Am I being simulated by their love affair?

Page 138

As if in response, Jinzhi meowed twice.

"Have a little patience, okay? You'll see your owner tonight."

He let go of the cat and placed it on the sofa. There were a few cat hairs on the corner cushion; the cat's molting season was approaching.

Opening the refrigerator door, there was leftover rice, cabbage, eggs, and half an onion inside.

Fried rice will be fine for dinner.

As he carried the ingredients into the kitchen, the cat jumped off the sofa and followed behind Jun Matsueda, circling around him. After he stood in front of the cutting board to chop vegetables, the cat even lay down on his slippers.

"Why have you become so clingy?" A piece of cabbage fell onto the cat and bounced into the corner of the kitchen.

Jinzhi raised her head and meowed at him twice more.

Jun Matsue put down the kitchen knife and thought for a while.

"Do you want to come with me to pick someone up at the airport?"

The creature on the slipper gave a satisfied yelp and ran out of the kitchen.

So, at 7:50 p.m., Jun Matsue stood in front of Kugayama Station with a canvas bag slung over his right shoulder, and Kinji's head popped out from inside.

Pets are allowed on the Japanese subway, and Jun Matsueda has seen quite a few cats and dogs on the subway, some even lying in pet strollers.

On the Inokashira Line train, the unfamiliar girl sitting next to Jun Matsueda lingered between his face and the cat's head peeking out of his bag.

"Hey, your cat is so cute~" Even though the boy next to her never looked at her, the girl still bravely struck up a conversation.

“Thank you, but this isn’t my cat,” Jun Matsue replied politely.

"Oh, I see..." The girl gave an awkward smile, trying to find a new topic, but the boy had already gotten off the bus.

Getting from Kugayama to Haneda Airport requires two transfers: the Inokashira Line, the Yamanote Line, and finally the Keikyu Main Line. After a little over an hour, Jun Matsue and Kane, the two creatures who had attracted countless glances along the way, finally stood inside Terminal 3 of Haneda Airport.

There were quite a few people in the arrival hall on the second floor. Jun Matsue saw a large group of girls holding up matching signs, which seemed to indicate that some celebrities were coming.

Jun Matsueda had no choice but to find a less crowded corner, take a picture of the "Exit Here" sign, and send it to the cat avatar in his chat list.

"I've arrived."

The girl replied quickly, "I'll be at the exit in about five minutes. You wait for me there."

He put down his phone, and the cat in the bag meowed excitedly, attracting the attention of the girls holding up signs around him.

"Are you here to pick up Yosobbi too?" the girl next to him asked curiously.

"No." Jun Matsue smiled politely, and the girl blushed.

"Are you here to pick up your girlfriend?" another girl asked, typing rapidly on her phone, seemingly trying to identify which celebrity the man in front of her was.

"Just picking up a friend." He looked towards the exit, and the cat in the bag meowed twice more.

The quiet exit was filled with the sound of passengers' footsteps. The closed passageway opened, and a golden cat, its upper body draped over a bag, peered out.

The girls around him fell silent as Matsueda Jun walked toward the entrance of the passage, and they made way for him.

The girl who walked out of the passage was wearing a baseball cap. Her eyes were obscured by the shadow of the brim of the cap, but her nose, lips and chin alone were enough to spark the imagination.

The golden cat jumped out of the bag, through the crowd, and leaped into its owner's arms.

The girl caught the cat with delight, looked up at the boy who had walked up to her.

After a whole winter of wind and snow, he was still the same as she remembered him, without any change.

"Long time no see," Jun Matsue said first.

The girl took off her hat, revealing eyes as clear as lake water.

"How did it get here?" Mochizuki Haruka shook the cat in her arms.

“Because it missed you.” Jun Matsueda stroked the cat’s head. “A few days ago, you said you were coming back, and it started running all over the house.”

"Really?" The girl's smile blossomed, like the aurora borealis in the night sky of Longyearbyen.

