Am I being simulated by their love affair.

Chapter 417 Escape

"Have you watched the anime or read the novel, senior?"

"An ordinary protagonist suddenly gains access to a system, learns that he is a special being, and thus changes his life. Such a story."

As the night deepened in Nakameguro, Yamami Maki listened to the girl's nonsensical words and could only feel genuinely confused.

"Yuka, what are you saying?"

“It’s the system.” Tomatsu Yuka looked at the shimmering surface of the Meguro River.

"If I told my senior that I also have something like that, would you believe me?"

"Huh?" Yami Maki observed the girl's expression, confirming that she was still rational.

"Although I haven't seen much of it, aren't these kinds of things all made up by people?"

"I thought so too before." The girl nodded, a nostalgic expression on her face. "Until I entered high school and met Matsueda-san not long after."

"I had a dream."

"I won't tell you the specifics of my dream, senior," Tomatsu Yuka said with a bitter smile.

No matter how sweet a dream is, it pales in comparison to reality.

"In short, that's the future after I start dating Songzhi."

"Yuka? Are you serious?" Yamami Maki's tone was tinged with worry.

“I’m serious,” the girl said firmly. “That’s why I suggested going to the orphanage for a benefit performance last year. I already knew that Matsueda was an orphan.”

“Matsueda Jun has a small black mole on his right side. If you don’t believe me, you can go and see for yourself.”

Yamami Maki fell silent; her mind was in a daze.

"Actually, that's not the point. It doesn't matter whether you believe it or not, senior." Tomatsu Yuka waved her hand. "The important thing is that the information I obtained through simulating the future allowed me to quickly get closer to Matsueda-kun."

"However, I was still too hasty. People make mistakes when they are anxious, and I am no exception."

"Do you remember what I said to you on the bus when we attended the Tokyo Metropolitan Conference last year?"

Yamami Maki looked confused. The girl took two steps forward and whispered a reminder to her senior.

“I have made an unforgivable mistake and caused serious harm to Tsunkun.”

"It's my fault that he got suspended from school."

The wind picked up on the shore, and Yamami Maki looked up, her junior's pupils shimmering with the dark undercurrents of water.

"You've probably heard about it, right? Matsueda was suspended from school before."

The girl nodded. At the time, rumors about Jun Matsueda were rampant, and she had certainly heard them.

"I was the one who instigated everyone behind the scenes."

"I was too anxious at the time. I was only thinking about getting Songzhi closer to me and making her more dependent on me, so I used a method that I will regret for the rest of my life."

"How could you do this?" Yami Maki couldn't help but say, her tone clearly accusing.

"Yes, how could they do this?" the girl repeated sadly.

"Perhaps it's because I can no longer be as gentle and patient as my senior."

Yamami Maki shut up again.

"So I want to make it up to Matsueda, but our relationship has become distant. I'm already grateful that we can still sit in the same classroom and talk to each other."

"I can only atone for my sins in my own way," I thought. A bad feeling rose in Yamami Maki's heart.

"So I decided to bully myself."

"Wait, wait a minute." She interrupted the girl. "Is Yuka talking about what happened in the second semester?"

Tomatsu Tomohana nodded. "It's been exactly a year since last autumn. To be honest, the malice everyone showed was something that was hard to bear."

"Then why did you hurt yourself?" Yami Maki asked in a trembling voice. "We were all so worried about you back then."

"Because you have to be punished for doing something wrong, that's what I thought at the time." The girl smiled. "Since Matsueda-san didn't want to punish me, then I had to punish myself."

"Was the Yuka I knew back then really this kind of person?"

Yamami Maki was somewhat dazed. She tried to control her beloved with cruel methods, and then hurt herself without any mercy. How did her junior become like this?
"Because I like Tsunkun." The girl's smile remained unchanged.

“It was Chun-kun who gave me a good wake-up call after I did something wrong, but he was still willing to give me a chance. He is so good, of course I will only like him more and more.”

"But... but how can liking someone turn them into this?" Yamami Maki didn't understand.

“One mistake after another, and it's turned out like this.” Tomatsu Yuka’s expression darkened as she said this.

"If the system hadn't appeared in the first place, perhaps things wouldn't have turned out this way."

Yamami Maki began to believe what the girl said—rather than believing that her junior had become like this because she liked someone, she was more willing to believe that there was some supernatural force at work.

The moonlight on the shore became dim and unclear, and Tomatsu Yuka glanced at the time.

"Does my senior think this is my fault?"

The girl did not answer her question.

"I don't really care how things turned out this way anymore—just like I no longer ask myself why I'm not as happy as I used to be."

She stepped forward and grasped Yamami Maki's hands, causing the girl's body to tremble.

"Right now, I only care about Matsueda-kun."

"If my senior thinks I'm not normal, only Matsueda can make me normal."

"So, senior, can you understand? I really can't live without him," Tomatsu Yuka said in a pleading tone.

Looking at the humble-looking girl in front of her, Yamami Maki's mind was already somewhat numb from the continuous shocks.

Before meeting Tomatsu Yuka, she thought she would be the one humbly begging—after all, she had promised to help her juniors with their love troubles, but now she had become the troubles of a young girl herself.

"..." Yamami Maki wanted to let go of the girl's hand, but she didn't dare, nor could she bear to.

"The system keeps telling me that I should try to win over Matsueda. Even if she rejects me, I can't give up."

"If I can't be with Matsueda-kun, I really don't know what I'll become."

The girl finally knelt on the lawn, looking at her with despair and helplessness.

"I'm sorry," Yami Maki didn't know what else to say.

Tomatsu Tomori showed her a world that the girl had never experienced before. Yamami Maki was already panicked and even began to regret her decision to meet her junior tonight.

"Senior?" Tomatsu Yuka asked cautiously, her eyes brimming with tears.

Yamami Maki let go of her hand and turned to run towards the subway station.

(End of this chapter)