Am I being simulated by their love affair?

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The boy sighed softly and walked towards the open trunk of the van.

"Let's move the luggage upstairs first."

He carried the biggest and heaviest cardboard box up the stairs and returned to the apartment with the girls. Jun Matsueda ignored the curious parrot standing on top of the refrigerator, looking at the back of the senior in front of him.

Where should we put these bags?

"Hmm..." Yami Maki looked around, her long hair draped behind her swaying slightly.

"Put it next to the stove in the corner of the living room for now, thank you Jun-kun."

The boy walked past her.

The slightly heavy cardboard box landed on the ground with a dull thud. The girls then placed their small packages on it and followed him as he turned and walked towards the door.

"I guess we'll have to make two more trips?"

"Maki has so much stuff?"

"Since my home is quite spacious, I mostly organize and rarely throw things away..."

Listening to the girls chatting behind him, Jun Matsueda took out his constantly vibrating phone from his pocket—

It was a call from Mochizuki Haruka.

"..." He stopped on the stairs and stepped aside to make room for the two of them.

"I need to take this call first."

“Okay~” Yamami Maki smiled at him, “Tsun-kun, don’t worry, Kokoro and I can move it all by ourselves.”

The boy nodded, watching their figures disappear around the corner of the stairs, then picked up his phone.

"Has Mochizuki arrived in Tokyo?"

"About ten more minutes," the girl replied lazily. "Is Songzhi at the apartment now? I'll come straight here to find you."

Jun Matsue stepped out of the stairwell and leaned against the railing of the third-floor corridor, looking down.

"I'm helping my senior move her luggage right now."

"..." Mochizuki Haruka's voice became somewhat amused, "Has she settled things with the Yamami family?"

"That's it."

The girl's voice sounded less sleepy. "I guess she wouldn't mind if I came to see her too?"

Jun Matsue looked at the senior student standing behind the car at the bottom of the building.

The girl's posture as she bent down to pick up the cardboard box remained elegant—although her movements looked a little slow, she did not appear aggrieved or hesitant, and there was not a trace of the airs of a young lady.

"...Wait while I ask her."

Chapter 850 The Conversation of the Young Ladies

At 10 a.m., a clean, understated, and slightly long black sedan was parked on the side of the road in front of Higashi-Nakano Station.

The car door opened automatically, and a delicate black ankle boot stepped onto the ground first—

With a soft "click," Mochizuki Haruka got off the car, straightened up, and looked down at the boy walking towards her, smoothing the long skirt that draped over her legs.

"Didn't I say we don't need to use pine branches to catch it?"

“That won’t do.” Jun Matsue opened his arms, and the girl naturally nestled into his embrace.

"Look at Wangyue, imagine you get out of the car, wade through the howling cold wind, crawl into the apartment building, climb four flights of stairs, and then open the door to find—"

"My senior, Kuroba Kokoro, and I are sitting by the warm kotatsu, smiling as we greet you with 'You're here?'"

"Seeing this scene, Mochizuki must feel a little unhappy, right?"

Wang Yueyao released her embrace, took his hand, and nodded honestly.

"It seems so—it seems that Songzhi understands me better than I understand myself."

The boy smiled, waved to the female driver in the car, and led his girlfriend into the alley leading to the apartment.

"Has Auntie already gone home?"

"Yes, we got up earlier than usual today, and she needs to go back to catch up on her sleep."

The two walked up the stairs and soon arrived at the door of room 404. Mochizuki watched as the boy in front of her pushed open the half-closed door, and the air inside the room rushed in—it was not as warm as she had imagined.

"I'll find you a pair of slippers."

Jun Matsue released her hand, bent down and opened the shoe cabinet, and only then did the girl see the room clearly.

The space, which serves as both the living room and kitchen, has a slightly odd shape and isn't very large. The corner piled with boxes makes it feel even more cramped. Yamami Maki sat in this environment, leaning against the kotatsu (heated table) against the wall, smiling slightly at her.

"Would you like something to drink, Mochizuki-san?"

"You graduated so long ago, why are you still calling me classmate?" Mochizuki Haruka's tone wasn't very polite.

"You don't look like someone who can take orders."

The girl, a year older than her, didn't change her smile much, and reached out to grasp the fist that her childhood friend was waving.

"They also have matcha, barley tea, hot cocoa, and milk to choose from."

“…Never mind.” Mochizuki Haruka turned her face away. “I probably won’t be staying here for long anyway.”

"—Found it."

The boy, who straightened up, interrupted their conversation and turned to show Yamami Maki the brand-new cotton slippers in his hand.

"Is it alright for Wangyue to wear this?"

"No problem~" The girl's smile softened even more.

"These slippers were originally prepared for the guests."

Mochizuki Haruka's lips pressed into a thin line. Taking advantage of the silence, Kuroba Shin stretched her neck in dissatisfaction—

"We chatted for so long we didn't even close the door! A cold draft is blowing in!"

"I'll turn it off." Jun Matsueda placed the slippers in front of the girl and walked past her.

After changing into slippers, Mochizuki Haruka walked towards the kotatsu first, then looked at the empty seat on the table where hot tea was placed.

"Is this where the pine branch is located?"

"Hmm." Yami Maki made a move to get up. "How about we pull the kotatsu out a bit? It'll be a little cramped if you and Tsunku sit on one side—"

"It's no big deal if I squeeze in with him." The girl sat down without hesitation and even took a sip of the boy's tea.

