Am I being simulated by their love affair.

Chapter 691 Yamami Maki Wants to Win Back
On the second day of school, at 3:30 pm, the school bell rang on time.

After tidying up the exam papers on the table and putting them in the drawer, Jun Matsue looked at the girl sitting to his right.

Tomatsu Yuka was stuffing her exquisite notebook into her bag, but unlike usual, after tidying up her uniform bag, she took out a handbag from the other side of the desk, out of the boys' sight.

The long, rectangular handbag gleamed with a silvery-gray sheen. Its narrow, rounded shape featured two smooth, flowing lines, giving it an understated yet sophisticated look—the kind of appearance that would make you consider whether you have the ability to carry it before you even pick it up.

Jun Matsue blinked. "Yuka brought her saxophone today?"

"Yes~" The girl nodded, her composure tinged with a hint of pride.

"The wind band has also qualified for the national competition this year, and the younger members hope I can find some time to give them some pointers~"

"Can unrelated people also go to watch?" The boy pointed to himself, "It's been a long time since I've seen you play."

"Really?" Tomatsu Yuka blinked and slightly pouted her pink lips.

"Didn't you play it for Jun-kun before?"

Matsueda Jun took a moment to realize that she was referring to things in bed.

"..."

He cast a helpless glance at her, while the girl stood up with a sweet smile, carrying two bags, one large and one small.

"Let's skip it today. I haven't practiced the saxophone in a while."

"I'll go to the brass band club with Tsunku next time~"

Jun Matsue raised his right hand and waved his fingers, bidding farewell to Tomoka Tomatsu who was walking out the back door.

He sat up straight again and continued to pack his schoolbag, watching the students leave the classroom in twos and threes, carrying their textbooks and water bottles.

After the start of the second semester, many more students chose to stay on campus for two more self-study sessions, which can be seen as a reflection of the gradually intensifying atmosphere of exam preparation.

and so……

The boy turned his head and looked at the girl sitting by the window organizing her textbooks.

The drawn curtains made the area near the window hotter than the rest of the room. Mochizuki Haruka, with her hair tied in a high, cool ponytail, was methodically flipping through the exercises she had done in class during the day.

Her exposed nape was dazzlingly white in the sunlight. Jun Matsue picked up the only pencil case left on the desk and leaned closer to the girl's line of sight.

"So, is Mochizuki also planning to go to study hall? Or is she going straight home?"

Mochizuki Haruka paused in her page-turning motion, glanced at the boy, and quickly turned her face to the other side, revealing only her crystal-clear earlobes and youthful high ponytail.

"I can go wherever I want, it has nothing to do with Songzhi."

"I just wanted to say that I really like Mochizuki's hairstyle today." The boy smiled, picked up his backpack, and stood up.

The girl blinked in surprise as she watched him walk toward the back door.

She's leaving already? She thought Songzhi would accompany her to the study room, or linger a little longer.

Mochizuki Haruka's cheeks puffed out slightly as she watched the boy's back walk out the door—only when Matsueda Jun suddenly peeked out from the door frame did she hurriedly turn around, putting on a cold expression again.

“If Mochizuki finds the window seat too hot, you can tell me.” The boy winked his left eye at her. “I’ll go ask Ms. Kominato to change seats.”

"..." The girl turned her head and glanced at him. "I understand."

This time her tone was a little softer, and Jun Matsue smiled and waved to her.

"Then I'll go first."

Before the girl could reply, the boy standing outside the door turned and walked towards the stairwell, shaking the bag in his hand and looking at the dappled light reflected at the end of the corridor.

To win a girl's heart, simply clinging to her is too inefficient. You need to be flexible, knowing when to let go and when to hold back, so that she can look forward to what you're looking forward to.

There are methods to dating. In order to win Mochizuki back as soon as possible, Matsueda Jun doesn't mind learning from Tomatsu and becoming a little more cunning.

Pushing his bicycle out of the school gate, the boy with the bag on his back climbed onto the bike. Instead of turning right at the intersection leading home, he headed in the opposite direction towards Kugayama Station.

Twenty minutes later, he walked out of Shibuya Station and looked at the coffee shop sign on the building at the intersection not far away.

That was the place he and his senior had agreed to meet. After visiting twice, he was already very familiar with it.

