Am I being simulated by their love affair.

Chapter 482 New Phase

When Jun Matsueda entered the newsroom, the room was still quiet. The girl sitting at the head of the conference table looked up at him with surprise.

"Matsue!" Natsumi Imokawa put down her notebook and waved to him.

The room was still quite chilly, but the girl seemed oblivious. Her coat was on a chair, and she was only wearing a sailor uniform and a cardigan, the neckline of which was pushed up to create a particularly full curve.

"Hasn't the others arrived yet?"

The boy sat down on the chair next to the girl, and she naturally picked up her coat from the back of the chair and put it on the other side.

“No.” Natsumi Imokawa shook her head. “I told the club members that the meeting would start fifteen minutes later—that way I could prepare my speech more.”

She picked up the notebook on the table and turned to the page full of revisions, which Matsueda Jun had helped polish.

The girl stared at the laptop, her left hand on her chest, her chest heaving more than usual, indicating that she was somewhat nervous.

"Didn't you practice several times in the past few days? You spoke without any problems during the department meeting before, so there's nothing to worry about," the boy tried to reassure her.

“...It has a different meaning.” Natsumi Imokawa held up her notebook, casting a small shadow on the desktop in front of her.

"Today is my last speech as the Minister of Information. If this were a movie, it would be the climax of the film, or a memorable ending. Of course, I have to treat it with care."

Jun Matsuoka was taken aback. In his mind, the journalism club wasn't that important; it was just a piece of the puzzle in campus life. He chose the journalism club simply because he thought it was convenient and valuable.

However, in Natsumi Imokawa's eyes, the newspaper club was of much greater importance, as it was the place she had found for her hobbies and ideals in high school.

The boy nodded. "That makes sense."

“Then let’s practice some more.” He got up from his seat and walked to the other end of the long table to sit down.

"Imokawa, just pretend we're having a meeting and say it to me first."

"Yes!" The girl nodded vigorously, pulled out a chair and stood up—she always felt that speaking while standing showed respect.

"Ahem." Natsumi Imokawa cleared her throat.

"Thank you all for attending today's final meeting of the Journalism Department this semester." The girl's clear voice rang out in the room, her words exceptionally distinct.

Pine's gaze swept across the long table, observing Imokawa Natsumi standing at the other end—her lips, neither thin nor thick, were full in shape, and when she wasn't speaking, they would pout slightly, perfectly matching her slightly fleshy cheeks. The girl's eyebrows were slightly furrowed, giving her an earnest yet clumsy appearance.

This appearance naturally evokes a sense of pity in people, so Natsumi Imokawa doesn't have much of an air of authority, but whenever she speaks at a regular meeting, the members always have a focused expression on their faces.

"I'm very happy to have spent so much time with everyone in the news department. I hope to see you all active in the future."

"Thank you!"

The girl bowed deeply, and after two seconds she straightened up, looking nervously at the boy sitting opposite her.

"What do you think of Songzhi?"

"That's good." Jun Matsue clapped his hands. "Just be careful not to bow too deeply when you give your formal speech later."

"Why?" The girl tilted her head.

"Because it will expose my underwear." The boy tugged at the collar of his school uniform.

Natsumi Imokawa lowered her head and looked at her collar. The two layers of fabric were stretched taut by her full breasts, and there was no sign of her exposing herself.

So she bent down deeply again, and the boy's eyes were once again filled with the deep cleavage of the young woman and a large expanse of dazzling white skin.

"That's enough." Jun Matsue hurriedly stopped her. "I would never lie to you about something like this."

Judging by looks alone, Natsumi Imokawa is the naturally cute type, but after seeing her figure, the contrast becomes very alluring.

"..." The girl sat back down, a faint blush on her cheeks. "Because I have to wear three layers of clothing in winter, I removed the chest cover from my sailor uniform, otherwise it would be too stuffy."

Jun Matsue nodded. "You should sit down and talk later."

"Ah."

A few minutes later, the door to the newsroom opened, and the members walked in one after another. Imokawa Natsumi was sitting in her seat, lost in thought, when she saw the boy sitting next to her stand up and greet them.

At this point, the girl stopped being nervous and began to think about other things—

When I bowed before, my chest didn't look bad, right?
It wasn't until Matsueda Jun sat back down that he noticed the girl's absent-mindedness and gently called out to her.

