Am I being simulated by their love affair?

"Their movements have gotten more aggressive." Chengweizhang pointed at the bruises on his arm. "They took advantage of the chaos and elbowed me several times, including on my waist."

After a short halftime break, the starting five continued to play. When Joe Jou approached the right side of the audience seats, he was met with thunderous boos.

"Those guys at Tsuchiura Takashi are so annoying." Duodai raised his eyebrows in anger, and his voice was so loud that even Jun Matsueda, who was sitting in the first row, could hear it.

"Don't be angry, Doyo-chan, let's just speak with our strength." Yamami Moki gently patted the girl's back, trying to ease her anger.

Sitting on the first row of the bench, Haruka Mochizuki was not paying attention to the ever-changing situation on the court. She was just looking for the fast and slow breathing of Juntoki Matsueda amid the boiling roars and passionate blowing sounds.

In the chaotic and vast sound field, the girl just wanted him to be her sonar.

Mochizuki Haruka only heard about love from others and had no understanding of her own, but she felt that it would be nice if she could sit next to Matsueda Jun like this forever.

Just like in a dark room in a dream, their love was so pure that they just breathed silently beside each other.

Even if Haneda High reaches the Winter Cup finals, it will end on the 29th. After that, Matsueda Jun will be gone from her life, and as for when he will return, it is a terrifying unknown for Mochizuki Haruka.

The girl looked at Matsueda Jun's profile. She didn't want to spend the New Year alone.

Just as Mochizuki Haruka was about to speak, Matsueda Jun stood up and looked at the court.

Chengweizhang covered his right ankle and fell down with a look of pain on his face.

Chapter 172 The End

The third quarter had to be suspended just as the game started.

Amidst the cheers, Joe was helped to the sidelines. The painful expression on his face had not yet disappeared, but the audience in Tsuchiura High did not care and even waved the red flags more vigorously.

"Was someone tripped?" Jun Matsueda asked with a frown. His vision was blocked by the moving players and he couldn't see clearly.

"I was blocked by the opponent's No. 16. Let's see how the referee decides." Chengwei Zhang was lying on the ground. Medical staff were performing emergency treatment on his ankle. His frown relaxed a little.

One minute later, the technical desk indicated that player No. 16 of Tsuchiura High School had committed a flagrant foul and was ejected from the game. Because of the foul record, he was banned from playing in subsequent games.

The girls in the wind band watched the guy wearing the No. 16 jersey walk into the aisle calmly. The audience on the opposite side cheered again, and many people waved their fists to see him off.

"That's too much!" Yamami Moji didn't know much about basketball, but she understood the referee's decision. "It was clearly a foul, why are they so happy?"

"Matsueda, it's your turn to play. Remember to watch out for Tsuchiura Takashi's fouls."

Standing next to the basket, Natsumi Imokawa pointed the camera lens at the sidelines, and the anger of the students of Hanaoka High School was difficult to calm down.

"Matsueda! Show those bastards of Tsuchiura Takashi how powerful you are!"

"Dunk on them! Make them stop laughing!"

"Pine branches!"

"Pine branches!"

The audience cheered in unison. Jun Matsueda half-knelt on the ground, tying his shoelaces, preparing to go on stage. The girls looked at him with anticipation and worry in their eyes as they stood up.

The temporary time is over, and the live broadcast screen is given to the players on both sides. Jun Matsueda's number 99 stands out in the screen.

Number ninety-nine was last in line, and Jun Matsueda had no intention of playing, so the team gave him this last number.

"Haigaoka!!!"

"Tsuchiura!!!"

The audience on both sides started cheering again. Some stood on their chairs and waved their coats, some in the first row banged on the railings with cheering sticks, and some blew their instruments hard with red faces.

Shortly after the start of the third quarter, the score was 46:48 and Yuqiu was behind.

Jun Matsueda took over the second position from Ken Sakamuro and walked outside the three-point line. In front of him was the audience stand of Tsuchiura High School.

There was another round of tacit boos, overwhelming. Their mockery was like a sign that Jun Matsueda would be the next target of attack. Some people even made a throat-slitting gesture to him.

It feels like I'm back in junior high school, teaching bad boys a lesson. I miss it a little bit...

Jun Matsueda raised his head, raised his right hand and waved towards the red audience seats, showing a kind and perfect smile.

The audience seats at Tsuchiura High School seemed to have been muted, and the people on the stage were stunned, not knowing what the enemy in front of them was thinking.

After a brief hesitation, boos, curses and roars broke out, and Jun Matsueda had already followed Sakamuro Ken, who had the ball, to the other half of the court.

He accelerated, jumped up, and caught the pass from Ken Sakamuro outside the three-point line in the air. The two players who arrived late had just made a defensive move when Jun Matsueda had already dunked the ball into the basket.

A wave of cheers echoed in the Tokyo Gymnasium, rising and falling with the girls' majestic trombone sounds.

"Pine branches!!!"

