Am I being simulated by their love affair?

Page 168

"..." He suddenly had the illusion that he was being kept by a rich woman. "Thank you, senior. I will cherish this opportunity."

"Chun-ge, everything's set up here!" Cai-jiang waved to him. "Let's start practicing."

"Okay." Jun Matsueda adjusted his posture.

With his left foot in front of the hi-hat and his right foot on the bass drum pedal, he raises both hands, crosses the drumsticks in the air, and draws everyone's attention to him—this is the signal that he is ready to play.

Before it officially began, he glanced casually at the girl beside him. Yamami Maki was resting her chin on her hands, staring at him intently with bright eyes full of anticipation.

If the audience were all like the senior students, perhaps everyone would enjoy the feeling of standing on the stage.

One, two, three, four—after the two drumsticks struck rapidly in the air, the interwoven melody began to play.

Chapter 290 So-called happiness is nothing but unnecessary worries

After finishing another song, Aya Miyamura took a sip of water and looked at the entire room reflected in the mirror.

"Having a microphone helps me figure out how loud to sing; it definitely feels better to practice outside of school~"

“That’s no excuse for you to sing into the microphone and torture our ears.” Jun Matsueda put down his drumsticks and swung his arms to relax.

They had been in the practice room all morning. The girl had been running around the room during practice, trying to simulate interacting with the audience on stage, which caused the speakers to squeal several times.

"Let's take a break," Izumi Mizuki said, putting down her guitar. "The facilities here are really good. Shall we have lunch and then come back to continue?"

“I’m fine.” Jun Matsue nodded, and Sachi raised her hand.

"Um, is it okay if I don't have lunch with everyone? My boyfriend is coming to visit..."

After thinking for a while, the minister, who was in charge of the team, said, "It's 11 o'clock now. We can have free time during lunch and then meet up again at 1:30."

"Thank you, Minister~" Xiaoxing called out sweetly. She only used the title "Minister" at times like this. "Then I'll be going now?"

"Let's go." Izumi Mizuki waved her hand. "Remember the rules of the Light Music Club: don't bring your lover into the band."

"See you this afternoon, Minister~" The girl skipped out the door, leaving the three people in the room behind.

"So the Light Music Club has such rules?" Jun Matsueda stood up and stretched. The chair next to him was empty.

Yamami Maki left after the band practiced a few songs. It seemed that the girl also had to go to school on Sunday. She sent a message to Matsueda Jun, saying that she would come over again after class.

"This is a rule I set after I became the department head." Izumi Mizuki had the bitter and resentful expression that only a beautiful girl would have. "The first band I joined in school disbanded because of a relationship between a boy and a girl."

“I understand.” Jun Matsueda nodded. When he was in the band, he focused on playing, so that everyone could relax a bit.

"I'd like to wander around the neighborhood and grab some lunch. Would you like to come along?" The girl pulled out a pick necklace from her collar, and Aya Miyamura walked up to her.

"I'm with my senior!"

"As for me..." Jun Matsueda glanced at his phone. His senior had just sent him a message; she was on her way after class.

"I'll wander around the studio first, then I'll see you in the practice room."

"Remember to lock the door. I don't want to come back and find my guitar gone." The girl left with Aya.

Matsueda Jun stayed in the room for a while before locking the door and leaving the practice room. The design of this floor was somewhat similar to the building where Kiyoshi had taken him to record songs. The corridor was on the outer edge of the floor, and you could see the sunlight streaming through the entire corridor as soon as you opened the door.

The studio has six floors in total. The practice room that the light music club used today is on the fifth floor, which offers a slight view of the nearby streets. Jun Matsueda watched as Mizuki Izumi and Aya Miyamura walked out of the music store across the street and disappeared into the dead corner of the building.

He observed the neighborhood near the Mingda Station and found that, just as Senior Yamami had said, it was full of places closely related to music. The signs on the exterior walls of the buildings were mostly decorated with various musical notes or instrument symbols. There was a record store at the end of the street, and a stray cat was lying in the sun outside.

The midday sun was too strong, making the streets bright white, like an overexposed photograph taken by a photographer by mistake.

Jun Matsueda's phone vibrated again, the yellow parrot icon flashing; it was a message from Maki Yami.

"Matsueda-kun, I'm back~"

After replying to the message, Jun Matsueda looked up and waited for a while. As expected, he saw a girl walking slowly towards him at the end of the street.

Yamami Maki wore a blue floral print long dress. The buildings of varying heights were backlit, casting irregular shadows on the street. The midday light made the colors lose their intensity, leaving only black and white. The girl stepped through the light and shadow in front of her, like a miniature fairy stepping on the black and white keys of a piano.

Jun Matsue watched as her skirt swayed all the way to the studio entrance. It was time to go downstairs, so he walked towards the stairwell.

As Yamami Maki stepped out of the elevator on the fifth floor, she stopped, looked herself up and down at her dress, fiddled with her bangs in front of her phone screen, and took out her lipstick to open it when Matsueda Jun suddenly walked over from the stairwell.

