and your senior doing here?"

The girl's unexpected question caught the two off guard, leaving them no room to maneuver. Matsueda Jun suppressed his surprise and quickly began to think.

Although the two hadn't engaged in any intimate behavior downstairs, and Tomatsu Yuka didn't seem like she was there to interrogate him, he wasn't the type to take chances. The girl's appearance here at this moment was hardly an accident.

More importantly, based on his understanding of the girl at the next table, although she was behaving normally, her tone and expression made him feel somewhat uncomfortable.

“Actually,” Matsueda Jun was about to speak when Yami Maki, as if she had read his mind, glanced at him hastily and took a step toward her junior.

"Actually, I've encountered some difficulties while reviewing recently, so I'm asking Songzhi for help."

She didn't look directly into her junior's eyes when she spoke, but instead lowered her head slightly, her voice trembling—clearly due to her guilty conscience.

"Is that so?" The girl blinked, took her senior's arm, and said with a hint of jealousy, "Why didn't you invite me? I want to join next time too."

"If Yuka has time, that's fine." Yami Maki's tense shoulders relaxed, her smile somewhat weak.

"Although I've been quite busy since the start of the school term, I'll try my best to make time for it~"

Tomatsu Tomoka twitched her nostrils slightly. She smelled a familiar scent on Yamami Maki, even stronger than the one on Matsueda Jun back then.

Sure enough... She was still smiling, but the last bit of self-deceiving luck had sunk into her heart.

"So, are you going home now, senior? I've just finished shopping too, shall we go home together?"

Although the girl's heart was shrouded in dark clouds, she did not lash out on the spot—at such a moment, her mental state instead displayed a kind of morbid rationality.

Matsueda is still here. If she presses Yamami Maki for answers now, she will likely lower her popularity among the boys.

Moreover, he might even protect the girl who was being interrogated, and Tomatsu Tomohana no longer wanted to leave her senior any room to escape.

"Then I'll take you to the station." Jun Matsueda interrupted their conversation. Although Tomatsu Tomoka seemed normal, he was still a little worried.

"No need, no need. The sky is overcast, it might rain soon. Pine Branch, you should go back first."

Yamami Maki hurriedly waved her hand, wanting the boy to leave as soon as possible to avoid increasing the younger generation's suspicions about her.

"..." Matsueda Jun glanced at the two of them, waved his phone in his right hand, and gestured for his senior to remember to contact him if needed.

After watching the boy ride away on his bicycle, Yamami Maki immediately felt the touch on her arm disappear. She turned her head and saw that Tomatsu Yuka's smile had vanished, and her empty eyes were staring blankly into the distance.

The girl was startled, "Yuka?"

Tomatsu Yuka ignored her and walked towards the subway station on her own. A bewildered Yamami Maki subconsciously followed the girl.

Filled with a sudden sense of fear, Yami Maki carefully observed the expression of the girl beside her. As tears streamed down her junior's face, her guilt deepened once again.

"...Youhua?"

"Why……"

Tomatsu Yuka murmured to herself, glancing at the sky and mistaking the dampness on her face for traces of rain.

"Why?!"

The girl suddenly screamed, her shrill voice seemingly capable of piercing the heart.

Yamami Maki tensed up in fright. At this moment, she was very clear that Tomatsu Yuka must already know about her relationship with Matsueda.

Her mind went blank.

"Why?" Tomatsu Tomoka turned to look at Yamami Maki.

Her tears dripped onto the toes of her shoes, leaving ink-like stains on her white canvas shoes.

"I trusted my senior so much, why did you betray me?"

"I clearly like my senior so much, why did you lie to me?"

Yamami Maki's lips trembled, and all she could say was "I'm sorry."

"What's the use of apologizing?!" Tomatsu Yuka slammed her clenched fist down in mid-air, causing her long black hair to sway.

"Does an apology really give me back Tsunkun?!"

The girl's fist didn't hit Yamami Maki, but under her junior's questioning, she lost the strength to control her limbs and collapsed to the ground.

However, her tilted body was caught, and she looked up in surprise and hope, only to see Tomatsu Yuka's cold pupils close to hers.

"I won't let you get hurt, lest Tsun-kun think I'm bullying you," the girl said coldly.

Vehicles kept passing by on the road. Like a puppet, Yamami Maki was helped to the side of the road and collapsed on the grass.

Tomatsu Yuka looked at her senior who had fallen to the ground. This condescending attitude did not bring her any pleasure, only the sorrow in her heart accumulated layer by layer as time went by.

"I still remember how I made a promise with my senior: relationship advice, troubles, and suggestions..."

"We practiced together for the competition, went shopping and strolled together, ate snacks together, and soaked in hot springs together..."

“Every time I meet with Songzhi, I always make sure to chat with you first.”

"My love life, my troubles, can only be truly confided in my senior..." The girl's voice grew increasingly sorrowful and piercing.

Why did we both find ourselves unable to express ourselves later on?

"Why did my senior from back then become like this?!"

She lowered her head and shouted at Yamami Maki, who was slumped on the lawn.

Despite his desperate efforts, his voice sounded exceptionally weak.

