Am I being simulated by their love affair?

Page 196

"My senior from university is also the person I like now."

The headmistress nodded, walked into the hall, and watched as the girl named Yamami Maki handed out candy to the children, her smile patient and gentle.

"If I could be with her, I think I would be very happy, right?"

Jun Matsue closed the door behind him and took the old woman's arm. "Grandma, are you already seeing people through a lens of prejudice? Everyone else is giving out gifts."

“You don’t understand.” She gave a mysterious smile. “This is my intuition as an old person.”

"Having lived in this world for so many years, one must have some special abilities, right?"

Jun Matsuoka smiled. It seemed the old man was in a good mood today and was even willing to joke around.

"I'm serious, you know?" Hiroya Chiomi found a seat on the edge of the room and looked at the lively scene in the hall.

After a short rest, the people from the orphanage came to the largest lawn in the yard. The wooden stage had been set up, and Jun Matsue helped the girls carry their instruments onto the stage.

"Thank you for your hard work, Matsueda-kun." Tomatsu Yuka watched as the boy placed the music stand in front of her, while the new first-year students around them cast curious glances at the two of them.

"Is this the senior student Matsue...?"

"The minister's crush..."

The girls were buzzing with discussion, and Tomatsu Yuka couldn't help but smile—she and Matsueda were being watched like the main characters in a story, and she liked that feeling.

"Yuhua, the clarinet is ready."

Yamami Maki walked up to her and naturally became another leading lady in people's eyes.

"...Thank you for your help, senior." Tomatsu Yuka smiled at her senior.

Matsueda Jun greeted Yamami Maki, "Does your senpai need a music stand too?"

"Ah, yes." The girl responded quickly. "Thank you for your help, Matsueda-san."

The boy stepped off the stage again, picking up a music stand in each hand. He placed one in front of the principal bassist, Tayo-chan, and the other in front of Yamami Maki.

"Grandma likes you a lot~" Jun Matsue said softly, then waved and returned to the audience.

The girl was stunned for a moment, then looked at the dean standing below the stage. The silver-haired old man smiled and nodded at her, as if it were some kind of approval.

Yamami Maki returned the smile, a sweet feeling welling up inside her, enveloping the complex emotions in her heart. She picked up her clarinet, ready to play.

Mochizuki Haruka looked at the boy who had returned to the audience and was standing next to her. Matsueda Jun chatted with the old man next to him for a few words, and then looked at the girl.

"Feeling down again?"

"No." The girl put away her umbrella. The children in front of her were sitting on the lawn, basking in the sun. She didn't intend to make herself any special.

"Really not?" Jun Matsue asked, still somewhat doubtful.

"No, not at all~" She had to soften her tone a little before the boy's doubts were dispelled, and he looked at the conductor bowing on the stage.

Amidst enthusiastic applause, Mochizuki Haruka turned her gaze to the stage. Tomatsu Tomoka, standing in the center, met her gaze without flinching, while Yamami Maki's gaze darted away.

"A thief of pleasure..." she scoffed inwardly.

Under the expectant gazes of the children, the conductor girl raised her arm, and the saxophone played the first note, a lively and humorous melody.

Jun Matsue blinked. It was a familiar melody, the first song Tomatsu Yuka played for him, "Summer".

The children sitting on the lawn listened to the sound of the wind, and the clouds passing by in the sky cast cool shadows. The silver-haired old man swayed gently to the melody, immersed in the music that belonged to summer.

She has lived for over seventy years and is very familiar with the world around her.

If life is a web, then the old woman is an experienced spider; even a gust of wind can make her imagine the rhythm that the entire web will create.

Looking at the young girl standing at the front of the clarinet section on the stage, the old man closed his eyes, feeling the tender emotions hidden in that clarinet.

Joyful and melodious, innocent and pure, their eyes are only on the notes that represent each other.

This was undoubtedly the wind that stirred her youthful days.

But the wind didn't stop there. She opened her eyes again and looked at Tomatsu Tomoka on the stage and Mochizuki Haruka standing on the other side of Matsueda Jun in the audience.

Neither of them seems like they would give up easily.

The old man sighed helplessly to himself.

The spiderweb she painstakingly wove with her life experience is about to be crumpled into a ball of yarn by the wind blown by the girls.

Chapter 345 The Cat Who Steals the Fish

The performance lasted forty minutes, and the girls played cheerful and melodious tunes, like a clear summer sky, which was just right for the children in the orphanage.

