Am I being simulated by their love affair?

Page 139

"Didn't you eat your airplane meal?" Jun Matsue was stroking the suitcase on his lap. Its smooth surface had a slightly frosted texture, which he found incredibly handsome.

"It doesn't taste good."

Of course, even if it tasted good, the girl wouldn't eat it, because she was going back to Tokyo today and would be able to eat something made by Jun Matsueda himself.

"I want to eat the late-night snack you made."

The car made a sharp turn at the Nishi-Shinjuku interchange, heading towards Mitaka. Due to inertia, the two men moved closer together, gazing out the window at the winding, crisscrossing roads—a labyrinth unique to Tokyo.

“But we’re out of vegetables.” Jun Matsue had a headache. He certainly wouldn’t mind making something for Haruka Mochizuki, but he had already cooked the last bit of leftover rice and cabbage in the refrigerator that night.

"...Didn't you come to Kiyoyo to buy ingredients?" Mochizuki Haruka said with a resentful expression.

It was a bit warm inside the car, so she took off her wool jacket, revealing a gray turtleneck underneath. The fitted turtleneck made her face look small and delicate, and her body curves like a gentle stream, showing that she wasn't truly flat-chested.

"She's been quite busy lately, promoting her new album. She's been leaving early and returning late these past few days."

Jun Matsue felt that what he said was strange, like a stay-at-home wife complaining about her busy husband. Generally speaking, this is a prelude to something that everyone would like to see unfold.

"Is that so..." Mochizuki Haruka's eyes flickered. It seemed that during the time she was away, her most dangerous roommate hadn't made any progress with him.

"Then I still want to have a late-night snack, the one you bought for me."

Jun Matsue tapped the surface of the metal briefcase lightly with his right index finger, making a crisp sound. The cat sitting in the front row was attracted by the sound and turned its head to stare at his finger.

Wang Yueyao grabbed Jinzhi by the neck and hugged her to her chest. The two of them watched the boy as he pondered. The streetlights flashed past the car window, casting shadows that were sometimes deep and sometimes shallow on his profile.

"Want some oden?" Jun Matsueda looked up and said, "I used to buy oden from the street corner when I came home from my part-time job at night."

"On a slightly chilly night, eating a hot bowl of oden was a great happiness for me back then."

"Okay." The girl nodded in satisfaction, resting her chin on the cat's head. "This is my first time eating oden from outside."

The black sedan exited the highway at the Takaido toll station. The fleeting light and shadow outside the car window seemed to slow down, like flowing water, floating on the faces of the young boy and girl.

Soon they arrived at the intersection in front of the apartment, and Mochizuki Haruka had already spotted the oden cart by the roadside.

"Stop here," the girl said to the driver. The man in the suit nodded. He didn't say a word on the way, trying his best to minimize his presence, even suppressing a sneeze because his nose was itchy from cat hair.

After all, his young lady was pursuing a boy, and he absolutely wouldn't allow himself to disturb the two of them.

By 10:30, there were hardly any cars left at the intersection. Mitaka is, after all, just Mitaka, not the real Tokyo.

In a more remote small town, after dark, you might not see a single person for miles around. That's where so many ghost stories and horror movies in Japan come from.

"Let's go."

As the green light turned on, Jun Matsue walked towards the stall across the street, with the girl following behind him and the cat following behind her. The clatter of the little leather shoes echoed in the quiet night.

A light brown cloth hung on the cart, with the words "Nigu" written on it, which was the name of the shop.

"Hey bro, it's been so long!" the 52-year-old stall owner greeted Jun Matsuoka.

"Hello, boss." Jun Matsue stepped into the warm light. "I haven't been out at night much lately."

"That's great!" the stall owner said without hesitation. "It means life is getting better!"

Matsueda Jun paused for a moment, then smiled. "Perhaps you are right."

Mochizuki Haruka walked to the boy's side and curiously examined the car.

"Is there anything you'd like to eat?" Jun Matsue asked her, looking down at her, their shoulders lightly touching.

"What have you eaten before?" The girl asked, looking at the crowded ingredients floating in the deep red broth.

"Hmm..." he recalled, "Konjac, eggs, lucky bags, seaweed and radishes, and things like that."

"One of each, please," Mochizuki Haruka said to the shop owner.

