Am I being simulated by their love affair?

"It sounds great, Youhua is amazing!" After the song was over, the woman praised.

"Thank you, Mom~" When Tomatsu Tomoka smiled, she thought of the boy who listened to her playing the flute in the empty club room after school.

The girl remembered it all clearly, from the surprised expression on his face when the first note sounded, to his concentration as he immersed himself in the music, and finally the complex look on his face as he felt he hadn't finished. If only she could draw, she could paint every detail that was so vivid in her mind.

When her mother got up to leave, Tomatsu Tomoka wanted to call her, but the woman noticed her open mouth.

"Does Tomoka have anything else to say? Mom has work to do today. If it's not important, can we talk about it another day?"

"Nothing...just wanted to say we're out of milk at home."

Watching her mother close the door, Tomatsu Tomoka also returned to her bedroom. For them, the living room was just a process, and their respective bedrooms were the end point. The girl was used to such a life.

Sometimes Tomatsu Tomoka wondered if she, to her mother, was just another report card. The steadily rising data was, in her mother's eyes, the best sign that everything was normal.

She sat at the desk, flipped through the textbooks that she had memorized, checked the exercise books from the private school, got up from her seat, threw herself on the bed, and buried her face in the quilt.

Tomatsu Tomoka wonders if there is some curse on her family. No one can get what they care about. They are like a spider trapped in its own cocoon, spinning in a ball of thread that it doesn't love.

My father, who valued family, ended up with his wife and children leaving him to struggle with debt. My mother, who was obsessed with her career, was forced to spend a great deal of her energy worrying about the family, with no room for advancement in her career.

Tomatsu Tomoka doesn't know when she will be able to reunite with the family she misses, and she wants to be with her loved one, but her relationship is full of twists and turns, and it seems like a distant dream.

But the next time Tomatsu Tomoka stood in front of Matsueda Jun, the girl would not show anything. She would just stroke her hair and speak softly in her most gentle tone and with the most sincere smile.

"Jun-kun, it's nice to see you today."

Chapter 44: Summer Festival with Many Characters

When Jun Matsueda left the house, the streets were already thicker with people. He didn't ride his bike today, so he just followed the crowds.

In order to stimulate regional economic vitality, Mitaka City's summer festival this year is jointly organized by four cities and merged with the fireworks festival to be held on the same day to attract more tourists.

The venue was located on the Tama River. The four participating cities—Komae, Kawasaki, and Chofu—were all located on the river, with Mitaka being the only exception. Consequently, when the decision was first announced, Mitaka residents expressed dissatisfaction. Fortunately, the other three cities later offered to provide temporary shuttle buses to transport residents, shifting the dissatisfaction from Mitaka residents to the residents of the other three cities.

After all, it's taxpayers' money being spent.

Jun Matsueda was standing at the intersection waiting for someone. Even though he was standing on the sidewalk, groups of girls in yukata still crossed the road and came to him, asking if they could take a photo with them.

After rejecting the request of the third group of girls, Jun Matsueda borrowed a fox mask from the last girl and put it on his face when she left.

"He wanted my mask!!" The girl ran towards her companions excitedly.

Finally it was quiet, and he waited for the two people from the News Department to show up.

The road leading to Matsueda Station has been blocked and turned into a pedestrian street. In the evening, the roadside will be filled with vendors. If you continue along this road, you will reach Chofu City, where there will be another road like this, leading people all the way to the Tama River.

The traffic light had clearly lost its function, but it was still flashing. Jun Matsueda sighed at its meaningless work.

He counted the time it took for a traffic light to change, 93 seconds, and silently directed traffic in his mind, trying to show that his work was not meaningless.

After Jun Matsueda counted three traffic lights and issued a ticket to the seventy-second pedestrian, he finally saw the Imokawa duo.

Natsumi Imokawa was wearing a light yellow yukata with sunflower-like flowers painted on it, a pink belt around her waist with a bright yellow line in the middle.

As for Yumi Seshita next to her, she is just a funny person, so let’s not talk about her.

The two of them stood in the middle of the road and didn't see Jun Matsueda in the corner, so he could only take off his mask and walk over.

There were a lot of people on the street, but when they saw Jun Matsueda walking towards them with a mask, they subconsciously dispersed. At the end of the separated crowd, Natsumi Imokawa huddled behind Yumi Seshita, and Yumi raised her fan and waved at him.

"Is this a TV series?" someone asked in a low voice.

Matsueda Jun walked over to the two of them and greeted the blushing Imokawa Natsumi first, "Imokawa-san's yukata looks great today."

"Thank you." The girl said softly.

"Hey, Matsueda, what about me? It seems like you didn't even look at me?" Yumi, the shortest student, is the one who is best at picking trouble.

"Ah, Yumi-san too. Okay, let's go." Matsueda Jun walked in front, breaking through the waves in the crowd, and Imokawa Natsumi subconsciously followed behind him.

"What do you mean 'Yumi-san too'?!" The petite Yumi-chan walked at the back, looking very angry.

The three of them walked along the pedestrian street for a while and then went out from an intersection.

