Am I being simulated by their love affair?

Page 240

"Tell them I have someone I like." The boy waved his hand, picked up the pots and pans, and walked away.

"Huh? When did you get someone you like?" The surprised voice came from behind him and gradually faded away.

After returning the borrowed iron pot to the camp hut, Jun Matsue took his own tableware back to his tent. He slept with Ken Sakamuro in the spacious two-person tent, and sitting inside, listening to the faint sound of the lake, naturally brought a sense of peace.

After putting away the tableware, he stepped out of the tent, and the girl guarding the door bumped into him without avoiding him.

"What are you doing?" Jun Matsue asked, looking at Haruka Mochizuki, who had taken two steps back.

"I'm afraid you'll get lost." The girl's tone was a little haughty. She turned her face and looked in the direction where voices were faintly coming from. "Do you want to go cycling with me along the lake tonight? Consider it exercise after dinner."

"No, thank you." The boy declined the invitation again. "I want to take a walk by myself."

"Alone?" Mochizuki Haruka frowned in dissatisfaction.

“Alone.” Jun Matsue nodded.

"..." The girl stared at him for a few seconds, "The lakeside isn't very safe at night, so be careful."

You just invited me to go cycling along the lake... The guy wanted to laugh a little.

"There seems to be roasted marshmallows at the bonfire party later. Could you try some for me?"

He took a flashlight out of his pocket and waved it in his hand like a drumstick. "Have fun."

Mochizuki Haruka watched as Matsueda Jun's figure disappeared behind the layers of tents before turning around and walking back towards the source of the commotion.

“You’re in too much of a hurry.” Tomatsu Yuka appeared next to the other tent, a smile on her face.

"No matter what, we should give Songzhi some time to think and process things."

"None of your business." Mochizuki Haruka walked past her, glancing at her. "You're not my dating coach."

"I don't want you to chatter in my ear like you did when you seduced Songzhi before."

After reporting to Aya Hirouchi, who was guarding the camp exit, Jun Matsueda strolled alone along the lake and soon reached the constructed trail.

Although it was dark, it wasn't dark enough to need a flashlight yet. Every now and then, a few cyclists would pass by. He walked on the far right side of the road to avoid being bumped into by someone who wasn't paying attention.

The streetlights were sparse, which made the starlight stand out. Jun Matsue looked up and saw countless silver stars scattered like grains of sand in the clear night sky.

Separated from the trail and the lake by the reeds that can be seen everywhere in autumn, some long and some short, swaying in the wind, a ring of intermittent light can be seen on the opposite shore of the lake, the light that belongs to the human world, and the hazy light from the villages can also be seen above the rolling mountain ridges.

The girls were right. In such an environment, worries would naturally hide away without leaving a trace.

But Jun Matsue took out his phone again and looked at it. The two messages he had sent to Maki Yami three hours earlier were still unread.

As a result, the joy of wandering freely between heaven and earth has become almost nonexistent.

He definitely didn't not check his phone for three hours; he even sent a few polite messages to Kazuaki Yamami. The man showed no signs of anything unusual, so it wasn't a sudden incident.

The senior student has temporarily refused to communicate with him; that's an obvious conclusion.

Was it a backlash from her previous argument with her father, or was it unilateral pressure from the Yamami family? That was the first reason he thought of.

Perhaps he should speed up his efforts to show his loyalty... Jun Matsuoka slowed his pace, the shadow of Mount Fuji floating in the lake.

The boy recalled what Tomatsu Yuka had said today, and he had certainly thought about it—initially, he had wanted to change his senior.

However, what the girl said was too fast and too intense. Both Tomatsu Tomohana and Mochizuki Haruka had very special family and upbringing. As for Yamami Maki, in the end, she was just a very typical Japanese high school girl.

He recalled the day he went shopping with his senior, the tentative advances after dinner, and the girl's fragile expression as she leaned against him in the open woods, tears streaming down her face.

Once you get back to Tokyo, leave the band as soon as possible to put your senior and her parents at ease.

Jun Matsuoka quickened his pace, trying to uproot the regret in his heart. He wanted to digest all these negative emotions with the help of the night breeze, starlight, and the ripples on the mountain lake.

