Am I being simulated by their love affair.

Chapter 585 Uneasy at the End
"Matsugi, you sinful wretch!"

Jun Matsue glanced at the message displayed on his phone and blinked silently.

What's going on with this moon-gazing?

"What's wrong with Matsue?" asked Natsumi Imokawa, who was sitting next to him.

"It's nothing." The boy shook his head and replied to the girl in the manor, "What are you angry about?"

He looked up at the television in front of him. On the screen was a scene of himself and Mochizuki Haruka walking on the Keio University campus—the classical and beautiful buildings exuded an understated luxury, which matched the youthful and energetic boys and girls in the center of the screen perfectly.

He glanced down at his phone; there were no replies. When Matsueda Jun looked up again, Natsumi Imokawa's face suddenly filled his field of vision.

"What are you doing?" The boy leaned back, creating a necessary distance between himself and her.

"Pine branch isn't concentrating..." the girl pouted, her unusual little mood making her seem even more lively and adorable.

"You have to concentrate when watching a movie. Going to the bathroom is one thing, but if you're daydreaming, spacing out, or looking at your phone, you'll miss out on all the charm!"

"I'm sorry." Jun Matsueda placed his phone on the sofa and raised his hands to show his sincerity. "I will read it carefully."

"That's more like it." Natsumi Imokawa nodded in satisfaction and pressed the play button on the remote control.

Before returning his attention to the television screen, Jun Matsue glanced at the girl's profile—her stubborn and earnest expression just now reminded him of the first time he saw her pick up a camera.

Imokawa seems to have never changed much... He looked at the screen at himself, who was going through a melancholy and disillusioned youth.

It's 1 p.m. Matsueda Jun has already finished lunch at Imokawa Natsumi's house. The girl suggested that during the break, they should show the pre-edited demo on TV, which led to the incident just now.

"The TV at the Imokawa family's house seems really high-end." The boy leaned forward, resting his chin on his right hand on his lap. "The picture looks especially comfortable."

"It's not advanced, it's a settings issue."

Despite saying that, Natsumi Imokawa nodded happily.

“What Songzhi is seeing now is a picture at 24 frames per second, which is the same frame rate as the movie. The color gamut and color accuracy of the TV screen were also specially adjusted by my dad and me.”

"I see." Jun Matsueda glanced at the tightly closed curtains on the other side of the living room.

The doors and windows of the girl's house seemed to be very soundproof. Even though the weather forecast showed that it was still raining, he couldn't hear a single sound of rain.

If you draw the curtains tightly, even the light won't be affected by the outside world, as if you're completely isolated—could this really be some kind of paradise...?

After the demo, which lasted for more than ten minutes, was finished, Natsumi Imokawa turned around and looked at the boy expectantly.

"How does the pine branch feel?"

The current demo is in reverse chronological order, starting with Hikaru Kashiwabara and Anzu Konno's graduation ceremony, allowing the audience to feel the innocent and naive feelings between childhood friends. Then the perspective is brought back to the graduation ceremony, where the boy's confession and the girl's rejection explode into a tragic love story born from the heavy reality of "moving away". The story is depicted in a particularly moving way through the gentle narration.

Jun Matsue thought for a moment, "Although it's a bit strange, it feels pretty good. The first part of the story is already very complete."

“What’s strange?” Natsumi Imokawa’s eyes dimmed slightly. “Matsueda, tell me, and I’ll see how to fix it.”

"I mean, it feels a bit strange to see another version of myself in the picture and hear my own voice," the boy quickly explained. "It's not that there's anything wrong with the filming."

"That's good……"

The girl breathed a sigh of relief, her chest heaving more. She was still wearing her usual home tank top, revealing her pale chest and arms—although the weather had cooled down recently, the temperature around Imokawa Natsumi didn't seem to have dropped at all.

"If you need feedback, you can send it to other people, such as your parents, or other people in the crew group."

"No, no, no!" Imokawa Natsumi shook her head vigorously, her shoulder-length black hair and ample bosom swaying together, creating a rather spectacular sight. "An unedited film is like a newborn baby, ugly and pathetic. It would be embarrassing to show it to others!"

"Won't you feel embarrassed showing it to me?" Jun Matsueda thought Iokawa's thought process was truly amazing.

“That’s different!” The girl shook her head again. “I’ve looked at all the materials I used, like the pine branches. This child is like something we created together.”

...This analogy seems a bit strange?
"Let's keep recording anyway." The boy stood up.

His phone vibrated again in his pocket. He took it out and glanced at it; it was another message from Mochizuki Haruka.

"Bad person! Has no compassion!"

Jun Matsueda posted an apologetic emoji—when a girl is throwing a tantrum, don't ask why; admitting your mistake directly is the simplest and most effective way.

What's wrong with Mochizuki today? She was moaning and groaning happily when we were doing it, but now she's blaming him.

Is it possible that a woman's menstrual cycle comes on so late...? He put away his phone and followed Natsumi Imokawa towards the recording studio.

The boy had no idea that these messages were sent by his aunt, who felt sorry for Mochizuki Haruka, using her niece's phone.

The recording session went even more smoothly in the afternoon, and Jun Matsue was starting to get used to his own detailed voice in his ears—if the girl in the vest wasn't sitting next to him, the boy felt he could concentrate even better.

"Today ended so early!" Natsumi Imokawa took off her headphones and looked at the time on the screen.

"Because we arrived relatively early," Jun Matsueda pushed the microphone away from him. "Do you want to start editing right away?"

He picked up the yogurt that was placed aside and took a sip. It was poured for him by Imokawa; she really liked dairy products.

"Hmm..." the girl hesitated for a moment, "Let's relax first and play some games!"

"That works too, we didn't finish playing last time."

So Natsumi Imokawa excitedly closed the engineering software on the screen, and before she could even open the game, a notification popped up on her browser.

"The 'Kurasu Yosei☆' you are following has released a new video."

Jun Matsue paused, then asked, "Are you still following Kurusu?"

"Because I know her, and Ms. Kurusu looks especially beautiful on stage." The girl loves all things beautiful.

She moved the mouse to the pop-up window in the corner of the screen, "Does Songzhi want to see it?"

"...Let's play games first."

The yellow-green square icon restarted, and Imokawa Natsumi eagerly pressed the keys, unaware that the boy next to her was a beat slower.

However, the girl soon realized something was wrong—Matsueda Jun, who had shielded her from the skeletons and zombies last time, hadn't even noticed the crawlers exploding next to them this time.

"Pine branch?" She pressed the pause button and turned to look at the boy.

There was a flickering light in Jun Matsue's eyes as he sighed at the frozen image.

"It's nothing, it's just that I've found that life as a third-year student is completely different from what I had imagined."

The omnipresent traces of Yosuke Kurusu disturbed his temporarily calmed heart, causing him to feel uneasy once again.

(End of this chapter)