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

"Fireworks energy...?"

......

Kai Uesugi started helping Hanabi Hanamaru wash her face.

This was, of course, his request. He claimed it would make him look better, but in reality, he just wanted to stand behind her and take the opportunity to put his arm around her waist.

"All Kai-kun thinks about is touching..."

"Not only will you touch me, you'll also tickle me! Take this!"

"Hahaha~ Haha... No... Kai-kun, you can't~ Haha~~"

The two of them continued to play around like that.

After getting tired, Uesugi Kai rested his face on her head and put his right hand around her waist again. The girl leaned against him in return, and all four of them looked into the mirror. The reflection in the mirror showed the couple who had just finished washing up on this bright and sunny morning.

Does Hanabi feel happy?

"I'm so happy..."

"What if we stayed here in this beautiful place, like in a story? What do you think?"

"No... Hanabi wants to see Kai-kun do many more things."

Kai Uesugi looked at Hanabi Hanabi's cute and delicate face in the mirror:

"Yeah...me too...I also want to see Hanabi smiling in front of me every day, I want to hear her gently call me Kai-kun every day, I want to see her happy every day."

------

Kai Uesugi wanted to spend the whole day with Hanabi, watching movies, feeding each other, and occasionally hugging and cuddling her so she would blush in his arms.

This feeling is wonderful; that's what makes love so alluring.

Unfortunately, reality is not like that. Uesugi Kai has things to do, and Hanabi also has her illustrations to draw.

She has become very popular online recently.

It's perfectly normal. The artist is a beautiful young girl, with a distinctive and three-dimensional art style. The details of the girl in the painting are exquisite. Who wouldn't love that girl's pair of fair and delicate legs?

Kai Uesugi looked at the light novel posters inside the train.

The fox above is named Tenkai Nanami Meigetsu, who is also the female protagonist.

She is confident and charming, often describes herself as cute, likes to appear barefoot, and likes to use her big tail to scratch the male lead's face.

The novel seems to have reached its fourth volume.

After getting off the train, Uesugi Kai walked through the bustling city center, past a grove of trees, and arrived at the Mushin-kan, located in the Sakakibara family home in Chiyoda Ward.

The dojo is located in the Sakakibara family's residence. The Sakakibara family owns such a large mansion in Chiyoda Ward, a place frequented by politicians, so they are clearly not an ordinary family.

He didn't come here to practice swordsmanship today; it was his cheap master who came to see him.

Japanese-style living room.

On the scroll directly above, the process steps are outlined in large characters in black ink.

Sakakibara Isshin was sitting at the top, while Sakakibara Nanakuri was sitting beside him.

Uesugi Shio was also there.

Kai Uesugi sensed something was off, but didn't say anything, and sat down on the prayer mat that Isshin Sakakibara had prepared in advance.

Isshin Sakakihara looked serious.

The neatly written characters behind him made him appear extremely serious.

Uesugi Kai thought he was going to announce something big, but to his surprise, he suddenly laughed and reverted to his usual irreverent self.

"My dear disciple, from now on, you must call me... call me... call me... um, what was it again?"

Sakakibara Nanagi reminded him from beside him.

"Ah, right! Call me Uncle."

Uncle?

Kai Uesugi hesitated for a second.

"Ahem, now that I've said that, I'm sure you know, yes, that's right! I'm actually your relative."

Kai Uesugi glanced at her cousin, Uesugi Ushio, and nodded in tacit agreement.

Sakakibara Isshin counted on his fingers: "Let me count, um... your father's father's sister's husband's son, um... that's about the generation."

The son of my father's father's sister?

Kai Uesugi thought for a moment.

That's his grandfather's sister's son.

The husband is completely superfluous. If I were to say anything more about my sister's husband, wouldn't the son be my sister's son too?

"Haha, I didn't expect this, my dear disciple. Indeed, the first time I saw you, I felt a sense of familiarity with you, especially your face, which is just as handsome as I was when I was young! Hahaha."

"..."

Kai Uesugi knew that his grandfather had a younger sister, but he had never met her and had only heard of her once.

