Am I being simulated by their love affair.

Chapter 349 Popsicle Memories and Empty Room
After the school bus drove away, Jun Matsue, who was standing at the entrance of the orphanage, turned around and noticed the girl in the black dress standing upstairs.

He wasn't scared at all—after all, he had experienced girls knocking on his door on rainy nights before, and as long as Mochizuki Haruka didn't suddenly jump down from upstairs, it wasn't a big deal.

The two stared at each other, seemingly sulking about something. A minute later, Jun Matsueda waved, and just as the girl thought he was going to come in, the boy turned and left through the door.

"This guy!" Mochizuki Haruka hurriedly went downstairs, but by the time she reached the door, the boy had already disappeared.

Half an hour later, Jun Matsue returned to the orphanage, but the girl was no longer there. He walked around the common area inside and finally found Haruka Mochizuki lying on her bed in his room.

"Who let you in?" He closed the door to the room, turned on the electric fan standing on the floor, and the whooshing sound of the airflow swirled in the room, blowing the girl's long hair.

"Aya-chan let me in." The girl lying on the bed changed her position and sat against the headboard. She had taken off her sandals, and her bare little feet swung back and forth towards Matsueda Jun.

Mochizuki Haruka looked away from her phone and secretly glanced at the boy in front of her. Matsueda Jun sat at the wooden table and didn't look at her bare feet much.

The girl pursed her lips in displeasure. "Where did you go just now?"

"I went to buy some snacks and brought this for you." Jun Matsue pulled out a brown bag from behind his back, with condensed water droplets sliding off its surface.

"This is the popsicle that I used to love eating in the summer. I guess you've never tried it, so I bought it for you to try."

The slight resentment that Mochizuki Haruka felt towards the boy for leaving without saying goodbye vanished instantly. She stretched out her right hand and presented it to Matsueda Jun, saying, "Give it to me."

"Hold on."

The boy tore open the bag labeled "papico," inside were two popsicles shaped like soda bottles. He cut them in half and handed one to the girl.

Mochizuki Haruka looked at the popsicle wrapped in plastic in her hand. "How do you eat this?"

Jun Matsue laughed, "It's something you suck on; you just need to pull off the tab."

The girl tied her index finger to the ring at the top of the "soda bottle" and easily pulled open the neck. She leaned closer to observe the brown shaved ice inside the plastic shell that was gradually melting, then looked up at Matsueda Jun, who was already sucking on it, and took a couple of sips like a boy.

The chocolate coffee had a very rich flavor and melted in my mouth with a cool, refreshing taste. "It tastes pretty good."

"I want to eat too!" The girl's phone, which was on her lap, suddenly made a sound. Jun Matsueda, who was sitting on a chair next to her, blinked.

Are you on the phone?

"Hmm." Mochizuki Haruka, with a popsicle in her mouth just like him, picked up her phone and faced Matsueda Jun—her aunt, dressed in a suit, was waving at her on the screen.

The environment on the screen resembled an office, with a modern decor and clean lines. The woman got up from her seat, and Jun Matsuoka watched as the scene on his phone changed from a desk to a sofa, coffee table, and floor-to-ceiling windows.

"Matsue-kun, it's been a long time." Mochizuki Kaori sat on the sofa, her tone less friendly than usual when she was working.

"My aunt said she wanted to see your room, so she asked me to turn on the video," Mochizuki Haruka explained, and the serious aura that the woman in the suit had projected immediately disappeared.

"I asked you to check if there's anything strange hiding in Songzhi's room~" Aunt stretched and picked up the coffee from the coffee table.

"Nothing was found, which is disappointing!"

"I'm so sorry my room is so boring." Jun Matsueda leaned back in his chair and looked around his room.

"There are no erotic comics under the bed, no posters on the wall, and you can't find any toys. Songzhi is having a hard time." The woman's words carried the unique loving emotion of an elder.