Startled, the girl quickly put her hands behind her back, hiding the lipstick in her hand. "What are you doing here, Pine-E?"

"I went upstairs for a walk. The others went to have lunch and won't be back until 1:30." Jun Matsue looked at her slightly unnatural expression with some curiosity.

"Are you feeling unwell, senior?"

"No, no." Yamami Maki waved her hand, having secretly slipped the lipstick into her small handbag. "It's just that the weather is a bit hot."

"Didn't Matsueda go out with the others?"

The girl suddenly realized that only the two of them were left in the space—although she hadn't started to exert her power yet, the opportunity to be alone had already appeared.

"Because senior said she was coming, right?" The boy's matter-of-fact tone made Yamami Maki's heart race.

"The senior provided a practice space and even came to see us after class. It would definitely feel bad if we came back and found that no one was there."

"It's not you guys, it's you..." the girl corrected him in her mind. Although it was different from the reason she had expected, she was already very satisfied with the two of them being alone together.

Happiness shouldn't come rushing at you all at once, Maki Yami thought. It's enough to get a little bit every day, so that there will be something to look forward to in the future, right?

"So, Matsueda-kun hasn't had lunch yet?" The girl cautiously began searching for something more enjoyable. "Would you like to eat with me?"

“That’s what I was planning to do too.” Jun Matsue laughed. “It can be a bit difficult to choose when eating out alone. I think you know this area well, so I feel like you can take me to eat some good food.”

When it comes to finding restaurants, his tendency to seek things without effort has likely spoiled him, perhaps due to the indulgences he receives from those around him.

So the girl who had just stepped out of the elevator returned to the small, enclosed space, only this time she had someone with her, someone who made her care about her hairstyle and lips.

"Where should we go for lunch?" Yami Maki muttered to herself. "There are quite a few nice restaurants nearby."

“Then let’s browse and pick things out as we go. We have plenty of time, no need to rush.” Jun Matsuoka also joined in, talking to himself.

"Okay~" The girl smiled and squinted her eyes. The elevator doors opened, and the two walked into the street, which looked like an overexposed film.

"The sun is so strong..." Yami Maki thought to herself. She hadn't thought this way when she walked by a few minutes ago, but now she was worried that the intense sunlight might make her sweat too much.

Although somewhat troubled, the girl's smile became even brighter.

Because there is another person by your side, even unnecessary worries become happiness.

Chapter 291 Occasionally, the young girl would also find the tea bitter.

After careful selection, Maki Yamami led Jun Matsueda into an Italian restaurant.

"It feels like no matter where I eat, all I see are ramen shops, izakayas, and family-run restaurants." The girl's smile was a little awkward.

The two had eaten ramen and izakaya together before. There were family restaurants near the school, and most of the students at Haneoka High School had been there. She chose this Italian restaurant to bring something new to Matsueda Jun's experience.

“Italian food is good too.” Jun Matsueda took a sip of ice water. “It’s easy to get tired of eating ramen and rice bowls all the time.”

"Mmm!" Yamami Maki flipped through the menu with great interest. "And I also want to try what it's like to eat pizza together~"

"Senior, you've never had pizza before?" Matsueda Jun was a little surprised. He remembered Kiyoshi, who would order a pizza whenever he was home alone and didn't feel like cooking.

"Because my family says that eating pizza will make your mouth covered in sauce, which looks very unsightly, I have never eaten pizza in front of other people."

"I've ordered pizza by myself before, but a pizza is so big that it's a waste if I can't finish it, and eating pizza alone just doesn't feel as fun."

Is it another image issue...? Jun Matsueda crunched the ice cube in his mouth. His senior's parents really had a lot of demands on her.

“But Matsueda-kun has already seen me crying my eyes out from the spiciness of the torpedo ramen.” Yami Maki winked at him playfully.

So in front of you, you can eat whatever you want without worry~

The girl imitated him and took a sip of ice water, the ice cubes in her mouth making a soft sound.

"I distinctly remember someone telling me that if she embarrassed herself in front of me, I had to erase those memories." Jun Matsue recalled the memories on the school's altar.

"Your senior has already fallen into depravity."

“There’s nothing I can do about it,” Yami Maki shook her head, looking as if it wasn’t her fault. “Because Matsueda-san is so wicked, she definitely won’t listen to me, so I can only go along with it.”

Jun Matsueda had no choice but to chew on ice cubes as a form of protest, while the girl ate and laughed as she looked at the menu.

They ended up ordering a mushroom and ham pizza and a small portion of pasta, intending to share it. This was suggested by the senior student, and since the girl didn't mind, Matsueda Jun naturally didn't object.

The pizza was huge, big enough for Yami Maki's face to roll around on, and the pasta was also a portion that a young girl could easily eat her fill.

Both of them ate a little slower than usual. Jun Matsue admired the girl's methodical and composed manner as she cut the pizza and rolled up the pasta, while Maki Yami watched with a smile as the boy picked up a piece of pizza with his hand and put it in his mouth.

"Watching Matsueda eat always makes me feel so hungry~" The girl felt like she was watching some kind of mukbang (eating broadcast).

