Laid-Back Life in Tokyo: I Really Didn't Want to Work Hard-Chapter 853 - 503: Thousand Paper Cranes Collected in Otaru City (2)

Chapter 853: Chapter 503: Thousand Paper Cranes Collected in Otaru City (2)

Uesugi Sakura gently touched the heads of the two little girls and stood up.

"Alright, I’ll pass on your thoughts to your elder sister Hanabi. Go have breakfast now."

"Okay."

Uesugi Sakura watched as the little girls ran over to the two ladies for breakfast, thinking that in the future, Hanami’s heart might also run like this. 𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆𝙬𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝒎

A bit further into the future, perhaps it will be the children of Hanabi and him.

Currently, he only knows the girlish side of her.

But if she becomes a mother, Uesugi Sakura is completely convinced that she can fulfill that role.

She is a girl who treats everyone around her with gentleness.

Himself, with her children...

If it’s a girl, it’s hard to say, but she’ll certainly be very pretty, with eyes as beautiful as her mother’s.

If it’s a boy, who dares not to listen to his mother — Uesugi Sakura guarantees he’ll pull out a clothes hanger and open up his bottom.

Uesugi Sakura walked out of the hotel.

Otaru City.

Due to its narrow north-south geography, the city has a significant elevation difference, leading to many long slopes, and alongside the streets are mostly glass craft shops, tea houses, restaurants, and large shops.

Several gift shops have exquisite dolls and crafts displayed in glass cabinets, with an old shopkeeper out front, bending over and shoveling away the snow brought by last night’s storm.

"How much is this?" Uesugi Sakura stopped and looked at a round, chubby shark plush in the display window.

The plush was smiling, with slight floral decorations on its face, looking very cheerful and bright.

The old shopkeeper, shoveling snow, noticed Uesugi Sakura standing at the window of his shop, smiled slightly at his serious expression:

"It’s free."

"Free?"

"Yes." The old shopkeeper, wearing an apron with the store logo, continued to shovel the snow at the entrance, "I didn’t open this gift shop for money, but to remember my daughter. Since she was little, she loved these little trinkets."

"Then she is now...?" Uesugi Sakura felt a jolt in his heart.

The old shopkeeper lifted his head, seeming to perceive his thoughts, "Haha, don’t misunderstand, she’s still around, just went abroad for studies, but it’ll be a long time before she can come back."

"I see."

The old shopkeeper planted the shovel into the ground, looking up at the cutesy sign that didn’t match his style at all:

"But, to say I don’t miss her would be false. Seeing this shop always brings back memories of her in elementary school. After school, she’d often run down the slope, I remember her eyes squinting into slits, arms wide open, happily yelling ’Dad...’ She also took pride in this shop and often brought her classmates to visit... "

The shopkeeper breathed out a puff of warm air and continued bending down to shovel the snow.

"Young man, I liked the look in your eyes earlier. The toy factory went bankrupt, and that plush is the only one left of its kind, go in and take it."

...

He got it in hand.

Uesugi Sakura lifted an arm, grasping Shasha ball, feeling indescribable.

Yet seeing the round, chubby Shasha smiling back at him, he thought Hanabi would surely like this.

Uesugi Sakura continued walking along the street.

The colorless, transparent sky, the misty lined trees, the smooth cobbled path, the low and delicate red-brick houses, and the white snow piled everywhere... Post-snowfall Otaru City seemed like a scene out of a movie.

Travelers stumbled among them, setting the scenery and mood in the silence and steps in the snow.

Passing through the bustling city district, Uesugi Sakura wore a scarf, exhaling warm air, braced against the cold wind, entering the gates of Otaru Municipal Hospital.

He walked through the lobby, took the elevator, turned through the corridor, and arrived at Hanamaru Hanabi’s private room.

Uesugi Sakura calmly opened the door, holding Shasha ball, and walked in.

He found Hanamaru Hanabi on the hospital bed seemingly awake, her entire head covered by the quilt, with only one right hand attached to an intravenous drip resting on the bedside.

Uesugi Sakura smiled at her, placed breakfast aside, and slowly approached her.

