Am I being simulated by their love affair?

After confirming that Jun Matsueda had read the message, the girl did not send any more messages.

Could it be that Kurusu was telling the truth, that cats and their owners had telepathy? Matsueda Jun pondered this question as he watched the bus appear at the intersection.

When he got off the bus and got on the subway, Natsumi Imokawa sent him a message.

"Is the pine branch coming soon?"

"Already on the tram."

The other party sent a penguin-like dazed expression.

Nishiogikubo and Kichijoji are only one stop apart, but Kichijoji belongs to Musashino City, north of Mitaka, while Nishiogikubo already belongs to Suginami Ward.

Walking out of Nishiogikubo Station, Jun Matsueda felt that the night here was not much different from that in Mitaka. The signboards opposite were flashing, and the neon lights in front of him were not very prosperous.

"Matsueda, this way!" Natsumi Imokawa, who was standing across the street, waved to him. The girl's white shirt was tucked into her long skirt, and the home sweater jacket she wore on the outside revealed the fact that she had just run away from home.

The girl sat in the dessert shop with Matsueda Jun. She stared down at the menu on the table, looking uneasy.

"You don't come to the dessert shop often, do you?"

"How did Songzhi know?" The girl looked up at him. "My mom told me that when meeting friends, it's best to choose a dessert shop or a coffee shop."

"Forget it." Matsueda Jun sighed, "Where do you usually go?"

Natsumi Imokawa stood up from her seat excitedly, "There's a video store here. I often go there on weekends!"

Walking along the streets of Nishiogikubo, the facilities on the road are not as brand new as those in Shibuya and Shinjuku, and the lampshades on the street lamps have the atmosphere of ten years ago.

"Is Imokawa's home on the Suginami side?" Matsueda Jun stepped over the low green railing, and the girl carefully walked around it.

"No, my dad's old studio is here. I'll live there when I go to school. It's more convenient."

Natsumi Imokawa started talking more. "There are a lot of animation companies here, like Sunrise and the company that made Evangelion."

The two walked in the alley. The girl was wearing a little too much and her face was flushed with excitement. She looked hazy under the dim street lights, with a psychedelic beauty.

"By the way, are we discussing recruiting new members for the club tonight?" Jun Matsueda suddenly remembered the reason why the girl summoned him.

"Hmm." Imokawa Natsumi's expression became confused again. "This is my first time as a cadre. I have no idea what to do..."

"Can't we talk about this kind of thing on the phone?" He was a little confused.

The girl began to stammer, and only after the two of them had walked out of the range of the street light did she turn her face to the darkness and speak in a low and self-deprecating voice.

"We haven't met since school started..."

Chapter 225: Two People in the Video Store

Natsumi Imokawa simply wanted to complain because she didn't have many friends, and the only one who would accompany her to play with the camera was Jun Matsueda.

After the girl showed an aggrieved expression, Matsueda Jun remembered that he had indeed not seen her in the three days since school started.

The narrow alley was immersed in awkward silence.

"Matsueda...you are my friend. And you are also my deputy minister. How could you forget me, the minister?" There was a little resentment in Natsumi Imokawa's tone.

She didn't dare complain too much. What if Songzhi really didn't want to be friends with her anymore?

"Sorry, I've been a bit busy these past few days since school started."

Although Matsueda Jun was making excuses, what he said was not completely a lie, because under the expectant gaze of Kominato Shoko, he became the class monitor again, and the deputy class monitor was still Tomatsu Touka with a calm smile.

"By the way, which class is Yuchuan from?" He quickly changed the subject.

"Ah, I'm from Class 5." The innocent girl was quickly led off the topic. Looking at the sign of the DVD store in the distance, her mood became better again.

"Class 5?" Matsueda Jun was a little surprised. "I'm in Class 6. We're on the same floor."

There are six classes on the third floor where Class 6 of Grade 2 is located, namely Class 5 and Class 6 of Grade 2, and Class 1 to 4 of Grade 3. This is why he met the senior sister who looked like a cherry blossom when he was basking in the sun on the balcony.

"I haven't seen Yichuan once in the past three days. It doesn't seem right."

"Maybe it's because I rarely leave the classroom..."

Natsumi Imokawa took two more steps and entered the video store before Jun Matsueda. The old man at the counter at the door greeted her with a smile.

"Imokawa is here again."

"Yes! I brought my friends with me this time!" The girl's tone was a little proud. She was also someone who could go shopping in a video store with her friends.

The space inside the store was similar to that of an ordinary bookstore, with many shelves densely filled with DVDs of various movies. After Jun Matsueda closed the door and the sounds from outside disappeared, the two of them seemed to have walked into the world of twenty years ago.

