Am I being simulated by their love affair.

Chapter 472 Aunt and Pine Branch, an Afternoon of Observing Each Other

Matsueda Jun and Imokawa Natsumi didn't stay in the clubroom for long. After the video was copied, the boy and girl said goodbye at the school gate and went their separate ways home.

After school at noon, Mochizuki Haruka went out to play with her friends. Today, Matsueda Jun rode his bike alone. He didn't need to control his speed and sped back to his apartment.

When he arrived at the bottom of the apartment building, the boy glanced at the timer on his phone: five minutes and fourteen seconds.

"It's actually two seconds slower than before."

After climbing the stairs, taking out his key to unlock the door, and entering the living room, Jun Matsue first turned on the TV, randomly selected a channel, and adjusted the volume to a level that wouldn't be too noisy. He then spread out his workbook on the dining table.

This is a new habit of the boy. He no longer likes quiet rooms. Since he also has to pay the TV bill for Laixi, and in accordance with the principle of not wasting anything, the sound of the TV has become his background music.

However, the background music didn't last long before some background noise appeared—a clear sound of a door opening rang out from the next room.

Jun Matsue, who was sitting with his back to the entrance, looked up.

Didn't Mochizuki go out to play? Why is she back so soon?
As the sound of high heels leisurely approached the door of 507, he knew the answer.

A woman's light knock sounded outside the security door—it was just a formality. Another beauty from the Wangyue family walked in and looked at the back of the boy sitting at the dining table.

"Matsue, why didn't Haruka come back with you today?"

The woman stretched in the entryway and changed into the slippers in the closet—her slippers were right next to Mochizuki Haruka's; the girl had taken a pair because she disliked that Mochizuki always wore her slippers.

Jun Matsue didn't turn around, listening to the clattering sound of slippers as they swayed to his side.

"Wangyue went shopping with her friends after school. Didn't she tell you, Auntie?"

"Oh?" Auntie went to the kitchen to pour herself a glass of water and took out her phone to check it.

"They didn't say anything, looks like they forgot."

The woman sat down next to Jun Matsuoka with her water glass in the exact same spot her niece had sat a few days ago. She rested her chin on her hand, gazing at the well-defined, smooth profile of the man in front of her—his focused expression was a pleasure to behold from any angle.

"Why didn't Songzhi go play with Xiaoyao?"

"I have other things to do." The boy's pen didn't stop. "Besides, there are a bunch of girls there, it's not suitable for me to go."

"I see~" Auntie nodded, her posture languid. "Then Xiaoyao definitely won't let you go."

The woman spoke as if Mochizuki Haruka had become his housekeeper, and Matsueda Jun looked up at her.

The patriarch of the Mochizuki family wasn't wearing one of those luxurious silk nightgowns today, but rather ordinary loungewear—a light gray fleece undershirt and black jeans. Although the jeans were loose and baggy, the form-fitting undershirt still accentuated the woman's impressive curves.

Is Mochizuki really related to her aunt by blood? Jun Matsueda couldn't help but ponder this question.

"Hey! Are you thinking something very rude?!" The woman pointed at him with her finger.

"I was just thinking that Mochizuki and my aunt don't look very similar."

"That's normal~ Xiaoyao has her dad's genes in her."

"Why are you asking this? What good would it do you if Xiaoyao and I weren't related by blood?" Wang Yuehua winked slyly.

Jun Matsue lowered his head and continued filling in his workbook. His aunt seemed to think that he posed no threat to her, and being a junior and a member of the opposite sex, she would tease him all the time.

After realizing that the guy was ignoring her, Wang Yuehua pouted in disappointment, left the dining table, and sat on the sofa to watch TV.

After spending half an hour finishing his weekend homework, Jun Matsue looked up and saw the woman in front of the TV had changed her posture, half-lying on the sofa, looking exceptionally lazy.

He inevitably thought of another guy who liked to lie on the sofa.

It's been a week since Yosei Kurusu left Tokyo. The girl sent a message saying she's currently in Nagoya, the first stop of her tour.

Jun Matsue glanced at the high heels in the entryway, then casually started a conversation, trying to get the woman on the sofa to change her position.

"Why do you have to change your shoes when you come to my place, Auntie? It's only a few steps."

“Slippers are meant to be worn indoors.” Wang Yuehua turned to look at him. “There’s no carpet in the hallway, so you’ll get your shoes dirty.”

The boy nodded. "Wealthy families are indeed very particular. The Wangyue family's manor is covered with carpets."