"Eat here or take away?"

"Take it to go."

The vendor picked up the ingredients soaked in broth and put them into a plastic bag, then poured a few spoonfuls of broth into the bag.

"No bowl?" the girl asked, somewhat surprised. The man laughed heartily twice.

"Excuse me, young lady, to save money, this uncle doesn't use bowls."

"I'll take it." Jun Matsue took the full bag. "Boss, could you please pack another one just like this?"

"okay."

"Do you want some too?" Mochizuki Haruka turned to look at the boy, who shook his head and held up his phone. "This is for Kurusu."

The girl was holding a cat. She didn't say anything, but just squinted her eyes in dissatisfaction, much like the cat in her arms.

The two people and the cat walked up the stairs of the apartment building. Jun Matsueda entered the fifth-floor corridor with two bags full of oden in his hands.

He watched as the girl took out her key, opened the door, and turned to look at him from the entryway.

"Aren't you coming in?" Mochizuki asked, bending down and gently stepping on the cat's tail at her feet.

Jun Matsue walked into the living room, went to the kitchen to get an empty bowl, put a bag of oden in it, opened the bag, and the overflowing broth was steaming hot.

"Go to bed early after you finish eating. It's getting late. I'm going back to my room next door now."

"I understand." The girl sat down at the table, watching his back.

"So are you coming to school tomorrow?" Jun Matsue asked, turning around.

"We'll go to the hospital tomorrow, and we'll go back to school next week."

"See you tomorrow?" He opened the apartment door.

"See you tomorrow." The girl sitting in the chair waved to him obediently.

The door closed, leaving only one person and one cat in the living room. Mochizuki Haruka stared blankly at the oden in front of her for a while before reaching out her chopsticks to pick up a radish.

Take a small bite.

"It's so hot!"

The oden she ate at home never burned her.

The girl blew air into the radish, looking at the new, cute tooth mark on it, and thinking about the boy who had walked into the next room.

This is the life he once lived...

Chapter 231 The spring breeze blows down petals, not in accordance with the girl's expectations.

After leaving 506, Jun Matsue stood in the corridor for two seconds, feeling the heat of the oden transfer from the plastic bag to his fingertips.

He took out his key, pushed open the security door, and was greeted by a motionless girl in her pajamas.

"What are you doing standing in the entryway?" Jun Matsueda's shock level rose a little.

"Let's see if you go into the next room and never come out again." Yosuke Kurusu looked like a police officer who had discovered a criminal.

"Do you think that's possible?" Jun Matsue replied irritably, holding up the oden in his hand before changing his shoes.

"Here's your midnight snack."

"Thank goodness I didn't spend the night out..." Yosei Kurusu grumbled as she took the bag the boy handed her. "You didn't forget to add chili to the pine branches, did you?"

"It's been added."

The girl let him go for the time being and ran into the kitchen to find a bowl for oden. Jun Matsue changed his shoes, quickly went into the bedroom, and took out a change of clothes.

When Qi Yangshi came out of the kitchen, the sound of water could already be heard in the bathroom. The girl carried the bowl to the semi-transparent glass, picked up a piece of konjac and put it in her mouth.

"Mmm...delicious~" The konjac, cooked until soft and bouncy, overflowed with rich broth from the deep cuts. The girl chewed while talking to Jun Matsue, who was taking a bath.

"Pine branch——"

The shower water stopped. "What's wrong?" Jun Matsue asked with his eyes closed as he washed his hair.

“Girls have so many ways to pursue their crushes these days.” Kurusu Yosei swallowed the konjac, then picked up a lucky bag containing beef sukiyaki.

"Especially be careful of those who like to play hard to get!"

"...Okay." He turned on the tap and continued showering. Amid the sound of running water, the girl was still chattering outside the door.

"You also have to watch out for money... Hmm... This cartilage skewer is so delicious, I'll save one for you!" As Yosei Kurusu spoke, he gradually veered off-topic.

After taking a shower and eating the oden the girl had left for him, Jun Matsueda was about to enter the bedroom when the girl called him back.

"Songzhi, you haven't forgotten what we're doing on Saturday, have you?"

“I remember going to the album launch with you.” He closed the wooden door to the bedroom.

He drew the curtains, got into bed, pulled the covers over himself, and stared at the ceiling in the darkness.

