Am I being simulated by their love affair.

Chapter 687 Confessing is a sad thing
August 19th, less than a week before Yuuki High School starts.

At four o'clock in the afternoon, under the scorching sun of thirty-five degrees Celsius, Jun Matsue returned to the Mitakadai housing complex.

As the boy walked out of the stairwell carrying his suitcase, he adjusted the backpack on his back.

He spent a week holed up in the mountains of Kuga, taking the elevator up and down the stairs all day, and he was a little unaccustomed to the fine sweat that had formed on his back from the stuffiness.

The weather has been a bit strange these past few days. It should have started to get colder... Thinking this, the boy pulled his suitcase across the fifth-floor corridor.

The familiar house number quickly came into view. Jun Matsuoka glanced at 506 first—the tightly closed matte black door was newer and more upscale than that of 507, but neither showed any signs of life.

"You should have checked the mailbox downstairs before going upstairs..."

After muttering something, Jun Matsuoka knocked on the door of room 506.

Before leaving the apartment, he handed his key to Mochizuki.

There was no movement behind the solid metal door. The boy knocked twice more, and the door to room 507 next door opened.

"Matsue's back!" Kurusu Yosei poked his head out from the doorway, his pink hair cascading down his back and swaying gently.

"Didn't I already send you a message?" Jun Matsue smiled and pointed to the door in front of him.

"Is Wangyue not home?"

"She's probably not here, right?" the girl thought for a moment. "She went back to live at her own home a couple of days after you moved out."

"Why should I care about her? You don't live in 506!"

"..." The boy nodded.

Actually, Aya had already sent a message about this, but he thought that if he came back, the girl would come back with him.

Pulling her suitcase, she walked inside with the idol girl. Miyamura Aya, who was sitting on the sofa playing games, turned around and waved her controller at the two of them.

"Brother Chun is back~"

Junya Matsueda waved, "How have you guys been these past few days?"

"How can we survive?" Yosei Kurusu ran to the refrigerator with a "thump thump thump," his voice drifting away.

"I need to communicate with the new agency. Aya-chan has to work. Everyone should just focus on their own things. Let's rest and have fun together when we get home."

The girl returned to the boy at the table with her iced barley tea, shaking the glass pitcher in her hand.

"It's very hot outside today, let's have some tea!"

"It's unbearably hot." Jun Matsueda took off his backpack, picked up the cup on the table, and poured himself a cup of barley tea.

He tilted his head back, drank the tea with its aroma of roasted barley, and felt the refreshing coolness dispel the summer heat outside. The boy put down his cup, and the girl in front of him had already returned to sit down on the sofa.

The two seemed to be playing some kind of music game. Matsueda Jun listened to the girls with their backs to him utter a beautiful high note, and a colorful bridge appeared on the game screen. The two controlled their characters to hop and skip across it.

The boy blinked, seemingly feeling that his absence for a few days had little impact on Kurusu.

Perhaps it was because the girl had long been accustomed to her life before coming to Yosei, where she could only see Jun Matsueda once every few days.

After pushing his suitcase and backpack into his bedroom, Jun Matsueda quickly returned to the living room.

"I feel like my room has become a bit more feminine."

"Jun-ge's words sound just like something an old man would say!" Miyamura Aya, sitting on the sofa, turned to look at him.

"I'll pack my bags after Yang Shi and I finish this level!"

"No rush," the boy said, walking towards the entrance. "You can leave after you finish dinner."

"Where is the pine branch going?" Yosei Kurusu turned his head.

"Go next door." Jun Matsueda shook his hand, a key hanging from his index finger.

Although he didn't have a key to his own house, he did have a key to the Wangyue Apartment.

The closed door blocked the girls' chatter, and the sweltering heat under the sun assaulted him from behind again. Jun Matsueda turned to walk towards the next room, but his steps faltered.

Holding a cat, Mochizuki Haruka walked from the other end of the corridor, her eyes sweet yet aloof.

Upon noticing the boy standing at her door, she raised an eyebrow, the coldness in her eyes softening into a more affectionate and tender expression.

"Songzhi is back?"

"Didn't I already send you a message?" Jun Matsueda repeated.

"You didn't say a specific time." The girl pouted. "I saw you weren't back this morning, so I thought I'd have to wait until tonight."

The boy watched her walk towards him, the girl's cat-shaped bag swaying gently behind her, making her look like an adorable middle school student.

