socalfunplaces Page 656
Page 656
"And thank you for the candy, Matsue." Natsumi Imokawa stuck out her tongue. "It was quite delicious."
"Hmm." The boy took out a colorful glass candy wrapper from his pocket.
"I bought it at the school convenience store. Imokawa can buy some after school too."
"Okay~" The girl took off her coat and draped it over the back of the chair, then stretched.
"After the breeze, my mind feels so clear—I'll write about history this class!"
"Then I'll continue looking at the photo albums." Jun Matsue took out a thick photo album from the drawer.
The boy opened the photo album and pulled out a ginkgo bookmark tucked inside—it was a gift from Imokawa, and it finally came in handy.
"..." He pressed the side of the page he hadn't looked at yet with his thumb.
There aren't many pages left.
"I feel like I can finish watching it today."
"Huh?" Natsumi Imokawa, who was about to do her homework, poked her head over.
"Yeah, I feel like I won't be able to last another class."
"Why don't you take a look at my questions instead, Songzhi?" the girl pulled him over.
After a lesson, she was no longer so bothered by Songzhi's gaze.
Matsueda Jun looked at her, puzzled. "Doesn't Iokawa want an answer from me sooner?"
"Hmm..." The girl poked her chest, which was pressed against the edge of the table, with the end of her ballpoint pen.
"I want to, but I don't really want to."
"Of course I want to get an answer sooner, but I'm not really in a rush." She met the boy's gaze.
"Because you already promised—to give me the answer after the University of Tokyo exam."
“I know Matsue is a man of his word, so I’m not worried about anything,” Imokawa Natsumi said in a relaxed tone.
"What if you're so focused on answering me that you get distracted, or if you're upset after rejecting me and it affects your exam?"
Jun Matsueda laughed. "Can Imokawa so easily say 'no'?"
The girl pursed her slightly full lips.
"If Songzhi accepts me, then there's nothing to be surprised about. He can just happily go to the exam, right?"
"Besides, I don't think being rejected by Matsueda is such a bad thing—"
She looked around and whispered to the boy.
"Didn't you reject Mochizuki-san and Tomatsu-san before?"
"I've been rejected by Matsue several times before, so what's the big deal if I try again?"
"..." Jun Matsue glanced at the photo album placed to the side.
The unfolded paper showed the school before the typhoon, the scene of impending storm like something out of another world.
If he really had to answer now, he felt that his answer might not be a refusal.
At 10 p.m., Jun Matsue walked out of the bathroom alone. He dried his hair and returned to the living room, picking up the hot milk that was placed next to the TV and coffee table.
Watching him tilt his head back and gulp down the milk, Yosuke Kurusu picked up the remote and turned down the volume.
"Is Songzhi getting ready for bed?"
The boy nodded. "It's almost time."
"Then I'll go take a bath too~" Kurusu Yosei got up and walked towards the bathroom.
"Won't there be any strange hairs in the bathwater with pine branches?"
"..." Jun Matsueda put down his cup, wiped his mouth, and watched the idol girl's cheerful figure walk away.
Wang Yueyao, who was sitting on the other side of the sofa, moved over to his side—Jinzhi, who was lying on the armrest, let out a lazy meow but did not follow her master over.
The girl glanced at the glass with milky white streaks running down it, then looked up with an innocent expression.
"Aren't we doing it tonight?"
The boy bent down and looked into her eyes.
"Didn't we agree yesterday that today marks the start of the week before the exams? Everyone needs to be more disciplined."
The haughty young lady pouted, then briskly got up from the sofa, picked up the cat, and walked towards the entrance.
"Boring..."
"Good night." Jun Matsue watched her close the door.
After brushing his teeth and washing his cup at the sink, and saying goodnight to Kurusu who was taking a shower in the bathroom, Jun Matsue glanced at the blurry flesh-colored figure on the glass door before returning to his bedroom and closing the door behind him.
After lying on the bed for a while and enjoying the quiet air, the boy sat up and looked at his desk.
On the table by the window, besides the exercise books and textbooks he brought home, there was also the photo album he had looked at while tutoring Imokawa that afternoon—his gaze lingered on it, unable to look away.
People who enjoy reading may have similar experiences—
When you come across a good book, you might start by reading it leisurely and methodically. However, once you have few pages left and realize you're nearing the end, you'll naturally feel an urge to finish it immediately.
Today, Jun Matsuoka was just like that—driven by the belief of "letting nature take its course," he got out of bed and picked up the photo album that he cherished so much.
Let's finish watching it tonight.
Chapter 872 Photo Album, Memories, Phone Call
Picking up the photo album on the table, Jun Matsue drew the curtains shut, leaving only a small gap. He then returned to bed and found a comfortable position to sit against the wall.
Before opening the photo album, the boy listened intently—
The faint sound of water outside the bedroom door disappeared; Laixi must have sat in the bathtub.
Jun Matsueda glanced at the phone lying to the side.
It is 10:10 now.
He flipped through the photo album, easily found the page with the bookmark, and weighed the remaining thickness.
It should take about half an hour to watch, and if you include the time for recalling the memories... I should be able to go to sleep around 11 pm?
The boy wasn't entirely confident because he wasn't sure what Iokawa had put at the end.
It was this curiosity that led Jun Matsue to decide to finish looking through the photo album today.
"..." He recalled the girl's straightforward approach and the Imokawa family's open-minded view on love.
Surely you won't scroll to the very end and find Imokawa's explicit photos...
