Am I being simulated by their love affair?

Kurusu Yoshi spent her remaining money on a TV subscription, transforming her from idol girl Yoshi to home security guard Yoshi.

Given the girl's outrageous view of money, Jun Matsueda did not intend to lend her money, but only gave her some compensation by asking her to prepare three meals a day.

After all, the food they bought was for the two of them to eat together, and the girl's cooking skills were really good, so Matsueda Jun's appetite was satisfied a lot.

Jun Matsueda put on his blue short-sleeved uniform from his part-time job and some gym shorts from the 10-yen store and walked out of the bathroom. This was the trouble with sharing a room; before, he could just wrap a towel around his lower body and come out.

When he walked to the dining table, Lai Qi Yang Shi also came out of the kitchen with food.

"Dinner is lemon-seared salmon and Italian-style salmon baked eggs with rice."

Seeing the two plates of salmon, Matsueda Jun knew the girl must have over-bought salmon that was about to expire. Kurusu hid his face with the pot lid and glanced at him guiltily.

Jun Matsueda cut a small piece of baked egg with a spoon and put it into his mouth. The solidified egg liquid was soft and smooth, wrapping the chopped salmon with the aroma of garlic and fish. The paired spinach and tomatoes brought a refreshing taste experience.

"It's delicious." Matsueda Jun took another bite of the pan-fried salmon and rice. The girl's cooking skills were really good. Ten Matsueda Juns could barely compete with her.

Lai Qi Yang Shi then smiled, sat down opposite him and began to mutter.

"I bought the salmon and spinach when they were on sale at the supermarket, and the tomatoes and lemons were given to me as a gift from the fruit shop downstairs. I didn't spend any extra money!"

“You don’t even need to add too much oil, salmon is very oily!”

Matsueda Jun chewed his food and nodded, meaning, "You're right about cooking."

After dinner, Jun Matsueda washed the dishes, a division of labor they had agreed on. When he wiped the water off his hands and walked out of the kitchen, he saw the head of Rise Yoshie popping up from the sofa, where she was lying watching TV.

After spending a week with this creature named Kurusu Yoshi, Jun Matsueda still couldn't figure out her thought process.

Sometimes her thinking is very normal. For example, she would never wear too revealing clothes at home, and would call Jun Matsueda to ask if a stranger knocked on the door.

But she also uses what little she has left of her salary to buy a week's worth of groceries just because there are special sales at the supermarket, and uses the rest of the money to subscribe to a TV service.

She also wanted to date Jun Matsueda because he was the most handsome man she had ever seen and there might not be anyone more handsome in the future.

There must be something wrong with the Kurusu family's education; this was the only conclusion Jun Matsueda could come to.

Or does she have a system too?

I must be vigilant, Jun Matsueda warned himself.

"Pine branches, pine branches! Come and see, this guy can talk to cows!"

Kurusu Yoshi waved at Matsueda Jun with one hand and laughed while patting the sofa with the other. The picture on TV showed a man surrounded by a group of cows, but Matsueda Jun didn't understand her funny point.

Would someone like that really think of using the system to speedrun themselves? Is that even possible?

Unable to resist the girl's urging, Matsueda Jun sat on the other side of the sofa away from her and watched the Niuyu Level 4 Speech together.

"This guy seems to be able to talk to cows..."

"Yes, yes!"

Her mother was cooking in the kitchen, and Tomatsu Tomoka was staring blankly at the TV in front of her. She didn't know what the people on the screen were laughing at.

She looked at the people in the show, their curved eyebrows, upturned mouth corners, twitching facial muscles, and the opening and closing of their lips, as if she was watching lions and wolves in a wildlife documentary, and was completely unable to understand their behavior.

"Youhua, it's time for dinner." Her mother's cautious voice sounded in her ears.

"Yes~" Tomatsu Tomoka tried hard to support the corners of her mouth, pulling out a smile that was no different from usual, and sat down at the dining table.

Tomatsu Miyuki had noticed his daughter's low mood for some time. On the last day of summer vacation, when she returned home, the girl went into her room, threw herself on her bed, and cried all night.

The next day, on the way to send her daughter to school, the woman found out that yesterday was the day she participated in the Tokyo Wind Music Competition, and it was also the day she failed to confess her love to Jun Matsueda.

Tomatsu Miyuki didn't dare ask more questions because she felt guilty and always felt that her daughter's sadness and loss were partly due to her own reasons.

"After dinner, Tomoka, do you want to call some friends to go out and play?"

"Go buy anything you want. You haven't bought any new clothes for fall yet, right? Just use Mom's card."

