Am I being simulated by their love affair.

Chapter 459 Straw
On the eve of the cultural festival, the news department is preparing for the new issue of the school newspaper. In addition to writing news and collecting articles, they also have to take some photos of recent campus life.

"Why don't you just assign this kind of task to the other members?"

Jun Matsue looked at the girl beside him, while Natsumi Imokawa held her camera, looked up at the roadside, and captured the moment a leaf fell.

“But I want to take pictures myself too.” The girl put down her camera and turned to look at him.

"If I take the photos with my fellow members, we'll have more photos to choose from later, right?"

It was lunch break, and the two were walking outside the teaching building, searching for autumn at Haneoka High School.

Jun Matsue caught the falling leaf. "Is it possible that your skill is so exceptional that no one else's photo ever got a chance to be selected?"

"Ah." Natsumi Imokawa stopped and began to think seriously.

Although she was generally satisfied with the photos taken by her members, she would often find various problems in them.

"It seems possible."

"It's not just a possibility, it's probably true." Jun Matsue placed the fallen leaf on the girl's camera. "Didn't you always have to give them a long list of questions during club meetings?"

Of course, the members of the news department weren't that bad, but for a girl who strives for perfection in the world of images, problems will always exist.

Thanks to Natsumi Imokawa being an adorable girl who is completely oblivious to her own feelings, the club members were able to accept these opinions without complaint.

"Then I'll bring out fewer photos later." The girl decided to take better care of her team members.

The two walked across the lawn in front of the teaching building, stepped onto the avenue dotted with yellow fallen leaves, and headed towards the cafeteria—the girl's plan was to take a walk around the school during her lunch break.

"By the way, is Mr. Imokawa still filming 'Now'?" Jun Matsueda suddenly remembered this question.

The girl shook her head. "Filming was finished last week, and my dad even took me to their wrap party."

"Oh ho." Jun Matsue stared at the girl's index finger, which was resting on the camera and pressing buttons incessantly.

I wonder if Kurusu is still watching this drama.
"Does Matsueda want to know the ending in advance?" Natsumi Imokawa noticed the boy's gaze and assumed it was out of curiosity about the plot.

"Forget it." Junya Matsueda shook his head.

Although he has already broken up with his senior, that kind of reluctance to admit his illness has long since disappeared. However, if Kurusu goes back to the apartment, he might drag him to continue watching this drama, and Matsueda Jun is the type who doesn't like spoilers.

To maintain some anticipation, it's better not to know the ending.

The two spent twenty minutes walking and taking pictures, circling the school and getting themselves bathed in the citrus sunlight, before returning to the teaching building.

"Should we go straight back to the classroom?" Jun Matsue looked at the classroom on the first floor, where a large number of students were asleep.

"Let's go to the department office first! I want to export the photos and take a look."

So the boy and girl turned at the end of the corridor and walked towards the activity building. They were greeted by a girl wearing a dark green bow tie that belonged to a third-year student.

"Hello, senior." Natsumi Imokawa greeted her first.

Yamami Maki's gaze first fell on the person standing behind the girl, and then she forced a smile, "Good afternoon, Natsumi."

"..." Natsumi Imokawa watched her senior pass by. She turned around and watched the two of them brush past each other without exchanging a word.

The girl's eyes widened in surprise as she watched her senior's figure disappear around the corner.

“Pine branch.” She was full of questions. “I forgot to tell you before, my senior and I have broken up.” The smile on the boy’s face faded somewhat in the clear sunlight.

"what?"

The girl's mouth gaped slightly, her surprise turning into shock—Natsumi Imokawa was not in the "Conquer Haneoka" group, and no one else in the know had told her about it.

"It's a long story," Jun Matsueda sighed. "If you're interested, I'll tell you when we get to the clubroom."

"I want to hear it!" Her shock instantly turned into curiosity.

The girl sat down at the computer in the clubroom, outside the window the treetops, a mix of red and yellow, swaying in the wind. Amidst the hum of the computer case, she listened to Jun Matsueda's story after returning to Tokyo from Mount Fuji.

"So, Ms. Kurusu is Matsue's roommate!" That was Natsumi Imokawa's first reaction.

It must be said that the girl's information was somewhat outdated; she had always thought that Yosuke Kurusu was just a friend that Jun Matsueda had met outside of school. As for why Matsueda knew the idol girl, she had neither thought about it nor asked.

“I don’t think I ever mentioned it to you.” Jun Matsue himself was surprised. “Anyway, it was just a coincidence that I was roommates with her.”

He mainly talked about his relationship with his senior, and only briefly mentioned the other girls to maintain the integrity of the story, omitting their complicated relationships.

Even so, it was still a huge amount of information for the girl in front of her. Natsumi Imokawa's hand, which was on the mouse, stopped. She opened the window, letting the wind blow on her hot cheeks, trying to cool down her overloaded brain.

"This is so interesting," the girl couldn't help but think.

Those people who were merely acquaintances to her but not close friends revealed a different side to her in the eyes of the boys. Their relationships were intricately intertwined, more exciting and captivating than any fictional TV drama.

But is it really okay for me to feel this way? The girl standing by the window turned her head and looked at the boy with a melancholy expression next to the computer desk.

Songzhi told her these things because he was troubled!
Natsumi Imokawa raised her hands and patted her cheeks. She composed herself and sat back down at her computer desk.

The girl opened her mouth, wanting to comfort the boy, but she didn't know how to organize her words.

"What is Songzhi thinking now?" That was the only question she could ask.

"I haven't thought about it much." Jun Matsue rested his head on his right hand on the table. "What's done is done, so there's no other choice but to accept it."

He would not wallow in self-pity, because "pitying oneself is the work of a despicable coward."

"But Songzhi told me so much, it couldn't be because he wanted to tell a story, right?"

The girl, though saying this, was already listening to a story.

The boy sighed.

“I know I still have resentment towards my senior, and Tomatsu wants me to vent it out and take this opportunity to see how important I really am to her.”

"But I'm not sure if I should do it."

“But you’re already thinking about it.” Natsumi Imokawa looked up, her gaze towards the boy clear as water.

"Since Songzhi keeps thinking about this, if we don't do it now, won't we still have this obsession later?"

The innocent naivety in the girl's words, which made her unable to distinguish between good and evil, became the last straw that made Jun Matsueda stop hesitating.

(End of this chapter)