As he entered the building, the sliding doors of the coffee shop opened automatically. Nodding to the smiling waitress, Jun Matsueda walked towards the booth by the window.

This time, the girl by the window didn't immediately look at him as she had before—Yamami Maki was staring down at the open menu in front of her, a hint of melancholy in her eyes that didn't belong to this summer.

Just like the girl I met at Kasuga Station... Matsueda Jun thought to himself as he sat down in the empty seat opposite him.

"What's the senior thinking about?"

Yamami Maki then came to her senses and noticed the boy in the white shirt in front of her. She blinked in a panic.

The girl was looking out the window at the bustling crowd when she realized that the boy hadn't contacted her for several days, and she couldn't help but feel melancholy—recalling their past together made the damp mist in her heart even deeper.

"I was just overthinking..." She pushed the menu on the table towards her. "Would you like some coffee, Matsueda-san?"

Jun Matsueda shook his head. "Just give me a milkshake."

"Then two coconut milkshakes." Yami Maki put the menu aside and looked at the boy in front of her.

"Hamegaoka High School has already started, right?"

"It's been two days since school started." Jun Matsueda glanced at the crowds of people bathed in sunlight outside the window. "I think universities start much later, right?"

"Yes." The girl nodded. "Usually, the holiday starts in early August and school starts at the end of September."

"Almost two months," the boy said, turning his gaze back to her. "That's much better than the arrangements in high school."

"They said it was summer vacation, but the weather was still 36 or 37 degrees Celsius after school started. Yesterday, several students from sports clubs suffered from heatstroke."

"The weather is getting more and more extreme, isn't it?" Yami Maki fanned her face with her hand. "I even felt a bit hot at the station today."

Unlike their previous two meetings, they finally had room for small talk again, and the girl's mood brightened considerably.

The milkshakes for the two were served quickly, and the window seat was quiet for a short while, with the faint sound of cars passing by the intersection outside the window.

After the waiter left with the tray, Yami Maki looked at the boy stirring the milkshake in front of her and spoke nervously.

"The fact that Songzhi came to see me today means you've made up your mind?"

Jun Matsue scooped up a spoonful of milkshake and put it in his mouth, then nodded.

"Just like my senior said before, there's no way I'm going to run away."

"So although conquest is a difficult choice, I have no way back."

"I see..." Yami Maki's expression wasn't surprised. She picked up a straw and slowly inserted it into her cup.

To be honest, she most hoped that Jun Matsueda wouldn't make this decision.

But if the boy chooses to run away, but not to her, the girl will definitely be even more disappointed.

So, even though her former lover was no longer faithful, Yamami Maki still chose to mix her regret and bitterness into other emotions in her heart, just like stirring a milkshake in front of her.

At least I still have a chance to make him happy, right?

The light and shadow outside the window gradually slanted westward. The girl by the window, having composed herself with the sweet taste of the coconut milkshake, spoke again.

"So, what are your specific plans, Matsueda-san?"

"It will be like the plots in those novels and animations..." She paused, her cheeks turning slightly red.

"To...to have a harem?" Jun Matsueda blinked in surprise. He hadn't expected to hear such a thing from his usually conservative senior.

The boy quickly shook his head. "It's already quite an achievement that they can accept the fact that I'm a womanizer."

"The reason why a novel is a novel is because the kind of harmonious relationship between people is not realistic."

"I can't imagine this kind of future right now."

“I see…” Yami Maki sipped her drink through the straw and nodded slightly, looking a little awkward.

"So, what's the current situation with Matsue-kun?"

"While dating Tomatsu, I'm trying to soften Mochizuki's heart." Jun Matsueda put down the spoon in his hand.

"After breaking up with Tomatsu, I started dating someone else, which was a way of putting an end to our past relationship."

"Mochizuki definitely won't accept my idea. She's moved out of the apartment and is keeping her distance from me both at school and in private now."

The girl didn't speak, silently holding her milkshake—she would be quite happy if Mochizuki Haruka really felt disappointed in Matsueda-san and no longer liked her.

After all, Mochizuki Haruka has to bear half the responsibility for the fact that Matsue-san was so lackluster in the simulation...

"But given enough time, I should be able to win over Mochizuki," the boy continued. "However, getting her aunt's approval is the more troublesome thing."

