Am I being simulated by their love affair?

April 20th is Grain Rain, the last solar term of spring.

At three o'clock in the afternoon, a light drizzle was falling on the Keio Gijuku campus. The bell rang, and Mochizuki Haruka got up from her seat, picked up her bag, and walked out of the classroom at a leisurely pace.

The crowd surged in the hallway. The girl in her class walking next to her moved her lips, seemingly wanting to strike up a conversation—but the aloof young lady quickly took out her headphones, and the girl consciously distanced herself.

"Does Mei want to talk to Mochizuki?" Her friend quickly came over and asked with a smile.

"Mm." The girl nodded, watching the petite girl carry her bag and walk into the stairwell.

"Although Mochizuki seems aloof, she's so cute! I can't help but wonder if we could be friends..."

"Ya Yi is definitely a sucker for good looks~" her companion said with a smile, patting her arm.

"But Mochizuki isn't as aloof as you think—"

"I forgot my pen for my last history of economic thought class, and she was sitting next to me. Before I could even say anything, she handed it to me!"

“I knew it~” The girl named Mei showed an expression of agreement.

"A person with a face like that can't possibly be a bad person!"

The Economics Department's classes for the day have come to an end, and the first-year students are leaving the teaching building one after another—the fine drizzle outside has soaked the tips of their shoes, and those who did not bring umbrellas are gradually lingering under the eaves at the bottom of the building, and the noise is getting louder.

"Xiaoyao—"

A warm voice echoed through the corridor, drawing the attention of the crowd.

A black umbrella was quietly held outside the corridor, its low-hanging brim obscuring most of the boy's face, revealing only his smooth jawline and upright posture.

"Xiao Yao?" His voice was a little louder.

Before the crowd could react, the young lady carrying the bag walked straight past them—she had taken off her headphones and was hanging them around her neck.

The girls nearby immediately started whispering among themselves, watching Mochizuki walk towards the tall boy holding the umbrella.

"He calls Mochizuki 'Koharu'! Is he her boyfriend?"

"Right? I think she posted some photos on her social media, but none of them showed her face..."

"His attire seems a bit plain; he doesn't seem like the boyfriend of Miss Mochizuki..."

When Mochizuki Haruka walked under the umbrella, and the boy raised the umbrella to reveal his face, the chatter in the corridor immediately ceased.

The young lady, who always had a cold expression in the classroom, suddenly threw herself into her boyfriend's arms. The two chatted for a few words under the umbrella, then turned and walked away.

"..."

The aloof Mochizuki Haruka actually had such a soft and gentle side; people silently watched the figure holding the umbrella walk away into the distance.

The girls even forgot to exclaim aloud—more unforgettable than the young lady's girlish heart was the face they had just glimpsed.

"No wonder Mochizuki-san never even glanced at any boy at school..."

The gate of Keio University appeared in the misty rain. Jun Matsueda kept his hand in the same position, tilting the umbrella towards the girl beside him.

He glanced back at the school building behind him. "It seems like Xiaoyao is quite popular in class."

"You mean the girls in your class?" Mochizuki Haruka asked, linking her arm with his right arm, which was holding the umbrella, and adjusting the headphones draped around her neck.

"I've always been very popular with girls."

The boy led her around the puddles on the road, saying, "It seems like this~"

"That's not important." The girl looked at her boyfriend's profile and let him lead her forward with peace of mind.

"Is the inspection of the pine branches finished?"

“It’s done.” Jun Matsue looked at the school gate not far away.

"I only had one class this morning. After class, my aunt picked me up to go for a check-up."

Mochizuki Haruka hugged his arm tighter, "And what was the result?"

"The results won't be out so quickly." The boy stepped into the elegant and solemn archway at the bottom of the building, and a black sedan shrouded in rain appeared on the street outside.

"Let's get in the car first and talk about it later."

The light inside the car was obscured by the approaching figure. Wang Yuehua, sitting in the passenger seat, put down her phone and looked at the open door on the other side.

The girl carrying the bag climbed into the back seat first, followed by the driver's side door being opened—Matsueda Jun stepped into the car sideways, deftly and calmly folding up his umbrella and tucking it into the hidden umbrella slot in the door.

The woman leaning back in her seat nodded in satisfaction—no wonder he's the son-in-law of the Wangyue family; even as a driver, he's much more handsome than the average person.

Mochizuki Haruka straightened her bag in the back row and looked at the two people in the front row.

"Why is Songzhi driving?"

"I let him drive!" Aunt crossed her arms and gave a soft hum.

"So far, there are no signs of problems with Songzhi's inspection - since you've gotten your driver's license, you should drive more, otherwise it's a waste."

“I agree.” Jun Matsue smiled and started the car. “Driving is a very interesting thing.”

"Besides, if I drive, there won't be any outsiders in the car, wouldn't that be more comfortable?"

"That makes sense." The girl took off her headphones and put them in her bag.

"Shall we just go home?"

"Go straight home!" Auntie said, staring at the swaying windshield wipers.

"The most comfortable thing on a rainy day is staying indoors!"

So the black sedan turned around, facing away from the distant Tokyo Tower, and drove towards the Meguro River in the drizzling rain.

What tests did Songzhi have today?

"A jumbled mess." The boy gripping the steering wheel glanced at the rearview mirror inside the car.

"EEG, PET scan, and a bunch of questionnaires and Q&As... It took quite a bit of time. We came to pick up Xiaoyao right after leaving the hospital."

"This is just a preliminary check," Mochizuki Hana added from the side.

"Once all the test results are out, we'll need to do further testing depending on the situation—if all goes well, it should be relatively quick, probably within a week."

