Am I being simulated by their love affair?

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She admitted that she did have romantic feelings for Matsueda, and that Matsueda probably felt the same way about her, which she sensed from their daily interactions.

However, this goodwill was not enough to turn into love, the girl believed that this was true for both of them, especially since he was the beloved of her junior.

Yamami Maki is an easily satisfied person. She feels that her current life is good and has no intention of ruining it.

With Songzhi accompanying her in her studies, she could go shopping with Yuka during her free time on weekends. When she felt tired at school, she could run into them on the balcony and chat together, or pass by the brass band's room after school to see the new members practicing.

To Matsue-kun, I'm probably a special person, isn't I? That's enough.

"Are you starting to worry about the final results, senior?" Yami Maki hadn't spoken until now, and Matsueda Jun looked at the silent girl.

"Hmm... I guess so?" She can't exactly say she's thinking about how much she likes you, can she?

“There’s nothing to worry about, senior.” Jun Matsue smiled. “You’re the hardest-working person I’ve ever met.”

"It's all thanks to Pine Branch's tutoring." The girl looked out at the sea, where, apart from the waves, she could see fish-like figures approaching the dolphin habitat.

"More importantly, it's because the senior student worked hard herself."

"If I beat Kokoro-chan this time too, I think Matsueda-san's tutoring was more important." She jokingly revealed her true feelings, "After all, I've tried so many times before, and I've never been able to beat her~"

Matsueda Jun pondered for a moment while looking at the sea, then looked into the girl's eyes, "I'm just a booster for you, providing you with a more efficient way to learn."

"Without your previous efforts, what use would it be if I tutored my senior 24 hours a day, even if you had built up those foundations, habits, and attitudes little by little?"

"Perhaps defeating Kuroba Shin requires a hundred steps, but Senpai has already taken ninety-nine steps alone. We've only taken the last step together."

Yamami Maki blinked, and behind Matsueda Jun, dolphins leaped out of the water, making joyful noises.

"So please don't deny the significance of your efforts, senior."

The girl's eyelashes trembled slightly. She nodded gently, avoiding Matsueda Jun's gaze, and looked at the dolphin swimming past the two of them.

The sea breeze blew through Yamami Maki's black hair, so she had to use one hand to gather her hair in front of her body and cover her flushed cheeks.

"Isn't it just that I can only be persuaded by Matsueda-san...?"

I've just made up my mind, please don't let me fall in love again so soon...

The triangular waves of the open sea surged and whitecaps approached, cut into gentle blue waves by the dolphin pods. Compared to the turbulent sea, these black, white and gray creatures were the gentlest little things. They appeared around the ship, and their calls reached the girl's ears, sounding even more cheerful.

On the third day of the biology competition, there was actually only the closing ceremony and awards ceremony in the morning. After attending the adults' formalistic ceremony, the two members of Yuqiu High School boarded the plane for their return trip.

Looking out the porthole at the sky, Yamami Maki hummed a cheerful tune as she unwrapped a matcha milk candy and popped it into her mouth.

"You seem to be in a good mood, senior," Jun Matsue said with a smile.

"Of course~" The girl took another candy out of her pocket and placed it on the boy's lap. "After all, Kokoro lost to me."

Kuroba Shin lost to her childhood friend by a narrow margin of one point. After the closing ceremony, the sullen girl ignored the two of them and got into a black car and left.

"It's a pity that the international competition spots are only for students below the second year of high school, otherwise my senior might have had a chance to participate in the international competition." Jun Matsueda touched the gold medal in his bag. There were only four spots in the international competition, and after removing the third-year students who participated in the finals, he was ranked seventh.

“International competition…it’s too difficult. Beating Kokoro-chan is enough for me.” The plane began to accelerate on the runway, and Yamami Maki gripped the handrail tightly.

"Anyway, I can finally relax when I get back. Two gold medals, I wonder if the principal will be grinning from ear to ear?" Jun Matsue picked up the candy and played with it in his hand.

"We third-year students won't have it easy. The common exams are much more important than the competitions," the girl said helplessly.

"Then you must keep working hard, senior!" Jun Matsue made a cheering gesture. "Looking forward to good news at next year's graduation ceremony."

The girl stared blankly out the window. She suddenly realized that after the competition ended, she no longer seemed to have any reason to maintain such close contact with the people around her.

"It doesn't really matter, does it?" Yamami Maki told herself. "Everyone's on the same floor now, so it's easy to meet up, isn't it?"

"..."

The plane began to fly smoothly, and the girl turned around to look at the boy who was peeling a candy wrapper.

"What's wrong?" Jun Matsue asked, looking at the senior student who was staring at him.

"Matsueda-kun, how about we go see the cherry blossoms together after we get back to Tokyo?"

"To see cherry blossoms?" Jun Matsue was a little surprised. Why did she suddenly bring this up?