However, the girl who appeared beside the path interrupted the process. Jun Matsue stopped and looked at the figure not far away, hidden by the pampas grass.

"Imokawa?" he called out.

Natsumi Imokawa, who was holding the camera, turned around, stared blankly at the boy for a second, and then subconsciously pressed the camera button.

The sound of a young girl's camera shutter clicked from the reeds.

"Come to think of it, our class did indeed go camping with Class 5."

Standing next to the girl, Jun Matsueda recalled what Ken Sakamuro had said to him before he left the camp.

“I didn’t even know that Matsue and I were staying together at night…” Natsumi Imokawa raised her camera and pointed it at Mount Fuji in the distance.

"So how did you end up running away like me?" The boy looked at the girl's profile, pressed against the camera, her smooth cheeks showing a hint of baby fat.

"Are you here to take photos?"

The girl nodded and then shook her head. "I came here in advance to scout the location. I want to get up early tomorrow to photograph Mount Fuji at dawn."

“I understand.” Jun Matsueda nodded.

Natsumi Imokawa put down her camera and stepped out of the grass, her steps uneven, with Jun Matsueda following behind her—now there were two of them walking on the road.

"Would you like to come with me, Pine Branch?" the girl asked the boy beside her. "I want to walk to the shores of the plains."

“No problem.” He nodded. “Just consider it digested.”

After walking for a while, Jun Matsue looked up at the boundless starry sky above him and said, "I was thinking about the night I left Hokkaido."

“Me too.” Natsumi Imokawa nodded. “The photos of the starry sky I just took are pretty good. I’ll show them to you later.”

After she finished speaking, the girl still looked at the boy, as if she wanted to say something but hesitated.

"What's wrong?" Jun Matsuoka stopped in his tracks.

Do you need to use the restroom?

"Is Songzhi in a bad mood?" the girl asked, mustering her courage.

The boy was silent for a moment, then laughed, but the smile was not obvious and was somewhat bitter.

Is it that obvious?

The girl nodded and then shook her head again. "It's not obvious, but I can tell."

"Because we're friends."

As Natsumi Imokawa said this, she gripped the camera strap hanging from her chest, feeling a little nervous about initiating the conversation.

“I’ve been having some worries lately,” Jun Matsue said. “Mainly because there’s no clear solution and no one to talk to, so it’s been quite frustrating.”

"Well, although I don't really understand..."

The girl stopped and tried to organize her thoughts, while the boy turned to look at her.

"Although I'm not as skilled as Songzhi, and I don't have much experience helping others..."

An embarrassed blush appeared on Natsumi Imokawa's face, barely visible in the darkness.

“But I’m very good at keeping secrets!” She looked up at the boy in front of her.

"So if Songzhi has something on his mind, then..."

"You can tell me!"

Chapter 427 A Chat by the Lake

"If Songzhi has something on her mind, she can tell me!"

The lakeside seemed to fall silent for a moment, when a bicycle with a flashlight passed by the still teenagers, and the people on the bicycle glanced at them curiously.

"...I was just saying, Songzhi, just pretend you didn't hear me."

Not receiving a response, Natsumi Imokawa lowered her head and awkwardly fiddled with her camera, feeling her cheeks burning hot.

“I’m just a little surprised,” Jun Matsue quickly said. “Weren’t you going to Hirano no Hama? Let’s keep going.”

The roadside reeds swayed again, the starry night hung low, and the sound of their footsteps was like the wind falling on the lake, rippling through the mountains.

"It's rare to see Imokawa like that just now." He looked at the girl beside him, and Imokawa Natsumi lowered her head again.

"Hmm... let me think about how to tell you."

Perhaps it's true that troubles are better expressed. As the girl said, she was a good choice—in Jun Matsueda's story, Natsumi Imokawa was one of the few bystanders.

After all, even Ken Sakamuro, whose heart was only set on basketball, was considered half an assist to Yuka Tomatsu back then.

However, before Jun Matsue could organize his thoughts, the girl who was staring at the camera spoke first.

"Um, is Songzhi's trouble related to love?"

"You knew?" The boy was caught off guard.