"It wasn't for nothing that I raised you."

She said to the cat in her arms.

The day the girl left was a snowy day; now, as she returns, cherry blossoms fill the city outside her window.

Chapter 229 Her Gift

The girls in the lobby looked at the two people and the cat standing by the aisle.

Some people stared at the boy carrying a canvas bag, looking like he was going out to buy groceries, while others stared at the girl who had taken off her hat, her demeanor as serene as melting snow.

Some people just want to see cute cats.

Mochizuki Haruka observed Matsue Jun in front of her, scrutinizing him carefully from head to toe, from the stray hairs on his head to the creases in his trousers.

"I feel like I don't like you as much anymore."

Jun Matsueda's expression remained unchanged, while the cat in the girl's arms meowed.

"...Boring, no excitement at all, heartless man."

Mochizuki Haruka stuffed the cat in her arms into Matsueda Jun's bag; a few golden hairs had already stuck to her wool jacket.

"Since you asked me to pick you up, you'll probably be sleeping in room 506 tonight, right?"

Jun Matsue took his hand out of his pocket. His hand had twitched slightly when Haruka Mochizuki was speaking, though the girl couldn't see it.

"uh-huh."

"Do you want to get your luggage?" He looked at the girl with empty hands; her luggage must have been checked in.

"No need, someone will get it." Mochizuki Haruka walked out of the crowd, and Matsueda Jun followed in her footsteps.

The people who came to pick them up watched the two leave. The cat in the bag poked its head out from behind the boy and looked at them.

"I'm so envious..."

I wonder if the person speaking envies the girl, the boy, or the cat.

Mochizuki walked through the passageway, then suddenly turned a corner and headed towards the baggage claim area.

"Didn't we say we wouldn't bring any luggage?"

"I suddenly remembered that I need to get something now."

The girl's dark green skirt swayed, and she walked quickly, still retaining a backpacker's air even after returning to Tokyo.

Before the two people and the cat even got close to the baggage claim area, the maid had already hurried over with a suitcase.

After taking the suitcase, Mochizuki Haruka returned the way she came and walked side by side with Matsueda Jun toward the exit.

"How do we get back?" Jun Matsue gently pushed the cat, which had been looking around, back into the bag.

"The driver should be waiting at the door."

"..." Jun Matsue shrugged. It seemed that the only purpose of his airport pickup was to make the girl happy.

On the escalator leading to the first floor, he looked at the suitcase in the girl's hand. The black exterior of the suitcase had a matte finish, exuding a sense of luxury.

"Does it look good?" Mochizuki Haruka turned her head, raised her left leg, and wore matcha-colored slouch socks with several black lace bows tied on them.

“I’m looking at your suitcase, not your legs,” he tried to correct the girl’s misconception.

"Interested?" She shook the suitcase.

“This box is a bit like…” Jun Matsue gestured with his hands, “like the kind of box that spies in movies carry, containing all sorts of amazing gadgets, or maybe some top-secret items for a deal.”

The girl stepped off the escalator and handed him the box in her hand, saying, "This is a souvenir for you. Open it when you get on the train."

Only when she got in the car and sat next to Jun Matsueda could she explain the meaning of each gift.

The two walked through the airport terminal, the boy and girl like colorful oil droplets, gliding through the bland and tasteless crowd.

After getting into the black sedan and closing the door, the cat darted out of the bag, jumped onto the passenger seat, and stared at the man in the black suit.

The girl curled up comfortably in the corner of the sofa, watching the car slowly start and leave the white lights of the terminal.

"Now I'm finally back in Tokyo," Mochizuki Haruka said softly.

“Welcome back,” Jun Matsue replied in the same tone.

The girl wriggled a few times and moved her body next to the boy. "You can open the box now."

Jun Matsue pressed the button next to the armrest of the seat to turn on the roof light. He placed the suitcase horizontally on his lap and slowly opened it.