"Have you finished your homework, Songzhi?" The woman watched him stuff his workbook into his schoolbag. "Want to play some games? We haven't gotten past that level from yesterday yet."

"Let me tidy up the house first." Jun Matsue stood up and took out a mop and rag from the bathroom.

"Do you need my help?" Auntie stood up from the sofa.

Do you have experience cleaning rooms?

"It happened about seven or eight years ago." She sat down again.

The boy turned on the tap and watched as the clear water quickly covered the bottom of the basin, then rippled outwards.

Wang Yuehua has been staying next door for four days now—after meeting her senior in the news department on Tuesday, her aunt seemed to have received some kind of signal and appeared in the living room of 506 the next afternoon.

"Finals are approaching, I need to keep an eye on Xiaoyao's studies!" she said.

However, instead of helping her niece with her studies, the aunt played video games with her.

The two would also bring over Jun Matsueda from next door, sometimes to let him witness the fair duel between the aunt and nephew, and more often to let him join the game.

"Are all you bosses this free?"

After a quick cleaning of the kitchen, Jun Matsueda decided to wipe down the range hood. He carried a basin of water into the kitchen, passing a woman watching a soap opera on the sofa.

“Of course.” Wang Yuehua changed the channel. “I’m not an office worker who needs to go to the company every day. I just listen to company reports from time to time and make some decisions.”

"If I wanted to, I could do these things right here in the living room."

"I have plenty of people under me who can handle the work, why should I do it myself?"

It was as if he was talking about him. Jun Matsue, who was busy wiping the grease in the kitchen, turned around and saw the woman in the living room leaning against the back of the sofa and looking at him. Her full breasts were particularly eye-catching against the back of the sofa.

"Why did I say the last time I did housework was seven or eight years ago?" His aunt looked at him through the glass wall of the kitchen. "Back then, Xiaoyao was still young, and I had to take care of her myself."

“Apart from her, I will not waste my time on mechanical and tedious matters, because I manage the Mochizuki family, and my limited time must be spent on more valuable things.”

"Everything you do has to be valued, so there's no such thing as a carefree life."

The woman sighed, leaning her upper body against the back of the sofa, her soft breasts immediately deforming.

"Well, that's what happens when you're a mature working adult."

The boy in the kitchen picked up a rag and wiped the glass in front of him, blurring his aunt's face.

"Songzhi, you don't think I'm just making a fuss over nothing, do you?" The woman straightened up and asked the rag that was wiping back and forth on the glass wall.

“Not really,” the boy’s voice came out. “Every stage of life has its own problems, and everyone has their own troubles. This is very common.”

"Isn't it a bit strange to hear such words coming from the mouth of a vibrant high school student like you?" Wang Yuehua turned around and continued watching her TV.

“That’s not my saying, ‘Diversity is the spice of life.’” Jun Matsueda picked up his tools and walked out of the kitchen, returning to the bathroom. “Russell said it,” the woman said, watching the boy disappear around the corner. “But my education level is higher than yours, you know.”

The sound of water splashing in a bucket came from the bathroom again, a splashing sound. After a while, Jun Matsue returned to the living room with a mop.

"How does Songzhi understand this sentence?" Auntie leaned back on the sofa and observed the boy who was bending over to mop the floor.

“I don’t understand.” Jun Matsue looked at the watermarks reflecting bright lines on the floor. “Because I’m the kind of person who doesn’t like to compare.”

“I can understand that quite well~” A soft voice drifted from the sofa to my ear, “Happiness is all about comparison, but the result may not be what people expect.”

"For example, Xiaoyao and I lived in a large and empty manor. We got used to this kind of life and it didn't seem very interesting."

"Living like this in a small apartment these past few days, with only one room for each person, the sound of slippers pattering on the wooden floor, and the noise of knocking on the wall at night that can be heard next door—this kind of ordinary life actually makes me feel very at ease."

“Auntie is right.” Mop was propped up next to the dining table by Jun Matsue. “I don’t like big, empty houses either.”

"But your kitchen must be very big, so the seafood rice that the maid made was delicious, which I liked."

The woman's clear laughter drowned out the characters' lines on the television. "Songzhi is quite honest, isn't he?"

"Everything has its good and bad sides." He had finished mopping the table and walked toward the sofa and coffee table.

"Indeed~"

Wang Yuehua remained seated on the sofa, leaning forward with her hands supporting her cheeks on her lap, her gaze following the boy on the other side of the coffee table.

"Just like the initial attraction you feel when you first meet someone, you think she's perfect in every way after getting to know her a little. But as the relationship really deepens, those unchangeable uglinesses truly emerge."

