Am I being simulated by their love affair?

"That's alright..." Jun Matsue breathed a sigh of relief.

Even if you really get back together with your senior, I would never ask you to do that.

"Hmm~" Tomatsu Yuka nuzzled his chin.

"She is her, and I am me. Chunjun asked me what I thought about you two getting back together in the future, and my answer was the same as yours—"

Let nature take its course.

The boy hugged her tightly, "...Thank you, Yu-Hana."

"What are you thanking me for?" the girl playfully nibbled at his neck.

"When my senior comes back, I might start to build up my emotions and then find an opportunity to explode and trip you up."

Matsueda Jun laughed, his breath ruffling her loose black hair.

"Then I'll just have to stay by Yuka's side every day and keep an eye on you."

"That would be nice~" the girl said in a soft, sweet voice.

"But just making empty promises won't do—Tsun-kun, you're free today, right? I need a date! I'll let you go after lunch!"

"No problem," the boy agreed without hesitation. "Shall we leave now?"

"Let's go now!"

The shop assistant, who was tidying up the seats in the distance, looked up in surprise and saw the young couple, who usually sat by the window for half a day, walking hand in hand towards the door, which was unusual for them.

"Um, should we save a seat for you?" the woman asked tentatively.

Tomatsu Yuka put on a blue-gray cloak and turned around to smile at her.

"Thank you, but no need."

The two went down the stairs and onto the sunny street. The wind was a bit chilly on this winter morning, but the girl's face was flushed with warmth.

"Speaking of which, that shop assistant has always had a crush on Tsunku~" she said jokingly.

"What does this mean?" The boy frowned.

"It was just a small test," Tomatsu Yuka said with a smile, looking at his expressionless face.

"It seems that although Jun-kun is greedy, he has no intention of indulging his desires."

"..." Jun Matsueda turned around speechlessly and looked at the figure tidying up the seats by the window of the second-floor cafe.

"Although I don't mean to divide people into different classes, it's clear that you, Mochizuki, and Kurusu are not on the same level as the shop assistants at all."

The girl nodded in agreement, tightening her grip on her lover's arm. "Tsun-kun is quite picky about this kind of thing."

"I wasn't talking about that kind of thing..." The boy gave her a slight glare.

“I’m not a pervert, and I’m not dating you guys to have sex—even if that shop assistant is only slightly less attractive than Yuka, my relationship with her could never go from strangers to something more intimate.”

"Although it sounds strange for me to say this now, the threshold for me to be moved is still very, very high."

"This is the importance of chronological order," Tomatsu Yuka thought to herself.

Luckily she arrived early...

“But it’s also troublesome that Tsun-kun is too attractive.” She turned her head and hugged her boyfriend’s body tightly in a dependent way.

"Sometimes I really want to put you in a bag or a box so I don't have to be at the coffee shop a step ahead of you every time."

The boy ignored her joke. "Is this why you always get to the coffee shop before me?"

"Just in case~" The girl, whose cunning was like layers of roses, said this as if she were commenting on today's breakfast.

"That way, she won't have the opportunity to harass Jun-kun."

"It would be better for me to just reject her outright."

"Huh?" Tomatsu Yuka blinked.

"Didn't she try to talk to you before I arrived? She seemed even more disappointed than usual today."

"No." Jun Matsueda shook his head.

"Is that why?"

He took out the necklace he had hidden in his coat; the miniature gold saxophone gleamed in the sunlight.

A boy who never wears jewelry suddenly has a necklace around his neck—

That could only have been a gift from his girlfriend, signifying a further step in their relationship.

Looking at the glittering pendant in her peripheral vision, Tomatsu Yuka raised her lips, her smile full of the ease of a victor.

"This gift was definitely the right choice!"

Jun Matsue smiled at the silver-white rose in her hair.

"How about we go to a different coffee shop for our date next time?"

"Hmm..." The girl with her eyes lowered looked somewhat embarrassed.

"Although the waitresses were a bit of a hassle, the cafe's ambiance, atmosphere, quality, and prices were all quite good..."

She looked up, a clean and bright smile on her face.

"And without her envy and jealousy, how could my breakfast have tasted so delicious?"

"...You..." That was all the boy could say.

As the two were discussing their date plans, they passed by the station when Jun Matsueda suddenly paused.

"What's wrong?" Tomatsu Yuka turned around with him.

"It's nothing." The boy looked at the somewhat faded billboard on the outer wall of the station.

That's information about house rentals.

“I think we should probably start looking at houses.”

He was met with the girl's brightest smile of the day—

"I think so too!"

Chapter 840 Leaving room for maneuver is the only way to ignite a spark.

It was 4 p.m. when we got back to the orphanage.

Jun Matsue pushed his bicycle, bathed in the afterglow of the setting sun, across the open space in front of the orphanage, and happened to see a girl walking out of the director's office upstairs.

So he stopped and waited for a while at the entrance of the main building, holding his bicycle. Yamami Maki quickly came down to the first floor, looked up, blinked, and waved gently in surprise.

"Tsun-kun is back~"

The boy nodded and pushed the bike toward the shed in the corner of the orphanage—the girl naturally followed in his footsteps.

"I see you came from your grandma's place? Do you need to see her?"

"I just consulted her about some things," Yami Maki said with a smile.

"I'd like to know about the structure of the welfare home, its daily operations, and the children's education model..."

"Grandma talked to me a lot, and even treated me to some really good genmaicha (brown rice tea)!"

"So you're calling her Grandma now?" Jun Matsue glanced at her.

Even though he didn't say it aloud, the girl seemed to understand his gaze and waved her arms in front of her chest.

"Grandma told me to call you that, didn't she?"

"...Whatever makes you happy." The boy pushed the bicycle into the bike shed.

"Why is the senior asking these questions? Is it out of interest in her major?"

“Well, I’m an education major.” Yami Maki stood outside the bike shed, watching his retreating figure as he parked his bike.

"And we'll definitely have related internships in the future—wouldn't it be great if we could come here and help Tsunku teach the kids?"

"..." Jun Matsue, having parked his car, turned around under the eaves.

The girl stood facing him in the sunset, her soft black hair with slight waves falling in two strands in front of her shoulders, bathed in the beautiful gold of the evening glow.

Yamami Maki didn't speak, but tilted her head in confusion, squinting her eyes with tenderness as she looked at him.

"...It really is quite good." The boy's voice sounded a little distorted, as if it had been melted by the setting sun.

If the senior kept saying things like that so unexpectedly, his feelings for her probably wouldn't last long before they exploded...

The two left the parking shed in the corner and walked towards the courtyard on the other side of the main building where the noise was coming from.

"Does Senior stay at the orphanage all afternoon?" Matsueda Jun asked, using the steps she took to compose herself. "Don't you get a little bored after a while?"

"I think it's great~" The girl looked at the lawn behind the corner of the building's exterior wall, where several lively little figures jumped out and then hid back in.

"But I actually didn't get back until one or two in the afternoon." She blinked shyly.

"Xinjiang kept me chatting for a long time, and before I knew it, it was lunchtime..."

"It's nothing." The boy stretched. "Senior can definitely manage her own time, so as long as you're happy."

The flat, open, withered lawn was covered by the setting sun and playful footsteps. Boys and girls sat on the edge, with the eaves where they had warmed themselves by the fire the night before and the shadows cast by the buildings behind them.

"What did you and Kokoro talk about?" Jun Matsueda asked, looking at Ayako who was mingling with the children. "About your family?"

“Hmm…” Yamami Maki answered slowly—she was carefully appreciating the profile of the person she loved in front of her.

"Of course we talked about my family, but not too much. We mainly talked about our New Year holiday and the course schedule after school starts."

"Didn't we talk much about your family?"

"Hmm~" The girl came back to her senses, "Because Kokoro definitely supports me—she's considered a rather rebellious type in her own family."

Recalling Kuroba Shin's dislike for everyone, the boy smiled.

"I can imagine it."

"Then...where is Tsunkun?" Yamami Maki mustered her courage to ask, "Where did you go?"

“Me?” Jun Matsuoka turned to look at her.

"...I'm going to see Yuka."

To his surprise, the senior's expression did not darken because of those words—the girl smiled nonchalantly.

"Actually, I guessed it."

She leaned her upper body closer.

The boy raised a few fingers of his right hand, which was resting on his lap, and then quickly lowered it again.

The senior student didn't get any closer; she just lowered her head and sniffed his shoulder.

"Although it's a little unfamiliar... I think it smells like Yuhua."

Yamami Maki looked up at the boy's indifferent expression.

"Did Jun-kun tell Yu-ka about us?"

As she spoke, she shrank back into her body, and Jun Matsue secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

"I told her about taking you back to the orphanage, but we didn't talk much about that. We mainly went shopping together and went on a date..."

His answer was similar in format to the girl's earlier answer, but neither of them realized it—or rather, they were simply trying to rediscover a tacit understanding they had once taken for granted.

“I can understand.” Yamami Maki smiled, hugging her bent legs.

“Yuka must still have a lot of resentment towards me. I definitely need to explain to her properly about my coming to the orphanage.”

Gazing at the laughter and chatter on the lawn, the boy leaned back, supporting himself with his hands, and sighed at the fading sunset.

"No matter how you explain it, it's impossible to explain clearly—"

"..."

The girl's eyelashes trembled, and her gaze, which had been slightly lowered, moved closer again.

She thought Tsun-kun was going to explain to Yu-ka that their relationship was still innocent, but judging from what the boy said, it seemed that wasn't the case.

"In short, it was I who invited my senior to the orphanage; the facts speak for themselves—"

As Jun Matsuoka spoke, he stood up and patted the grass clippings off his legs.