"Imokawa? Is there going to be a meeting?"

"Ah, okay!" Natsumi Imokawa subconsciously tried to stand up, but the boy next to her immediately pulled her sleeve and made her sit down, which brought her back to her senses.

"Thank you all for attending today's final meeting of the Journalism Department this semester." She picked up her notebook and began to read aloud, just as she had done before.

Half an hour later, the News Club's last meeting of the academic year came to a successful conclusion. The members sitting at the table chatted and laughed, while Jun Matsue looked at the girl next to him.

"The minister did a great job this time; the response was even more enthusiastic than before."

"That's good." Natsumi Imokawa breathed a sigh of relief; she had become nervous again halfway through her story.

The news department didn't have any gatherings or similar activities. After the meeting, everyone chatted for a while before leaving the department office, leaving only the minister and deputy minister behind.

"It's over."

The girl sitting at the head of the conference table looked around the room with a somewhat blank expression—computers, cameras, projectors, various photos and newspapers on the walls, and the table where she was now sitting.

"Actually, there's nothing special about it." She stood up and walked around every corner of the room.

“Compared to your father’s studio, it’s certainly very ordinary.” Jun Matsueda’s gaze followed the girl’s figure. “But we’ve all spent two years here—friendships are built over time.”

“Hmm!” Natsumi Imokawa nodded seriously and sat down in front of the computer. “When I first used this computer, I complained that it was too slow, but now I’m used to it.”

“You used to watch action movies on this screen.” Jun Matsueda laughed as he stood up and walked to her side.

The girl's face immediately turned red, much more embarrassed than when she had accidentally exposed herself while bowing earlier. "That was Yumi's prank!"

The two chatted as they packed their belongings—Natsumi Imokawa's spare camera and batteries, film and USB drives, and some previously discarded printed manuscripts that she had left in the clubroom.

"Is that all?" Jun Matsue looked at the camera on the computer desk.

"Let me check if there are any files or videos that I didn't copy." The girl held the mouse and clicked on each file.

"Ah, I still have the footage from the previous recruitment video."

Colorful images flashed on the computer screen. Jun Matsueda put down what he was holding and sat down next to the girl. "This is footage of everyone participating in the brass band competition when we were first graders!" Natsumi Imokawa turned to the boy and gestured.

“I’m watching.” He leaned closer, and the two quickly reviewed the footage.

From the freshman orientation ceremony, sports meet, and brass band competition to the cultural festival, winter cup, and school trip, the two years passed like a slideshow under the girl's fast-forwarding.

After watching the materials, they naturally watched the recruitment promotional video again.

As the scene of graduates discussing among themselves in the auditorium gradually faded, Jun Matsueda and Natsumi Imokawa leaned back in their chairs in unison, letting out a satisfied sigh.

"Imokawa is really talented in this area. You can make seemingly unrelated materials so appealing when you edit them together."

"This is my most satisfying work so far, and Songzhi helped me a lot."

"I didn't do anything." The boy, leaning back in his chair, looked at the ceiling and waved at her.

"Just like Songzhi doesn't need me to do anything, just listen to you talk, I don't need Songzhi to do anything either, just accompany me to do these things, shoot and edit, that's already a help."

The girl stared at the large, frozen words on the screen: "What kind of life do you want to live?"

Natsumi Imokawa felt from the bottom of her heart that having Matsue watching over her as she worked towards her goal of making a film was the luckiest thing ever.

“Really? That’s good.” Jun Matsueda sat up. “I’ve always thought it would be interesting to be friends with Imagawa.”

The girl nodded vigorously, "Without the pine branches, neither I nor my artwork would be what we are today."

The boy smiled and said, "Let's go, this room will be reserved for next year's new members."

Natsumi Imokawa, carrying a camera and film, and Jun Matsueda, carrying manuscripts and documents, walked out of the room. The girl took a commemorative photo of themselves with the camera. The 4:30 sun hung lazily in the sky outside the first-floor corridor, seemingly about to set.

The road outside the school was quiet, with only a few figures passing by in an instant—it was the day of the leadership transition, and even the students in the sports clubs wouldn't be training today; everyone had gone out to party.

