CHAPTER 666: SPINOFF: MEMORIES IN THE SNOWY DAY_2

The kindergarten teacher in charge of managing the kids was feeling disheartened about life after a recent divorce due to marital discord, and was indifferent to the events unfolding right in front of her.

Gradually, because of her voice and appearance, Hanamaru Hanabi, who wasn’t very liked to begin with, was isolated by the children.

Throwing toys at her and saying they didn’t like her was a daily occurrence in that class.

She was just a child, naturally sensitive, and over time... she became the person she herself didn’t like, lacking in confidence.

——This was one of the reasons Hanabi moved houses.

...

When she was three, she moved to this side of Shinjuku.

——These are things Uesugi Sakura found out later.

Uesugi Sakura did not know his place in her heart; he only knew that she considered him to be her only friend.

Whenever there were delicious things, she would think of him.

Being her little follower or whatever, Uesugi Sakura had become accustomed to being in the same kindergarten with her.

She would often drag him to play those house-play games little girls liked.

But Uesugi Sakura really couldn’t stand this particular game.

House-play is where you take small toys and mimic adults cooking and organizing clothes and such.

"Is this fun...?"

"Mm..." Hanamaru Hanabi crouched on the sofa cushion, earnestly using a plastic small knife to cut the magnetic toy carrot in pieces. "It’s fun..."

"What’s fun about this?"

Hanamaru Hanabi’s small hands paused in cutting the veggies; she was getting a bit tired of crouching, and in a weak, small voice she said:

"In the future... when Hanabi learns, she can always cook for brother... Hanabi hopes this way... brother won’t hate Hanabi anymore..."

...

The words sounded unremarkable back then, but now that they were married... seeing her busily preparing breakfast and dinner in the kitchen, recalling her innocent appearance at that time, he couldn’t help but tear up.

The playful words she said when she was young about always cooking for him, she hadn’t forgotten to this day.

...

Uesugi Sakura once asked her what she feared most.

She said she was most afraid of her father and mother leaving her, and her brother forgetting her too.

During middle school, people often asked her to help sweep the floors on their duty day, claiming they were busy with club activities in the afternoon and entrusted her with the task.

But what club activities, really; those classmates merely wanted to run outside and have fun, avoiding the duty task.

Hanamaru Hanabi didn’t refuse; she always agreed to her classmates’ requests.

As more people became aware of this, her afternoon sweeping duties increased.

Fewer and fewer people swept with her, and eventually, she was practically handling the entire classroom’s cleaning by herself.

The whole class subconsciously left her to do the duty alone.

Uesugi Sakura wasn’t in the same class as her but would wait for her to walk home together every day.

During this period, every day she would leave the classroom a bit later than before.

So, Uesugi Sakura asked her for the reason.

She didn’t answer directly, just looked at Uesugi Sakura’s face for a while, lowered her head, and softly asked:

"Uesugi-kun, do you think... Hanabi is a good person?"

"Mm, pretty good."

"Really... good...?" Hanamaru Hanabi tightened her grip on the shoulder strap of her bag slightly.

"Really good, why ask?" Uesugi Sakura replied in a calm tone.

Hanamaru Hanabi kept her head down, her face reflected in the twilight of the sunset hues, with her short hair dancing in the setting sun’s light.

She didn’t continue speaking further.

Uesugi Sakura couldn’t comprehend the meaning behind her words for a long time.

Later, he found out that during that time, her uncle and aunt were constantly arguing due to work reasons.

The words even reached the point of talking about divorce.

Hanamaru Hanabi was upstairs the whole time, hearing those words.

The words were heavy, making her lose her sense of security and reliance, often curling up alone under the covers, murmuring about her most beloved things.

She was a sensitive, lonely child, and many things were magnified in her mind.

During that period, she wanted to go home later.

She wanted to find someone she could share her inner thoughts with.

Growing up with her, Uesugi Sakura was the best choice.

But Uesugi Sakura, during that time, was too focused on academics, even beginning to study how to get into Shinjuku District’s best private high school, and responded to her conversations too calmly and coldly.

