Am I being simulated by their love affair?

Yamami Maki shook her head like a rattle. "No, no! Without Matsueda-san's help, we'd have to recruit a new drummer from the percussion section, and we'd have to adjust and adapt as a whole. We'd basically miss out on the national scholarship. Such a huge help can't be repaid with a few bags of cookies!"

Serious people always have serious problems, and Matsueda Jun couldn't think of a solution that would be acceptable to both parties. The man and woman, alone in the corridor, fell into silence.

"Then consider it as a favor I owe you, Matsueda-san. If you need anything later, feel free to tell me!"

"Okay, okay~" Let's just get away with it for now, thought Matsueda Jun, and walked towards his room.

"Wait, Matsueda-san!" Yamami Miki didn't bother to avoid suspicion and hurriedly grabbed his arm, then let go as if she was burned. Matsueda Jun turned around and looked at her.

"Well, I also need to talk to Matsueda-san about reading timpani music and arranging the positions on stage."

The touch of muscles was still lingering on her hand. Yamami Maki's gaze strayed from Matsueda Jun and she looked at the corridor behind him.

"Senpai Yamami, although I'm willing to listen now, it's already this late. Wouldn't it be inappropriate for us to be alone?"

Jun Matsueda pointed to his wrist and made a gesture of looking at the watch. Only then did Yamami Maki realize that it was already late.

"Okay! Um, sorry, good night!" The girl left in a hurry, and Matsueda Jun watched her back disappear at the top of the stairs.

The door was slammed shut, and Yamami Maki returned to her room and squatted down with her back against the cold door.

"How could he be the one to remind me of such a thing!" The girl covered her face with her hands, trying to hide the blood on her cheeks.

With only three days left, Jun Matsueda successfully proved himself to be a very capable drummer.

Hirouchi Aya encouraged him to go and take a look at the light music club next to the wind orchestra club after school started. As soon as this suggestion was spoken, it was killed by the looks of Yamami Maki and Tomatsu Tomoka.

"I've been living here for almost half a month, but why does it feel like time has passed in the blink of an eye?" It was still the girl holding the tuba. Jun Matsueda had been in the wind band for almost a month and had discovered that she, who was always hiding behind the tuba, was the most lively one.

"Because the time we spend is full of meaning." Yamami Moki said with a smile.

The girls stood by Lake Ashi again. Today was the day of farewell.

It was another good day, and Mount Fuji was clearly visible. If someone had good eyesight, they could also see the three big words "Mochizuki" on the pirate ship in the distance.

The young conductor, dressed in a suit and looking dashing, stood before the crowd. She adjusted her tie, her hands held steady in the air.

The girls quieted down, adjusted their posture and instruments, and looked up at the conductor's hands.

The girl stood on tiptoe slightly, raised her hands, and the melody of "When the Wind Shines" rose again.

In the forest behind the hotel, the shadows of the trees swayed, and birds rose and fell with the sound of the wind. When the whirlwind blew into the sky, all the birds in the forest flew up and circled high above the lake.

After the melody ended, they realized that there was no wind. They chirped to express their dissatisfaction and flew back to the forest.

The lesson song was over, but the girls' attitudes did not relax. The conducting girl put her hands back on both sides of her body and then stopped in the air again.

"Fantasy of Eternal Summer Days"

Although there was no one around, this was the first time the wind band played a freestyle piece outside of practice. Hirouchi Aya and the two girls from the news club were listening quietly.

The final tenor saxophone sound ended, and Lake Ashi returned to silence.

The three people in the audience applauded loudly, and the girls saluted solemnly.

Yamami Maki walked to the front of the team, raised the clarinet in her hand, and shouted again in a soft voice.

"Target--"

The girls raised their musical instruments, and the lake surface along the shore turned golden.

“National Gold!!!”

Natsumi Imokawa raised the camera in her hand and took a picture of the scene in front of her. After the shutter sounded, the girls put down their instruments.

"It's so tiring to hold it up!" someone whispered.

"We can't even lift the tuba," the girl holding the tuba, also the principal tuba player, complained. "It's all your fault for suggesting that holding the instrument looks cool. Then we'll be the most embarrassed tuba players in the photos!"

Jun Matsueda didn't say anything, but just knocked the drumstick a few times, and the girls laughed.

If there was only one timpani, Jun Matsueda could lift it, but it is a drum set just like a drum set.

Yamami Maki returned to the group of girls and said, "Let's go back to Mitaka!"

The band set off in the afternoon. After the performance by the lake, Matsueda Jun received a message from Mochizuki Haruka that the captain and first mate of the Mochizuki had already left Hakone.

The girls arrived at Hakone-Yumoto Station. They didn't plan to take the Mochizuki family bus back home, but instead boarded the Odakyu Romancecar. The train's name was so well-chosen, it was hard for the girls to resist romance.

The big chief-chan skipped into the station and said to the girl next to him, "If you win the national gold medal, let's go to Mount Fuji together!"

