Am I being simulated by their love affair.

Chapter 646 Testing
On July 22nd, Jun Matsue sat behind the counter at the Setagaya Library, looking out at the shimmering, tender green leaves of the cherry blossom grove.

Just by looking at the traces of sunlight, one could feel its astonishing heat. The boy glanced at his phone.

According to the lunar calendar, today is the Great Heat.

"No wonder……"

"What's the wonder?"

The girl next to me returned to her seat, her cheek pressed against mine, her skin showing its delicate softness in the sunlight streaming through the floor-to-ceiling window.

"Today is the Great Heat," the boy said, fanning himself. "The hottest day."

"It's still a bright, sunny day." Tomatsu Tomoka looked at the cloudless sky outside the window. "It's a bit hard to bear."

She handed the boy a cup labeled "Drink More Water," with a few mint leaves floating slowly in the icy water.

"At times like these, you should drink some refreshing herbal tea~"

Jun Matsue took a sniff, took the cup, and lowered his head to take a sip.

The girl watched his Adam's apple move up and down, while the boy blinked, a look of amazement on his face.

It's refreshingly sweet with a distinct jasmine aroma, and has no bitterness at all. It's as if it even washes away some of the heat in your head.

"It tastes so refreshing." He looked at the girl beside him. "I feel like I can work two more hours now."

"Let's skip the overtime," Tomatsu Yuka said with a satisfied smile. "I'm glad Tsun-kun likes it."

"Is this freshly brewed?" Jun Matsueda shook the glass in his hand, causing the flowers, leaves, and ice cubes to sway. "Isn't this a lot of trouble?"

"I brewed it last night." The girl looked at him with a smile and took out a thermos that was placed to the side.

"In addition to green tea and jasmine, it also contains honey, mint leaves and lemongrass."

"It might not be cold enough after I brought it to the library, so I went to the ice machine in the tea room and added some ice."

"That's quite convenient." The boy felt relieved and took another sip of tea.

It's really delicious, and it's just as good as Wangyue's lemon black tea. They're both equally good.

The scorching sunlight suddenly softened, and the young boy and girl sat behind the counter, drinking tea and doing their homework.

Tomatsu Yuka circled a perfect circle around her answer—completely correct—and rewarded herself by looking at Tsunku for two more seconds.

She looked up at the boy doing his homework and said, "It's pretty quiet today. Not a single reader has come in for half an hour."

Jun Matsue scribbled on a draft paper, “It’s only one o’clock in the afternoon now. It’s too much of a hassle to go out. People who come to the library must have arrived very early in the morning.”

“That’s true.” The girl lowered her head and leaned on the table in front of him.

"Is Jun-kun stuck here?"

"Hmm." The boy's expression was focused. "I'll think of another approach first, and I won't ask you anything else."

Tomatsu Yuka then lay motionless in front of him, her eyelashes fluttering as she admired the way her beloved was deep in thought.

However, after Jun Matsue turned to the next page, the girl's expression became less relaxed.

A simple and cute doodle is drawn in one corner of the page: a small black cat's head with a butterfly fluttering by its ear, its eyes squinting, looking extremely sleepy.

After the boy finished solving the problem, Tomatsu Yuka pointed to the dozing black cat and asked in a tone that she already knew the answer.

"Tsunku's drawing is so cute~"

Matsueda Jun then noticed the graffiti, and his gaze paused for a moment.

"It must have been Mochizuki who secretly drew it on when I wasn't paying attention."

"Wang Yue is truly multi-talented." The girl took a sip of jasmine tea to calm herself down.

"How have you been getting along with her lately, Chun-jun?"

The boy put down his pen in surprise.

This was the first time Tomatsu had so proactively asked him about Mochizuki when they were alone together. He pulled his attention away from the math problem. "...What do you want to ask?"

Tomatsu Yuka blinked. "I just wanted to ask if you ever feel uncomfortable or awkward in front of Mochizuki Haruka."

Jun Matsueda glanced at the little black cat on the page and shook his head.

"Mochizuki is very good to me, and I'm quite happy when I'm with her."

"Really?" The girl's smile widened. "Then it seems Tsunkun treats her better than she treats you~"

"..." Matsueda Jun glanced at her, then picked up his porcelain cup on his own.

He preferred drinking tea to talking to the young girl about these things.

However, Tomatsu Yuka didn't seem to want to skip the topic. She took a thin spoon and slowly stirred the ice cubes in her glass.

"Sometimes I wonder, is the kind of liking that Mochizuki-san has for you really the kind that exists between lovers?"

The boy looked up at her.

"Don't you think so, Chun-kun?" The girl blinked again.

"You see, she didn't have much affection for you at first, right? It's probably just because the system did something that she became so dependent on you."

"Later, this dependence turned into liking because of Tsunkun, or rather, liking was born."

"But doesn't Tsunkun think this kind of liking is a little strange?"

"I feel more like family than lovers - that feeling of depending on each other for survival, it doesn't seem to matter whether you are male or female."

"How should I put it..." Tomatsu Yuka pondered, holding the silver spoon.

"'Dependence,' isn't that the correct word?"

“Mochizuki isn’t that bad,” Jun Matsue interrupted her. “I can definitely tell whether it’s love between a man and a woman.”

“…That’s good then,” the girl smiled gently.

"But I think if we keep spoiling her, this relationship might not end well?"

"I'd like to know why you're reminding me of all this." The boy looked into her eyes. "From Tomatsu's perspective, shouldn't he be hoping that things don't go well between me and Mochizuki?"

"Because I don't want Tsunkun to be sad," Tomatsu Yuka said without hesitation.

She smiled, pressed her fair and smooth cheek against his, and kissed the corner of his mouth with her moist lips.

"Anyway, as long as I can stay by your side, that's enough for me~"

This is the girl's calculated strategy. She doesn't need to learn from Mochizuki Haruka's relentless pursuit. As long as she can make the boy feel relaxed and relieved of pressure in her presence, it is a real victory.

"..." Jun Matsue looked at her smiling face.

"If I officially start dating Mochizuki, would you still be willing to stay by my side like this?"

Tomatsu Yuka's smile vanished instantly, seemingly surprised that the boy would ask such a question.

Before the girl could figure out how to start the conversation, Jun Matsueda stood up and gave a sincere smile to the readers who were near the counter.

How can I help you?

The brief, tense atmosphere melted away silently under the gaze of the adults—as if nothing had happened, the young men and women drank herbal tea and did their homework, passing the last two hours before leaving get off work without a care in the world.

"Let's go." Jun Matsueda tidied up the counter and looked at the girl beside him.

"Hmm!" Tomatsu Yuka slung her handbag over her shoulder and shook the thermos in her hand. "There's still a little bit left, I can keep it for the road."

The boy and girl walked towards the library door; their time together wasn't over yet.

They made plans to go to the University of Tokyo together after get off work today.

(End of this chapter)