"So when will the preliminary test results be available?"

Wang Yueyao sat up straight and leaned closer to the front row; this was the issue she was most concerned about.

"Tonight, perhaps." The woman glanced at her phone.

"The results from this morning have been coming in one after another—the entorhinal cortex of the brain is well-developed, the neural dendrites are dense, and the hippocampus is active. The medical team believes these are all normal signs of exceptional memory."

"And yet, Songzhi claims her memory is failing?" She gave her a suspicious look.

Jun Matsuoka smiled but didn't say anything. He released the accelerator and silently turned at the intersection.

“Let me see too—” Mochizuki Haruka reached her hand between the two of them.

"Why is Auntie sitting in the front passenger seat?" she complained, "It feels so weird for me to be alone in the back seat."

“There was only me and Songzhi in the car just now,” Wang Yuehua said, handing her her phone.

"If I were sitting alone in the back row, wouldn't Songzhi look like a servant?"

The girl pouted.

She was just unhappy because she wasn't sitting in the girlfriend's seat.

The boy gripping the steering wheel turned his head to the side and asked, "How about I stop the car now and you guys move the car?"

Mochizuki Haruka wanted to nod, but her aunt stretched out her smooth arm and waved it in front of her.

"We'll be home in just a few minutes, right? Just sit here."

“…Oh.” The girl reluctantly sat back in the back seat and looked at the report on her aunt’s phone.

"The left frontal and occipital lobes are structurally abnormal and well-developed, similar to the symptoms of hyperthymesia."

“Actually, I also had a similar case of hyperthymesia when I was a child,” Jun Matsueda interjected while driving.

"Later, perhaps as his brain fully developed, his condition improved considerably—somewhere between hyperthymesia and ordinary photographic memory."

Wang Yuehua rolled her eyes at him. "You mean, we're starting to downgrade from ordinary photographic memory now?"

The boy nodded.

Mochizuki Haruka then moved her phone closer to the two of them, saying, "I don't see any mention of neurodegeneration or brain tissue lesions in the report."

—Experience makes one knowledgeable; the young girl had taken care of her aunt for so long, so reading a report shouldn't be a problem for her.

“That’s right.” Jun Matsueda looked up at the subway station at the end of the road.

"So the initial conclusion the medical team gave me is this—"

"Abnormal activity in brain regions due to physical development from childhood to adolescence."

Mochizuki Haruka winked at him in the rearview mirror.

"So that pine branch that remembers everything is actually just a coincidence?"

"Probably." The boy turned the steering wheel again, and the lucky cat figurine on the glove box began to sway.

"But it's just a difference in my own perception—my memory is fine, and I still got into the University of Tokyo."

"To Haruka, I am still the same pine branch that remembers everything."

"It's just that there's less unimportant junk in my head..." he added to himself.

"Really?" The girl blinked mischievously.

"What is item 571 in the 'Pine Branch Guide'?"

Matsueda Jun glanced at the wet, gray pavement. "I do remember, but do I really have to say it?"

The aunt in the passenger seat looked over with great interest.

"Speak quickly!"

"...571. It seems that Songzhi prefers legs to chest." The boy said in a steady tone.

The carriage was quiet for a moment. He glanced at the rearview mirror and saw that Xiao Yao in the back seat had blushed a little.

“Yes, that’s right…” the girl nodded casually.

"But it wasn't Article 571, I've forgotten."

“Matsue likes legs…” Mochizuki glanced at the boy with disdain and deliberately tucked her long legs under the seat under her A-line skirt.

"It feels a bit perverted."

"What's so perverted about it?" Mochizuki Haruka immediately straightened her back. "Aren't people who like deformed breasts perverted?"

The car was approaching the Meguro River, and the destination was on the other side of the river. Jun Matsueda slowed down and calmly admired the ripples on the river surface caused by the raindrops.

"I don't have any particular feelings about legs, I just like Haruka's legs."

The girl in the back seat nodded in satisfaction, while Wang Yuehua glanced at the boy, then crossed her arms and snorted.

"Smooth-talking!"

"But your memory is indeed quite good." She then changed the subject.

"I wish this memory gene could be passed down to others."

"..." This time, Mochizuki Haruka blushed even more noticeably.

She turned her head to look at the rain outside the car window, silently placing one hand on her lower abdomen.

"Kids are such a hassle, I don't want any."

After parking the car downstairs at the apartment building, Jun Matsue first held an umbrella and escorted the women of the Mochizuki family into the apartment before parking the car in the parking lot. When he entered the Mochizuki family's small apartment, the two passengers who had gotten out of the car earlier had already changed their clothes and were snuggled up on the sofa together.

Wang Yuehua picked up the potato chips from the coffee table, skillfully tore open the bag, and looked at the boy changing his shoes in the entryway.

"Is Songzhi going to spend the night here tonight?"

“I see.” Jun Matsue bent down, picked up his casual shoes, and placed them between the high heels and leather shoes on the shoe rack.

"My class is in the afternoon tomorrow, and Xiaoyao told me to stay at home for the night before I leave."

"..." Auntie didn't say anything, after all, it wasn't the first time the boy had spent the night here.

But the thought that this guy not only lived with several women outside, but also slept in her house openly made Wang Yuehua a little unhappy—she picked up a piece of original flavor potato chip and threw it into her mouth, chewing it hard with a crunching sound.

"Xiaoyao is sleeping with me tonight!" she announced loudly, hugging the girl next to her tightly.

Jun Matsue, having changed his shoes, walked over and said, "I'll listen to Haruka."