Am I being simulated by their love affair.

Chapter 364: The meticulously planned ending wasn't just the conclusion, but also the farewell.

"cut!"

Sitting in front of the monitor, Akira Imokawa shouted, and the venue immediately fell silent. People did not relax, but instead looked at the director, who was wearing a hat and had a serious expression, with even greater tension.

Finally, Akira Imokawa smiled and nodded.

"This one is acceptable, approved."

The crowd relaxed, and cheers and cicada chirps mingled together, drifting and swaying to the ears of the boys and girls under the shade of the trees.

Natsumi Imokawa looked at the boy beside her, who was lost in thought. The trembling tree canopy cast a floating, light shadow on his face.

Pine Branch, are you talking about yourself?
The girl had intended to ask that question, but after thinking about it, she decided not to speak.

Matsue always tells herself what she wants to say, Natsumi Imokawa thought, and cautiously asked, "Matsue, are you in a bad mood?"

Matsueda Jun snapped out of his daze and looked at her. "No, why do you ask that?"

"That's good." the girl said softly.

"I didn't hear your question carefully. Could you repeat it, Pine Branch?"

The boy repeated, "If Imokawa were the director, how would the story unfold?"

Natsumi Imokawa frowned slightly and looked at the ants on the ground, thinking for a while.

"It depends on the type."

"Tell me more," Jun Matsue said, his interest piqued.

"In Korean tragic love stories, the female lead should encounter an accident in another city—such as a car accident, an earthquake, or a fire—and then either lose her memory or become disabled. After that, the two of them will embark on an epic and heart-wrenching love story filled with life and death."

"This is too melodramatic, let's change it."

"If it were a domestic film from the last few years, it might be that the female lead accidentally travels through time at a shrine in another city and decides to make up for the male lead's childhood regrets. After experiencing a series of events that are both funny and touching, she realizes that she cannot perfectly make up for the boy's regrets. The girl's views on love mature, and finally she returns to the present time and reunites with the male lead."

"This feels pretty good, doesn't it?" Jun Matsue looked at the girl sitting on the curb, hugging her legs.

"Really?" Natsumi Imokawa chuckled twice. "I watch more domestic movies."

"But this has surreal elements," the boy said, still not entirely satisfied. "I want a story that's told from the male protagonist's perspective and is more realistic."

The girl also began to think about it with great interest, having forgotten to worry about whether what Matsueda Jun was talking about was actually his own business.

"So, do you want a happy ending or a bad ending?"

"Of course it's a happy ending."

Why did the female lead go to another city?

"Let me think," Jun Matsuoka said, not forgetting his acting skills. "It must be because a relative back home is sick, or the ancestral home caught fire, right?"

“Then let’s just go find her,” Natsumi Imokawa said without hesitation. “Ask her friends for her address, and then take a plane or high-speed train to find her.”

"Don't tell her, give her a surprise. If there's no summer festival in the area, go buy the fireworks yourself."

"Then we waited until it got dark and knocked on her door."

The girl made a knocking motion, making a cute "knock knock knock" sound.

"Then the girl will be surprised to find that the boy she likes is standing in front of her. The male protagonist then takes her out, finds an open space, and lights the fireworks he prepared in advance."

"Ta-da! A summer festival just for the two of us!" The girl stretched her hands into the air, as if she could really see the fireworks rising into the sky.

"Then it's a happy ending, right?" Natsumi Imokawa snapped out of her own reverie about the story she'd created. "But with it going like this, the rest feels so boring."

“I think it’s great.” Jun Matsue nodded. “Imagawa is quite capable.” “Really?” Natsumi Imagawa glanced at him furtively. “If Jun Matsue likes it, then so be it.”

Compared to sweet storylines that are predictable from the start, young women prefer dramatic stories like "Now That Things Have Gone".

The crew began filming the next scene. The man sitting in front of the monitor turned around and waved to his daughter.

"Didn't Natsumi want to see how to direct long takes of movement? Come and take a look!"

The girl subconsciously stood up, then looked at the boy next to her, and Jun Matsueda waved his hand.

"You go ahead, I'll stay here."

Only then did Natsumi Imokawa walk towards the director's group with peace of mind. Jun Matsueda watched the girl leave the shade of the tree, her back bathed in the bright sunlight.

He stood up and strolled along the interlaced shadows of the roadside trees. From the other side of the barbed wire fence came shouts; it was the members of the sports department sweating profusely on the playground.

Five minutes later, he heard the melodious sound of wind instruments coming from the club building.

Wasn't the brass band not at school today? He looked towards the building, but there was no one in the hallway.

As he stepped into the third-floor corridor, the melodious wind instruments became clearer. Although the melody was somewhat unfamiliar, he was very familiar with the timbre.

This is the sound of a soprano saxophone.

He stood in front of the window of the brass band room. Inside, there was no group of girls with fancy instruments, but only Tomatsu Tomohana.

The girl was playing a variation of "Dance of the Flowers," the tone mellow and understated. The lyrical melody reminded him of not long ago when he sat under the shade of a green tree and looked up at the azure sky dotted with a sea of ​​clouds.

Jun Matsue hadn't heard Tomatsu Yuka's saxophone for quite some time. The intense, emotional playing that had captivated him at the national tournament had somehow become more restrained and subtle.

It's as if the desperate shouts in the rain have transformed into a leisurely sigh in the face of the grasslands and fields.

But that captivating magic didn't disappear; instead, it became even more powerful.

Tomatsu Yuka was facing him sideways, the sunlight painting the contours of her face. The young woman's figure left a silhouette against the oil painting-like scenery outside the window, a beauty that was breathtaking.

Jun Matsue listened quietly for a while until the girl put down her golden instrument, turned to him, and gave him a sweet yet melancholy smile.

He pushed open the door and went inside. "Why is Tomatsu here all alone?"

"I forgot a flute head that I don't use often in the department office." She picked up the silver flute head and waved it. "I'm going to Qingmei tomorrow, so I have to come and get it today."

"I see. So we're going to the training camp tomorrow?"

Tomatsu Tomohana nodded, and then fell silent for a moment, which was unusual for her.

"Actually, I was just lying to Matsueda-kun."

“My friend in the track and field club saw that Songzhi seemed to be at school, so he sent me a message, and I rushed over on the train.”

She took out a tissue and wiped the fine sweat from her neck. "It took a lot of effort, but luckily it didn't affect my breathing while playing."

Jun Matsue blinked. "So why did you rush over here?"

"So I can say goodbye to Matsueda-san properly before I leave." She held up her saxophone.

"Led by the saxophone, we climbed up the steps and came to an empty corridor, where we finally found the beautiful girl playing a solo. In our own world, we listened to a melodious and graceful tune."

The girl's smile carried an obvious hint of cunning.

"Will this way of saying goodbye make Matsueda remember me even when she's facing a sky full of blooming fireworks?"

(End of this chapter)