Today, the band's only scheduled performance was at the orphanage, so the girls didn't rush to leave after it ended. Instead, they decided to play with the children for a while.

Yamami Maki disassembled her clarinet into several parts, carefully wiped them, and put them into the groove of her instrument bag. She closed her bag and looked at the bustling crowd on the lawn.

Jun Matsue was surrounded by Tomoka Tomatsu, Haruka Mochizuki, and the children. The boy's gaze pierced through the gaps in the sunlight as he looked at her with concern and inquiry.

The girl at the edge of the crowd smiled, indicating that she could stay there. She picked up her handbag, stood up, and bent down to brush the grass blades off her skirt.

"The performance was wonderful." A gentle voice sounded beside her. The girl turned around, and the dean waved to her.

"I'm glad the children like it." Yamami Maki bowed to the old man, carrying her handbag in both hands.

The girl felt a little nervous, yet also curious—this was Matsue's "parent," the person who had watched him grow up...

"Let Xiaochun handle this," the old man said, glancing at the boy in the crowd. "Shall we go over there and chat?"

Yamami Maki nodded obediently and followed her to the backyard.

"Alright, alright, stop hugging me." Jun Matsue looked down at the girl who was hugging his leg and patted her head.

"I already told you I can't play the trumpet anymore, no matter how tight you hug me, it won't help." He said helplessly, squatting down to stand next to the girl and pointing to Tayo-chan on the lawn not far away.

"That lady can play the tuba, why don't you go play with her?"

"But remember not to break the instrument, it's very expensive!"

Jun Matsueda watched as the girl reluctantly let go of his leg and ran towards the other side of the lawn. "Finally, I'm free..."

"Matsueda is very popular with children," Tomatsu Yuka said with a smile beside him.

"It should be said that it is especially popular with little girls." Mochizuki Haruka pursed her lips, while the girl stood further away, as she didn't like dealing with children.

"I like little girls too, after all, they're cuter." Jun Matsue stretched and sat down on the lawn, watching the girls in school uniforms taking pictures of each other with their phones.

"That sounds dangerous." Mochizuki Haruka complained as she added to her strategy guide—Matsue prefers girls to boys, a fact that she felt wouldn't be useful for a long time.

Tomatsu Yuka didn't say anything, but simply sat down on the grass, pressing down on the hem of her skirt behind her. Matsueda Jun looked at the girl's fair thighs appearing before his eyes.

"There are plenty of bugs on the lawn, you know?"

The girl immediately stood up again, and Mochizuki Haruka, who was standing to the side, chuckled softly.

Tomatsu Yuka patted her skirt and looked at the girl who was mocking her.

"Is Mochizuki planning to stay at the orphanage for the whole summer vacation? Is it because you can't find anyone to play with, so you have to come here and cause trouble for Matsue-san again?"

Mochizuki Haruka smiled sweetly again, "I'll be staying here tonight, so you should make the most of this time to please Matsue."

She didn't intend to argue with the people who were still in the dark, but instead turned and walked towards the courtyard exit—this was the direction Yami Maki and the headmaster had walked earlier.

The girl had just walked past the corner when she bumped into the person she was looking for. Yamami Maki walked towards her with a smile on her lips and in her eyebrows.

"Hello, Mochizuki-san. Are you in the brass band getting ready to go back?" Upon seeing Mochizuki Haruka, the girl's smile faded slightly, taking on a more polite tone.

"You'll see for yourself."

Yamami Maki nodded and walked towards the courtyard. It wasn't until she stepped into the long corridor under the eaves that she heard footsteps on the wooden floor and realized that someone was following her.

She turned around, and the girl holding the parasol stopped in her tracks. Yamami Maki frowned slightly. "Did you need something from Mochizuki-san?"

"It's alright now." The girl had originally wanted to eavesdrop on what the dean and this guy were whispering to each other.

"..." Yamami Maki glanced at her and sat down on the edge of the wooden planks of the veranda. Mochizuki Haruka also chose to sit down, the distance between the two neither too close nor too far.

No one spoke. The girls looked at the lawn in front of them. The afternoon sun at three o'clock had become much warmer, gently shining on the lawn and leaving blurry, glowing trails of light on the playing boys and girls.

"Aren't you going to look for pine branches?" Mochizuki Haruka spoke first.

