Am I being simulated by their love affair.

Chapter 578 Why not me?

Someone opened the fourth-floor window, and the outer edge of the corridor was soaked by the wind and rain.

Jun Matsuoka walked by, his shadow reflected in the puddles, broken by the raindrops that drifted in, creating ripples.

The boy only saw a few figures on the way, it seemed that many people had asked for leave today. Before finally entering the classroom, he looked back at the sky outside the corridor.

The city was soaked through by the wind and rain.

Jun Matsue placed his umbrella on the shelf by the front door of the classroom and walked past the empty front row of seats. The girl wearing glasses nodded to him, a greeting between classmates.

In this weather, only the most diligent and disciplined students in the class can arrive at school early. As the boy walked to the back row, the girl with black hair and a white shirt gradually came into his view.

He and Tomatsu Tomoka were exceptions.

"Good morning, Jun-kun~" Tomatsu Yuka looked up, revealing her usual smile. "The weather is terrible today."

"My shoes feel like they're about to get soaked." Jun Matsue stomped his feet lightly, rolled up his trouser legs, and sat down.

"Tsun-kun, wipe it off." The girl took a handkerchief out of her pocket and handed it to him.

But the boy didn't answer.

"...I'll just use tissues." He took out a napkin from the drawer and wiped the water stains off his pants.

Tomatsu Yuka's smile gradually faded as she watched the boy bend over.

Ever since watching Matsueda Jun leave school with Mochizuki Haruka yesterday, the girl had had a bad feeling. She hadn't slept well last night, and the heavy, drum-like rain intensified her unease—and now it seemed that her premonition was about to come true.

Jun Matsue looked up, and the wet stains on the hem of the girl's skirt flashed before his eyes. It seemed that she had also walked to school by tram today.

With such heavy rain, didn't her mother pick her up? He didn't ask.

However, Tomatsu Yuka had already noticed the boy's gaze. She gently patted her skirt and said, "My mother left earlier than me today. She said she had something to do at the company."

"She suggested I take a taxi, but I thought it would be better to walk."

"Why didn't you ask for leave?" Jun Matsue picked up the bread he had bought from the convenience store from the table, and the girl disappeared from his sight.

"Staying at home is boring too," Tomatsu Yuka smiled. "Didn't Tsunku come to school too?"

"..." He couldn't bring himself to say why he came to the school.

Are classes scheduled as usual today?

"It's hard to say." The girl shook her head. "Ms. Kominato came to the classroom and said that if the rain doesn't stop later, class will probably be canceled."

The boy nodded, took a bite of bread and chewed, and the two fell silent. The rain outside showed no sign of letting up until the school bell rang.

Less than half of the seats in the classroom were filled in the end. Amidst the whispers of the students, Kominato Shoko hurriedly entered the classroom.

"Classes are cancelled today!" she announced from the podium. "Everyone, go home now and don't linger at school."

"Hey—" someone complained from below, "We finally got to school, why didn't they notify us earlier—"

The female teacher lowered her head apologetically, "The rain came down quite suddenly, and the school is also waiting for further notice."

The classroom erupted in noise as students quickly grabbed their bags and left, crowding around the umbrella stand by the door. Jun Matsueda looked up; the empty windowpane was temporarily filled with shadows.

"Isn't Tomatsu leaving?" He looked at the girl beside him; only the two of them were left in the back row.

Tomatsu Yuka stared at the rain outside the window for a while before turning her gaze to the boy.

Her eyes flickered. "Because I feel like Jun-kun has something to say to me."

Jun Matsue was taken aback; the girl was more perceptive than he had thought. The boy sighed.

"Let's leave the classroom first."

After all the students in the classroom had left, the two people in the back row stood up.

The patter of footsteps echoed through the empty corridor, sounding particularly faint amidst the torrential rain.

"What does Chun-kun want to say?"

"...It's time to prepare for the breakup."

The girl carrying the bag stopped in her tracks, and Jun Matsue turned around.

Tomatsu Yuka gripped the umbrella handle tightly with her right hand, looking down at the tightly bound umbrella in her hand.

