Am I being simulated by their love affair.

Chapter 599 Love is
After buying tickets at the ticket office at the foot of the mountain, which resembled a large torii gate, Jun Matsueda and the boy next to him boarded the train to the summit of Mt. Omuro.

"I didn't expect Matsueda to ride the cable car with me~" Sakamuro Ken patted him on the shoulder casually.

"Don't move around in the cable car." Jun Matsueda glanced at him. "Didn't we get off the bus together? What's so strange about taking a cable car?"

That's right. On the bus to Mount Omuro, he didn't sit with Tomatsu Yuka or Mochizuki Haruka, but instead deliberately mingled with the group of boys.

Not long after having lunch under the cherry blossoms, the three of them set off on their way back to the bus station. However, compared to when they arrived, the atmosphere surrounding them had clearly changed a lot—it was no longer pleasant or relaxed. The silent girls were tacitly thinking about things unrelated to the school trip.

If getting together doesn't make everyone happy, then it's better to split up for the time being, Jun Matsue thought.

So, after getting on the bus, he sat down next to Ken Sakamuro, much to the surprise of the girls.

A breeze blew by, the cable car swayed gently, and Jun Matsue's thoughts returned to the present moment.

The lush greenery beneath our feet spreads in all directions with the wind, gradually filling our vision. The simple cable car, suspended in the air, offers no shelter, carrying people up to the flat mountaintop, like crossing a matcha-colored pudding.

"...I thought you'd ride the cable car with Tomatsu..."

Ken Sakamuro twisted his neck, looking left and right in the air, his words drifting indistinctly to the ears of those around him.

Jun Matsue looked down at the undulating waves of grass beneath his feet.

Even couples don't stay together forever.

"That's true." The boy turned his head to the other side. "But I always thought that when you and Tomatsu were dating, it would be the kind of relationship that was all sweet and cuddly in private."

"I never expected them to act like an old married couple..."

The rambling words were carried away by the wind, and Jun Matsue stopped talking, just staring blankly at the clear sky in the distance. A few minutes later, the two of them got off the cable car at the platform on the mountaintop.

"Shall we take another walk?" Ken Sakamuro patted the boy on the back.

"Never mind." Jun Matsueda gave him a disdainful look. "You talk too much."

"I only said a few more words because I was afraid you'd get bored—"

Mt. Omuro is an extinct volcano, and apart from the walking trail that encircles the summit and the central lawn, the mountaintop is simply and perfectly situated amidst the lush greenery.

Stepping onto the trail, Jun Matsueda walked down the low inner path, parting ways with his cable car companion.

There was a torii gate on the path, the same style as the one at the foot of the mountain, but much smaller. The boy ducked down and walked under the hanging shimenawa rope, which had the words "Asama Shrine" written on it.

"So it's a shrine..."

Continuing up the narrow steps that can only accommodate one person at a time, Jun Matsue soon came to the "Ōmuro-yama Asama Shrine," which also serves as a pavilion—it has only a shrine and a neatly clean offering box.

"..." There were no ema (votive plaques) or omamori (amulet), and the boy was inexplicably disappointed. He walked past the woman who was bowing her head in worship and stepped back onto the path that circled the mountaintop.

After walking a few steps with the crowd, Jun Matsue soon heard a familiar voice behind him.

"Chunjun?"

He turned around, and Tomatsu Yuka was pressing her hair behind her ear in the wind, her eyes filled with the joy of spring.

She walked up to the boy, took his hand without hesitation, and continued forward.

"I thought Tsun-kun had already gone far away~" the girl's tone became cheerful.

"I went to check out the shrine down there." Jun Matsueda pointed to the path below, without letting go of the hand he was holding.

"Where's Wangyue?" He turned around and glanced back.

Tomatsu Yuka's smile was slightly mischievous. "I pushed her off the cable car."

"..." The boy stopped in his tracks. "Just kidding~" The girl laughed even harder, "She was delayed taking photos with her friends at the foot of the mountain, she should still be on the cable car now."

The two then slowly made their way along the trail. The boundless azure sky seemed to freeze into a still backdrop, and the flat mountaintop, having lost its former majesty as a volcanic crater, began to leisurely circle beneath their feet.

"Phew—" Tomatsu Tomoka took a deep breath. "The air at the top of the mountain is especially fresh and cool."

Jun Matsue looked out from the mountaintop. The Izu Plateau lay sprawled at their feet, and the city's buildings became neatly shaped red, white, and gray spots, disappearing into vast expanses of deep green.

Looking further into the distance, you can see the coastline of the Izu Highlands, and the Kinosaki coast we'll be visiting this afternoon should also be hidden there. The blue of the ocean stretches out and fades, eventually blending with the transparent white of the sky, leaving only a lone cloud drifting by at the boundary.

The boy also took a breath.

"Although it's not a particularly spectacular or magnificent view, the vastness of the landscape truly broadens one's mind and expands one's horizons."

The girl smiled and shook his arm, "I think so too~"

Tomatsu Yuka could certainly talk a lot, but now that she was holding the boy's hand, all she could think about was "agreeing with him."

A young girl's love is enough to give rise to many words, but the countless unspoken words have already shone brightly in the darkness of her pupils.

The two stopped at the highest point of the mountaintop circle. Jun Matsueda turned around, and the coastline of Ito City rippled and shimmered in the sunlight. Further away, there was a hazy gray, which was the rain cloud covering Tokyo.

Tomatsu Yuka squinted slightly, sketching her beloved's face on the clearest, most transparent canvas of the sky.

"Did you see anything interesting at the Asama Shrine on the mountain, Jun-kun?"

The boy shook his head. "There's nothing there except the altar and the offering box."

"I see..." The girl looked across the circular trail; Mochizuki Haruka must have already reached the summit.

"I heard that the shrine here enshrines Princess Iwanaga?"

“That’s correct.” Jun Matsue recalled the information plaque he had seen earlier. “It seemed to be a goddess related to safe childbirth and marriage.”

"Does Jun-kun know that she and the Konohana Sakuya-hime enshrined at the Asama Shrine on Mount Fuji are sisters?"

"Oh?" The boy turned to look at her.

“Although they are sisters, they don’t get along well…” Tomatsu Yuka continued, facing the sunlight.

"Because the two sisters were married to the same man, but the elder sister, Iwanaga-hime, was not favored and was ruthlessly returned."

"So, filled with resentment, she cursed her own sister."

Jun Matsue blinked.

“But I won’t hold a grudge or anything~” the girl smiled at him, “because Tsun-kun will never abandon me.”

"So I don't plan to hold anything against Mochizuki-san." She gently nudged the boy's shoulder.

"As long as I can stay by Jun-kun's side, that's enough."

Looking at the pure white clouds on the sea, Tomatsu Tomoka smiled silently.

Unlike at noon, this time, it was Tsun-kun who held her hand tightly.

If patience brings more happiness, then she doesn't mind continuing to be patient.

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy.

(End of this chapter)