"Is this the place?" Jun Matsueda asked Yumi Seshita. She didn't answer and seemed still angry.

Imokawa Natsumi had no choice but to speak, "Senpai Yamami said to just wait here."

The three members of the News Club were preparing to go to the Summer Festival venue with the Wind Band. Yuqiu High School used a school bus to pick them up, but because the road in front of the school gate had also become a temporary pedestrian street, they had to find another place to meet up.

After a few minutes, a school bus with the words "Mitaka City Hanaoka High School" on it stopped by the roadside. For safety reasons, Matsueda Jun let the two girls get on the bus first.

The girls in the wind band had not changed into yukata yet because they were about to perform and were still in their school uniforms. When they saw two people in yukata getting on the bus, they immediately started shouting.

"So beautiful! Yumi-chan is so cute!" It seems that all the girls call her Yumi-chan. Matsueda Jun is a little curious about how this is done.

The praise for Natsumi Imokawa was very direct and heartfelt.

"It's so big! How come it's still so big even with a yukata on!" This was the look of envy and jealousy from the girl who often stood next to Imokawa during practice.

When Jun Matsueda got on the bus, the girls' unruly voices finally quieted down a bit. He looked at the space in the bus and saw that most of the girls were sitting in the front row. He walked to the back row and sat down alone.

After the school bus left, he received a message on his Line account. It was a photo sent by Tomatsu Tomoka. The girl was wearing a brightly colored yukata, standing by the Tama River, with the sky high and the clouds behind her, and the green fields stretching out.

"Today I took a walk along the Tama River with my mother, looking forward to the fireworks display tonight!"

By the time the school bus stopped, the city's tall buildings were already far away. The low buildings along the river made the horizon seem particularly vast. The girls were already looking forward to the fireworks display that evening.

Jun Matsueda got off the car, and the girls from the wind band went to the waiting room for the performance to prepare. Yumi took Natsumi Imokawa to buy things, leaving him alone walking along the river.

In the distance, there was a young girl standing by the river, looking down at the flowing water. A strong wind blew, and her figure swayed.

Jun Matsueda walked over quickly, and after seeing the girl's face clearly, he slowed down and finally stopped.

The girl turned around.

"Jun-kun, it's nice to see you today."

Tomatsu Tomoka smoothed her black hair, and the wind blew away the surface of the water, shattering the reflections of the two people.

The yukata painted with brocade flowers made the girl's black hair look as black as ink and her skin as white as snow, but Jun Matsueda did not look at it. Instead, he looked at the Odakyu Electric Railway passing by on the river.

"Yamami-san and the others are already getting ready in the waiting room. Doesn't Tomatsu-san need to change clothes?"

"I'll be right there." The girl smiled.

As the two passed each other, the same scent of lily of the valley entered his mind.

Jun Matsueda sat down by the river. It was three o'clock in the afternoon and there were not many people on the slopes and lawns on both sides of the river. Most people were probably still watching the performance in the city.

The clouds were gathering, not raining. Perhaps with the arrival of summer, the clouds were taking their summer break. Only in this season could you see these dreamy white creatures darting across the sky.

In a rare moment of peace, Matsueda Jun watched the crows on the opposite bank flying up and down, jumping around on the grass, as if they had not eaten enough lunch.

It finally landed on a rock by the riverbank, looked at its reflection in the water, then raised its head to look at Matsueda Jun on the opposite bank.

"I advise you not to open your mouth and say anything. You're ruining my good mood right now."

"Oh."

Mochizuki Haruka, who secretly sat down next to Matsueda Jun, shut her mouth and lowered her head to watch the weeds at her feet swaying in the wind.

The hungry crow stopped on the stone and looked at the girl on the other side who was pulling up the grass to vent her anger.

Chapter 45: One issue, one session, one song

"So why is Mochizuki Haruka-san here?"

The weather turned cooler, and Matsueda Jun sat on the grass for half an hour. The wind from the river kept blowing his bangs, making him squint his eyes in comfort.

Wangyue Yao let go of the grass that had been torn to pieces by her.

"The Mochizuki family is one of the organizers of this summer festival, and we also facilitated the performance of the wind band."

"You are so kind to Tomatsu and the others?" Matsueda Jun was very suspicious.

Mochizuki Haruka did not answer, because only by supporting the wind band could she sneak into the club's training camp under the name of a supervisor.

Someone on the other side of the river was skipping stones. The flat stones bounced a few times on the water and then sank to the bottom.

"Matsueda-san..." Natsumi Imokawa's weak voice came from behind.

Jun Matsueda stood up and walked back to the path along the riverbank. "We have a mission, right, Imokawa-san?"

The girl nodded, took two steps, and used Matsueda Jun's body to block Mochizuki Haruka's sight of her.

"The wind band is going backstage to prepare, and the girls can't fit their belongings, so they'd like us to look after them."

"Let's go." The tone in which Jun Matsueda greeted Natsumi Imokawa was the same as when he took the director's grandmother's big yellow dog for a walk when he was a child.

The girl followed him obediently because Mochizuki Haruka's gaze was a little unfriendly.

