Am I being simulated by their love affair.

Chapter 710 Adaptable Girl

As September progressed, the sun began to set earlier and earlier. In the Higashi-Nakano apartment, a girl stood with her back to the window, her fine hairs at her temples tinged with the golden hue of the sunlight streaming in from outside.

Matsueda Jun looked at her face. After accepting the invitation, a hint of melancholy appeared in the senior's firm eyes.

Was he worried about feeling awkward when he met Tomatsu? He wondered.

"If you're having trouble deciding, it's okay to change your mind now," the boy said.

After all, she hasn't even settled down yet, so asking herself to muster the courage to face the younger generation might just make things worse.

“No.” Yamami Maki shook her head.

"I'll see Yuka sooner or later anyway."

If she wants to return to Tsunkun's side, she must sort out her relationship with Yuka.

Perhaps Yuka no longer cares about her existence, but she has to face the ugly version of herself from the past.

Jun Matsue looked at her; the girl's soft brows and eyes held a hint of resilience.

From the day she moved out of the Yamami family home, this resilience, like the tender green base color of a plant, has never faded in her eyes.

"..." Avoiding the tender vines sprouting in her eyes, the boy looked at the other furnishings in the room.

"It seems that the senior is adapting well to this room."

A hollowed-out fruit basket sat on the stove, a matcha-colored rug covered the entryway, and several bird and flower magnets appeared on the refrigerator. A photo of Yamami Maki and Kuroba Kokoro, probably taken when they went shopping yesterday, was also pasted on it.

In just three days, the once empty apartment has become much more lively, and it's clear that the girl is enjoying the fun of decorating her little home.

“Of course!” Yami Maki smiled at him, her lips curving upwards. “I’m serious about living independently.”

"Yesterday I carefully inspected the house according to the house condition confirmation form and the reminders left by Songzhi."

"Aside from some signs of aging, there's nothing seriously wrong."

“I marked those marks and filmed them.” The girl pointed to the fluorescent green sticker on the range hood behind her.

"There are burn marks on the edge of this range hood. I don't know how the previous tenants managed to do that."

"Maybe the fire in the pot is too strong," the boy said suddenly.

Yamami Maki chuckled softly, "That's probably someone like me who isn't very good at cooking."

Her faint smile stood out brightly in the growing sunlight by the window, and Jun Matsue blinked.

"So there are no other problems at all?"

"Hmm..." The girl tilted her head back to think.

"Besides the bathtub in the bathroom being a bit small... there does seem to be another problem."

She stood up and opened the sliding door to the bedroom. Sunlight, like piled-up sand, flowed into the room along the door frame.

The boy thought for a moment, then followed her into the bedroom.

The girl's bedroom connects to the balcony, with a transparent glass door replacing an entire wall. Large swathes of golden sunlight fall on the horizontally placed bed, turning the pure white sheets into a warm, sunny color.

Compared to the oddly shaped and cramped living room, the bedroom in front of them was undoubtedly standard and comfortable—the senior student still had the insistence of a young lady, Jun Matsue thought to himself, standing behind the girl.

“Look, Matsue-kun—” Yamami Maki stood on tiptoe and pointed to the air conditioner hanging in the corner of the ceiling.

“The only place in this house with air conditioning is the bedroom…” She opened her arms and pointed to the balcony doors and sliding doors on both sides of the bedroom.

“I checked the power of this air conditioner. Considering this apartment layout, it would take a long time and consume a lot of electricity to cover the living room.”

“That is indeed a problem.” The boy walked up to her. “Have you tried turning on the air conditioner?”

"It opened last night, so I only realized it then."

Yamami Maki secretly glanced at the two people standing next to her, separated by a coat rack under the air conditioner. She could see Matsueda's ankles and sock tops by looking down—the boy's Achilles tendon was neither too long nor too short, and he looked like he was good at sports.

Although Matsueda Jun had entered and exited her apartment several times, the boy always sat on the other side of the sofa in the living room, consciously keeping his distance from her.

So even though this closer physical distance still felt far from her former lover, the girl still felt a small surge of excitement.

"It is indeed a bit of a hassle." The words next to her pulled her back to reality. "But it's almost autumn now, so the air conditioning issue isn't that important."

“That makes sense.” Yami Maki turned her head.

The boy immediately took a half step back.

"..." Her gaze wavered, but she maintained her gentle expression.

Jun Matsue glanced at her and said, "In autumn and winter, air conditioning is not very practical for heating. You can buy some other heaters."

“Okay~” The girl smiled. “I see in TV dramas that people often use kotatsu and oil lamps in winter, and I want to try it too.”

