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

"Kai-kun..."

Okay, even Xiaohuahuo's voice sounded weak.

However, no matter how you hear your own voice, you can't escape the word "strange".

"Alright, lazybones, get up."

[Hana Maru Hanabi] sat on the bed and reached out to pat her face.

"Kai-kun...?"

"Get up quickly, get up quickly."

"Kai-kun...your voice...it sounds so much like Hanabi's..."

Hanabi rubbed her eyes, and her blurred vision gradually cleared.

When she saw the person in front of her clearly, she immediately froze.

"Fireworks?"

###Chapter 436: Just Falling in Love with an Identity###

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

The store wasn't too busy at the moment, so Uesugi Kai handed over the work to Kohashi Rika and found Katsura Chi, who was still sitting in the corner.

"how's it going?"

"It's...not good, not bad, but at least she's willing to start avoiding me now."

"Did you confess your feelings or anything?"

“Well, I didn’t dare say it…” Totsuka Katsurachi said, “Uesugi, after talking to her just now, I understand even more what she has been worried about all along.”

"About her father?" Uesugi Kai asked.

"Yes, I always felt that she was stuck in a quagmire, which followed her, bound her, and made her unable to move. Human emotions are a wonderful thing, but emotions can also become a constraint. You willingly put your legs in, but worry about whether lifting your legs will make the mud in the quagmire disappear."

Kai Uesugi could understand what Katsura Totsuka was saying. His father's past kindness had limited Kohashi's path forward, and he was indulging in the beautiful fantasies of his loved ones' lives.

Seemingly having understood something, Totsuka Katsurachi became somewhat dejected.

“I really want to help her get out of this situation. After all, my father is a very good person and he won’t have any prejudice against her. This blended family can also become very happy.”

“I’ll be coming here often lately. If possible, I’d like to stay at this coffee shop and work there. Uesugi, could you ask the manager for me?”

"That's no problem. I'll ask the store manager when she gets back."

"Thank you for your help; I always have to ask you for help."

"It's okay. You don't often help me with things like roll call at school."

"Haha, come to think of it, you've skipped class quite a few times, haven't you, a top student?"

"This is called making use of the time that is needed."

"Well, I'm leaving now after meeting with Rie. But I suddenly have a question I'm curious about: Uesugi, what is your dream?"

"Dreams? Dreams are the driving force for progress. My dream is to have a simple coffee shop, where Hanabi and I can make desserts, drink coffee, and live the most peaceful days."

"This doesn't sound like something a top student from Tokyo University, a tough guy who's a double champion in archery and kendo, would say."

"I'm a very simple person. I don't have any ideals or pursuits, and I didn't even expect anyone to like me in the past."

"It sounds so lonely, it reminds me of the kind of thinking I had when I gave up all other ideas and desperately tried to get into the University of Tokyo."

"It's loneliness..."

For some reason, Uesugi Kai felt a pang of nostalgia for Hanabi Hanamaru standing in the sun, smiling at him. He subconsciously looked up and gazed at the girl standing by the window not far away, watering the flowers in the shop.

She was dressed in a maid's outfit, and her silhouette was clear and bright in the sunlight streaming through the window.

Totsuka Katsura tilted her head and looked out the window, saying:

"Actually, I always wanted to go to the University of Tokyo so that I could live a more meaningful life and people would say something like 'Amazing' from the bottom of their hearts when they see me. After I got into the University of Tokyo, I was indeed 'amazing,' but it was just a casual compliment. They have their own lives, and my life has nothing to do with them. I can't get anything from them."

"Do you remember my girlfriend from a while ago?"

"Hmm." Uesugi Kai remembered her as a girl who seemed quite quiet.

"Her reason for leaving me was simple: she just lost interest... What does 'lost interest' mean? She can't just suddenly disappear without a trace. I specifically went to find her; she was walking and chatting with her girlfriends. Out of curiosity, I overheard a few words... I don't want to remember the exact words... The gist was that she wasn't dating me, but rather dating my identity as a student at Tokyo University. She was just curious about what made those supposedly high-achieving students different... After discovering I was just an ordinary person, she naturally left..."

"That's strange, how can a woman actually fall in love with someone else's identity?! That was my first thought at the time. But after thinking about it more carefully, it suddenly dawned on me. If people can rent themselves out and fall in love with money, then why can't they fall in love with someone else's identity? Isn't it all a self-serving process?"

