Am I being simulated by their love affair?

Page 136

"The rabbits in South Africa are completely different from those in Tokyo. It's not the right season, so I didn't see any wild horses migrating."

"This was taken in March, and we're on our way back now."

After confirming that Jun Matsueda had read the message, the girl did not send any more messages.

Could it be true what Kurusu said, that cats and their owners have a telepathic connection? Jun Matsueda pondered this question as he watched the bus appear at the intersection.

After he got off the bus and onto the subway, Natsumi Imokawa sent him a message.

"Are the pine branches almost here?"

"We're already on the tram."

The other side sent a penguin looking blank emoji.

Nishi-Ogikubo and Kichijoji are only one stop apart, but Kichijoji belongs to Musashino City, which is north of Mitaka, while Nishi-Ogikubo belongs to Suginami Ward.

Stepping out of Nishi-Ogikubo Station, Jun Matsueda felt that the night here was not much different from that in Mitaka. The signs across the street were flashing, and the neon lights in front of him were not particularly bustling.

"Matsue, over here!" Natsumi Imokawa, standing across the street, waved to him. The girl's white shirt was tucked into her long skirt, and the loungewear cardigan she wore over it revealed that she had just run away from home.

The girl sat in the dessert shop with Jun Matsueda. She looked down at the menu on the table, appearing uneasy.

"You don't come to dessert shops often, do you?"

"How did Songzhi know?" The girl looked up at him. "My mother told me that when meeting friends, it's best to choose dessert shops or coffee shops."

"Forget it," Jun Matsueda sighed. "Where do you usually go?"

Natsumi Imokawa excitedly stood up from her seat, "There's a video store over here, I go there often on weekends!"

Walking along the streets of Nishi-Ogikubo, the facilities on the road are not as brand new as those in Shibuya and Shinjuku, and the lampshades on the streetlights have an atmosphere of ten years ago.

"Is Imokawa's house on this side of Suginami?" Jun Matsue stepped over the low green railing, and the girl carefully went around it.

"No, my dad's old studio is here. I used to live there when I was in school, so it was more convenient."

Natsumi Imokawa became more talkative, "There are a lot of animation companies here, like Sunrise and the company that made 'EVA'."

The two walked through the alley. The girl was dressed in a lot of clothes, and her face was flushed with excitement. Under the dim streetlights, she appeared hazy, with a kind of dreamlike beauty.

"By the way, is tonight's the time to discuss club recruitment?" Jun Matsueda suddenly remembered why the girl had summoned him.

"Hmm." Natsumi Imokawa's expression became confused again. "This is my first time being a manager, and I have absolutely no clue how to do it..."

"Can't we talk about this kind of thing on our phones?" he asked, somewhat puzzled.

The girl began to stammer, and only after the two of them had walked out of the range of the street light did she turn her face to the darkness and speak in a low and self-deprecating voice.

"We haven't seen each other since school started..."

Chapter 225 The Two at the Video Shop

Natsumi Imokawa simply wanted to complain because she didn't have many friends, and the only one who would play with cameras with her was Jun Matsueda.

After the girl showed a wronged expression, Jun Matsue realized that he hadn't seen her at all during the three days since school started.

The narrow alleyway was shrouded in an awkward silence.

"Matsueda...you're my friend. And you're my vice-captain, how could you forget about me, the captain?" Natsumi Imokawa's tone carried a hint of resentment.

She didn't dare complain too much; what if Songzhi really stopped being her friend?

"Sorry, I've been quite busy these past few days since school started."

Although Jun Matsueda was making excuses, he wasn't entirely lying, because under Shoko Kominato's expectant gaze, he was once again appointed class monitor, and the vice class monitor was still the gentle-smiling Tomoka Tomatsu.

"By the way, which class is Yuchuan from?" He quickly changed the subject.

"Ah, I'm from Class 5." The innocent girl was quickly steered away from the topic, and looking at the DVD store sign in the distance, her mood improved again.

"Class 5?" Jun Matsue was a little surprised. "I'm in Class 6. We're on the same floor."

There are six classes on the third floor where Class 6 of Grade 2 is located: Class 5 and Class 6 of Grade 11, and Class 1 to Class 4 of Grade 12. This is why he encountered the cherry blossom-like senior girl while sunbathing on the balcony.

"I haven't seen Imokawa even once in the past three days. It doesn't seem right."

"Maybe it's because I rarely leave the classroom..."

Natsumi Imokawa took a few extra steps and entered the video store before Jun Matsueda. The old man at the counter at the entrance greeted her with a smile.

"Imokawa is here again."

"Yes! I brought my friends along this time!" The girl's tone was somewhat proud; she was now someone who could come to a video store with her friends.