"Just like snow, it is only after it is easily melted by the sun that the stubborn rocks underneath are revealed."

Jun Matsue stopped what he was doing and the boy straightened up.

"I'm not talking about Xiao Moji~" the woman smiled.

This time, her smile no longer resembled that of a friendly older sister next door, but rather returned to the elegant, noble, and commanding demeanor she exuded when the boy first met her.

"Or rather, I'm not just referring to her; aren't all the girls around you like that?"

The woman spoke in an unquestionable tone.

"The standard relationship you want, or rather, your soulmate, simply doesn't exist. Shouldn't Maki Yami have made you realize that?"

Mochizuki now thinks it's actually quite good that her niece didn't have a firsthand romance—at least Haruka didn't have to pay for Matsueda Jun's tuition.

"Are you trying to persuade me to get back together with my senior?" The boy looked up at her.

“No, that’s not it!” The woman shook her head. “I just wanted you to stop worrying about whether you can keep or change someone. Don’t be so idealistic.”

"Look at Xiaoyao—you know all her flaws, so you should just come and live with us obediently~"

Jun Matsue stretched out his arm and brought the mop to her feet.

"Make way, I need to mop the floor."

The woman obediently raised her leg and placed it on the coffee table. Her loose trousers slipped down a little, revealing her delicate ankles and slender, straight calves.

He seems to have found a similarity between his aunt and niece.
After the living room floor was glistening with water, Jun Matsue went into his bedroom. A few minutes later, he put the mop back in the bathroom, sat on the small sofa, and rested, looking at the sky outside the balcony.

"Doesn't that room need to be cleaned?"

His aunt's voice sounded behind him. Before Jun Matsue could turn around, the woman's fair hand brushed past his cheek and pointed to the door that had been closed all along.

That was Yosuke Kurusu's bedroom.

Jun Matsue was silent for a moment, then stood up.

"It really needs cleaning."

Pushing open the tightly closed door, the bedroom smelled slightly of air freshener. Unlike the bright living room, the room, with the curtains drawn, was somewhat dim, the light seeming to have a filter on it, giving it a dreamlike feel of a bygone era.

It's not that Kurusu isn't coming back; she's still paying rent and TV fees. So, there's no reason not to clean the girl's bedroom.

Jun Matsue turned around and looked at the woman standing by the door frame. Mochizuki peeked in and was looking around curiously.

"There's nothing special about an idol's room."

"Auntie, please don't come in." Jun Matsue drew a line on the doorway with a broom. "Kurasu doesn't allow anyone into her room."

"Really?" The woman knocked on the open door. "Ms. Kurusu, may I come in?"

Although she said this, she didn't step inside; it was just a show of bravado from an adult.

Jun Matsuoka drew back the curtains, recalling the girl who had knocked on the bathroom door a few days earlier—the similarities between an aunt and her niece were indeed becoming more and more apparent the more one observed.

Fifteen minutes later, the boy left the room, and Mochizuki, who was working on her laptop at the dining table, looked at him.

"Is everything cleaned up?"

Jun Matsue nodded.

"Sit down opposite me."

The woman's tone carried the authority of an elder and the dignity of a head of the family. Although it had no effect on Matsueda Jun, he still sat down at the other end of the table.

“Diversity is the source of happiness, but this statement cannot be understood in a one-sided way.” My aunt adjusted her decorative glasses. “It reveals the universality and diversity of differences.”

"Like my Xiaoyao, she's too proactive and enthusiastic towards you, and you've taken it for granted, so you don't realize that such a girl is a rare gem."

"But the youngest daughter of the old-fashioned Yamami family next door never does what you want. After several tug-of-wars, she just can't be left in your heart."

"Isn't this emotional disparity also worthy of study?"

"..." Jun Matsue looked at the woman's serious and earnest expression.

"My aunt said so much today just to help me let go of my senior as soon as possible."

“That’s right.” Wang Yuehua nodded.

The boy sighed, "Even if you didn't have such good intentions, I would let her go as soon as possible."

"That's good~"

That evening, the aunt showed her research report to her niece.

"I observed Songzhi carefully today, and it seems that no one is absolutely certain of victory—once the common exams are over in January and the third-year students are no longer at school, he and Xiaomoji will be completely separated."

"As long as Xiaoyao does her job well, she can launch a fierce attack when Songzhi is indecisive!"

And so, as the year draws to a close, time begins to flow rapidly once again.

(End of this chapter)