It was past four o'clock, and the embankment was crowded with people. Their faces were all beaming with smiles, and when they met on the path, they would greet each other and give way to each other.

Neon culture has a long-held tradition of "one encounter, one meeting." You might only encounter one encounter once in a lifetime. Do what's appropriate for the season, cherishing every moment.

Summer festivals and fireworks displays, the most romantic scenery of the Japanese summer, are the best explanation of the saying "once in a lifetime".

The grassy slopes by the river were already covered with colorful picnic mats. Matsueda Jun could see the girls from the wind band from a distance, the instruments in their hands shining with golden light.

"Then please keep our things." This was the first and only sentence Yamami Moki said to Matsueda Jun today.

The three of them sat on a large picnic mat. Mochizuki Haruka watched Tomatsu Touka walk backstage with a saxophone, and took in the girl's plump lipstick, the hint of glitter in the corners of her eyes, and the light blush on her cheeks.

Tomatsu Tomoka always puts her best foot forward when meeting Matsueda Jun, a typical example of a girl in love. Mochizuki Haruka compares herself to Tomatsu Tomoka and measures her own feelings.

Can it be considered love?

Yumi Seshita, who had arrived late, stood beside the three of them. "Eh? Why do we have one more person?"

When Mochizuki Haruka looked up at her, Yumi-chan realized that the person she shouldn't mess with had come, and quickly said, "Hahaha, Mochizuki-san, please sit wherever you want! Don't be polite!" She wiped the sweat from her forehead and sat behind the three of them.

Jun Matsueda looked around. Because they arrived early, they had the best seat to view the stage. The lawn was already covered with picnic blankets and was full of people.

“There are so many people here, it’s like garbage.”

Matsueda Jun looked up to see who was speaking. It was a girl who had already gone backstage. Matsueda Jun didn't see her face clearly, but she felt that her voice sounded familiar.

When he turned around, Natsumi Imokawa had also disappeared. He asked Haruka Mochizuki, "Did you chase Imokawa away?"

"Don't make it sound like I was the one who did all the bad things, okay?" The girl glared at him. "She ran away on her own."

After a while, Natsumi Imokawa came back with a handbag and handed the bag to Jun Matsueda.

Jun Matsueda opened it and took a look. It was a men's yukata with a black and white pattern. He looked up at the girl and asked her what was going on with his eyes.

"Minister Tsushima said that changing into this outfit during the interview will be more in line with the atmosphere of the summer festival. We have to do all the filming work well." Natsumi Imokawa stammered.

It can only be said that the position of Minister is not for nothing, and he has indeed thought it through. Jun Matsueda went to the bathroom to change his clothes, and when he came out he looked in the mirror. It fit him well, as they had similar body shapes.

Wearing a black and white yukata, Jun Matsueda walked into the colorful crowd, completely destroying the surrounding style, like a wolf among sheep. This yukata has a black background with white stripes, and the pattern is pure white branches, which resembles the cracks on a glacier. The satin texture is very high-end.

Matsueda Jun walked back to the band, absorbing everyone's attention like a black hole. However, with his yukata and his face without a smile, no one dared to approach him, so they could only secretly open their cameras to take pictures.

Mochizuki Haruka was already completely captivated by Matsueda Jun's face, and now she stared at him as he walked over and sat down.

She was silent for a long time, and finally said: "It suits you very well."

Jun Matsueda’s answer was naturally thank you.

When it was almost five o'clock, Natsumi Imokawa picked up the camera, Jun Matsueda took the microphone, and they walked backstage.

First, I asked Yamamaki Moji a few questions about the leadership of the wind band, and then I picked out a few girls who looked eager to try, and asked them about their pre-competition preparations and their feelings about going on stage. The pre-interview was over.

Matsueda Jun was quickly surrounded by girls, "Matsueda-san, this yukata suits you so well!"

“Like an entertainer!”

Jun Matsueda could only keep saying thank you and thank you.

To his surprise, Tomatsu Tomoka wasn't among the girls. Instead, she was standing far away, looking at him with bright eyes. When she noticed Matsueda Jun's gaze, she smiled at him.

Five minutes after leaving the backstage, the girls from the wind band walked onto the stage and the crowd began to cheer.

The school uniform skirt that covers the knees, the puffed collar of the sailor suit, the rosy cheeks from facing the crowd, and the full collagen that only young people have.

Who doesn't like young girls?

Tomatsu Tomoka stood in the front row, her alto saxophone delicate, elegant, and beautiful, the blue A-shaped pattern on the mouthpiece adding a touch of cuteness. No one was more suited to her instrument, more qualified to be here.

"When the Wind Shines"

The deep sound of wind instruments echoed, like a rhythm spreading from the depths of the grassland. The repetitive tones brought a message, and the people in the audience knew that the wind was coming.

Various winds blew, caressing people's cheeks. The flute and saxophone played alternately, one melodious, the other clear, lingering in the listeners' hearts.

Only a gust of wind was left, and the girls put down their instruments and looked at Tomatsu Touka in the front row. This was the solo left by Yamami Maki for the girl, and she wanted to use it to prove her strength.