Am I being simulated by their love affair.

Chapter 353 Art comes from life
August 2nd is a special day for Jun Matsue.

He didn't study with his senior, there was no library schedule, the cat ninja wouldn't launch a surprise attack from blind spots, and Yosuke Kurusu was still at work.

This is a day that belongs entirely to him.

How should one spend this completely autonomous day? Jun Matsueda's good friend, Natsumi Imokawa, gave him the answer.

"So this is how filming a movie is done!"

Jun Matsue stood by the roadside, while a girl with a camera tugged at the hem of his shirt, excitedly staring at the group of people carrying equipment not far away, muttering to herself.

"Pine branches! Pine branches! This is so interesting!"

Natsumi Imokawa's body swayed continuously. Jun Matsueda turned his head to look and saw that the girl's chest was almost touching his arm.

He had no choice but to let go of the girl's hand and said helplessly, "It was really interesting, but you almost shook my phone off."

"Ah, sorry." Natsumi Imokawa finally came to her senses and said awkwardly, a blush spreading across her face.

"Cut!" A shout rang out from not far away along with the girl's movement. The intersection, which had only had two figures, immediately became noisy as the male and female protagonists in school uniforms were surrounded by staff.

“It’s like traveling from one world to another.” Natsumi Imokawa murmured to herself, staring at the crowd. The girl’s expression reminded Jun Matsueda of Yosei Kurusu’s drunken appearance.

"Imokawa really loves the world of images." Jun Matsueda looked at the girl beside him with the same care he would give a small animal.

"Mmm." She nodded, an involuntary smile spreading across her face.

"Because it's really fun!"

A middle-aged man wearing a baseball cap walked through the crowd toward the two men standing on the sidelines. The people who had gathered around him dispersed with a sigh of relief as he left.

"How are you feeling?" the man asked lazily. He was the director of the film crew and also Natsumi Imokawa's father.

"Thank you, Mr. Imokawa. I learned a lot of interesting things," Jun Matsue replied with a polite smile.

It's a pity he's not a junior high student anymore, otherwise using the film crew in front of him as a research topic for his summer vacation would be quite good.

"Matsueda, don't talk to me like that." The man patted Matsueda Jun on the shoulder and looked at his daughter standing to the side.

"What about Natsumi? Is she satisfied with Dad's film crew?"

Natsumi Imokawa nodded, then shook her head. Her lips moved several times before she finally looked at the male actor who was resting in a chair.

"I feel the male lead is just average-looking; it would have been better to have Songzhi play the role."

The man burst into laughter, his unrestrained laughter drawing attention from those around him, but Jun Matsue could only pretend he hadn't heard it.

"That won't do!" The man's gaze swept over the boy in the white shirt in front of him. This guy had attracted a lot of attention from the moment he arrived at the sidelines.

"The male and female leads in this drama are childhood sweethearts, and the female lead doesn't realize she likes the male lead until high school."

"If Songzhi were to play this role, the plot would be completely illogical—if this guy had a childhood sweetheart, she would have already slept with him!"

The man named Akira Imokawa still retained the openness of a former action film director when he spoke, leaving Jun Matsueda with no choice but to give a helpless smile.

It was lunchtime soon, and the crew didn't have any extra boxed lunches, so Jun Matsueda led Natsumi Imokawa into a roadside cafe. The girl originally wanted to go to a ramen shop, but she was persuaded by the boy's reason that "cafes are quieter and better for looking at cameras."

The air-conditioned café was exceptionally cool. Jun Matsueda sat by the window and handed the menu to the girl holding a camera across from him.

"What do you want to eat at Imokawa?"

"Hmm," Natsumi Imokawa flipped through two pages of the menu in a daze, finally looking at the boy.

"What did you burn with the pine branches?"

"Spaghetti Bolognese Set Meal".

"Then I'll choose this one too." While waiting for the food, the girl pointed her camera at the street outside the window, while Jun Matsueda opened his phone to chat with Maki Yami.

The senior student went back to her ancestral home today. According to the girl, she goes back to her ancestral home with her parents every now and then, firstly to greet her grandfather, and secondly to report on family affairs.

"Of course, Dad is in charge of reporting family affairs; all I need to do is pour tea for Grandpa."

Judging from the message from her senior, there shouldn't be any surprises for now, and Matsueda Jun breathed a sigh of relief.

When his pasta arrived, he took a picture and sent it to Yamami Maki before putting his phone back in his pocket.

The 800 yen set meal included pasta, coffee, and a small salad. It tasted pretty good. Jun Matsueda put down his fork and looked at the girl who was slurping her noodles while staring intently at him.

He calmly took a sip of coffee. "Why is Imokawa staring at me?"

Natsumi Imokawa looked a little dazed. "I'm thinking, if Matsueda were the main character, how would it be more interesting to film?"

Jun Matsue didn't want to be like the male actor he had just met, wearing a winter school uniform and being exposed to the sun in the middle of summer, so he chose to change the subject.

How long will it take to film your father's TV series?

"There's no such thing as a long filming period. Most TV dramas are filmed and broadcast simultaneously, and the production cycle is generally three months." The girl licked the sauce off her fork as she pondered, her actions somewhat alluring.

"Today is the second scene, which is the scene where the second female lead meets the male lead at the school gate after the high school results are released."

"At this pace, with a total of twelve episodes, it might be possible to finish filming in two months?" Natsumi Imokawa blinked.

"I see." The boy nodded. "By the way, I thought that one was the female lead."

"Ah," the girl hesitated, "Isn't she considered the female lead? The female lead and the second female lead actually have about the same amount of screen time."

She wanted to continue speaking, but was stopped by Jun Matsue.

"Stop." The boy held out his hand. "You have to concentrate on eating. If you talk too much, you won't be able to appreciate the deliciousness of the food."

"Oh," the girl nodded obediently, picked up the noodles covered in red sauce with her silver fork, and licked the sauce off her lips.

After finishing their meal, the two of them went out with their coffee. The afternoon sun broke through the clouds, and they returned to the edge of the film set.

Natsumi Imokawa glanced at the boy beside her. The parasol in Jun Matsueda's hand provided her with some coolness as she was sensitive to the heat. Taking advantage of this coolness, the girl took a small step closer to him, then nodded in satisfaction and looked at the actors in the crowd.

A short-haired girl in a school uniform led a boy with a gloomy expression into a hotel, leaving Jun Matsue somewhat astonished.

"I thought it was just a normal campus romance, is the plot really this exciting?"

"It's a campus romance," Natsumi Imokawa explained earnestly. "It's just a love triangle, that's what people like to watch these days."

"You've already finished reading the script?"

"Mmm." The girl nodded excitedly. "It's based on a comic book, and the plot is quite interesting. I'm really looking forward to the finished product."

"The male lead and the female lead like each other, but due to a series of coincidences, they don't end up together. After this scene is finished, he will start dating the second female lead, who is his senior."

"The fact that the female lead and the second female lead are good friends in the storyline, and this complicated relationship is the biggest selling point of this drama!"

"..." Jun Matsue fell silent, feeling a sense of déjà vu about the story the girl was telling him.

What's the name of this show?

As the disheveled young man and woman walked out of the hotel, Natsumi Imokawa said with great interest.

"Now that things have come to this, I've fallen for my friend's lover."

　The plot mentioned in this chapter is based on a real person, Maruto's new work, "Now That Things Have Gone, I've Fallen in Love with My Childhood Friend," but it only exists as a novel and manga, not a TV series.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)