Am I being simulated by their love affair.

Chapter 87: Heartbreaking and Devastating

Jun Matsueda walked out of the hotel lobby and looked towards the other end of the rising slope, a direction that no one had looked at in the evening.

Under the clear night sky, you can see the shadow of the Nagoya International Conference Center building not far away. That is where the national conference will be held tomorrow.

Teacher Hirouchi Aya did not let the girls run around tonight and only allowed them to walk around the hotel. One reason was for their personal safety, and the other was that it would affect their performance the next day.

It was past ten o'clock in the evening, and the girls were probably all in their rooms getting ready for bed. When I passed by their rooms, I could hear faint whispers and laughter.

Having spent most of the day on the road, Jun Matsueda had no place to release his energy. He walked to the end of the slope, which was a park.

Take a walk, go back and take a shower before going to bed. He walked in from the path with the sign "White Bird Courtyard".

This is a small garden with no walls, only cultivated trees and large stones laid in the grass to form a path.

It was late at night, and although the streetlights were on, Songzhi Jun still felt the chill of the eerie air as he walked alone through the courtyard. He crossed the stone path over the pond and the large lawn along the bank, arriving at the riverside at the edge of the courtyard.

Coming to a place like this at night was like walking in a maze, which he didn't like. Matsueda Jun walked up along the river and soon came out of the winding courtyard.

The river is called Horikawa, and it runs through the entire city of Nagoya. Jun Matsueda soon saw the back of the Nagoya International Conference Center. If he walked up the slope, he should be almost at the end.

It was another park. Jun Matsueda looked at the sign in front of him that said "Shiratori Park". Unlike the previous courtyard, the area in front of him was flat and open, planted with cherry trees. Most of them were past the flowering season, but the few by the river were still in bloom.

Medal cherry, winter cherry and eastern cherry blossoms all bloom out of season. Jun Matsueda turned his back on them while preparing for the competition. He walked closer to observe these untimely cherry blossoms. Next to him was a stone bridge across the river.

He stood on the bridge, watching the falling pink petals land in the Horikawa River and drift away with the current.

Across the stone bridge was another park, Atsuta Jingu Park. Matsueda Jun wondered if all the parks in Nagoya were built in this area. He didn't go over, but watched the girl approach from the other side of the bridge.

Tomatsu Tomoka was wearing a beige sweater, and she lifted the low branches with one hand and walked onto the bridge.

"Matsueda-san also couldn't sleep and came to see the cherry blossoms?"

“Just a walk.”

They both sighed in their hearts that they could meet like this, they always had such a tacit understanding.

"It's late, and there's a competition tomorrow. Tomatsu-kun should go home early."

Tomatsu Tomoka nodded and walked past Matsueda Jun. He glanced at the homeless people's tents and the dark paths in the park, then followed the girl.

As he walked past the cherry tree, he watched a few cherry blossoms fall onto Tomatsu Tomoka's hair, and the absent-minded girl didn't notice.

If you like the girl next to you, when the petals fall on her, you can gently brush them away. If you don’t like it, please politely remind her.

But Jun Matsueda chose not to do or say anything, just watching the petals tremble in her hair.

The only sounds on the stone path were the two people's footsteps. Matsueda Jun spoke up, "Tomatsu-san, please be careful when you go out late at night in unfamiliar places in the future."

The girl walking in front of him nodded slightly.

"Also, the nights are very cold right now, and the park is very humid and chilly. If I catch a cold or something, it will be troublesome for tomorrow's game."

The two walked out of the park, crossed the slope, and returned to the front of the hotel. The girl turned and looked at him.

"Matsueda-san, are you concerned about me?"

As soon as she finished speaking, Tomatsu Tomoka's eyes trembled and she saw the pink petals on Matsueda Jun's shoulders.

Without thinking at all, she naturally raised her hand and brushed the cherry blossoms off his shoulder.

The girl then reacted, and both of them looked at her outstretched hand.

"Sorry." Tomatsu Tomoka said this and turned away. Matsueda Jun watched her hurriedly leave, and the petals on the girl's head finally fell off.

The next day, at the Nagoya International Conference Center, the girls walked into the Century Hall on the second floor of Building 1, which is the largest concert hall in the conference center.

