Am I being simulated by their love affair.

Chapter 610 Return Journey: Rain Stops, Cicadas Sing
From Atami Station, the fastest Tokaido Shinkansen takes only fifty minutes to reach Tokyo.

So on the last day of their school trip, the students of Haneoka High School had most of the morning to go shopping and buy some souvenirs.

Standing in the store, Ken Sakamuro turned around and looked at the boy yawning behind him.

"It seems like you didn't sleep well last night, Pine Branch."

“…It’s not that I didn’t sleep well.” Jun Matsueda closed his mouth. “I just had some weird dreams.”

It was all really a mess. First, he dreamt that Mochizuki Haruka looked heartbroken in front of him. Then, for some reason, Tomatsu Yuka suddenly appeared between the two of them. When he stepped forward to separate the arguing girls, Tomatsu Yuka's face suddenly turned into his senior's face...

Thanks to this, he was still woken up by Ken Sakamuro when he got up this morning.

"Have you bought everything?" Ken Sakamuro shook the bag in his hand. "I'm about to leave."

"Let's go, let's go." The boy yawned again and turned to walk out of the store.

Ten minutes later, the two arrived at Atami Station. Matsueda Jun naturally parted ways with Sakamuro Ken and went into a roadside cafe.

The "Blue Flower" café was the place he and the girls had agreed to meet.

"Pine branches!"

Sitting by the window, Mochizuki Haruka stretched out her fair arm and waved to him. Tomatsu Yuka, sitting behind her, simply smiled gently and did nothing more.

"Sorry to keep you waiting." Jun Matsueda walked towards the two of them. "You finished shopping so quickly?"

"The pine branches are too slow!" Mochizuki Haruka rolled her eyes at him.

“Because we don’t have that much to buy.” Tomatsu Yuka stood up with a smile and sat down again on his left.

The bartender behind the counter wiped the counter while staring in surprise at the girls sitting next to the boy.

Before the man entered the store, the two customers pushed open the door one after the other and found seats. They sat a few seats apart, neither too close nor too far, and did not exchange a single word. It was impossible to tell that they knew each other.

"So why do we have to buy souvenirs separately?" Mochizuki Haruka, sitting to the right, pouted. "Wouldn't it be better to just buy them together?"

Jun Matsue smiled and said, "If we buy them separately, it would be more interesting to get together like this and see what each other bought, wouldn't it?"

This is a lie; he simply wanted a quiet morning to finally clear his mind.

After a whole morning, the final result was still that he couldn't let go of Tomatsu; he kept thinking about it and that was the answer he kept coming up with.

So we have to find a way... The boy looked at the girl in front of him and felt a little more guilty.

"Shall I go first?" Mochizuki Haruka misunderstood his gaze and picked up the gift bag beside her.

“I didn’t buy anything because my aunt didn’t want anything either, so I just ordered a few of the highest quality goldeneye snapper to be shipped back to the estate.”

She glanced at her phone. "They should be almost in Tokyo by now, right?"

Jun Matsue looked at Yuka Tomatsu, both of them exchanging helpless glances; this was no longer a souvenir they could discuss.

"And then there's this—" The girl took out a box of exquisitely packaged pastries from her hand.

"Cat tongue biscuits."

She pulled out the inner layer of the box, revealing long, pale yellow cookies surrounded by an elegant light brown patty, which looked quite tempting.

"This is quite delicious, and there are no chain stores; you can only buy it in Atami."

Mochizuki Haruka picked up a piece and chewed it, then took out another piece and offered it to the boy's lips.

"..." Under the gaze of another girl, Jun Matsueda chose to reach out and take the cookie, putting it in his mouth.

"You didn't buy it just because it's called 'Cat's Tongue,' did you?" He looked at the cat sticking out its tongue on the packaging.

"Cat's tongue refers to this type of cookie," the girl glared at him. "Isn't it tasty?"

"It's really good, with a strong milky flavor and a crispy, delicate texture." The boy nodded. "But weren't you going to give it as a souvenir? Why did you just eat it like that?"

"There are still two boxes in the bag," Mochizuki Haruka said nonchalantly. "We can keep this one for the road."

