Laid-Back Life in Tokyo: I Really Didn't Want to Work Hard-Chapter 871 - 513: As Expected, You’re the Best

"Hanabi... why are you here?"

"Didn’t Sakura-kun just ask that question?" Hanamaru Hanabi held a freshly cooked oden with one hand, then took out her mobile phone and waved it in front of him.

"I did ask... but I find it a bit unbelievable... so I thought I should confirm it again..."

Hanamaru Hanabi smiled at him adorably, "What’s so unbelievable..."

Uesugi Sakura found himself a bit embarrassed to directly look at her smile, so he averted his gaze to the railing at the street corner:

"Because it’s such a cold day, and you went home so early today, you should have taken a bath and gone to sleep by now. It’s so late at night, the sky is dark, yet you came out to find me..."

In a blink, he saw the clock on her phone marked 00:10.

"Perhaps Hanabi just forgot something at school and came back to get it?"

Uesugi Sakura turned back to look at her again.

"Young lady, your oden is ready as well." The uncle inside the small window said. He saw the two young people standing together outside, looking at each other, and knew they were actually a couple.

Hanamaru Hanabi glanced at him, smiled again, then turned to pick up another serving of oden. After thanking the uncle, she carried the food to a table outside the little shop.

"This one’s for Sakura-kun."

Uesugi Sakura sat across from her, seeing her outstretched small hand, his heart was touched by something indescribable, yet he still didn’t know how to face her now.

Holding the oden in both hands, feeling the warmth through the cup, Uesugi Sakura felt his eyes lost in the rising steam.

"Hanabi, have you... forgiven me?"

"Isn’t Sakura-kun going to eat? Hurry and eat, otherwise it’ll get cold and the flavor will fade quite a bit."

Uesugi Sakura was silent for a moment, then took the bamboo skewer she handed over.

He skewered a mochi pouch and put it in his mouth, the rich, sweet broth of the oden enveloped by fibrous tofu burst with flavor on the first bite.

"Phew—"

In a daze, Uesugi Sakura didn’t notice the temperature of the oden. As soon as he took a bite, he felt it burning hot in his mouth, and quickly breathed out to cool down.

In the cold weather, all the breath he exhaled turned into white, misty steam.

Hanamaru Hanabi watched from the other side, quite amused, and Uesugi Sakura couldn’t help but smile a little as he saw her laughter.

The night was deep and quiet, with only a few people and a few small shops still open. The two of them sat by a low outdoor table, looking at each other and laughing... what kind of situation was this, Uesugi Sakura couldn’t tell.

He only knew that what he was eating tasted warm, and even the night wind around him didn’t feel so cold anymore.

While eating, he lifted his head and could see her, see her expression, see her appearance, see her restrained smile, genuinely seeing her presence rather than just an empty chair.

In the pleasant evening breeze, Uesugi Sakura ate while sneakily looking at her.

Hanamaru Hanabi noticed his action but didn’t expose it, instead, she skewered a piece of radish from the oden and spoke in a soft, gentle voice:

"Sakura-kun... now you want to apologize to Hanabi, right?"

"Yes." Uesugi Sakura nodded lightly while eating.

Hanamaru Hanabi absentmindedly stirred the remaining meatballs and chikuwa in the oden with a bamboo skewer: "Actually... this is probably Hanabi’s... most wilful time ever... I never dared to get mad at Sakura-kun before, Sakura-kun... do you think Hanabi has changed a lot?"

Uesugi Sakura was silent for a moment, then said, "It’s growth, young Hanabi is also growing. Just like the girl who used to be sullen and unwilling to speak has grown into a young lady, then from a young lady who accepted all blame has grown into someone who gets angry actively."

"Then... can Sakura-kun adapt to this transformation?" Hanamaru Hanabi’s tiny voice was still full of gentle softness.

"Of course... even if you completely changed your personality... my feelings for you remain unchanged... These days you weren’t around, I kept thinking, if at first, the gentle little girl wasn’t liked by anyone... what would she have become, would she still dress so beautifully today, using her efforts to present art that everyone could love?"

Uesugi Sakura paused and then continued.

"I say this just to mean I’ve been watching as we walked through it all together, so don’t worry about transformations or anything, as long as Hanabi remains Hanabi... I will still love her."

"Hmm..." Hanamaru Hanabi nodded lightly, her eyes gazing down at the soup’s surface, "After all, we’re childhood friends... people who grew up together, Hanabi knows what Sakura-kun likes, and Sakura-kun also knows what Hanabi likes... We’ve known each other for almost seventeen years, and many memories should have faded with time... Yet Hanabi can never forget Sakura-ani’s care for her when she was a child..."

"Sakura-kun..."

Hanamaru Hanabi lowered her head, her eyes emitting waves of something both softly timid yet seemingly solid, "Time changes many things... but as long as Sakura-kun remembers that Hanabi will always, always like him, even if Sakura-kun didn’t go to England to find Hanabi back then... that year went by, Hanabi was sixteen... three years later, at nineteen, Hanabi will still come back to find Sakura-kun."

In the next moment, the two raised their heads simultaneously, looking at each other.

"Sakura-kun still remembers what you said to Hanabi at the wedding?"

