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

The snowman lay alone on the white ground in the distance, watching people while seemingly being watched by no one.

Later, Uesugi Kai realized that this six-year-old girl already had feelings of inferiority.

......

Kai Uesugi knew why she was acting this way.

Around that time, she had just started kindergarten. Mrs. Hanamaru was 18 when she became pregnant with her, and she started attending a daycare kindergarten when she was two and a half.

Just like in high school boarding school, her parents would only pick her up on Fridays when she had a day off.

At the time, her mother was still in college, and her father was in the development stage of his career, so he naturally couldn't give her enough attention.

During those six months in kindergarten, there was one very assertive child who never liked her.

It was common for them to throw toys at her, and they would often push her to the ground and deliberately say things they didn't like about her.

Meanwhile, the kindergarten teacher who manages the children is experiencing marital problems and has just divorced. Feeling disheartened with life, she turns a blind eye to what is happening right under her nose.

Gradually, because of her voice and appearance, Hanamaru Hanabi, who was not very likable to begin with, was isolated by the other children.

Throwing toys at her and saying things like "I hate you" were part of her daily routine after class.

She was a child, and naturally sensitive, and over time... she became the insecure person she is now, someone she doesn't even like.

This is also one of the reasons why the fireworks company moved.

......

When she was three years old, she moved to Shinjuku.

—These are things that Uesugi Kai only learned later.

Kai Uesugi was unaware of her place in Kai's heart; she only knew that Kai considered her her only friend.

Whenever there's something delicious to eat, she thinks of him.

Well, she's just a little follower. During the time Uesugi Kai spent with her, he got used to attending the same kindergarten as her.

She would often drag me into playing house, the kind of games little girls play.

This is the only thing that Uesugi Kai truly lacks patience for.

Playing house involves using small toys to imitate adults cooking and tidying clothes.

"Is this fun...?"

"Hmm..." Hanabi Hanamaru squatted on the sofa cushion, carefully cutting a toy carrot that was magnetically attached to the wall with a small plastic knife. "It's fun..."

"What's so fun about this?"

Hanamaru Hanabi paused for a moment while chopping vegetables. She was getting a little tired from squatting, and said in a weak, soft voice:

"From now on... once Hanabi learns how to cook, she can keep cooking for her brother... Hanabi hopes that... so that her brother won't hate her anymore..."

......

I didn't feel anything when I heard those words, but now that I'm married... watching her busily preparing breakfast and dinner in the kitchen, and recalling her innocent appearance back then, I can't help but burst into tears.

She has never forgotten the joke she made when she was a child that she would always cook for him.

......

Kai Uesugi asked her what she was most afraid of.

She said she was most afraid of her parents leaving her and her brother forgetting her.

Back in junior high, people would often ask her to sweep the floor on their assigned day. They would say they had club activities to do in the afternoon and asked her to do the sweeping.

However, those students were just going out to have fun and didn't want to do their assigned cleaning duties.

Hanamaru Hanabi did not refuse and agreed to all of her classmates' requests.

As more and more people learned about this, she ended up sweeping the floor more and more often in the afternoons.

Fewer and fewer people joined her in sweeping, and eventually, she was practically the only one cleaning the entire classroom.

Subconsciously, all the classmates were thinking of leaving her to do the cleaning duty alone.

Kai Uesugi wasn't in the same class as her, but he would wait for her to go home every day.

During this period, she left the classroom a little later each day than before.

So, Kai Uesugi asked her the reason.

She didn't answer directly, but looked at Uesugi Kai's face for a while, then lowered her head and asked softly:

"Does Uesugi-kun think...Hanabi is a very good person?"

"Oh, that's alright."

"Is it...okay..." Hanabi Hanamaru gripped the shoulder bag in front of her a little tighter.

“Very well, why ask this?” Uesugi Kai replied calmly.

Hanabi Hanabu had her head down, her face reflected in the twilight of the setting sun, her short hair swaying gently in the sunlight.

She didn't say anything more.

For a long time, Uesugi Kai couldn't understand the meaning of her words.

I later learned that my uncle and aunt had been arguing every day during that period because of work.

They've gone so far as to talk about getting a divorce.

