Am I being simulated by their love affair.

Chapter 456 Yamami Maki's After School
The ethereal and soothing sound of the Westminster Abbey bells rang out. Yamami Maki looked out the window; it was probably time for Haneoka Takashi to leave school.

The first-year students, whose classrooms were downstairs, had already run onto the school's main road. Several boys, carrying soccer balls, sprinted towards the playground. Although the distance was a bit far, the girl could imagine the sound of fallen leaves crunching under their feet as they crossed the lawn.

The girls were much slower; the boys had already crossed half the lawn before they came into view of Yamami Maki. Most of them were wearing coats, but the girls stood out by wearing thin shirts with shortened skirts, showing off their beautiful figures.

The crowd outside the teaching building quickly grew denser. It was a busy week. In addition to the various club competitions in the fall, each class was preparing for the cultural festival. The third-year students even temporarily canceled the two self-study periods after school in order to welcome this last campus event.

"Moki, stop daydreaming~" The girl who was still in the classroom waved her hand in front of Yamami Moki's eyes.

"Aren't we all supposed to go buy decoration materials together today?"

"Okay." The girl stood up subconsciously and picked up the schoolbag hanging on the side of the desk.

"Moji seems a bit listless lately?" The girls walked out of the classroom together. "Is it because she's been studying too hard?"

"Hmm, maybe?" Yami Maki smiled. "Or maybe it's because autumn is here, and the lazy cells in my body are starting to increase?"

"Moki's talking is so funny now~" the girls in our group laughed. "But it's true that it's easy to feel sleepy in autumn!"

"When the yellow sunlight shines in, it feels like I'm hypnotized; I fall asleep in the blink of an eye~"

The girls started chatting excitedly, while Yamami Maki, who was walking on the far side, was still recalling their earlier conversation.

Is what you said interesting? What you just said was definitely not like your usual style.

But the words just slipped out without her realizing it. She reached up and touched her lips.

The girl followed the crowd into the stairwell. The windows hanging high on the wall cast dazzling beams of light, the golden color seemingly carrying warmth, melting away the chaotic thoughts in people's minds, leaving only the leisurely mood of squinting and enjoying chestnuts and roasted sweet potatoes.

The girls walked down to the first floor in a group, and a sweet fragrance filled the air. It might be the scent of the fragrance on their clothes, the color of the lip balm brought out by the sunlight, or the perfume that a girl secretly sprayed on before meeting her sweetheart.

What it was didn't matter; in any case, Yamami Maki's mood improved slightly.

Since the breakup, she has stopped liking quiet, solitary environments. She goes to school earlier than before because there are more people and noises at school than at home.

When surrounded by noise, the empty gaps in a girl's heart can be temporarily filled.

Where can I buy cardstock and ribbons cheaply?

"Should we find a place for afternoon tea before we go buy the ingredients?"

Listening to the girls' enthusiastic discussion, Yamami Maki decided to join in, "As for materials, there's a large stationery store in Kitatoriyama 5-chome that might be cheaper there."

"As expected, Moji is more reliable!" Everyone applauded, and the girl's smile was a little shy.

Just as Yamami Maki was walking along the school avenue with the girl, the sound of a bicycle chain rolled out from a side path. She turned her head at the sound, and the boy and girl came into her view.

Matsugae Jun and Mochizuki Haruka each pushed a bicycle into the avenue. The golden autumn light shone on the metal frames of the bicycles, making them glitter.

They paid no attention to the crowd approaching from a distance, turned their car around and headed towards the school gate, continuing their conversation.

"Don't you already have pet supplies at home? Why do you need to buy more?" The boy lowered his head slightly, avoiding the sunlight shining into his eyes.

"Because it's a hassle to move things around, like cat trees and stuff." The girl pouted. "It's not like I'm not going home." "My aunt was thinking of letting me buy a new one myself. She said that's good exercise."

Matsueda Jun smiled, but Yamami Maki, who was walking at the edge of the crowd, couldn't see his smile clearly and could only sketch the boy's profile.

"What are you laughing at?" Mochizuki Haruka's tone became a little willful.

"It just feels like your aunt really treats you like a child," Jun Matsue said with a smile.

The girls walked past the two bicycles, and because of the distance, the boy did not notice the girl at the edge of the crowd.

However, Yamami Maki was still a little nervous, though she didn't know why she was nervous.

The girl pushing the bicycle suddenly raised her voice a little, "So, Songzhi, are we having dinner together tonight? At home or out?"

"..." Yamami Maki was pushed to look up by some emotion in her heart.

However, she did not see the hostile gaze she had imagined from Mochizuki Haruka—the girl merely glanced at her indifferently, then quickened her pace and walked alongside the boy again.

"You're a thing of the past, no longer worth worrying about," the girl said with her eyes.

Yamami Maki suddenly felt a chill from the sunlight on her body as she listened to the two people who had left the crowd behind continuing their conversation.

"We'll see how long it takes. If it's still early, we'll buy groceries and head home. If it's too late, we'll just grab something to eat on the way," the boy said casually.

Is it that fast? Yamami Maki slowed down her pace.

The two people pushing bicycles stopped at the school gate and simultaneously jumped onto their bikes.

"So you'll be riding bikes with me from now on?" Jun Matsueda asked, turning his head.

Standing behind the bicycle, Yamami Maki looked at the boy's profile—the face she used to be able to gaze at and touch from the closest distance. But now, the boy was already making an invitation to another girl right in front of her.

"Let's ride until the end of this semester first," Mochizuki Haruka said in a reserved tone.

"It's going to get cold later, remember to wear gloves."

The echoes of their conversation were pulled away by the chain, and the girls standing at the school gate watched the two figures disappear into the distance.

"Isn't that Matsueda-kun and Mochizuki-kun? They're going to and from school together now?" someone asked curiously.

"I don't know, are they about to fall in love?" Someone sensed a pink atmosphere.

"That's not surprising, they were already quite close before."

"What should we do about Tomatsu-san?" The girl who said this sounded worried; she was probably Tomatsu Yuka's friend.

However, no matter how much the girls gossiped, they never mentioned Yamami Maki's name. The girl, carrying her schoolbag, watched in a daze as the figure disappeared into the dappled orange sunlight.

So the words she blurted out were in Matsue's style.
Autumn has withered many things, but Yamami Maki has found more and more distinct traces in herself that do not belong to her.

(End of this chapter)