“My beloved disciple, you know that I have been traveling all over the country in recent years. Of course, let me make it clear first, I am not traveling for leisure, but to find my past memories.”

"Ah, that was a tragedy..."

[drip...drip...]

[Hidden Deeds for Decades]

[Mission Description: Following the known clues may not benefit you, but it will allow others to obtain what they desire.]

[Reward: Skill Points x10]

[Mission Complete!]

Kai Uesugi listened as Uncle Sakakibara sadly reminisced about the past.

To summarize, the uncle's father fell in love with a shrine maiden at the Hachiman Shrine in Ehime Prefecture, Matsuyama City.

Just like in any ordinary love story, the man pursued her passionately.

Fortunately, there were no worldly obstacles, and the two got married smoothly and lived together.

The shrine maiden resigned from her position at the shrine, and the man gave up the Sakakibara family business and stayed there to live.

Life should have been happy and fulfilling, but shortly after their marriage, a sudden earthquake nearly drove the man to the brink of collapse.

......

The process doesn't need to be elaborated on.

After the earthquake, the man burned all his memories of life, took his widow's two newborn children back to Tokyo, entrusted the children to the Sakakibara family for care, and then traveled far away, disappearing without a trace.

The two children are Uncle Sakakibara and Sakakibara Matsukata, and they still don't know whether their traveling father is dead or alive.

The shrine maiden is Uesugi's younger sister, with whom he relied on each other since childhood. The two siblings lost their parents at a young age and grew up together, supporting each other and sharing a deep bond.

Ever since that earthquake, Grandpa Uesugi has always gazed at the coast of Ehime Prefecture, always reminiscing about something.

Now things are clear.

Uncle Sakakibara is indeed a relative of Kai Uesugi.

Kai Uesugi never expected things to turn out so dramatically.

"Hahaha, my dear disciple, we're practically family now. You must teach that Hanamaru Hiroki a lesson when you get the chance, and make your teacher proud."

How to deal with your father-in-law?

No, no, I still have to marry her daughter.

What if I offend my father-in-law and he flies abroad with fireworks?

“My dear disciple, the reason I called you here today is to tell you about this matter. There are two pairs of those magatama, one red and one blue. They are passed down from the Uesugi family. The blue pair is with my mother, and the red pair is with your grandfather.”

"What is the purpose of the magatama?" Uesugi Kai didn't think the magatama was so simple; it must have some purpose.

"What is its purpose?" Sakakibara Isshin didn't expect him to ask that. "It's a magatama, nothing more than a valuable antique. This is something that your grandfather and my mother would rather drink plain water for ten days than sell when we were kids. Cherish it."

Uesugi Kai took his half-magatama back from his hand.

"Next, I'm going to Ehime Prefecture to see your grandfather. He searched for me for many years back then. You can blame my father for being so secretive... He didn't say a word and just ran off with me."

Uncle Sakakibara sighed.

"My dear student, you'll be cheering him on all by yourself in the kendo competition."

When has anyone ever come to watch this match? Sakakibara Matsukata was busy drinking, and Sakakibara Isshin's whereabouts were unpredictable.

"Master."

"What, is there anything else?"

Kai Uesugi had been wanting to ask this for a long time, but only today did she finally remember to ask.

"...Why was I placed in the general's position, deliberately squeezing out Fujimaki-senpai's place?"

Uesugi Kai had a guess in his mind, but he lacked confirmation.

Sakakibara Isshin silently looked at him and said calmly:

"You're amazing, even more so than my top disciple whom I painstakingly trained. I want to rely on you to curb his arrogance. He's been looking down on everyone for far too long; someone needs to put him to the test."

Just as I thought, Uesugi Kai thought to himself.

Uesugi Shio and Sakakibara Nana both looked at Sakakibara Isshin.

You should know that he is an eighth-dan master, a grandmaster in the world of kendo.

He only lost one match to Hanamaru Hiroki when he was young.

To evaluate a person like this...

After Uncle Sakakibara finished speaking seriously, the solemn expression on his face suddenly turned into a smile as he said to Kai Uesugi:

"Haha, the capable should do more, it's all up to you now, my beloved student."