“Wow…” Jun Matsue exclaimed.

"What was your first impression?" The girl leaned closer, her face appearing especially warm under the yellow light.

"It's like a magic item."

He carefully examined the contents of the box—a piece of transparent glass through which he could see shaped snowflakes, a red flower, an hourglass, and a bluish, porous stone.

"These are all things I brought back for you personally from all over the world."

"This glass contains a snowflake specimen from Longyearbyen, preserved in resin so it will never deteriorate. I made it myself."

"I took this poppy plant with me from Bedley, along with the soil where it took root, and it wasn't packed into a box until just before boarding the plane. Perhaps it's still alive now."

The girl's fingers slid over each of the items.

"This hourglass is filled with fine Sahara sand, and I filled it in myself."

"I found this stone near a volcano in Guatemala. When I got there, the lava had just cooled down."

"I was thinking of bringing you a penguin feather as a souvenir from Antarctica, but it's uglier than I imagined, so I'll pass." Her tone was somewhat regretful.

Jun Matsue recalled reading in a book that when male penguins court females, they present them with a stone, and if their courtship is accepted, the stone becomes part of their love nest.

“These are the proofs I’m giving you.” Mochizuki Haruka looked into his eyes.

This is proof that she is gradually getting better, and proof of her love.

“No one can refuse such a gift.” Jun Matsueda closed the suitcase lid and turned off the roof light. “I certainly can’t.”

The girl hummed contentedly, "I knew you'd like it. You boys just love weird and unusual things."

The cat in the front row poked its head out and looked at the two humans behind it. Their eyes gleamed in the darkness, as if they were its own kind.

The girl began to share her experiences along the way, "The last place I went to was Longyearbyen, where there were more polar bears than humans! Birth and death were not allowed there..."

"The Milky Way is visible in the Sahara night sky, and the stars are so numerous they seem like grains of sand in the desert..."

Mochizuki Haruka didn't mention that she read poetry under the Sahara starry sky, "Tonight I don't care about humanity, I only want you." That was the moment the girl missed Matsueda Jun the most, because the Sahara starry sky always reminded her of the nights in Hokkaido and the words he had said to her.

As the car passed the post office in Meguro Ward, the ringing of the bell interrupted their conversation.

Mochizuki Haruka watched as Matsueda Jun answered the phone, and another girl's voice came through the receiver—it was his roommate.

"Matsue! Why haven't you come home yet!" Kurusu Yosei's voice sounded like he was accusing someone.

“…I’m already on my way back.” Jun Matsueda watched as Haruka Mochizuki’s face gradually approached and came close to his.

"Jinzhi isn't home. Did you go to pick up Wangyue?" Although it was a question, in the girl's mind, it was the truth.

“...Yes.” If he didn’t admit it, Mochizuki Haruka’s face would be pressed against his.

"You have to be back tonight, and you're not allowed to stay out all night!" After saying this, the girl who was staying at home hung up the phone.

Mochizuki Haruka took her phone out of her pocket, checked the time, and then looked at Matsueda Jun.

"We still have more than two hours left, what should we do..."

Chapter 230 Oden Night (Part Two)

"We still have more than two hours left, what should we do..."

Mochizuki Haruka's eyes shone brightly in the darkness as she looked at Matsueda Jun's face.

"What else can I do? Get home quickly, take a hot bath, drink a glass of milk, and go to bed comfortably," Jun Matsuoka said without hesitation.

"Aren't you going to school tomorrow? Even if you don't go, I still have to go to school."

The girl pouted, then obediently said "Oh," and looked out the car window at the scenery.

They were traveling on the Metropolitan Expressway, having already passed Shibuya. The black sedan headed north, and Mochizuki could see Yoyogi Park and Meiji Shrine just north of the overpass.

"Songzhi, I'm hungry." The girl suddenly turned to look at him.