"Well, consider this a reward for my excellent performance this time!" the girl said with a smile.

Actually, Yuka and Matsueda might not end up together. If that's the case, it shouldn't be a problem for her to make some preparations in advance, right?

Such self-deceiving thoughts began to gradually sprout in Yamami Maki's mind.

Chapter 257 A Clear Conscience

Jun Matsue returned to school on Wednesday. When he entered the classroom, he noticed that the seating arrangement seemed to have changed.

However, the seats in the back row seemed to remain the same. He hung his backpack on the table, and the girl sitting to his right put down her book and looked at him.

"Welcome back, Matsueda-kun~"

Tomatsu Tomoka's tone didn't sound like she was welcoming back classmates; it sounded more like she was welcoming her husband home from a business trip.

“Yeah, back to school again.” Jun Matsueda sighed. Compared to the three days in Kumamoto, going back to school felt like being in prison.

"Have the seats changed in the class?" He pulled out a chair, sat down, and observed the positions of his fellow inmates.

The girl nodded gently. "Ms. Kominato has adjusted the seating according to everyone's height and eyesight. Now, Sakamuro is sitting in front of you."

“Sakamuro.” Jun Matsueda was fairly satisfied with the result; he didn’t really remember the person who had been sitting in front of him.

"Now all the original members of Class Two are sitting together."

Tomatsu Yuka stretched, revealing her slender waist and beautifully shaped navel beneath her sailor uniform. As the weather grew warmer, the girls' clothes became increasingly thin, and the coats draped over the chairs had become mere decorations.

"Oh, right." Jun Matsue rummaged in his bag and pulled out a small square bag. "This is a souvenir for you."

"Mine?!" The girl took it with delight, carefully opened the bag, and found a light pink pearl with a small metal clasp attached to it.

"This is the first time I've ever received pearls."

"This is a pearl pendant I bought in the Amakusa Islands. You can hang it wherever you want."

Jun Matsue hung his schoolbag back on his desk and took out the various materials and assignments he had accumulated over the past two days from his drawer. Someone had already organized them for him, and there were sticky notes with annotations on them. Judging from the handwriting, it was the girl sitting to his right.

"Can I wear it on my ear?" The pearl in the girl's hand shimmered with a warm glow in the sunlight.

"It will hurt your ears." Jun Matsuoka didn't buy pearl earrings; that would be too suggestive.

“Okay…” Tomatsu Yuka was a little disappointed. She looked at her desk and thought for a while before finally attaching the pearl pendant to her pencil case.

"Now I can see it all the time~" The girl smiled contentedly.

"I think it's better to look at the podium during class." Only at times like this does Jun Matsueda remember his role as class monitor.

Jun Matsuoka was very busy in the morning. During several breaks between classes, he reported on the competition to his homeroom teacher, competition coach, and principal, and of course, he also showed them his gold medal and certificate.

After saying goodbye to the principal, who couldn't suppress his smile, he returned to the teaching building. There were quite a few people in the corridor, and everyone looked like they had no interest in studying.

With April drawing to a close and the Golden Week holiday in May just around the corner, and April 29th being Showa Day, followed by Constitution Memorial Day, Greenery Day, and Children's Day after May 2nd, office workers typically use their annual leave to combine these two holidays into one, thus gaining at least an eight-day Golden Week break.

However, this is a method exclusive to adults. The students of Haneoka High School still have to return to school after Showa Day and look forward to the holiday in early May.

As soon as he entered the corridor on the third floor, a girl came out of the classroom closest to Matsueda Jun, holding a water cup and walking towards him with her head down.

"Imokawa." Jun Matsue called out to her. Natsumi Imokawa looked up, her blank expression quickly replaced by surprise.

"Matsue's back!" The girl looked him up and down. "Was Kumamoto a good place to take pictures?"

Whether it's easy to photograph or not, this might be Natsumi Imokawa's unique way of greeting people.

"It's quite beautiful; I took a lot of photos." Jun Matsueda nodded. "Do you want to go get some water?"

"Mmm!" The girl then remembered that she was holding a water glass.

"Wait here for me a moment after you get the water, I'll return the camera to you." He walked towards the classroom.

When Matsueda Jun returned to the corridor of Class 5, the water cup in Imokawa Natsumi's hand was gone. The girl's hands were swaying slightly as she gripped the hem of her skirt, reminding him of a dog waiting for its owner to come home.

"Here you go." Jun Matsue handed her the camera and a small bag. "Your camera, and this is a souvenir I brought for you."

The bag also contained pearl pendants. Jun Matsue had also prepared some for Haruka Mochizuki and Yosei Kurusu. Yosei Kurusu's was given to her last night, and Haruka Mochizuki's was still in his schoolbag since she wasn't at school.

"Thank you, Matsueda!" Natsumi Imokawa took the bag, opened it, looked inside, and then put it in her pocket. For her, the photos were still more tempting.