After all, even in Neon, where physical culture is prevalent, there are not many video stores left.

"Why does Imokawa rarely leave the classroom?" Matsueda Jun watched the girl moving freely between the shelves, as if she was at home.

"Because I don't know many students in my new class, I have to pass by several seats when leaving the classroom, so I feel a little nervous..."

Natsumi Imokawa doesn't like being stared at by others, so hiding behind the camera gives her a special sense of security.

The camera lens is like a wall, isolating the girl from the outside world.

"Well...it should be better after a while when everyone is familiar with each other." Jun Matsueda walked to the girl and watched her hand reach for the top row of the shelf.

The store is not very big. In order to make use of the space, the height of the shelves has exceeded Natsumi Imokawa's head by a large margin. The girl stands on tiptoe with one hand raised high, and the fullness of her chest becomes particularly prominent.

Her body swayed twice due to unstable center of gravity. Matsueda Jun put his hands on the girl's shoulders and pressed her back to the ground.

"Or I can help you get it."

"Okay~" The girl breathed a sigh of relief, her face flushed with shyness, "I used to carry the escalator to get it, but I didn't see where the escalator was today."

"The escalator is on the innermost shelf~" The old man's voice came from the counter, seeming a little far away.

"I understand - thank you -" Natsumi Imokawa responded louder, his face turning even redder.

"The one in the top row, 'Kamikaze Girls'." The girl's voice became softer, as if she didn't want anyone other than Matsueda Jun to hear.

"Is this the only one?" Jun Matsueda pulled out the cover of the CD. The cover showed a girl wearing a pink Lolita outfit and holding a parasol on a road in a green field.

"Hmm..." The girl hesitated, like a glutton considering what would be the best meal for her next meal. "And the one in the row below, 'The Tale of the Heike: Inu-oh'."

Jun Matsueda pulled out another thin box. The cover showed two men in strange and gorgeous clothes standing at the front of the wooden stage with the posture of rock stars.

"anything else?"

"That's enough for tonight." Imokawa Natsumi shook her head with a satisfied expression, "I've been looking for a movie with the word 'monogatari' in its title lately."

Jun Matsueda thought of a high school student with a very long name, two younger sisters, and a golden-haired vampire who always appeared around him.

"Ah, I've seen the Monogatari series a long time ago." The girl noticed his expression, "So Matsueda-san also watches anime."

“Is there anyone in Japan who doesn’t watch anime?”

Natsumi Imokawa chuckled.

"So, do you have any ideas about recruiting new people?" Jun Matsueda put two CDs in the girl's hands, and her smile disappeared.

"No..." Natsumi Imokawa leaned against the side of the shelf, looking weak, and the deformation of the girl's chest was a little exaggerated.

"Actually, you shouldn't worry too much." Matsueda Jun thought for a moment before speaking. "The News Department is a powerful student club in the school, so it's quite valuable. They don't recruit many students each year."

"Even if we don't do anything, there will still be a lot of people signing up. We just need to figure out how to review the new members."

"Really? That's good!" The girl regained her spirits and stood up with the help of the shelf. What she was most worried about was that the club would become unpopular in her hands.

"So, we should gather everyone in the News Department for a meeting tomorrow or the day after tomorrow to discuss the review of new members."

Jun Matsueda wandered around the store. There were many familiar movies on the shelves, many of which he had seen and many of which he had not.

"Well, Songzhi will help me, right? With a meeting or something?"

Natsumi Imokawa caught up to him with a pitiful and helpless look in her eyes. The aisle between the shelves was very narrow, and their bodies were almost touching. The girl's spring-like body exuded heat, and the ambiguous touch filled the already narrow space.

"I will, I will." Jun Matsueda took two steps into the open space, putting some distance between him and the girl.

"Ah, you can't go to Songzhi over there." Natsumi Imokawa looked behind him.

Jun Matsueda turned around and saw two blue curtains in front of him. There was a circle symbol on it, with two numbers symbolizing adulthood and a slash inside.

"Is there really such a place..." He looked at the words "Adult Only" on the curtain.

The girl laughed twice, her voice unclear. "When my father brought me here before, he always said I couldn't go in there."

“So my childhood dream was to go in and take a look.”

Jun Matsueda glanced at the surveillance camera on the wall, then looked at the old man who walked out of the counter and stretched his neck to look over here.

"Tonight's problem is temporarily resolved. How about we say goodbye here?"

Natsumi Imokawa hesitated for a moment, took out his cell phone and looked at the time. It was still early.

"Or, how about going to my dad's studio to watch a movie?"

The so-called studio is actually the girl’s current home.

Chapter 226: Her Home, Her Space, Her Face

Jun Matsueda followed the girl into the residential building.

