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

People emerged from the haunted house... twelve people... their faces were deathly pale... their steps were unsteady...

Is this haunted house really that scary?

Hanabi Hanamaru also saw those people, but she didn't dare to speak. She simply moved slightly closer to Kai Uesugi.

At the entrance to the haunted house, it was Uesugi Kai and his group's turn to enter the sports institute. The staff divided the waiting tourists into groups.

Four groups of four people each.

As the leader of the four-person team, Uesugi Kai received a set of small cards from the staff.

The cards are distressed and have a yellowish tint; there are sixteen cards in total.

"What is it?" Kitagawa Sakakisa asked curiously.

"A deck of cards." Uesugi Kai handed it to her.

"Everyone, please be quiet for a moment. Let me explain the rules of the game."

The staff member stood directly in front of the sixteen tourists.

"Now, each group leader has sixteen cards. Please distribute them to your team members, four cards to each person."

Kitagawa Sakakisa counted out four playing cards and handed them to Uesugi Kai: "Here, take them."

Uesugi Kai casually accepted the gift and continued listening to the staff member speaking.

"Please note! When you meet, staff will draw cards from your hands. Each of you will receive one card. If the sum of the four cards is not a multiple of four, you can continue. If it is a multiple of four... I'll keep you in suspense for a moment, but there will be a big gift we have prepared. If you encounter other tourists, each of you can exchange one card with one of them."

A grand gift?

Kai Uesugi glanced at the cards in his hand.

###Side Story: Horizon 6 (The End)###

Fifteen years later.

Romantic cherry blossoms fluttered across the sky.

Every spring brings such beautiful scenery.

But beauty and sorrow coexist, and things will eventually enter a cycle, with each bloom followed by its fall.

Kai Uesugi stood under the cherry blossom tree, his aged face gazing up at the pink petals fluttering above.

He was reminiscing, recalling the past... that somewhat hazy memory.

Sometimes he would wonder what memories really are.

Is it a remembrance of lost beauty, or a sense of helplessness at the irretrievable past...?

He didn't know the answer, nor did he know what to do.

A gust of wind blew by, and the sky was instantly dyed with a myriad of cherry blossom colors, with petals fluttering all over the sky.

Kai Uesugi snapped out of her daze and stared ahead.

The noisy tourists stopped to take pictures of this exciting moment, their faces beaming with smiles.

This scene repeats itself every year...

Uesugi Kai lowered his head, leaned on his cane, and began to walk slowly along the riverbank where cherry blossoms were falling.

Tourists walked past him one after another, their faces filled with laughter and joy.

"Sir, the ticket is 1000 yen," the staff member at the service window said to Uesugi Kai, who was leaning on a cane outside.

"Has the price gone up...?" Uesugi Kai asked weakly, trembling as she took out a banknote.

"It's been this price for three years."

The staff member placed a receipt on his wrinkled hand and noticed the silver watch on his wrist.

It looks pretty expensive...

The staff member snapped out of his thoughts, looked at his watch, and sighed, saying:

"Hey, although I'm making more money now, the prices of everything have gone up, so I'm not as comfortable as I used to be. Grandpa, are you here to admire the flowers all by yourself today?"

"Hmm...alone."

"where is your family?"

"No..."

"You're not married?"

"My wife passed away a long time ago."

The staff member looked at his aged hands as he put away the receipts, and was slightly moved. He said apologetically, "I'm sorry... please accept my condolences."

"It's okay, I'm used to it."

"Excuse me for asking... but... you haven't remarried?"

“No…” Uesugi Kai folded the ticket and put it into the pouch on his chest.

The staff felt very sorry for him as they watched his slow movements.

"Sir... I think it would be better if you found a companion... In the building across from mine, there was a grandfather who was several months pregnant... and they only found him at home... It was only discovered when the neighbors smelled the stench..."

"Thanks for the suggestion, but... no need..."

Kai Uesugi, leaning on his cane, turned and continued walking into Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden.

The staff member watched his lonely figure gradually disappear into the distance and sighed again.

......

Walking among the crowds and falling blossoms, Uesugi Kai looked at the familiar yet unfamiliar scenery before her, her heart filled with mixed emotions.

Perhaps because I had walked too much, I was in some pain, so I found a bench by the roadside to sit down and rest.

A young girl who was taking selfies was sitting on the bench. When she saw him sit down, she looked up from her phone and glanced at him intentionally.

Although she didn't say anything, the young girl still got up and left decisively.

Uesugi Kai looked in the direction the girl had left and saw her young back, realizing that she was disgusted with him.

He looked at his wrinkled hands, which were resting on his cane.

No words were spoken.

I've just gotten used to this feeling...

In silence, Uesugi Kai rested his cane on the ground and his forehead against his hands.

His eyes were fixed on the ground, occasionally catching glimpses of falling petals lingering there.

The cherry blossoms overlapped, then were quickly blown away by the wind. In a daze, he seemed to be transported back more than ten years, to a time when he sat here reading. Back then, he was young and handsome, and just as he was engrossed in his reading, a young girl suddenly stood under the cherry blossom tree in front of him, calling his name in a soft voice...

Fireworks...

It was as if her image had appeared in a distant and hazy memory, and his long-numbed heart was suddenly stirred.

Kai Uesugi's cloudy eyes trembled slightly.

Will she come...?

My life is coming to an end... I came back just to see her... just to see her smile that has disappeared one last time.

Although my body has aged... although more than ten years have passed...

But the desire to see her again never disappeared, never disappeared...

For the past fifteen years, I've been thinking about it.

As the beautiful cherry blossoms at her feet were blown away by the wind, Uesugi Kai closed her eyes amidst the swirling fragrance of the blossoms.

As his consciousness faded, he seemed to see the fireworks from his dream smiling at him... her face was warm and sweet... she was holding her child... her eyes were full of love...

What has become of Ai and the others in the past fifteen years? Has the younger sister grown up...?

He was so engrossed in his past memories, but the images of those memories seemed to be shrouded in an impenetrable fog, making them feel like nothing more than a dream when he looked back.

......

Time just passed by gradually.

Kai Uesugi's consciousness was almost overwhelmed by sleepiness. The March wind was still a bit chilly. He wasn't wearing many clothes and felt his body heat gradually dissipating, like a frail old man.

It seemed like a girl was calling him.

Uesugi Kai opened his eyes, and five seconds later, he heard that voice again, the one that had echoed in his dreams countless times: "Grandpa... why are you sleeping here...?"

Fireworks...

Uesugi Kai's heart suddenly trembled violently, and his moved eyes were fixed on the ground.

The same weak voice... the same tone...

Fireworks...

Kai Uesugi's eyes instantly blurred. How many days and months had passed since she left...?

How many times have I dreamt of her... imagining the softness of her hand holding mine... imagining her shy and charming appearance in front of me...

Kai Uesugi forced back the tears blurring his vision and suppressed the urge to burst into tears.

"grandfather...?"

However, when she heard her voice again, Uesugi Kai didn't dare to look up at her again.

Kai Uesugi, still resting his forehead on his hands, which were gripping his cane, kept his eyes tightly closed and asked the girl standing beside him in a slightly choked voice:

"What's your name?"

"I...my name is Hanamaru Hanabi...Grandpa...are you alright...?"

Kai Uesugi heard the concern in her words, and her weak voice made him miss her even more.

He was yearning, and after a period of intense inner turmoil, he composed himself, looked up at the girl's face beside him.

Standing beside her was Hanabi Hanamaru, with her vibrant purple eyes, delicate, blushing face, and movements that exuded a youthful awkwardness and cuteness...

She was wrapped in a scarf and wearing a light-colored trench coat.