"This matcha is pretty good."

A slight smile finally appeared on Yamami Maki's face. "...Thank you for the compliment."

As Jun Matsue walked toward the girls, he sighed inwardly—he had come up with Mochizuki earlier and forgot to remind her to be considerate of his senior's feelings.

But even if I reminded her, she might not listen... The boy sat down next to Mochizuki Haruka and looked at the cardboard box that was a little shorter in the other corner.

"You're already unpacking your luggage?"

Yamami Maki picked up her teacup and took a sip, her soft eyebrows and eyes slightly narrowed.

"No, there were just a lot of cardboard boxes filled with clothes, so I put them in the bedroom first."

"What do you mean?" Mochizuki Haruka, supporting herself on the boy's thigh under the kotatsu, blinked with interest.

"You were kicked out with all your belongings?"

"Hey!" Kuroba Shin glared at her immediately. "If you're here to provoke me, you'd better come out with Matsue right now!"

Junya Matsueda patted the girl's hand that was resting on his leg, and received a reproachful look in return.

If she wanted to provoke Yamagami Maki, she would have sat directly in Matsue's lap just like she does at home.

“I’m fine.” Yamami Maki smiled again. “What Mochizuki-san said is not wrong.”

"I was kicked out of the mountains with all my belongings and left to find my home."

Hearing this answer, Mochizuki Haruka lost much of her desire to mock. She leaned forward slightly and carefully examined the girl sitting at the table—

Her eyebrows and eyes were softer than usual, but her temperament remained unchanged from when she was still at Yuqiu High School. Her gentle feminine beauty had only become more captivating.

Wang Yueyao pursed her lips, recalling what her aunt had said.

This type of girl is the most lethal...

She glanced at her boyfriend beside her before looking back at the calm-looking girl.

“You are indeed much more interesting than the rest of the Yami family.”

Yamami Maki smiled, while Kuroba Kokoro, standing beside her, pouted, "It's rare to see you praise someone."

“Because I just don’t like the Yami family,” Mochizuki Haruka said matter-of-factly.

"You're all a bunch of old fogies, radiating a stale, outdated vibe, even the young people in your family—"

"A little contact reveals that they are all cut from the same mold, which is extremely boring, and the way they are forced into the same mold is also 'ugly'."

“This is called ‘alienation’,” the internet-addicted girl couldn’t help but say today, even though she didn’t have her game console.

“Everyone in the Yami family is a cog in the machine of the family, the only difference being how obviously they are used—this feeling of being a tool is bound to make people uncomfortable.”

Suddenly, the girls by the kotatsu began to share a common hatred, and Jun Matsue blinked.

"...That's good enough. Senior, you still have the surname Yamami."

Having reached a consensus, the two proud girls then looked to the side—Yamami Maki, holding a teacup, had an awkward and embarrassed smile on her face.

"My decision to leave the family now is also because I feel there are problems with it..."

"However, many things can't be discarded just because you know they're good or bad," the boy answered for her.

"Mmm." The girl nodded, her eyelashes trembling as if the shell of her inner bravado was peeling away.

"Although I knew from the beginning that the end result would basically be severing ties with the family..."

"But seeing the suppressed anger, sadness, and confusion on my father and mother's faces, and watching my grandfather announce to everyone that I was forbidden from entering the main family home..."

"Watching the house key that I've kept in my pocket since I was a child being taken away..."

Yamami Maki put down her teacup, pressed her bent hands to her chest, and let her bangs fall from her forehead.

"I still find myself feeling...more than just sad."

“After all, they are family,” Jun Matsue said softly.

“Anyway, Maki can still go back to her own home.” Kuroba Shin leaned closer to her childhood friend and gently hugged her.

"As for family and such, although you may be very sad now, you will find in time that whether or not you have those relatives makes no difference to your life."

“…Mmm.” Yamami Maki leaned on her shoulder and nodded slightly.

Jun Matsue secretly breathed a sigh of relief—luckily, besides himself, his senior had friends like Kokoro Kuroba by her side at this time.

Thinking this, Kokoro, who was hugging her senior, suddenly looked up, frowned, and glanced at him.

"Next time, you should comfort her like that!" the girl said with her eyes.

Before the boy could react, Mochizuki Haruka leaned closer and blocked Kuroba Shin's view.

"It's a good thing, I guess—compared to Yami Maki back then, you finally look like a human being now."

Matsueda Jun couldn't help but lean close to her ear, "These words actually came from the mouth of Mochizuki, who was just a lump of mud back then..."

The girl rolled her eyes at him, clearly annoyed—she had changed a long time ago!

Yamami Maki left her childhood friend's embrace and picked up a tissue from the low table to wipe the corner of her eyes.

"What Mochizuki-kun said is right, at least I am completely free now."

She looked up, her smile even more open and generous than when they first met earlier that day.

"Thank you, Jun-kun, thank you, Kokoro-chan, thank you for picking me up and helping me today."

"It's nothing." The boy picked up his teacup. "It's good that my senior is back."

"Should we go now?" Mochizuki Haruka tapped the table with her right hand, looking at the cockatiel hopping around on the stove.

Perhaps because there were a lot of strangers visiting today, the yellow chick didn't approach as boldly as before.

Matsueda Jun looked at Yamami Maki, and the senior's response was a reassuring smile.