Am I being simulated by their love affair.

Chapter 679 Go Conquer!
As he approached the car heading to the Kugayama apartment, Jun Matsueda realized with some embarrassment that it was the same car he had taken back to the apartment.

"Mr. Matsue, please take the passenger seat." The maid, who was diligently wiping the back seat, looked up and said, her face still flushed with embarrassment.

"The back seats aren't dry yet."

"……Feel sorry."

The boy got into the passenger seat and waited for two minutes. The maid returned to the driver's seat, picked up an air freshener, and sprayed some on.

Jun Matsue looked at the rearview mirror on the car door, started the engine, and his familiar apartment gradually receded into the distance, disappearing into the drizzle.

It was rather embarrassing to have someone else clean up after him, but thankfully the journey was only a few minutes. He opened the car door and sincerely thanked the maid.

Turning around, Jun walked into the Toei Kugayama Apartment, took the elevator to the sixth floor, and saw his younger sister's suitcase in the corridor.

She gently knocked on the door of room 609, where the box was placed, and Aya Miyamura quickly opened the door.

"Wow, they really made it..."

The girl blinked as she looked at the boy in front of her who was pulling a suitcase and carrying a bag, as if she were looking at Santa Claus.

"Didn't I tell you beforehand?" Jun Matsue smiled faintly.

"So you really had a fight?" Miyamura Aya walked out of the room with her luggage and handed over the prepared key.

"Sister He Yao? Or Sister Yang Shi?"

"I have a big conflict with Mochizuki, and a small conflict with Kurusu."

"Wow..." The girl's mouth dropped open.

"Could it be that Chun-ge is actually not good at dealing with girls? I always thought you were the kind of person who was born to be good at dating!"

“I don’t have that kind of talent.” The boy rolled his eyes at her. “Don’t mention this kind of thing to them after you move in.”

"Received!" Miyamura Aya saluted.

"If I'm with Yang Shi-jie, I'll play games and joke around with her. If I'm with Yao-jie, I'll tell her stories about Chun-ge when he was little~"

Aya-chan's ability to read people's expressions has always been excellent, and Matsueda Jun nodded in agreement.

"Also, remember not to drag them along to play."

“Oh…” Aya nodded.

It seems the situation has reached a fever pitch...

"Then I'm leaving~" She patted the boy's shoulder, "Chun-ge, just stay here with me."

"Although there's nothing shameful about it, please don't rummage through it—"

The girl's voice, accompanied by the sound of suitcase wheels, drifted away and disappeared behind the closing elevator doors. As Jun Matsue carried his suitcase into the room, a question came to mind.

"I forgot to remind her to sit in the passenger seat."

After changing into the slippers that Cai Jiang had prepared, the boy pulled his suitcase in and placed it in the corner. He stood by the window, looking around at the small 20-square-meter space in front of him.

The girl had developed good habits from the orphanage; her room was clean and tidy, with many more small decorations than when he and Kurusu helped her move.

The Chiikawa doll hanging on the wall, the sky-blue fluffy foot mat by the bed, and various exquisite little shelves that make use of storage space are all full of girlish charm.

However, Jun Matsuoka's first impression remained unchanged from before—

“So small…”

In the 20-square-meter room, excluding the bathroom and stove near the entrance, the curtains fluttering horizontally in the wind are enough to cover half of the remaining space.

Having grown accustomed to living in a two-bedroom apartment building, the man naturally felt uncomfortable. He sat down at the foot of the bed near the desk, the white curtains fluttering in front of him.

"Turning on the air conditioner in the summer is quite energy-efficient..." Jun Matsue muttered to himself, feeling the cool breeze blowing across his cheeks.

"When the weather gets cool, it's comfortable to open the window without needing a fan."

He lay down on the bed, looking at the ceiling light in the center of the ceiling. A small Mount Fuji doll was hanging from the pull cord; it was a gift he had brought back for his younger sister when he returned from a school trip.

"Moreover, small rooms tend to give people a sense of security."

After hanging the clothes he brought on the clothes rack by the wall and tidying up other things, it was already past five o'clock. Jun Matsue opened the small refrigerator under the stove and looked inside. There was only chicken, curry, and some vegetables.

Curry rice will be served tonight. The boy started cooking the rice in the mini rice cooker and sat down at his desk to check the messages on his phone.

"Arrived safely!"

Aya Miyamura sent two photos of herself and Yosuke Kurusu sitting on a sofa; the two looked quite happy.

There were also photos of a girl playing with a cat in room 506, but Mochizuki Haruka wasn't in them. Matsueda Jun glanced a few more times at the closed bedroom door in the background, wondering if Mochizuki was resting or angry with him.

