Am I being simulated by their love affair?

Page 673

Although it's not a national-level program like the "Red and White Song Battle" or the "Hakone Ekiden," the prestige of the University of Tokyo is undeniable, and its entrance ceremony can remain a hot topic on social media for a considerable period of time.

"What's this trending topic this year?"

"What does 'Full-length High-Quality Footage of the Most Handsome Freshman Representative from the University of Tokyo' mean?"

"Shouldn't we be trending on social media every year for our university presidents and professors' philosophical speeches? When did the Japanese become so superficial!"

Inside the Mejirodai dormitory at the University of Tokyo, a second-year student, holding his phone, sat at a table in the communal kitchen, complaining to the person next to him.

"Haha..." The bespectacled companion laughed with a hint of helplessness.

"Maybe it's because he's really handsome? Our school holds a beauty pageant every year, doesn't it?"

The boy, frowning, gripped the coffee can tightly and slammed it on the table.

"That's different!"

"—Keep your voice down."

The bespectacled man nudged his arm and then smiled apologetically at the students sitting down with their lunchboxes a short distance away.

“I know you’ve been feeling down lately because you broke up with your senior classmate…” he said softly, turning his head away.

"But we can't stay sad forever, right? I'll treat you to drinks tonight. After you're drunk, you should look forward."

"..."

The boy holding the coffee raised the can and took a big gulp like he was drinking alcohol. Then he took out his phone from his pocket and opened the school's official website.

"Let's watch the entrance ceremony from the past two days first."

"So you haven't seen it yet!"

"You didn't watch it either."

He placed his phone horizontally on the table, and the two of them leaned their shoulders together, looking at the video screen.

The martial arts hall has enough space to hold 14,000 people. The stage for the entrance ceremony was set up on one side of the central open space, and the tiered seats facing it were filled with invited parents—densely packed, which looked very impressive.

The freshmen, dressed in formal attire, sat on the open space in front of the stage, which was the natural focal point of the visual space—every year, the most outstanding young people in Japan would sit here, head held high, to receive the gazes from all directions.

"I miss it a bit~" The bespectacled man took his companion's coffee and took a sip.

"Last year, I was sitting right here and became the center of attention."

"Who do you think you are, the center of attention?" the heartbroken man scoffed rudely.

"The freshman representative who speaks on stage is the real focus, okay!"

"...If you put it that way, I won't be treating everyone tonight."

The dining table immediately fell silent again, with only enthusiastic applause from the phone screens.

The University of Tokyo's entrance ceremony is actually quite simple—opening ceremony, introductions by the president and department heads, followed by speeches from the president and the head of the Faculty of Education, alumni representatives, and freshman representatives, and finally, the university anthem is played to close the ceremony.

"The principal's lectures are getting more and more boring..." the boy complained as he took back his coffee.

"Basic literacy and AI? These are students who got into the University of Tokyo. How could they not know these things?"

"No wonder the appearance of the freshman representative made it to the trending searches..."

The bespectacled man next to him chuckled, "You've brought this up again; it's making me curious too."

"Anyway, we'll see in a bit—" The heartbroken student put down his coffee and reached out to fast forward the video on the screen.

"But I did hear that this year's freshman representatives are actually from the second category of liberal arts... whereas in the past, it was basically us science students who took the lead."

“I heard about it too—” The bespectacled man also took out his phone.

"I heard from the teacher that he got the highest score in the liberal arts entrance exam. His name is 'Matsueda Jun,' and he seems to have gone to the same high school as the girl who got second place."

"A couple?" The boy next to him scoffed in response.

"This name sounds like a scumbag. If he's not a scumbag, he's destined to be dumped by his partner when they're preparing for graduate school entrance exams."

"Hey, don't use your own experience to curse others..."

While the two chatted and complained, school leaders and guests walked onto the stage one by one and then left in turn—after several rounds of neat applause, the camera facing the stage finally started moving.

The camera, suspended in mid-air, turned towards the audience—someone in the first row of student seats stood up and walked toward the side of the stage.

