Am I being simulated by their love affair.

Chapter 740 Little by little, entering each other's lives

Jun Matsueda walked out of the Minami-Asagaya station at 10:50 a.m.

The morning dew and dampness had long since receded, and the sunlight, close to late October, was neither too hot nor too cold, just enough to clearly illuminate everything on the road.

Ignoring the infatuated gaze of the girl he was facing, he quickly left the station and walked towards the coffee shop a few hundred meters away.

Pushing open the glass door, you're greeted by a girl standing behind the cashier—Yamami Maki had already spotted the boy, and a long-awaited smile appeared on her gentle face.

Welcome to 'mani'~

After the standard greeting, she waved to the boy at the door, a small wave that seemed very friendly.

Good afternoon, Songzhi!

"Hello, senior."

Jun Matsue closed the door and went inside.

He stopped in front of the cashier and, looking at the person in front of him through the computer on the table, began to examine their attire.

Today, Yamami Maki was wearing a black shirt and a brown apron, a very ordinary outfit for a coffee shop.

The girl thus gained a more approachable and friendly feel, like a gentle older sister next door—although the senior sister didn't dress extravagantly before, her outfits were always unique and sophisticated, and that fresh and romantic style was something that most people couldn't pull off.

Yamami Maki's eyes sparkled with delight. "What do you think, Matsueda-kun?"

She gently patted her uniform, then spun around behind the counter, revealing her hair tied up at the back of her head.

Her long, jet-black hair was braided into a beautiful style, coiled into a round and full bun, and tied up by the girl with a wide matcha-colored ribbon, giving her a clean and gentle temperament.

Jun Matsue paused for a moment, then looked around the counter.

"Why is my senior working here?"

"Isn't Cai Jiang in the store?"

Before the girl could answer the question, Aya Miyamura stood up from behind the counter carrying a full can of coffee beans.

"Welcome to 'mani'~" She winked at the boy, her tone lively and mischievous.

"Brother Chun arrived so quickly!"

Jun Matsueda glanced at Maki Yami, who was smiling brightly beside the girl, and said, "I was relatively free at home today, so I came over after receiving your message."

He knew he had to come and check on his senior who had suddenly started working.

Yamami Maki glanced at the brother and sister beside her and tapped the menu on the bar with her index finger.

"Since you're already here, Matsueda-kun, won't you order a coffee?"

"...a hot latte."

After making eye contact with her, the boy accepted his role as a guest.

The young barista beside him began brewing coffee with an air of nonchalance, her movements carrying a hint of showing off. Jun Matsueda rested one hand on the bar counter and turned to survey the shop.

The coffee shop where Cai Jiang works is only about the size of two storefronts. Because it mainly sells coffee and doesn't have many desserts, and it was lunchtime on a day off, there weren't many customers. Only one lady was sitting in a corner drinking coffee and reading a book.

Since there weren't many customers, Jun Matsue was able to turn around and chat with the girl behind the counter without feeling guilty.

"So how did you end up with Aya-chan?"

Yamami Maki, who had been curiously observing the people around her making coffee, looked away and tucked a lock of hair behind her ear.

"Because when I messaged Matsueda before, you said that Aya-chan was working nearby."

"I recently wanted to try working, so I asked Caijiang for advice." She tore off the receipt that the machine spat out and gently placed it next to the boy.

"She said the shop where she worked was hiring part-time workers, so I gave it a try."

"Chun-ge's hot latte~"

Aya Miyamura, who was standing next to him, pushed a coffee in front of the boy, which had a string of heart-shaped latte art on it.

"Because Mani opened a new store in Meguro these past few days," she explained on behalf of the girl next to her.

“Our store manager is also the owner. She took a group to Meguro to train new employees over the weekend, so we are short-staffed in Asagaya and are thinking of hiring temporary workers to make do for a while.”

Yamami Maki held her hands in front of her, pointing inwards at herself, as if showing off some treasure.

"So here I am!"

“…I see.” Jun Matsueda lowered his head and took a sip of coffee.

It has a rich milky flavor and a mellow coffee aroma, with no obvious bitterness. It has a warm and comforting taste that dispels the chill of autumn.

He nodded. "It tastes pretty good."

Yamami Maki's eyes crinkled at the corners, and she pursed her lips in a delighted smile, as if she were the one who made the coffee.

Regardless of whether the senior's idea of ​​doing part-time work is reliable or not, at least Cai Jiang's idea is definitely reliable... The boy relaxed and leaned against the bar.

Yamami Maki blinked. The distance between her and Matsueda was closer than ever in the past few months. If she breathed a little harder, she could blow the bangs on his forehead.