The rice cooker beeped soon after, and he got up and went to check on it. The rain outside had stopped sometime earlier, and the exercise books on the table were bathed in the glow of the setting sun, turning a translucent dark red as the wind turned the pages.

Standing on the balcony, enjoying the breeze and watching the sunset on the edge of the city, Jun Matsuoka spent ten minutes finishing his curry rice. After washing the dishes, it was six o'clock in the evening.

The boy thought for a moment, took the key he had left in the entryway, and went out of the apartment to take a walk in the afterglow of the sunset.

The dark clouds after the rain hadn't yet dispersed, and the surrounding buildings were bathed in a somber red hue. Listening to the cicadas gradually awakening in the bushes, Jun Matsue took out his phone and sent a message to Maki Yami.

"Thank you so much, senior."

He should have posted it earlier, but after confronting Mochizuki Haruka in the new house, he spent time communicating and comforting her, and moving house, and couldn't find a suitable opportunity.

"Is it convenient for you now, Matsueda-san?" the girl replied quickly.

"what happened?"

"I'd like to make a video call to see how you are doing."

Jun Matsue slowed his pace, hesitated for a moment, and then replied with a "okay".

A call invitation popped up quickly. He clicked to answer, and Yamami Maki's worried face appeared on the screen.

The girl's soft eyes flickered, and she quickly looked at the background behind the boy. Only after confirming that he had not lost his personal freedom did she breathe a sigh of relief.

"Very good……"

"What is Yamami-senpai worried about?" Matsueda Jun continued forward, holding up his phone.

"I'm worried you'll be under Mochizuki's surveillance." The worry on Yami Maki's face temporarily faded. "The simulated me sent you a message when I graduated, and then you deleted it."

"I later found out that your phone had already been taken by Mochizuki."

"..." The boy in the video blinked and looked at the street in the distance.

"So, have you sorted things out with Mochizuki?" The girl returned to the topic she cared about most.

“For now.” Jun Matsue turned at the intersection, passing his school. “I’ve moved out of my place and I’m alone now.”

"That's good!" Yamami Maki nodded. "So the situation is correct, right? Just as I said."

“…Hmm.” The boy’s expression remained calm, and it was impossible to tell what he was thinking.

"Is any other evidence needed?"

"No need." He shook his head and looked at the gate of Haneoka High School across the street. "Are you free tomorrow, senior? I'd like to talk to you some more."

"Of course I'm free!" The girl's eyes brightened. "That's what I think too!"

Sitting in her bedroom, Yamami Maki looked out the window towards Mitaka City. Since Matsueda had chosen to keep his distance from Mochizuki Haruka for now, it meant he probably wouldn't be as completely submissive as he had been in the simulation—

She temporarily changed the future.

We can't let our guard down; we have to keep working hard!

Jun Matsueda patted his cheeks as he looked at the girl on the screen. "Where would be a convenient place for us to meet?"

"Or should we go back to the same coffee shop?"

"Okay, is 2 PM tomorrow okay? I'll come over after I get off work."

"no problem!"

The boy stopped in his tracks. "So, I'll hang up then?"

Yamami Maki opened her mouth, but didn't say anything more.

"Okay, it might rain tomorrow, so remember to bring an umbrella, Pine Branch."

Jun Matsue looked at the end-of-call screen on his phone but didn't close it immediately.

Only after the sun had set below the horizon behind the buildings and the sky had turned completely dark did he turn and walk back to the apartment.

Back at the apartment, after taking a quick shower and sending Mochizuki Haruka a message reminding her to eat on time, the boy picked up his bag and went downstairs again.

There was no washing machine in Aya Miyamura's room; if she wanted to do laundry, she had to go to the laundry room on the first floor. Jun Matsueda pushed open the glass door, and the wall of washing machines in front of him reminded him of a suspense movie he had watched in Imagawa during the Tokyo rainstorm.

Put the dirty clothes into the drum, take out the coins from your pocket and insert them into the coin slot, select the 40-minute wash, dry and sterilize cycle, Jun Matsue hangs his tote bag on the machine, sits on the bench in the middle of the store and looks at the glass exterior wall on the other side.

It started raining again outside, but thankfully I don't have to leave the apartment to do laundry.

The man glanced at the guest who had entered the room. The woman, wearing headphones and holding her phone, sat down at the other end of the bench—the most polite distance could be maintained without even looking up; this was a habit that most Japanese people who had entered society had long since developed.

Two more people entered the laundry room. One put down the clothes and left, while the other sat down on the bench at intervals. No one spoke; only the clanging of the machines could be heard.