"We haven't even passed the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly yet, and you're already thinking about getting the national scholarship?"

"Think about it, it won't hurt!"

The band's seats were in the front observation seats of car number one. Matsueda Jun sat in the front row, the seat next to him vacant having been taken by Mochizuki Haruka. On the other side of the aisle sat Yamami Maki and Tomatsu Tomoka.

The observation seats have 360-degree sightseeing seats, and the girls can see Mount Fuji on the left, with the top of the mountain covered with snow and the foot of the mountain shrouded in clouds and mist.

The train started moving, and Mount Fuji gradually shrank and moved slowly backwards.

The big chief left his seat, ran to the front of the carriage, turned around, pressed against the glass, and waved at Mount Fuji.

"Goodbye, Hakone!"

Aimlessly watching the summer passing by outside the car window, Jun Matsueda recalled the melody of Fantasia.

The days are long in the hot summer, but there are not many days left.

Chapter 60 Final Rest

The next day after returning to Mitaka, at two o'clock in the afternoon, Jun Matsueda should have been at work at the night escape house, but he took a day off today and stayed in the apartment.

He seldom stayed in the living room, but now he was sitting on the sofa in the living room, the air conditioner was whirring, and there was barley tea with ice on the coffee table, with cold sweat oozing out of the wall of the cup.

"I must have a qualified roommate..."

Jun Matsueda was rarely nervous. He had experienced confessions, bribery, crying, threats, imprisonment, and even saw the phantom of a leaping figure. In short, all kinds of unusual developments would hardly make his heart beat faster.

However, after a long time, he touched his chest and his heart was beating nervously.

"Is this what it feels like to draw a card..."

Matsueda Jun's deskmate, Suyama, likes to talk about all sorts of things, but he plays the card game himself. As a veteran card game player, he once expressed the view that "life is a card game" after a small test, proving that there is no direct correlation between test scores and study time, which earned him a lot of ridicule from Sakamuro Ken.

Looking back now, Jun Matsueda feels that what Suyama said may have made sense.

Sharing a house with roommates is a typical card drawing. Jun Matsueda believes that the meeting of people requires fate, and the fate required to find a good roommate may be more than that required to find a good wife.

After all, Jun Matsueda can choose his own wife, but he doesn't even know any information about his new roommate now. Is this reasonable?

He remembered the landlady's mysterious smile and strange tone again.

"Don't worry, you'll definitely like your new roommate~"

When the eleventh drop of cold sweat dripped from the glass of barley tea, he finally heard a knock on the door.

Jun Matsueda relaxed his facial muscles, adjusted to the most natural state, opened the door, and showed a hearty smile.

"Good afternoon, both of you!"

"Good afternoon, Matsueda-kun. I'm here with my new roommate."

A pink-haired girl wearing a mask followed the smiling landlady into the house. She wore a white shirt and a black and purple plaid skirt. Her face was perfectly shaped, and her long pink hair flowed down past her shoulders, tied in side ponytails. She was the quintessential cute Sakura girl that Jun Matsueda had imagined back in China.

There is a light glitter around the corners of the girl's eyes, and her eyes are very lively and bright. Normal people may be a little afraid to look into her eyes, as her overly shining eyes will give people the illusion of looking directly at the sun.

She stood in the living room, silent, looking around with curious eyes. Matsueda Jun felt a little uncomfortable. There was something magical about the girl. She shouldn't be here. She should be standing on the stage under the spotlight, singing in front of thousands of people, and causing a huge roar of applause.

"Don't be so reserved, Yangshi-chan. Matsueda-kun is a very good guy, and you two will definitely get along well." Before leaving, the landlady winked at Matsueda Jun, encouraging him to take the initiative. "Then I'll be leaving first. You two can communicate on your own."

The girl took off her mask and said goodbye to the woman, "Don't worry, landlady. Didn't I tell you I know him? Otherwise, why would I agree to share the house with a boy?"

Lai Qi Yangshi has a smooth jawline, lips that are neither thick nor thin, with a full and lustrous red color, a three-dimensional and delicate nose, and facial features that are as delicate as a doll.

However, after the girl revealed her entire face, the evil that Jun Matsueda felt disappeared, because the taste of oden in his memory rose.

He picked up the barley tea on the table, his posture just like he had picked up the oden at the back door of the supermarket in Kichijoji that night.

"Why is it you here? Are you following me?" Jun Matsueda began to think that if he commissioned a night escape house, as an internal employee, could he get a discount of 20% or something.

"Don't be so suspicious! It was the landlady who found me first! Although I agreed to move in after she showed me your basic information, I won't do anything like stalking you, okay—"

Kurusu Yoshi felt a little thirsty, so he picked up another cup of barley tea from the table, gulped it down in one gulp, and exhaled, "Ha—so refreshing! Tracking is such a scary thing, normally no one would do it!"

Jun Matsueda looked at her bold movements. As a former idol with no blind spots, even with such an uncle-like aura, she still had a strange contrasting beauty.