This building doesn’t look new, but it’s better than Jun Matsueda’s apartment, and it does have an elevator.

"By the way, why did Imokawa come to study in Hanaoka?" Jun Matsueda suddenly thought of this question in the elevator.

"Because Yuqiu is the best school I can go to..." The girl held the bag containing the DVD box in her arms and looked at him with a puzzled look.

"Isn't the deviation value in Hanaoka around 69 or 70? Even if it's a little further from home, it's worth it."

"...Just pretend I didn't ask." Jun Matsueda almost forgot that most people choose schools based on their grades, unlike him who only chose schools around Mitaka for the sake of convenience.

"The atmosphere in Yugaoka is pretty good, and the atmosphere of school club activities is pretty good."

The elevator stopped on the eleventh floor, and the girl walked out of the elevator holding a bag. Jun Matsueda looked at the corridor in front of him. The distance between the doors was larger than the housing complex where he lived. It was obvious that the apartment was not cheap.

"Ah, and Haneda is in Mitaka, where there's the Ghibli Museum that I love!" Natsumi Imokawa took him to the end of the corridor, "I loved Ghibli movies when I was a kid!"

The girl stood in front of the metal gate and took out the key from her breast pocket with difficulty. Matsueda Jun waited outside the door for two seconds before going in.

"It's so dark..." His first thought was very plain and simple. The curtains in the room were drawn, not a single ray of light came through. Only the light from outside the door passed through the floor and shone on a pile of papers on the table.

"Oh, sorry." Although she didn't know why, the girl apologized subconsciously. "Because many things in the house can't be exposed to light for a long time, the curtains are usually drawn."

A soft "click" sound came from somewhere, and Natsumi Imokawa turned on the light, and the room became brighter. The light in the room was very soft, illuminating only the area that originally belonged to the restaurant.

On the long table was a laptop computer, which looked like a model from a few years ago. Surrounding it were various high and low tables, on which were placed various pens, papers, camera lenses, a miniature human model with movable joints, a printer, and many notebooks bound with printing paper.

Matsueda Jun turned around and looked around. The first thing he saw wasn't the white walls, but wooden bookshelves, piled high with the packaging of various books and DVDs, making the originally spacious space seem smaller. Across from the computer hung a large whiteboard, covered in the remnants of four-frame comic-book graffiti, and covered in numerous photos and drawing papers. He even spotted a few of his own photos.

"These are things left over from my father's studio. This was his former workspace, and he would come back to take a look occasionally."

Natsumi Imokawa didn't know where she put the bag in her hand. She had taken off her sweater jacket, and her shirt was bulging. The girl lowered her head and twisted her hands awkwardly in front of her.

This was the first time she had someone come home.

"It feels quite good. It's the director's space I imagined. I just don't know where to sit." Jun Matsueda walked around the long table and looked at the scattered papers on the table.

"Any chair!" The girl pushed the sofa chair next to him like an attentive dog. "The studio's old rule was that you couldn't put anything on the chairs, so the chairs are all safe!"

It was like listening to some studio ghost story... Jun Matsueda sat in a chair, looking at the thing in front of him, a stack of stapled papers with a series of stick figures drawn on them, which looked like a fight scene.

"Ah, that's the storyboard for Dad's abandoned project. He wanted to make an action movie, the kind where every knife cuts and blood is visible."

"..." Matsueda Jun looked at the two stick figures and the twitching red lines on the paper. "I can feel it. The battle should be quite intense."

"No, no, no!" The girl leaned over and laid her upper body on the table, looking at the painting in front of him. Matsueda Jun felt the back of his hand being pressed by something extremely soft.

He silently pulled out his left hand from the table, and there seemed to be an ambiguous touch left.

"This scene is the protagonists eating French fries in a burger shop, and the ketchup spilled."

"......Didn't we say we wanted to watch a movie?" Jun Matsueda chose to change the subject. This was the reason why the girl invited him to her house.

In other words, Natsumi Imokawa is the type of person who is harmless to humans and animals. If Haruka Mochizuki or Tomoka Tomatsu had said this, he would definitely not agree to such an invitation.

"Hmm... I need to think about it." Imokawa Natsumi stood up from the table, her squashed flesh returning to its plump, beautiful shape. She walked to the bookshelf and tangled between a pile of CDs.

"What kind of movies does Songeda like to watch?"

"It's all right." Matsueda Jun thought of someone waiting for him at home. "Just don't take too long."

"How about this one?" The girl pulled out a CD with a cover that showed a robot and a standing and walking puppy.

"Robot Dreams".

"That's it."

Natsumi Imokawa turned on the light in the living room again, and the coat and underwear on the sofa appeared from the darkness.