As he watched the rain streaks disappear into the night and wipe the glass, Junya Matsueda took out his phone—he needed to inform Yuka Tomatsu in advance about the library shift change.

He clicked on the rabbit avatar in the chat box, stared at the screen for a moment, and then started typing.

"I've asked my supervisor to change my shift schedule, so I probably won't be working with you during this period before summer vacation."

Before he could continue to organize his thoughts, the girl's call request came through immediately, and the abrupt ringtone echoed in the otherwise dull white space.

The man sitting in the middle of the bench looked up and left. The woman wearing headphones on the other end remained unmoved. Jun Matsue walked to the glass wall and answered the phone in front of Xiaoyu.

"What's the deal with Jun-kun suddenly saying he's changing the schedule?" Tomatsu Yuka's voice sounded anxious.

"It's a bit hard to explain, but in short, I've recently decided to see fewer people so that I can have more time to think things through."

There was a moment of silence on the other end of the phone. The boy reached out and pressed his hand against the glass, feeling the coolness of the outside world.

"Is it the same thing that Tsun-kun said at the station before?" The girl's mind worked quickly; she was always clever.

"That's it."

"Isn't Jun-kun home right now?" she suddenly changed the subject. "I can hear a buzzing and clanging sound coming from your end."

"Yes, I'm in the laundry room."

Jun Matsue looked back and saw that he was the only one left in the room.

"So you're not living in your old apartment anymore?"

“…temporary.” He admired the girl’s keen sense of smell.

In the simulation, when I followed Kurusu to Tokyo, it seemed that she and Mochizuki were the ones who first found my trail.

"So you're not just like this to me, right?" Tomatsu Yuka breathed a sigh of relief.

"Mm." Even though he knew she couldn't see, the boy still nodded at his reflection in the glass.

"Well, there's nothing I can do about that..." The girl's tone was somewhat enigmatic. "After all, I said I would support all of Jun-kun's decisions."

Would you support her even if she broke up with him? Jun Matsueda didn't voice this question.

"I switched shifts with Ms. Chiyoko, and you'll have to work with her for the next few days."

"It's alright~" Tomatsu Yuka said cheerfully, "Chiyoko is a very nice person, and she has a lot of experience in cooking. We get along very well."

"You two don't usually talk much, how did you start chatting?" the boy couldn't help but ask.

"It's a secret~"

"...Anyway, thank you for your help."

After chatting briefly with the curious girl about the laundry room, Jun Matsueda hung up the phone. Twenty minutes later, the washing machine, which had stopped, finally emitted a pleasant notification sound.

The boy opened the drying drum and picked up the warm pants he had worn during the day when he went house hunting with the girl.

He took a careful sniff and found no strange smells other than a pleasant fragrance before putting the clothes into his bag and leaving the room filled with monotonous noises.

Back in his 20-square-meter room, he closed the doors and windows to keep out mosquitoes, and sat at his desk studying straight through until bedtime. Then he turned off the lights and went to bed.

"..." Cai Jiang's bed was a little small, but it was still quite comfortable to sleep on with the air conditioning on. The boy adjusted to the unfamiliar ceiling for a while, then closed his eyes and fell asleep.

He slept soundly without any dreams. The next morning, Jun Matsue woke up at the standard time. After washing up, he rode the bicycle that had been delivered the day before to the Setagaya Literature Museum to work.

At 2 p.m., when he walked into the Shibuya café with his umbrella, Yamami Maki was already sitting by the window waiting for him, the girl with a faint smile on her face.

"What would you like to drink, Pine Branch?"

"I just want to be like Yamami-senpai."

"...Then two mochas it is."

After the coffees were served, neither of them spoke immediately. The air conditioning in the coffee shop was a bit cold, and thin wisps of white steam rose from the two hot mochas.

Just as Jun Matsue was about to speak, the girl also opened her lips, and the two of them were stunned.

"Senior, you go first," the boy said, looking out the window at the sky.

It started to drizzle again in Tokyo. This kind of light, drizzling sky is perfect for those complicated and unspeakable emotions.

Yamami Maki put down her coffee, took a deep breath, as if to encourage herself.

"Matsueda-san, we can't go on like this." She gazed into the eyes of her beloved.

"To avoid the future in the simulation, you now only have two choices."

"Either choose to be with one person, keep the news a secret for now, and leave Tokyo with her after graduation in March, never to come back or contact anyone else."

As Jun Matsue looked at the girl's face, he recalled the escape room where he used to work—never expecting that he would become a potential customer himself.

The boy didn't show any obvious reaction, so Yamami Maki suppressed her disappointment and continued talking.

"If Matsueda-san doesn't want to 'run away'..."

"The only option left is to conquer them."

(End of this chapter)