"I didn't find it too hard." Jun Matsue stared blankly at the rapidly spinning blades of the electric fan.

He had done this countless times in this unremarkable room, sometimes on nights filled with the chirping of insects, and occasionally on empty days, just to dispel those fragments of time in his orderly life.

"I've bought posters and toys before, but I mostly gave them to younger children."

"Matsueda is a very good older brother," Mochizuki Haruka said softly, her eyes gentle, filled with pity and affection. She quickly snapped out of her reverie, looked at her aunt's mischievous smile on the phone, stuck out her tongue, and ended the video call.

"Xiaoyao actually thinks I'm in the way?" The woman on the sofa shook her head helplessly, picked up her coffee, and sat back down at her desk.

In Jun Matsue's room, the girl on the bed changed her position. She crossed her legs and patted the empty space next to her.

"Songzhi, come sit here. I want to hear about your past."

“The past.” The boy sat down, lying across the bed with his feet dangling to the ground. His view included the aged ceiling and the golden sky above the window.

"What happened when I was still in the orphanage?"

Mochizuki Haruka nodded, followed his posture and lay down. The two of them, each with a popsicle in their mouth, gazed at the sky outside the window.

"Let me think about it," Jun Matsue said vaguely.

“Take this popsicle for example.” He flicked the plastic bottle. “In the past, I would never eat snacks like this that I bought myself in front of others.”

"You have to hide in your room or find a secluded corner to enjoy it secretly."

"Why?" The girl watched as a kite slowly floated into the sky, wondering who had flown it.

The boy turned his head and rolled his eyes at her, "Because those ignorant kids will ask you for it."

"Brother Chun, Brother Chun, I want to try some too." He spoke in a child's tone, and Wang Yueyao's laughter drifted away like a cloud with the kite outside the window.

"Those more sensible children won't say that; they'll just look at you with pitiful eyes, and even the most delicious food will become hard to swallow."

"This Papico popsicle used to cost around 100 yen, which was cheap, but we usually shared it between two people. Today it's gone up to 120 yen."

The rest of the afternoon was spent chatting aimlessly. When the sky turned golden and then tinged with the fiery red of the sunset, Jun Matsue led the girl to dinner.

After dinner, Mochizuki Haruka still wouldn't let him go, dragging the boy back to his room to continue listening to someone's childhood memoirs.

Matsueda Jun has an excellent memory. When talking about something, he can remember all the details and even recount the feelings he had at the time, giving Mochizuki Haruka the illusion of watching time pass by in front of her.

“The number of rooms in the orphanage is limited. When I was a child, I had to share a room with three or four other people and sleep on the floor. I was only able to have my own independent room when I got older.”

“So don’t feel that this room is empty.” Jun Matsue sat on the floor, the room darkened only by moonlight. “Having it is something that makes me very satisfied.”

"Alright." He clapped his hands and opened the door to the room. "That's all for today's story. Miss Mochizuki should go to sleep now."

The sound of two people's footsteps echoed in the corridor. The children who had finished washing up passed by them and ran away. Mochizuki Haruka turned her head, and the boy's shrunken figure gradually overlapped with the young Matsueda Jun in her mind.

“This is it.” Jun Matsue pushed open the door. “The bed is definitely not as big as yours, but the blankets were just aired out today, so it should be comfortable to sleep on.”

The girl entered the room, and the boy turned on the light for her. "The bathroom is at the end of the corridor. Aya-chan should have prepared your toiletries. If you need anything, you can ask me or her."

"Goodnight?" Jun Matsue walked out of the room and was about to close the door when Haruka Mochizuki grabbed his hand.

The girl's skin was slightly cool, and her gentle gaze reminded him of the beautiful moonlight outside the window.

"Songzhi, I will always stay by your side."

"Next time you eat popsicles, don't forget to share one with me."

　Happy New Year, everyone! The next chapter will be after 9 PM.
　　
　
(End of this chapter)