The sound of turning pages of cardboard filled the room—he had already finished reading about the typhoon after summer vacation while tutoring the girl that afternoon, and the only major event left was the final cultural festival in November.
However, this applies to the average student... The boy held the pages of the book in his hand and looked at the landscape photos used as "transitions" before and after it.
Why didn't Imokawa post their group photo by the Arakawa River?
He remembered it clearly—October 18th, a Saturday, was the day the Haneoka High Band departed for the national tournament.
That day, Mochizuki was still giving him the cold shoulder, and even the autumn sunlight seemed to have cooled by half a degree...
Of course, most importantly, that day was the day Natsumi Imokawa confessed her feelings to him.
"..." Jun Matsuoka flipped through the pages again, but there was no record of that day.
Did Imokawa think that day wasn't important? The boy frowned slightly.
Or perhaps the girl who made this photo album felt that her confession wasn't worth recording in his life?
Jun Matsuoka felt a growing sense of guilt.
A soft knock suddenly sounded in the silent room—the idol outside was just going through the motions and pushed the door open before he could speak.
"I see the light is still on in Songzhi's room. Aren't you asleep yet?"
Yosei Kurusu poked her head in; her freshly dried hair was messy and fluffy, giving her a very approachable, girl-next-door vibe.
"Hmm." The boy, half-lying on the bed, smiled—he had already tucked the photo album under the covers.
"I'm going to sleep right away."
"Then let's have a goodnight kiss~" The girl skipped and hopped toward the bedside, her long, pink, pudding-like hair swaying.
Jun Matsueda sat up and approached the bent-over idol. Their kiss was brief and sweet enough to lull them both into sleep.
"Sweet dreams~" The girl winked at him and closed the door.
"Oh, right!" She paused for a moment, "Next week is Songzhi's final exam, isn't it?"
"Same as always, I'll pick you up and drop you off?"
"Hmm..." Jun Matsue pressed his arms down on the blanket.
"You don't need to this time, right? I'm taking the exam with Tomatsu—you probably don't want to give her a ride, do you?"
"Hmph..." Miss Idol raised an eyebrow.
"Then I'll cook more this week, so you won't have to worry about it."
"Thank you very much~" Jun Matsue sat up and bowed deeply.
"I'm already looking forward to the new secret recipe dishes from the Kurusu family."
"I'm going to sleep now too." Kurusu Yosei waved to him from the doorway. "Goodnight~"
"Good night."
After watching the girl close the door, Jun Matsue took two seconds to pull out the photo album from under the covers.
He glanced at the time on his phone again—it was 10:32.
Light footsteps opened the door next door and led into the bedroom next door. The boy listened as Laixi climbed into his bed before continuing to flip through the photo album.
There are many photos of the cultural festival. Jun Matsue recalled those two days when he faced challenges head-on.
After the cultural festival, only a few thin pages remain—after all, this was a Christmas gift, and it's impossible to fully record the last few months of these three years.
"..." The boy stopped turning the page.
The pages in front of him didn't depict the scene after the school festival, but rather a group photo of the newspaper club from their first year—
At the conference table in the newsroom, a boy and Natsumi Imokawa sat facing each other. They both looked at the camera. The boy, who had turned around, was natural and had a sunny smile, while the girl, with her body half-covered, was reserved and had a wooden expression, showing an awkward cuteness.
Jun Matsue winked at the photo.
Although it's the same group photo, Imokawa cropped and enlarged the image, so only the two of them are visible in the photo.
Therefore, it should not be called a "group photo of the news department", but rather a "group photo of Jun Matsue and Natsumi Imokawa".
"..." He suddenly understood why the photos from the day Imokawa confessed hadn't appeared.
The boy continued reading—
After the group photo of the news club, there was a group photo of the brass band's summer training camp that year, which he had seen in front of the album.
The group photo was taken by Lake Ashi. As unofficial members of the brass band, Jun Matsueda and Natsumi Imokawa stood in the corner of the girls' formation—the two, both members of the newspaper club, stood close together.
This photo was, of course, also edited by Imokawa. It seems he felt that cropping the image to only show the two of them didn't look good, so he left some space around the girl—
The members of the brass band appearing in the frame are blurred out, with the camera focusing on the two members of the news club in the center of the shot. On either side of the group taking photos, one can see the lush green grass of Lake Ashi, as well as the vast lake and the faint outline of Mount Fuji behind them.
Matsueda Jun glanced at Imokawa Natsumi in the photo a few more times. She was wearing a short-sleeved shirt, revealing her two fair arms, and the fabric at her chest was bulging and tight.
The sun was blazing, the summer heat lingering, and the girl's clear eyes shone brightly, her cheeks flushed more noticeably than others. Her smile was somewhat restrained, yet utterly genuine.
"..." Jun Matsue turned the page.
Although he didn't pay much attention to it at the time, now that he thinks about it, Imokawa should be the best synonym for "summer" and "girl".
As you continue reading, unsurprisingly, the pages are filled with photos of him and the girl in the same places.
However, the boy wasn't a big fan of taking photos, and Natsumi Imokawa wasn't close enough to him, so many of their photos were "modified" from other pictures, just like the ones we just saw.
However, there are exceptions—
The last page of the Hokkaido school trip shows the backs of a boy and girl sitting on the ground, with a bright starry sky above them that resembles the sea.
On the ginkgo avenue in the outer garden of the shrine, a girl walking in the sunset takes a selfie with a hamburger in her hand—a boy is standing next to her with most of his face visible, his lips still smeared with sauce, looking completely unguarded.