Am I being simulated by their love affair.

Chapter 236 One week ends, another begins

Even though Yosuke Kuraki is a glamorous idol in a nine-story record store, he still has to wash the dishes left over from lunch when he gets back to his apartment.

"By the way, what are the projected sales figures for your debut album? The company should have calculated them, right?"

Jun Matsueda was cleaning the cat hair off the sofa. He twisted the golden fur in his hand into a small ball and looked up at the girl in the kitchen.

"The sales department said they expect sales of 30,000 to 40,000 copies." Yosei Kurusu didn't turn around; her apron-clad back view exuded a softer, more domestic charm.

"It doesn't seem like that much."

Jun Matsueda tossed the pom-pom in his hand and sprayed some air freshener in the living room. It smelled like lemon, so it seemed he had bought it from Yosuke Kishi.

Is the faint lemon scent on her from fabric freshener or perfume?
Or was it from drinking lemon soda?

"That's already a lot! In the last Oricon chart, the 50th-ranked album only sold 33,000 copies in six months!"

In that case, if we can sell 30,000 to 40,000 within a year, it seems like we can easily get into the top 100 on the Oricon charts. The fluffy ball was tossed up and down in front of Jun Matsueda.

"However, my agent and I think that selling ten or twenty thousand copies would be a victory." Yosuke Kurusu took off his apron and walked out of the kitchen.

“My original positioning was not to focus on physical albums, but now I’m doing quite well on streaming.”

The girl walked past Jun Matsueda, waved, and snatched his pom-pom. "The pre-released single has already made it onto the weekly singles chart."

"Wow, amazing~" Jun Matsue watched her walk into the bedroom and then take out a pom-pom from behind the sofa cushion.

"Luckily, I hid an even bigger one."

After he finished cleaning up the cat hair in every nook and cranny, his phone, which was on the coffee table, rang.

A message arrived from a cat-themed profile picture: Mochizuki Haruka, dressed in a simple white dress, stood on the deck of a ship. The sea breeze billowed her skirt, outlining the contours of her body. The girl's curves were shrouded in a misty haze, and sunlight seeped through the sea fog, evenly bathing her in a hue that simultaneously revealed both purity and desire.

Jun Matsueda replied with a question mark, "You left Tokyo again?"

“I still have some pictures saved.” Mochizuki Haruka replied quickly. “Since they’re already saved, I might as well send them to you.”

Jun Matsue shook his head and put his phone in his pocket. It seemed that Mochizuki was in a good mood, perhaps because there was good news from the hospital.

To celebrate Yosei Kurusu's album release, Jun Matsueda cooked several dishes for dinner: shredded pork with garlic sauce, pumpkin with salted egg yolk, and lettuce with garlic sauce.

The TV was showing a rebroadcast of "The Birth of an Idol," specifically the episode featuring Yosuke Kurusu, which she had specifically requested to watch.

The girl ate while watching herself on the screen, her expression one of utter satisfaction. "Matsugi, you must have been Chinese in your past life!"

Jun Matsue stopped picking up food with his chopsticks, looked up at Yosei Kurusu, and confirmed that she was just joking.

"If we can't make it in Tokyo in the future, let's open a Chinese restaurant together! Matsue will be the chef, and I'll be the waitress and the receptionist~" The girl picked up a piece of pumpkin with salted egg yolk and put it in her mouth, then happily kicked him with her leg.

“You can’t open a Chinese restaurant just by knowing how to cook a few dishes.” Jun Matsueda swallowed the lettuce in his mouth. “And why can’t I make it in Tokyo? I’m going to become the king of part-time jobs.”

"Being a high-earning idol must be too tiring," the girl said, taking a sip of barley tea. "How about when I reach the pinnacle of idol status and start my own company, I'll bring you over as my assistant. All you have to do is cook for me every day, and then I'll even ship over some dairy cows from Hokkaido—I want everything that Mochizuki has too!"

Saturday night marks the end of Yosuke Ichi's fantasy time.

The next morning, when Jun Matsueda stepped out of his bedroom, the door to the next room was already open; the girl had gotten up even earlier than him. A note from Yosuke Kurusu was left on the refrigerator: "I went to the company to see my manager, I won't be back for lunch~"

It seems the girl's excitement hasn't faded yet. Matsueda Jun ate the toast she left in the pot, ate the milk he hadn't finished drinking, and went out. Today was his day to work.

He arrived at the Setagaya Literature Museum by bicycle and saw Tomatsu Tomoka's white car in the bike shed. When he entered the library, the girl was already wearing an apron and sitting behind the counter.

Good morning, Songzhi.

"morning."

The two didn't exchange many pleasantries, but focused on their work. They were the same type of people in this respect—finishing their work first, and then enjoying the rest of their leisure time.

After lunch, the books piled up on the counter were finally sorted out, and Tomatsu Yuka put the last book in her hand into its corresponding position on the bookshelf.

The girl turned and walked toward the counter. Jun Matsueda was sipping hot tea. Outside the library’s large floor-to-ceiling windows, cherry blossoms were fluttering down. When a gust of wind blew, the petals fell like rain, casting dappled shadows on the boy behind the counter.

Tomatsu Yuka stood by the bookshelf for more than ten seconds before returning to her seat. She turned to the side, propped her head up with one hand, and changed her angle to appreciate Matsueda Jun's profile.

"Are you just going to watch me spend the afternoon like this?" Jun Matsue put down his teacup.

"There's no way around it, you can never get tired of your first love," the girl said with a smile.

Jun Matsueda turned his gaze to the biology exam questions in front of him, using the classification of hormones to deflect the blunt questions from the girl next to him.

Tomatsu Yuka turned around and looked at the densely packed bookshelves in the hall in front of her, which was the maze she and Matsueda Jun had built together.

"Next week is the time for club recruitment, and I have some feelings about it."

"What are you feeling sentimental about?" This was a topic he could still discuss with the girl.

"It's amazing how we've become seniors now." Tomatsu Yuka held her pen and doodled on her notebook. "These past few days, I've run into Aya-chan on the stairs, and she calls me 'senpai' in such a sweet and obedient way."

"Isn't it nice to become a senior and be relied upon?" Jun Matsueda asked the girl.

"It's not that it's bad, it's just that I'm still not used to these changes."

Tomatsu Yuka forced a smile; perhaps subconsciously she disliked change, just as she disliked waiting.

Class division, subject division, changing classrooms, the departure of senior students—these are all things she hates. She hates the feeling of her accustomed life becoming fragmented.

"Then you'd better hurry up and get used to it. Starting next week, you'll have more and more contact with the new students."

"I will try my best~" The girl clenched her fist and waved it in mid-air.

Perhaps change isn't such a bad thing, Tomatsu Yuka told herself, otherwise how would she have had the opportunity to gradually get closer to Matsueda-kun?
On Monday morning, Tomatsu Yuka walked into the classroom and saw a girl sitting upright in her seat, to the left of Matsueda Jun's seat.

"Good morning," Mochizuki Haruka greeted her calmly. "My seat should be here, right?"

"Yes." Tomatsu Yuka smiled, sat down in her seat, and calmly took out her book.

That's why she hates change.

　To reiterate, the bonus chapters for November are temporarily suspended. They will resume once all outstanding bonus chapters have been paid off.
　　
　
(End of this chapter)