Thinking about it that way, what she did wasn't really anything special; it was quite ordinary...

"This strange feeling has been with me all along."

After finishing speaking, Totsuka Katsura shook her head and stood up from her seat.

"Thanks, Uesugi, for listening to all my complaints."

"fine."

"See you tomorrow, I'm going back now."

"Ah."

Ding-a-ling~

With a crisp sound of a wind chime, Totsuka Katsura's figure disappeared around the corner behind the glass sliding door.

Kai Uesugi's classmates from the University of Tokyo have left, but he is still savoring the bitterness they poured out to him.

The period around the time of the breakup during summer vacation was probably a low point for Totsuka. He might have even been experiencing self-doubt or other mental health issues. Around that time, their parents met, and he gained a younger sister who cared about him...

It's no wonder he fell for Rikako Kohashi after being rescued by the kindness of another girl during his heartbreak.

A kettle suddenly came into view, and Hanabi Hanabi sat down opposite Kai Uesugi.

She had just finished watering the flowers and plants in the shop, and her face was beaming with a bright smile. One glance was enough to tell you how beautiful she was.

"Kai-kun, are you done talking?" Hanabi Hanamaru cupped her face in her hands, squeezing out some of the chubby cheeks.

"Well, it is."

"What did you talk about?"

"About him being dumped by his ex-girlfriend."

“Oh, heartbreak,” Hanabi nodded repeatedly, as if she understood. “Hanabi knows this feeling. First, you don’t believe it, then you question him, asking him why he did this? Weren’t we doing so well together? And then, there are two possible answers.”

"Two kinds?"

"Firstly, of course, there must have been other reasons that forced them to break up, which is understandable, and they might even have a better relationship after getting back together. Secondly..."

Hanabi Hanamaru narrowed her eyes, but her smile remained unchanged.

"I didn't like the second firework because it can be explained in just two words: 'abandonment'."

"..."

"Which one is it because of Kai-kun's classmate?"

"second."

"Hmm~ Hanabi can understand him now. After all, the feeling of giving your heart and then being abandoned is really like having your heart ripped out with a knife. The pain is like raindrops, dense and numerous, hard to see clearly and countless."

--------

It was not clear.

Winter is the perfect time to snuggle up in bed and keep warm.

I couldn't bear to get out of bed, nor could I bear to change my blankets into clothes to keep warm.

Even more reluctant to leave the warm little house and go outside to see the snow falling all around.

The fragrance filled her gently rhythmic breaths as Uesugi Kai, enjoying the warmth of the blankets, habitually touched Hanabi Hanabi's little belly beside her.

Her belly was always very soft, smooth and tender, and as you touched it, a warm and comfortable feeling would appear in your palm—and because of this, you would be reluctant to leave it.

But at this moment, Uesugi Kai, with her eyes closed, sensed something strange.

His outstretched hand touched not a soft belly, but a slightly firm, very flat lower abdomen.

Although he was not fully awake and his consciousness was still hazy, he vaguely knew that this feeling was very strange in terms of texture.

He frowned subconsciously, then continued to stroke his stomach, feeling increasingly strange.

Following this feeling, he skipped the belt and slid his hand down.

As he touched her, Uesugi Kai suddenly lost all sleepiness and sat up abruptly in bed.

"you!"

Just as he was about to speak, he realized that the face in front of him seemed somewhat familiar.

Perhaps because he hadn't fully woken up, his eyes were still a little blurry. He blinked several times in a row, and only after his eyes adjusted to the dim light could he be sure that the face in front of him was one he knew all too well.

Kai Uesugi was lying right next to her.

But wait.

He's Kai Uesugi, so... who am I...?

"I...?" He opened his mouth, a sound coming from his throat, a weak voice that was very familiar to him.

What's the sound of Little Fireworks?

Kai Uesugi realized something and stretched out his hands to look at them.

Her wrists were as white as jade, her skin was delicate, and her fingers were slender.

"Fireworks' hand?"

His voice was no longer his usual tone, but rather Hanamaru Hanabi's soft, gentle voice.

He turned his head to look at his shoulder again; it was petite and snow-white, with a pink camisole hanging on it.

My gaze shifted again, landing directly below.

There, beneath the pale pink pajamas, two small mounds rose.

"Am I Hanabi?"