One hand squeezed the newly acquired Shasha ball, while the other quietly pulled down the quilt covering her face.

"Ta-da!"

As Hanamaru Hanabi reacted, the first thing she saw was the very warm smile on the face of Shasha ball.

"Shasha!"

Perhaps due to hearing Uesugi Sakura’s voice, or maybe because this Shasha ball was extremely appealing to her, Hanamaru Hanabi’s previously sullen expression instantly turned bright and sunny, she immediately sat up from the bed.

"How is it? Do you like it?"

Sakura Uesugi sat by her bed, smiling at the girl.

"Where did you buy it, Sakura?"

"Eh, wait a minute." Sakura Uesugi pulled the Shasha Ball away with one hand, "You’re still hooked up to an IV, you can’t hold it with both hands, or the blood will reverse flow through the needle."

"Alright." Hanamaru Hanabi kept her eyes fixed on the Shasha Ball, its flower-covered face with a smiling, toothy grin, adorably ugly, deeply endearing to the girl’s heart.

Sakura Uesugi saw she really wanted to touch it, so he placed the Shasha Ball in front of her.

She could play with it as she pleased with the hand free from the IV.

Hanamaru Hanabi happily played with it for a while, then hugged the Shasha Ball to her chest before turning to Sakura Uesugi, who was opening a lunchbox beside her:

"Sakura... Why weren’t you here just now?"

"I went to get you something to eat. I checked the hospital breakfast, it didn’t look great."

Sakura Uesugi filled a bowl with plum meat rice soup, holding it in his palm, while using the other hand to pull a stool over to sit by Hanamaru Hanabi.

"Will you feed me, Sakura?"

"Of course." Sakura Uesugi gently ladled a bit into the spoon, blew away the steam lightly, and handed it to her, saying, "Come on, eat while it’s hot."

The plum meat rice soup wasn’t very thick, thus it was rice soup, not porridge.

Although in Japanese they don’t differentiate.

Hanamaru Hanabi stared blankly at him, tightening her grip on the Shasha Ball in her arms, then took a bite of the spoon.

The girl’s soft, glossy lips wrapped around the spoon, and when it appeared again, the grains and broth were all gone.

"Is it good?" Sakura Uesugi asked, seeing how neatly she ate.

"Sour and sweet..."

"After all, it’s plum and meat, made from green plum."

Sakura Uesugi smiled, silently stirring the rice soup with a spoon to cool it down, then ladled another spoonful, blowing on it gently near his mouth.

His breath was actually directed towards Hanamaru Hanabi, so the girl could also feel the warm aroma of the plum meat soup.

"Open your mouth."

"Ah..."

Hanamaru Hanabi ate another spoonful.

"Is it tasty?"

"Very tasty..."

Suddenly, the door to the hospital room opened, a nurse walked in.

She looked at the two in the room, paused for a moment, then awkwardly pointed at the almost-empty IV bottle, saying, "I’m here to take this."

Sakura Uesugi replied, holding the bowl of rice soup: "No worries, go ahead."

The young nurse, seemingly aware of the subtle atmosphere in the room, deftly helped Hanamaru Hanabi remove the infusion needle, holding a tray, she said:

"You can handle it at the front desk when you’re ready to leave."

Sakura Uesugi nodded: "Alright."

The nurse seemed reluctant to look directly at his face and hurriedly left the room.

"Why does it seem like she’s scared of me?" Sakura Uesugi fed another spoonful of rice soup to Hanamaru Hanabi.

"It’s not because she’s afraid of you, Sakura."

"Then what is it?"

Hanamaru Hanabi stared at his handsome face, her eyes smiling like crescents, "That’s something only girls can understand."

"Care to explain it to me?"

"It’s you, Sakura."

"Me?"

"There are very few guys who are handsome and also seem so warm-hearted. The nurse just now had a thing for you but felt embarrassed staying around with Hanabi here, so she quickly left."

Hanamaru Hanabi ate the rice soup that he had cooled.

"Warm-hearted?" Sakura Uesugi focused on the rice soup in his hand, slowly stirring it to dissipate the heat.

"Nothing is as comforting as being cared for so attentively."