Yamami Maki thought for a moment, then shook her head helplessly, "It doesn't seem very likely."

"My sister said that Miss Hua is a very opinionated and capable dictator, otherwise she wouldn't be able to manage the Wangyue family well."

"..." Matsueda Jun took a sip of his milkshake; his impression of Mochizuki Hana didn't seem to be like that.

However, for the sake of her precious niece, the aunt certainly wouldn't mind reminding him of the patriarch who had shown both kindness and severity when they first met.

Is the only option to beg her to hand over her niece to me, like in the TV dramas?

Noticing the worried look in the girl's eyes, Jun Matsue snapped out of his reverie.

"There's no sign of Mochizuki changing her mind yet. We'll see about Auntie's attitude later."

"Does your senior still have dreams about simulations lately?"

Yamami Maki shook her head. "I haven't dreamed about the simulation since the system panel was displayed last time."

It seems it has given up again, and the boy started stirring the milkshake in front of him.

"What if it goes to find someone else?" the girl suddenly wondered.

"It shouldn't happen anytime soon." Jun Matsue looked at the glittering light that moved up and down along the handle of the spoon.

"Perhaps it also needs time to build up its strength and find users?" he guessed.

“I wish it could simulate it for me again.” Yami Maki smiled apologetically. “I don’t think there’s anything I can do to help you right now.”

The boy looked up and said, "You've already helped me a lot."

He lowered his eyes and remained silent for a while.

Since letting go of his resentment and obsession, Jun Matsue and the girl have met three times. Each time, Maki Yami is just as gentle and considerate, always thinking about his future.

"Why is my senior helping me so diligently?"

Even if they have a tacit understanding on this matter, it's still better to ask clearly at this point.

Yamami Maki's expression froze for a moment.

A glint of light flashed in her eyes. The girl took a breath and smiled at him.

"Of course I hope you can be happy." Her tone was gentle and relieved.

Whether it was the breakup back then or her reappearance in front of the boy now, her wish has never changed.

The girl back then was naive and inexperienced, but now Yamami Maki is much more mature.

Jun Matsue looked out the window at the slanting sunlight.

He didn't want to ask what kind of feelings were hidden behind the girl's words, as that would only hurt her.

Being a womanizer is not the same as being promiscuous.

He was grateful to Yami Maki, but this gratitude did not motivate him to rekindle his past love.

"What's your future like in the simulation, senior?" the boy changed the subject.

“…Me?” Yamami Maki smiled again.

"But you, the audience of each tragedy, don't even have the right to witness it firsthand."

"Although it was only a simulation for a few years, the final outcome in life would probably be just a weak little bird staying in the family's cage."

At this point, the girl leaned forward and placed her hands, which were folded on her lap, on the table.

"I don't know how Matsueda and Yuka view this system."

"But I am very grateful for it."

She stretched out her hands and gently and carefully placed them on the boy's free left hand.

"At least it really gave me real courage."

"I don't want to just watch Matsue-san find happiness."

"I hope that my share can also be a part of your happiness."

Looking into those eyes shimmering with soft light, Jun Matsue withdrew his left hand, which had been covered by warmth.

"Does my senior still like me?" He summarized the girl's words into the simplest sentence.

“Of course.” Yamami Maki nodded firmly.

"Tsun-kun has done so much for me, I can't find a reason not to continue liking you."

Even though we've discussed with each other more than once how to date other girls at the same time?

"I don't think this is solely Matsueda's fault." The girl's eyes held a hint of bitterness.

"If I had stood firmly with you back then, perhaps we wouldn't have had so many ups and downs now."

"..." Jun Matsue looked at the milkshake that was still half full.

There was little sweetness in his heart; instead, it was as messy as that melted ice cream.

The boy looked up.

"I'm sorry to say this, but the feelings I had for my senior back then have almost completely disappeared now."

Matsueda Jun pursed his lips, watching the girl in front of him lose his composure.

However, to his surprise, after her long eyelashes trembled a few times, Yamami Maki smiled again, though her upturned lips showed some sadness.

"I know." Her voice trembled slightly, but the determination in her eyes shone even brighter.

"But I think it's not too late to try again to make you like me."

(End of this chapter)