"It has three tiers of seats!" The chief trumpet player tugged at the sleeve of the person next to him and whispered in amazement.

The girls looked up at the vast, theater-like space. For most of them, this was the first time they had performed in such a formal and high-profile setting. In fact, this might be the pinnacle of their playing careers.

"The National Congress." A heavy sense of reality settled in their hearts.

After finishing their preparations in the preparation room, the girls slipped back into Century Hall. This time they came on stage later, wanting to observe their opponents' performance.

"This is awesome!"

"That one is amazing too!"

They were silently exclaiming in the last row until the Tokai University affiliated Takanawadai High School came on stage and played "A Thousand Years of Darkness", and then even the exclamations stopped.

"Don't think they're that strong. We're also a team that advanced to the National Tournament, and we've improved a lot compared to the Tokyo Tournament!"

Yamami Maki encouraged the girls, and they looked at Tomatsu Touka who was sitting silently next to them and nodded in agreement.

Although they may not necessarily have an advantage in ensemble performance, when it comes to solo performance, they feel that even Takanawadai, who has been a national gold medalist for many years, cannot be said to have completely defeated the principal saxophone player Yuqiu Gao.

Half an hour later, the Hanegaoka High School Wind Band took the stage. Looking at the three rows of space in front of them and the view of the judges, they were surprised to find that they were not as nervous as they had been in Tokyo.

After the conductor came on stage, the girls stopped having wild thoughts and tried to remain calm.

The first theme song is "When the Wind Shines".

Everyone felt that this was the most perfect performance so far. Perhaps it was because of the wide space, the wind that rushed up to the sky did not dissipate for a long time.

The second free song is "Fantasy of Eternal Summer Days".

The girls became more focused, but not to better demonstrate their own abilities, but to prepare themselves to withstand the emotional impact of Tomatsu Tomoka.

The sound of flutes and cicadas echoed in the Century Hall in Nagoya, and the hot summer day of two months ago was replayed. Some audience members wiped the non-existent sweat from their foreheads.

The polyphonic timpani and trombones disappeared, and at the end of the endless day, Tomatsu Tomoka's soprano saxophone echoed alone.

When she arrived, this thought suddenly occurred to the audience.

The girl closed her eyes, and the saxophone was at a loss in the tail end of summer. In the chaotic and short notes, everyone in the hall felt like they had lost their way, surrounded only by the confused sound of the saxophone.

The people in the audience held on to the armrests of their seats to give themselves a sense of reality.

When people felt a little annoyed because of the seemingly endless melody, the saxophone quietly changed its tune.

It began to welcome the next season, and even the originally smooth melody was frozen and stagnant by the cold wind. Dead leaves began to pile up and snowflakes began to fall.

In this desolate saxophone, people who were originally trapped in the summer instead began to miss that disorderly and long summer.

But the eternal day is over, and summer is gone.

No longer filled with nostalgia for summer like in Tokyo, nor with anticipation for future possibilities, the melodious saxophone is like an icy coffin, first buried by dead leaves and then frozen by ice and snow.

The clarinet, tuba and flute gradually rose to the stage, as if attending a funeral, using clear and melodious tones to bid farewell to their friends in a sad but not sorrowful manner.

The saxophone's final melody was long and weak. All the emotions that were about to be nailed in the coffin began to overflow, and Century Hall sank into the swamp.

The sadness of messing up everything, the relentless persistence, the awakening after the dust has settled, the irreparable regret, the rotten yet real emotions, poured into everyone's mouth like black mud, leaving an indelible touch in their stomachs.

It was as if even the saxophone itself was being pulled and deformed, groaning.

With a long, mournful tremolo, the world came to an end.

　I originally intended to write about the entire National Congress in one chapter, but I first laid the groundwork for what follows, and then wrote about Tomatsu's solo. I found that her emotions were released like a surging river, and I couldn't stop them. So, the next chapter will be the one to write about the entire National Congress.

　　After the national conference, their relationship will take a turn, and of course, it won't be a matter of just playing a tune and then it's over.

　　By the way, I'd like to recommend a book by the author Clockwork Orange Dream. I was really struggling to follow "Invasion of the Human World" before. This one also features female protagonists with some issues; it's a multi-female lead novel, so check it out!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)