Laid-Back Life in Tokyo: I Really Didn't Want to Work Hard-Chapter 879 - 518: Reconciled but Not Fully, So Keep Moving Forward

Chapter 879: Chapter 518: Reconciled but Not Fully, So Keep Moving Forward

The reconciliation was there but not quite complete; this was the impression Uesugi Sakura had in the past few days.

Ever since that night, although Hanabi would acknowledge his presence outside, she basically still wouldn’t talk to him.

When they met at school, it was just good morning, good afternoon, good evening... When they crossed paths washing hands, she at most gave him a shy, almost evasive glance, then...

Then said nothing and walked away.

It’s frustrating. Clearly, she was the girl who made him experience the terror of women that night, but in the end, it felt like he was the one bullying her.

She’s still staying at the Hanamaru household these days, and of course, Mrs. Hanamaru didn’t mind, explaining to Hanamaru Hiroki that Hanabi just simply wanted to stay for a few days.

Though Hanamaru Hiroki somewhat noticed signs of a quarrel between the young couple, he didn’t proactively point it out, going about his routine like usual, as if nothing had changed.

His daughter coming home to stay, surely her father was happy, but deep down, perhaps he was disappointed in him.

"Sigh..."

"What are you sighing about?"

In the dance studio, Murata, wearing a modified yukata for the year-end festival, looked at Uesugi Sakura.

There seemed to be less spirit on Uesugi Sakura’s face compared to a few days before: "Do you think maybe I just don’t have enough charm?"

Murata stared at him with disdain, shaking his head continuously:

"Uesugi, oh Uesugi, I’ve never seen anyone as shameless as you! Married the most beautiful girl in our art department and still not satisfied, claiming you lack charm! Do you need a whole harem to showcase your unique charm?"

"No, having one wife is enough."

"Sigh, you should really take a look at who your wife is... Maybe you don’t know, but in the otaku circle, Teacher Hanamaru, as a beautiful girl illustrator, is already in the top tier of the industry in terms of fame and fan popularity!"

Murata exaggerated his expression, as if he were one of those many otaku himself.

"Is that so, well, that’s not exactly good news," Uesugi Sakura said.

"Why not?"

"Shouldn’t you know that, huh? Let’s not talk about this; other people I can’t control, just don’t bring it up in front of me, alright?"

"Alright." Murata wasn’t keen to discuss it anyway.

Uesugi Sakura proactively changed the subject: "Our year-end performance, it’s until New Year’s Eve, right?"

"Yeah," Murata nodded, "What, are you in a rush? But being in a rush won’t help, the dance needs time for continuous rehearsal, the progress also needs to be in sync with everyone."

Not being able to practice ahead of time, Uesugi Sakura couldn’t understand the logic.

But still, even though he’s lived here for almost twenty years, there are things he still can’t get used to.

For instance, the highly hierarchical senpai-kohai relationships in the workplace and in clubs in Japan.

If it wasn’t for the fact that he really couldn’t stand the Kyudo Club at Tokyo University, he wouldn’t have stayed away for several months without visiting!

The Kyudo Club at Kamigoe High School was more comfortable.

No strict rules, everyone friendly, you could shoot as many arrows as you wanted, freely and casually.

He wondered how those seniors and juniors were doing now in the Kyudo World?

"Hmm, you’re not practicing anymore?"

"Four hours seems long enough."

"That’s not right, not at all." Murata questioned.

"What’s not right?"

"Aren’t you, Uesugi, the guy who usually practices till ten at night? Murata deliberately showed a disappointed expression, "You’ve gotten lazy."

"Hey hey! Don’t give me that! It’s usually because I have nothing else to do, so I rely on dancing to vent my emotions."

"Then why are you thinking of quitting now?" Murata asked, "Don’t need to vent anymore?" 𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚

"Of course, because in the last few days, my mood has been better. With a better mood, there’s no need to torment myself, understand?" Uesugi Sakura smiled lightly, extending a finger, "Oh, and another thing."

"What?"

"My birthday is November 30th."

"Huh? Why tell me that, inviting me to your birthday?" Murata felt a bit baffled, "But since it’s already mid-December, it’s too late for me to prepare a gift for you."

"Didn’t expect you, someone who seems so stingy, to actually think about giving me a gift."

"Don’t misunderstand, at most I’ll get you a rice ball."

"Haha, even if you come empty-handed, that’s fine!"

Uesugi Sakura stuffed his hands into the pockets of his jacket, laughing as he walked out of the dance studio.

"This guy," Murata muttered as he watched the spot where his silhouette disappeared, "I don’t know what’s making him so happy these days..."

...

The winter wind blew gently, leaves withering away.

Though this winter seemed colder than in previous years, Uesugi Sakura felt that the wind on campus wasn’t as cold as it had been in the past few days.

Probably because annoying Hanabi and that weird sense of loneliness had made his mood quite cold.

These days, he felt much more at ease.

Suddenly, he kind of wanted to eat oden from that night again.

Uesugi Sakura glanced at the silver watch on his wrist, noticing it was just midday, he walked towards the pond in the backyard of Tokyo Art University for a stroll.

By the pond, those few ducks were still in the wooden house of that mother goose, with the gander aimlessly swimming in the center of the pond, paddling its webbed feet through the water, followed by a string of red koi.

Uesugi Sakura stood by the riverbank, his arms resting on the wooden railing of the bridge, gazing at the surface of the pond.

He was somewhat curious, why were those koi below the water following that black swan?

What could they gain from it?

Unfortunately, he wasn’t a biology major and completely had no idea about the habits of swimming fish, but asking him to come up with a haiku on the spot was still easy.

