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

Hanamaru Hanabi's voice was sweet and soft, and her cheeks were flushed from exercising.

"Kai-kun, please take off your clothes first."

Kai Uesugi was only wearing a sports t-shirt, his body still hot from running. "What does Hanabi want to do? Touch Kai-kun's abs?"

Hanabi Hanamaru blushed when she heard the word "abs": "Hanabi just wanted to help Kai-kun with his laundry, I've had a lot of clothes piled up these past few days."

"Besides... Kai-kun doesn't have abs..."

"No abs?" Kai Uesugi flashed his signature smile.

The shy girl exuded a much stronger fragrance.

"棣...棣君?"

Hanabi Hanamaru was a little scared as he kept getting closer to her face, and she kicked her little feet forward and kept pushing back.

But Uesugi Kai's face got closer and closer, and the tip of his nose was almost touching the girl's face.

With a thud.

Suddenly, Xiao Hua Huo stopped, her back pressed against the dark brown wardrobe.

"Kai-kun, you have abs, want to touch them?"

Kai Uesugi pressed his hand against the cabinet next to her ear, feeling a slight coolness in his palm.

Hanabi Hanabi, like a newborn fawn, timidly shrank back under his wall-pinning gesture.

"Is...is it okay?"

"of course can."

Kai Uesugi grasped her slender, fair wrist and let her cool little hand touch his stomach.

"So? Do you have it?"

Girls are always curious, and Uesugi Kai could feel her scratching her stomach.

With a blush creeping up her face, Hanabi carefully enunciated, "It's just... a little... a little hard... no, no—"

Kai Uesugi smiled, his eyes gazing at the girl's bright purple eyes, as he leaned in and kissed her soft, sweet cherry lips.

"Kai... um—"

The shy and lively girl, who had initially resisted, instantly went limp.

The lingering, deep flavor evokes the stirrings of adolescence.

Kai Uesugi took her small hand, which was resting on his chest, and parted the shy gap between their fingers, their hands intertwining.

.......

"A good morning kiss." Uesugi Kai smiled. "You don't hate it, do you?"

Hanabi Hanabi glanced at his face, which made her heart flutter, then lowered her head shyly and whispered, "I don't dislike you... as long as it's Kai-kun... I don't dislike you..."

In the early morning, the clouds were still drifting leisurely across the sky.

The girl was wearing a casual slip dress, the thin, pink color of which concealed her noticeably larger breasts beneath her well-defined collarbones.

The little girl who used to always follow behind me has really grown up.

Kai Uesugi hugged her, placing his hands on Hanabi Hanabi's soft, round belly, feeling the lines of her skin with his fingertips, and then climbing up her back along the graceful curves of her waist.

Every tactile sensation speaks of the girl's shyness and petite stature.

"Is Hanabi on a diet lately?"

"Um..."

"Actually, it's okay to eat more."

"But then..." Hanabi, her face flushed, closed her eyes, tilted her head back shyly, and leaned on his shoulder. "It wouldn't look good..."

"My chubby, soft belly feels very comfortable."

Kai Uesugi's hand circled around the girl's smooth, flat back and then moved back along her slender arm.

......

"Is that okay?"

"Y-yes." Hanabi's face flushed red as if she were burning; she could already feel his hands closing around her.

As soon as she finished speaking, the extremely ashamed girl panicked again and hurriedly said, "As expected, Kai-kun only did it while Hanabi was sleeping..."

"Too shy?"

"Um......"

"What should we do if Hanabi is always so shy?"

"No, no... At least, at least we want to prepare the fireworks now..."

“Then it’s settled,” Uesugi Kai said slowly, “tonight.”

Because of his hand, Hana Maru Hanabi, whose mind was almost short-circuiting from shyness, gave a soft reply.

"it is good......"

---------

At lunchtime, the Uesugi family gathered for lunch.

"Isn't there a fireworks festival in Matsuyama City in August?" Mrs. Hanamaru smiled slightly and put a thick, sweet orange segment into her mouth.

The old lady Uesugi rolled up her kimono sleeves, poured herself a bowl of tea, and said, “I remember it was August 5th last year.”

"It's always August 5th, unless it rains and is postponed, it's always at Mitsufuji Wharf," Aunt Uesugi Yoshiko said while eating, showing no interest in those rigid formalities.

Mrs. Hanamaru suddenly sighed, "It's a pity, the fireworks festival over the Sumida River has been cancelled this year."

The Sumida River is located in Tokyo, and its fireworks festival is a very popular spot in Tokyo.

In previous years, both families participated there.

"Why?" Aunt Uesugi Yoko asked curiously, picking up a piece of green vegetable with her chopsticks.

“There was a safety hazard,” said Noriko Uesugi, who recalled the incident. “Last year, a box of fireworks wasn’t properly set up, and it exploded on the spot, then exploded towards the crowd, injuring many people.”

Upon hearing this, Mrs. Uesugi shook her head, "Young people these days are so careless; the quality of their work is declining year after year."

Uesugi Yoshiko: "It's so nice to be a country person like us. We can just grow oranges. Speaking of which, that agricultural cooperative is really annoying. You can find them everywhere you buy oranges."

"Where are Kai and Hanabi?" Grandma Uesugi asked unhurriedly. "They haven't come for lunch yet. Are they taking a nap?"

"They should be washing clothes together by the stream," Mrs. Hanamaru said. "Hanabi did say she was going to wash clothes by the river."

"Washing clothes." Old Mrs. Uesugi smiled. "Being able to wash clothes together is proof of our good relationship. If Jiro can also cheer up, then my husband and I can be completely at ease."

When Uesugi Shio heard the old lady mention her father, she didn't do anything else and continued eating.

the other side,

A babbling brook flows from Cherry Hill, its waters converging into a river within this man-made frame.

As Uesugi Kai touches the stream, the coolness of summer seeps from his fingertips into his brain, bringing a refreshing relief from the sweltering heat.

Hanabi Hanabi was washing the clothes the two of them had changed out of over the past few days by hand.

Unhurried yet extremely serious.

Kai Uesugi stared at her earnest face for a long time; it was familiar, cute, and exquisite.

Why did I become less lazy, start jogging in the morning, and start striving in various competitions?

He thought it was probably because of the girl who had always been by his side.

"Fireworks!" he shouted.

"Ah."

“I sometimes feel like I’m not good enough for you,” he said with a smile.

Hanabi Hanabi stopped rubbing her clothes with her little hands and stared at the white foam drifting away with the stream in front of her.

Her voice was weak and low: "Yes... Hanabi is not good enough for Kai-kun..."

Looking up at the blue sky, the sky above the seaside town seemed to possess an even deeper azure:

Do you know why I want to apply to the University of Tokyo?

"Because I'm lazy, too lazy. I don't want to be too lazy or too negative about life."

Hanabi Hanabi listened attentively to him, but the more he said it, the more insecure the girl became.

"Kai-kun is clearly a very talented person... Hanabi, Hanabi feels like she's always been mediocre..."

"Then your inferiority complex is at play."

Kai Uesugi turned to the girl washing clothes by the stream and smiled, "Believe me, no girl is as beautiful as you."

Hanabi Hanabi felt the coolness of the stream with her little hands, and spoke in a dejected tone: "But... Hanabi is so dull, before... no one... liked Hanabi."

The girl spoke the words "everyone" and "I don't like it" very softly.

She recalled those extremely harsh and hurtful words.

“I know about your minor flaws,” Uesugi Kai said, “but people only see your silence, not the effort you put in behind the scenes.”

"But there are people who have always been watching your hard work and perseverance."

Hanabi Hanamaru, recalling some unpleasant words, looked up and turned to look at him.

Kai Uesugi simply smiled and didn't continue speaking to her.

The shimmering sunlight had rippled and sparkled countless times before Hanamaru Hanabi finally started washing the clothes in her hands again.

Kai Uesugi stretched out her hand, gazing at the azure sea and sky, the slanting sunlight shimmering on the brilliance of her ring.

"I know I have many shortcomings, some of which may be irreversible, and some people may dislike my shortcomings very much."

"But I think he has found a girl who can accept all his shortcomings, a girl who is willing to do his laundry and cook for him, a girl who is willing to spend her life with him."

"Then he... is the luckiest person in the world."

Hanabi Hanabi patiently washed the clothes in her hands, silently memorizing every word he said in her tender heart.