A complex mix of bitterness and anger welled up in Tomatsu Yuka's heart, and the girl's vision blurred.

She recalled how it all started, the way the boy looked at her when she confessed to Songzhi in the archives after school.

"So this is what Jun-kun felt back then..."

Chapter 384 Yesterday Once More

The next day, Monday, after getting up, Jun Matsueda sent a message to Maki Yami.

But when he finished washing up and came out of the bathroom, his senior had not replied to his message. Their chat history was still at the "goodnight" from the night before.

When Yosei Kurusu walked out of his room, he saw Jun Matsue standing in the living room with a furrowed brow.

The girl yawned. "Why does Songzhi look like that so early in the morning?"

"The weather doesn't seem too good today." Jun Matsueda straightened his school uniform collar and looked out the window at the overcast sky.

The girl glanced at her phone; a typhoon warning was already displayed.

"Another typhoon is coming." She looked at the boy who had pushed open the security door. "Be careful on Songzhi Road!"

"No holiday, what a disappointment!"

Jun Matsue rode his bike a little faster than usual, and when he arrived at school, he quickly realized something was wrong.

Tomatsu Yuka was not in the classroom.

Normally, no matter how early he arrived at school, he would see a quiet and well-behaved girl sitting in the classroom. However, today, Tomatsu Yuka's seat was empty.

Jun Matsue first took out his water bottle from his schoolbag, went to the corridor to get water, and glanced at the classroom of Class 4, Grade 3 as he passed by.

My senior classmate isn't here either.

The clouds outside the window hung low, just like the ominous premonition growing in his heart. When Matsueda Jun returned to his classroom, Mochizuki Haruka was already sitting in her seat.

"Good morning." The girl's greeting was still as simple as ever.

"Good morning." Matsueda Jun was a little surprised. "Why are you here so early today?"

"I can't sleep." Mochizuki Haruka blinked. She came today hoping to see more of the drama, but she only saw Matsueda Jun.

The two, each lost in their own thoughts, remained silent until the bell rang for the morning meeting, when Tomatsu Yuka, who arrived late, broke the silence in the back row.

"Sorry I'm a little late today." The girl hurriedly sat down and hung her schoolbag next to the desk.

Jun Matsue observed Tomatsu for a while before speaking, "Didn't Tomatsu sleep well last night?"

"Ah...yes." The girl's smile was somewhat forced.

In fact, Tomatsu Yuka did not sleep poorly; rather, she barely slept at all throughout the night—her eyes were noticeably swollen, and red marks from tears could be seen at the corners of her eyes.

If the girl wanted, she could certainly use makeup to cover up these signs of exhaustion, but she chose to show them instead.

Tomatsu Yuka is using this method to tell the boy that she is very hurt.

Things are getting complicated... Matsueda Jun sighed inwardly; his intuition from yesterday was indeed correct.

The clattering of women's leather shoes echoed in the corridor as Kominato Shoko, dressed in a formal suit, walked into the classroom.

"It's Monday today, don't look so down, cheer up!"

The female teacher frowned her delicate, beautiful eyebrows, and a chorus of sighs rose from the students below the stage.

"Alright, alright," she sighed, "Classes are cancelled this afternoon due to the typhoon warning. Are you all satisfied now?"

The gloomy atmosphere in the classroom immediately brightened up, but these changes had nothing to do with the three people sitting in the back corner.

After the four classes in the morning, the classroom quickly became empty, with only the students on duty doing a simple cleaning and the class monitor and vice monitor conducting a safety check before the typhoon arrived.

"Thank you for your hard work." Jun Matsue politely thanked the student on duty standing in front of him and accompanied him out of the classroom.

After watching the boy's back disappear into the corridor, he took out his phone to check his messages—his senior had replied after the second period in the morning, saying that the girl had a low-grade fever and was feeling unwell, so she hadn't come to school.

"Thank you for your concern, Songzhi..."

Jun Matsue read the message in the chat box softly; it had been a long time since he had seen his senior send a message in such a tone.

“Matsueda-kun.”

The girl's voice sounded behind him. The boy turned around and saw Tomatsu Yuka standing at the back door of the classroom with a weak smile on her face.

"The doors and windows have been checked. Would you like to take another look, Pine Branch?"

The boy shook his head. "No need, let's go to the archives."

They also have the task of organizing the class log and the notice board, after which they can leave the school.

The two walked one after the other down the empty corridor, neither of them speaking. Jun Matsue walked ahead, looking at the approaching sign for the archives room, his extraordinary memory starting to kick in again.

At that time, his suspension had been lifted and he had just returned to school. He had once walked along the corridor with the girl like this, but now the scene before him was even more silent and empty.

After classes were suspended, the classrooms were empty. Only the girl and his footsteps echoed in the corridor. The rolling dark clouds in the sky foreshadowed the coming storm, and the windowpanes began to tremble slightly.

The sound of the wooden door sliding on its tracks led the two into the archives. It was Jun Matsueda who closed the door, just as he remembered.

However, Tomatsu Yuka did not sit down in her usual spot opposite him, but stood in front of the boy, her sickly face appearing unusually calm.

"Were you thinking about Yamami-senpai on the way here?"