Natsumi Imokawa nodded. "Because Matsueda told me about that school romance movie during the summer vacation, didn't he?"

"Actually, you're talking about Matsueda himself, aren't you?"

“…That’s right.” He recalled what he had said back then, which now seemed no different from “I have a friend.”

Moreover, he later took the girl's advice and went directly to Kyoto, which was tantamount to admitting his guilt without being asked.

“Then it seems we can omit some of the preceding text.” Jun Matsueda smiled. “The male protagonist of the story is me, and the female protagonist is Senior Yamami.”

"……what!"

The girl's belated exclamation drifted across the lakeside.

The two walked along the trail in an arc, and after more than ten minutes, they arrived at the shore of Hirano.

"In short, this is the current situation between me and my senior. I haven't received a reply to the message I sent her this afternoon."

The boy leaned against the railing of the walkway, his tone somewhat helpless, while the girl beside him nodded like a chick pecking at rice.

Jun Matsue told the whole story about himself and Maki Yami, but of course, his stories with Tomatsu Yuka and Haruka Mochizuki were not included.

"If that's the case, it seems the main problem lies with the senior's family..."

Natsumi Imokawa stared at the water in front of her and said cautiously, "The girl really doesn't have much experience in helping her friends solve their problems—generally speaking, she's the one who gets helped."

“That’s why it’s so difficult.” Jun Matsueda looked at the lake shore below the railing.

There was a woman with a camera, just like Natsumi Imokawa. She was wearing a hat and had a rather androgynous look from behind. I wondered what she was photographing.

"This...that..." The girl began to think about whether there was any way to solve the problem, or what to say to comfort the person next to her. She racked her brains, putting in even more effort than when she was editing videos and studying scripts.

Jun Matsue noticed the girl's expression, which resembled that of someone sitting in an exam hall, and he laughed.

"Imokawa, you don't need to try to comfort me or anything—it's enough that you've listened to me finish what I've said."

Humans are such amazing creatures—happiness can be doubled by sharing, and troubles can be halved by sharing.

"That's good..." Natsumi Imokawa breathed a sigh of relief. "If Matsue has any troubles in the future, you can tell me."

"Of course, it would be best if we had no worries at all!" the girl quickly added.

"I hope so." The boy stretched. "Imokawa must have his troubles too, right? I don't think I've ever heard you mention them much."

"Of course there will be!" the girl said without hesitation. "Although I love movies, it can be tiring to study those professional books."

"Also, I've been trying out the Hitchcock zoom lately, but I just can't seem to get any satisfactory shots—"

Natsumi Imokawa stopped mid-sentence, glancing up at Jun Matsueda with a guilty look.

"Why did you stop talking?" The boy who had been gazing at the lake turned his attention away.

"I was supposed to listen to what Songzhi was saying, but it turned out I was the one talking..." the girl said, a little embarrassed.

“I also want to hear about Imagawa.” Jun Matsueda didn’t think it was a problem.

Actually, he quite enjoyed chatting with Natsumi Imokawa because they were just friends. He didn't need to worry too much when interacting with a girl and could do whatever he wanted—something that neither Haruka Mochizuki nor Tomatsu Tomoka could do now.

"Imokawa, please continue. What was that Hitchcock zoom you mentioned earlier?"

"It's just a shooting technique." Natsumi Imokawa held the camera between the two of them, aiming it at the rippling lake.

"For example, zooming in on the image while pulling the camera back will produce a unique effect."

The two moved closer to each other, looking at the misty water on the screen. The girl began to operate the device. The rippling waves remained unchanged, but the mist on the water surface slowly spread and magnified in the picture.

"Wow." Jun Matsueda nodded. "That's pretty amazing."

"Right?" Natsumi Imokawa glanced at him and rotated the camera even more excitedly.

As the mist dissipated, the shadows hidden within gradually faded and appeared in the scene. The boy and girl opened their eyes wide, looking at the unexpected visitors in the picture.

Those were a flock of swans breaking through the thin mist.

"So there are swans here too?" The two walked to the water's edge, and Natsumi Imokawa bent down and aimed her camera at an elegant swan stretching its neck.