Am I being simulated by their love affair.

Chapter 345 The Wind of Youth Never Ceases
Yamami Maki slung her instrument bag over her shoulder, checked her light makeup with a small mirror, and then got off the school bus with Tomatsu Yuka.

She only found out she would be meeting Mochizuki Haruka on the way; Matsueda Jun had sent her a message specifically to inform her of this.

Although she had mentally prepared herself, she still felt somewhat conflicted when she saw the girl with the umbrella standing next to Matsueda Jun.

Yamami Maki glanced at Tomatsu Yuka beside her. Her junior's expression was unexpectedly calm, and she couldn't help but speak.

"Yuka doesn't seem surprised at all that Mochizuki-san is here?"

The girl glanced at the senior student beside her, then looked at the girl in the black dress standing in front of her.

As she waved and smiled at Jun Matsuoka, she whispered to the senior student beside her, "There's nothing surprising about it. The orphanage should belong to their family. It would be even stranger if she weren't here."

Yamami Maki blinked. "You already knew?"

Even though she had only recently learned about it, the girl's feelings became a little complicated.

Tomatsu Yuka nodded. "I left quite late during last year's benefit performance, and that's when I saw her at the orphanage."

The band members walked toward the people from the orphanage. Yamami Maki slowed down and lagged behind the crowd, looking at the two girls standing next to Matsueda Jun.

Her feelings were somewhat peculiar, like a naive new recruit who had been well protected before being suddenly pulled into the battlefield, only to find that the veteran leading him and his opponent were so experienced that they had been fighting each other for many years.

The white-haired old man smiled as he watched the girls from the brass band walk past him one by one.

"Thank you all for your hard work. Tea and snacks are prepared in the lobby."

"Let's take a short break first, and then prepare to perform. Everyone is really looking forward to it."

The energetic girls bowed their heads in thanks and walked into the hall with the children, leaving only Jun Matsue and a few others behind.

Matsueda Jun directed Aya to take Mochizuki Haruka to the hall, and the old man turned to look at him.

"So which girl is it? I think I recognize both of them, the leader and the last one~"

The boy looked left and right, and seeing no one around, he whispered in the old man's ear.

"It's the girl walking behind, her name is Yamami Maki."

"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, Songzhi?"

The girls were buzzing with gossip about "the minister's crush," 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.

She scoffed inwardly at the "fish-stealing cat."

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 oboe section on the stage, the old man closed his eyes, feeling the tender emotions hidden in the 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.

(End of this chapter)