Yamami Maki's heart tightened. She had indeed been watching the boy's back on the lawn—Tomatsu Yuka had found a picnic mat in the house and finally sat down next to Matsueda Jun.

The girl wanted to hear "Find Yuka" rather than "Find Pine Branch," and she sensed something was wrong.

“…Isn’t Yuka next to Matsueda? It wouldn’t be good if I went to bother her.” Yamami Maki said cautiously.

"But don't you like pine branches?" Mochizuki Haruka's words shattered her last shred of innocence.

Yamami Maki turned to look at Mochizuki Haruka. The girl in the black dress had cold eyes that sent a chill down Yamami's spine.

"I……"

"You're not going to say you don't like him, are you?" Mochizuki Haruka interrupted the girl. "You don't even have the courage to admit it?"

“Of course I like Matsueda-san!” Yami Maki spoke up before she could say anything else.

The girl seemed startled by her own words. She looked around and thankfully, the two of them were sitting in a secluded corner of the veranda, some distance from the people on the lawn, so no one else could hear them.

Mochizuki Haruka stared at the person in front of her for a while, as if examining a specimen. "I really don't understand why Matsue would like your type?"

Yamami Maki was startled again. "You knew everything?"

The girl sneered, "Even if you didn't know before, you know now."

"Why should I?" Mochizuki Haruka's tone was strained. She deliberately controlled her volume so as not to disrupt the harmonious atmosphere on the lawn.

“I am the one who understands Songzhi the most. I have given so much and changed so much for him. It was not easy to soften him and find that little opening.”

"Why did you go in first?" The girl got up from the eaves and walked step by step to Yamami Maki, who was sitting there.

"Behind his junior's back, he was flirting with her crush, and he even needed courage to confess his feelings."

"How much do you know about him? How much have you done for him? You only had some contact with him because of things at school, and you developed feelings for him after receiving a little help. It's that kind of easy, common kind of liking."

"Why should someone like you be the one to benefit from this?"

Looking down at the girl beneath him from his high vantage point, Mochizuki looked down at her.

"You little rascal."

Chapter 346 The Dialogue Between the Cicada and the Butterfly

Yamami Maki looked at the girl standing in front of her, remained silent for a moment, and then patted the spot next to her.

"Let's sit down and talk," she said, her voice less gentle. "Standing will draw too much attention."

Mochizuki Haruka glanced at the two figures receding onto the lawn in the distance, then sat down beside the girl. They weren't facing each other, but rather each gazing at the lawn, like two complete strangers.

"I don't know what kind of liking Mochizuki-san has." Yami Maki's tone was not stern, but it certainly didn't make her seem weak.

“But my liking is definitely not the kind of 'liking that you see everywhere' that you’re talking about.”

"But to be honest, I don't think there's any difference in the quality of liking these kinds of things."

"It seems you've been through a lot with Matsueda-kun." Yami Maki turned her head and glanced at the girl beside her. "Did you fall in love with him because of these things?"

Mochizuki Haruka remained silent with a cold expression, offering no response.

Yamami Maki pursed her lips. "So, is liking someone after experiencing many things more noble than liking someone in a plain and ordinary way?"

"If possible, I hope that my relationship with Jun Matsueda will be free of setbacks and difficulties, and that we can just continue on peacefully like this."

Mochizuki Haruka's eyelashes trembled. She could understand the emotions contained in this "ordinary" wish, but she still chose to snort coldly.

"Your verbal skills are just as good as those of the younger generation you betrayed."

The girl was speechless for a moment, and this was the only point she couldn't refute. Yamami Maki watched the boy's back and adjusted her mindset for a while.

What I want to say is that you may have many stories with Songzhi, but that has nothing to do with me.

"We have our own story, and that's enough. No matter how much Mochizuki disdains me, Matsueda likes me."

"Perhaps it's precisely because your affection is not easy to express and not readily apparent that you can't get close to Matsueda-kun?"

When Yamami Maki said this, she unusually emphasized the word. Mochizuki Haruka, as if her sore spot had been hit, immediately turned her head and glared at her, her dark eyes seeming to be able to devour her.

As if to prove her resolve, Yamami Maki also looked at the girl without backing down. The two stared at each other until a little girl carrying a doll walked past them, breaking the tense atmosphere.

"Are you two already dating?" the girl in the black dress suddenly asked.

"……not yet."