Am I being simulated by their love affair.

Chapter 410 Change and Moments

"what?"

"Is the orphanage where Songzhi grew up run by your family?"

Yosei Kurusu sat in the cafeteria, looking surprised.

"Otherwise, why do you think I'm here?" Mochizuki Haruka glanced at the girl, picked up a piece of okra tempura, and put it in her mouth.

I thought you were here.

Yosei Kurusu looked at the boy sitting opposite the two of them eating. Junsei Matsueda was eating while dealing with the chattering questions from the children around him, like a mother hen surrounded by her chicks.

Mochizuki Haruka snorted inwardly. Of course, she was after Matsueda Jun—she couldn't let go of any opportunity to seize a chance; this was the girl's latest strategy for winning someone's heart.

"What's with that expression?" Kurusu Yosei was a little annoyed. It had been a long time since they'd seen each other, and this guy was acting more and more strangely.

"It's nothing." The girl who had been trained like a house cat smiled. "I saw your ad. You seem to be very busy lately. What brings you here?"

Miss Idol drank the last sip of vegetable soup. There were no seasonings in the soup, only the pure sweetness of the vegetables. She licked her lips with lingering satisfaction.

"No matter how busy you are, you must balance work and rest."

Thank goodness she came, otherwise Matsue would have been tempted by that wicked Mochizuki again.

After lunch, the other band members arrived at the orphanage. Jun Matsueda led the girls into the courtyard, where the autumn lawn no longer reflected the dazzling sunlight, presenting a restrained green.

"It feels so comfortable to lie down on," Natsumi Imokawa, who had been keeping to herself at lunchtime, finally spoke up, squatting down to take a picture.

"There weren't many audience members," Izumi Mizuki said, glancing at the children playing around the stage. "But they were very cute."

"Alright, alright, let's test the equipment first~" Aya Miyamura pulled the looking-around-the-pointing Koyuki onto the stage, "Everyone is really looking forward to our performance."

Xiaoxing watched the boys chasing each other with toys as they ran past her. "The orphanage is much better than I imagined."

"Ah!" She immediately covered her mouth. "Sorry, that's not what I meant."

“It’s alright.” Jun Matsue smiled. “Our facilities are considered quite good among welfare homes nationwide. We have to thank the Mochizuki Group for all of this.”

Standing next to him, Mochizuki Haruka tried hard to suppress the corners of her mouth from turning up, and nodded reservedly, "I'm really looking forward to your new song."

Yosei Kurusu, who had already circled the lawn, returned to them. "So where's Matsugi's drum set? I can't see it."

“It’s still in the room, I’ll go move it now.” Jun Matsue pointed to the building behind him.

"Before the show starts, I'd like to trouble Miss Idol to unleash her charm and help me take care of these little guys."

"Don't worry!" Lai Qi You Shi had already taken off her mask. She patted her chest and walked towards the girls who were looking at her curiously.

As Jun Matsue watched her being surrounded by girls, he stepped back a few paces to better appreciate the view on the lawn.

A wooden stage was set up in the middle of the grass. The girls spontaneously played melodies, attracting lively children who sat and played around in front of the stage. Yosei Kurusu was surrounded by girls of all heights. The idol girl was gesturing wildly, doing something unknown, but the girls were clearly having a great time.

The afternoon sun cast its rays along the edge of the lawn, bringing just the right amount of warmth. Everything in front of Matsueda Jun was enveloped in a dreamlike halo, making him reluctant to take a step.

"It's a beautiful moment, isn't it?" Natsumi Imokawa's voice rang in the boy's ears as the girl pressed the shutter button on his camera.

"Songzhi's expression was just right too."

"Thank you." Jun Matsueda smiled. "We should have taken more photos today."

"I brought three batteries with me!" The girl patted her bag. Just as she was about to say something more, an old man walked up to the two of them.

"It's so lively today," said Hiroya Chiomi, looking at the sunny lawn. "It makes me feel like the wrinkles on my face are slack off."

“Grandma doesn’t have many wrinkles on her face,” Jun Matsue said with a smile, turning to introduce her to the girl.

"This is the director who watched me grow up. You can call her Grandma Director." "Just call me Grandma." The old woman waved her hand. "She's a very cute little girl."

"Thank you, Grandma." Natsumi Imokawa blushed. "Um, I'll go take pictures of the others now."

The girl walked away in the other direction, and the old man watched her fleeing figure with a kind smile.

"Xiao Chun has brought even more girls again." She looked at the boy next to her.

Jun Matsue patted her on the shoulder. "Isn't it normal to make more friends the longer you're away from the orphanage?"

"Then why are all the friends you bring back girls?" Grandma laughed like a witch.

"Then I'll bring a few familiar senior students back to visit later." The boy obediently nodded.

The old woman laughed even harder, her shoulders trembling. After a long while, she said, "Xiao Chun has changed a lot."

Like a flash of lightning in a hallucination, Jun Matsue recalled the girl's sobs in the rain.

"But before my eternal end, it was you who changed first."

The hyperthymesia patient, who had become docile by the end of childhood, has recently become restless again for some reason. The old man's words pulled him back to reality.

“I’m not saying you’ve become glib.” She patted her back, which was bent over with laughter. “I remember back in junior high, you were very reluctant to talk to others about the orphanage.”

"But now you can easily tell me that you'll bring other people to see it in the future."

"Brother Chun, why haven't you gone to get the drum set yet?" The girl's voice came from afar on the other side of the stage.

"That's good, that's good." The old man patted him on the shoulder. "Go on, everyone's waiting for you."

Jun Matsue nodded, walked into the building, and pushed open the door to the most secluded room on the first floor, where the drum set was located.

Although it hadn't been used for almost a year, every part of it was spotless and shiny; I wonder who was maintaining it.

The drum kit was disassembled, loaded onto the trolley one by one, the door was closed, and the sound of pulleys echoed in the corridor.

He had indeed changed, Jun Matsue thought, gazing at the gleaming doorway at the end of the corridor.

He didn't want to talk to others about the orphanage back then, not because he was ashamed or vain, but simply because he found it troublesome—he had to explain this and that.

Moreover, at that time, he always harbored a sense of wariness towards everyone he encountered. He needed acting skills and a perfect image to ensure that he could control everything in his life. The orphanage was his Achilles' heel and weakness, which he naturally had to keep hidden deep in his heart.

But it is different now.

As Jun Matsuoka walked out of the corridor, the lively lawn came into view once again.

Acting skills and image are superfluous cloaks for pure human relationships. He has already been able to discard these and introduce the orphanage, the softest part of his heart, to the young girls.

"Pine branches, hurry up—"

Yosuke Kurusu jumped onto the stage and shouted at him, while Haruka Mochizuki walked towards him through the crowd.

"There's nothing we can do; heroes always make their appearance last," he said loudly with a laugh.

Laughter, shouts, and music on the lawn grew louder. Jun Matsue quickened his pace, pushing his cart from the hard, cold cement ground into the soft grass, which smelled of grass, soil, and sunshine, and was captured in the girl's camera shutter.

He will remember this moment forever.

　The details of Pine Branch Hyperthymesia were foreshadowed very early on.

　　The flashbacks in this chapter include memories that were previously criticized by everyone for "kissing this person while thinking about that person," as well as many of his own words.

　　All this buildup is to highlight one thing: all the memorable moments in Songzhi's life will never fade, so both love and guilt will become incredibly long-lasting, which is a necessary element for the future development of the harem.

　　The frustrating thing is that my memory isn't that good, so I often have to spend ages flipping through the text to find a single detail.
　　
　
(End of this chapter)