The girl opened her camera and browsed through the photos one by one: Mount Fuji in the sea of ​​clouds, Kumamoto Castle under the afterglow, Mount Aso and Kusachisato. She kept exclaiming in amazement and leaned close to Jun Matsueda to ask about the origin of the photos.

"Pine Branch, tell me again about the view from above the crater." The girl tugged at the boy's arm and shook it, instinctively using her charm.

"There's no time." Jun Matsue let go of her hand. "The bell has already rung. Let's go back to the classroom first, and I'll talk to you later."

Natsumi Imokawa, holding her camera, watched Jun Matsueda disappear at the other end of the corridor before entering her classroom.

Sure enough, you have to go out more often to take good photos... The girl sitting in her seat thought to herself, and opened her camera to look at the photos again. As she flipped through them, she saw the back view of a girl in a white dress in the forest.

"..." Natsumi Imokawa stared at the girl in the white dress for a while longer. It was a good photo, she had to admit.

But why did she feel something was off?

Perhaps because the lighting wasn't dim enough or the composition wasn't perfect... the girl thought to herself, and temporarily turned off the camera.

After school, at the Musashino Mori Cafe, Maki Yamami and Yuka Tomatsu sat by the window, each with a large cup of matcha parfait in front of them. Today, Yuka Tomatsu was treating them.

"Congratulations on winning the gold medal in the biology competition, senior!" Tomatsu Yuka said with a smile. "I heard that your score was even higher than Matsueda's this time."

"Thank you for tutoring, Matsue-kun." Yami Maki sighed, paused, and then added.

"It's also hard on me to study so hard!"

The girls clinked their parfait spoons together, making a crisp sound in the air—their way of celebrating. As they ate their parfaits, the two chatted about how competition gold medals helped in choosing universities, and then about the situation after the brass band recruitment.

"..." Putting down the spoon, Yamami Maki hesitated for a moment, "How are things going between Yuka and Matsueda lately?"

This was the first time she had taken the initiative to ask a junior about their love life.

Tomatsu Tomoka looked somewhat surprised, then smiled, "I feel like Matsue-kun has become a little closer to me; I received a gift from him today~"

"Really?" Yami Maki looked pleased. "Then how about we try asking Matsueda out to see the cherry blossoms together?"

"To see cherry blossoms?" The girl's face fell again. "Of course I'd love to, but Matsueda-san might not think so."

"Then let's try inviting other people too, just like when we went to Hatsumode together before." As a reliable upperclassman, Yamami Maki tried to offer advice.

"Let's go find Aya-chan and invite Matsu-chan along, then he shouldn't refuse, right?"

Maki Yamami watched as the ice cream ball on top of the parfait gradually melted.

That way I can have a clear conscience, right?

Chapter 258 The more cherry blossoms, the more people.

"Go see the cherry blossoms on Showa Day?"

Jun Matsueda answered the phone call from Aya Miyamura on the sofa, while Yosuke Kurusu winked at him.

“Yes, yes.” Miyamura Aya nodded, lying on her bed at home. “It was Yamami-neechan and Tomatsu-neechan who invited me.”

"It's perfect that Showa Day and the weekend are combined, wouldn't it be great to have a picnic under the cherry blossoms together? Jun-nii, come on over too!"

Yosuke Kurusu, who was lying on the sofa, moved closer to him with an expression that said, "I'm very curious!"

So, the senior meant that everyone should go see the cherry blossoms together? Matsueda Jun breathed a sigh of relief, but for some reason, he also seemed to feel a little disappointed.

Actually, ever since he returned from Kumamoto, the atmosphere between him and Yami Maki when they were alone seemed to have become a little ambiguous, and he originally thought that this was not just his imagination.

He pushed the girl away a little and walked onto the balcony. "I'd like to go, but the literature museum requires overtime. I've already asked for leave several times."

“I see…” Miyamura Aya immediately sat up in bed, minimized the call screen on her phone, and opened the “Conquer Haneoka!” chat group.

"Brother Chun said he's busy this week, what should we do?"

After Matsueda Jun was pulled into the group by Yamami Maki last time, he was quickly kicked out by Aya-chan, who was the group owner. He didn't even notice it, and of course, even if he had, he wouldn't have cared.

"Then ask him if he's free during the May holiday." Tomatsu Yuka replied quickly. Now that the opportunity had presented itself, the young woman was determined to seize it.

"Hello? Is Aya-chan listening?" Jun Matsueda asked, somewhat puzzled.

"Oh, is Chun-ge free during the May holiday?"

"A long holiday..." He thought for a moment, "It should be fine, right?"

"Then it's settled!" To prevent him from going back on his word, the girl quickly hung up the phone.

Kurusu Yosei watched as the boy returned to the living room and sat down. "Are you going out to play during Golden Week?"

"They said they wanted to see the cherry blossoms."