As if it were their imagination, the camera paused unexpectedly for a moment before focusing on the profile of the freshman representative and following him as he walked onto the stage.

"..."

The spacious martial arts hall became even quieter, and the eyes of thousands of people were all fixed on the boy's face—but he showed no emotion, only slightly lowering his eyes to look at the ground beneath his feet, and calmly walked to the front of the podium.

He stood in front of the podium, nodded to the principal, and then took out a folded speech from his pocket.

"It is an honor to participate in such a grand ceremony today. As a new student of the University of Tokyo, I am truly grateful..."

"Thank you to everyone who has supported us so far..."

The boy's clear and melodious voice echoed in the vast and silent space, like a pleasant breeze brushing through a pine forest.

"—I hereby pledge to take responsibility and strive forward every day."

"On April 13, 2018, Jun Matsueda was the representative of the new students."

Thunderous applause erupted once again inside the martial arts hall.

Gazing at the handsome face that filled the phone screen, the heartbroken man in the Megurodai dormitory had only one thought in his mind.

"If it were this face, my senior wouldn't have broken up with me, right..."

April 17th, at the University of Tokyo's Komaba Campus.

When the bell rang, Jun Matsuoka put down his pen and watched the teacher on the podium walk off the podium with his bag.

"Professor Takami's lectures on the history of economic thought are really solid," a girl's voice came from the row behind him.

"The mercantilist school, the physiocratic school, Adam Smith, Malthus... even for Matsueda-kun, that sounds difficult, doesn't it?"

To the girl's disappointment, the tall, upright figure in front of her made no extra move—as if he hadn't heard her at all. The boy got up, packed his things, and walked straight out of the lecture hall.

"Uemura hasn't given up yet?" came the teasing voices of others from the side.

"It's been a week since school started, don't you know how cold Songzhi is to you girls?"

“…I’m not going to chase after him.” Ayami Uemura smoothed her brown hair over her shoulder.

"I have a boyfriend too, you know. I'm just interested in Jun Matsueda."

"I understand, I understand~" The boy sitting next to her walked out of the classroom with her.

"Among the freshmen in our Economics Department this year, you're the only one who hasn't added Songzhi as a friend yet, right?"

"That's what I mean..." The girl with the bag couldn't help but grit her teeth.

Jun Matsueda, who entered the university as the top liberal arts student and a representative of the new students, had a cold demeanor not only towards her—he hadn't even added any of the girls in the faculty as his contact information.

"Just how much does this guy hate girls?!"

"It's because of that, isn't it..." The boy walking next to her scratched his cheek.

"He has a girlfriend—"

Walking through the bustling stairwell and out of the teaching building, at nine or ten o'clock, when the sun was at its brightest, Jun Matsuoka squinted slightly, feeling the heat of April.

He pulled his girlfriend's class schedule from his mind and headed toward Hall 2, where "Intercultural Theory" was located—just past the deep shade of the trees, he saw his target on the other side of the road.

"Chunjun!"

Tomatsu Yuka, with a beige canvas bag slung over her shoulder, waved cheerfully at him—in the vast Komaba campus, only the boy standing under the verdant zelkova tree could elicit such an excited expression from her.

The girl quickened her pace as she walked, and the boy followed suit—they hugged in front of the crowd of students going to and from get out of class, and then held hands affectionately.

"Next class is Chinese~" Tomatsu Yuka said, leading her boyfriend into a side path.

"I'll have to ask Jun-kun for more guidance."

“Leave it to me.” Jun Matsue smiled and took her handbag. “I’ve been teaching myself Chinese since I was a child.”

The Komaba campus of the University of Tokyo belongs to the Faculty of Liberal Arts, where first-year and second-year students receive their general education. As a result, there are many overlapping courses for these young students—such as the "second foreign language" that every freshman must learn.

Their shadows crossed the dappled sunlight on the tree-lined path, and the rustling of the leaves gradually drifted over the noise of the main road, enveloping them.

"But I didn't expect Yuhua to drag me into learning Chinese... There were so many people choosing Spanish."