"Really?" Jun Matsueda wiped his hands. "Perhaps it's my way of eating that makes it more appetizing?"

He watched the girl cutting the pizza into small pieces with a knife and fork. "Eating it with your hands in big bites is so satisfying, senior. Do you want to try it too?"

“Hmm…” Yami Maki hesitated for a moment. She put down her knife and fork, stared at the pizza on the plate for a while, carefully reached out her hand, and then withdrew it before touching the pizza.

"I think I'll pass," the girl said with an awkward smile. "Although I am indeed a little curious, I seem to have gotten used to eating with a knife and fork."

After all, her initial reluctance, maladjustment, and lack of understanding had been gradually worn away by family life.

Jun Matsue shook his head, swallowed the cheesy bread in his mouth, and picked up another slice of pizza.

To Yamami Maki's surprise, the pizza she picked up wasn't brought to the boy's mouth, but instead ended up in front of her.

"Bite it!" Jun Matsue's voice was tense, as if the two of them were being chased by a grizzly bear on Mount Moiwa. If they didn't eat this pizza, they would be eaten by the bear on an empty stomach, how unfortunate.

"If you don't eat it now, the cheese will fall onto the table."

Urged on by him, the girl hurriedly leaned forward, supporting the pizza with one hand, opened her small mouth, and took a big bite of the front of the pizza.

“Very good.” Jun Matsue looked at the girl who was chewing unconsciously with satisfaction. “Now take the pizza and continue eating. Savor the crust that wasn’t cut into pieces and the cheese that’s stretchy.”

He let go of the pizza, and Yamami Maki caught it with both hands. The pizza she took a bite of was much bigger than the cut pizza. The girl silently quickened her chewing speed, with a rough pleasure of abandoning propriety and returning to the primitive.

"It's all Matsueda's fault! I haven't eaten this much in ages!" The girl walked out of the restaurant and accused the boy in a tone that was far from blaming him.

Jun Matsue recalled how cute she looked after she had eaten and drunk her fill, and how she would secretly touch her stomach in her seat with a guilty conscience. "It just shows that my senior can eat this much."

"Eating so much, it's not ladylike if I burp or something..." The girl's words carried a hint of resentment.

"Compared to burping or anything, I think not being able to eat whatever you want is more painful," the boy said casually, glancing at the female student's reaction out of the corner of his eye.

Yamami Maki smiled but didn't say anything, so Matsueda Jun, who was originally going to stop the conversation, couldn't help but say something again.

"It would be very tiring to have to care about your image and other people's feelings all the time."

As someone who has been through similar experiences, he has some understanding of his senior's way of life. If Matsueda Jun's initial choice to wear a mask was a move against his true self, then Yami Maki's years of habit had become an instinct.

If a person drinks tea like water, then over time, they will not find the tea bitter. Yamami Maki is such a girl who drinks tea like water.

Jun Matsue didn't originally intend to say these things, because he had no intention of denying a person's chosen way of life.

However, his brain and heart are two separate organs. He can convince his brain with various reasons, but he cannot convince his heart with intuition not to care.

“…I’m sorry.” Looking at the smiling girl beside him, Jun Matsueda chose to apologize, but Maki Yami shook her head.

“Matsueda is right.” The girl looked at the cat napping at the street corner. “Caring about this and that all the time can be exhausting sometimes. It’s good to be a little willful once in a while.”

"So I was planning to take Matsueda-kun shopping, but now I have to cancel."

"I'm so full, all I want to do now is go back to the practice room and rest~" The girl gently patted her stomach.

"Let's go back then. The sun is indeed quite strong today." Jun Matsue breathed a sigh of relief, not wanting the atmosphere to become too serious.

The journey back was no longer than the journey there, but Yamami Maki walked very slowly.

Once she gets back to the practice room, everyone could show up at any time, so she should cherish this time alone.

Only by his side can a girl possess a willful and sincere heart.

Chapter 292 The Girl in the Mirror

At 1:30 p.m., practice continued, and Jun Matsue played the drums for another three hours, expending far more energy than he would have done at his part-time job.

"Everyone's worked hard~" During the break, Yamami Maki walked into the practice room carrying a bag of drinks. "Want to continue practicing?"

"That's enough for today." Izumi Mizuki casually strummed a melodious vibrato on her guitar, signaling the end of practice.

"If you keep practicing like this, Aya-chan's voice will go hoarse." Jun Matsue carefully examined the drumsticks in his hand. There was no paint chipping or signs of being struck, so they seemed to be a fairly durable type.

Yamami Maki handed the drinks in her hand to everyone, and Miyamura Aya sat in her chair and tilted her head back to gulp down the water as if she wanted to drink it all in one go.

"Matsueda-kun's sweating quite a bit." The girl approached Matsueda Jun, watching him put his drumsticks into his bag. She then took out a bottle of electrolyte drink. "Have some energy!"

"Thank you, senior." Jun Matsue took the drink, and Maki Yami returned to the chair next to him and watched him drink out of the corner of her eye.