"Where did we leave off last time with Imokawa?" Jun Matsue asked the girl beside him as they passed a cherry blossom bud.

"After graduation, Matsu decided to date Tomatsu," Natsumi Imokawa answered without hesitation. "Now it's all over the school."

The two walked out of the school gate and found a nearby dessert shop to sit down. The girl ordered a caramel pudding. She didn't look down while eating because she wanted to concentrate on listening to the boy's story.

"That's the situation right now." Jun Matsue took a sip of the strawberry milkshake he had ordered.

"To be honest, my relationship with Tomatsu is more comfortable than I imagined."

Natsumi Imokawa nodded earnestly, "Tomatsu-kun has always been very devoted to Matsue."

The girl didn't use the word "gentle" or anything like that; her intuition told her that Tomatsu-san wasn't as gentle as Yamami-senpai.

"So you're going to continue acting with her?"

"Hmm." Jun Matsueda stirred the milkshake. "I guess you're past the trial period now."

“…” Looking at the boy sitting across from her, Natsumi Imokawa hesitated for a moment, “So, has Matsueda seen the upperclassman recently?”

"No, she left very early that day at the graduation ceremony and never showed up again."

He stared down at the milkshake. Sunlight streamed through the shop windows, seats, and aisles, illuminating only half of the table where the two of them were sitting.

"If I don't see her, will I still be angry with her?"

"Hmm." Jun Matsueda looked up and smiled. "Don't let my appearance fool you, I'm actually the kind of person who holds grudges quite a bit."

"Oh, oh," the girl said, looking down in a fluster. The boy's answer was different from what she had expected.

"But if you ask me if I'm angry now, of course I'm not as angry as I was back then, it's just that I still remember the anger I felt then."

"And you have to see things through to the end, don't you?"

Even revenge is the same.

Jun Matsue took another sip of the strawberry milkshake. He used to always order matcha flavored desserts when he came to the dessert shop, but he doesn't have that habit anymore.

Perhaps this can be considered a kind of finishing what it started.

"Hmm," Imokawa Natsumi said, using a spoon to cut the last small piece of pudding. "But I think it's better if Matsueda's current state doesn't last long."

"I understand." The boy looked at the empty cup, the sides of which were covered with cloudy red milkshake.

"After all, what I'm doing now doesn't benefit anyone."

After parting ways with Natsumi Imokawa, Jun Matsueda returned to his apartment alone. The sky was a little past five o'clock, the sunlight dim, the pure golden yellow turning into the red of dusk, carrying a power that stirred the soul.

The boy knocked on the door of room 506 next door, telling the girl to come home early, but there was no response.

He turned the handle; the door wasn't locked. He walked into the living room. The sofa was empty, except for a crooked cat paw pillow that seemed to be greeting him.

Jun Matsue pushed open the door to the girl's bedroom. The curtains were half-drawn, casting an orange-red hue in the room. The blankets on the bed showed a small undulation, and the soft sound of breathing could be heard.

He walked to the bedside, where Mochizuki Haruka was curled up asleep. The girl's brows were relaxed, and she looked a little sleepy. A note was pasted on the notebook on the bedside table: "Wake me up for meals."

The boy smiled quietly, slowed his pace as he walked out of the bedroom and back to the apartment next door; it was time to prepare dinner.

As Jun Matsueda chopped the carrots into small pieces, he was still thinking about his conversation with Natsumi Imokawa that afternoon.

How long will this fake relationship last?
He tried to calculate the time but didn't get an answer because his phone rang in his pocket.

It was Yosuke Kurusu calling. The boy wiped the water off his hands and answered the call.

"Pine branch!!" The girl's cheerful voice leaped out from the receiver, barging into his ears.

Guess why I called you today?

Jun Matsueda walked out of the kitchen, sat down at the dining table, and turned on speakerphone. "Was today's performance a success?"

"It was a great success; not a single ticket was left, but that's not the point!"

"Today is the last show of the tour, and I need to get ready to go back to Tokyo!"

The girl's declaration echoed in the living room. Jun Matsueda looked up at the curtains fluttering in the wind on the balcony, revealing the colors of the setting sun.

It seems that no matter how long this relationship lasts, it is destined to be anything but smooth sailing.

(End of this chapter)