"Yo! Isn’t this Uesugi!"

When Uesugi Sakura heard this voice, he knew that the young lady Kitagawa Sakisa had arrived.

"What are you doing here?"

He didn’t turn around but waited for Kitagawa Sakisa to get closer, then pointed at the ducks in a swan’s nest and said, "Why are those ducks always taking someone else’s black swan wife?"

Kitagawa Sakisa followed the direction of his finger and indeed saw those ducks quacking from time to time.

"Because other people’s wives are prettier, isn’t it obvious? Look over there, aren’t there a few ducks that are by themselves?"

"Where?"

Uesugi Sakura looked where she was pointing, through some weeds growing by the water, he really did find two or three solitary ducks.

"They really are." Uesugi Sakura nodded.

"This proves a point," Kitagawa Sakisa crossed her arms, "Even ducks like other people’s wives, so why don’t you just give Hanabi to me, I’ll take good care of her for you."

"..." Uesugi Sakura was speechless, what nonsense, "Impossible to give her to you."

"I knew you’d say that! So I’m not surprised at all!"

Uesugi Sakura was at a loss for words, looked over to her somewhat arrogant face: "So what is someone like you doing here anyway?"

"What do you mean?" Upon hearing this, Kitagawa Sakisa seemed even angrier, "Hanabi asked you to come to our art research room for lunch! She’s prepared the food and is waiting for you!!"

"Really?" Uesugi Sakura was a bit surprised.

To be honest, he was almost getting sick of the cold, bland meals from the cafeteria recently.

Eating chicken and even getting the chicken butt, that taste — unforgettable for a lifetime!

Can those mass-cooked meals compare to the dishes Hanabi, who has been meticulously learning to cook since she was young, prepared?

Whether it’s the love in the food or the taste, they are completely in different leagues!

"What’s wrong? So happy that you forgot how to talk?" Kitagawa Sakisa, pouting, seemed not so pleased, "Seriously, we clearly told Hanabi not to bother with you for this month, and yet not even a full week after, she asks me to find you to come back for a meal!!"

Kitagawa Sakisa scratched her head non-stop as she spoke.

"It’s really annoying, but since Hanabi asked me to, I have no choice but to do it!"

Uesugi Sakura looked at her: "Hey, I remember a few days ago, weren’t you on my side? Weren’t you trying to help me?"

Kitagawa Sakisa raised her face, the bow at her collar looked quite exquisite: "Of course I wanted to help you because Hanabi was unhappy those days... you made her angry, the key is you didn’t know how to apologize, Hanabi was gloomy all day and only responded briefly to me. What else could I do but come find you to make up with her?"

"I see."

"What do you mean you see! You’re too dismissive!"

Uesugi Sakura asked her: "Do you think Hanabi has cooled down these past few days?"

Kitagawa Sakisa muttered something incomprehensible first, then said to him:

"Of course... Hanabi has obviously been much happier these days... willing to talk to everyone again. To be honest, everyone still wants to see this kind of Hanabi, after all, we’re all students from Kamigoe High School... we took graduation photos together, sang farewell songs at school together, we’ve shared several years of feelings!"

"And..." Kitagawa Sakisa looked at him.

"And what?"

"And though Hanabi is usually easy to talk to... but in terms of social ranking, you’re just a new Tokyo person who can’t even climb up to an old prestigious family from the Edo period."

Uesugi Sakura roughly understood: "So Hanabi actually married down to me?"

"Hanabi can be considered a young lady, but her family doesn’t often contact the main family; your father-in-law is supporting you, which is why you could marry Hanabi without any pressure."

Kitagawa Sakisa said.

"As for marrying down, it depends on how you see it, technically your status now isn’t bad either... after all, you do have some connection with the Sakihara Family in the Chiyoda District."

Uesugi Sakura didn’t know much about these intricacies: "The Sakihara Family, are they influential?"

"Or else, how do you think they could have a big mansion in the Chiyoda District dating back to the Edo period!" Kitagawa Sakisa looked him up and down, "It seems you’ve stayed there for a while, but I bet you haven’t walked through all the rooms yet, right?"

"That’s true, I once spent a long time looking for a bathroom."

"Exactly! And if Hanabi hadn’t stopped me, on your wedding day, I would have given each of those classmates, those relatives from your hometown, a gold bar!"

Uesugi Sakura was incredulous: "You’re joking, right?"

"Hmph, do you think the Kitagawa family is made out of clay!" Kitagawa Sakisa boasted, "Don’t you want to see how much I have in savings?"

"Not interested, after all, it’s not your money at the moment."

But, Uesugi Sakura was more curious about something else, "The Kitagawa Association, is it really owned by your family?"

"Yes, why?" Kitagawa Sakisa replied matter-of-factly.

"Do they listen to you?"

"Depends on the situation, I can definitely order around the little underlings! If you want to check it out, I can take you for a tour."

"That’s something you can tour?"

"Why not! It’s my family’s!"

Uesugi Sakura suddenly remembered something else, "Have you known Kyujuu Rika since childhood?"

"Yes, since we were little." Kitagawa Sakisa replied matter-of-factly, "Our family has achievements in the medical field too, so the time when the Kitagawa Association was only known for its gang activities is long past!"

The head of the Kyujuu Family is a member of the Farmers’ Association.

And the Kitagawa family used to be involved with the Yakuza and now also runs a hospital.

Their daughters have known each other since childhood.

Within all this... it’s quite terrifying upon careful thought...

Indeed, the lifeblood of a society is ultimately controlled by a few people after all.