Am I being simulated by their love affair.

Chapter 231 Oden Night (Part Two)
"We still have more than two hours left, what should we do?"

Mochizuki Haruka's eyes shone brightly in the darkness as she looked at Matsueda Jun's face.

"What else can I do? Get home quickly, take a hot bath, drink a glass of milk, and go to bed comfortably," Jun Matsuoka said without hesitation.

"Aren't you going to school tomorrow? Even if you don't go, I still have to go to school."

The girl pouted, then obediently said "Oh," and looked out the car window at the scenery.

They were traveling on the Metropolitan Expressway, having already passed Shibuya. The black sedan headed north, and Mochizuki could see Yoyogi Park and Meiji Shrine just north of the overpass.

"Songzhi, I'm hungry." The girl suddenly turned to look at him.

"Didn't you eat your airplane meal?" Jun Matsue was stroking the suitcase on his lap. Its smooth surface had a slightly frosted texture, which he found incredibly handsome.

"Unappetizing."

Of course, even if it tasted good, the girl wouldn't eat it, because she was going back to Tokyo today and would be able to eat something made by Jun Matsueda himself.

"I want to eat the late-night snack you made."

The car made a sharp turn at the Nishi-Shinjuku interchange, heading towards Mitaka. Due to inertia, the two men moved closer together, gazing out the window at the winding, crisscrossing roads—a labyrinth unique to Tokyo.

“But we’re out of vegetables.” Jun Matsue had a headache. He certainly wouldn’t mind making something for Haruka Mochizuki, but he had already cooked the last bit of leftover rice and cabbage in the refrigerator that night.

"Doesn't Yosuke Kitsu know how to buy ingredients?" Mochizuki Haruka asked with a resentful expression.

It was a bit warm inside the car, so she took off her wool jacket, revealing a gray turtleneck underneath. The fitted turtleneck made her face look small and delicate, and her body curves like a gentle stream, showing that she wasn't truly flat-chested.

"She's been quite busy lately, promoting her new album. She's been leaving early and returning late these past few days."

Jun Matsue felt that what he said was strange, like a stay-at-home wife complaining about her busy husband. Generally speaking, this is a prelude to something that everyone would like to see unfold.

"Is that so?" Mochizuki Haruka's eyes flickered. It seemed that during the time she was away, her most dangerous roommate hadn't made any progress with him.

"Then I still want to have a late-night snack, the one you bought for me."

Jun Matsue tapped the surface of the metal briefcase lightly with his right index finger, making a crisp sound. The cat sitting in the front row was attracted by the sound and turned its head to stare at his finger.

Wang Yueyao grabbed Jinzhi by the neck and hugged her to her chest. The two of them watched the boy as he pondered. The streetlights flashed past the car window, casting shadows that were sometimes deep and sometimes shallow on his profile.

"Want some oden?" Jun Matsueda looked up and said, "I used to buy oden from the street corner when I came home from my part-time job at night."

"On a slightly chilly night, eating a hot bowl of oden was a great happiness for me back then."

"Okay." The girl nodded in satisfaction, resting her chin on the cat's head. "This is my first time eating oden from outside."

The black sedan exited the highway at the Takaido toll station. The fleeting light and shadow outside the car window seemed to slow down, like flowing water, floating on the faces of the young boy and girl.

Soon they arrived at the intersection in front of the apartment, and Mochizuki Haruka had already spotted the oden cart by the roadside.

"Stop here," the girl said to the driver. The man in the suit nodded. He didn't say a word on the way, trying his best to minimize his presence, even suppressing a sneeze because his nose was itchy from cat hair.

After all, his young lady was pursuing a boy, and he absolutely wouldn't allow himself to disturb the two of them.

By 10:30, there were hardly any cars left at the intersection. Mitaka is, after all, just Mitaka, not the real Tokyo.

In a more remote small town, after dark, you might not see a single person for miles around. That's where so many ghost stories and horror movies in Japan come from.

"Let's go."

As the green light turned on, Jun Matsue walked towards the stall across the street, with the girl following behind him and the cat following behind her. The clatter of the little leather shoes echoed in the quiet night.

A light brown cloth hung on the cart, with the words "Nigu" written on it, which was the name of the shop.

"Hey bro, it's been so long!" the 52-year-old stall owner greeted Jun Matsuoka.

"Hello, boss." Jun Matsue stepped into the warm glow of the lamplight. "I haven't been out at night much lately." "That's good," the stall owner replied without hesitation. "It means life is getting better!"

Matsueda Jun paused for a moment, then smiled. "Perhaps you are right."

Mochizuki Haruka walked to the boy's side and curiously examined the car.

"Is there anything you'd like to eat?" Jun Matsue asked her, looking down at her, their shoulders lightly touching.

"What have you eaten before?" The girl asked, looking at the crowded ingredients floating in the deep red broth.

"Hmm," he recalled, "konjac, eggs, lucky bags, seaweed and radishes, and things like that."

"One of each, please," Mochizuki Haruka said to the shop owner.

"Eat here or take away?"

"Take it to go."

The vendor picked up the ingredients soaked in broth and put them into a plastic bag, then poured a few spoonfuls of broth into the bag.

"No bowl?" the girl asked, somewhat surprised. The man laughed heartily twice.

"Excuse me, young lady, to save money, this uncle doesn't use bowls."

"I'll take it." Jun Matsue took the full bag. "Boss, could you please pack another one just like this?"

"okay."

"Do you want some too?" Mochizuki Haruka turned to look at the boy, who shook his head and held up his phone. "This is for Kurusu."

The girl was holding a cat. She didn't say anything, but just squinted her eyes in dissatisfaction, much like the cat in her arms.

The two people and the cat walked up the stairs of the apartment building. Jun Matsueda entered the fifth-floor corridor with two bags full of oden in his hands.

He watched as the girl took out her key, opened the door, and turned to look at him from the entryway.

"Aren't you coming in?" Mochizuki asked, bending down and gently stepping on the cat's tail at her feet.

Jun Matsue walked into the living room, went to the kitchen to get an empty bowl, put a bag of oden in it, opened the bag, and the overflowing broth was steaming hot.

"Go to bed early after you finish eating. It's getting late. I'm going back to my room next door now."

"I understand." The girl sat down at the table, watching his back.

"So are you coming to school tomorrow?" Jun Matsue asked, turning around.

"We'll go to the hospital tomorrow, and we'll go back to school next week."

"See you tomorrow?" He opened the apartment door.

"See you tomorrow." The girl sitting in the chair waved to him obediently.

The door closed, leaving only one person and one cat in the living room. Mochizuki Haruka stared blankly at the oden in front of her for a while before reaching out her chopsticks to pick up a radish.

Take a small bite.

"So hot!"

The oden she ate at home never burned her.

The girl blew air into the radish, looking at the new, cute tooth mark on it, and thinking about the boy who had walked into the next room.

This is the life he once led.
　Why does the chapter title have a "two" in it? Because I previously wrote about the Oden Night in Kōsū.
　　
　
(End of this chapter)