She glanced around discreetly, then let her gaze slip along the boy's neck, slipping into the collar of his gray long-sleeved shirt and landing on his prominent collarbone.

That's good... The girl felt a small sense of satisfaction for the time being.

"So, Cai-chan is now considered the acting store manager?" The boy at the bar chatted, completely oblivious to the conversation.

"It's alright, only on weekends." Miyamura Aya made a victory sign and bent down to clean the coffee grounds left in the coffee machine.

Jun Matsue took a sip of his coffee. "By the way, I asked you before what the name 'mani' meant, and you still haven't told me."

"I don't know either. When I asked the store manager, she just told me to guess."

Cai Jiang poured out the coffee grounds from her cup and nudged the girl next to her with her shoulder.

"However, Yamami-neechan and I guessed and finally came to the same conclusion."

The boy looked at the senior in front of him, and Yamami Maki hurriedly withdrew her gaze from the back of his hand, raised her head and smiled to cover it up.

"Sorry, I was just spacing out..."

It means 'mani'~

"Oh, oh." The girl spread her hands out to the person in front of her, pinching her thumb and forefinger into a circle.

"As Caijiang and I understand it, 'mani' means 'many money'~"

She waved the hand gesture that represented "money" and smiled sweetly at the boy.

Twenty minutes later, Jun Matsue, sitting by the window, watched as the senior student in uniform walked out of the cashier's counter and picked up the coffee cup left on the empty seat in front of him.

Before turning to leave, Yamami Maki looked up and smiled gently at the boy, then walked away with her coffee cup in hand, pushing open the small door on the side of the bar that led to the kitchen.

It was nearly 11:30 a.m., lunchtime, and the only customer in the coffee shop was Jun Matsueda. Aya Miyamura stepped out from behind the counter and waved to the boy.

"Would Chun-ge like to have lunch with us?"

Jun Matsueda nodded. "What are you going to do for lunch?"

“There are lots of restaurants around here,” the girl said, pointing outside. “We usually take turns going out to eat or have one of us buy food for us.”

"But since Chun-ge is here today, I'll trouble you to run an errand for me~" She winked playfully, "The restaurant next door sells bento boxes."

“No problem.” The boy walked out of his seat, just as Yamami Maki returned to the counter.

"I'm going next door to get lunch. What would you like to eat, senior?" "Ah." The girl was caught off guard. She wiped her hands and thought for a moment.

"I don't want anything too oily or greasy."

“I’ll just be like Chun-ge~” Cai-jiang said from behind him.

Jun Matsue nodded and walked out of the coffee shop. When he returned about ten minutes later, the girls were already sitting in his original spot, with a tablet in front of them.

"What are you looking at?" The boy put the bag he was carrying on the table, and the girls moved their tablets to the side.

"The National Wind Instrument Competition!" Aya Miyamura answered first. "Yamami-neechan said she wanted to see it."

"Because Haneoka Taka will be playing." Yamami Maki smiled at him. "The morning's matches just ended."

Jun Matsue recalled the schedule he had seen earlier, "Haneoka High should be in the afternoon."

He opened the bag in his hand and pushed the lunch in front of the girls.

"My senior's is mentaiko soy milk dan dan noodles, while Caijiang and I are tempura rice bowls."

"Thank you, Songzhi~" The senior student smoothed her hair and accepted her bowl of dan dan noodles.

Mentaiko is cod roe, replacing the minced meat in Dan Dan noodles. When the girl opened the package, she found a "half-cooked tamago tempura" in her bag - a soft-boiled egg tempura with side dishes.

This isn't something that comes with Dan Dan noodles, Yamami Maki said, looking at the boy sitting opposite her.

Noticing the gaze directed at him, Jun Matsue, who was eating shrimp tempura, looked up.

"I felt that the dan dan noodles I ordered for my senior were a bit too plain, so I added a half-cooked egg custard."

What the boy didn't say was that, to prevent the senior's noodles from becoming mushy and tasteless, he specifically asked the owner to make the Dan Dan noodles last.

The girl didn't say thank you again, but just smiled again, her expression even sweeter.

The morning session of the national competition ended, the tablet on the table was covered, and the three of them focused on eating, enjoying the soft sunlight outside the floor-to-ceiling windows and the low-lying clouds passing over the city.

"So is today your first day working here, senior?"

After swallowing the rice in his mouth, Jun Matsuoka asked in a natural tone.

The soft slurping sound on the other side paused for a moment, and Yamami Maki wiped her mouth with a tissue.