The girl obediently went out, and her mother sighed deeply as she looked at the closed black door.

She really didn't know the best way to communicate with her daughter.

Tomatsu Tomoka and Mizushima Miya were waiting for the train at Kugayama Station. They both lived in Suginami Ward, which had many shopping streets. But to give Tomatsu Tomoka a change of scenery, Mizushima suggested going to Kichijoji.

The vintage shops in Kichijoji are still full of literary and artistic atmosphere, but the girl who has been there many times is no longer as cheerful as before.

After buying a few clothes to report to their mother, the two of them strolled down the street. Mizushima Miya was also a pretty girl, and they attracted a lot of attention.

But when the men saw the expression on the face of the more beautiful girl, they immediately gave up the idea of ​​chatting her up.

They thought that something terrible must have happened to her.

Worried that Tomatsu Tomoka might bump into something, Mizushima Miya had to hold her hand while walking.

"Youhua...when the sadness in your heart becomes unbearable, you must speak it out." The girl looked at her worriedly.

The girl just gave a habitual smile, took out her cell phone and checked. Someone had sent her an anonymous message.

It's a picture of a yakitori restaurant, and it looks like it was taken on the street outside the store.

Tomatsu Tomoka's eyes focused and she clicked on the picture to enlarge it.

The angle of the shot was not very good, as it was half blocked by the window, so I could only see the boy's back and Haruka Mochizuki in front of the big bowl of rice.

This was the back of Jun Matsueda, she recognized him.

The strings in Tomatsu Tomoka's heart broke.

"What should I do..."

The girl squatted down on the side of the road, buried her head between her legs, and burst into tears again.

The streets of Kichijoji wrapped everyone in its night, but the girl's crying was heard.

Chapter 69: Sequelae

After the school year started at Hanaoka High School, the students soon learned a big news.

This news was neither about the wind band advancing to the national conference nor about the newly appointed student council president announcing that he would reform the cultural festival.

Rather, it was Tomatsu Tomoka from Class 2, Grade 1 who failed to confess her love to her classmate Matsueda Jun.

What makes a person famous is often not the beginning of an event, but the end.

For adolescent boys and girls, there is nothing more explosive than gossip, let alone two people who spoke at the opening ceremony.

"Matsueda, what is it about Tomatsu-san that displeases you? There must be a reason to reject her, right?" Sakamuro Ken caught the ball passed by Matsueda Jun.

"Tomatsu-san is a nice guy, I just don't like him." There were many curious boys around Matsueda Jun, and he didn't want to say much.

"Hey, Songzhi, what kind of girls do you like? Lately, girls have been asking me if I don't like girls anymore."

Ken Sakamuro dribbled the ball a few times and passed it back to Jun Matsueda when he retreated beyond the three-point line.

"You'll know when you meet him."

Jun Matsueda jumped up and shot, and the ball went into the net.

Compared to the boys who spoke their minds, the girls could only suppress their desire to gossip and stare at Tomatsu Tomoka walking in the playground.

After all, failing in a confession is not something to be praised.

What's more, the girls from Class 1 were right next to them, and Mochizuki Haruka was standing among the noisy hot girls.

Since Wang Yuehua had woken up, no matter how much she wanted to stay with her aunt, it was useless and she was sent back to school.

"Does Mochizuki-chan have no rivals now?" the hot girl Rin asked her in a low voice.

"I don't care about that right now." Mochizuki Haruka took off the hair tie on her right hand and tied it into a high ponytail. "Let's go play tennis."

Tomatsu Tomoka and Mizushima Miya walked around the outermost track of the playground, circling it again and again. Gravel was squeezed into the track by the soles of their shoes, making a small squeaking sound.

On the central lawn of the playground, boys in white jerseys chased a soccer ball. Occasionally, someone would stop and look at the two people on the track, only to resume running after being called out by the goalkeeper.

The girls continued the topic they hadn't finished discussing that night in Kichijoji.

"I did something terrible to Matsueda-san before." Tomatsu Tomoka's complexion looked better than when school started, but it still looked sickly pale.

"You didn't force him or something, did you?" Mizushima Miya covered her mouth. Whether it's a boy or a girl, there will always be a lot of dirty stuff in their minds during adolescence.

Tomatsu Tomoka patted her arm gently. "It's something that can really hurt the other person! It's very serious!"

"Did he forgive you?"

The girl shook her head.

"Then how dare you confess?!" Mizushima Miya stomped her feet, and the boy in the distance shot hit the crossbar.