Rainwater on the polyester fabric flowed along the edge of the umbrella ribs, gathered at the tip, and dripped onto the dirty floor tiles, making a soft "drip-drip" sound.

She looked up, a faint, relieved smile on her face.

"As I said before, if Tsunkun wants to start a new relationship, just tell me and I will leave on my own." The girl held her schoolbag and umbrella in one hand and smoothed her black hair behind her ear.

"Is Jun-kun ready to start a new relationship?"

She wanted to make one last effort.

Jun Matsue hesitated for a second, but finally spoke.

"I did it with Mochizuki."

The corridor fell into a deathly silence, surrounded by the dense sound of rain. Jun Matsueda looked at Yuka Tomatsu's expression.

The girl's dark pupils remained motionless, and her open lips made no sound of breathing. She seemed to have been frozen in time, still amidst the sound of rain, with only the soaked umbrella still dripping water droplets.

Jun Matsue watched her body with some tension—if Tomatsu did anything rash, he would immediately try to stop him.

With a distinct deep breath, Tomatsu Yuka seemed to come back to life. She raised the corners of her lips again, but there was no longer any smile in her eyes.

"Then I need to prepare in advance..." The girl's smile was fragile. "My relationship with Mochizuki will definitely become big news at school."

Those whispers about her that happened before are probably about to become the talk of the town.

However, the boy shook his head, "Wang Yue doesn't plan to date me for the time being, so there won't be any big news."

"Huh?" Tomatsu Tomoka blinked in surprise.

“Mochizuki has her own ideas.” Jun Matsueda glanced out the window at the direction of the apartment building. “But I have to take responsibility.”

"No matter what, we are in a romantic relationship, and this time it was my fault."

"...It's alright, we weren't really lovers anyway." Tomatsu Yuka laughed nonchalantly.

The boy's heart felt heavy, as if it were filled with rain.

"Then let's do it next week. I'll tell everyone about the breakup next week."

The girl lowered her head and took out her phone. She seemed unaccustomed to the screen's light; her eyelashes fluttered and her eyes blinked rapidly.

"Yes." Jun Matsue nodded.

The two finally ran out of things to say. The rain grew heavier, as if reminding them not to linger. Tomatsu Yuka took a step, but her body staggered.

The boy immediately stepped forward, but the girl waved her hand.

"It's okay, the ground is just a little slippery."

Actually, it was as if the whole world in front of her tilted slightly when she just raised her head.

They walked down the stairs in silence to the first floor, where Jun Matsue watched the girl open her umbrella under the eaves—this time she didn't choose to throw it away.

After taking the last few steps, the boy stood at the school gate and glanced at the dense spray of water on the ground at the intersection.

Shall I take you to the station?

To his surprise, Tomatsu Yuka shook her head, her features hidden beneath her drooping bangs.

"It's not far from the station, I can manage on my own."

So Jun Matsue stood at the school gate, watching the girl with the umbrella turn and walk to the other side of the road.

The boy watched her figure gradually blur in the rain, and the Tomatsu Tomika who he resisted and wanted to stay away from seemed to have disappeared.

He felt a little complicated.

But the gradually shrinking figure suddenly stopped moving.

Jun Matsue immediately threw down his umbrella and ran over.

Her school uniform and hair were instantly soaked by the rain. The frozen silhouette magnified in front of her as the boy ran up behind her, panting. This wasn't an intersection; there were no vehicles that could appear at any moment.

He breathed a sigh of relief, wiped the rain off his face, and crawled under the girl's umbrella.

Tomatsu Yuka's face appeared before him again.

Even though she was holding the umbrella properly, the girl's cheeks were already soaked with sweat—her features were scrunched up with sadness, and glistening tears streamed down her face, nose, and lips, making her look even more disheveled than Jun Matsue, who had thrown down his umbrella and run away.

"Why……"

Tomatsu Yuka asked, sobbing, seemingly completely unaware of the boy's presence.

Why not me?

(End of this chapter)