The store's interior space was similar to that of a typical bookstore, with numerous shelves densely packed with various movie DVDs. After Matsueda Jun closed the store door and the sounds outside disappeared, the two felt as if they had stepped into a world from twenty years ago.

After all, even in Neon, where physical culture is prevalent, there are not many video stores left.

"Why does Imogawa rarely leave the classroom?" Jun Matsue watched the girl move freely between the shelves, as if she were at home.

"Because I don't know many classmates in the new class, and I have to walk past several seats when I leave the classroom, I feel a little nervous..."

Natsumi Imokawa doesn't like being stared at, so hiding behind a camera gives her a special sense of security.

The camera lens was like a wall, isolating the girl from the outside world.

"Hmm... Well, things should get better after a while, once everyone gets to know each other." Jun Matsue walked to the girl's side and watched as her hand reached for the top shelf.

The shop wasn't large, and to make the most of the space, the shelves were much taller than Natsumi Imokawa's head. The girl stood on tiptoe, raising one hand high, making her full breasts stand out even more.

Her body swayed twice due to the loss of balance, and Jun Matsue placed his hand on the girl's shoulder and pressed her back to the ground.

"How about I help you get it?"

"Okay~" The girl breathed a sigh of relief, her face blushing slightly. "I used to carry it by the escalator, but I didn't see the escalator today."

"The escalator is on the innermost shelf," the old man's voice came from behind the counter, sounding somewhat distant.

"I-I understand—thank you—" Natsumi Imokawa responded loudly, her face turning even redder.

"The one in the top row, 'Kamikaze Girls'." The girl's voice became softer, as if she didn't want anyone other than Matsueda Jun to hear.

"Is this the only one?" Jun Matsueda pulled out the case containing the disc. The cover showed a girl in a pink Lolita dress holding a parasol on a green field road.

"Hmm..." The girl hesitated, like a gluttonous diner considering what would be the most delicious meal next, "And the 'Tale of the Heike: Inu-oh' in the next row, shall we?"

Jun Matsueda pulled out another thin box. The cover featured two strangely dressed men standing at the front of a wooden stage, looking like rock stars.

"Want more?"

“That’s enough for tonight.” Natsumi Imokawa shook her head, a satisfied expression on her face. “I’ve been looking for movies with ‘Story’ in their titles lately.”

Jun Matsue remembered a high school student with a very long name, two younger sisters, and a golden-haired vampire who would appear in his life.

“Ah, I’ve already seen the Monogatari series.” The girl noticed his expression. “So Matsueda-kun watches anime too.”

Are there any Japanese people who don't watch anime?

Natsumi Imokawa chuckled.

"So, do you have any ideas about recruiting new members?" Jun Matsue placed two CDs in the girl's hands, and her smile disappeared.

"No..." Natsumi Imokawa leaned against the side of the shelf, looking weak and listless, with an exaggerated deformation of her chest.

“Actually, you shouldn’t worry too much.” Jun Matsue thought for a while before speaking. “As a powerful student club in the school, the journalism club is quite prestigious, and it doesn’t recruit many people each year.”

"I estimate that even if we do nothing, a lot of people will sign up. We just need to figure out how to review the new members."

"Really? That's good!" The girl regained her spirits, stood up while holding onto the shelf, her biggest worry was that the club would become unpopular under her leadership.

"So we should call a meeting with everyone in the news department tomorrow or the day after to discuss the review of new members."

Jun Matsueda wandered around the store. There were many familiar movies on the shelves, many of which he had seen and many of which he had not.

"Um, will Songzhi help me? Like with meetings and stuff?"

Natsumi Imokawa caught up with him, her eyes filled with a pitiful helplessness. The aisle between the shelves was narrow, and their bodies were almost touching. The girl's body, full of springtime energy, radiated heat, and the ambiguous touch filled the already cramped space.

"Yes, yes." Jun Matsue took two steps toward an open space, distancing himself from the girl.

"Ah, you can't go over there on those pine branches." Natsumi Imokawa looked behind him.

Matsue Jun turned around and saw two blue curtains with a circle on them, inside which were two numbers symbolizing adulthood and a diagonal line.

“There really is such a place…” He looked at the words “Adult Only” on the curtain.

The girl chuckled twice, her expression ambiguous. "When my dad brought me here before, he always said I couldn't go in there."

"So my childhood dream was to go inside and take a look."

Jun Matsue glanced at the security camera on the wall, then at the old man who had stepped out from behind the counter and was craning his neck to look at them.

"The problem for tonight is temporarily resolved. Shall we part ways here?"

