Laid-Back Life in Tokyo: I Really Didn't Want to Work Hard-Chapter 905 - 532: The Hanamaru Family

According to Editor Morisaki’s request, Uesugi Sakura, who originally wanted to slack off, has to take the time to speed up the progress of his manuscript, otherwise, he’ll be in trouble if he can’t submit it.

However, light novels in Japan are relatively laid-back, requiring a volume every four months in a season.

Uesugi Sakura can definitely handle that.

He doesn’t understand why, with such ample time, there are still authors who delay updates.

With the ink of the fountain pen swiftly moving on white paper, Uesugi Sakura’s thoughts raced. He planned to first write a rough outline of a plot segment he had in mind, and whether it made sense or not, he would find explanations later and gradually revise it.

The phone suddenly rang, and the tip of the pen paused on the paper.

Uesugi Sakura put down the heavy pen, took off his glasses, and reached for his phone in his pants pocket.

It was an unknown number.

Uesugi Sakura: "May I ask who’s calling?"

A female voice came from the phone: "Is this Sakura?"

From the tone, it sounded like an elder, but due to distortion from the phone, Uesugi Sakura couldn’t tell who it was. 𝒻𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝘯𝘰𝑣ℯ𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝘮

"Who are you?"

"I’m Hanabi’s aunt, Hanamaru Yuzuki. We’ve met before."

"Oh, it’s Aunt," Uesugi Sakura realized, glancing at Hanamaru Yuuki, who was being taught by Towa Rina how to tie the apron of a maid outfit, "Is it about Yuuki?"

"Yes. She should be staying at your place now, right?"

"Yes." Uesugi Sakura nodded.

A noticeably relieved voice came from the phone.

"That girl is really driving me crazy; why can’t she be as well-behaved as her brother... Sigh, she said something like that yesterday! If her dad hadn’t been home, I really would’ve—"

"Aunt, please don’t be upset," Uesugi Sakura hurriedly said, turning his body around to face the coffee counter behind him, "What’s going on with Yuuki isn’t true."

"I know."

"You know?"

"Mm, no matter how mischievous she might be, she wouldn’t do something like that. I might even believe it if she said she’d had a boyfriend for a year... I was infuriated by her taunt and then saw her with a photo, so I couldn’t hold back and kicked her out."

"Aunt, to be frank, considering the situation at the time, shouldn’t you have kept her home? After all, going out could lead to unexpected things."

The other end of the phone was silent for a moment: "I was impulsive at the time and didn’t think much, later I had Shinetsu follow his sister, let him get her a hotel to stay for the night."

Hanamaru Shinetsu.

Uesugi Sakura searched his memories for the past, remembering when he used to call him Brother Sakura, a shy and polite young man.

Hanamaru Yuzuki: "You should be at school now, right, so she’s at your place? I’m a bit worried she’ll run around again."

"No," Uesugi Sakura replied, "she’s staying at my place lately, but she seems a bit hesitant to freeload, so I helped her find a part-time job."

"A job?"

"Ah, aunt, don’t worry, she’s apprenticing at a coffee shop where I work, learning how to make coffee with me."

"Oh, I see, in that case, I can be more at ease... Having something to do will keep her from daydreaming about romance all the time."

"If you need, I’ll send you the coffee shop’s address later."

"That would be great, Sakura, you and Hanabi keep an eye on her, she’s still a kid and doesn’t understand much. Yesterday she said that thing, I was really afraid she might do it."

Uesugi Sakura: "It’s fine, aunt, it’s what we should do."

On the other end, Hanamaru Yuzuki seemed to chuckle: "I heard from my brother that Sakura is reliable, I didn’t quite believe it at first, now I’m half convinced."

"Huh?"

"Your reassurance is comforting, okay, I’ll leave Yuuki to you for these days, keep her busy, don’t let her have romantic ideas, thank you."

"No problem."

"I’ll hang up now, this phone number is your usual one, right?"

"Yes."

Come to think of it, how did Aunt know my number?

"Are you wondering how I got your number?"

"Yes," Uesugi Sakura replied.

"Just to clarify, I didn’t ask my brother, you can guess how I found it out, if there’s nothing else, I’ll hang up first."

"Alright."

On the other end, Aunt hung up first. Uesugi Sakura glanced at his phone screen, saved the unknown number as a contact, and put his phone back into his pocket.

Just as he was about to pick up the pen, Hanamaru Yuuki in a maid outfit came to the front counter, lifting her skirt hem and poking around left and right.

"Brother-in-law, do you think I look good in this?"

What should I say? The whole Hanamaru family is full of good-looking guys and girls, Yuuki and Hanabi-chan look very similar, a beautiful girl like her... honestly, looks good in anything.

"Why are you asking?"

"I need to confirm my charm, otherwise, how will I find a boyfriend in a few days?"

Uesugi Sakura was speechless and asked, "First of all, what’s your plan to find a boyfriend?"

"Ta-da~"

Hanamaru Yuuki smiled and took out her phone, waving it in front of Uesugi Sakura, "There’s an app called Ren~tal~Boy~friend~~"

You’re... relying on something so unreliable.

By the way, why is her habit of saying "Ta-da~" so similar to Hanabi’s "Ta-da~"?

They’re really family, huh.

"Brother-in-law, that’s so strange."

"What’s strange?"

"Why do you and my sister use two identities at the coffee shop?" Hanamaru Yuuki leaned her elbows on the counter, showing her unique cheerful smile to Uesugi Sakura, "I get it, it’s because brother-in-law feels extra thrilled being with the sister-in-law, right?"