It was only during the walk home after school that they would exchange a few sentences.

Hanamaru Hanabi didn’t know this, only feeling that she once again made him feel annoyed, and the idea of confessing to him was pushed even deeper inside her heart.

Every day doing something as meaningless as helping people sweep floors, wasting time.

Today, taking this opportunity to express her deepest thoughts to him, yet due to his lukewarm, very plain evaluation, the idea of confessing was once again suppressed.

Having lost her parents’ support, and half-rejected by the childhood friend she grew up with,

Hanamaru Hanabi always felt in her heart that she was a very useless person... someone unliked by anyone.

...

On the path of growth, Hanamaru Hanabi always felt more inferior than happy.

She was a girl lacking a sense of security, yet knew how to reserve the best things for others.

In elementary school, Uesugi Sakura remembered she still called him brother and had gained a new hobby: drawing.

Even in elementary school, she managed to draw the expressions and movements of characters quite vividly.

That day it was raining, and Uesugi Sakura had nothing to do, his parents were working overtime, and Mrs. Hanamaru next door invited him to have a meal at their place, as both families were quite familiar with each other and his parents had known them for a long time, so he did not decline.

"Good evening, Auntie."

"Come in, come in."

For some reason, Mrs. Hanamaru always looked at him with a radiant smile, Uesugi Sakura even felt like she was inspecting him.

Uesugi Sakura walked into the living room and found no one inside.

"Uncle and Hanabi are not here?"

"Hanabi is here; her dad is busy with work and hasn’t come home yet. Little Sakura, take a seat for a while; the remote is on the coffee table, turn on the TV if you’re bored."

"Ah, okay, thank you, Auntie."

"What’s with the thanks, we are all family," Mrs. Hanamaru smiled as she said.

Uesugi Sakura sat in the Hanamaru family’s living room for a while, then heard Mrs. Hanamaru shout to him from the kitchen after half an hour of bustling around:

"Little Sakura, go call Hanabi-chan down from upstairs, she’s in her room."

"Mm."

He went upstairs and found that Hanamaru Hanabi’s room wasn’t closed.

He looked inside and saw the desk lamp on the desk lit, Hanamaru Hanabi dressed in simple home attire, battling a drawing; she drew for a while, then put her pen down and propped her face with both hands, staring at the painting as her cheeks were squeezed up.

"Dinner’s ready." Uesugi Sakura knocked on the door and called out to the girl inside.

Hanamaru Hanabi suddenly realized someone was watching her from behind, and in a panic, tried to cover the drawing, only to find the chair underneath her losing balance and herself tumbling backward.

With a crash, her head hit the carpet, and she shut her eyes in pain, holding the back of her head.

"So careless?"

Uesugi Sakura walked over, intending to check how she was, but was drawn to the brightly lit drawing on the desk by the table lamp, instinctively wanting to see what the drawing was about.

"No! No!"

Hanamaru Hanabi hurriedly laid over the desk, her cheeks flushed red, desperately trying to cover her drawing.

Little girls, after all, have plenty of things they don’t want others to see.

Uesugi Sakura didn’t think much about it, and instead asked her:

"Does your head still hurt?"

Hanamaru Hanabi, covering the drawing, looked very embarrassed, her voice soft and light, "It still, hurts a bit..."

"Well, if it doesn’t hurt, come down to eat."

Uesugi Sakura said this and turned to go downstairs.

Hanamaru Hanabi stood up and watched his disappearing back at the door, her weak eyes gently trembling as she picked up the drawing from the desk, slowly crouching in the corner by the desk.

Looking at the drawing of Uesugi Sakura, she murmured:

"Brother... will notice Hanabi..."

Meanwhile, Uesugi Sakura, leaning against her room’s door, noticed her look at this moment.

——There are some things Uesugi Sakura doesn’t want to forget; he tries to remember her cuteness and beauty as his childhood friend through these fragmented memories.

The second week after getting married, at the Kanagawa seaside social gathering, on October 24 marked.