Am I being simulated by their love affair.

Chapter 654 Temporary Plan
After glancing at the smiley face in the chat box, Jun Matsue swiped the screen and exited.

A cute, pale yellow parrot avatar reappeared at the top of the list after a long absence. Jun Matsue stared at it for a few seconds, then put his phone away and walked toward the girl outside the convenience store.

Yosei Kurusu carried a bag in his left hand and held the cheapest light blue popsicle from the freezer in his right, examining its thin, translucent wrapper in the sunlight.

The footsteps stopped beside her, and the girl turned her head. "What's Songzhi doing in there?"

"Check your messages." Jun Matsueda waved his phone. "Hurry back, or our ice cream will melt."

"Oh~"

Lai Qiyang stuffed the popsicle back into the plastic bag and stepped into the scattered shadows under the eaves of the roadside houses.

"Look, idols are such a hassle; you can't even grab an ice cream on the street."

The boy smiled and followed behind her. "Think about it from another perspective. Only a super popular idol like you has the right to complain about this kind of thing."

He didn't want to tell Kurusu about contacting the Yami family until he was sure there was hope—it would be somewhat cruel to the girl if she were given hope only to be disappointed.

As for the senior student... Jun Matsue looked at the sunlight beyond the shadows at his feet.

She acted as if nothing had happened, as if she were no different from herself.

Is this what you call a tacit understanding? The boy thought to himself with a self-deprecating smile.

He didn't choose to contact his senior's sister directly because he didn't know how Yamami Ikuka felt about him—it would be safer to have his senior relay the message.

Wouldn't this be considered taking advantage of the senior student...?

The premise for taking advantage of this is that the feelings are still there. Jun Matsue kicked a pebble at his feet.

"Songzhi! Hurry up!" The girl who had crossed the zebra crossing turned around and called to him.

"If you keep moving like this, the popsicle will really melt!"

"I'm coming."

Bathed in the dazzling sunlight, the boy ran towards her.

While having dinner in the orphanage's canteen, Jun Matsue received a message from Haruka Mochizuki.

"I've finished visiting my relatives."

The girl sent a photo. The maid the boy had seen during the day was now wearing a kimono and kneeling respectfully at a low table in the foreground, serving food.

Behind the maid was an open sliding door to a Japanese-style room, outside which was a dappled golden light and shadow, and the maple leaves, in varying shades of green, floated high above the door frame, creating a captivating wabi-sabi atmosphere.

“So beautiful,” he replied immediately.

"What's the use of being pretty? Someone still doesn't want to come."

The girl's words couldn't hide her resentment, so Jun Matsue could only smile helplessly and take a picture of her dinner at the orphanage.

After putting down his phone, the conversation across the table grew louder. The boy looked up and saw that Kurusu and Aya seemed to have been chatting since the start of the meal.

"What are you talking about?" He tapped the girl's bowl lightly with his chopsticks. "You're not even eating."

Yosei Kurusu ate a couple of mouthfuls of rice, finished the remaining miso soup, and then leaned his head close to Aya Miyamura.

"We're talking about where to go for fun~" the idol said excitedly, "Nagano or Oakwood, we still haven't decided."

“I think Enoshima is pretty good too,” Aya-chan added.

"There are too many people on Enoshima!" the girl shook her head in protest. "We need to go somewhere less crowded."

"...Wait a minute." Jun Matsueda paused, "What, where are we going to play?"

"You and Aya-chan? When?"

"Tomorrow?" Aya Miyamura looked up, somewhat surprised, as she swiped through the landscape photos on her phone.

"Isn't Chun-ge going? Yang-shi-jie said you'd be coming too." "..." The boy put down his chopsticks. "How come I didn't know about that?"

The girl sitting opposite him playfully stuck out her tongue.

The discussion about where to go for fun was put on hold. After dinner, Jun Matsueda and Yosei Kurusu took a walk around the perimeter of the orphanage.

A Shiba Inu barked happily as it ran past outside the wall, and the boy gently knocked on the solid wall.

"Why do you suddenly want to go out and have fun?"

"I just suddenly wanted to go out and have some fun," the girl walking beside him said casually. "I've been staying home for so many days, it's normal to want to go out and have some fun, right?"

"That's what you say..." Jun Matsue glanced at her, "You're not thinking this because Mochizuki went back to his hometown, are you?"

He still remembers the girl's happy expression when she talked about their time together.

Miss Idol's eyes darted around as she looked at the fiery red sky, where a few birds flying by were silhouetted against the setting sun.

"So what?" she puffed out her chest and said confidently, "Even if you don't go, Caijiang and I have already agreed that we will definitely go!"

Adding Aya-chan along wouldn't make Matsugi feel too ambiguous, and it would also give him another reason to worry and take care of her—Kurasu Yosei always acts on instinct, and her intuition is more useful than her brain.

"..."

The boy didn't speak; he turned his gaze to the other side.

The shadows of boys and girls chased and played on the lawn. A little further away were the exterior walls of buildings, the afterglow of the setting sun climbing up the walls like candle flames about to go out.

“I said—” Kurusu Yosei’s cheek suddenly came close to his, “You’re not going to have to consider Mochizuki Haruka’s approval for everything you do now, are you?”

Jun Matsue gently pushed her cheek away. "Then I've already gone to Kamakura with Mochizuki."

But the girl leaned closer again, "So you're still hesitating here because of her, aren't you?"

"What's the difference between that and going to Kamakura with her?"

The boy stopped in his tracks. The girl's overly keen intuition seemed to have uncovered something he himself hadn't even considered.

"Didn't Matsue say he was playing both sides?" Kurusu Yosei said provocatively.

"But I don't think I've ever seen you hesitate because of Yuuka-chan?"

With this kind of mentality, can one really have it both ways?
Jun Matsuoka looked into her exceptionally persuasive and bright eyes and sighed deeply.

"Do you really want to go out and play tomorrow?"

"Of course!" the girl nodded vigorously. "If you think of something, you should do it!"

"It's just a two-day trip, it definitely won't take up your vacation time!"

So where are we going?

"It's not decided yet~" Yosei Kurusu pointed into the distance, where Aya Miyamura was sitting on a recliner in the corridor watching the sunset.

"Aya-chan is waiting to discuss this with us!"

Right after dinner, she assured Aya that she would definitely convince Matsue.

The boy glanced at his phone. "Is there enough time to book a hotel and train tickets?"

"If there's no time, I'll just rent a car and drive there myself!" the girl said confidently. "There will definitely be hotels when I get there!"

"..." Matsueda Jun glanced at her, then took a step forward as if admitting defeat.

"Let's decide as soon as possible and buy the tickets early."

(End of this chapter)