"Mochizuki-san only bought this cookie?" Tomatsu Tomoka laughed.

"Do you have a problem with that?" The girl glared at her dismissively.

“Actually, I’m pretty much the same.” Tomatsu Yuka picked up the bag in her hand. “I bought my dad a pair of sunglasses and my mom a pair of sun protection gloves for driving.”

“And this—” She took out a small box from the bag, which had the word “blue flower” written on it.

"I bought drip coffee bags from this coffee shop. My mom likes to drink coffee while working, and we were almost out of ours."

"The owner of the shop that sells cat tongue cookies also really likes our coffee!" The shop assistant wiping the table near the three of them looked up and enthusiastically promoted the coffee.

"His favorite thing to do is to put cookies in his coffee and let them soak, saying it's a wonderful combination!"

A sudden, deathly silence fell over the café, and the waitress holding a rag looked uneasy.

"...What did Tsunku buy?" Tomatsu Yuka looked at the boy in front of her and wisely changed the subject.

“I did buy quite a lot of things,” Jun Matsue said, glancing at the clock on the wall.

"However, it's almost time to board the bus, so let's go find Ms. Kominato first."

Carrying large and small bags, he walked out of the coffee shop and headed towards the bustling crowd at the station entrance. Ten minutes later, Jun Matsueda sat down in the middle of the three-seater table, with the two girls next to him still in the same positions.

"By the time we get back, Tokyo should be sunny again, right?" Tomatsu Yuka looked out the window expectantly.

Sitting by the window, Mochizuki snorted, "The annoying cicadas should wake up soon."

Jun Matsue paused, looking at the front of the carriage that was swaying slightly as it started moving—a string of characters scrolled across the display screen above.

“To Tokyo，6月15日10:12，30°。”

The days of constant cicada chirping are almost here.

"So what did Songzhi buy?" Mochizuki Haruka pulled back the curtains to block out the intense sunlight and turned to look at him.

Tomatsu Tomoka, who was on the other side, also looked over, and Matsueda Jun picked up the bag that was placed at his feet.

"First is the dried golden snapper, which is sweet and slightly spicy. It's good to eat it dry or in soup."

"I definitely need to buy some!" Tomatsu Yuka patted her thigh lightly. "There are fish drying everywhere in Atami, I completely forgot!"

"I bought four boxes; I'll share some with you when we arrive at the station."

"Then I'll get less!" Mochizuki Haruka asked, her eyes wide. She had already considered Matsueda Jun's things as joint property.

The boy glanced at her and said, "...You can buy it later if you like it."

"Next is orange marmalade." Jun Matsueda took out a bright yellow glass jar.

"Atami's oranges are quite famous. I bought them at a local specialty shop near the station."

"Speaking of which, the names of the products in the local produce stores are quite interesting; they all proudly include the grower's name."

"For example, 'Shiitake mushrooms grown on trees by Kazuaki Tokuda,' 'Tomatoes from Omi Takada,' and 'Radishes from Takayuki Shimoyama.'"

"It's all from the farmers' love~" Tomatsu Tomohana said with a smile.

The boy nodded. "It would be good to visit local product stores more often when traveling in the future."

"The shop assistant I met today was very enthusiastic in introducing the fish to me: 'This is fish that was just caught from Sagami Bay this morning, and this is kelp marinated with plums from the nearby mountain...' It was really interesting."

"Is she a female shop assistant?" Mochizuki Haruka, who was resting her chin on her hand, suddenly asked.

"Yes."

"She might just like you because you're good-looking."

Jun Matsue smiled helplessly, "I also bought some bonito flakes, and the shopkeeper just gave me a bundle..."

The already short return journey seemed to pass in the blink of an eye as the boy spoke, and the prominent shape of the Izu Peninsula was quickly left behind by the train, with the towering buildings of Tokyo right in front of us.

As the train began to slow down, Jun Matsueda heard a familiar sound outside the train window.

The sounds of summer.

He reached out and pulled back the curtains next to the girl, revealing blinding sunlight that made the boy squint involuntarily.

Then came the tireless, torrential chirping of cicadas under the dazzling sky.

The endless, noisy time has arrived.

(End of this chapter)