It seemed that every now and then, he would stare at the ceiling and think, like saving a game.

If life is really a game, what does that phone call and Mochizuki Haruka's return mean to me?

After staring at the ceiling for a long time, Jun Matsue still couldn't find an answer.

"Forget it, don't think about things you can't figure out," he sighed and closed his eyes.

On the second day, at lunchtime, Jun Matsueda was eating tempura rice in the cafeteria when Maki Yamami and Tomoka Tomatsu stood in front of him.

"Matsueda-kun, may I sit here?"

He nodded while he was still eating, and the girls sat down with their plates.

"The cafeteria is selling spring-limited tempura today. Is this the one Matsueda ate?" Tomatsu asked curiously.

Jun Matsue nodded again, swallowed the food in his mouth, and drank a mouthful of miso soup.

"Sakura shrimp tempura and mountain vegetable tempura".

Sakura shrimp is a type of shrimp; it's not about frying sakura blossoms and shrimp together. The taste of wild vegetables is somewhat similar to toon leaves, but there are too many kinds of wild vegetables for Matsueda Jun to be sure.

"Watching Matsueda eat makes me really hungry," Yami Maki said with a smile. On their plates was a plate of fried dumplings and a small bowl of rice.

"So, what did you and Tomatsu want to talk to me about?"

If it weren't for something important, Yamami-senpai would never have brought Tomatsu Yuka along to appear in front of him.

"The brass band would like to ask if there are any extra spaces in the school newspaper," Tomatsu Yuka said first.

It seems to be something serious. Matsueda Jun put down his chopsticks. "Are you planning to do some club recruitment?"

The school newspaper is an outdated thing, but because Haneoka High School has a news club, it is still being produced. Matsueda Jun was able to get into the news club by writing articles for the school newspaper.

“Yes!” Yami Maki nodded. “Nowadays, when people mention the brass band, they probably think of it as a troublesome club with long practice times.”

"We hope to get more freshmen interested in wind instruments, and it would be even better if they could join the club."

“I’ll have to ask Tsushima-senpai about that. Although he’s no longer the head of the club, he’s still in charge of the school newspaper.” Matsueda Jun picked up his chopsticks again. “But we already had plans to do a recruitment campaign for the club, so we’ll contact you then.”

"Ah, no need to contact me." Yami Maki shook her head frantically, grabbing the arm of the girl beside her. "Just contact Tomoka!"

"So, you've already left the brass band club, huh..." Jun Matsue suddenly remembered.

"That's right, the era of Yuuka is about to begin~"

Tomatsu Yuka wiped her mouth with a tissue. "If I can live up to everyone's expectations, then I've won."

After finishing his tempura rice bowl, Jun Matsueda drank his soup while watching the two girls in front of him who were still eating.

"Sometimes I really wonder, don't you get hungry eating so little for lunch?"

He looked at the two small bowls of rice and a plate of fried dumplings across from him. The dumplings were small, eight in total, and the two of them were sharing them.

"This much meat and rice is enough for lunch." Tomatsu Yuka put the last bite of rice into her mouth and chewed it carefully.

"Ah, I understand, I understand." Jun Matsue nodded, recalling the scene of the group eating together during the first shrine visit.

"Although I can only eat two skewers of yakitori, I can eat shaved ice that's bigger than my head. That's the amazing thing about a girl's stomach."

The girls who were still eating covered their mouths, struggling to suppress their laughter; even Yamami Maki's shoulders started to tremble.

After finishing their meal, the three walked back to the classroom together, with Tomatsu Yuka walking between the two, watching the cherry blossoms falling along the way.

"It's cherry blossom season again."

The girl was in a good mood. Her best friend and her sweetheart were both by her side. The three of them walked together in the warm spring sunshine, feeling the warm breeze blowing the petals. What could be more pleasant than this?

If only the second-year students could continue to live such a smooth and wonderful life, Tomatsu Yuka thought, turning her head to look at the profile of the boy next to her.

"Does Tomatsu-san remember where you put your extra textbooks?" Matsueda Jun's voice sounded like sunshine to the girl, warming her heart.

"Hmm... I think you took it back to the office for Ms. Kominato. Is there anything you need, Matsu-san?" Tomatsu asked with a smile.