"To be each other’s sun."

"Will Sakura-kun still keep that promise?"

"I always will."

"Then don’t forget when you get a little happy after a while, after all, on the day of the wedding, Hanabi entrusted everything to Sakura-kun. If Hanabi is gone, Sakura-kun really won’t be able to find Hanabi again."

Hanamaru Hanabi held the warm cup, gently squeezing it.

"Some things can be lost once, but not twice... if... if Sakura-kun really disappoints Hanabi... Hanabi will still like him, but will hide where he can’t see, loving him silently."

"That’s... difficult to do, right?" Uesugi Sakura said to her, "After all, if Hanabi-chan sees him getting hurt, feeling uncomfortable... she would immediately come to his side to see what went wrong... I still clearly remember your teary face by my bedside after my surgery in the hospital... that was the second time Hanabi-chan cried so hard."

"Though I was barely conscious, I did realize there was such a wonderful girl by my side, crying for me, sad for me, and happy for my recovery..."

At this point, Uesugi Sakura suddenly burst into laughter.

"Haha, saying these things out loud really makes me feel a lot lighter inside."

"Hanabi..."

Hanamaru Hanabi heard his voice and looked up.

"I’m sorry..."

Uesugi Sakura spoke these three words to her. Though brief and straightforward, he felt he had conveyed his message.

"Let’s make up... like before..."

The evening breeze swayed the branches and gently blew along the street. The couple who had been kissing earlier had disappeared, and many shops had closed their doors.

The whole street dimmed, with only the planes from Haneda Airport roaring their engines across the blue night sky of Tokyo.

Hanamaru Hanabi smiled slightly. Even so, her smile, like her name, was radiant, warm, and when it bloomed, it struck the heart.

She lowered her head, then slowly lifted it, adjusted the hair by her ear, and replied to him in a lively voice:

"Hanabi refuses."

"Then let’s go back now—what?"

"Sakura-kun, what kind of strange expression is that?" Hanamaru Hanabi smiled sweetly, holding her skirt lightly on her lap and slightly tilting her head toward him with a smile.

"Shouldn’t Hanabi agree?"

"Why should Hanabi agree? Whether to accept or not is Hanabi’s own business."

"No, no, no, by normal standards, based on your usual personality... you would definitely agree, right?"

"So, what you’re saying is that what you just said was all deliberately designed to comfort Hanabi, and then it’s a trap to let her fall into it?"

"No, those were all true words."

"Even if they are true, doesn’t that admit it’s a trap?"

"A trap... sounds too harsh. Those were all my true feelings. A trap... I didn’t even realize there was a trap to deceive Hanabi."

Hanamaru Hanabi thought for a moment and said: "Hanabi was very touched just now... but being moved is one thing, and forgiving Sakura-kun is another. It’s late at night and you don’t go home, just thinking about your painting! And you won’t let Hanabi teach you!"

Uesugi Sakura suddenly felt she had the feeling of a wife: "At that time, I thought you were angry with me and didn’t want to see me."

"Who told Sakura-kun to secretly touch Hanabi during class—!"

Hanamaru Hanabi didn’t say anything, her face reddened as she turned away, "Pervert, big pervert."

Both annoyed and embarrassed, this must be how a girl looks in front of someone.

Hanamaru Hanabi suddenly stood up, "Anyway, let’s call it a day. Hanabi is going back."

Uesugi Sakura looked around at the reddened horizon: "It’s so late, let me walk you back."

"No, Sakura-kun is just a pervert!"

"Some perverts outside are scarier than me. At least I know how to care for Hanabi."

"Do you know there’s a term for you now, Sakura-kun?"

"What?"

"Scumbag! A shameless, greasy scumbag, Sakura-kun," Hanamaru Hanabi said, blushing with her eyes closed.

"I... how was I being a scumbag..."

"Hey—"

Uesugi Sakura watched as she turned around and left, reaching out to stop her.

The uncle in the oden shop smiled and looked at Uesugi Sakura outside, saying loudly in an Osaka accent, "What are you doing standing around? Go chase her!"

"What about the money for the oden..."

"Come back and pay later! Go quickly!"

Perhaps it was the uncle’s frequent urging, or perhaps Hanamaru Hanabi’s figure disappeared quickly. Uesugi Sakura hurriedly ran after where the girl had left.

He came to a corner at an intersection, looked around, and saw only occasionally passing cars, glowing vending machines, and dimly lit street lamps at night.

He couldn’t find the girl’s figure, but somehow had a feeling, guiding him to run to the right.

He ran along the street, the cool night wind whistling past his ears, streetlamp after streetlamp illuminating his fleeting silhouette.

Uesugi Sakura stopped, he was at a traffic light intersection and saw the girl standing there.

A beam of cold light from the overhead streetlamp faintly illuminated her surroundings. At that moment when her silhouette overlapped with the lamps, she looked like a beautiful firefly dancing lightly in the twilight glow.

The streetlamp’s light shone on her petite figure, making her delicate shoulder-length hair appear white and bright.

She stood there quietly by the roadside, silently standing on that end...

It was as if the whole world, at that moment, paused on the girl’s silhouette...