"I originally planned to come back in the morning, but I had to clean the apartment for Aya-chan, and it was too hot to go out at noon, so I delayed until now."

"Why didn't you just message me to ask about the time?"

"No!" Mochizuki Haruka walked to the apartment door and gave him a light glare.

"Aren't we supposed to keep our distance?"

"Didn't you say you didn't want to be disturbed?"

"I don't want to ask you!"

Matsueda Jun could only smile helplessly and reached out to touch the golden branch in her arms—the girl didn't appreciate it. She raised her chin, twisted her waist, and turned the cat to face the other side.

Mochizuki Haruka barely managed to maintain her aloof expression. "So what are you doing at my doorstep?"

Now that Songzhi is back, the defiant attitude of "I don't want to ask you" is obviously no longer valid.

The boy shrugged. "I was thinking that if you weren't back yet, I'd go in and clean your room first."

"Then hurry up and go inside." The girl holding the cat nudged the boy's arm with her shoulder.

"If I hadn't taken Jinzhi for a follow-up allergy check-up, I would have come back this morning."

The sound of the lock opening was smooth and fluid. After the tightly closed door opened, the bright sunlight in the corridor carried two figures, one large and one small, onto the floor behind the entrance hall.

The boy walked to the balcony and drew back the curtains. The girl put down the cat in her arms and turned on the air conditioner. The dim room quickly became bright and airy. Jun Matsue turned around and saw that Mochizuki was already sitting on the sofa, eating ice cream with her little feet up.

Jun Matsue walked over to her and looked around. "It doesn't seem like there's anything to clean."

Mochizuki Haruka gave a reserved hum, "My place is perfectly clean, there's really nothing to tidy up."

She glanced at the cat that had walked to her feet; the boy's shadow fell on its golden fur, distorted slightly.

"The pine branches returned faster than I expected."

The girl put down the ice cream box covered in English letters, looked up, and patted the empty sofa next to her.

"I thought you were going to come back on the last day of summer vacation."

"..." Jun Matsue sat down next to her, deliberately keeping a little distance. "I don't have a procrastination problem."

Why are you sitting so far away? Mochizuki glanced at him and put her right leg on his lap.

"So, have you thought of a solution?"

The boy nodded. "I guess so."

He didn't play with or massage the girl's delicate calves as usual, and Mochizuki Haruka sensed something was wrong.

"Isn't Songzhi a little strange?" She changed her position, bringing her face close to the boy to observe his expression.

"Hey, you're not thinking about breaking up with me, are you?"

"No, not at all." Jun Matsue smiled.

"I'm just afraid that after you hear what I have to say, you'll start to hate me."

His smile was still refreshing, and he seemed less burdened than usual when he was deep in thought. Mochizuki Haruka blinked, and the lighthearted feeling that had come from the return of her beloved slowly returned.

"...What do you want to say?" Her voice was a little hoarse.

The temperature in the living room hadn't dropped yet, and the ice cream on the table was beginning to melt, looking moist and smooth, but no one was tasting it.

"Unless one day Mochizuki Haruka starts to hate me, I will never let you go—that's what I said before, right?"

Jun Matsue looked at the girl sitting next to him and took her slightly cool hand in his.

Mochizuki Haruka nodded silently. The cat lying next to the sofa came over and rubbed against her slippers, as if to reassure its owner.

"Now I need to make some changes—"

"Even if one day Mochizuki Haruka starts to hate me, I will never let you go."

“…Oh.” The girl moved the fingers held by her beloved and pursed her upturned lips.

"I see."

She felt much more at ease, but she still kept a wary eye on the boy in front of her—if what Songzhi said was really a good thing, he wouldn't have kept his distance from her just now.

Jun Matsue took a deep breath before continuing to look into the girl's eyes.

"But I will not let go of Tomatsu Tomaka either."

"..." Mochizuki Haruka blinked hard. "What did you say?"

She thought she heard wrongly.

"I have made up my mind. I will not let go of Mochizuki, nor will I let go of Tomatsu."

The girl immediately got up from the sofa, startling the cat lying to the side, which fled from their sight.

"...Songzhi is joking, right?" Her clenched hands trembled slightly.

"You went out and thought about it for ten days, and this is the answer you give me?"

Jun Matsue raised his head and gently wrapped his arms around the girl's legs in front of him.

“I know my decision is absurd, ridiculous, and even shameful to you.”