“The next day.” She held up two fingers with her left hand.

"My main responsibilities are cashiering, delivering coffee, and cleaning tables. I feel like I'm adapting quite well."

The boy stared at the bite-broken tempura in the bowl.

Haneoka Takashi's trusted vice president, Yamami Maki, who once led the brass band to a national gold medal, now leads an ordinary college life, having even put down her clarinet and working as a temporary worker handing out receipts and serving coffee in a small coffee shop...

Jun Matsue didn't mean that this kind of part-time job was inferior; it was just that seeing such an outstanding senior student content with an ordinary life made him feel a little uneasy.

Did the senior think the same way when she looked at him before they broke up?
The sound of the glass door being pushed open echoed in the empty coffee shop, interrupting the boy's thoughts.

The three people by the window looked up at the customers who had entered the store.

"...Are you open for business now?" the bespectacled office woman asked somewhat timidly.

"We're open for business!" Aya Miyamura put down her chopsticks and stood up, looking at the girl beside her.

"You can sit here, Yamami-neechan. I'll be fine on my own!"

“Okay~” Yamami Maki nodded, holding her soup bowl.

The sound of a barista talking to a customer came from the counter. Watching his senior taking small sips of soup, Jun Matsueda gently put down his chopsticks.

"Does the senior plan to continue doing odd jobs?" he asked earnestly.

The girl paused for a moment, swallowed the sweet and hot noodle soup, and then nodded.

"If nothing unexpected happens, that's how it should be."

“There’s no need to do these low-skilled jobs,” the boy couldn’t help but say. “You could find a company that matches your major to intern at, or you could tutor, which would be great.”

"The senior student has excellent grades, a good personality, and is majoring in education. She would definitely be very popular as a tutor—the salary for tutors is quite good."

Yamami Maki blinked and tilted her head.

"Matsueda-kun... is she feeling sorry for me?"

“It’s not that exaggerated.” Jun Matsue avoided her sparkling gaze. “I just think it’s a shame that someone with your abilities is only doing this kind of temporary work.”

"Aya and I chose these jobs because of age and time constraints."

The girl stared at his face for a while, then smiled, her eyes filled with sweet and tender light.

"Knowing that Jun-kun cares about me and is seriously considering my needs, I feel happier than I imagined."

She placed one hand on her lower abdomen, saying, "I don't even feel hungry anymore."

"...Don't flatter yourself." Jun Matsue glanced at her.

Yamami Maki smiled even more broadly, placing her hands on the table and clenching them in front of the boy's bowl—as if she were holding his hands.

“I did it because I wanted to, so Jun-kun doesn’t need to worry about me.”

"Now I go shopping for groceries by myself, do laundry by myself, and try to cook by myself. This feeling of living independently seems to be more fun than I imagined."

"For example, noting down regular supermarket discounts, redeeming points for small gifts and free visits to self-service laundromats, and things like getting free ice cream at the store while working..."

She was not someone who would be easily defeated by the difficulties she faced; such was her personality since childhood.

"So this kind of simple part-time job is what I did because I wanted to discover more of this kind of fun."

"Although these jobs don't require much technical skill and the wages aren't high, the hours are relatively flexible, and physical labor doesn't require much mental effort, which is an advantage."

"I'm only a freshman now, and I'm not as amazing as Matsueda thinks."

She stuck out her tongue, displaying a casual and lively cuteness.

"Perhaps tutoring is more suitable for me, but I also have to prepare lesson plans and tutor students. If I spend all that energy, I may not be able to balance my own studies—after all, I am also helping my teacher's project."

"So I think this kind of part-time job is more suitable for me."

"Besides coffee shops, I'd also like to try working the night shift at a library, a bakery, and a convenience store..."

"I think I will find enjoyment in these jobs, and this is how I gradually take control of my life."

"Anyway, I still want to thank Jun-kun for his concern." Yami Maki smiled and squinted her eyes, looking very happy.

"I think I've lost count of how many times I've thanked you since I moved out~"

After remaining silent for a moment under his senior's gaze, Jun Matsue lowered his head and scooped up a spoonful of rice.

"I'll pass on the night shift at the convenience store..." he mumbled, "The customers are harder to deal with than the job itself."

“Okay~” The girl nodded obediently, “I’ll listen to Matsueda-san, after all, I don’t have much experience myself.”

Looking at the boy who was eating with his head down, Yamami Maki's gentle eyes curved into beautiful crescent moons.

What you have experienced, I will experience someday as well.

That way we can integrate into each other's lives.

(End of this chapter)