Living in Tokyo, all I want to do is laze around.

Uesugi Shio pretended not to hear.

###Chapter 198 The Orange-Scented Sea Breeze###

Living in Tokyo, all I want to do is laze around.

After leaving the restaurant, before heading to Mr. Uesugi's orange grove, we need to buy some souvenirs in Ginten-cho.

The old man's gift consisted of a few eels and two bottles of sake, while the old woman received ordinary bitter tea.

This was recommended by Uesugi Shio. People in the countryside aren't too particular; they just give you something you like.

You don't need to peel off the price tags on the products.

In Japan, this kind of thing is absolutely required to be torn off. If it can't be torn off, the price must be blacked out with a marker.

Otherwise, the other party will think that you are deliberately showing them the price so that they will bring out a more expensive return gift next time.

Of course, this is just a situation that might occur when making friends in general; people who are very familiar with each other don't have this concern at all.

Songshan Station, Songshan City.

The five people, carrying suitcases, boarded the bus back to the town.

As Uesugi Kai leaned against the car window, he watched Matsuyama Castle, towering over the city, gradually disappear into the distance, his mind replaying the scene from this morning.

Hanabi Hanamaru never spoke to him again after that.

She sat with her head down next to her.

They remained silent and made no move.

The swaying bus, even on a bright day, made me a little drowsy.

The pure white summer dress accentuated her clear, youthful skin, giving her an ethereal beauty.

Although the lovely girl is now silent.

"Little Firework." Uesugi Kai tried to talk to her.

After a long silence, Hanabi Hanabi nodded weakly in response:

"Um......"

"Are you alright...?"

“It’s alright…” Hanabi Hanamaru said.

Uesugi Kai felt that she was much more careful when speaking to him than she had been yesterday.

"I was so unreasonable—"

"Kai-kun, there's no need to say that..." Hanabi's fair, delicate hands could only clench her skirt tightly. "Hanabi knows that Kai-kun likes Hanabi's... breasts..."

Her submissive attitude and soft-spoken manner made the girl appear pitiful and insignificant.

"I'm sorry." This strange sense of guilt made Uesugi Kai apologize to her.

Hanabi Hanabi looked up into his eyes, and after a long moment of eye contact, she lowered her head shyly and said:

"It's okay, as long as it's Kai-kun... Hanabi won't be angry."

"After all, there's not much that Hanabi can do to help Kai-kun..."

“…” Uesugi Kai realized that he had bullied her, and gone too far.

These are those insecure words again.

Hanamaru Hanabi often intentionally or unintentionally lowers her own status and position.

This may be comfortable for others, but it certainly doesn't do much good for the girl herself.

This will make her have few expectations of herself.

She only wants the other person to be well, and she will silently bear the pain herself.

This is also why she keeps many things buried in her heart.

For her.

I'm content as long as the people I like are doing well.

Kai Uesugi didn't want her to underestimate herself, as that would hinder the healing of the deep-seated inferiority complex she had carried since childhood.

"Little Firework, you can scold me a few times."

"Why, why?" Hanabi asked slowly.

"Scumbag, pervert, bastard... anything goes."

Hanabi Hanabi just looked at him like that, "Kai-kun... don't talk about yourself like that..."

The bus drove into the woods, where the sunlight was shyly and comfortably shielded by the green shade.

"I did such a terrible thing to you, aren't you angry?"

Hanamaru Hanabi's two little hands are clasped together, her thumbs fidgeting and twitching restlessly:

"It was just... just touching... my chest... nothing more. Hanabi had been preparing for this for a long time."

"..."

Upon hearing her say that, Uesugi remembered that she had indeed said something like that, that it was okay to touch breasts.

Hanabi Hanabi continued, enunciating each word clearly: "But Hanabi hopes that if Kai-kun wants to touch you... he should tell Hanabi... Hanabi should agree..."

"..."

He'll most likely agree, but not completely, because she gets incredibly shy just touching her toes.

She was unwilling, and it took Uesugi Kai a long time to coax her.

The mountain forest was cool and secluded, and the afternoon sunlight filtering through the leaves shone into the bus. The swaying carriage had a cradle-like effect, making people drowsy.

Uesugi Kai asked many more times and found that Hanamaru Hanabi didn't seem angry at all.

She was so embarrassed when she opened her eyes and saw herself grabbing her breasts that she didn't want to say anything until noon.

Even so, A-Zhao felt he couldn't face her; although launching a sneak attack was exciting.

But afterwards, there is an even deeper sense of guilt.

Uesugi Kai, lamenting his own sinful actions, tried to straighten his attitude and said:

"Would you like to... lean on me and take a nap? It's still an hour's drive to Grandpa's place."

Although Hanabi Hanamaru wasn't angry, the more seriously Uesugi made the suggestion, the more she felt he was trying to bully her.

He cautiously probed:

"Kai-kun...you wouldn't secretly touch Hanabi's breasts while she's asleep, would you?"

"No." Uesugi Kai took her small, delicate hand in his.

Hanabi Hanamaru felt like she was being held, and was afraid that he would suddenly bully her again.

After hesitating for a moment, she felt relieved and slowly rested her head in his arms.

Kai Uesugi embraced her petite body, which exuded a sweet fragrance.

"You really should get angry."

Hanabi's little head began to feel drowsy in the afternoon light, and Hanamaru Hanabi, held in his arms, quietly felt the warmth and breath of his chest.

The whispered words, like a dreamlike murmur, said, "Hanabi... doesn't want to leave Kai-nii..."

The bus, swaying and rattling towards the town, rolled over the scattered tree branches on the road, kicking up fluffy fallen leaves, and continued its journey in an orderly fashion.

---------

The bus drove into the bright coastline.

Ehime Prefecture is famous for its mandarin oranges.

These exceptionally sweet tangerines are so rare that even babies can eat them.

This is the source of pride for Mr. Uesugi, who has dedicated his entire life to this cause.

Katsuoka-cho, Hayami-gun, Matsuyama City, is a small coastal town in rural Japan.

Its main features are that it's quiet, clean, and has a ton of oranges.

Orange juice, orange liqueur, orange desserts, orange rice.

Everything is related to oranges.

Kai Uesugi had heard from her grandmother that many young people had gone to Tokyo because they didn't want to eat oranges anymore.

It was probably a joke.

Once outside the city, the scenery becomes vast and expansive, as if meeting the blue sky.

Kai Uesugi held the sleeping girl's small hand on his lap and looked out the window.

On a large mountain called Sakura-oka, there are lush green orange trees.

Telegraph poles, mountains and forests, and terraced orchards halfway up the mountain come into view.

That's Mr. Uesugi's orange grove, where a single orange, priced at 625 yen, grows.

Standing on the upper level and looking out over the inner sea, the bright blue sea surface is inlaid with thick clouds that seem to stretch to the horizon.

The sky and the sea sandwich the clouds, creating a seamless blend of sky and sea.

Get off at a seaside station with vending machines.

"Ah-Zhao, come down and help."

"Auntie, let me do it." Uesugi Shio took the initiative to take the suitcase out of the car.

Mrs. Hanamaru, wearing flat shoes, stepped out of the car, glanced at the vast, boundless blue sky, closed her eyes, took a deep breath of the fresh air, and revealed a girlish sentiment:

"Mmm... the air is so much better here in Ehime."

Mrs. Uesugi, having unloaded her suitcase, glanced back at the scenery that hadn't changed in all these years, recalling her first visit to this place, and brushed a strand of hair that was being blown by the sea breeze:

"After all, it's located near an inland sea."