"The Yami family probably uses underfloor heating," Matsueda Jun thought nonchalantly, glancing at the golden balcony outside the bedroom.

Noticing his gaze, the girl turned and looked out the window.

"Matsue-kun also thinks this balcony is pretty good, right?"

The boy watched the clothes drying on the balcony swaying in the wind, shaking off the hazy sunlight.

"It's really nice, with plenty of natural light and good ventilation. However, you need to be careful about air conditioning leaks in winter and summer—"

Before he could finish speaking, the girl in front of him, like a rabbit caught by a hunter, suddenly opened the balcony door and darted out.

Jun Matsue watched as his senior on the balcony turned her back to him, quickly gathered up the bras and panties that were hanging out to dry, carried them back to her bedroom, and placed them on the bed next to her with a flushed face.

The room fell silent, with only the faint sounds of the girl busily folding clothes.

"..." The boy looked at the short-sleeved shirt left on the balcony.

He didn't even notice the color and style of the underwear.

"Actually, it's nothing. I probably have underwear and socks drying on my balcony right now too."

"It's not just one person," he added in his mind.

Sitting on the bed, Yamami Maki still had her back to him, only revealing her earlobes and neck, which were flushed with embarrassment.

"Mmm..." the girl responded with a soft whimper.

Jun Matsue blinked and looked around the room.

He initially thought it was nothing, but seeing his senior's shy expression, he seemed to start to care as well.

"If we move the table from the living room in, this place would be just right," the boy said, pointing to the floor under the air conditioner, changing the subject.

“…Okay!” Yamami Maki opened the wardrobe next to the bed, put the neatly folded underwear inside, and then turned around.

Jun Matsue glanced at her still-blushing cheeks, then looked at the wardrobe next to her, which was about the same size as the sliding door of the bedroom.

"This wardrobe is quite spacious."

"After all, it takes up part of the living room space." The girl smoothed a strand of hair behind her ear, and her rationality began to return.

The half-open wardrobe was clearly not empty; the boy remembered the senior's daily report from yesterday.

"Did you buy a lot of things yesterday?"

"Not much, really." Yamami Maki wiped the heat from her cheek with her thumb, got out of bed, and returned to the boy's side.

"I bought two autumn coats, two innerwear pieces, a skirt, and a pair of pants..."

The girl glanced outside the bedroom door and gestured under the air conditioner, as if she was studying how to put the table.

"There are also some miscellaneous little things, like refrigerator magnets and floor mats, which I only buy when there are discounts."

"How much did it cost?" Jun Matsuoka was more concerned about this.

"Ah..." The senior student looked up, her eyes suddenly filled with guilt. "I'll go find the receipt—"

The girl walked out of the bedroom as she spoke, and the boy followed closely behind, watching her open the cabinet above the shoe cabinet and take out neatly folded white receipts.

"..." Yamami Maki stared at the numbers on the paper and calculated for a moment, then cautiously looked up at the boy.

"About 100,000?"

Jun Matsue raised an eyebrow sharply. "So many?"

He wasn't too surprised, because a quick glance at the dresses hanging in his senior's closet told him they weren't cheap.

The girl nodded timidly, "A single dress costs ten or twenty thousand yen, and I went to one of the cheaper stores in the mall..."

"So clothes were the main thing yesterday." The boy tugged at his shirt.

"I don't think any of my autumn clothes cost more than 2,000 yen."

"So cheap!" Yamami Maki exclaimed, her eyes widening. "I can buy so many things now!"

“Just don’t buy from high-end shopping malls.” Jun Matsueda glanced out the window by the stove. “There should be plenty of vintage clothing stores, personal clothing stores, and affordable brands around here in Nakano.”

"Aren't there GU and 2nd Street around the station? You can buy clothes for 500 yen there."

"Really?" The girl gripped the ticket tightly, eager to try it out.

“Of course.” The boy nodded. “We’ve been to Shimokitazawa before, right? The shopping streets in Nakano are pretty much the same.”

"Go explore more when you have time, senior. Otherwise, if you spend money like you did yesterday, your little savings of 1.5 million won't last long."

"I understand!" Yami Maki smiled apologetically and muttered softly.

"It's all Kokoro's fault..."

The two returned to the living room and sat down, with the girl in a chair and the boy on a sofa.

"So, the senior's savings can be used normally?"

“Yes.” Yamami Maki got up, took half a bunch of grapes from the refrigerator, and stood by the sink to wash them.

"My sister said today that she will bring my clothes and computer over in a couple of days, so I won't spend money recklessly anymore!"