"But after thinking about it seriously for a long time, I finally realized that I really can't let go—"

"Then what do you want me to do?!"

The boy was interrupted by Mochizuki Haruka, who placed her hands on his shoulders, her fingers digging tightly into his skin.

"Do you think I'd just say 'okay' and happily accept it?!"

"...If you don't let go of anything, what about Lai Xiyang? What if she tells you she likes you again, are you still going to hold on?"

Jun Matsueda did not deny it, saying, "Kurasu might not be able to accept it."

"So that's really what you think?" Mochizuki Haruka's voice trembled slightly; her usual aloof and indifferent attitude had long since vanished.

"How could I possibly accept this?!"

"..." The boy took another deep breath. "I'm not saying I want you and Tomatsu to become best friends or anything. I'm just telling you my decision first, and then we can talk about it together."

"What's there to talk about?!" The girl pushed him away forcefully.

Matsueda Jun reached out and pulled her back in time to prevent her from falling onto the coffee table. Mochizuki Haruka stepped back from the sofa, creating a distance of more than a meter between them.

The girl suddenly realized something, "Tomatsu has already agreed?"

The boy answered with a default response.

The emotions in Mochizuki Haruka's eyes cooled down, and the sense of impending crisis made her begin to regain her rationality.

“…Pine branch.” The girl walked back to the sofa and sat down. “I may have been pushing you a bit too hard lately.”

“I didn’t tell you about buying the house beforehand, which did make you a little unhappy.”

“But I’m your girlfriend…” She held the boy’s right hand with both hands.

"We've done this so many times already. I just want you to keep your distance from other girls who like you. Is that wrong?"

Mochizuki Haruka's trip home these past few days wasn't entirely fruitless. Her aunt had spent several days discussing with her what to do if Matsugi didn't side with her when she returned.

Even so, the grievance, disappointment in the girl's eyes, and the slight trembling in her voice were definitely not fake.

"..."

The room quieted down. The ice cream on the coffee table, which had only been eaten a couple of times, had melted more than halfway, with a few drops of its sweet liquid overflowing from the container and landing on the clean tabletop.

A cat huddled in a corner not far away peeked out, cautiously watching the tense atmosphere between the male and female owners in front of the sofa.

Perhaps it was at such a moment that his simulated self softened and gave in? Matsueda Jun thought to himself as he looked at the pitiful girl in front of him.

But after sharing a bed with Tomatsu Yuka, there's no going back now.

“Looking at the moon is certainly not wrong,” the boy said softly.

“I was wrong—I was too greedy. Even while enjoying Mochizuki’s tenderness and love, I still longed to get closer to other people.”

"I know I was wrong, but if I don't do this, I'll definitely regret it later."

He didn't want to blame the future girls for the mistake.

That was ultimately just a system simulation. The one who truly changed his mindset, the one who made the mistake, was himself.

"..." Mochizuki Haruka released the boy's hand and stared straight into his eyes.

"Is Songzhi really sure?"

"You hesitated for so long before you got together with me, but now you've only been alone for ten days and you've already decided to be unfaithful?"

"I'm sorry." Matsueda Jun instead took her hand.

"But I had liked you for a long time before I decided to be with you."

"I don't want to hear this!" The girl forcefully shook off his hand, her eyes glistening with tears.

"If you do that, I will be really angry, really angry, really sad."

"..." The boy suppressed his feelings of pity and nodded without wavering.

"Then I will try my best to make you feel better and do everything I can to make you feel less upset."

The emotion that welled up in Mochizuki Haruka's heart was quickly overwhelmed by an overwhelming sadness and anger.

She practically jumped off the sofa, tackled her lover to the ground, and viciously swung her fists at him.

"Matsueda Jun! You're such a scumbag!"

Jun Matsue did not resist, allowing the girl to ride on top of him and vent her anger.

Mochizuki's punches weren't heavy, but when they hit him, both the location and the force were extremely chaotic. The boy was even a little worried that the girl's reckless violence might hurt herself.

But as the fight went on, the girl's fists quickly softened, and instead, tears fell onto him, leaving a warm, damp sensation.

"Why..." Mochizuki Haruka said in a trembling voice.

Jun Matsue sighed deeply in his heart.

He didn't speak, but simply sat up and hugged the limp, exhausted body in front of him.

In the bright and airy room, the girl's heartbroken and helpless sobs echoed.

(End of this chapter)