"Tokyo is so big, and we still meet like this. I told you we're destined to be together!" The girl raised her head proudly, as if she had just remembered something. "Oh, right! After paying the company's penalty and three months' rent, I'm broke. My previous promise to support you has been scrapped. You'll have to reconsider your relationship with me."

For a moment, Jun Matsueda couldn't tell whether the girl's values ​​were normal or abnormal. He chose to give up thinking and took another sip of barley tea.

"But! I will make you realize my charm in the future through our interactions! Before I meet someone more handsome than you, quickly fall in love with me!"

Kurusu Yoshi raised his chin slightly, put his left hand on his waist, raised his right hand, pointed at Matsueda Jun who was drinking tea, and made a declaration as if he was filming a dating variety show.

This person definitely has a problem with his brain. Matsueda Jun no longer expected the girl to be a qualified roommate, and he put down his teacup.

"Where's your luggage?"

"Ah, I left it downstairs. I can't carry it by myself, so I want you to help me carry it up."

Jun Matsueda opened the door and walked downstairs, and Kurusu Yoshi followed him. The sound of their footsteps echoed in the stairwell.

"I won't let you help me in vain! I'll cook dinner tonight, and I brought the ingredients!" The girl walked lightly, trying to take credit.

"Are you good at cooking?" Jun Matsueda suddenly felt that Kurusu Yoshi might be a good roommate.

"Not only am I a great cook, I'm also a great saver! The supermarket had a huge sale today, so I used all the remaining money to buy groceries. It's enough for us to eat for a week!"

"Did you spend all the remaining money?" Matsueda Jun's voice rose.

"We still have 20,000 yen, which is enough to get us through this month..." The two people's voices gradually disappeared in the corridor.

The enclosed space was eerily quiet. Tomatsu Tomoka watched the floor numbers tick by. She didn't like riding in an elevator alone; the only sound was the mechanical, cold sound of the motor.

She immediately began to recall the short time she spent on the Odakyu Romancecar. The girl was like a squirrel, who liked to store all her precious memories and then dig them out and savor them over and over again when the emotional winter came.

After her warm family fell apart, she spent three years silently ruminating on the past. In this process, the coarse grains of sand were sifted out, and the golden memories became more important and precious in her heart.

Holding these golden treasures tightly in her arms and walking forward with her head down, all the pain and darkness could not hurt her, and the precious became more precious, and the unique became more unique.

The girl counted the last things left on her fingers: her favorite skirt, saxophone, Mizushima-san, Buchou, Jun-kun, her parents...it didn't seem like there were many.

If only all these beings could stay with her forever, Tomatsu Tomoka couldn't imagine how happy that would be.

The girl walked out of the elevator, took out her key and opened the door. Her mother was sitting at the dining table in the living room. Usually at this time she was still at the company.

Hearing the door open, the woman looked up at her and forced a smile.

"Youhua, do you have someone you like?"

Tomatsu Tomoka knew that the fantasy time was over.

Chapter 61: The Girl's Desperate Decision

"From whom did Mom hear such a thing?"

Tomatsu Tomoka pretended to be surprised and tried to cover up the truth with a foolproof rhetorical question.

"Stop pretending. Do you still expect to fool your mother?" Tomatsu Miyuki patted the table and asked his daughter to sit down opposite him.

"That's the boy named Jun Matsueda from last time, right? It's almost spread among all the freshmen in Haneda, and I just found out about it."

Tomatsu Tomoka had no choice but to nod. The cold and hard touch of the wooden chair made the dark clouds in her heart gradually rise.

Tomatsu Tomoka watches TV dramas and chats with others at school. Whether on screen or through others' mouths, mother and daughter usually communicate in the bedroom. The mother holds her daughter's hand and sits close to her on the soft bed. If they find themselves talking about something emotional, they hug each other.

Tomatsu Tomoka longs for closer distance and physical contact.

Sometimes, ten thousand heartfelt words are not as touching as a gentle hug.

She had forgotten the last time her mother had entered her bedroom. Did her mother ever sit on her bed? She had no recollection of it.

Tomatsu Miyuki knocked on the table to bring her daughter back to reality. She also used this method to get her subordinates to focus when giving presentations at meetings at the company.

"Tell Mom about Jun Matsueda."

What should she say? Tomatsu Tomoka had so much to say, but she didn't know where to begin. She'd first met him at the opening ceremony, his eyes in the sunlight, becoming his deskmate, running for class president...

His gentle and polite manners, but in fact his indifference that kept people at a distance, his falsehood and his truthfulness, the way he used to raise the corners of his mouth a little more when facing himself, and his posture when he jumped high to dunk.

No matter how much he hates me or ignores me, he will not watch me fall into danger. He will stand in front of me and let me lie on his back to block any possible strange looks.

His hateful, charming, and innate warmth and kindness.

But what the girl wanted to tell her mother most was not these.

"He's someone I like very, very much."