Hanabi Hanabi was upstairs the whole time and heard those words.

Those words were very harsh, which made her feel insecure and lost a sense of reliance. She often curled up in bed alone, murmuring her favorite things.

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

During that time, she always thought about going home late.

She wanted to find someone she could confide in.

Kai Uesugi, who grew up with her, was the best choice.

During that time, Uesugi Kai was too focused on his studies, and even started researching how to get into the best private high school in Shinjuku Ward. His responses to her attempts to talk to him were too calm and indifferent.

They would only chat briefly when they walked together after school.

Hanabi Hanamaru was unaware of all this. She only felt that she had annoyed him again, and the thought of confessing her feelings to him was kept suppressed in her heart.

Doing meaningless things like sweeping floors every day is a waste of time.

Today, I wanted to take this opportunity to tell him my deepest thoughts, but his lukewarm and indifferent evaluation made me give up on the idea of ​​confessing.

Having lost the support of her parents, she was also half-rejected by her childhood sweetheart who had grown up with her.

Hanabi Hanamaru always felt in her heart that she was a very useless person... someone who was not liked by anyone.

......

Regarding her path to adulthood, Hanabi Hanamaru has always felt more inferior than happy.

She was an insecure girl, yet she knew how to save the best for others.

When she was in elementary school, Kai Uesugi remembered that she called him "brother" or "older brother," and she also developed a new hobby: drawing.

Even in elementary school, she could already draw the expressions and movements of people quite well.

It was a rainy day, and Uesugi Kai had nothing to do. His parents were working overtime, and Mrs. Hanamaru next door invited him to have dinner at her house. The two families were quite close, and his parents had known each other for a long time, so he didn't refuse.

"Good evening, Auntie."

"Come in quickly, come in quickly."

For some reason, Mrs. Hanamaru always looked at him with a smile, and Uesugi Kai even felt that she was scrutinizing him.

Kai Uesugi entered the living room and found it empty.

"Aren't Uncle and Hanabi here?"

"Hanabi is here. Her dad is busy with work and hasn't come home yet. Xiaozhao, sit down for a while. The remote is on the coffee table. If you get bored, turn on the TV and watch something."

"Oh, okay, thank you, Auntie."

Mrs. Hanamaru smiled and said, "No need for thanks, we're all family."

Kai Uesugi sat in the Hanamaru family's living room for a while, then heard Mrs. Hanamaru, who had been busy for half an hour, call out to him from the kitchen:

"Xiao Kai, go and call Hanabi-chan down from upstairs. She's in her room."

"Ah."

When he got upstairs, he found that the door to Hanabi's room was not closed.

He glanced into the room and saw that the desk lamp was on. Hanabi Hanamoto, dressed in simple home clothes, was working hard on a painting. She would paint for a while, then stop, rest her face in her hands, and stare at the painting, her face puffed up.

"Dinner's ready," Uesugi Kai called out to the girl inside after knocking on the door.

Hanabi Hanamaru suddenly realized that someone was watching her from behind. In a panic, she tried to cover the painting, but the chair she was sitting on lost its balance, and she fell backward.

With a thud, her head hit the carpet. She cried out in pain, closed her eyes, and covered the back of her head.

"So careless?"

Uesugi Kai walked over, intending to check on her, but was drawn to a painting on the desk, brightly lit by the desk lamp, and instinctively wanted to see what it depicted.

"No! No!"

Hanabi Hanamaru suddenly slumped onto the desk, her cheeks flushed, trying desperately to cover her painting.

There are many things a little girl doesn't want others to see.

Without giving it much thought, Uesugi Kai asked her instead:

"Your headache is gone?"

Hanabi Hanamaru covered the painting, looking very embarrassed, and said in a soft, low voice, "There are... there are still some..."

"If it doesn't hurt anymore, come down and eat."

After saying this, Uesugi Kai turned and walked downstairs.

Hanabi Hanamaru stood up, watching his retreating figure disappear through the doorway. Her weak eyes trembled slightly as she picked up the painting from the desk and slowly squatted down in the corner next to it.

Looking at the image of Uesugi Kai in the painting, she murmured: