Am I being simulated by their love affair?

A cold, coquettish snort came from the other end, "So they're already putting on an act?"

While the three were chatting, the girls on stage picked up their instruments and played the first sweet and melodious note—

"By the window in April, waiting for the wind of freedom~" The students in the audience naturally began to sing the lyrics.

"All things flourish, and the sky above Yugaoka is clear and bright."

"Have you found your spring? The flowers have already bloomed..."

The unique voices of the young boys and girls, ranging from innocent and immature to sharp and deep, blended together, gradually becoming melodious and magnificent, enveloping everyone's hearts.

"May my wings transform into a gentle breeze, blowing towards you, wherever and whenever I may..."

The melodious piano music came to a close, followed by heartfelt applause from everyone in the auditorium—the parents clapped with particular enthusiasm.

"Thank you all for singing," the principal said with a smile from behind the podium. "Thank you also to the students in the wind band and string orchestra."

"Today is a memorable day. When I came to school, I saw that the crabapple blossoms along the roadside were in bloom..."

As the principal was speaking, Jun Matsuoka rose from his seat, hunching over.

"Good luck, Jun-kun~" Tomatsu Yuka tugged at his hand.

“Don’t act too good.” Mochizuki Haruka said the exact opposite.

"Otherwise, a bunch of women will be eyeing you."

The boy waved his hands behind his back and walked out of the hall.

After taking a slightly longer route through the stage passage, Jun Matsueda quickly arrived backstage.

After politely greeting the teacher representatives waiting in the wings, he stood in the shadows behind the curtain and glanced at the principal giving a speech under the lights not far away—that was his seat.

The boy pulled out a folded piece of paper from the inside pocket of his school uniform jacket. While there was still time, he wanted to review his speech one last time.

The principal's speech was neither too long nor too short. After another round of applause, Jun Matsuoka chatted briefly with the principal who had stepped down from the stage before returning his attention to the manuscript in his hands.

Then a sound of footsteps rang out beside him—the slightly sharp clatter of high heels, a sound rarely heard among teachers.

The boy looked up and saw his aunt's stern, beautiful face.

At first glance, she seems cold and indifferent, but like her eccentric niece, Jun Matsue can still glimpse a bit of the gentleness that belongs to the Mochizuki family.

"Why did Auntie come over?" he asked with a smile, folding the manuscript paper in his hand.

"...I see your seat is empty." Wang Yuehua said with her arms crossed in a cold tone.

The woman was wearing a gray suit today, paired with a dark gray straight skirt and a casual light gray silk shirt—topped with a black blazer that just reached her waist. She looked sophisticated, beautiful, and full of style.

“I bet you’ve gone backstage to prepare—to prevent you from flirting around out of Xiaoyao’s sight, I had to come and check on you.”

Matsueda Jun blinked helplessly, "Only teachers, leaders, and you come here. Who else can I possibly hook up with?"

My aunt still had a slight frown on her brow, which, combined with her suit, made her look even more imposing.

"How would I know? I wouldn't be surprised if you went after a teacher."

"..." The boy raised his eyebrows. "Auntie, you can't say things like that."

"While it's true I'm a womanizer, it doesn't mean I have no principles when it comes to relationships—"

"My relationship with Xiaoyao and the others is based on pure affection and love. It's not about collecting things or trying to seduce any pretty girl I see."

"Teachers are teachers, and students are students. I respect every responsible teacher I come into contact with, but I will never develop any romantic feelings for them because of the teacher-student relationship."

There was a moment of silence behind the stage curtain, with only the voice of the speaker echoing under the spotlight.

"I believe that every student at Yuqiu High School is a young person of excellent character and worthy of nurturing, and I have always treated every student with sincerity both inside and outside the school..."

"..." Wang Yuehua turned her face away, keeping her arms crossed as she looked towards the backstage passage.

"Feel sorry."

Her voice was very soft, and the boy smiled nonchalantly.

"It's nothing. I'm not angry at what my aunt said. I just wanted to explain."

"I know you're angry with me because of Xiaoyao, and I don't want to argue..."

After all, what's done is done—he's practically living with Mochizuki and other girls, and he's also dating Imokawa. It's perfectly reasonable for his aunt to be angry with him however she wants.

“But I certainly won’t admit that I’m a bad person to Haruka,” Jun Matsue said, straightening his back.

"Anyway, there's still a long time ahead, and I'll prove that I'm the most suitable person for Xiaoyao."

“…” Wang Yuehua turned to look at him.

"Wait until you start working for me, then I'll see how I deal with you..."

"Just don't sink me into Tokyo Bay." The boy laughed again, "Otherwise, Haruka will be heartbroken."

The woman glared at him with a knife-like look, then glanced at the center of the stage.

"The teacher representative should be finished speaking soon. You should get yourself in a good mood."

Jun Matsue nodded and opened the manuscript paper to look at it again.

Wang Yuehua did not leave—after a few seconds, she lowered her arms and silently walked to the boy's side.

"Don't you have a great memory? You can't even remember what was said a few minutes ago?"

“Now I can remember it…” Jun Matsue glanced at the strands of hair hanging down in his peripheral vision.

"However, my memory seems to be a bit worse than before—I don't want to stumble on stage a few minutes later, so it's better to review it a few more times now."

The woman's relaxed brows furrowed again.

"Xiaoyao told me. Although there doesn't seem to be anything wrong at the moment, it would be better to have a full check-up."

“My previous treatment team has almost been assembled and should be able to fly to Japan before your school starts—they are definitely top-notch in neurology.”

The boy looked up and smiled gratefully.

"Thank you, Auntie."

"This is the basic treatment for the Wangyue family," the aloof aunt said, turning her face away again.

"We need to find out your situation, otherwise it will get out and make it seem like our family is cursed."

Jun Matsue couldn't help but chuckle twice. "Then I'm willing to do it."

He didn't think the problem was that serious—

Just like the system that has recently gone quiet, perhaps the disappearance of these abnormal traces is a sign that one's life is returning to normal?

Another round of applause rang out, and the boy came to his senses. The teacher representative, who had bowed, walked off the stage and smiled gently at him.

"Good luck, Songzhi!"

"Thank you, teacher."

He turned around—his aunt had already followed the female teacher into the passageway.

"..."

After folding his speech and putting it in his pocket, Jun Matsuoka took a deep breath and stepped into the bright spotlight.

It's time to summarize his high school career.

Chapter 883 Going Against the Grain

As he steadily walked to the podium, Jun Matsueda first adjusted the position of the microphone.

The spotlight overhead was a bit dazzling, and the boy lowered his eyes slightly, looking down at the quiet and focused dimness below the stage.

The parents of the third-year students and most of the teachers and students of Yugaoka High School sat in the dim light. He smiled gently and looked at everyone.

"I am Jun Matsue from Class 6, Grade 3. It is an honor to speak here today as a representative of the graduates."

A round of polite applause erupted from the audience, mixed with some students' jeering. The boy smiled again.

His gaze swept across the audience, searching for something in the brief moment before he spoke—

Aya and her classmates sat in the back row of the auditorium. The dean, dressed in a kimono, was being held by her senior and Kurusu, all three of them smiling.

The Tomatsu couple and the Imokawa couple stopped talking, and the gazes they cast upon him carried a more scrutinizing and examining quality than those of the other parents.

In the seats of Class 6, Grade 3, Tomatsu had a gentle expression, while Mochizuki's gaze was indifferent but never left his face—just like her aunt who sat in the first row.

Jun Matsue withdrew his gaze.

There was no need to look for Imokawa's location—the girl was standing right under the stage with her camera, closer to him than the school leaders and guests in the first row.

Most of her face was covered by the camera, with only a hint of excited blush visible—the boy smiled at her camera and spoke naturally.

"On the way to the auditorium, I was talking to my classmate about taking the driving test."

"Taking advantage of the time before graduation, I signed up for the fastest two-week driving training program and got my driver's license."

As he spoke, he took out his driver's license from his pocket, turned halfway around the audience seats in front of him, and then looked at the camera lenses below the stage.

"Please blur out my driver's license later, I don't want to reveal my home address."

Laughter erupted from the audience.

“Then someone might ask—” Jun Matsue put away his driver’s license.

"Why is this guy suddenly bringing up driver's licenses? Is he trying to show off that while everyone else is busy with graduation trips, eating, drinking, and having fun, he's the only one who hasn't relaxed and is still improving himself?"

The noise from the audience grew even more joyful and boisterous, and the principal, sitting in the first row, also smiled.

She had read the boy's speech, and these words were of course not in the script—but she was reassured, as Matsueda Jun was never a student who would cause trouble for the school.

"Actually, I said all this because after my friend saw my driver's license photo, he suddenly said that I already look like an adult."

The parents in the audience nodded subconsciously.

Putting aside the rational and dignified demeanor of the male speaker on stage in his stand-up collar uniform, his nonchalant speaking style alone exudes a mature charm.

What exactly is this so-called "adult charm"?

Matsueda Jun then returned to the main topic of his speech—

"Everyone says that once you graduate from high school, you've grown up, matured, and are about to enter the adult world..."

"But I think that the relationship between us, who have just graduated, and the identity of 'adult' is like the relationship between a tomato and the identity of 'fruit'."

The audience erupted in laughter—the boy's analogy was quite apt.

"Do people say tomatoes count as fruit? I guess so—does graduating from high school make you an adult? I guess so too."

"But I don't think any adult would have to ask their family for money when they rent a house to pay the high cost of key money, deposit, and management fees."

The parents sitting together nodded in agreement.

"So what am I trying to say?" The boy on the podium looked up at the bright, dazzling lights on the ceiling.

"Three years may seem like a long time when you first enroll, but looking back now, it feels like it happened in the blink of an eye."

"I still remember what I thought when I first enrolled—the school uniforms at Haneoka High School are pretty nice, the upperclassmen all seem reliable, and the clubs are so numerous they're dazzling..."

"I will definitely have a wonderful three years at this school."

The graduates sitting in the front row of the auditorium fell into a silent reverie.

"Although the process was somewhat tortuous, I think I've succeeded." Jun Matsueda smiled and met the gazes of those who looked at him.

"I wonder how everyone's three years have been?" He raised his voice a little.

"I think even if those three years were just ordinary, looking back now, they must be special and unforgettable for me."

"How many wishes have been fulfilled? How many regrets have been left behind?" The boy raised his right hand and counted on his fingers one by one.

"Last year, when I was saying goodbye to my seniors at the graduation ceremony, I said—don't try to beautify these regrets."

"Don't let yourself regret it."

"Perhaps many things can be taken slowly, but if there's anything that has been weighing on your minds for the past three years, and still is now..."

"By the time we get to college, and another year or two later, we'll be fully grown up—that might be what we envision, or it might not be."

"But by then, we will have already lost the chance to experience those three years, and can only let them remain sealed in our memories—maybe many years later, at our children's graduation ceremony, they will come back to life."

The parents in the audience also started to look on with excitement.

“I’m not giving you any grand advice, you know?” Jun Matsueda looked at the first-year and second-year students sitting in the back row.