The faces of the Tsuchiura High School students turned ugly as they realized that the player their team had dug out from the bench seemed to be an extraordinary opponent.

He jumped up and shot from outside the three-point line, and the basketball went into the net. Matsueda Jun fell heavily, crushing the toes that appeared at the landing point.

"Is this the only trick you have left?" Jun Matsueda looked at No. 36, whose face was twitching with pain, and took off his sneakers.

Back at his home court to defend, Jun Matsueda was still booed when he passed by the audience. "Tsuchiura High School will not be defeated!" the student playing the drums shouted.

Jun Matsueda ignored them. He turned around to meet the opponent's counterattack and blocked the long pass.

"Back to defense!" The players of Tsuchiura High School ran towards their home court, but the person who intercepted the pass ran faster than them, crossing half court like an arrow. He even slowed down when he made a layup, looked back, and then lightly put the basketball into the basket.

At the end of the third quarter, the score was 76:58. The player from Tsuchiura High School walked to the sidelines tiredly and looked at No. 99 who was wiping his sweat on the opposite side.

"Where did Yuqiu find this monster..."

The students of Yugaoka High School gathered in the first row of the auditorium to welcome their hero.

"Matsuji! Invincible!!!"

"Did you let your guard down during training?" Joo Jo patted the seat next to him, but Matsueda Jun had already been pushed to the other side by the crowd.

"Matsueda-san, a towel!" Tomatsu Tomoka handed him the towel with both hands. She looked at the sweat slowly flowing down the boy's neck and wished she could wipe it off with her own hands.

"Pine branches, water." Mochizuki Haruka took out the sports drink that she had been holding in her arms and stared at him with blinking eyes.

The audience was silent as people looked at Jun Matsueda's upturned face, tears overflowing from the corners of his mouth and flowing through his moving Adam's apple.

At this moment, in the eyes of thousands of people, he standing in the Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium is the best symbol of strength and beauty.

The empty water bottle fell to the ground. Matsueda Jun's expression was calm. He turned around and looked at the audience seats opposite Tsuchiura Takashi.

The thumb of the right hand slid across the neck, also making a throat-slitting gesture.

A thunderous roar came from behind him, drowning out the foul warning from the technical table.

The fourth quarter turned into garbage time, and Jun Matsueda was like an ice-cold machine, bombarding the basket in various ways precisely and ruthlessly.

Tsuchiura Takashi's players used concealed moves to collide with Matsueda Jun's body, but he either avoided them sharply or simply ignored them as he rushed forward.

In the last minute of the game, the people of Tsuchiura High School watched in despair as Jun Matsueda jumped high again and slammed the basketball into the basket through the defenders.

The score was fixed at 99:72, and the score scored by Takashi Yuzuka was exactly the number behind Jun Matsueda.

When the final signal sounded, Jun Matsueda returned to his home court. He walked past the audience seats of Tsuchiura High School and once again responded to the throat-slitting gesture.

The fanatical, violent, and uncouth red auditorium fell silent in despair.

Jun Matsueda was lifted high by the students from Haneigaoka who rushed into the field. In the huge Tokyo Gymnasium, only the sounds of "Jun Matsueda" and "Haneigaoka" echoed in people's ears.

After the competition, the girls from the wind band returned to the audience and played the school song.

Everyone looked at the champion of Hanegaoka High School, standing in the center of the field. He stood alone at the front of the team, his blue and white jersey stained with dirt, but he was the entire scene that dominated everyone's attention.

The students of Haneda stood in the audience, and all their strength, youth and ambition turned into high, slightly trembling, passionate singing, which rose and fell with the voice of Jun Matsueda and echoed over the gymnasium.

"By the window in April, I wait for the free wind. Everything is flourishing, and the sky above Yuqiu is clear..."

Chapter 173: No Problem, We Can Survive the New Year

"Matsueda-san, everyone is still talking about our game yesterday!"

Tomatsu Tomoka sat at the library counter, looking at Matsueda Jun who was registering borrowing information next to her.

He was wearing a librarian's apron, quietly writing at his desk. He looked nothing like the guy in the blue and white jersey dunking on the girl's phone.

After registering the book in front of him called "Zen and Motorcycle Maintenance Manual", Jun Matsueda raised his head and asked the girl next to him.

"Who are 'everyone'?"

"Well... there are a lot of people on various social media platforms, and some have even edited your game highlights!" Tomatsu Tomoka poked her cheek with the ballpoint pen in her hand, and the soft flesh on her face bounced.

Last night, she also watched the video of Jun Matsueda's game several times. The director of J-SPORTS was very clever in giving a lot of shots to player No. 99. Tomatsu Tomoka took a lot of screenshots and planned to use them as screensavers in turn in the future.

Matsueda Jun thought seriously for a moment, "Then they used my image, so shouldn't they pay me?"

"Uh..." The girl was speechless for a moment, and Matsueda Jun continued, "This kind of hype should soon pass, right?"