"Miss Yuka will be here in a couple of days?" Matsueda Jun frowned. "Then why did you ask him to visit his senior today?"
The cunning adult...

The girl washed the grapes she had picked, put them in a fruit basket, and presented them to the boy.

"Matsue-kun, would you like to try some? The shop assistant told me that grapes are on sale in September, only 800 yen."

The boy took a few as a token gesture, saying, "Fruit isn't cheap in Japan either."

"So now I only buy things on sale~" Yamami Maki stood up and returned to the table with the fruit basket.

Jun Matsue watched as she placed the small plate on the table in front of her and peeled the green grapes in her hand, her fingertips moving with unusual awkwardness.

"Actually, the skin of grapes is edible," he couldn't help but say.

The girl paused, then looked up in surprise.

"Is that so?"

The boy put a grape in his mouth, chewed it a few times, and then swallowed it smoothly.

Yamami Maki blinked, then put the half-peeled piece in her hand into her mouth.

"..."

She chewed, a cute, embarrassed look on her face, then glanced at the boy, covered her lips with her hand, and spat the peel and seeds into the plate without making a sound.

"It feels so strange to swallow the skin..."

“Then just eat it and spit it out.” Jun Matsue looked at her sideburns hanging down her face. “At least it’s easier than peeling them one by one like you do.”

Yamami Maki turned her head and looked at the glistening green grapes in the fruit basket, glistening with water droplets.

She picked up another one, put it in her mouth, chewed it carefully, then covered her mouth again, lowered her head, and spat out the crumpled fruit peel.

“Indeed.” The girl looked up and smiled. “But it feels a bit rude…”

"What does it matter?" Jun Matsue replied without hesitation. "Who cares if you're rude or not these days?"

And it was clearly a very elegant and beautiful posture—he didn't say those words out loud.

Looking at the calm, matter-of-fact boy, Yamami Maki was taken aback.

Songzhi is right. Just like eating spicy food and biting a straw, she doesn't need to care about other people's opinions now, and the boy in front of her is not the kind of person who would ask her to do that.

So the girl ate another large green grape, chewing it as she smiled at the boy.

"It's still very sweet even when eaten this way~"

Just before dusk officially arrived, Jun Matsueda took out his phone and walked towards the entrance hall while editing a message to Ikuka Yamami.

Having confirmed that his senior was adapting well, he considered the task Miss Yuxiang had entrusted to him completed—today, it was Kurusu's turn to prepare dinner, and if he returned late, she would definitely be unhappy.

"Wait a minute, Matsue-kun!" Yamami Maki called out to him from behind.

"Um, you still haven't told me when the brass band's practice performance is."

“I don’t know the time yet either.” Jun Matsue turned around, bent down to change his shoes in the entryway, and said, “I’ll give your contact information to the current head of the brass band later, and she can tell you when the time comes.”

The girl smiled and nodded, "Okay~"

Actually, she would have preferred that Songzhi relay the message to her.

The blue slippers that she had taken off fell to the floor. Yamami Maki stepped forward, carefully picked them up, and put them into the shoe cabinet next to her.

She straightened up, and the boy in front of her pushed open the door. A sunset glow appeared in the sky outside the corridor, gently landing on his shoulder.

"Oh, right." Jun Matsue turned around and looked at her.

"I definitely won't be coming here as often as I have these past two days. If you need anything, just send me a message as usual."

"..." Yami Maki laughed, "Sending messages like you have these past two days?"

Do we still need to submit daily reports? The boy nodded. "Anything is fine."

"I hope to see Matsueda-kun sooner next time~" The girl smiled and waved cutely with her right hand in front of her chest.

"You don't need me to deliver it, right?"

“That’s right.” Jun Matsue slung his backpack over his right shoulder and waved his hand casually.

"See you next time then."

It seems that my senior has indeed begun to adapt to her new life... he thought, gazing at the slowly descending sunlight on the horizon.

Watching the boy's figure disappear into the afterglow at the end of the corridor, Yamami Maki then closed the door.

The note below the peephole that read "Remember to lock the door" swayed. The girl locked the security door, then opened the shoe cabinet to look at the pair of blue slippers before returning to her seat at the dining table.

She looked down at the wet, wrinkled fruit peel in the plate.

"It's a bit ugly," Yami Maki shook her head and turned to look at the sunset outside the window.

I guess I'll have to go to the brass band's invitation.

The warmth of their past romance had long since faded, and now Matsue wouldn't take the initiative to approach her...

The girl stood up and dumped the ugly fruit peel into the trash can next to her.

Therefore, she needs to take the initiative.

(End of this chapter)