"This is also a very complicated matter... The key is not here." They walked around the playground for a while and could see the baseball field on the other side of the barbed wire. A few female managers were chatting, and when they saw the two of them, one of them walked over and waved.

"Tomoka, Miya!"

The two waved back, and the girl in the baseball cap said one more thing before turning around, "Come on, Tomoka! I'll support you!"

The girl's fake smile disappeared.

They walked around the playground half a circle again, and it was not until the boys on the football field missed their third shot that Tomatsu Tomoka continued speaking.

"I've already been mentally prepared for the fact that Matsueda-san won't forgive me."

"But when he said he might never forget the mistakes I made, I felt a deep sense of despair..."

Tomatsu Tomoka stopped repeating the meaningless cycle along the track. She walked to the edge of the football field, squatted down, and her skirt almost fell to the ground. Mizushima Miya walked to her side.

The boys on the court ran harder.

"Miya, you also had a crush on Matsueda-san when you first entered school, right?" the girl suddenly asked.

Mizushima Miya blushed for a moment, and she also squatted down. The two girls fiddled with the grass blades of the artificial turf.

"...Yes, but I quickly lost interest in him. Someone of Matsueda's level is too difficult for me. If I pursue him, I'll definitely have to pay a lot, and I might even feel inferior. It's easier to just be friends."

"If you were like me, worrying about your test scores all day, you wouldn't have as much time to think about Songzhi."

Tomatsu Tomoka plucked up a piece of fake grass and rubbed it between her fingertips. Her friend, Jun Matsueda, managed to escape the whirlpool just in time, but she was caught in it, unable to extricate herself.

"I've long wanted to be with him forever, but I'm not mentally prepared to spend my whole life waiting for his forgiveness."

Not getting a response is both sad and scary.

The girl stood up and looked at the green field in front of her. She could spend a long time waiting for the grass to grow and the flowers to bloom.

But what should she do if even the grass is dead and no flowers can bloom?

"I think I need some time to gather my courage..."

After school in the afternoon, Jun Matsueda opened the door of the news department and found someone already inside.

Tsushima Kou waved to him. The director and Seshita Yumi were at the computer, looking through the footage that Natsumi Imokawa had selected. The girl holding the camera sat in a corner with her head lowered. When Jun Matsueda approached her, she looked up at him.

"Your work is quite good, and you have plenty of material. We'll just have to film it when the wind band participates in the national conference."

"Then can the task of the wind band come to an end for the time being?" Matsueda Jun said, he wanted to reduce his contact with Tomatsu Tomoka as much as possible.

Tsushima Kou thought for a moment. "The main tasks ahead are the school's ball games and cultural festival. After that, I might arrange for you to film the basketball team. By then, the 'Winter Trials' will be almost here."

"I may not be able to come to the club for the ball game. I am needed to play in our class basketball game." Ken Sakamuro has always wanted to rely on him and Jun Matsueda to lead the team to dominate the freshman class, and he has mentioned it several times in class.

Tsushima Kou made an OK gesture and said, "Then I'll make the arrangements when the time comes."

"See you tomorrow, Captain~" The girls said goodbye to Yamami Maki who stayed in the club room.

The girl smiled and waved at them, putting her clarinet into her instrument bag. Inside the bag were two photos: one of the girls by Lake Ashi, and one of the wind band at the Tokyo National Convention.

Yamami Miki recalled the expressionless Jun Matsueda she saw when she got off the bus that day, and Tomatsu Touka who sat beside her and cried silently after getting on the bus.

The girl's sadness was impossible to conceal, and the news quickly spread throughout the wind band. Yamami Maki felt guilty about this and went to apologize to the girl, but Tomatsu Tomoka said it was no big deal.

"There's nothing to worry about anyway." Yamami Moki still remembers the miserable smile on the girl's face.

She took one last look at the club room and was about to leave when a girl walked in. Yamami Maki remembered her; she was a senior in the wind band who had dropped out because she was promoted to a third year.

The girl's makeup was very delicate. I came in and greeted her first.

"Ah~ Moji, long time no see."

Yamami Moki smiled, "Senior, what do you want to talk to me about?"

The beautiful senior schoolmate lifted her chin with her index finger and touched her earlobe, looking a little embarrassed.

"Yeah, there was a rumor recently about a beautiful freshman who had a failed confession. My friend who's in the wind band showed me a picture of that guy, and he's quite handsome. I'd like to meet him, senior."

"Moji, what do you think of that boy named Matsueda Jun?"

Perhaps because of the dimming light, the smile on Yamami Moki's face faded a little.