"That's precisely why I didn't choose it!" the girl replied with a smile.

Logically speaking, couples attending classes together should be able to blend into the crowd in a large classroom – but neither of them is good-looking enough to be lost in a crowd, so it's better to choose less crowded classes and minimize attention.

"Furthermore, Tsunkun likes Chinese food, can cook it himself, and has been learning Chinese since elementary school..."

"You must be very interested in Chinese culture, right?"

Tomatsu Yuka emerged from the alley and winked at the boy.

"I'd also like to know what you like~"

Matsueda Jun exaggeratedly clutched his chest, then took her hand and led her through the crowd into the Second Foreign Language teaching building.

"Although my affection for Yuuka is already at its highest level, I still have to say something—"

"I make proper Chinese food, not just Chinese cuisine..."

As Jun Matsue walked into the classroom with the girl, he immediately felt the gazes of the students in front of him. He walked calmly to the back, with Yuka Tomatsu following behind him, smiling and greeting the students she knew.

The boy sat down in the last row, stuffed both of their bags into the drawer, and moved over a bit. Tomatsu Yuka sat inside him and quickly took out their textbooks and placed them on the table.

“Every time I walk through the main entrance into the classroom, I get stared at like this—it’s not a big deal, but it still feels a bit helpless.”

"Because school has just started." The girl opened her boyfriend's textbook, placed it between them, and started flipping through it.

"Tsun-kun is the freshman representative who will speak on stage, and he has a face that could bring glory to any school—everyone will definitely remember him!"

She hummed the tune of the school song softly as she wrote her name on the inside page of the boy's new book, in neat handwriting: "Matsueda Jun".

Jun Matsueda shook his head. "That's why I said I should have refused the invitation in the first place..."

He also took the girl's textbook and wrote the elegant name "Tomatsu Tomohana" on the inside pages.

"That won't do!" Tomatsu Yuka raised both hands into a large "X".

"Didn't everyone unanimously oppose it in the first place? There's no need to miss this opportunity to showcase ourselves!"

The boy smiled and nodded, looking at the Chinese teacher who was walking into the classroom.

When he received the invitation to speak as a representative of the new students, Jun Matsueda actually wanted to decline.

There's no other reason; this position is simply too eye-catching, not to mention he has an eye-catching face...

If everyone remembers his face, how will Jun Matsue be able to find other girls to date at Ochanomizu University, Keio University, and Tokyo University of the Arts?

But as soon as he voiced this idea in the apartment, his senior shook her head and rejected it—

“That won’t do!” Yamami Maki said gently but firmly.

“We do want to interact with Tsunkun as openly and honestly as possible, but that doesn’t mean you have to deliberately hide yourself and act like an ordinary person.”

"How is this Tsun-kun any different from you when you left the band?"

The difference might be something like a freshman representative, but he really didn't care much about that...

Jun Matsue originally intended to answer in that way, but since the girls unanimously supported his senior, he abandoned the idea.

"—Before I begin to formally teach you Chinese, let me first introduce some characteristics of the Chinese language."

"First, there's the pronunciation..."

The boy, regaining his senses, turned to look at his girlfriend beside him.

Tomatsu Yuka was looking at the podium, earnestly repeating "hello" with the teacher in a rhythmic and melodious tone. Her pink lips opened and closed, changing into a round shape with her slightly clumsy speech.

Jun Matsue couldn't help but smile.

After a week of formally enrolling at the University of Tokyo, he didn't feel that campus life had changed much.

The school is just a bit bigger, the classrooms are a bit bigger, and there's a bit more to learn.

However, the boy did notice a significant change—

Even at this moment, he and Yuka felt exceptionally close.

Yugao Takashi had a seat to himself and no deskmate, but now he could smell the familiar shampoo scent on Tomatsu Yuka's body—the girl's skirt was right next to his legs, and with the slightest movement, their thighs could touch.

The boy had no plans to engage in lewd behavior during the day in class. This intimate yet free distance, even without doing anything, made him feel relaxed and happy.