Natsumi Imokawa hesitated for a moment, then took out her phone and checked the time; it was still early.

"How about we go watch a movie at my dad's studio?"

The so-called studio is actually the girl's current home.

Chapter 226 Her Home, Her Space, Her Face

Jun followed the girl into the apartment building.

This building doesn't look very new, but it's a bit better than Jun Matsueda's apartment; it does have an elevator.

"By the way, why did Imokawa come to study at Haneoka?" Jun Matsueda suddenly thought of this question in the elevator.

"Because Haneoka is the best school I can attend..." The girl hugged the bag containing the DVD case to her chest and looked at him with a puzzled expression.

"Isn't Haneoka's deviation value around 69 or 70? Even if it's a little far from home, it's worth it."

“…Never mind, I didn’t ask.” Jun Matsue almost forgot that most people choose schools based on their grades, unlike him who only chose schools around Mitaka for convenience.

"The atmosphere at Yuqiu is quite good; the school club activities and other activities have a great ambiance."

The elevator stopped on the eleventh floor, and the girl walked out of the elevator holding a bag. Jun Matsueda looked at the corridor in front of him. The distance between the doors was larger than the housing complex where he lived. It was obvious that the apartment was not cheap.

“Ah, and Haneoka is in Mitaka, where my favorite Ghibli Museum is located!” Natsumi Imokawa led him to the end of the corridor. “I really loved Ghibli movies when I was a kid!”

The girl stood in front of the metal gate, struggling to take the key out of her chest pocket. Jun Matsue waited outside for two seconds before going in.

"It's so dark..." His first thought was very simple and unpretentious. The curtains in the room were all drawn, and not a single ray of light could see through. Only the light from outside the door shone through the floor onto a large pile of papers on the table.

"Ah, sorry." For some reason, the girl apologized instinctively. "Because many things in the room can't be exposed to sunlight for long periods, the curtains are usually drawn."

A soft "click" sound came from somewhere, and Natsumi Imokawa turned on the light, making the room brighter. The light in the room was very soft, illuminating only the area that originally belonged to the dining room.

On the long table was a laptop, a model from several years ago. Around it were various tabletops of different heights, with pens, papers, camera lenses, a miniature human figure with movable joints, a printer, and many notebooks bound together with printed paper.

Jun Matsue turned around and looked around. The first thing he saw wasn't the white walls, but a wooden bookshelf piled high with various books and DVD cases, making the originally spacious room seem smaller. On the wall opposite the computer hung a large whiteboard, covered with four-panel comic-like doodles, as well as many photos and drawings. He even saw a few pictures of himself.

“These are all things left over from my father’s studio. This used to be his work area, and he would occasionally come back to take a look.”

Natsumi Imokawa didn't know where she put the bag in her hand. She had taken off her sweater jacket, and her shirt was bulging. The girl lowered her head and twisted her hands awkwardly in front of her.

This was the first time she had brought people to her home.

"It has a great feel to it; it's exactly the kind of space I imagined a director would have. I just don't know where to sit." Jun Matsue walked around the long table, looking at the scattered papers on it.

"Sit anywhere, chairs!" The girl pushed a sofa chair next to him, like a solicitous puppy. "The studio's rule used to be that you weren't allowed to put anything on the chairs, so they're all safe!"

It sounded like listening to some kind of studio ghost story... Jun Matsue sat in the chair, looking at the things in front of him: a stack of papers nailed together, with a series of simple line drawings on them, which looked like a fight.

"Ah, that's a storyboard from a project Dad scrapped before. He wanted to make an action movie, the kind where every shot draws blood."

"..." Jun Matsue looked at the two stick figures and twitching red lines on the paper, "I can feel it, the battle must have been quite intense."

"No, no, no!" The girl leaned closer, her upper body resting on the table, looking at the painting in front of him. Jun Matsue felt something incredibly soft pressing down on the back of his hand.

He silently withdrew his left hand from the table, as if the ambiguous touch still lingered.

"This scene shows the main characters eating fries at a burger joint and spilling ketchup."

"...Didn't we say we were going to see a movie?" Jun Matsueda changed the subject; this was the reason the girl had invited him to her house.

In other words, Natsumi Imokawa is the kind of person who is harmless to humans and animals. If it were Haruka Mochizuki or Tomoka Tomatsu who said this, he would definitely not agree to such an invitation.

"Hmm... I need to think about it." Natsumi Imokawa got up from the table, her flattened flesh regaining its plump and beautiful shape. She walked to the bookshelf, agonizing over a pile of CDs.

What kind of movies does Songzhi like to watch?

"Anything is fine." Jun Matsue thought of someone waiting for him at home. "Just don't take too long."