"Because Yuqiu Gao was eliminated today."

"It's such a pity." The girl took the books that Matsueda Jun had registered, walked out of the counter, and put them back on the bookshelf one by one.

This morning was the semi-final of the Winter Cup, and Yuqiu High School lost very decisively.

The reason is very simple. Jun Matsueda was suspended, and the starting main player Joe Joo's foot injury has not healed yet. Of course, the disabled Takashi Haneda has no hope of winning.

As soon as the game ended yesterday, the organizing committee issued an announcement that Jun Matsueda was banned for repeatedly provoking the audience and making violent gestures despite the referee's warnings.

What followed was widespread dissemination on various video websites.

Clips of Jun Matsueda coldly "slitting the throat" of the audience, clips of Jun Matsueda drinking water, clips of Jun Matsueda dunking, clips of Jun Matsueda singing the school song... Various clips of Jun Matsueda quickly became popular.

Not many people accused the tournament organizers of "violence," likely because attractive people are often favored. Instead, people were simply discussing whether No. 99 from Haneda High School was the strongest high school player currently playing, given the large number of third-year players absent from the Winter Cup. This topic raged in various comment sections and forums.

But no one doubts that Jun Matsueda is definitely the most handsome one.

"Everyone wants to see Matsueda-san compete in the national competition next summer. Are you planning on doing that?"

After arranging the books, Tomatsu Tomoka walked back to the counter, and the girl's long skirt brushed past him from behind.

"It takes too much time. I'm not interested."

Jun Matsueda flipped through the book "Animal Behavior" that was placed aside. Senior Yamami was a hardworking person. Just a few days after the holiday, she started sending him messages asking difficult questions.

The girl stopped talking. As the year was coming to an end, there were not many people in the library. It was so empty that it gave her an illusion that she and the boy next to her were the masters of this quiet space.

Tomatsu Tomoka also opened the book "I Am a Cat" that she had read halfway yesterday. She adjusted her sitting position so that she could see the small black mole on Matsueda Jun's neck out of the corner of her eye.

The afternoon sun slowly passed over the floor beside the French window, causing the dust floating in the air to sparkle. The girl seemed to be able to smell the scent of ink on the pages of the book in her hand and the faint scent of pine around her.

Tomatsu Tomoka firmly believed that it was the scent of Matsueda Jun's soul. In the afternoon when even time slowed down, it was normal for the elusive soul to take form, right?

Just like the girl herself, who was clearly watching the cat in the book mocking humans in various ways, but she felt her tailbone starting to itch, and the tail of her soul began to grow, a large ball of white and fine fur, which circled from behind her to behind Jun Matsueda in the overflowing sunlight, and finally wrapped the two of them together.

"Matsueda-san will be returning to the orphanage tomorrow, right?"

After get off work, the two walked out of the Setagaya Literary Museum. Tomatsu Tomoka asked the boy next to her, and Matsueda Jun nodded.

"When can you come back?" The girl's tone was somewhat reluctant.

"Come back after the Literature Museum opens. After all, I still have to work."

Today is the 28th, and the New Year is just around the corner. There is a hint of laziness in Matsueda Jun's words.

"See you in the New Year then."

"See you in the New Year."

The girl watched Jun Matsueda's bicycle go away.

The temperature in Tokyo is close to zero degrees Celsius. This winter is colder than the previous two years. As Jun Matsueda walked in the corridor of his apartment, the moisture he exhaled was quickly blown away by the cold wind.

Being used to someone opening the door in advance, he stood at the door for a few seconds before taking out the key from his pocket.

Hearing the sound of the entrance door opening, Mochizuki Haruka hurriedly ran out of Matsueda Jun's bedroom.

"I wanted to prepare some things for you to take back to the orphanage tomorrow. I forgot you were coming back from get off work..."

Jun Matsueda walked into the bedroom. There was a bag next to the suitcase, which contained some snacks and toys that children liked.

"Thank you. I'll tell them then that these are from a sister named Mochizuki. The little ones might give you some greeting cards or handicrafts."

"I'll look forward to it!" Mochizuki Haruka forced a smile. Although she said that, she didn't hear the answer she expected.

The girl followed Matsueda Jun back to the living room and watched him go into the kitchen to prepare dinner, chopping vegetables, marinating meat, and preparing seasonings. Mochizuki Haruka stood by his side, handing him seasonings and ingredients.

Lai Qi Yangshi is going to attend the company's year-end party today. Without the sound of TV programs, the silence at the dinner table becomes particularly noticeable.

After dinner, Mochizuki Haruka wanted to wash the dishes, but was refused by Matsueda Jun.

When Jun Matsueda wiped the water droplets from his hands and walked out of the kitchen, the girl who was still sitting at the dining table walked towards him.

"Um, Songzhi, can I go back to the welfare home with you to celebrate the New Year?"

Mochizuki Haruka tremblingly said these words that had been lingering in her heart for a long time.